© Pexels / Anna Shvets
The governments of Austria, Denmark and Italy have all begun easing lockdown restrictions, allowing certain segments of the workforce to return to work in a staggered manner, in a bid to revive the countries' ailing economies.
On March 16, Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz ordered everything, except supermarkets and medical facilities, to shut down in the hopes of preventing a coronavirus outbreak similar to the one which ravaged Italy.
Those restrictions are finally beginning to be lifted on Tuesday as
non-essential stores under 400 square meters (4,300 square feet), such as hardware stores and garden centers, will open their doors once more. They will be
followed by shopping malls, hairdressers and other larger shops on May 1.
Restaurants and hotels won't reopen until mid-May at the earliest, and public events likely won't take place in Austria until late June. As the restrictions ease, however,
the public will still be required to wear face masks in most shops, supermarkets, pharmacies and on public transport.
"It's not, 'hooray, it's over, and now we carry on as if the whole thing is finished,'" Professor Hans-Peter Hutter, deputy head of the Center for Public Health at the Medical University of Vienna, said.
Some 504,000 people registered unemployed in Austria at the beginning of April, so the government is hoping that its early action to stem the tide of initial infection can be mirrored by an earlier reopening of the economy.
Comment: In contrast, restrictions will
remain in place in the UK until at least May 7. Foreign Secretary Raab says there is still "a long way to go." Germany's health chief
warned that the observed slowdown in cases could only be apparent, a result of a temporary decrease in testing, and not to get too excited about it. (No mention of the idea that the apparent spike in cases may have been an artifact of testing in the first place!) Ergo, no lifting the lockdown there yet. Armenia has
extended its state of emergency. India too
extended their lockdown until May 3 - all "to save lives" (with no explanation of how flattening the curve will save more lives than not flattening the curve, or any acknowledgment of the deaths that will be caused by the lockdown and its aftereffects).
Whereas Iran recorded its first day in a month with deaths
under 100, England and Wales saw a spike:
Just like in Italy and Spain (and probably New York), that's a lot of excess deaths which are NOT attributed to Covid-19.
Cases are rising
in Russia, prompting this from Putin:
On Monday, during a meeting with officials, via video link, Putin said Russia's situation was "changing every day and unfortunately not for the better." He warned of the need to prepare for "complex and extraordinary" circumstances as infections spread.
"We have a lot of problems," the President said. "We don't have anything special to brag about, and we certainly must not relax." Putin added that he was prepared to call in the military to help stretched medical services, if needed.
One Russian academic predicts more
divorces as a result of the lockdown, something Chinese researchers already saw happen in China:
The Chinese, who recently relaxed their own authoritarian lockdown, are supportive of such policies
elsewhere too. All aboard the corona train!
Top Chinese virologists, who were invited to share their experience with Russian colleagues, have revealed how their country tackled Covid-19. They also urged governments to 'get real' about the unprecedented threat to humanity.
...
Wu Xiaomei, head of the Harbin State University clinic, another member of the mission, shed some light on how Chinese healthcare staff dealt with the epidemic. They developed a playbook for handling coronavirus patients, organizing them by their health status, she revealed to RT.
"When a patient is diagnosed with Covid-19, we define if they are in mild, moderate, in severe or critical condition," explained the doctor. "Then we send them to different hospitals."
According to Wu, treating severe or critical patients in one place "markedly" helped to decrease mortality. As for those in mild or moderate conditions, their therapy is focused on making sure "that they do not turn into severe ones."
...
With no vaccine or clinically approved medicine in sight, interrupting the transmission of the virus has been touted as the most efficient way of containing its spread.
For this reason, "governments should enforce strict measures and the media should tell people that it's serious."
This virus is affecting everybody, we can't close our eyes to it.
See also:
Comment: It's rather insane that Biden's campaign has editorial influence for reports investigating crimes against Biden. But that's why everyone with two firing neurons knows the NYT is fake news.