~*Official #COVID-19 Thread of Doom*~ Revenge of Omicron Prime

[Remarkableriots]

https://www.msn.com/en-za/news/other/planetary-prospects-in-the-aftermath-of-covid-19/ar-BB12cueQ

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Once it became clear the Covid-19 pandemic was real and that medicine had no real tools to deal with it, other than recommending the world set up seven billion individual Coventrys, religious zealots around the globe have begun to preach this new plague is divine retribution for somebody’s sins. Concurrently, leftist social and economic critics have taken to the internet and print to argue Covid-19 and the consequent economic chaos are the inevitable last kicks of the dying horse of capitalism and that a new system must be built in its place.

 

From more conservative writers, meanwhile, absorbing the early lessons of the combined Covid-19/economic collapse, a near-end times warning tocsin is being sounded. In a recent issue of The Spectator, the former Financial Times editor Lionel Barber argued the world as we have known it has come to a halt, even beyond Covid-19, saying:

“We have a supply chain crisis, a demand crisis, a labour market crisis and an oil price crisis. Emerging markets have been left dreadfully exposed. Brazil, Mexico and South Africa, among other developing countries, are under pressure from capital outflows as the dollar has strengthened, commodity exports fall in value and the easy money of the past decade takes flight. These countries will have to go cap-in-hand to the IMF for dollar liquidity or secure swap lines from the Fed.”

 

Meanwhile, Adam Tooze, a professor of history at Columbia University, wrote in Foreign Policy that the coronavirus is the biggest health and economic crisis developing countries have ever seen. And closer to home, here in Africa, Tooze says:

“At the head of the list of vulnerable countries is South Africa. The virus count is heading rapidly towards a tipping point. Its health system is stretched at the best of times with a population of 7.7 million living with HIV. A lockdown has been declared. The military has been called out. Meanwhile, the rand is collapsing, and South Africa’s foreign debt has been cut by the rating agencies to junk status.” Other than that, things are fine?

And in Fareed Zakaria’s newest column:

“Even as we are just beginning to confront the magnitude of the shock caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, we need to wrap our minds around a painful truth. We are in the early stages of what is going to become a series of cascading crises, reverberating throughout the world. And we will not be able to get back to anything resembling normal life unless the major powers can find some way to co-operate and manage these problems together.

“The first phase has been the healthcare crisis in the worldʼs major economies. The next phase is the economic paralysis, the magnitude of which we are only just beginning to comprehend. In just the past two weeks, the United States lost some 10 million jobs, exceeding the 8.8 million total jobs lost over 106 weeks during the 2008-2010 recession. But this is only the beginning.

“Next up will surely be the danger of countries defaulting. Italy entered the crisis with the highest level of the public debt of the eurozone countries, and the third-highest in the world… but it is only one of many European countries that will face a fiscal breakdown. And this will happen at a time when Europeʼs most dynamic economies, which often provide the money and guarantees for bailouts and support mechanisms, are themselves underwater…

“Next come the explosions in the developing world. So far, the numbers of infected have been low in countries such as India, Brazil, Nigeria and Indonesia… All of them are cash-strapped, and the loss of tax revenue, combined with the need for large new subsidies, could easily tip them into their own versions of the Great Depression.

“And then there are the oil states. Even if the quarrel between Saudi Arabia and Russia gets resolved, at this point, demand for oil has collapsed and will not soon recover. An industry insider told me his firm is forecasting that oil will likely drop to $10 per barrel and stay there. Consider what this means for countries such as Libya, Nigeria, Iran, Iraq or Venezuela, where oil revenue makes up the vast majority of government revenue (often of the entire economy)… Expect political turmoil, refugees, even revolutions, on a scale we have not seen for decades…” For Zakaria, it seems, everybody is in the soup, or will be there shortly.

Meanwhile, the usually centrist, pro-well regulated but free-market economy supporter, The Economist, argued in a recent editorial, provocatively titled “The Next Calamity”:

“The new coronavirus is causing havoc in rich countries. Often overlooked is the damage it will cause in poor ones, which could even be worse. Official data do not begin to tell the story. As of March 25th Africa had reported only 2,800 infection so far; India, only 650. But the virus is in nearly every country and will surely spread. There is no vaccine. There is no cure. A very rough guess is that, without a campaign of social distancing, between 25% and 80% of a typical population will be infected. Of these, perhaps 4.4% will be seriously sick and a third of those will need intensive care. For poor places, this implies calamity.”

Historian and futurist Yuval Noah Harari wrote in the Financial Times:

“Humankind is now facing a global crisis. Perhaps the biggest crisis of our generation. The decisions people and governments take in the next few weeks will probably shape the world for years to come. They will shape not just our healthcare systems but also our economy, politics and culture. We must act quickly and decisively. We should also take into account the long-term consequences of our actions. When choosing between alternatives, we should ask ourselves not only how to overcome the immediate threat, but also what kind of world we will inhabit once the storm passes. Yes, the storm will pass, humankind will survive, most of us will still be alive — but we will inhabit a different world.”

I figured things were still going to get a lot worse but reading this the world might be really fucked for a long time!

[Remarkableriots]

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In trying to tease out the long-term results of this multiple-faceted crisis, one might turn to the mechanism offered by New York Times columnist Bret Stephens — using a look “back” from 2025 as to how our current challenges will have played out. As Stephens wrote:

“When Covid-19 first emerged as a health crisis in China five years ago, observers noted that authoritarian regimes — with their hostility toward whistle-blowers, their manipulation of data, their fear of the free flow of information — facilitate the spread of disease. Within a few months, it became clear that the flip side of that proposition was also true: Disease facilitates the spread of authoritarianism.

“In Hungary, the virus was the pretext for Prime Minister Viktor Orban to establish a dictatorship on the model of Vladimir Putin’s Russia. In the Philippines, President Rodrigo Duterte used the pandemic to issue shoot-to-kill orders against political protesters. In Israel, the government’s decision to use cellphone data to track the movements of infected individuals quickly became a model and alibi for other states to pick up the practice, with no scruples about the data they collected.”

“…Remarkably, the tactics met with comparatively little resistance, partly because they were advertised as only temporary, and partly because the concerns of civil libertarians paled next to calls to ‘flatten the curve.’

“As civil liberties receded, big government grew. Unprecedented unemployment meant unprecedented increases in Medicaid rolls, jobless benefits, housing assistance and food stamps. It was left to Trump to preside over an expansion of the welfare state the likes of which Bernie Sanders could only have dreamed about a year earlier.

“Nor did things change much after the lockdowns were lifted… Millions of business failures and personal bankruptcies translated to tens of millions of loan and mortgage delinquencies, which in turn caused a financial crisis. Dozens of banks had to be nationalized outright, while the government took stakes in every industry it rescued. By the time a safe vaccine was finally available, the damage had been done.

“The developing world experienced the crisis far more severely. ‘Flattening the curve’ made little sense in countries whose medical systems were already overwhelmed and under-equipped long before Covid-19 came around.

 “A bellicose spirit also took hold. Economically damaged regimes — China, Russia and Iran especially — looked to offset domestic discontents with foreign adventures. Military enlistments rose everywhere, partly as a form of employment, partly out of a sense of fear. Among the paradoxes of the Covid-19 crisis was that it brought the world together as never before in a common experience of lockdowns and self-isolations — while fragmenting it as never before into wary states and nervous neighbors….”

We obviously don’t know how our response to our current challenges will be seen from the vantage point of five or 10 years from now. But it is not a foregone conclusion that things, as Mr Micawber would like to see it, always work out for the best. Or, as the musical Hamilton has it, “Oceans rise and empires fall,” after all.

 

[thewhyteboar]

Fantastic progress. My hope is that once Korea really eradicates this thing they can start exporting a lot of tests and equipment to places that need it.

[CitizenVectron]

Good news for two countries, at least.

 

 

[Ricofoley]

I'm prepared to get extremely into Korean baseball if they're the first sports league in the world that starts playing games again

[thewhyteboar]

1 hour ago, Ricofoley said:

I'm prepared to get extremely into Korean baseball if they're the first sports league in the world that starts playing games again

They've been airing intra-squad scrimmages on youtube! See this account for more: https://twitter.com/MyKBO

[Joe]

My doctor friend in Jersey City just informed me that Jersey City Medical Center has already run out of vents. What the fuck?

[Jason]

19 minutes ago, CitizenVectron said:

Good news for two countries, at least.

 

 

 

More policy announcements on fucking Fox News on a Sunday night. fml

[Zaku3]

24 minutes ago, Jose said:

My doctor friend in Jersey City just informed me that Jersey City Medical Center has already run out of vents. What the fuck?

Those cities (JC, Hoboken, etc) have so many people that work in NYC it's probably and under reported hotspot.

[b_m_b_m_b_m]

Jesus I can't with these fucking people

[SilentWorld]

34 minutes ago, thewhyteboar said:

They've been airing intra-squad scrimmages on youtube! See this account for more: https://twitter.com/MyKBO

hell yeah 

[Jason]

Just now, b_m_b_m_b_m said:

Jesus I can't with these fucking people

 

THANKS OBAMA OPRAH

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

8 minutes ago, Jason said:

 

THANKS OBAMA OPRAH

I will NEVER forgive Harpo for the lasting damage she has inflicted upon society by giving a public forum to those people.

[CitizenVectron]

 

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

Official Counts Understate the U.S. Coronavirus Death Toll (NYT)

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More than 9,400 people with the coronavirus have been reported to have died in this country as of this weekend, but hospital officials, doctors, public health experts and medical examiners say that official counts have failed to capture the true number of Americans dying in this pandemic. The undercount is a result of inconsistent protocols, limited resources and a patchwork of decision-making from one state or county to the next.

 

In many rural areas, coroners say they don’t have the tests they need to detect the disease. Doctors now believe that some deaths in February and early March, before the coronavirus reached epidemic levels in the United States, were likely misidentified as influenza or only described as pneumonia.

 

 

[MarSolo]

Oprah, Dr. Drew, Dr. Phil, and Dr. Oz all get the dull guillotine.

 

What’s next, are we going to take advice from Dr. Mario?

 

 

[Chollowa]

9 hours ago, Jose said:

 

Yep! The California situation is very odd. It's hard to gleam what is going on there because they are sitting on so many tests.

My wife works in hospital administration in San Diego and they are finally able to do about 800 tests a day. That just happened this week. Currently she tells me that there are 12 covid patients currently at her hospital and another 15 or so PUIs. They aren't getting slammed by it thus far, but the peak isn't expected here for another 3 weeks. 

[CitizenVectron]

Trump is a moron:

 

And I don't think any of us would be surprised if this turns out to be the case:

 

 

[skillzdadirecta]

25 minutes ago, MarSolo said:

Oprah, Dr. Drew, Dr. Phil, and Dr. Oz all get the dull guillotine.

 

What’s next, are we going to take advice from Dr. Mario?

 

 

 

There are plenty of doctors to choose from... Dr. Dre, Dr. J, Dr. Strange, Dr. Doom, Dr. Fate, Dr. Who...

[SilentWorld]

6 minutes ago, CitizenVectron said:

Trump is a moron:

 

And I don't think any of us would be surprised if this turns out to be the case:

 

 

I have a friend in Japan -- she's not in Tokyo though but some city more inland (she got really scared of the ocean after Fukushima) and she's really pushing back against me anytime I suggest the numbers may be under-reporting things. 

 

Her points that she raises is that Japan is a more socially distant culture, wrt to bowing rather than shaking hands or hugging, people live somewhat more isolated lives in Japan, many Japanese people wore masks in public even before COVID and as soon as news came out about COVID everyone was wearing masks, and Japan did take steps like shutting down schools earlier. And I'm like yeah, ok that all sounds good but man those subways. 

[mclumber1]

4 minutes ago, skillzdadirecta said:

 

There are plenty of doctors to choose from... Dr. Dre, Dr. J, Dr. Strange, Dr. Doom, Dr. Fate, Dr. Who...

 

Plus, Dr. Mario only has a history of treating  only four different viruses, and all he does is throw pills at the situation.  

[Keyser_Soze]

15 minutes ago, skillzdadirecta said:

 

There are plenty of doctors to choose from... Dr. Dre, Dr. J, Dr. Strange, Dr. Doom, Dr. Fate, Dr. Who...

 

Dr. Israel

[Remarkableriots]

https://www.bbc.com/news/52168096

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Conspiracy theories claiming 5G technology helps transmit coronavirus have been condemned by the scientific community.

Videos have been shared on social media showing mobile phone masts on fire in Birmingham and Merseyside - along with the claims.

The posts have been shared on Facebook, YouTube and Instagram - including by verified accounts with hundreds of thousands of followers.

But scientists say the idea of a connection between Covid-19 and 5G is "complete rubbish" and biologically impossible.

The conspiracy theories have been branded "the worst kind of fake news" by NHS England Medical Director Stephen Powis.

How can people be this dumb?

[skillzdadirecta]

2 minutes ago, Remarkableriots said:

https://www.bbc.com/news/52168096

How can people be this dumb?

Blame Facebook... I've had several relatives hit me with this this week. Facebook will definitely be a key contributor to the downfall of civilization. Why? Because the yout have largely abandoned the platform for the next big thing. Facebook is strictly for the 35 and up crowd... maybe older. And people in my mom's generation are even MORE gullible when bullshit is being shared with them from people they know.

[Ricofoley]

Well, and also the board at Facebook is filled with goblins tied to the GOP, which is what leads to stuff like Brietbart getting put on their list of trusted news sources.

[SuperSpreader]

20 minutes ago, skillzdadirecta said:

Blame Facebook... I've had several relatives hit me with this this week. Facebook will definitely be a key contributor to the downfall of civilization. Why? Because the yout have largely abandoned the platform for the next big thing. Facebook is strictly for the 35 and up crowd... maybe older. And people in my mom's generation are even MORE gullible when bullshit is being shared with them from people they know.

My mom keeps sending me stupid shit that isn't real. It's driving me crazy, I told her to stop with the Facebook bs and read the guardian.

[marioandsonic]

48 minutes ago, skillzdadirecta said:

Blame Facebook... I've had several relatives hit me with this this week. Facebook will definitely be a key contributor to the downfall of civilization. Why? Because the yout have largely abandoned the platform for the next big thing. Facebook is strictly for the 35 and up crowd... maybe older. And people in my mom's generation are even MORE gullible when bullshit is being shared with them from people they know.

 

It really is fascinating how all of the world's insane conservative grandparents went from initially dismissing social media to hardcore worship of it.

[skillzdadirecta]

11 minutes ago, marioandsonic said:

 

It really is fascinating how all of the world's insane conservative grandparents went from initially dismissing social media to hardcore worship of it.

My parent's aren't even conservative... they are just incredibly and disappointingly gullible.

[SuperSpreader]

1 minute ago, skillzdadirecta said:

My parent's aren't even conservative... they are just incredibly and disappointingly gullible.

I have the same problem. Did you hear they made coronavirus in a wuhan lab with the CIA????

[skillzdadirecta]

5 minutes ago, SlipperySlope said:

I have the same problem. Did you hear they made coronavirus in a wuhan lab with the CIA????

Yup... heard that one. And that you can test yourself by holding your breath for 10 seconds. If you can do that without coughing, you don't have it. Oh and a scientist from Harvard was arrested for creating the Coronivirus and sending it to Wuhan china where it was unleashed. Accidentally, purposefully? Who knows? Who cares? BTW they are taking an actual arrest made months ago that had nothing to do with the Coronavirus and linking it to this.

[SuperSpreader]

Just now, skillzdadirecta said:

Yup... heard that one. And that you can test yourself by holding your breath for 10 seconds. If you can do that without coughing, you don't have it.

I don't have it x a lot 

[Keyser_Soze]

Someone made my dad sign up for Facebook and he had no idea what he was doing.

When he died I had the pleasure of deleting it.

[Remarkableriots]

https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/04/us/tybee-island-georgia-beaches-open/index.html

Quote

Tybee Island, one of Georgia's most popular vacation destinations, depends on beachgoers to keep the town's economy alive.

But in an effort to curb the coronavirus, the city council voted to close the beaches March 20. The town went so far as to put up barricades and signs to keep beachgoers away.

The town's good intentions were upended on Thursday when Gov. Brian P. Kemp issued a statewide shelter-in-place executive order which supersedes all local orders relating to coronavirus -- and also opened up the state's beaches.

The governor put Tybee Island back in the beach business -- whether the town liked it or not.

Tybee Island Mayor Shirley Sessions fired back on Saturday, issuing a statement saying she and the town council don't want the beaches reopened now.

"As the Pentagon ordered 100,000 body bags to store the corpses of Americans killed by the Coronavirus, Governor Brian Kemp dictated that Georgia beaches must reopen, and declared any decision-makers who refused to follow these orders would face prison and/or fines," Sessions' statement read.

Could we toss this governor into  and lock the lid?

[SaysWho?]

12 hours ago, osxmatt said:

 

 

...

[SaysWho?]

Apparently, the family is censoring her cause of death.

 

Before:

 

 

No longer there.

 

If you want compassion toward other humans, remember that this censorship kills, and her post kills. She didn't have a different opinion; she was wrong and could have hurt other people with her "wake up" idiocy. She likely did hurt others by exposing herself to them or by influencing them.

 

Let's have compassion by going after the misinformation if you want fewer people to die; posts and wrong-headed views like this are significantly less compassionate than thinking she was a health risk to others. Right-wing news dying would save many lives as well.