COVID-19 Virus.

[old man emu]

WEARING FACE MASKS

 

Eight months ago you could hardly see your hand in front of your face for the smoke from the bushfires. People readily took to wearing face masks to prevent their breathing in the ash particles that made up the smoke. Even before that, people have readily donned masks to prevent the inhalation of dust from grain, from sawdust of various types, from paint vapours, and nasty odours in general. Manufacturers of products like MDF, Melamine and paints strongly advised the wearing of face masks to prevent the inhalation of stray particles. You can't start pulling down your fibro covered chook shed without wearing a mask, and don't start stripping paint in a Federation house without a mask to keep the lead particles away.

 

So now we have a new, more dangerous air-borne pollutant in the form of the Covid-19 virus family. It is clear that this pollutant can have virtually immediate adverse effects on the body, not like dust, smoke and asbestos which take years to express their nasty legacies. But people are content to wander through crowds of unidentifiable sources of the virus without taking the simple precaution of wearing a face mask to filter our virus particulates from the air they are drawing in. I went to the local shopping centre this morning and the face mask wearers were a distinct minority - mostly retirees and pensioners. The Yummy Mummies disdain face masks for themselves and their Grubby Bubbies. 

 

There are two things that are stalling the widespread practice of masking up. Notice all the ads and backdrop images in the media show only one or two virus particles. This dulls the mind to the vast numbers of particles in an infected parcel of air. The dull mind cannot see the degree of the danger. The second thing is the concentration of officialdom and the media on the fatality rate and new infection rate. It is becoming increasingly obvious that this virus causes serious damage to the lungs which seems irreparable, like the damage of tuberculosis.  The acute symptoms will fade, but the damage will linger on. The impact of this disease on the Nation's health will be felt for the next century.  And we can be assured that there will be COVID -yy stains in the future. 

 

I'm happy to wear a mask in the smallest of crowds. I'm free from the disease - touch wood - so I don't want to get it from someone else.

 

 

[red750]

BREAKING NEWS
A new virus which is spreading a hundred times quicker then Coronavirus has been discovered, the imasthickasshit virus affects people’s ability to social distance properly, people with the imasthickasshit virus will go out to parks and beauty spots in their droves with no worries about spreading the Coronavirus. Doctors think that Coronavirus and imasthickasshit virus could be connected, but are worried by the speed imasthickasshit virus is spreading, if you see a group of people drinking tinnies in a public area please keep well clear, stay safe my friends. 

[Old Koreelah]

On 6 August 2020 at 11:56 AM, old man emu said:

...the concentration of officialdom and the media on the fatality rate and new infection rate. It is becoming increasingly obvious that this virus causes serious damage to the lungs which seems irreparable, like the damage of tuberculosis...

Well said, OME. For months the media picture of this pandemic has been dominated by statistics, graphs and league tables. How can this approach get people to take the risk seriously?

A generation ago Australia led the world with our successful campaigns to educate the public about AIDS, road accidents, smoking, littering, etc. Time for a bit more honesty about the impact of this virus on the human body. A few images of people struggling for breath or wasting away in an induced coma, with plumbing connected to their orifices...

[old man emu]

On 06/08/2020 at 11:56 AM, old man emu said:

all the ads and backdrop images in the media show only one or two virus particles. This dulls the mind to the vast numbers of particles in an infected parcel of air. The dull mind cannot see the degree of the danger.

Getting back to the idea of how many individual viruses (virions) are in the atmosphere around gatherings of people, and how those virions remain suspended in the atmosphere, we need to look at their size and density in comparison to other pollutants in the air we regularly breathe.

 

A Covid-16 virion  has a diameter on average of 0.125 microns. When air quality is measured, one of the particle size classes is  PM2.5 – fine particles less than 2.5 microns in diameter. Sources include all types of combustion, including motor vehicles, power plants, residential wood burning, forest fires, agricultural burning, and some industrial processes and may also include sea salt. 2.5 microns is 20X larger than one of these virions.

 

The real thing to consider is the buoyancy of a virion. Let's say that one of these virions is spherical with a diameter of 0.125 microns. It's volume would be 1.02 x 10^-3 cubic microns. Unfortunately, no one has been able to  get one of these virions on a set of weighing scales, so we can't state the density of a virion. However, commonsense tells us that something this small is going to be buoyant in air, or at least be unable to fall as it would in a vacuum due to air resistance (and all those other nasty pollutants already there).

 

So, if someone coughs out a parcel of air containing a million or so individual virions, those little buggers are not going to fall down to the ground like a brick dropped from a window. If a person was able to cough while in a vacuum, any particles would behave according to classical ballistics. They say that particles are coughed out at a speed of 80 Kph, or 22 metres per second. If the person was 175 cm tall., classical ballistics tells us that the particles would take 0.6 seconds to reach the ground, landing 13 metres from the person. If atmosphere was involved, then air resistance would shorten the range, but also extend the time the particle was above the ground due to buoyancy and turbulence. That is for an individual virion. The effects of air resistance and turbulence would affect each virion randomly. Virions from a single cough could remain suspended in the atmosphere for very much longer, acting like a beach ball at the Boxing Day Test.

 

 

[Old Koreelah]

An ominous analysis, OME. On that basis, we're in for a tough fight.

Our best people are still learning more about this little blighter; given the great (at least initial) success of containment policies, the virus must have a short life while drifting about in the air.

 

 

[Subria]

I'm waiting for our daily injection of fear and hysteria😂

[red750]

466 new cases, 12 more dead. 

[Subria]

......and when (IF) the numbers drop to very low then what? Dictator Dan has no idea, none of us do!

[octave]

 

56 minutes ago, Subria said:

.....and when (IF) the numbers drop to very low then what? Dictator Dan has no idea, none of us do!

 

Gradually open borders to countries with similar low rates, exclude countries that have high rates.  Continue progress with possible vaccines. Continue to develop better treatments (there is no cure for HIV but better treatments mean it is not usually fatal).  Continue to develop faster an more accurate testing. If test result could be available in sar 30 minutes this would be a game changer at the airport.   Covid 1 whilst less contagious did eventually peter out.  These options seem preferable to letting it spread unchecked.

 

 

[Subria]

I wouldn't bet on a vaccine anytime soon, too many unknowns! 7 billion people on the planet! My bet/opinion is we are stuck with this for a very long time! When our inept Govt let the sheeple out of the corral last time the numbers went thru the roof, expect a repeat everytime,

Xmas will be very different thus year, Santa wearing a mask just doesn't cut it! 😂

[red750]

Apparently COVID stands for Citizens Of Victoria Ignoring Directions.

[old man emu]

2 hours ago, Subria said:

Xmas will be very different thus year, Santa wearing a mask just doesn't cut it!

Christmas 2020 will be postponed until 8th January 2021 because Santa, arriving by air from overseas, will have to complete the mandatory 14 day isolation before he can resume work in the community.

[Subria]

Red more like..... Citizens Of Victoria Indict Dan! His time will come!

[octave]

Interesting article on the way forward with or without a vaccine

 

https://www.abc.net.au/news/health/2020-08-09/coronavirus-what-if-we-never-get-a-vaccine-for-covid-19/12530566

[red750]

There are a lot of reports in the MSM about panic buying and shortage of things like meat and eggs in supermarkets with the staff reductions introduced by the Stata Government in places like abattoirs, etc.. I went to the supermarket this evening between 5.00 and 5.20 pm. As you can see in the photos below, there is no shortage of meat, packaged on the shelf, or in the butchers dept servery counter. Also, the egg section is well stocked. The same applied in the vegie section - plenty of potatoes, carrots and all other fruit and veg. In some aisles, I was the only shopper, and there was no queuing for a register.

 

 

 

On my waty home, I pased Patterson Cheney, a major GM dealer. Although there were 4 or five cars in the showroom, here are the new car display area and the used car section.

 

[Subria]

I'm only  glad I don't live in cesspool Melb proper! When draconian 4 first came in even our shelves outside of Melb where being emptied! Sheeple seem to breed no matter where the location! 

[Jerry_Atrick]

@red750,this article may explain the barren Holden showroom, which is not COVID related: https://www.drive.com.au/news/holden-down-to-its-last-2000-cars-some-dealers-already-taking-down-signs-124017?trackLink=articleResults10.

[red750]

Ahhh! Living in a police state!

 

My daughter delivers supermarket and other catalogues every Monday. Once a month there is the local council blab, the Whitehorse Gazette. This has been deemed under stage 4 as being an essential service. In one area of delivery, there are four streets which run off the main thoroughfare, all of which end in a dead end. They are about a kilometre in length, and all run downhill from the open end. To save my daughter having to walk down the hill carrying the papers delivering to mail boxes, then back up the hill to where her car would be parked, I drive her, drop her at the top then go wait at the bottom to bring her back and go to the next street, repeating for each street. In order to do this, she needs an Authorised Work Permit, and so do I as the driver. The first street is about 3 km from our place. Just went out and came across a checkpoint where we had to show our permits to the police on the checkpoint before proceeding, so as to avoid a fine. Welcome to Victora 2020. Incidentally, those streets are great for the rubbish,recycling and garden waste collections There is no turnaround area at the end of the streets, so the trucks have to back nto the street, and reverse thr full length of the street before driving out again picking up the bins. A couple of the streets are very narrow, so if you are a resdent going in or out and you encounter a truck coming the opposite way, particularly in reverse, you have to pull into a convenient driveway till it passes..

[willedoo]

Russia is registering it's first vaccine today. It's jointly developed between the Ministry of Defense and Moscow’s Gamalei Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology. They say that the human trial volunteers have all developed an immunity, so they will vaccinate the medical workers and elderly first, then roll out mass vaccinations by October. They've also said they won't know for some time after that how effective the vaccine is and will depend on how much immunity the population gains from it.

 

On the other side of the coin, the former laboratory head of Russia's Vector State Research Center of Virology and Biotechnology is critical of the way it has been rushed and the lack of supporting published results. He's said the vaccine could be dangerous and even cause infection if improperly designed, and is basically saying that it should be researched more thoroughly. Let's hope that they are on the right track, and not just rushing a poorly prepared vaccine through to try to one up the West.

[nomadpete]

Meanwhile, the Karen vs Bunnings saga has been solved....

 

https://www.theshovel.com.au/2020/07/27/bunnings-karen-flees-store-after-staff-tell-her-5g-antennas/

[nomadpete]

I wasn't sure whether this belongs in the Covid-19 thread or the funnies thread......

 

 I tried this Covid 19 Test and it truly works!!!!!     

A new and easy test for the horror of Covid- 19 is making the rounds and it's simple, quick and positive (or negative if you see what I mean).

 

Take a glass and pour a decent dram of your favorite whisky into it; then see if you can smell it.  If you can, then you are halfway there.

 

Then drink it. If you can taste it then it is reasonable to assume you are currently free of the virus because the loss of the sense of smell and taste is a common symptom.

 

I tested myself 7 times last night and was virus free every time thank goodness.

 

I will have to test myself again today because I have developed a throbbing headache which can also be one of the symptoms.

 

I'll report my results later.

[Jerry_Atrick]

Hmmm... After the 7th, are you sure you hadn't contracted loss of taste, smell and senses(s) in general? The latter, and hallucinations are surely symptoms of the disease!

[Subria]

Now that was funny, must try that 'bottle test'😉

This virus is so deadly that we need to get tested to know if we actually have it!

 Its amazing how quiet it is out there above the clouds, ATC must be yawning every 5 mins!🙂

[farri]

This was sent to me!

 

[octave]

22 minutes ago, farri said:

This was sent to me!

 

 

 

i only got 2 minutes into this before the first incredibly wrong assertion was made.He says words to the effect that an act of parliament can only be signed by the Queen of England not the Queen of Australia or an Agent of the Queen such as the GG.  This is total bollocks. 

Edited August 11, 2020 by octave