Coronavirus

[FishProf]

The article isn't just about Covid.

I expect the WHO has some standards they use.

[clean]

I just seem to recall that the Great Pumpkin was complaining that the demo (crat or nic) governors were exaggerating the death rate.  I also know that in the summer my local health department upped the number of deaths by over 1000 because the state had reclassified some of the deaths.

Im just saying, that IF the standards are different, then the comparisons of the numbers IS questionable between the different jurisdictions (apples and oranges, or oranges and grape fruit - both citrus, but one is NOT for breakfast  --- and for the record, I hate grape fruit!!)

[jimbogumbo]

I just seem to recall that the Great Pumpkin was complaining that the demo (crat or nic) governors were exaggerating the death rate.  I also know that in the summer my local health department upped the number of deaths by over 1000 because the state had reclassified some of the deaths.

Im just saying, that IF the standards are different, then the comparisons of the numbers IS questionable between the different jurisdictions (apples and oranges, or oranges and grape fruit - both citrus, but one is NOT for breakfast  --- and for the record, I hate grape fruit!!)

I'm pretty sure the standard for death isn't different.

[dismalist]

For cases per million, the US of A looks third worldish. Wouldn't worry too much about cases, though, on account the rate of testing co-determines that.

For deaths per million, the US of A is below Belgium and Spain and somewhat above UK, Italy, and Sweden. Remember Sweden, and UK at least at first, consciously pursued a "let it rip" policy. Germany, of course, is an outlier downward.

There are many things causing all this; there are no complete answers at the moment.

Source is here https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/#countries.

US States can be found here https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/us/.

[Stockmann]

For deaths per million, the US of A is below Belgium and Spain and somewhat above UK, Italy, and Sweden. Remember Sweden, and UK at least at first, consciously pursued a "let it rip" policy.

The US is already among the top 10 worst performers in the world by deaths per capita. Spain and Belgium are the only Western countries worse off by that measure.

Germany, of course, is an outlier downward.

Only by Western standards. Germany has done two friggin' orders of magnitude worse, as measured by deaths per capita, than Taiwan or Vietnam.

I'm increasingly convinced that, in a way, 2020 may be the most momentuous year since 1492, for basically the opposite reason - that 2020 may well mark the end of the Western Era. Because the West's utterly dismal performance (only Latin America has mishandled it even more craptacularly - and even then it depends, because while Peru is the worst performer on the planet, Uruguay has done much better than basically any Western country other than New Zealand) is part of a pattern of failure, defeat and recklessness stretching back a couple of decades. But this is worse - Western defeats in Syria or Ukraine, or failures of financial governance leading to the Great recession, or Brexit chaos are one thing, but now the West is failing to protect even its political elites while Vietnam, a developing country, managed to largely protect everyone (outperforming every single Western country, bar none). But all the dozen or so worst performers as measured by deaths per capita are Western or Latin American countries - not a single Asian, African or Eastern European country among them. Asia is racing the West to the top, but when it comes to pandemic management the West isn't even in the running. We live in interesting times, to be sure. Not sure what it means for me, personally, in practice, as I'm too old to learn Mandarin, but it certainly reinforces my decision that my son must learn Japanese or Mandarin. 

[dismalist]

that 2020 may well mark the end of the Western Era.

Nah, 1918 marked the end of the western era. :-(

[Stockmann]

that 2020 may well mark the end of the Western Era.

Nah, 1918 marked the end of the western era. :-(

Why? WWI victory was surely the coming of age of the US as a Great Power.

[dismalist]

that 2020 may well mark the end of the Western Era.

Nah, 1918 marked the end of the western era. :-(

Why? WWI victory was surely the coming of age of the US as a Great Power.

The 1918 Spanish flu. :-(

[nebo113]

My small, rural, poor county just hit 500 cases and the tiny independent city within hit 45.  Doesn't sound like much, but we're.....small.

[Stockmann]

that 2020 may well mark the end of the Western Era.

Nah, 1918 marked the end of the western era. :-(

Why? WWI victory was surely the coming of age of the US as a Great Power.

The 1918 Spanish flu. :-(

I don't think the West egregiously mishandled that one, given the resources, context etc at the time. I don't think Europe particularly mishandled the Black Death, either - incidentally, it seems only one Western national leader, the King of Castille, caught it. Compare the present pandemic ....
But more to the point, it's not so much that I think the consequences of corona are directly so consequential (although the Far East has been open for business for months while Europe heads towards another lockdown) as that I think this has shown the Emperor is naked.

[spork]

CDC changes its definition of "close contact":

https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/10/21/coronavirus-close-contact-cdc/.

[mythbuster]

The change in definition is likely because of many high school football teams instituting the 14 minute practice rule. Every 14 minutes the whistle blows and you space out for the next minute.  Therefore, no close contact under the old 15 minutes rule!

[spork]

Lack of epicenters associated with the current increase in coronavirus cases in the USA:

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2020/10/coronavirus-election-day-surge/616822/.

[Stockmann]

Vietnam seems to be reaping the benefits of its world-beating pandemic response:

https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/is-vietnam-the-next-asian-miracle

[apl68]

After months of studies regarding virus and library materials, the final word seems to be that we only need to quarantine returned library materials for 24 hours.  And don't need to wipe them down in addition to that.  I'd been suspecting that we were moving in that direction.  The news will save our staff a good bit of time.  No more keeping stuff in the "book jail" for close to a week!

When I gave the staff the news, I thought that some of them might be leery about scaling back on our safety measures.  Instead they seem relieved to hear about it.  Guess they're finally tired of all the cleaning and quarantining. 

We'll continue disinfecting computers, etc. after each use, of course, and wearing masks inside the building.  And the sneeze guards will stay in place at the Circulation desk.