covid-19

[DougH 270]

In some instances TV Hollywood already has already portrayed it and moved beyond it. I was flipping through channels last Thursday and saw a caption at the start of Grey's Anatomy that the show is now set in a "Post Pandemic" world. I guess they got tired of filming with the masks. 

[riggerrob 558]

7 hours ago, gowlerk said:

Freedom to infect. Is it not in the Bill of Rights somewhere? Is this not covered by the right to bear arms?

That is correctly spelled "The right to BARE arms ..." in preparation for vaccination.

[riggerrob 558]

My employer: Coast Mountain Bus Company just announced that all employees must be vaccinated by the end of November. Better than 90 percent are already double-vaccinated. If employees are not double-vaccinated by the dead-line, they will be suspended without pay.

Similar announcements have been made about gov't and medical employees.

The British Columbia provincial gov't has told doctors not to issue vaccination-waivers except for rare cases of pre-existing medical problems.

 

[Baksteen 84]

21 hours ago, gowlerk said:

Freedom to infect. Is it not in the Bill of Rights somewhere? Is this not covered by the right to bear arms?

Maybe in the Bill of Gates?

[Bigfalls 110]

New York Judge rules to uphold religious exemption for vaccinations.  NY Governor plans to fight it for health care workers.

Looks like to me that a lot of people are going to find religion.

https://wnbf.com/judge-rules-to-uphold-religious-exemption-to-ny-vax-mandate/

[kallend 1,621]

https://www.healthsystemtracker.org/brief/covid19-and-other-leading-causes-of-death-in-the-us/

90,000 preventable deaths.  Mostly thanks to the Pro-Virus party.

 

[JoeWeber 2,294]

2 hours ago, kallend said:

https://www.healthsystemtracker.org/brief/covid19-and-other-leading-causes-of-death-in-the-us/

90,000 preventable deaths.  Mostly thanks to the Pro-Virus party.

 

The Isreali Booster shot program seems to be paying off. From a Bloomberg article: "Confirmed infection rates were ~10-fold lower in the booster versus non-booster group,” the authors wrote. The benefit was even greater for older Israels. Infections dropped by a factor of 19 for people over 60, and by a factor of 22 for the 40-60 age group."

They now also require a third shot to qualify for a vaccine passport. Based on their data we got our third shot at 5 months after the prime shots. Still don't have a tail, still believe in the moon landing.

 

[gowlerk 1,903]

It now appears that the land border with Canada will open for non essential travel for fully vaccinated people on November 8. Essential travelers (truckers) will need to be vaccinated by sometime in January. The new reality is starting to take shape. Canada is still requiring testing before crossing right now, but I imagine that rule will soon be relaxed. 

 

[ryoder 1,381]

22 minutes ago, gowlerk said:

Canada is still requiring testing before crossing right now, but I imagine that rule will soon be relaxed. 

Seems like the test could be as simple as:

"So who won the 2020 presidential election?"

[gowlerk 1,903]

19 minutes ago, ryoder said:

Seems like the test could be as simple as:

"So who won the 2020 presidential election?"

But we are also requiring testing for returning Canadians. That is causing a problem for all those single day trips.

[Phil1111 908]

1 hour ago, gowlerk said:

But we are also requiring testing for returning Canadians. That is causing a problem for all those single day trips.

Do you have to be tested when you return as a trucker? Are the "home tests" conducted live at customs acceptable?

[gowlerk 1,903]

3 minutes ago, Phil1111 said:

Do you have to be tested when you return as a trucker? Are the "home tests" conducted live at customs acceptable?

No, essential services are exempt from that requirement. And always have been.

[winsor 186]

This came from the interwebz so it has to be true:

https://twitter.com/i/status/1448936949012578304

I think my biggest problem with all things COVID is the religious fervor it bring out.  I noted at the outset that Bad Craziness would be the norm in short order - I wish I'd been wrong.

Like the holy grail of systems theory, in which a transform that yields a Single Input - Single Output (or at least Jordan form, with a single derivative at most) is the ideal - ideologies associated with Big Problems for Humanity coalesce around simplistic solutions.

Eliminating Atmospheric Carbon will save us from Global Warming/Climate Change/whatever!

The Vaccine will save us from the scourge of COVID-19!

Anybody that questions these TRUTHS is a heretic and must be eliminated!

Of course the Deniers (tm) may not be much better.

As a confirmed skeptic I like closed-form solutions where they exist but am happy to use a stochastic approach when appropriate.  I am leery of any approach the relies on The Truth, regardless of how convenient it may be; if I use it, it is not a matter of 'belief.'

 

YMMV,

Winsor

[wmw999 2,116]

When a polarizing national figure decides that he didn’t want to let a crisis go to waste (ie downplay it to gain short-term favor), it’s not surprising it would turn into a bone of contention. 
Wendy P. 

[ryoder 1,381]

Meanwhile, North of the 49th parallel:

New Brunswick pastor jailed for a week as judge considers COVID-19 contempt charge

The Crown has alleged Philip James Hutchings, the pastor of His Tabernacle Family Church in Saint John, is in contempt of court for not abiding by a consent order signed on Oct. 8 requiring congregants to follow health orders such as masking.

...and...

Anti-mask activists ordered by Calgary judge to preach science, too

A Calgary-based street pastor, his brother and an anti-mask cafe owner have been fined, put on probation and ordered by a judge that they must also preach science if they continue to rail against COVID-19 public health rules.

 

Nice to see irrational idiocy cloaked in "religious belief", held accountable.

[yoink 321]

On 10/16/2021 at 2:57 AM, winsor said:

This came from the interwebz so it has to be true:

https://twitter.com/i/status/1448936949012578304

I think my biggest problem with all things COVID is the religious fervor it bring out.  I noted at the outset that Bad Craziness would be the norm in short order - I wish I'd been wrong.

Like the holy grail of systems theory, in which a transform that yields a Single Input - Single Output (or at least Jordan form, with a single derivative at most) is the ideal - ideologies associated with Big Problems for Humanity coalesce around simplistic solutions.

Eliminating Atmospheric Carbon will save us from Global Warming/Climate Change/whatever!

The Vaccine will save us from the scourge of COVID-19!

Anybody that questions these TRUTHS is a heretic and must be eliminated!

Of course the Deniers (tm) may not be much better.

As a confirmed skeptic I like closed-form solutions where they exist but am happy to use a stochastic approach when appropriate.  I am leery of any approach the relies on The Truth, regardless of how convenient it may be; if I use it, it is not a matter of 'belief.'

 

YMMV,

Winsor

The ‘my uneducated skepticism is just as valid as truth presented by experts’ is yet another bullshit argument by people trying to empower their own ignorance.

I’m sorry - but if 100s of thousands of trained experts around the globe say one thing, and someone calls it The ‘Truth‘’ like it’s even possible to be some sort of conspiracy theory then they’re not a thinking skeptic - They’re an arrogant asshole.
Equating their own ignorance of a subject with the weight of not only numbers, but years of specific and dedicated training and experience in the subject.

It would be like me stating that my take on aircraft safety procedures are just as valid as every check-captain because I’ve taken one lesson. See? That would be me being an arrogant Asshole.

 

Dressing that arrogance up in language to make your argument appear smarter is nothing more than a con-trick. An old one.

You want to explain your position and get numbers of normal people behind it then you explain in the simplest terms because not everyone is an expert… 

 

Yes. Humans suck at complex problems. That’s why we invented computers. They also suck at generational planning of projects. Both are a function of our biology.

But sometimes simple solutions are the best because either ‘they’re just the best’, or even if they’re not them it’s a hell of a lot easier to roll out a simple process and have some benefit than it is to roll out a mathematically perfect one that has no chance of adoption because it’s so complicated.

It’s the same argument second amendment fans use - if you can’t come up with a single solution that fixes everything in one go, even fringe cases, then it’s best to do nothing.

 

If the covid vaccine and lockdowns had been implemented properly then there was a very good chance we could have beaten covid - at least temporarily and nationally which would have bought time for further research. 
It wasn’t, and over 700,000 people in the US are dead because of it.

 

The reason heretics should be burned is BECAUSE THIS SHIT MATTERS. It’s not philosophy - people are dead because people like you weaken the arguments for safety and you might convince others which can potentially end up hurting me and mine.

 

 

 

Edited October 17, 2021 by yoink

[kallend 1,621]

2 minutes ago, yoink said:

 

If the covid vaccine and lockdowns had been implemented properly then there was a very good chance we could have beaten covid - at least temporarily and nationally which would have bought time for further research. 
It wasn’t, and over 700,000 people in the US are dead because of it.

 

 

"When a polarizing national figure decides that he didn’t want to let a crisis go to waste (ie downplay it to gain short-term favor), it’s not surprising it would turn into a bone of contention. "

A wise person wrote that.

 

Some 10% of the deaths were avoidable, had proper measures been taken early enough.

[ryoder 1,381]

[billvon 2,384]

50 minutes ago, ryoder said:

"What are you suggesting I do?  Google?"

Of course!  The Google knows all.  And it comes from authoritative sources.

Here's what Dr. Steve Beito posted recently: (remember he's a REAL DOCTOR) -

"So you want to mandate a vaccine aimed at the Alpha variant (which is now only 7% of COVID) that doesn't stop infection/transmission of SARS COV2 for which natural immunity is better than vaccine acquired immunity?  Madness."

That's a REAL DOCTOR saying that, not a fake doctor with a degree in Imam-ology.  (I mean, Dr. Beito died of COVID, but it's the meme that counts.)

[wolfriverjoe 1,340]

53 minutes ago, billvon said:

Of course!  The Google knows all.  And it comes from authoritative sources.

Here's what Dr. Steve Beito posted recently: (remember he's a REAL DOCTOR) -

"So you want to mandate a vaccine aimed at the Alpha variant (which is now only 7% of COVID) that doesn't stop infection/transmission of SARS COV2 for which natural immunity is better than vaccine acquired immunity?  Madness."

That's a REAL DOCTOR saying that, not a fake doctor with a degree in Imam-ology.  (I mean, Dr. Beito died of COVID, but it's the meme that counts.)

Pffft.

The morons ignore the fact that 97% of climate scientists agree that AGW is a real, serious, major problem.
The deniers have no problem latching onto the 3% that don't.

The "9/11 Truthers" latched onto the idea that a thousand * engineers & architects thought that the collapse of the WTC towers wasn't legit. 
The fact that tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands or millions of 'engineers & architects' didn't sign onto that idiocy didn't matter to them.

 

* - I forget the exact number that signed the petition, but I remember Rhys latching onto it really hard. Of course, he ignored the question when asked how many engineers & architects there were in the US that didn't sign. 

 

These idiots are grasping onto any source that validates their position. 

With anything else, it's just annoying. 
With Covid, it can be fatal.
These fucktards are removing themselves from the debate, permanently, at a rate that's currently a bit over 1500 per day (7 day average).

The Herman Cain Awards are being issued at an incredible pace. 

[wmw999 2,116]

We’re on home stretch of a couple months on the road. The last full week will be in Washington DC at museums — because museum-goers, even in Arkansas, wear masks. 
Cave tourers (national park, so it’s mandated) - nope

grocery store customers - nope

mansion tour - nope

Note many of these were places with mask requirements (well, not the groceries in Kentucky…). But people just blow it off, or take them off when it’s dark out to show how independent they are. 
So we’re hoping museums will attract a better crowd. Even Crystal Bridges in Arkansas had complete masking in the indoors — and most of the people brought their own, rather than resentfully taking the museum-provided ones. 
Too many experts, too few facts. And I loved that exchange that ryoder posted

Wendy P. 

[kallend 1,621]

1 hour ago, wmw999 said:

We’re on home stretch of a couple months on the road. The last full week will be in Washington DC at museums — because museum-goers, even in Arkansas, wear masks. 
Cave tourers (national park, so it’s mandated) - nope

 

We just got back from Rocky Mountain Nat. Park.  Didn't see a single person in the park disregarding the mask mandate where it applied (indoors, and on park shuttle buses).

Quite different at Denver airport.  Quite a few 'rebels' wearing their masks over their chins or on their foreheads.  I hope they get sick and die.  Darwin rules!

[kallend 1,621]

3 hours ago, billvon said:

Of course!  The Google knows all.  And it comes from authoritative sources.

Here's what Dr. Steve Beito posted recently: (remember he's a REAL DOCTOR) -

"So you want to mandate a vaccine aimed at the Alpha variant (which is now only 7% of COVID) that doesn't stop infection/transmission of SARS COV2 for which natural immunity is better than vaccine acquired immunity?  Madness."

That's a REAL DOCTOR saying that, not a fake doctor with a degree in Imam-ology.  (I mean, Dr. Beito died of COVID, but it's the meme that counts.)

He was a podiatrist.  Apparently he thought he was an expert in virology.

[kallend 1,621]

Allen West; liar, or ignoramus?  Maybe both.

https://www.politifact.com/article/2021/oct/12/what-allen-west-got-wrong-about-covid-19-and-treat/

 

 

[billvon 2,384]

57 minutes ago, kallend said:

Allen West; liar, or ignoramus? 

Loved this comment from him:

"I can attest that, after this experience, I am even more dedicated to fighting against vaccine mandates. Instead of enriching the pockets of Big Pharma and corrupt bureaucrats and politicians, we should be advocating the monoclonal antibody infusion therapy!"

Cost of one Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine: $20

Cost of one GSK monoclonal antibody infusion: $2100 

No wonder politicians are pushing for monoclonal antibody treatments.  I mean, how are any of their big donors going to make money off a $20 vaccination?