Coronavirus

[Scott_M]

Another 717 deaths yesterday.

[Pureblood]

19 minutes ago, suzy said:

I’ve had a couple of really bad sleeps (not falling asleep til 3am!) because of watching news or reading up a lot just before bed.

I try to limit it now.

Backlit screens are really bad for sleep.  

[suzy]

5 minutes ago, TK421 said:

Backlit screens are really bad for sleep.  

Indeed and I have that thing on my phone that switches to night mode but doesn’t help if it makes your brain race!

[SasaS]

The fact UK is still testing only 14k and 10k people a day is a bigger scandal than PPE. That is a tested to positive ratio of barely above 2 today. They tested more than Italy early on, Italy is testing more than Germany now.

 

[DJLJ]

21 minutes ago, SasaS said:

The fact UK is still testing only 14k and 10k people a day is a bigger scandal than PPE. That is a tested to positive ratio of barely above 2 today. They tested more than Italy early on, Italy is testing more than Germany now.

 

Germany has spare capacity to test, so they are helping Ireland with their testing. Which is why you are now seeing an upshot in cases here. The UK should do the same until they have the capacity in-country.

[DJLJ]

WOW, imagine being some of these folks. Totally changed world when  they come back... https://apnews.com/82739c3cf06b8acc415b71fd3c950aa1

 

Quote

Blissful ignorance? Submariners likely unaware of pandemic

 

Blissful ignorance? Submariners likely unaware of pandemic

By JOHN LEICESTERMarch 30, 2020

 

 

1 of 3

FILE - In this July 13, 2007 file photo, French Marine officers wait atop "Le Vigilant" nuclear submarine at L'Ile Longue military base, near Brest, Brittany. Stealthily cruising the ocean deeps, deliberately hiding from the world now in turmoil, the crews of nuclear-armed submarines may be among the last pockets of people anywhere who are still blissfully unaware of how the coronavirus pandemic is turning life upside down. The new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms for most people, but for some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness or death. (AP Photo/Francois Mori, Pool, File)

LE PECQ, France (AP) — Of a world in coronavirus turmoil, they may know little or nothing.

Submariners stealthily cruising the ocean deeps, purposefully shielded from worldly worries to encourage undivided focus on their top-secret missions of nuclear deterrence, may be among the last pockets of people anywhere who are still blissfully unaware of how the pandemic is turning life upside down. 

Mariners aboard ballistic submarines are habitually spared bad news while underwater to avoid undermining their morale, say current and former officers who served aboard France’s nuclear-armed subs. So any crews that left port before the virus spread around the globe are likely being kept in the dark about the extent of the rapidly unfurling crisis by their commanders until their return, they say. 

“They won’t know,” said retired Adm. Dominique Salles, who commanded the French ballistic submarine squadron from 2003-2006. “The boys need to be completely available for their mission.”

Speaking exclusively to The Associated Press, Salles said he believes submariners will likely only be told of the pandemic as they head back to port, in the final two days of their mission.

“Those who are at sea don’t need this information,” said Salles, who also commanded the nuclear-armed French submarine “L’Inflexible.”

“The commander, I think, is doubtless informed about what is happening. I don’t think he’ll have all the details,” he said. 

The French navy won’t divulge what has or hasn’t been said to submarine crews. Nor will it say whether any of the four French ballistic submarines, laden with 16 missiles that each can carry six nuclear warheads, left harbor before France instituted a nationwide lockdown on March 17. 

“Because the deterrent is wrapped in a bubble of protection and confidentiality, it is impossible to know whether the crews are informed or not of this situation,” French navy spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Olivier Ribard said.

French submarine missions last 60 to 70 days, with about 110 crew members aboard. So a crew that left at the end of February wouldn’t be expected back before the end of April. In that case, they will return to a world changed by the pandemic. On March 1, France had just 130 confirmed COVID-19 cases and two deaths. In under a month, those numbers have surged past 2,600 dead and over 40,000 sickened.

 

 

For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. But for some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia, and death. 

Full Coverage: Virus Outbreak

For submariners, the return to land could be a shock. 

“They won’t have experienced the crisis as we did, with a bit of fear, the lockdown. So for them it will be quite a surprise. They will learn the history, but it will be a history that is related to them,” said a serving officer who was the doctor on the ballistic submarine “Le Triomphant” for four years. He spoke to the AP on condition that he be identified only by his first name and rank, in accordance with the rules of his branch of the French military. 

“All events that could affect or change the morale of the crew members are kept from them,” said the officer, Chief Doctor Gabriel. “Since there is no internet, no radio and no television on board, the only news you get comes from messages received by the commander, and the commander filters the messages to not give all of the information to everyone.” 

The doctor was underwater in 2012 when an Islamic extremist killed three French paratroopers and later killed a rabbi, his two young sons and grabbed an 8-year-old girl and shot her in the head. Only later did the officer learn of the attacks, “so when people talk to me about it, I find it impossible to imagine,” he said.

“The only place where you are really cut off from all information is underwater, because even on a vessel in space there is still the radio, television, the internet,” he said.

When bombings hit Madrid in 2004, Salles didn’t inform submariners who were at sea for the ballistic flotilla that was then under his command. 

Salles said the situation now will be toughest for any crews that leave harbor in the weeks ahead, because they’ll know they are leaving loved ones in the midst of the pandemic and, possibly, still living in lockdown. The French government has already extended its stay-home orders once, to April 15, and said it could do so again. 

Salles said he believes those crews will get regular coronavirus updates, but won’t be told of any family deaths until they are returning to the l’Ile Longue submarine base near Brest in Brittany. 

Salles was at sea in a sub when his father died. The news was kept from him until he had finished his 60-day mission. 

“No matter how serious an event is, there is nothing a submariner can do about it. And since he cannot do anything, better that he know nothing,” Salles said. “They know that they won’t know and accept it. It’s part of our deal.”

 

[SasaS]

5 minutes ago, DJLJ said:

Germany has spare capacity to test, so they are helping Ireland with their testing. Which is why you are now seeing an upshot in cases here. The UK should do the same until they have the capacity in-country.

They should help France first. Come on, Germany.

[Nunavut Patrick]

6 hours ago, skaro said:

 

Washed down with a lime-infused Bud, NP?

 

 

Haha, been watching the beer consumption. I get a local microbrewery to deliver 16 cans every two-three weeks but yesterday had to go the local store (you can only buy beer in hotels or government run liquor stores here) and they are having supply issues. No European lagers except 1664 and a few cans of Lech and DAB. Most domestic brands as well were depleted.

 

The local craft breweries are keeping up though.

 

Troubling times indeed.

[SasaS]

14 minutes ago, Nunavut Patrick said:

Haha, been watching the beer consumption. I get a local microbrewery to deliver 16 cans every two-three weeks but yesterday had to go the local store (you can only buy beer in hotels or government run liquor stores here) and they are having supply issues. No European lagers except 1664 and a few cans of Lech and DAB. Most domestic brands as well were depleted.

 

The local craft breweries are keeping up though.

 

Troubling times indeed.

Oh, the humanity!

[Red Phoenix]

I think we should cut Eamonn Holmes some slack. Icke's probably just bet him 20 quid or so that he wouldn't dare give a shout out to the 5G conspiracy and he's gone along with it. I'd give him credit but he's a manc so fuck that.

 

And then there's this :

 

 

So when you factor in banana bread along with the 20 quid bet I'd guess his head was always going to be a bit scrambled.

 

Now Icke needs to try and get a BBC and Channel 4 show in on this too. Then we hit Sky and start the revolution before Ofcom shuts it all down, the miserable bastards.

[Josef Svejk]

Any chance of a community death count? Or are we still pretending almost everyone dies in hospital?

[Josef Svejk]

Raab just brushed off that question. In his usual incoherent fashion.

[Rico1304]

Gary Neville saying clubs shouldn’t be allowed to buy players in the transfer window if they furlough staff and take government assistance. Can’t disagree really.  

[Sugar Ape]

Some scary stuff in this article. 
 

https://www.latimes.com/science/story/2020-04-10/coronavirus-infection-can-do-lasting-damage-to-the-heart-liver

[Pureblood]

8 minutes ago, Josef Svejk said:

Raab just brushed off that question. In his usual incoherent fashion.

I found a theme tune they can use.

 

 

[SasaS]

2 minutes ago, Sugar Ape said:

Some scary stuff in this article. 
 

https://www.latimes.com/science/story/2020-04-10/coronavirus-infection-can-do-lasting-damage-to-the-heart-liver

I am putting my hopes on this paragraph.

 

"There are no long-term survivors of this wholly new disease: Even its first victims in China are little more than three months removed from their ordeal. And physicians have been too busy treating the acutely ill to closely monitor the progress of the roughly 370,000 people worldwide known to have recovered from COVID-19 "

 

[Sugar Ape]

 

[Lario]

The plan is working guys and gals. Raab said so!

 

So be done with your worrying. It’s all part of the plan.  
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Me bollix. 

[SasaS]

Second lowest number of new cases in a month or since March 13 in Italy today, both first and second lowest in the last seven days.

[polymerpunkah]

Care homes are turning out some horror stories here in Canada as well.

 

Multiple deaths, sky-rocketing infection rates, even virtual abandonment of those in care in some cases.

 

There will be a reckoning.

 

 

[TheHowieLama]

12 minutes ago, SasaS said:

Second lowest number of new cases in a month or since March 13 in Italy today, both first and second lowest in the last seven days.

Yea but higher deaths today than yesterday

[Josef Svejk]

My elderly aunt is seriously ill and was tested in a care home in Dublin yesterday. Doesn't look good, from the little information we have. And if it's not good for her, it won't be good for the other 40+ residents or the staff...

[Anubis]

Hope it’s better than you fear Josef, and all come out well.

[Scott_M]

 

 

 

[johnsusername]

God this is awful. So many stories of people dying alone. Knowing you're going in and there's a decent chance you'll be leaving in a plastic bag. 

 

Still, just flu, innit. 

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-52269095/coronavirus-john-was-alone-for-a-week