News COVID-19 pandemic

[ADSWNJ]

That's a remarkable comment, you aren't confident in your national news agencies?

I grew up with names like NBC and CBS as news companies, admittedly as names on microphones!
Always thought of them as reliable sources.
The BBC has always had good reporting from North America, again it has accusations of bias against European reporting. With the now redundant Brexit topic, not a problem.

We are all global now, wonder how long it will last?

Not remarkable in the least. It's the reality of hyper-polarization of politics and media. One feeds on the other in an endless cycle, all chasing the click-baits. The media wants you terrified and addicted to the next 30 mins of adverts and eye-balls, regardless if the story is true, false, or simply made up. If orange man bad and 'Trump Lied, People Died' keeps 100k people on a channel, then they will pond it for all its worth, 24x7. If 'the media is all fake news but not us' excites you, then that exists 24x7 too. If you get excited by news leading with a fire in the 'hood or a cat stuck up a tree, well surprisingly large local affiliates of the big news channels will happy run the first 10 mins of the news on those things.

As a person born, raised, and lived to my early 40's in the UK, then for the past 13 years in the US, I have a world-view on political bias, the death of journalism, and on the quality of news casts. I miss the UK newspapers and news casts. Especially the Independent, the Times, News Night, Channel 4 news and the Beeb 9pm news. Here - take your pick of Fox News, CNN, NBC, ABC - it's all reasonably crappy, polarized, hyper-partisan, opinion/bias vs news, and hyper-localized too. In a 50 min Channel 4 news at 7pm (as I remember it), you would learn about things in at least 20 countries, with a bit of depth in the back-story. Cat up a tree, house burnt down? That's for 10 mins of local news after all the serious stuff. I kid you not - NBC News in New York will happily launch their flagship 11pm news with local stories like that. Rest of world? Um ... nope.

 

[Frilock]

 

[Keatah]

Out of this sorry sad, state of affairs, hopefully something positive, and noble will emerge from the selfishness and crap that is all over the place in society.

I think the selfishness and greed that put a damper on the slow responses. No one wanted to think about closing businesses and a slight profit loss. Or the major holidays even. Only after spring break did Florida close the beaches. Only after St. Patty's day did our state do a "lockdown". Only after Mardi Gras did they announce another lockdown.

They only closed when forced to. The virus did an end-runaround them and whacked'em hard.

Had they closed earlier we'd be over this dust-up much sooner.

 

[Notebook]

For ADSWNJ #621 above.

You have the advantage of living in both countries, my experience of US is a few tourists trips, watched little television.
The print news is still going, though not as popular as it was. The usual titles survive.
Used to read most of them, but I don't pass the newsagents any more, so not much these days.

I used to get annoyed with BBC NEWS channel. It should be a 24H rolling news service, and it used to be. Now its using movie reviews, breakfast style programming, technology programme, arts reviews as filler.
Foreign news coverage has dropped dramatically, but that might be expected in the circumstances.

I'd still trust the BBC(and ITV NEWS) to give an unbiased coverage of events. The fact they get accused of bias by all political parties shows they are doing something right!

 

[Sunhillow]

I'd still trust the BBC(and ITV NEWS) to give an unbiased coverage of events. The fact they get accused of bias by all political parties shows they are doing something right!

Just my thoughts! Here in Germany, BBC is somehow the prototype for a publically funded institution, being at the same time more or less independent from governmental influence. In Germany there is a Rundfunkrat (broadcasting council) consinsting of parties, unions, churches and other groups who has to take care for the contents. Of course this does always not work perfectly, but still very much better than if all control is in one hand.

I really hope BBC can stay what it is, despite Johnson trying to discipline them.

 

[Notebook]

The BBC can usually stand up for itself, in fact one of the prime tasks of the Director General is to tell the Government of the day to stop interfering. They've all tried it on.

Trouble is its a large monolithic institution and its usually under fire from other media who don't like its funding model, the Licence Fee.

Every household has to pay £150? a year if they own a television. Its always under pressure to lower it or go to a subscription model for funding.

Over 75's used to be exempt, but there's talk of scrapping that.

If the BBC does a good job of PSB over the next few months their critics might have to back off for a while. Licence fee will still be there of course...

 

[4throck]

I was able to get FreeSat for one year before they changed the satellite around 2012...
And I can say that the BBC is very good. Varied and informative content.
If I could, I'd pay 150 to still have it, not much different from paying for Netflix or other services. Unfortunately it's UK only...

Some good news for Covid here.
New cases are down to 7%, and growth has been decreasing for the last 4 days.
The early school closures and stay at seem to have home worked.
Let's hope it continues like this.

 

[C3PO]

Some good news here. Yesterday was the first day with zero new cases since march 11. The first positive test was confirmed on march 1'st, and the top of the curve was on march 16'th with 19 new positive tests.

The number of recoveries surpassed ongoing cases on april 2'nd. And best of all zero deaths so far.

We've tested almost 10% of the population, and screening for antibodies will start in a week or two.

... and AFAIK so far no shop has run out of toilet paper. Hand sanitizer and paper towels... well... not so much, but that's understandable.

 

[Fabri91]

[ame="https://twitter.com/Sandford_Police/status/1246125769539162113"]Sandford Police on Twitter: "All humans must keep indoors.
All humans will self isolate.
By order of the daleks.
#COVID19… "[/ame]

 

[Notebook]

Excellent.

We've just had The Queen on the Telly saying much the same, though she was more polite.

Edit:

Coronavirus: PM admitted to hospital over virus symptoms

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-52177125

Well, that's a bit of a surprise.

 

[Notebook]

Interesting, Queen is implying we are as good as any previous generation as long as we stick together and do what we are told.
Good luck with that!
Though she does have history...

 

[insanity]

As we in the United States start grappling with a week that we are told will be, "Our Pearl Harbor" I've reflected on leadership qualities in this pandemic. The Washington Post ran a really gut-wrenching read about the total failures of our Federal Government in the 70-day run-up to this point. The short of it is that this Administration was more interested in outcomes that made Trump feel better about himself than in outcomes that actually saved lives. Total failures in our stockpile, our testing, our containment, and our messaging have made an apolitical agent (a deadly virus) in to a political issue. It's gotten to the point where Republican citizens are taking social distancing less serious than Democratic ones.

Then, I look at my state. Over the weekend, California's Governor announced that we may have developed a fast antibody test. He also announced that he, himself, owns the failure of the state to deploy better testing and outlined the steps he was taking to correct. Things like building a consortium of states to bulk purchase and distribute PPE so that they don't have to bid against each other.

And I look at people like the Capt. Crozier, a career Navy officer who got sacked for sounding the alarm about the situation on his boat. A man who himself is now positive for COVID-19, demonstrated the quality we ask of our leaders: service before self.

So this week will be awful here. The death, the illness, the financial ruin. All of these stories are human beings with families and dreams and wishes that are forever changed. We cannot forget them. But at this moment, I am choosing to remember that even though we are being led by the worst person to ever hold the Presidency, the best among us still are doing their best. From leaders to those who work in healthcare, food service, government, and everyone else making it possible for the curve to be flattened. Those people are, ultimately, going to be our way out of this and I'm grateful for them.

 

[jedidia]

A man who himself is now positive for COVID-19, demonstrated the quality we ask of our leaders: service before self.

Never compare soldiers to politicians. All it does is make you want to vote soldiers into political offices, which unfortunately doesn't turn out too well either...

 

[Urwumpe]

Never compare soldiers to politicians. All it does is make you want to vote soldiers into political offices, which unfortunately doesn't turn out too well either...

Still, the "Service before self" isn't too bad. Maybe better defined as "Duty before Honor". Or as a German sports-influenced proverb says, badly translated: Compulsory exercise always comes before freestyle ("Vor der Kür kommt die Pflicht").


All politicians should first of all do the basic requirements of their job. The very core functions they are expected to serve to the public. And only then, when this all is satisfied, they should feel free to do the additional things to shine, do the things that are completely within their comfort zone. For example, maintaining the brand of your family after you did all that is expected from a president...

 

[Sunhillow]

SWR just reported British PM to be in intensive care

On BBC
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-52192604

I wish him good recovery!

 

[insanity]

Never compare soldiers to politicians. All it does is make you want to vote soldiers into political offices, which unfortunately doesn't turn out too well either...

Point taken, but was more thinking about the qualities of leaders, political and otherwise. What I was trying to get at is that there are a lot of people who are doing amazing work for the betterment of the communities they inhabit. Be it governors, soldiers, doctors, teachers, grocery store workers, or whomever else that is going into this situation clear-eyed about the reality but willing to do right at cost to themselves. People willing to take on responsibilities that others avoid.

It is really easy for me to just sit and focus on the rage I have for those who have failed or to just breakdown and cry as I see the deathcount go up. I want to make time for that, but I, at this moment, want to take time to recognize the amazing capacity our fellow humans can exhibit.

 

[N_Molson]

First of all I hope all Orbinauts are fine. I took a job as a philosophy & french teacher in Morocco this year and I'm pretty much stranded there. The Kingdom does its best, food supply and public order are well under control, and as a foreign resident I feel safe. Internet sort of works, well say like in the late 1990's. So we manage to give some work to our students online. Not perfect, but better than nothing. Its hard to get any reliable figures, as few people are tested and diagnosed. Police enforces the curfew quite "efficiently", and people stay-in-line. The crowded, polluted streets of Casablanca are suddenly empty and the air quality has drastically improved. But it sure looks weird, in Morocco people tend to live outside, spend time in the cafes, in the bazaars... Pretty much a ghost city. Ports and airports were closed early in the crisis, which was a difficult (thousands of French tourists - and workers like me - got stranded) but efficient decision.

My family in France is doing well so far, but all I can do is crossing my fingers really. Figures seem to tell that France is very near the "peak". Nursing homes report heavy casualties, in some places 75% of the residents passed away. I hope the worse is behind us.

My best wishes to the English Prime Minister, stay safe playing Orbiter at home !

 

[Linguofreak]

As we in the United States start grappling with a week that we are told will be, "Our Pearl Harbor" I've reflected on leadership qualities in this pandemic. The Washington Post ran a really gut-wrenching read about the total failures of our Federal Government in the 70-day run-up to this point. The short of it is that this Administration was more interested in outcomes that made Trump feel better about himself than in outcomes that actually saved lives. Total failures in our stockpile, our testing, our containment, and our messaging have made an apolitical agent (a deadly virus) in to a political issue. It's gotten to the point where Republican citizens are taking social distancing less serious than Democratic ones.

What's so special about this coming week? Yeah, the administration this up, but the critical point for that was a month or two ago. We seem to be just about at the point, as this week begins, of transitioning to sub-linear growth (though there will have to be a few more days like yesterday before I'm confident of that), which, given the numbers from China and South Korea would indicate that we're around 25% to 50% of our final case count. Any second peak due to future ups in the rollback of quarantines is probably a couple months away. Barring a dramatic uptick in the death rate due to the health system in NY being overwhelmed, I can't see anything happening this week that would make it "our Pearl Harbor" any more than Trump winning the 2016 Republican primary was. I can't rule it such an uptick, but I haven't seen anything indicating that this is the week for that to happen.

As for politicization and Republicans taking things less seriously than Democrats, a lot of the blame has to be cast on the media. Not so much for anything during the present crisis, but for the way that they've cast every Republican politician in the past few decades as if they had all the character flaws that Trump actually does. They've been crying wolf for years, and now that there *is* a wolf, Republicans have tuned them out. If the media claims that the sun will rise tomorrow, I'll be up before dawn to check. If they claim that the grass is green and the sky is blue, I take a look out the window to make sure, and there are a whole bunch of Republicans that won't check: they'll take the fact that the media claims the opposite as proof positive that the sun won't rise, and the grass is blue and the sky green. Trump could not have been elected without this, and once he was elected, a difference of opinion between him and the media on the issue automatically torpedoed the credibility of anyone the media was using as a source or agreeing with as far as the right is concerned.

 

[insanity]

What's so special about this coming week? Yeah, the administration this up, but the critical point for that was a month or two ago. We seem to be just about at the point, as this week begins, of transitioning to sub-linear growth (though there will have to be a few more days like yesterday before I'm confident of that), which, given the numbers from China and South Korea would indicate that we're around 25% to 50% of our final case count. Any second peak due to future ups in the rollback of quarantines is probably a couple months away. Barring a dramatic uptick in the death rate due to the health system in NY being overwhelmed, I can't see anything happening this week that would make it "our Pearl Harbor" any more than Trump winning the 2016 Republican primary was. I can't rule it such an uptick, but I haven't seen anything indicating that this is the week for that to happen.

As for politicization and Republicans taking things less seriously than Democrats, a lot of the blame has to be cast on the media. Not so much for anything during the present crisis, but for the way that they've cast every Republican politician in the past few decades as if they had all the character flaws that Trump actually does. They've been crying wolf for years, and now that there *is* a wolf, Republicans have tuned them out. If the media claims that the sun will rise tomorrow, I'll be up before dawn to check. If they claim that the grass is green and the sky is blue, I take a look out the window to make sure, and there are a whole bunch of Republicans that won't check: they'll take the fact that the media claims the opposite as proof positive that the sun won't rise, and the grass is blue and the sky green. Trump could not have been elected without this, and once he was elected, a difference of opinion between him and the media on the issue automatically torpedoed the credibility of anyone the media was using as a source or agreeing with as far as the right is concerned.

The IHME modelling says we are still narrowing in on peak resource usage https://covid19.healthdata.org/projections. The growth curve does appear to be hitting the logarithmic apex (https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/us/). What it looks like is that we are hitting a plateau. I think that's why the Surgeon General described it as, "Our Pearl Harbor". While we aren't in the most grim situation possible, we're still losing more than 1,000 people every day and will be for some time. We're still not at point where discharges are outpacing new cases so each day we're adding stress to the hospital system.

 

[Graham2001]

A debunking of a conspiracy claims about the virus