So bars closed again, restaurants back to 50% and elective surgeries on hold again. All due to the magic 15% threshold. Sigh.
When the news reported this last night they followed up with, "but this won't apply to Harris County because all bas have been converted to restaurants."Big Al 1992 said:
So bars closed again, restaurants back to 50% and elective surgeries on hold again. All due to the magic 15% threshold. Sigh.
Quote:
These insights allowed the authorities to make granular distinctions about risks, opting for targeted restrictions rather than swinging between the extremes of strict lockdowns and free-for-all openings. Nishimura Yasutoshi, the minister overseeing the government's response to covid-19, carries a device that monitors carbon dioxide to measure the quality of ventilation during his meetings. (The room where he and your correspondent meet registers 506 parts per million, safely below the threshold of 1000 ppm that indicates poor air flow. The interview takes place across a large table, behind plastic shields and with face masks on.)
Researchers deployed Fugaku, the world's fastest supercomputer, to model different situations. Crowded subways pose little risk, if windows are open and passengers wear masks, Mr Nishimura insists. Sitting diagonally, rather than directly across from each other can reduce the risk of infection by 75%. Movie theatres are safe, "even if viewers are eating popcorn and hot dogs", Mr Nishimura says. While most cinemas in the West are closed, "Demon Slayer", a new animeflick, has been playing to full houses in Japan, becoming the country's second-highest grossing film ever. In addition to the 3cs, the Japanese government warns of five more specific dangers: dinner parties with booze; drinking and eating in groups of more than four; talking without masks at close quarters; living in dormitories and other small shared spaces; and using changing or break rooms.
Of course, these insights would have been for naught if ordinary people had ignored them. But Japanese heeded the government's advice to stay home and to quarantine if showing any symptoms of the coronavirus, even though these admonitions carried no legal force. "Sometimes we are criticised for being an overly homogeneous society, but I think it played a positive role this time," Mr Nishimura says. And already *****-and-span Japan became even more punctilious about hygiene. While Americans argued over whether face coverings were an assault on personal freedom, Japanese lined up outside Uniqlo for the release of its new line of masks. During the first ten weeks of flu season this autumn, Japan saw just 148 cases of common influenza, or less than 1% of the five-year average for the same period (17,000).
The last sentence there just torpedoed anything they might have a decent point about in the article. At best it's a complete non sequitur, but the author is clearly trying to get the reader to infer that Japan's masking and obedience eradicated the flu.TarponChaser said:
Meanwhile, "The Economist" discusses how Japan was able to manage far better without draconian shutdowns or overreaching governmental intervention and not even testing much.
The Japanese authorities understood covid-19 better than mostQuote:
These insights allowed the authorities to make granular distinctions about risks, opting for targeted restrictions rather than swinging between the extremes of strict lockdowns and free-for-all openings. Nishimura Yasutoshi, the minister overseeing the government's response to covid-19, carries a device that monitors carbon dioxide to measure the quality of ventilation during his meetings. (The room where he and your correspondent meet registers 506 parts per million, safely below the threshold of 1000 ppm that indicates poor air flow. The interview takes place across a large table, behind plastic shields and with face masks on.)
Researchers deployed Fugaku, the world's fastest supercomputer, to model different situations. Crowded subways pose little risk, if windows are open and passengers wear masks, Mr Nishimura insists. Sitting diagonally, rather than directly across from each other can reduce the risk of infection by 75%. Movie theatres are safe, "even if viewers are eating popcorn and hot dogs", Mr Nishimura says. While most cinemas in the West are closed, "Demon Slayer", a new animeflick, has been playing to full houses in Japan, becoming the country's second-highest grossing film ever. In addition to the 3cs, the Japanese government warns of five more specific dangers: dinner parties with booze; drinking and eating in groups of more than four; talking without masks at close quarters; living in dormitories and other small shared spaces; and using changing or break rooms.
Of course, these insights would have been for naught if ordinary people had ignored them. But Japanese heeded the government's advice to stay home and to quarantine if showing any symptoms of the coronavirus, even though these admonitions carried no legal force. "Sometimes we are criticised for being an overly homogeneous society, but I think it played a positive role this time," Mr Nishimura says. And already *****-and-span Japan became even more punctilious about hygiene. While Americans argued over whether face coverings were an assault on personal freedom, Japanese lined up outside Uniqlo for the release of its new line of masks. During the first ten weeks of flu season this autumn, Japan saw just 148 cases of common influenza, or less than 1% of the five-year average for the same period (17,000).
It'll work this time!!!Big Al 1992 said:
So bars closed again, restaurants back to 50% and elective surgeries on hold again. All due to the magic 15% threshold. Sigh
Big Al 1992 said:
So bars closed again, restaurants back to 50% and elective surgeries on hold again. All due to the magic 15% threshold. Sigh.
No one is really sure, or if they are it doesn't play well to the rest of the story.Big Al 1992 said:
So why has flu disappeared - masks work on flu but not Covid? More people staying home with flu like symptoms? Work from home? Is flu being reported as Covid?
Non-pharmaceutical interventionChipFTAC01 said:
What are NPI?
If kids don't get RSV when they are young and better equipped to handle it can they get a worse RSV when they are older and their immune system is not as equipped to handle it?Diggity said:
Yeah, the RSV thing is very strange.
There's more social distancing than typical, but millions of kids are still interacting and still have crappy hygiene. I don't get why RSV has essentially disappeared from the pediatric world this time around.
Is Covid someone spreading at the expense of flu and RSV?
Diggity said:
Yeah, the RSV thing is very strange.
There's more social distancing than typical, but millions of kids are still interacting and still have crappy hygiene. I don't get why RSV has essentially disappeared from the pediatric world this time around.
Is Covid someone spreading at the expense of flu and RSV?
RSV is only bad for the young typically.Bondag said:If kids don't get RSV when they are young and better equipped to handle it can they get a worse RSV when they are older and their immune system is not as equipped to handle it?Diggity said:
Yeah, the RSV thing is very strange.
There's more social distancing than typical, but millions of kids are still interacting and still have crappy hygiene. I don't get why RSV has essentially disappeared from the pediatric world this time around.
Is Covid someone spreading at the expense of flu and RSV?
The seasonality is definitely there, whether it's the cold or some other factor that makes it ebb and flow, I don't know. Regions around the world rise and fall together, regardless of their interventions.TarponChaser said:
I think the recent Japan uptick is indicative of the idea that the spread isn't really curtailed by the lockdowns and masks but the spread is increased by the colder weather.
jetch17 said:
Lina cranking up the fear dial some more:
NEW: We've confirmed the FIRST Texas case of the more contagious, "British" strand in Harris County. This is disturbing. Along with our recent trends, we could be on the road to a crisis if we don't change our behavior NOW. Do your part.
It's been here a while and it is substantially less virulent. Basically mild cold.bearkatag15 said:
Yeah the doctors my wife works with at her hospital are convinced that UK strand has been here for awhile already.