The Coronavirus Thread

[Sean Hayden]

Another small point; if masks are so important and save lives why are they not given away free on public transport and in shops etc.

They are. Some governments even sent masks in the mail.

[NineBerry]

In supermarkets, including Aldi and Lidl, you can get good cloth masks for a few euros and surgical masks for around 50 cents per piece.

[NineBerry]

Kissing the dead body of a guy who died of Covid.

https://twitter.com/DoturLui/status/1322300962241945601

[Svartalf]

crazy slavs

[Scot Dutchy]

Jim the first law of mask wearing; they dont protect you but protect other people from you. Just a thought.

You are incorrect, Scot, simple as that. Of course, they cannot give 100% protection; their effect is a significant statistical reduction in the chance of infection, useful in both a personal and community sense...

Well Jim that is not what our RIVM says.

...so they are wrong.

Yes professor. Everybody is wrong except you. Do you have problems using doors?

[Scot Dutchy]

Another small point; if masks are so important and save lives why are they not given away free on public transport and in shops etc.

They are. Some governments even sent masks in the mail.

Where?

[Sean Hayden]

eg Turkey

ISTANBUL

Turkey started distributing free face masks to citizens to stem the spread of COVID-19 in the country.

Citizens can apply for free masks through the country's postal services' e-commerce website, ePttAVM.com.

This week, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has announced that people cannot enter shops and marketplaces without face masks.

The Turkish Health Ministry, and Transportation and Infrastructure Ministry decided jointly to distribute free masks, according to the statement on the website of the postal services.

Every citizen, except those aged 20 or under, and 65 or older, can apply for five free masks weekly.

Currently, there is a partial curfew in the country for people aged 20 or under, and 65 or older, to stem the outbreak.

https://www.aa.com.tr/en/turkey/turkey- ... ns/1793420

[Scot Dutchy]

In supermarkets, including Aldi and Lidl, you can get good cloth masks for a few euros and surgical masks for around 50 cents per piece.

Do they meet the standard, I am presuming there is a TüV standard?
Oh sorry there is not one so they can sell the biggest load of crap and nobody can stop them. Only non-medical masks are available to the general public.
If they are so bloody important why are they not free? Why are there not street controls? Simple reason they dont work. It all psychological.

[JimC]

Your arguments, Scot, seem mostly based on 2 things, neither of which is true here. Firstly, that masks are expensive. Our good-quality 3 layer re-usable cloth masks are a few dollars each, and wash easily. They will last us for the whole of the pandemic. Secondly, that some people wear or use them incorrectly. Perhaps that's true in Holland, but fairly rare here. In any case, if I'm wearing my mask correctly (which I do) then I have a useful if not perfect degree of protection in public indoor spaces, no matter what a handful of others may or may not do. Mask wearing in Melbourne has been part of a raft of measures which has helped us to smash our second wave, as Europe and the US head into a long, dark infected winter of despair...

[NineBerry]

If it weren't for the spiders, I'd think of moving to Australia

[Tero]

Virus is very sociable!
https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/30/health/h ... index.html

[Scot Dutchy]

Your arguments, Scot, seem mostly based on 2 things, neither of which is true here. Firstly, that masks are expensive. Our good-quality 3 layer re-usable cloth masks are a few dollars each, and wash easily. They will last us for the whole of the pandemic. Secondly, that some people wear or use them incorrectly. Perhaps that's true in Holland, but fairly rare here. In any case, if I'm wearing my mask correctly (which I do) then I have a useful if not perfect degree of protection in public indoor spaces, no matter what a handful of others may or may not do. Mask wearing in Melbourne has been part of a raft of measures which has helped us to smash our second wave, as Europe and the US head into a long, dark infected winter of despair...

I wish I could believe you Jim but I dont. It is pure psychological Jim. I am sorry Jim but keep taking the Kool-Aid. You have totally no conclusive scientific evidence. THERE IS NONE. So Melbourne is not human They go around taking off their reusable masks and popping them into sealed bags then taking out their bottle of sanitiser and cleaning their hands. Those wearing disposables throw them away carefully every time they have used them.
Sorry I dont believe you. Why are they not just free. Brown envelopes come into view.
Remember Jim what is a few dollars to you (nice pension) it not for many people. Why are they not free?

[JimC]

Clearly, there is no point in arguing with you...

[pErvinalia]

I'm glad others are finally starting to realise this. He's impervious to reasoning.

[Brian Peacock]

Bojo tells the nation that the UK is going into full lockdown.... kinda, on Thursday.

... Under the new measures non-essential shops and venues, as well as pubs and restaurants, will be closed. Schools, colleges and universities will remain open. The public will be told only to leave home for specific reasons, such as work if they cannot work from home, to shop for food and essentials, exercise, medical appointments or caring for the vulnerable.

The vulnerable and those over 60 are being advised to be especially careful and minimise their social contacts, but there will be no return of a formal request to shield themselves.

Government insiders said the “time-limited” measures would then see a return to a regionalised approach.

In another major reversal, the original furlough scheme under which the state paid 80% of workers’ wages will be extended for the duration of the new lockdown. Ministers had been resisting an extension of the scheme. The move angered regional leaders who had been pleading for extra support for weeks. Mark Drakeford, the Welsh first minister, said the Treasury had refused to extend furlough when Wales’ “firebreak” lockdown began.

...

His chief scientific adviser, Patrick Vallance, said the data painted “a very grim picture”. Deaths over the winter, he warned, could be “twice as bad or more than the first wave”....

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/ ... w-lockdown

Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have had stricter regimes in place for the last month than they've had in England. But why wait till Thursday?