The Coronavirus Thread

[NineBerry]

Those masks are so effective:

New Zealand Covid-19 outbreak: 13 new cases as virus spreads outside Auckland

Two cases emerge in rural town, sparking concerns local health services could be overwhelmed

Masks aren't mandatory in NZ currently.

[Hermit]

From wiki

Australia

The Black War was a period of violent conflict between British colonists and Aboriginal Australians in Tasmania from the mid-1820s to 1832. With an escalation of violence in the late 1820s, Lieutenant-Governor George Arthur declared martial law in November 1828—effectively providing legal immunity for killing Aboriginal people.[3] It would remain in force for more than three years, the longest period of martial law in Australian history.

So it has happened more than once.

That was when we were a British colony. As I stated earlier, it has not been used since Federation, when we became an independent country.

That was not so long ago? You are still not totally independent? Liz is still your head of state?

Which part of "it [martial law] has not been used since Federation" do you have a problem comprehending?

[pErvinalia]

Curfew is a martial law provision. So is restricting movement.

Incorrect. It has nothing to do with martial law or defence personal. It is a civil matter, enforced by standard policing. It is, however, an extraordinary measure, and will disappear with the end of Stage 4...

That's what they want you to think. This is just the beginning, eh Dutchy?

[pErvinalia]

...

[rainbow]

Curfew is a martial law provision. So is restricting movement.

Incorrect. It has nothing to do with martial law or defence personal. It is a civil matter, enforced by standard policing. It is, however, an extraordinary measure, and will disappear with the end of Stage 4...

That's what they want you to think. This is just the beginning, eh Dutchy?

...and the Queen of England is a reptilian shape shifting alien.

Wait haven't we been here before?

[laklak]

men in black.gif (373.06 KiB) Viewed 893 times

[Scot Dutchy]

From wiki

Australia

The Black War was a period of violent conflict between British colonists and Aboriginal Australians in Tasmania from the mid-1820s to 1832. With an escalation of violence in the late 1820s, Lieutenant-Governor George Arthur declared martial law in November 1828—effectively providing legal immunity for killing Aboriginal people.[3] It would remain in force for more than three years, the longest period of martial law in Australian history.

So it has happened more than once.

That was when we were a British colony. As I stated earlier, it has not been used since Federation, when we became an independent country.

That was not so long ago? You are still not totally independent? Liz is still your head of state?

Which part of "it [martial law] has not been used since Federation" do you have a problem comprehending?

Another merry-go-round. No thanks. I cant help if you cant comprehend anything but you dont seem to understand very little. Where did I mention the federation or the bloody constitution? You dont even know what martial law is. It gets very tiresome when someone just wants create an argument out of what has not been said.

[Brian Peacock]

Hermit definitely doesn't understand very little. He doesn't not know nothing

[laklak]

Ain't a'none of it make no never mind nohow.

[JimC]

Hermit definitely doesn't understand very little. He doesn't not know nothing

Do you have to be so negative, Brian?

[pErvinalia]

Hermit definitely doesn't understand very little. He doesn't not know nothing

Dutchy's English is the best English..

[Scot Dutchy]

Britain's coronavirus death rate is down, but the unanswered question is why

Some have suggested we’re now successfully treating Covid-19, or that ‘herd immunity’ has finally arrived. Neither is true

During a pandemic, people look for certainty. But science doesn’t work like that. We raise hypotheses, we test them, we refine them, and we repeat the process. This takes time, and although we are making astonishing progress during the coronavirus pandemic, much uncertainty remains. Facts are merely things that have yet to be proven untrue, and people who say they know the answers but can’t provide evidence should be treated with scepticism.

At the moment, we can’t be certain why the mortality associated with Covid-19 has fallen in the UK, but there are many people working on understanding why, and on making it fall still further. In the meantime, we all need to continue doing our best to reduce viral transmission while this important work is still going on.

Well if you keep fiddling the figures...

[pErvinalia]

Britain's coronavirus death rate is down, but the unanswered question is why

Facts are merely things that have yet to be proven untrue, and people who say they know the answers but can’t provide evidence should be treated with scepticism.

Like how you claim that governments are fiddling with the numbers for nefarious reasons.

[JimC]

282 new cases in the last 24 hours for Victoria, so we're at least staying below 300. However, a record daily number of deaths, 25. A time lag effect, no doubt...

[L'Emmerdeur]

Looking at the family and known associates of the perpetrator.

'An uncommon cold'

IN 1889, a disease outbreak in central Asia went global, igniting a pandemic that burned into the following year. It caused fever and fatigue, and killed an estimated 1 million people. The disease is generally blamed on influenza, and was dubbed “Russian flu“. But with no tissue samples to check for the flu virus, there is no conclusive proof.

Another possibility is that this “flu” was actually a coronavirus pandemic. The finger has been pointed at a virus first isolated in the 1960s, though today it causes nothing more serious than a common cold. In fact, there are four coronaviruses responsible for an estimated 20 to 30 per cent of colds. Only recently have virologists begun to dig into these seemingly humdrum pathogens and what they have found suggests the viruses have a far more deadly past. Researchers now believe that all four of these viruses began to infect humans in the past few centuries and, when they did, they probably sparked pandemics.

The parallels with our current crisis are obvious. And it turns out that our growing knowledge about these other coronaviruses could be vital in meeting the challenge of covid-19. Insights into the origins, trajectories and features of common cold coronaviruses can provide crucial clues about what to expect in the coming months and years. Understanding these relatively benign viruses may also help us avoid another pandemic.

Coronaviruses are a big family of viruses that are mainly known for causing diseases in livestock. Until recently, few virologists paid them much attention. “Human coronaviruses were recognised in the 1960s,” says Frank Esper at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio. But the two strains that were discovered then merely caused the common cold. “We pushed them to the side,” he says. “We had more important viruses to work on.”

This blasé attitude evaporated in 2002 when a new member of the coronavirus family began infecting humans. By the time the epidemic of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) was brought under control the following year, the SARS-CoV-1 virus had affected 26 countries and killed one in 10 of the 8000 plus people it infected. The fact that a coronavirus could be so deadly was a wake-up call. A sleepy backwater in the world of virology was suddenly in the spotlight.