Mega-Thread: Coronavirus Pandemic

[LeGin Tufnel]

its not that i want him to die, its the bullshit they cant admit that hes fucked.

look at this shit from the last few days

'A spokesperson insisted on Monday that Johnson's hospital admission was not an "emergency" measure but had merely been for precautionary reasons to carry out tests.

They refused to confirm or deny that the prime minister was suffering from pneumonia.'

Downing Street has previously repeatedly insisted that Johnson was experiencing only "mild symptoms" of the virus.

Johnson was "more seriously ill than either he or his officials were prepared to admit," the Guardian said, reporting a source suggesting that Johnson "was being seen by doctors who were concerned about his breathing."

They are still saying that hes in the ICU as a precaution. Its fucking spin. Absolute bullshit.

Thats why it feels like the death of stalin. Brexit has made them incapable of telling the truth, cutting the bullshit and treating the public like adults who can deal with information.

What they need to do, swiftly, is move an autocrat up the ladder. Not bloody Raab.

[Forogil]

It's possible to do both.

It would be possible, but it would still neither change the past nor save lives.

[Gorsameth]

I needed this laugh.

A good one, tho I am slightly dissapointed he didn't yell "Isolate! Isolate!"

[Keosen]

Or maybe the person going to the hospital on a sunday night isn't quite as fine as they pretend to be.

Maybe.
There were also cases where people dismissed from hospitals as cured but died afterwards.

[Spectral]

The IHME model updates paint a picture of us being closer to peak of infections, resource usage, and deaths in the United States that I expected. Frankly, I'm a bit suspect of their R0 updates that would have shifted that picture since it's not likely to remain constant, but it nonetheless seems like some reason for optimism.

Also of note if you're following data is that worldometers now lists tests run by country. Apparently Iceland and the Faroe Islands have been on point with testing.

[Magical Mudcrab]

And the benefit of not praising China for their new efforts and instead focusing on the previous total mess-up would be?

Would it change the past? Would it actually save lives?

So, here's the thing. I agree that there's a time to assign blame and go in on China and the WHO, and now probably is not the time for countries to be antagonizing them en masse. I think we're on the same page there. However, this doesn't mean that this is something that should be taboo, and providing humanitarian aid after causing a problem doesn't absolve you of blame. China and the WHO both share culpability, though in different ways, for the current state of the world and its response to the pandemic. This should not, and cannot be forgotten. Even now, as we fight off the pandemic, China is in the middle of attempting to re-write history and lay the blame of COVID on the shoulders of other countries (Source: MarketWatch). What makes this even worse is there is reporting stating that China had intentionally played-down the impacts of COVID by under-reporting cases (Source: Bloomberg). Though this is not mentioned in the source, I would probably err on the side of thinking that China is still probably continuing with under reporting and being intentionally deceptive about COVID's impact.

I should also note, as I mentioned in the previous post, that Taiwan has a particularly volatile relationship with China, as China appears to have been using political influence to exclude Taiwan from WHA since at least 2016. We also have a longstanding antagonism between the two countries, as China us in the long process of attempting to absorb the Taiwan into itself for the sake of Chinese Unification against the will the the Taiwanese people.

[Remilia]

My point is that Taiwan weren't trying to warn anyone.
They knew that WHO doesn't listen to them, because it's an UN-organization and Taiwan isn't a member.

Sending information to someone you knew will ignore is simply put not helpful.

If they wanted the warning to be heard they could have sent out an official statement, but they didn't - since they cared more about scoring political points and/or were so unsure whether it was significant that they didn't want to lose face.

Please tell me where they'd announce for people to listen anyways. You keep saying put out an official statement and all, pray tell who will listen to begin with. Taiwan has already sent out equipment and help for the remaining diplomatic partners, but that's you know, not 190 other countries.
I know in the news in Taiwan it was brought up already about an unknown pneumonia and to take precautions, I was in Taiwan in January. We had stuff set up for my brother in Taiwan for if/when shit hit the fan.

Their role as working hard to save lives - within the constraint of the political system of the world, and the limits of our knowledge.
They cannot make China recognize Taiwan as an independent state.
They know that many countries have self-centered and corrupt leaders; and they cannot change that.

Umm... you know they refrained from calling it a pandemic for months which would've allowed for extra funding and measures against this. They even for a while said they won't call it a pandemic cause they won't use it anymore.
https://www.reuters.com/article/chin...-idUSL5N2AO1BP
Seriously, how much have you been following this? They didn't verify there was no human to human transmission.
They downplayed this entire thing until it was too late. They advised against travel restrictions making this even worse. They then proceeded to blame it all on everyone else for failing to contain it. It's not jokingly called the Chinese Health Organization without a reason.

[Drutt]

What happens if he dies? Who replaces him?

The UK has (currently) no succession plan for the Prime Minister being incapacitated or dying.

In the event of there being no Prime Minister (i.e. he died) a leadership election would be triggered, and the Tory party would appoint a new one. What would happen in the interim is anyone's guess.

Serious failures in the UK's line of succession are being exposed here. There is one for Queenie, obviously, but nothing for the PM.

[Cosmic Janitor]

What happens if he dies? Who replaces him?

The next muppet that wants a quick career boost, like the last 2? I wanted to point at the deputy prime minister, but apparently that office ceased to exist in 2010, huh, the more you know I guess?

Edit: Apparently it's not in use actually, so it's an optinal position. That is quite the lax way of structuring your governernment.

[Remilia]

I needed this laugh.

Okay that was good.

[TheramoreIsTheBomb]

we all need to stay calm and trust in donald trump's great judgement. he has kept us safe for all this time. nothing will go wrong if we trust our great commander in chief.

[dribbles]

So the UK will have to go through this with no prime minister until the Tories can appoint one? Good god

No, Dominic Raab is designated survivor and will be in charge until a leadership election. But fingers crossed Boris pulls through, as long as he isn't being mechanically ventilated he still has a good, much better than evens, chance.

[Cosmic Janitor]

So the UK will have to go through this with no prime minister until the Tories can appoint one? Good god.

- - - Updated - - -



And for a fair amount of time, they made their intense displeasure very clear against anyone who thought about putting up travel restrictions to them.

Well, yeah. The tories need to elect a new one and the queen would make it official. I'm not aware of anything that would have someone like the speaker of the house or a cabinet member rule in the interrim, like in many other countries. That's at least what some articles say so far.

Edit: Raab may be the most likely choice, but that is supposedly not an actual rule.

[Myr010]

Dominic Raab takes over the PMs role though not in title, he is the foreign secretary(and is UK equivalent of secretary of state in the US), this has effectively happened as of tonight

[Forogil]

Please tell me where they'd announce for people to listen anyways. You keep saying put out an official statement and all, pray tell who will listen to begin with.

We don't know if anyone would have listened - but we know they didn't do even try.

That's why papers report that Taiwan claims they sent some statements to WHO. If Taiwan had gone public with the information they wouldn't have to add that caveat.

So, they didn't try to help - they just want to score points.

- - - Updated - - -

Umm... you know they refrained from calling it a pandemic for months which would've allowed for extra funding and measures against this. They even for a while said they won't call it a pandemic cause they won't use it anymore.
https://www.reuters.com/article/chin...-idUSL5N2AO1BP

Your source doesn't say that what you claim it does.

And you have nothing supporting your claim that calling it a pandemic would have allowed extra funding.

Seriously, how much have you been following this?

More than enough, and I'm old enough to see half-truths and propaganda.

I see that some try to fight the virus - and others seem more focused on gaining political points.
Clearly mainland China messed up at the start, and now China - both mainland and Taiwan are trying to use the crisis to gain political points in various ways.

[eschatological]

ya...too early, but promising...
I was never fond of the phrase "cautiously optimistic," but it seems to fit.

I'm less a fan of people who declare something worked based on a "gut feeling"

[Yunru]

Looks like my country has it contained. Only 20 people infected per day now.

Out of 1021 infected 30 died.
But i am realy sick of media propaganda now abauth work.

[Remilia]

Your source doesn't say that what you claim it does.

And you have nothing supporting your claim that calling it a pandemic would have allowed extra funding.

Source says they no longer use pandemic... conclusion is not calling it a pandemic. Not sure how you fail to see that. By the way, three weeks later they called it a pandemic cause apparently they can't make up their mind of anything.
Funding wise, it's actually the pandemic bonds started in 2017 by the World Bank, that's not in the link, it wasn't meant to be. If you look it up it's a bit more complicated and a lot of the articles for it will be geared towards investors.

More than enough, and I'm old enough to see half-truths and propaganda.

I see that some try to fight the virus - and others seem more focused on gaining political points.
Clearly mainland China messed up at the start, and are now China - both mainland and Taiwan are trying to use the crisis to gain political points in various ways.

Apparently not enough since you really had no idea WHO's involvement in this... you can keep calling it political points to downplay the massive mishandling that WHO did but it's not going to change it. Last part shows your political alignment on this entire thing though, no one in taiwan cares about that old garbage now.

[Tuor]

Meanwhille in China https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1247015711592988672

I don't know why, but i'm not surprised.

[Shadowferal]

200k body bags...well..

And in NYC; Use of antimalarial drug in New York hospitals 'anecdotally' positive

“There has been anecdotal evidence that it is promising; that’s why we’re going ahead,” he added, noting that some patients have a pre-existing condition or medication regimen that prevents them from taking it.

An increase in the supply from the federal government, Cuomo added, would allow New York to lift the 14-day restriction.