LemonMelon
More 5G Than Man
41,000 cases in France was by far the most disturbing figure I saw yesterday. We reported 4,300 cases in California yesterday, and our 40 million people is roughly 60% of France's total population.
27k new cases in the UK alone on Wednesday, unbelievable. Europe overall is pushing 100k a day.
At this point I think it’s fair to say the UK is more fucked than the US, as their next election isn’t until 2024 and Boris Johnson is completely uninterested in listening to his experts or giving an honest answer regarding his policies. Even in the highest of alert levels, which major cities such as Manchester and Liverpool are in, pubs are not required to close if they also serve meals. Meanwhile he is withholding support for these cities over a measly £5m in negotiation dispute and awarding lucrative tracing contracts to the usual old boy crowd.
At least Australia and New Zealand have things as under control as can be in the absence of a vaccine.
It was kind of obvious to me during the summer, based on conversations with friends in continental Europe, that the situation was not tenable. Basic social distancing norms were not respected, mask usage was down, summer holiday travel was quite frequent. It seems more like an issue with individual behavior than public policy (though obviously the latter should in principle affect the former), as most of these places have general nationwide strategies for lockdowns, etc.
It was kind of obvious to me during the summer, based on conversations with friends in continental Europe, that the situation was not tenable. Basic social distancing norms were not respected, mask usage was down, summer holiday travel was quite frequent. It seems more like an issue with individual behavior than public policy (though obviously the latter should in principle affect the former), as most of these places have general nationwide strategies for lockdowns, etc.
Everyone I know in Europe went on their usual 3-4 week vacation to x/y/z, went to restaurants, cafes, etc. Public transit rammed, allegedly masks were mandatory in a lot of places but there was little to no enforcement. The European vacation season sparked the flames. Also, many European nations, particularly the ones in Eastern Europe managed to keep their numbers of infected and deaths VERY low in the first wave. Some of them had really draconian quarantine rules, but they worked. In a lot of the western nations, certainly in many US states and in a number of Canadian provinces, our first wave outbreaks in long-term facilities were catastrophic, and many people who were absolutely the highest risk died. I heard an epidemiologist describe it very bluntly as the virus "picking off low hanging fruit" (and he apologized profusely for saying it in such a way). A lot of these European countries will likely go through that same process now unless they radically change their ways.
It was kind of obvious to me during the summer, based on conversations with friends in continental Europe, that the situation was not tenable. Basic social distancing norms were not respected, mask usage was down, summer holiday travel was quite frequent. It seems more like an issue with individual behavior than public policy (though obviously the latter should in principle affect the former), as most of these places have general nationwide strategies for lockdowns, etc.