from the all-the-news-that-fits,-we-print dept.
Charter engineer quits over "reckless" rules against work-from-home
Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:
A Charter Communications engineer called the company's rules against working from home during the coronavirus pandemic "pointlessly reckless" and "socially irresponsible" before subsequently resigning instead of continuing to work in the office, according to a TechCrunch article published yesterday.
Charter CEO Tom Rutledge last week told employees in a memo to keep coming to the office even if their jobs can be performed from home, because people "are more effective from the office." Employees should only stay home if they "are sick, or caring for someone who is sick," Rutledge wrote.
Nick Wheeler, a video operations engineer for Charter in Denver, sent an email expressing his displeasure with the policy to a senior vice president and "hundreds of engineers on Friday," TechCrunch wrote. The email said:
I do not understand why we are still coming into the office as the COVID-19 pandemic surges around us. The CDC guidelines are clear. The CDPHE [Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment] guidelines are clear. The WHO guidelines are clear. The science of social distancing is real. We have the complete ability to do our jobs entirely from home. Coming into the office now is pointlessly reckless. It's also socially irresponsible. Charter, like the rest of us, should do what is necessary to help reduce the spread of coronavirus. Social distancing has a real slowing effect on the virus—that means lives can be saved.
A hazard condition isn't acceptable for the infrastructure beyond the short-term. Why is it acceptable for our health?
The CDC's advice to businesses stresses that sick people should not come to the office but also urges businesses to "Ensure that you have the information technology and infrastructure needed to support multiple employees who may be able to work from home."
Within hours of sending the email, Wheeler was out of a job.
-- submitted from IRC
Here's How Banks and Credit Card Companies are Helping During the Coronavirus Outbreak
[Note: As far as I know, these are mostly USA-based institutions. See the linked story for details on what these have to offer, and use that as a guideline when inquiring at your own as to what accommodations they offer. --martyb]
Here's how banks and credit card companies are helping during the coronavirus outbreak
The coronavirus isn't just a minor inconvenience for some. Its growing impact is causing financial hardship for millions of people.
With businesses closing, layoffs and unpaid leave could mean you're unable to afford your regular bills. During this time, many US banks and credit card companies are offering temporary relief and assistance so you don't fall behind on payments. And if you're unable to stay current, there are programs in place to make sure you don't face unnecessary fees, a credit score drop or other penalties for late or missed payments.
- [...] Ally
- [...] American Express
- [...] Apple Card
- [...] Bank of America
- [...] Capital One
- [...] Chase
- [...] Citibank
- [...] Wells Fargo
Alternatives to hardship programs
While contacting your bank or credit card issuer should be your first stop in finding financial hardship assistance, it's not your only option. Your issuer can help you determine what you qualify for, whether through them or other means, like:
- 0% APR balance transfer credit cards: Apply for a card with a 0% introductory APR so you can avoid interest charges during this difficult time.
- Dip into your emergency fund: The worldwide impact of the coronavirus is an emergency for everyone. If you have spare cash, now is the time to dip into it. Use it for the most important reasons, like paying for food or medication for you or your family. If you have enough to make payments on your bills, then do so. But see if you qualify for hardship assistance first.
- Take out a personal loan: While not everyone might qualify for a personal loan, dire situations like COVID-19 are reason enough to take one out. Personal loans usually have lower interest rates compared to credit cards and many private lenders offer their own hardship assistance. For example, SoFi offers unemployment protection where your loan will go into forbearance. Payoff also offers hardship assistance.
- Community assistance: Many state and local agencies are providing financial relief to the most vulnerable people impacted by COVID-19. Try searching for programs that are available in your area to see what you qualify for. For example, call 2-1-1 where you live and you'll get matched up with resources based on your needs, like help paying bills or money for groceries.
Best Buy Shows how to Take Care of Customers and Employees During SARS-CoV-2 Outbreak
Here is a copy of the e-mail that I just received from Best Buy. In an age where corporations seem to be focused entirely on this quarter's financial results, it is a breath of fresh air to see what appears to be a genuine concern for the health and safety of their customers and their employees.
To Our Customers,
Earlier this week, we announced changes to how Best Buy will run our business in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. Against this backdrop, I wanted to share some of my thoughts about what we're facing and how Best Buy is responding.
Right now, our role as a consumer electronics retailer is rapidly shifting and we are striving to make the best decisions with two goals in mind: The first is to protect our customers, employees and their families. The second is to do the best we can to serve the millions of Americans who are looking to us for increasingly vital technology tools to stay connected, as well as household necessities.
You are turning to us for help getting the technology that allows you to continue running a small business or shift your usual job from an office setting to your home. You are turning to us to help your children continue their education outside of their classroom. And, you are turning to us for necessities that allow you to store and prepare food for your family.
With these needs in mind and given our commitment to keep our employees and customers safe, we are shortening our store hours this week, and on March 23, will begin permitting only a small number of customers into the store at a time so we can enforce the necessary social distancing guidelines. We are also working to enhance our curbside service and strongly recommend you take advantage of this whenever possible.
As for our employees, let me start by saying this: We will not make any employee work if they aren't comfortable doing so. Further, if an employee is sick or needs to take care of their children home from school, we are paying them. Additionally, with our reduced hours and less staff in the stores, we are paying affected employees for their regularly scheduled hours.
We are in a difficult time and find ourselves in uncharted waters. My best wishes to you and your family as we navigate the days ahead together.
Corie Barry, Chief Executive Officer
Best Buy
Years ago, I had stopped shopping at Best Buy except when I needed something Right. Now. Over the past few years, I am happy to report that I have seen a tremendous change I had read reports that the new CEO's focus was on customer service. It is one thing to read it, and quite and other to experience it. I like to give credit where credit is due, but the cynic in me wonders if the behavior I'm seeing is specific to my local store. I would like to think it is chain-wide, and this e-mail only serves to cement that perspective for me.
What stores that you frequent have stepped up and above like this? What has your experience been? Which stores would you recommend? And which would you avoid (and why)?
NASA Suspends Work On Moon Rocket Due To Virus
Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:
NASA said it has suspended work on building and testing the rocket and capsule for its Artemis manned mission to the Moon due to the rising number of coronavirus cases in the community.
The space agency is shutting down its Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, where the Space Launch System rocket is being built, and the nearby Stennis Space Center, administrator Jim Bridenstine said late Thursday.
"The change at Stennis was made due to the rising number of COVID-19 cases in the community around the center, the number of self-isolation cases within our workforce there, and one confirmed case among our Stennis team," he said.
"NASA will temporarily suspend production and testing of Space Launch System and Orion hardware. The NASA and contractors teams will complete an orderly shutdown that puts all hardware in a safe condition until work can resume."
After a weekend of WTF-ing at Trump's COVID-19 testing website vow, Google-Verily's site finally comes to life... And it's not what was promised
Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:
The coronavirus website built by Google-stablemate Verily and vaunted by President Trump on Friday, is up and running – and is proving to be not nearly as useful as the Command-in-Chief suggested.
Just before the weekend, Trump claimed Google had put 1,700 engineers on a website to help people in America find nearby locations to get tested for coronavirus. This came as news to people at Google we contacted: the web giant knew little or nothing about whatever Trump was banging on about. But this revelation was apparently Fake and Corrupt News.
This is simply not true. The minute the words were out of his mouth we were onto Google PRs about this, because that's what journalists do.
They didn't have a clue what he was talking about. https://t.co/C9L0IqtRwy
— Iain Thomson (@iainthomson)
-- submitted from IRC
Trump invokes act to marshal private sector against virus
Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:
Managing dual health and economic crises, President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday that he will invoke a federal provision that allows the United States government to marshal the private sector in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
Trump, appearing in the White House briefing room for the third day in a row, said he would sign the Defense Production Act "in case we need it" as the government bolsters resources for an expected surge in cases of the virus.
Trump also said he will expand the nation's testing capacity and deploy a navy hospital ship to New York City, which is rapidly becoming the epicentre of a pandemic that has rattled the US economy and rewritten the rules of American society. A second ship will be deployed to the West Coast.
-- submitted from IRC
US officials say Tuesday votes to proceed despite coronavirus
Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:
Officials in Ohio on Monday said they would seek to postpone Tuesday's primary election in that state because of the coronavirus pandemic. Ohio's Republican Governor Mike DeWine said he was recommending that the vote be held on June 2 instead.
"We cannot tell people to stay inside, but also tell them to go out and vote," DeWine tweeted. "I'm making this recommendation because we must look out for our poll workers."
Two of the other states holding primary elections on Tuesday, Florida and Illinois, said Monday that they are pushing forward with the voting even as some county elections officials conceded that some poll workers - many of them elderly or retired people - are dropping out for fear of catching the COVID-19 disease associated with the coronavirus.
[...] So far, two other states - Georgia and Louisiana - have said they will postpone their primary elections. Georgians were scheduled to vote on March 24 and voters in Louisiana on April 4. The states will now vote in May and June.
-- submitted from IRC
Australia Shuts Down for COVID-19
Australia has shut down to protect the country from COVID-19 following a shutdown of state borders and the ineffective "social distancing" policy that was ignored by the public.
'Cure' Found for Coronavirus in Australia
'Cure' found for coronavirus in Australia:
A team of Australian researchers say they've found a cure for the novel coronavirus and hope to have patients enrolled in a nationwide trial by the end of the month.
University of Queensland Centre for Clinical Research director Professor David Paterson told news.com.au today they have seen two drugs used to treat other conditions can wipe out the virus in test tubes.
He said one of the medications, given to some of the first people to test positive for COVID-19 in Australia, had already resulted in "disappearance of the virus" and complete recovery from the infection.
Prof Paterson, who is also an infectious disease physician at the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital, said it wasn't a stretch to label the drugs "a treatment or a cure".
"It's a potentially effective treatment," he said.
"Patients would end up with no viable coronavirus in their system at all after the end of therapy."
Bottle Shops Remain Open as Australia Shuts Down
An Anonymous Coward writes:
Australia is on lockdown but bottleshops and supermarkets will remain open.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has announced bottle shops will not be forced to close at midday tomorrow along with pubs and other entertainment venues.
During an extraordinary press conference held tonight shortly after a national cabinet meeting, Mr Morrison said that from midday tomorrow, registered and licensed clubs, licensed premises in hotels and pubs, entertainment venues and cinemas, casinos and nightclubs will all shut, along with cinemas, gyms and indoor sporting venues.
Restaurants and cafes will be restricted to takeaway only, and enclosed spaces for funerals will have to observe a tough four square metre rule – which will be enforced.
But for now at least, bottle-os will remain open.
Australian Retailer Harvey Normal Celebrates COVID-19 as a Profit Generator
An Anonymous Coward writes:
The owner of Harvey Norman stores in Australia has boasted about the traded boost brought about by panic buying in the wake of the COVID-19 virus saying "nothing to get scared of" and that "this is an opportunity".
Business. Leave your ethics and morals at the door.
As US fumbles COVID-19 testing, WHO warns social distancing is not enough
Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:
As the United States continues to struggle to ramp up basic testing for COVID-19, experts at the World Health Organization on Monday emphasized that countries should prioritize such testing—and that social-distancing measures are not enough.
"We have a simple message for all countries: test, test, test," WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (aka Dr. Tedros) said in a press briefing March 16.
Dr. Tedros noted that, as the numbers of cases and deaths outside of China have quickly risen, many countries—including the US—have urgently adopted so-called social-distancing measures, such as shuttering schools, canceling events, and having people work from home. While these measures can slow transmission and allow health care systems to better cope, they are "not enough to extinguish this pandemic," Dr. Tedros warned.
What's needed is a comprehensive approach, he said. "But we have not seen an urgent-enough escalation in testing, isolation and contact tracing, which is the backbone of the response," Dr. Tedros said.
"The most effective way to prevent infections and save lives is breaking the chains of transmission," he went on. "And to do that, you must test and isolate. You cannot fight a fire blindfolded. And we cannot stop this pandemic if we don't know who is infected."
The message was a sharp one for the United States, which has struggled to ramp up its testing capacity. While other countries have performed hundreds of thousands of tests since the outbreak mushroomed out of China's Hubei province in January, some estimates suggest that the US has tested a mere 38,000 people or so—a majority in just the last couple of weeks. In contrast, South Korea has been testing nearly 20,000 people every day.
-- submitted from IRC
Pandemic "will Last 18 Months or Longer," Leaked US Gov't Report Warns
Pandemic "will last 18 months or longer," leaked US gov't report warns:
The US government is reportedly preparing for the coronavirus pandemic to last 18 months or longer and result in "significant shortages for government, private sector, and individual US consumers."
A 100-page US government plan was leaked to The New York Times, which today published an article summarizing the highlights.
"A federal government plan to combat the coronavirus warned policymakers last week that a pandemic 'will last 18 months or longer' and could include 'multiple waves,' resulting in widespread shortages that would strain consumers and the nation's health care system," the Times wrote.
The 18-month figure is in line with the best-case estimates of how long it will take to develop a vaccine and make it widely available. There could be millions of deaths in the US and UK alone during that time, but social distancing and other containment measures could limit the death toll, according to Imperial College London research that we wrote about yesterday.
The Times did not publish the full US government report. "Much of the plan is bureaucratic in nature, describing coordination among agencies and actions that in some cases have already been taken, like urging schools to close and large events to be canceled," the article said.
Alt-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones ordered to stop selling fake coronavirus cures
From Here
An alt-right conspiracy theorist has been accused of selling phoney coronavirus cures, it has emerged.
According to US press outlets, Alex Jones – who presents the alt-right online hate show InfoWars – has been handed a cease and desist letter from New York's attorney general, after he advertised creams and toothpastes to "cure" the virus.
Attorney General Letitia James said: "As the coronavirus continues to pose serious risks to public health, Alex Jones has spewed outright lies and has profited off of New Yorkers' anxieties."
Alex Jones has been a controversial figure in US politics long before he allegedly touted fake treatments to the disease. He has claimed that the Sandy Hook school shooting in December 2012 was orchestrated by the US government, while he has also questioned the government's involvement in 9/11.
Now, it has been alleged that he said toothpaste, dietary supplements, creams, and other products sold on his website could prevent and cure coronavirus, despite no treatments or vaccines having been approved as of yet.
And Jones is not the only person who has seen coronavirus as an opportunity to make some cash. Arron Banks, one of the big funders of Brexit, recently attempted to take over an iodine company to flog anti-bacterial hand gel.
Scammers gotta scam! Trump talked to his son about the pandemic.
Religiously Motivated Anti-Science Law Gets in the Way of Coronavirus Vaccine Testing
The Trump administration's 2019 ban on the use of human fetal tissue by scientists at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is preventing a leading researcher from using special mice to test potential therapies for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), The Washington Post reports.
Using Copper to Prevent the Spread of Respiratory Viruses
Using copper to prevent the spread of respiratory viruses:
Animal coronaviruses that 'host jump' to humans, such as SARS and MERS, result in severe infections with high mortality. The Southampton researchers found that a closely-related human coronavirus -- 229E -- can remain infectious on common surface materials for several days, but is rapidly destroyed on copper.
A newly-published paper in mBio -- a journal of the American Society for Microbiology -- reports that human coronavirus 229E, which produces a range of respiratory symptoms from the common cold to more lethal outcomes such as pneumonia, can survive on surface materials including ceramic tiles, glass, rubber and stainless steel for at least five days. While human-to-human transmission is important, infections can be contracted by touching surfaces contaminated by respiratory droplets from infected individuals, or hand touching, leading to a wider and more rapid spread
[Ed note - This paper is from 2015 but is still relevant. - Fnord666]
Coronavirus: Plan to ramp up ventilator production 'unrealistic'
Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:
A medical devices maker has cast doubt on using non-specialist manufacturers to produce more ventilators.
Craig Thompson, head of products at Oxfordshire company Penlon, said the idea that other firms could switch production was unrealistic.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has urged engineering firms, including carmakers, to explore if they could make the life-saving equipment.
Ventilators are critical in the care of some people suffering coronavirus.
But there is concern the National Health Service will face a shortage of equipment as the virus infects more people.
The manufacturers association, Make UK, says that it would be possible for some specialist engineers to scale up production under licence.
Ford, Honda, car parts firm Unipart, digger maker JCB, and aero-engine maker Rolls Royce are among companies looking into the feasibility of switching some production.
-- submitted from IRC
Looming Ventilator Shortage Amid Pandemic Sparks Rise of Open-source DIY Medical Kit. Good Thinking
As more and more people are hospitalized due to the COVID-19 coronavirus, there may not be enough ventilators to sustain critical patients who need breathing assistance. That has prompted various individuals and groups, for better or worse, to look at MacGyvering their own airway support equipment.
The Society of Critical Care Medicine last week published a paper noting that the American Hospital Association has estimated that 4.8 million patients in the US alone will be hospitalized due to COVID-19, with 1.9 million admitted to Intensive Care Units (ICU) and 960,000 requiring breathing support on a ventilator.
The problem with that scenario is that, according to a 2009 survey of hospitals by the association, there were only 62,000 full-featured mechanical ventilators available at the time. That was also roughly the number cited in a 2013 study.
There are also some older models that have been kept around, almost 100,000 of them with fewer functions that could be brought to bear. The addition of anesthesia machines and ventilators from the Strategic National Stockpile could bring the available hardware to about 200,000 units.
But if 960,000 patients require breathing support in a brief enough period of time, 200,000 machines won't suffice. And the outbreak could be worse than projected.
The possibility of a ventilator shortage is being considered around the globe. In the UK, Prime Minister Boris Johnson is said to have referred to a plan to help the country's National Health Service address its ventilator shortage as "Operation Last Gasp."
And Reuters last week reported that Germany and Italy have been scrambling to obtain more ventilators, with Italy said to have less than a quarter of the number of machines it will need.
In the US and elsewhere, medical equipment makers are ramping up production. In an email to The Register, a GE spokesperson said, "GE has robust business continuity plans, and we are increasing our manufacturing capacity and output of equipment that is important in the diagnosis and treatment of COVID-19 patients, all while ensuring safe operations."
Elon Musk Says His Companies Will Make Ventilators as Coronavirus Causes Shortage
Elon Musk says his companies will make ventilators as coronavirus causes shortage:
Elon Musk offered to make ventilators as hospitals facing shortages due to the coronavirus outbreak, after a Twitter follower asked that he repurpose his factory to do so. However, the Tesla and SpaceX boss also noted that it'll take time.
Nate Silver, the editor of statistics and polling-focused news site FiveThirtyEight, pressed him for details.
"Tesla makes cars with sophisticated hvac systems. SpaceX makes spacecraft with life support systems," Musk replied. "Ventilators are not difficult, but cannot be produced instantly."
Silver praised Musk and noted that hospitals in New York City and Seattle "are in acute danger," then suggested medical facilities in need should tweet him and Musk.
[...] Hospitals have warned that they're not prepared for the expected influx of coronavirus patients, and the US Department of Defense is donating 5 million surgical masks and 2,000 ventilators.
Off-Label Use of One Ventilator Can Potentially Save Two or Four Patients
Saving 4 Patients With Just 1 Ventilator
Wouldn't it be great if you could [use a Y-connector ...] with a medical ventilator? It turns out you can – – with some important caveats.
Way back in 2006, [Greg Neyman, MD and Charlene Babcock, MD] connected four simulated patients to a single ventilator. Ventilators connect to a patient with two tubes – an inflow and an exhaust. Using common parts available in just about any hospital, the doctors installed "T-tube" splitters on the inflow and exhaust tubes. They tested this with lung simulators and found that the system worked.
There were some important considerations though. The patients must be medically paralyzed, and have similar lung capacity — you couldn't mix an adult and a child. The tubing length for each patient needs to be the same as well. The suggestion is to place the patients in a star pattern with the ventilator at the center of the star.
Disclaimer: this is off-label use — one ventilator is designed to be used for exactly one patient. That said, though this technique has not been approved for multiple persons, it has actually been used in a crisis:
Interestingly enough, this technique went from feasibility study to reality during the Las Vegas shooting a few years ago. There were more patients than ventilators, so emergency room doctors employed the technique to keep patients alive while equipment was brought in from outside hospitals. It worked — saving lives on that dark day.
Doctor Charlene Babcock, MD created a YouTube video explaining the technique.
Let's hope it does not come to this, but should the circumstances become sufficiently dire, someone knowing of this could make the difference between life and death for many people.
British Army adopts WhatsApp for formal orders as coronavirus isolation kicks in
Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:
The British Army has made a coronavirus-related tech U-turn after telling soldiers that commands issued over WhatsApp are now legally binding.
In written orders posted to a Ministry of Defence intranet site, an Army unit told its soldiers that from now on, orders delivered over WhatsApp are to be treated just as seriously as written instructions delivered through the usual chain of command.
The move is controversial because only last year, the Army's top sergeant major stated WhatsApp is not an acceptable way to distribute formal military demands.
For years soldiers complained that it wasn't clear if WhatsApp messages were a proper substitute for written orders (or disciplinary measures) delivered by email or hard copy.
The order itself, part of which has been seen by The Register, said:
All personnel are to be contactable at all times via their mobile phone. Orders and Sqn direction will now be passed directly through WhatsApp and all work related information passed across this means is to be considered an order.
-- submitted from IRC
Data surge as more Brits work from home? Not as hard on the network as their nightly Netflix binges
Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:
Brit telco BT is talking tough, saying it is confident its broadband network will not buckle under the increased strain of extra people using broadband as they work from home to avoid catching the coronairus.
Concerns over network capacity emerged after businesses across Britain told their staff to steer clear of the office and potentially infected colleagues. Observers worry the rise in data-draining services, such as video conferencing, will put pressure local networks, which still largely run on copper lines for broadband connections.
Howard Watson, chief technology and information officer at BT Group said: "We have more than enough capacity in our UK broadband network to handle mass-scale home-working in response to COVID-19. Our network is built to accommodate evening peak network capacity, which is driven by data-heavy things like video streaming and game downloads, for example. By comparison, data requirements for work-related applications like video calls and daytime email traffic represent a fraction of this."
"Even if the same heavy data traffic that we see each evening were to run throughout the daytime, there is still enough capacity for work-applications to run simultaneously."
The tough talk from BT comes after the Spanish telecoms sector warned last night of a "traffic explosion" on networks since the outbreak of the virus. Spaniards are using 40 per cent more data as during the day as workers and children isolate themselves at homes, according to Telefonica. Mobile data has jumped 50 per cent, and WhatsApp use has increased fivefold, it added.
-- submitted from IRC
Cyberattack on HHS Meant to Slow Coronavirus Response, Sources Say
Cyberattack on HHS meant to slow coronavirus response, sources say:
The Department of Health and Human Services experienced some form of cyberattack Sunday night related to its coronavirus response, administration sources confirmed to ABC News Monday.
The attempt was to slow down operations, sources said.
The nature and origin of the attack is still under investigation.
The attack was first reported by Bloomberg.
"As federal state and local governments focus on handling the current public health crisis, national security officials are also tracking other threats -- in particular those posed by terrorist or extremist groups and foreign adversaries who may seek to take advantage of all of the attention being focused on the coronavirus and conduct an attack," said John Cohen, a former acting Undersecretary of the Department of Homeland Security and contributor to ABC News.
Coronavirus Spreads Quickly and Sometimes Before People Have Symptoms, Study Finds
Coronavirus spreads quickly and sometimes before people have symptoms, study finds:
Infectious disease researchers at The University of Texas at Austin studying the novel coronavirus were able to identify how quickly the virus can spread, a factor that may help public health officials in their efforts at containment. They found that time between cases in a chain of transmission is less than a week and that more than 10% of patients are infected by somebody who has the virus but does not yet have symptoms.
In the paper in press with the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases, a team of scientists from the United States, France, China and Hong Kong were able to calculate what's called the serial interval of the virus. To measure serial interval, scientists look at the time it takes for symptoms to appear in two people with the virus: the person who infects another, and the infected second person.
Researchers found that the average serial interval for the novel coronavirus in China was approximately four days. This also is among the first studies to estimate the rate of asymptomatic transmission.
Original Submission #1 Original Submission #2 Original Submission #3 Original Submission #4 Original Submission #5 Original Submission #6 Original Submission #7 Original Submission #8 Original Submission #9 Original Submission #10 Original Submission #11 Original Submission #12 Original Submission #13 Original Submission #13 Original Submission #15 Original Submission #16 Original Submission #17 Original Submission #18 Original Submission #19 Original Submission #20 Original Submission #21 Original Submission #22 Original Submission #24
Links to Original Submissions (in time order of submission; oldest first):
Cyberattack on HHS Meant to Slow Coronavirus Response, Sources Say
Data surge as more Brits work from home? Not as hard on the network as their nightly Netflix binges,
Coronavirus: Plan to ramp up ventilator production 'unrealistic'
US officials say Tuesday votes to proceed despite coronavirus
Alt-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones ordered to stop selling fake coronavirus cures
After a weekend of WTF-ing at Trump's COVID-19 testing website vow, Google-Verily's site finally com
As US fumbles COVID-19 testing, WHO warns social distancing is not enough
'Cure' Found for Coronavirus in Australia
Coronavirus Spreads Quickly and Sometimes Before People Have Symptoms, Study Finds
Using Copper to Prevent the Spread of Respiratory Viruses
Trump invokes act to marshal private sector against virus
British Army adopts WhatsApp for formal orders as coronavirus isolation kicks in
Charter engineer quits over "reckless" rules against work-from-home
Looming Ventilator Shortage Amid Pandemic Sparks Rise of Open-source DIY Medical Kit. Good Thinking
Best Buy Shows how to Take Care of Customers and Employees During SARS-CoV-2 Outbreak
Off-Label Use of One Ventilator Can Potentially Save Two or Four Patients
Elon Musk Says His Companies Will Make Ventilators as Coronavirus Causes Shortage
Pandemic "will Last 18 Months or Longer," Leaked US Gov't Report Warns
Religiously Motivated Anti-Science Law Gets in the Way of Coronavirus Vaccine Testing
NASA Suspends Work On Moon Rocket Due To Virus
Australia Shuts Down for COVID-19
Australian Retailer Harvey Normal Celebrates COVID-19 as a Profit Generator
Bottle Shops Remain Open as Australia Shuts Down
Here's How Banks and Credit Card Companies are Helping During the Coronavirus Outbreak
Related Stories
This story presents a roundup of a selection of our COVID-19, SARS-Cov-2, coronavirus story submissions. Some stories have been omitted because they were a duplicate, outdated, superseded, and sometimes just as a matter of keeping the size of these roundups managable. etc. (Before thinning, this story contained over 16,500 words (excluding HTML markup) and that excluded what is contained in this introduction.
If you are not interested in this coverage, then please ignore this story; another story will appear presently. Otherwise, please see the rest of the story below the fold:
This story is a merge of 30 story submissions. Given that it was well over 17,000 words of original source material (excluding HTML markup!), a great deal of pruning was performed to get it to a manageable size. I strongly encourage folks to read the linked articles for more information.
For latest statistics, and finer granularity, see https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/.
As of 20200330_151936 UTC, it reported these world-wide totals:
- Coronavirus Cases: 743,081
- Deaths: 35,347
- Recovered: 157,046
- Active Cases:
- 550,688 (Currently Infected Patients)
- 522,206 (95%) in Mild Condition
- 28,482 (5%) Serious or Critical
- Closed Cases:
- 192,393 Cases which had an outcome
- 157,046 (82%) Recovered / Discharged
- 35,347 (18%) Deaths
Stories appear below the fold.
World-wide data as of: 20200615_140637 UTC:
total_count | 8,028,325 |
closed_count | 4,584,407 |
closed_deaths_count | 436,277 |
closed_deaths_percent | (10%) |
closed_recovered_count | 4,148,130 |
closed_recovered_percent | (90%) |
active_count | 3,443,918 |
active_mild_count | 3,389,380 |
active_mild_percent | (98%) |
active_serious_count | 54,538 |
active_serious_percent | (2%) |
total_deaths | 436,277 |
(Score: 4, Informative) by takyon on Monday March 23 2020, @12:50PM (2 children)
The Federal Reserve just pledged asset purchases with no limit to support markets [cnbc.com]
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Monday March 23 2020, @03:04PM
Well, ain't that sweet!
While we wait for the psychos in congress to pass something not even a tenth as good.
The virus is a comparatively minor threat compared to the banks, bill collectors, and our most corrupt congress that will see us starve before they let anything happen to their stock portfolios
So completely bogus that we have to beg to those same banks for pennies for relief. And the people causing the problem will all be reelected again! SNAFU!
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 2) by driverless on Tuesday March 24 2020, @04:00AM
They used that headline because "Australian attempt to copy something tried in desperation by doctors in China and repeated in France which works when the virus is in a test tube but hasn't really been evaluated beyond that" is too long to use as clickbait.
I know that in every science/research press release you need to talk things up a bit because otherwise no-one will care, but in the case of miracle Covid19 cures the standard way of dealing with these things is quite counterproductive. Saying "keep being irresponsible, there'll be a miracle cure ready for you any minute to fix everything" is lunacy.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by SomeGuy on Monday March 23 2020, @12:57PM (5 children)
"Within hours of sending the email, Wheeler was out of a job."
Job opening!! Crap, it's in Denver, and there is already a stampede :P
"Pandemic "will Last 18 Months or Longer," Leaked US Gov't Report Warns"
This sounds about right to me. This virus is not going away any time soon. Even if some cure/vaccine pops up, how long do you think it will be until it is properly tested and enough manufactured for the entire fricking world? It will continue to be a problem until enough people have gotten it and become immune to it that it can't spread as easily. So how long does the panicking public think they need to keep this up? Two weeks? A month? Two months? No, it will be YEARS.
Also, I wish they would stop using the term "lockdown" outside the context of jails. They need to consult with whoever came up with the genius catchy term "social distancing" and get a new one.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 23 2020, @03:32PM
They don't know if we do build up immunity, sounds like some can still get sick again.
(Score: 2) by bzipitidoo on Monday March 23 2020, @04:00PM (3 children)
Wait, did he quit over "reckless" rules, as the summary says, or was he fired? "Out of a job" is one of those dodgy phrases that deliberately obscures that point.
This Coronavirus stuff is starting to scare me. I wasn't too worried for myself as long as it seemed only older, sicker people were in danger of dying. Young children are another vulnerable group, and that's worrisome. By all means, shut down schools and day cares. But to hear that this illness can take down healthy middle-aged people is alarming. The big question now is, what are the odds for a healthy adult who catches this? 3% chance they will need a ventilator? 5%? 1% chance they will die even with a ventilator? For those who must have a ventilator, and get one, there's also a probability of brain damage and permanent reduction of lung capacity. At the other extreme, some people who catch it aren't sickened at all, so I read. Does anyone really know?
Never in my life have I experienced a pandemic like this. Other diseases that popped up over the years, there was always some barrier that made it easy to protect yourself. AIDS was, and still is, bad stuff, but easily avoided. When AIDS first appeared, you need only worry if you'd gotten a blood transfusion, or gone wild with the casual sex. In the latter case, you needed to worry about a whole host of other STDs as well. One other vector was dental work. It was relatively soon that it became possible to screen for AIDS in blood, so that blood transfusions were no longer a danger, And flu has in my experience always been mild. A few days of feeling sick, a few boxes of tissue used up, and that's all. Ebola? Horrifyingly powerful and fast, but also easily avoided. Rabies is another disease of some concern, but it's been around a long time, there is a cure, and, again, it's fairly easy to avoid. Don't get bitten by a rabid animal. And finally, don't be an idiot anti-vaxxer. We've beaten a whole host of childhood diseases that used to take their share of lives: smallpox, measles, mumps, whooping cough, tetanus, diphtheria, polio, to name the ones I can think of offhand. Now there's even a vaccine for chicken pox. The world seemed pretty safe from disease.
But this, to avoid coronavirus, you have to basically self-quarantine? For a few weeks, that can be done without too much hardship. The longer we have to shut ourselves in, the harder it gets to maintain. Obtaining food starts to become a problem. Fresh veggies, fruit, and milk is good for only a few weeks. May have to give that up if this goes on too long. Frozen keeps a long time, unless you don't have electricity to run the freezer. Canned food keeps for a long time, without freezing, so we have alternatives on that front. Not thrilling, but it keeps a body alive. A bigger worry may be water. I read that most cities have suspended cuts to water service, so we can hope there will be no problem there.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Thexalon on Monday March 23 2020, @06:35PM (1 child)
And of course this being a site full of nerds, there's little risk of any of that being a problem!
But more seriously: (1) Not all responses are panicking, e.g. trying to reduce the odds that you'll become a carrier is a good move assuming you give a damn about the people around you. (2) The signs you're really looking for are either an effective treatment, an effective vaccine, or a rate of new infections below 1 per infected person. The goal is to turn an exponential curve into a bell curve - until that happens, we're boned.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 2) by legont on Monday March 23 2020, @11:30PM
Most people believe it depends on their actions while the rest of the universe is under their control, which is almost universally wrong.
In this particular case it will end once the bug learns how to efficiently spread without killing the host. Humans probably will claim the victory, but smart know it is the victory of the bug.
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 23 2020, @08:05PM
I don't think there's anything to be scared about. All this virus is is yet another interesting little monkey wrench in this game of life we're all playing. Undoubtedly a lot less terrifying than imagining how it must have been to live through the 40 years of cold war where people grew up knowing every single day could well be their last due to some nuclear attack that was not only hypothetical but did nearly come to be, multiple times!
Just prepare for the worst, and hope for the best. And practical preparation is stupid easy. The hard part is obviously food. Turns out you only need about 1.1 pounds of rice per day for your basic caloric content. Pair that with some beans and you have a tasty meal that also provides all the nutritional and caloric content you need for basic sustenance survival. The coolest thing is the amount of space this takes up. 15kg of rice (enough for 30 days) can fit in a small backpack. Pair that with some beans and then whatever you'd like to ensure you don't go crazy from having beans and rice everyday, and you are set. And maybe cook up and freeze some stuff so that if you get sick you can stick it in the microwave and have food ready to get eat without any prep, in case you get sick. If you're especially paranoid, perhaps buy some charcoal so even if the electric goes out you can cook up some food. The thing that will take up space is water.
In any case if you need more supplies than 30 days then society has probably collapsed and the odds of this happening, even in the worst case scenarios, are low.
---
One thing I would add is that all of our perceptions of safety are illusory. There hasn't been a major war between developed nations since WW2, so that must mean we have moved beyond it? Obviously not, we developed nukes so wars became unwinnable. War will return to the world once nukes are neutralized. Similarly for disease and viruses. Antibiotic resistant bacterial diseases are on their way and viral diseases such as this can and will continue to happen as we become a more globally interconnected world where whatever emerges half way around the world can and will increasingly often trot the globe. Just a handful of the many *many* reasons that we need to become an interplanetary species as soon as possible. Life is far more vulnerable than we like to imagine.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 23 2020, @01:05PM (8 children)
Cable companies are "critical infrastructure" just like liquor stores. Somebody has to provide the diversion, to keep people from realizing what is actually happening.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Thexalon on Monday March 23 2020, @02:16PM (7 children)
What is actually happening: We're faced with a problem that nobody is equipped to handle, really. And in the "never let a good crisis go to waste" philosophy, everybody is trying to use the problem to say that doing what they've always wanted to do will fix everything: The FBI wants to go full authoritarian, business wants to make a lot of money from the government coffers without having to produce anything, doctors want more freedom to do their jobs effectively, hippies want more people to think about off-grid living, etc etc.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by khallow on Monday March 23 2020, @05:57PM (5 children)
To the contrary, we all are. We just won't be able to solve it overnight.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Thexalon on Monday March 23 2020, @06:37PM (4 children)
OK, nobody is equipped to handle it in a way that doesn't leave millions of people dead. Because that's the trajectory we're on if a critical mass of people continue to do nothing about it.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 2, Funny) by khallow on Monday March 23 2020, @06:52PM
So what? We're not equipped to handle reality in a way that won't leave all present 7.8 billion people dead.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 23 2020, @11:15PM (2 children)
It seems South Korea [wikipedia.org] is doing fine, without millions of deaths. But it was an scientific approach, not just in equipment but also in methodology sense: test suspicuous cases, then test people around the positives and so on. Random tests will help too, to find new sources. Test as much as you can and focus where it matters.
They are below 9000 cases, while everyone else is growing rather fast (the West), or took months to claim things are contained (China). They started to prepare in February or even ealier (see KMA paragraph, Korea Medical Association). Korea clearly saw SARS and MERS as warnings, and don't give a fig about being called xenophobic because stopped deals with a risky place.
So neither laissez faire nor dictatorial approches contain it, with those you have a bigger problem than really is. People pushing unrelated agendas are also a problem. I can not imagine what is going to happen in India or Africa.
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Tuesday March 24 2020, @12:28AM (1 child)
Yes, it's entirely accurate to say South Korea was on top of it. The USA, not so much.
And no, the USA didn't need to be xenophobic to contain this thing. They needed to follow a strategy similar to what was done for Ebola:
1. Test and quarantine as needed everybody coming into the US from a country known or likely to have infections, along with any border patrol / immigration officers / medical personnel that come into contact with them. No exceptions. Citizen or not: This isn't about nationality, but humans potentially carrying the disease.
2. Provide appropriate treatment at government expense until everyone quarantined is dead and no longer contagious, recovered and no longer contagious, or showing no signs of being infected.
3. Supplement that with randomized testing of the population as a whole.
The giant "shut down everything" kinds of responses are due to this plan not being followed and the virus being on the loose. And this is all being made even worse by efforts by the president to prevent people from getting tested because if you don't test people you have fewer confirmed cases.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 24 2020, @02:57AM
The issue is that closing borders (what do you do until you have enough tests?), or making restrictions like forced quarantine was being labelled as xenophobic. In reality, any measure was blamed as xenophobic by some trying to push agendas ("Chewbacca defense" is becoming standard operation practice for everything); a bunch of retards still pay attention instead of ignoring the others. Also China was asking for open borders while at the same time they were locking down their own people. WHO was parroting that all was OK and not to overract, until recently when the say things are going bad. Braking early can be bad (the culprit is the one behind, at least in by traffic laws where I live), braking late sure is, the tree "brakes" you in half.
Nobody was asking to put long time Chinese residents in concentration camps. Quarantine was to be applied to people that had visited China, Chinese or not. And that is the fucking problem: if you think some temporary measures like that are xenophobic, you are the problem.
The agenda pushing has hit locals (it is not just one agenda, but many, they just share the "fuck people, fuck future, keep doing something and ignore the consequences, because We Got The Power!" factor): by February countries knew something big was happening and big masses of people was going to be a bad idea... yet we got Women's Day parades and plenty of soccer matches, eg. New wave feminists and money-uber-alles sport tycoons, to mention the two that pushed for those examples, are losing everyone trust, or going into the negative. Where I live a plataform is organizing to bring to justice the politicians in charge (some of them "feminists"), for willingly ignore the warnings, because in the end we are getting both the deaths and the economic hit. Late braking, and the tree falls hitting onlookers.
(Score: 2) by legont on Monday March 23 2020, @11:33PM
Nobody? Well, except Chinese.
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Runaway1956 on Monday March 23 2020, @01:08PM (4 children)
Double check the terms and conditions, and see if you're getting what you think you are getting.
In the '90's I worked construction. Work was great, when it was available, then you might go weeks without work. Construction was boom or bust, throughout most of the '90's. A credit card with an unemployment clause? Sounded good to me, so I signed up for one. I guess I had it for about two years, when I got laid off, and nothing came my way for awhile. Ohhhh, I had a couple offers, but either the work was a long way off, or didn't offer enough money, or whatever. So, I missed a payment, then I missed another. It wasn't even much of a balance, certainly less than $2000, on a $5000 line of credit. Got a phone call, and I explained the situation, and reminded them that they wouldn't charge me interest until I got a job. "Sir, we don't offer those services anymore!" "Well, those services were in the contract that I signed." "You'll be hearing from our lawyers!" "Well, fuck you then, I'm not going to pay the bill at all!"
Funny thing - I never heard from their lawyers, nor did I ever get another bill from them. I suppose that was free money for me, because it never showed up in any credit report either!
Their collection people violated the terms of their contract, and I can only guess that legal department told them to just let it go, and hope that I didn't file suit against them for breach of contract.
“I have become friends with many school shooters” - Tampon Tim Walz
(Score: 4, Interesting) by RS3 on Monday March 23 2020, @01:52PM (3 children)
Sorry for my cynicism, but do the courts even uphold "breach of contract" anymore? It seems that all "contracts" have a clause that states "we will change the terms of this contract whenever we feel like it". IMHO, that is not a contract, and anyone who gets someone to sign such a contract, or even make a website where they say "you accept the terms of ..." should do a few months cleaning up trash and porta-potties.
Glad to hear the thing went away.
BTW, in some states they would have been guilty of intimidation and/or extortion. Just like having a dashcam, we all should record all such phone calls. Of course you have to let the person know you're recording.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 23 2020, @11:06PM (2 children)
That's not true everywhere. Or even in most places in the US [dmlp.org]:
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Tuesday March 24 2020, @12:14AM (1 child)
Hey Anonymous Einstein- brilliant, but you forgot one major thing: if you're talking to some company's rep on the phone, you don't know for sure where they are, right? They could be in a 2-party consent state, right? You want to take that risk? You might, but sane people won't.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 24 2020, @01:24AM
You provided an interesting counterargument. Thank you.
Which prompted me to do a little *further* [wikipedia.org] research [dmlp.org], which led me to this [rev.com]:
Your point is a valid one.
However, it seems that the risk isn't, as you suggest, "insane."
Especially given that precedence of state law often hinges on the location of the recording device. If you live in a "one-party consent" state, you're good to go most of the time.
What's more, even many "two-party consent" states limit their statutes to situations where there is "a reasonable expectation of privacy." It's hard to see how a customer service rep would have any such expectation. since they are on a phone call and they know that *you* have just been informed you that your call may be "monitored or recorded."
As such, if you live in a "one-party consent" state, it's a pretty good bet that you can't or won't be prosecuted for doing so. Not just for legal reasons, but for corporate PR reasons [wikipedia.org] as well.
As an aside, is it really necessary to be snide and obnoxious about it? In the past, you've pissed and moaned about people being rude to you. Or doesn't that apply when it's *you* being rude?
Recording consent laws is a topic which might be interesting to discuss further. Sadly, you don't seem to wish to have a discussion, rather you'd prefer to be nasty and unpleasant. More's the pity.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 23 2020, @01:23PM
I needed to with that...
(Score: 5, Insightful) by JoeMerchant on Monday March 23 2020, @02:16PM (4 children)
Silly engineer, you think your "job" is about keeping the systems working? No, there are hundreds, if not thousands, of people who could do that. No, first and foremost, your "job" is to keep the person who has hire/fire power over your position happy with your performance, and keeping the systems working is just a small part of what is important to many of these middle management types. What your "job" really entails is:
1. Making your boss look good to his (occasionally her) boss - otherwise your boss is out of a job, and you can safely bet that's a top priority for them.
2. Soothing your boss' insecurities about his own performance - your boss knows little or nothing about how to do your job, what they do know is how to present to their management that their staff is "working as hard as humanly possible, if whatever you are asking for isn't getting done quickly enough it's because you haven't given me enough budget to hire the people (or occasionally buy the tools) needed to do the job." Presenteeism is a time honored tradition that has kept middle management looking good from higher up the chain for centuries.
3. Working well with others - and this is where the engineer really screwed up, by presenting a clear logically sound argument that his co-workers can also use to pressure their bosses into letting them work from home he not only violated rule 2. for himself but essentially was calling for revolt among his peers - that kind of activism is worse (in the eyes of middle management) than calls to unionize is to the owners. Not surprising he got "nipped in the bud" for it. A good worker drone not only does their job (1. and 2.) well, but also manages their coworkers for their boss so that they also perform 1. and 2. with minimal effort expended on the part of the boss.
It's really that simple... if you have no other skills, just learn how to do 1. 2. and 3. for a company which demands little or nothing beyond presenteeism - there are plenty of them out there.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 23 2020, @02:47PM (1 child)
But this idiot quit because he believed the panic, not because management threw him out for his sass. Idiot won't get unemployment. Idiot will probably not find a job in this economy any time soon.
(Score: 0, Troll) by Ethanol-fueled on Monday March 23 2020, @05:54PM
Found the fucking wage-slave who can't use this convenient excuse to get easy unemployment because he has snot-nosed kids and a wife with an ever-open beak to feed.
Meanwhile, I'm collecting $1800 a month and living alone in my cozy little place where rent is less than half that even in a big Californian city, where my biggest problem is trying to figure out what game I want to get into.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 23 2020, @11:42PM (1 child)
This is perhaps of the western way of handling a boss. We, eastern Europe types, prefer to keep their bosses shitless with fear. How? Simple. We screw up and they are fired. This always works because they can't do what we can, while they need the results to stay employed. We, on the other hand, can find another boss.
So, here is an advice. Next time your boss gives you shit, tell her the project is dead and will never be done unless she sucks your dick on daily bases; literally, at 7pm daily.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday March 24 2020, @01:01AM
Many Western companies are "too big to fail" and don't really need the majority of their employees to do much of anything in order to pay big salaries and benefits.
I watched my last boss get insulted by management reducing his number of direct reports from 20 to 4, it was a "message" that he wasn't wanted there and would not be moving up from his $200K/yr position - it also reduced his actual workload by 80%, perhaps more since his 4 remaining direct reports were essentially self-managing (we fill out our own evaluations...) He proceeded to spend the next 4 years doing virtually nothing other than looking for a better opportunity - and when he found it he resigned. In 4 years of doing nothing, nobody ever told him he should find another job, nobody ever gave him any significant tasks. I suspect if he tried to do anything unpopular like fire one of us that wouldn't have worked for him, but, why make waves when you've got the big salary and benefits rolling in and don't even need to show up at the office more than once a month?
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 3, Insightful) by hemocyanin on Monday March 23 2020, @03:02PM (2 children)
I too stopped shopping at Best Buy sometime in the mid-aughts. When this is over, I will be sure to patronize them.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 23 2020, @06:40PM
The bail out bill only gives money to companies that don't/didn't fire their employees.
It's good behavior, but also how you'd play to maximize your expectation. Probably a sign of a good bail out bill!
(Score: 2) by dry on Tuesday March 24 2020, @03:53AM
The supermarkets (well except for Walmart as far as I know) have been upping the workers pay, retroactively, giving them bonuses and lots of support if sick. quarantined or caring for someone here in Canada.
It's funny in a sad way that now we're finding out which workers are the most important, and those supplying groceries are pretty high on the list.
(Score: 4, Informative) by inertnet on Monday March 23 2020, @03:13PM (13 children)
A Dutch manufacturer was under threat [dutchreview.com]. They produce chloroquine, which might increase corona patients survival chances. The owner was threatened to sell his product to unspecified people. He went to the police instead, the factory is now guarded by the police and the owner also has constant protection.
(Score: 2) by HiThere on Monday March 23 2020, @03:28PM (10 children)
FWIW, reports from China are reported to say "Yes, it's effective, but only if you take it before symptoms appear", and you want medical supervision when you do that because you are risking liver (or was it kidney?) damage.
There are several drugs that are reported to be effective "if you take it before the virus starts multiplying". Most of them have side effects that mean you should be under a doctor's supervision. So the only good use is if you've tested positive, and haven't yet started showing symptoms. (I think the Japanese f... [can't remember the name] drug is the same, but it's safer if you're a man or past menopause. The other symptoms are less damaging, but you still need to take it before the virus really starts multiplying.)
I am not a medical person, but this thing has made me read widely among sources I trust...but it sure doesn't help me remember all the names of the drugs they talk about.
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by inertnet on Monday March 23 2020, @04:20PM (7 children)
I'm not a medical person either. The only useful advice that I've distilled so far is to take a couple of really deep breaths several times a day. You'll be fine as long as you can do that without pain or coughing. Seek medical help immediately if you feel pain or can't hold your breath for a couple of seconds without coughing because you may be developing pneumonia.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by meustrus on Monday March 23 2020, @05:45PM (2 children)
Incorrect. Inability to hold your breath is a sign of anxiety, not pneumonia. This advice keeps popping up, but it is a potentially dangerous myth with no factual basis.
Don't believe me? That's good, you shouldn't believe random COVID-19 facts without citations. Go look it up for yourself. And do the same thing for every other bit of medical advice you get.
If there isn't at least one reference or primary source, it's not +1 Informative. Maybe the underused +1 Interesting?
(Score: 2) by inertnet on Monday March 23 2020, @09:17PM (1 child)
I didn't mean to hold your breath for as long as you can, but to fill your lungs for as much as you can and hold your breath for a second or two. Where I live there's almost no chance of getting a real test, even when you have the symptoms, because all tests are reserved for medical staff and people in other essential jobs. My conclusion was based on people who've had pneumonia in the past as well as experiences from people who have recovered or are recovering from this disease.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 24 2020, @08:25AM
Most likely, you have a fatal condition. No amount of medicine can save you, since you get your diagnoses off the internet. You are going to die. No one will notice. It is OK, it's just part of "The Circle of Life".
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 23 2020, @08:06PM (2 children)
"I'm not a medical person either."
That much is, unfortunately, obvious.
"The only useful advice that I've distilled so far is to take a couple of really deep breaths several times a day."
If that is the "only useful advice" you have gathered then you are a fool! According to CDC the best thing you can do to prevent COVID-19 is to wash your hands thoroughly and often. The next most important bit of advice is to avoid touching your face, particularly eyes, nose, and mouth. Then, of course, you should also practice "social distancing". If you do those three things scrupulously you will go a long way to stay COVID-free. Mind you, not a guarantee, but put you in much better stead.
(Score: 2) by inertnet on Monday March 23 2020, @09:07PM (1 child)
Washing your hands more than you're used to, plus all that other advice, is of no use as long as you stay at home. Of course it's good advice for when you've been outside or had contact with others outside of your family. All it does when you stay home is dry your skin and make it susceptible to bacterial infections.
But okay, I should have written: "the only useful advice, besides the obvious".
(Score: 2) by Chocolate on Tuesday March 24 2020, @02:44AM
Use moisturizer afterwards
Bit-choco-coin anyone?
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Tuesday March 24 2020, @12:19AM
Check your temperature too.
(Score: 2) by legont on Monday March 23 2020, @11:50PM (1 child)
This stuff is used by old geezers to treat arthritis. Can't be that bad...
It is also on the list of the most important drugs in the least dangerous category.
Granted, it is immune system suppressant, which makes using it against an agressive bug chancy.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chloroquine [wikipedia.org]
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 2) by HiThere on Tuesday March 24 2020, @03:17PM
I think you're confusing different drugs. There is an arthritis drug that's being investigated, but it's not one of the quinine derivatives. Those were used to treat malaria. (And I was wrong, it's not the liver or kidneys that it can damage, it's the heart.)
That said, in all of these it's a matter of dosage, and being enough to treat what you are targeting without damaging yourself too severely. Most people can recover from mild liver damage (though if you've got incipient cirrhosis that's another matter). Kidney and heart damage are less recoverable from.
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Monday March 23 2020, @09:38PM (1 child)
Yeah, careful with that chloroquine...
Man dies after ingesting chloroquine in an attempt to prevent coronavirus [nbcnews.com]
(Score: 2) by barbara hudson on Monday March 23 2020, @10:09PM
SoylentNews is social media. Says so right in the slogan. Soylentnews is people, not tech.
(Score: 0, Troll) by dioxide on Monday March 23 2020, @03:45PM (2 children)
You abandoned your post at an essential utility when you are arguably needed most. Took it to the media, put your name out there. Did your best to make the company look like the bad guy.
Enjoy being unemployable.
dioxide
(Score: 3, Insightful) by edIII on Monday March 23 2020, @09:04PM (1 child)
Bull-fucking-shit
They had every ability to work from home, so he wasn't abandoning anything. All he abandoned was the reckless notion that he *MUST* be in the office to do his job. The only argument to hell-bound suits gave, "work is better in person when you can deal with people".
You act like he did for 15 minutes of fame, and not that he did it because it's massively fucking unsafe and contributing to the problem. The only "positive" benefits of threatening the employees to stay at the office is possibly an economic one for the few.
He didn't do his best to make the company look bad. THE COMPANY LOOKS BAD. Why? They deserve it.
Abandonment my ass.
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 2) by barbara hudson on Monday March 23 2020, @10:15PM
SoylentNews is social media. Says so right in the slogan. Soylentnews is people, not tech.
(Score: 1) by Sulla on Monday March 23 2020, @04:01PM (16 children)
My wife is a pharmacy tech at Safeway and she was directed to not use a mask or eye protection and to only wipe down counters when customers cannot seeing her do it. My wife switched to a different company who is okay with people wearing PPEs and will probably go drive-thru only.
Ceterum censeo Sinae esse delendam
(Score: 5, Insightful) by choose another one on Monday March 23 2020, @05:47PM (13 children)
There is a lot of this around, a lot of people are way behind the curve in response to this and they therefore clash instantly with people who are on or ahead of the curve, and the curve is getting very steep, being just a couple of days behind someone else makes for a major difference of opinion.
I am vulnerable, multiple preexisting medical conditions, isolating at home now including isolating apart from the rest of the family.
My wife had been concerned about her work, risk to her and of bringing it home to me. She'd been asked to work with colleagues who have clear symptoms (cough and fever) but have been told to come into work, and the job requires close physical proximity ("coughing all over me"). On friday night at the start of an on-call weekend shift, she found that management had refused to implement any of the infection control measures / working practices she'd asked for (based on recommendations from head office and elsewhere in the industry), said it was business-as-usual and by the way they'd been so busy nothing had been cleaned all day, but there was no need it was all overblown and she was overreacting, "we're not at that stage yet".
So she walked out.
Today her employers are deep cleaning everything and implementing infection control. Too late. Lot easier to replace a job than a loved one.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Monday March 23 2020, @07:05PM (5 children)
That's what I like to hear. I've actually been asked by former bosses, "Which is more important, your job, or $relative?" Uhhhh, there has never been any competition. I was looking for a job when I found this one - later!
“I have become friends with many school shooters” - Tampon Tim Walz
(Score: 2) by fliptop on Monday March 23 2020, @09:16PM (3 children)
I once told an employer the order of importance for me was this: 1) family. 2) faith. 3) home. 4) work.
My $relative is sick, dying, etc. I can't come to work today.
You need me to work on a Sunday during Mass, or when I'm supposed to sing in the choir at a funeral? Sorry, I won't be in.
My pipes burst and I need to keep my basement from flooding. Not coming to work today.
Luckily I've been self-employed since 2003 so I don't have to put up w/ this anymore, but sometimes it takes bluntness to get the message across.
Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.
(Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Tuesday March 24 2020, @07:34AM (2 children)
Interesting order. You really would refrain from keeping your basement from flooding if it interfered with visiting Sunday Mass?
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 24 2020, @07:46AM
god burns him straight into hell if he doesn't drag his family to church every Sunday.
(Score: 2) by fliptop on Tuesday March 24 2020, @12:30PM
I'd probably just shut off the water and not worry about fixing it until after Mass. There's a huge difference between being gone all day at work and not having sufficient time to deal w/ a cleanup/repair until late evening, and having a whole Sunday to deal w/ it after being gone for an hour.
Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 24 2020, @08:28AM
Don't know which is more shocking, that Runaway has a job, or that he has relatives. Just, wow! And, OK, Boomer!
(Score: 1) by Sulla on Monday March 23 2020, @08:53PM (6 children)
My wife and I had already decided that she will continue working through this because pharmacies need to stay open. I talked with a friend of mine at a different pharmacy here in town that at the very least is mostly surrounded by a 7ft wall/glass providing more protection than a long exposed counter, in addition it has a drive-thru so it could decide to only operate through it. When my wife went in to talk to the manager she expressed her concern about PPE and was told that employees will be provided anything they want to wear, and that they are encouraged to do so.
We will pretty quickly see how fast the people who decided to not act get affected by this.
Ceterum censeo Sinae esse delendam
(Score: 2) by choose another one on Monday March 23 2020, @11:33PM (5 children)
Trouble is, typically they won't, it's the people the idiots infect who will suffer, the idiots will carry on like "what was the problem, not even as bad as the flu".
It's like drunk driving, too many times the drunk survives the crash just fine, and those they crash into do not.
Since I wrote that post, my wife has become symptomatic. An occasional cough and slight sore throat, and a vague worry that it might be, is now a persistent cough, with a temperature, shortness of breath, and a pretty sure it is.
I am stuck in the basement, hoping and praying that I isolated soon enough and that our bio security between us is enough. I don't think I have it, but sometimes not sure if something is starting, it'll be a few days before I can be sure, a few more before I can see the upstairs half of the family again (we'll put the biosec perimeter at the front door). If we're lucky. Meantime I'm listening to her cough while being told to stay the f**k away, that my job is to stay alive and keep passing food up to the kids (when we split the house I got the kitchen, she got the kids).
It's a good thing we are locked down, it will be some time before I meet her bosses again (if ever), if it happened now it wouldn't go well...
(Score: 1) by Sulla on Tuesday March 24 2020, @12:43AM (4 children)
Depending on her doctor, medical condition, and her risk factors, it is possible to be prescribed a twelve day course of hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin. My friend has seen several prescriptions come through his pharmacy. Chloroquine does have possible side effects (irregular heartbeat) which depending on pre-existing conditions can be worse than the cure. Problem is that right now its all just anecdotal as a possible fix.
Hopefully she (and you if you end up getting it) are outside the risk groups and in the 80% that don't need to go to the hospital.
Ceterum censeo Sinae esse delendam
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 24 2020, @08:32AM (1 child)
Anyone who takes medical advice from Trump is going to die. Everything he "opines" on dies. Have you seen the stock market lately? Oxycondonchloroquining and zit medicine did that to it.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 24 2020, @09:36AM
See now that this is also a Fox News Faux cure, straight from the pie-hole of Sean Hannkery. Got him a letter from a "doctor". Anyone who takes medical advice from either Donald or Fox will die, and deservedly so.
(Score: 2) by choose another one on Tuesday March 24 2020, @03:02PM
Hydroxychloroquine is actually commonly used to treat a condition I have, I know people on it. Not a nice drug, side effects can mess you up pretty bad, does require medical supervision and dose is usually ramped up slowly, I think.
I am stable without it, so haven't asked for it, haven't been offered it. Pity, being on it now might be a good idea.
She is outside the risk groups and, at this point, would get critical care if she needed it, me, I'm probably f***ed. Staying away and trusting in bleach, lots of bleach.
(Score: 2) by HiThere on Tuesday March 24 2020, @03:30PM
The study that showed that combination worked was an extremely small study, and the patients were under medical supervision. And I believe half the participants dropped out, either because they couldn't take the side effects, or because they died. And lots of people *do* recover from the disease with only supportive treatment.
So I don't think that's a really safe combination to pin your hopes on. But at least the study was real. (Sorry, didn't keep a link.)
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 2) by meustrus on Monday March 23 2020, @05:48PM
If I saw a pharmacy where all the staff were wearing masks and wiping down counters, I'd be comforted and want to keep shopping there. If I also saw one that did none of those things, I'd stop shopping there immediately.
Some people have really idiotic responses. Customers have a lot of anxiety about shopping right now. Taking protective measures eases that anxiety, not exacerbates it.
If there isn't at least one reference or primary source, it's not +1 Informative. Maybe the underused +1 Interesting?
(Score: 2) by barbara hudson on Monday March 23 2020, @10:18PM
SoylentNews is social media. Says so right in the slogan. Soylentnews is people, not tech.
(Score: 2) by shortscreen on Monday March 23 2020, @04:22PM (5 children)
Air compressor, couple of electro-pneumatic valves, relays, and an arduino?
(Score: 2) by captain normal on Monday March 23 2020, @08:57PM (4 children)
As for ventilators, aren't CPAP and BiPAP devices basically ventilators? There must be thousands if not millions of these things sitting in drug stores all around the world.
The Musk/Trump interview appears to have been hacked, but not a DDOS hack...more like A Distributed Denial of Reality.
(Score: 2) by choose another one on Monday March 23 2020, @11:40PM (3 children)
No, CPAP is basically one level below ventilator, CPAP fails, need ventilator.
See here https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-difference-of-cost-between-Ventilator-and-CPAP [quora.com] for example (quicker than me writing it all out)
(Score: 2) by toddestan on Tuesday March 24 2020, @03:10AM (2 children)
Interesting. So would a CPAP be able to help someone with a less severe case, freeing up a ventilator for someone who really needs one? Or does it not really work that way?
(Score: 2) by choose another one on Tuesday March 24 2020, @10:32AM (1 child)
My understanding is that is that there is an escalation something like:
oxygen (breathing on your own, increased O2 partial pressure) -> CPAP (positive pressure to keep airway open, still breathing on your own) -> ventilation (breathing for you)
(Score: 2) by HiThere on Tuesday March 24 2020, @03:38PM
No. CPAP is before oxygen. I sleep with a CPAP, and I've never needed oxygen yet.
Actually, I think they're along slightly different pathways with a point of convergence, as I see lots of people who use oxygen, but not a CPAP.
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 23 2020, @05:45PM (6 children)
shove your alex jones story up your ass, bitch. his tooth paste has silver in it and i've never heard him saying it cures coronavirus.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by edIII on Monday March 23 2020, @09:06PM (2 children)
One inforwars nutbag against well over 30 articles, from journalists around the world, reporting he said it cures it specifically.
Additionally, the Attorney Generals don't take action against a company unless it is actually doing what they say. It's not like the AG prints out the article from the journalist and uses that as evidence. If law enforcement is coming down on his ass, it's because they have him an audio, or video, or branded marketing making the statements.
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 2) by HiThere on Tuesday March 24 2020, @03:48PM (1 child)
Well, there's lots of evidence around that copper kills COVID-19 along with lots of other viruses. And so does silver. I'm just not aware of any that says it kills it in vivo rather than on surfaces. Still if one of his "nanowires" touches a virus it would probably kill it. But a lot of the time that means penetrating cells. And those aren't particularly friendly to mammalian cells either. (Also, the evidence that I'm aware of only said that copper was a bit over twice as effective as stainless steel.)
My general feeling, knowing nothing prior about the guy, was that he read some articles, formed a theory, decided to believe it was true, and then started selling products based on it. He probably thinks he's a public benefactor. He may consider that getting rich proves it to be true. And I suspect he feels he's being unfairly persecuted. Not all evil deeds have evil motivations.
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 2) by edIII on Wednesday March 25 2020, @04:33AM
Meh, bullshit. I used to take colloidal silver. The ideas are great, believing it is great, and I'm not knocking people who try different things.
There's a difference between personal belief based upon even well educated and reasoned guesses and clinical studies. You can't say something cures something without the clinical and scientific evidence to back it up. So his bullshit of, "Pentagon says it kills this stuff at point-blank range", is extremely misleading.
He would've been just fine with, "I believe, based on how it acts, and what we know of silver, that it may have this effect on the virus". Plenty of stuff gets sold without the feds going after it, as long as you don't use language that misrepresents what we factually know.
The marketing, and the timing, doesn't lead me to believe to good motivations. His motivated to make profit, just like the proprietors of patent medicines, and he took advantage of the outbreak to push it. Same ol' con artistry at work.
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 3, Informative) by DeathMonkey on Monday March 23 2020, @09:43PM (2 children)
"The patented nanosilver we have, the Pentagon has come out and documented and Homeland Security has said this stuff kills the whole SARS-corona family at point-blank range," - Alex Jones, 3-10-2020 [ny.gov]
(Score: 2) by Chocolate on Tuesday March 24 2020, @02:50AM (1 child)
That would be more believable if it said "copper".
So, 'patented nanocopper' it is! Whatever that means?
Bit-choco-coin anyone?
(Score: 3, Insightful) by aristarchus on Tuesday March 24 2020, @08:35AM
"One does not just "fuck" aristarchus, particularly when the facts are on his side."
You could "walk" into Mordor with more ease, even Orcs do not buy Jones' conspiracy theories.
(Score: 1, Redundant) by Runaway1956 on Monday March 23 2020, @06:52PM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGHwz0tRcWo [youtube.com]
If you won't click on a video link at Youtube - don't tell me about it, I don't give (messy)twoshits. (Side reference to the dirt bike riders story, wink wink.)
“I have become friends with many school shooters” - Tampon Tim Walz
(Score: 2, Informative) by khallow on Monday March 23 2020, @08:28PM (6 children)
(Score: 2) by choose another one on Monday March 23 2020, @11:35PM (5 children)
It won't spread exponentially forever, sooner or later it runs out of morons
Only question is how many it kills in the mean time
(Score: 1) by khallow on Monday March 23 2020, @11:45PM (1 child)
Nobody said it would. But the exponential phase went longer than expected.
(Score: 2) by choose another one on Tuesday March 24 2020, @03:05PM
Ergo, we underestimated our collective stupidity. Quelle surprise.
(Score: 1, Flamebait) by legont on Monday March 23 2020, @11:53PM (2 children)
City dwellers will get their Darwin prize all right though.
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Tuesday March 24 2020, @06:46AM
Here, have a spare sock to jizz in while you disasturbate to the idea of all those eeeeeeevil city-slickers dying a no doubt well-deserved death by coronavirus for the crime of living somewhere where they can't hear banjos in the background 24/7.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 2) by HiThere on Tuesday March 24 2020, @03:53PM
Do you really think living in a rural area is continued protection? This isn't a disease that kills people quickly, first it has them wandering around for a week or so spreading the joy with no or minimal symptoms. The guy at the feed store, the folks at church, the guys at the bar? Yeah, they look healthy, and many of them are. But not all. It just spreads more slowly.
Fortunately most people live through it without need for help.
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 24 2020, @01:32AM
during these trying times:
https://joindiaspora.com/uploads/images/scaled_full_9421b0fa4d87aff8d3cc.jpg [joindiaspora.com]