Posted 3 April 39 minutes ago, Dembo said: Germany's new cases seems to be going up again after a few days where it looked like it was decreasing. And the number of deaths is getting more each day. That´s the confirmed cases increasing. Given that that testing capacity has been massively increased it may just reflect that the percentage of detected cases has increased while the share of unconfirmed cases dropped. The rise in death is probably due to old age and nursing homes now being affected and not only young and healthy holidaymakers. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted 3 April I disagree Mike I believe it would be remiss to not at least balance up the obvious societal (not just the financial) downfalls of full lockdown These things need to be weighed in, when thinking of length of lockdown etc. 0 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted 3 April The US healthcare system simply doesn't have the capacity to treat all its people because a significant minority of US residents never use the system due to financial constraints. The hospitals haven't built the capacity to treat people who never come through their doors. Those people will be coming through their doors now though. Even the worst European healthcare systems are generally free/cheap for the "big stuff" where you need to go to hospital. The hospitals are therefore at least able to treat the entire sick population in "peace time" which is more than can be said in the US. The US is starting from a position of catch up. Prescribing a bunch of opioids won't hide this problem either. I'd sooner be in Ireland than the US right now and our health system is garbage compared to Germany. We've come a long way from this "Democrat hoax" in a matter of weeks. 5 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted 3 April 40 minutes ago, oscar 63 said: I believe it would be remiss to not at least balance up the obvious societal (not just the financial) downfalls of full lockdown These things need to be weighed in, when thinking of length of lockdown etc. As I read in our local newspaper this morning: The timescale is decided by the virus People just have to understand this (& that you cannot negociate with a virus either) 5 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted 3 April Back to face masks: I just watched this video which re-states the fact that face masks are working in Asia and the Czech Republic, and gives a short demo of how to make an effective one yourself, even if you don't (like me) have a sewing machine. I'll be doing this today. A good use for those old T shirts I haven't worn in years. https://youtu.be/hVEVve-3QeM 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted 3 April 2 hours ago, Dembo said: In even less cheerful news, France reported 1,355 deaths yesterday - that's worse than any one day in Italy. However the number of new cases has fallen sharply - now over 2 weeks since their lockdown started I think. France numbers from yesterday are distorted because they put 884 deaths from nursing homes that happened in the past days and they were not included in the statistics before. 0 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted 3 April Just when it seemed to be improving there's a surge in new cases, are people becoming complacent? 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted 3 April 43 minutes ago, arunadasi said: Back to face masks: I just watched this video which re-states the fact that face masks are working in Asia and the Czech Republic, and gives a short demo of how to make an effective one yourself, even if you don't (like me) have a sewing machine. I'll be doing this today. A good use for those old T shirts I haven't worn in years. https://youtu.be/hVEVve-3QeM Quote from the video: "Is this the reason why things are looking so much better in these countries? We don't know for sure." Seems to me the more obvious reason is that people remember SARS and therefore take it all a lot more seriously than we have in Europe. There was a TV report yesterday about Austrian supermarkets where people are now required to wear masks, but they had an employee standing at the entrance giving out free masks to customers. If Germany or other countries are going to do this this is the way, but obviously to do that they need to first make sure there's a big enough supply. The question then is is this really the priority? And do people having watched this video and others stop doing all the other things that they should be doing just because they now have a mask and believe they're safe? 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted 3 April 3 hours ago, arunadasi said: A good use for those old T shirts I haven't worn in years. Drosten (or was it Kekulé) explicitely said in one of his podcasts that you shouldn´t use old T-shirts because the material is woven too loose. They both said that facemasks will not be much of a protection for yourself but will protect others in case you´re infected (which you might not even know). 2 hours ago, Dembo said: Seems to me the more obvious reason is that people remember SARS and therefore take it all a lot more seriously than we have in Europe. Yes, and therefore, they´re wearing masks. The Thai health minister even said he felt like kicking those Westerners out of the country who refuse to wear facemasks. Not to protect themselves but to protect others (to a degree at least). 0 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted 3 April You are supposed to use fabric with the highest thread count that you can, having spent quite a bit of time a few days back reading up on these home-made things. Arunadasi's dude cites a Cambridge study where they found that T-shirting is remarkably good. In the end, anything in a few ply layers is going to be better than nothing. And paper towels are brilliant. Who would have thought? 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted 3 April Yes, I like the paper towel thing, which you slip between the two layers. That's another reason I liked it. 0 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted 3 April Since we are for some reason , back to health care on this thread Look at this https://www.worldometers.info/demographics/life-expectancy/ To focus in a bit Ireland has an average life expectancy 82.81 years of lfe. 18th place Germany has an average life expectancy 81.88 years of lfe. 27th place UK has an average life expectancy 81.77 years of lfe. 29th place USA has an average life expectancy 79.11 years of lfe. 46th place which is a spread of 2.5 years or so. The thing to remember, when you walk into a nicely painted German hospital, and a wreak in the UK, the average life expectancy between them is months, but German Health costs alot more. Most doctors will tell you, its not the quality of the health care you get, when you get ill - its staying in good condition through your life, stay slim, no smoking, not too much beer, taking exercise and eating foods good for you that will make the most difference to your life quality and expectancy. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted 3 April 32 minutes ago, yesterday said: stay slim, no smoking, not too much beer, taking exercise and eating foods good for you that will make the most difference to tour life quality and expectancy. Tell that to the 5,90 newborns per 1000 births that are dying in the US as opposed to 3,48 in Germany. https://www.laenderdaten.de/bevoelkerung/saeuglingssterberate.aspx 0 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted 3 April 13 minutes ago, jeba said: Tell that to the 5,90 newborns per 1000 births that are dying in the US as opposed to 3,48 in Germany. https://www.laenderdaten.de/bevoelkerung/saeuglingssterberate.aspx Each health system in the world does something better and somethings worse than other countrys, for some reason. everybody here can find many differnces around the world where one country does things better or worse. Which leeds to an almost point less disscusion about which system is better. I took the view the only real way to compare is to take the average across all countries, and that is seen in life expectancy Sure USA has a lower life expectancy than Germany and thats maybe seen in data, but there will other areas eg cancer care ( I did not it up, but there must some examples ) where USA does better. 0 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted 3 April 29 minutes ago, jeba said: Tell that to the 5,90 newborns per 1000 births that are dying in the US as opposed to 3,48 in Germany. https://www.laenderdaten.de/bevoelkerung/saeuglingssterberate.aspx Sadly, often affected by poor lifestyle choices/poor health education of parents -brought up poor, nutrition issues etc. 0 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted 3 April Which in a nice swing brings us back to general issues US people tend to have when in need of social security. 0 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted 3 April 12 minutes ago, yesterday said: Each health system in the world does something better and somethings worse than other countrys, for some reason. everybody here can find many differnces around the world where one country does things better or worse. Which leeds to an almost point less disscusion about which system is better. I took the view the only real way to compare is to take the average across all countries, and that is seen in life expectancy Sure USA has a lower life expectancy than Germany and thats maybe seen in data, but there will other areas eg cancer care ( I did not it up, but there must some examples ) where USA does better. Depending on your financial strength, maybe there is something. 0 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted 3 April Inforadio reporting that an order for facemasks at a US manufacturer for the Berlin police has been seized on behalf of the US government in Thailand. So much for Trump's bullshit promises to help poor Europe. Anyone who voted for that guy deserves everything they get. 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted 3 April 13 minutes ago, murphaph said: Inforadio reporting that an order for facemasks at a US manufacturer for the Berlin police has been seized on behalf of the US government in Thailand. A similar thing happened to a shipment of masks for France: https://www.france24.com/en/20200403-french-politicians-accuse-us-of-buying-up-chinese-face-masks-bound-for-france 0 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
