Covid-19 Pandemic

[Ivanhoe]

37 minutes ago, LT Ducky said:

At times I wonder at the seeming ‘herd mentality’ (not to be confused with ‘herd immunity’) of the dedicated mask-wears; I wear it to avoid getting hassled, I totally do not understand those people I see walking their dog on an empty sidewalk or driving alone in their cars with the A/C on and the windows up while wearing a mask. I did get a little insight as to the origin of this behavior last night while visiting my sister (an avid, obsessed mask-wearer). I arrived as the evening news (ABC) was on, and it played in the background as I talked with her and my 2 nieces. I haven’t watched ANY television news in over 2 years and was appalled by the fear-mongering presentation of all things COVID-related ; she is a faithful watcher of the news – no wonder she sees COVID much differently than I do.

Sadly, what we are seeing in mainstream culture, the press, and the government is a complete abandonment of critical thinking. And despite, or because of, a century and a half of public education, our general population mostly operates in caveman mode; driven by emotions rather than thought. What we are seeing in what is actually a rather minor crisis is a larger tragedy.

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Masks and social distancing is also problematic with me. I wear a ‘gaiter’ because it is easily dropped off the face (and often falls down by itself) and to be honest, I consider it totally worthless as an effective shield but it allows me to buy groceries with minimal hassle. Here in Pennsylvania to eat in a restaurant you must ‘mask-up’ at the door, wear a mask to your table where it may be removed to eat your meal and socialize. To leave the restaurant you must ‘mask-up’ again to walk out the door. If that makes any sense to a rational-thinking person feel free to enlighten me on what I am missing.

From an anthropological/sociological standpoint, the maskquisition is simply a manifestation of some people's craving for compliance and enforcement.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Steven P Allen]

13 minutes ago, Ivanhoe said:

 And despite, or because of, a century and a half of public education, our general population mostly operates in caveman mode; driven by emotions rather than thought. 

Absolutely "because of."   Most of the curriculum (and not just at the primary/secondary level) is dedicated to awakening very specific sets of feelings, but the process is masquerading as thought.    Indeed, the words think and feel have become operational synonyms in the common senses, much to my disgust.  And the dominant pyschobabble underlies the trend:  we are told in communications seminars and trainings to preface nearly every sentence with "I feel that" in order to disclaim any objective observation and minimize the possibility of offending the listeners. 

[Ivanhoe]

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/daily-life-coping/holidays/thanksgiving.html
 

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If having guests to your home, be sure that people follow the steps that everyone can take to make Thanksgiving safer. These steps include:

Have a small outdoor meal with family and friends who live in your community.

Limit the number of guests.

Have conversations with guests ahead of time to set expectations for celebrating together.

Clean and disinfect frequently touched surfaces and items between use.

If celebrating indoors, bring in fresh air by opening windows and doors, if possible. You can use a window fan in one of the open windows to blow air out of the window. This will pull fresh air in through the other open windows.

Limit the number of people in food preparation areas.

Have guests bring their own food and drink.

If sharing food, have one person serve food and use single-use options, like plastic utensils.

 

So apparently COVID-19 can withstand the dishwasher cycle?

Also, we aren't supposed to have folks from outside our community? Are there COVID checkpoints with rapid testing at the county/state line?

As for outdoor meals, or with windows open, how is that going to sell in a place like Boston (forecast calls for a high tempo of 53F, and rain)?

 

[Brian Kennedy]

Definitely not a red vs blue state issue (warning, header photo is mildly nsfw) https://www.thecut.com/2020/11/nyc-underground-nightlife-covid-19.html#_ga=2.25817401.543720103.1605658911-924631015.1536114758

[Stefan Fredriksson]

1 hour ago, Der Zeitgeist said:

...

I'm 40, with some COVID risk factors, so I've been very careful throughout the whole year because I'm pretty sure I won't be missing much by putting parts of my life on hold in 2020.

...

Holy crap, so being a Bolshevik Communist with a flavour of Marxism is a risk-factor?!

I will be here all week.

 

And seriously, take care and be as safe as you can.

[Ivanhoe]

Given the source, take with a very large grain of salt;

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-19802-w

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In summary, the detection rate of asymptomatic positive cases in the post-lockdown Wuhan was very low (0.303/10,000), and there was no evidence that the identified asymptomatic positive cases were infectious.

 

[Stuart Galbraith]

I don't wear a mask so I don't get Covid. I wear it so my mother doesn't get Covid, and my 100 year old Grandmother doesn't get Covid. Granted I work from home, but I always wear a mask when I leave the village. It's a small castle against the bar karma of possibly killing someone. For me it's a no brainer.

[Brian Kennedy]

10 minutes ago, Stuart Galbraith said:

I don't wear a mask so I don't get Covid. I wear it so my mother doesn't get Covid, and my 100 year old Grandmother doesn't get Covid. Granted I work from home, but I always wear a mask when I leave the village. It's a small castle against the bar karma of possibly killing someone. For me it's a no brainer.

Yeah, more or less my stance as well. And I always knew you lived in a small castle!

Edited November 24, 2020 by Brian Kennedy

[Stuart Galbraith]

No, the castles up for sale. Although if it drags on any longer, they might even accept my lowball bid.

I really must stop posting on Kindle. I thinks it knows better than I do what im trying to say. The most embarrassing was when I wrote Europe and it substituted Eurovision. I swear Bezos is out to get me....

[MiloMorai]

Why is Trump AWOL on covid? He made his little speech on the vaccine, taking no questions, while the covid is spreading faster than a Kali wild fire.

[Stefan Fredriksson]

Test came back positive for antibodies. My interpretation is I can now do whatever I want, since I am immune to everything.

 

Would have been pretty cool if the test came back positive for antimatter. 😀

[glenn239]

5 hours ago, Stuart Galbraith said:

I really must stop posting on Kindle. I thinks it knows better than I do what im trying to say. The most embarrassing was when I wrote Europe and it substituted Eurovision. I swear Bezos is out to get me....

Good Lord, you have time to post on Kindle too?

[sunday]

28 minutes ago, Stefan Fredriksson said:

I can now do whatever I want, since I am immune to everything.

I suggest a surströmming and durian salad.

[glenn239]

47 minutes ago, MiloMorai said:

Why is Trump AWOL on covid? He made his little speech on the vaccine, taking no questions, while the covid is spreading faster than a Kali wild fire.

Trump's view of Covid is that the vaccine is about to be distributed.  Yes, 150,000 cases a day is a lot indeed.  At that rate, the entire United States will be infected in 2,200 days.  And the vaccine is starting out in what, maybe 14 days?  Is 14 less than 2,200?  I can't keep track of that stuff.

[Ivanhoe]

34 minutes ago, Stefan Fredriksson said:

Test came back positive for antibodies. My interpretation is I can now do whatever I want, since I am immune to everything.

Not true. If you hang out with the continental Europeans, you'll blow your shoulder out.

[Stefan Fredriksson]

2 hours ago, sunday said:

I suggest a surströmming and durian salad.

Ehh, there are some limits to my newly aquired status as immortal... 😱

[sunday]

1 hour ago, Stefan Fredriksson said:

Ehh, there are some limits to my newly aquired status as immortal... 😱

Better not introduce lutefisk into the combo, then.

[Jeff]

On 11/24/2020 at 4:15 AM, Stuart Galbraith said:

I was going to order some new masks on Amazon, has anyone got any thoughts on what type would offer the very best protection?

[RETAC21]

Only one way to be absolutely secure, Stuart:

[Jeff]

6 hours ago, Stefan Fredriksson said:

Test came back positive for antibodies. My interpretation is I can now do whatever I want, since I am immune to everything.

 

Would have been pretty cool if the test came back positive for antimatter. 😀

[Stuart Galbraith]

No matter, I found this renewable system on Amazon. It works great, but as someone has to follow me around with an air pump, social distancing goes out the window.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Nautical-Replica-Hub-Antique-Collectible/dp/B07RQT41Z4/ref=asc_df_B07RQT41Z4/?tag=bingshoppinga-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=&hvpos=&hvnetw=o&hvrand=&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=e&hvdev=t&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=&hvtargid=pla-4584207585476573&psc=1

[Adam Peter]

Evidence Builds That an Early Mutation Made the Pandemic Harder to Stop

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But one mutation near the beginning of the pandemic did make a difference, multiple new findings suggest, helping the virus spread more easily from person to person and making the pandemic harder to stop.

The mutation, known as 614G, was first spotted in eastern China in January and then spread quickly throughout Europe and New York City. Within months, the variant took over much of the world, displacing other variants.

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There is no evidence that a coronavirus with the 614G mutation causes more severe symptoms, kills more people or complicates the development of vaccines. Nor do the findings change the reality that places that quickly and aggressively enacted lockdowns and encouraged measures like social distancing and masks have fared far better than the those that did not.

But the subtle change in the virus’s genome appears to have had a big ripple effect, said David Engelthaler, a geneticist at the Translational Genomics Research Institute in Arizona. “When all is said and done, it could be that this mutation is what made the pandemic,” he said.

 

[sunday]

36 minutes ago, RETAC21 said:

Only one way to be absolutely secure, Stuart:

No internet, also. Better safe than sorry!

[DB]

7 hours ago, Ivanhoe said:

Not true. If you hang out with the continental Europeans, you'll blow your shoulder out.

Funnily enough, with the cold weather my ancient cycling injury is beginning to make its presence felt. I flipped over the handlebars and landed on the back side of my right shoulder... That's what you get from voluntary exercise. It's potentially lethal.

[rmgill]

On 11/19/2020 at 9:28 AM, Brian Kennedy said:

Newsom was always an asshole and has completely shot his credibility. The dinner is unlikely to be as much of a super-spreading event as most recent Trump events were. 

Do what we say, not what we do. 
 

Is swigging champaign on a new york street likely to be a super spreader event? Or does covid differentiate between political persuasions?