Does the coronavirus merit investment, or personal, concern or consideration?

2352

Yes, and an overwhelming percentage of those deaths occurred in nursing and care homes, and among retirement age Americans. Let’s not shut this country down, destroying the lives of younger Americans, for the sake of older people who should take care of themselves.

It’s happening for only one reason:

Nothing else has worked. If Trump’s opponents can use this virus to destroy his prospects in November they will do so readily. Everything else is secondary. Destruction of the entire American economy is unimportant . . . . so long as Trump is stopped. Period!

2353

Well, no, no-one is claiming that. It’s pretty indisputable that the only cure is a cure. The concept of herd immunity is a means of living with the ongoing risk, not a cure for the disease.

This is all about what we do during the indefinite wait between now and the creation of a cure. And with that wait being measured in terms of months, if not years (and possibly never), there’s an ever-growing probability that what we prevent today is only being delayed to tomorrow and not really benefiting the end result.

1 Like
2354

DId you just say that? Tell me that thats just a typo.

wow.

100,000 dead people
20% unemployment
looming recession (possibly depression)

And you think the “most damaging” thing is the presidential election…

5 Likes
2355

What are you smoking?

4 Likes
2356

This is garbage talk that needs to stop.

6 Likes
2357

Hey, it’s you new age liberal people who do all the smoking.

True statement:

In all the years I never, ever, have smoked a cigarette . . . or anything stronger, for that matter. No. Not even one single puff. I never believed it was prudent, a concept I embraced literally as a young child and have remained with ever since!

And I was, and I remain, right.

2358

Not at all is that garbage talk. It is the truth.

Well, the economy is coming back and the Democrats are in a panic. Even Dr. Fauci, who does the best Jimmy Durante impression I’ve ever witnessed, has now come around!

2359

I’m of your vintage shinobi.

I have arthritis & my son brought some weed over to help with my pain. I’ll admit I tried. It made me so sick. So I said, no way.
My son’s advice… I had to keep on puffin & finally the sickness would go away.

2360

COVID-19 vaccine trial may fail. Some posters here will not believe the reason why:

UK COVID-19 vaccine trial may fail due to low transmission in population

There is a 50% chance the trial may give ‘no result.’

By DONNA RACHEL EDMUNDS

MAY 25, 2020

Hopes that a vaccine for the coronavirus could be ready by September are hanging in the balance, as the scientists developing it are concerned that a slowdown in the rate of infection in the general population could invalidate the human trials currently taking place.

Prof. Adrian Hill, Director of the Oxford University’s Jenner Institute, has told The Telegraph that there is only a 50-50 chance that the vaccine his team has been developing can be successfully tested.

The team has recruited 10,000 people to test the vaccine, some of whom will be given the vaccine and others a placebo. But as it is unethical to purposely infect people in the trial with COVID-19, participants will be asked to go about their normal routine in the expectation that some will be exposed to it naturally. However, that is unlikely to happen if the virus is not spreading, meaning that no conclusions can be drawn one way or the other about the vaccine’s efficacy.

Hill expects that fewer than 50 people in the test population will catch the virus, but if less than 20 test positive the results may be useless.

“It is a race, yes. But it’s not a race against the other guys," he said. "It’s a race against the virus disappearing – and against time. We said earlier in the year that there was an 80% chance of developing an effective vaccine by September. But at the moment, there’s a 50% chance that we get no result at all.

"We’re in the bizarre position of wanting COVID to stay, at least for a little while. But cases are declining.

"The Oxford team is not the only one facing this predicament. So far, eight potential vaccines have reached the stage of human trials: four in China, two in the US, one in Germany and the one of the Oxford team. With cases dwindling, all of the teams are looking for hotspots globally where they can conduct their trials.

2361

want to know if there’s going to be a “second wave” in your area? No need to wait for bad cases to show up and ask for testing, just head down to the municipal sewage treatment plant.

https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.05.19.20105999v1.full.pdf

We report a time course of SARS-CoV-2 RNA concentrations in primary sewage sludge during the Spring COVID-19 outbreak in a northeastern U.S. metropolitan area. SARS-CoV-2 RNA was detected in all environmental samples and, when adjusted for the time lag, the virus RNA concentrations were highly correlated with the COVID-19 epidemiological curve (R2=0.99) and local hospital admissions (R2=0.99). SARS-CoV-2 RNA concentrations were a seven-day leading indicator ahead of compiled COVID-19 testing data and led local hospital admissions data by three days.

2 Likes
2362

Listening to NPR radio, I heard that thousands of Americans have volunteered to be test subjects for a vaccine, where the volunteers would be vaccinated and then later intentionally exposed to the virus.

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2363

– except that over a longer time interval, medical treatments might improve, so that a lower percentage of the infected people end up dying.

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2364

That is the game I’m playing . . . . right now. Trying to remain alive and allow time to pass, with hope for medical advances against the virus in future. Just hope the “future” is not too distant. Progress will be better after we get through early November.

2365

Early November is well into the next flu season, which is when experts predict the next major spike will occur. If that happens, then we will be back to where we started, except with more violent protests.

1 Like
2366

Not really. Far more is known about the virus now, and even more will have been revealed five months hence.

Back where we started we had a shortage of critical protective gear and far from a sufficiency of ventilators. Today, thanks to Trump, all this critical stuff we need to fight the virus is made in the USA and is readily available; there is no remaining dependency on critical supplies from China. And as long as Trump remains POTUS, this situation will only get better.

2367

Do you MAGA much?

7 Likes
2368

Is that “98” in you screen name actually your IQ?

2369

You’re the only one praising Trump here. Stay classy!

5 Likes
2370

You do realize that 98 is a very normal score?

Please, let’s keep this from devolving after all these weeks of keeping it civil.

7 Likes
2371

Wrong!!

1 Like