serious coronavirus thread

[RaikouLover]

Your assumptions about my politics are both untrue and unsubstantiated. My support for Sanders was limited to the token vote I cast for him in the primary, and I intend to vote (grudgingly) in the general election for the purpose of harm reduction. Thanks for proving my point about the folly of viewing society through nothing but the lens of electoral politics, though.

Rather than it being an assumption that post simply wasn't directed at you.

As for the xenophobia in the ad I see what you're saying now. Unfortunately, that was a pretty effective subliminal messaging. I didn't even notice until you posted the exact frame capture. It's also astutely placed in the center of the sandwich "frame - spin - frame."

 

[billymills]

Language such as "The Chinese" is frequently used to stir up nationalist aggression and leverage xenophobia to get people onboard with US foreign aggression. Look at Trump's tweets and how he alternates between China / the Chinese people and the Chinese depending on whether he wants to praise or criticize (and look at this tweet for an even more ridiculous example involving multiple nations; like the Democratic party's ad, he adjusts the language from an original source). I am not arguing there is no room anywhere for criticism of the Chinese government, but if the Democratic party can't do it without othering Asian-Americans in the process (and they can, but they won't), then I'm less inclined to accept this good-faith reading of their advertising.

That frame is the type of thing I wouldn't catch unless it was directed at me, and still don't really have a good gauge for how 'bad' it is.

I kinda hope China won't be able to brush off international attention for this like they have been able for Hong Kong and Xinjiang. But you're right that it'll have to be handled very delicately. Fortunately we have two great candidates who are known for being extremely proper.

 

[McGrrr]

I thought Boris Johnson's speech/message tonight was coherent and clear, but social media seems to think differently... It's difficult to dumb down a nuanced response to a complex problem to a simple set of rules, but that seems to be what is being demanded by the mob.

People want "more clarity", but it's very straightforward; let's gradually attempt a return to normality, the success of which will be carefully monitored, and if the data shows that infection rates are increasing too much, then we take a step back. It's really frustrating that so many don't appear to get this.

 

[p2]

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...-china-s-northeast-thrown-back-under-lockdown

100 million people or nearly 1/10 of China's entire population have gone back into lockdown, for a virus that has infected * checks notes*

13 people in the last 48 hours, very cool!

 

[Machoke]

https://gizmodo.com/twitter-bots-drove-the-push-to-reopen-america-study-fi-1843614589

Wtf

 

[Atha]

Coronavirus from a philosophical perspective​

Hello! I'm in Literary Studies, and I wrote this text with one of my classmates for my Philosophy class. I translated it from French with this translator (I corrected some flaws), because I thought it had its place in this thread. Enjoy!

Can philosophy talk hot about an event? If it is never a question of bringing a technical "light" on this or that aspect of what happens, but of trying to know the general meaning of what takes place by showing the global coherence of a given phenomenon, Hegel nevertheless rightly reminds us that "Minerva's owl only takes flight when the twilight comes", thus signifying the impossibility of knowing the meaning of an event until it has been fully accomplished. Before its completion, only partial and unconnected perspectives appear, condemning the thinker to produce an incomplete, i.e., "abstract" commentary, and forcing the (probe) philosopher to think about the event only after it has been accomplished. If the philosopher thus seems condemned to remain silent until the event has manifested its full extent, the historian of philosophy can identify the nature of the forces at play and analyse the type of discourse that structures the event.

Thus we can think of the weakening of politics and its subordination to scientific expertise on the basis of the thought of Saint-Simon and Saint-Simonism, question with Giorgio Agamben the accelerated normalization of the state of exception, summon Machiavelli and Guichardin to understand the rapid reversal of the Prince's speeches, or look at our exit certificate on the Smartphone with one eye and, with the other, a text by Foucault on "surveillance societies". Epistemologically, we can ask ourselves with Hayek what the idea of a "recovery plan" presupposes in terms of the ability of economists and administrators to really anticipate human decisions and behaviour. The most daring will perhaps wonder with Sloterdijk whether the fear of the biological body of others coupled with the increasing mediation of screens in human relations do not already draw the map of post-humanism, thus finally giving a complement to the preposition of the "World after" - after man.

 

[Celticpride]

Anecdotally, I live in Massachusetts and when I go to Lowe’s, the mall or the grocery store, everyone is wearing masks. We also reported 0 covid deaths a few days ago. The battle isn’t over yet, but it’s clear at least from my experience that mask wearing and distancing does make a difference. Other things, like taping six feet apart waiting areas at check outs certainly helps as well. I know the country is seeing record amounts of cases, but there’s a path to a “new normal” that is effective.

 

[Bughouse]

are memes allowed in this serious thread?

large

 

[pupbert]

Hello Every Body . . . . . I am finding this of as much concern as all others . . . so much conflict in the messaging . . . . . .

What is your thoughts on the Mask Situation? I have been wearing one but my mother is telling me that it will give me cancer and I am scared. What is the Answer? I don't want my family to die of COVIN but I also do not want cancer . . . . . . .

I hope you are managing the quarantine successfully : )

 

[vonFiedler]

What is your thoughts on the Mask Situation? I have been wearing one but my mother is telling me that it will give me cancer and I am scared. What is the Answer? I don't want my family to die of COVIN but I also do not want cancer . . . . . . .

I cannot imagine any reason to think that wearing a mask would cause cancer. You should check your mother's sources. COVID is a medical crisis, and there is 0 reason barring insane conspiracy theories not to trust medical doctors and scientists about it.

 

[Texas Cloverleaf]

Hello Every Body . . . . . I am finding this of as much concern as all others . . . so much conflict in the messaging . . . . . .

What is your thoughts on the Mask Situation? I have been wearing one but my mother is telling me that it will give me cancer and I am scared. What is the Answer? I don't want my family to die of COVIN but I also do not want cancer . . . . . . .

I hope you are managing the quarantine successfully : )

Respectfully, your mother is an idiot. You breathe in little bits of what you breathe out at all times, regardless of wearing a mask. Think of any time you've fallen asleep on your side or front, you're breathing in as much of what you exhale as with a mask.

Think of doctors, they wear a mask constantly as part of their job but no one is scared about doctors getting cancer. A mask is designed to protect you and those around you from dangerous things. They are not dangerous themselves at all.

 

[Chou Toshio]

@GOP leaders saying "We're paying people to not work"--

...then maybe, instead of relying on unemployment insurance, you should have stipulated corporate relief/bail outs on not firing people, and used corporations instead of unemployment insurance as the vehicle of distribution-- through salaries. You know, what Germany did. What Hawley and Tlaib recommended bipartisanly. What the leadership of both parties harpooned.

If people were still employed and getting their income through salaries... then their employers might be able to say something about coming back to work, where appropriate. >__>

 

[Cynara]

Currently Self isolating after testing positive for Coronavirus for about a week, I'm mostly okay and dont have bad symptoms. I wasnt aware I had it until I had a hot temp one day and considering approaching the doctors for a covid test. The worst part of my experience isn't the virus itself, as I said I'm not really suffering from it health wise. Not being able to even go outside is rather depressing at times and being confined to the walls of bedroom rather takes its toll mentally.

I did whatever I could to follow govt guidelines, constant and thorough hand washing, keeping social distance and wearing a mask, just be aware no one is truly immune to this virus and you can only mimimalise your risk, other people not following guidelines cause consequences for others and strongly suggest people follow the rules in order to combat this virus as a whole. I will be doing my part in self-isolation until I no longer test positive for the virus.

(someone please reccomend me anime to watch)

 

[bb skarm]

Currently Self isolating after testing positive for Coronavirus for about a week, I'm mostly okay and dont have bad symptoms. I wasnt aware I had it until I had a hot temp one day and considering approaching the doctors for a covid test. The worst part of my experience isn't the virus itself, as I said I'm not really suffering from it health wise. Not being able to even go outside is rather depressing at times and being confined to the walls of bedroom rather takes its toll mentally.

I did whatever I could to follow govt guidelines, constant and thorough hand washing, keeping social distance and wearing a mask, just be aware no one is truly immune to this virus and you can only mimimalise your risk, other people not following guidelines cause consequences for others and strongly suggest people follow the rules in order to combat this virus as a whole. I will be doing my part in self-isolation until I no longer test positive for the virus.

(someone please reccomend me anime to watch)

Yeah when I had covid I had the same experience. No symptoms, but being isolated was really tough for me. It's completely normal. At least you'll have some immunity (we don't know long it lasts but I'm guessing we haven't seen many reinfections so far six months in so probably good for now). Honestly, I remember I just toughed it out until I tested negative. It really isn't fun quarantining but it's the only thing you can do. I definitely sympathize with you feel.

Unrelated, the USA is expecting to vaccinate about a quarter of the population by January. Seems pretty exciting.

 

[Bughouse]

Just to provide some actual realism on vaccination timelines in the USA lol...

1) There is no vaccine yet approved.
2) The FDA is having a meeting this week related to emergency use authorization. Even so they are not expected to approve anything that doesn't meet specific benchmarks related to phase 3 trials.
3) The earliest any company is expected to be able to apply for such emergency use authorization is in late November.
4) The data then needs to be reviewed. The earliest the FDA would grant emergency authorization is likely several weeks to a month later, putting it into mid-late December.

That puts us at mid-late December most likely as the absolute earliest that the FDA has cleared anything, and that assume quite a few best case scenarios.

That would give 1 month to vaccinate all of those people "by the end of January". But we will not actually be able to vaccinate 75 million people (what ~1/4 of the US population is) within let's say ~a month of the earliest plausible approval. Primarily this is because there is not an adequately built out supply chain. I believe all of the vaccine candidates require being shipped in freezer trucks, and in fact some of them require being shipped in even more specialized freezers that just don't exist at the capacity needed to deliver this quantity of vaccines that quickly. Additionally some candidates have been designed to require 2 doses given at specific time intervals weeks apart. This both means the number of vaccines needed is actually 2x as many and that compliance with the dosing protocol will be a logistical nightmare.

If I was going to put my own realistic "absolute earliest" date that we'd have 1/4 of the US actually vaccinated, it would be March, but I wouldn't be surprised at all if it was later.

 

[bb skarm]

I've been following this and vaccines since December dude. You just regurgitated information to me I already knew.

1) There is no vaccine. Correct. We have three candidates on the way and one openly said this week mid-November they expect to apply for an EUA.
2) All the candidates so far have extremely promising results. I mean Oxford's preprints showed after their smallest trial, phase 1, the vaccine provided 100% immunity to all who got it. Statistically, 85% of vaccines that make it to phase 3 get approved. We are looking at a stunningly small chance none get approved by the end of November.
3) This is true, has been common knowledge for a while now.
4) Data reviewing is 100% getting fast-tracked, there is no debate. The expectation realistically for a vaccine approval has been November for months.

Something really special about this pandemic is you can drive a lot of it to the ground by vaccinating people who are at-risk and work with the at-risk. The death rate is stunningly low for anybody outside of these two groups (healthcare workers have a higher death rate due to the viral load they are exposed to). I feel depressed at times thinking about how a lot of people I know have carried on like this pandemic doesn't exist but the silver lining is once we start rolling this bad boy out we can be done with the "new-normal" part of this shit earlier.

Regarding vaccines having two doses, this also has been common knowledge for months dude. Furthermore, chilling vaccines is a logistical issue for sure but nowhere as bad as you are making it out to be. This has been known for months too and is being accounted for. These aren't the first vaccines to have to be chilled and actually two doses is pretty solid because most vaccines require more.

On top of all of this, we've been producing at risk for months. We should have a couple hundred million doses before the end of the year.

When it comes to actually distributing the vaccine, we already have the supply chains laid out via the covid testing sites. Most healthcare workers SHOULD be able to get their vaccines before a shift or something too, which makes it easier. Remember, if you're in the USA, we are literally the kings of fast-production and logistics. I also have hope that Biden is sworn into office and we have an actual plan to combat this thing.

As for statement, I got it from this source: https://www.marketwatch.com/story/t...-authorization-around-thanksgiving-2020-10-08. The quote itself is, "We will be able to immunize the first populations that are most impacted by this virus, as of November, and then December, and then January. Within that period of time, between November and January, we will have enough vaccines to immunize, I would say, 80 to 100 million people, which represents all the elderly people, the health care workers, the first line workers."

I respect your realism but it isn't much that most people didn't know already. The odds right now look pretty good IMO.

 

[Bughouse]

OK wanna bet $100 that 75 million people have not been vaccinated by the end of January? I like easy money.

 

[bb skarm]

Lol, but real talk notice how I said the "odds" look pretty good right now. And the "expectation" is to vaccinate that many people. Do you want my personal opinion? I think we're going to vaccinate a shitton of people, but I couldn't exactly pinpoint how many people that is. What I do know, however, is near thanksgiving is a realistic timeline to approve a vaccine and once that happens the number #1 focus of the country is to roll this thing out. Considering our supply chains and the logistics we have set up already (COVID testing drive throughs being a huge one), I do think we will make pretty great progress.

 

[lilyhollow]

Currently Self isolating after testing positive for Coronavirus for about a week, I'm mostly okay and dont have bad symptoms. I wasnt aware I had it until I had a hot temp one day and considering approaching the doctors for a covid test. The worst part of my experience isn't the virus itself, as I said I'm not really suffering from it health wise. Not being able to even go outside is rather depressing at times and being confined to the walls of bedroom rather takes its toll mentally.

I did whatever I could to follow govt guidelines, constant and thorough hand washing, keeping social distance and wearing a mask, just be aware no one is truly immune to this virus and you can only mimimalise your risk, other people not following guidelines cause consequences for others and strongly suggest people follow the rules in order to combat this virus as a whole. I will be doing my part in self-isolation until I no longer test positive for the virus.

(someone please reccomend me anime to watch)

Feel better! Katanagatari

 

[Plague von Karma]

There's a worrying amount of COVID-19 deniers out there, like, good lord. Some seemed to change their tune when Trump got it, since he was the one who contributed most to the idea of it being a hoax. But even then, like, the sheer level of privileged "plandemic" people that can't see what's in front of them is astounding. Then there are the anti-maskers and anti-vaxxers, screeching other nonsensical things...well, natural selection exists, I guess?

(someone please reccomend me anime to watch)

Serial Experiments Lain
Saikano

 

[bb skarm]

There's a worrying amount of COVID-19 deniers out there, like, good lord. Some seemed to change their tune when Trump got it, since he was the one who contributed most to the idea of it being a hoax. But even then, like, the sheer level of privileged "plandemic" people that can't see what's in front of them is astounding. Then there are the anti-maskers and anti-vaxxers, screeching other nonsensical things...well, natural selection exists, I guess?


Serial Experiments Lain
Saikano

I heard from a friend about this ICU nurse he knew who still somehow denied COVIDs threat to society...

 

[Bughouse]

Anyone been vaccinated yet? I'm far from anyone's idea of a priority group and I'm able to effectively work from home, so I have no intentions of trying to jump the line in any way. We're falling quite a bit short of bb skarm's almost hilariously overly optimistic projection of 75 million vaccinated in the US by the end of January, but curious if anyone here has been in the early priority groups and what their experience was like.

What about your older family members? It's been a bit of a nightmare for my family to get my grandparents the vaccine, but they did just recently get their first dose.

My family and friends who are health care workers have pretty much all been vaccinated, but almost no one else I know has, since thus far it seems to be pretty much just health care and the elderly, at least in the US.

Meanwhile, turning away from vaccines to the casualties of the disease, several coworkers and clients have recently lost parents or other family members, which has hit everyone hard. And now I've learned that a child of a family friend was hospitalized due to what seems to be the rare but awful reaction that some kids get from covid. He was at one point put into a medically induced coma, and, given the severity of his disease course, he more likely than not will eventually die from this nightmare. He just had heart surgery, but from what I'm hearing this was more of an emergency measure to keep him alive, not anything remotely curative.

There are many people who need to continue being out doing things for society to continue functioning, so if you do not need to, then please stay home. When you're out, please be as safe as possible. I can't stress enough that this shit is still real and it is still killing people.

 

[Myzozoa]

My whole family has received the first dose and only my mother and sister haven't received the second dose. My male family members all reported no symptoms with either dose, but they are also all doctors so they may just have been trying to act like the vaccine is no big deal out of some sense of duty. I vaccinated about 20 people yesterday, and we're trained to inform people that most effects will be over within 48 hours and that flu like symptoms will be felt more often after the second dose. This did not conform to my experience: with the first dose I didn't have any symptoms until I worked out on the third day after the vaccine, maybe some lymph got moved around by the exercise, afterwards I had a sore throat and malaise that went away by the next day. With the second dose I also had few symptoms other than fatigue and chills, again felt most intensely on the third day after vaccination. Compared to this year's absolutely killer flu shot the fatigue was more mild with the Covid vaccine than the influenza shot. I had the pfizer, and everyone else in my family had moderna btw.

Anyone been vaccinated yet? I'm far from anyone's idea of a priority group and I'm able to effectively work from home, so I have no intentions of trying to jump the line in any way. We're falling quite a bit short of bb skarm's almost hilariously overly optimistic projection of 75 million vaccinated in the US by the end of January, but curious if anyone here has been in the early priority groups and what their experience was like.

What about your older family members? It's been a bit of a nightmare for my family to get my grandparents the vaccine, but they did just recently get their first dose.

My family and friends who are health care workers have pretty much all been vaccinated, but almost no one else I know has, since thus far it seems to be pretty much just health care and the elderly, at least in the US.

Meanwhile, turning away from vaccines to the casualties of the disease, several coworkers and clients have recently lost parents or other family members, which has hit everyone hard. And now I've learned that a child of a family friend was hospitalized due to what seems to be the rare but awful reaction that some kids get from covid. He was at one point put into a medically induced coma, and, given the severity of his disease course, he more likely than not will eventually die from this nightmare. He just had heart surgery, but from what I'm hearing this was more of an emergency measure to keep him alive, not anything remotely curative.

There are many people who need to continue being out doing things for society to continue functioning, so if you do not need to, then please stay home. When you're out, please be as safe as possible. I can't stress enough that this shit is still real and it is still killing people.

 

[rien]

got my first shot yesterday, most of my close family members have already gotten their second (all of us got the pfizer vaccine). my dad had some flu-like symptoms for a couple of days after the second shot, the rest of us experienced no symptoms except for a slightly sore arm and marginally better 5g reception

 

[bb skarm]

Anyone been vaccinated yet? I'm far from anyone's idea of a priority group and I'm able to effectively work from home, so I have no intentions of trying to jump the line in any way. We're falling quite a bit short of bb skarm's almost hilariously overly optimistic projection of 75 million vaccinated in the US by the end of January, but curious if anyone here has been in the early priority groups and what their experience was like.

What about your older family members? It's been a bit of a nightmare for my family to get my grandparents the vaccine, but they did just recently get their first dose.

My family and friends who are health care workers have pretty much all been vaccinated, but almost no one else I know has, since thus far it seems to be pretty much just health care and the elderly, at least in the US.

Meanwhile, turning away from vaccines to the casualties of the disease, several coworkers and clients have recently lost parents or other family members, which has hit everyone hard. And now I've learned that a child of a family friend was hospitalized due to what seems to be the rare but awful reaction that some kids get from covid. He was at one point put into a medically induced coma, and, given the severity of his disease course, he more likely than not will eventually die from this nightmare. He just had heart surgery, but from what I'm hearing this was more of an emergency measure to keep him alive, not anything remotely curative.

There are many people who need to continue being out doing things for society to continue functioning, so if you do not need to, then please stay home. When you're out, please be as safe as possible. I can't stress enough that this shit is still real and it is still killing people.

FWIW that wasn't my projection o_O it was just what the head of warp speed was aiming for and yeah I always felt they were pushing the envelope too far w that but hey it's always better to be optimistic. In terms of how it's ACTUALLY going, it could be better but I'm trying to keep in mind the USA is still fourth per capita in vaccinations done. Yeah I'm a little underwhelmed but this is gonna get better quickly imo especially since we're looking at three new potential vaccine approvals.

I think as we get into the spring/summer and more at risk groups start being vaccinated we can start thinking about a mostly normal summer (J&J just submitted their vaccine for EUA today, was less effective but prevented any hospitalizations) in the USA. We're on the right slope atm because we just exited the holiday surge thankfully so maybe the downward trend of cases deaths etc continue to fall downwards.

On a personal level, for COVID from that post to now, I had it back in October but during the holidays I was back home with family and literally everyone ended up getting it except me (I think at this point thanks to countless studies we can accept immunity is long lasting for most people, bar anything to do w new emerging variants which need to be studied more) including my grandparents who both ended up getting hospitalized. Thankfully tho everyone including my grandparents recovered fine and they're doing well.

My other granddad got vaccinated last week because he's a firefighter.

Side note: I worked at a covid test lab over break and it was a pretty interesting job. Before COVID they just processed tests for everything (stuff like the flu) but all we were doing was testing for covid, we had so many requests it was actually wack.

Really quick edit: One of the people I work out with for my sport just straight up died because of covid. We were literally training together like a week before. He had sickle cell disease and just dropped dead. Was pretty hard on my stepdad bc that was like a son to him. Shit is crazy yo