covid-19

[wmw999 2,116]

Putting Mike Pence “in charge” of things is akin to expecting some “good guy with a gun” to resolve a violent confrontation. It assuages people who are comforted by symbols and figureheads. He might make some good decisions, and he might make some bad ones. But he lets people say “good man” and put it out of their minds. 

And that’s what using emotion over thought in some situations gets you. 

Wendy P. 

[gowlerk 1,903]

5 minutes ago, JoeWeber said:

What do you pay your jump pilots?

Not enough.

[normiss 620]

1 minute ago, wmw999 said:

Putting Mike Pence “in charge” of things is akin to expecting some “good guy with a gun” to resolve a violent confrontation. It assuages people who are comforted by symbols and figureheads. He might make some good decisions, and he might make some bad ones. But he lets people say “good man” and put it out of their minds. 

And that’s what using emotion over thought in some situations gets you. 

Wendy P. 

At the very least he can pray the gay away. That should help. It was clearly very successful in his work on the AIDS problem. /s

[ryoder 1,381]

4 minutes ago, wmw999 said:

Putting Mike Pence “in charge” of things is akin to expecting some “good guy with a gun” to resolve a violent confrontation. It assuages people who are comforted by symbols and figureheads. He might make some good decisions, and he might make some bad ones. But he lets people say “good man” and put it out of their minds. 

And that’s what using emotion over thought in some situations gets you. 

Wendy P. 

Trump is just using Pence as a convenient body to throw under the bus when it all goes to hell. This is the first crisis his administration has faced that was not created by him, so he can use a scapegoat.

[JoeWeber 2,294]

12 minutes ago, gowlerk said:

Not enough.

Do you provide hajib's and wet q-tips for their noses? All day condoms? Gotta keep your people safe these days.

[Coreece 189]

36 minutes ago, wmw999 said:

I saw a European or American-looking lady dump her kids’ French fries on the airport table, just as though it were McDonalds.

As if it's even acceptable to do that at McDonalds even without some viral scare?

Edited February 28, 2020 by Coreece

[ryoder 1,381]

BTW Does everyone realize that the disease is named COVID-19, but the virus that causes it is named SARS-CoV-2?

https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/technical-guidance/naming-the-coronavirus-disease-(covid-2019)-and-the-virus-that-causes-it

[Coreece 189]

2 minutes ago, ryoder said:

BTW Does everyone realize that the disease is named COVID-19, but the virus that causes it is named SARS-CoV-2?

SARS, been there done that.  If that's what they were calling it, I doubt too many people would be as concerned as they seem. . .

[JoeWeber 2,294]

3 minutes ago, Coreece said:

SARS, been there done that.  If that's what they were calling it, I doubt too many people would be as concerned as they seem. . .

I'm not. I just pray to Jesus that I don't get it. Now I understand that if I don't get it someone else will, statistics and all, but that's just tuff titty that they don't know how to pray. 

[gowlerk 1,903]

17 minutes ago, JoeWeber said:

Do you provide hajib's and wet q-tips for their noses? All day condoms? Gotta keep your people safe these days.

I currently have one fellow from India, a hindu and a nice guy. Another Japanese guy who is actually born and raised in Brazil, which apparently has a Japanese farming community, and a recently immigrated Russian Jew. People come to Manitoba and Canada in general because it is a little cheaper to learn to fly here. Not as cheap as the USA, but we still take immigrants.  

[kallend 1,621]

7 hours ago, gowlerk said:

Turns out that as smart as you are, you are married to someone even smarter! Did you think your run of luck makes you immune?

You know, a lot of people survived the Black Death despite being exposed to it. I suppose you might call it luck of the immune system. 

It is well documented that some people have an active immune response to influenza viruses which accounts for their resistance to  getting any nasty symptoms even when exposed, and that response is just as active as the response others get which is being sick with the sniffles, fever, coughing and sneezing. It’s just that the immune system responses are different, not "luck".

 

I've made it through 74 years living in big cities, spending most of my life in educational (classroom) settings, and through four recognized flu pandemics without ever getting sick with flu.

Edited February 28, 2020 by kallend

[Coreece 189]

8 minutes ago, JoeWeber said:

I'm not. I just pray to Jesus that I don't get it. Now I understand that if I don't get it someone else will, statistics and all, but that's just tuff titty that they don't know how to pray. 

Too slow - Phil's been back only a day or so and he already beat you to the troll booth. . .

[gowlerk 1,903]

14 minutes ago, JoeWeber said:

I just pray to Jesus that I don't get it.

Ha! The last time I prayed to Jesus I was 17 and having my only bad acid trip. I prayed that my brain would not be too messed up and that I would feel normal again some day. So far my prayer has not been answered.

[wmw999 2,116]

6 minutes ago, kallend said:

I've made it through 74 years living in big cities, spending most of my life in educational (classroom) settings, and through four recognized flu pandemics without ever getting sick with flu.

I was like that, until all of a sudden I wasn’t. Missed the Asian flu, and all the others, except for one in 1984 (I was recently postpartum, which probably had something to do with it). Didn’t get it again until 2016, when I had a very direct exposure (stayed with someone who ended up having it). So I started getting the shots. No flu since then, but now I sure seem to get more colds. 

Wendy P. 

[kallend 1,621]

1 minute ago, wmw999 said:

I was like that, until all of a sudden I wasn’t. Missed the Asian flu, and all the others, except for one in 1984 (I was recently postpartum, which probably had something to do with it). Didn’t get it again until 2016, when I had a very direct exposure (stayed with someone who ended up having it). So I started getting the shots. No flu since then, but now I sure seem to get more colds. 

Wendy P. 

Pregnancy definitely messes with the immune system.  

[gowlerk 1,903]

15 minutes ago, kallend said:

It is well documented that some people have an active immune response to influenza viruses which accounts for their resistance to  getting any nasty symptoms even when exposed, and that response is just as active as the response others get which is being sick with the sniffles, fever, coughing and sneezing. It’s just that the immune system responses are different, not "luck".

Well, be careful anyway. Not that there is much you can do. Your wife can't send you out for vaccination for this one. The covid-19 virus is a different RNA strand from influenza and if you get it your immune response may be completely different. And I don't know your exact age, but I suspect that you are in one of the most affected age groups. Like I am.

[ryoder 1,381]

23 minutes ago, gowlerk said:

Ha! The last time I prayed to Jesus I was 17 and having my only bad acid trip. I prayed that my brain would not be too messed up and that I would feel normal again some day. So far my prayer has not been answered.

I knew a guy who liked to do acid nearly every weekend.

Then one Monday evening, he suddenly realized that earlier that day (while still under the influence) he had visited the local Marine Corp Recruiter's office, and discussed enlisting.

That scared him so badly, that he quit taking acid.

[JoeWeber 2,294]

8 hours ago, gowlerk said:

I currently have one fellow from India, a hindu and a nice guy. Another Japanese guy who is actually born and raised in Brazil, which apparently has a Japanese farming community, and a recently immigrated Russian Jew. People come to Manitoba and Canada in general because it is a little cheaper to learn to fly here. Not as cheap as the USA, but we still take immigrants.  

Didn't you just pick up a couple of Brit's? I hear one is a pilot.

[Phil1111 908]

Evidently Fox news was denying Did Trump Fire the US Pandemic Response Team?

Above from Snopes.

3 COVID-19 Cases As Described By Doctors In China a You-tube video describing the progression of the virus as it kills patients.

[kallend 1,621]

Excerpted from Paul Krugman's column:
 

The story of the Trump pandemic response actually began several years ago. Almost as soon as he took office, Trump began cutting funding for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, leading in turn to an 80 percent cut in the resources the agency devotes to global disease outbreaks. Trump also shut down the entire global-health-security unit of the National Security Council.

Experts warned that these moves were exposing America to severe risks. “We’ll leave the field open to microbes,” declared Tom Frieden, a much-admired former head of the C.D.C., more than two years ago. But the Trump administration has a preconceived notion about where national security threats come from — basically, scary brown people — and is hostile to science in general. So we entered the current crisis in an already weakened condition.

...

The first reaction of the Trumpers was to see the coronavirus as a Chinese problem — and to see whatever is bad for China as being good for us. Wilbur Ross, the commerce secretary, cheered it on as a development that would “accelerate the return of jobs to North America.”

 

The story changed once it became clear that the virus was spreading well beyond China. At that point it became a hoax perpetrated by the news media. Rush Limbaugh weighed in: “It looks like the coronavirus is being weaponized as yet another element to bring down Donald Trump. Now, I want to tell you the truth about the coronavirus. … The coronavirus is the common cold, folks.”

...

On Wednesday Trump held a news conference on the virus, much of it devoted to incoherent jabs at Democrats and the media. He did, however, announce the leader of the government response to the threat. Instead of putting a health care professional in charge, however, he handed the job to Vice President Mike Pence, who has an interesting relationship with both health policy and science.

Early in his political career, Pence staked out a distinctive position on public health, declaring that smoking doesn’t kill people. He has also repeatedly insisted that evolution is just a theory. As governor of Indiana, he blocked a needle exchange program that could have prevented a significant H.I.V. outbreak, calling for prayer instead.

And now, according to The Times, government scientists will need to get Pence’s approval before making public statements about the coronavirus.

So the Trumpian response to crisis is completely self-centered, entirely focused on making Trump look good rather than protecting America. If the facts don’t make Trump look good, he and his allies attack the messengers, blaming the news media and the Democrats — while trying to prevent scientists from keeping us informed. And in choosing people to deal with a real crisis, Trump prizes loyalty rather than competence.

[kallend 1,621]

Trump’s proposed budget  for 2021 proposes a series of cuts to the nation’s health agencies, including a nearly 16 percent cut to the CDC and a 10 percent cut to the Department of Health and Human Services, which houses the CDC and the National Institutes of Health.

These are over and above the cuts Trump has already made.

[brenthutch 383]

11 hours ago, ryoder said:

Trump is just using Pence as a convenient body to throw under the bus when it all goes to hell. This is the first crisis his administration has faced that was not created by him, so he can use a scapegoat.

BINGO!  And if it goes well Trump will take all of the credit.

Edited February 28, 2020 by brenthutch

[JoeWeber 2,294]

1 hour ago, brenthutch said:

BINGO!  And if it goes well Trump will take all of the credit.

The bastard, and when all the credit for his reelection should go to everyone who believes unrestricted gun ownership and climate change denial are vastly more critical than other issues like, well never mind. 

[normiss 620]

"We're ordering a lot of supplies. We're ordering a lot of, uh, elements that frankly we wouldn't be ordering unless it was something like this. But we're ordering a lot of different elements of medical." - Trump

[SkyDekker 1,121]

20 hours ago, Coreece said:

SARS, been there done that.  If that's what they were calling it, I doubt too many people would be as concerned as they seem. . .

They should be if it had the mortality rate of SARS at 11%. COVID19 is currently at 2%. However, the transmission rate for SARS was a lot lower.

SARS outbreak had only 8,000 people infected. Coronavirus is at 80,000 infected and growing.