COVID impacts

[eroticstoryspinner]

I do have a positive COVID impact if you like graphic novels

Stjepan Šejić
March 16 at 9:18 AM
my apologies, i messed up the pdf for sunstone volume 5 last night when i shared all so i had to reupload that. if you already downloaded it, just redownload the updated over 50 pages longer version XD

the rest still holds true: full 6 volumes of sunstone for you mature adults out there bored during these homestuck times XD

okay, everyone. here it is

a full set of sunstone volumes 1-6 pdfs

stay safe out there. have fun! AND WASH YOUR DAMNED HANDS!

of course, obligatory warning for adult content in these comics as they are meant for a mature (in age XD) reading audience.

https://www.***********/…/nneuv3…/AAB5iscpij79U8j4826GcCMga…

 

[Rustyoznail]

And on the irony front, our Prime Minister, Scotty from marketing, gave a rambling speech yesterday where he said people who are panic buying should "stop it, just stop it." Meanwhile the Department of Health website says we should have two weeks of stuff stored.

Good one ScoMo!

 

[Bramblethorn]

And on the irony front, our Prime Minister, Scotty from marketing, gave a rambling speech yesterday where he said people who are panic buying should "stop it, just stop it."

He's also advised us to "be Australian" and "don't be un-Australian" which seems to cover everything. Tough luck for all the foreigners, I guess.

 

[ElectricBlue]

He's also advised us to "be Australian" and "don't be un-Australian" which seems to cover everything. Tough luck for all the foreigners, I guess.

The biggest island on the planet has its advantages .

Plenty of land, plenty of water (except it's in all the wrong places). Shame most of our fuel reserve is underground in America, but hey, you can't have everything.

It's a bugger, though, going into winter, because it will be too cold to swim at the beach.

 

[yukonnights]

And on the irony front, our Prime Minister, Scotty from marketing, gave a rambling speech yesterday where he said people who are panic buying should "stop it, just stop it." Meanwhile the Department of Health website says we should have two weeks of stuff stored.

Good one ScoMo!

Maybe we could get "our guy" connected up with "your guy" and together maybe they could work something out? We definitely need to pool the geniuses of the world together for greater impact Yea, I'm getting desperate — but desperate times and all …

 

[yukonnights]

He's also advised us to "be Australian" and "don't be un-Australian" which seems to cover everything. Tough luck for all the foreigners, I guess.

See, and that's totally contradictory to what we've been told. We're all supposed to be Americans. It wasn't clear which kind of American — maybe rotate? North on Monday, Central on Tuesday, and South on every third Wednesday?

Seriously though, if there ever was a time to just be citizens of the World

 

[JamesMiehoff]

There have been a lot of what ifs about this whole C-19 thing. There are now some reliable data points that are being ignored because they don't fit the "whip the general public into an uproar" mold.

1) There are over 100,000+ people that have tested positive for C-19 and have recovered.
2) Many of the patients, especially in the 20-40 year old range never exhibited symptoms other than testing positive for the C-19 virus.
3) Most of the patients that did exhibit symptoms have indicated that it was no worse than a bad respiratory flu.
4) It is a respiratory flu. Most households go through 1 roll of toilet paper per person per week. You don't need to hoard toilet paper. Buying 600 rolls of toilet paper makes you an asshole.
5) Many of the fatal cases had underlying conditions, especially the elderly. I am not trying to make light of this. I have several elderly relatives that I am concerned about. As the picture (the curve) posted earlier pointed out quite clearly, this is a virus that is much more serious as you get older.
6) Ibuprofen (Advil) seems to piss the virus off. People who took Ibuprofen had more serious cases to the point that the CDC has released a statement not to take it.
7) My prediction is that somebody is going to look back in a year or two and do a study correlating the suicide rate for people that were put out of jobs because of all the closures and find that more people committed suicide then died from the virus. Certainly more people will become homeless because of this.
8) When reliable figures come in, the death rate is going to be significantly lower than it currently is, because to get tested now (if you can find anyplace with the tests) you have to be showing significant symptoms (high fever, long coughing spells, pneumonia like symptoms). Many people never show significant symptoms. When those people are added in the curve is going to flatten out.

In addition to my day job, I am a part owner in a small entertainment business (sorry folks, not sex entertainment) that was just shutdown with less than 8 hours warning. My employees are scared where the food is coming from if we are shut down for a month, much less the two or three months that some "pundits" are proposing. I am finding that the economic damage that is being done in the name of "controlling" this virus is doing far more harm than the potential good. Just check your 401Ks, if you dare.

James

 

[TarnishedPenny]

James, I’m not entirely sure about a drop in death rates. The problem is an essentially fixed amount of equipment needed to keep the seriously ill alive. Yes, if we had broader testing, we might see a dramatic drop. I’m not trying to be alarmist (I’m in a fairly high-risk group myself), but right now, a hospital can keep most seriously-ill CV patients alive. Once they get more of those than they have lung-sustaining equipment, mortality is bound to go up.

Good post otherwise. We need balanced in this world right now. Thanks.

 

[BelleCanzuto]

Ohhhh that’d be tough. I don’t think I could do that, and yes, the humor only goes so far. I find the bad jokes help withe the stress. The norton one did for everyone. Mind you, you have to know when not to overdo it.

See, whole knowing when *not* to overdo it is my biggest gallows humor flailing. Or failing. Or whatever...

Maybe we could get "our guy" connected up with "your guy" and together maybe they could work something out? We definitely need to pool the geniuses of the world together for greater impact Yea, I'm getting desperate — but desperate times and all …

I'm BelleCanzuto, and I approve this idea!

 

[KeithD]

OK, if you folks can't stay away from the political here.


1. A virus is not the flu.
2. Both medically and economically, we are just at the beginning of this. A president who a week ago was still saying it was just a Democratic Party hoax and fake news today is saying we may not be out of it for eighteen months. I think the recovery rate officially given is more like 86,000, not the 100,000 cited above and I haven't read a single report of anyone having enjoyed having it.
3. It hasn't hit the ill-prepared hospitals hard in the States yet. There will be contributory deaths from lack of sufficient care.
4. Both medically and economically, we are just at the beginning of this. (Needs repeating because some are being really dopey about this.)
5. Just today, two new wrinkles have come in on my news feed. One is that they are finding children who are getting it now and, two, more below 40s are getting it now.
6. Not enough testing is being done in the States yet to have any idea how much and where this has spread and to gauge anything--certainly not enough to say, "Oh, piffle, it's just a mild cold or a bit of the flu."
7. Both medically and economically, we are just at the beginning of this.

I inadvertently left out one:

8. This is not being identified as a one-and-done disease. The current advisory is that you can get it repeatedly as easy as you got it the first time. And there's no knowledge yet whether repeated bouts would get weaker or stronger--because, once again, medically, we are just at the beginning of this.

 

[yukonnights]

There have been a lot of what ifs about this whole C-19 thing. There are now some reliable data points that are being ignored because they don't fit the "whip the general public into an uproar" mold. … I am finding that the economic damage that is being done in the name of "controlling" this virus is doing far more harm than the potential good. Just check your 401Ks, if you dare.

James

I don't think there is any "whip the general public into an uproar" mold. But the truth is none of us are qualified to really make an informed assessment about where this thing might go. I urge reliance on reliable and qualified sources of information.

I'm sorry for your personal situation. Hopefully safety-net provisions will be put in place soon for such emergencies.

Source: CDC —> https://www.cdc.gov/
What May Happen

More cases of COVID-19 are likely to be identified in the United States in the coming days, including more instances of community spread. CDC expects that widespread transmission of COVID-19 in the United States will occur. In the coming months, most of the U.S. population will be exposed to this virus.

Widespread transmission of COVID-19 could translate into large numbers of people needing medical care at the same time. Schools, childcare centers, and workplaces, may experience more absenteeism. Mass gatherings may be sparsely attended or postponed. Public health and healthcare systems may become overloaded, with elevated rates of hospitalizations and deaths. Other critical infrastructure, such as law enforcement, emergency medical services, and sectors of the transportation industry may also be affected. Healthcare providers and hospitals may be overwhelmed. At this time, there is no vaccine to protect against COVID-19 and no medications approved to treat it. Nonpharmaceutical interventions will be the most important response strategy to try to delay the spread of the virus and reduce the impact of disease.

CDC Response

Global efforts at this time are focused concurrently on lessening the spread and impact of this virus. The federal government is working closely with state, local, tribal, and territorial partners, as well as public health partners, to respond to this public health threat.

CDC is implementing its pandemic preparedness and response plans, working on multiple fronts, including providing specific guidance on measures to prepare communities to respond to local spread of the virus that causes COVID-19. There is an abundance of pandemic guidance developed in anticipation of an influenza pandemic that is being adapted for a potential COVID-19 pandemic.

 

[BelleCanzuto]

There have been a lot of what ifs about this whole C-19 thing. There are now some reliable data points that are being ignored because they don't fit the "whip the general public into an uproar" mold.

James

I kind of feel like I'm shouting into the wind. But the following numbers illustrate why the containment policies are so important. They're for the US only. Numbers in red are projections, if we did nothing and all went about our lives as though nothing was wrong.

Date Number of Cases Number of deaths
3/13 ~1600 41
3/15 ~3400 60+
3/18 9028 150

3/21 ~18,060 ~230
3/24 ~ 36,100 ~390
3/27 ~72,000 ~650
3/31 ~145,000 ~1080

et cetera​

I just want to emphasize this again: five days ago, a little over 1500 people had this virus. Now almost 10,000 do. In five days.

Additionally - of the 9000+ people who've been known to have it, only 106 in the US are considered recovered. That's because most of the known infections are so recent. That's fewer than have died so far.

And as the Commissioner of Health of my state said yesterday, don't get hung up on "most people have mild symptoms". Because the study that nugget is based on included symptoms from none to walking pneumonia in the "mild" category. Essentially, anyone who wasn't bedridden and on continuous oxygen or a ventilator was classes as having a "mild" case. Anyone here had walking pneumonia? Or a real bad bronchitis? Did it feel mild to you?

It the exponential curve of infection that the CDC, the NIH and now even the President is trying to flatten. It's the number of people who get sick all at once that's the problem. So, looking back two years from now and finding out that a bunch of people had it, but never got sick might be useful in an academic way. But it doesn't change the potential NOW to overrun hospitals, to run out of hospital beds, and for people to die because there wasn't enough equipment to go around.

Sure, the economic hit right now is devastating. I'm in no way trying to minimize that. But what would the economic hit be if a million people die in the next two months?

If you like graphs and charts, here's where I got the numbers for today. Worldometers - Coronavirus US

 

[oggbashan]

6) Ibuprofen (Advil) seems to piss the virus off. People who took Ibuprofen had more serious cases to the point that the CDC has released a statement not to take it.
...
James

In the UK the medical advice is NOT to take Ibuprofen (or other remedies including it) unless it has been prescribed by a doctor. Use paracetamol instead and no other painkiller. If you have been prescribed Ibuprofen check with your doctor to see if you should switch to paracetamol instead but do not stop taking Ibruprofen until you have checked.

 

[Bramblethorn]

3) Most of the patients that did exhibit symptoms have indicated that it was no worse than a bad respiratory flu.

Do people understand how bad "a bad respiratory flu" is? People have gotten in the habit of calling any bad cold the 'flu, but an actual 'flu is no joke.

8) When reliable figures come in, the death rate is going to be significantly lower than it currently is, because to get tested now (if you can find anyplace with the tests) you have to be showing significant symptoms (high fever, long coughing spells, pneumonia like symptoms). Many people never show significant symptoms. When those people are added in the curve is going to flatten out.

Some discussion on that here: https://twitter.com/AbraarKaran/status/1236680333887668225

The first surprise was the speculation by many that the case fatality rate will be much lower once we find all of these “mild” and “asymptomatic” cases, which you don’t as easily pick up early on in an outbreak. Apparently the data @WHO has doesn’t support this theory.

The team went back & tested 320,000 samples originally taken for flu and other screening; only 0.5% returned positive. Is this a perfect way to know if we had missed mild/asymptomatic cases? No. But is it another point of data. Yes.

...

Another surprise: the Chinese data where the 80% “mild” cases number comes from —that was not a “mild cold”.

That was: you have a fever, possibly even a full pneumonia. Not your run-of-the-mill sniffles.

The economic consequences are serious and they absolutely do need to be addressed, but not by ignoring the disease. Anything more I'd say about this would definitely be considered "political" so I'll leave it there.

 

[BelleCanzuto]

In the UK the medical advice is NOT to take Ibuprofen (or other remedies including it) unless it has been prescribed by a doctor. Use paracetamol instead and no other painkiller. If you have been prescribed Ibuprofen check with your doctor to see if you should switch to paracetamol instead but do not stop taking Ibruprofen until you have checked.

Article on COVID19 and Ibuprofen vs Acetaminophen.

Apparently the debate is as much about whether fever should be treated at all, as it is about which medicine to use. Presented for your consideration only.

Coronavirus and Ibuprofen vs. Acetaminophen

 

[Rustyoznail]

Do people understand how bad "a bad respiratory flu" is? People have gotten in the habit of calling any bad cold the 'flu, but an actual 'flu is no joke.

.

I have the flu shot annually, but a couple of years ago I was feeling pretty ordinary which I put down as a cold. I had a hot shower and I couldn't breathe. It was like I was drowning. I went to the doctor who discovered I had pneumonia. Only a mild case - I wasn't hospitalised.

I felt like dying for about two weeks, then just like shit for another six.

I wouldn't wish that on anyone.

 

[oggbashan]

Our local voluntary organisations that provide help to the elderly and the disabled are finding, to their horror, that their most effective helpers are almost all over 70.

 

[LupusDei]

My employees are scared where the food is coming from if we are shut down for a month, much less the two or three months that some "pundits" are proposing.

Not to belittle the hardships, but economic hardships are just that, and usually temporary. We here have seen money lose value and savings evaporate five or six times during twenty century (between wars, occupations, and revolutions) and one major crisis in the twenty first, prior to this. So... it's just life as usual, almost.

Now... Let's consider a girl about to finish high school. Who's, by unofficial rating, at least the second best cello player of her age group in the country. Well, it's small -- two million people -- country. Important thing, she's very serious about her music. Mid February, right in the middle of first worries, she went to Austria, Graz to attend a competition, look at their university, meet people, and take a couple master classes. That's what she should be doing, looking at universities around Europe seeking the right teachers for her to continue to grow as an artist. Instead, concerts are canceled. The tour with European Youth Orchestra -- canceled. It's not about money, no, there's none to be made (yet, anyway), it's about once-a-lifetime opportunities. Knowing well how much is left to chance in a career path like that it's potentially life path altering stuff.

Now, she's with her family (retired nurse grandma, two teachers, three high schoolers and a toddler) in self isolation in their farmhouse, and they all are sick, with... well, something. Not so unusual, it's just about season for it, and a tad bit late to be connected with her trip. The private volunteer testing goes around €80, with is expensive for them. If the father will get any worse (himself in fifties), they are considering to get him tested one way or another.

But no, there's no discussion about the lockdown as the right course of action. People seemingly unable to grasp such basic principles of prevention of a potential catastrophe are baffling me. Then, it's no wonder indeed that more "esoteric" discussions like climate change goes nowhere.

 

[trysail]

Roche’s cobas SARS-CoV-2 Test to detect novel coronavirus receives FDA Emergency Use Authorization and is available in markets accepting the CE mark


• First commercial test for SARS-CoV-2 will enable expedited coronavirus testing to meet urgent medical needs
• Testing on widely available, high-volume cobas 6800/8800 will significantly increase available testing capacity
• Roche expedites test development to support urgent need for patient testing during pandemic outbreak to avoid a further spread of the virus at an early stage of infection

Basel, 13 March 2020 - Roche today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for the cobas® SARS-CoV-2 Test. It is intended for the qualitative detection of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19 disease, in nasopharyngeal and oropharyngeal swab samples from patients who meet COVID-19 clinical and/or epidemiological criteria for testing. Hospitals and reference laboratories can run the test on Roche’s fully automated cobas® 6800 and cobas® 8800 Systems, which are widely available in the U.S. and around the world.

The CE-IVD test is also available in markets accepting the CE mark for patients with signs and symptoms of COVID-19 disease and living in affected areas where the SARS-CoV-2 virus is known to be present.

“Providing quality, high-volume testing capabilities will allow us to respond effectively to what the World Health Organization has characterized as a pandemic. It is important to quickly and reliably detect whether a patient is infected with SARS-CoV-2,” said Thomas Schinecker, CEO of Roche Diagnostics. “Over the last weeks, our emergency response teams have been working hard to bring this test to the patients. CE-mark certification and the FDA’s granting of EUA supports our commitment to give more patients access to reliable diagnostics which are crucial to combat this serious disease.”

The widely available Roche’s cobas 6800/8800 Systems, which are used to perform the cobas SARS-CoV-2 Test, provide test results in three and half hours and offer improved operating efficiency, flexibility, and fastest time-to-results with the highest throughput providing up to 96 results in about three hours and a total of 384 results for the cobas 6800 System and 960 results for the cobas 8800 System in 8 hours. The test can be run simultaneously with other assays provided by Roche for use on the cobas 6800/8800 Systems....


more...

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[JamesMiehoff]

I went to the doctor who discovered I had pneumonia. Only a mild case - I wasn't hospitalised.

I felt like dying for about two weeks, then just like shit for another six.

I wouldn't wish that on anyone.

Rusty,

I fully agree. I have had pneumonia 3 times. First time, I thought it was a cold and finally went to the doctor a week later. Even with antibiotics I ran a 103+ fever for a couple of days. The pain was unbelievable and so were the hallucinations. I was out of work for almost a month.

Second time I went in quicker and only had a 102.5+ fever. I was out of work for 2 weeks.

Third time I went in the first time I coughed up fluorescent green phlegm with red dots. Doctor didn't believe me so I bet him lunch that if he sent me down to x-ray I'd come back with a pneumonia diagnosis. I was right. He refused to pay off saying it was unethical.

So despite what some people seem to think about my flippant comments, I take any respiratory disease very, very seriously. I just think there has to be some balance and we have gone way too far to the side of draconian measures.

People need to make a choice. Maybe it will be a bad choice, but Darwin has a way of weeding those out. You can't take choices away from people.

The Chinese have the best data at this point. Why? They have tested over 5 million people. The South Koreans are next, they have tested a million people. The US has tested 37,000 people almost all of them already showing symptoms. In scientific studies that is called finding what you are looking for.

A friend is sitting in a military barracks in Georgia with his family in isolation. He was on the Grand Princess. They have yet to be tested. Why? "If you get sick then we know you were exposed." And the isolation starts over. That is no way to run this.

News just in: The Indians have found a combination of drugs that seem to work in helping the sickest cases (don't call it a cure yet). It will not be allowed in the US because the FDA has not approved two of the drugs (they are in "clinical trials"). Hurray for the "good guys".

James

 

[KeithD]

People need to make a choice. Maybe it will be a bad choice, but Darwin has a way of weeding those out. You can't take choices away from people.

You can and should when their choices impinge on the lives, health, and safety of others. Your choice rights don't extend unbidden into those of others. This is a case where they will do that. Social distancing is for everyone else around you, not just you.

 

[Bramblethorn]

People need to make a choice. Maybe it will be a bad choice, but Darwin has a way of weeding those out. You can't take choices away from people.

Drunk driving is a choice. Food tampering is a choice. Keeping dangerous dogs that attack people is a choice. We can and do and should take those choices away from people, because they harm others - and deprive them of their choices. "Darwin" has unacceptably high collateral damage there.

News just in: The Indians have found a combination of drugs that seem to work in helping the sickest cases (don't call it a cure yet). It will not be allowed in the US because the FDA has not approved two of the drugs (they are in "clinical trials"). Hurray for the "good guys".

If it's in clinical trials - and if those trials confirm its usefulness - then presumably it will be allowed in the USA.

As I understand it, one of those drugs is chloroquine. What I've seen has been promising but not conclusive (small samples, etc.) and chloroquine can have some serious side-effects (and apparently hasn't been tested for safety on the elderly) hence why we're not just spamming everybody with it right now. If it does perform as well as the early reports are suggesting, that'll be great news, but when it comes to disease cures it's generally wise not to count chickens.

All the more reason why delaying measures are important - the slower it spreads, the more time we have to figure out what works and to step up production.

 

[BelleCanzuto]

I keep coming back to this - people can be (or *are*) contagious with this before they have symptoms. Or even without any symptoms. Which means people are spreading the disease without knowing. Which means they *can't* make an informed choice.

Not to mention, as Bramble and Keith already did, all the people around you that your choice impacts.

China (to the extent their numbers are believed), and South Korea controlled this as well as they have because they took draconian measures. We're not (at least in the US) going to come anywhere close to putting up with what they did.

So, look at Italy for comparison to where we'll be in a couple of weeks. 3400 dead and counting. No sign of a real slow down. And they have a fifth our population, so the virus will run out of potential victims there while it's still rampant here.

That's what we're looking at.

Unless we seriously change what we're doing.

You tell me, how do you want this to go?

 

[oggbashan]

Our county's libraries at closing tonight for the foreseeable future.

But I have an e-reader with 35,000 titles on it, and there is always Project Gutenberg.

 

[astuffedshirt_perv]

So, look at Italy for comparison to where we'll be in a couple of weeks. 3400 dead and counting. No sign of a real slow down. And they have a fifth our population, so the virus will run out of potential victims there while it's still rampant here.

Well, maybe. Italy, particularly the north of italy where it is the worst, has a significantly higher population density (518 vs 87), a much higher average age (47 vs 39 median), and a strong habit of living with older relatives, plus social culture of close contact. So maybe all the US's sad lonely distant lifestyle will pay off!