[Gansan]

Police bust "factory" manufacturing mattresses stuffed with used masks in Maharashtra.

https://www.indiatoday.in/coronaviru...020-2021-04-12

[GeneralJazz]

Next super spreader event?

https://indianexpress.com/article/in...itive-7270853/

By Monday evening, over 28 lakh devotees turned up for the second shahi snan (royal bath) in the Ganga. And according to medical department officials, over 18,169 devotees were tested between 11.30 pm Sunday and 5 pm Monday — 102 were found positive.

Pramod Sharma, a businessman from Jammu, reached Monday morning without the mandatory RT-PCR report. “Passengers for Haridwar were asked to deboard at Jwalapur railway station, about 3 km earlier. But there were a lot of passengers, and no one asked about the RT-PCR report. Later, we took a bath in the Ganga at the Gau ghat. There was no thermal screening anywhere,” he said.

At a test facility near Mela Bhawan, which is on the return route for the akharas, a four-member medical team confirmed that “not a single test has been done here today”. “We cannot stop them and ask them to get tested,” said one of them.

[sunilch]

Originally Posted by Gansan

Police bust "factory" manufacturing mattresses stuffed with used masks in Maharashtra.

https://www.indiatoday.in/coronaviru...020-2021-04-12

I am speechless at the height of stupidity and/or callousness towards ethics or morals here

[m8002?]

Originally Posted by GeneralJazz

Next super spreader event?

https://indianexpress.com/article/in...itive-7270853/

Well one was done violating the govt. orders at that time. This one seems to have the full blessings from the government. There is no way they can test 2.8M people assembling at point. So they should have just stopped it.

But hey, Covid doesnt strike political rallies and religious events. Its funny when top leaders ask everyone else to have masks and follow social distancing and then follow it up with mega rallies immediately flouting all the rules they suggest.

[Zen2001]

Originally Posted by AirbusCapt

. Most likely this wave will peak by end of April and will disappear by June 21.

Most likely it will end once the indiscriminate fortnightly mandatory testing diktats end. Even a fully recovered person who had an asymptomatic illness continues to have a positive PCR for 4 to 6 weeks post recovery. There would have been merit only if the year could differentiate between the truly infected and truly recovered, yet positive. Added numbers will just contribute to the ongoing hysteria.

Originally Posted by Gansan

Police bust "factory" manufacturing mattresses stuffed with used masks in Maharashtra.

https://www.indiatoday.in/coronaviru...020-2021-04-12

Not to condone the actions of the factory, but many commercial mattresses are contaminated by way more harmful and even carcinogenic leaching chemicals used in PUFs, bonding adhesives etc. There, I gave you one more thing to worry about as you sleep.

Originally Posted by GeneralJazz

Next super spreader event?

No, that's just how Tika Utsav is being celebrated - who would dare to disagree?

Originally Posted by m8002?

Well one was done violating the govt. orders at that time. This one seems to have the full blessings from the government. There is no way they can test 2.8M people assembling at point. So they should have just stopped it.

But hey, Covid doesnt strike political rallies and religious events. Its funny when top leaders ask everyone else to have masks and follow social distancing and then follow it up with mega rallies immediately flouting all the rules they suggest.

Ah yes, "blessings" is the right word. Maybe the holy waters have superpowers? Besides, the entire mega event is being carried out following "full covid precautions", so the virus is naturally scared to attend the same. It will be better off finding a few stray victims who assemble in groups of more than 5, because we now know that it has also learnt to count!

[Su-47]

One of my relatives in Pune, 66/M tested positive about ten days back. Was doing okay initially - no fever for the last few days and good SpO2 levels. Yesterday, out of nowhere, his oxygen levels fell to 91-92 and he started feeling uneasy. His treating doctor suggested hospitalization, but we couldn't find a bed - called every hospital, every helpline we could, but nothing worked. His daughter rushed from Mumbai to Pune and somehow found a hospital bed late last night.

Now his doctor has prescribed Remdesivir and it's the same thing all over again - we have called the helpline (1077,020-26123371) and every phone number we got (say the numbers of distributors given in PMC's order, cipla-helpline etc.), but there is no response. Could be because today is a holiday (Gudi-Padwa), but the situation appears grim.

If anyone has any ideas on how to go about getting Remdesivir in Pune, please PM - grateful for any help we can get.

Thanks,
Su-47

[srishiva]

https://www.deccanherald.com/opinion...ee-973642.html

We need to look at how selectively we are looking at people congregating. Its left to people now to exercise caution since its their own suffering they need to endure.

[carboy]

Originally Posted by srishiva

https://www.deccanherald.com/opinion...ee-973642.html

"Ring vaccination is where you vaccinate the circle of people with any interaction of any detected case"

How exactly would this help? By the time you finish 2 doses of the vaccine & add the days after the 2nd dose by which it would be effective - it would be 40-45days atleast. By that time the effect of the interaction would have either infected or not infected that person a month earlier.

[AZT]

Current death numbers may be under reported

Earlier 15 to 20 bodies were coming in a day and now around 80 to 100 dead bodies are coming daily," said Kamlesh Sailor, the president of a trust operating a crematorium in Surat, a city in the industry-heavy western state of Gujarat. Even after the crematorium doubled capacity when India’s first virus wave struck last year and started operating 24 hours a day, families still need to wait at least two to three hours to cremate the bodies of their relatives, he added.

We can’t afford to have long queues of people at the crematorium, as that again increases the risk of spreading infection," Sailor said. “The situation is likely to worsen going ahead as hospitals across the city are filled to capacity. “They should reveal both Covid and suspected Covid-related deaths, but that is not happening," he said. “The true picture can actually benefit people as they will be aware and take more precautions."

..

In the past weeks large crowds have gathered for elections rallies in five states, festivals, and religious pilgrimages -- indicating things could get even worse for the country and its crematoriums.

Even with the rise in deaths, experts say India is still underreporting fatalities. Death registration data was patchy even before the virus struck, with the vast majority -- especially in rural villages -- taking place at home and going undocumented. For others that get reported the cause of death listed is often anodyne -- old age or heart attack. Experts believe that only between 20%-30% of all deaths in India are properly medically certified.

https://www.livemint.com/news/india/...312006451.html

[saket77]

Originally Posted by AZT

Current death numbers may be under reported
..https://www.livemint.com/news/india/...312006451.html

And by huge margin.
A lot of people actually dying from COVID may not have taken a COVID test at all. So, those numbers are not taken into account. I don’t know about other states but here in JH, there’s a backlot of samples to be tested and the number is around 6000-7000 as of today. Probably a good way to reduce Covid numbers! And just saw this one in news that out of 187 people cremated as per Covid protocols, only 5 deaths have been marked as Covid deaths.
Source: https://www.aajtak.in/india/madhya-p...222-2021-04-13

In some cities, including ours, the cremation ground is working 24 hours and still there are queues.
I’m of the opinion that let’s not panic as it makes things worse but also do not underplay the danger either. Covid can and does take lives. Lost a 35 year old friend of my brother in law today who was completely fit. So, no one knows who is going to be hit harder. Let’s not compare this with TB either. Not because TB affects our circle lesser than the poor but because Covid affects them too. And putting it straight, now the poor have TB plus Covid taking their lives. Let’s not compare the two diseases to generate a false sense of security. I know this has not been the intention of the learned members here but the implied conclusion points this way. This disease spreads at an alarming rate and we should not be looking forward to a day when Covid deaths overtake TB deaths to label it finally potent.

[ninjatalli]

Originally Posted by AZT

Current death numbers may be under reported

And cases. Friends in Gujarat mention there is massive underreporting, especially now they have been in contact with the medical fraternity after testing positive. General concensus I got in different conversations with friends in Vadodara and Ahmedabad is that only 1/10th of cases and deaths are getting reported.

A part of this is true for Maharashtra and other states too. A colleague who is recovering from Covid has not got tested at all while his wife (who caught it first) went through the complete process. And this (not testing, etc) was basis the feedback / inputs from his wife's doctor. Apparently this is normal, especially for cases detected in younger folks with mild symptoms.

[BhayanaV]

Originally Posted by AirbusCapt

The earlier wave involved the lower middle class and the poor. The current wave involves the upper middle class and the rich. Most of the cases are from apartments, gated communities and independent homes etc.
Post September/October when our cases started falling and everything opened up, people took their long due vacations, brought back their cooks, maids, drivers. Many started going back to office on a regular basis. Also a lot of repatriation flights getting more such people back home.
The government too became lax in testing, implementation and monitoring.
The silver lining is that the truly venerable class is now almost immune. The current lot has good access to medical facilities and is able to pay for good care. Most likely this wave will peak by end of April and will disappear by June 21.

It's somewhat near to a possible explanation. But the cases begin to rise near March (at least in North India) while I could remember people getting highly complacent beginning the festival season of 2020. So there is a gap in restrictions easing off and cases beginning to rise and this new wave could be the natural cycle kind of thing.

[Thad E Ginathom]

It has been said that numbers are worse than last year because more people are being tested. That may well be true, but what worries me is not so much the comparison with last year, but the comparison with last month.

It's only a matter of a week or four since I (in this corner of India, TN, at least) was shrugging off the doom-and-gloom-life-sentence feeling of covid, and actually feeling optimistic, an optimism that was enhanced by getting a shot of the vaccine. Now it all seems to be going wrong again... compared with recent times, not last year.

[am1m]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

It's only a matter of a week or four since I (in this corner of India, TN, at least) was shrugging off the doom-and-gloom-life-sentence feeling of covid, and actually feeling optimistic

I've realized that if the reason for feeling optimistic or pessimistic about the overall Covid scenario in the country is based only on what most newspapers or television channels choose to highlight, then I'm basing both/either (positive and negative) on sub-standard and sensationalist reporting for the most part. There are a few independent medical sources online that have proved to be reliable, so I'd rather go to those for balanced, scientific views. I find that keeps me on an even keel.

Leaving aside the overall covid situation, I have waaay too many reasons to be personally optimistic. I'm just very lucky- I can work from home, I have the luxury to choose situations where I can remain socially distant, even if I do contract covid, statistically the probability is that I'll recover without any issues (and if I prove to be among the 1% or whatever small figure that may be vulnerable to long covid or more intense covid, then hey, that's just the way it is, I'm not going to let that colour my life with fear! For all I know I might have already gotten it during the past year and recovered without knowing it!), countries where vaccine coverage has reached 30-50% are reporting that vaccination is working, more vaccines are coming, it's only a matter of time. Yes there will be hiccups, but we still have awesome vaccine delivery and manufacturing infra. Too many reasons to remain optimistic.

The only things that get me down are the way most of us in such positions of privilege are asking for restrictions that don't even do anything to check the spread, but affect the lesser privileged a LOT more than they do us. How whatsapp forwards and not basic science still drives most of the covid narrative. How politicians are still driving policy and not doctors. How so many of us still think a medical issue can be solved with law enforcement.

But hey, I'm finding that I'm getting 'immune' to those too!

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by am1m

I've realized that if the reason for feeling optimistic or pessimistic about the overall Covid scenario in the country is based only on what most newspapers or television channels choose to highlight, then I'm basing both/either (positive and negative) on sub-standard and sensationalist reporting for the most part...

One need only look at the numbers.

As to reporting of same, we take the sources we can get, and for commentary and opinion, the sources we chose to trust --- and then throw in a handful of salt.