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

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And in Sweden despite a high number of cases the death rate has fallen and remaining steady on the 7 day rolling average.
View attachment 230917.

And the excess mortality has turned negative.
View attachment 230918.

I suspect there will be some lag over the deaths.
Meanwhile Sweden has seen half of their cervical cancer screening centers shut and lung cancer referrals at 50% of baseline
Radio Sweden

And they are now switching away from their no lockdown strategy due to the rising case numbers


Business Insider October 18th
 
Wales going into a 2 week "circuit breaker" / lockdown. Will it just be 2 weeks or longer? We'll see.

Discussions are happening re: England, but I think until the financial assistance piece is sufficiently answered there won't be any movement here. As always, England continues to lag in its decision making and lack of assertiveness.
 
Well it's all looking very grim over here in Europe.

Italy's extending their restrictions, Ireland is set to announce tighter restrictions tomorrow, etc.

Going to be another fun few months.

Republic of Ireland in full lockdown (again) for 6 weeks.

Will England get its head out of its butt and do similar, even if only 2 weeks like Wales etc.? Probably not.

We continue to fall behind the trend and make decisions too late and do things too late ......
 
And many might think this is the best news of 2020.
1602905383798.png
Well there has to be a silver lining somewhere.
 
So we got the travel exemption within 12 hours of applying Sunday night.

Didn't realise needed to obtain arrival permission from Thai Embassy to return to Thailand and that is proving very difficult. Thai Embassy in Brisbane closed, Canberra not taking calls but there is a 24 hour emergency number that I may try. Apparently there is an online form to submit but I cannot find it anywhere.

Called Tourism of Thailand in Sydney and they were a little more helpful with some links. They also mentioned Thai repatriation flight on 26 October is full and need to register for next one. Really? Another snag? I don't want to book repatriation flight. I just want to book the cheap flights I found via Singapore.

My goodness this is turning into mission impossible. I can sympathise with many Australians trying to return home. This is not the time to take advantage of people for the sake of profit.

The pandemic is bad enough without added burdens.
 
My goodness this is turning into mission impossible. I can sympathise with many Australians trying to return home. This is not the time to take advantage of people for the sake of profit.

Unfortunately it's par for the course with the current environment, with a lot of countries closed (in essence), normal flights aren't running. With Singapore for example, will she be able to enter / transit there without any issue? That's more so what is making things difficult, as opposed to any particular airline for example. Thailand is essentially closed still, excepting their massively complex 500 step scheme for tourists to enter; so that also then has an impact on flights into the country etc.

I'm between a rock and a hard place too, Europe is going into winter, numbers are rising, everything is pretty much shutdown and locked down now and those that aren't, will be soon. I can't get down to Australia either as flights are like hens teeth plus the cost of quarantine is prohibitive. Damned if you do, damned if you don't........ but we live to fight another day.
 
Didn't realise needed to obtain arrival permission from Thai Embassy to return to Thailand and that is proving very difficult. Thai Embassy in Brisbane closed, Canberra not taking calls but there is a 24 hour emergency number that I may try. Apparently there is an online form to submit but I cannot find it anywhere.

Just work with it. My son had to travel from Adelaide to Brisbane simply to get his biometrics done for his UK visa as the Adelaide office was closed due to Covid. Brisbane opened to SA just the week before. Then his return flight got cancelled and he had to pay for a hotel overnight. Everything is messed up right now, no point in bemoaning it and wasting time and energy but just deal with it.
 
So we got the travel exemption within 12 hours of applying Sunday night.

Didn't realise needed to obtain arrival permission from Thai Embassy to return to Thailand and that is proving very difficult. Thai Embassy in Brisbane closed, Canberra not taking calls but there is a 24 hour emergency number that I may try. Apparently there is an online form to submit but I cannot find it anywhere.

Called Tourism of Thailand in Sydney and they were a little more helpful with some links. They also mentioned Thai repatriation flight on 26 October is full and need to register for next one. Really? Another snag? I don't want to book repatriation flight. I just want to book the cheap flights I found via Singapore.

My goodness this is turning into mission impossible. I can sympathise with many Australians trying to return home. This is not the time to take advantage of people for the sake of profit.

The pandemic is bad enough without added burdens.


It seems to be that only repatriation flights are allowed in (see above, plus confirmed on a couple of other sites as well. Apparently the Thai Embassy will refer you to a repatriation flight during the process of applying for the certificate of entry.)
 
With Singapore for example, will she be able to enter / transit there without any issue?

Speaking in relation to Singapore government rules, yes - anyone arriving on an approved (SQ/MI/TR) flight from Australia can transit the airport. The catch is that they are herded into a dedicated gate area and cannot roam the airport at will (or alternatively they can pre-book transit hotel and be escorted to/from the hotel).

Now for those who've spent the last 14 days in Australia outside of Victoria, they can also apply for a permit to enter Singapore, and will be granted permission to enter (if their nationality would normally allow them to do so) , but the catch is they need to take a $180 COVID test on arrival (and of course test negative) before being granted entry. So no popping landside for a 12 hr transit!
 
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So we got the travel exemption within 12 hours of applying Sunday night.

Didn't realise needed to obtain arrival permission from Thai Embassy to return to Thailand and that is proving very difficult. Thai Embassy in Brisbane closed, Canberra not taking calls but there is a 24 hour emergency number that I may try. Apparently there is an online form to submit but I cannot find it anywhere.

Called Tourism of Thailand in Sydney and they were a little more helpful with some links. They also mentioned Thai repatriation flight on 26 October is full and need to register for next one. Really? Another snag? I don't want to book repatriation flight. I just want to book the cheap flights I found via Singapore.

My goodness this is turning into mission impossible. I can sympathise with many Australians trying to return home. This is not the time to take advantage of people for the sake of profit.

The pandemic is bad enough without added burdens.
A report on the first tourists allowed in to Thailand-from China.But it does say any tourist granted permission to enter will have to arrive by charter or private flight.
 
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A mixed bag of reports.
First as has been reported before but another study saying the virus may still be shed even in not infective.

It seems that some mouth washes may reduce the Covid load.Fortunately I use one of those that did.

And those taking regular low dose aspirin seem to have less severe disease.

The problems in the USA in the early days of the pandemic.

This one I am not sure about.Deliberately inoculating Covid 19 to test vaccines.
 
Just work with it. My son had to travel from Adelaide to Brisbane simply to get his biometrics done for his UK visa as the Adelaide office was closed due to Covid. Brisbane opened to SA just the week before. Then his return flight got cancelled and he had to pay for a hotel overnight. Everything is messed up right now, no point in bemoaning it and wasting time and energy but just deal with it.
Not easy and for now we've given up

- approval from Australian government
- approval from Thai Embassy which is not as easy as it sounds
- covid test 3 days before departure
- fit to fly certificate from doctor before flying
- choosing and paying for quarantine hotel up front
- forget trying to book on TG repatriation flight at exhorbitant cost although SQ via SIN is a 15 hour connection in a holding pen

I think best to wait as this exercise is throwing money away.
 
Another grab bag of Covid news.
First the WHO has authorised simple,fast tests for Covid which will be very important in Africa.

Not surprising those with HIV are more at risk of severe disease.

But surprisingly in Type 2 Diabetes who are hospitalised have a higher mortality if using statins.Non diabetics have a trend to less severe disease if using statins.

Basic science is being used to suggest other possible treatments.

And the US buying up a stock of a monoclonal antibody being trialled for treatment of Covid.
 
- forget trying to book on TG repatriation flight at exhorbitant cost although SQ via SIN is a 15 hour connection in a holding pen

This is probably the most minor of the overall inconveniences but travellers arriving from Australia (except Victoria, and even including Vic after Nov 6) can use the normal transit facilities, they aren’t required to stay in the holding pen.

 
I went to the rheumatologist yesterday and she asked if I had found hydroxychloroquine hard to source. Yes, in late April and she had heard of many issues. I commented that I took it religiously in case Trump was right 😂. She did say that the coughtail of steroi_s he was on when he contracted it had sent him to the fairies at the time as the drugs given to him were very potent.
 
I went to the rheumatologist yesterday and she asked if I had found hydroxychloroquine hard to source. Yes, in late April and she had heard of many issues. I commented that I took it religiously in case Trump was right 😂. She did say that the coughtail of steroi_s he was on when he contracted it had sent him to the fairies at the time as the drugs given to him were very potent.
How would one tell. :)
 
Things that don't seem to work.

Vitamin D deficiency may mean a worse outlook.
 
Dear Drron ……. 😘 …. could you please update us on current Covid treatments ?
Reports say that a lot of v stuff doesn't work and yet there appears 2b anecdotal evidence that treatment has improved/evolved.. how?
Donalds_tump was reportedly off with the fairies on steroi_s.. is that the go ?
 
Vitamin D deficiency may mean a worse outlook.
For years I’ve been deficient in Vit D. Every time I’m tested. So yesterday the rheumatologist gave me the script for the mega Vit D syringe because she’s given up me taking another tablet with all the ones (now 7) I’m currently on.
Post automatically merged:

Dear Drron ……. 😘 …. could you please update us on current Covid treatments ?
Reports say that a lot of v stuff doesn't work and yet there appears 2b anecdotal evidence that treatment has improved/evolved.. how?
Donalds_tump was reportedly off with the fairies on steroi_s.. is that the go ?
The specialist I spoke to yesterday said she thought the antibody treatment and high dose steroi_s did the trick for him. Even though they sent him (even more) flakey, they worked. For a normal person - not an issue.
 
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