Chat about Novel Coronavirus - 2019-nCoV - COVID-19

From what I have read, the US has more critical care beds per capita than any other country in the world. The tragedy is that means nothing if you don't have health insurance.

Couldn’t happen to a nicer country

when it starts to spread

I think it's not really a question of when. Towards the end of last week they were at like 200 cases if I remember correctly, today they stand at over 1000, and they're nicely distributed through the country too (well, fewer cases in 'flyover states', but there are also just way fewer people there). I'd say they're in full exponential spread mode right now, at least when you take the country as a whole.

One of my wilder trains of thought a month ago was that the virus could have been created and released by the CCP to demonstrate the superiority of their political system, at least for dealing with crises like these.

I will hold my hand up and say the conspiracist element is clearly bonkers, but the mind wanders when I am cycling to work.

That’s obviously untrue but even as a conspiracy theory it doesn’t hold water as the main takeaway would be that China is a petri dish of disease thanks to their squalid living conditions

Interested in what you say here:

"However, I think- despite the bed situation looking bleak from the outside(and inside)- that the nature of the NHS puts us in an excellent position for better outcomes."

What is it about the NHS's nature?

For me the worrying stuff is the pressure it puts on hospitals. Italy (especially the richer north) is said to have an advanced health care system and yet they apparently don't have enough ventilators and have to choose who gets them. And what happens to the run of the mill day to day emergencies like heart attacks/strokes/other trauma...

When that £350m a week starts rolling in we can build more intensive care beds, NEXT

Has this thread been shared ?

Imagine our government actually being proactive and doing something like this? And secondly people complying...

Completed?

tbf most immediate changes will happen to trackers but likely to be some trickle down to fixed rates not definite though

He just did a podcast with Sam Harris on Coronavirus which is well worth listening to

Rumours that some city companies are going to have half their staff working from home and the other half in the office - with these two groups rotating....

To be honest, the scientific data has been available since at least the last week in January to predict a pandemic in the absence of strong counter measures. And world renowned epidemiologists were predicting exactly that. The blind stupidity and inactivity of our governments has prevented the implementation of measures that could have made containment possible.

I'm aware of one large City firm who's asked their whole workforce to wfh on Friday to test their capabilities.

I found this interesting: https://kottke.org/20/03/covid-19-not-just-a-bad-flu

So have patience, too, that you cannot go to the theater, museums or gym. Try to have mercy on that myriad of older people you could exterminate.

I don't know if is has been established that this is authentic, but the full post is here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/medicine/comments/ff8hns/testimony_of_a_surgeon_working_in_bergamo_in_the/

It is heart breaking.

Couldn’t happen to a nicer country

Although only a very small number of people in the US don't have health insurance, unsurprisingly a good chunk of those without it are young people and non-citizens.

Also I'm going to go out on a limb and say for all it's faults ime the generally better quality of healthcare, particularly in diagnostics, coupled with population density means the US will fair better than Europe.

You're right. But I was thinking when the cases start to get into the 100,000s.

I work for a large City firm (1,000's of people in the building).

I'm aware of one large City firm who's asked their whole workforce to wfh on Friday to test their capabilities.

We did this last week.

Rumours that some city companies are going to have half their staff working from home and the other half in the office - with these two groups rotating....

We are doing this now, and for the foreseeable. Swapping 'shifts' each week and half the floors in the building closed off.

Also I'm going to go out on a limb and say for all it's faults ime the generally better quality of healthcare

You sure? https://www.cnbc.com/2018/02/22/medical-errors-third-leading-cause-of-death-in-america.html

Edit: Link to actual study: https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/news/media/releases/study_suggests_medical_errors_now_third_leading_cause_of_death_in_the_us

Not really rumours, we’ve been doing this in Asia for 6 weeks so it makes sense that U.K. and US offices will copy what we’re doing. Split site working, banning travel between offices in the same city, sometimes banning travel between floors.

This is the root of the greatest fallacy about the American Healthcare system, and Capitalism in general; you have the choice to appoint whichever 'health provider' you like within a competitive market, therefore quality must be ensured by that dynamic. Almost without fail, it's the exact opposite.

Yes, I would guess that if you do decide to rotate the two groups you'd want the rotation period to be at least two weeks - not say, one week which seems to be touted around the city a lot.

Our main work processors (who aren't in the city) are already doing it as are the people they offshore work to.

This whole ordeal has triggered my interest in buying and restoring a tiny cabin in the middle of the forest again. I'm certainly not a doomsday prepper but it would be nice to have a retreat away from people when needed.

Not a rumour, I am literally doing that now. I'm at home this week, back in the office next week then off/on for the duration. However I think everyone will be WFH within 2 weeks

@twlldun

All the left-wingers gloating about Nadine Dorries catching
Coronavirus and having to self-isolate for 14 days are ignoring the
very real threat she may use that time to write another novel.