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Author Topic: Week of April 7: COVID-19 info, facts & updates  (Read 4760 times)

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Offline Pokeyonekenobie

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Re: Week of April 7: COVID-19 info, facts & updates
« Reply #45 on: April 12, 2020, 09:40:59 AM »
Found this in my email from the US Embassy in Beijing;

Quote
Event: Discrimination against African-Americans in Guangzhou: In response to an increase in COVID-19 infections, officials in the Guangzhou metropolitan area escalated scrutiny of foreign nationals. As part of this campaign, police ordered bars and restaurants not to serve clients who appear to be of African origin. Moreover, local officials launched a round of mandatory tests for COVID-19, followed by mandatory self-quarantine, for anyone with “African contacts,” regardless of recent travel history or previous quarantine completion. African-Americans have also reported that some businesses and hotels refuse to do business with them.  The U.S. Consulate General advises African-Americans or those who believe Chinese officials may suspect them of having contact with nationals of African countries to avoid the Guangzhou metropolitan area until further notice.  Without advance warning, officials might require such individuals to submit to a COVID-19 test and undergo 14 days of supervised quarantine at their own expense.
 
All U.S. citizens in China are subject to local law. If you violate Chinese laws, even unknowingly, you may be arrested, expelled, or imprisoned.  The Chinese legal system can be opaque, and the interpretation and enforcement of local laws may be arbitrary. The judiciary does not enjoy independence from political influence. U.S. citizens traveling or residing in China may be subject to heightened scrutiny by Chinese local law enforcement and state security. They should carry identity documents at all times.
The authorities in Guangzhou are specifically targeting ALL foreigners who are black, regardless if you are American, Canadian, or Nigerian. As long as you meet their requirement (black skin) you are "african" in their eyes. Many have been kicked out of their residences and are now wandering the streets as hotels will not accept foreigners.
However if you are a white South African - you can not possibly be from Africa because you are white.

I am hoping this is specific to the city of Guangzhou. My roommate is South African. We are not in a megacity where there is a large expat community. We ARE the expat community. Everybody in our community knows there is a fat, white girl and a black girl living here.

How in the **** did this go from originating in China to China blaming ALL foreigners for bringing the virus to China?  :enraged: Did they forget where this originated? The border is closed, foreigners can NOT enter. The media keeps saying "foreign workers" but what they really mean are the Chinese nationals who were working outside China that are returning infected. This misinformation has given rise to xenophobia of ALL foreigners weather we have been here the whole time or not.

I don't even know how to respond to this!  It makes me angry and very sad at the same time.  In all seriousness, why can't we all just get along?

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Re: Week of April 7: COVID-19 info, facts & updates
« Reply #46 on: April 12, 2020, 01:45:45 PM »
Found this in my email from the US Embassy in Beijing;

Quote
Event: Discrimination against African-Americans in Guangzhou: In response to an increase in COVID-19 infections, officials in the Guangzhou metropolitan area escalated scrutiny of foreign nationals. As part of this campaign, police ordered bars and restaurants not to serve clients who appear to be of African origin. Moreover, local officials launched a round of mandatory tests for COVID-19, followed by mandatory self-quarantine, for anyone with “African contacts,” regardless of recent travel history or previous quarantine completion. African-Americans have also reported that some businesses and hotels refuse to do business with them.  The U.S. Consulate General advises African-Americans or those who believe Chinese officials may suspect them of having contact with nationals of African countries to avoid the Guangzhou metropolitan area until further notice.  Without advance warning, officials might require such individuals to submit to a COVID-19 test and undergo 14 days of supervised quarantine at their own expense.
 
All U.S. citizens in China are subject to local law. If you violate Chinese laws, even unknowingly, you may be arrested, expelled, or imprisoned.  The Chinese legal system can be opaque, and the interpretation and enforcement of local laws may be arbitrary. The judiciary does not enjoy independence from political influence. U.S. citizens traveling or residing in China may be subject to heightened scrutiny by Chinese local law enforcement and state security. They should carry identity documents at all times.
The authorities in Guangzhou are specifically targeting ALL foreigners who are black, regardless if you are American, Canadian, or Nigerian. As long as you meet their requirement (black skin) you are "african" in their eyes. Many have been kicked out of their residences and are now wandering the streets as hotels will not accept foreigners.
However if you are a white South African - you can not possibly be from Africa because you are white.

I am hoping this is specific to the city of Guangzhou. My roommate is South African. We are not in a megacity where there is a large expat community. We ARE the expat community. Everybody in our community knows there is a fat, white girl and a black girl living here.

How in the **** did this go from originating in China to China blaming ALL foreigners for bringing the virus to China?  :enraged: Did they forget where this originated? The border is closed, foreigners can NOT enter. The media keeps saying "foreign workers" but what they really mean are the Chinese nationals who were working outside China that are returning infected. This misinformation has given rise to xenophobia of ALL foreigners weather we have been here the whole time or not.
Dear China, please get your act together & stop wi the prejudice.
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Offline Ponyfan

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Re: Week of April 7: COVID-19 info, facts & updates
« Reply #47 on: April 13, 2020, 05:22:39 PM »
Found this in my email from the US Embassy in Beijing;

Quote
Event: Discrimination against African-Americans in Guangzhou: In response to an increase in COVID-19 infections, officials in the Guangzhou metropolitan area escalated scrutiny of foreign nationals. As part of this campaign, police ordered bars and restaurants not to serve clients who appear to be of African origin. Moreover, local officials launched a round of mandatory tests for COVID-19, followed by mandatory self-quarantine, for anyone with “African contacts,” regardless of recent travel history or previous quarantine completion. African-Americans have also reported that some businesses and hotels refuse to do business with them.  The U.S. Consulate General advises African-Americans or those who believe Chinese officials may suspect them of having contact with nationals of African countries to avoid the Guangzhou metropolitan area until further notice.  Without advance warning, officials might require such individuals to submit to a COVID-19 test and undergo 14 days of supervised quarantine at their own expense.
 
All U.S. citizens in China are subject to local law. If you violate Chinese laws, even unknowingly, you may be arrested, expelled, or imprisoned.  The Chinese legal system can be opaque, and the interpretation and enforcement of local laws may be arbitrary. The judiciary does not enjoy independence from political influence. U.S. citizens traveling or residing in China may be subject to heightened scrutiny by Chinese local law enforcement and state security. They should carry identity documents at all times.
The authorities in Guangzhou are specifically targeting ALL foreigners who are black, regardless if you are American, Canadian, or Nigerian. As long as you meet their requirement (black skin) you are "african" in their eyes. Many have been kicked out of their residences and are now wandering the streets as hotels will not accept foreigners.
However if you are a white South African - you can not possibly be from Africa because you are white.

I am hoping this is specific to the city of Guangzhou. My roommate is South African. We are not in a megacity where there is a large expat community. We ARE the expat community. Everybody in our community knows there is a fat, white girl and a black girl living here.

How in the **** did this go from originating in China to China blaming ALL foreigners for bringing the virus to China?  :enraged: Did they forget where this originated? The border is closed, foreigners can NOT enter. The media keeps saying "foreign workers" but what they really mean are the Chinese nationals who were working outside China that are returning infected. This misinformation has given rise to xenophobia of ALL foreigners weather we have been here the whole time or not.

This is terrible.   :enraged:


Latest info from my area. 317 cases, 21 deaths, 72 people recovered The numbers today are the biggest jump we’ve had so far with bigger jumps expected in the next few days. Most of the deaths are connected to the virus being found in one of the nursing homes.

My aunt lives in the same state I do but in a different county and she has to have a travel permit to go to work or the store for essential business because she lives outside the city limits.

The governor will make a statement this week on if schools will be able to reopen for classroom learning.

I think my cousin is going to try to get tested tomorrow. Over the weekend she said she was very sick and her lips turned blue. She also cannot hear out of one ear and is coughing a lot.


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Re: Week of April 7: COVID-19 info, facts & updates
« Reply #48 on: April 14, 2020, 10:45:11 AM »
I heard my brother and his family are doing ok in Ecuador... People are tossing bodies in the street there. His family doesn't live near that area though.
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Re: Week of April 7: COVID-19 info, facts & updates
« Reply #49 on: April 14, 2020, 05:49:09 PM »
I heard my brother and his family are doing ok in Ecuador... People are tossing bodies in the street there. His family doesn't live near that area though.
That sounds horrible.   :(







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Re: Week of April 7: COVID-19 info, facts & updates
« Reply #50 on: April 14, 2020, 06:26:24 PM »
We've been sheltering in place for almost a whole month!  Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeee

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Re: Week of April 7: COVID-19 info, facts & updates
« Reply #51 on: April 15, 2020, 08:23:23 AM »
We've been sheltering in place for almost a whole month!  Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeee



The UK as a whole is in the middle of week 4,  as a family we're on week 5 already because older/vulnerable people were told to self isolate the week before the rest of the country and that includes my parents.

We are becoming amazing at rationing toilet roll (we've had none new in since 19th March) and somehow the antibacterial soap has not run out yet thanks to Mum discovering a couple of extra bottles at the back of her cupboard and me providing the regular bars of soap to pad out our handwashing usage. We didn't stockpile anything prior to our lockdown, but I have an unreasonable amount of dove soap bars because the only way to get any was to buy a pack of 24.

We still have a whole pack of wipes unopened, too - these are never in stock in any supermarket delivery so we'd been making do with small hand wipes and whatever we'd got in the store in mid march until I managed to discover Wilkos had a couple of packs in stock and it's saved us these last couple of weeks.

We haven't had kitchen roll for three days now and mother is debating repurposing toilet roll to cover the gap between now and hopefully our first supermarket delivery in 2 weeks on Sunday (if it's in stock!). The delivery of kitchen roll that should have come yesterday still hasn't.

We are without bread or eggs,  and mum's milk expires on Saturday. Nobody has baked beans in stock, and we ran out of flour ages ago because half the nation have decided to start baking for the first time at the expense of the other half who just want the occasional crumble or pie to liven up the fruit frozen in the freezer from last year's apple/berry crops.

We have surfeit of home grown rhubarb, so now our whole street is eating it (at a safe social distance).

I grew 12 lettuce plants in March. Dad has somehow managed to terminate 7 of them by April. But the basil is still growing.

At the very least - there are plenty of chocolate biscuits, and the weather is still pretty fine.


On the UK stats - numbers are still dropping, both cases and deaths, and also yesterday hospital admissions were down across the nation as a whole and also in my wider region.

Lockdown due to be reviewed today/tomorrow but nobody expects it will be lifted in the next 3 weeks.

And stories like this:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-52296196
Remind us of a: Why we are locking down, to give the NHS enough capacity to treat everyone who needs help and b: that nothing should determine what a person's chances are except that person themselves, and everyone deserves the same right to treatment - which can only happen by bringing the caseload down.

This man is also a legend.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-52287145/coronavirus-the-99-year-old-veteran-raising-millions-for-the-nhs
« Last Edit: April 15, 2020, 08:48:32 AM by Taffeta »
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Re: Week of April 7: COVID-19 info, facts & updates
« Reply #52 on: April 15, 2020, 02:38:49 PM »
Kansas is up to 1494 and 76 deaths. Our stay at home order has been extended until May 3rd.
One expert (Zeke Emanuel) is saying don't expect concerts, etc. to return until at least fall 2021 (one I was going to in June has been pushed back to Halloween).
I don't expect anything to ever get back to normal.
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Re: Week of April 7: COVID-19 info, facts & updates
« Reply #53 on: April 15, 2020, 03:12:15 PM »
So our wonderful Texas governor :sarcasm: wants to reopen business soon. Which seems insane to me.

https://www.khou.com/article/news/health/coronavirus/coronavirus-texas-covid19-cases-update/285-f1c36a64-eedc-4d08-bf40-97c62ffcb39b

Personally I don't think i'll feel comfortable going anywhere crowded until there is either widespread testing or wide vaccination. Even after there is a vaccine we have to wait for it to roll out.

I just don't have any confidence in the ability of our healthcare system to get that done. Health insurance in the US is largely tied to being employed in a large company. Many small companies and even large companies don't provide adequate health insurance or any health insurance. How is someone with no health insurance going to get vaccinated. Even getting tested requires a doctor visit. This isn't something that is affordable without decent insurance. And over 10% of the workforce has filed for unemployment so they don't have insurance. Even with Obamacare decent health insurance is not really affordable. The PPO plans in Texas are like $300 per person. There are cheaper or free plans but they don't cover much.

I'm sorry to rant but it just really gets to me. I know the healthcare system in the UK isn't perfect and the funding isn't what it should be. but at least it's there. and its more prioritized.

I just feel like people in the US we're only valued if we're working for the right company in the right job. All of the talk of valuing essential workers is just empty if nothing changes. There's no federally mandated paid sick leave. But if you get sick you can't work. Bills don't just go away. Its like they think no one has actual bills to pay.
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Re: Week of April 7: COVID-19 info, facts & updates
« Reply #54 on: April 15, 2020, 03:24:21 PM »
Quote
We've had reports about those incidents in China here as well. It's either a misinterpretation of language (given that the same character is used in Chinese I think in the words for outside and for foreign, it's not impossible - or it's convenient buck passing now that CHina appear to have it under control. A good explanation if the numbers rise again...but I think a lot of Chinese people are probably just scared and fear makes people do stupid things.

Hopefully since you and your flatmate have been there a long while, people won't treat you with that same suspicious brush.

It's kinda hard to tell because they always acted weird around me. She has it worse because there is this belief that all Africans are infected. They see her and literally run the other way. She is moving to another city May 1, one with a larger expat community..which leaves me as literally the only foreigner left here.  :cry:

A resturant put up this sign and the manager was supposedly fired due to outrage by the local community or so the story goes.
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« Last Edit: April 15, 2020, 03:34:38 PM by tikibirds »
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Re: Week of April 7: COVID-19 info, facts & updates
« Reply #55 on: April 15, 2020, 04:12:52 PM »
Sigh...because partisanship, politicisation and fuelling rivalries is exactly what should happen in a pandemic. Not. Between China's current attitude, Trump's comments about WHO...it feels like the trade war has just continued with new language. (And China and Japan's relationship has good reason to be unsavoury, I had to teach it so it really is unsavoury but that doesn't stop huge numbers of Chinese tourists invading Gion and other parts of Kyoto during the spring in normal years).

@Beth3346 - I dunno if this is OT for this thread but on the subject of the NHS - there's a difference between the underfunding and mismanagement from governments and trust administrations (which is the version of the NHS you guys were presented with when Obamacare was under fire) and what the NHS actually is, which is provision of nationalised and funded free health care for everyone no matter who they are or what they earn. The reason the NHS is (currently) functioning in this crisis is twofold really.

One - people care about it, so are staying home, even if they aren't supporters of this government, to support the health staff. Lots of volunteers doing a lot to support the NHS as well.

Two - the current Tory govt have changed their usual "we'll put a pittance in and pretend like we know what's happening with it' stance  to "the NHS can have whatever it needs, we'll write off all the debt and we'll get extra capacity, beds, equipment, medicines...labs on board." That makes a huge difference to how well the whole organisation can work.

I think the real key is that a national free health service is an asset, and especially so in a pandemic providing the govt inject funds into it to help it to function. And there are still issues (before this 1 in 12 NHS posts were vacant, in part due to Brexit) to be resolved when things are done, but with any luck this is reminding the Tory party that there is a reason we have an NHS, and that yes, it needs more attention and funding because national free health care for everyone is obviously an asset worth protecting.

But I am biased, since without the NHS, I would have lost my mother when I was eight. We would not have been able to pay for her hospitalisation, blood transfusions and then years of expensive treatments. She was self employed, so would not have qualified for a company insurance. So for me, if staying at home means I help the NHS AND protect my parents, then I'm gonna do it. And I think probably a lot of other UK people feel the same...
« Last Edit: April 15, 2020, 04:14:40 PM by Taffeta »
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Re: Week of April 7: COVID-19 info, facts & updates
« Reply #56 on: April 15, 2020, 05:15:37 PM »
@Taffeta Yeah the fights over Obamacare and all the talk about the NHS and Canada's healthcare were way overblown scaremongering. The system we have is a watered down version of the original proposals. Maybe we'll have more willpower to get something better if there is a new administration.

I like to hear from people who actually have direct experience with different health care systems. I feel like one side says nationalized healthcare is evil and terrible and the other says it's a paradise where no one will ever have to worry about getting sick again. I imagine the reality is somewhere more in the middle.

Most polls that i've read say that people in the US do believe that everyone should have access to healthcare without getting into insane amounts to debt. Not that polling is super reliable. But I don't think people are as divided as twitter and cable news would have us believe. people don't necessarily agree with the everything their leaders say. Even if they still vote for them. It's just hard to get anything done in this political climate.

I don't think there is a lack of respect for healthcare workers and doctors here. Most people seem to be staying home if they can. most of the issues here are around how to pay for healthcare.
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Re: Week of April 7: COVID-19 info, facts & updates
« Reply #57 on: April 15, 2020, 05:20:16 PM »

You don't need a doctor visit to get a vaccine. There will probably be drive though things, or stuff like the minute clinics set up at pharmacies, to distribute a vaccine.

I don't think the cost will be much, and it'll probably be covered.

There is already free diagnostic testing for COVID-19 provided by the government.

Spoiler
The Families First Coronavirus Response Act ensures zero patient cost-sharing (including deductibles, copayments, and coinsurance) for medical services related to COVID-19 diagnostic testing.

That means that whether you have commercial insurance, public insurance (like Medicare), or no insurance, you won’t have to pay anything out-of-pocket for your healthcare provider visit (including in-person, telehealth, urgent care, and emergency room visits) to get tested for COVID-19. However, if you are diagnosed with COVID-19 and need additional care, you may be responsible for additional out-of-pocket costs.




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