The Coronavirus Thread

[Sean Hayden]

I keep seeing that some 60% of healthcare workers are declining the vaccine. --must be bs right?

Up to 60%. This explainer makes sense to me.

A recent survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that 29% of healthcare workers were hesitant to receive the vaccine, citing concerns related to potential side effects and a lack of faith in the government to ensure the vaccines were safe. Frontline workers in the United States are disproportionately Black and Hispanic. The pandemic has taken an "outsized toll" on this segment of the population, which has reportedly accounted for roughly 65% of fatalities in cases in which there are race and ethnicity data. A study published by the journal The Lancet over the summer found "healthcare workers of color were more than twice as likely as their white counterparts" to test positive for the coronavirus. According to a Pew Research Center poll published in December, vaccine skepticism is highest among Black Americans, as less than 43% said they would definitely/probably get a Covid-19 vaccine. Dr. Juvvadi told NPR that "there's no transparency between pharmaceutical companies or research companies — or the government sometimes — on how many people from" Black and Latino communities were involved in the research of the vaccine. Dr. Varon said that "the fact that [President] Trump is in charge of accelerating the process bothers" those individuals who refuse to be immunized, adding "they all think it's meant to harm specific sectors of the population." In an op-ed published in the New York Times earlier this week, emergency physicians Benjamin Thomas and Monique Smith wrote that "vaccine reluctance is a direct consequence of the medical system's mistreatment of Black people" and past atrocities, such as the unethical surgeries performed by J. Marion Sims and the Tuskegee Syphilis Study, best exemplifies "the culture of medical exploitation, abuse and neglect of Black Americans."

It's possible. Having never been a black guy in a hospital I don't know. But given how often advocating for yourself is essential for even whites, I can imagine it's terrible for drug addled immoral blacks...

[JimC]

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-01-05/ ... n/13031334

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has announced a new national lockdown for England until at least mid-February to combat a fast-spreading new strain of coronavirus.

Mr Johnson said the country was at "a critical moment", with cases rising rapidly in every part of the country.

Under the new rules, which are set to come into effect from midnight, primary and secondary schools and colleges will be closed for face-to-face learning, except for the children of key workers.

University students will not return for classes until at least mid-February.

People were told to work from home unless it was impossible to do so, and to only leave home for essential trips.

All non-essential shops and personal care services such as hairdressers will be closed, and restaurants will only be able to provide takeaway services.

The announcement came as the UK once again hit a daily high of coronavirus cases.

The new record number of cases was 58,784 on Monday, with a further 407 deaths of people within 28 days of a positive COVID-19 test, taking the death toll to more than 75,500 — the world's sixth highest — according to official government figures.

The UK's chief medical officers had warned that without further action, "there is a material risk of the National Health Service in several areas being overwhelmed over the next 21 days".

[L'Emmerdeur]

The enterprising fellow who sabotaged several hundred doses of covid vaccine had a very good reason.

'Wisconsin pharmacist who left vials out believed vaccine could harm people and change their DNA, police say'

The Wisconsin pharmacist arrested last week after allegedly removing vials of the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine from cold storage is a conspiracy theorist who believes the vaccine could harm people, police say.

Pharmacist Steven Brandenburg, 46, is accused of intentionally leaving out 57 vials, prompting hospital officials to sequester most of the doses because they thought the vaccine was rendered ineffective.

In a probable cause statement obtained by CNN affiliate WTMJ, authorities say Brandenburg admitted to investigators he believed in conspiracy theories and believed "the COVID-19 vaccine was not safe for people and could harm them and change their DNA."

[rainbow]

I'm sure there could be some sort of passive filter (activated carbon?) that would absorb free radicals when placed downstream from the UV chamber. However, they key to this of course is lots of testing, not only whether the virus is destroyed but careful assays for anything toxic.

Good thinking!
I'd expect activated carbon on its own to be just as effective, possibly with a drying agent like silica gel.
How do we split the patent royalties?

[rainbow]

But I don't think that's the valuable stuff. I think diamonds are just the game, enabling the players to muck around the 'board' here, as it were.

The real valuable stuff will be a bit...um...rare...and maybe a bit radioactive.

Diamonds are pretty, but not as useful as they once were. The real valuables are likely to be rare earths, uranium and cold-weather specialists who can support exploration in such areas.

Meh. Rare Earths aren't even rare.

Which mine is that?

[Brian Peacock]

Continued from here.

...
But yet getting one fact wrong is a terrible crime when you accept the Covid data without any doubt when there is plenty of evidence to the contrary is not? The fact that you keep on repeating it just shows how insecure you are of your position. Do you accept African, Indian and Asian Covid data without question? Go on admit you do. Read this:

Coronavirus: Why are international comparisons difficult?

Everyone wants to know how well their country is tackling the coronavirus pandemic, compared with others.

But there are all sorts of challenges in comparing countries, such as how widely they test for Covid-19 and whether they count deaths from the virus in the same way.

Prof Sir David Spiegelhalter from Cambridge University has said trying to rank different countries to decide which is the worst in Europe is a "completely fatuous exercise".

But he's also referred to "the bad countries in Europe: UK, Belgium, France, Spain, Italy" and said "clearly it's important to note that group is way above, in terms of their mortality, a group like Germany, Austria, Portugal, Denmark, Norway, who have low fatality rates."

So, when it comes to comparing countries, what factors do you need to take into account?\

Counting deaths

First of all, there are differences in how countries record Covid-19 deaths.

France and Germany, for example, have been including deaths in care homes in the headline numbers they produce every day.

But the daily figures for England referred only to deaths in hospitals until 29 April, when they started factoring in deaths in care homes as well.

A further complication is that there is no accepted international standard for how you measure deaths, or their causes.

Does somebody need to have been tested for coronavirus to count towards the statistics, or are the suspicions of a doctor enough?

Germany counts deaths in care homes only if people have tested positive for the virus. Belgium, on the other hand, includes any death in which a doctor suspects coronavirus was involved.

The UK's daily figures only count deaths when somebody has tested positive for the virus, but its weekly figures include suspected cases.

Also, does the virus need to be the main cause of death, or does any mention on a death certificate count?

Again, different countries do things differently. So, are you really comparing like with like?

Getting the picture. How futile your pissing up the wall game is?

Spiegelhalter's statistical analysis has been a god-send during this pandemic, but if you read to the bottom of the article you'll note that it says that comparing countries is difficult, but not impossible. The difference in the extent and scope of the virus across different countries is a feature of the virus' interaction with the various factors outlined in the article and not a feature of the data itself. And nothing in the article supports your implication that nobody can ever know anything about anything to do with Covid-19 because of the way countries handle their data collection and/or its publication differently.

The virus is killing hundreds of thousands of people across the world and epidemiologists and public health officials have a very clear idea about what they need to know to combat the disease. They're not passive recipients of arbitrary data but active participants in data collection and analysis. If you don't think that is the case then 1) you don't know as much as you think you do, and 2) what do you think epidemiologists and public health officials are basing their models and decisions on? Which way the wind is blowing, lay lines, or whether or not the seaweed is dry to the touch? Of course political factors play a part in how information is disseminated to the general public, but at the same time that's a matter of presentation and spin and doesn't mean that the professionals actually dealing with the crisis don't have a clue about what they're dealing with or that the scientific community is just sitting around waiting for the government to tell them what's going on.

For example, on Dec 13 the UK government's Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) informed the govt that test results were showing that a significantly more infectious variant of the virus was becoming more prevalent across the South East of England and contributing to a rise in hospital admissions. SAGE advised ministers to ramp up restrictions. The government chose not to, and so on Dec 15 the information found its way into the media. The govt them moved some regions from lower tier regimes into higher ones.

Similarly SAGE met the following week on Dec 20, and again using data from hospital admissions and test results warned the government that infection rates were beginning to run away and that the health service would be unable to cope if left unchecked - they recommended that the UK go into a full lockdown as in March. Again the govt decided to do nothing as Boris had already promised the nation that upto 6 households could meet for upto 5 days over Christmas, and again the information found its way into the media. The govt then had no options other than refuting or denying the data and the analysis or doing something about it. On Dec 22 Boris cancelled Christmas and told the nation that a maximum of two households should meet on Christmas day before putting 80% of the country into the highest restriction regime from the day after Christmas.

Between Christmas and New Year the govt PR machine was still telling parents and teachers that it was safe for schools to reopen this week even though infection rates were still rising, as were hospital admissions, and the so-called Kent and South African strains were gaining ground in the population. Bodies representing doctors, local authorities, and teachers challenged this assessment and the teaching unions initiated a legal case challenging the govt to publish its assessments that it was 'safe' for children to go back to school. Yesterday, two weeks after SAFE recommended a full, national lockdown, and following the full lockdowns imposed by the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish devolved governments, Boris went on TV and announced a full lockdown for England to take force from tomorrow.

As these examples show the data presented to the public by the govt is subject to political spin, but that's not to say that the data they may be misleading the public about is unreliable or inaccurate. And pointing these kinds of things out is certainly not "accepting the Covid data without any doubt," as you suggested.

[NineBerry]

With no hospital beds available, ambulance crews in the county were given guidance not to transport patients with little chance of survival. And the patients who are transported often have to wait hours before a bed is available.

"Hospitals are declaring internal disasters and having to open church gyms to serve as hospital units," Supervisor Hilda Solis said, calling the situation a "human disaster."

https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2021/01/05/us/l ... index.html

[Scot Dutchy]

As these examples show the data presented to the public by the govt is subject to political spin, but that's not to say that the data they may be misleading the public about is unreliable or inaccurate. And pointing these kinds of things out is certainly not "accepting the Covid data without any doubt," as you suggested.

So when the professor says:

Prof Sir David Spiegelhalter from Cambridge University has said trying to rank different countries to decide which is the worst in Europe is a "completely fatuous exercise".

He means something totally different. Also there are members here who are "accepting the Covid data without any doubt," and insulting anyone challenging them and refuse to answer questions regarding the data.

[Cunt]

Trying to get your point across, when people have decided that you are an asshole, is also a fatuous exercise.

[Cunt]

Enjoying some Crowder...

[Tero]

This
https://www.npr.org/sections/coronaviru ... fecting-44

gives me an idea. They used to have these personal fans. How about I now get one, blow it right in the face of those nose sticking out men in the stores?

[Cunt]

This
https://www.npr.org/sections/coronaviru ... fecting-44

gives me an idea. They used to have these personal fans. How about I now get one, blow it right in the face of those nose sticking out men in the stores?

Funny, but you might be on to something.

If we could handle air more carefully, we could blow gentle winds away from everyone.

First design: powered drones, using their prop-wash to direct wind in a direction favourable to reducing spread of airborne contaminents.

Second design: make it not be so expensive, noisy and ridiculous.

[JimC]

Trying to get your point across, when people have decided that you are an asshole, is also a fatuous exercise.

Based on personal experience?

[Cunt]

Trying to get your point across, when people have decided that you are an asshole, is also a fatuous exercise.

Based on personal experience?

Ya.

Ever tried it? Or are all your opinions PC?

[Tero]

Scientists Attempt To Convince Public To Take Covid More Seriously By Explaining Concept Of Death
https://www.theonion.com/scientists-att ... 1845989249