Thread: Corona Virus

Before we start feeling sorry for our lot, we could be in South America.

Latin America’s relentless outbreak

No part of the world has been as devastated by the coronavirus as Latin America. Of the 15 countries with the highest deaths per capita in the world, 11 are in Latin America or the Caribbean.

Unlike in Europe or the United States, the outbreak in Latin America has not come in waves. It slammed into the region in the spring and plateaued at an extraordinarily high level, exacerbated by anemic health care systems, inequality and government ineptitude and indifference.

In Mexico, the epicenter of the outbreak is Iztapalapa, a poor neighborhood in the capital, Mexico City, that’s home to the Central de Abasto, the largest produce market in the Western Hemisphere. The virus quickly tore through the market, which has some 100,000 workers, and radiated out into the surrounding community and beyond. At one point, officials estimated that one of every 10 people put on a ventilator in Mexico City had been in the market.

Our colleague Azam Ahmed, who covers Latin America, chronicled the savage outbreak there over the course of months.

“It became an almost frightening spectacle,” Azam told us. “We had seen it bustling with so much life and energy, but then the virus hit and it was like falling off the edge of a cliff. Every day there were fewer and fewer people, people began to be fearful, and a lot of people began to die.”

But no matter how bad the outbreak got, the market never shut down. It supplies fruits and vegetables for 30 percent of the nation, and it was too important to close. For many of the workers, who faced work or starvation, there also wasn’t much of a choice.

Christopher Arriaga, who works in the market, saw the virus kill the man in the vegetable stall next to him. Then he began losing customers, and his father fell ill, too.

“There is this moment when you start to see people dying, and the stress begins to destroy you,” Mr. Arriaga said. “It made me realize what a trapped animal feels like.”

Originally Posted by bob10

Something from left field. The US military has developed wearables that can detect illness two days before the wearer gets sick. Currently being tested by 400 members , the devices give an indication on a scale from 1-100 on whether you may have a sick day ahead.

The watch and ring — by Garmin and Oura, respectively — are commercially available; they detect subtle biometric indicators, like slight changes in skin temperature. But a new algorithm, trained on Philips’ massive cache of patient bedside data, can analyze the data and predict whether the wearer will soon become ill from any of a wide variety of diseases, including COVID-19.
Called Rapid Analysis of Threat Exposure, or RATE, the system can’t tell you exactly what you have, but can tell you the likelihood, on a scale of 1 to 100, that a sick day is ahead.

In June, DIU and DTRA began giving the kits to about 400 people.. “Within two weeks of us going live we had our first successful COVID-19 detect” — that is, an indication that the wearer was unwell, which led to a further diagnostic test the revealed COVID-19, he said. “That was amazing.”

It’s the sort of data that, when combined with other information like location, perhaps via contact tracing, can help healthcare providers predict COVID-19 rates and transmissions.
“We are working with folks who are doing the contact tracing,” Schneider said. “It’s the healthcare professional who has the context. We’re really reliant on them for that contextual information. That’s the person who is going to know, ‘Airmen Snuffy has a high score. What else is going on? Have they been in a high risk area?’”



The US Military’s Latest Wearables Can Detect Illness Two Days Before You Get Sick - Defense One

One wonders whether Days Off are programmable that coincide with, Race Days, Footy GFs Grand Prixs,that sort of stuff.

Originally Posted by Arapiles

Must be an old article - Sweden was almost 9,000 deaths the last time I looked.

I've been following Malcolm for a while, and at the beginning he was making quite a lot of sense but he seems to have gotten caught up in his "follower community" and appears to be on that slippery slope toward becoming a Pete Evans. Read the comments on his articles, they're a complete bunch of loons.

Still, good for entertainment value.

Originally Posted by BradC

I've been following Malcolm for a while, and at the beginning he was making quite a lot of sense but he seems to have gotten caught up in his "follower community" and appears to be on that slippery slope toward becoming a Pete Evans. Read the comments on his articles, they're a complete bunch of loons.

Still, good for entertainment value.

Malcolm? Campbell or Turnbull?

Originally Posted by 4bee

Malcolm? Campbell or Turnbull?

Sorry, the post was in reference to this dude : Dr. Malcolm Kendrick | Scottish Doctor, author, speaker, sceptic

Probably should have done multi-level quoting for clarity.

Originally Posted by BradC

Sorry, the post was in reference to this dude : Dr. Malcolm Kendrick | Scottish Doctor, author, speaker, sceptic

Probably should have done multi-level quoting for clarity.

.

Whats in a name, that which we call a Malcolm by any other name would smell as sweet.

Here are details of 9 Coronavirus vaccine trials. It's interesting how much they vary.


Australia's just signed up for a shot at nine COVID-19 vaccines. Here's what to expect
Australia'''s just signed up for a shot at nine COVID-19 vaccines. Here'''s what to expect - ABC News

Originally Posted by bob10

Poll results back Andrews and Anna.

Polls. Can you believe them ?

Premier Daniel Andrews’ handling of the second COVID-19 outbreak has the backing of a majority of Victorians while nearly two-thirds of Australian voters rate the state’s lockdown as “about right”, according to a Newspoll.
The poll for The Australian shows 62 per cent of Victorian voters agree the Premier has managed the virus crisis well, despite a hotel quarantine bungle that unleashed the second wave.

The Newspoll also found Queenslanders back Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk’s handling of COVID-19, with 68 per cent saying she is doing a good job, although this was drop from 81 per cent in July.

The polls have been pretty consistent - he has community support. Stuff-up or not with the quarantine, he's been making the hard, unpopular decisions and he keeps fronting up to the news conferences.

He was in charge of Victoria's response to Swine Flu, so already had experience with how to deal with pandemics.