Coronavirus Crisis: Main Thread

[Cordelia]

I, for one, don’t think Trump’s diagnosis is fake. I think his P.R. team has, up-to-yesterday (the limo trip to greet supporters was an over-the-top circus), staged (different from faked) his video appearances and done so brilliantly (writing “Staged real illnesses: Brilliant campaign strategy.” in the 'Five Words' thread would have been six words). He’s clearly not too ill, at least not yet; he looked lucid, more focused than usual and well able to read his teleprompter.

Does anybody remember when Reagan was shot? His resiliency and physical strength in the aftermath of the shooting was greatly played up in the press and, as I recall, his approval ratings skyrocketed. I’ll bet they’re hoping/betting on the same happening around Trump’s illness/recovery.

That trip outside the hospital on Sunday was sheer lunacy imo. Unnecessary too--his supporters are already crazy.

[norton ash]

Kayleigh McEnany has it. The Rose Garden Massacre continues.

[Cordelia]

He bounced back...

I just watched the first video . Yeah, what's in his injections? The return of Max Jacobson and 'Dr. Feelgood'.

This is the real school.

No, this is a reality t.v. set. They're going too far; if he's re-elected we're beyond the beyond.

[Belligerent Savant]

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Another take that won't be readily available in most news outlets.

https://unherd.com/2020/10/covid-expert ... other-way/

Covid experts: there is another way

Three eminent epidemiologists met in Massachusetts to plan a better response to the pandemic

BY Sunetra Gupta, Jay Bhattacharya and Martin Kulldorff

As infectious disease epidemiologists and public health scientists we have grave concerns about the damaging physical, and mental health impacts of the prevailing COVID-19 policies and recommend an approach we call Focused Protection.

Coming from both the left and right, and around the world, we have devoted our careers to protecting people. Current lockdown policies are producing devastating effects on short and long-term public health. The results (to name a few) include lower childhood vaccination rates, worsening cardiovascular disease outcomes, fewer cancer screenings and deteriorating mental health – leading to greater excess mortality in years to come, with the working class and younger members of society carrying the heaviest burden. Keeping students out of school is a grave injustice.

Keeping these measures in place until a vaccine is available will cause irreparable damage, with the underprivileged disproportionately harmed.

Fortunately, our understanding of the virus is growing. We know that vulnerability to death from COVID-19 is more than a thousand-fold higher in the old and infirm than the young. Indeed, for children, COVID-19 is less dangerous than many other harms, including influenza.

As immunity builds in the population, the risk of infection to all – including the vulnerable – falls. We know that all populations will eventually reach herd immunity – i.e. the point at which the rate of new infections is stable – and that this can be assisted by (but is not dependent upon) a vaccine. Our goal should therefore be to minimize mortality and social harm until we reach herd immunity.

The most compassionate approach that balances the risks and benefits of reaching herd immunity, is to allow those who are at minimal risk of death to live their lives normally to build up immunity to the virus through natural infection, while better protecting those who are at highest risk. We call this Focused Protection.

Adopting measures to protect the vulnerable should be the central aim of public health responses to COVID-19. By way of example, nursing homes should use staff with acquired immunity and perform frequent PCR testing of other staff and all visitors. Staff rotation should be minimized. Retired people living at home should have groceries and other essentials delivered to their home. When possible, they should meet family members outside rather than inside. A comprehensive and detailed list of measures, including approaches to multi-generational households, can be implemented, and is well within the scope and capability of public health professionals.

Those who are not vulnerable should immediately be allowed to resume life as normal. Simple hygiene measures, such as hand washing and staying home when sick should be practiced by everyone to reduce the herd immunity threshold. Schools and universities should be open for in-person teaching. Extracurricular activities, such as sports, should be resumed. Young low-risk adults should work normally, rather than from home. Restaurants and other businesses should open. Arts, music, sport and other cultural activities should resume. People who are more at risk may participate if they wish, while society as a whole enjoys the protection conferred upon the vulnerable by those who have built up herd immunity.

Great Barrington, Massachusetts, 4th October 2020

To sign the declaration, follow this link (will be live later today):

http://www.GBdeclaration.org

[BenDhyan]

Home again..

[Belligerent Savant]

.

The uber troll, galvanized.




And on this point:

Don’t be afraid of Covid. Don’t let it dominate your life

He's absolutely right.

The optics of this may end up widening the gap in November, and not in the way the 'Dems' hoped.

[liminalOyster]

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Another take that won't be readily available in most news outlets.

https://unherd.com/2020/10/covid-expert ... other-way/

The American Institute for Economic Research (AIER)[2] is a 501(c)(3) economic research institute located in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. The institute aims to promote individual sovereignty, limited government, and "a society based on property rights and open markets." .... The current president of the institute is Edward Stringham, an Austrian School economist.

From their materials:

Screen Shot 2020-10-05 at 9.27.53 PM.png

[liminalOyster]

.

The uber troll, galvanized.




And on this point:

Don’t be afraid of Covid. Don’t let it dominate your life

He's absolutely right.

The optics of this may end up widening the gap in November, and not in the way the 'Dems' hoped.

Of course Trump *is* right that letting fear of COVID dominate your life is no way to live. So are the other 98% of talking heads saying the same thing. He looked insane signing a blank sheet of paper and being publicly lambasted by the very docs who carde for him for after doing that photo op. He was pretty teflon for a long time but I'm pretty confident this put the nail in the coffin for him.

Trump also received Regeneron's dual monoclonal antibody cocktail which basically no one else is getting yet and which he has financial stake in: https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/05/investin ... index.html. Glad to see it seems to work but if he's reassuring other obese heart-diseased 70 something men COVID isn't something they need to worry about, that's a damn shame.

[Belligerent Savant]

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The larger message is: this virus isn't as advertised, a message that will reach a far larger audience than pasty obese men with clogged arteries.

Putting aside for a moment that loathsome Trump is sending this message (and whether it's the message he truly intends or not is aside from the point), we've had madness and borderline hysterics for almost 10 months. We have been minimally led astray, resulting in horrible losses to lives and livelihoods (due to the extent and duration of lockdown measures), far more damaging than covid itself.

Enough.


(95% of those over 70 that test positive recover from COVID, for those keeping count. For everyone else, the figures amount to less than 1% fatality).





On EDIT: Trump's recovery can still take a turn for the worse, of course. If so, it will embolden those in the DNC camp using this virus for political ends* and keep us further tied into unnecessary measures for a longer duration. We shall see.


*both 'sides' are using this virus for political ends. At least until Election Day.

[Belligerent Savant]

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At least 1 other RIer shares my sentiment, apparently.
[I saw this tweet this AM, FWIW]

[Belligerent Savant]

.

Another take that won't be readily available in most news outlets.

https://unherd.com/2020/10/covid-expert ... other-way/

The American Institute for Economic Research (AIER)[2] is a 501(c)(3) economic research institute located in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. The institute aims to promote individual sovereignty, limited government, and "a society based on property rights and open markets." .... The current president of the institute is Edward Stringham, an Austrian School economist.

From their materials:

Screen Shot 2020-10-05 at 9.27.53 PM.png

ok, but what is the alternative option? Continue in the current PLAN is laid out by the WHO and Gates et al.? If I had to choose between the plan as laid out in the article I cited above, and the current plan, I'll choose the former EVERY TIME. Is there anything in the content of the article that seems illogical or un-sound?

Compared to the guidance in that linked article, current measures have cost millions of lives and livelihoods -- unnecessarily (yes, I've typed this numerous times already, but it's worth underscoring that the measures taken do NOT make any sense given what we now know. I get the argument during the initial 2-4 months of this virus that drastic measures were arguably defensible, but not now. Not for the last 2 months at least.)

No justification for continuing mandates as currently drawn up.

Not to mention the many variables that remain in question: the reliability of the testing process (is a positive result indicative of COVID-19 specifically and only, or can a result come back 'positive' if other corona viruses exist?; how often do re-tests -- whenever performed -- return different results? etc.), the inconsistent, sometimes arbitrary criteria in identifying a covid 'death', etc. It's a maddening time.

[DrEvil]

The problem is how the MAGA crowd will read that message from Trump. They'll take it as license to ignore any and all precautions and do whatever the fuck they please, just like the clown-in-chief.

[liminalOyster]

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At least 1 other RIer shares my sentiment, apparently.
[I saw this tweet this AM, FWIW]

I share that sentiment to a point. But this wasn't a mild case. Maybe I'm wrong. We'll see.

[thrulookingglass]

"Don't be afraid of Covid. Don't let it dominate your life" is a winning message.

Absolutely rotten.

Don't worry about nuclear warfare. Don't let it ruin your life.

If it ruins someone else's, because you don't want your freedoms impaired by wearing a mask, that's fucking fine and dandy.

Don't let people living in poverty ruin your day.

No one has a right to ask you to be a responsible citizen.

Consider me nonplussed boss. Foolish sentiment echoed by indelicate assholes. Live with wild abandon. Its the last days of Babylon! Its the fire sale of all time!

WITH FIRE NOAH! WITH FIRE!

Terrorist worshippers.

[norton ash]

So now it's fuck the recovery/stimulus plan? That'll really help get things rolling. So sick of this clown.