Health New Coronavirus in China

I think we are all tired of the situation, and it is not possible to shield yourself off from it even if it hasn't affected your life much.
I decided long ago that I should skip information about the pandemic and focus on my daily life, but it is still here in the backgrounds, much easier said than done.
Prices for farmsteads in countryside got up, while renting price in cities when down. Everyone wants to have a piece of tranquility, blending in along the natural rhythms of nature.
 
I think we are all tired of the situation, and it is not possible to shield yourself off from it even if it hasn't affected your life much.
I decided long ago that I should skip information about the pandemic and focus on my daily life, but it is still here in the backgrounds, much easier said than done.
Prices for farmsteads in countryside got up, while renting price in cities when down. Everyone wants to have a piece of tranquility, blending in along the natural rhythms of nature.

You are right Dagne.
The consequences of the pandemic are being felt in the economy as a whole and also in the housing market in cities. I am also adopting a filter. At the end of the night, I see the balance of the pandemic around the world and I specifically check the news from Brazil. The news from Brazil as a whole are terrible, but my State, Minas Gerais, and my city, Belo Horizonte, are doing well, comparatively. There are many idle ICU beds in the public and private hospitals and the largest Campaign Hospital in Brazil, located in my city in a gigantic exhibition center, doesn’t have an occupied bed by sick people. But these are exceptions in a very affected Brazil.
Cheers.
 
the German authorities are investigating this
they suspect the rules were broken, especially in the restaurant

when more activities are allowed, this kind of detecting and screening is essential

They were singing without masks, Surprise. Stupid.
 
Salento, Duarte, come to Lithuania - it does feel pretty safe here. 4 new cases today, and all of them related to known clusters. Some quarantine measures remain - like wearing a mask while inside, but otherwise, it is pretty good - open air games are allowed, gatherings allowed up to 300 people outside (and up to 100 inside). It is expected that most of the restrictions will be removed by July.
On the other hand, following typical progression of epidemics, it may start anew any time. And it quite likely will in autumn months. But now the days are long and it is getting warmer (at last!). I look so much for the summer.

Thanks, but
America has been good to me, and the Optimistic Spirit of the Americans is unmatched, imho

... in God we trust :)

(... God is whatever God means to you)
 
many Italians already in Australia on a 1 year visit have been automatically extended to 2 years ...........so my cousin has 18 months left in Perth ...............most are under 35 yo
her mum in Veneto said....you can only go directly to the chemist or groceries now and if you walk around you get questioned and fined
:48: Now, this is odd. I find myself not agreeing with the things you said about Australia. From what I know, all foreigners who are not able to survive in Australia are told to go home. I know a Swiss Italian lady who is stuck in Australia. Her visa is until September. There is no automatic extension for any foreigners.
 
750 Billion E will be given to EU and some European countries
as help from Corona virus damage
 
750 Billion E will be given to EU and some European countries
as help from Corona virus damage

Yes, well, Germany finally figured out that its prosperity will take a huge hit if the Southern Europeans can't buy their goods.

Talk about being slow on the uptake.

Being literal thinkers only takes you so far.
 
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Yes, well, Germany finally figured out that its prosperity will take a huge hit if the Southern Europeans can't buy their goods.

Talk about being slow on the uptake.

Being literal thinkers only takes you so far.




from the begin of epidemia, ECB suggested a clear no loan help of 500 b E
North agreed with such
11+1 countries suggested a 1-1,2 t E help as loan with the Coronabonds,
at the end of negotiations the agreement is 750 b E = x1,5 the sum that ECB suggested
and about 0,7-0,75 of the sum with loan,

I thing this solution is better and fits all,
since keeps away foreign (non EU) money, like Goldman Sachs, since no bonds or loan will take place
bring EU closer to fiscal union, instead of collapse
and shows that Europe can still stand on her feet, and owns to noone,

as for industrial products, markets, consumers etc etc,
think that after Green pipeline, and full EastMed pipeline (+East Libya)
Italy will be the biggest gate of liguid and gas energy in Europe, and one of the top terminals on the world

But I agree with you that European South must invest and raise industry,
and not only tourism and China imports and retail merchandise,
Otherwise might have the same fate as Dixie in USA, the South of Mason-Dixon line states,
 
Now that Brazil has unfortunately become the second hotspot of the new epicenter of the global pandemic, I decided to post two answers that I posted in my profile in the Q&A social network Quora in the last weeks. People outside Brazil really need to know what's going on here. It's very, very serious and increasingly worrisome, indeed. Other countries are going through an awful pandemic. Brazil is going through the 2nd largest number of Covid-19 cases and soon-to-be 5th largest number of Covid-19 casualties, but also simultaneously through a tremendous political and institutional crisis that includes a very realistic risk of utter rupture - worst of all, a rupture promoted and encouraged by the highest authorities of the Federal Government.

***********************************************************

So, someone asked me: If the percentage of contamination in Brazil by coronavirus is lower (as of May 13th) than it is in China, the US, France, the UK, and others, why is everyone being so harsh on Brazil?

https://www.quora.com/If-the-percen...hers-why-is-everyone-being-so-harsh-on-Brazil

Well, I’m Brazilian, and I know fully well why that is happening: because to a majority of Brazilians themselves the country or rather the country’s leadership does deserve the harsh comments that foreigners and nationals alike are making about the way it is dealing with the coronavirus pandemic, in particularly the powerful and influential leadership of its Federal Government, the Presidency, which is now held by Jair Messias Bolsonaro.

That’s a man who publicly said exactly or amost exactly sentences that are abhorrent – and which I list below – in the last two months:


  • “It’s just a little flu.” (in March)
  • “The harmful potential of coronavirus is in my opinion overrated. We obviously have a small crisis due to the coronavirus, which I think is more of a fantasy, it's not all that big as the media says it is” (in March)
  • “Forty days after [the first reported case of Covid-19], it seems the issue of coronavirus is starting to go away, but the issue of unemployment is coming really bad" (in early April)
  • “I’m not a gravedigger.” (when asked about what he had to say about the increasingly large number of people dying)
  • “So what? What do you want me to do [about the country having surpassed 10,000 deaths caused by Covid-19]? My name is Messiah, but I can do no miracles!”
  • “Regretfully life always ends some day, my time to die will come, yours will come, so we feel sorry, but it’s how life is. In any case it’s killing mostly the elderly, younger people are just a minority”
  • “You won’t put the blame on me for this!” (as he tried to divert all the responsibilities, for the inevitable economic and social shocks of the actions to fight the pandemic, to the state governors and mayors, which is a bit funny if you think about it, because it’s like saying “you can’t blame me for anything, because I did nothing, so I just can’t have committed any mistakes that damaged the economy” - okay, right)
  • “It’s a neurosis, 70% will get the virus, there is no way around it. It’s madness!” (referring to the social isolation and social distancing measures enforced by authorities of all spheres of the Federation, as he rode a jetski – yes, you read it right – last weekend soon after Brazil officially surpassed 10,000 deaths caused by Covid-19)
  • “Gyms, barbershops and beauty salons have a lot to do with health, with hygiene, so they are also essential activities and will be allowed to work”
  • “A lot more people will die, I regret it, but we have to face it, 70% of the population will get infected, and a lot of them will die, there is not much we can do about it, so we need to save at least the economy”


main-qimg-30dd3ba02e0d0fbc1be4f861b4e7b57e


ABOVE: president Bolsonaro rests and enjoys some fun in May 9th, soon after the Ministry of Health of Brazil announces more than 10,000 Covid-19 casualties

And he said so all the while he also:

  • repeatedly advocated for a so-called vertical isolation (that is, social isolation only for those most vulnerable to Covid-19, and no restriction of social contacts for everyone else)
  • proposed a financial help of merely 200 reais (about $40 dollars), later brought upward by congressmen and congresswomen to 600 reais (still very insufficient to the demands of an average family, far lower than the national minimum wage), to those who would be unable to work and/or keep getting their wages during the enforcement of social isolation measures
  • had his government’s lawyers keep the Justice system busy as he tried to bar governors and mayors from doing the job that he himself had refused to do (somewhat haphazardly and lacking coordination, no doubt, but I honestly don’t think I could blame them much without a central authority working together with them). That includes even banning travels from certain countries with lots of Covid-19 cases and closing local international airports and some inter-state roads when the pandemic was already starting to spread throughout the country
  • consistently proposed and keeps claiming that there is nothing he and his government can make to help poorer people stay at home and avoid becoming the main victims of the utter collapse of the public health system, except – yes, that’s it – stopping governors and mayors (who took the lead in enforcing unpopular but internationally recognized ways to flatten the curve of expansion of the pandemic)
  • keeps talking about a massive plot of all powerful political and juridical elites of Brazil to topple him, in an increasingly paranoid and implausible way, which leads Bolsonaro to mention the next presidential elections (due to happen in 2022) and potential rivalries and political narratives that could come to be used against him with a frequency that is unusual given the present and very urgent circumstances that the country faces right now
  • publicly supported millionaire and billionaire evangelical pastors who wanted to keep their churches open and making their services to large crowds as usual, only taking some hygiene and distancing measures, thus discrediting the very authorities of his government’s Ministry of Health, and in the same period he also proposed a “national fasting day” as a policy to make coronavirus go away
  • publicly and directly urged people to go back to work and to their normal activities instead of obeying the measures of social isolation and distancing that had been very hard to convince a lot of people to respect consistently, thus making an already hard job even harder
  • kept going to the streets and greeting supporters from up close (even touching them) as if nothing were happening (and even partaking in protests on behalf of his self, protests in which calls for a military coup and the forced closure of democratic institutions in Brazil were not just heard, but also seen in several posters), even right up to this very moment, even when the country has nearly 200,000 confirmed cases and more than 13,000 casualties
  • repeatedly diminished the scale of the pandemic in Brazil and, when it became completely untenable to keep doing so, repeatedly trying to persuade the people that those deaths caused by the pandemic will be “unavoidable”, and the best we can do is to just let it run its course without damaging the economy and the job market too much (in other words, “just let people go back to work, and those who will get infected and be totally unable to find a proper treatment due to a complete collapse of the hospital system will probably die… but well, life’s always been unfair like that, just accept the ugly truth and go on”)
  • never really solved the shameful undertesting of the populaton, which makes Brazil’s already staggering figures just a rosy scenario compared to what the true figures must really be like. In fact, since March Brazilian authorities say a huge number of tests is soon arriving in the country, including Bolsonaro, who should be particularly interested in massive testing of the population, given how strongly opposed to a long period of social isolation he is… and yet here we are in May, and Brazil has still tested less than most other countries heavily affected by the pandemic (or even not so affected at all) – believe me, even Venezuela, Cuba and Iran, countries that undergo severe trade sanctions, have tested a lot more people per capita.


main-qimg-429b2482e81c599b94f036d0c9ffde22


ABOVE: Jair Bolsonaro celebrates (what exactly?) with a crowd of supporters in a mass demonstration on May 3rd, 2020

Fighting a pandemic in an underdeveloped but very urbanized and populous country is already a daunting task.
Now imagine doing that when your country is led by an ineffective populist demagogue that is not committed even with the facts in an urgent situation and clearly doesn’t care that much about trying to flatten the curve of the spread of the disease and to avoid the collapse of the country’s health system and a massive number of perhaps avoidable deaths, as his top priorities are the economic stability (supposedly to protect jobs and avoid a comeback of generalized hunger in Brazil) and his electoral prospects for 2022. It really seems like an insurmountable challenge, a situation doomed to end very badly.


We have a leader that is all willing to participate in agglomeration of people who are protesting exclusively on his behalf, but is unwilling to act as much as he can to save as many lives as possible and to take responsibility for the consequences of fighting a pandemic on his own hands, instead nearly every day making sure to remind people that “hey, it’s all the fault of governors and mayors, don’t blame me, I sent them the money, and I did nothing, so the economic crisis is not my action”.

And Brazil just doesn’t have this luxury of having a public health crisis, an economic crisis and a never-ending political crisis all at once. Our situation in this pandemic is much worse than it seems to the casual observer.
For once, Brazil already surpassed China both in absolute and, particularly, proportional terms several weeks ago. With more than 930 cases and 60 deaths per million, it’s not faring really well, and these numbers are worsening really fast as the pandemic expands throughout the country and more people get tested than before.

You may also get a wrong impression about what is happening in Brazil if you focus only on the absolute numbers or even the relative numbers of the pandemic in the country as a whole. Just compare: Coronavirus Update (Live): 4,510,963 Cases and 302,504 Deaths from COVID-19 Virus Pandemic

. The truth is that, Brazil being huge and diverse, the pandemic arrived and spread in very different paces and levels of intensity since the very beginning, so that what you actually have is this:
main-qimg-541ca7043e5fa281646dd03d2d1a2f89


ABOVE: confirmed Covid-19 cases in Brazil per state (plus the Federal District). As you can see, there are right now parts of Brazil on a par with Italy, France and Germany on that respect, and some others on a par with the likes of Iran.

Besides, don’t let yourself be deluded by the official data: when Brazil is said to have some 200,000 people who tested positive for Covid-19, and about 13,500 people who died of it, you couldn’t fall much off the mark if you guessed it’s more like 800,000–900,000 people with the disease, and at least 20,000 people who died because of it (in my city, Fortaleza, the overall excess of deaths compared to the extra deaths caused by confirmed Covid-19 cases is very low for now, but the disparities can be staggering in some other very important cities, like Manaus, Rio de Janeiro, Recife and São Paulo

).A huge number of people became sick or even passed away and never had even the slightest change to get tested for Covid-19. Brazil tested about ~3,500 people by million inhabitants till now. Compare that to Russia (~42,500 people), Turkey (~18,000 people) or Peru (~17,000 people), other emerging nations.

Brazil is unfortunately really likely to become the next hotspot of the pandemic pandemic in the next two or three weeks. It doesn’t matter what the (under-reported) figures say now. What really matters is that they are worsening in in an increasingly accelerated way in Brazil, whereas they are increasing more and more slowly in most other big nations of the world.


 
The truth is that, Brazil being huge and diverse, the pandemic arrived and spread in very different paces and levels of intensity since the very beginning, so that what you actually have is this:

main-qimg-541ca7043e5fa281646dd03d2d1a2f89


ABOVE: confirmed Covid-19 cases in Brazil per state (plus the Federal District). As you can see, there are right now parts of Brazil on a par with Italy, France and Germany on that respect, and some others on a par with the likes of Iran.

Actually, that map is already very outdated just 15 days later. The situation is much more problematic now:

main-qimg-4e2af2091c7c32179aaed288ee5aedf0

Cases per million inhabitants in May 28th
 
In the worst moment of Covid-19, Brazil gains a new opponent: the cold

Proximity to winter naturally leads to increased respiratory infections, which can create even more difficulties in fighting the coronavirus

Brazil has remained at a level of about 1,000 deaths announced daily by Covid-19 . The situation is serious, with no signs that the trend is close to reversing and, to make matters worse, the country needs to prepare itself to deal with yet another enemy at this time: the cold.

In recent days, the South and Southeast regions of Brazil have dealt with cold fronts that have served to remind the population that winter is coming in June. Historically, this period of the year causes an increase in cases of respiratory diseases; in 2020 it should be no different.


There are two main reasons that cause an increase in hospitalizations for respiratory problems during this time of year. The first is behavioral: reducing the temperature makes people gather in more closed environments, with reduced air exchange with the outside. If there is a sick person, it is easier to spread among those nearby.

The second reason is linked to the way the human body reacts to the cold. Lower temperatures cause a reduction in ciliary movements in the lung, which serve to remove impurities, which may include, for example, viruses and bacteria. Without this movement, lung infection is facilitated, both in viral and bacterial cases, and the same happens with allergies, as explained Marcelo Otsuka, coordinator of the Pediatric Infectology Committee of the Brazilian Society of Infectology.


How is Covid-19 in the cold?


It is a fact that the coronavirus Sars-Cov-2, which causes Covid-19, has no problem reproducing and spreading in the heat , as attested by the crises in the North and Northeast regions. However, the factors mentioned above indicate that the cold can create an even more complicated scenario for the coldest regions.

One of the issues that considerably aggravates the picture of patients with Covid-19 is the associated infections, caused by other organisms besides Sars-Cov-2, especially bacteria, which take advantage of the fall in the immune defenses. The increase in the incidence of other respiratory diseases can help to make the situation of patients more critical, potentially causing more deaths, as the infectologist points out.

There is one more aspect of concern with the potential increase in winter respiratory diseases. With more people being hospitalized for diseases other than Covid-19, the trend is that there will be even more pressure to occupy hospital beds, both in the infirmary and in the ICU, which are already rare in several Brazilian cities and states.

The arrival of the cold coincides precisely with the moment when states begin to discuss and plan a reopening and relaxation of isolation measures, which tends to put more people on the streets. Otsuka points out that, despite the need to resume the economy, from the point of view of health, the moment is far from ideal for this. "In other countries, the situation would be worth lockdown," he says.

To prevent the winter from exacerbating the coronavirus crisis, the solution remains just one for now: maintaining social isolation whenever possible, reinforces the infectologist. “This is not a simple flu. It is an infection that can be and has been very serious, which does not only affect the elderly; many young people are dying. It is important to wear the right mask, wash your hands properly and maintain social distance even on the streets ”, he concludes.









 
@Duarte,

I so wish for your sake there was better news coming out of Brazil.

I do very much understand that people need to go back to work, and there are also those who have just had enough of isolation. I get it; I really do.

However, just because young people and people of middle age are not dropping dead around us doesn't mean it isn't serious.

I just hope people continue to wear masks, especially indoors, but also to maintain distance even outdoors, and to pull on the mask if you come too close to other people. These videos of young people crowding together in a bar are really disturbing. Look at the new spike of cases in South Korea from that nightclub, and now from a workplace that wasn't using the proper social distancing.

We really don't need these numbers to skyrocket.
 
Taiwanese researchers discover antibody that inhibits coronavirus by up to 98%
https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/3941083



I have my trust in Taiwanese ;) let's hope all goes well, and by the end of this year, there will be effective treatment against COVID-19.

"TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A team of scientists at Taiwan's Chang Gung University (CGU) has found a monoclonal antibody (mAb) that can inhibit the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) by over 90 percent.

The team spent several months searching for the antibody, which has the ability to inhibit the virus by 90 to 98 percent. In addition, it has been found to be effective against all four main virus strains.

Shih Shin-ru (施信如), director of the CGU Research Center for Emerging Viral Infections confirmed on Thursday (May 28) that through experiments there the antibody has the ability to block the virus from entering the human body, with the ability to inhibit the virus ranging between 90 to 98 percent, reported CNA. Moreover, the antibody had the same neutralization effect on the Wuhan, American, European, and Egyptian strains of COVID-19, making it an ideal candidate for therapeutic drugs.
Shih said that unlike pharmaceuticals, which can be toxic and produce side effects, antibodies are made from substances that naturally occur in the human body. Therefore, they are not only safe but also highly specialized, enabling them to identify specific viruses and inhibit or eliminate them and will not affect normal healthy cells in the process, while reducing the occurrence of side effects.

If all goes well, the antibody could be commercially available by as soon as the end of the year, said Shih."
 
Taiwanese researchers discover antibody that inhibits coronavirus by up to 98%
https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/3941083



I have my trust in Taiwanese ;) let's hope all goes well, and by the end of this year, there will be effective treatment against COVID-19.

"TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A team of scientists at Taiwan's Chang Gung University (CGU) has found a monoclonal antibody (mAb) that can inhibit the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) by over 90 percent.

The team spent several months searching for the antibody, which has the ability to inhibit the virus by 90 to 98 percent. In addition, it has been found to be effective against all four main virus strains.

Shih Shin-ru (施信如), director of the CGU Research Center for Emerging Viral Infections confirmed on Thursday (May 28) that through experiments there the antibody has the ability to block the virus from entering the human body, with the ability to inhibit the virus ranging between 90 to 98 percent, reported CNA. Moreover, the antibody had the same neutralization effect on the Wuhan, American, European, and Egyptian strains of COVID-19, making it an ideal candidate for therapeutic drugs.
Shih said that unlike pharmaceuticals, which can be toxic and produce side effects, antibodies are made from substances that naturally occur in the human body. Therefore, they are not only safe but also highly specialized, enabling them to identify specific viruses and inhibit or eliminate them and will not affect normal healthy cells in the process, while reducing the occurrence of side effects.

If all goes well, the antibody could be commercially available by as soon as the end of the year, said Shih."

Gosh, thanks for that, Dagne. Wouldn't that be great? :)
 
Top Italian doctor says that the Coronavirus is losing its potency:

[FONT=&quot]ROME (Reuters) - The new coronavirus is losing its potency and has become much less lethal, a senior Italian doctor said on Sunday.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]"In reality, the virus clinically no longer exists in Italy," said Alberto Zangrillo, the head of the San Raffaele Hospital in Milan in the northern region of Lombardy, which has borne the brunt of Italy's coronavirus contagion.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]"The swabs that were performed over the last 10 days showed a viral load in quantitative terms that was absolutely infinitesimal compared to the ones carried out a month or two months ago," he told RAI television.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/coronavirus-losing-potency-top-italian-184358113.html

It makes sense in that the more deadly strains kill their victims and dead people can't transmit it to other people after they're dead. So what survives long term are the mild strains.[/FONT]
 
I wonder how much the coronavirus is going to spike up again, due to these massive riots, and demonstrations in major U.S. cities.


https://abcnews.go.com/US/mass-protests-lead-wave-coronavirus-infections/story?id=70997184

Don't get me started! :)

However, maybe as is happening in Italy, the virus is mutating to be less infectious (less viral load per droplet)and less lethal). I sure hope so.

Let me tell you, there are always unintended consequences. Two real estate brokers called me asking if I'm interested in selling my house; one couple from Manhattan, one family from Queens.

People who actually pay taxes will leave, which means even less money to support all the social services. That's what happens, Mayor DeBlasio, you genius, when you let people see that you won't even bother sending in the police when people trash Macy's flagship store and loot it.
 
This has nothing to do with the coronavirus but most storefronts in Greece have heavy duty metal shutters. It will take a lot of planning and very sturdy and heavy duty equipment to break in. I have no idea why US store fronts are not protected.
 
^^Maybe it's practical, but we shouldn't have to do that. Enough.

 
^^Maybe it's practical, but we shouldn't have to do that. Enough.


Of course you should not have to, Angela, but owners of stores in Athens have learned their lesson. Between political protests and common burglars you have to take measures. Otherwise insurance will not cover you.
 

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