totm april 2020 Coronavirus

[DDE]

https://pcr.news/stati/test-na-koronavirus-dlya-rossii/
Vektor's PCR test is a hundred test less sensitive, viral load-wise, than most virus testing kits, and certain components of the test process are not included in the kit and very broadly specified, leading to several cases of false negatives; there's also an anonymous tip that it may generate false-positives on at least one other coronavirus.

The problem is that, due to BSL requirements, the watchdog and its sole testing kit supplier have a monopoly that keep at least one existing and several upcoming, likely superior kits, by both military-run centers and private companies.

[DDE]

NOW IS YOUR CHANCE, FELLOW HIKOKOMORI!

[Scotius]

Well. People locked in homes. Among them significant percentage of couples.

I wonder what quarantine will do to demographics nine months from now?

[DDE]

 

[Cavscout74]

The grocery store where my daughter works recently had to run off a guy from their parking lot - he had a trunk full of toilet paper and was calling people over, offering to sell it for $2 a roll.  There are a lot of other things I would really wish happen to that guy (other than the store ordering him to leave their property), but I'm almost certain stating any of them is against forum rules.  I will say people like that give the human race a bad name.

Edit:  And for what its worth, as of this morning the closest cases are still over an hour drive away from me.

Edited March 15, 2020 by Cavscout74

[kerbiloid]

26 minutes ago, Scotius said:

I wonder what quarantine will do to demographics nine months from now?

A lot of Cory and Cora by the end of the year.

[Rover 6428]

Does anyone know about the UK border policies? Its just that I have a bad feeling that I am going to be stuck here

[StrandedonEarth]

2 hours ago, Scotius said:

Well. People locked in homes. Among them significant percentage of couples.

I wonder what quarantine will do to demographics nine months from now?

In nine months a new generation will be born that will be dubbed “Coronials”. In thirteen years these will become “Quaranteens”

[DDE]

Cheers! *downs glass* So I'm now officially on both Vitamin C and Vitamin D supplements.

In nine months a new generation will be born that will be dubbed “Coronials”. In thirteen years these will become “Quaranteens”

And all the while, they will be known as Generation Alpha.

Not joking. That's what the high and mighty call it.

[Lisias]

1 hour ago, Rover 6428 said:

Does anyone know about the UK border policies? Its just that I have a bad feeling that I am going to be stuck here

The last news I had about UK is that they are going to avoid closures and lockdowns - the rationale is that it's impossible to hold the spread of the virus by now, the Winter is near the end (and so the Public Health will be less pressured by the winters diseases) and that it's better to immunise the population by now, when the rest of the World is on a lockdown anyway (and so the economic impact is unavoidable) than have to cope with the same drama next winter when the disease will be back - by there, they expect way less UK citizens to be vulnerable.

However, besides UK is still receiving passengers from outside, I think it's unlikely that other countries would be receiving passengers from UK...

[sevenperforce]

Now presenting with a very mild cough and a mild fever. I ride the DC metro twice a day so I am about as likely to catch it as anyone without direct confirmed contact. Masking and self-isolating but not much of a consolation when I've been snuggling my newborn twins all weekend.

[tater]

56 minutes ago, sevenperforce said:

Now presenting with a very mild cough and a mild fever. I ride the DC metro twice a day so I am about as likely to catch it as anyone without direct confirmed contact. Masking and self-isolating but not much of a consolation when I've been snuggling my newborn twins all weekend.

All of you are in a very, very flu-like demo. People with flu get really sick, too, sometimes, we just don't worry about it. Also, if yer gonna get it, now is the best possible time, frankly, care will be harder to come by later.

[TheSaint]

13 minutes ago, tater said:

All of you are in a very, very flu-like demo. People with flu get really sick, too, sometimes, we just don't worry about it. Also, if yer gonna get it, now is the best possible time, frankly, care will be harder to come by later.

I'm in the same boat as you: Wife is in healthcare, so most likely we will all wind up getting it at some point. Better to get it over with now, while things are less crazy.

[tater]

That Gates graph is really good to see. A tiny behavioral change, 25% contact reduction massively shifts this. 50% and we're really talkin'.

8 minutes ago, TheSaint said:

I'm in the same boat as you: Wife is in healthcare, so most likely we will all wind up getting it at some point. Better to get it over with now, while things are less crazy.

My wife is trying to figure out what cases to cancel (they're not doing electives now), but also thinking ahead that in X weeks it will in fact be worse.

[mikegarrison]

I was essentially out of food, so today was the first day I left the house in the past 10 days. Not coincidentally, it was the first day I had any coffee in the past 10 days. Really nice weather in Seattle today. On a normal sunny spring weekend afternoon, this would be when all of Seattle was outdoors enjoying the unusual lack of rain.

[sevenperforce]

5 hours ago, tater said:

All of you are in a very, very flu-like demo. People with flu get really sick, too, sometimes, we just don't worry about it. Also, if yer gonna get it, now is the best possible time, frankly, care will be harder to come by later.

I got the flu shot, and I never get fevers. Hence the concern.

4 hours ago, mikegarrison said:

I was essentially out of food, so today was the first day I left the house in the past 10 days. Not coincidentally, it was the first day I had any coffee in the past 10 days. Really nice weather in Seattle today. On a normal sunny spring weekend afternoon, this would be when all of Seattle was outdoors enjoying the unusual lack of rain.

Thanks for taking social distancing seriously.

[tater]

 

[mikegarrison]

The Washington State governor has announced a temporary ban on all restaurants and bars. No inside seating allowed, but takeout is still going to be OK.

For about five days there has been a ban on any gatherings of 250+ people, but that limit is being lowered to 50 people.

Edited March 16, 2020 by mikegarrison

[DDE]

So you're a 40-year-old female who has just tested positive for COVID-19 and are hospitalized. Do you:

a) Enjoy the unexpected vacation, or

b) Get bored, escape the hospital and head home, likely through all the key subway hubs, while taking zero precautions.

It's (b). *sigh* I guess the never-used Article 236 isn't a sufficient deterrence.

Edited March 16, 2020 by DDE
One letter

[KerikBalm]

13 hours ago, Scotius said:

Well. People locked in homes. Among them significant percentage of couples.

I wonder what quarantine will do to demographics nine months from now?

Ughhh.... Just what we need, even more population growth driving the population density up.

Personally, I am rooting for the virus until we get our population under control

[kerbiloid]

Spoiler

  

  

2 hours ago, KerikBalm said:

Just what we need, even more population growth driving the population density up.

Quote

• Location: Switzerland

You have a LOT of space for expansion.

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 16, 2020 by kerbiloid

[DDE]

50 minutes ago, kerbiloid said:

3 hours ago, KerikBalm said:

Just what we need, even more population growth driving the population density up.

Quote

• Location: Switzerland

You have a LOT of space for expansion

@KerikBalm, get the bridge demolition charges. The heavy ones.

[Shpaget]

As of today, our business is closed for public until all this situation calms down. We are still coming to work (since there's always something to do), but are taking some precautions (shorter work day, avoiding takeouts etc...). Two guys that use public transportation are excused from work until we figure out how to either get them to work by private transportation or until we can get them some work to do at home (which won't be that hard). In the meantime, I have a 5 l canister of denatured 96% ethanol I use for various purposes in large quantities, so I mixed up some DIY sanitiser. I'm also giving it to others to take home, since it's getting hard to find the stuff in the drug stores. A distributor place where we get it is sold out too (we checked).

The recipe for an effective sanitiser is very simple:
Mix ethanol or isopropyl alcohol with water until you get about 70% alcohol mixture, add a few drops of glycerin and there you go. The glycerin is not an active ingredient and is not required, but it's nice to have some in the mix to counter the desiccating effect of alcohol (pure alcohol makes your hands dry, glycerin prevents that). I didn't have glycerin, but did have some liquid soap, so a few drops of that did the trick (it also smells just a tiny bit better).

[Hotel26]

I live in a modern city with population of 1.5M that is pretty much like any other western city of that size.

However, because it's located at the furthest end of the planet, only 3 cases of COVID-19 have been reported (last I checked).

Nevertheless, my company (impressively) announced this morning it is suspending travel and requiring all employees to work at home until Easter; at which time the company will close for two weeks.

Today, at school, my son's math teacher said he thought the public school system should close now while it is still early.  No sign of it doing so, yet.

"The greatest shortcoming of the human race is the inability to understand the exponential function.", Dr Albert Bartlett

Personal action is always the most reliable action.  So for me, hygiene: especially at home!

Edited March 16, 2020 by Hotel26

[XB-70A]

Already posted in the Arianespace's thread, but I realized it would be more interesting to share it here.

https://spaceflightnow.com/2020/03/16/launches-from-french-guiana-suspended-due-to-coronavirus/