Fuji_Abound wrote:
When it is all over, I get the sense that there is mounting concern as to whether or not the Chinese did enough.
I think we have the answer to that. They tried to cover it up and AFAIK even arrested the doctor who first raised the alarm. The man has since died. If the Chinese government had acted quickly enough, this whole mess might not have happened. Mark my word: might.
kwlf wrote:
Italians only smoke slightly more than Germans, despite the much higher death rate at present.Not sure about how historical smoking rates differ.
I lived in Italy (Milan) in 1997. Members of the cohort that’s hardest hit now were in their late 50s / early 60s then. They all smoked, most were chain smokers.
There was, however, another phenomenon. I managed a media project and had a floating pool of up to 50 people working for me. The disconcerting thing was, that almost every week, one of them would need a day off for a funeral in the family. The people working for me were largely in their 20s and 30s and the dying family members often in their 50s. I sometimes wondered if the general health in that region was compromised somehow. Seveso?
Hitherto everybody’s been claiming that it was the hardest hit country because people there have a long life expectancy and there is an elderly population.
I think comparing mortality rates between countries is next to useless as testing regimes are so different across the world.
wrote:The Guardian discusses Germany’s comparably low mortality rate of 0.3%, compared to 9% for Italy and 4.6% for the UK:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/22/germany-low-coronavirus-mortality-rate-puzzles-experts
The article does not give a definite answer to the question why Germany has been “lucky” so far. Most people here expect it’s just a matter of time until we are in a spot like Italy is now.
JasonC – I agree, as I said earlier, the data is of such poor quality, it is quite concerning.
A report on France 24 news yesterday said that around 50% of those being treated for the virus in intensive care are under 50.
Speaking to my 91 year old father today who like myself is remaining isolated except for going for food and medicines, we both pondered on the question "how will we know it is safe to rejoin the world again? After all, we hopefully will have avoided the virus but can we be sure that everyone we meet is also clear? Ormwill we have to practice safe distancing forever?
@hbadger wrote
I’m wondering if we GA pilots can somehow help out.
Same thoughts here. Would be a tremendous PR stunt, and could be helpful at the same time.
In other news: Data from Austria
Date: 22.3.2020, 15.00
Tested: 21.368
Confirmed: 3.244
Recovered: 9
Deceased: 16
Youngest deceased 27 (with severe pre conditions).
Oldest deceased 90+
Some in their 50‘ and 60‘s
Snoopy wrote:
Confirmed: 3.244
Unfortunately, on day closing it rose to 3.580 which is 588 new cases in last 24 hours. Similar percentage of newly infected in Croatia although the absolute numbers are much lower – total 254, new cases 48. Plus we had a heavy earthquake in Zagreb this morning.
A video summing up the situation in Sweden pretty well and why it is lethal:
Dimme wrote:
A video summing up the situation in Sweden pretty well and why it is lethal:
I disagree. His explanation of what the authorities are trying to achieve (deliberately letting the virus spread until the health care system reaches its limit and then stopping the spread) does not at all agree with my understanding. Frankly it seems a bit conspiracy-theoretical. I stopped listening at that point. (And frankly, I was giving him a lot of slack as I generally hate half-hour long videos of stuff that could fit on one sheet of paper. Really — can’t people read anymore or don’t they have better things to do with their time?)
He says several times that he is not an expert. Right.
