An interesting podcast about coronaviruses I'm currently listening to. https://www.microbe.tv/twiv/twiv-602/
Herd immunity isn't going to happen any time soon, and if it does, it will leave a massive death count. We do not want to try for herd immunity, as we're already starting to see different strains in the virus emerge. Herd immunity is like trying to quit drinking by consuming so much of each type of liquor it makes you sick....so that's like nearly dying from 99 bananas, then Goldschlager, then spiced rum, etc. Trump shutting down saved thousands of lives, and had he done so earlier, it would have avoided an estimated 30k fatalities. Remember, you didn't need to shut the entire country down at first, back when this was all a liberal hoax, and would be down to nothing in a couple of days. Now....well, one of our states has more cases than entire European countries: https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/13/health/florida-coronavirus-cases-comparisons/index.html So, what we do know about this virus is that it spreads REALLY well inside. Where do people spend a lot of time inside? Well, New York and the NE in winter/spring, and in AZ, TX, FL and CA in the summer. How do you avoid spreading it when you're inside? Well..... The economic damage from this is still pending, and unfortunately massive. We haven't begun to account for it, and it implies a MASSIVE paradigm shift. Right now, we just put the entire economy on the company credit card, with all the theft, corruption and horseshit that entails. It will take years just to get to a new economic normal. I also need to point out: we knew what was required to get this under control. We, for the most part, did it. We then had some people ignore that, and we all now suffer the consequences. This wave we're seeing was not inevitable, it was just as preventable as the rest of this nightmare. We stand alone among nations politicizing this to an absurd degree (see below), and we stand miles ahead in terms of the human and economic cost. https://www.politico.com/news/2020/07/13/trump-questions-public-health-experts-twitter-359388 America: Doctor, how do we stop Coronavirus? Doctor: Well, you have to wear a mask, practice social distancing, shut down areas that have a massive outbreak, wash your hands and be careful. America: (Turns wearing a mask into a political decision, gets medical advice from Trump, Florida is Florida) Doctor: God damn it. Now a bunch of you are going to die. Thanks, Florida. America: YOU MADE A LOT OF MISTAKES! "A majority of Americans, 51 percent, still trust medical advice from Fauci, according to an Economist/YouGov poll conducted last week, including 68 percent of Democrats, 52 percent of Independents and 38 percent of Republicans. Only 33 percent of Americans trust medical advice from Trump." In case anyone else is curious why we're fucked, it's because this effort requires ALL OF US, and 33% of this country somehow trusts a guy who couldn't get a loan from an American bank and stole $2m from a children's cancer charity for medical advice over one of the most respected and prestigious scientists we have.
I'm starting to see advertisements for paid vaccine trials. Who's signing up? Who's risking it for $1,800? That seems kinda low to me. Like, it may kill you or worse, but you'll be able to pay rent for a month. it was late, I didn't open the article to see if they actually have something to spritz up your nose yet or if they're just getting ready for when they do have it. I'm off to look into it.
They. THEY are too fucking stupid. I see nothing wrong with letting a herd of whiney heirs and Halcion-addicted housewives get sick and die. Most of the people in charge of these decisions were women who are bitter because they’re used-up former trophy mistresses who know their days as Wife 2 are numbered since their husband could buy himself a 20-year-old cheerleader whenever he feels like it.
It really blows my mind that you guys have devolved into that kind of scenario. Politics has become such a huge part of your life that you see EVERYTHING, including a pandemic, through those lenses. Who knows, maybe the pandemic is one way to start eliminating that from your DNA?
I also want to say that when I say "you", I'm referring to the general impression of Americans or the US, not necessarily the individuals on this board, but at some point it kind of becomes a "guilty by association" scenario. Case in point, I don't want Americans to be allowed across the border, but I don't think I'd have a problem with most, if not all, of the Americans on this board coming across.
I've checked out of a ton of these discussions... left most general Facebook groups, muted or unfriended people, stopped paying attention to most general online communities, comment areas, etc. I don't discuss most of these topics with anyone but friends whose opinions I already know and who generally agree with me. Even here, I only click through to these serious threads occasionally. I don't like this kind of bubble isolation from external ideas, but when there's just such an intense flood of ignorance from such a broad swath of people - even people who I otherwise know to be somewhat reasonable - it's just self-preservation at this point. Otherwise I'd drive myself insane. I stay on top of the science to keep myself in the loop (living with someone who holds a PhD in immunology helps in this regard). COVID goes hand-in-hand with the anti-vaxxer groups, the (literal) Nazi groups, the deep state conspiracy theorists, the fundamentalist religious zealots... all of these people whose believe their stupid ideas hold merit just because they find other stupid people to discuss them with. And unfortunately, it affects all of us; it can't just be "they" because you must share a community with "them."
I don't seek out conversations with these idiots, but when it happens that I'm asked about my opinion I let them hear it. And then when they start with the bullshit "facts" I simply challenge them: Prove it. Show me proof, a study by a reputable scientific or medical organization. Show me proof that thousands of deaths were purposely listed as Covid-19 to pad the numbers. Give me sound reasoning why Governor Cuomo would want to destroy the economy in his own state to "make Trump look bad". They simply cannot do it. They mutter something about "Trump is the best thing that happened to this country" and change the subject or drink their beer, staring off into space. As for unfriending people, I don't do that. I WILL tell them that their perspective, while they have the right to it, is completely fucking retarded.
I don't seek out conversations with these idiots, but when it happens that I'm asked about my opinion I let them hear it. And then when they start with the bullshit "facts" I simply challenge them: Prove it. Show me proof, a study by a reputable scientific or medical organization. Show me proof that thousands of deaths were purposely listed as Covid-19 to pad the numbers. Give me sound reasoning why Governor Cuomo would want to destroy the economy in his own state to "make Trump look bad". They simply cannot do it. They mutter something about "Trump is the best thing that happened to this country" and change the subject or drink their beer, staring off into space. As for unfriending people, I don't do that. I WILL tell them that their perspective, while they have the right to it, is completely fucking retarded.
I'm a little bit amazed at how much a single basic math error is responsible for so much of the denial. It goes like this: 1/100 = .01% Look how tiny the death rate is!
Trump administration ordered hospitals to bypass the C.D.C. and send key virus information to a Washington database
If there is one decent human being left working for this administration, now would be a great time for them to step forward and blow the whistle on this insanity.
Personally, I’d rather keep the border closed for thirty weeks rather than thirty days. One month is nothing. People simply do not want to hunker down again because they think it’s unfair they tried and didn’t do a good enough job the first time. Viruses don’t care about effort, this could get so much worse now besides being back at square one, you have all these COVID Conspiracy theorist damaging everything in sight. Houston county currently has more than 27,600 active cases. That’s a quarter of what our country has had since this started.