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toyolink wrote:According to WHO China has proven that this 'outbreak' can be controlled with the best strategies being containment and provision of access to public health services.
Italy and Spain have found themselves in a mess primarily because of a failure to act promptly.
What China has been able to do is break the expected progression before the natural flattening of the curve was expected due to the population becoming more resistant to this virus.
South Korea seems to have quickly adopted the Chinese model and are getting the desired result.
Here in T&T, the model that is working is known and just needs to be implemented aggressively.
The imperatives presented by the PM and his ministers are in line with what is working especially the appeal to the public to support containment by avoid congregating and upping personal hygiene.
What seems to be unsaid but extremely important is the need to be focused on good clean and healthy practices and avoid worthless panic and other mindless stupidity.
The covid19 is a horrible virus, but the facts on how to take control are real and just need to be followed by all.
Haven't posted in a long time, but felt compelled to address some harmful misinformation I've seen on social media:
There is an epidemic of armchair epidemiologists and facebook fauxsicians who hear a COVID-19 talking point they agree with and repeat it as though it must surely be fact.
"Why is everyone over-reacting? This is just a flu. Old people die from the flu all the time. etc. etc." Their tone is that of very serious, very reasonable people, talking sense to the panicked masses. The truth is, these people have no idea what they are talking about, and in an era when facts are established by whomever shouts the loudest on social media, their ignorance is causing serious harm.
What makes us so susceptible to this is that we live in a time when the news media cries wolf about nearly everything - and people urging calm are USUALLY right. Things usually work themselves out. But this time there really is a wolf.
The truth is, the people MOST concerned about COVID-19 are the experts. Physicians, scientists, epidemiologists, public health folks. The most serious responses are from healthcare organizations and academic medical centers who are telling all nonessential personnel to work from home and making all meetings virtual. No matter their political persuasion, they are terrified of what's coming our way in the next few weeks. They see a tidal wave barreling towards shore, and lots of folks are still out playing on the beach.
Here are what I think are the critical facts:
1) On a case-by-case basis, this virus is about 10x more deadly than flu. 0.1% vs. 1%. That is huge. In those 60 and over with medical problems, the fatality rate can be as high as 10%, and those needing ICU-level care up to twice that.
2) This virus spreads like wildfire. Exponential growth is categorically different from linear growth. Every week that goes by will be ten times worse than the prior week, until things get bad enough that really drastic action is taken. Because of the lag between infection and symptoms, even if we locked down society today, things would continue to get worse for at least week before starting to improve.
3) 1+2 means that we are headed for a scenario where many hospitals will not be able to handle the patient load. This is what is happening in Italy - they literally ran out of ventilators, and doctors are having to decide who gets the chance to live and who doesn't because they simply could not save everyone. Imagine having to triage ventilators while you send someone's grandmother to die from respiratory failure. This is beyond most people's imaginations because we've never seen anything like it in our lifetimes.
4) The government has totally botched this response and set us up for catastrophe. We should have been testing and quarantining people aggressively MONTHS ago. It's a PCR, guys. In 2020. It takes an hour or so and costs pennies. When the media says there are a few thousand cases - those are test-confirmed cases. The number of real, actual cases is probably 10-100x that because we are testing so few people.
Sidebar: We had a mini-outbreak in my lab a few weeks ago. 30 out of about 50 people got sick with COVID-like symptoms, including myself. I got real sick. We reported it. NONE OF US WERE TESTED. Did we have COVID? Maybe - probably - who knows? But when you've got confirmed cases in places like Burkina Faso and Reunion Island, chances are this has been smoldering in the US/Canada (with 1000s of flights daily to/from Asia and Europe) for months. People have been getting sick, diagnosed with "a viral URI" and recovering without any clue they had COVID.
5) "Social distancing" works. Stay home as much as you can. Avoid anywhere crowded. Wash your hands obsessively. It will flatten the curve, spread the cases out over a longer period, give time for the health care system to develop therapies and vaccines. It's not enough to "stay home if you feel sick" because you can be contagious for up to a week without feeling it - some people never have any symptoms at all. Cancel everything. Don't travel. Don't go out to nightclubs or bars. Work out outside instead of at a gym.
Eventually, almost all of us will get this virus - it's just that contagious. And most of us will be just fine. Many won't even have symptoms. But there are a lot of vulnerable, older people, who will die from it. People's parents, grandparents, immunosuppressed children. And fewer of them will die if we flatten the curve. Your actions will save lives.
Without coordinated action from everyone, credible people are estimating the dead could reach into the millions in the US/Canada.
And if we do everything right, and we do slow this down enough that it's manageable, these same social media blowhards will be saying that they were right all along, and everyone over-reacted.
I'm okay living in that world. Because millions of people who might have died will still be alive. And we can all go back to living normally and amplifying harmless nonsense on social media.
Finally: vaccinate your kids. As contagious as COVID is, it is nothing compared to measles. The R0 (transmissibility) of Seasonal flu is 1.3. COVID is 2-3. Measles is somewhere between 11 and 18!! We used to have lots of pathogens like COVID: measles, mumps, rubella, smallpox, polio, tetanus, chicken pox, diphtheria. They rampaged through humanity and killed people en masse on the regular - not because they are deadly but because they are contagious. Then we developed this miraculous thing called a vaccine, and they all went away. Imagine that - a harmless shot and NOBODY GETS SICK. The greatest miracle in modern medicine - and people refuse it?! COVID is a glimpse into the world that vaccines liberated us from. So vaccinate your children. All of the vaccines. On the schedule recommended by your pediatrician. Now.
We all have the privilege of living in a world where it doesn't seem that risky to leave a child unvaccinated. Where the idea of a mass quarantine seems like it MUST be an absurd over-reaction. That world was created by vaccines.
Lastly: shoutout to Vijay Kannan who is on the front lines at WHO, and all the physicians I know who will have their lives upended for the next few months as hospitals try to stay afloat when the tidal wave hits.
BRIEF-Philippine Stock Exchange Announces Trading Suspension Starting March 17 Until Further Notice
March 17 (Reuters) - Philippine Stock Exchange:
* PHILIPPINE STOCK EXCHANGE SAYS THERE WILL BE NO TRADING AT PHILIPPINE STOCK EXCHANGE STARTING MARCH 17, UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE
* PHILIPPINE STOCK EXCHANGE SAYS THERE WILL ALSO BE NO CLEARING AND SETTLEMENT AT SECURITIES CLEARING CORP STARTING MARCH 17 UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE
* PHILIPPINE STOCK EXCHANGE SAYS TRADING SUSPENSION FOR SAFETY OF EMPLOYEES AND TRADERS DUE TO ESCALATING CASE
East-based schools fear exposure to virus
by
Bobie-Lee Dixon
2 days ago
Sat Mar 14 2020
GUARDIAN
BOBIE-LEE DIXON
bobie-lee.dixon@guardian.co.tt
There were high levels of anxiety among students and staff at an east-based secondary school yesterday, where it is believed several people were exposed to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) by a teacher who allegedly told the school’s principal on Thursday that she may have been exposed to the virus via her husband.
Guardian Media understands from a school official that the teacher is the spouse of an employee of the country’s first recorded and confirmed case of COVID-19—the 52-year-old businessman who contracted the virus while on a trip to Switzerland.
The official said the teacher, who attended school all week and interacted with several staff and students, did not turn up to school yesterday after announcing to the principal that she might be carrying the virus.
The official said although the principal received this information and staff called on him to shut down the school yesterday morning, he refused saying he would have to wait on such a directive from Education Minister Anthony Garcia.
The official said what was additionally disturbing is that the principal, having such important information, also failed to announce it to the school to place those who would have been in contact with the teacher on alert.
“There is a high level of concern, especially among the students whom she would have interacted with,” said the official.
She added, “The teacher would have compromised the health of everyone because while we are waiting for persons to exhibit symptoms, this virus has an incubation period of 14 days. And other persons would be going home to their parents and grandparents, whose immune systems might not be as strong as a younger person. So I think it was very irresponsible of them to not close the school from since this morning.”
As the official was on the phone with the T&T Guardian, Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley announced the closure of schools for a week. To this, the official said this had brought some relief to them but still noted that the principal should have done the right thing much earlier in the day for the safety of the staff and students.
Guardian Media made several calls to Education Minister Anthony Garcia’s mobile yesterday to find out if the ministry had any information on the matter but all calls went unanswered.
Chief Education Officer in the Ministry of Education Harrilal Seecharan was also contacted but he said he could not confirm the situation at the school as the ministry had no such information.
However, an Education Ministry official last night said the Ministry of Health is leading the charge in conducting the contact tracing process as it relates to confirmed COVID-19 cases in T&T.
“Today, the Ministry of Health would have been working with the family and the possible persons they would have been in contact with and we don’t have the details of that,” the Education Ministry official, who did not want to be named, said.
The official said while schools are closed there are protocols being followed by the Health Ministry.
He said, “If there is any need for them to contact us for any intervention, they would do so.”
During yesterday’s Parliament session, Rowley said the decision to close all schools was a preventive measure to safeguard against the spread of the virus.
— With reporting by Anna-Lisa Paul
bluefete wrote:This government is now asking primary school principals to tell them how many Std. 5 children do not have laptops and internet access at home. They sent it out today and want a full reply as soon as possible.
hydroep wrote:bluefete wrote:This government is now asking primary school principals to tell them how many Std. 5 children do not have laptops and internet access at home. They sent it out today and want a full reply as soon as possible.
Are you serious? This after Sh!tkicker and his cronies vilified and discontinued the PP's Laptop Distribution Program?...
bluefete wrote:The irony, eh. But Tantie Kams only gave out laptops to students who were going into Form 1 not Std. 5.
But the irony is still inescapable for this bourgeois PNM government.hydroep wrote:bluefete wrote:This government is now asking primary school principals to tell them how many Std. 5 children do not have laptops and internet access at home. They sent it out today and want a full reply as soon as possible.
Are you serious? This after Sh!tkicker and his cronies vilified and discontinued the PP's Laptop Distribution Program?...
rspann wrote:bluefete wrote:The irony, eh. But Tantie Kams only gave out laptops to students who were going into Form 1 not Std. 5.
But the irony is still inescapable for this bourgeois PNM government.hydroep wrote:bluefete wrote:This government is now asking primary school principals to tell them how many Std. 5 children do not have laptops and internet access at home. They sent it out today and want a full reply as soon as possible.
Are you serious? This after Sh!tkicker and his cronies vilified and discontinued the PP's Laptop Distribution Program?...
i
If they got it in form one they would still have it throughout their other forms.
the kamla one, some of them made it that far. although some gone tru, u hadda expect that. cater for a 3 year average replacement cycle.PariaMan wrote:Laptop lasting over 5 years in the hands of kids?rspann wrote:bluefete wrote:The irony, eh. But Tantie Kams only gave out laptops to students who were going into Form 1 not Std. 5.
But the irony is still inescapable for this bourgeois PNM government.hydroep wrote:bluefete wrote:This government is now asking primary school principals to tell them how many Std. 5 children do not have laptops and internet access at home. They sent it out today and want a full reply as soon as possible.
Are you serious? This after Sh!tkicker and his cronies vilified and discontinued the PP's Laptop Distribution Program?...
i
If they got it in form one they would still have it throughout their other forms.
redmanjp wrote:so, what's going to happen when the 14 day travel ban is done?
Coronavirus pandemic will bankrupt nearly ALL of the world's airlines in a matter of WEEKS, Australian aviation experts say
The coronavirus pandemic will bankrupt almost all of the world's airlines in a matter of weeks, Australian aviation experts say.
With passengers scrambling to cancel their flights and carriers grounding their services, airline analysis and consulting firm CAPA Centre for Aviation warned most airlines worldwide will be bankrupt by May unless urgent action is taken.
'As the impact of the coronavirus and multiple government travel reactions sweep through our world, many airlines have probably already been driven into technical bankruptcy, or are at least substantially in breach of debt covenants,' CAPA said in a statement on Monday.
Miktay wrote:redmanjp wrote:so, what's going to happen when the 14 day travel ban is done?
Something along the lines of this...Coronavirus pandemic will bankrupt nearly ALL of the world's airlines in a matter of WEEKS, Australian aviation experts say
The coronavirus pandemic will bankrupt almost all of the world's airlines in a matter of weeks, Australian aviation experts say.
With passengers scrambling to cancel their flights and carriers grounding their services, airline analysis and consulting firm CAPA Centre for Aviation warned most airlines worldwide will be bankrupt by May unless urgent action is taken.
'As the impact of the coronavirus and multiple government travel reactions sweep through our world, many airlines have probably already been driven into technical bankruptcy, or are at least substantially in breach of debt covenants,' CAPA said in a statement on Monday.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl ... s-say.html
pugboy wrote:so what about the members of the eldo temple whom a member is positive ?
redmanjp wrote:
hydroep wrote:Maybe I'm looking in the wrong places eh but has anyone seen actual pictures of a person/person(s) who died from this thing or autopsy reports, pictures of respiratory tract damage etc....
pugboy wrote:Flus kill you by weakening the system and or pneumonia due to the respiratory system breaking down
Pictures would just be usually pneumonia stuff, fluid etc.hydroep wrote:Maybe I'm looking in the wrong places eh but has anyone seen actual pictures of a person/person(s) who died from this thing or autopsy reports, pictures of respiratory tract damage etc....
redmanjp wrote:5th case confirmed (imported)
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