How COVID-19 is affecting society

[Free]

Vallejo planning commissioner resigns after throwing cat during online zoom meeting

Beer was involved? Beer was involved.

 

[Clara D.]

I miss the days when internet tough guys knew at least three types of kung fu.

I know karate!

And three other japanese words.

 

[Free]

I know karate!

 

[Ranma Tardis]

Bought everclear to make hand sanitizer. ended up drinking it instead, a little goes a long way!

 

[Sredni Eel]

Here's a scary fucking twitter thread to brighten your day.

 

[Sredni Eel]

Meanwhile, here's a four year old tweet from Ricky Gervaise, who I'm convinced has harnessed the power of time travel.

 

[Fionalein]

Bought everclear to make hand sanitizer. ended up drinking it instead, a little goes a long way!

main reasons I use cheap vodka as a kitchen cleaner...

1. no need to rinse stuff like trays after I apply it
2. in an emergency I can drink it

 

[Sovereignty]

Thoughtful bi-partisan analysis of the various strategies for ending lockdown by a senior British Conservative MP

Bernard Jenkin: Keeping or junking the shutdown won't work. But the alternative requires a transformation unparalleled since the war. | Conservative Home

Parliament’s role must be to encourage strategic thinking, raise reasonable questions and help the government avoid strategic errors.

www.conservativehome.com

It's based on a paper by Harvard University's Safra Center for Ethics, so it's relevant to the US too, and elsewhere, of course.

Tl;dr -- the debate is far more serious and complex than simple "reopen the economy now" vs "stay locked down until there's a vaccine."

Cuomo discusses the reopening problem daily in his briefings. He values facts and transparency, so he gives some good info. Not a lot of specifics because as he pointed out yesterday it is hard to describe what's going to happen beyond a two week window. Still, he hits the important points of what they are planning.

ETA: New York state gives a good microcosm of the reopening problem since the state has sparsely populated areas as well as densely. It also highlights the issue of coordinating with other states because New York city really extends across three states. Add to that the volatility of such a dense, highly mobile population. As Cuomo puts it, he has to be careful turning the dial as do the neighboring states.

 

[Romana]

Here's a scary fucking twitter thread to brighten your day.

It took him til the last tweet to realize how pessimistic he sounded?

 

[Sredni Eel]

It does sound pessimistic, but it's also realistic. We still don't have a vaccine for the common cold, and Covid is more closely related to the Cold than it is to the flu.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Coronavirus: The US resistance to a continued lockdown

The protesters have made global headlines but it's ideology not economics driving them.

www.bbc.co.uk

Interesting analysis of how the US anti-lockdown protests are led, not by Chambers of Commerce or business and industrial interests but by conservative lobby groups, whose objective, according to one expert quoted, "is to make sure Americans don't become too trusting of government."

 

[Romana]

It does sound pessimistic, but it's also realistic. We still don't have a vaccine for the common cold, and Covid is more closely related to the Cold than it is to the flu.

Well, fine, then. If it's going to be like the common cold I hope I get it and get it over with. I have a DNR in place. Everyone loves my dog so someone will take him. I just hope they give me enough morphine.
I don't much like living on this new world anyway.

 

[Sredni Eel]

 

[Casey Pelous]

Well, fine, then. If it's going to be like the common cold I hope I get it and get it over with. I have a DNR in place. Everyone loves my dog so someone will take him. I just hope they give me enough morphine.
I don't much like living on this new world anyway.

A vaccine isn't the only possibility for getting (at least somewhat) out from under this thing.

1) We come up with a treatment. I doubt it's going to be a "magic bullet" sort of thing, but we'll develop treatment plans for the various presentations of the disease. We're also learning more and more about how it works, and every little bit of knowledge there is a clue to how to blunt its impact.

2) We come up with effective treatment plus a moderately effective (monthly?) vaccine for those most at risk and/or most likely to transmit the virus to those most at risk. Say, retail clerks, health care workers, etc.

3) We come up with a vaccine that doesn't prevent COVID-19 but significantly reduces its mortality/morbidity.

4) We come up with an answer from the genetic engineering field that gives us immunity.

5) The thing mutates itself out of being such a little bitch about the whole thing.

In regards to #1, it isn't talked about in the media, but I promise folks in the infectious disease field are learning tons about what works and what doesn't -- that's one of the "benefits" of having lots and lots of patients.

Your best strategy -- and the best one for your dog -- is to delay getting the cursed thing until one or more of the above happens.

 

[Free]

Twitter thread...

 

[bubblesort]

I think the most likely scenario is that we get out of this mess by building enough ventilators and train enough ventilator techs so that we have the capacity to successfully treat severe corona cases. It's gonna take a while.

 

[Casey Pelous]

I think the most likely scenario is that we get out of this mess by building enough ventilators and train enough ventilator techs so that we have the capacity to successfully treat severe corona cases. It's gonna take a while.

Considering the mortality rate once you're on a ventilator is 90%, and survivors very often have severe lung damage and impaired lung function, that's not a way out of the mess, that's just a mess.

 

[Sredni Eel]

The way out of this is going to take a while. We need herd immunity, which isn't guaranteed at this point because we don't know if we can be reinfected (which happens with other coronaviruses). A vaccine would help. Even if we don't have immunity once we get this thing once, a vaccine will at least lessen the severity of the symptoms.

It's no guarantee that once we have a vaccine that everyone will get it. Not unless there's some sort of mandate, as happened with the polio vaccine. Even then, there are a lot of boneheads out there screaming about how their body autonomy is being violated. Ironically, most of those are the people adamantly against abortion, because "dem wimmins should be barefoot n' preggers, doncha know."

 

[Cindy Claveau]

It is a big mistake to underestimate your opponent. I demand the best from the Democrats but am reasonably sure of not getting it. That's depressing.

We have different opinions, then. I'm less than content with how things have born out, too, but I also realize that politics is the "art of compromise" - especially when your opponent controls the Senate and WH. That's why we need to sweep these dolts out of office for once and for all.

If the best happens (Biden gets elected; Dem's control House and Senate), I'd say the leader of the Free World will still be Angela Merkel, at least until she retires from the job in the fall of 2021.

That's thanks to Trump, though. Not the Dems.

 

[Sovereignty]

We have different opinions, then. I'm less than content with how things have born out, too, but I also realize that politics is the "art of compromise" - especially when your opponent controls the Senate and WH. That's why we need to sweep these dolts out of office for once and for all.

I'm thinking of politics more as the art of persuasion (though not strictly). I have been genuinely impressed with the ads produced by the Never Trump Republicans. In what I remember they let Trump indict himself. He's such a buffoon they don't even have to quote him out of context.

Fortunately Biden is not pressing right now. He is sitting back and letting nature take its course. I think that at least is wise.

Otherwise, I see a lot of people trying to prove they are smarter than Trump. That is how it strikes me which is silly, of course. My dog is smarter than Trump.

That's thanks to Trump, though. Not the Dems.

I agree. They have to dig out of a hole. ETA2: But they don't have anyone right now who instills confidence that they will succeed.

ETA: [deleted common place sentiment]