Coronavirus (COVID-19 Outbreak) (43 Viewers)

swag

L'autista
Administrator
Sep 23, 2003
83,483
I questioned whether this originated in the Wuhan lab but brushed aside the Trump conspiracy stuff as I thought it was outlandish, but the fact everything is playing out as many of the "theorists" predicted is hilarious. Hell, even in my own area people put up huge banners counting the dead every week, then suddenly those disappeared when Trump lost the election or Biden was sworn in. So of course there was always going to be an element of purposely pinning it all on Trump while Biden would be the savior, but this sort of predictability is just shocking.
Biden is being given a rookie breather for what was before him. There could be some optics in saying that the Trump admin had zero plans for vaccine distribution just so they can buy more time before the daggers come. This I could see.

But I haven't noticed anyone dropping the COVID headlines. Instead I'm seeing most people saying that it's the #1 problem the new presidency needs to address. It's not being shoved to the back pages. In fact, I seem to be hearing more about how the COVID variants could make the vaccines have a shorter shelf-life and the deaths will continue to at least about 600k with lockdowns continuing throughout much of the first half of the year.

That's not how you bury a story and try to deflect its importance.

But that paragraph of yours, Andy. I'm not being partisan here when I say it reeks of seeking cause and finding data to fit the theory instead of the other way around. Which is of course the modus operandi of conspiracy theories.

As a friend I'm telling you, drinking that juice won't do you or your loved ones any good. Any. There is no benefit to that mojo.
 

JuveJay

Senior Signor
Moderator
Mar 6, 2007
72,501
So UK's R rate is down between 0.8 - 1.0 now, but....preliminary evidence is showing that this UK strain of Covid might well be deadlier than previous versions.
 

icemaη

Rab's Husband - The Regista
Moderator
Aug 27, 2008
34,974
So UK's R rate is down between 0.8 - 1.0 now, but....preliminary evidence is showing that this UK strain of Covid might well be deadlier than previous versions.
Is there data around if the vaccines will still work or are we going with we'll give the shots and hope for the best?
 

Gian

COME HOME MOGGI
Apr 12, 2009
17,485
Our parliament wanted an evening curfew at 20:00, the opposition wanted it at 22:00 because there was no evidence/data supporting why it should be 20:00, They settled at an evening curfew at 21:00 and still no-one can give us the proper data or scientific prove at which time it becomes effective. :sergio: These career politicians are negotiating my freedom like it's worth nothing anymore.

This is some proper fucking banter, I live in a city with 1 million people and 300 cases. We had pubs open with >1.000 cases for months. There's no rational person that understands the measures here any more.
 
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JuveJay

Senior Signor
Moderator
Mar 6, 2007
72,501
Is there data around if the vaccines will still work or are we going with we'll give the shots and hope for the best?
The spike proteins would need to significantly mutate to stop the vaccine replicating their genetic material which triggers the T-cells to kill them. I suppose it's possible given enough time and mutation but they are such a key part of the virus that these vaccines will set it back long enough for the world to get it more under control.
 

Post Ironic

Senior Member
Feb 9, 2013
41,930
Our parliament wanted an evening curfew at 20:00, the opposition wanted it at 22:00 because there was no evidence/data supporting why it should be 20:00, They settled at an evening curfew at 21:00 and still no-one can give us the proper data or scientific prove at which time it becomes effective. :sergio: These career politicians are negotiating my freedom like it's worth nothing anymore.

This is some proper fucking banter, I live in a city with 1 million people and 300 cases. We had pubs open with >1.000 cases for months. There's no rational person that understands the measures here any more.
I don’t get this stuff when numbers are that low. Albeit, in BC we’ve had pretty low numbers throughout the entire pandemic, I think we maxed out at around 150 new cases/million in a day at the worst part of the pandemic for us. But we’ve never had a curfew, travel restrictions, shelter-in-place, or full scale lockdown... those things should be exclusively reserved as absolute last resorts when things are completely dire
 
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DAiDEViL

Senior Member
Feb 21, 2015
62,568
Our parliament wanted an evening curfew at 20:00, the opposition wanted it at 22:00 because there was no evidence/data supporting why it should be 20:00, They settled at an evening curfew at 21:00 and still no-one can give us the proper data or scientific prove at which time it becomes effective. :sergio: These career politicians are negotiating my freedom like it's worth nothing anymore.

This is some proper fucking banter, I live in a city with 1 million people and 300 cases. We had pubs open with >1.000 cases for months. There's no rational person that understands the measures here any more.
They (including our politicians) are all lucky it's winter and it's getting dark so early anyway.

if it's summer and you ask people to be home at 20:00 or so they going to throw your windows in.
 

JuveJay

Senior Signor
Moderator
Mar 6, 2007
72,501
I don't understand the reasoning behind curfews. When we had the pub curfew I could understand the idea to an extent because the longer the night goes on the more drunk people get, the less responsible they are with social distancing, and so on. But all they would do is drink more quickly and the same effect happens, so of course it didn't work.

Having a general curfew stops what exactly? Can people in the Netherlands go to pubs, restaurants, other people's homes? It's not like people are standing outside in winter at 9 or 10pm. I have someone in my "support bubble" who lives a few miles away and sometimes I drive back late at night, point A to point B, there is no one on the road apart from road freight. Other than this what could you possibly be doing at that time? Walking the dog?
 

Gian

COME HOME MOGGI
Apr 12, 2009
17,485
I don’t get this stuff when numbers are they low. Albeit, in BC we’ve had pretty low numbers throughout the entire pandemic, I think we maxed out at around 150 new cases/million in a day at the worst part of the pandemic for us. But we’ve never had a curfew, travel restrictions, shelter-in-place, or full scale lockdown... those things should be exclusively reserved as absolute last resorts when things are completely dire
The numbers are low but because British Covid may become the dominant variant we decide to lock further down and even longer. This way they hope to prevent a 3rd wave (we're still in the second). Eventhough we all saw the images of London, there's absolutely no feeling of urgency with the public. Nobody really understands this.

I don't understand the reasoning behind curfews. When we had the pub curfew I could understand the idea to an extent because the longer the night goes on the more drunk people get, the less responsible they are with social distancing, and so on. But all they would do is drink more quickly and the same effect happens, so of course it didn't work.

Having a general curfew stops what exactly? Can people in the Netherlands go to pubs, restaurants, other people's homes? It's not like people are standing outside in winter at 9 or 10pm. I have someone in my "support bubble" who lives a few miles away and sometimes I drive back late at night, point A to point B, there is no one on the road apart from road freight. Other than this what could you possibly be doing at that time? Walking the dog?
Pretty much everything is closed. Pubs and restaurants had been closed since end of November. Non-essential shops, schools and gyms too since December. According to the new rules we can only mingle with 1 additional person in our household.

What's worst, I see much more of a reverse effect since the new set of rules. Because of non-essential shops being closed the supermarkets around me started started selling clothing in December. Now they even sell Apple products, furniture, tv's and so one. Instead of less people shopping in a store and more spread at a shopping mall/street, we have the highest concentration I've ever seen in just a single store. How the f do they redeem this safe? It took me 2 hours to do grocery shopping this morning.
 

maxi

Senior Member
Aug 31, 2006
3,497
Boris refused to rule out extending lockdown into the summer because of this new strain, though interestingly the new variant is yet again not resistant to the vaccine, same with the previous strain. With all seniors and probably half of all adults vaccinated by that time period I don't see why we'd need that.

Its interesting to see how far ahead the UK is in terms of vaccine rollout in comparison to other european countries. I'm not sure if it has something to do with the fact that the government has opted to give one dose 12 weeks prior to the second dose, so that they have enough to vaccinate more people with the first. Europe might be doing dose one and two at the same time, which means it will take longer to vaccinate everyone.
 

swag

L'autista
Administrator
Sep 23, 2003
83,483
Our parliament wanted an evening curfew at 20:00, the opposition wanted it at 22:00 because there was no evidence/data supporting why it should be 20:00, They settled at an evening curfew at 21:00 and still no-one can give us the proper data or scientific prove at which time it becomes effective. :sergio: These career politicians are negotiating my freedom like it's worth nothing anymore.

This is some proper fucking banter, I live in a city with 1 million people and 300 cases. We had pubs open with >1.000 cases for months. There's no rational person that understands the measures here any more.
The NY Times just did a decent piece on this yesterday:
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/23/health/coronavirus-curfews.html

The challenge is that not everything lends itself to data. For us to do a randomized control trial between communities that we *presume* are similar, with one having no curfew and the other not, would raise all sorts of issues of ethics, enforceability, dependent variables, undue influence, etc. In fact, if someone even attempted to do a scientific study like that, my immediate "intuitive" reaction (paraphrasing a biostatistician cited in the article) would be to distrust the experiment design and methodology. There are so many holes where you could be lead astray.

The next thing then to ask is, "Well, if we cannot easily or reliably test it with useful data, should we not even bother trying?" That's a whole other question though. Sure, some level of skepticism is healthy. But on the surface, any measure that socially interferes with the r0 should make the models go down in infections. Yes, there will be compensating behaviors -- like people clandestinely gathering for beers in homes because they cannot be on the streets or in markets after a certain hour. But is that enough statistical grounds to reject the hypothesis that curfews might help overall? Not really.

So yeah... it's good to have science to back things up. But not everything in a complex society can be enforced and measured accurately to know with a strong level of statistical significance. Unless you're China and you can pretty much lock the population in doggy cages for weeks at a time.

IMO, politicians can't be the only voices in the decision. Health experts, virologists, economists, mental health experts, child development experts, etc. all have something semi-valuable to add to the conversation. But there isn't going to be one solution that satisfies everyone. Which is where it becomes more important to follow a shared set of rules than it does to patchwork reject this or that item on some grounds like a Chinese take-out menu.
 
OP
Bjerknes

Bjerknes

"Top Economist"
Mar 16, 2004
111,617
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread Starter #9,518
    Biden is being given a rookie breather for what was before him. There could be some optics in saying that the Trump admin had zero plans for vaccine distribution just so they can buy more time before the daggers come. This I could see.

    But I haven't noticed anyone dropping the COVID headlines. Instead I'm seeing most people saying that it's the #1 problem the new presidency needs to address. It's not being shoved to the back pages. In fact, I seem to be hearing more about how the COVID variants could make the vaccines have a shorter shelf-life and the deaths will continue to at least about 600k with lockdowns continuing throughout much of the first half of the year.

    That's not how you bury a story and try to deflect its importance.

    But that paragraph of yours, Andy. I'm not being partisan here when I say it reeks of seeking cause and finding data to fit the theory instead of the other way around. Which is of course the modus operandi of conspiracy theories.

    As a friend I'm telling you, drinking that juice won't do you or your loved ones any good. Any. There is no benefit to that mojo.
    I think it's important to question trends when they're right in front of you though. It's not a conspiracy theory to claim that there were groups and individuals trying their best to destroy Trump; we see it every single day in politics, media, and even on my own street. It might be a matter of optics instead of a vast concerted effort, but the results are similar and hard to differentiate.

    - - - Updated - - -

    Looks like matters are getting really heated in Tulip Land.


    - - - Updated - - -

    Someone lost their horsey. He probably has covid.

     
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    swag

    L'autista
    Administrator
    Sep 23, 2003
    83,483
    I think it's important to question trends when they're right in front of you though. It's not a conspiracy theory to claim that there were groups and individuals trying their best to destroy Trump; we see it every single day in politics, media, and even on my own street. It might be a matter of optics instead of a vast concerted effort, but the results are similar and hard to differentiate.
    Oh, there were alright.

    Just noting that you seem to be echoing some behaviors I witnessed in all the lefties I know when they first reacted to Trump's presidency. It wasn't just the hysterics over Kavanaugh, it was the equivalent of people today going libtard butt-hurt over Big Ears National Monument when they couldn't even place it in the right US state to begin with. Some crap really isn't going to matter much, so you have to choose your battles and not feel compelled to react with outrage to everything.

    I just knew way too many people back in the US who were depressed, angsty, bitter, and stuck in negative re-enforcement loops of their own making during the Trump years. And that's before COVID. Life is too short to be so dark and unhappy with what you can't change.
     
    OP
    Bjerknes

    Bjerknes

    "Top Economist"
    Mar 16, 2004
    111,617
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread Starter #9,520
    Oh, there were alright.

    Just noting that you seem to be echoing some behaviors I witnessed in all the lefties I know when they first reacted to Trump's presidency. It wasn't just the hysterics over Kavanaugh, it was the equivalent of people today going libtard butt-hurt over Big Ears National Monument when they couldn't even place it in the right US state to begin with. Some crap really isn't going to matter much, so you have to choose your battles and not feel compelled to react with outrage to everything.

    I just knew way too many people back in the US who were depressed, angsty, bitter, and stuck in negative re-enforcement loops of their own making during the Trump years. And that's before COVID. Life is too short to be so dark and unhappy with what you can't change.
    Oh, trust me, I'm not that way in real life. What you're describing reminds me of some of my family members. I mostly consider politics a farce and laugh about it far more than anything else.
     

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