[News] Coronavirus

A place to discuss the now-global coronavirus outbreak.

I totally trust you guys to watch a video of a politician discussing corona-balls and make a decision for yourself as to whether Putin is our new God.

I also know that propaganda is a true thing used by all sides of politics and geo-politics, overtly and covertly. But I have faith that this is a pretty smart group here on GWJ that can research ball safety on their own and make their own personal decisions if they should or should not touch the hairy balls of those they reside with when they are playing sport. Because it's a serious matter.

No matter what the youtube channel I accidently picked out of 5 or 6 that showed up with the clip when I entered "covid-19 balls" in the search bar.

MannishBoy wrote:

I totally trust you guys to watch a video of a politician discussing corona-balls and make a decision for yourself as to whether Putin is our new God.

I also know that propaganda is a true thing used by all sides of politics and geo-politics, overtly and covertly. But I have faith that this is a pretty smart group here on GWJ that can research ball safety on their own and make their own personal decisions if they should or should not touch the hairy balls of those they reside with when they are playing sport. Because it's a serious matter.

No matter what the youtube channel I accidently picked out of 5 or 6 that showed up with the clip when I entered "covid-19 balls" in the search bar.

:)

You’re sort of missing the point. The more a video gets viewed and shared the more likely it is to show up as recommended viewing on youtube in general to people who may not be familiar with the channel, and when one of those people watches the video Youtube will keep recommending other videos from that channel unless the viewer explicitly tells them to stop suggesting it. It’s seemingly innocuous to share the video here among people clearly skeptical of RT, but in doing so you’re increasing the chances of Youtube exposing unsuspecting people to a known disinformation outlet.

ruhk wrote:
MannishBoy wrote:

I totally trust you guys to watch a video of a politician discussing corona-balls and make a decision for yourself as to whether Putin is our new God.

I also know that propaganda is a true thing used by all sides of politics and geo-politics, overtly and covertly. But I have faith that this is a pretty smart group here on GWJ that can research ball safety on their own and make their own personal decisions if they should or should not touch the hairy balls of those they reside with when they are playing sport. Because it's a serious matter.

No matter what the youtube channel I accidently picked out of 5 or 6 that showed up with the clip when I entered "covid-19 balls" in the search bar.

:)

You’re sort of missing the point. The more a video gets viewed and shared the more likely it is to show up as recommended viewing on youtube in general to people who may not be familiar with the channel, and when one of those people watches the video Youtube will keep recommending other videos from that channel unless the viewer explicitly tells them to stop suggesting it. It’s seemingly innocuous to share the video here among people clearly skeptical of RT, but in doing so you’re increasing the chances of Youtube exposing unsuspecting people to a known disinformation outlet.

No, I totally am able to understand the point. I still trust you guys to make your own decision as to whether to click it or not. People have now been warned in this thread that while very funny, they may not want to click it. I have faith in you and others outside this forum to make decisions for themselves and educate themselves and others.

Another example of propaganda that we should also be aware of that's topical:

This is the communist Chinese government's media arm trying to influence people. Look at the date. February 4.

IMAGE(https://www.patentlyapple.com/.a/6a0120a5580826970c0240a515a116200b-800wi)

I'm sure it's was targeting Italy to maintain goodwill toward China due to their belt and road initiative, but in hindsight, this video ages very poorly knowing what we know was going on about that time.

And I can totally agree that the gentleman in the video had nothing to do with the outbreak, and Asians at large should not be mistreated in any way for all this. However, the CCP has decades of human rights abuse. They at the time of this video were trying to hide and obfuscate things to save face to those they perceive as client states. They have an agenda to grow their power and influence around the world by presenting themselves in a certain way. Just like the US does, etc.

I can watch that video and understand its context. I know that if I click on it, CGTN might get bumped on youtube due to the algorithms. But it's instructive as well to see what's going on.

It was a silly video I posted for fun. Yes, I didn't look who posted it. I didn't mean to get everybody worked up. I totally understand your points, I'm just not as concerned because I trust people and am more on the side of free speech and let people fight it out in public, vs hide what we fear is bad.

Youtube's pretty restrictive these days anyways. Which is their right.

It was a silly video I posted for fun. Yes, I didn't look who posted it. I didn't mean to get everybody worked up. I totally understand your points, I'm just not as concerned because I trust people and am more on the side of free speech and let people fight it out in public, vs hide what we fear is bad.

I’m all for free speech but there are circumstances where it’s practice starts actively damaging the long term stability of free speech as a concept, and as someone who’s gotten into multiple arguments this week alone with relatives who think this virus is an evil mind-control plot and/or a hoax because they read it on the internet, we clearly have different levels of trust in the layman’s ability to critically discern media.

ruhk wrote:
It was a silly video I posted for fun. Yes, I didn't look who posted it. I didn't mean to get everybody worked up. I totally understand your points, I'm just not as concerned because I trust people and am more on the side of free speech and let people fight it out in public, vs hide what we fear is bad.

I’m all for free speech but there are circumstances where it’s practice starts actively damaging the long term stability of free speech as a concept, and as someone who’s gotten into multiple arguments this week alone with relatives who think this virus is an evil mind-control plot and/or a hoax because they read it on the internet, we clearly have different levels of trust in the layman’s ability to critically discern media.

I totally believe there are people who are going to believe incorrect things. 100% believe. But there are always going to be people that are wrong. Some people just won't believe facts or interpret them correctly. People have self interests that also sway what they chose to believe.

My faith in my fellow humans is that if free speech is cultivated, hopefully the correct voices will end up being the loudest.

MannishBoy wrote:

My faith in my fellow humans is that if free speech is cultivated, hopefully the correct voices will end up being the loudest.

... On what are you basing this faith? I ask this honestly and sincerely because my first instinct was just to post "oh my sweet summer child," but maybe you've truly experienced a different world than I have all my life.

Hypothesis: Given unfettered speech human will invent their own realities and only seek out voices that make them feel good about their mistakes.

Evidence:
Throw a pebble in any direction of the world I'm living in and you'll hit a few.

“I trust other people’s judgement. Therefore rather than getting a link to the video from a trusted source I lazily post links from known purveyor of disinformation.”

That’s what I heard. I genuinely go out of my way to find a good, trusted source before sharing things, Mannish. I don’t understand why you don’t do the same.

It’s like information hygiene. Why not practice good hygiene?

Rezzy wrote:
MannishBoy wrote:

My faith in my fellow humans is that if free speech is cultivated, hopefully the correct voices will end up being the loudest.

... On what are you basing this faith? I ask this honestly and sincerely because my first instinct was just to post "oh my sweet summer child," but maybe you've truly experienced a different world than I have all my life.

Go back in our history and literally from the founders there have been crazy stuff said in the press that was not true, that was distorted, that had illicit agendas. Yet we still move forward. Sometimes we wander, but we've so far survived this great experiement.

And DSGamer, if I was posting something that was incorrect, and you showed me that it was wrong or edited to the content, I'd happily apologize and remove. But I didn't post something that was modified from it's original content on something that was really funny and not intended to make a point one way or another. Maybe it was edited to remove some other context that makes it much more serious to not touch other people's balls? Can I believe I just typed that?

I would suggest that the second video I posted from February 4th in Italy is the much more concerning video in current context. Yet I posted it specifically to illustrate a point.

We're just going to have to agree to disagree here on speech and our faith in our fellow men and women in our society over the long term. Sorry for the diversion. Back to COVID-19. You guys can continue to tell me I'm wrong. Just remember to mark your balls with an X.

MannishBoy wrote:

Go back in our history

The overwhelming majority of recorded history supports my hypothesis.

Like, overwhelming to a depressing degree.

But I agree. Let's get back to Covid.

Iowa's governor has announced that our schools will begin opening up athletics in June.

Everyone I've interacted with is skeptical.

The city I live in will get a testing center next week. Our cases have been racking up with 8-10 additional cases being found every day or so.

I went shopping yesterday. The last few weeks had been pretty depressing counting all the people ignoring the mask recommendation. If I leave the house I'm masked until I get back. So far no exceptions. But yesterday....

The parking lot was full, so I was already dreading it. But then Iowa went and f*cking surprised me. They didn't social distance at the deli counter, but every. Single. Employee was masked. Mouth and nose. And I nearly shouted out an approbation when checking out: only one out of dozens of customers wasn't wearing a mask.

That gives me faith. Evidence that people are taking this serious.

MannishBoy wrote:

No, I totally am able to understand the point. I still trust you guys to make your own decision as to whether to click it or not. People have now been warned in this thread that while very funny, they may not want to click it. I have faith in you and others outside this forum to make decisions for themselves and educate themselves and others.

No matter how much you trust people to see through propaganda, there's no excuse for actively helping to spread it. Please stop doing that.

Every time I've gone grocery shopping nearly everyone seems to be masked and taking it seriously. There's sometimes a couple of people who think the rules don't apply to them. But they've been rare. I've seen a few things like people crowding once they're inside the store, but I think that's partially based on being confused about the signage and arrows for what path to take through the store. I've seen people panic in other situations in similar ways--I was once a passenger in a vehicle, we were late to something, and after encountering a bunch of empty one-way roads that would otherwise have taken us one street over to where we needed to be the driver decided to ignore the signs and drive down one the wrong way. That happened to be the one road a cop was sitting on--but I digress. The point being is that people make stupid mistakes when they encounter a situation where they are under pressure and don't understand how to maneuver around it.

And also that some people treat the social distancing rules as magic talismans rather than the rough guidelines for preventing a well-understood but hard to directly observe physical operation. At least I can put the grocery cart between me and them, enforcing distancing.

Several clusters of cases were found in my area recently. But they were all from family gatherings, where people in different households mingled. Which is a terrible Mother's Day present, and I don't know why someone would decide that having a large, multi-generational gathering that includes people who traveled from out of state was a good idea. But it's small enough that they can trace it, which is good.

The overwhelming majority of recorded history supports my hypothesis.

Like, overwhelming to a depressing degree.

Plus people have more access to information now than at any point in human history and it’s being weaponized in ways that wouldn’t have been possible or even conceivable a few decades ago, let alone when this country was founded. Not to mention that the current media environment provides hustlers and bad actors like Alex Jones and Tim Pool equal reach and potential audience as “professional” media outlets with practically none of the oversight or accountability.

NBC: Trump admin won't require nursing homes to count COVID-19 deaths that occurred before May 6
The most recent computation by NBC News found that as of May 11 at least 27,000 older Americans who were residents of long-term care facilities had died.

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration is not requiring nursing homes to provide data on COVID-19 deaths and cases that occurred prior to May 6, according to a public government document, limiting the accuracy of the federal data collection effort to measure the impact of the pandemic on older Americans.

The government encourages nursing homes to provide the data from before May 6, but does not mandate it. The limitations of the data collection effort were first reported by the Wall Street Journal.

"I think that is outrageous," said Charlene Harrington, nursing professor emerita from the University of California San Francisco, who said the administration was aiding the nursing home industry by "helping them cover up the death rates."

We're going to see what Spain and Italy saw: once we have the energy to start flipping over the rocks, a lot of people who died in nursing homes or isolated at their homes are going to be discovered.

Not to mention the degree to which the stats are being suppressed; some states are correcting the misleading numbers but I'm worried that the junk data has already cost lives and will probably cause more deaths.

Well, if you do open up and go out, please wear a mask.

Well, after three exposure scares in the lab where she works now, my wife and I are about 90% certain she's got it. Came down ill two days ago with flu-like body aches, chills (but no fever, oddly), a bit of a cough, big headaches, and overnight last night she has mostly lost her sense of taste and smell. Won't be able to be tested until Tuesday at the soonest through work when she inevitably fails the employee checkpoint into the facility.

If she's got it, then it's just a question of when the incubation period ends for me. I'm just hoping neither of us ends up being a severe case, or that our kiddo doesn't end up with any problems from getting it either.

My wife’s hospital has been dealing with an outbreak among staff for the last two weeks but so far we’ve been lucky. Or possibly just asymptomatic. There was a scare with one of my coworkers last month but they tested negative, work still made them wait ten days before returning though. We’ve been processing both the PCR and antibody testing at work and while the antibody specimens are fairly low-risk, the people collecting the specimens seems to have a distressing inability to properly secure the caps on the three types of specimen containers that are sent in for the PCR test.

Less than a hundred people died in New York on Friday!

Which is kind of a depressing thing to claim as a victory, but it's still good news, and way below the peak. Albeit it will probably get adjusted upward as late records trickle in over the next couple of weeks.

CBS: New York's one-day coronavirus death toll drops below 100

Farscry wrote:

Well, after three exposure scares in the lab where she works now, my wife and I are about 90% certain she's got it. Came down ill two days ago with flu-like body aches, chills (but no fever, oddly), a bit of a cough, big headaches, and overnight last night she has mostly lost her sense of taste and smell. Won't be able to be tested until Tuesday at the soonest through work when she inevitably fails the employee checkpoint into the facility.

If she's got it, then it's just a question of when the incubation period ends for me. I'm just hoping neither of us ends up being a severe case, or that our kiddo doesn't end up with any problems from getting it either.

First, best wishes to her and hope she gets well soon, and the rest of your family stays healthy.

Can't you check with your public health department, doctor, or walk-in clinic? Or any community testing points? We have both set locations that are open daily and pop up locations around the state during weekends. I know everywhere isn't the same, though. I'd say they'd want to know as soon as possible anyway for any potential contact tracing that needs to be done.

Best wishes Farscry- Is your wife able to isolate herself in your home? Might be too little too late, but lessening the exposure is always good.

I agree with Mannish as well- There's got to be someplace that can provide a test today.

yes, my understanding that it from the governor Reynolds is there anyone in Iowa can get a test if they want one so do check around supposedly there are enough for everybody

Best wishes Farscry - your wife's symptoms sound extremely similar to mine except for the loss of smell and taste (so far at least). Fingers crossed that all of our tests come back negative.

MannishBoy wrote:

Can't you check with your public health department, doctor, or walk-in clinic? Or any community testing points? We have both set locations that are open daily and pop up locations around the state during weekends. I know everywhere isn't the same, though. I'd say they'd want to know as soon as possible anyway for any potential contact tracing that needs to be done.

Testing in general in our area is still rather behind the curve, regardless of what Governor Reynolds says. One concern is in terms of having the test covered so you don't get a big surprise bill in the mail down the road. Since she's a healthcare worker her test should be covered by the hospital so long as she follows protocol.

Fortunately, she was able to get sign-off from a staff nurse on duty to have the employee-specific testing order placed so she could run to one of the urgent care clinics and have the test collected & sent off today. We should get results in 3-4 days since hers will route through the state hygienic lab.

The nurse who collected her test concurred with our assessment of her symptoms, stated "oh yeah, that test should be coming back positive" (not in a mocking or mean way, in a commiserating health care worker way).

We have been super strict with our own contact prevention measures, so very little contact tracing should be required. I've only left home twice in the past two months to go to the store (prescription pickup), we haven't socialized in person with anyone except one of her coworkers (so identical exposure risks), and she has been meticulous with mask wearing and physical distancing when picking up groceries/toiletries on her way home from work a few times (and we're probably a bit overzealous with wiping down everything that comes into the house, even mail).

We knew that in all likelihood she would have exposure risks from work, but we've taken every precaution we could in spite of that.

Here's a preview of what could (continue to) happen with open churches in the US:

A cluster of 40 coronavirus infections in the city of Frankfurt am Main and the surrounding area have been linked back to a Baptist church service that took place on May 10, reported German news outlet der Tagesspiegel on Saturday.
........
The state of Hesse, where the church is based, banned religious ceremonies and gatherings from mid-March as part of restrictions implemented nationwide to slow the spread of the coronavirus. But Hesse permitted religious ceremonies to resume from May 1 as long as social distancing and other hygiene measures are implemented, meaning the church broke no rules in holding the service.

The church insists that social distancing and hygiene rules were upheld. Wall Street Journal reported a few hours ago that now 107 infections are linked to the service (subscription link), but I haven't seen other outlets report this yet.

Remember how the first major outbreak in South Korea happened? Yep, a culty church.

Another news story from Germany - Party in a restaurant results in at least 10 infections and 50 quarantined. This time, though, they readily admit that the rules weren't followed.

Germany's got it mostly under control, but all it can take is one event and you've potentially got another flare-up. The country's worst hotspot traces its origins back to a beer festival that was held when most other events had begun to shut down (most recent link in english I could find, but still very old).

JC wrote:

It won’t take a church service...

Missouri lake of the Ozarks party: “Zero ducks given”

You know I always thought zombie movies were so f*cking stupid. Clearly some sh*t is going down and if you get bit that's it. But there's always some asshole who gets bit but thinks they are immune or some nonsense, always justifies staying with the group and putting everyone in danger. Inevitably they turn and kill 1 or more of the group. Why would you do that?

And now I think zombie movies are too kind to people. They're all f*cking morons.

Well things have been interesting in the UK this weekend. Turns out that Dominic Cummings, Boris Johnson's key advisor and all round scum bag, decided that he was ok to go for a 200mile drive when both him and his wife had the virus. For child care with his parents, incase they got sick. Oh and they went on a field trip during their two weeks of isolation (well a witness says he saw them and at this point I'm far more likely to believe the word of a villager over anything to do with government)

This was all during the lockdown, so against all guidence and laws, however instead of sacking him and him falling on his sword, like other public figures have done in the UK, they doubled down and decided to defend him. and it has gone hugely wrong for them. Their own MPs are calling for his head, the cabinet have all done copy and paste words of support but don't really mean it.

Then the Daily Mail headline is this tomorrow
IMAGE(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EYz5nk_WAAIMDPZ.jpg)

The daily mail is very right wing newspaper, this would be like Fox news running a headline going after Trump.

I'm seeing folks who would normally support this government through anything because BREXIT, but they are turning against them at the moment because they understand one rule for us, another for them. People have died alone because families weren't allowed in hosptials, we are seeing a lot of angry folk at the moment.

The daily mail is very right wing newspaper, this would be like Fox news running a headline going after Trump.

Meanwhile, Fox still loudly supports President Drink-bleach.

Trump really doesn't understand how the virus works.

Trump threatens to pull Republican convention out of North Carolina

"I love the Great State of North Carolina, so much so that I insisted on having the Republican National Convention in Charlotte at the end of August, Unfortunately, Democrat Governor, @RoyCooperNC is still in Shutdown mood & unable to guarantee that by August we will be allowed full attendance in the Arena.
In other words, we would be spending millions of dollars building the Arena to a very high standard without even knowing if the Democrat Governor would allow the Republican Party to fully occupy the space. Plans are being made by many thousands of enthusiastic Republicans, and others, to head to beautiful North Carolina in August. They must be immediately given an answer by the Governor as to whether or not the space will be allowed to be fully occupied. If not, we will be reluctantly forced to find, with all of the jobs and economic development it brings, another Republican National Convention site. This is not something I want to do. Thank you, and I LOVE the people of North Carolina!

The Swedish success story: Part II

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/KTsCFeL.png)

Herd immunity will be reached any day/week/year now! :S

It will be interesting to see these graphs 4-5 weeks from now though, with Denmark (and Norway afaik) basically changing to nearly full reopening in no time.

Dominic Cummings has been on national TV here in the UK this afternoon justifying his behaviour last month and basically blaming everything on the Media.

Leaving aside why a government aide is being given an opportunity to do so (the two previous scientific aides who behaved irresponsibly both resigned soon after they were caught out) it misses the point entire that there is a large majority of people in the UK right now who’s attitude has become ‘f*ck this for a game of soldiers, if he’s allowed not to follow the rules then I’m not going to either’ practically overnight.

This is going to end up with things going pear shaped here in the UK just as they are trying to reopen schools again (not following anything like the scientific advise provided on how)

I’m livid. Every time I think this government can’t do anything else to surprise me with just how incompetent they are they come up with something even worse. Great Britain will cease to exist soon. Scotland will go its own way, Northern Ireland will get its referendum and become Ireland’s problem and the Welsh will probably become a 3rd world country. I wouldn’t be surprised to see large sections of the North of England break away from Westminster and London as well. Things here are a total mess and we’re car-crashing into a no deal Brexit (remember that?) because nobody is paying attention.