The Daily Blog Open Mic – Wednesday – 29th April 2020

1. Heard on radionz – sisters come from Oz to see dying mother – have to go into isolation lock-down. They appealed – were supposed to have heard a day or so before now but still hamstrung. By 14 days Mum could be dead.

   FGS this is not the bubonic plague, it’s a very nasty flu!

   Get with it you Covid-19 committee – have two members who think of facilitating human relationships so it isn’t all stats, procedures, and scientific v economic arguments. Someone who can be given the job of establishing safe procedures for this type of thing. They are here let them be together in some separate unit. We couldn’t help the poor guy in lockdown in Peru who died alone and would have been in distress, but we can help some people and should be doing everything we can, here and now.

   Additionally FYI here’s some up to date info I got from Sweden’s stats on Covid-19.
   I put this on The Standard yesterday –
   This from Sweden’s PM – which sounds like typical right wing stuff, unwilling to take responsibility despite having all the stats and advisers that money can buy, or should:
   “We can’t legislate and ban everything. It’s also a question of common sense behaviour,” Stefan Löfven, the Prime Minister, said at the end of March, as Sweden laid out its recommendations.

   The bars and public places are crammed with people. [Not attempting to keep to social distancing.] They want to socialise and enjoy themselves not police themselves, and expect government to be making the necessary decisions for control. In the absence of government action, the young have confidence they will be okay.

   When looking at the death figures, they are noticeably higher in the 60 ups. Though the number of cases shown was highest in the 50-59 year group. Apparently they are young enough to throw it off.
   Swedish deaths Covid-19 – looking particularly at older age groups as at Apr.27/20: –

   Lower ages were in single figures.
   40-49 had 25 deaths
   50-59 had 78 deaths
   Much higher in age 60-69 with 180 deaths,
   70-79 with 526 deaths
   80-90 with 906 deaths
   In the 90 years and over the deaths were 546.
   https://www.statista.com/statistics/1107913/number-of-coronavirus-deaths-in-sweden-by-age-groups/

   The cases: considerable and growing larger with age in all the age groups after age 20.
   Numbers start growing in the 20-29 group at 1425 (5 deaths) similar in number to cases in
   the over 90s at 1,569 (546 deaths), so over 26%? (my maths) have died.

   Three decade groups – 40-49 years (25 deaths), 60-69 years (180 deaths), and 70-79 years (526 deaths), have similar numbers of cases – around the 2500s – with deaths rising sharply along with age.
   https://www.statista.com/statistics/1107905/number-of-coronavirus-cases-in-sweden-by-age-groups/

   So if I doubted the stress on age I don’t any longer, as the older you get the higher the rate of infection, and the higher the death rate in those who were reasonably healthy and could have expected to have longer lives.

2. Bobby says dont worry be happy along with robin willaims and someone else have forgotten?
   (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-diB65scQU

3. More exciting Covid-19 news which will have your riveted. Not.
   I presume this is a reliable rag. https://nypost.com/2020/04/27/coronavirus-related-inflammatory-syndrome-emerges-among-uk-children-report/
   “There is a growing concern that a [COVID-19]- related inflammatory syndrome is emerging in children in the UK, or that there may be another, as yet unidentified, infectious pathogen associated with these cases,” continues the letter, which was first obtained by the Health Service Journal.
   Those infected experience “overlapping features” of toxic syndrome and atypical Kawasaki disease — an illness that causes swelling and redness of the blood vessels — “with blood parameters consistent with severe COVID-19 in children,” according to the alert.
   Children with the condition have also experienced stomach pain, gastrointestinal symptoms and cardiac inflammation, the notification says.
   Some of the children have tested positive for COVID-19, and others appear to have had the virus in the past — though some have not.

   and
   https://www.peakprosperity.com/coronavirus-doctors-stunned-by-damage-seen-inside-the-body/
   from Adam Taggart Apr.28/20
   The Covid-19 virus “acts like no pathogen humanity has ever seen”
   Yes, it attacks the lungs most; but it also can do severe damage to the heart, blood vessels, kidneys, gut, skin and brain.
   Cardiologist Harlan Krumholz of Yale University says it “can attack almost anything in the body with devastating consequences. It’s ferocity is breathtaking and humbling”.

   We also now know it has two pathways for infection, the ACE2 receptor (which is found in organs throughout the body) and the CD147 receptor on T-cells (found in the immune system).
   The more we learn about covid-19, the more we realize what a formidable foe it is. This knowledge will eventually tell us how to contain and then beat it — but in the near term, it should keep us wary that the virus still likely has more surprises in store for us.

   This seems a good source of info. Does anyone know different? It may be worth joining.

4. I see the extreme short-term American media of all vistas. By which they don’t know anything. Could you put aside a sector to discuss the long-term? When there is no realistic long-term never has it been more necessary.

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