Week of April 13: COVID-19 info, facts & updates

[lonewolf]

Yikes. My state is up to 2482 and 112 deaths. The total's jumped 271 cases since yesterday.

[Artemesia's Garden]

Trying to keep my mother corralled is very stressful.

Sending lots of love and good wishes. You're doing a good deed there for sure.

[Taffeta]

Trying to keep my mother corralled is very stressful.

Sending lots of love and good wishes. You're doing a good deed there for sure.

Thanks Artie. We're about managing. My mother is a really smart woman, very independant, and super capable. But that is sort of part of the problem since she thinks that it's all too much fuss given that she's so 'active' and in remission...

But at least Dad is more or less backing me up.

UK is at the peak still but it's gonna be a while before we're in the clear. BUT the KCL Covid app data is encouraging that the potential spread around the country is going down. I just hope it doesn't lead to people going out more because they think it's all done with.

Meanwhile because at the moment you can't return or exchange any substitute items in food deliveries, we've arranged with the local community volunteer group to take a small box of the stuff we can't use for whatever reason to a local foodbank so that it doesn't get wasted. Things like grapefruit which mum and I don't like and Dad can't eat because of his medicine, and other things. Hopefully they will come to get it tomorrow morning...hopefully they will help someone out.

And today a delivery I made that was meant to be delivered on 14th April finally came. (Not food, other essentials). I wouldn't mind except it was one of those with slot days and 10 days later is not helpful. But the good news is that we definitely won't be short of washing up liquid for a while.

[mylittleponyroom]

Hello everybody! I am from Germany and in my region we still have to fight with Corona. However, the number of infected people is no longer increasing. The number of healthy people is getting higher and higher. Nevertheless there are still a lot of security measures in place. Contact ban, ban on events (yes, there are NO flea markets or similar and that probably until autumn...!) From Monday on we have to wear face masks in shops, public transport and buildings. That is ok. But the problem is that we almost can't buy them anywhere (except of course expensive on the internet). Therefore we will have to do some bigger purchases later.
I did not get sick myself. Neither did my husband and I don't know anybody who knows anybody who got Corona sick. Fortunately I can go to work as usual (my work is a 10 minutes walk from our house). My husband has been working in the home office for about 2 months. I hope everyone who reads this is doing well! It's a queasy time, but it will pass. Stay well, everyone!

[Ponyfan]

My county is at 494 cases and 40 deaths. I'm not what the current recovered numbers are.

I mentioned this in the other thread but think it's also relevant here.  I worry about people in my state thinking that the crisis is over because some non essential businesses are allowed to reopen, even though they are supposed to be "retail to go."  I've seen quite a few people still not wearing masks in public  and continuing  to bring their children that are old enough to stay home while a parent goes to the store shopping with them.


My cousin's dr wants her to take the antibodies test to see if carries the antibodies for the coronavirus


Ponyfan

[Taffeta]

I am wary of the antibody test thing at the moment.

The UK govt have tested a gazillion and have rejected all of them as not having a high enough accuracy level. I heard there are a bunch of unapproved tests floating around in the US, there was a story here of some local hospital trying to buy some. There are some mysterious antibody tests going on under Pillar 4 of the govt's strategy, but it's all cloak and dagger as to whether those tests are ours, foreign, different...working...I dunno. There are some rumours they come from Porton Down, which if so means they probably do work, but they keep telling us there are no working antibody tests with guaranteed accuracy anywhere in the world.

So yeah. Until there's a test that everyone can be 100% sure about, I'm really wary of them. The problem seems to be distinguishing the difference between existing coronaviruses (which most of us have had) and the new one, and some people get positives because they've had a cold in the past, not because they had Covid.

But when we DO have very accurate ones I want my sister and her boyfriend to take them, because he was ill with a flu like illness at end Jan/Feb and she had something over the following weeks as well. Since nobody seems to know exactly when the virus really arrived and started community spread here due to the means of testing, they weren't tested (though sister saw a doctor 3 times, they would not test her for anything, let alone covid). And I'd like to know if that's what they had.

UK has passed 20k death toll. Not pretty.

The graph for England still shows decline but it's so slow and the whole thing is not nice. And that is only England. The UK totals are collective for all four nations in one, the England total is the highest of these because the English population # is higher in general.

Case numbers are going down, they're saying testing is increasing...we will see. They haven't put key worker restrictions on the test registration site so no doubt someone will abuse that system.

DIY stores have reopened here with social distancing, they were never asked to close but several did to make their environments safer.

And Priti Patel gave today's press conference. And since she has singularly zero positive qualities to recommend listening to her, I didn't.

[SpacePinto]

From Monday on we have to wear face masks in shops, public transport and buildings. That is ok. But the problem is that we almost can't buy them anywhere (except of course expensive on the internet). Therefore we will have to do some bigger purchases later.

You can easily make your own mask using an old bandana and two rubber bands

[banditpony]

I am wary of the antibody test thing at the moment.

The UK govt have tested a gazillion and have rejected all of them as not having a high enough accuracy level. I heard there are a bunch of unapproved tests floating around in the US, there was a story here of some local hospital trying to buy some.

Yah, I heard something similar. It's pretty much on the FDA webpage : https://www.fda.gov/medical-devices/emergency-situations-medical-devices/faqs-diagnostic-testing-sars-cov-2

However, it looks like there are 4 FDA approved tests available now. https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/coronavirus-covid-19-update-serological-tests
The first one rolled out on April 1... so honestly, I don't think there is any amount of wide spread availability on them.

[Artemesia's Garden]

Priti Patel gave today's press conference. And since she has singularly zero positive qualities to recommend listening to her, I didn't.

Heh, that made me chuckle.

[Taffeta]

Priti Patel gave today's press conference. And since she has singularly zero positive qualities to recommend listening to her, I didn't.

Heh, that made me chuckle.

>.> Well, I'm not wrong.

I'm wondering if Boris will give the briefing on Monday. O.o.

[Ponyfan]

Big update today.  Our stay at home order will expire on April 30th as long as new coronavirus cases do not go up dramatically.  All stores, restaurants, movie theaters and malls can reopen May lst as along as social distancing guidelines are followed and max capacity is at 25% or less of the building's total capacity.  Museums and libraries will also be able to reopen under the same guidelines. Gyms, bars, salons and other businesses will reopen in mid May if coronavirus numbers do not go up.

People in high risk groups and those 65 and older are asked to stay at home as much as possible. Everyone is encouraged to wear a facial covering when in public.

People can gather outside for sports in groups of 4 or less.

Ponyfan

[Taffeta]

Boris didn't give the press conference, just a statement this morning, Hancock gave the briefing (but that's fine).

Briefings are getting to be a bit like a panel show where you look at who is appearing before you bother deciding to watch xD. Sunak and Hancock are the better options.

Our scientists are always very cautious. Our numbers are still fairly stable and dropping but they warn against post-weekend spikes because of the level of testing being different on the weekend.

A side note for anyone international in regards to the "is stuff being reported accurately" - the IHME model is inaccurate for the UK vis a vis beds, ICU equipment and death data in the 'assumed' range, including the peak. The actual known data here indicates the peak was around 8th-10th April, and now it's more about preventing it kicking off again by not releasing too early.

Boris made it clear this morning there will be no quick open up. But he did drop hints at a phased opening and that we would know more about the ideas behind that this week.

There have been rumours of an antibody test that's accurate and can be mass produced - but no govt confirmation yet, so who knows if it's true.

Our testing goal is still 100,000 tests per day by the end of April. The Govt don't seem too worried that they're not quite at that target yet...we'll see if they make it but it has gone up and for the first time in today's figures more key workers at drive throughs were tested than seriously ill people in hospital settings.

Locally, 225 cases in my borough, 3 new registered in the last 24 hours. The wider county that share our health trust has around 400something. Across both areas there are 84 deaths associated with Covid.

[banditpony]

Our update on opening up was pretty much as expected. Stay at home order continues.

May 1 - Hospitals can now start outpatient surgeries. Same with vets. And dentists can resume business.

May 4-  Manufacturing, distribution, and construction are okayed. (from what wasn't essential ... ). "General office" stuff can open too. However, people are encouraged to work at home when possible.

May 12 - general retail & services -- I'm not sure what all that entails. It does not include salons/barbershops, gyms, or restaurants.

With any business that is open -- all employees must wear a masks. They will have daily health monitoring. They must practice social distancing as best as possible. And clean frequently and have good hygiene. Occupancy must be under 50% firecode.
ETA: Oh, I was wrong. customers do have to wear a mask to go in a business.. Just not when they are outside.

Ohio will do trace contacting, and there is a timeline to get people hired for this. It's not as robust as I think it could be, but it's way better than nothing.

We have a timeline to amp up testing. Our state has unfortunately gotten the short end of the stick with receiving tests, but with FDA approval of a few things, we will be doing our own production of tests (or the pieces and parts). So we finally can do more. 

I believe late may when our testing ramps up, we will have a better picture of where we land. And the governor will be more likely to let more things open then.

[Taffeta]

There was an interview with one of the major local doctors in local press today, who said that our two main hospitals were busier 2 weeks ago, but that there are still cases so it's too soon to lift the lockdown. He also said the hospitals have not been over capacity at any point, that they have had zero problems getting PPE (compared with some of the city hospitals featured prominently in the press) and that they are seeing a spike in DIY injuries because everyone is fixing their house in lockdown xD.

There's also an idea being floated that the Nightingale hospitals set up as temporary hospitals (but so far hardly used due to NHS coping with normal capacity) might be used as Covid hospitals going forward. Which is a good idea since they are built for that, but will probably mean people having to be taken longer distances from areas like this with no city in order to get treatment. Our closest one is 50 miles away. That's a long way when you're really ill...

It would also mean an acceptance (which I think most people have anyway) that events will not happen for some time. Like other places, our Nightingale hospitals are in existing buildings, especially convention centres etc. One of which held ponycon 3 years ago (in Bristol).

On another nice note, some of the football clubs in this region are allowing their grounds/conference rooms to be used by midwives to do post and pre natal appointments away from the hospital, and the charity feed the homeless project at one club is now being scaled up to feed more people struggling for food. The Sikh community in Birmingham are also delivering food to people who need it (as they are not able to do their usual thing of having food at the gurdwara after ceremonies).

[Beth3346]

The US passed 1 million cases today. States including Texas where I live are starting to reopen. There are more people out. We went out to get takeout yesterday and there were a lot of people out on the roads. I'm glad I have a car and am still able to get out of the house while social distancing.

Restaurants can reopen their dining rooms here on Thursday so we'll see what happens. Quite a few restaurants in Austin have already closed for good. Though it sounds like they were already having difficulties. I'm starting to have some mixed feelings. Small businesses were supposed to have access to loans but that program is faltering. And people are having all kinds of problems applying for unemployment. So if the economy gets much worse who knows. I wish the government would step in and cover salaries the way they have in some European countries. Though the US is much larger.

I'm really just getting frustrated but i'm also nervous and scared of what will happen when people start going out. The US increased their projections of how many people will die from Covid-19 in response to the states opening up earlier than recommended.

Last week we had to drive back to San Antonio and finish cleaning out our old house. We didn't go anywhere else so we're still social distancing. But downtown was so eerily quiet without tourists. I don't think I've ever seen it so quiet.

Sorry for the rambling