The Covid-19 Pandemic Thread

[ZoWie]

Americans, in particular, just plain don't like being told to do anything, especially when it makes them even a little uncomfortable. It's not that way in Asia, apparently, where people mask up at the slightest thought of disease spread. But this is The Land Of The Free.

In 1918 or thereabouts, word spread that masks suggested for the Spanish flu (that didn't start in Spain) were in fact a Bolshevik plot to obstruct Americans' breathing and make us easier for the Reds to conquer. There were protests in the streets. Really. Documented. Check old news stories.

[Number6]

Americans, in particular, just plain don't like being told to do anything, especially when it makes them even a little uncomfortable. It's not that way in Asia, apparently, where people mask up at the slightest thought of disease spread. But this is The Land Of The Free.

In 1918 or thereabouts, word spread that masks suggested for the Spanish flu (that didn't start in Spain) were in fact a Bolshevik plot to obstruct Americans' breathing and make us easier for the Reds to conquer. There were protests in the streets. Really. Documented. Check old news stories.

One thing I've noticed in other countries is most of them are mostly homogeneous and their national identity helps to determine how individuals will perform when all are met with a problem. As you said, Asian mask up a the slightest thought of disease spread. In Germany, in the 90s, the country had a problem with mandatory recycling because the German people were do it so well it overwhelmed the country's ability to process the material.

Now in the U.S., if people are asked to mask for COVID-19 a large number of them complain and/or refuse to comply with the request. I they're asked to recycle a large number of people will refuse, not because it's a good idea, but because they just don't want to and will put their recyclables in the garbage or throw them on the sides of roads or in rivers/streams. It's not because Americans are independent thinkers or contrarians but because many of them just don't give a shit about anyone but themselves.

[ZoWie]

Liberty and selfishness are reconcilable, as we've seen in many countries. That's supposed to be what makes capitalism better than mercantilism. For some reason, they never got reconciled in the US. Everyone has their own ideas as to why.

[ZoWie]

Covid origin studies say evidence points to Wuhan market

By Victoria Gill
Science correspondent, BBC News

Scientists say there is "compelling evidence" that Wuhan's Huanan seafood and wildlife market was at the centre of the Covid-19 outbreak.

Two peer-reviewed studies published on Tuesday re-examine information from the initial outbreak in the Chinese city.

...

One of the subjects of a fierce international blame game - primarily between politicians in the US and China - was a theory that the virus could have been leaked from a Wuhan laboratory, the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

But that hypothesis, said Prof Stuart Neil from Kings College, "can't explain the data".

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-62307383

[ProfX]

The zoonotic theory was always the most likely, and IMHO I'm glad a scientific consensus is again forming around it.

We don't know which animal species it jumped from to humans, but given how many kinds of organic life were at that market ... it may be a long time before we figure it out.

It wouldn't be a bad thing if research biolabs around the world tightened their biosafety protocols. That's still a good thing.

[ZoWie]

I've been poking around the raw data, trying to see what's really happening instead of what the media try to tell me is happening.

The major takeaway is that I'm right about LAX. I feel vindicated. It's a covid factory. Everyone stopped masking at the same time the construction made everything more crowded and confined.

The worst workplace in LA for covid is currently the TSA at LAX with ~300 staff cases. They don't break it down by work stations, but I'll bet that it's the people who are at the security lines who run the biggest risk. They're in people's faces all day long, in constricted little corridors or at machines. Second worst is the American Airlines terminal, with ~180 staff cases. That's the one I wrote about where a previously cavernous baggage claim has been compressed into what used to be a passageway to another terminal. You might as well work in front of an aerosol machine dispensing this month's variant.

Sure glad I'm done flying for the summer.

The only other workplace that came even close was a meat packing plant in Vernon that was cited for unsafe conditions, and it had way fewer cases. Too bad they can't cite LAX.

For the last month, LA county has been threatening to re-impose what the Nooz likes to call the "mask mandate." Three incorporated cities, prominent among them being Beverly Hills, have promised not to enforce it. Apparently the decision is tomorrow. If they do go with masks, no one will change any more behavior than they absolutely have to.

[Libertas]

I've been poking around the raw data, trying to see what's really happening instead of what the media try to tell me is happening.

The major takeaway is that I'm right about LAX. I feel vindicated. It's a covid factory. Everyone stopped masking at the same time the construction made everything more crowded and confined.

The worst workplace in LA for covid is currently the TSA at LAX with ~300 staff cases. They don't break it down by work stations, but I'll bet that it's the people who are at the security lines who run the biggest risk. They're in people's faces all day long, in constricted little corridors or at machines. Second worst is the American Airlines terminal, with ~180 staff cases. That's the one I wrote about where a previously cavernous baggage claim has been compressed into what used to be a passageway to another terminal. You might as well work in front of an aerosol machine dispensing this month's variant.

Sure glad I'm done flying for the summer.

The only other workplace that came even close was a meat packing plant in Vernon that was cited for unsafe conditions, and it had way fewer cases. Too bad they can't cite LAX.

For the last month, LA county has been threatening to re-impose what the Nooz likes to call the "mask mandate." Three incorporated cities, prominent among them being Beverly Hills, have promised not to enforce it. Apparently the decision is tomorrow. If they do go with masks, no one will change any more behavior than they absolutely have to.

Did I read that when a plane is above 10,000 feet is it less likely to spread the virus?

[ZoWie]

Once the cabin is pressurized the air is recirculated, and if a HEPA filter is in use it can pretty effectively remove airborne covid virus. Not all aircraft have these but most do. Of course if you're all crammed together in coach, there is still direct transmission.

LAX is a special case, since they're spending gigabucks to rebuild everything before the city throws yet another huge sports spectacle while ignoring human needs. Everywhere you look, it's a barricaded crowded mess, and you're being herded into some cramped stinky corridor jammed full of the great unmasked. I didn't get the same uneasy feeling in JFK even though masks were getting rare there too.

[Libertas]

My county averaged 100 new cases a day. It is now over 250.

[ZoWie]

I posted elsewhere about the horror show in LA County. It's like car crash theater. I don't want to watch, but it's instinctive. You can't take your eyes off the spectacle. It's always just a few small levels below a true Class-A historic example of human mass stupidity.

[Libertas]

I posted elsewhere about the horror show in LA County. It's like car crash theater. I don't want to watch, but it's instinctive. You can't take your eyes off the spectacle. It's always just a few small levels below a true Class-A historic example of human mass stupidity.

I know, I read most of your posts especially Covid.

I dont have it yet but what I want is to have a script NOW for Paxlovid, I dont want to wait until I get sick and then try and get in to the doc, etc.

I READ pharmacies can prescribe it, but I dont know who is doing that. I have called Costco, they said no.

[ZoWie]

It's so transparent that Beverly Hills is only worried that any widely publicized requirement for masks at their fancy hotels and ultra-expensive restaurants would hurt summer tourist business.

"We can't close the beaches, it's Fourth of July weekend." [cue the shark]

[Drak]

My mother who is extreme high risk came down with Covid 2 days ago. She’s on paxlovid. But we’re pretty worried. She is 80 and has really bad lungs because of asthma.

[carmenjonze]

My mother who is extreme high risk came down with Covid 2 days ago. She’s on paxlovid. But we’re pretty worried. She is 80 and has really bad lungs because of asthma.

Oh nooo, sorry to hear this. Hope she gets better soon!

[Libertas]

My mother who is extreme high risk came down with Covid 2 days ago. She’s on paxlovid. But we’re pretty worried. She is 80 and has really bad lungs because of asthma.

Shit, sorry to hear... let us know how she does, and if the drug helps1

[Drak]

Oh nooo, sorry to hear this. Hope she gets better soon!

Shit, sorry to hear... let us know how she does, and if the drug helps1

Thanks for the thoughts! I've been calling her multiple times a day outside of her resting. I also dropped groceries off yesterday.

Today she said she feels a fair bit better and she seems to be doing OK now. She's had all the shots, 4 total on top of the paxlovid so I think she'll be OK. Huge worry though and I hope she's more careful from here on out.

Covid is now going around her building and she's had people from her building visit without masks, which is how she got it.

[Libertas]

Thanks for the thoughts! I've been calling her multiple times a day outside of her resting. I also dropped groceries off yesterday.

Today she said she feels a fair bit better and she seems to be doing OK now. She's had all the shots, 4 total on top of the paxlovid so I think she'll be OK. Huge worry though and I hope she's more careful from here on out.

Covid is now going around her building and she's had people from her building visit without masks, which is how she got it.

The Paxlovid should be helpful and her condition should be better, as it appears to be, because of it. Thank goodness for the drug!

[ProfX]

Paxlovid actually works, as opposed to miracle minerals, ivermectin, HCQ, UV bulbs up your ass, and other Trump-peddled nonsense.

[ZoWie]

It certainly works better than injecting bleach.

[ap215]

New York is roaring back from the worst of the pandemic. Why isn’t San Francisco?

NEW YORK CITY — On a scorching summer evening, humidity choking the city, thousands of sweaty visitors lined up to ascend almost 1,400 feet.

Children squealed in delight as they disembarked on the 57th floor Summit observatory at the One Vanderbilt tower, all of Manhattan unfolding in front of them through glass windows, from the delicate, silvery tip of the Chrysler Building to One World Trade Center catching the setting sun, a symbol of the city’s rebirth from the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

https://www.sfchronicle.com/sf/article/ ... 365339.php

[ap215]

UK first to approve Omicron COVID shot with Moderna go-ahead

LONDON, Aug 15 (Reuters) - Britain, the first country to approve a coronavirus vaccine in late 2020, has now also given the first green light to a variant-adapted shot that targets both the original and Omicron version of the virus.

The UK medicines regulator (MHRA) gave the so-called bivalent vaccine made by U.S. drug company Moderna (MRNA.O) conditional approval as a booster for adults on Monday.

https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/varian ... 022-08-15/

[carmenjonze]

New York is roaring back from the worst of the pandemic. Why isn’t San Francisco?

NEW YORK CITY — On a scorching summer evening, humidity choking the city, thousands of sweaty visitors lined up to ascend almost 1,400 feet.

Children squealed in delight as they disembarked on the 57th floor Summit observatory at the One Vanderbilt tower, all of Manhattan unfolding in front of them through glass windows, from the delicate, silvery tip of the Chrysler Building to One World Trade Center catching the setting sun, a symbol of the city’s rebirth from the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

https://www.sfchronicle.com/sf/article/ ... 365339.php

Because we don't want conservative diseases ravaging our city, ever again?

Just a guess!

[Glennfs]

Because we don't want conservative diseases ravaging our city, ever again?

Just a guess!

I find it [not] hard to believe that a person who was "offended" by the term China Virus and things people once called aids to turn around and use a term like conservative diseases. I guess it is true people do become that which they claim to hate.

[carmenjonze]

I find it [not] hard to believe that a person who was "offended" by the term China Virus and things people once called aids to turn around and use a term like conservative diseases. I guess it is true people do become that which they claim to hate.

yeah, keep guessing, undereducated confederate.

I can't help but notice you were unable to ome up with a coherent reply to this post, where you learned that you would have loved it in San Francisco up until the 1940s.

viewtopic.php?p=33192#p33192

White-conservative scapegoating epithets like "China Virus" in part had its origins right in my city, from conservative whites like you. So did the anti-Asian as well as anti-LGBTQ policies to go along with it.

Unlike the conservative whites who made laws and imposed repressive policies on Asian Americans due to racist stereotypes like yellow fever and cholera (not to mention related sexual moral panics like prostitution), the queers and nonwhites of this city infamously pushed back at you dirty, disease-spreading bigots. And won.

[ProfX]

I find it [not] hard to believe that a person who was "offended" by the term China Virus and things people once called aids to turn around and use a term like conservative diseases. I guess it is true people do become that which they claim to hate.

I don't know why you put that in quotes.

We have documented evidence of Asian-Americans being attacked in this country, by people claiming they are responsible (somehow solely) for the spread of what Trump called the China Virus or Kung Flu.

I'm less offended by the silly name, then to the awful suffering it unleashed in the real world.