Meanwhile only people with symptoms are tested in the UK. — Punshhh

It's the same here too, but then again the symptoms are flu symptoms. Cough, sneezing, fever, etc. This makes basically having any old flu a reason for one to take a corona test and quarantine oneself for the time and hence a lot of people are tested.

As it's flu season now, taking a corona test is very typical and ordinary. Few weeks ago my son complained about a sore throat in school and he was immediately sent out from school and taken into a corona test, which came back in two days negative. Only after no flu symptoms did he go back to school. Not a rare thing to happen in families with smaller children, and you have countless examples of people going to self quarantine until the test comes back negative.

This makes basically having any old flu a reason for one to take a corona test and quarantine oneself for the time and hence a lot of people are tested...you have countless examples of people going to self quarantine until the test comes back negative. — ssu

It is going to be very interesting to watch what happens when flu season really pops off in the next few months. It is highly likely that masses of people with flu-like symptoms will be prevented from going into work at a rate "hitherto unseen" - such a thing would be detrimental to economy and society. Does anyone know if there been any word from the experts about the possibility of this?

I don't know about you, but I would never go to work if I had the flu. Why would you even think of doing such a thing?

I don't know about you, but I would never go to work if I had the flu. Why would you even think of doing such a thing? — Metaphysician Undercover

Two reasons:
2)I never call out...ever. and
1)I go into work every day, no matter what

It sounds like you've got some bad habits. It's not healthy for the individual who is sick, or for those in one's surroundings, for a person to go to work sick. So why adhere to such irrational principles?

So why adhere to such irrational principles?

A wage slave perhaps. In the UK there are people who live from one wage payment to the next and they have to work come what may. Although lockdown does prevent most of this, leaving these people reliant on benefits and vulnerable to eviction and loan sharks etc.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/oct/04/long-covid-the-evidence-of-lingering-heart-damage

Lovey-dovey.

Two reasons:
2)I never call out...ever. and
1)I go into work every day, no matter what — Merkwurdichliebe

This is logical when you get paid by the day or have hard deadlines for your projects, for example if you're an accountant working for yourself.
You might as well be paid for being sick, and besides, taking a day off is so much more rewarding on a fine sunny day when you're feeling happy. :cool: :beer:

It is going to be very interesting to watch what happens when flu season really pops off in the next few months. — Merkwurdichliebe

At least officials here are now saying that this time now is the critical for the second wave. The majority of those few new cases reported here do not know where they have gotten the virus. And just to note, they didn't say the same thing in the summer.

The good thing now is that they are somewhat ready to handle a new wave: it's not anymore a mystery disease, there are ample amounts of facemasks to be bought and people likely aren't going to panic and hoard toilet paper. Basically the societies are adapting to a "new normal" of pandemic.

It sounds like you've got some bad habits. It's not healthy for the individual who is sick, or for those in one's surroundings, for a person to go to work sick. So why adhere to such irrational principles? — Metaphysician Undercover

You are hilarious :lol: I've never heard anyone refer to "reliability", or to "going into work" as a bad habit. Personally, I have always, regarded unreliability and the avoidance of one's work obligations as bad habits.

Going into work when sick is far from irrational for anyone who wants to eat. And it's even farther from the irrational for those who have bills to pay, unless of course you can find some sucker to pay them for you.

My point is, the average flu might knock a person out of work , maximum, a week. But, this season, everyone who gets flu like symptoms will be out 2 weeks, minimum. It's going to be interesting to watch.

Basically the societies are adapting to a "new normal" of pandemic. — ssu

It is appaling how fast the tyranny of the masses can effect a new "new normal". I'm pretty sure the "old normal" is dead and extinct. I mostly feel bad for the kids who are growing up in a cowardly faceless world.

You are hilarious :lol: I've never heard anyone refer to "reliability", or to "going into work" as a bad habit. — Merkwurdichliebe

Hey man, pushing yourself too hard is unhealthy. And to justify pushing yourself to an unhealthy extreme with "I have to eat", or "I have bills to pay" is nonsense. Face it, you have an unhealthy attitude toward work which you try to portray as good by calling it "reliability".

Hey man, pushing yourself too hard is unhealthy...Face it, you have an unhealthy attitude toward work which you try to portray as good by calling it "reliability". — Metaphysician Undercover

I like your passion, but we just have a different work ethic, I can respect that. Sometimes being responsible and disciplined requires one to push hard. If one's responsibility and self-discipline in pushing hard is unhealthy and should be avoided as such, then the prospects of excellence in the world look dim. Imagine if all the historic world figures were prevented from pushing themselves too hard because it is "unhealthy", we'd all be living in caves.

Nevertheless, I balance my rigorous work ethic with astounding feats of laziness on my designated days off (I woke up at 2pm today), so you don't have to worry about me burning myself out. :blush:

That all said, my personal work ethic has no bearing on the potential implosion that society will incur when flu season kicks off in Covidworld 2020

It is appaling how fast the tyranny of the masses can effect a new "new normal". I'm pretty sure the "old normal" is dead and extinct. I mostly feel bad for the kids who are growing up in a cowardly faceless world. — Merkwurdichliebe

If we get that vaccine, it won't take long that the pandemic is history...assuming it goes away in 2021. How important will it be depends of course from future events, but if this is a once in 50 to 100 years thing, not much will remain about it. Just as there's absolutely no collective memory of the Spanish flu, and who remembers that we had the "Hong Kong flu"-pandemic in the same year Woodstock happened.

What likely has happened is that working from home got a real boost from the pandemic and likely companies will look just how much office space they actually need in the future.

If one's responsibility and self-discipline in pushing hard is unhealthy and should be avoided as such, then the prospects of excellence in the world look dim. — Merkwurdichliebe

What is "excellence" if not a healthy being?

If one's responsibility and self-discipline in pushing hard is unhealthy and should be avoided as such, then the prospects of excellence in the world look dim. Imagine if all the historic world figures were prevented from pushing themselves too hard because it is "unhealthy", we'd all be living in caves. — Merkwurdichliebe

I didn't say that it's always bad to push oneself hard, I said it's bad to push yourself hard when you are sick. Normally that's only a few days in a year, and has very little bearing on a person's overall accomplishments, because we tend to not do very well when we're sick anyway. So what's the point in going to work when your sick, risking making your coworkers sick, and making yourself even sicker, for the sake of doing a bad job because you're not at your best when you're sick anyway?

That all said, my personal work ethic has no bearing on the potential implosion that society will incur when flu season kicks off in Covidworld 2020 — Merkwurdichliebe

Do you think that the flu is so much more contagious than Covid-19 that it will spread around more than the latter, despite all the mask wearing and distancing? You do realize that there are vaccines for the flu as well, don't you?

What likely has happened is that working from home got a real boost from the pandemic and likely companies will look just how much office space they actually need in the future. — ssu

Good point. This is one of the new normal that I find interesting. I wonder if remote schooling will become a lasting reality as well.

Do you think that the flu is so much more contagious than Covid-19 that it will spread around more than the latter, despite all the mask wearing and distancing? You do realize that there are vaccines for the flu as well, don't you? — Metaphysician Undercover

I'm not speaking of contagion, the idea I am putting forth is that when flu season strikes it will do what it always does. You don't have to be very old or pay much attention to know that every year from approximately October to March, huge numbers of people are infected with cold and flu symptoms, and despite all effort to administer flu vaccines. Yes, cold-flu season will do what it always does, with one exception: it will conflate the covid panic beyond control, and the fallout will likely be disastrous.

Everything is fucked. Wake me up in 2022.

No, cold-flu season will do what it always does, with one exception: it will conflate the covid panic beyond control, and the resulting fallout will be likely disastrous. — Merkwurdichliebe

You don't think covid is disastrous on its own?

WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!!! :death:

You don't think covid is disastrous on its own? — Metaphysician Undercover

On it's own, absolutely not. I think that it's effect on the world has been somewhat devastating, but we have yet, not even begun to see the slightest extent of what real disaster looks like (i'm talking woman backs into the fan disaster)

I wonder if remote schooling will become a lasting reality as well. — Merkwurdichliebe

Well, from the experience with my daughter I can tell that for first graders it doesn't work, it sucks. Yet have to say that the pandemic was a crash course for teachers on distance learning. For higher classes an especially in tertiary education, it's an option even if the limitations are obvious. We do need that physical contact.

I think the norm will be that you basically can work from home some days, but typically you will have physical meetings every once in a while.

WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!!! :death: — Merkwurdichliebe

You just figured that out...? Bless your sweet lil' buns. :kiss:

We do need that physical contact. — ssu

Physical contact, which was already becoming swiftly antiquated in our high tech world, is one of the biggest casualties from this pandemic panic. Newspeak like "social distancing" and "self-quarantine" have reformed our society in ways that we haven't even begun to recognize.

Well, I should point out that the Spanish flu didn't change the way people behaved later, even if it did alter a lot of things back then when the pandemic was raging.

Parts of Europe are going into their second wave? For the most part, the US is holding steady or declining. The hotspots we're getting are mostly young adults. How's Finland?

Here's how the US compares to the World. Notice the uptick in Asia. What basically is happening is that now Europe is approaching the high infection rates of the Americas and seems to have gone past the US again:



The "second wave" can be seen here from certain European countries:



Here's the situation in Europe from last month looked on the map. As you can see, the situation is bad again in Spain while for example in Italy and in Germany it's good:

How's Finland? — frank

Here's a chart of the daily new cases. In the highest peak there was over 200 new cases during one day, yet after the spring there were well below twenty new confirmed cases daily. The latest figures shown a slight increase, but what has stopped quite dramatically are the deaths to the virus as knowledge how to treat the virus is obviously increased here and around the World:



Infections could start jumping upwards, but now in all 346 have died, which is less than the death toll in West Virginia, but more than in North Dakota.

Its worrying in the UK, there are hotspots in the North of the Country. Liverpool was at 450/100,000 and Manchester 500/100,000 as published yesterday. These places are already largely locked down and the rates are still increasing exponentially.

Basically the strategy in the UK is in chaos, with the young, between 18 and about 30 years of age being the main spreaders, predominantly when they returned to University over the last few weeks.

Hopefully the vaccine will be available soon.

"Covid brain" is a nickname for one form of COVID19-induced altered mental status. It's a kind of happy confusion. People who have it can answer some questions appropriately, so it may not be obvious at first. It's diagnosed by the presence of confusion without hypoxia or evidence of stroke.

Another is a state close to panic that some people experience when they're tested. It magically goes away if they're negative. Panic can produce some pretty dramatic respiratory distress.