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freitasm
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  #2480681 10-May-2020 17:00
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cshwone:

 

PolicyGuy:

 

If they're still WFH under L2, they might maybe have a case but they'll still be saving commuting costs.

 

 

Yes, don't think it's that common.  My commute is $450 per month saving and Level 2 will continue WFH with th odd day in the office. Claiming for the extra spent on heating etc seems morally dubious.

 

 

Some companies offer this as a benefit. The ruling is to let them continue doing it - even increasing the allowances - without taxing the employee.

 

Also the amount of $400 is separate and is for setting up a work environment - desks, chairs and other equipment if needed.





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Technofreak
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  #2480743 10-May-2020 17:48
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freitasm:

 

I am surprised I didn't hear from many saying their companies are taking advantage of the IRD incentives to WFH - companies can pay up to $400 for furniture and equipment for WFH, up to $5/week for telecommunication plan (no evidence required), and up to $15/week for other expenditure (no evidence required). Higher values possible with receipts, etc.

 

 

Bit hard for my employer to take up the offer for me. 😉 Anyway the view out of my office at work is far better than any of the options at home.





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GV27
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  #2480751 10-May-2020 17:57
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freitasm:

 

For example, my previous employer provided the whole lot when you moved into the on-call team - following your argument they shouldn't have to do it, seeing you are working at night or weekend, right? 

 

 

The irony being that if you were self-employed doing literally the same job from home, you'd be entitled to all sorts of deductions. The $400 rule from IRD was a very welcome move, surprisingly agile on their part and they should be given credit for it. 




Yabanize
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  #2480771 10-May-2020 19:03
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tdgeek:

 

Yabanize:

 

They say 1 of the cases is "not a healthcare worker - they are a household contact of an earlier case linked to St Margaret's."

 

the 2nd is a female in her 20's who arrived from the USA on the 25th March.

 

The Ruby Princess Cluster has increased by 1 (presumably reallocated)

 

 

If the 20yo is a new case now, surely she didn't come back from the US as infected, and got infected in the last week or two? I can't see how its labelled an imported case

 

 

 

 

Ahh, the info published initially on the website that said 25 March was incorrect

 

Click to see full size

 

It has now been updated to 25 April

 

Click to see full size

 

This person would've been in quarantine so should be all good.


mattwnz
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  #2480800 10-May-2020 19:44
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tdgeek:

 

 

 

If the 20yo is a new case now, surely she didn't come back from the US as infected, and got infected in the last week or two? I can't see how its labelled an imported case

 

 

 

 

It seems sometimes people can start to show symptoms after 14 days, so potentially 14 days quarantine may not be long enough. Potentially the length of quarantine that could be a leak, if we want to ensure we keep it out of the main population. Or maybe the first few days of symptoms were really minor and they didn't bother to get tested earlier? It also potentially shows the importance of not delaying getting tested. I also thought that it usually can  take days for it to progress to a stage where you need hospitalization?. So doesn't make much sense that the test corresponds to when they are in hospital. But I think all this shows that we need more detail from the MOH on these cases, otherwise we are guessing. A top expert has called for more details on cases, which should be easy for them to provide. 


DS248
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  #2480848 10-May-2020 22:13
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HK Government to distribute free reusable face masks to all Hong Kong citizens. Announcement advising that the CusMask has undergone 'strict testing and certification processes' and are safe for use.  Linked laboratory test results show sub-micron (0.1 um) particulate filtration efficiency of 95.87% before washing reducing only slightly to 94.75% after 60 washes (both average of 5 results, tested to ASTM F2100-2019 9.3 and ASTM F2299-2017).

 

https://www.news.gov.hk/eng/2020/05/20200509/20200509_115030_850.html

 

 

 

 


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  #2480860 11-May-2020 00:01
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South Korea on alert, guy who pub crawled later tests positive

 


 
 
 

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  #2480861 11-May-2020 00:21
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Yabanize:

 

...

 

It has now been updated to 25 April

 

Click to see full size

 

This person would've been in quarantine so should be all good.

 

 

It is likely they were in managed isolation rather than quarantine. Quarantine is only for those who are symptomatic, and I would hope that they would test these people ASAP.

 

We are now 17 days a now, Potently that person was discharged from isolation a few days ago...


 

Incubation periods can be as long as 27 days: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-health-incubation/coronavirus-incubation-could-be-as-long-as-27-days-chinese-provincial-government-says-idUSKCN20G06W

 

But 97.5% of people who develop symptoms will do so within 11.5 days of infection: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/03/200317175438.htm

 

[edit] - Note that the 17 days above includes the test processing time of roughly 2 days. People who have been tested are asked to strictly isolate themselves so risk may have been lower than the 17 days makes it sound.


freitasm
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  #2480964 11-May-2020 10:07
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"Doctors keep discovering new ways the coronavirus attacks the body"

 

 

Today, there is widespread recognition the novel coronavirus is far more unpredictable than a simple respiratory virus, one with the potential to attack from the brain to the toes. Many doctors are focused on treating the inflammatory reactions it triggers and its capacity to cause blood clots as they struggle to help their patients breathe.

 

More than four months of clinical experience across Asia, Europe and North America has shown the pathogen does much more than invade the lungs. “No one was expecting a disease that would not fit the pattern of pneumonia and respiratory illness,” said David Reich, a cardiac anesthesiologist and president of Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City.

 

It attacks the heart, weakening its muscles and disrupting its critical rhythm. It savages kidneys so badly some hospitals have run short of dialysis equipment. It crawls along the nervous system, destroying taste and smell and occasionally reaching the brain. It creates blood clots that can kill with sudden efficiency and inflames blood vessels throughout the body.

 

It can begin with a few symptoms or none at all, then days later, squeeze the air out of the lungs without warning. It picks on the elderly, people weakened by previous disease, and, disproportionately, the obese. It harms men more than women, but there are also signs it complicates pregnancies.

 

It mostly spares the young. Until it doesn’t: Last week, doctors warned of a rare inflammatory reaction with cardiac complications among children that may be connected to the virus. On Friday, New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo (D) announced 73 children had fallen severely ill in the state and a 5-year-old boy in New York City had become the first child to die of the syndrome. Two more children had succumbed as of Saturday.

 

That news has shaken many doctors, who felt they were finally grasping the full dimensions of the disease in adults. “We were all thinking this is a disease that kills old people, not kids,” Reich said.

 

Mount Sinai has treated five children with the condition. Reich said each started with gastrointestinal symptoms, which turned into inflammatory complications that caused very low blood pressure and expanded their blood vessels. This led to heart failure in the case of the first child who died.

 





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Rikkitic
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  #2480967 11-May-2020 10:12
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That is simply terrifying.

 

 





Plesse igmore amd axxept applogies in adbance fir anu typos

 


 


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  #2480975 11-May-2020 10:29
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Rikkitic:

 

That is simply terrifying.

 

 

 

 

I agree, but should we be too worried about mixing with other people again provided we keep to the social distancing rules? NZ has 102 active cases and probably only a very few undiagnosed ones. 

 

Dr Verrall is quite positive about NZ's situation and thinks it's safe for NZ to move to alert level 2.

 

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/416310/cabinet-weighs-the-evidence-for-new-zealand-s-shift-to-level-2

 

With a population of nearly 5,000,000 there must be a very small chance of catching covid-19 from an infectious person when you're walking in the park, even if there's a crowd there, like there was yesterday!

 

There might only be 1 chance in many thousands (perhaps 1 in 250,000 ??) of coming into contact with an infected person and even then you'd probably be unlucky to get infected (unless you were in a confined space like a bar). Dr Verrall talks about weddings and thinks the chances of being infected at such an event is low provided that strict social distancing rules and contact tracing procedures are followed.

 

 


nzkiwiman
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  #2481021 11-May-2020 11:29
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Assuming Level 2 comes in at the lowest limit in the next few days, I can tell you that I won't be going into any establishment that could possibly harm me - as much as I want to go and support my local pub and get a beer/roast meal again with my mates; and if I have to keep that up for 6/12/18 months, then so be it. 


  #2481028 11-May-2020 11:43
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freitasm:

 

"Doctors keep discovering new ways the coronavirus attacks the body"

 

 

Today, there is widespread recognition the novel coronavirus is far more unpredictable than a simple respiratory virus, one with the potential to attack from the brain to the toes. Many doctors are focused on treating the inflammatory reactions it triggers and its capacity to cause blood clots as they struggle to help their patients breathe.

 

More than four months of clinical experience across Asia, Europe and North America has shown the pathogen does much more than invade the lungs. “No one was expecting a disease that would not fit the pattern of pneumonia and respiratory illness,” said David Reich, a cardiac anesthesiologist and president of Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City.

 

It attacks the heart, weakening its muscles and disrupting its critical rhythm. It savages kidneys so badly some hospitals have run short of dialysis equipment. It crawls along the nervous system, destroying taste and smell and occasionally reaching the brain. It creates blood clots that can kill with sudden efficiency and inflames blood vessels throughout the body.

 

It can begin with a few symptoms or none at all, then days later, squeeze the air out of the lungs without warning. It picks on the elderly, people weakened by previous disease, and, disproportionately, the obese. It harms men more than women, but there are also signs it complicates pregnancies.

 

It mostly spares the young. Until it doesn’t: Last week, doctors warned of a rare inflammatory reaction with cardiac complications among children that may be connected to the virus. On Friday, New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo (D) announced 73 children had fallen severely ill in the state and a 5-year-old boy in New York City had become the first child to die of the syndrome. Two more children had succumbed as of Saturday.

 

That news has shaken many doctors, who felt they were finally grasping the full dimensions of the disease in adults. “We were all thinking this is a disease that kills old people, not kids,” Reich said.

 

Mount Sinai has treated five children with the condition. Reich said each started with gastrointestinal symptoms, which turned into inflammatory complications that caused very low blood pressure and expanded their blood vessels. This led to heart failure in the case of the first child who died.

 

 

 

 

 

This is why I am not a fan of herd immunity. If it was 'just a cold' I'd take one for the team, get sick and build up antibodies. But this disease really damages people, and as someone who has had heart problems I definitely don't want to take my chances with it. I'm only 40 but am worried what it would do to me.


frankv
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  #2481069 11-May-2020 12:21
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frednz:

With a population of nearly 5,000,000 there must be a very small chance of catching covid-19 from an infectious person when you're walking in the park, even if there's a crowd there, like there was yesterday!


There might only be 1 chance in many thousands (perhaps 1 in 250,000 ??) of coming into contact with an infected person and even then you'd probably be unlucky to get infected (unless you were in a confined space like a bar). Dr Verrall talks about weddings and thinks the chances of being infected at such an event is low provided that strict social distancing rules and contact tracing procedures are followed.




This link https://www.erinbromage.com/post/the-risks-know-them-avoid-them I posted a couple of days ago talks about aerosols and droplets and your chances of getting infected. Yes, very small from someone infectious walking past. Very large from spending extended time in the same room. (Read the case study of Bob, it's an eye-opener). Social distancing isn't much protection indoors. Contact tracing won't save you, but would save those you would have come into contact with.

DS248
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  #2481074 11-May-2020 12:26
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Gold standard?

 

As an illustration of what might actually be gold standard, the table below lists (some of the) published details for the last 30 cases in Hong Kong (not that they use the term 'gold standard').

 

 

 


Note: black text is published tabulated data, brown from more detailed case data, blue my calculations or linked from separate travel history sheet.
Data sourced from https://www.coronavirus.gov.hk/eng/index.html and various sub-links.

 

 

 

Points to note:

 

  • Every case hospitalised on confirmation of infection, whether symptomatic at the time or not.  The same applied for all preceding 1018 cases.  The only exception here being the last case, arrived HK yesterday, tested, confirmed and reported yesterday, still pending hospital admission at time of reporting yesterday. 
  • HK rules for discharge from hospital have recently been revised, requiring 10 days after symptom onset or a positive test result (with significant provisos - will post separately on this).  Meaning that even someone who is asymptomatic will spend at least 10 days in hospital. 
  • Net result - four deaths from 1048 cases in a jurisdiction that is an international air and commerce hub, a population of 7.5 m on a land area 0.0041 times the size of New Zealand and has a land border with mainland China.  Rate of local cases an order of magnitude lower than NZ.
  • 17 of the 30 were asymptomatic at time of testing
  • 27 of the 30 are classed as 'Imported'. 
  • Report date (published online) for 13/17 imported cases was either the same day or day after arrival in HK
  • Report date for two of the remaining four imported cases was the second day after arrival in HK. 
  • Two of the three cases not classified as imported had also been overseas recently but have been classified as 'Possibly Local' and 'Close contact of imported case', presumably because more than 14 days elapsed between arrival in HK and testing.  The second case was member of a family group (M61, F32 & F1) that returned from overseas.  The other two tested positive 14 & 12 days previously and had been classed as imported.  Hence the 'Close contact of imported case' classification for M61.
  • Going by the MOH case data, both HK cases not classified as imported would be classed as 'overseas travel' in NZ. That would leave just one local case out of 30 in the last ~22 days in HK. 
  • Based on data for all cases, HK only classifies a case as imported if arrival in HK was 14 days or less before 'Report date' (only one exception to that).

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