SpankyMcFarland

As an immigrant myself, I’m rather biased on the question and shall recuse myself. I’m sure immigration has exacerbated bed shortages in many cities but there are other factors. In my province, for example, our main problem is an ageing population.

Not a phenomenon confined to Canada.

100% capacity appears commonly in hospital reports across the country but hospitals can adapt in a genuine crisis.

There must be a fair chance that at least one of Trump, Biden or Sanders will end up with the bug this year. Trump is said to be a germaphobe but he was out shaking hands today.

If things reach Northern Italian levels, we don’t have much slack in the system to cope with the pressure on intensive care units and hospital staff.

The Canadian government should be able to tell us in a daily executive summary how many patients have been tested in the country so far. At the moment, only the federal number, 553, is provided on the front page of the official site with the caveat that this isn’t the total. That’s not good enough. More tests mean that the positive cases reflect a larger fraction of the total number infected in Canada, i.e. a more accurate description of the problem. I’d like to see us matching the British testing rate and have around 12,000 people tested already. From what I can see we are not near that figure.

The UK’s excellent daily summary is already out of date: A fourth person has died in the UK. The first two deaths in Germany have also been confirmed. On the personal front, the Hindu clasped hand Namaste greeting seems the best alternative (apart from just waving) as long as you don’t touch your face. The Saudis aren’t exactly helping on the economic front by flooding the oil market.

This isn’t a Canada-US spat. The President should try and avoid creating confusion and let the administration speak with one voice by staying high-level and relatively non-specific in his remarks. https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/06/trump-anybody-who-wants-a-test-gets-a-test-amid-shortage-for-coronavirus.html

At this stage in the US, a jump in positive cases should occur when testing increases - it’s not necessarily a bad sign. There is almost certainly a large group of cases out there yet to be diagnosed. The nettle has to be grasped on both sides of the border if we are going to control this thing. BTW any head of government in this crisis should try and lead the nation in working together and exercise restraint on the negative comment front. Calling the state governor at the heart of the epidemic a snake ain’t really helping matters.

The country that has arguably done best so far with its testing, South Korea, has one of the lowest fatality rates. I suspect the rate will trend down in the US once it gets testing ramped up and starts finding more people with COVID who were asymptomatic. Even if 0.6 turns out be the true number, it’s still a lot higher than regular flu.

That happens more on the Left but the Right is learning how to restrict free speech too with the same fits of selective outrage. Anyway, back to the virus. Canada’s web page on COVID-19 needs some serious work. People are entitled to the same clear information as UK citizens, updated daily, about the total number of people who have been tested in the country and how many are positive and have died. Roughly speaking, Canada should aim to be doing about half the tests of the UK, so around 10,000 people as of now. We are nowhere near that.

What about liberals who renounce their lattes and become conservatives as they age?

In Istanbul a few years ago, the siege of 1453 seemed like a recent catastrophe as we drove past Constantinople’s mighty walls and stood in the baffling enormity of Hagia Sophia. Something of the Greek, and Roman, spirit in this city endures.

Strictly speaking, I think Turkey fulfills that criterion rather than Greece, as long as travelling across a bridge is considered to be ‘by land’?

I’m impressed by the sheer energy you put into these essays. Yes, Erdoğan ıs a loathsome, populist demagogue who brought out the worst in Turkey but he’s facing mass murderers across the border in Assad, Putin, and the Shia fighters of the Iranian mullahs. They are slaughtering civilians indiscriminately. That is the situation NOW. Should Erdoğan let Assad kill everyone he wants to in Idlib? The Kurds and Egypt are work for other days.

The UK gov website gets straight to the point: Over 20,000 tests in a European country that is not Italy - not too shabby by any measure.

Thank you. So 49 confirmed cases by the national lab, 2 more awaiting confirmation. I don’t see a total for tests done, provincially and federally.

I’m finding Canada’s info on testing a little opaque, let’s say. https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/covid-19-coronavirus-march-6-1.5488009 Is there a running daily/weekly cumulative total of how people have been tested in this country?

The UK has done a reasonable job on testing too, despite having few cases:

The test numbers speak for themselves. South Korea is embarrassing the rest of us.

Assad and Putin are slaughtering these people at his border, deliberately targeting civilians. How do you think Putin would react if somebody was doing that on his doorstep in Georgia or Ukraine? I’m no fan of Erdoğan but he’s being boxed into a tight corner here.

South Korea has done something pretty extraordinary here:

Many of them may be in Washington. There’s no question that the US is missing cases at the moment. 233 is a gross underestimate of the real picture.

Encouraging news on the fatality rate of Covid-19 from South Korea, the only country with a proper testing program: On the other hand, a 0.6% fatality rate suggests that 14 deaths means something like 2333 people have or had Covid-19 in the US. I think? Just a hunch.

It’s different in that he is allied with some of the last standers in Idlib and doesn’t want even more refugees pouring across his border. On the issue of the Kurds, their desire for independence is a serious problem for the Turkish state.