Politics The COVID-19 pandemic news and discussion.

[muck]

Bad news from Germany… somehow, they've managed to run out of testing kits (bad storage management, apparently). From now on, only those who're "clearly symptomatic", or had "had contact with a Covid-19-positive person" will be tested and only if the person is frail, belongs to risk group or is working as a medical professional. Well, that's one way to #flattenthecurve.

Some good news from Germany… turns out the shortage only lasted for a couple of hours. New deliveries during the night from Saturday to Sunday have created capacities for 160000 tests per week for the next 8 weeks. And whilst it's obviously way too early to diagnose a trend let alone sound the all-clear, the number of newly confirmed cases has begun to drop:

The German chemical industry has donated several thousand tons of elements for disenfectants to hospitals all over the country, and reportedly offered Italy the same.

 

[Euroamerican]

Wow.. I was expecting the numbers to go up as the testing volume goes up. That's good Monday morning stuff to be hopeful about!

 

[Junglejim]

@Junglejim you regretting not being a cargo pilot now?

I regret nothing! hahah pilots are still a hot commodity and it seems they need us or cargo after all.

So what baffles me is the Philippines went on lock down pretty early on, yet we havent really had shortages, while some countries are already experiencing shortages. i think its just the initial hoarding effect, butnot really a shortage.

 

[MoorishMan]

EL PAIS Spanish newspaper

Morocco is at the forefront of the world in containment measures against the coronavirus


Interurban passenger transportation is prohibited, almost all flights are canceled and a safe conduct is required to leave the home

FRANCISCO PEREGIL
Rabat - March 22, 2020 - 7:33 p.m.

IRZKOU ABDELMJID / AFP
The agglomerations of cars which have been seen leaving quarantine in the Basque Country or the Valencian Community towards a second residence, despite all the recommendations of scientists and authorities, would be unthinkable from this Sunday on the other side of the strait. While Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said on Saturday evening that Spain had applied "the severest measures in the world" in the matter of forcible confinement, Morocco then announced much more restrictive rules.

Since Friday March 20, it is mandatory to have a receipt stamped by the authorities to leave your home. Public and private passenger transport was declared prohibited at midnight on Saturday. This includes, in addition to buses, so-called large taxis and private vehicles.

With this battery of regulations, Morocco was this Saturday at the head of the countries that have adopted the most containment measures in their fight against the coronavirus. Even China has not established something like this on its entire territory. Xi Jinping's government has only stopped transportation entirely in Hubei Province of 60 million people, where the city of 11 million Wuhan is located. Outside of Hubei, interprovincial bus lines, some train lines have been disrupted and many flights have been canceled, but not all, according to Macarena Vidal Liy. The metro and city buses continue to operate in major cities, but the recommendation is to avoid them as much as possible. And in the worst forties, yes, they were empty or almost empty

In Morocco, despite official figures reporting on Saturday evening that there had been 96 infections and only three deaths due to the coronavirus (against 25,000 infected in Spain and 1,720 died at the time), the Moroccan authorities have had their pulse not trembled to apply drastic measures among its 34 million inhabitants.

Friday, March 13, with 8 cases of contagion and one officially recognized dead, Morocco closed the borders with Ceuta and Melilla and left only open steps for the exit of foreign tourists stranded in the country. Return routes to Morocco have been closed for Moroccans outside the country.

Cross-border workers
Dozens of so-called cross-border workers, Moroccan workers who come and go daily between Morocco and Ceuta and Melilla, have been exposed to the elements in Spanish autonomous cities, unable to enter their country. They were rescued by the Spanish authorities and the humanitarian organizations. Around sixty cross-border Moroccans stay at the La Libertad sports center in Ceuta. There was the case of five young Moroccans who returned to swim from the pier of Tarajal, in Ceuta, to enter their country irregularly, according to local Hespress press.

Sunday, March 15, with only one official death recognized due to the pandemic, Morocco has already suspended all international flights and has left open only those strictly necessary for the repatriation of tourists to their country of origin.

Monday, March 16, with 29 cases of contagion and a single death, Morocco closed all educational centers. This Saturday, March 21, with 96 people infected and three dead, the national airline, Royal Air Maroc, suspended its domestic flights. The National Railway Organization has suspended the busiest long-distance and minimized lines between Casablanca and Kenitra. Across the Moroccan border to Ceuta, hundreds of touring caravans paraded throughout the week. But still in the direction of Spain. The gates of the country are closed.

The measures will undoubtedly affect an economy 10 times smaller than that of Spain. Tourism contributes to Morocco to 7% of its GDP, against 15% in Spain. However, the substantial difference is that the social protection mattress available to the unemployed in the European Union is much higher than that of the unemployed in Morocco. However, the Moroccan government has also announced a battery of economic measures to help affected businesses and individuals.

Morocco's containment rules arrive much earlier than in most of the affected countries and are more stringent. But that does not mean that the authorities did not make a mistake. Thus, Friday March 13, day of great affluence in the mosques, the imams received the slogan of the ministry for the Islamic Affairs to sensitize the parishioners to the fight against the pandemic. But instead of setting an example, the religious authorities authorized meetings of parishioners that day in the country's 50,000 mosques.

However, on Monday March 16, with only 29 cases of infection recognized, the Interior Ministry already banned public gatherings of more than 50 people, cinemas, museums, cafes and restaurants were closed. And the closure of the mosques was announced from Friday March 20. However, people were still seen crowded on the buses. The authorities gave this same Friday afternoon another twist: they were only allowed to leave the home by a safe conduct for work, health reasons or to make urgent purchases near the home.

Although production has not stopped in the country and authorized jobs are authorized, the measures have left the streets semi-empty. Any violation of these can result from this Sunday in terms of one to three months in prison. Military vehicles pass through major cities, calling on neighbors to stay at home using loudspeakers. And this Sunday, the government asked the editors of newspapers and magazines to suspend their publications in paper edition. Until further notice.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sou...ARAB&usg=AOvVaw26PUlB4OqvvYFsqpTPxFm-&ampcf=1

 

[PEMM]

My moron of a boss has everyone working in office, despite our jobs being such that we could all work remote (doesn't really matter where my computer is. And I have better work station at home than at work).

(Finnish) Prime Minister Sanna Marin announced Monday via Twitter that the government is preparing to implement more restrictions aimed at slowing the spread of the novel coronavirus, such as ordering bars and restaurants to close.

"Also, restrictions on movement are being prepared. Legislation has proven to be rigid in respect to some measures," Marin tweeted in Finnish.

PM Marin: Measures to close restaurants and restrict movement being prepared

The cabinet will reconvene Monday evening to launch more action to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus.

yle.fi

This is because some idiots still decided that it's good idea to hang out in bars.

It's also winter holiday season, so people in capital region (that has most of the cases) have figured that as they can't go to Thailand/Spain, they can still go to northern Finland (and spread the virus all over country)...

 

[Connaught Ranger]

5 Deaths Caused By Coronavirus In Romania. 576 Infections Overall, 143 New Cases Reported On Monday

https://www.romaniajournal.ro/socie...ons-overall-143-new-cases-reported-on-monday/

 

[berkut76]

So far in San Francisco we have 108 confirmed cases.

Here is an interesting bit of news today:

SF emergency workers wear virus-predicting rings: At least 2,000 San Francisco emergency medical workers will begin wearing rings this week that track their body temperature and other vital signs in a first-of-its-kind study to try to identify the early onset of COVID-19 and help curb its spread. In addition to UCSF Medical Center and Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital staff wearing the devices, UCSF also started a campaign to ask the Oura Ring’s approximately 150,000 users to share their medical data in hopes that researchers can develop an algorithm that could detect the earliest stages of coronavirus, before symptoms manifest.

Predicting coronavirus? SF emergency workers wear state-of-the-art rings in new study

 

[Musashi]

A IT guy who worked in the EU parliament dies at the age of 41.
In Polish:

Nie żyje pracownik Parlamentu Europejskiego. Był zakażony koronawirusem

Nie żyje pracownik Parlamentu Europejskiego, który był zakażony koronawirusem. Zmarły miał 41 lat i zajmował się informatyką i logistyką.

wiadomosci.gazeta.pl

 

[Picanha]

On another subject, Italy is asking for help.
Not from the EU, but from countries like China, Cuba, Venezuela, Russia, India and Egypt.

Which somehow echoes what Serbia recently declared regarding the EU response: don't expect the EU to help you.

It is because the EU has no say on its member states health systems and how they manage such a crisis. And also because of the bad political leaders in there they live in lala land as always.

Then some national politicians suddenly feared the thing they downplayed all the time is spinning out of control which lead to unsynchronized slap bang actions.

As always unimaginative politicians whichs main job is implementing lobbyists wishes.

Germany lifted the ban on exporting medical goods and the state of Baden-Württemberg offered to take in critically ill patients from Alsace as Long as they have free ICU places.

Dräger is producing 10.000 additional Ventilators and two German companies began manufacturing face maks.

In a way such crisis s a good catalyst for exposing systematic failures such as outsourcing vital industries.

A good article explaining the EUs failures and its reasons:

Europe fails to help Italy in coronavirus fight

Rome’s requests for face masks and medical gear have been met with silence.

www.politico.eu

 

[Mordoror]

It is because the EU has no say on its member states health systems and how they manage such a crisis. And also because of the bad political leaders in there they live in lala land as always.

Then some national politicians suddenly feared the thing they downplayed all the time is spinning out of control which lead to unsynchronized slap bang actions.

As always unimaginative politicians whichs main job is implementing lobbyists wishes.

Germany lifted the ban on exporting medical goods and the state of Baden-Württemberg offered to take in critically ill patients from Alsace as Long as they have free ICU places.

Dräger is producing 10.000 additional Ventilators and two German companies began manufacturing face maks.

In a way such crisis s a good catalyst for exposing systematic failures such as outsourcing vital industries.

A good article explaining the EUs failures and its reasons:

Europe fails to help Italy in coronavirus fight

Rome’s requests for face masks and medical gear have been met with silence.

www.politico.eu

Ah Ivan spreading his fake news BS again
How many time already in this thread ?

Italy didn't asked help from China, Russia or Cuba, it was an offer of goodwill
As for Italy not asking help from EU : well, well, https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/20/ita...sis-fund-as-coronavirus-death-toll-rises.html

Which was granted immediately and without restriction or control of use
Yes, EU fumbled in helping Italy at the early stages of the outbreak
Yes, every country played its own tune. The time to figure out what is happening (which speaks volume about all the supposed contingency plans we were all supposed to have)
Yes, Italy self sacrificied itself as a message that wasn't heard nor understood in Spain, France and quite a few other countries before the bug came there
But now, EU is sending help. It can be labelled as too few, too late, certainly not as absent ....

 

[muck]

Germany lifted the ban on exporting medical goods and the state of Baden-Württemberg offered to take in critically ill patients from Alsace as Long as they have free ICU places.

A gentleman's agreement has been in place since March 20. The Saarland has begun to relieve nearby French hospitals by way of accepting all their non Covid-19-related cases, and the least-hit states of Saxony and Saxony-Anhaltine have begun to evacuate critical-care patients from Italy, for now at a rate of 6 per day.

There's much solidarity on both a governmental and a regional level, they just don't hang a lantern on it since they have better stuff to do.

Quite frankly, I don't understand most of the criticism that's been levelled against the EU – not the least since the member states explicitely reserved their say on health policies (as @Picanha rightfully pointed out) and only 4 of the 27 followed the EU's guidelines on how many ICU beds each state should keep available.

In particular, I don't get Serbia's criticism or why @Ivan le Fou would possibly agree with it. It doesn't even make sense for a non-EU-member state with relatively few cases, one patient perished and a slow spread to expect the EU's aid when inside the EU, the confirmed infections go through the roof and about 1000 people die from Covid-19 every single day.

Besides, why shouldn't China be asked for help or why should that be a sign of political failure at the hands of institutions or individual countries? Since January, they've received plenty of aid from many countries. Also, Chinese doctors have gained expertise in dealing with Covid-19. I daresay it's incumbent on them to give back a little.

Wow.. I was expecting the numbers to go up as the testing volume goes up. That's good Monday morning stuff to be hopeful about!

Indeed (knock on wood). Apparently, they've done a solid job tracing infectees and isolating them, though. Only a marginal minority of the infections couldn't be traced back to an identifiable source.

 

[bfc1001]

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

One for you this @Musashi . You know my views on the guy but it doesn't look great for the 3 youths. A LEO actually sent me the link and in his opinion the officer near the end bottled it .

 

[primer]

Wife saw two car crashes and a kind of organized general panic at the super market.

NZ PM hints at longer than 4 weeks. Given her general sense of apathy until the SHTF that's something to consider seriously if she's even contemplating it..

 

[NebrHogger]

Things aren't too bad here in the wilds of western Nebr. At the local gro, only TP is completely out of stock. Since raising beef is a major industry here, no lack of it in locally-owned stores where entire beefs are delivered and cut up on site. Wal-mart is different since they get in previously cut up beef. Our next meat buy will be a big turkey when we use up what we already have. That will be good for several meals.

I refuse to participate in the buy as much as you can of everything hysteria. Health-wise, no virus infection cases have been reported so far. So we're just doing the common sense bit - stay home - wash hands at every opportunity & so forth. I still take baby bloodhound out every morning for a short hike, but there's never anybody else out there.

Working from home? I'm on strike!

 

[Fluff]

In the UK, its getting serious, as Greggs the bakers, and McDonalds are closing today.

Boris will address us this evening, generally expected to be closure of all shops etc, except food and medicine.

 

[bfc1001]

In the UK, its getting serious, as Greggs the bakers, and McDonalds are closing today.

Boris will address us this evening, generally expected to be closure of all shops etc, except food and medicine.

You forgot nandos . Even the middle class are taking a hit .

 

[primer]

Might add that a friend works for the hospital, down from 14 doctors to 2 due to 1 doc positive the others are then in isolation.

It is worse than the flu on many levels.

 

[morris]

Good news

95-year-old grandmother becomes oldest woman to recover from COVID-19 in Italy

Alma displayed 'great reaction' and her health improved without any 'antiviral therapy', reported Italian media.

www.timesnownews.com

Bad news

EU devastated as European Parliament suffers first death of colleague

A WORKER at the European Parliament has become the first to die after contracting the coronavirus, it has emerged.

www.express.co.uk

 

[riderboy]

Anthony Fauci MD, head of Trump's corona virus task force on the Trump's Administration response to the crisis. "I can't imagine that under any circumstances that anybody could be doing more". Fauci has defended Trump's border closings and flight cancellations as critical early moves in the fight to halt viral spread, despite opposition at the time from Democrats including Joe Biden who accused Trump of "hysterical xenophobia".

The president took heat for the China decision at the time. As FactCheck.org noted, at a February 5 hearing before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific, and Nonproliferation (captioned "The Wuhan Coronavirus: Assessing the Outbreak, the Response, and Regional Implications"), "several witnesses called by the Democrats expressed concerns about the travel restrictions and warned they could do more harm than good." That website continued:

And at least one Democrat agreed.
"The United States and other countries around the world have put in place unprecedented travel restrictions in response to the virus," said Democratic Rep. Eliot L. Engel. "These measures have not proven to improve public health outcomes, rather they tend to cause economic harm and to stoke racist and discriminatory responses to this epidemic."
A day earlier, Democratic Rep. Ami Bera, who presided over the hearing, told Politico, "In our response we can't create prejudices and harbor anxieties toward one population." Bera told Politico the decision to impose travel restrictions "probably doesn't make sense" given that the outbreak had already spread to several other countries by that point. "At this juncture, it's going to be very hard to contain the virus," Bera said.

https://thefederalistpapers.org/us/dr-fauci-blows-dem-narrative-trump-coronavirus-response-pieces
https://cis.org/Arthur/Dr-Fauci-Trump-China-Restrictions-Slowed-Spread-Wuhan-Flu

 

[Ivan le Fou]

Anthony Fauci MD, head of Trump's corona virus task force on the Trump's Administration response to the crisis. "I can't imagine that under any circumstances that anybody could be doing more". Fauci has defended Trump's border closings and flight cancellations as critical early moves in the fight to halt viral spread, despite opposition at the time from Democrats including Joe Biden who accused Trump of "hysterical xenophobia".

https://thefederalistpapers.org/us/dr-fauci-blows-dem-narrative-trump-coronavirus-response-pieces
https://cis.org/Arthur/Dr-Fauci-Trump-China-Restrictions-Slowed-Spread-Wuhan-Flu

Oh?
www.washingtonpost.com/2Fopinions/2F2020/2F03/2F21/2Fthis-wouldnt-have-happened-if-hillary-clinton-had-won

Coronavirus Outbreak 'Wouldn't Have Happened if Hillary Clinton Had Won' | ABC 14 News

Hardly ever Trump stalwart, Iraq War advocate, and CNN analyst Max Boot has written an op-ed in in the Washington Post in which he promises that the coronavirus outbreak would not have been as negative if Hillary Clinton experienced won the 2016 presidential election. “We couldn’t have prevented...

abc14news.com

Also, still from wapo:

'I know, but what do you want me to do?': Fauci's strikingly honest review of Trump's coronavirus response

Dr. Anthony Fauci's interview with Science magazine began on an inauspicious note. Asked...

www.thehour.com

*orange man bad*