[am1m]

Originally Posted by drrajasaravanan

Again I request fellow members to discuss only regarding corona virus in this thread. We have enough negativity around.

Doc, thank you for your posts, you have gone out of your way to help people here, truly grateful.

The negativity will continue for a lot of reasons, we want to believe bad news, we have the protection of privilege and can virtue signal and call for restrictions that don't affect us but do affect millions of our less fortunate countrymen, our egos are hurt by information that doesn't agree with the position we have taken, because of politics/the political party/politician we support, because we believe whatsapp over science/doctors, most of all because of the nature of the online medium points and positions taken will be extreme rather than moderate (and quite often taken out of context and misinterpreted), and most sadly (and the only justifiable reason) because some of us have been personally affected by this tragic epidemic.

Request you and the other doctors to keep posting your science/training/experience-based posts and observations, they're helping a lot of us here and please ignore the extremists and people cherry/nit-picking your posts just to make a point.

[dailydriver]

Originally Posted by balenoed_

Karnataka govt announces 14-day complete lockdown in Karnataka .

Of particular interest to me is the manner in which the free 18-44 vaccination will be carried out from May 1st.

It has clearly been told by the CM that there will be no public transport facility nor will people be allowed to use their personal vehicles (in the afternoon presser). How then are people supposed to reach the vaccination sites?

What would perhaps work is to slot the vaccination time table between 7-9 AM, during the daily free window of 6-10 AM. Else, it would be a mad rush for vaccines once the Corona Curfew (the government prefers to use this name) ends.

[vivek95]

Originally Posted by balenoed_

The inevitable has happened.

Karnataka govt announces 14-day complete lockdown in Karnataka from Tuesday 6pm to reduce the number of infections and to break the chain of the virus. "Essential services allowed between 6-10am. After 10am, shops to remain closed. Only construction, manufacturing & agriculture sectors allowed," said Karnataka CM BS Yediyurappa.

On a positive note, hope this lock down gets things under control and reduces the spread.

The inevitable illogical measure again !

Wuhan set a wrong trend and everyone is blindly following this culture of lockdown without understanding the science behind the spread of Sars-Cov2.

What if someone contracts the virus in the last 5 days and becomes symptomatic by the median 5th day of incubation period and then when the lockdown opens up, he/she is gonna spread that virus to others. How will the lockdown help break the chain is beyond me.

And if the reason for this 14 day lockdown is to augment the healthcare infrastructure, then I have nothing to say. My last post on lockdown, sorry moderators.

--Dr. Vivek

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by dailydriver

It has clearly been told by the CM that there will be no public transport facility nor will people be allowed to use their personal vehicles (in the afternoon presser). How then are people supposed to reach the vaccination sites?

Are the guidelines out yet? I think most likely the guidelines will still allow essential travel with adequate document(s) in case of hospital visits or airport pick-ups/drops (depending if flights will be allowed at all).

So I think for vaccination to happen during this lockdown, Text message confirming the slot or the App should work. No?

[AZT]

It's sad whats happening, a lot of trolls believe the official death numbers and making it look like our deaths per 100k are not that bad. Idiots don't realize that the data itself is garbage and massively under reported.

Just got done with this online prayer ceremony for a friends dad, his mom is also critical so she hasn't been told yet, god knows how she'll react when she finds out. This is my fourth friend who's lost a parent, I cringe out now when I see those let's be positive and watch the IPL messages. No one deserves to like this gasping for breath, even the idiots who went to Kumbh don't deserve this death.

Originally Posted by McLaren Rulez

They now want to ban criticism of their incompetence on social media - https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-56883483

Perhaps once they have some spare time between reporting such tweets, they could focus on minor issues like procuring oxygen, vaccines and so on.

Apparently calling out incompetence on social media is now a National Security issue. One of the tweets below:

One of the tweets blocked in India was from Pawan Khera, a spokesman for India’s main opposition party, the Indian National Congress. In the tweet, he said the ruling Hindu nationalist party—the Bharatiya Janata Party—failed to concede that a massive religious festival that brought millions of Hindu pilgrims to the banks of the holy river Ganges—along with political rallies—contributed to the spread of Covid-19.

“Our main concern is the secrecy in the censorship,” said Apar Gupta, executive director of New Delhi-based Internet Freedom Foundation, a digital rights organization. “Any legal order for directing blocking of websites should contain reasoning and be made public. Neither of these steps are being carried out right now.”
Mr. Gupta said the material appeared to be blocked under section 69A of India’s Information Technology Act, which allows New Delhi to block material that threatens national security.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/india-a...ge-11619435006

[audioholic]

Originally Posted by dailydriver

presser). How then are people supposed to reach the vaccination sites?

What would perhaps work is to slot the vaccination time table between 7-9 AM, during the daily free window of 6-10 AM. .

I think as long as you can show proof of vaccination appointment you can use your own transport to reach the Vaccination center. My cousin and his wife had their appointment last saturday during the curfew and they didnt have any issue in getting to the hospital. Now if you speak on the behalf of the section of society who would depend on public transport only, then this would be addressed in some fine print.

[carboy]

People from Mumbai, one question about the lockdown. Sister wants to drive to our aunt's home to just check on them - they are old people. It is within 2 kms of her home. Is this allowed or not? She will not take any highway or anything.

What is the best time for her to go - weekday or weekend? Before 7-8 am or after 7-8 am?

Also is there is still a particular night curfew? There is now a universal curfew or is there some special rules for night to early morning?

[vivek95]

Originally Posted by carboy

People from Mumbai, one question about the lockdown. Sister wants to drive to our aunt's home to just check on them - they are old people. It is within 2 kms of her home. Is this allowed or not? She will not take any highway or anything.

What is the best time for her to go - weekday or weekend? Before 7-8 am or after 7-8 am?

Also is there is still a particular night curfew? There is now a universal curfew or is there some special rules for night to early morning?

Am in Mumbai and unlike last year, this time there are no such strict checks happening in the eastern suburbs Thane/Mulund and Navi Mumbai area. Should be the same elsewhere in Mumbai. She can easily travel, but let her do it on weekdays, not weekend as things are little stricter during weekend. Best time is 7-8 a.m. Night curfew is there but definitely not as strict as last year. Infact by and large, the weekdays seem okay with very less not so typical-Mumbai traffic, that's all.

There is a new rule in Mumbai of pasting stickers on vehicles - red, yellow, green as per priority of essential services. Being a Doc, I pasted red on mine but none has so far checked, didn't see cops checking other vehicles too. Seems like a failed exercise as it had many loopholes.

[DigitalOne]

A glimmer of hope : Cases dip in Mumbai, curve shows plateau in Maharashtra.

The state’s daily Covid count has remained in the 60,000s for the last two weeks now, the longest period of relative stability since the start of the second wave in the middle of February.

He said even more encouraging was the fact that the R-value for Mumbai had gone below 1 in the last week. A value of less than R means every group of 100 people are infecting less than 100 on an average. This would result in a decline.

Indeed, the daily case count in Mumbai has been declining steadily for the last two weeks. On Saturday, Mumbai reported 5,867 new infections, the lowest this month.

Source : Indian Express

[Lij]

Originally Posted by carboy

People from Mumbai, one question about the lockdown. Sister wants to drive to our aunt's home to just check on them - they are old people. It is within 2 kms of her home. Is this allowed or not? She will not take any highway or anything.

What is the best time for her to go - weekday or weekend? Before 7-8 am or after 7-8 am?

Also is there is still a particular night curfew? There is now a universal curfew or is there some special rules for night to early morning?

People move around to buy supplies from 7am - 11am, so that should be a good time for her to go. Police checkpoints are on arterial roads at strategic points.

Originally Posted by vivek95

....
There is a new rule in Mumbai of pasting stickers on vehicles - red, yellow, green as per priority of essential services.
....

This was discontinued 2 days ago, but thorough checks will continue as per the official tweet.

[Zen2001]

Originally Posted by ecenandu

There is a medical emergency in our country and we need consistent management of the same for the next few years or until we get the majority of the population vaccinated.

We cannot compare the data from other countries with that of India, not sure how accurate our death rates actually are.

We will definitely overcome this wave in the coming weeks, but that doesn't mean the war is over, we have to keep guard until the majority of the population gets vaccinated.

Yes, we need consistent management, but unfortunately what we have is chaos even descending down from the regulatory authorities.
Even assuming all the data as not completely true, multiple public health sources pointing out the same differences between countries cannot be discredited just because we want to.
Yes, we will overcome, but again temporarily; we might well be hit more badly if the behaviours between Sep 20 - Feb 20 continue.

Originally Posted by Kln

A kind request to all the people trying to justify things with jumbled up statistics - If you're confident that nothing is wrong, please show the "recovery rate" and "per million" rates to the person who's mother just died at home for the lack of a bed. Blame the person who's dead for not believing in these dishonest statistics. Try calling the person gasping for breath as "medically illiterate".

Statistics are not jumbled; at the same time no one is saying nothing is wrong. The fact remains that medicine is a research and evidence based science, which has to stand the test of statistics before being applicable to the public good. The same people who discredit statistics want the best treatments in modern medicine which are also based on statistical evidence. Although sympathetic towards individuals caught in this tragedy, decisions and recommendations are made only based on large scale reproducibile data and not on individual experience.

Originally Posted by kedar191

It's discouraging to read this thread and I will avoid it from now on. The numbers are just statistics until it's you or a loved one.

Probably a good decision if it's affecting you negatively. Remember to turn off the news channels too. Loved ones or not, we are all a part of the statistic - doing our best to stay on the right side is in our hands.

Originally Posted by balenoed_

The inevitable has happened.
Karnataka govt announces 14-day complete lockdown
On a positive note, hope this lock down gets things under control and reduces the spread.

Micro containment is clearly a better solution than a draconian blanket lockdown. But who wants to take the pain of micro management from day to day, locality to locality when this short cut is available? States are simply following the wrong trend set last year.

Originally Posted by poloman

A country wide lock down in March would have saved the day for the country.
In this thread I have always maintained life is worthier than livelihood. If you can feed the populace during lockdown, the only down effect will be a fall in GDP, but that you can manage later.

That is a pipe dream. The central government's claim of having saved a few lakh lives by enforcing the lockdown last year has already been torn to shreds - by experts in epidemiology and communicable diseases. Lives are no doubt more valuable than livelihoods, but millions whose lives are dependent on their livelihoods are at higher risk at the expense of protecting the privileged. The govt can't feed them all AND ensure job security after lifting restrictions - if it could, there would be no problem for everyone to stay at home! GDP is not even in the question so far.

Originally Posted by srishiva

Poor people should be looked after. Just hope authorities have learnt from the last shutdown. But they didnt learn anything from the first wave in sprucing up the medical infrastructure So finger crossed !

Everyone's on their own. The governments, bureaucracy, people - no one seems to have learnt anything. Watch out by June - they will collectively rejoice in their "victory" in this "war on corona" and go back to their old ways.

[vivek95]

Here is a recent article from Lancet stating that the transmission of SARS-Cov2 is likely airborne in most cases. I don't intend to spread panic by sharing this, have never done that online and offline, just sharing some facts. Also @Doc Zen2001 just said, no one has ever undermined Covid, me and him ( he is way better in presenting facts than me ) have always tried our best to strike a reasonable balance between exaggerated paranoia and actual gravity of the situation. Anyways here is the link -

https://www.m3india.in/contents/edit..._source=ref_cp

[dailydriver]

Originally Posted by paragsachania

So I think for vaccination to happen during this lockdown, Text message confirming the slot or the App should work. No?

Originally Posted by audioholic

I think as long as you can show proof of vaccination appointment you can use your own transport to reach the Vaccination center.

Let us hope this would be the case.

However, the cane-first attitude of the men in Khaki as well as our populace's predilection for misusing exemptions puts genuine travellers in danger.

The fear - specifically in Bengaluru, is of the vehicles getting seized by overzealous and half-informed cops and let to rot in open parking. Best would be to select a centre located at walking distance from one's home.

As rightly pointed out, the official guidelines could throw some light on this specific aspect.

A piece of rumour doing rounds is that the members of the Karnataka cabinet and the legislators have pledged to donate a month's salary towards Covid relief and are expecting ALL government employees except those from Health & Police departments to do the same.

We had donated a day's pay for CMRF last year and have also given up lakhs individually by way of not being granted Dearness Allowance raise for three consecutive terms.

I would be happy to forego a month's pay if it could really help alleviate my fellow citizen's conditions. But if the money ends up lining the already deep pockets of the already corrupt pillars of the system, I might as well prefer to keep it safe in my own safe and use it for a rainy day.

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by dailydriver

Let us hope this would be the case.

Exactly what I would like to say too. If they have announced the program to vaccinate during lockdown, they for sure will have a set of guidelines.

However, the cane-first attitude of the men in Khaki as well as our populace's predilection for misusing exemptions puts genuine travellers in danger.

One reason why we see too many cases around us now. Let the numbers drop in coming weeks (again let us hope) and see how our junta will become complacent again. Somehow, at times I would like to thank our vernacular media for spreading fear with sensational content around Corona because if this has made public wear masks (and properly) today, I feel better.

The fear - specifically in Bengaluru, is of the vehicles getting seized by overzealous and half-informed cops and let to rot in open parking. Best would be to select a centre located at walking distance from one's home.

This was the case during the initial lockdown days as well isn't it. I actually pity the cops who are clueless at times and overworked most of the other times and then you have the public trying to misuse the travel restrictions with whatever tricks they want.

I would be happy to forego a month's pay if it could really help alleviate my fellow citizen's conditions. But if the money ends up lining the already deep pockets of the already corrupt pillars of the system, I might as well prefer to keep it safe in my own safe and use it for a rainy day.

The usual apprehension that all of us have. Best is to hence donate through the right and known channels. Why bother about donating it to benefit any political party. There are quite a few ways you can contribute and I am sure you know them.

[SUPERSPORT]

"Elect a clown, expect a circus" If someone's image flashes in your mind in the present scenario after reading that statement, that isn't my responsibility. And shockingly for a few, until that circus hits home, they can keep denying it. At the end of the day, you can't wake up a person who is pretending to be asleep.

May be we shouldn't drag politics to this, but then we also can't avoid addressing the elephant in the room. Fighting a pandemic in a country like ours is a difficult job. But we had an year. At least to prevent this from happening in future we need to be aware of the present situation and use our decision making power diligently.

Have some empathy for those who are suffering. My family had gone through Covid by April beginning, and though we had a few tense moments, in the end we were fine. Here in Kerala luckily situation seems under control as of now, but my heart aches seeing the pain that our country is going through especially in Delhi, UP, MP, Gujarat, Maharashtra etc. It's shocking that many are losing their loved ones for something as basic as Oxygen.

I feel powerless, and often enraged seeing politicians doing photoshoot with decorated oxygen trucks & corpse vehicles while patients are gasping for breath. The fact that the govt doesn't have a concrete strategy/structure to address these concerns nor a proper Press meet is concerning to me. But there's one for removing tweets that criticise them. There was no dilution in PR stunts or huge claims of victory over Covid which indirectly made people throw caution to the wind along with politicians who flouted protocols for rallies (but keeps mask for virtual meeting?). The feeling that I'm safe doesn't reduce the pain my fellow countrymen are going through. And I definitely can't say All's well, coz it's not!

For the first time I'm seeing the national media reporting something giving it the due importance it deserves. Usually it's more one-sided. And then many saying they are creating panic, alright we don't need to panic, but we need to be aware of the real situation on the ground. I've noticed a heightened sense of alertness w.r.t precautions after media started reporting the reality. If that can prevent a few from keeping their masks on the chin, that's a positive. Came to know from a few of my friends especially in the medical field that the ground reality is worse in certain places.

Also saw posts saying that the Western media is trying to paint a picture about the govt, well unfortunately the picture that they are portraying is true, just like what we saw last year in case of the US. But then people got a chance to flex their power soon, (and utilised it well saving themselves) while for us, we all have short term memories, and the vicious cycle will continue in 3 years. If anyone remembers, even in the US, deaths were more in crowded cities like NYC, but that didn't deter the International media from reporting the facts.

The light at the end of the tunnel is that the vaccine works. Many in my closer circle who became positive but got the vaccine shot(first dose), symptoms were much less. Will be registering for the Vaccine soon as it opens. Procuring vaccines for our population isn't a small task, hopefully our govt would've learned a few lessons during these days to manage it better.

Stay safe everyone, get your Vaccine shots as they become available, have a positive mindset while also being alert to what's happening. And few years down the line, remember & choose wisely. No matter what ideology you believe in, if possible, pressurize to have educated and capable people in power positions for the betterment of our nation. We will overcome this too.