I am an neanderthal. My wife says so.

My Granddaughter 11 would correct the writers headline by saying Neanderthals weren’t so Tall.

kv

 

Excel: Why using Microsoft's tool caused Covid-19 results to be lost

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-54423988​

The problem is that PHE's own developers picked an old file format to do this - known as XLS.

As a consequence, each template could handle only about 65,000 rows of data rather than the one million-plus rows that Excel is actually capable of.

 

https://theconversation.com/is-the-k-number-the-new-r-number-what-you-need-to-know-140286

This is something that makes perfect sense to me - the spread of the infection is non linear and cannot be accurately accounted for by just the R number as talked about in daily updates. Meanwhile Ontario is apparently stopping contact tracing. The system is "overwhelmed"...

 

https://www.residentadvisor.net/news/72186

October 7th

• Scotland has banned the sale of alcohol in pubs, restaurants and bars for 16 days, the Guardian reports. First minister Nicola Sturgeon said the measures are a "short, sharp action to arrest a worrying increase in infection" as there have been 1,054 new reported cases of Covid-19 in Scotland in the last 24 hours.

• Berlin has imposed a new curfew on all bars and restaurants in the German capital. Those establishments must close between the hours of 11 PM and 6 AM, while petrol stations will be banned from selling alcohol during those hours. Four of the city's 12 districts have been declared high-risk zones, and Berlin mayor Michael Mueller said this latest action was necessary in order to prevent a full-on lockdown.

October 6th

• Scotland's Terminal V Festival, going down on Easter Weekend 2021, has announced its lineup including Ben UFO, Derrick Carter, Avalon Emerson, Honey Dijon, Richie Hawtin, Shanti Celeste, Lena Willikens and more. For the full lineup, check out the event listing.

October 5th

• All bars in Paris will close starting on Tuesday, October 6th, following a sharp rise in Covid-19 infections in people between 20-30 years of age. Establishments whose "main activity is serving food" will be allowed to stay open as long as they provide hand sanitizer at every table, limit groups to six and take the name and phone number of diners for contact tracing purposes. The Paris region has been declared on "maximum alert," which also brings temporary restrictions on gatherings, the purchase of alcohol and music in public places.

https://www.bbc.com/news/health-54417547

Covid is taking an emotional toll across Europe with rising levels of apathy among some populations, the World Health Organization is warning.

Survey data reveals the scale of this "pandemic fatigue", estimated to have reached over 60% in some cases.

Many people are feeling less motivated about following protective behaviours after living with disruption and uncertainty for months, says the WHO.

 

Listen to the scientists!

 

This is not satire!

 

This is not satire!

View attachment 218942

I thought that the entire state of California was a study in satire...

 

Listen to the scientists!

I'm leaning towards that approach to the pandemic now ... knowing what we know now... It'll be interesting to see if and how governments around the world implement the said proposed measures.

 

I thought that the entire state of California was a study in satire...

The worst part: they actually believe most of that which they proclaim. Talk about divorced from reality!

 

I'm leaning towards that approach to the pandemic now ... knowing what we know now... It'll be interesting to see if and how governments around the world implements the said proposed measures.

That would require giving up control. I'm thinking they like the power they've acquired.

 

 

https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/p...d-as-many-as-150-million-extreme-poor-by-2021

WASHINGTON, Oct. 7, 2020 — Global extreme poverty is expected to rise in 2020 for the first time in over 20 years as the disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic compounds the forces of conflict and climate change, which were already slowing poverty reduction progress, the World Bank said today.

The COVID-19 pandemic is estimated to push an additional 88 million to 115 million people into extreme poverty this year, with the total rising to as many as 150 million by 2021, depending on the severity of the economic contraction. Extreme poverty, defined as living on less than $1.90 a day, is likely to affect between 9.1% and 9.4% of the world’s population in 2020, according to the biennial Poverty and Shared Prosperity Report. This would represent a regression to the rate of 9.2% in 2017. Had the pandemic not convulsed the globe, the poverty rate was expected to drop to 7.9% in 2020.

 

Yes, near total isolation works too.

https://amedpost.com/new-zealand-stamps-out-the-virus-for-a-second-time/

The national border remains closed to almost all travelers except New Zealand citizens and permanent residents.

While residents said they were relieved, they did not expect an immediate return to normal life.

“People have stayed in their suburbs and supported their local restaurants, so where in the past I was in a really good spot, now not so much,” said Yael Shochat, who has run Ima Cuisine, a restaurant in downtown Auckland, for almost two decades.

“But the most important thing is we have eliminated the virus again, and that makes people confident to come out,” Ms. Shochat said. “I’m hoping that as Christmas comes, people will really want to go out and party — it’s been a horrible year.”

 

https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/p...d-as-many-as-150-million-extreme-poor-by-2021

Global extreme poverty is expected to rise in 2020 for the first time in over 20 years as the disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic compounds the forces of conflict and climate change...

I agree that "climate change" will impoverish a great many, but not in the way implied.

 

Yes, near total isolation works too.

https://amedpost.com/new-zealand-stamps-out-the-virus-for-a-second-time/

They're just setting themselves up for another hit.

 

They're just setting themselves up for another hit.

It will be a rinse and repeat cycle...

Research on population post Black Death shows that those who survived came out better - economically and physically. Our society is due for a collapse on many levels.

I have not heard any "leader" propose a viable way to go forward... Which is sad. As there seems to be no future?

2 days ago in my town yet another building burned down, 12 residential apt's are lost and 3 businesses. This is in a town with basically 0 vacancy rate. These fires seem to be a regular occurence and nothing gets rebuilt. But stockmarket is doing ok. Funny.

And I still dont know anyone with the "disease"

 

The median age of death among those classified as COVID-19 decedents in Minnesota is over 83.

The median age of death from all causes in Minnesota is about 79 to 79.5.

TIFWIW.

Note: Due to the current policies of this forum, I'm prevented from linking to the source data.

 

The median age of death among those classified as COVID-19 decedents in Minnesota is over 83.

The median age of death from all causes in Minnesota is about 79 to 79.5.

TIFWIW.

Note: Due to the current policies of this forum, I'm prevented from linking to the source data.

It's the same everywhere.

https://www.pnas.org/content/117/36/22035

What would a hypothetical 1 million US deaths in the COVID-19 epidemic mean for mortality of individuals at the population level? Life expectancy for 2020 would drop by 2.9 y. Those dying would lose an average of 11.7 y of expected remaining life, while for the general population the loss of remaining life would be 0.2 y for elders (at age 80) and much less at younger ages. Mortality per person would be less than that of the Spanish flu, but closer to that of the opioid and HIV/AIDS epidemics, while far more concentrated in time. The standard valuation of averting 1.75 million deaths would be many trillions of dollars.
...
A further contribution of this paper is to show that the age pattern of deaths, when appropriately adjusted, is quite similar across a wide range of countries and stages of the epidemic. Indeed, the increase in mortality by age from COVID-19 strongly resembles the age pattern of all-cause mortality. Whereas all-cause mortality tends to follow Gompertz’s law, increasing exponentially at a constant rate of about 10%/y of age, COVID-19 mortality increases at about 11%/y of age. There is some variation across populations, but this too seems to echo background mortality. The age profile of COVID-19 mortality may change over time, as treatment becomes more (or less) available. However, the age gradient we see to date suggests that the risk factors for COVID-19 are similar to those for all causes of death.

 

It's the same everywhere.
View attachment 219050
https://www.pnas.org/content/117/36/22035

From the same paper:

Our view is that COVID-19 should be seen as an extremely large mortality threat. By most measures, the threat of the current epidemic is smaller in scale than that of the Spanish flu, but COVID-19 mortality could in a matter of months be equal in overall magnitude to the decades-long HIV and opioid epidemics.

 

From the same paper:

True because COVID-19 is a risk with age as the major factor to the general population instead of mainly drug abuse and life style choices. The exact same thing could be said of seasonal flu being a large mortality threat.

When this first started the media was still on the flu track with most of us including health care professionals.
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-01-31/flu-coronavirus

While a new virus that originated in China has prompted Americans to wear masks on the subway and cancel international trips for fear of falling ill, a much deadlier killer already stalking the United States has been largely overshadowed: the flu.

Like the new coronavirus, influenza can spread from person to person through the air and cause a fever and cough. But unlike the coronavirus, which so far hasn’t led to any deaths in the U.S., influenza has killed approximately 10,000 Americans since October, according to federal data released Friday.

“Here in the U.S., this is what is killing us,” said UC Riverside epidemiologist Brandon Brown. “Why should we be afraid of something that has not killed people here in this country?”