News COVID-19 pandemic

What will happen after the Corona epidemic?

  • The population of Asia will be reduced, accelerating the sustainable development.

    Votes: 14 30.4%
  • The major civilizations will collapse.

    Votes: 12 26.1%
  • The human race will end.

    Votes: 20 43.5%

  • Total voters
    46
  • Poll closed .
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Frilock

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Damn it!

Rick May, voice of the Soldier in Team Fortress 2, has died

Rick May, a voice actor best known to PC gamers for his portrayal of the gruff-talking Soldier in Team Fortress 2, has died after contracting COVID-19. His death was reported by the Rekindle School, an independent art, acting, and film school in Seattle, Washington where May was a teacher.

May's game credits, along with Team Fortress 2, include Star Fox 64, Freddi Fish 5, Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves, and Age of Empires 2: Definitive Edition. He also served as the artistic director of the Renton Civic Theater and Civic Light Opera, and directed or appeared in over 300 shows including Fiddler on the Roof, Death of a Salesman, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, The Odd Couple, and Cotton Patch Gospel.
 

4throck

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Depending where and when?

My parents in the UK born in the 1920's went through "Fever Hospitals". Sent away to survive the childhood illnesses of the time.
Whooping Cough.
Diphtheria.
Scarlet Fever.
Measles.

Did other countries do similar?

More or less (some stuff is climate dependent), but it never affected all countries at the same time, and not as fast as Covid (3 months to spread all over the world).

---------- Post added at 12:43 ---------- Previous post was at 10:58 ----------

This is a good visual resource to track the global situation:
https://www.ft.com/coronavirus-latest

http%3A%2F%2Fcom.ft.imagepublish.upp-prod-eu.s3.amazonaws.com%2F3db04f58-7e96-11ea-82f6-150830b3b99a
 

jedidia

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What that graph tells me most of all, is that there was a point where Bosnia tried to collect some data, then somebody pocketed the money allocated for that, and everybody stopped giving a damn. :lol:
 

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There are some really encouraging signs on the horizon. Johnson & Johnson are about to begin mass-production of their vaccine candidate at their own risk so that if it passes clinical trials they can begin rapid distribution. Other companies like Moderna are looking to get into Phase 2 trials with really cutting-edge RNA vaccines. A successful vaccine is not a given, but it does seem promising that the world's best biomedical minds are all working the problem together.
 

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Notebook

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German Chancellor Angela Merkel has announced plans to slowly ease restrictions brought in to tackle the coronavirus pandemic.
Social distancing rules will stay in place until at least 3 May, with Ms Merkel also strongly recommending people wear face masks in public.
But as of next week shops under a certain size could open their doors.
And schools will start to reopen from 4 May, with priority for students who have exams.
Ms Merkel said the country had achieved "fragile intermediate success" through the strict measures.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-52299358

Summary
Confirmed cases of the virus pass two million, according to Johns Hopkins university

The true number of cases will be much higher, with levels of testing varying

Health Secretary Matt Hancock says families will be allowed to say goodbye to dying relatives in UK

President Trump says US will stop funding the World Health Organization, accusing it of mismanagement


His announcement is widely condemned, with Bill Gates calling it "as dangerous as it sounds"

Germany announces plans to ease restrictions, with some schools to reopen in May

Tour de France will go ahead but moved to late August
 
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Notebook

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Better side of this event:

A 99-year-old army veteran who has raised more than £9m for the NHS said the fundraising has been "completely out of this world".
Tom Moore aimed to raise £1,000 by completing 100 laps of his Bedfordshire garden by Thursday.
"Every penny that we get, they [the NHS] deserve every one of it," he said, as the total exceeded the £5m mark.
Meanwhile, a school girl has started a campaign for children to make cards for his 100th birthday on 30 April.
Reegan Davies, eight, from Port Talbot, Wales, has set a goal of making 1,500 virtual cards.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-52290976
 

richfororbit

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Does he mention anything about the illness, how to protect yourself and how to save the lives of those who had been unlucky enough to catch the virus?

No, but he does go on about infringing on society of freedoms, the last seven minutes enter my mind on this.

No neither of the two, go into detail about the virus, even the comments on these clips are all awash about the by gone month that was a month ago was freedom for all, for those who obviously work, three job occupation to pay healthcare. ;)

They want to get rid of the lock down, a coalition of states is recommended, as some have suggested. He wants people in the street to decide the danger.

Conspiracy against freedom.

A good number of liberty folk live in a strange world.
 

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No, but he does go on about infringing on society of freedoms, the last seven minutes enter my mind on this.


So, he is mostly talking about his freedoms and not the freedom of those who are endangered by the virus.



Really disappointing - I would have expected the Ron Paul Fanclub to be smarter.
 

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Well, I suppose society in general, but I guess it doesn't really include others who are at risk.

Rand Paul made some comments.


A topic on the ronpaulforums from last month, the role of the state during a epedemic.

http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showth...te-In-An-Epidemic-The-Libertarian-Perspective

http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showth...his-dumbass-term-quot-essential-business-quot

What is non essential.

I had a run within a number of the main posters there, I had negative reps, called gay, thief, all in the reputation comments. Lazy bum, government leech. Yep. My last few posts were on here.

http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showth...herd-is-dead&p=6897503&viewfull=1#post6897503

I was banned late last year I guess. Nothing I typed about government was ever really considered, I just think a lot of these people were either bitter working class, or privileged, but from looking at Ron Paul, they all have either qualifications and family, everything that liberal society lacks in certain quarters.
 
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Urwumpe

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What is non essential.


That is usually a good question in many points in life, but it also quickly turns into the question "Who is non-essential?" if not thinking long enough about the "Why something exists in first place?".



Just a few months ago, a famous large consulting company suggested that Germany should reduce hospital capacity and ICU beds for economic reasons. Luckily we did not implement these recommendations yet and now know why some excess capacity during good times is much better than a lack of capacity in bad times.

I can understand an argumentation, that we should only have as much government as necessary for letting it do its core duties. It is a matter of economy there, just as well as that a government is no self-purpose. I just don't like the idea that there is some conflict between "citizens" and "government". There is not. The government needs a mandate from the citizens to exist, not the other way around. Even police officers would be just some armed clowns, if citizens decide that they have no authority and don't need to respect their uniform. It is citizens forming the government. When you fight against the government in a democracy, you fight against other citizens and their interests. If you feel like the government is not representing you, you might have forgotten to represent you and your own interests in first place.

Now that I am slowly settling in a solid middle-class life, I know that I should be active member in quite many organisations to represent my own interests (political party, labor union or guild, professional organisations) and can't complain, if I am not feeling represented, if I don't represent me. I just have the problem that I only have professional organisations like the INCOSE representing me properly right now, and two political parties to choose from, that at least agree to 80% of what I want. I wish it could be >90%.
 

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A contact-tracing app could help stop the coronavirus pandemic, but 80% of current smartphone owners would need to use it, say experts advising the NHS.
The University of Oxford's Big Data Institute has modelled a city of one million people to simulate the software's impact.
If there is lower uptake, academics say the app would still help slow the spread of Covid-19.
They add that letting people self-diagnose the illness could be critical.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-52294896
 

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Self-diagnosis? I sense trouble...

Nothing is more annoying than people who diagnose their own symptoms with google and find out that they have only three weeks left to live. I wish they would have watched "House", still one of the best series in terms of explaining how diagnosis works. Not by finding out what fits, but by looking for what does not fit.
 

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I'm surprised its put in there. Would have thought contact tracing would be enough?
 

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Self-diagnosis? I sense trouble...

Nothing is more annoying than people who diagnose their own symptoms with google and find out that they have only three weeks left to live. I wish they would have watched "House", still one of the best series in terms of explaining how diagnosis works. Not by finding out what fits, but by looking for what does not fit.


I totally agree with the sentiment, but if they have a decent algorithm behind it that might actually be more accurate than diagnosis by google search, exactly because it can better rule out what doesn't fit.
 

dbeachy1

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Quoting from nbcnews.com:

Facebook will start steering users who interact with coronavirus misinformation to WHO

Facebook will begin to alert users after they’ve been exposed to misinformation about the coronavirus, the company announced Thursday, the latest in a series of actions meant to curtail the spread of wrong or misleading claims related to the pandemic.

Users who have liked, commented on or reacted to coronavirus misinformation that has been flagged as “harmful” by Facebook and removed will now be directed to a website debunking coronavirus myths from the World Health Organization.

The announcement came in a blog post written by Guy Rosen, Facebook's vice president of integrity.

“We want to connect people who may have interacted with harmful misinformation about the virus with the truth from authoritative sources in case they see or hear these claims again off of Facebook,” Rosen wrote.

The new alert will not identify the specific post containing harmful misinformation, according to a Facebook spokesperson, who said the company was relying on research that shows repeated exposure — even in fact checks — can sometimes reinforce misinformed beliefs.

The move by Facebook is just the most recent step in an aggressive and coordinated response by it and other tech companies to promote facts and guidance from reputable sources about the spread of the coronavirus and combat the glut of false information that the WHO in February warned had become a “massive infodemic.”

But Facebook and other tech platforms have still been struggling to limit the spread of coronavirus-related misinformation.

In March, Facebook issued warnings on about 40 million posts deemed false by Facebook’s fact-checking partners, according to Rosen, adding that users who saw those warning labels rarely clicked through to the original content. Facebook has removed hundreds of thousands of posts with misinformation that “could lead to imminent physical harm,” Rosen said.
More information in the full article here.

There is also this:

Pollution down 50% in some European countries

Coronavirus lockdowns have played a role in causing pollution levels to drop significantly across Europe over the past month, the European Space Agency (ESA) has said.

Nitrogen dioxide levels are down around 50% in some cities, the agency said on Thursday, noting that the fall coincides with the “strict quarantine measures implemented across Europe."

The improvements in air quality were particularly clear in France, Spain and Italy, all of which have had severe lockdowns in place for several weeks.

Paris saw a dramatic drop of 54% in nitrogen dioxide concentrations when comparing the period April 13 to March 13 to the same time in 2019.

Madrid, Milan and Rome all saw decreases of around 45%.

Nitrogen dioxide concentrations vary widely day to day owing to the fluctuations of emissions, as well as variations in weather conditions, the agency also said, admitting there is a “weather-induced variability,” which makes it difficult to “draw conclusions based only on daily or weekly measurements."
 

Urwumpe

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Can we consider taking part in these protest as a declaration of will, that others with COVID-19 should get treated first?
 
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