Most NYC Coronavirus cases came from Europe study claims.
There are undoubtedly some cases in which it’s someone specifically lying to get people to come to church. The Florida pastor who was arrested last week for defying a county stay-at-home order claimed that his church had “machines” which were capable of killing the virus, and making the church “the most sterile building in…all of America.”
I also suspect that there are a lot of these churchgoers who are still skeptical about the need to maintain social distancing, as well as those (especially in smaller towns) who still believe that it’s a problem that “other places” are suffering. And, there are also undoubtedly people who feel that their need to worship together outweighs the risk to themselves and others.
up to 150 members of Royal family of Saudi Arabia tested positive
A very interesting result. The virus mutates enough over a few months that its track can be traced. On the other hand, the ones in Washington state came from Wuhan, and a few of the Washington strains showed up in New York as well (although most were from Europe).
I don’t actually know who, specifically, is doing the lying to church-goers in Kansas. I am neither a church-goer nor in Kansas, and am not going to take the time to research it.
Fair enough.
Today in Austria:
[ul]
[li] The chancellor has confirmed that public gatherings will definitely remain banned at least unil the end of June, and probably also for the rest of the summer. The ban includes even private events such as weddings (if more than five people are in attendance).[/li]
[li] Public beaches in the state of Burgenland will reopen on 13 April. Visitors will, of course, need to maintain social distance. And only local residents will be able to use the beaches anyway, since the nationwide self-isolation rules prohibit long-distance travel for recreational purposes.[/li]
[li] Neighbouring Germany is forecasting a massive shortage of potatoes this year as it doesn’t have enough agricultural workers to harvest them. (As in Austria, this sort of work is normally done by seasonal migrant workers from abroad.) It’s not clear yet whether Austria will face any similar shortages in produce. Three weeks ago the country stepped up its recruitment of local workers, targetting mostly the massive ranks of newly unemployed, with a dedicated website and telephone hotline. According to the Bauernzeitung (Farmer’s Newspaper), so far only 1000 people have signed up for the 3500 available positions, and of these only 20% already have at least basic knowledge of food production and processing. Only 40% are willing to work full-time.[/li]
[li] As of tomorrow, it will be a legal requirement for travellers to Germany to self-quarantine for 14 days upon arrival. The requirement applies even to German residents returning home, but Austrian cross-border commuters are excepted.[/li]
[li] Austria’s various federal states have been flying in health care workers from Romania to help with the coronavirus crisis. The Romanian government today put an end to this, saying that care workers are now required locally. For the same reason, those Romanian workers who are already in Austria are not allowed to fly back: Austria has prohibited all essential care workers, regardless of citizenship, from leaving the country.[/li]
[li] According to a Gallup poll, 72% of Austrians are opposed to making use of the Red Cross’s “Stopp Corona” app a legal requirement, with 65% citing an objection to mandatory surveillance and the consequent erosion of civil rights. However, 77% of respondents say they would be happy to use the app themselves on a voluntary basis.[/li]
[li] Austria’s health minister has announced that the latest wave of influenza sweeping the country is now at an end. This flu, which had infected 205,000 and killed 643 residents, peaked a time when the country was already busy dealing with the new coronavirus pandemic.[/li]
[li] Since the federal government has refused to open Vienna’s national parks, even though 113,500 residents of the city live within 500 metres of one, the city will be closing several entire streets to motor vehicle traffic and turning them over to pedestrians. This should relieve some of the congestion in the city’s municipal parks.[/li]
[li] The European Commission has granted Austria’s request for €15 billion in aid.[/li]
[li] Current statistics: 13,248 confirmed infections, 295 deaths, 5240 recovered.[/li][/ul]
Panama has had what they’re calling a “total quarantine” for a couple of weeks. People are allowed to leave the house only for two hours a day (at a time determined by your ID number) to go to the supermarket or pharmacy. Men and women are restricted to separate days, women on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and men on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. No one can go out on Sunday.
This weekend, however, they’ve declared that no one can go out on Saturday either, I suppose because it’s Easter weekend and they don’t want any gatherings at all. That meant that men lost a shopping day, and can’t go shopping for four days from Friday until Tuesday. So I made a run today, but found impossible lines to get into the store at the first few supermarkets I tried. I finally found one with no line to get in, although there were long lines to check out. Anyway, I’m stocked up for a while.
On the up side, the number of new cases per day seems to have peaked at 198 on April 3, and hasn’t reached that total since, although the decrease has been irregular. Yesterday there were 135 new cases.
The thing I find most frustrating is not being allowed to take walks for exercise, which I normally do every day. I’ve been trying to get around it by walking to the farthest supermarket rather than driving to a close one (there’s virtually no one else on the streets, and I don’t come close to anyone), but I didn’t have time today.
Doses being used (and generally not working) against COVID-19 are higher than for other uses of the drug.
Taiwan had one new case yesterday, a roommate of someone who had become infected previously. That new case was being self isolated so only limited numbers of additional potential exposures.
The vast majority of Taiwan’s cases are Taiwanese who become infected overseas and then develop symptoms when they return home. Now that overseas travel has been banned for a while and most overseas students are no longer returning the number of new infections is really dropping.
This was accomplished by quick action from the beginning, decisive action and a good plan.
Extensive shut downs and closing business or restaurants hasn’t been required.
DC is requiring masks in supermarkets now. Will attempt to comply though I’m not sure where to get masks and feel bad depriving people who need them. Hopefully a t-shirt tied around my face is ok.
Those places with split-by-gender shopping days, I wonder how they deal with people like my husband and me? I cannot drive, due to a convulsion disorder. My husband can drive, but due to heart problems and bad arthritis he cannot walk more than a few minutes. So for shopping, he chauffeurs me, and I do the walking.
Perhaps it would be okay if a ‘wrong sex’ driver stayed in the car at all times?
Our stores have a “one customer only” restriction now. When we combine our errand runs, one of us stays in the car and reads a book.
What places have “split by gender” shopping days?
I spoke too soon. 224 new cases today. That’s depressing.:smack:
Panama for one; see my post above.
I haven’t heard of any allowance of that kind in Panama. What you would probably need to do is take a taxi. Or you could have groceries etc delivered.
What I wonder is what people in rural areas do who are so far from a supermarket that a commute takes more than two hours. But it may be the restrictions are being enforced mainly in urban areas.
My wife and I spent about nine weeks in Taiwan over the years our youngest was an English teacher there. Any time is a good time to be in Taiwan, but especially now!
Americans, a lot of them anyway, think their government is on top of this. But there is no quarantine, no contact tracing, no place for you to go if you are moderately all and the the rest of your household is negative. State governments here waited until restaurants and malls and theatres were deserted, and then ordered closures of places that were already closed, or about to close, due to lack of business. Then the politicians got on television to convince people that closures were their doing.
That’s a little exaggerated, since the politicians here did close the schools.
Masschuetts is at least going to try. I wish lived there too.
Drone captured video of dozens of coffins being buried in a mass grave on an island off The Bronx NY.
I suspect every word in that sentence isn’t true. I mean, c’mon, it’s twitter. Congrats on being born yesterday by the way.