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

[Jason]

Just now, CayceG said:

Yes

 

Of course, I haven't had an I person date during the pandemic...

 

At the end of the call I was blunt about the fact that I really had no idea what to suggest as a next thing. Video call and meet outside somewhere were the only two things I could really think to float that seemed okay and she picked outdoors meetup. I figured outdoors should be fine but also figured it's worth double checking that I'm not being a dummy.

[Jason]

Like, I got together with my friends a couple of times in May and June, but they keep getting together no distancing, no masks, etc. I know there's a safe middle ground between just staying inside in complete isolation and what they're doing but I haven't exactly had a chance to get any practice at it.

[Joe]

12 minutes ago, Jason said:

Like, I got together with my friends a couple of times in May and June, but they keep getting together no distancing, no masks, etc. I know there's a safe middle ground between just staying inside in complete isolation and what they're doing but I haven't exactly had a chance to get any practice at it.

How bad is your area right now? Aren’t you moderately close to LA or nah?

[Jason]

20 minutes ago, Joe said:

How bad is your area right now? Aren’t you moderately close to LA or nah?

 

I'm in Los Angeles County but the numbers you're seeing in the news are at the LA City or County level. If you look at neighborhood-level maps of the areas driving the surge in cases it's the lower-income neighborhoods. It's not the entire county spiking equally.

[Jason]

 

[Brick]

WTF Alberta? I have a friend who works as a nurse in Calgary. I wonder how she's doing. 

[cusideabelincoln]

My mom tested positive but luckily her only symptoms after about a week of feeling sick are sinus congestion and loss of taste/smell.  I haven't developed any symptoms since the last time I saw her, but I guess I'll know for sure if I get sick in the next few days.  Going to take a test this morning, but in any case good 'ol Walmart gives you up to 2 weeks of paid time off if you've spent more than 15 minutes with a person who tested positive.

[Keyser_Soze]

4 hours ago, Jason said:

 

So you'd do all three--masks, 6 feet, and time limit?

 

But how are you going to have sex six feet apart and with a mask on?

[thewhyteboar]

54 minutes ago, Keyser_Soze said:

 

But how are you going to have sex six feet apart and with a mask on?

 

[CitizenVectron]

7 hours ago, Jason said:

 

 

Alberta has the worst government in Canada, it's not even close. A bunch of their cabinet ministers were just caught traveling over Christmas to Hawaii and other places, as well. 

[Keyser_Soze]

As South Africa's virus spikes, president bans liquor sales

APNEWS.COM

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JOHANNESBURG (AP) — South African President Cyril Ramaphosa reimposed a ban on alcohol sales and ordered the closure of all bars Monday as part of new restrictions to help the country battle a...

 

[Fizzzzle]

That's just dumb, alcohol is the only thing that made lockdown tolerable. Closing bars, sure, but banning all alcohol? Ask the US in the 20's, or any Islamic country today how well that works.

[ort]

6 hours ago, Keyser_Soze said:

 

But how are you going to have sex six feet apart and with a mask on?

 

Unfortunately, Jason's penis is only 4 and a half feet long, so there is no way to do it safely.

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

My mom got round 1 of the Pfizer vaccine yesterday - she's scheduled for round 2 on the 26th!

[Keyser_Soze]

13 minutes ago, Fizzzzle said:

That's just dumb, alcohol is the only thing that made lockdown tolerable. Closing bars, sure, but banning all alcohol? Ask the US in the 20's, or any Islamic country today how well that works.

 

True. Copy the United States. They aren't dumb and have done everything better than every other country so far!

[chakoo]

7 hours ago, Keyser_Soze said:

But how are you going to have sex six feet apart and with a mask on?

 

Let us not forget, A government (BC, Canada) did recommend the use of glory holes at the start of the pandemic. 

[CitizenVectron]

Apparently there is some concern that the new South African variant may not be prevented by the vaccine due to mutations in the spike protein? Nothing confirmed yet, only that it has a lot of mutations in that area, which is what the vaccine targets. So just concern at this point.

[Jason]

14 minutes ago, CitizenVectron said:

Apparently there is some concern that the new South African variant may not be prevented by the vaccine due to mutations in the spike protein? Nothing confirmed yet, only that it has a lot of mutations in that area, which is what the vaccine targets. So just concern at this point.

 

Does it turn you into a prawn? 

[BloodyHell]

2 hours ago, CitizenVectron said:

 

Alberta has the worst government in Canada, it's not even close. A bunch of their cabinet ministers were just caught traveling over Christmas to Hawaii and other places, as well. 

So were multiple federal liberal party members, as well as some French party? My wife's brother posts every story about it

[CitizenVectron]

6 minutes ago, BloodyHell said:

So were multiple federal liberal party members, as well as some French party? My wife's brother posts every story about it

 

Oh yeah, there have been MLAs and MPs from pretty much every province/party. I only pointed out the UCP in Alberta because they had the highest %. Also because Jason Kenney knew about the travel and let it happen, and has only now kicked them from their posts because they were caught. 

[BloodyHell]

3 minutes ago, CitizenVectron said:

 

Oh yeah, there have been MLAs and MPs from pretty much every province/party. I only pointed out the UCP in Alberta because they had the highest %. Also because Jason Kenney knew about the travel and let it happen, and has only now kicked them from their posts because they were caught. 

Every single one should resign. 

 

I don't believe the other leaders didn't know where there members were. They just lied about it better.

 

Of course we have a few hundred that should resign, so whatever.

[CitizenVectron]

2 minutes ago, BloodyHell said:

Every single one should resign. 

 

I don't believe the other leaders didn't know where there members were. They just lied about it better.

 

Of course we have a few hundred that should resign, so whatever.

 

In many cases the travel (by regular MPs and MLAs) was last summer when restrictions were lighter, and is slightly less outrageous (though still bad), but the most attention-grabbing travel has been over the last few weeks since most of Canada is in some sort of lockdown.

[b_m_b_m_b_m]

You guys should have politicians openly defying guidance on travel and gatherings instead of trying to hide it 

[Jason]

 

[Chairslinger]

21 minutes ago, Jason said:

 

 

 

Even Jim Jones was nice enough to give his people koolaid to go along with the suicide pact....

[Jason]

 

[Joe]

12 minutes ago, Jason said:

 

Shit makes me so fucking mad.

[Air_Delivery]

54 minutes ago, Jason said:

 

[SimpleG]

Egypt: Entire ICU ward dies after oxygen supply fails

WWW.MIDDLEEASTMONITOR.COM

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The tragedy has underscored the corruption and negligence at the heart of Egypt's ruling government......

 

[thewhyteboar]

Facts don't care about your feelings. Republican facts:

 

 

[CayceG]

This is my 94 year old Grandfather:

 

[AbsolutSurgen]

WHO team blocked from entering China to study origins of coronavirus

Quote

The World Health Organization said that China has blocked the arrival of a team investigating the origins of the coronavirus pandemic, in a rare rebuke from the UN agency.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said two scientists on the United Nations team had already left their home countries for Wuhan when they were told that Chinese officials had not approved the necessary permissions to enter the country.

The arrangements had been jointly agreed with China in advance.

"I am very disappointed with this news," Tedros told a news conference in Geneva on Tuesday. "I have been in contact with senior Chinese officials and I have once again made clear that the mission is a priority for WHO and the international team."

Tedros said WHO was "eager to get the mission underway as soon as possible" and that he had been given assurances that Beijing was speeding up the internal procedure for "the earliest possible deployment."

There is currently very little/no evidence identifying the source of the current pandemic, and China has consistently fought any transparency.

[CitizenVectron]

5 minutes ago, AbsolutSurgen said:

WHO team blocked from entering China to study origins of coronavirus

There is currently very little/no evidence identifying the source of the current pandemic, and China has consistently fought any transparency.

 

I think it's one of those situations, where, like the US "hiding" UFO reports, the truth is pretty mundane but is made more suspicious by the cover up.

[AbsolutSurgen]

Just now, CitizenVectron said:

 

I think it's one of those situations, where, like the US "hiding" UFO reports, the truth is pretty mundane but is made more suspicious by the cover up.

Maybe...  

China clamps down in hidden hunt for coronavirus origins

Quote

A bat research team visiting recently managed to take samples but had them confiscated, two people familiar with the matter said. Specialists in coronaviruses have been ordered not to speak to the press. And a team of Associated Press journalists was tailed by plainclothes police in multiple cars who blocked access to roads and sites in late November.

More than a year since the first known person was infected with the coronavirus, an AP investigation shows the Chinese government is strictly controlling all research into its origins, clamping down on some while actively promoting fringe theories that it could have come from outside China.

The government is handing out hundreds of thousands of dollars in grants to scientists researching the virus’ origins in southern China and affiliated with the military, the AP has found. But it is monitoring their findings and mandating that the publication of any data or research must be approved by a new task force managed by China’s cabinet, under direct orders from President Xi Jinping, according to internal documents obtained by the AP. A rare leak from within the government, the dozens of pages of unpublished documents confirm what many have long suspected: The clampdown comes from the top.

As a result, very little has been made public. Authorities are severely limiting information and impeding cooperation with international scientists.

“What did they find?” asked Gregory Gray, a Duke University epidemiologist who oversees a lab in China studying the transmission of infectious diseases from animals to people. “Maybe their data were not conclusive, or maybe they suppressed the data for some political reason. I don’t know … I wish I did.”

The AP investigation was based on dozens of interviews with Chinese and foreign scientists and officials, along with public notices, leaked emails, internal data and the documents from China’s cabinet and the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention. It reveals a pattern of government secrecy and top-down control that has been evident throughout the pandemic.

As the AP previously documented, this culture has delayed warnings about the pandemic, blocked the sharing of information with the World Health Organization and hampered early testing. Scientists familiar with China’s public health system say the same practices apply to sensitive research.

“They only select people they can trust, those that they can control,” said a public health expert who works regularly with the China CDC, declining to be identified out of fear of retribution. “Military teams and others are working hard on this, but whether it gets published all depends on the outcome.”

The Times: How did Covid-19 start? Hunt for patient zero has become caught in a clash of great powers

Quote

In the beginning there was a sick bat. Here is one story of what happened next, the story that you are probably most familiar with.

In November 2019 this bat was infected with a virus that for aeons had spread from bat to bat. Now though, ever so subtly, it had changed and it was ready to live elsewhere.

In the late Chinese autumnal air, the virus, a coronavirus, found its way into a pangolin, a strange, scaly mammal that curls up in a tough keratinous ball when threatened. Here the virus began, again, the process of reproduction, mutating and shifting to adapt to a new host.

That was when this pangolin met another threat, a human who believed its scales could cure illness. It curled into a ball, but this was no defence.

It was taken to a market in the city of Wuhan where, rather than stopping disease, it started the most devastating disease of the 21st century.

But here is another story, one that perhaps you are less familiar with. The bat was still sick, but perhaps not in November, and perhaps not even in China. The virus found its way into humans and spread for weeks, possibly months, possibly years — even, some disputed studies suggest, via other countries — until, one day, one of those humans decided to visit a market. Wuhan was still the site of the superspreading event; just not ground zero.

And here is a third story, that you are probably dimly aware of, but which you also have quite probably dismissed out of hand. The virus started in bats, and was taken into Wuhan by a human, but not in a human. A researcher from the Wuhan Institute of Virology collected the virus to study. Then years later, perhaps after tweaking its genome, there was a mistake. A freezer was left open, a laboratory protocol ignored, and the virus escaped.

Which is true? “Right now, we can’t rule out any hypotheses,” says Peter Daszak, president of the US-based Ecohealth Alliance. An expert on when and how diseases spill over from animal populations, he has been tasked by a Lancet Commission with solving the greatest and most intractable murder mystery in the world. Where did our pandemic coronavirus originate? When? And what happened next?

At this point...  No one knows.  There is "no smoking gun" for any of the theories.

[Chairslinger]

We broke the daily record again. The good news is that it was only by a little, the bad news is that means it was still almost 4,000 people in one day.

 

I know I have said this before, but the amount of times during this crisis that "worst case scenario" has turned into the new normal in just a matter of weeks is just soul crushing.

 

Wasn't it Riley that was predicting 3,000 per day by late January and there was some skepticism that was too pessimistic? @CitizenVectron