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Covid: Belgian doctors with coronavirus asked to keep working

bbc.com

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Re: Covid: Belgian doctors with coronavirus asked to keep working

#41

Post by nradov »

x3iv130f wrote: post #36
makomk wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem is that the definition of "handling COVID well" that everyone seems to expect is stopping it in its tracks and wiping it out, and doing that with a respiratory disease that's this infectious and has such mild symptoms for so many people falls outside the scope of what traditional pandemic planning in Western countries even tries to achieve. Bluntly, no-one knows how to do it. As far as I can tell, the con…

I wonder if mask wearing is the biggest factor and more generally, willingness to comply with restrictions due to experiencing SARS. Japan's politicans are no less incompetent than other 1st world countries and geographically they should be much worse off but their cases are way down compared to other places.

The official case numbers in Japan probably drastically undercount the number of infections due to limited testing. A recent antibody seroprevalence study found 46% positive. It wasn't a truly random sample but had a large study population from multiple locations. If mask wearing is such a big factor than how did so many people get infected?

https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.09.21.20198796v...

Re: Covid: Belgian doctors with coronavirus asked to keep working

#42

Post by kentrado »

LockAndLol wrote: post #37
hyperman1 wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree the handling by our politicians seems incompetent, visionless, after the fact, ... But I have the impression Belgium is not unique here. Most of the first world is doing bad. I get the impression our political generation is systemically mismanaging for at least 20 years, and this crisis is the first of a level that makes it extremely obvious in all our countrys at the same time.

> I get the impression our political generation is systemically mismanaging for at least 20 years, and this crisis is the first of a level that makes it extremely obvious in all our countrys at the same time. The new generation won't be any better. There simply aren't enough people who care enough to enter politics or do something about the situation. The system hasn't changed and the people that enter politics will…

We are overworked, tired, and they have all of the resources.

Re: Covid: Belgian doctors with coronavirus asked to keep working

#43

Post by yodsanklai »

Insanity wrote: post #16

Belgian here, the covid situation is being handled very poorly. The rules change frequently and are badly communicated, the three main regions (Brussels, Flanders and Wallonia) all have different set of rules and information is contradicting. E.g Flanders: Schools are not a problem vs Wallonia: Schools are a problem. It's frustrating to see.

> The rules change frequently and are badly communicated

Same in France. I really wonder who takes decisions and on what basis. Some rules are ridiculous. Right now, there's a curfew in most of the country. There are exceptions though. For instance, you need to sign a document if you want to walk your dog after 9 pm (the document attests you're indeed walking your dog). And of course, you have to wear a mask, even though the streets are empty.

Re: Covid: Belgian doctors with coronavirus asked to keep working

#44

Post by Jare »

tremon wrote: post #14
christkv wrote: post #3

The infections are spiking but for example in Madrid the number of hospital beds with covid patients is holding steady at 19% (as of October 23). https://www.epdata.es/datos/evolucion-coronavirus-cada-comun... So many people are getting ill but a lot less are ending up in hospital than March-April. I find the discussion about number of cases to be a distraction.

The infections are spiking Not in Madrid. From your own link, the number of new cases in Madrid has been holding steady around 2,500-3,500 for a month now [0]. Since the average hospital stay for Covid-19 is around 20 days, the in-flow and out-flow of patients in hospital beds should reach a steady state. In fact, you can see from [1] that the number of new cases was higher in september than in october, so we should…

The amount of tests performed in Madrid in that same period went down from 2500 to nearly 1000, so it's only natural that the amount of cases is going to go down or stay steady. Is there a dataset that disputes this? If testing has indeed gone back up, we'll see the numbers in a week or two (because data from the past 2 weeks is always missing large chunks that get added later).

I believe we're still in for a few surprises, and I can only pray the magnitude of those surprises remains tolerable.

Re: Covid: Belgian doctors with coronavirus asked to keep working

#45

Post by DoofusOfDeath »

PunchTornado wrote: post #23
jb1991 wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Iceland has done relatively well from what I've read.

Iceland is a remote island of 300k people with very low density. Giving it as an example is disingenuous.

Good point regarding population density.

I don't see the case for calling the GP disingenuous though.

Re: Covid: Belgian doctors with coronavirus asked to keep working

#46

Post by lern_too_spel »

nradov wrote: post #41
x3iv130f wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder if mask wearing is the biggest factor and more generally, willingness to comply with restrictions due to experiencing SARS. Japan's politicans are no less incompetent than other 1st world countries and geographically they should be much worse off but their cases are way down compared to other places.

The official case numbers in Japan probably drastically undercount the number of infections due to limited testing. A recent antibody seroprevalence study found 46% positive. It wasn't a truly random sample but had a large study population from multiple locations. If mask wearing is such a big factor than how did so many people get infected? https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.09.21.20198796v...

Because Japan's population is so elderly, any severe undercount of infections would show up as very large excess mortality, but that hasn't been observed.

Re: Covid: Belgian doctors with coronavirus asked to keep working

#48

Post by throwawayish987 »

Insanity wrote: post #16

Belgian here, the covid situation is being handled very poorly. The rules change frequently and are badly communicated, the three main regions (Brussels, Flanders and Wallonia) all have different set of rules and information is contradicting. E.g Flanders: Schools are not a problem vs Wallonia: Schools are a problem. It's frustrating to see.

I don't believe you. I think it's only Trump and the US doing a poor job and you're misrepresenting or overreacting. Or perhaps you don't realize it's actually Trump's fault for your country's poor handling of the situation? Happy to help you understand the situation better, take care + be well.

Re: Covid: Belgian doctors with coronavirus asked to keep working

#49

Post by sokoloff »

yodsanklai wrote: post #43
Insanity wrote: post #16

Belgian here, the covid situation is being handled very poorly. The rules change frequently and are badly communicated, the three main regions (Brussels, Flanders and Wallonia) all have different set of rules and information is contradicting. E.g Flanders: Schools are not a problem vs Wallonia: Schools are a problem. It's frustrating to see.

> The rules change frequently and are badly communicated Same in France. I really wonder who takes decisions and on what basis. Some rules are ridiculous. Right now, there's a curfew in most of the country. There are exceptions though. For instance, you need to sign a document if you want to walk your dog after 9 pm (the document attests you're indeed walking your dog). And of course, you have to wear a mask, even th…

Wouldn’t the actual presence of a dog be better evidence of a dog walk than a paper saying you’re walking a dog?

This sounds like a rejected Monty Python sketch. “Pardon, monsieur; why are you out after curfew?” “I’m walking my dog!” “What dog?” “I have the paperwork right here.” “Very well; bonne nuit!”

Re: Covid: Belgian doctors with coronavirus asked to keep working

#50

Post by [deleted] »

sam_lowry_ wrote: post #30
Insanity wrote: post #16

Belgian here, the covid situation is being handled very poorly. The rules change frequently and are badly communicated, the three main regions (Brussels, Flanders and Wallonia) all have different set of rules and information is contradicting. E.g Flanders: Schools are not a problem vs Wallonia: Schools are a problem. It's frustrating to see.

Medical personnel that are sick but symptomless were allowed to work for a while now.BBC is at its best, conflating the perilous situation in Liège with a clickbait title.

[deleted]
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