The clock is ticking. There is no more time for arguements
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-03-25/countries-should-stop-wasting-time-and-fight-virus-who-says
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Drastic measures being taken far too late
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You donāt get a shortage of ICUs just by fear. Your argument would have weight if there would be an influx of mild cases that would need to be sent home again with minimal treatment. But that doesnāt break your intensive care capacity, you donāt get a shortage of respiratory units, and you donāt get doctors working around the clock and in some cases having to decide to let patients die because another case with a better chance of survival gets to be hooked up to the equipment.
And all that stuff has been happening in Italy, and it would be foolish not to heed that warning.
Unless you think all of that is fake news, of course, but then we donāt have to talk about the pandemic at all, but rather about your perception of reality.
Iām not saying the news are doing a bang-up job. They rarely are these days. The sensationalism definitely increases panic in one part of the population, which in turn increases resistance to effective measures, as can be seen from your reaction. But if you filter all that out, whatās left is still pretty concerning.
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First person in SA to be charged with attempted murder for knowingly and willingly spreading the virus after refusing/skipping quarantine
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Meh, thatās a bit of a sledgehammer approach. I doubt you can make that stick if a decent lawyer is involved, and donāt think you should be able to (the precedent would be a bit troublesome, honestly). They should charge criminal negligence, thatās a clear-cut case.
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I know this is HIV, not Covid19 - but the principle is the same. The guy was deliberately infecting others. He was jailed for 12 years, clever lawyers notwithstanding. And quite right, too.
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There is a bit of a difference here, because in the case of HIV, ādeliberately infectingā is easier to prove, since it requires a specific, deliberate act, and an intent to kill can be extrapolated from that by the desease having a mortality rate of nearly 100%. In the case of covid, which is transmitted passively and not nearly as lethal, an intent to kill is harder to prove, and is probably misplacedā¦ I mean, I donāt know the guy, but I would expect him to just not give a damn, not to intentionally want to kill people.
In any case, Iām no lawyer, far from it, it just seems like interpeting the intention to kill somebody into the mans action is stretching it a bit.
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Hi in the case here in SA, the article suggests the charge could be reviewed, I interpret it as more of a message to the public to reinforce bahaviour and scare people into thinking about what they doing, and think the charge would be changed/dropped eventually.
However SA government has explicitly put in new regulations and addendums to existing laws for the covid fines, imprisonment etc for contravention of regulations, this falls into that category ie in this country [SA] it is the Law - that if diagnosed and you do not self isolate and then go into public/mix with people it will be considered a willfull act.
But yeah all kinds of changes to our world, how we live in and how we interact with our fellow humanity, the world is going to be forever changed by this eventā¦some for betterā¦and some for worse.
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CNBC: Jobless claims soar past 3 million to record high.
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This is what a pandemic looks like ā and itās not even at a world peak yet. The U.S had 25,519 new confirmed cases just since yesterday! The added 376 deaths yesterday are neither positive nor ānothing to worry about.ā
[data from CDC as well as WHO and others ā you know ā people who actually know what they are talking about!]
The total U.S. confirmed cases (79,313) is now just below China and Italy. And the US is not expected to peak until May - July (low preventive actions means latest date)
People (including political leaders at all levels) who fail to heed medical and epidemiological experts can cause the pandemic to last much longer. Much longer also means greater harm to world economies and to businesses of all sizes as well as average workers and consumers.
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Just started drive thru testing in my home state so the cases have doubled in a few days. Saw my first mask wearers today on my way to drop off supplies at my momās. Saw the tent with the suited up nursesā¦surreal.
Hang in there everyone!
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For most of my early life, in the nineteen fifties, sixties and seventies, I worried that we would be wiped out in a nuclear war.
I never once imagined that we might live through, and maybe die in, a plague. We have science. We have medicine. Global epidemic disease was just too medieval to be seriously contemplated.
As you say, itās surreal. I feel as if Iām living in a movie.
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Bill Gates quote:
āIt is really tragic that the economic effects of this are very dramatic,ā Gates said. āNothing like this has ever happened to the economy in our lifetimes.
āBut money, you know bringing the economy back and doing money, thatās more of a reversible thing than bringing people back to life. [emphasis mine] And so weāre going to take the pain in the economic dimension ā huge pain ā in order to minimize the pain in the disease and death dimension.ā
source: Internation Business Times
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On first day of national stay at home lockdown here in South Africa
and
Known positive cases tested close to 1000 now
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Our Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, and the Health Secretary, Matt Hancock, have both tested positive for coronavirus, and are self-isolating. Both are said to be experiencing mild symptoms. At the moment, it seems theyāre running the country via video link.
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@kliktrak, Tracer Teams. I would think that has the ring of a good sci-fi story, except, well, this is not fiction.
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Watch to understand
What is a ventilator and why is there a shortage?ā¦: What is a ventilator and why is there a shortage? (Coronavirus) - YouTube
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Homes are being broken into and food being stolen in areas near me. This is getting scary.
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A person within a few miles of us reported a break-in while she was at home!!!
Criminals likely will get bolder and possibly more aggressive since their normal methods donāt apply while people are at home.
Iām not looking forward to that semi-apocalypse scenario.
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