(04-03-2020, 05:21 PM)Dartz Wrote: The virus may be more prevalant in society than thought
Not 'may' be more prevalent. Is more prevalent. As a rule of thumb, presume that at least 10 times as many people in the country are infected as are reported to be infected, and 30 to 50 times as many is a safer bet. They just aren't symptomatic or are mistaking it for a flu or cold. The only way to find them is by comprehensively and aggressively testing for the virus.
(04-03-2020, 05:21 PM)Dartz Wrote: My parents got it. They got it after they isolated themselves. And yesterday I found out they got it by going for a meal with someone they thought had the disease - not who got it after they were there. I've got no words for that. They're doing well now. The mam lost her taste - the oulfella got the cough too and was fairly sick but hasn't gotten worse.
... They thought somebody had caught a nasty infection that is known to be highly contagious and they still went and visited? I have words for that and they aren't nice.
(04-03-2020, 05:58 PM)LynnInDenver Wrote: Denver chained up the doors of a local business that insisted they were an essential business while Denver was saying they weren't - an appliance store. Everyone else has finally closed when asked. I'm suspecting that business won't be reopening once this is all over, at least not without a thorough review of their business versus the license they were issued.
That certainly seems likely. Pissing off the government in a time of crisis is never a good idea.
(04-03-2020, 05:58 PM)LynnInDenver Wrote: Our hospitals are setting up outdoor triage tents and other setups in anticipation of the surge in patients - the idea being that, if they're ready and it doesn't hit that hard, it's not a big deal, but it would be a big deal if they don't prep and it hits even harder than expected.
Smart. It also means that they know where everything is and in what condition it is in case you don't get hit that hard by the virus you can ship those supplies and facilities to harder hit places confident it'll meet the required standards.
(04-03-2020, 05:58 PM)LynnInDenver Wrote: I'm starting to wonder about the "14 days" period on the virus, given the way it's been working. It's actually possible that it either has a much longer infection period, or that way more don't show symptoms at all. Although we also have the problematic culture of "you work even when you're sick". Hopefully this is the first point that it shows that this is not only a bad idea, and has always been a bad idea, it's now a phenomenally bad idea. But we also need National Sick Leave mandated for all businesses, regardless.
There's a few different factors at work here. First, COVID-19 appears to be a disease that can be transmitted while incubating in the host, which is somewhat uncommon, it makes it more difficult to work out where and how long to quarantine. It's not helped by the fact that we don't know how long it takes from first infection to start showing symptoms. Second, it's an extremely infectious disease propagating through airborne droplets, which is one of the harder to deal with transmission vectors. Third, without comprehensive testing programs we have a limited grasp of the virus' spread because those who are tested are those who are already showing some symptoms, while most of those who don't show symptoms but do have the disease and can infect others don't get tested. Fourth, a rather sizable chunk of the infected population are either asymptomatic or show symptoms that are congruent with a flu or cold, at a time where flu and cold season definitely haven't passed yet.
To put it simply, COVID-19 is a nasty bug not because how lethal it is, even without treatment it won't top 5% of all cases. Not that that's great, but there's more lethal diseases out there.
What makes COVID-19 nasty compared to those more lethal diseases is because of how easily it spreads. Because those more lethal diseases? They don't spread anywhere near as quickly, and nowhere near as quietly as COVID-19 is doing. It's not easy or without casualties, but stuff like ebola you can halt the spread of, because that disease doesn't transmit nearly as easily and nearly everybody who gets infected shows symptoms.
COVID-19? You could have not a single symptom and spread it to everyone you meet anyway. And sure, it won't kill you, you are resistant enough to be asymptomatic. But that's not true of everybody around you, most of whom you wouldn't have infected if you knew you were carrying the disease.