Upstate NY Banter and General Discussion..

[tim123]

That's higher than 10 percent dfr. 

[wolfie09]

[wolfie09]

As the novel coronavirus sweeps across the world, some countries are finding themselves in a difficult situation.

Low on supplies or money, traditional American allies like Spain, Italy, France and Japan have had to turn to China for help.

"China creates the poison and sells the solution to it," foreign affairs expert Gordon Chang told Fox News.

China has used its money, medical equipment and teams of doctors and nurses in a high-stakes campaign to show the world that while the United States scrambles to contain the novel coronavirus within its borders, China is busy moving in on some of America's closest allies.

"Never let a good crisis go to waste," Dimitar Bechev, a senior fellow in the Atlantic Council's Eurasia Center, wrote. "There is no better illustration that the medical supplies and crews of doctors China has been supplying to Italy and other European countries battling COVID-19. Beijing does carry a large share of the blame for the global pandemic... but now it seeks to shape the narrative of the crisis unfolding before our eyes."

China has also been floating the idea that it has donated all of the medical supplies out of concern for the world. That's not the case, Chang said.

"A lot of the stuff that China claims has been donated has not been donated," he said. "It's been sold."

While China has come through for several countries but, in some, it has fallen short of expectations.

In Spain, for example, Health Minister Salvador Illa announced Wednesday that the country had bought $467 million in medical supplies from China, including 950 ventilators, 5.5 million testing kits, 11 million gloves and more than half a billion protective face masks.

Soon after receiving the supplies, the Spanish government announced plans to return 9,000 "quick result" test kits to China, El Pais reported, because they were deemed substandard, specifically the sensibility of the test was around 30 percent, when it should be higher than 80 percent.

China admitted that the kits they sold to Spain were bought from Bioeasy, a Chinese company not licensed to make them.

The time and money Spain wasted on faulty supplies could have devastating effects on a country that is now in its second week of a national lockdown after cases of COVID-19 spiked.

https://www.foxnews.com/world/china-money-coronavirus-spain-467-million-faulty-supplies

[tim123]

That country is so messed up. China. I am willing to bet that this is still raging in china and South Korea. And call me nuts I dont care. This was all intended. Man made and manipulated. 

[tim123]

Actually 712 deaths today in italy updated again. 

[vortmax]

Anyone have stats to show how many untested samples there are left? You can't take these numbers at face value unless you know how many real time new cases there are (vs backlog cases). 

[BuffaloWeather]

Mortality rate down to 4.51% today.

[BuffaloWeather]

Italy: fines up to 3000€ for anyone found outside their home without valid reason, up to 6 years of prison if caught lying, 5 years if positive & breaking quarantine

 

[DeltaT13]

The US slides into the number 1 slot. 
 

[wolfie09]

My anxiety symptoms are through the roof. 

Makes hard to differentiate between real and"fake"..

[Buckeyes_Suck]

https://www.foxnews.com/us/cuomo-closing-all-businesses-keeping-everyone-home-not-best-public-health-strategy 
There may be hope for Cuomo...

[wolfie09]

OSWEGO - The number of COVID-19 cases in Oswego County doubled, from four to eight, over the last 24 hours, according to county officials, who are urging residents to avoid public places and groups of people as much as possible.

Oswego County announced a fourth confirmed COVID-19 case Wednesday evening, and less than 24 hours later announced eight tests had come back positive. Statewide more than 37,250 cases of the novel coronavirus have been confirmed, with the number of deaths topping 380 in the state and 1,000 across the country.

[wolfie09]

(CNN)A woman purposely coughed on $35,000 worth of food at a Pennsylvania grocery store, police said. She likely faces criminal charges for coughing, one of the primary ways the novel coronavirus spreads.

 

The unnamed woman entered small grocery chain Gerrity's Supermarket in Hanover Township and started coughing on produce, bakery items, meat and other merchandise, chain co-owner Joe Fasula wrote on Facebook.

Staff quickly removed her from the store and called Hanover Township Police, who found her a few hours later and took her into custody, Police Chief Albert Walker told CNN.

 

[wolfie09]

The Department of Justice affirmed Wednesday that people who intentionally spread the novel coronavirus could be charged with terrorism.

Officials across the states are taking threats of spreading coronavirus seriously. Earlier this week, a New Jersey man who police said purposely coughed on a grocery store employee and said he had coronavirus was charged with making "terroristic threats." It was not clear whether the man had a lawyer, the state's attorney general said.

And in Missouri, a 26-year-old man was charged this week with making a terrorist threat after he was filmed in early March licking sticks of deodorant at a Walmart, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported. In a video, the man asks, "Who's scared of coronavirus?" the newspaper reported.

That man's attorney called the action "immature ... tasteless and impulsive" but said it happened before the World Health Organization declared the virus a pandemic, the Post-Dispatch reported. That declaration "should not work retroactively and convert a tasteless and impulsive act into a criminal terrorist threat," the lawyer told the paper.

According to a Justice Department memo, the virus meets the criteria for a "biological agent," and threatening to spread it or "use Covid-19 as a weapon against Americans" could constitute a terrorist threat

[Syrmax]

4 hours ago, tim123 said:

That country is so messed up. China. I am willing to bet that this is still raging in china and South Korea. And call me nuts I dont care. This was all intended. Man made and manipulated. 

China admitted, years ago, to understating H1N1 and SARS data.  That's public record.   They had some phoney baloney excuse but it goes hand in hand with their overstatement of economic data since, forever.  There were some slick videos circulating out of Wuhan showing a lot of local protest when the Hubei Province CCP leaders came to town basically to have a Mission Accomplished moment.  People were yelling "fake" and "F#ck You" out of their windows to the local head party hack that arrived.  They probably had a lot more cases overall but the mortality ratio makes some sense so they probably just undercounted both values.  

[Syrmax]

I'm rereading the nonfiction book "Flu" by Gina Kolata, a NY Times Science reporter.  Or she was back then.  The book is from 1999 or 2000, when i first read it.  Pretty much a recounting of the 1918 "Spanish Flu" and the scientists that first discovered it, along with other pandemic backgrounds.  Great read and not expensive on Amazon, like $10.  I'm just getting to the part about the 1976 Swine Flu fiasco.  Most of you don't remember it but I do.  And it goes a long way towards explaining why a lot of people have a certain amount of skepticism when it comes to an event like this.  

Another curiosity is the (H1N1)pdm09 (Swine flu) virus from 2009:  

CDC estimated that 151,700-575,400 people worldwide died from (H1N1)pdm09 virus infection during the first year the virus circulated.  It is estimated that 0.001 percent to 0.007 percent of the world’s population died of respiratory complications associated with (H1N1)pdm09 virus infection during the first 12 months the virus circulated. 

There were about 20K US deaths in the first year it circulated.  Much like covid-19, Seasonal flu vaccines were ineffective against the 2009 H1N1 and yet somehow there wasn't any panic.  Although covid-19 has a much higher R0 value, meaning higher transmissibility and it's thought to have a higher mortality, especially among elderly that get infected.  Though we are not comparing apples to apples between covid-19 and any other pandemic, yet.   So those are really the only differences between this and 2009, which frankly, I didn't even remember. 

Once this is over it will be interesting to gain some understanding on how this all developed and the global response.

[lakeeffectkid383]

Cases are beginning to skyrocket in Erie County and that’s even with extremely limited testing. Up to 221 cases and now up to 5 deaths. We were at 1 death in the county this morning. Buffalo Police Officer also in critical condition in a medically induced coma.County executive said today there were 31 hospitalizations when there were only 146 cases so we’re likely over 50 hospitalizations in Erie county. This is getting scary fast.

[BuffaloWeather]

[Syrmax]

This is a pretty cool read about an Anerican's experience in China during the Lockdown. Some of us can probably relate to this guy's feelings.  As bizarre as it is here, I can't imagine being in China.  

It's a bit long to read but what the hell else do we have to do?

[MJO812]

Hope everyone is staying safe. It's really bad down here in the city. 

I'm a NYC cop and we have about 3800 cops out sick and several in my precinct who tested positive.

[Syrmax]

32 minutes ago, MJO812 said:

Hope everyone is staying safe. It's really bad down here in the city. 

I'm a NYC cop and we have about 3800 cops out sick and several in my precinct who tested positive.

My father (WW II vet from the Bronx) used to say upstate was a good place to be in case of war.  Noone knows we're here. Turns out for pandemics, the same sort of applies...

[MJO812]

3 minutes ago, Syrmax said:

My father (WW II vet from the Bronx) used to say upstate was a good place to be in case of war.  Noone knows we're here. Turns out for pandemics, the same sort of applies...

I love upstate NY. I would move up there in a heartbeat.

I would move to the Oswego  area since I love snow .

[Syrmax]

No idea of the numbers involved but I've read where "a lot" of people from in and around the NYC metro area have been bagging ass out of there to parts unknown (FL and Carolinas assumedly) over the past two weeks. Almost reminds me of the Exodus out of Wuhan when the word apparently leaked out that Lockdown was imminent. There are estimates that up to 5 million Chinese fled Wuhan area right before they closed it off.

So much for containing the spread.  Again.

[Syrmax]

39 minutes ago, MJO812 said:

Hope everyone is staying safe. It's really bad down here in the city. 

I'm a NYC cop and we have about 3800 cops out sick and several in my precinct who tested positive.

Stay safe!  One of my cousins is a police officer in the Bronx. Walked a beat for a while. Although lately he was doing some plainclothes work cuz the last time I saw him  he looked like a homeless man.

[Syrmax]

Oh, the stories about the military and covid-19 problems (CVN-71 namely)...very believable talking to my son who is active duty Navy.  And it fits with my experience of how the military "handles" things.  Not good.  It'll be a Clusterf*ck, believe me...

[BuffaloWeather]

1 minute ago, Syrmax said:

Oh, the stories about the military and covid-19 problems (CVN-71 namely)...very believable talking to my son who is active duty Navy.  And it fits with my experience of how the military "handles" things.  Not good.  It'll be a Clusterf*ck, believe me...

I need more details. Is it going to get much worse? My company has been fantastic through this. I'm considered a "life sustaining" business so we're still open. However, only working 25 hours a week, and getting paid for 40. They also offer 1 week emergency PTO that doesn't count against you, 2 weeks quarantine PTO that doesn't count against you as well. I'm really happy with what they've done.

[BuffaloWeather]

Eric Kidwell

 

RIP Kious Kelly, RN

We rightfully honor our fallen soldiers who pass away in our service. So tonight, please spare a thought for Kious Kelly, RN a nurse manager who died last night in the "war" on COVID 19 in New York. He worked at a hospital where they don't have enough personal protective equipment, so they have been making their own gowns out of trash bags.

Then, if you would, spare a thought for how you would feel if one of our soldiers was killed because they made their own body armor out of cardboard because we didn't have enough when the enemy attacked.

And try to react with that same feeling for the people who failed them. Our nurses are the best of us. They deserve better.

[Syrmax]

Just now, BuffaloWeather said:

I need more details. Is it going to get much worse?

Likely yes. It's almost impossible to practice sufficient "social distancing" when underway. Here's a Link to what's publically available.

Remember, during the Spanish Flu pandemic, US Army training facilities were among the worst clusters of infections...and deaths, in the US.

[Syrmax]

2 minutes ago, BuffaloWeather said:

Eric Kidwell

 

RIP Kious Kelly, RN

We rightfully honor our fallen soldiers who pass away in our service. So tonight, please spare a thought for Kious Kelly, RN a nurse manager who died last night in the "war" on COVID 19 in New York. He worked at a hospital where they don't have enough personal protective equipment, so they have been making their own gowns out of trash bags.

Then, if you would, spare a thought for how you would feel if one of our soldiers was killed because they made their own body armor out of cardboard because we didn't have enough when the enemy attacked.

And try to react with that same feeling for the people who failed them. Our nurses are the best of us. They deserve better.

Damn. He wasn't some geezer with one foot already in the grave. R.I.P.

[MJO812]

11 minutes ago, Syrmax said:

Stay safe!  One of my cousins is a police officer in the Bronx. Walked a beat for a while. Although lately he was doing some plainclothes work cuz the last time I saw him  he looked like a homeless man.

Thanks. I also walked the beat for 3 years before I got  an office position.