SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19

[Amazing Larry]

9 minutes ago, angelinkc said:

You used common sense which is not a gift everyone has. Both sides are too worried about the election and not seeking a workable solution. The middle class and poor are getting crushed by the virus and economy. 

I think the free market has a big role to play in this. If a job is too dangerous then the price of the job will rise. 
 

Nobody wants to bag groceries? Guess what? The wage of a grocery bagger just went up. People will take the risk if the price is right. 
 

Another thing is that companies don’t want their employees to get sick or die. They don’t want to risk the bad PR or the profit loss and believe it or not most executives have an actual human heart. People dying is bad business period. If the government relaxes restrictions the private sector will enact their own. At the end of the day people will have to use their own risk/reward judgements on how they want to live their lives. 

[angelinkc]

2 minutes ago, Lhalo said:

I think the free market has a big role to play in this. If a job is too dangerous then the price of the job will rise. 
 

Nobody wants to bag groceries? Guess what? The wage of a grocery bagger just went up. People will take the risk if the price is right. 
 

Another thing is that companies don’t want their employees to get sick or die. They don’t want to risk the bad PR or the profit loss and believe it or not most executives have an actual human heart. People dying is bad business period. If the government relaxes restrictions the private sector will enact their own. At the end of the day people will have to use their own risk/reward judgements on how they want to live their lives. 

I agree. The private sector and the American people have saved us from total destruction. Most Americans and businesses will do the right thing. The left has swallowed a whole bottle of viagra and they can't bend us over fast enough. Not often they get a chance to end competitive sports, private industry and religion. We have allowed a virus to do full fill 130 years of progressive  (right and left) dreams. 

 

[Jason]

 

[tdawg87]

Always gotta be about race. First comment nails it. 

[Stradling]

12 hours ago, tdawg87 said:

Can I name them?

Mods?

Please do

[tdawg87]

38 minutes ago, Stradling said:

Please do

@st1ckboy

That's it.

[St1ck]

30 minutes ago, tdawg87 said:

@st1ckboy

That's it.

Consider yourself shunned.

[Chuck]

https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.04.14.20062463v1

 

[Jason]

Haha! 

[ten ocho recon scout]

14 minutes ago, Jason said:

Haha! 

How many pictures of barry the big dick black dude do you assume are being texted to him every 5 minutes.

[Tank]

14 hours ago, st1ckboy said:

Do it. And if I'm on that list you will shunned from this day going forward. Do you know what it's like to get a fierce shunning?

Listen to stick, tdawg. He speaks from experience.

[Tank]

14 hours ago, gotbeer said:

Pushing 3 months to the backend will extend payments quite a bit.  It's not as easy as saying 3 more payments.  With 3 months of missed payments and accruing interest, for mortgages that might account for 5 more months in payments on the backend.  For credit card payments, with the huge interest rates, that could be 5 to 10 extra payments if paying the minimum.  

I wonder if there’s a position in between what you’re saying and what tdawg is asking for. 
It seems wrong to penalize people during something like this with accrued interest.

[Redondo]

Top coronavirus model significantly lowers US death toll estimate amid protests over tough lockdowns

A key coronavirus model has lowered its estimate of total U.S. deaths in its latest projection of how many will die due to the contagious virus.

The revision will likely fuel criticism from skeptics that initial projections were overblown, and one that government leaders may use to say that efforts to combat the spread are working.

The University of Washington's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) lowered its projection of total deaths from 68,841 (with an estimate range of 30,188 to 175,965) to just over 60,308 (with an estimate range of 34,063 to 140,381) in an update published Friday.

[Redondo]

• Maher says media's 'panic porn' coronavirus coverage creates a Trump reelection path

"Real Time" host Bill Maher closed Friday's show by blasting the media for what he called its "panic porn" coverage of the coronavirus pandemic.

"Now that we're starting to see some hope in all of this, don't hope-shame me!" Maher began. "You know, the problem with nonstop gloom and doom is that it gives Trump the chance to play the optimist. And optimists tend to win American elections. FDR has said, 'The only thing we have to fear is fear itself. You know, as full of s--- as he is, I could see Trump riding that into a second term. And then there will be no more hope left for you to shame."

Maher urged news outlets to "rein it in" because the "daily drumbeat of depression and terror veers into panic porn."

"Enough with the 'Life will never be the same' headlines!" Maher exclaimed.

The HBO star singled out The Washington Post for a headline that used the quote, "It feels like a war zone," when referring to a grocery store and The New York Times for its headline, "Braced for Apocalyptic Surge, New York Avoids Worst, So Far."

"This was an article about how much better the city was doing than expected," Maher said. "You don't have to put hot sauce on a jalapeño."

He then pointed to another Times headline that read, "'It's Terrifying': Millions More Out of Work" that quoted a Hollywood event planner instead of someone like President Trump or Dr. Anthony Fauci.

"What the f--- is 'It's terrifying' doing in a headline?" Maher asked. "How about this: Just tell me millions are out of work without the flashlight under the chin and I'll decide how I feel about it."

He continued, "There was never headlines like this before. There was no, 'It's Terrifying: Planes Hit World Trade Center.' There was no, 'It's Sad' Titanic Sinks After Hitting Iceberg.

Maher then knocked the media for being "obsessed" with the number of young people who have died with the coronavirus, pointing to the much higher death toll from young people who died from the flu last year.

"So all of this social distancing did some good. Can I be happy about that?" Maher complained. "Death is terrible, of course, no matter how it comes ... but giving the proper perspective isn't a cover-up of the truth, it is the truth. Sudden dramatic deaths like plane crashes, shark attacks, tornadoes, mass shootings, terrorism, awful as they are, kill far less than seasonal flu. Even hospital-acquired infections may very well kill more people than the coronavirus -- 99,000 of them last year! Fifty-thousand died from nephritis last year and I don't even know what that is!"

He added, "We need the news to calm down and treat us like adults. Trump calls you 'fake news,' don't make him be right."

was never headlines like this before. There was no, 'It's Terrifying: Planes Hit World Trade Center.' There was no, 'It's Sad' Titanic Sinks After Hitting Iceberg."

[Redondo]

BILL MAHER BLASTS 'PC' UPROAR OVER 'CHINESE VIRUS' LABEL: WE 'SHOULD' BLAME CHINA

"Real Time" host Bill Maher slammed the "PC police" Friday night for overreacting to the "Chinese virus" labeling controversy.

As the coronavirus outbreak continued spreading across the U.S., President Trump and others sparked a national debate by referring to the disease as the "Chinese coronavirus" or the "Wuhan virus" because it began infecting people in Wuhan, China.

But critics of the labels called them "racist" and "xenophobic," insisting such terms would incite hate crimes against Asian-Americans.

Maher mocked the complainers, listing several other illnesses that are named after their locations of origin -- such as the West Nile virus, Spanish flu and MERS (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome).

"You can't yell at someone for breaking a rule you just made up," he said, adding, "So why should China get a pass?"

The HBO star singled out Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., for condemning the term "Wuhan Virus" when he tweeted that the virus "is not constrained by country or race. Be just as stupid to call it the Milan Virus."

"No, that would be way stupider because it didn't come from Milan. And if it did, I guarantee we'd be calling it the Milan Virus," Maher reacted. "Jesus F---ing Christ, can't we even have a pandemic without getting offended?"

"Seriously, it scares me that there are people out there who would rather die from the virus than call it by the wrong name. This isn't about vilifying a culture, this is about facts. This is about life and death."

The "Real Time" host then blasted the "PC police" for saying it's "racist" to attack another nation's cultural practice, pointing to the wet markets that remain open in China.

"It's not racist to point out that eating bats is bats--- crazy," Maher exclaimed before citing experts including Dr. Anthony Fauci who have sounded the alarm on wet markets and the consumption of exotic animals.

"So when someone says, 'What if people hear Chinese Virus and blame China?' the answer is, 'We should blame China.' Not Chinese-Americans, but we can't stop telling the truth because racists get the wrong idea. There's always going to be idiots out there who want to indulge their prejudices, but this is an emergency! Don't we have bigger tainted fish to fry?"

He continued, "Sorry Americans, we're going to have to ask you to keep two ideas in your head at the same time: This has nothing to do with Asian-Americans and it has everything to do with China. We can't afford the luxury anymore of non-judginess towards a country with habits that kill millions of people everywhere. Because this isn't the first time. SARS came from China. And the bird flu. And the Hong Kong flu. The Asian flu. Viruses come from China just like shortstops come from the Dominican Republic. If they were selling nuclear suitcases at these wet markets, would we be so non-judgmental?"

Maher observed that if the Chinese military had deliberately used the virus as a bioweapon against the U.S., "we'd be at war" and that the virus has had a bigger impact on the U.S. economy than China's alleged "currency manipulation" that politicians have complained about.

"This is a dictatorship that for decades enforced a one-child-per-family policy under penalty of forced sterilization, but you can't close down the Farmer's Market from Hell?" the "Real Time" host told viewers. "Maybe to use that iron fist and pound it down like the whole world depends on it because it kind of does. And I hope that if someone told Americans that eating Hot Pockets could cause a worldwide pandemic that we would have the good sense of stop doing it. Although I wouldn't bet on it."

 

 

[Tank]

1 hour ago, Jason said:

Haha! 

This harkens back to the old Soviet days where people were strongly encouraged to tell on their neighbors. “It’s for everyone’s safety” is a very slippery slope.

[Redondo]

The great 5G coronavirus conspiracy

“A lie can travel around the world and back again while the truth is lacing up its boots.” -Mark Twain (and others)

Arsonists in the United Kingdom and across Europe are destroying cell phone towers. Vodafone says that 20 towers were attacked, including one serving a field hospital treating COVID-19 patients. The arsonists believe that 5G networks are helping spread coronavirus.

This conspiracy theory isn't the first one connected to either cell phone signals or COVID-19. But a lack of understanding how the cellular system works, blended with the overall global panic of the pandemic, is gaining traction.

Conspiracy theories aren’t the only thing spreading like wildfire online right now. Cybercriminals are after your $1,200 stimulus payment, and they have a slew of clever tactics. Tap or click for 7 scams you need to be on the lookout for.

Some people are ready to latch on to virtually anything when it arrives in the social media feed of celebrities. Woody Harrelson (who holds a B.A. in Theater from Hanover College) shared a report with his 2 million Instagram followers that claimed “5G radiation” is “exacerbating” the spread of the coronavirus.

John Cusack (who dropped out New York University after one year) tweeted to his 1.6 million followers, “5 — G wil [sic] be proven to be very very bad for people’s health.” He later deleted the tweet but not before calling his followers who disagreed with him “just DUMB and f---ing sheep.”

Also spreading the 5G conspiracy theory to followers are rapper Wiz Khalifa (who attended Taylor Allderdice High School in Pittsburgh), singer Keri Hilson (she studied theater at Oxford College of Emory University in Atlanta) and a judge on Britain’s Got Talent Amanda Holden (who attended London's Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts).

I included the educational background of these vocal conspiratorialists because no legitimate physician, researcher, engineer or scientist has found any evidence whatsoever that 5G causes, helps spread, or that exposure to 5G signals mimics COVID-19 symptoms.

Coronavirus myths and fake prevention tips are everywhere, too. Tap or click for a 90-second video that busts the myths I’ve seen spreading.

The lack of evidence

So why do people believe such loony conspiracy theories? According to Dr. David Ludden, writing in Psychology Today, one of the main reasons is that we, as humans, have a natural desire for control and security.

A global pandemic is beyond our control and threatens our security. In most conspiracy theories, followers claim that since there is no evidence to prove them wrong, the lack of such evidence becomes their evidence that they are right.

Most of the electronics that we use today emit some form of radiation. For those who don’t know better, that fact alone could frighten many people into signing a petition to ban all electronics.

The key is a bit of knowledge. Consider your non-5G cell phone. Common speculation is that it may cause brain tumors and skin cancer. Yet, according to the American Cancer Society, “the RF (radio frequency) waves given off by a cell phone simply does not have sufficient energy to damage or DNA or cause heating in body tissues.”

This explanation has been independently proven and re-proven many times with the best researchers and the best scientific methods. In fact, the FCC ruled months ago that we have nothing to worry about. Tap or click to hear what the commission had to say about cancer fears surrounding old and new smartphones.

Reasonable people, therefore, accept this view.

However, if one becomes emotionally committed to a belief (and posting that belief publicly to the world on social media with a loyal following looking up to them), there comes a need to defend or surrender the argument. Obviously, some will go to outrageous lengths to avoid surrender. And thus, a conspiracy theory is fueled.

RELATED: Lightning-fast 5G will truly transform the way we live and work. Tap or click here for my take on what the 5G revolution means for everyday consumers.

The birth of the conspiracy theory

On January 22, 2020, a small Belgian newspaper “Het Laatste Nieuws” published an interview with Dr. Kris Van Kerckhoven, an unknown general practitioner. The newspaper's headline read, “5G is life-threatening, and no one knows it.”

Dr. Van Kerckhoven claimed that 5G was dangerous and might be linked to coronavirus. That’s all it took. One small newspaper most people never heard of printed a frightening headline and one minor physician with no known credentials in radio frequency engineering and no scientific research to back himself up making up facts. Although the newspaper deleted the article from its website, the conspiracy was ignited and passed on through internet comments, blogs, and posts.

Naturally, if a medical doctor could make such outrageous statements with no evidence, then vapid celebs, looking for attention in a locked-down world, could have a field day. They blindly continue to spew out the ridiculous rumor to their fans.

This point brings us to today with endless online threats and silly hysteria. There’s also the vandalization of cell phone towers, the loss of which could cause even more turmoil and danger for medical personnel, first responders, hospitals and government officials during the pandemic.

So, what is 5G, really?

The 5G network is simply made of radio waves that are received and emitted by mobile phones and the related cellular phone towers. Their radio waves are non-ionizing; that is, they cannot burn or cause cellular damage. They are like any other wireless network, with the exception that their radio frequencies operate in the low, mid and high microwave bands.

This array of frequencies can both penetrate buildings better and transmit much more massive amounts of data much faster than any cellular system that has ever existed. Yes, once again, radio waves are a form of radiation. So are television signals, shortwave radio, AM, FM and satellite radio, and even the light from the sun and household light fixtures.

The radio waves coming from your microwave oven are vastly more powerful than radio waves you will be exposed to coming from cellular systems, including 5G. But one thing 5G cannot do nor can any other radio wave is this: It cannot transmit a virus or bacteria.

For many, the COVID-19 and 5G rollout timelines, more or less, match up. And so, the argument is that 5G somehow weakens our immune systems, making us more susceptible to coronavirus.

And that’s the unproven and unprovable theory.

This science is settled. If television, radio in all its forms, satellites and cellular phones have not killed off the world’s population by now, they never will. Neither will 5G.

Get the facts on coronavirus

Our real enemy is deadly, invisible and very mobile. Researchers are scrambling to study this contagion and develop a vaccine. Until then, we must rely on expert advice.

Just as scammers and cyber-criminals are trying to take advantage of all the chaos, conspiracy theorists get a lot of attention for touting baseless claims as truth. This kind of rumor-mongering is reckless and irresponsible, and it can worsen an already dire situation.

My advice: Go to the source. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) has a comprehensive website and well-curated Twitter account. You will find life-saving information, unsullied by YouTube personalities or minor celebs looking to remain relevant as we focus on more important things like washing your hands often, avoiding crowds, staying home and always practicing social distancing while wearing a mask. Tap or click for more Twitter accounts you can rely on for trusted information.

No advertising just news you can trust

My new free email newsletter “The Current” focuses on coronavirus facts and how tech is involved. I’ve covered what’s really happening with smartphone virus tracking to the latest online and even offline scams coming to your mailbox.

It contains no advertising. It’s just news you can trust. Sign up now while you’re thinking about it at Komando.com/TheCurrent.

And if your cell phone rings, you’re in no danger when you answer it.

tech/the-great-5g-coronavirus-conspiracy

[Crampknees]

LOL, Redondo with a book on conspiracy theories.  

[Redondo]

35 minutes ago, Tank said:

This harkens back to the old Soviet days where people were strongly encouraged to tell on their neighbors. “It’s for everyone’s safety” is a very slippery slope.

Not good to have people doing this. 

[Taylor]

How is this any different than John Wayne Airport imploring people to "See something, say something"?

[Blarg]

Whoopsie.

The failure by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to quickly produce a test kit for detecting the novel coronavirus was triggered by a glaring scientific breakdown at the CDC’s central laboratory complex in Atlanta, according to scientists with knowledge of the matter and a determination by federal regulators.

The CDC facilities that assembled the kits violated sound manufacturing practices, resulting in contamination of one of the three test components used in the highly sensitive detection process, the scientists said.

The cross contamination most likely occurred because chemical mixtures were assembled into the kits within a lab space that was also handling synthetic coronavirus material. The scientists also said the proximity deviated from accepted procedures and jeopardized testing for the virus.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/contamination-at-cdc-lab-delayed-rollout-of-coronavirus-tests/ar-BB12Q90W?li=BBnb7Kz

@RallyMo test, test, test?

 

[RallyMo]

1 minute ago, Blarg said:

Whoopsie.

The failure by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to quickly produce a test kit for detecting the novel coronavirus was triggered by a glaring scientific breakdown at the CDC’s central laboratory complex in Atlanta, according to scientists with knowledge of the matter and a determination by federal regulators.

The CDC facilities that assembled the kits violated sound manufacturing practices, resulting in contamination of one of the three test components used in the highly sensitive detection process, the scientists said.

The cross contamination most likely occurred because chemical mixtures were assembled into the kits within a lab space that was also handling synthetic coronavirus material. The scientists also said the proximity deviated from accepted procedures and jeopardized testing for the virus.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/contamination-at-cdc-lab-delayed-rollout-of-coronavirus-tests/ar-BB12Q90W?li=BBnb7Kz

@RallyMo test, test, test?

 

Yes! Test, test, test.

[Blarg]

You jumped on needing test kits and the CDC blew it. We have a world of fail going on by the very institutions that are supposed to be the best and we trust to step up in this type of situation. I sort of get it, they became complacent without any deadlines and now they are working in a way they have never before but FFS you can't fuck this up. 

[RallyMo]

22 minutes ago, Blarg said:

You jumped on needing test kits and the CDC blew it. We have a world of fail going on by the very institutions that are supposed to be the best and we trust to step up in this type of situation. I sort of get it, they became complacent without any deadlines and now they are working in a way they have never before but FFS you can't fuck this up. 

We've known the CDC blew it for a while now. They completely dropped the ball in February.

[RallyMo]

3 hours ago, Chuckster70 said:

https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.04.14.20062463v1

 

Bad study. We need a better one. Lisa Boothe states in her Tweet that it's a random sampling study. This is not a random sampling in the slightest.