News Coronavirus Thread

[7577969923]

I feel fine mate, except for a bit of a headache.
Our neighbour had all the symptoms, his doc said he most likely had it and sent him to be tested but they knocked him back. He told them that he had contact with people who had been to Asia etc because he has them stay at his place but couldn't confirm if any of them had it because of the transiatory nature of their Airbnb relationship. In a situatuon like his it seems strange to me that they wouldn't test him. As a consequence i am now unsure if I should go to work because if his experience is anything to go by there is zero chance i will get tested.

This is a worry. I think hospitals and doctors have been instructed to try and preserve the available test kits. The head of the WHO spoke overnight urging countries to test, test, test and making the obvious point that we can't fight the virus if we don't know who has it. Your neighbour definitely should have been tested. You should both definitely self-isolate. I would say speak to your gp just to get things started. Otherwise if you really feel bad I hear the Epworth will do tests for $350 if you meet the symptom criteria.

 

[7577969923]

Still banned in 15 states in the US. Is Pence responsible for increases there too?

Was Pence to know that a small town of 5000 would figure out how to get around a coating on the pills intended to deter abuse, prepared them for injection and then shared needles to do so?

Inside A Small Brick House At The Heart Of Indiana's Opioid Crisis

Prescription painkiller abuse sparked an HIV outbreak in rural Indiana. Kelly McEvers takes NPR's new podcast, Embedded, inside the home where IV drug users meet.

www.npr.org

Still a lot of stigma around addiction and a needle-exchange program does nothing to address illegal drug use. Perhaps their government thought they could stop it using other programs?

At the end of the day, HIV prevention is up to the individual. Pence didn't hand the drugs out to these people. He's not responsible for their actions either.

This wouldn't even be a story if Trump didn't select Pence to be his VP. Instead like all things related to Trump he came under fire. See Brett Kavanaugh.

He ignored the advice of experts. It was a big story in Indiana where Pence was an incredibly unpopular and divisive Governor. It became a bigger story when Trump chose someone with a record of choose ideology over science to the detriment of people's health to head his Covid19 team.

 

[Del191229]

Don't fall in to his cliched bullshit.

He is the biggest distorter of information on this board.

Social Media Is Harmful to Your Brain and Relationships

Social media is making you fatter and sicker by the tweet.

www.psychologytoday.com

 

[The acurate one]

Mate it's the apocalypse and I'm trying to pick up. Tell you now the Gypsy Kings get things happening

 

[Gasometer]

Hahahaha, I'm very much not a Boomer.

My point is what I said before: this country has had it better than anywhere in the world for decades. Literally. The world envies us.

So when a challenge like this comes along, we're psychologically unprepared for what is coming. We don't have the experience of walking through cities knowing a bomb can go off at any time. We haven't had 25 per cent youth unemployment for decades.

Hence this overreaction. My friends in Brussels for example spent days on full lockdown while Daesh terrorists were roaming around shooting up places and bombing metro stations etc in 2015. So a lockdown for the virus isn't as psychologically threatening for them as it is us.

And it is actually the Boomers who are the worst, and least prepared to make any sacrifice. They are so used to having everything on a plate, and feel that they are "under attack" when someone wants them to pay vaguely fair tax on their investment properties.

We will feel this shock far worse than any other major Western society simply because we haven't had a shock like this before.

I have been saying this for the past decade...when the next Recession hits there are a lot of people who have not experienced the pain of it all.

Some entitled are in for a real rude shock this next 2 years

 

[Groin guru]

He ignored the advice of experts. It was a big story in Indiana where Pence was an incredibly unpopular and divisive Governor. It became a bigger story when Trump chose someone with a record of choose ideology over science to the detriment of people's health to head his Covid19 team.

It wasn't an issue until one subset within a subset (a town of 5k) found a loophole with a drug.

Needle exchange programs aren't a slam dunk. Perhaps the aim was to try and cut out illicit drug use in that area. It failed so he did a temp release of needles. A lot of this stuff is trial and error and Pence didn't have the benefit of hindsight just like those dealing with Covid-19 across the globe.

Framing one individual for a 120 person increase is a hit job. Pure and simple.

 

[7577969923]

It wasn't an issue until one subset within a subset (a town of 5k) found a loophole with a drug.

Needle exchange programs aren't a slam dunk. Perhaps the aim was to try and cut out illicit drug use in that area. It failed so he did a temp release of needles. A lot of this stuff is trial and error and Pence didn't have the benefit of hindsight just like those dealing with Covid-19 across the globe.

Framing one individual for a 120 person increase is a hit job. Pure and simple.

It's called accountability. He was given clear advice by experts in the field and chose to ignore it for political and ideological reasons. When failure to follow that advice leads to the exact outcome the experts warned him about, then the accountability couldn't be clearer. Nothing like a hit job.

 

[Pykie]

17/3/20 - +77 = +20.37% (7pm)
16/3/20 - +77 = +25.75%
15/3/20 - +49 = +19.60%
14/3/20 - +42 = +20.10%



Not good.

 

[Snake_Baker]

Mods, any chance we can start another Covid 19 thread, or splice it in to the random chat thread for the political obsessives?

 

[Snake_Baker]

17/3/20 - +77 = +20.37% (7pm)
16/3/20 - +77 = +25.75%
15/3/20 - +49 = +19.60%
14/3/20 - +42 = +20.10%



Not good.

It's actually outstanding.

Nice dramatic use of percentages.

 

[Snake_Baker]

Perspective.

 

[Groin guru]

Greta not handling the quarantine well.

 

[Snake_Baker]

This is what a trooper looks like.

 

[Pykie]

So the last 8 days has seen an average spread of 21.5% - day-on-day.

At that same average infection rate, we'd have 900,000 cases by Anzac Day.


If the mortality rate stays at 1% ~ 9,000 deaths.

 

[giantroo]

DFAT says Australian travellers who want to return home amid COVID-19 pandemic should do so ASAP

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade issues advice recommending Australians abroad who wish to return home do so as soon as possible via commercial flights.

mobile.abc.net.au

Government’s urgent warning for Australians overseas: get back now

Aussies abroad are being warned it could soon be too late to return home as the coronavirus pandemic escalates.

7news.com.au

 

[Kangaroos4eva]

You mentioned mobilisation Pykie


The first shipment among 100,000 new coronavirus testing kits were due to arrive in Australia on Tuesday night, alleviating a nationwide shortage that caused health authorities to issue strict guidelines on who was eligible for testing.


The Therapeutic Goods Administration fast-tracked onto the market the tests, which are able to turn around results in three hours and free up resources in the Australia's overloaded pathology laboratories. Unlike the existing tests, the kits arrive from the United States ready to go and do not have to be assembled in the laboratory.


Roche Australia's managing director Allison Ross said the kits had been tested in the market for about a month and were rushed out to meet doctor and laboratory demand.


"It normally takes around 18 months to make a test and, in this situation, we managed to do it in six weeks," Ms Ross said. "The global team had their fingers to the bone."


The Morrison government is asking companies to make a war-style shift in manufacturing, to produce much needed medical supplies.


With overseas supply chains unable to keep pace with demand, industry has been asked to step up the manufacturing of items such as surgical gowns, gloves, goggles and hand sanitisers.

The government has released a ‘request for information’ asking companies what they make, and what they can make. Department of Industry officials will then assess if companies are viable, and, if they are, government assistance will be provided.


It follows a move by luxury brand Louis Vuitton to start producing hand sanitiser in France. In the United Kingdom, Prime Minister Boris Johnson is calling on engineering firms to shift production to building ventilators for the National Health Service.


Waiting times have spun out to seven days for non-urgent coronavirus tests and doctors with mild symptoms have been self-isolating out of caution, putting more pressure on hospitals.


Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt declined to answer at a press conference on Tuesday afternoon how many tests currently existed in Australia. "What we have is sufficient for current requirements," Mr Hunt said.


The World Health Organisation warned on Monday night that testing was the biggest priority in stopping the spread of the deadly disease.


WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said countries had not shown enough urgency in testing and contact tracing, which were the "backbone" of the coronavirus response.


"We have a simple message for those countries: test, test, test," he said.


Australians have been warned not to get tested unless they had symptoms and had been overseas or in contact with a confirmed case. There are concerns that people with mild or zero symptoms are spreading the disease unknowingly.


Roche will produce 400,000 of the new tests every week, but these will have to be shared with the international market. Ms Ross said the availability of the tests would not change the Australian guidelines on who could be tested.


The number of cases nationally has almost doubled since Saturday, with 448 cases reported at 2pm on Tuesday.


South Korea, which has managed to bring infections under control, has screened around one in every 200 citizens, after widely distributing the tests when its first cases of COVID-19 were confirmed. It has 633 testing sites nationwide and the ability to test 20,000 people per day.


Australia has conducted 80,000 tests, though this is higher than the number of people tested because some people have been tested more than once.


UNSW immunologist John Dwyer has called for random testing of the population to ascertain the extent of the penetration of the virus in the community.


A Department of Health spokesman said Australian laboratories started work on an in-house test as soon as the genetic sequence became available on January 12.


"Over recent weeks, requests for COVID-19 testing have increased dramatically, as have demands on laboratory resources such as reagents and test kit supplies," the spokesman said. "There are sufficient stocks across public and private testing laboratories to meet short-term demands."


The government was working with laboratories to secure supplies and at the same time talking to medical practitioners about who should be tested. Some laboratories were also screening test request forms.


Meanwhile Victorian manufacturer Med-Con will increase production of face masks from 5 million to 15 million per year after intervention by the Morrison government.


Employees at the Shepparton-based company will work around the clock and take on an extra 25 staff.


Manager of operations Ray Stockwell said he expected production to increase "dramatically over the next three weeks or so".


"We’re going to go from one shift to three shifts and put out a lot of masks," Mr Stockwell said.


Defence Minister Linda Reynolds said about a dozen engineering specialists from the Australian Defence Force have been seconded to Med-Con to make masks and do other tasks until the company can recruit and train more staff.

 

[Snake_Baker]

So the last 8 days has seen an average spread of 21.5% - day-on-day.

At that same average infection rate, we'd have 900,000 cases by Anzac Day.

If the mortality rate stays at 1% ~ 9,000 deaths.

The optimistic budget targeting model for grocery prices?

 

[Snake_Baker]

UNSW immunologist John Dwyer has called for random testing of the population to ascertain the extent of the penetration of the virus in the community.

Now THAT'S a good idea.

 

[7577969923]

17/3/20 - +77 = +20.37% (7pm)
16/3/20 - +77 = +25.75%
15/3/20 - +49 = +19.60%
14/3/20 - +42 = +20.10%



Not good.

Yep. This is the nature of exponential growth. Those that dismiss Covid19 as nothing more than the flu have no idea how close we are to 1 million infections even though it is only in the hundreds now. this is what the intervention aims to stop.

 

[Kangaroos4eva]

Now THAT'S a good idea.

One of the best lessons to take from Korea.

 

[Snake_Baker]

A sane man in a crazy country, and he is actually qualified (unlike journalist morons) to have an opinion worth taking seriously.

JOHN DWYER. Understanding the public health imperatives required to minimise infection with the Corona virus. (Part Two).

Providing communities with accurate, timely and logical information about the control measures required to minimise harms associated with infectious diseases is essential to avoid both complacency and panic.

johnmenadue.com

 

[Pykie]

You mentioned mobilisation Pykie


The first shipment among 100,000 new coronavirus testing kits were due to arrive in Australia on Tuesday night, alleviating a nationwide shortage that caused health authorities to issue strict guidelines on who was eligible for testing.


The Therapeutic Goods Administration fast-tracked onto the market the tests, which are able to turn around results in three hours and free up resources in the Australia's overloaded pathology laboratories. Unlike the existing tests, the kits arrive from the United States ready to go and do not have to be assembled in the laboratory.


Roche Australia's managing director Allison Ross said the kits had been tested in the market for about a month and were rushed out to meet doctor and laboratory demand.


"It normally takes around 18 months to make a test and, in this situation, we managed to do it in six weeks," Ms Ross said. "The global team had their fingers to the bone."


The Morrison government is asking companies to make a war-style shift in manufacturing, to produce much needed medical supplies.


With overseas supply chains unable to keep pace with demand, industry has been asked to step up the manufacturing of items such as surgical gowns, gloves, goggles and hand sanitisers.

The government has released a ‘request for information’ asking companies what they make, and what they can make. Department of Industry officials will then assess if companies are viable, and, if they are, government assistance will be provided.


It follows a move by luxury brand Louis Vuitton to start producing hand sanitiser in France. In the United Kingdom, Prime Minister Boris Johnson is calling on engineering firms to shift production to building ventilators for the National Health Service.


Waiting times have spun out to seven days for non-urgent coronavirus tests and doctors with mild symptoms have been self-isolating out of caution, putting more pressure on hospitals.


Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt declined to answer at a press conference on Tuesday afternoon how many tests currently existed in Australia. "What we have is sufficient for current requirements," Mr Hunt said.


The World Health Organisation warned on Monday night that testing was the biggest priority in stopping the spread of the deadly disease.


WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said countries had not shown enough urgency in testing and contact tracing, which were the "backbone" of the coronavirus response.


"We have a simple message for those countries: test, test, test," he said.


Australians have been warned not to get tested unless they had symptoms and had been overseas or in contact with a confirmed case. There are concerns that people with mild or zero symptoms are spreading the disease unknowingly.


Roche will produce 400,000 of the new tests every week, but these will have to be shared with the international market. Ms Ross said the availability of the tests would not change the Australian guidelines on who could be tested.


The number of cases nationally has almost doubled since Saturday, with 448 cases reported at 2pm on Tuesday.


South Korea, which has managed to bring infections under control, has screened around one in every 200 citizens, after widely distributing the tests when its first cases of COVID-19 were confirmed. It has 633 testing sites nationwide and the ability to test 20,000 people per day.


Australia has conducted 80,000 tests, though this is higher than the number of people tested because some people have been tested more than once.


UNSW immunologist John Dwyer has called for random testing of the population to ascertain the extent of the penetration of the virus in the community.


A Department of Health spokesman said Australian laboratories started work on an in-house test as soon as the genetic sequence became available on January 12.


"Over recent weeks, requests for COVID-19 testing have increased dramatically, as have demands on laboratory resources such as reagents and test kit supplies," the spokesman said. "There are sufficient stocks across public and private testing laboratories to meet short-term demands."


The government was working with laboratories to secure supplies and at the same time talking to medical practitioners about who should be tested. Some laboratories were also screening test request forms.


Meanwhile Victorian manufacturer Med-Con will increase production of face masks from 5 million to 15 million per year after intervention by the Morrison government.


Employees at the Shepparton-based company will work around the clock and take on an extra 25 staff.


Manager of operations Ray Stockwell said he expected production to increase "dramatically over the next three weeks or so".


"We’re going to go from one shift to three shifts and put out a lot of masks," Mr Stockwell said.


Defence Minister Linda Reynolds said about a dozen engineering specialists from the Australian Defence Force have been seconded to Med-Con to make masks and do other tasks until the company can recruit and train more staff.

Was amazed on the news coverage to see that there is only ONE manufacturer of medical clothing in the country. A bloke who looked like he operated out of a rural warehouse. With the govt set to deploy the army engineers into his warehouse to supplement his workforce to ramp up the production of 10,000,000 masks in the next 12 months.

Surely some of the Australian made clothing retailers (the few still onshore) come to the party in this regard, given that retail will be ****ed for quite a while.

 

[7577969923]

You mentioned mobilisation Pykie


The first shipment among 100,000 new coronavirus testing kits were due to arrive in Australia on Tuesday night, alleviating a nationwide shortage that caused health authorities to issue strict guidelines on who was eligible for testing.


The Therapeutic Goods Administration fast-tracked onto the market the tests, which are able to turn around results in three hours and free up resources in the Australia's overloaded pathology laboratories. Unlike the existing tests, the kits arrive from the United States ready to go and do not have to be assembled in the laboratory.


Roche Australia's managing director Allison Ross said the kits had been tested in the market for about a month and were rushed out to meet doctor and laboratory demand.


"It normally takes around 18 months to make a test and, in this situation, we managed to do it in six weeks," Ms Ross said. "The global team had their fingers to the bone."


The Morrison government is asking companies to make a war-style shift in manufacturing, to produce much needed medical supplies.


With overseas supply chains unable to keep pace with demand, industry has been asked to step up the manufacturing of items such as surgical gowns, gloves, goggles and hand sanitisers.

The government has released a ‘request for information’ asking companies what they make, and what they can make. Department of Industry officials will then assess if companies are viable, and, if they are, government assistance will be provided.


It follows a move by luxury brand Louis Vuitton to start producing hand sanitiser in France. In the United Kingdom, Prime Minister Boris Johnson is calling on engineering firms to shift production to building ventilators for the National Health Service.


Waiting times have spun out to seven days for non-urgent coronavirus tests and doctors with mild symptoms have been self-isolating out of caution, putting more pressure on hospitals.


Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt declined to answer at a press conference on Tuesday afternoon how many tests currently existed in Australia. "What we have is sufficient for current requirements," Mr Hunt said.


The World Health Organisation warned on Monday night that testing was the biggest priority in stopping the spread of the deadly disease.


WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said countries had not shown enough urgency in testing and contact tracing, which were the "backbone" of the coronavirus response.


"We have a simple message for those countries: test, test, test," he said.


Australians have been warned not to get tested unless they had symptoms and had been overseas or in contact with a confirmed case. There are concerns that people with mild or zero symptoms are spreading the disease unknowingly.


Roche will produce 400,000 of the new tests every week, but these will have to be shared with the international market. Ms Ross said the availability of the tests would not change the Australian guidelines on who could be tested.


The number of cases nationally has almost doubled since Saturday, with 448 cases reported at 2pm on Tuesday.


South Korea, which has managed to bring infections under control, has screened around one in every 200 citizens, after widely distributing the tests when its first cases of COVID-19 were confirmed. It has 633 testing sites nationwide and the ability to test 20,000 people per day.


Australia has conducted 80,000 tests, though this is higher than the number of people tested because some people have been tested more than once.


UNSW immunologist John Dwyer has called for random testing of the population to ascertain the extent of the penetration of the virus in the community.


A Department of Health spokesman said Australian laboratories started work on an in-house test as soon as the genetic sequence became available on January 12.


"Over recent weeks, requests for COVID-19 testing have increased dramatically, as have demands on laboratory resources such as reagents and test kit supplies," the spokesman said. "There are sufficient stocks across public and private testing laboratories to meet short-term demands."


The government was working with laboratories to secure supplies and at the same time talking to medical practitioners about who should be tested. Some laboratories were also screening test request forms.


Meanwhile Victorian manufacturer Med-Con will increase production of face masks from 5 million to 15 million per year after intervention by the Morrison government.


Employees at the Shepparton-based company will work around the clock and take on an extra 25 staff.


Manager of operations Ray Stockwell said he expected production to increase "dramatically over the next three weeks or so".


"We’re going to go from one shift to three shifts and put out a lot of masks," Mr Stockwell said.


Defence Minister Linda Reynolds said about a dozen engineering specialists from the Australian Defence Force have been seconded to Med-Con to make masks and do other tasks until the company can recruit and train more staff.

Thanks for posting. Great information.

 

[7577969923]

So the last 8 days has seen an average spread of 21.5% - day-on-day.

At that same average infection rate, we'd have 900,000 cases by Anzac Day.


If the mortality rate stays at 1% ~ 9,000 deaths.

Problem is that implies that there will be in the order of 100k to 180k hospitalisations and 40k to 50k of those would require acute care based on Wuhan/Italy experience. We have nowhere near the capacity to cope with that and the mortality rate will climb.

 

[tazaa]

A sane man in a crazy country, and he is actually qualified (unlike journalist morons) to have an opinion worth taking seriously.

View attachment 841372

JOHN DWYER. Understanding the public health imperatives required to minimise infection with the Corona virus. (Part Two).

Providing communities with accurate, timely and logical information about the control measures required to minimise harms associated with infectious diseases is essential to avoid both complacency and panic.

johnmenadue.com

Yep.
It needs to be eventually accepted as another strand of flu.

Will anyone in years to come even know if it’s Covid19 or something else?

The elderly and those with weak immune systems are vulnerable and yes it’s spreading quite quickly but overall the panic amongst most Australians is ludicrous.

All I know is the way people have reacted to this continues to disappoint.

This country has very quickly epitomized the government it has voted in via being selfish, greedy and downright ignorant.

The governments at both federal and state level I cannot argue have failed miserably at managing this.
Allowing the Grand Prix to go ahead and allowing international students back into the country has been just some of the more inept decisions.

The universities and state government were upset at the loss of revenue.

Well how did that turn out as of today for all parties concerned. Massive gamble. Losses cannot even be counted.

There is plenty of misplaced anger but all of it should be directed at those who control our borders.
It’s a fail.