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Italy is extending its coronavirus quarantine measures to the entire country

bbc.com

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Re: Italy is extending its coronavirus quarantine measures to the entire country

#91
post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For a while this Falun gong member [1] was one of the few persons who was publishing real news and videos of what was happening in Wuhan and in China as a whole. [1] https://twitter.com/jenniferatntd

How do you know that the news and videos she was publishing were real?

Because news organisations like the FT or the BBC published the same news that she had published two or three days before.

Granted, she was not the only one publishing them on Twitter, but she was the one I was following the most. Also to add, news organisations like the FT or the BBC were only publishing news that could be taken for a political spin, like in the case of Li Wenliang, they were not publishing news about people committing suicide on their home as not to infect their loved ones or desperate phone calls made by people who were trying to get their loved ones into an hospital (which were already full by that point).

Also, many of the hospital scenes I was seeing on Twitter on her account are similar to what now surfaces from hospitals located in Northern Italy.

Re: Italy is extending its coronavirus quarantine measures to the entire country

#92
post #38

I'm curious, do we have good data on typical influenza infection rates per month, and if so, are we seeing a sooner than expected drop in influenza transmissions? I figure it would be a good gauge of how well people are adopting safer hygiene protocols.

This has been seen in Hong Kong already. It's been noted that residents there were very receptive to social distancing measures due to their experience with SARS in 2003. Data provided by the government’s Centre for Health Protection show the incidence of infection with influenza had fallen to less than 1 per cent by the end of February, marking an end to the winter flu season, which normally extends to the end of Ma…

"It's been noted that residents there were very receptive to social distancing measures due to their experience with SARS in 2003"

It's going to be interesting how society changes as a result of this, for those of us who live through it.

Re: Italy is extending its coronavirus quarantine measures to the entire country

#93
post #15
post #2

For anybody living in quarantined areas of Italy. How much has your daily life been affected?

I have been reviewing the situation with a colleague of mine, and we have now realized that the new measures are not enough. It makes no sense to allow burger king or any bar to stay open util 6 p.m. And it makes no sense to allow to go to work for any undeferrable (or also deferrable) reason. The only effective measure seems logically to be quarantine, and for me and my family (2+2), from tomorrow afternoon quaranti…

The problem with this is that a 14 day total economic halt will be devastating. Even assuming all office workers work remote basic social structure will be endangered. The hospitals need to stay open, people need to keep operating water and electricity utilities, food distribution needs to continue as many do not have 14 days of stock at home.

It is not about those dams politician that only care about reelection numbers, it also about keeping the wheel of society turning.

To say nothing of how much total hysteria that would cause.

Re: Italy is extending its coronavirus quarantine measures to the entire country

#94
post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've never heard of 14 people dying in a 120-bed nursing home of the seasonal flu in a 3 week time span either, but the Coronavirus is making that happen in Kirkland, WA right now. Actually, about 30 people have died, but since they don't have enough tests, they can't say that it was Coronavirus. My wife is an administrator at a Nursing facility that is much larger, and this many people DYING so quickly is terrifying…

Do you have any numbers or is it just anecdotal? Because when worked in a nursing home back the day, the seasonal flus was already bad enough, so...

I'm not OP, but it's a quick search. "Nineteen of those who died in King County were residents of Life Care Center, a nursing home in Kirkland, according to Public Health - Seattle & King County. Researchers say the virus may have been circulating undetected for weeks."[0]

[0] - https://www.kiro7.com/news/local/coronavirus-number-confirme...

Re: Italy is extending its coronavirus quarantine measures to the entire country

#95
post #5

The government is calling to unity, and the situation is tragic enough that no-one can ignore the call. However the left wing (and the current ruling coalition) has some serious responsibilities here, and I hope they are held accountable once this mess is over. A few weeks ago we were told that 'the only virus there is, is racism', implying that people worried about the virus spreading were doing so because of an ant…

Left or right, all governments seem to be doing less than stellar job fighting this, to say the least. I don't understand why it is relevant.

Some are doing a good job eg Taiwan https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/03/taiwan-reins-spread-c...

Re: Italy is extending its coronavirus quarantine measures to the entire country

#96
post #45
post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have been reviewing the situation with a colleague of mine, and we have now realized that the new measures are not enough. It makes no sense to allow burger king or any bar to stay open util 6 p.m. And it makes no sense to allow to go to work for any undeferrable (or also deferrable) reason. The only effective measure seems logically to be quarantine, and for me and my family (2+2), from tomorrow afternoon quaranti…

I believe it's largely political posturing at this point in every country.

It's being modelled and shaping policies. It makes no sense to try to stop it, cease all activity. That's too late, difficult and costly. But it makes sense to delay and spread it over time. So measures need to be, imperfect.

Re: Italy is extending its coronavirus quarantine measures to the entire country

#97
post #9

Italy is a country of 60M+ people and the 8th largest economy in the world, with a very high national debt and that significantly relies on tourism for its economy. Above and beyond the Coronavirus, this can terribly affect the long-term solvency of the country.

National debt is merely a number's game. ECB can simply eat it. They are suffering from deflation after all and they could use some inflationary move. Debt accounting for the national governments is there to enforce financial discipline in normal times. Right now it is much more akin to war time. Evenly distributing the pain through bond and currency holders will be seen as just compared to the lives that can be saved through decisive actions.

Re: Italy is extending its coronavirus quarantine measures to the entire country

#98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The ripple effect of potential Italian bank defaults will ripple throughout the EU and the USA as well.

The ripple effect is already in place. Flybe airline just defaulted, I've read a post on Linkedin that a small catering firm is suffering in Hungary due to cancelled events and other companies in the food chain will probably suffer a lot more especially if they operate with a razor thin margin. After the human factor, the virus will hit the economy hard. It's probably only a matter of time till it triggers a serious…

> Flybe airline just defaulted

Although they tried to blame this on Coronavirus that's a small part of it most likely. They nearly folded a few months ago and the government promised them massive tax subsidies which it appears they never followed through on. Regardless my point is that Flybe collapsing his little to nothing to do with Coronavirus. It just accelerated things ever so slightly.

Re: Italy is extending its coronavirus quarantine measures to the entire country

#99
post #56
post #6

For anyone claiming that this is just a flu: I've never heard of an entire country being shut down because of the flu.

A political overreaction does not make the severity of a disease. I am mostly following the french news on this and the doctors interviewed (some of whom seem to have impecable credentials) are calling this an irrational panic. It is a serious disease, one of many viruses around, not a particular dangerous one either. But mostly not something that calls for these drastic measures.

I raise you an english doctor, who is "very concerned" about the madness of international travel still continuing without enforced quarantine.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SZBuHFzYlw

But surely, as in all matters of the world, wishing and thinking problems away, will certainly solve them forever.

Re: Italy is extending its coronavirus quarantine measures to the entire country

#100
post #79
post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A political overreaction does not make the severity of a disease. I am mostly following the french news on this and the doctors interviewed (some of whom seem to have impecable credentials) are calling this an irrational panic. It is a serious disease, one of many viruses around, not a particular dangerous one either. But mostly not something that calls for these drastic measures.

Fortunately, the universe will be able to resolve our dispute rather convincingly, and rather soon, even. I predict that: 1. France will have an exponential explosion of cases. 2. France, after dragging its heels, will eventually undertake similar quarantine measures. 3. Whatever economic damage that early mitigation would have caused will be inflicted multi-fold, as the country reacts too late. 4. Those same doctors…

1. Agree

2. Possibly, I don't think Macron is immune to over-reaction

3. The economic damage is the damage caused by the reaction, not by the virus itself

4. I am not talking about some rural generalist. These are infectious diseases specialists, who from what I can tell publish in the likes of the New England, I give them more credit on that topic than the average TV anchor or newspaper editor

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