Wuhan Killer Sneeze (thanks Tea)

[Mr. Tea]

The more people that have had it, the harder transmission is...London has been hit hardest hence now has low transmission.

It's not rocket science.

But... only 9% of Londoners have antibodies...

 

[mixed_biscuits]

You're somewhat out of date on the science there.

 

[Mr. Tea]

You're somewhat out of date on the science there.

How does under a tenth of the population constitute a "herd", though?

I don't know why I'm bothering, tbh, as I know you'll only shift the goalposts yet again, like you did when you went from claiming "we have herd immunity already" to "only some parts of the country have it, and it's the other parts that are having the flare-ups."

 

[mixed_biscuits]

You've got to find current papers on what confers immunity and the limitations of serology.

Because as you rightly point out, 9% is too low to have much of a difference in outcome and yet there are clear differences in outcomes - doesn't make sense.

 

[mixed_biscuits]

Jumping the gun - a common theme:

 

[mixed_biscuits]

potentially infected mink:cull :: potentially infected humans:?

 

[WashYourHands]

What seems to be the problem?

 

[mixed_biscuits]

 

[IdleRich]

The.... death standards? I can only assume that means that they are gonna redefine what it is to be dead. That would knock Reagan's famous counting of tomato ketchup as a vegetable into a cocked hat. I am actually surprised the Trump administration didn't think of that, it's very easy to imagine Kayleigh McEnany standing up at the podium and saying "Another set of disgusting lies from the increasingly dishonest Democrats who are totally prepared to politicise this pandemic by pretending it exists. In fact despite the wishes of the un-American Democrat party, not one single person has died in America this year. Another triumph for this administration which has yet again been totally ignored and misrepresented by the mainstream media who continually display their vindictive anti-Trump bias."
"But Kayleigh... what about Herman Cain?"
"Herman is in the peak of health, I spoke to him earlier today and he told me that these days he simply prefers to live in a wooden box underground to escape from Sleepy Joe's socialism, the very thought of which sickens him (though definitely not with Covid, although if it was, it wouldn't matter because that hasn't killed anyone and doesn't exist) - to suggest otherwise is a disgusting racist slur and lie of the kind that the Democrats are becoming famous for" (exits to cheers).

 

[vimothy]

if you forget about the scientific arguments and just think about the reality of the lockdown, how long can this go on for?

 

[IdleRich]

I don't think that you even need to forget about the scientific arguments... even remembering them; how long should it go on, how long can this go on for and how long will it go on are slightly different questions with different answers and which have to be asked.

In Portugal we've really had this curfew in place ever since the first lockdown ended and they've just recently tightened that up, and it looks as though next week we will go back into lockdown. I went to see my friends who own a restaurant yesterday and they are so worried about what's gonna happen, they're still carrying the debts from the first one, I dunno what they can do at this point. The place next to them has already shut, the one opposite is in the same boat. One further down the street got fined 8000 euros or something the other day - now I get that the fine was because of repeated transgressions, but it's also the case their repeated transgressions were probably due to desperate attempts to increase their income and keep the business afloat. Again I understand that the government doesn't have many tools to enforce their rules but crushing businesses like that can't be the right solution surely? This - when the tourists are here anyway - is one of the most vibrant streets in Lisbon, but it wouldn't surprise me in the least if, in a month or two, there is not a single business on it.

 

[vimothy]

the scientific arguments are *obviously* hard to resolve. what I mean is, if you lay them to one side, and just address the lockdown - assume, if you like, the worst case - how long can this continue? the police were out the other night closing down a fireworks display in our village, pre lockdown, bc ppl weren't socially distant to the correct degree, which just seems like pure dickishness to me. at what point does the lockdown do more harm than good? at what point do ppl completely lose faith in it?

 

[IdleRich]

Yeah I get what you're saying, but I think that even if you do totally accept the science that has the most pro-lockdown conclusion of all these still questions are still gonna arise at some point... maybe a little later....

 

[vimothy]

even if you assume the worst scientific case you might still be skeptical about the lockdown. it can't go on indefinitely, surely?

 

[IdleRich]

That's exactly what i was trying to say yeah.

 

[Mr. Tea]

Lockdowns are a blunt instrument and should be used only as a last resort. This new one wouldn't be necessary if this shitty government hadn't done just about everything it's done, and had done all sorts of things it should have done, ever since it became clear that this was a pretty nasty bug back in January. And perhaps at this stage it's just going to do more harm than good.

 

[slackk]

Well this one will finish for Xmas, the R number won't be below 1, and then Xmas will infect everyone who wasn't caught it. It's a great plan to carry on the UK covid shitstorm really

Really surprised more isn't being made of the gastric symptoms that seem to be pretty prevalent up north.

 

[yyaldrin]

Lockdowns are a blunt instrument and should be used only as a last resort. This new one wouldn't be necessary if this shitty government hadn't done just about everything it's done, and had done all sorts of things it should have done, ever since it became clear that this was a pretty nasty bug back in January. And perhaps at this stage it's just going to do more harm than good.

there is a lockdown in germany as well, the country that took all the necessary precautions and steps according to critics.

 

[catalog]

I want Chris Morris back with a brass eye special. I think he would make good sense of this. I see him having fun with 'good covid' and 'bad covid'.

'oh no sir, you went to a cave rave and now you've got bad covid, you can't get the vaccine, sorry. This lady got good covid off a child in school, she'll get treated.'

 

[Mr. Tea]

there is a lockdown in germany as well, the country that took all the necessary precautions and steps according to critics.

I dunno if "the critics" are presenting a completely uniform opinion on what's going on or what governments should be doing, though, are they?

I'm certainly not saying that every country other than the UK has got everything right, although our government does seem to have done exceptionally badly. But the fact remains that some countries, e.g. Taiwan, New Zealand, have had miniscule numbers of cases and hardly any deaths at all, and have managed this without wrecking their economies, either. I'm interested in why that is the case, when we're had vast numbers of cases, almost 50,000 official covid deaths, loads of extra deaths from non-covid causes, and widespread economic misery, all with no end in sight.

I mean, for one thing, you might have thought that a no-brainer would be banning all flights from China, Iran, Italy and Spain when those countries were the global hotspots for the disease, or at least forcing all arrivals from those countries to quarantine. But nothing like that happened at all. It was business as usual. How fucking stupid is that?