But is Gangelt representative of the general population? Germany's? Let alone other countries? How many over 70+ y.o. old people are there in that village? Or are there more younger people in their 30s and 40s? How many are obese or have hypertension and diabetes? If they did the same study in a community for retired people and in a college town the results would be night and day. And germans too are pretty slim in general compared to other westerners. I haven't seen many obese germans.
yes. There is sensitivity and specificity. If the tests have low specificity then there will be many false positives. That's the most optimistic scenario to justify how 30% of people in a Chinese studies were found to not have developed antibodies after "recovering". That the first generation tests used in Wuhan had low specificity. But if you get a PCR test with a swab done by a professional who sticks the swab right up your nose deep enough and then also takes an oral swab for good measure then both sensitivity and specificity are almost 99%.
That is what I thought. Germany got the best equipment in Europe, almost sole provider of ventilators, producing high end masks and PPE, best healthcare options. And apart from big cities such as Berlin and arguably Hamburg, I do not see megapolises with high density. This seems too convenient. They still got some hot spots because the government acted as they were one step behind and too lenient in general.
Ugh! Just saw my neighbor get taken away by ambulance for what looked to be Covid (though could be wrong). She is probably late 50s, but is pushing 300 lbs so I know that's a bad combo for a lot of things. Hard to watch as her husband was of course unable to accompany her. Nothing I didn't know, but hard to watch.
My understanding is the first major wave of infections in Germany were/are mostly young people. There was a major spreading vector for young ski vacationers in Austria who brought it back, and Carneval happened during the beginning of the outbreak, with hundreds or even thousands of young people attending parades and getting drunk outside in costume. The percentage of cases among the old is/was far lower than in Italy, for example. We'll see how it spreads but so far the numbers in Germany look really good, with no medical centers being overwhelmed yet, and even taking in critical patients from other countries.
There are some negative outliers, like a hospital in Potsdam (the wife of one of my employees is a doctor there, so I have some pretty alarming insider info) where the managers acted like complete idiots - no testing for clinical staff, on purpose, because they wanted them to not miss duty, making people wait in crowded waiting rooms for many many hours, then sending them out to neighbouring hospitals - and so on. Also, some care homes where it got really bad. But yeah, overall, so far, coping ok.
Just saw a news report out of the PRC and even government officials are admitting they don't have the pandemic completely under control. Right now they are seeing many infections coming in from out of the country and are worried that those may spark a second wave.
Yes that's what I thought and I am not sure if old germans go to Carnival parties. Here they do not but I don't know if in Germany the Carnival is combined with some volk festivals where old people find the opportunity to go and drink beer. That's why in my opinion it is very dangerous and premature to take the situation in that town and think it is or will be the same in the whole of the country or even other countries. The Iceland experiment is much more represantive than a town. Of course Iceland also has some cultural and social differences than other countries but at least the sample size is much more similar than an isolated case of a town. Unfortunately I have to say this to my german friends. Hold your horses before celebrating. According to some studies Germany's success so far has a lot to do to the fact that they are behind as much as it has to do with the number of ventilators. A ventilator alone as we have seen worldwide is NOT enough to save a life. Most people who end up on ventilator die. For now. If Germany is lucky, then when their peak comes, there will be more pharmaceutical solution so these critical cases can have a higher survival rates. The best survival strategy is the same at this point as when you are chased by a tiger. Let others become the first victims and hide. The tiger will still be hungry and come after you, but you will have more of an idea for what to do to ward it off.
Oh yeah..Russia who is impervious to the epidemic has it in under SO much control that China had to put a city in the borders again under Wuhan like lockdown because of infected Russians crossing over and spreading the virus. Who knows what is happening in Russia at this point. How many dead. Putin cares only for the european part Moscow, St Petersburg etc..the rest of the country can go die for what he cares.
Tyrol alone was the origin of many clusters and cases in Norway, Sweden, Iceland and other cases through skiing events. The Infamous 'Kitzloch' bar where people great one another with cheek kisses, here and there. And skiing lifts stayed in operation for anither 9 days after the 1st Covid-19 incident.
are you critisizing cheek kisses? I don't see anything wrong. That's how we normally greet each other. If you don't give 2 air kisses it is an offense. The Swiss and the French give 3.
People of all ages. But it's a thing in West Germany. In the southwest, actually, mostly along the Rhine. Doesn't happen much in other parts of Germany.
Singapore has been in a 1M lockdown after increases in unknown cases. Total cases basically doubling every week from 500 on 3/24 to ~2000 now. We'll see how that goes. Why Asian nations are doing well - other than government response, I think it's also partly cultural especially with recent experience with SARs. Compared to US and most of Europe, the population listen and do what their officials ask them to do. https://www.livemint.com/news/world...-amid-rising-corona-cases-11585905344421.html Singapore’s government will shutter schools and most workplaces as the city-state unveiled a raft of stricter measures intended as a “circuit breaker" to slow the spread of coronavirus. Most workplaces, except for essential services and key economic sectors, will close starting on Tuesday, while the city-state will move to full home-based learning in its schools starting Wednesday, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said in an address to the nation Friday afternoon. The government will also unveil additional stimulus measures to boost the economy early next week. The action comes as confirmed cases of local transmission and unlinked infections in the country have risen in recent weeks. “We have decided that instead of tightening incrementally over the next few weeks, we should make a decisive move now, to preempt escalating infections," said Lee.
