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Coronavirus Sars-CoV-2/Covid-19 Megathread

Started by Syt, January 18, 2020, 09:36:09 AM

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Sheilbh

Although it is also worth remembering the positive side of this which is extraordinary. In the space of two years we have developed multiple vaccines, 75% of the world's population has been offered their first dose and vaccine uptake everywhere has been higher than the worst fears based on polls before the rollout. We now also have two new treatments one approved and one with such promising results that they had to suspend the trial for ethical reasons (I still wonder what the long-term "lesson" will be if treatment plays a bigger role in ending the pandemic than vaccines).

The medical side of that happened because of researchers, mass manufacturing, global supply infrastructure and healthcare systems and it is an astonishing achievement - the issue is not enough against this virus which, especially with delta, is incredibly infectious and for at risks groups very dangerous.

I'd add that to fight this we had 80% of the world's workers under restrictions at some point and, incredibly, the state support was sufficient that there doesn't seem to be significant long term effects on a global level. Lockdowns around the world were largely followed voluntarily without requiring state coercion which I would never have expected - I remember thinking lockdown was impossible in the West in January or February last year which I think speaks to a surprising, enduring level of social trust.

I think the thing we should be looking at is how do we learn from and build on the successes rather than just going back to normal/re-imposing old structures and systems, because they are there. I'm less certain on how to solve the problems.

It's why my initial response to mongers saying government would respond to climate the way they responded to the pandemic, with an "I wish" :lol:
Let's bomb Russia!

Eddie Teach

Quote from: celedhring on November 24, 2021, 08:32:19 AM
Quote from: HVC on November 24, 2021, 07:47:08 AM
Quote from: celedhring on November 24, 2021, 03:39:32 AM
The Russian girl has now suggested that we have drinks outdoors to not bow to fascism (sic). It's been raining all week.  :lol:

Sorry, I don't want to give you the play-by-play, I'm just having a good laugh  :lol:

Is she pretty enough to be this crazy?

She's very hot.

This place employs quite a few Russians (the uni has lots of ties with Russian academia), the women are all insanely hot. It's silly.

Hot and crazy right winger? Just your type. :contract:
To sleep, perchance to dream. But in that sleep of death, what dreams may come?

The Minsky Moment

Quote from: alfred russel on November 24, 2021, 12:27:59 PM
we are a society descended from the fools that refused to have leeches applied to themselves or take the doctor's advice to be bled.

No we aren't.  Darwin fail.
The purpose of studying economics is not to acquire a set of ready-made answers to economic questions, but to learn how to avoid being deceived by economists.
--Joan Robinson

Tamas

#16398
Went to two pharmacies for my free tests. None available, a national shortage is claimed and blamed.

mongers

Quote from: Tamas on November 24, 2021, 02:30:55 PM
Went to two pharmacies for my free tests. None available, a nation shortage is claimed and blamed.

It's just the pandemic's replacement for click and collect.
"We have it in our power to begin the world over again"

garbon

Quote from: Tamas on November 24, 2021, 02:30:55 PM
Went to two pharmacies for my free tests. None available, a national shortage is claimed and blamed.

I've been seeing them plentiful at Tesco pharmacy. The lateral flows.
"I've never been quite sure what the point of a eunuch is, if truth be told. It seems to me they're only men with the useful bits cut off."
I drank because I wanted to drown my sorrows, but now the damned things have learned to swim.

Sheilbh

Yeah I've never got a PCR from the pharmacist only ordered them online.

Edit: I think in large part because lateral flow testing is a huge part of schools at the minute, so parents always need access quickly.
Let's bomb Russia!

celedhring

Quote from: Eddie Teach on November 24, 2021, 02:00:49 PM
Quote from: celedhring on November 24, 2021, 08:32:19 AM
Quote from: HVC on November 24, 2021, 07:47:08 AM
Quote from: celedhring on November 24, 2021, 03:39:32 AM
The Russian girl has now suggested that we have drinks outdoors to not bow to fascism (sic). It's been raining all week.  :lol:

Sorry, I don't want to give you the play-by-play, I'm just having a good laugh  :lol:

Is she pretty enough to be this crazy?

She's very hot.

This place employs quite a few Russians (the uni has lots of ties with Russian academia), the women are all insanely hot. It's silly.

Hot and crazy right winger? Just your type. :contract:

:lol:

You people know me too well.

alfred russel

Quote from: The Minsky Moment on November 24, 2021, 02:28:14 PM
Quote from: alfred russel on November 24, 2021, 12:27:59 PM
we are a society descended from the fools that refused to have leeches applied to themselves or take the doctor's advice to be bled.

No we aren't.  Darwin fail.

I was making a joke not a serious point but if you want to argue with me for no reason:

QuoteBloodletting gradually declined in popularity over the course of the 19th century, becoming rather uncommon in most places, before its validity was thoroughly debated. In the medical community of Edinburgh, bloodletting was abandoned in practice before it was challenged in theory, a contradiction highlighted by physician-physiologist John Hughes Bennett.

It seems bleeding waned in popularity before it did scientifically, at least according to some sources.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloodletting
They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.

There's a fine line between salvation and drinking poison in the jungle.

I'm embarrassed. I've been making the mistake of associating with you. It won't happen again. :)
-garbon, February 23, 2014

Syt

I am, somehow, less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein's brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops.
—Stephen Jay Gould

Proud owner of 42 Zoupa Points.

11B4V

"there's a long tradition of insulting people we disagree with here, and I'll be damned if I listen to your entreaties otherwise."-OVB

"Obviously not a Berkut-commanded armored column.  They're not all brewing."- CdM

"We've reached one of our phase lines after the firefight and it smells bad—meaning it's a little bit suspicious... Could be an amb—".

Sheilbh

Nature is healing:
https://www.retailgazette.co.uk/blog/2021/11/pret-a-manger-sales-reach-pre-pandemic-levels-for-first-time/

Makes me think of some stats I saw that New York and London public transport use very close to pre-pandemic levels now. Really striking things: weekdays have taken a permanent hit, but weekends have recovered a lot more.

Which is why I think cities will be okay. Many can work from home, but the fun social stuff is more irreplaceable.
Let's bomb Russia!

Josquius

Quote from: Syt on November 25, 2021, 01:23:04 AM


Come to think about it, it does sound rather like he's threatening the fascists.
Did any of them choose to take it that way? Knowing them I expect so.
██████
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garbon

Quote from: Sheilbh on November 25, 2021, 04:05:26 AM
Nature is healing:
https://www.retailgazette.co.uk/blog/2021/11/pret-a-manger-sales-reach-pre-pandemic-levels-for-first-time/

Makes me think of some stats I saw that New York and London public transport use very close to pre-pandemic levels now. Really striking things: weekdays have taken a permanent hit, but weekends have recovered a lot more.

Which is why I think cities will be okay. Many can work from home, but the fun social stuff is more irreplaceable.

I was in St Pancras and did get a coffee from Pret for the first time since lockdown. :blush:
"I've never been quite sure what the point of a eunuch is, if truth be told. It seems to me they're only men with the useful bits cut off."
I drank because I wanted to drown my sorrows, but now the damned things have learned to swim.

Agelastus

Quote from: garbon on November 24, 2021, 02:36:45 PM
Quote from: Tamas on November 24, 2021, 02:30:55 PM
Went to two pharmacies for my free tests. None available, a national shortage is claimed and blamed.

I've been seeing them plentiful at Tesco pharmacy. The lateral flows.

The last pack I had was from a different manufacturer to the normal ones (designed solely for nasal use by the look of it) and I was told the Pharmacy was being supplied with whatever was available so there's a shortfall somewhere I would say.
"Come grow old with me
The Best is yet to be
The last of life for which the first was made."