General Discussion/Q&A on Coronavirus (COVID-19)

[DC3]

Love or hate Scomo it's a tough and coughpy day when you need to tell the country only 10 people can go to a funeral.

And for three weddings and a funeral: 5+5+5+10=25

Edit: 4W+1F=30

 

[lovetravellingoz]

I saw a report from a surgeon in a Perth hospital where they are doing operations in theatre with some staff not wearing masks because of a shortage.

Yes I saw an interview from one of the medical staff on this. From memory it was the anaesthetist.

Yet some will buy them on ebay etc despite it having been reported that some who try and sell these things through these channels have sourced them in inappropriate ways. We also know that some have been stolen from hospitals.

 

[sagittariusdrake]

This is a global coughstorm.
Let's be generous where we can, caring & helpful. Give reparation & forgiveness.
Edit: make contact with estranged friends & family. It feels good & is good.
(Especially if they give you toilet paper)
Virtual hugs to all
Together we will resurface a better people.
❤

 

[lovetravellingoz]

Updated Mortality Case Rates around the world....

Global Covid-19 Case Fatality Rates - The Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine

The total number of cases and the total number of deaths from COVID-19 outbreak data was drawn down (scraped) from Worldometers.

www.cebm.net

 

[Flashback]

I get the feeling the ACCC is not very happy with Qantas.

Qantas comments 'unhelpful', ACCC boss says while investigating spat with Virgin during coronavirus crisis - ABC News

amp.abc.net.au

 

[drron]

Updated Mortality Case Rates around the world....

Global Covid-19 Case Fatality Rates - The Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine

The total number of cases and the total number of deaths from COVID-19 outbreak data was drawn down (scraped) from Worldometers.

www.cebm.net

There is a very significant figure in that link where the Chinese statistics are discussed.
"1716 case were health workers (3.8%), 254 cases (14.8%) were classified as severe or critical and 5 health workers (0.3%) died."
It is known that 5 of the 8 original whistleblower doctors have died.

 

[tgh]

Not great news ...

Malaria drug chloroquine, AbbVie’s HIV combo therapy Kaletra and an influenza med called Arbidol are among top candidates that physicians are repurposing for the treatment of COVID-19. Despite backing from officials, though, the three have disappointed separately in two Chinese clinical trials of mild patients.


Hydroxychloroquine, a more tolerable form of chloroquine, didn’t top placebo at clearing the coronavirus among mild Chinese patients, or helping them reach normal temperature sooner, Evercore ISI analyst Umer Raffat noted in a Tuesday memo.

Separately, neither Kaletra—a combination of HIV antivirals lopinavir and ritonavir—nor Arbidol (umifenovir) delivered benefits in viral clearance or symptom relief compared with no antiviral treatment in a small Chinese study in mild-to-moderate COVID-19 patients, results publishedMonday on the preprint site medRxiv show.

 

[drron]

But small trials with hydroxychloroquine and Azithromycin have been positive.reported on the same site.Either drug alone is not sufficient.

 

[p--and--t]

I get the feeling the ACCC is not very happy with Qantas.

Qantas comments 'unhelpful', ACCC boss says while investigating spat with Virgin during coronavirus crisis - ABC News

amp.abc.net.au

You know we are in strange times when the authority created to create environments where there is strong competition is complaining about competitive behaviour.

 

[Pushka]

But small trials with hydroxychloroquine and Azithromycin have been positive.reported on the same site.Either drug alone is not sufficient.

I think I heard this morning, well, husband did, that maybe Garvan? In Melbourne was trialling plaquenil as a preventive dose. Heaven help me getting some now. It's funny, he's never taken any notice of all the bottles of tablets I need to take and have done so for quite a few years now. Now, he is suddenly very interested, eyeing off the little white bottle of Pills. I'll have to tell him that tonic is just as good especially when mixed with gin. And we've both had the flu shots now so that removes some complexity if we become unwell. The pharmacist I visited yesterday was the one who gave me the shot - he said I should go to the Doctor next time in July for a booster as with the health issues I'd qualify for the much stronger free one for oldies.

 

[Denali]

Co worker was on the last flight out of SIN and said when he landed, he had to sign a stat dec allowing them to track his phone for movements.

 

[tgh]

Is there an au site that lists the clinical condition of confirmed cases ?
Worldometer currently says 2007 (99%) in mild condition with 100 critical (1%)
Covidata.au says 2315 but no breakdown.
I wonder how the illness is clinically graded and how they are managed…ie stay home isolated and monitor/general hospitalisation/ ventilation / ICU ?
I assume there will be a body of opinion here and elsewhere that says we should remain ignorant but hopefully wiser heads will choose to keep folks informed.

 

[33kft]

he had to sign a stat dec allowing them to track his phone for movements

Seems a bit strange that a stat dec would be the vehicle to do something like this, or that they'd need our approval at all, but they certainly should use avenues they have available to ensure people are compliant.

 

[luxury-lizard]

Not sure if this is the right thread for this question - re cleaning grocery and other goods after purchase. I just received a couple of bags of groceries from a friend (who shops with disposable gloves) (we're self-isolated) - i used diluted household bleach to clean packaging and F&V (which can be peeled) - then rinsed and dried - is this sufficient? This is to save my limited supply of disinfectant wipes.

 

[Pushka]

Not sure if this is the right thread for this question - re cleaning grocery and other goods after purchase. I just received a couple of bags of groceries from a friend (who shops with disposable gloves) (we're self-isolated) - i used diluted household bleach to clean packaging and F&V (which can be peeled) - then rinsed and dried - is this sufficient? This is to save my limited supply of disinfectant wipes.

Can you just leave them untouched somewhere before unpacking for a day or so?

 

[Denali]

Co worker was on the last flight out of SIN and said when he landed, he had to sign a stat dec allowing them to track his phone for movements.

Further to this. The poor guy had to walk three days, average 18hrs per day to get to the airport, he was in Nepal. Then he was price gouged $5K for a flight as his was cancelled/no flights allowed into country. He managed to get to SIN but his family is trying to get home from Sri Lanka and even then, they arrive in Melb and need to get to Sydney.

 

[luxury-lizard]

Can you just leave them untouched somewhere before unpacking for a day or so?

Can't leave fresh food not refrigerated for several days (e.g. chicken, most fruit and veggies)

 

[Pushka]

Can't leave fresh food not refrigerated for several days (e.g. chicken, most fruit and veggies)

Yes, of course. It won't last long on the packaging. Prepare a space in the fridge beforehand, put it in there then wash your hands.

 

[drron]

I also look at this source each day.Interesting commentary including this gem in yesterday's summary.

COVID-19 Science Update for March 24th: Counting Cases and Deaths

The analysis here is complicated, because a massive testing regime doesn’t seem to be a necessary component of COVID-19 suppression.

quillette.com

"The key role of “Patient 31” in infecting (directly or indirectly) literally thousands of South Koreans already is well-known, in part thanks to a widely circulated New York Times feature from early March. But Reuters’ graphics designers have found a creative way to illustrate how Patient 31’s controversial Christian congregation, the Shincheonji Church, became the nucleus for a cluster of COVID-19 patients that includes—this is almost beyond belief—at least 60 percent of all known South Korean cases.


The feature also helps explain how the pandemic’s South Korean epicenter came to be located in the south-eastern city of Daegu, which has witnessed more than 20 times more cases than the much more populous capital of Seoul. When it comes to the missed opportunities many countries had to abate the 2020 COVID-19 crisis, this one sentence jumps out: “On February 15, doctors at the hospital said they first suggested she be tested for coronavirus, as she had a high fever. Instead, [Patient 31] went to a buffet lunch with a friend at a hotel.” (The next day, Patient 31 went to church. Thousands of her fellow congregants are now sick.)"

So one idiot was responsible for 60% of South Korea's cases.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

Can't leave fresh food not refrigerated for several days (e.g. chicken, most fruit and veggies)

While meat does, most fruit and veggies do not have for be refrigerated at least for a day or so. Indeed a lot of it does not need refrigerating at all.

In addition the fresh items now that things are being controlled by and large tend to be there every time one shops now. And if a particular fruit or veggie item is not there then substitutes are.