Covfefe-19 The 12th Part: The Only Thing Worse Than This New Board Is TrumpVirus2020

[Kepler]

I may not know anything (check) but I always assume that breakouts are months older than the records because it just takes a while to get a connection between somebody sick and somebody who puts numbers into databases. A huge number of people, when they get sick, just are sick. They walk around sick, go to work sick, go to the bar sick, and just deal. It wouldn't even occur to them to go to the hospital because (1) they can't afford treatment and (2) they can't afford to be diagnosed sick because then they can't draw a paycheck.

A non-trivial portion of the population just doesn't hold with doctors. It's not ideological, it's just they don't fit in with their identity. Remember, we have libraries in a country where half the population never reads a book after high school. A big ol' chunk of the population deals with their problems by ignoring them.

And that's here. Now imagine western China, or someplace like that. I can't imagine what it is like in those people's heads.

 

[French Rage]

I agree with those that say people were carrying this virus around the world well before anyone realized what was happening. We had no hope of containing this at the start.

Yeah with everything moving so global by the time you notice it it's already everywhere. Shutting down plane flights is closing the barn door after the horses are out; addressing it is always going to be through vaccinating and treating.

 

[MichVandal]

No I blew all my leave when my kid was in town. I'm not going to do any adventuring until the plague ends. It sucks because I have missed out on a bunch of places I would have loved to go. I couldn't even go to Tempe and I own a freaking house there. :-(

Two homes? 1%'er.

 

[MichVandal]

I may not know anything (check) but I always assume that breakouts are months older than the records because it just takes a while to get a connection between somebody sick and somebody who puts numbers into databases. A huge number of people, when they get sick, just are sick. They walk around sick, go to work sick, go to the bar sick, and just deal. It wouldn't even occur to them to go to the hospital because (1) they can't afford treatment and (2) they can't afford to be diagnosed sick because then they can't draw a paycheck.

A non-trivial portion of the population just doesn't hold with doctors. It's not ideological, it's just they don't fit in with their identity. Remember, we have libraries in a country where half the population never reads a book after high school. A big ol' chunk of the population deals with their problems by ignoring them.

And that's here. Now imagine western China, or someplace like that. I can't imagine what's it is like in those people's heads.

The part about not reporting being sick isn't policial. It's just the nature of people- be it that they are work-aholics or worried about the cost of getting sick (either lost earnings or the cost of going to a doctor). Add to that, for many people, this virus was mostly a bad cold- and when was the last time you went to a doctor for a cold- let alone stayed home from work.

Now that we know how deadly it is, attitudes change. So much so, people are quitting due to work issues. And this is where I have issue with Chicago and the teachers- Chicago just talks about the kids, the teachers have to think for themselves.

 

[Kepler]

Two homes? 1%'er.

Camus has a character in The Fall who says, there are only 2 questions: do you have property, and do you share it with the poor.

My answers and yes and no. And that's why I'm going to hell like John Constantine.

 

[MichVandal]

Camus has a character in The Fall who says, there are only 2 questions: do you have property, and do you share it with the poor.

My answers and yes and no. And that's why I'm going to hell like John Constantine.

So I'll explain that I'm not a 1%er by saying that I know Camus as an expensive wine....

 

[Kepler]

The part about not reporting being sick isn't policial. It's just the nature of people- be it that they are work-aholics or worried about the cost of getting sick (either lost earnings or the cost of going to a doctor). Add to that, for many people, this virus was mostly a bad cold- and when was the last time you went to a doctor for a cold- let alone stayed home from work.

My point is it's not political, it's a baseline life attitude. And I'm not talking about workaholic business dooshes, I'm talking about people who will get canned if they miss work and who can't afford to miss a day's pay, anyway (post-Reagan Miracle, about half the country's workers).

As for staying home with a cold I always do because I don't want to make my co-workers sick and because I'll take any excuse to stay away from the plantation for a day.

 

[MichVandal]

My point is it's not political, it's a baseline life attitude. And I'm not talking about workaholic business dooshes, I'm talking about people who will get canned if they miss work and who can't afford to miss a day's pay, anyway (post-Reagan Miracle, about half the country's workers).

As for staying home with a cold I always do because I don't want to make my co-workers sick and because I'll take any excuse to stay away from the plantation for a day.

One regret I have for my career- not using all of the sick days I was given, and I lost them every year. The later I got, the more often the sniffles kept me home. Until now, that I'm always home and working.

 

[Kepler]

Yeah with everything moving so global by the time you notice it it's already everywhere. Shutting down plane flights is closing the barn door after the horses are out; addressing it is always going to be through vaccinating and treating.

I was surprised when doctors said the flight ban was medical security theater. Yes, I get it, too late to stop initial transmission, but it can slow down the velocity of transmission, right?

 

[rufus]

Two homes? 1%'er.

Could be more.

I'm pretty sure I posted this a long time ago in this thread, but Gang of Four guitarist Andy Gill died on Feb 1,2020, of a respiratory illness, two months after his band had finished a tour which included dates in China. In retrospect, his wife believes it was Covid, as she was also very sick at some point while he was either in hospital, or just after he died.

 

[Kepler]

Could be more.

I'm pretty sure I posted this a long time ago in this thread, but Gang of Four guitarist Andy Gill died on Feb 1,2020, of a respiratory illness, two months after his band had finished a tour which included dates in China. In retrospect, his wife believes it was Covid, as she was also very sick at some point while he was either in hospital, or just after he died.

I didn't know this. Also, god bless the Gang of Four.

If Andy Gill brings down capitalism by COVID, he will be happy in Marxist Heaven.

 

[French Rage]

I was surprised when doctors said the flight ban was medical security theater. Yes, I get it, too late to stop initial transmission, but it can slow down the velocity of transmission, right?

Fair point.

 

[rufus]

Looked up more of this to see if there was any updated info. None really, but one of her reasons for suspicion of Covid was that their tour manager, 26 years old, came back from China and then went out with another band for a tour of the UK. After a week or so on that tour, he was found in his room in such respiratory distress, that they took him to one of the best hospitals in the country instead of the nearest local one.

 

[Kepler]

Fair point.

But apparently not, because the medicos, who I trust, say a flight ban was worthless. I don't understand how that can be but I am clearly missing something. I would think "the less the little atoms bump into each other the better." But... no?

 

[Swansong]

And keep in mind, it had a significantly lower effective transmission rate because the time between infection and symptoms was several days longer at the shortest and up to two weeks. And the viral load was orders of magnitude lower than with delta and omicron. The first spread fast, but it's almost like comparing a model T to a Ferrari.

Agreed, however it was still unbelievably transmissible. More like comparing a high end Tesla to a Ferrari.

 

[Swansong]

There has been some evidence to indicate it may have, I stress may have, been infecting people in China as early as September of 2019. They just didn't realize what was going on at the time since there were so few cases initially.

We do know that people in America got it before the first cases in Washington were being reported. I think, for now, they have traced the first case to someone in Colorado, but I can't remember how much earlier it was before the Washington cases occurred.

I agree with those that say people were carrying this virus around the world well before anyone realized what was happening. We had no hope of containing this at the start.

Thanks for the clarification, I also read some speculation on that (that Covid may have "jumped" in September), but that is super, super speculative. We'll never know, which is supremely frustrating.

And I agree with the rest of your point as well as Kep's - by the time any of us hear about something like this, it's everywhere. So do not discount February infections, I just think it's unlikely as it was such a ruthlessly bad URI year in general.

 

[Handyman]

https://twitter.com/NBCNews/status/1478778328014274567

The Mayo Clinic is firing roughly 700 employees who failed to comply with the nonprofit medical center's mandatory Covid-19 vaccination policy.

Now deny their fucking selfish azzes unemployment.

 

[Swansong]

https://twitter.com/NBCNews/status/1478778328014274567



Now deny their fucking selfish azzes unemployment.

Totally agree with your statement but for perspective:

"Nearly 99 percent of employees across all Mayo Clinic locations complied with Mayo’s required Covid-19 vaccination program by the Jan. 3 deadline," the clinic said of its staff, which consists of around 73,000 workers.

So that's about 1% of their workforce. The article also does not indicate where many of these 700 fucking dipshits actually work; are they in patient care? administrative? Billing? IT/Business Analyst (like me!)? But the point is, Mayo is huge. This isn't your local hospital losing 700 employees.

 

[Russell Jaslow]

RIT is requiring all students and staff to get the booster shot.

 

[rufus]

My company is now requiring everybody to be vaccinated, I believe by the end of January, or be tested once a week.

Other good thing is that the bonus money they were paying per week is now a permanent pay raise for all full-time employees. And the bonuses will be back for the busy summer months on top of that.