Thats some good advice mate, thanks. I should maybe look into it more thoroughly before I write it off!
SARS CoV-2 coronavirus / Covid-19 (No tin foil hat silliness please)
- Thread starter Don't Kill Bill
- Start date
Maybe just try getting together online informally to maintain the social connection first to get your users used to the new format before trying normal teaching activities? How big are your groups?
Real life is always the best indicator, see below:
A comparison has been made between Sweden and Finland, which at the beginning of the pandemic chose different strategies, in Sweden preschools and primary schools were kept open, while all schools in Finland were closed. The comparison shows that school closures or continued open schools have not affected the number of reported cases among children in either Finland or Sweden. Read the report Covid-19 in preschool and school children - A comparison between Finland and Sweden
The staff working in school activities have not been diagnosed with covid-19 to a greater extent than other occupational groups*. This applies to childminders, preschool teachers, primary school teachers, leisure educators, upper secondary school teachers, other educators with theoretical specialist competence and student assistants.
https://www.folkhalsomyndigheten.se...d8ffdb57b09/covid-19-school-aged-children.pdf
* Taxi drivers for example are 5 times more likely to catch Covid-19.
What Sweden can’t tell you is anything about the 15-18 age group, but they are back in a week so we’ll soon know. I’d imagine Malmö is the place where the would quickly become obvious if it’s a problem due to their incredibly low rates and deaths so far compared with Stockholm.
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Many institutions are using Zoom in Hong Kong. The experience is good generally but there are some security concerns. Some are now suggesting a switch to Microsoft Team.
If you can keep the windows open, you should have plenty of fresh air to minimise the airborne risk. If you have to close up and run an in-room air con unit, a HEPA filter will help, but I wouldn't feel super confident unless you were getting several air changes an hour through your filter. So you need to have a good look at the equipment you've got.
In today's episode of "what not to wear" an experiment from Duke University on different types of mask. It's basically a "quick and dirty" test setup they were trying out. Their original intention was to try and compare cheap, readily available masks, to see what they could bulk buy to give away for free in areas that need them.
The headline result was that that the neck/snood type they tested actually just helped break big exhaled droplets into smaller ones (therefore potentially worse than nothing). A folded bandana did very little better, nor did a knitted one (come on, you're not surprised are you!)
Everything else was a distinct advantage, again with the (basic disposable) surgical mask coming in as very good, but multilayer cotton and polyester models doing ok on the cheap reusable side.
The headline version:
https://news.sky.com/story/amp/coro...actually-increases-risk-of-infection-12046715
The report and the test (and yes, they know that their methodology is more or less the simplest possible test of multiple designs, rather than an actual assay of virus content and aerosol behaviour)
https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/early/2020/08/07/sciadv.abd3083
The headline result was that that the neck/snood type they tested actually just helped break big exhaled droplets into smaller ones (therefore potentially worse than nothing). A folded bandana did very little better, nor did a knitted one (come on, you're not surprised are you!)
Everything else was a distinct advantage, again with the (basic disposable) surgical mask coming in as very good, but multilayer cotton and polyester models doing ok on the cheap reusable side.
The headline version:
https://news.sky.com/story/amp/coro...actually-increases-risk-of-infection-12046715
The report and the test (and yes, they know that their methodology is more or less the simplest possible test of multiple designs, rather than an actual assay of virus content and aerosol behaviour)
https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/early/2020/08/07/sciadv.abd3083
The live events in Teams is a one to many presentation tool rather than an online meeting or webinar tool.
Zoom had a few issues that have been largely or wholly addressed.
https://blog.zoom.us/a-message-to-our-users/
This includes disabling attendee attention tracking that collected bio-metric/behavioral data and was felt by many to be a bit to intrusive
https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/115000538083-Attendee-attention-tracking
Good free options include Google products and with Adobe Connect and Blackboard Collaborate Ultra being paid Zoom competitors - for my money Collaborate ultra might just edge the others for educational use as it is a very clean interface and is browser based so no downloads or plugins are needed. But there is't much to pick between them all.
PM here in NZ about to hold a late evening emergency press conference. Suspect we may have a case of community covid transmission for the first time in 102 days.
Edit confirmed, first cases of community transmission here, something we all expected, will see how we deal with it.
Edit confirmed, first cases of community transmission here, something we all expected, will see how we deal with it.
Ah shit, that’s a bummer. Unknown source
So Im in Auckland and we are now in a 3 day lockdown in Auckland so the powers that be can get all the contact tracing on these cases asap.
You guys might be writing the playbook for the rest of the world here if you successfully tackle this. Hope it works!
Excellent article on covid and immune response. Good summary on everything we know, with a few morsels that I wasn’t aware of beforehand. And all easy to digest for non-scientists.
Do we reckon the Russian announcement is worth much then?
I don't know, but we must all hope it does prove successful surely?
Fair play that. In this circumstance it feels like the perfect quick response. Top marks!
Western media sounding quite salty
Ive never been too bothered by it, can watch the news or check this thread, have discussions about it no problem. But seeing the news reports on the refugees, or checking Twitter has really disheartened me over the last week.
Obviously it’s different things that are going to upset different people, but seeing some of the comments on social media were really bad for my state of mind.
Part of me wants to just shut it out, but then I also feel like I should engage more and even if one person changes their viewpoint slightly it’s worth it.
Definitely. I can't really figure if it impacts other nations or whether we'll stick to our 'own' vaccines so we can claim some kind of patriotic victory.
Sadly the some of our general public are losing the plot. Panic buying at supermarkets tonight with police called to a couple to calm things down. This after being told the supermarkets and supply chains are well stocked and can cope. I think the whole anxiety levels and lack of learning to live with the virus here is causing a few behaviour issues.
Well that’s people for you, the most amazing thing I ever saw was the Swedish shops selling out of toilet roll in March, the whole fecking country is forest and Sweden is like the 4th biggest toilet roll creator in the World
The had guys from the manufacturers on tv saying “Whilst it’s great for business, stop it, we are never Ever going to run out of toilet roll”.
What us it about toilet roll?
When Victoria's outbreak started we saw the bog roll fly off NSW shelves again.
And Australia makes justvabout all toilet paoer domestically unlike many other things.
When Victoria's outbreak started we saw the bog roll fly off NSW shelves again.
And Australia makes justvabout all toilet paoer domestically unlike many other things.
Self fulfilling prophecy. There’s plenty to go around but people know other people will stock up
There is always the Murdoch press.
I’m sure I read somewhere that the global toilet roll panic was triggered by a legitimate shortage somewhere in Aus?
I am sorry for asking a question asked a million times and I am sure incredibly stupid to people other than myself but:
1. I assume no country wants the coronavirus. So why is it so damn impossible for them to all agree to work more closely together on this? I get in other negotiations there are different preferences, for example in the Brexit deal, even the EU member states had disagreements with each other and that makes sense. But this is something literally nobody wants as it has sent almost every country into a hole. Surely they must realise that the only realistic way out is to work together against a common 'enemy'? Copy each other's best practices where applicable etc. Surely the UN and other bodies like that can get involved and if a country doesn't want to follow an agreed set of rules then that's their choice.
I get a country should be happy about being covid free - but when the rest of the world isn't, it still means you can't go travel, work (depending what you do) may still be significantly impacted, there will be issues in imports/exports or whatever. This feels like a pretty obvious time for everyone to actually work together rather than being all individualistic?
2. I guess linked to above, but its about travel. Every country has their own requirements and it's a fecking mess. But why can't, at least in the UK for example, the airlines/airports and the government come to some sort of deal. A shit example but: People can go wherever they like but when they come back they have a choice of either quarantining in a government place for the full 14 days or for 3 days but pay x amount for a covid test to prove you are negative, if it is then off you go. I think like Australia, the passenger pays for the stay at the hotel or wherever they are quarantined. It's a good way to make money and I am convinced many people who want to travel would take the option.
That can equally be applied across the world or even expanded where you need to have a negative covid test 72 hours before flying too.
3. Every single country is reporting numbers differently. Why the hell can't WHO set out clear guidelines of what numbers should be reported? At the moment, every country is saying whatever numbers fits their narrative
1. I assume no country wants the coronavirus. So why is it so damn impossible for them to all agree to work more closely together on this? I get in other negotiations there are different preferences, for example in the Brexit deal, even the EU member states had disagreements with each other and that makes sense. But this is something literally nobody wants as it has sent almost every country into a hole. Surely they must realise that the only realistic way out is to work together against a common 'enemy'? Copy each other's best practices where applicable etc. Surely the UN and other bodies like that can get involved and if a country doesn't want to follow an agreed set of rules then that's their choice.
I get a country should be happy about being covid free - but when the rest of the world isn't, it still means you can't go travel, work (depending what you do) may still be significantly impacted, there will be issues in imports/exports or whatever. This feels like a pretty obvious time for everyone to actually work together rather than being all individualistic?
2. I guess linked to above, but its about travel. Every country has their own requirements and it's a fecking mess. But why can't, at least in the UK for example, the airlines/airports and the government come to some sort of deal. A shit example but: People can go wherever they like but when they come back they have a choice of either quarantining in a government place for the full 14 days or for 3 days but pay x amount for a covid test to prove you are negative, if it is then off you go. I think like Australia, the passenger pays for the stay at the hotel or wherever they are quarantined. It's a good way to make money and I am convinced many people who want to travel would take the option.
That can equally be applied across the world or even expanded where you need to have a negative covid test 72 hours before flying too.
3. Every single country is reporting numbers differently. Why the hell can't WHO set out clear guidelines of what numbers should be reported? At the moment, every country is saying whatever numbers fits their narrative
I think the quickest and easiest way to answer this in my view is basically to say that all individual countries around the world don't give two shits about other countries and are too focused on their own situation to care about anybody else - unless it is going to have an impact on trade/economy which will make them poorer. So every country does their own thing.
There was only a shortage because people went nuts. We later had cases of people trying to return thousands of dollars of it when we ramped up production even further.
2. Europe would shut down in this example. It’s simply too intertwined and you can quarantine or test that number within this freedom of movement zone.
3. Increased mortality is the only thing you can really “trust”. And it wouldn’t matter what the WHO said, if Iran, Portugal and countless others are missing 200% according to increased mortality stats, it might be them making a political decision (which WHO guidelines wouldn’t help), or it might just be that some countries are better at it and that it’s not at all deliberate.
Probably about as legit as those twitter shitebags that tweet ITK stuff about Sancho
Then again - a broken clock is right twice a day and all that
1. There is no "best practice" dealing with the pandemic and every country is trying the best way they could, at least they think they are. They have different socioeconomic backgrounds and there is no unified way which is applicable to all countries. Plus, the organization involved should be the WHO but it is heavily corrupted. Preventing pandemic like this is their one and only job and yet they fail, and this also answers your 3rd question.
2. You are not thinking the other way. Governments are more than happy to let their own citizens travel abroad, problem is other countries are reluctant to welcome foreign travellers.
The one thing the WHO should have done was to recommend closing off China, both in and out, whilst they investigated the virus and the seriousness of it. This should have happened in early Jan as soon as they got wind of it.
As you say, after that most countries are doing their best and there is likely no “one size fits all” model. Looking at the figures to peak in early April, a shit load of countries already had an insane amount of the virus circulating before they even knew to put in any measures.
Other countries or states for that matter put in the most strict measures possible too early, only to then get smashed later when the measures were eased and they got what essentially was their first wave.
Cutting off or limiting the virus at it’s source should have been the WHO and every countries duty.
Which countries put in restrictions too early and then got “smashed” by the proper first wave?
Virus returns to New Zealand after 102 days
https://www.rawstory.com/2020/08/returns-to-new-zealand-after-102-days/
https://www.rawstory.com/2020/08/returns-to-new-zealand-after-102-days/
It's because Australia is full of massive arseholes.
I don't imagine Australia as being full of trees for toilet paper. I'm probably just wrong again.
Part of the coursework for the microbio lab i'm teaching (I'm at Duke) is an independent project that has to be done mostly at home. We expect that the students will choose to study the effectiveness of different masks/barriers. (Last semester, everyone's report was on viral and zoonotic diseases and viral evolution, something we had barely covered in lectures). No fancy optical equipment, so they will see how effective coverings are at protecting bacterial media from breathing/sneezing.
Will update in November with what we find, though I doubt there's going to be anything new.
Serbia
States: Florida, California, Texas.
Best country example so far is the Philipines but seeing tendencies for others, Serbia for example as mentioned above. Croatia and Greece are a concern.
I like your posting in this thread, but if you can honestly look at Florida and Texas and think “their problem was too many restrictions” I can’t agree with that
That’s not what I said at all?
I said it was a shitly timed response.
Florida did a stay at home order at the start of April, that order was too early for me.
Now remember Twigs that I mean too early because they were never gonna stay locked down for long enough so the effect it had was crap and too early. It made the post stay at home spell a massive fecking party too just for the cherry on the cake.