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https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-52631045
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Lebanon becomes the first country to go into a second country-wide lockdown amid a worrying rise of new cases.
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/africa/lebanon-algeria-extend-lockdown-over-pandemic/1838387
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/may/12/rory-kinnearsister-protect-vulnerable-coronavirus-rory-kinnear
At this point I don't know what to tell people who still aren't taking it seriously. Scary seeing us hit the most deaths in Europe, but I suppose all we can do is keep being careful. Can't be bothered to get angry about it anymore because what can you do. Just hoping there's an inquiry at the end of it all.
Hope you're all keeping well.
Thanks for posting that, R. I. P. Karina. Until this is over I am taking this as seriously as I did two months ago, as Lockdown gradually relaxes over the coming month's assuming there is not another spike, I will take every precaution to protect myself which will result in protecting those in my job role. Right now none of us can eliminate risk though we can minimise risk. Keep positive
Though cases are decreasing in 14 states, they are rising in nine states, according to The New York Times. A lack of widespread testing in 27 other states, plus Washington and Puerto Rico, suggests that cases in those areas are being undercounted.
Rural counties in Tennessee and Kansas have seen cases balloon by more than 1,000% in a matter of one week. Other counties in Missouri, Nebraska, Minnesota and Wisconsin saw increases of more than 400%.
https://www.salon.com/2020/05/12/leaked-white-house-data-shows-infections-spiking-more-than-1000-in-rural-areas-that-backed-trump/
I'd like to see certain members here try to argue again that the US has things under control enough to reopen the economy ( @Thrasos ) or that the pandemic has passed its peak in the USA ( @Mendes4Lyfe ).
https://www.whatsonstage.com/london-theatre/news/broadway-closed-september-2020_51569.html?utm_source=dailytickets&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=13may2020
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/kawasaki-disease-15-states-child-illness-coronavirus-cuomo/
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-calls-faucis-caution-on-schools-reopening-not-an-acceptable-answer/ar-BB1431Zn?ocid=spartanntp
I'll comment. My damn country is... no, I won't comment. Throw another log on the fire & tend to my latest Viper model is all. Maybe watch Living Daylights or Goldfinger. Reality sucks at the moment. ;)
Look, the alternative isn't exactly a pretty picture either. In my country, we responded fast and furiously, but the eventual cost is estimated to be a horror in itself. And even we, unless we're very careful, could easily dive into a second wave within days, rendering all our previous efforts obsolete. Group immunity isn't what it was hoped to be. But was it all for nothing? No. Most of my countrymen have quickly come to appreciate the seriousness of the situation. We have learned how to behave correctly. And despite a high number of fatalities, we were able to flatten the curve enough to ensure that our hospitals could handle the many IC cases. Some now say that while it was worth it from a "humane" point of view, the aftermath may very well plunge us into a crisis of a whole other magnitude. Did our fighting for the lives of our beloved come at too high a price? You can understand that this is a very difficult debate indeed.
But if I must choose--and this is just my opinion--I prefer the version in which virologists, doctors, epidemiologists, microbiologists, ... are actually heard and involved in the policy-making. I prefer the version that fights for the preservation of life first, only to tackle certain other issues later. And I detest the version in which expert advice is ridiculed at whim, in which containment measures are suspended when it simply is too soon, and in which decision-making is ostensibly based on staying popular among fans, rather than on keeping them and their families safe.
USA (still by a wide margin)
Russia
UK
Brazil
Belarus (their leader even thinks it's worth dying for keeping a tradition remembering those who've fallen for our current peace)
Italy
They're all right-wing too.
Even though many more 'stable' democracies at the start bungled it, most have it under control. sort of.
Another 3 million US citizens have filed for unemployment benefits this past week. There is now a total of over 36.5 million jobs lost in the United States since the coronavirus outbreak begun. One in four US workers are now unemployed. This is over 52 times bigger than the previous highest unemployment rate in U.S. history (695,000 jobless citizens in 1982).
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-52664929
100 deaths reached on January 27th (18 days later).
500 deaths reached on February 5th (9 days later).
1,000 deaths reached on February 10th (5 days later).
5,000 deaths reached on March 13th (32 days later).
10,000 deaths reached on March 19th (6 days later).
15,000 deaths reached on March 23rd (4 days later).
20,000 deaths reached on March 25th (2 days later).
25,000 deaths reached on March 27th (2 days later).
30,000 deaths reached on March 28th (1 day later).
35,000 deaths reached on March 30th (2 days later).
40,000 deaths reached on March 31st (1 day later).
45,000 deaths reached on April 1st (1 day later).
50,000 deaths reached on April 2nd (1 day later).
60,000 deaths reached on April 4th (2 days later).
70,000 deaths reached on April 6th (2 days later).
80,000 deaths reached on April 7th (1 day later).
90,000 deaths reached on April 9th (2 days later).
100,000 deaths reached on April 10th (1 day later).
110,000 deaths reached on April 12th (2 days later).
120,000 deaths reached on April 14th (2 days later).
130,000 deaths reached on April 15th (1 day later).
140,000 deaths reached on April 16th (1 day later).
150,000 deaths reached on April 17th (1 day later).
160,000 deaths reached on April 18th (1 day later).
170,000 deaths reached on April 20th (2 days later).
180,000 deaths reached on April 21st (1 day later).
190,000 deaths reached on April 23rd (2 days later).
200,000 deaths reached on April 24th (1 day later).
210,000 deaths reached on April 26th (2 days later).
220,000 deaths reached on April 28th (2 days later).
230,000 deaths reached on April 30th (2 days later).
240,000 deaths reached on May 2nd (2 days later).
250,000 deaths reached on May 4th (2 days later).
260,000 deaths reached on May 6th (2 days later).
270,000 deaths reached on May 7th (1 day later).
280,000 deaths reached on May 9th (2 days later).
290,000 deaths reached on May 13th (3 days later).
300,000 deaths reached on May 14th (1 day later).
And yet they need us to send them money.
https://www.apiject.com/
https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Releases/Release/Article/2184808/
What great news.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_pharmaceutical_settlements
So (just to grab a few numbers as benchmarks here) I see that we jumped from 100,000 to 200,000 deaths world-wide in just 14 days (April 10th to April 24th) while it took 20 days to add the next 100,000 deaths -- that is, 300,000 on May 14th. Not to minimize the import here but -- can we extrapolate that there seems to be some flattening of the global curve occurring at this point?
Speaking of Brazil, their Health Minister has resigned. Note the reasoning:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/brazil-bolsonaro-health-minister-coronavirus-1.5571440
If I were that man's lawyer, I'd submit that he had only interpreted the White House's policy "a certain way", nothing more.
Meanwhile, more and more countries in Europe are throwing their borders wide open again. I'm glad mine isn't... yet. Trust me, this is way too soon. It's one thing to urge people to go back to work, school, ..., but it's downright insane to re-open internationally while thousands of infected remain "on the loose". It's almost as if countries are begging for a second wave!
Thanks for posting this. It does put a face on the tragic situation that we find ourselves in.
BTW: I must be the dumbest person on the planet, but as I read this I just realized that Rory Kinnear is the son of Roy Kinnear. Roy Kinnear starred in such films like Help!, How I Won the War, The Hill (which I watching as I type this) and Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory.
Kinnear died tragically after falling off a horse during the production of THE RETURN OF THE MUSKETEERS, when son Rory was still a boy. Director Richard Lester was so distraught and guilt-ridden about the accident that he retired from filmmaking.
As I understand it, Lester was to blame, and was dully prosecuted for it, along with a producer. He was as stupid as John Landis was in The Twilight Zone film shooting (and Landis got away with it, even though he was responsible for the beheadings of his lead actor and a child actor, and the death of another child actor in what is considered the worst accident in cinema's history. The guy yelled "lower" repeatedly to the helicopter and never offered the actors a chance to be replaced by stuntmen, just like Lester never did regarding Kinnear, who was old, overweight, and an unexperienced horse rider). Thank heavens security on film sets has since then improved. These bully directors deserved their endings. So much so as any of the sexual assaulters that are just now coming to light nowadays. The industry, and society in general, has to be improved on these accounts. People cannot just bully others and enforce their idiotic power games. Kinnear's family got 650000 pounds out of it, and I must say, I find that to be too little. They deserved more. And Kinnear deserved to have been treated better. My feelings now go to Rory, who has had his share of loss in his life. He seems like a good fella, good thespian too, well regarded in the stage circle.
excellent news I'd say
So what I say is we just have to live with it, the best we can. I'm with those who want to reopen as much as possible now, without overrunning hospitals or putting those most at risk at even greater risk. I believe herd immunity should be the goal. Live normally as much as possible this summer, before fall and winter, when this virus and the flu flare up again, and there will undoubtedly be some lockdowns then, I think. Different governments (and leaders, politicians) have responded in different ways, and the same is true of citizens.
I think it's just a very hard choice we face. I think it's wrong to try to escape from this, and that we just need to face it head-on and go ahead with life. Yes, sadly more people will die, especially those at risk, despite efforts to protect them. I may die. I'm sure more can be done to protect those most at risk and to increase testing. The virus has unavoidable effects, but the rest of us can't stop living just because of death. Many people around the world already have lockdown fatigue, and protests to reopen continue in several countries. I see many recognizing that trying to avoid the virus is futile, and that freedom and living life without undue restrictions is necessary too, not just for living but for health, mentally and emotionally.
My last point is this. I find it ironic that here we are in a James Bond forum, yet some here express very cautious opinions. Don't get me wrong--I respect all here, and it's vital to hear from everybody and get worst-case scenarios. But faced with a potential killer like Covid-19 and this crisis, I think, what would James Bond do? Of course he'd do what M told him to do, but M is very pragmatic himself. On occasion, Bond does not do what M wants, but often it turns out alright in the end; he also acts on his own initiative. Every day, he could get killed. But despite the danger, he keeps pursuing his goal. Bond has courage and is careful but not too careful, and keeps going out into the world to face whatever danger is there. I strongly suspect he wouldn't want to wear a mask, except when necessary. Of course, Bond's a character, and we have real life. Courage and perspective, and care for self and others when necessary--that's what I counsel.
It's good that hospitals are not overrun, but the problem with covid19 is that it's three times as infectious as influenza. Which means that if you open up and go to normal, every infected person will at least infect 3 new people. At that rate in two weeks the hospitals will be overrun (the sole reason for the high mortality in hot spots). Opening up now, whilst the numbers are still high, is asking for misery. Don't forget that when hospitals are overrun and life still goes on normally people themselves will stop working. Too many ill people for a prolonged period of time will utterly wreck the economy even worse than with a lockdown. Especially in a country where there's no universal Healthcare but people have to pay for it themselves.
Good point, and one that doesn’t get raised enough.
In the US, the lack of – or uncertainty concerning – healthcare coverage is a factor which makes some people reluctant to get tested for COVID-19. Should I risk a costly hospitalization (which may bankrupt me) or simply die at home? For many that is a real question. But, hey, it keeps the official numbers down!
And in keeping with the “perfect” logic demonstrated by the powers that be, the on-going effort to take health insurance away from millions of people continues unabated even during the pandemic.
Perhaps something to consider before calling anti-lockdown protesters "irresponsible" and "morons".
I'm an American citizen who has been "on hiatus" from his job for 2 months now... and I support (and frequently utilize) our right to protest. Nonetheless, I will continue to call the people who bring guns to public protests irresponsible morons and worse. They're wanna-be fascists and terrorists, criminals who belong behind bars. If the shoe fits, you may want to get a new pair...