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Post by lagatta on Mar 5, 2020 2:45:10 GMT
Absolutely Questa. I saw my friend who returned from a month in Cuba (not a holiday) and we pointedly did not hug or cheek-kiss. But will an utter lack of physical contact send vulnerable people into serious depression? At least I have Livia and I don't think the disease spreads between us and our dogs and cats, and I don't have another species of primate as a companion. Livia and I cuddle a lot.
There have been several Canadian volunteers for the bushfires, whether firefighters, veterinarians or other relevant professionals.
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Post by questa on Mar 5, 2020 3:26:09 GMT
You and Livia are full of each others' bugs...just keep the pair of you away from others. The people who need skin contact...massage to neck and shoulders should be OK. I have used the Indian (and others)little bow with palms together. Much nicer than sweaty or grubby hands anyway.
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Post by kerouac2 on Mar 5, 2020 4:35:22 GMT
Since yesterday, and due to a shortage caused by useless panic buying, the general public can no longer buy face masks. Only doctors or other health professionals may do so without a prescription. Also a price control was slapped on hydro-alcoholic hand gel because there was some incredible price gouging.
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Mar 5, 2020 8:22:42 GMT
When I was a student nurse (only completed the first year. It wasn't for me) face masks were worn by staff to protect the patient from the possibility of picking up germs from staff. They were worn for a short period of time and then disposed of.
When I was working in the labs we wore facemasks whilst processing high risk specimens. Samples from patients with HIV, Hepatitis B or C etc. The facemasks were worn then to protect the scientist from virus particles. Again the masks would only be worn for a few minutes then disposed of.
Personal protective clothing included lab coat, disposable apron, goggles (worn over glasses) paper hat (surgical type not party hat!), face mask and 2 pairs of disposable gloves. Once gowned up you couldn't touch anything but your work station, everything prepared well in advance...and afterwards everything was disposed of in autoclave bags, put in a red bin for the autoclave and then burnt onsite in the hospital furnace. We made up vast quantities of a viricide called Virkon daily and swabbed everything down with it.
Of all the protective clothing we used, if I could choose anything I'd choose gloves, not facemasks, but they would only protect me not folk around me. I wouldn't choose to wear a face mask unless it was to protect others from MY germs...and the mask would only be of any use for an hour or so until it got damp. As for cleaning surfaces, most folk have bleach in their homes. Dilute bleach is pretty good for cleaning work surfaces. As for computer keyboards and phones etc..an alcohol wipe is good.
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Post by kerouac2 on Mar 5, 2020 11:19:09 GMT
This morning at the cinema, one of the ticket takers was wearing disposable gloves.
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Post by kerouac2 on Mar 5, 2020 11:26:39 GMT
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Post by questa on Mar 5, 2020 12:33:54 GMT
There have been several Canadian volunteers for the bushfires, whether firefighters, veterinarians or other relevant professionals. And very grateful for their help and presence we were.My son is a commander with the Fire service and he met a group of your countrymen at the airport and they soon got down to "putting the wet stuff on the hot stuff" as they say. About 45 of your chaps, I think.
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Post by questa on Mar 5, 2020 12:37:14 GMT
May I add another song to our sing-a-long?
...an oldie...I'd like to take you...on a slow boat from China...
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Post by onlyMark on Mar 5, 2020 13:12:32 GMT
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Post by kerouac2 on Mar 5, 2020 13:37:49 GMT
That's probably because Johns Hopkins is still asleep at this hour.
Now Iran has closed all of its schools like Italy, and it is increasingly likely that the Tokyo Olympics may be postponed. Japan has been reducing its budget for infectious diseases for the past ten years (since it needs to spend more and more money on geriatrics). I won't throw the first stone for that -- Japan is a very "clean" country and probably felt quite safe as an island nation. Many people would have made the same mistake. However, there is great suspicion in Japan that the government is hiding the real coronavirus figures and that the situation is much worse than reported. I have no idea if the Japanese subscribe to conspiracy theories as readily as we do in most of our other countries, but we'll probably find out.
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Post by onlyMark on Mar 5, 2020 14:31:38 GMT
That's probably because Johns Hopkins is still asleep at this hour. They must have woken up now then as it's recorded. Bit of a bugger though if they all go to sleep there for eight hours or so.
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Post by kerouac2 on Mar 5, 2020 14:34:58 GMT
They probably work 24/7 but it's the damned computer person who insists on sleeping from time to time.
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Post by kerouac2 on Mar 5, 2020 19:09:31 GMT
Only in France? On the news tonight, they gave the usual list of ways you can get contaminated or not but pointed out that having sex is basically completely safe as long as you don't kiss your partner.
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Post by kerouac2 on Mar 5, 2020 20:10:56 GMT
France is now up to 423 cases and 7 deaths, but when you compare it to Italy, it seems like nothing. (3858 cases and 148 deaths)
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Post by spaceneedle on Mar 5, 2020 23:54:34 GMT
The Feds have now swooped into the skilled nursing home where so many have become ill. It will be interesting to see what happens now in terms of tracing how it got there.
But on a positive note, the Governor of Washington has ordered that medical and wage expenses for all first responders and medical staff be paid in full. In addition, all health insurances operating in the State are required to cover all tests and treatments of the virus with no copays or deductibles. This probably seems normal to those elsewhere but for the US (aka sh*tshow with no universal health care), this is pretty huge and necessary.
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Post by questa on Mar 6, 2020 0:14:38 GMT
It is a chink in the armour, though. These changes will cover a large part of the population and stay for a long time until normalcy returns, if ever. It is much harder to take a "right" away than it is to grant it.
**hovers over crystal ball**. "I see changes, many changes...dancing in the streets...Oh No...they are rioting"
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Post by bixaorellana on Mar 6, 2020 4:28:22 GMT
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Post by kerouac2 on Mar 6, 2020 4:54:27 GMT
However, if it becomes a full blown epidemic in the United States and a huge number of people get treatment without paying for it out of their pocket, perhaps they won't be as afraid of social medicine anymore.
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Post by spaceneedle on Mar 6, 2020 8:20:55 GMT
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Post by spaceneedle on Mar 6, 2020 8:27:53 GMT
Regarding testing, UW Medicine, a network of hospitals and clinics affiliated with the University of Washington, announced new lab testing capabilities yesterday to address the test shortage. Rather than wait for the CDC's permission to test people, UW lab can perform its own testing. The Lab at UW anticipates being able to test 1000-1500 samples a day by the end of the week, up from the current 200 a day.
The lab got emergency authorization from the FDA after federal and state health officials acknowledged problems with shortages of tests and slow and inaccurate testing. UW got permission last weekend to begin testing, but researchers there said they had started working on the problem at least a month ago.
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Post by kerouac2 on Mar 6, 2020 11:09:30 GMT
Looks like the Life Care place won't be getting very many new customers. Of course, I presume they will change the name of the place to hide their tracks.
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Post by spaceneedle on Mar 6, 2020 11:14:11 GMT
K2, the problem is that the customers are often built in. If a person cannot pay for skilled nursing facilities, then they must go on Medicaid and go to a facility that will take payment from Medicaid. This is a very profitable industry for these facilities and many families have no choice as to where a family member can go. If there is a medicaid opening, that's where they have to go, unless they want to pay upwards of 10k a month out of their own pockets. It will be interesting to see if anything comes of this with respect to Medicaid. Life Care is a huge Corporation lcca.com/For profit healthcare, American style! www.forbes.com/companies/life-care-centers-of-america/
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Post by kerouac2 on Mar 6, 2020 11:38:31 GMT
Vietnam has a new hit song, although I suspect that there is a danger of driving parents mad when their children sing it nonstop.
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Post by kerouac2 on Mar 6, 2020 17:18:56 GMT
They are continuing to drop like flies in Italy. 197 deaths now compared to 148 yesterday. Nobody knows why there are so many more deaths in Italy than in the other non-Chinese countries. Different strain perhaps?
As for the surge in cases just about everywhere, most experts are saying that it is because of more testing in the affected areas.
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Post by htmb on Mar 6, 2020 17:44:32 GMT
I read a possible explanation somewhere that the aging population of Italy is very similar to that of China.
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Post by bjd on Mar 6, 2020 19:10:55 GMT
I too heard or read that an aging population is one reason for Italy's high death toll. Second "oldest" country in the world after Japan.
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Post by lagatta on Mar 6, 2020 19:33:42 GMT
Obviously Frenchpeople often live to a good old age as well, but I don't think there is as extreme drop in the birth rate, and despite everything, I think there is still more migration to France. (I did zero for birth rates anywhere). Perhaps people in those countries can confirm. I'll write to some friends in Italy.
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Post by bjd on Mar 6, 2020 20:04:53 GMT
France has one of the highest birth rates in Europe (along with Sweden, I think). Mostly ascribed to availability of child care, family allowances, free nursery schools from age 3,...
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Post by kerouac2 on Mar 6, 2020 20:13:32 GMT
Yes, migration rates have nothing to do with the French birth rate. The moment immigrants arrive in France, they seem to align themselves with the local birthrate (currently 1.9, down from 2.0). It is actually Ireland that matches France's birthrate, not any country in Scandinavia, all of which have a very low birthrate.
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Post by bixaorellana on Mar 7, 2020 3:09:52 GMT
And that probably used up all the test kits available. I thought I'd reported on that last night, but apparently not. Very severe shortage of kits throughout the US & it's way behind on getting out more.
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