OT : The Coronavirus. Has it reached you yet? How are you?

No, these unreported numbers are base on statistic analysis. Obviuosly you have no idea about what you are talking, or you ignore it, because you don't like what they are telling you.

As for Trump, and I posted this before:


"www.who.int/docs/default-source/coronaviruse/situation-reports/20200430-sitrep-101-covid-19.pdf?sfvrsn=2ba4e093_2





German media also reported this BS: ~2500 is the overall number. Not the daily or even weekly number."


In response to the posted Tweet:

"Despite reports to the contrary, Sweden is paying heavily for its decision not to lockdown. As of today, 2462 people have died there, a much higher number than the neighboring countries of Norway (207), Finland (206) or Denmark (443). The United States made the correct decision!"


When he is wrong, I simply call him out as being wrong

Errare human est...but that you flock on his side when he is obviously wrong tells a lot about you. Above is also a link to the WHO reports with the actual Swedish numbers.


And also your inhuman stance at the culling of female unborns in India or the denying of the Bride Burning in India is outrageous. And even you government is acknowledging these problems. 

Yes, 2500 is the total number and still the number of deaths are not flattening. And Finland, Norway and Denmark combined have far less deaths than 2,500. So yes, Swedish people are paying high cost.

And we need to compare countries with similar culture and societies and similar population densities. Belgium's population density is 16 times higher than Sweden's and Holland's density is 18 times greater than Sweden's. It is totally incorrect to compare Sweden with both of those counties. Sweden should be compared to Norway, Finland and Denmark. And Sweden is doing worse whichever way you look. 

Sweden's conditions make it a very easy for social distancing. Bloomberg reports that:

"Others have pointed to Sweden’s comparative affluence as an important factor in helping the country deal with the virus. HSBC Global Research economist James Pomeroy notes that more than half of Swedish households are single-person, making social distancing easier to carry out. More people work from home than anywhere else in Europe, and everyone has access to fast Internet, which helps large chunks of the workforce stay productive away from the office." Source - Bloomberg

On top of that Sweden has taken many measures to safeguard the country. The American right-wing (who usually hate Sweden) is trying to twist this tale into blaming lockdown as effectiveless measure when it is very clear that Sweden has far more deaths than Norway, Denmark and Finland and unlike those countries it has not been able to flatten the death graph.

If other countries such as the US and the UK had taken Sweden's approach it would have been disaster for them even if they are already paying high price.

I find this buildings / society stuff very interesting - I had no idea there were housing setups like this. Does the committee really have the power to restrict comings and goings though? Isn't that a government decision?

Re the dropping figures irrespective of lockdown, I wonder if it's because the lockdowns are ineffective anyway - i.e. the mingling in supermarkets, takeaway delivery services, some people still working anyway / using public transport, high density housing, lack of PPE at hospitals, etc. All these factors combined probably mean it still spreads. Maybe the dropping figures are because the spread is beginning to run its course anyway (lockdown or not). But I guess we'd still need thorough wide scale testing to confirm infection rates throughout countries to know that.

Priest hears open-air confessions in Belfast

How do you conduct something as private and intimate as confessions at church while observing social distancing? Father Paddy McCafferty of Corpus Christi Catholic Church in Belfast has the solution - listening to members of his congregation through locked gates.

I'd just turn up to listen to what other people were confessing!







P.S. Don't copy all the photos in any reply please.

Yes, it has reached here.

Two people in my street have died of the virus... and two local brothers only in their 50s died on the same day from it, just hours apart.

Our city's dead are being stored in food refrigeration lorries, and a field owned by the council has been converted in to a new emergency 3,000 plot cemetery.

Butchers?

Nope. I wouldn't have been troubled by it if they were.

You must have read about some other brothers.

Well, Sweden has a higher death rate per capita then the US, which is not as bad as some people think - for both countries. But the absolute  number of the US is much larger then those of European nations due to the sheer size of the US. But relatively seen, the US is just 10th (Germany is 13th).



www.statista.com/statistics/1104709/coronavirus-deaths-worldwide-per-million-inhabitants/

Furthermore, and I have already posted a link to that in this thread: Sweden is more urbanized then the Uk or the US. That's mean its population is for more concentrated in dense areas (large cities).
Belgium is - set aside a few city states - the most urbanized country in the world - hence the huge toll (similar applies to the Netherlands).


Last but not least Sweden had a huge influx of immigrants over the recent years, which change the composition of its societies dramatically. And I also posted a link to this issue: no-go areas and social hotspots. Poor areas with a crowded living areas and less or even no control by the authorities.


Poverty is a key factor in this crisis:


New York was hit that hard for many reason:


As the global hub in the world is was the destination of many people who had contracted it.

But more so the gap between the wealthy people and the poor people is very sharp in New York and studies have shown that poor areas had been hit the hardest by the virus: East Haarlem vs. the Upper East Side - are two neighboring areas - guess who gets the better treatment at the Mount Sinai hospital


The reasons why poorer areas were harder hit are -  amongst others - the crowded situation in the residential areas like east Harlem (=> residential silos*). When I was walking through this area last summer, starting from the 57 street along the fifth avenue till the 117h street, all along the Central Park, the Guggenheim museum till these red squared building in a poor shape and quit dirty:


*




The people who live there need to work. They live from paycheck to paycheck. And they will go to work even if they don't feel well because they have to.** 

And this is not only the case in the US (I think Dr. krippen even posted an article about it - minium wage worker without social security and the pandemic) but also in Germany.

And that's the the reason why is spread so fast, and studies suggest that up to 3 million people in New York have contracted the virus, while the overall statistic for the country is around one million. 

The same applies for California or Florida. And in all three studies the actual death rate were in the range of the one concluded by the Heinsberg study: those of a severe flu.

**

www.nytimes.com/reuters/2020/04/23/world/americas/23reuters-health-coronavirus-usa-meatpackers.html

Or the German counterpart with low wage workers from Rumania, who live with up to 16 people in one apartment

www.spiegel.de/wirtschaft/unternehmen/mueller-fleisch-in-pforzheim-die-fabrik-der-corona-infizierten-a-fd3985b2-1191-479a-b2fa-063bd7192f05


These are the breeding grounds for the virus, and the lock down had no effect on them. Even after a third of the workers have contracted the virus - in the German Müller factory- , the authorities still led the factory continue to operate - till this very day.

That why the lock down never worked in New York but caused a huge damage. It didn't protect those who needed the protection, but it destroyed the livelihood of those who didn't need the lock down as protection.


If one has no problem to accept sweat chops (and they do exist also in Germany or the US - for million of workers), then one should accept Corona as the new normal, a virus with the effect of a severe flu.

And those who are affected by it should go into self-isolation and receive the help to go safely through this self-isolation (errands etc. pp.), but for the rest of the country: business as usual. Nobody has to die of this virus, as long as he  or she has a choice to go into self-isolation.


But this again is a question of money and thus the economy:


Someone who needs to work because he or she is a working poor (or even illegally hired), can't go into self-isolation.

Someone who lives in a poorly run residential home, can't go into self-isolation (in fact, residential homes are also "breeding grounds" for the virus - due to the financial constraints, and the authorities often took a blind eye)

Someone who is in a hospital can't go into self-isolation (and alone in Germany over 50,000*** people die every year of a disease they contract in the hospital due to a poor hygiene, which in turn is the result of cost cutting programs. If some hospitals in the hot spot areas were over run, then also because they are operating on the last leg even under regular conditions)

Well, according to this source it is "only" 40,000 people...still about seven times the number the Corona virus claimed so far.

***

www.dw.com/en/40000-patients-die-annually-due-to-german-hospital-infections-says-watchdog/a-17460622

And I guess the numbers aren't that much better for Britain or the US. 


Poverty (or economical constraints) are already taking a higher toll then the Corona - every year - but nobody really cares. You got a talk show discussion about the "Pflegenotstand"**** or the situation in our hospital or general our health system, or temp jobs etc. pp., but the ruling class does not care much about it, for they are not affected, but the benefit from the profits this system generates.


****Nursing emergency


Long-term care is a political or professional catchphrase in Germany, Switzerland and Austria. It describes an acute shortage of staff, especially in nursing institutions . It was used in the Federal Republic for the first time in the 1960s and 1970s, when the expansion of the hospitals there made frequent use of foreign nursing staff to avert massive staff shortages.



The shortage of staff prevailing in the years after 2000 is largely due to the financing system of the homes and social services . In Germany, this is closely related to long-term care insurance .