What on Earth is going on in the world today? It's gone mad

[Moxie]

Italy possibly hitting the down slope? That would be good. Or something.

 

[Federberg]

Draghi: we face a war against coronavirus and must mobilise accordingly | Free to read

Higher public debt levels will become an economic feature and be accompanied by private debt cancellation

www.ft.com

 

[britbox]

This is quite interesting and doesn't seem to have been picked up by any mainstream media.

High consequence infectious diseases (HCID)

Guidance and information about high consequence infectious diseases and their management in England.

www.gov.uk

 

[mrzz]

Italy possibly hitting the down slope? That would be good. Or something.

I am following it day to day and from two days ago I was already very hopeful that the (local at least) peak was past. However, again, Italy's numbers are the sum of the numbers from regions which are in completely different "contagion times". Basically what we are seeing as Italy is the Lombardy curve, or the northern region curve at most. Lombardy almost certainly is past the peak. Other regions might have a different stories and maybe the overall curve could "rebound" due to other regions getting worst -- I do not think so, as other regions took measures earlier (in relation to the "infection moment zero"). Well, basically the same story is going on in the US (driven by NY). Same for us here in Brazil (driven by SP).

So, a good luck from SP to NY...

 

[Federberg]

Influencer who licked a toilet as a 'coronavirus challenge' has just been hospitalised with coronavirus

Life comes at you fast.

www.indy100.com

 

[Federberg]

This is quite interesting and doesn't seem to have been picked up by any mainstream media.

High consequence infectious diseases (HCID)

Guidance and information about high consequence infectious diseases and their management in England.

www.gov.uk

perfectly understandable when you look at the diseases that classify as HCID. Ebola, Marburg virus, Lassa fever? Those are stone cold killers

 

[Murat Baslamisli]

As of today in Canada: 3409 cases, 35 deceased.
Over 900.000 Canadians applied for EI last week. That number will more than double in the coming week.
One in three small businesses say they will not survive more than one month of closure. A quarter of small businesses laid of all of their employees. Rest laid of almost half. Small businesses pay more than half of all taxes in Canada.
All businesses are forced to close except "essential" services. Alcohol sales (run by government ) is deemed essential and those shops are open, so are dope shops selling cannabis. Priorities.
Government is introducing bill after bill to help out.

 

[Federberg]

on the brighter side, this made me chuckle....

 

[Federberg]

J-IDEA’s Neil Ferguson tells MPs lockdown can help NHS manage coronavirus | Imperial News | Imperial College London

Imperial’s Neil Ferguson, Director of J-IDEA, has told MPs that the current UK lockdown could keep the coronavirus outbreak at manageable levels.

www.imperial.ac.uk

 

[Moxie]

on the brighter side, this made me chuckle....

That is funny, but it brings up an interesting point: is it possible that teachers will be more appreciated at the other end of this? I hope so. Also, a friend of mine made this point the other day: with college students now attending classes remotely, could this be the end of the exorbitant university tuitions in the US? Colombia already had a model for a cheaper degree by taking classes online, even before the COVID-19 crisis. There is no substitute for direct access to great professors, nor for the fertility of campus culture for young minds and spirits, but maybe this will at least stop the steep incline of tuition here.

 

[Federberg]

U.S. passes Italy, China as nation with the most confirmed cases of COVID-19

The U.S. surged past China and Italy to become the planet's most infected nation Thursday, a stark milestone in the coronavirus era - and a reminder of its deadly, culture-changing effects on American life.

eu.usatoday.com

 

[Murat Baslamisli]

 

[GameSetAndMath]

That is funny, but it brings up an interesting point: is it possible that teachers will be more appreciated at the other end of this? I hope so. Also, a friend of mine made this point the other day: with college students now attending classes remotely, could this be the end of the exorbitant university tuitions in the US? Colombia already had a model for a cheaper degree by taking classes online, even before the COVID-19 crisis. There is no substitute for direct access to great professors, nor for the fertility of campus culture for young minds and spirits, but maybe this will at least stop the steep incline of tuition here.

No way that the university is going away. They said universities will die shortly when Coursera, EdX, Udemy and all came to prominence few years ago.
But, it turned out to be a false prediction.

Online learning requires a level of maturity that a typical undergraduate students don't have. Besides, undergraduate students go to college for the "college experience" (you know what it means) and not necessarily just for learning.

Research students need direct and frequent interaction with the professors.

So, I see B.S. and Ph.D. programs of the universities are very safe. The M.S. programs might probably be losing out to online market.

Also, there is no way that teachers will be appreciated at the other end of this and at least not in the way of "putting money where the mouth is".

 

[tented]

Latest numbers from the WHO:

Cases: 465,915
Deaths: 21,031

4.5% death rate.

 

[Moxie]

No way that the university is going away. They said universities will die shortly when Coursera, EdX, Udemy and all came to prominence few years ago.
But, it turned out to be a false prediction.

Online learning requires a level of maturity that a typical undergraduate students don't have. Besides, undergraduate students go to college for the "college experience" (you know what it means) and not necessarily just for learning.

Research students need direct and frequent interaction with the professors.

So, I see B.S. and Ph.D. programs of the universities are very safe. The M.S. programs might probably be losing out to online market.

Also, there is no way that teachers will be appreciated at the other end of this and at least not in the way of "putting money where the mouth is".

I'm not saying that university life as we know it is going away. And I don't want it to. My question is if this staunches the ever-steepening rise of tuitions. And yes, I think my hope that K-12 teachers will ever get the appreciation or pay that they deserve is whistling down the wind.

 

[Moxie]

Latest numbers from the WHO:

Cases: 465,915
Deaths: 21,031

4.5% death rate.

I think by what is told to us, this is a bad death rate, right? I thought we were looking at something more like 1% for flu or other viral infections, on a general scale?

 

[GameSetAndMath]

I think by what is told to us, this is a bad death rate, right? I thought we were looking at something more like 1% for flu or other viral infections, on a general scale?

For flu it is 0.1%. They generally pegged the death rate for COVID at 1% (Even Dr. Faucci put it at that level) much lower than the actual death rate of 4.5%.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

Latest numbers from the WHO:

Cases: 465,915
Deaths: 21,031

4.5% death rate.

It would be interesting to know as to what would be death rate if the entire world had ample supply of tests, PPE, ventilators, beds, nurses and doctors (but without assuming we have a cure for it). I bet it would be less than half of it. In other words, perhaps half of these deaths are preventable in principle.

 

[britbox]

When everything comes out in the wash, the death rate will likely be lower than 1%. A few things need to be factored in. For instance, in most countries, people couldn't get tests if they had mild symptoms. There was also an inadequate number of testing kits available.

 

[mrzz]

^^Yes, exactly. People should look at death rates of countries that extensively test, as S. Korea or Germany. Here in Brazil the estimate is that only around 10 to 15% of the cases are being reported. I think that is optimistic...