2019 Novel Coronavirus Covid-19 Discussion

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#2432741 4-Mar-2020 19:12

frednz:

It's a very simple question, where can you buy face masks, I guess there must be hundreds of people who just want a sensible answer to this basic question.

Thats a better question. Shop-wise panic buyers bought them all. IIRC from last week, we have 18 million proper masks available for the health system. IIRC they wont be for the masses, they are for the health system, and if we have a problem, they will be needed there. Ss I mentioned, commentary here says they aren't that good for protection. Better then nothing though. You will still inhale bad droplets, but they would help reduce expelling bad droplets. But if that was the case you should not be out.

kingdragonfly

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#2432747 4-Mar-2020 19:29

Trump’s ignorance was on public display during coronavirus meeting with pharmaceutical execs

The president is pushing to get a Covid-19 vaccine before the election. It doesn’t work like that.

Vox By Aaron Rupar

... Dr. Anthony Fauci, the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, tried to explain to the president that it would be at least a year and probably closer to 18 months before a coronavirus vaccine could be available to the public. But Trump didn’t want to hear it, and kept pressing the executives to come up with something before November’s election.

“I mean, I like the sound of a couple months better, if I must be honest,” Trump said, seemingly oblivious to the fact that the “couple months” time frame execs mentioned merely referred to a vaccine being ready for trials.

Later, Trump pressed the pharmaceutical leaders on why they can’t just release the coronavirus drugs their companies are working on tomorrow — in the process revealing that he doesn’t understand the concept of clinical trials.

“So you have a medicine that’s already involved with the coronaviruses, and now you have to see if it’s specifically for this. You can know that tomorrow, can’t you?” he said.
...
Trump also wondered aloud why the flu vaccine can’t just be used for coronavirus, asking, “You take a solid flu vaccine, you don’t think that could have an impact, or much of an impact, on corona?”

“No,” one of the experts at the table replied.

Following the meeting, an unnamed administration source told CNN that they thought the scientists and experts were able to convince Trump that a vaccine would not be available for a year or longer.

“I think he’s got it now,” the source told CNN.

But if Trump does get it now, that wasn’t apparent during a political rally in Charlotte hours later, during which the president claimed pharmaceutical companies “are going to have vaccines I think relatively soon.”

He expressed surprise that tens of thousands of Americans die from the flu each year.

“When you lose 27,000 people [from the flu] a year — nobody knew that — I didn’t know that. Three, four weeks ago, I was sitting down, I said, ‘What do we lose with the regular flu?’ They said, ‘About 27,000 minimum. It goes up to 70, sometimes even 80, one year it went up to 100,000 people.’” (According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there have not been more than 51,000 flu-related deaths in the US over the past decade.)

“I said, ‘Nobody told me that. Nobody knows that.’ So I actually told the pharmaceutical companies, ‘You have to do a little bit better job on that vaccine,’” Trump continued.

"I told the pharmaceutical companies that they have to do a better job on that vaccine" -- Trump admits he just learned that the flu can be deadly and says he wants the pharmaceutical companies to do something about it

Then, following the rally, the White House released a statement not detailing new federal initiatives to help stop the spread of Covid-19, but highlighting tweets from Republicans praising the administration’s response.
...

heavenlywild

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#2432754 4-Mar-2020 19:46

Sorry, please excuse my ignorance. I've never come close to claiming anything on travel insurance.

However I have a trip planned in late April to Europe, not Italy thankfully. Because I'm taking a 14 month old, my GP has advised against travel due to my son's young age.

Is this something that could be claim-able? Taking preventative measures? I got my policy out in early January so I'm covered for Covid-19.

frednz

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#2432755 4-Mar-2020 19:50

frednz: Because some people are saying that the corona virus is a very serious threat and could take-off here, where can I buy a face mask in preparation for this possibility? I've tried several chemists, supermarkets, garden centers and hardware shops, but none of these have any in stock and they can't tell you when they will be available.

The Government keeps telling us how well prepared NZ is to deal with this virus, but if it's impossible for people to buy such a basic and important item as a face mask, then isn't it time something constructive was done about this situation?

@tdgeek Thanks for the comments you posted on this matter, but if anyone can tell me where thousands of people can buy face masks this would be appreciated. If the answer is that you simply can't buy one, then I think it's a reasonable question to ask what "authorities" are doing about this situation.

shk292

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#2432760 4-Mar-2020 20:06

heavenlywild: Sorry, please excuse my ignorance. I've never come close to claiming anything on travel insurance.

However I have a trip planned in late April to Europe, not Italy thankfully. Because I'm taking a 14 month old, my GP has advised against travel due to my son's young age.

Is this something that could be claim-able? Taking preventative measures? I got my policy out in early January so I'm covered for Covid-19.

I've just checked my (credit card provided) travel policy and it says this, which is not very encouraging:

.
Pandemic exclusion
This policy does not cover any liability, loss, cost or expense
arising out of, resulting from, caused or contributed to by influenza
or any other virus or disease that is declared to be an outbreak or
epidemic by the World Health Organisation, or any Government
or ruling body of a country in which the outbreak or epidemic
has occurred

There's also this exclusion:

(h) Your disinclination to travel, your personal wishes or the
disinclination to travel on the part of any other person upon
whom your travel depends

I don't have any travel planned, but it looks like a claim would be difficult with this policy. Hopefully yours is different!

Oblivian

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#2432768 4-Mar-2020 20:23

frednz:
@tdgeek Thanks for the comments you posted on this matter, but if anyone can tell me where thousands of people can buy face masks this would be appreciated. If the answer is that you simply can't buy one, then I think it's a reasonable question to ask what "authorities" are doing about this situation.

Authorities aren't doing much. Especially to provide the public. They have reserve stocks for medical use. Including eye shields. As on their own (as pointed out), of the shelf aren't total protective of reception.

Where to get them? Shops. Like most other things. Some still have some. Others have sold out by people panic buying early on and sending them overseas. But it's not really up to the authorities. The official WHO stance is they are not required. But provide how to use them should you be caring for someone who is a risk https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/advice-for-public/when-and-how-to-use-masks So there is no drive for all people to have them.

Their recommendation has not been ZOMG GOTO SHOPS AND BY ALL THE THINGS. But rather be vigilant in how you wash and cough. The same way they (authorities) aren't stocking the shops with hand sanitizer. It's personal choice to use.

Lego

Shop now for Lego sets and other gifts (affiliate link).

heavenlywild

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#2432770 4-Mar-2020 20:24

shk292:
heavenlywild: Sorry, please excuse my ignorance. I've never come close to claiming anything on travel insurance.

However I have a trip planned in late April to Europe, not Italy thankfully. Because I'm taking a 14 month old, my GP has advised against travel due to my son's young age.

Is this something that could be claim-able? Taking preventative measures? I got my policy out in early January so I'm covered for Covid-19.

I've just checked my (credit card provided) travel policy and it says this, which is not very encouraging:

.
Pandemic exclusion
This policy does not cover any liability, loss, cost or expense
arising out of, resulting from, caused or contributed to by influenza
or any other virus or disease that is declared to be an outbreak or
epidemic by the World Health Organisation, or any Government
or ruling body of a country in which the outbreak or epidemic
has occurred

There's also this exclusion:

(h) Your disinclination to travel, your personal wishes or the
disinclination to travel on the part of any other person upon
whom your travel depends

I don't have any travel planned, but it looks like a claim would be difficult with this policy. Hopefully yours is different!

Thankfully nothing about influenza. Regarding h), I see that in my policy. What if it is a Dr that says we shouldn't travel not based on an illness but the high risk to a young child?

Scott3

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#2432772 4-Mar-2020 20:40

frednz:
frednz: Because some people are saying that the corona virus is a very serious threat and could take-off here, where can I buy a face mask in preparation for this possibility? I've tried several chemists, supermarkets, garden centers and hardware shops, but none of these have any in stock and they can't tell you when they will be available.

The Government keeps telling us how well prepared NZ is to deal with this virus, but if it's impossible for people to buy such a basic and important item as a face mask, then isn't it time something constructive was done about this situation?

@tdgeek Thanks for the comments you posted on this matter, but if anyone can tell me where thousands of people can buy face masks this would be appreciated. If the answer is that you simply can't buy one, then I think it's a reasonable question to ask what "authorities" are doing about this situation.

The short answer is that P2 / N95 disposable masks are in extremely short supply globally, and have been for some months.

Basically, unless you get lucky, or are willing to pay really high prices on secondary markets (i.e. trademe), you are unlikely to get some.

That said, non-disposable respirators still seem widely available if you are willing to pay their cost. Also non-rated dust masks were widely available the last time I was in a hardware store (that was before NZ had any cases, so these may have been cleaned out...)

Note that you need to also use googles (unless you have a full face respirator).

If you are a tradie, Safety Blackwoods is restricting sale of masks to you to enable you to do your job safely.

Not much the authorities can do about this. A few months ago a story about China trying to buy 180m N95/P2 masks from turkey was in the media. This was more Turkeys annual production capacity, and despite the bulk of the worlds production capacity of masks being in china. At this stage Covid-19 had little coverage, but it became clear it was going to blow up in the months to come.

The good news is that NZ has 18m masks in our pandemic stockpile (9m of them p2 rated) for our medical staff to use. This compares pretty well with the 30m N95 masks in the USA stockpile...

Note that the NZ & USA authorities do not recommend the general public wear masks, unless they are showing symptoms.

Zeon

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#2432774 4-Mar-2020 20:43

heavenlywild: Sorry, please excuse my ignorance. I've never come close to claiming anything on travel insurance.

However I have a trip planned in late April to Europe, not Italy thankfully. Because I'm taking a 14 month old, my GP has advised against travel due to my son's young age.

Is this something that could be claim-able? Taking preventative measures? I got my policy out in early January so I'm covered for Covid-19.

Thankfully nothing about influenza. Regarding h), I see that in my policy. What if it is a Dr that says we shouldn't travel not based on an illness but the high risk to a young child?

I checked my insurance policy today and it has a clause that if you are advised by a doctor not to travel it won't cover you. However the doctor advised your son rather than you I suppose and it sounds unlikely that children get sick.

It would also be important whether the doctor wrote that note down somewhere which could then be used against you rather than just mnentioned to you.

Speedtest 2019-10-14

heavenlywild

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#2432781 4-Mar-2020 20:52

Zeon:

heavenlywild: Sorry, please excuse my ignorance. I've never come close to claiming anything on travel insurance.

However I have a trip planned in late April to Europe, not Italy thankfully. Because I'm taking a 14 month old, my GP has advised against travel due to my son's young age.

Is this something that could be claim-able? Taking preventative measures? I got my policy out in early January so I'm covered for Covid-19.

Thankfully nothing about influenza. Regarding h), I see that in my policy. What if it is a Dr that says we shouldn't travel not based on an illness but the high risk to a young child?

I checked my insurance policy today and it has a clause that if you are advised by a doctor not to travel it won't cover you. However the doctor advised your son rather than you I suppose and it sounds unlikely that children get sick.

It would also be important whether the doctor wrote that note down somewhere which could then be used against you rather than just mnentioned to you.

Which insurance company are you with? I'm with Cigna.

It says travelling against medical advice when you are medically unfit to travel, is excluded. Nothing else

Dratsab

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#2432823 4-Mar-2020 20:58

Scott3: The short answer is that P2 / N95 disposable masks are in extremely short supply globally, and have been for some months.

Basically, unless you get lucky, or are willing to pay really high prices on secondary markets (i.e. trademe), you are unlikely to get some.

There's a story come out of Thailand in the last few days about people raiding rubbish bags being taken away from hospitals, taking the used face masks, giving them a bit of a clean, repackaging them then selling them as 'new' on eBay style sites. Not so likely to be a problem here, but it's worth thinking about how much trust you should put into goods not being sold by through a 'reputable' source.

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Dratsab

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#2432824 4-Mar-2020 21:02

heavenlywild: Which insurance company are you with? I'm with Cigna.

It says travelling against medical advice when you are medically unfit to travel, is excluded. Nothing else

I'd highly recommend you call Cigna on 0800 900-047 and get the low down from the horses mouth, so to speak.

heavenlywild

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#2432826 4-Mar-2020 21:10

Dratsab:
heavenlywild: Which insurance company are you with? I'm with Cigna.

It says travelling against medical advice when you are medically unfit to travel, is excluded. Nothing else

I'd highly recommend you call Cigna on 0800 900-047 and get the low down from the horses mouth, so to speak.

They say nothing. Just put in a claim. It's a little annoying considering I have to make the cancellation and fork out the costs without knowing. I can understand their point of view but there should be some indication.

alexx

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#2432827 4-Mar-2020 21:12

Coronavirus: Chinese app WeChat censored virus content since 1 Jan
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-51732042

A report released by the University of Toronto's Citizen Lab on Tuesday looked into two Chinese social media platforms - WeChat and live-streaming site YY.

YY was found to have added 45 keywords to its blacklist on 31 December - which made references to the virus that was then unidentified.

These key words included the terms "Unknown Wuhan pneumonia" and "SARS outbreak in Wuhan".

WeChat was found to have censored 132 keyword combinations between 1 - 31 January. As the outbreak continued, WeChat censored 384 new keywords between 1 - 15 February.

#include <standard.disclaimer>

neb

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#2432842 4-Mar-2020 22:38

Neb's guide to finding the hand sanitiser section at the supermarket.

Step 1: Look for the shelves like this:

Step 2: Congratulations, you've found the hand sanitiser section.

Friend of mine, former medic, suggested that people would be better off stocking up on toilet paper given the rate at which they're s***ting themselves.

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