I didn't mean to pick on your quote in particular, and know your views are more nuanced than that. It's just quite depressing that people can't seem to have empathy or care for others in more unfortunate circumstances than themselves.
Global Pandemic Part V: Enjoy a Corona while flying Delta
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I agree one of the worst parts of this is that we are basically screwed as a society if a worse tragedy were to happen. A more deadly virus, nuclear war, a comet.....
We have shown exactly who we are or aren't (at least in USA, I think other countries had their issues but maybe not to the scale?). This isn't like the movies where we all come together to beat a extinction or mass death event.
It'll have to come down to a select few like the scientists/etc who broke through with the vaccines. Imagine our lives had those not been as successful as they turned out.
it's depressing but we do have to move forward. each taking our own actions to do what's best for the collective and whatever is, is.
We have shown exactly who we are or aren't (at least in USA, I think other countries had their issues but maybe not to the scale?). This isn't like the movies where we all come together to beat a extinction or mass death event.
It'll have to come down to a select few like the scientists/etc who broke through with the vaccines. Imagine our lives had those not been as successful as they turned out.
it's depressing but we do have to move forward. each taking our own actions to do what's best for the collective and whatever is, is.
Bluer White
New Yorker
Chicago Teachers Clash With Biden’s Push to Keep Schools Open
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/c...h-bidens-push-to-keep-schools-open/ar-AASqUeT
Mayor Lightfoot, Mayor Adams, and the Biden Administration are on point with the schools issue here. With it being early 2022 and all, not March 2020.
Of course, this story might be a better fit in the "U.S. Politics" thread....cuz it appears to boil down to the same old local politics.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/c...h-bidens-push-to-keep-schools-open/ar-AASqUeT
Mayor Lightfoot, Mayor Adams, and the Biden Administration are on point with the schools issue here. With it being early 2022 and all, not March 2020.
Of course, this story might be a better fit in the "U.S. Politics" thread....cuz it appears to boil down to the same old local politics.
Jerry Dunk
Refugee
We need to take this way more seriously than we are because of the strain so many cases are putting on the healthcare system. Hospitals are completely packed. People with non-COVID issues are dying because they can't get care. Even if the percentages are lower in terms of need for hospitalization, the sheer volume is overwhelming the system.
This is probably the last truly bad wave, but it's very disheartening to see the government just give up. Biden literally released a statement saying "Google where to find tests!" and claimed state and local governments are offering them. Chicago's public health department had to basically say "we're out of them, specifically because the Biden administration dropped the ball." What a mess.
This is probably the last truly bad wave, but it's very disheartening to see the government just give up. Biden literally released a statement saying "Google where to find tests!" and claimed state and local governments are offering them. Chicago's public health department had to basically say "we're out of them, specifically because the Biden administration dropped the ball." What a mess.
the relaunch of back to school in DC has been an absolute mess.
they decided to keep schools closed monday and tuesday a few weeks back to distribute tests to staff and kids, allow them time to test and submit their tests, and then reopen on Wednesday.
it snowed monday - so they pushed the whole thing back a day (for no reason) with a reopen thursday.
then the site you were supposed to upload the tests to crashed - so they sent an email around saying that if you couldn't upload your test that you could just send a signed note from a parent saying little johnny doesn't have COVID.
the one thing i give bowser credit for is taking a school by school approach here instead of a district wide approach. only one school didn't open today (based on the test results) - every other school is in operation today.
the at home learning and virtual learning does not work for young kids. the negatives outweigh the positives - especially with a vaccinated staff and coming vaccine mandates for students. the schools need to stay open. enough is enough.
OP
OP
Hewson
Blue Crack Supplier
Teacher's union here (MTA) tried to force the Governor's hand to keep schools closed to start January. Governor Baker in no uncertain terms said flat out "no.".
Right call by him, let individual school districts or specific schools close if needed but no way does the entire state need to shut down.
I particularly liked that the state called out the union in its statement refusing their call to keep schools closed:
https://turnto10.com/news/local/massachusetts-teachers-union-wants-schools-closed-monday
Every time I see the MTA spokeswoman Merrie Najimy on my TV, I have to resist the urge to throw something through the screen. If it were up to her schools would have stayed closed from march 2020 until sometime in the next millennium.
Right call by him, let individual school districts or specific schools close if needed but no way does the entire state need to shut down.
I particularly liked that the state called out the union in its statement refusing their call to keep schools closed:
https://turnto10.com/news/local/massachusetts-teachers-union-wants-schools-closed-monday
Every time I see the MTA spokeswoman Merrie Najimy on my TV, I have to resist the urge to throw something through the screen. If it were up to her schools would have stayed closed from march 2020 until sometime in the next millennium.
Jerry Dunk
Refugee
Teachers want to teach remotely for a few weeks while the wave is at its worst. I cannot think of a single teacher who prefers remote teaching to in-person teaching. It's a very convenient argument for union busters to say that teachers are trying to ruin education by forcing another year of remote learning. They just want to do it when it's safe. Fully on the side of teacher's unions here.
OP
OP
Hewson
Blue Crack Supplier
The_acrobat
Rock n' Roll Doggie VIP PASS
Why would you say that? You just jinxed us all!!!
In all seriousness, though, there's pretty much no way this is the last bad wave. It's far more likely that we will have another variant of concern. One that is as transmisible as Omicron, more intense than Delta, and is completely vaccine resistent. There is absolutely no reason for any optimism at this point.
That's not how most viruses work.
A virus, like all living things, has one goal - survival.
The variants that have the best chance of survival will win the evolutionary battle. A deadlier variant that is as transmissible as Omicron will either burn itself out or destroy itself by destroying the hosts.
Obviously anything is possible but it's much mu,ch much more likely that the virus continues to evolve into something that is endemic like seasonal flu or the common cold. Those things both kill tens of thousands of people a year, as our gzus loving friend told us in the past.
This is the most likely path of COVID-19, and it is likely already happening with omicron.
iron yuppie
ONE love, blood, life
I wish I knew more about who or what determines that something has become endemic. From my limited reading, it seems subjective - subjective enough to push this cycle of soft closures well into the future.
The politicization of covid is what will keep these soft closures going
LuckyNumber7
Blue Crack Addict
I’m no virologist or pathologist or whatever, but I’m pretty sure that’s how we got over just about every pandemic in the past (human failure followed by nature).
I see this repeated all the time, but that's not exactly right though.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...ses-can-mutate-become-more-deadly/7839167002/
Coronaviruses tend to infect other people before their host dies, which means that a more severe virus can still be quite successful from an evolutionary perspective.
Which, again, shows how stupid it was to hoard vaccines.
Vincent Vega
Rock n' Roll Doggie ALL ACCESS
I think it's important to keep in mind that mutations in viruses are no controlled, or steered processes. Neither is evolution. Viruses are no sentient beings that can somehow target their mutations. When people speak of it's in the best interest of the virus not to kill its host, then that may well be true, but it shouldn't be mistaken for the virus actually having such a thing as an interest, or any way of influencing how it achieves said interest. That's a bit of anthromorphism at work, I'd say.
A "perfect storm" of a mutation that makes a virus highly contagious and highly deadly therefore is a possibility. And such a virus would only fail eventually because it doesn't have enough hosts left to infect.
With omicron, we may have got a bit of a lucky break. But as long as we allow the virus to (almost) freely run rampant in large parts of the world, we basically allow for all kinds of mutations to occur. Some beneficial, others less so. And thus we can only hope that variants such as omicron continue to crowd out other variants, where the mutations may line up less favourably.
A "perfect storm" of a mutation that makes a virus highly contagious and highly deadly therefore is a possibility. And such a virus would only fail eventually because it doesn't have enough hosts left to infect.
With omicron, we may have got a bit of a lucky break. But as long as we allow the virus to (almost) freely run rampant in large parts of the world, we basically allow for all kinds of mutations to occur. Some beneficial, others less so. And thus we can only hope that variants such as omicron continue to crowd out other variants, where the mutations may line up less favourably.
Agree. We are rolling the dice with every mutation.
Right now what's going on in the US means it's very likely for another variant and who really knows what it'll produce.
Throw in the same with Africa and other parts of the world that have no access to vaccines. China is another place that scares me in that their vaccine provides little to no protection against it, but they have the "advantage" of mass lockdowns without Karen's overthrowing government.
Right now what's going on in the US means it's very likely for another variant and who really knows what it'll produce.
Throw in the same with Africa and other parts of the world that have no access to vaccines. China is another place that scares me in that their vaccine provides little to no protection against it, but they have the "advantage" of mass lockdowns without Karen's overthrowing government.
i would do anything for love, except take a life saving vaccine.
Bluer White
New Yorker
I'm no virologist either....we can still try to work on the human failure part. International health should outweigh former United States NIH boss Collins' hope for 'international harmony.'
US scientists who downplayed COVID-19 lab leak origins theory sang a different tune in private, emails show
https://news.yahoo.com/us-scientists-downplayed-covid-19-112247541.html
Bret Baier on COVID Lab Leak Theory: "There Is Only One Narrative That They Want Out There"
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/v...y_one_narrative_that_they_want_out_there.html
'Special Report' host Bret Baier on the COVID lab leak theory: "Secretary Pompeo very forward-leaning when it came to the investigation of it. A lot of people ask why is this important now? Because, well, we're going to fight this pandemic but there could be others down the road. We have to get to the origins of where this thing started."
"What's frustrating is there is this effort that you see in emails to kind of squelch any other talk. And the definition of science to try to investigate and get to the truth. But, in these emails at least privately, there is only one narrative that they want out there," Baier said on his Fox News show on Tuesday.
Vincent Vega
Rock n' Roll Doggie ALL ACCESS
The headline of the article is already pretty suggestive (big surprise, given it's Fox News), but in essence it's not as scandalous as it tries to make it seem. Scientists, or any people, discussing different theories or suspicions in private emails more freely than what they say publicly? And doing so because they weigh the wider implications of what they say in public and determining that this should only be done if evidence became more solid? Those are the kind of considerations any responsible person should make. It even states in the article that they convened a conference with international scientists, but apparently the international community also was not sufficiently convinced that the lab leak theory had enough merit to go public with it. As everyone in the article stated, evidence pretty quickly lead away rather than towards the lab leak theory.
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i don't mean this to be snarky and i'm looking for a real and honest answer here...
does the right think that proving that the origins were a leak from a Wuhan lab is going to absolve Trump and his minions of their mind numbingly awful response to the pandemic?
In some roundabout way they probably think so.
I think it drums up the talk of going to war against China, as the right has been itching for more fights. Though I am kinda surprised that a lot of the GOP congress has been supportive of Ukraine. Most of the FoxNews, OANN, Right Media have sided with Russia
I think it drums up the talk of going to war against China, as the right has been itching for more fights. Though I am kinda surprised that a lot of the GOP congress has been supportive of Ukraine. Most of the FoxNews, OANN, Right Media have sided with Russia
i'm really only interested in bluer white's response to that. i know what the left thinks... i want to hear it from the horse's mouth
Irvine511
Blue Crack Supplier
Bluer White
New Yorker
Sweden to lift pandemic restrictions next week
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/sweden-lift-pandemic-restrictions-next-week-2022-02-03/
STOCKHOLM, Feb 3 (Reuters) - Sweden will lift pandemic restrictions next week despite record levels of infections as it banks on booster shots and high rates of past COVID-19 infections to keep hospitalisation rates manageable.
..........Sweden stood out early in the pandemic by spurning lockdowns, mainly relying on voluntary measures focused on social distancing and good hygiene, though somewhat tighter restrictions were gradually adopted in successive waves.
It has seen deaths per capita run much higher than in its Nordic neighbours but lower than most European countries that opted for lockdowns.
Some recommendations, such as getting vaccinated and isolating at home when sick, will remain in place and they will be more restrictive for the unvaccinated, Health Minister Lena Hallengren told the news conference.
Progress, in Sweden and some other European countries. The U.S. is on its way. Canada (and its trucking industry) are on their way, too
VintagePunk
Blue Crack Distributor
Canada (and its trucking industry) are on their way, too
Despite what FOX News is telling you, the protests in Ottawa are by no means an industry-wide phenomenon with wide support. According to the Canadian Trucking Alliance, the vaccination rate among Canadian truckers is approximately 85 percent, in line with the general population. When the protestors gathered last Saturday, there were reports of no more than a few hundred tractor trailers involved, and 400-ish private vehicles. Reports since last weekend say the protest has been "scaled-down" so I'm sure it's far fewer now.
Reports also say that the citizens of Ottawa are fed up by police inaction. Truckers have blown their horns all hours of the night, keeping residents and their children awake, desecrated statues of national heroes, harassed workers and volunteers at a soup kitchen and demanded food, harassed healthcare workers walking to their jobs, harassed mask wearers, and the list goes on. It's also been found that a great deal of the funds that have come in to support this movement have come in from the US - shocking, I know.
If FOX has led you to believe that this protest is going to change anything here, or influence anyone, I would suggest you stop listening to their propaganda and find some better sources. In fact, it seems like the already low tolerance for this protest has decreased a lot over the past few days and I wouldn't be surprised if police start making more of an effort to arrest and charge some of the protestors.
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still nothin', huh?
Irvine511
Blue Crack Supplier
It’s been unsurprising to see how excited conservative media has gotten over these Canadian protests, and how helpful posts like yours (and others I’ve come across in social media) slap some reality into the situation.
Mandates work. Our anger and frustrations should be directed at the unvaccinated. It is their fault we still are where we are.
I would add that our inability as rich nations to vaccinate Africa and other parts of the world just as much to blame.
Until we get a variant from a Karen, right now our biggest block to getting the pandemic over with is getting rest of the world caught up.
But....if we didn't have a national party plus it's right wing media outlets pushing pro covid talking points and behavior, we could be like Denmark and other countries lifting restrictions completely.
I also don't get this talking point that we're shut down either. What is closed still? California has a indoor mask mandate for another 11 days, but I can go into any business. My yoga studio requires masks until you're on the mat, but over the last week everyone is saying fuck it and maybe 20% of people wear masks indoors.
Until we get a variant from a Karen, right now our biggest block to getting the pandemic over with is getting rest of the world caught up.
But....if we didn't have a national party plus it's right wing media outlets pushing pro covid talking points and behavior, we could be like Denmark and other countries lifting restrictions completely.
I also don't get this talking point that we're shut down either. What is closed still? California has a indoor mask mandate for another 11 days, but I can go into any business. My yoga studio requires masks until you're on the mat, but over the last week everyone is saying fuck it and maybe 20% of people wear masks indoors.
VintagePunk
Blue Crack Distributor
The conservatives will do anything to amplify their message to make it seem like they have validation, when the reality is, especially here, it is a relatively small group of very loud voices.
One of the funniest and most interesting results that have come out of this protest is that the current Conservative leader, who has dithered back and forth between courting the protestors and denouncing them (the latter occurring after one of the statue incidents - Terry Fox, a Canadian hero who is considered sacrosanct by pretty much everyone, had his statue defaced by the protestors), lost the confidence of the party and was put up for a leadership vote by the Conservative party caucus on Wednesday, then was promptly voted out as party leader. His handling and remarks about the protests were not the sole cause of this - he lost the federal election last fall, and his days have been numbered since - but it was certainly the straw that broke the camel's back. The selected interim leader is a MAGA-hat wearing Member of Parliament who has had an email released in the past day or so saying that she wants to make the protests seem like "Trudeau's problem." Other than denouncing the protestors in a speech earlier this week, Trudeau has mostly stayed above the fray. He's been at home, isolating after catching COVID from his kids. So our federal Conservative party is being split into two factions, the moderates and the extremists. Will be interesting to see where this goes, and who they eventually choose as leader, and whether the party is even viable in foreseeable elections.
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