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Working From Home - Impacts of Coronavirus

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coppice:

--- Quote from: cdev on May 02, 2020, 10:56:39 pm ---These are substances that make the body remember a substance with an extra kick.. But from what little I know that can also be very problematic, its very complicated, the thing that seems to be killing people so frequently with covid 19 is an immune response thats delayed too long and then its too strong, the delayed, overstrong  immune response is part of what is killing people.

--- End quote ---
This is the same behaviour as the original SARS in 2003. Maybe if they'd kept working on a vaccine for that they would have the ground work in place for tackling this virus, but I guess funding for the development of treatments and vaccines dried up with the infection suddenly went away. Well, you know, having got over it, it was obviously never going to come back in a modified form to bite us. Right?

NiHaoMike:
Perhaps the regular/seasonal flu does spread as easily from person to person, but gets another "hop" far less often because a lot of people are immune to it.

james_s:

--- Quote from: SiliconWizard on May 03, 2020, 12:26:10 am ---Anyone knows why it spreads so easily compared to seasonal flu?

--- End quote ---

I think it's a combination of things that creates a perfect storm.

For one thing it's a novel virus, it has not been spreading around human populations until recently so none of us have any immunity.

The incubation period is exceptionally long, up to 2 weeks between infection and the onset of symptoms during which time a person can be quite contagious. They may feel perfectly find and have no idea they've been infected and spend anywhere up to 2 weeks infecting other people. There are only so many degrees of separation and most of us are connected to most others through a chain of only a handful of people.

Then there  are the asymptomatic carriers or those with very mild symptoms who go to work or out in public even though they know they're sick but don't realize they have something so dangerous to some.

On top of all that there may be other factors. Perhaps the virus is exceptionally adept at getting into the body and establishing an infection. Maybe it floats in the air unusually well, maybe it survives on surfaces longer than most viruses, a lot of this we really don't know yet.

I do hope that this pandemic results in more people staying home if they're sick. Here in the US at least we've long had a culture where people try to show how tough or hard working they are and come to work when they're clearly horribly ill. I've seen it happen so many times, someone hacking and coughing at their desk and in meetings and a week later a dozen people are out sick. It's like people worry that if they stay home sick someone will think they're faking it.

cdev:
This story shows why infections are likely to spike way up in the US as soon as companies go back to work. 

https://theintercept.com/2020/04/30/coronavirus-warehouse-deaths-broadridge/

Just like many other countries now, the US has a multitiered labor system where poor people and legal guest workers increasingly staff companies for very low, hourly wages and they work with no benefits in dangerous conditions. We're told in the trade literature that this is the future.

Well this future treats workers like their lives dont matter one bit. the owners have said as much. They are very angry at Mexico for treating the workers like human beings whose lives matter.

US companies and officials have been threatening Mexico for closing many of the Maqiladora factories (the factories built under the NAFTA trade agreement) along the border because of high numbers of people getting sick in them. the US companies that assemble products with their sub assemblies (putting a Made in USA label on them) want them to go back to work. Some of these factories have lost lots of workers, one factory has had 18 workers die.  these buildings are cramped and crowded and not safe in any way as designed under the new conditions..

My guess is they may move the factories to Africa or South Asia  where wages are lower and safety conditions less restrictive, perhaps. But they may be surprised.

cdev:
James, one time many many years ago I worked for a major US bank for just a few days, writing a web application. During the time I was there, somebody in my department literally died at their desk and the other workers didnt notice it until lunchtime when he didn't move and somebody a few desks away saw that something was not right. An ambulance came but he had been dead for so long that they didn't even try to revive him.

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