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Covid 19, novel corona virus. Split from off-grid thread


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We were split into three groups last week.  1/3 work from home, 1/3 from a disaster recovery site and 1/3 from the office.  I was in the latter group but now we've been told we can work from home as well.  Basically, doesn't change a lot for my job, on the whole I probably have better tools at home than the crap the office provides :)

Main gripe is that my garage is in another country so I can't even go there on weekends (despite there never being anyone around, it's almost perfectly isolated..) at least until they start opening up borders again. 

Talking of which, wasn't having control over borders something the UK was on about a few years ago?  How are all these un-sovereign EU states managing it? ;) 

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9 minutes ago, PeteStupps said:

 I think he'd be more cautious if he was an oldie! Probably mid-40s or thereabouts. Good idea though, I'll say 'sorry my hands are clammy from the sanitiser' ... haha

Recent Italian data now show deaths appearing in that age group.

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2 minutes ago, PeterC said:

Recent Italian data now show deaths appearing in that age group.

I don't think they ever weren't, that doctor in China was pretty young IIRC?  I think just the percentages are less (not zero though)..  I'm mid 40's and I've had 2 friends die from 'seasonal flu', so it happens.

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3 minutes ago, richy_rich said:

I don't think they ever weren't, that doctor in China was pretty young IIRC?  I think just the percentages are less (not zero though)..  I'm mid 40's and I've had 2 friends die from 'seasonal flu', so it happens.

Yes, an ophthalmologisr - he may have been coughed on at close quarters, and the bigger the initial lump of snot, the bigger the viral load ther is to swamp innate immmunity. D3 promotes innate immunity, and China has lowest mean D3 level on the planet.

Peter

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There is another factor - virus load.   If you get a lot more virus into you then it takes over quicker than your immune response can cope, and you get iller, quicker.   That may be a reson why Dr. Li Wenliang, who was only 34, died of Covid-19, before it was called that.

So medics, nurses, paramedics, all in the health service are very much in the firing line, and at the wrong end of the rifle.

John

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Yes, of course. But also, since the early days deaths have been reported across all age groups -  here's something from early Feb.

A 0.4% rate in 40 year olds is roughly 1 in 200 right?  It doesn't seem to me that being under 60 means that you're out of the woods, although I do believe (hope) that ultimately these rates will go down as more information becomes available.

Looking at the positive side, 85% of the highest risk group (80 year olds upwards) will survive too.  That's not great, but it's not insignificant either.  

g079d-covid-19-death-rates-by-age-group-1.thumb.png.1f7240a2fe86a0898b84077c91b6fc10.png

 

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An aside.    .

Collecting a prescription at the pharmacy today, I asked if they had any paracetamol left, just in case.

No, but they had "Paramol" ®,  paracetamol and codeine.   OK, might be a bit constipating, but anyway.

Certainly, Sir!  That will be £6.40.

I'm sorry, check that?  Paracetamol is usually about £0.60.  

No, that price is correct, Sir.   It's Paramol ®!

No idea if this was ramp[ant price gouging, or the usualy price, but I didn't buy any!

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Mad panic yesterday for everyone to evacuate workplaces round here, im pretty much remote working anyway these days so didn't affect me too much, however being a tech geek and semi technology hoarder i had most of my family round collecting monitors etc.

The stories coming out the NHS from the Mrs are bleak, and they don't even have "that many" patients yet.

The interesting facts coming out are that the amount of people hospitalised with the cold are down, there is next to no norovirus outbreak this year, and why? because people are washing their hands...

Amusingly teenage pregnancies are down (i predicted going up) apparently people are more interested in Netflix rather than the chill lol

Im not fussed about myself, i will get it, fairly certain of that with the Mrs in the heat of it, but i will be fine.

But im really concerned for my folks sanity and health being locked up for so long (even if they manage to avoid it), they've been self isolating for a week now and the timelines coming out are just unthinkable for them with bare minimum contact with others. Thankfully they have technology and most of the time know how to use it, i really feel for those who don't have people phoning them daily, dropping off stuff they are running out of on their doorsteps.

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47 minutes ago, mattius said:

The interesting facts coming out are that the amount of people hospitalised with the cold are down, there is next to no norovirus outbreak this year, and why? because people are washing their hands..

I wondered if that would be a noticeable side-effect! 

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Thanks to Peter and John above for clearing up something I'd wondered about ... whether the amount of initial exposure (virus load) made a difference to survival prospects. It was Dr. Li Wenliang case that made me wonder. Brave man.

I'm particularly worried for my daughter who works front line in a hospital. She's type 1 diabetic, on insulin. She had a patient in her bay at the weekend who was suspected of having it, but has now tested negative. Relief for the moment, but I fear it won't be long before she is exposed.  

I've been trying to keep my mind of things today by doing a basic service on the TR. Keeping busy helps.  

 

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Not sure that the hospital she works at got that message, Nick. They do know that she's diabetic. Perhaps their idea of front line and mine are different. She's not working with any known cases, but as I see it she's bound to come into contact with it at some point, but then I suspect most of us will. 

 

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Letter is new today I think.  There was a list of conditions, of which diabetes was just one, that were considered to put staff "at risk" in front-line positions (though of course all staff, especially those on the front line are at risk).  As you observe the definition of "front line" is problematic too.

Another story from a colleagues lady - a nurse in a respiratory ward.  Concerned that although they've all had special training for special masks..... they don't actually have any of the actual masks and are making do with the usual surgical masks.

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Las Vegas is totally shutdown.  All of Nevada actually.  All Casinos, bars and restaurants all shut for 30 days.  Las Vegas Strip is totally vacant.  I've never seen such a thing.

City of North Las Vegas (my employer) was shutdown Monday morning.  We were being sent home until some bright guy figured out that the sewage plant had to run nonstop LOL

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One thing I've wondered about is  how automated our utilities are. I can see gas, water, electric being able to run for a while without human input, but if something goes wrong and there's no human to fix it! I wonder if there's a remote chance that if enough people working in one of these utilities go down with the virus that there would be a loss of service. 

 

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44 minutes ago, TR5tar said:

One thing I've wondered about is  how automated our utilities are. I can see gas, water, electric being able to run for a while without human input, but if something goes wrong and there's no human to fix it! I wonder if there's a remote chance that if enough people working in one of these utilities go down with the virus that there would be a loss of service. 

 

My company is owned by an electricity utility, and we have been told several times today that, as per the Civil Contingencies Act, we (they) are required to continue providing services no matter what, more or less. It's surprising how labour-intensive the electricity network is, it doesn't run itself!

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Yes, I've wondered about utilities resilience - electricity particularly.

If the power goes off for any length of time there will be a lot of people with overstocked fridges and freezers, based on the current state of supermarket shelves, that will be in trouble.

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Dunno about the electric and gas folks but the water companies have been busy hacking their workforce size down for decades.  Things are much more automated than they were. It’s when things break..... but then many of the water companies don’t do much of their own repairs these days and outsource it instead. I think it’ll be ok - provided we don’t get any more extreme weather.

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My facility is extremely automated and runs unmanned for 15 hours a day.  Operator on call carries a laptop to monitor alarms and can control from home.  Maintenance however is a hands on experience.  They can control it from home overnight but still must sample and clean. during the day.  Solids MUST be dewatered and wasted EVERY day.  No slack at all.20 Million US gallons of pure water discharged every day.

 

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43 minutes ago, RogerH said:

Nobody has mentioned the Corona theme tune recorded in 1979 by The Knack - My Corona.

 

Roger

written by Peter Sarstedt ?

or was it the Mersebeats ?

It was a bit of a fluke for the group

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My offsider and Ihave been aquiring, configuring , and deploying laptops non stop since Thursday last week, so staff can work from home.

This is the next batch ready to go.

IMG_0173.jpg

Next step is quick user training, then we get to both keep the on site networks running, and remote support about 50 remote workers.  

Going to be interesting.

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The electricity in the UK is very much manual, the ageing nuclear fleet need a lot of maintenance. There are plans and resilience schemes in place, as critical infrastructure they have exception from any lockdowns.

There are still a lot more staff available than are needed.

That being said I packed my bags on Monday and left my office, as a permanent contractor I have no need to be there, so will avoid it as long as I can and for very good reasons.

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