COVID-19 thread

[MacAnDàil]

The metaphor is unfortunate, but the main problem is it should be international, not national. I.e. not trying to get German scientists to make a vaccine exclusively for Americans.

[chris_notts]

Yanis has a massive ego, but this is a good article about the Eurozone yet again failing to show solidarity and preferring to risk blowing up the economy to perceived moral hazard:

https://www.yanisvaroufakis.eu/2020/03/ ... recession/

The first thing to note is what they did not do. As everyone knows, eurozone governments live in the straitjacket of the so-called fiscal compact that allows next to zero room for fiscal expansion. This fiscal compact does, however, contain a clause that can be activated in times of emergency that released, temporarily, governments and allows them to throw money at an unexpected crisis. Before yesterday’s meeting, almost everyone expected the Eurogroup to announce the triggering of this clause. THEY DID NOT!

What they did announce was a series of pathetic measures that either won't help or will likely to come with conditions, especially the use of the European Stability Mechanism. Will Italy accept bring made into the next Greece to save its banking system, if it comes to that? Further comments from German central bankers and politicians had a very strong "I'm alright, Jack" tone, as usual.

Meanwhile, the UK government is at least taking the scale of the problem caused by the shutdown seriously, but trying the same playbook of loaning money to companies that will soon be technically bankrupt. When the economy unwent the massive shock of the world wars, did the participating governments expect the private sector to take the cost of the war onto their books immediately? Or did they instead us monetary policy / printing money and government borrowing?

[Raphael]

An acquaintance of my Mom sent her a graphic saying "Important hint: please do not leave valuables like noodles or toilet paper openly visible in your car!"

[akam chinjir]

Hong Kong had some armed robbers steal a delivery of toilet paper about a month ago.

[Raphael]

I need to get these silly plays on song titles and song lyrics out of my system, so I'm posting them here:

Yesterday
Trump said the virus far far away


There was something in the air that year
The virus clear
Corona


In Trump's head
In Trump's head
Emptiness
Emptiness
Emptiness

In our cells
In our cells
Corona
Corona
Corona


Everybody's doing a brand new germ now
Come on baby, do the Covid-19


I shook the Sheriff's hand
But I did not shake the Deputy's hand


Covid international Virus
When the online liars roar
Covid international Virus
We will see it much much more

Hm, the tension in the air seems to be getting to me.

[Travis B.]

There is something surreal about this, comparable in the memory of anyone but the very oldest only to 9/11, but while 9/11 was one set of events that occurred within a day (while its consequences last until today) which basically affected a particular set of people this is going to drag out for who knows how long and affect the entire human population. Never have I seriously been worried about being infected by a virus or, more importantly, transmitting a virus to someone else (my parents). Never have I been told to avoid social contact with people in general. Never have I seriously been worried about running out of household necessities, in this case toilet paper in particular. Never have I seen basically society as a whole shut down all at once (even though in my case my work is staying open, for better or for worse). Never have I seen the economy basically implode in under a month. Never have I seen all these happen at once.

[Raphael]

Meanwhile, someone more talented at this than I am wrote this:

https://twitter.com/danajaybein/status/ ... 1491494912

[Ares Land]

There is something surreal about this, comparable in the memory of anyone but the very oldest only to 9/11, but while 9/11 was one set of events that occurred within a day (while its consequences last until today) which basically affected a particular set of people this is going to drag out for who knows how long and affect the entire human population. Never have I seriously been worried about being infected by a virus or, more importantly, transmitting a virus to someone else (my parents). Never have I been told to avoid social contact with people in general. Never have I seriously been worried about running out of household necessities, in this case toilet paper in particular. Never have I seen basically society as a whole shut down all at once (even though in my case my work is staying open, for better or for worse). Never have I seen the economy basically implode in under a month. Never have I seen all these happen at once.

As someone quipped on Twitter, we'll be sure to remember where we were when it happened.
I completely agree; this is surreal I mean, it's sci-fi / YA novel material.

Various thoughts:

An interesting crossover: I read zompist' post on the Talmud. Believe, for sheer pedantry it has nothing on French people dealing with confinement rules. ?
We're allowed to exercise, but what counts as exercise? A walk? If so, how long a walk exactly? Can we run? Can we run with one's girlfriend/boyfriend? And how about water polo?

Telecommuting with kids turns out not to be so hard. I mean the kids sometimes whine, or insist that I play withu them, and the youngest one tries to be helpful by bashing keys on my keyboard. So, really, they're no worse than my coworkers!
(Actually I'm truly privileged in that respect; I get to work on long term prospective stuff, which means I can work in the mornings or at night, or basically when it suits me.)

We'll probably end up utterly mad with cabin fever by the end of the week, but so far we're kind of enjoying this. We get to spend a lot of time with the kids, have enough time to cook and exercise, and it's nice to hear the birds instead of the cars.

[Pabappa]

I've been very sick for three days and though I don't think its actually the coronavirus, my parents are afraid to visit me and I'm getting a bit worried myself. If I can meet them I will have better access to food but that might not change much. This illness is mostly about vomiting but even the worst flu I've ever had has not had me vomiting for 3 days. Thankfully I've kept *some* food down or else I would be in danger of starvation by this point.

[Ares Land]

I've been very sick for three days and though I don't think its actually the coronavirus, my parents are afraid to visit me and I'm getting a bit worried myself. If I can meet them I will have better access to food but that might not change much. This illness is mostly about vomiting but even the worst flu I've ever had has not had me vomiting for 3 days. Thankfully I've kept *some* food down or else I would be in danger of starvation by this point.

I'd say it's probably best to avoid all contacts in your case, as far as possible. Contamination with the coronavirus is still possible (either you or your parents could carry it without symptoms)... and besides, it's probably best not to risk spreading any stomach bugs these days.

Anyway, I'm sorry to hear that... That must truly suck.

[doctor shark]

Luxembourg's declared an état de crise for three months, meaning that the government now has emergency powers for three months to deal with the coronavirus. Same as before otherwise, though now with all construction sites closed until further notice. So things are remarkably quiet. We can still leave home to buy groceries and medicines, fill up cars, and take walks outdoors while keeping minimum distances from other people.

The local supermarket has stopped accepting cash, which is frustrating (to me), so we'll see if a different supermarket/hypermarket is still fine with cash (I hate using my cards when not necessary).

Move is still uncertain. Landlords have said they're "flexible" in terms of my moving out in light of the current situation, and the government has declared all residence permits to be prolonged until the end of the crisis. However, my contract runs out at the end of the month, so that means no more income until I've moved to the Netherlands and probably a very tight financial situation for the next few weeks. If the états d'urgence in Belgium and Luxembourg end on time, I probably would try to move to the Netherlands around the 6th of April now, but everything's still very much up in the air. (Which is probably more irritating to me than the social isolation, which does suck.)

[MacAnDàil]

I've been very sick for three days and though I don't think its actually the coronavirus, my parents are afraid to visit me and I'm getting a bit worried myself. If I can meet them I will have better access to food but that might not change much. This illness is mostly about vomiting but even the worst flu I've ever had has not had me vomiting for 3 days. Thankfully I've kept *some* food down or else I would be in danger of starvation by this point.

You should probably phone your doctor. I did that for what turned out to be pharyngitis.

[Moose-tache]

Pabappa, I once had a flu where several days of vomiting was the primary symptom. Definitely get that taken care of. If you don't stay hydrated because of the nausea, it will drag out the illness even longer.

[Raphael]

Michel Barnier has Corona:

https://www.bbc.com/news/live/world-51955509

[Raphael]

German TV interviewed an Italian sociologist who predicts that once the Corona Crisis is over, there will be a wave of exuberance going around the world (or at least the parts that can afford it), as people will basically celebrate life itself (link only in German):

https://www.tagesschau.de/ausland/itali ... s-101.html

[Travis B.]

We're allowed to exercise, but what counts as exercise? A walk? If so, how long a walk exactly? Can we run? Can we run with one's girlfriend/boyfriend? And how about water polo?

Taking a walk with people you already live with would be allowed, while going to a health club would not be, were they sane. But there certainly is no guarantee that they are going to be sane.

[Kuchigakatai]

(This post continues this other post in the US politics thread.)

I've noticed that Taiwanese media continues to commonly call it the 武漢肺炎 Wǔhàn fèiyán "Wuhan pneumonia", although the article on Chinese Wikipedia on COVID-19 in Taiwan says the official governmental name for it is 嚴重特殊傳染性肺炎 yánzhòng tèshū chuánrǎnxìng fèiyán "severe special infectious pneumonia".

In China it is informally known as 新冠肺炎 xīnguān fèiyán "new-crown pneumonia", or simply 新冠 xīnguān "new-crown", and more formally 新型冠状病毒肺炎 xīnxíng guānzhuàng bìngdú fèiyán "novel coronavirus pneumonia" (more literally, "new-type crown-shaped virus pneumonia")...

I found it very interesting that the article on COVID-19 in Hong Kong lists, extensively, what different particular news sources have been calling the virus, as if to remark on the political implications of the terms...

疾病名稱

對於由嚴重急性呼吸系統綜合症冠狀病毒2型引發的疾病，香港法定名稱為「嚴重新型傳染性病原體呼吸系統病」[4]，而政府新聞公報早期稱為「新型冠狀病毒感染」[5]，在2月19日起改稱「2019冠狀病毒病」[6]。早期香港傳媒如《明報》[7]、《星島日報》[8]、《蘋果日報》[9]、《成報》[10]、《香港經濟日報》[11]、《頭條日報》[12]、《立場新聞》[13]、《am730》[14]、《晴報》[15]、《852郵報》[16]等稱呼為「武漢肺炎」；《熱血時報》[17] 等稱呼為「新型肺炎」；《經濟通》[18]、《大公報》[19]、《香港01》[20]稱呼為「新冠肺炎」。後期《明報》[21]、《星島日報》[22]、《香港經濟日報》[23]、《頭條日報》[24]、《am730》[25]、《晴報》[26]已改稱呼為「新冠肺炎」。[註 2]

"Names of the disease"

"For the disease caused by the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) coronavirus type 2, the legal appelation in Hong Kong is "severe novel epidemic pathogenic respiratory system disease", while early government announcements in the news called it the "novel coronavirus infection". Early on, Hong Kong media such as Ming Pao, the Sing Tao Daily, Apple Daily, Sing Pao Daily News, the Hong Kong Economic Times, the Headline Daily, the Stand News, am730, Sky Post, Post 852, and others, called it the "Wuhan pneumonia", whereas the Passion Times and others called it the "novel pneumonia", and ET Net, Ta Kung Pao and HK01 called it the "new-crown pneumonia". Later on, Ming Pao, the Sing Tao Daily, the Hong Kong Economic Times, the Headline Daily, am730 and the Sing Pao Daily News switched to using "new-crown pneumonia"."

It's kind of interesting that the Sing Tao and Sing Pao started calling it the "Wuhan pneumonia" as those are now pro-Beijing newspapers, but maybe at the beginning of the epidemic naming it after Wuhan City wasn't seen as negative by Chinese authorities.

[Pabappa]

Hong Kong was angry the name SARS became official because Hong Kong's self designation is a special administrative region of China (SAR). Naming not done on purpose afaik.

I'm feeling somewhat better now but its only been a day so I don't want to say I'm recovered just yet. Thanks for your advice.... I didnt go to a clinic today because I was worried I'd get sicker than when I went in, even though they say they are all taking measures to prevent spread of the virus. Its just my mind's way of thinking. If I still have trouble eating solids by Saturday then I will have no choice but to seek help.

[Richard W]

The Health Protection (Coronavirus) Regulations 2020 (Statutory Instrument 2020/129) defines coronavirus as the virus known as “Wuhan novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV)”.

The Coronavirus Bill (which won't be law for days) does define coronavirus as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2); coronavirus disease is defined as COVID-19 (the official designation of the disease which can be caused by coronavirus). The bill does not cover other coronavirus diseases.

How many crows have been hurt because of the similarity of 'COVID' to corvid?

Now, in Thai, 'COVID' and 'Clovis' are indistinguishable in some mouths (and indeed, I get the impression of an /l/ when some say 'COVID'). As the '-19' (which seems to pronounced as English rather than as Thai) is frequently dropped, is there a threat to Amerindians?

[Linguoboy]

Those puns are so hilariously clever, I don't know why I didn't laugh at them.

Oh wait; now I remember.