Coronavirus

[Stavros]

When the word 'No' has no value, because a scientist with decades of experience can never know more about medicine than a jerk from Queens-

Donald Trump’s top coronavirus adviser has warned again that there is no scientific evidence to support the use of an unproven anti-malaria drug the president has been pushing as a possible remedy for Covid-19.In White House briefings on Saturday and Sunday, Trump urged Americans worried about the virus to try hydroxychloroquine, a drug used to treat malaria, arthritis and lupus that has not been extensively tested for other conditions.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...i-malaria-drug

He even intervened to put a stop to anyone asking real questions about the use of hydroxychloroquine-
https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1246956581717192705

Liars and hypocrites on Fox News can be left to stew in their own bile, the real worry is that the President is taking advice from his son-in-law-
https://www.theguardian.com/commenti...virus-pandemic

[african1]

Stupid news/media does not report that the common flu virus so far as been more dangerous. The only thing they seem to report is information that causes more panic and stupidity.

Do you still hold the same views? You sounded like fox news back then.

[african1]

Personally I think it's quite serious..

Health wise, my lungs are atypical and this could be very bad if I get it. I'm vaccinated against most types of pneumonia but this is a viral one with no vaccine as of yet..

Most things fail to kill me tho and make me suffer horribly for days or weeks instead.. It's been many years since I had a lung infection tho..

Financially this is going to be a DISASTER!

Let the billionaires bail out their own shit tho! Don't use tax dollars for that!

I am impressed Alexis. Not only are you endowed my a big Cock, but quite a big brain as well. BRAVO!

[filghy2]

As late as March, both Kushner and Trump were comparing Covid-19 to the Swine Flu Epidemic of 2009 and asking why the "liberal media" wasn't as hard on Obama back then. The problem is that the Swine Flu had a case fatality rate of about .03% while it was pretty clear by early February that Covid-19 was about 15-20 times as lethal as Influenza. Their failure to take it seriously caused complacency among the public, who thought they were dealing with a flu strain.

I think people with no understanding of science and no interest in taking heed of experts also failed to grasp how exponential growth makes small initial numbers grow into big ones before too long. Covid-19 is about twice as contagious as regular flu (including swine flu). That means infections will grow explosively if the virus is left unchecked, which doesn't happen with regular flu.

We still have this problem in Australia, ironically because severe restrictions have been quite successful in containing the virus here. We have had only 40 deaths so far, which is one-twentieth of the US death toll per head of population. The rate of new cases has fallen to about one-third of its peak level, we were initially on a similar path to other countries. The usual types are now saying this shows that it was an over-reaction and we need to ease the restrictions - without understanding that it was these restrictions that prevented the high numbers the experts were warning about.

It's interesting to compare Australia and the USA because we are both federations, where the states have most of the front-line responsibility while the federal government has more resources and the capacity to play a coordinating role. Here we have a national cabinet making the decisions, comprising the Prime Minister and state leaders from both parties. There's a bit of argument on some things, but mostly it's working well with both parties generally on the same page.

We have a conservative Prime Minister who I haven't been a fan of before but he's done a pretty good job on this - listening to experts, making considered statements, being prepared to ditch previous policy positions, and not playing politics or indulging in petty egotism. That's what a real strong leader does, unlike the man acting out a cartoon version in the White House.

I'm so glad at the moment to be living in a normal country run by normal people. I fell very sorry for you Americans - maybe less so for the ones who still choose to ignore inconvenient truths.

[Fitzcarraldo]

When the word 'No' has no value, because a scientist with decades of experience can never know more about medicine than a jerk from Queens-

Donald Trump’s top coronavirus adviser has warned again that there is no scientific evidence to support the use of an unproven anti-malaria drug the president has been pushing as a possible remedy for Covid-19.In White House briefings on Saturday and Sunday, Trump urged Americans worried about the virus to try hydroxychloroquine, a drug used to treat malaria, arthritis and lupus that has not been extensively tested for other conditions.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...i-malaria-drug

He even intervened to put a stop to anyone asking real questions about the use of hydroxychloroquine-
https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1246956581717192705

Liars and hypocrites on Fox News can be left to stew in their own bile, the real worry is that the President is taking advice from his son-in-law-
https://www.theguardian.com/commenti...virus-pandemic

I'm hoping investigative journalists will follow the money on this. Surely Trump stands to profit somehow from sales of hydroxychloroquine.

[broncofan]

I'm hoping investigative journalists will follow the money on this. Surely Trump stands to profit somehow from sales of hydroxychloroquine.

In early February, I was curious how clinical trials were going to come out with Chloroquine and Remdesivir. I am also interested to see if a drug called Favipiravir has efficacy. There is a difference between wanting to see if anecdotal evidence of efficacy can be confirmed in trials and shamelessly hawking a drug with significant side effects as a "game-changer". Even if hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin are effective, the combo is unlikely to be a game changer.

We'll have to wait to see what kind of results Johns Hopkins gets when they test convalescent plasma. For those that don't know this is the blood of people who have recovered, which is assumed to have antibodies against Covid-19, that can be transfused into patients. One problem with this strategy is that you're limited by the amount of blood you can collect. It's difficult to use at the top of the curve, where you have far more people currently infected than have recovered.

There are also companies trying to manufacture monoclonal antibodies, which in contrast to convalescent plasma is scalable, since they can be made synthetically. These won't be tested for a while, but they have the potential to be used before a vaccine is available. I'm as hopeful as the next person...

Filghy, I've been following the trajectory in Australia. You guys are doing extremely well and I'm envious. Every day I am rooting for Donald Trump and company to take useful steps and mostly I'm disappointed, outraged, and a bit scared to be honest.

[broncofan]

The usual types are now saying this shows that it was an over-reaction and we need to ease the restrictions - without understanding that it was these restrictions that prevented the high numbers the experts were warning about.

This seems to be happening everywhere unfortunately. Even here where our distancing measures have barely had a chance to start flattening the curve, we have people accuse others of having been alarmists once a model is revised to take into account the benefits of intervention. Distancing works, even where the virus has gotten out of control. It does severely harm the economy but the alternative is lots more death, a breakdown of the healthcare system and even greater harm to the economy.

[holzz]

the lizard men/illuminati started this because they want to give people a taste of authoritarian rule.

[Fitzcarraldo]

This seems to be happening everywhere unfortunately. Even here where our distancing measures have barely had a chance to start flattening the curve, we have people accuse others of having been alarmists once a model is revised to take into account the benefits of intervention. Distancing works, even where the virus has gotten out of control. It does severely harm the economy but the alternative is lots more death, a breakdown of the healthcare system and even greater harm to the economy.

And it seems like that should be obvious, but apparently it isn't. I can't fathom how anyone could have thought ignoring it and then trying to minimize its significance in public statements was a wining strategy.

[Stavros]

Heroes of the Pandumbic

Many have now seen this, for those who have not-

https://twitter.com/TheDailyShow/sta...46713523453957