[srishiva]

Originally Posted by Gansan

^^Not treatment facilities, but I was wondering if they have a different strain of the virus perhaps. Any doctors in the forum please comment.

Wasn't that the excuse Gujarat used some days ago ? It was made even before they tested if there really was a different strain. I dont think they proved that.

Not testing family members until they show symptoms is not good. It could be a little late if they do it after they get symptoms and also might spread more. Are they in quarantine at least ?

In Davanagere, Karnataka, they tested close to 300 people through contact tracing when they got 2 positive cases last week. That should be the way to go.

[ninjatalli]

Originally Posted by Gansan

^^Not treatment facilities, but I was wondering if they have a different strain of the virus perhaps. Any doctors in the forum please comment.

IMO it is way too early to start figuring out trends and reasons for the situation on ground to be honest. So take the following points with a pinch of salt.

But looking at the global picture a few similar reasons take precedence - with higher concentrated infection numbers (and even just assuming a moderate 10-15% of serious cases among the infections), the strain on the hospitals in that zone/city itself leads to a lot of deaths; which in principle could have been much reduced if the absolute numbers were much less.

Be it Lombardy in Italy, or Queens & Brooklyn in New York, or similar affected areas in other countries, they all paint a similar picture - deaths as a % of infection are much much more in those areas as compared to the other nearby zones, sometimes even within the same city.

I'm going out on a limb, but my guess would be the same for the top three states - MH, GJ and MP; the deaths would be highly concentrated within specific cities and maybe even specific zones within those cities. Wrt cities, it's obvious: MH - Mumbai, Pune / GJ - AHD, Surat / MP - Indore, Ujjain; and if one looks further within the city, probably there'll be a few specific city zones that will have the lion's share of deaths. For e.g. southern and middle wards of Mumbai.

Just today I saw a clip of NBC news crew at one of the most critical hospitals in Lombardy; they found that while new (serious/critical) infections had reduced drastically, the hospital's 'success' ratio in recoveries/deaths had improved by a significant amount as now the number of corona patients were around 15% of total patients compared to ~80% a month ago.

[Miyata]

Vivekanada had put this thought out on having "the intellect of Shankara and the heart of Buddha!"

My apologies for putting something here that may come across as being not too secular; but if one could just look past their religious affiliations, it is among the most potent of thoughts - A mighty sharp intellect coupled with the most compassionate of hearts is what one may need to address such situations - something we grossly lack.

The fallen state of experts - How can governments learn from their expert failings?

Epidemiologists tell us that if we do not hide in our houses with the door securely locked, hundreds of thousands will surely perish. Economists tell us that if we do not return immediately to work, civilisation will collapse. Good luck figuring out which expert has the better advice

...

Time will tell whether we needed the relatively strong lockdown we got, whether the Swedish model was better (maybe, maybe not), and so on. I would not pretend to judge at this relatively early moment. Whatever the best path might have been, we should beware experts with lousy incentives. If experts are people who respond to their incentives just like non-experts, then we may need to rethink how we use experts in the political system.

...

if you give some humans the monopoly power to choose for other humans, you have created some dangerous incentives. The rule of experts gives you the highest chance of expert failure. We should value expertise, but fear expert power. Whenever possible, then, we should do away with the rule of experts by empowering the people. Let each person choose for themself, and let the experts compete with each other to provide advice.

That’s a call for ramping down the power of government bureaucrats and ramping up personal freedom.

These are things that we've all known all along and have also expressed in different words on this very forum. The words also finds resonance in the following words expressed by the author -

That report seems to have considered only one danger: Covid. The one-sided analysis of that report may have left governments in the US and UK insensitive to the possibility that that lockdown itself might create its own fatalities, which might even end up larger than the number of Covid deaths. As economists never tire of reminding us, we are always facing tradeoffs and must adjust along all margins.

[INJAXN]

Day before y'day, i.e on May 8th, an Ambulance came in our area and turned into a lane where my uncle lives. Ambulance stopped after five houses. There lived a family of 4 ( 2 adults, 1 13 yr old kid and 1 elderly 65+ yrs).

Initially my cousin ( My uncle's son, who was watching from his balcony) thought that Ambulance might have come for the elderly, but it turned out that, it came for his son, who is suffering from high fever from past 2 days and is a suspect for COVID-19.

He was taken to the hospital, report came after a day and he was +ve. Their house was marked and other family members were told that, they will also be tested.

Samples of every member of the family was taken and their report came today. unfortunately wife and 13 yr old kid were tested positive for the covid-19. Now the authorities ( no idea who they were) told my cousin and others who were watching from their houses, that every one in the lane will now be tested. They will also give some immunity booster medicine ( some sort of churan).

Within half an hour, they also locked the whole lane. attaching pics of one end.

This news is from Indore.

[msdivy]

Shanghai Disneyland Reopens Monday May 11 - “Sold Out Well In Advance”

After a three-month hiatus, the Walt Disney Company's largest Magic Kingdom in Asia is back in business.

The Shanghai Disney Resort threw open its doors Monday -- albeit with strict social distancing and public safety measures in place.

Tickets for the earliest days of Shanghai Disneyland’s re-opening sold out rapidly on Friday.

Need to be closely monitored. This could be footprint on how to get the entertainment business back on heels.

[bluevolt]

Originally Posted by INJAXN

Within half an hour, they also locked the whole lane. attaching pics of one end.

This news is from Indore.

IMO, to protect and respect privacy, you should not attach any pics of the locality.

[AZT]

Men have high levels of enzyme key to COVID-19 infection, study finds

LONDON (Reuters) - Men’s blood has higher levels than women’s of a key enzyme used by the new coronavirus to infect cells, the results of a big European study showed on Monday — a finding which may help explain why men are more vulnerable to infection with COVID-19.

Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) is found in the heart, kidneys and other organs. In COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus, it is thought to play a role in how the infection progresses into the lungs.

The study, published in the European Heart Journal, also found that widely-prescribed drugs called ACE inhibitors or angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) did not lead to higher ACE2 concentrations and should therefore not increase the COVID-19 risk for people taking them.

Read More: https://in.reuters.com/article/healt...-idINKBN22N093

[Eddy]

Originally Posted by bluevolt

IMO, to protect and respect privacy, you should not attach any pics of the locality.

The details about containment zones are very precise and public e.g. Gali # XYZ in Block ABC. So no harm done IMO.

[roy_libran]

Originally Posted by AZT

Men have high levels of enzyme key to COVID-19 infection, study finds
Read More: https://in.reuters.com/article/healt...-idINKBN22N093

On a lighter note - perfect Gender role reversal opportunity!

Let Men sit at home and pursue their hobbies and send the Women out to earn bread. It'd be sad to see humans waste this Godsend.

[srishiva]

Little bit OT but comes to fore with the drastic condition of poor people. With the migration of workers to mostly states in north and east, the central govt should take a stand in developing these as manufacturing bases. With some manufacturing wanting to shift from China, its a opportunity that needs to be addressed in the right way.

These states should be promoted from the central level instead of again favouring Western states. Southern states do their own bidding but hope with strong central support, the less developed states should use this to improve the livelihood of their people.

[Miyata]

Originally Posted by roy_libran

[u]Let Men sit at home and pursue their hobbies and send the Women out to earn bread. It'd be sad to see humans waste this Godsend.

The world might just become whole lot better to live in if that were to happen!

Countries led by women have fared better against coronavirus. Why?

...people around the world are also standing up and taking notice of those who demonstrated exemplary leadership and were met with successful results.

...among the countries which have done a better job of handling this pandemic and the spillover effects that it has had, women are disproportionately represented to a rather startling degree.

To the illustrious names in the article above, one more name that can be added - K.K.Shailaja - the Kerala Health Minister.

[sunilch]

Originally Posted by srishiva

Little bit OT but comes to fore with the drastic condition of poor people. With the migration of workers to mostly states in north and east, the central govt should take a stand in developing these as manufacturing bases. With some manufacturing wanting to shift from China, its a opportunity that needs to be addressed in the right way.

These states should be promoted from the central level instead of again favouring Western states. Southern states do their own bidding but hope with strong central support, the less developed states should use this to improve the livelihood of their people.

It never works like that. It has never worked like that. All the development that you have seen in Western and Southern states when compared to others, is mainly driven by those states themselves.

Central government can only draft policies that will be equally applicable for all. State governments have to do the real leg work to court investments and make the environment business friendly.

Central government cannot and should not draft state specific policies.

[volkman10]

As Kerala becomes a model state for containing the Pandemic, Karnataka minister holds video conference with Kerala health Minister to learn how state contained it so far.



Link

[Latheesh]

Originally Posted by volkman10

As Kerala becomes a model state for containing the Pandemic, Karnataka minister holds video conference with Kerala health Minister to learn how state contained it so far.

They brought down the number of active cases to 14 couple of days back. Last couple of days cases are going up and now it stand at 27. It is concerning as new cases are coming from other states and abroad. It may increase further due to lifting of lock down and new international arrivals. Few Lakhs people are expected to arrive in coming weeks from abroad other states. Kerala still is the riskiest state due to high number of migrant population. Hope preventive measures work well and there are no new super spreaders.

We are stuck in Germany but not planning to come back this month atleast. Corona or not we need to help our fellow citizens who are stuck in other places due to job loss, visa expiry etc. There are also old people, pregnant women, babies, and other sick people who need immediate help.

[srishiva]

Originally Posted by volkman10

As Kerala becomes a model state for containing the Pandemic, Karnataka minister holds video conference with Kerala health Minister to learn how state contained it so far.



Link

Its apparent that health care facilities should be nearer to people. In karnataka, the covid facilities are at district level while in kerala its taluk level.

It also helps that kerala has been having less movement from states like Gujarat and maharashtra which is affecting karnataka.