Coronavirus News (204)

Trump's COVID briefings: same script, different day. pic.twitter.com/xlp69NxElL

— The Recount (@therecount) August 12, 2020

Winter is coming: Why America’s window of opportunity to beat back Covid-19 is closing  The good news: The United States has a window of opportunity to beat back Covid-19 before things get much, much worse. The bad news: That window is rapidly closing. And the country seems unwilling or unable to seize the moment. ................   Unless Americans use the dwindling weeks between now and the onset of “indoor weather” to tamp down transmission in the country, this winter could be Dickensianly bleak, public health experts warn. ............  November, December, January, February are going to be tough months ..........  “We seem to be choosing leisure activities now over children’s safety in a month’s time. And I cannot understand that tradeoff.” .................   an important chance to wrestle the virus under control is being lost, as Americans ignore the realities of the pandemic in favor of trying to resume pre-Covid life. .............. “The best time to squash a pandemic is when the environmental characteristics slow transmission. It’s your one opportunity in the year, really, to leverage that extra assistance and get transmission under control” ............  transmission among 20-somethings will eventually lead to infections among their parents and grandparents, where the risk of severe infections and fatal outcomes is higher. (Young people can also develop long-term health problems as a result of the virus.) .............  without an all-in effort “the cases are not going to come down,” he warned. “They’re not. They’re just not.” 

Long after the fire of a Covid-19 infection, mental and neurological effects can still smolder

Covid-19 infections leave an impact on the heart, raising concerns about lasting damage

Mary Trump: ‘At least the Borgias supported the arts’

I’m a Nurse in New York. Teachers Should Do Their Jobs, Just Like I Did. Schools are essential to the functioning of our society, and that makes teachers essential workers.

What Lockdown 2.0 Looks Like: Harsher Rules, Deeper Confusion Melbourne, Australia’s second-largest city, is becoming a case study in handling a second wave of infections. There are lots of unanswered questions. ............  The new lockdown is the product of early success; the country thought it had the virus beat in June. But there was a breakdown in the quarantine program for hotels. Returning travelers passed the virus to hotel security guards in Melbourne, who carried the contagion home. ..............   A confounding matrix of hefty fines for disobedience to the lockdown and minor exceptions for everything from romantic partners to home building has led to silenced streets and endless versions of the question: So, wait, can I ____? ................   “Our politicians are as scared as we are, but they have to pretend like they have a better idea than we do of what’s going to happen next.” ............  With success against the virus as fleeting as the breeze, the new waves of restrictions feel to many like a bombing raid that just won’t end. ...............   Schools in some cities are opening and closing like screen doors in summer. ............    Officials have been flummoxed at every turn by the persistent complacency of just enough people to let the virus thrive and multiply. .................    almost nine out of 10 people with Covid-19 had not been tested or isolated when they first felt sick, Mr. Andrews, the state’s top leader, said in late July. And 53 percent had not quarantined while waiting for their test results. ..................   the virus can be suppressed only if more than 70 percent of the population abides by social distancing guidelines and other public health rules. ................  A door-knocking campaign to check in on 3,000 people who had Covid-19 found that 800 of them were not at home. All 800 have been referred to the Victoria police for investigation. The fine for violators going forward, he said, will be 4,957 Australian dollars, $3,532. ....................   Walking to get groceries, Peter Barnes, 56, said he welcomed the stricter rules, though he admitted his city was starting to feel like George Orwell’s “1984,” with the heavy hand of the state around every corner. ..................   “You can’t hire a corpse. Very bad employment prospects for people who are dead.”