COVID-19 Megathread 5: The Trumps catch COVID-19

[Bandit3 the Worker]

Minnesota is letting their stay-at-home order expire. I think Rhode Island already did.

[Bandit3 the Worker]

A few days ago, I found the "LockdownSkepticism" group on Reddit. It's proof that people across the political spectrum can get along for a common cause. The rank-and-file right is learning that we don't have horns and cloven hooves like their leaders told them we did. We've all got each other's backs in fighting this.

I'm glad that you found a place where your ignorance can be validated.

Did you actually look at the group?

[Bandit3 the Worker]

Yep! Here's one of their little nuggets of 'wisdom' and "empirical" analyses:

"These kinds of phrases [Safer at Home] remind me of how abusers do something cruel and then say softly 'it's only because I care about you' or 'it's for your own good.' It's a combination of dominance, boundary violation, control and then gaslighting added on top to put you into a state of confusion so it's harder for you to challenge it/protect your boundaries/say no/leave etc."

There's a bunch more where that came from. I stand by my original statement. Good grief.

I don't necessarily agree with that quote, but it's not as bad as what appears on other sites.

[Bandit3 the Worker]

There are people unironically breathing sighs of relief because they can go get their hair done soon. It's nauseating to even consider the historical and contemporary juxtapositions to such a statement in the context that we live.

I'm not worried about hair salons. I was more worried about society completely crumbling. That's how I ended up having a cardiac incident a couple weeks ago.

[Bandit3 the Worker]

What might even come sooner than a vaccine is this thing they have that's sort of like a vaccine, where they use antibodies directly (from recovered patients or made in a lab).

[Bandit3 the Worker]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/lifestyle/lifestyle-buzz/how-long-are-we-going-to-be-wearing-masks-we-asked-the-experts/ar-BB13nolJ


Some experts expect mask wearing to be heavily encouraged until Nov 2021 (18 months) - the general time frame most experts expect a fully functional vaccine to be fully distributed. I still don't know if I buy it

I'm not wasting the next 18 months of my life on this.

[Bandit3 the Worker]

I certainly hope that mask wearing will not be the norm for that long.

I don't even think it's as common as it was a few weeks ago.

When I went out on Tuesday in public outdoor spaces, unmasked people outnumbered masked people 79 to 1.

[Bandit3 the Worker]

You're not willing to wear a mask around other people until a vaccine is available?

For 18 months?

It probably won't take that long to find a vaccine, but some say there's no guarantee it'll ever be found. Ever.

[Bandit3 the Worker]

In the latter case, the population would eventually reach a state of herd immunity.  And I agree that it's likely a vaccine will take less than 18 months.  But you still haven't explained why wearing a mask is a waste of your life.

Constant wearing of masks impedes social interaction, speech, and breathing.

I frankly am tired of the impression that every object outside my home is contaminated. It just isn't so. People can't go through life being afraid of every building and object. People are going to need social interaction, and can't wait for herd immunity that will probably take a long time.

Also, the WHO still does not recommend masks, and reaffirmed this stance just last month.

As for the vaccine, I have seen articles that said there was an "antibody vaccine" that's coming pretty soon that uses antibodies from recovered patients or created in a lab. But there's no guarantee it will work.

[Bandit3 the Worker]

I certainly think that people should be wearing them, and that they are necessary now. But it's hard for me to see people wearing them that far into the new year, particularly since it is likely that we may have a vaccine before then. But we'll see what happens. Mandatory mask orders have continued to spread in the meantime, with Los Angeles County, California and King County, Washington now requiring them. However, they haven't spread as fast in recent days as I would have expected. It will be interesting to see also, how long it will be mandatory. Once temperatures start to hit the heights of summer-say 90 or 100 degrees-how comfortable will they be? How practical will it be? I'm not sure.

I think there's a couple counties in California that repealed the orders.

I'm still flabbergasted that anyone at all wears masks outdoors (as opposed to cramped indoor businesses).

[Bandit3 the Worker]

Yeah, that totally equates wasting your life.

Equal parts gross selfishness and gross irresponsibility. Kudos indeed.

Then what about the WHO recommendations?

[Bandit3 the Worker]

Yippy skippy. The Centers for Disease Control recommend wearing them.

After the CDC rejected the WHO's tests and used its own botched tests instead, I don't place very much faith in the CDC.

I just love how instead of making sure we had enough tests, everyone just resorted to authoritarian measures instead.

[Bandit3 the Worker]

Just like the right-wingers you usually rail on about, you have a tough time distinguishing "authoritarianism" from "inconvenience".

Eighteen months is more than just an "inconvenience."

[Bandit3 the Worker]

Just like the right-wingers you usually rail on about, you have a tough time distinguishing "authoritarianism" from "inconvenience".

Eighteen months is more than just an "inconvenience."

Debatable semantics. Regardless, it's a damn sight closer to inconvenience than so-called authoritarianism.

Also, as I said before, there's no 100% guarantee there will ever be a vaccine. It simply might not happen, especially in my lifetime.

[Bandit3 the Worker]

Debatable semantics. Regardless, it's a damn sight closer to inconvenience than so-called authoritarianism.

Admittedly, there's a time and place for masks. Even the WHO recommends masks for healthcare workers. They usually wore masks anyway.

Working around dust should cause someone to wear a mask, but it's not because of viruses.

Workers in meatpacking plants used to wear hazmat suits. I don't know why they stopped.

[Bandit3 the Worker]

Very positive results from this trial of Moderna's vaccine::

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/18/health/coronavirus-vaccine-moderna.html

This vaccine is zooming through trials and may be ready for widespread use very soon.

[Bandit3 the Worker]

Very positive results from this trial of Moderna's vaccine::

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/18/health/coronavirus-vaccine-moderna.html

This vaccine is zooming through trials and may be ready for widespread use very soon.

"Very soon" in this case being late this year or early next year (which is probably the best-case scenario for any vaccine).  From the article:

If those trials go well, a vaccine could become available for widespread use by the end of this year or early 2021, Dr. Tal Zaks, Moderna’s chief medical officer, said in an interview. How many doses might be ready is not clear, but Dr. Zaks said, “We’re doing our best to make it as many millions as possible.”

I saw other articles earlier this morning that said they may be able to expedite it further.

[Bandit3 the Worker]

One of the lowest priorities for reopening ought to be amusement parks.

I know things have got to reopen, and I've enjoyed amusement parks as much as anyone. But that should be a lower priority than parks, beaches, most businesses, and most outdoor spaces.

[Bandit3 the Worker]

Alachua County, Fla., has repealed its mask directive. But police say nobody was ever cited under it anyway.

[Bandit3 the Worker]

Alachua County, Fla., has repealed its mask directive. But police say nobody was ever cited under it anyway.

I know that many areas imposing mask mandates had set a deadline for them to expire. With summer upon us, will any of them be extended? Or ended?

I would bet that some places never repeal it, even if this virus is completely stamped out. Not only that, they'll probably extend it to all people outdoors too. I'm sure this won't happen everywhere though.

The Patriot Act was never repealed, so I'm sure a lot of mask laws will stick around forever too.

[Bandit3 the Worker]

414k tests today, 21,600 new cases today - 5.2% positive rate

New York's positive rate today was just 4.0%, for what it's worth.

I wonder if the herd immunity threshold is a lot lower than we thought. Michigan was another early hot spot, and now its positive rate is really low too. Same for some other early hot spots. I think Rhode Island is another.

[Bandit3 the Worker]

Although I do not entirely believe in mandatory mask orders.

Basically this, especially in light of the WHO's opposition to masks.

However, in some industries, masks were always the best industry practice. Someone told me that this was the practice in certain parts of auto plants, and perhaps more so if it's repurposed to build ventilators. That's why Trump should have worn one.

[Bandit3 the Worker]

Facts.

“For the first time, the CDC has attempted to offer a real estimate of the overall death rate for COVID-19, and under its most likely scenario, the number is 0.26%. Officials estimate a 0.4% fatality rate among those who are symptomatic and project a 35% rate of asymptomatic cases among those infected, which drops the overall infection fatality rate (IFR) to just 0.26% — almost exactly where Stanford researchers pegged it a month ago.”

“We destroyed our entire country and suspended democracy all for a lie, and these people perpetrated the unscientific degree of panic. Will they ever admit the grave consequences of their error?”

https://www.conservativereview.com/news/horowitz-cdc-confirms-remarkably-low-coronavirus-death-rate-media/

I'm not that optimistic about the death rate. I think one of the big priorities now should be vaccines or the protective antibody treatments that may be rolled out much, much sooner.

[Bandit3 the Worker]

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear writes positive, reassuring article on the pandemic (in contrast to the media's constant doompanic)...

https://www.rcnky.com/articles/2020/05/22/op-ed-kentuckians-proving-we-are-great-people

[Bandit3 the Worker]

Man, I just love it when people say we should have mask laws OUTDOORS, and keep these laws around until we find a vaccine.

I think we'll have a vaccine sooner than some people think, but what if we never have one?

Also, shouldn't official guidelines recommend moving activities outdoors as much as possible?