The Covid19 Thread

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santaman2000

M.A.B (Mad About Bushcraft)
Jan 15, 2011
16,909
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Florida
Yep, and if you ask a border security guard they will say they need more walls. That however was in the places near population. Trumps fiscal balance could do without building about 1000 of the 2000 miles that are so remote that they build tunnels under the actual fence already rather than driving around.
I vaguely remember an article recently about a rather long tunnel (several miles) that they discovered on the Mexico-California border that had been built and used by the drug cartels for quite some time.
 
Jul 30, 2012
3,570
224
westmidlands
Walls don't work.
The Chinese one didn't. Troy's didn't, Hadrian and Antonine's didn't, the Maginot line didn't either.
People just go round them, under them, finage ways through the gates, and the world moves on and the walls become architectural redundancies on the landscape.
On the whole they're a waste of resouces.

M
Berlin wall worked, caesars wall around verson getterix worked, but in both cases they where only as good as their guards and the brutality they dole out. Im sure tesla coils atop Trumps wall would be a deterrant.
 

Janne

Sent off - Not allowed to play
Feb 10, 2016
12,330
2,293
Grand Cayman, Norway, Sweden
Of course it varies in effectiveness, as they have to do a guess. But even with the lowest effective one, lives are saved.
It is easy when you are young to think ‘only the very old die, which is kind of natural’, but when you have reached those ages, you think differently!
 
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TLM

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Nov 16, 2019
3,092
1,624
Vantaa, Finland

Paul_B

Bushcrafter through and through
Jul 14, 2008
6,154
1,546
Cumbria
It worked well for ten years of war.
Unfortunately someone said oh look a wooden bobo let's take it inside
There's always someone with ideas to get around the strongest walls. Not to say they got listened to or plans implemented. The greater the drive to beat them the worse their chances of fully working.

Of course Trump's folly isn't about stopping drug cartels but Mexicans and those from further south. Walls might well work ok there, unless drug cartels use migrants and then who knows.

Completely off topic and getting political. I thought this site didn't get into politics.
 
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Paul_B

Bushcrafter through and through
Jul 14, 2008
6,154
1,546
Cumbria
Just for numbers: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

A few interesting ideas and facts too: https://vitamindwiki.com/COVID-19+Coronavirus+can+most+likely+be+fought+by+Vitamin+D

As I understand it D works well against Flu-A, at least I have not had one in 10 years after some 4 large doses. Why not in common use: one very good reason is that no one would make any money out of it in comparison to vaccines. I really don't know. Also not seen anybody debunk it.
I suspect I'm low in vitamin D but have never had flu. How do you know whether you'd have got flu without vit d? I mean you're sounding so definite about that bit aiui science isn't so definite. What do you know?

PS I'm taking a wide range supplement which is possibly a waste of money but placebo effect might kick in even if I know it's a waste of time. Powerful stuff is placebo effect!
 

Paul_B

Bushcrafter through and through
Jul 14, 2008
6,154
1,546
Cumbria
Read somewhere that masks are only good to stop a covid 19 carrier spreading it. Wear it if you get a bug just in case. Think it came from scientific or medical adviser to government.

The death rate is unknown because they don't know how many have had it. Put another way, there's believed to be a significant number of people who have it without realising they do. The symptoms are not strong enough.

There's so much they don't know about it. For example at one point they believed there was another transmission method believed to be through faecal matter. Flush your toilet with the lid up anyone? A study that I read about said that the typical bathroom has fecal matter everywhere, including your toothbrushes standing in their holders.

Alcohol gel? Good idea right? Have you read the label? Less than 60% alcohol like most supermarket products and it's useless. Hospitals I heard have 70% or higher alcohol content. Put simply you need some high strength polish vodka you can't get over here or dodgy American moonshine to kill it (an American ancestor apparently made a mint with moonshine during the prohibition era, love the weirdness of my American ancestry).

Should we worry? What good does worry do? Be positive, know the signs and follow medical expert advice in your corner of the world.

Iirc mers or SARS had people panicking then it fizzled out at 1. Something percent. Rough if that's you.

My only worry is if I had an underlying condition. I have mild asthma due up allergies. It's still unlikely to threaten my life based on what's been happening. I'm fit and healthy. I've never had flu and chances are if I hit covid19 I'll survive anyway. If not I'm dead and we all die sometime. In the meantime mass panic isn't my style.
 

TLM

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Nov 16, 2019
3,092
1,624
Vantaa, Finland
There idea is that "normal" amounts of vit D help generally on a lot things. When catching the flu one takes fairly large amounts for a short while, well it has worked for me and there seems to be some science behind it why it would work.

If placebo so powerful enough this time to beat down flu I don't mind.

Seems like only hand sanitizer with ethanol over 70% is tested on SARS and works. So the real thing is needed.
 

Nomad64

Full Member
Nov 21, 2015
1,072
593
UK
how seriously do we take influenza Chris ?

what do we do about it ?

In a past life, I was involved in a large multi-national company’s preparations for a potential bird flu pandemic which involved acquiring, stockpiling and distributing vaccines. This was not done for altruistic reasons, it was simply an attempt to provide investor confidence by demonstrating that the company’s global operations could function normally in the event of a pandemic.

As you can imagine, lots of p!ss taking and chicken jokes but when people realised that lists of “key” staff who would get the vaccine were being drawn up, the mood changed a bit, especially when some senior staff realised that they were not as “key” as they had thought! ;)

When it became known that if the excrement meets the aircon, those on the list would asked to nominate a maximum of three immediate family members who would receive the vaccine the mood changed from Schindler’s List to Sophie’s Choice.

It all came to nothing as whichever version of flu we were worried about at the time failed to get the traction it needed to become a pandemic but was an interesting insight into the kind of hard nosed strategic planning that will be going on right now and also human nature.

Those who think that flu viruses are all the same, that is just a bad cold and only old and frail people are at risk, should bear in mind next time the buy a poppy, that way more people (including a high percentage of fit, young ones) died from the Spanish flu pandemic in 1918-19 than died during the Great War and some of the upper estimates of flu deaths suggest that it matches the combined 100 million deaths in both World Wars.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...tenary-first-world-war?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Discussions on forums like this are unlikely to generate more light than heat but are probably representative of how the UK is thinking at the moment - apart from the sneaky forumites who are staying quiet and visiting their local Boots a dozen times a day wearing a variety of disguises to stockpile hand gel.

Anyway, I’ll finish my coffee and grab a pitchfork to make sure there are no preppers clutching their precious bug out bags trying to self-isolate in my woodpile, hay stores or in the poly tunnel. I’ll then spend the rest of the day checking the prices on the Bay of E to decide when to start bagging up the 2 litres of handgel that Mrs Nomad found in the barn into 1ml sachets.

FWIW I visited my mother last week. She is at very high risk, there is a rookery less than 50 yards from her house and there are definitely at least 19 Corvids nesting there. :)

Stay safe and sane! :)
 
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Toddy

Mod
Mod
Jan 21, 2005
38,937
4,570
S. Lanarkshire
Berlin wall worked, caesars wall around verson getterix worked, but in both cases they where only as good as their guards and the brutality they dole out. Im sure tesla coils atop Trumps wall would be a deterrant.

and neither worked for long in the scheme of things....and the brutality labelled them for generations of hatred and disgust and disdain.
 

Toddy

Mod
Mod
Jan 21, 2005
38,937
4,570
S. Lanarkshire
It worked well for ten years of war.
Unfortunately someone said oh look a wooden bobo let's take it inside

Not that well, all that too and fro-ing of people as the seasons waxed and waned. No way any city had ten years worth of food stashed away. Not to feed an army.
It's a good story though.
 

Broch

Life Member
Jan 18, 2009
7,981
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Mid Wales
www.mont-hmg.co.uk
It would be easy for us to self isolate and bar the doors - we live in the middle of nowhere. But, we collect the grandchildren from school one or twice a week - we don't stand a chance of keeping colds and flu away 'cos schools are a breeding ground for such things! Of course, we could decide not to collect them but that just puts a strain on other people's lives and I'm not prepared to be that selfish.
 

Toddy

Mod
Mod
Jan 21, 2005
38,937
4,570
S. Lanarkshire
Sorry Chris, but walls are germane. It's part of the wide ranging options of isolation.

The reality is that people are social animals, and being excluded from the company of others is, worldwide, considered a punishment....unless one fancies the hermitical life.

The overwhelming majority of people who do contract Covid 19 have very mild symptoms and do recover quickly.
That's the bit to focus on, that most people who catch it don't have any problems bar a few days illness.

That's true even among the elderly.

I think the best we can do is keep healthy, and try to keep a robust immune system while being very 'clean' in our interactions with others.
 

Craig-SM

Member
Nov 27, 2019
16
3
53
Leeds
This is just another virus spread from animal to human that is happening all the time as like any other virus it aims to keep replicating itself. As with all other viruses there is no magic cure other than humans developing antibodies to fight it, these are normally harvested from survivors and artificially reproduced to be administered as an injection into your bloodstream and kickstart your bodies defences against the virus for when you come into contact with it.
This is the modern way of fighting these viruses as before it would kill off or seriously incapacitate people until their body thought back. In the past you’d mix your kids with others already infected that would have measles etc so they’d get them earlier and the body would fight it off whilst it couldn’t do much damage like it does when older.
Isolating yourself and hoping it will die off doesn’t really work as it will still be there when you come out of isolation, your just delaying.
Coronavirus 19 is as delicate as any other virus but it’s resilience comes from the fatty layer that covers it and allows it to remain on surfaces for longer so it can continue to spread. The fatty layer is also its weakness as once removed its as fragile as any other virus so washing your hands thoroughly with lots of soap removes the fatty layer and it soon dies. Wearing masks isn’t beneficial as it isn’t airborne probably due to the heavier fatty layer. Putting on and removing a face mask is more likely to pass the virus close to a mucus surfaces were it can enter the body. You would also need to protect your eyes too as well as mouth and nose, again increasing the risk of spreading by putting these on and off unless you’ve got a sterile container to keep them in and sterilise your hands before opening.
Best method of minimising risk is to avoid large gatherings and keeping your hands clean with soap and hot water. Try as you might avoiding contact with hard surfaces that can spread the virus is near on impossible so keep hands clean and minimise contact with the face. Isolation helps prevent those infected from spreading it further
 

Tengu

Full Member
Jan 10, 2006
12,780
1,515
51
Wiltshire
Oh, that IS something to worry about...

Not walls or Troy (I am on Odyessus side anyway).

My Doctors not excited yet, and neither is my surgery.

My father is 83 this month...I doubt he will stop helping people and going to chapel.

So...Kismet.
 

Woody girl

Full Member
Mar 31, 2018
4,520
3,460
65
Exmoor
Uk has dropped the ball on this one big time. Italy is warning britain that it's realy bad and to get things in order fast. Government is still prevaricaring, and trying to tell everyone they have it all sorted. I don't believe them myself.
The NHS won't be able to cope..
They will no try to mitigate the number of deaths they can't afford it.
We will have a thousand cases within the next four days. Health system will collapse. It's all about money. Stock market will collapse big time. It's already wiped billions off of pensions and isa accounts.
Not being alarmist just facing facts.
We need to stay at home as much as possible. Not go to church or any gatherings. It's harsh I agree, but this is not a keep calm and carry on scenario. It's keep calm and prepare. Keep calm and protect yourself and others.
I've prepared a month ago and I'm calm. Don't understand why the government have left it so late to do anything. Or why the narrative is its not that bad yet so we don't need to do anything.
If your smoke alarm goes off you don't wait for things to get realy bad before you take action.
What does a cancelled football match or concert matter... money that's what!
 

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