Wuhan virus 2020

[Jimbuna]

The "R value" - the coronavirus reproduction number - remains between 0.7 and 0.9 in the UK but in the south-west of England it could be above one, according to the latest figures from the government's scientific advisers.

Scotland's First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, confirms 15,709 people have tested positive for Covid-19, an increase of 27 from yesterday.

Prosecutors from northern Italy have questioned Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte for about three hours in Rome about the government’s response to coronavirus.

In around a dozen states across the US south and west, Covid-19 cases have been on the rise following the Memorial Day holiday weekend at the end of May.
Arizona, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, Arkansas, Utah, Alaska, California and Florida are among the states seeing an uptick.

Twitter has removed more than 170,000 accounts it says were tied to an operation to spread a Chinese government disinformation campaign.

Russia's President Vladimir Putin went without a mask as he appeared at an open-air flag-raising ceremony in Moscow to mark Russia Day, a public holiday.
The 67-year-old, who has largely been working in his residence outside Moscow, praised the spirit of the Russian people as well their traditions and culture.
Russia, which at 511,423 has the world's third-largest number of virus cases, has gradually eased lockdown measures this month.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's wife, 42-year-old Olena Zelenska, has tested positive for Covid-19.

[Mr Quatro]

The total of confirmed cases in the United States has hit 2,064,029. That is 28% of the world’s total.

Kind of odd, uh? 28% for both cases and deaths of the total global

American fatalities reached 115,477, up 885 in a day. The number of deaths per day has been below 1,000 for most of the past week. U.S. deaths are 28% of the world’s total.

[Skybird]

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

Pick your country in the options line at the top.

Note that thes enumbers necessarily only include known cases. Also keep mij mind that these nubmers are not exact counting numbers one by one, but often also incldued statistcially calculated numbers. I do not say that means they are way off the mark. I just mention it because most people do not know that and take the numbers literally.

They most likely, almost impossibly, could be lower. But very likely the real numbers are higher.

[ikalugin]

Is the PPE deficit still a problem in Europe?

[Skybird]

Originally Posted by ikalugin

Is the PPE deficit still a problem in Europe?

FFP2-equivalent masks can be gotten easily since some time now via ebay, the prices are way down now compared to the criminal prices demanded in March and April. 10 such masks for 15 Euros is acceptable. Higher than before, but not out of the range considering that market prices follow supply and demand. Many get advertised as being licensed with the European CE-label, which is a seal confirming that the item has undergone European norm tests successfully, but many if not most all of these masks instead come only with the Chinese forged seal CE that means nothing more than "Chinese Exports" and got implemented by Bejing to mislead European customers, the design is very much similar, you need to look very closely. However, such masks must not necessarily be duds, and indeed most likely are not, they claim to comply with British norms which practially are not much, if at all, different to FFP2 norms. Many of thes emasks get used in hospitals as well, CE yes or no.

So the situation has relaxed, yes. Most people do not care and blindly follow what the government tells them: wearing cotton masks instead with dramatically reduced self-protective filtering and dubious efficiency against fine aerosols. I do not use these in rooms and shops, and would consider them only for outdoor use - but I do not wear masks outdoors, but navigate and time my moves and shoppings so that I do not run into groups of people outdoor and rush hours.



Do filtering right, or do not care at all. Alibi compromises are foul compromises. Do it right - or don't care to even get started.

The situation in hospitals also has become relaxed regarding supply with PPE. First corona stations also have been dismantled again already two weeks ago. But the virus is not gone, and number of new infections are growing again, and it is unclear of and in what way the virus has mutated.

Clinical grade hand desinfectant also can be had again via ebay, it was sold out or banned for longer time. However, the prices for Sterillium and such brands still are doubled, compared to January. 1l of it costed 8-12 Euros before, now still costs 15-25 Euros. Thats supppoy and demand. At the hbeioght of thre crisis it was not to be found, and the last prices before that tipped 100 Euros.

Its not over until the fat lady sings. I am still on condition yellow and switch to condition red when entering supermarkets and shops. I wear fitting, unobtrusive laboratory glasses over my regular (small, very open) glasses now when entering shops, by design they are easy to be overlooked by others, so its no big deal, nobody stares. And if he would, I would not care anyway. These glasses were ouzt for months, too, but now are available again.

Discipline of people increasingly starts to drop. They want to not care anymore, its especially the younger ones, student-age.


And there is this story:

Originally Posted by https://www.tagesspiegel.de/politik/haendler-sitzen-auf-schuldenbergen-spahn-droht-klagewelle-wegen-unbezahlter-masken/25912436.html

At first there was not enough - and now the federal government does not want to pay for excess masks: Numerous procurers of protective equipment from China are threatening lawsuits against the Federal Ministry of Health from Minister Jens Spahn (CDU) for unpaid deliveries.

According to this, a report by the “Spiegel” has been confirmed in government circles that almost 600 million euros are still outstanding. Supplements were awarded to 738 suppliers to buy, among other things, 198 million FFP2 masks and 64 million surgical masks.

As the Tagesspiegel found out from the traders involved, lawyers are preparing lawsuits and orders for payment against Spahn's ministry. When the corona pandemic reached Germany, industry, the federal government and the states were initially unable to meet the mask requirements.

Since other European countries and the USA also urgently needed supplies, adventurous business in China came about in a completely overheated market.

Dealers are now criticizing that the ministry is ignoring inquiries, as are the companies Fiege Logistik company and the management consultancy Ernst & Young that are responsible for the handling.

A total of 1.2 billion euros had been approved for the procurement of protective equipment, of which around 400 million euros have so far been paid out. In order to remedy the bottlenecks, procurement had been organized via a so-called open-house procedure, which the ministry put online via the General Customs Directorate at the end of March and which cost EUR 4.50 for FFP-2 masks and 60 cents for surgical masks.

Many of these small businesses now are threatend by bancrupcty because the minstry doe snto stand by its order and pays them out. Nice move. But Spahn always has been a big mouthed incapable idiot of somewhat totalitarian mindset. Gockel. Ever heard of "pacta sund servanda"...?

[ikalugin]

Well, I guess better than they used to. The chinese CE thing is quite sad tbh.

[Skybird]

Originally Posted by ikalugin

Well, I guess better than they used to. The chinese CE thing is quite sad tbh.

Not
so much a sad thing but criminal intention to deceive people.

[Skybird]

.parts of bejing have been sealed off after the virus was found on wooden chopping boards on a meat market. Several infections are already confirmed. Police is reported to be all over the place.

[Jimbuna]

[Jimbuna]

[Jimbuna]

Brazil's death toll becomes second highest in the world, surpassing the UK's with more than 41,000 victims.

Far-right President Jair Bolsonaro continues to play down the virus, focusing on the economic damage of lockdown.

Outbreak from a wholesale market in Beijing leads to fears of a second wave of the virus in the Chinese capital.

Hong Kong's iconic Ocean Park theme park reopens after more than four months of temporary closure.

From today, people living alone in England and Northern Ireland will be able to form a support bubble with another household.

The Queen's official birthday will be marked later with a new ceremony instead of the annual Trooping the Colour parade.

British Airways' treatment of staff during the coronavirus crisis "is a national disgrace", MPs claim.

[Jimbuna]

Thousands of people have gathered in cities across Australia, rallying in support of refugee rights and Black Lives Matter.
The demonstrations have been held despite bans on mass gatherings to contain the spread of coronavirus.

Today is be the first day in months that many people who live alone can spend time with loved ones as new “social bubble" rules come into force in England and Northern Ireland.
Adults who live alone are allowed to visit one other household and are even allowed to stay overnight. In England the same goes for single parents of under-18s.

An official in the Chinese capital Beijing says the city's Fengtai district is on a "wartime emergency footing" as lockdowns are enforced in 11 neighbourhoods over fears of a renewed coronavirus outbreak.

The Americas now account for about half of total confirmed coronavirus cases globally, with Brazil the epicentre of the epicentre.
The largest country in Latin America, it has 828,810 confirmed cases - the highest in the world behind the US. It also has the second-highest death toll in the world (nearly 42,000), having overtaken the UK.

India and Armenia have both reported their biggest daily jump in new infections - 11,458 and 723 respectively. India currently has the fourth-highest number of cases worldwide.

Over 7.6 million cases have been reported worldwide, along with 425,000 deaths, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.

[Skybird]

The Neue Zürcher Zeitung writes:

There is a problem in the search for therapies against Covid-19: Ill subjects are missing for clinical studies

The significant decrease in the number of infections with the new coronavirus Sars-CoV-2 is encouraging - but is creating a new problem in Europe. The many open questions about medicines, vaccines and therapies have to be clarified elsewhere.

"Thank God the number of Covid 19 patients has decreased significantly in many European countries." In recent weeks, doctors, politicians and probably many other people have launched this sigh. But for some doctors and researchers, this also has disadvantages: there are no patients who could participate in clinical studies.
Studies are stalling

A large number of studies that have been worked out during the heyday of the pandemic in Switzerland, Germany or elsewhere in Europe have recently started or are ready to start. This ranges from testing well-known drugs or treatments for their effectiveness in Covid-19 to examining therapeutic approaches that were developed from the observation of Covid-19 patients. But now it stops.

"We'll wait and see and keep the studies open for the time being, at least for the coming weeks." This is almost the standard answer to questions about studies and their results. Of course, nobody hopes that there will soon be a second major wave of infections in Europe. But actually this would only really get many studies going again. Because without a sufficient number of patients, statistically reliable data can hardly be obtained.

Not only the study directors and their teams are hanging in the air. The fact that a whole series of important medical questions remain unanswered is far more serious. Should the often conjured up second wave actually come to a greater extent, these answers will literally be painfully absent. In view of the corona pandemic, all the studies compared to those for other diseases were devised and approved unusually quickly.

The gratifyingly low number of new Sars-CoV-2 infections in Europe could also create major problems for the numerous vaccination studies that have already started or will start shortly. When there are hardly any infections, it can only be said in many months or even years whether an experimental vaccine will actually protect you. After all, the vaccinated subjects hardly have the opportunity to meet the virus and find out whether the vaccination protects or not.
Continuation abroad is often not possible

The apparently obvious solution would be to continue all the studies started in those countries in which Sars-CoV-2 is still rampant. However, due to regulations, it is simply not possible to suddenly use funds that were spoken for studies in Switzerland in another country, says Nils Kucher from the University Hospital Zurich. In a study, he wants to investigate the use of blood thinners for community-treated Covid 19 patients. Studies started in Germany could at best include patients from other EU countries, but the organizers and donors would have to agree to that, explains Peter Kremsner from the University of Tübingen. He wants to investigate the effectiveness of the controversial HCQ malaria drug on Covid-19.

But recruiting patients from countries with intensive Sars CoV 2 events like the USA, Brazil, Russia or now Iran again is much more difficult. To do this, you would have to have the study protocol approved separately in each country and then find new organizers, donors and also hospitals and medical teams willing to cooperate on site. Both doctors emphasized that a research team at a university with naturally limited financial and human resources could not do this. On the other hand, if a large pharmaceutical company with a worldwide network is behind the trials, there is a possibility that it will now shift its research activities. According to reports, some companies are already doing this.

It is therefore to be hoped that the necessary studies, perhaps based on the projects already started in Germany, will now be carried out quickly in countries with a high level of coronavirus activity - and that the conditions are comparable to those in Europe and the results are therefore transferable. Because we will probably all need the answers sooner or later.

This problem is not unknown with research projects on virus and development of drugs and vaccines for them. Its one of the reasons why the work usually last years and years and sometime snever finds an end to such projects. This does not mean that the danger is over, the virusses often keep coming back. ebola is such an exmaple. resarch on it was difficult - and still is, I think - for the reasons described above.


Many people over here fall victim to the dilemma that the success of lock down in reucing cas enumbers has reduced the cas enumbers - and that now serves as an excuse to question that the measurements were necessa yin the first.


Hygienics experts point out that the late reaction of making masks mandatory has created in the first the need to loock down. if we would have started to carry masks in late January, we may have gotten around a total lock down. I could kagien that this indeed holds truth. But even in this forum i was attacked back then for telling people they should wear masks - and I was late, it was early March when I started to raise that recomemndation. Everybody who wnated to see and had an understanding of ogarithimc progressions, could have known by then at the latest what was coming down our way.

[em2nought]

oops wrong thread

[mapuc]

Take a look at this visualisation.

https://public.flourish.studio/visua...turOHgOsuZcz4s

Markus