The Coronavirus Thread

[Sean Hayden]

I must admit to taking some pleasure in being thought of as someone who simply does what he's told.

Clean your room!

You're not my real dad.

[Hermit]

[Sean Hayden]

[rainbow]

So back to my question.
The Dutch government says 500 people are getting infected every day, you say it is 10.

Who is lying?

Corrected my mistake. You said 10 cases, not 19.

Take you time in answering, I'm sure you're not too embarrassed by your government's lies.

[JimC]

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-08-24/ ... a/12587270

Singapore is easing its incoming travel restrictions, including for Australians, saying it has managed to effectively control the rate of new coronavirus infections.

Travellers from Australia, except for Victorians, have been deemed low risk and will only be required to self-quarantine for seven instead of 14 days upon arrival

[NineBerry]

Don't be sad. Germany has today removed Victoria from the list of high-risk regions

[JimC]

Well that was a mistake. Remember, we are pestilence central...

[JimC]

Actually, we're down to 116 cases in the last 24 hours, which is a definite improvement. Hopefully the downward trend will continue, Stage 4 will end in 2 or 3 weeks, and we'll be able to go and see the boys...

[JimC]

Religious stupidity continues to astound me:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-08-24/ ... e/12588578

Australia's most powerful Archbishop has warned Catholics will have "ethical concerns" about the coronavirus vaccine the Federal Government struck a deal to purchase 25 million doses of last week.

Anthony Fisher, the Archbishop of Sydney, used social media to criticise the vaccine being developed at Oxford University, saying it "makes use of a cell line cultured from an electively aborted human foetus".

The vaccine, which is considered among the frontrunners in the global race to combat COVID-19, has been developed from a kidney cell line (HEK-293) taken from an aborted foetus, a common practice in medical research.

Professor Colin Pouton, from the Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, said the HEK-293 cell was regularly used in medical research "to make viral vector products" because there are advantages to using mammalian cells.

"They're using the cell line as a packaging system to make the virus," he said.

"It's a cell line you can use to produce proteins or produce viral products."

Professor Pouton said the cell-line was developed decades ago and had been widely used around the world.

"It's not like people are using a new cell line," he said.

"It's already there, so in many respects the ethical issue is in history."

[Hermit]

Religious stupidity continues to astound me:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-08-24/ ... e/12588578

Australia's most powerful Archbishop has warned Catholics will have "ethical concerns" about the coronavirus vaccine the Federal Government struck a deal to purchase 25 million doses of last week.

Anthony Fisher, the Archbishop of Sydney, used social media to criticise the vaccine being developed at Oxford University, saying it "makes use of a cell line cultured from an electively aborted human foetus".

The vaccine, which is considered among the frontrunners in the global race to combat COVID-19, has been developed from a kidney cell line (HEK-293) taken from an aborted foetus, a common practice in medical research.

Professor Colin Pouton, from the Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, said the HEK-293 cell was regularly used in medical research "to make viral vector products" because there are advantages to using mammalian cells.

"They're using the cell line as a packaging system to make the virus," he said.

"It's a cell line you can use to produce proteins or produce viral products."

Professor Pouton said the cell-line was developed decades ago and had been widely used around the world.

"It's not like people are using a new cell line," he said.

"It's already there, so in many respects the ethical issue is in history."

Not just him. "Along with the Anglican Archbishop of Sydney and the Greek Orthodox Archbishop of Australia, I have written to the Prime Minister Scott Morrison, asking the government to pursue similar arrangements for alternate vaccines that do not raise the same ethical concerns, so that Australians will have a choice when it comes to vaccination."

I predict that all those bishops will queue up for the Oxford vaccine, should it be the first to become available. Their ethical concerns will immediately metamorphose into confidence that God will forgive them for using it.

[Sean Hayden]

No skin off my nose if they don't take it.

[JimC]

It could be a useful Darwinian thing...

[Hermit]

It could be a useful Darwinian thing...

...if religious idiocy were genetic.

[JimC]

Just removing themselves from the here and now would be useful...

[Brian Peacock]

The thing with public vaccination programs is that nearly everyone has to participate in order for them to be effective. The ethical questions that arise around vaccines are essentially no different to the ethical questions that arise around more mundane things like cosmetics. When the Bishop can discuss and explain his ethical position with regards to his chosen brand of shampoo I'll be a little more willing to listen to his arguments about potentially life-saving pharmacological treatments, therapies, and vaccinations.