Senate Pandemics in the Age of Globalization: Coronavirus (COVID-19) Discussion: See OP Warning

A week from the election and the US is seeing peek COVID-19. What timing.

But what happens next week and the week after as numbers continue to rise.

 

A lame duck Trump administration fighting to stay on despite having lost hard, and forgoing further COVID response.

 

Per capita infection rates, and other grim data:
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

If I'm reading it correctly, the top infection rates in Europe per million read as:
Andorra: 58,431.
Vatican City: 33,666.
Belgium: 29,923.
Montenegro: 27,690.
Czechia: 27,276.
Spain: 25,549.
San Marino: 25,093.
Luxembourg: 24,886.
Gibraltar: 20,245.
Netherlands: 18,661.
France: 18,351.
Switzerland: 15,638.
UK: 13,857.
Iceland: 13,659.
Slovenia: 13,571.
North Macedonia: 13, 357.
Malta: 13,034.

There clearly aren't anywhere near 33K people in the Vatican, such are stats; and the very high figures for micro-states reflect the fact that practically everyone there has been tested, probably repeatedly. This may give an indication of how much higher actual infection rates are in other countries.

Of course there are many other variables too: rates of testing; who is being counted; how individual countries are handling the pandemic, and so on.

We can of course expect some of these figures to continue to go up sharply in the coming weeks. France's growth curve is near vertical, though Italy (still not high enough to qualify for a top place), and the UK, are trying very hard to catch up.

Almost reads like a sort of perverse medals table that no one wants to top.

NB: no sign of Sweden anywhere, after it has been consistently reported to have one of the highest infection rates.

 

Is the US the highest per capita in the world?

 

I have gone full Vulcan when greeting people now outside of my wife and kids:



I also tried to push the no touch high five/smear from Demolition Man but not enough people know it:

 

No. There are several countries that are higher; though of course it has the highest total figure.

The US's rate per million is: 27,352. Compare that with:
Qatar: 46,990.
Bahrain: 46,957.
Aruba: 41,501.
French Guyana: 34,527.
Israel: 33,967.
Panama: 30,075.
Belgium: 29,923.
Kuwait: 28,877.
Armenia: 27,875.
Montenegro: 27,690.
Czechia: 27,276.
Peru: 26,948.
Chile: 26,372.
Brazil: 25,560.
Spain: 25,549.
Luxembourg: 24,886.
Argentina: 24,663.

 

There's always the Arnold Rimmer salute from Red Dwarf as well..

 

I’m... totally going to use that line.

You know, between that and “Zoomsgiving,” you’re on a roll today, @Runjedirun.

 

Sweden has the advantage of having a pretty low population density. Overall its numbers look much better than those in the rest of Europe, but when you look at its neighbours, who are far more similar in size and density, Sweden looks really bad. Not so much against Denmark, but definately against Norway and Finland. The numbers in Norway are currently rocketing up, but that still puts them at just 1/5th to 1/6th of the new cases Sweden has, whose numbers are going up in the same way. Factor in population, and Norway's numbers are a bit above 1/3rd of Sweden's, while Finland is roughly at 1/4th of the numbers. Sweden, Finland and Denmark have all shot past their high-water marks in spring, Norway has just reached that number now (on a 1 week rolling average).

 

Yes I know. I was referencing the numerous comments, not just here but all over social media that attempted to paint a picture of Sweden being one of the worst affected countries, primarily based on how they compare with other Scandy countries. As you can see, there are quite a few countries with much higher infection rates.

That is not an endorsement on my part of any form of herd immunity strategy, merely a call for more rigorous analysis of the data we have when compared against those policies. Sweden's infection rate currently stands at: 11,652 per million.

Germany has a far greater population density than Sweden, with a lot of large, densely urbanised cities, but their infection rate currently stands at: 5,690. It looks set to go up sharply, but it does suggest that the country has had one of the most effective strategies in dealing with the pandemic so far in Europe, and is set to go back into lockdown; something which is being resisted in many other places.

 

Team Vulcan Salute (... but since no one else is doing it I side with Team Elbow).

 

If we are talking new ways to say hello through bodily touch. I am team elbow. But I also think hello exists for a reason.

 

Two useful charts here, the first is the total number of cases per capita (for US and the EU countries):
http://91-divoc.com/pages/covid-vis...a-source=jhu&xaxis=right#countries-normalized

And the second is the 7-day average, which better shows who's having the largest spikes now:
http://91-divoc.com/pages/covid-vis...a-source=jhu&xaxis=right#countries-normalized

Main takeaways being that the US is still way up at the top in total cases, although several European countries are trying to close the gap or surge ahead

 

It just seems people around the world forgot how dangerous and spreadable it can be

 

They know. They just don't care.

 

It's a combination of not caring but also fatigue. People are tired of staying home and isolated. I certainly am (although I can still go home to visit the parents) but I still practice social distancing and all that.

 

Appropriate hugger by default but I usually resort to elbow

 

Results will look very different for the US if you separate it out by state. Currently the least-infected state is Vermont, where a cumulative .3% of people have received a positive test at some point. The highest-infected state is currently North Dakota, where 5.1% (!!!) of people have received a positive diagnosis at some point, with cases rapidly rising (South Dakota is #2).

 

Well, I already knew the upper crust didn't intend to respect a new lockdown here. What's new is how pissed off the "France that gets up early" is. In the end, it seems most people here blame someone else and intend to carry on as usual despite lockdown; I wouldn't be surprised if there were demonstrations to attempt to get it lifted. And I don't expect a lockdown that doesn't get respected to work, obviously...

 

Look at all you normies new to life without physical contact. I was avoiding physical contact before it was cool.

The next step is the Don't Touch Me Face, which I mastered a long time ago. Get on my level.

 

Conversation this morning:

"We were all stressed and depressed during the last lockdown."
"I wasn't, it was easy for a grouchy bear like me."

 

I was actually defending Sweden's strategy to a degree, but it probably didn't come across that way. Most people I've spoken to are harshly critical of Sweden's strategy. The science behind wearing masks, social distancing and washing one's hands is pretty unequivocal now, but aspects of lockdown measures are more open to question. I'm actually pretty tired of reading posts on my FB feed and on Twitter talking about what an unmitigated disaster Sweden's policy has been; there's more to this that I think is overlooked as you point out. Having said that, sources differ on whether this has benefitted Sweden's economy much, if at all, if the intention was to do that. At least most people have been able to stay in work, so that's something.

Having said that, lockdown here in Aus was absolutely draconian and it appears to have been remarkably successful. We have returned to normal in North Queensland; the second wave has been and gone. Fresh outbreaks have typically been where someone has lied about where they've been; and we would have been covid-free here in Queensland had the women who went on the shopping trip to Melbourne and brought it back with them, not lied about what they declared. It is still all but impossible for me to travel outside the state or abroad, but at least I can go about my business with complete freedom on a local basis at least.

 

Foreign politicians would be the original culprits.