CoronaVirus ==> Empty Shelves

[BobL]

Of interest:" ...the data shows South Korea has done many more tests than other countries. That means we can expect that in South Korea the number of confirmed cases – positive tests – is closer to the real number of infected people than it is in other countries.That makes it encouraging to see that the number of daily confirmed cases in South Korea has gone down...." .

This is a rapidly changing landscape - the data link you posted says it's for data posted ~20 Mar.

In my post above some more recent data (MARCH 23) shows Spain has now done more tests than Korea, and one province of China, Italy and the US have done almost a many total tests.
[EDIT] ON USA has also overtaken Korea in total number of tests

More important than the total number of tests is the number of tests per capita.
11 countries and 4 major regions have more per capita tests than Korea, and Australia has performed about the same number of test per capita as Korea.
The difference is Korea did many of their tests very early in the epidemic and used extensive tracking and tracing and quarantine more effectively than other countries.

Only 4 countries have tested more than 1% of their population for COVID19 and Korea is not one of them. While the signs from Korea are positive until more general testing is performed we wont know how far COVID has spread in any country.A blood test for COVID19 antibodies that uses a small amount of blood collected for all "routine" blood testing purposes is going to ultimately be useful to determine infection rates especially for non-symptomatic cases. This cannot be performed ON or even in a few weeks but will take many months so it won't help us in the near future.

[ian]

quoting Scotty from marketing Source ABC text copy of his "pontification"

"... weddings can continue to be conducted where it is just the couple, the celebrant and the witnesses. That's no more than five people and the four square meeting rule has to be observed within the venue in which that is taking place."

so all you prospective brides and grooms -- no holding hands during your vows, the "you may now kiss the bride" can't even be an elbow bump, and forget about any sort of reception. Can't have you breaching the 4 sq.m. rule can we?

But thinking some more about it, even if the bride and groom are cohabitating and the bride is pregnant, why are weddings permitted at all ?
So no more wedding receptions.



and as for funerals ...

"... funerals [are limited] to no more than 10 persons observing the rules around the four square metre rule and the social-distancing practices."

so no condolence hugs or even elbow bumps are allowed -- you would be breaching the 4 sq.m. rule if you did.
I understand how important "saying a final good-bye" is to the grieving process, but to limit the good-byes to no more than 10 persons (several of whom will be disinterested employees of the funeral director) and it becomes the same situation as a wedding -- why bother ?
Overall it would IMO be better to delay the funeral till after the pandemic peak is well past.

[doug3030]

[BobL]

Overall it would IMO be better to delay the funeral till after the pandemic peak is well past.

And With any luck some of the older participants will have passed away so overall risk will be reduced.

[BobL]

If you are going to use whiskey it has to be >60% or 120 proof to work.

[FenceFurniture]

Overall it would IMO be better to delay the funeral till after the pandemic peak is well past.

And if the numbers go where it seems likely, where would the bodies be stored?

[Tccp123]

To put this thing into perspective (and to get a feeling for how many dead bodies are disposed of every year) have a look at the table showing causes of death in Australia in 2018 on this site:

3303.0 - Causes of Death, Australia, 2018

[BobL]

Interesting significant drop in heart disease as a leading cause of death over 10 years, also slow drops is death rates from strokes and lung cancer.
Accompanying this is the rise of Dementia as a cause of death which looks like it is going to overtake heart disease some time next year.
BTW significant differences between males and females - Dementia has already overtaken heart disease for females. Lung cancer still higher for males than dementia.

Screen Shot 2020-03-25 at 5.54.59 am.png

[Tccp123]

Interesting significant drop in heart disease as a leading cause of death over 10 years, also slow drops is death rates from strokes and lung cancer..
Accompanying this is the rise of Dementia as a cause of death which looks like it is going to overtake heart disease some time next year.

Not unexpected I would think. As they take away one cause of death the next one in the table will jump up to take its place till it's eradicated.

Another interesting statistic I ran across this morning is that the normal death rate in Italy is 10.7/1000

[BobL]

Unfortunately it's not possible to test everyone in Australia as there are simply not enough test kits in the whole world to do that ?

Maybe not as far away as we think

COVID-19: Could we test everyone? - The Signal - ABC Radio

[woodPixel]

Maybe not as far away as we think

COVID-19: Could we test everyone? - The Signal - ABC Radio

Ill listen to this this arvo.

It may be of interest to some here (of the curious minds) that BioHacking is A Thing.

They use techniques like CRISPR to brew up new marvels.

They remind me of when I was young and the internet was unknown - a wild and exciting frontier!

Being immerse, cutting edge, highly transparent, sharing everything and "Open Sourcing" everything is a key driver behind their enthusiasm..... here is a bit of an article on ABC today: Meet the amateur 'biohackers' making their own experimental COVID-19 test kits - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

I wouldn't be in the least bit surprised if this loose coalition of haphazard nutters actually get to the goal first.

[BobL]

I wouldn't be in the least bit surprised if this loose coalition of haphazard nutters actually get to the goal first.

oh they (basically copied fellow bio hackers in the US) have done it. What is now needed is approval to use and investors to bulk produce. Of course big pharma will fight them and people will die needlessly.

[Glider]

Just back on topic for a brief moment. If anyone's thinking about spending serious money on tools or other items, better do it now at existing list prices. Be prepared for a 20% hit from our tanking exchange rate.

I'm now in the shed for the duration with the nearest neighbour 800 metres away.

mick

[BobL]

OTOH the drop in demand from more people out of work might balance that to some extent and help reduce prices. I don’t know about everyone else but my email box is filling with notices of deals and sales.

[Simplicity]

And if the numbers go where it seems likely, where would the bodies be stored?

On ice like there planing in the Uk
Literally on a Ice Ring

I know that’s not what we would like too hear.

Cheers Matt