The Corona Virus (COVID 19) Thread

[MaggieO]

Half of one percent (mortality/infection ratio) was predicted and that has turned out to be true enough. What the public does not see is the disruption this causes inside our hospitals. Surgeons, doctors and nurses are absolutely filthy at the behaviour of the general public.

Here where I'm at the hospitals were mandated to prep for COVID-19 cases. All elective surgery was canceled or postponed. Lots of cancer patients going untreated. Suddenly, they're laying off hospital employees because there isn't anything for a lot of the staff to do. For those areas that are operating they're saying it's just business as usual.

 

[gplans]

No you do not have to where one while driving.

DO YOU HAVE TO WEAR A MASK WHILE DRIVING ?

If you are driving in a car by yourself or with a member of your household, you do not need to wear a face mask but you should carry one with you for when you exit the vehicle. If you are in a car with other people for work or rideshare purposes then you must wear a mask.

 

[Vini2ton]

View attachment 118644View attachment 118644

 

[Vini2ton]

sorry, something fd up

 

[Feldon]

Interesting.

Eric Clapton: Exclusive & Uncensored

 

[BrewLizard]

Disappointing, but at least reassuring that his friends are distancing themselves from him. I only made it through 5 minutes before googling the story, but the one accurate statement Clapton made was "I'm not a scientist".

I hadn't kept up with Van Morrison becoming part of the tin-foil hat crew either.

It's a shame that by being a celebrity, you can do so much more damage than by being a qualified (non-celebrity) professional.

 

[Feldon]

Interesting view from a UK medico on the direction Australia is now taking:

The Australian Protocol

 

[yankinoz]

Re Covid mortality:

In the early stages of the pandemic, deaths worldwide ran close to two percent of reported cases. Estimates of unreported cases varied, but may have been enough to lower case mortality rates to not much over one percent.

Treatment has improved, and I don't mean Ivermectin.

When cases are rapidly increasing, as in NSW now, dividing deaths by reported cases gives a misleadingly low estimate of mortality. Deaths generally occur at least a week after symptoms or a positive test, usually two to four weeks, sometimes longer. Therefore, the deaths are in people infected when case rates were lower.

 

[Nick the Knife]

Just a general comment - not in any manner angled at AHB members - but is it just me but I really miss the times where people who didn't REALLY know about something shut the phark up and let people who are actual experts on the subject area give their expertise for all.

I don't mind it if it's one's gospel truth/insider secrets on how to make that perfect sponge cake or getting the toilet clean but when it comes to stuff like a constantly evolving globalpandemic it'd be nice if people had a vague idea of what their true knowledge is and traded well within it's limits.

 

[yankinoz]

Just a general comment - not in any manner angled at AHB members - but is it just me but I really miss the times where people who didn't REALLY know about something shut the phark up and let people who are actual experts on the subject area give their expertise for all.

I don't mind it if it's one's gospel truth/insider secrets on how to make that perfect sponge cake or getting the toilet clean but when it comes to stuff like a constantly evolving globalpandemic it'd be nice if people had a vague idea of what their true knowledge is and traded well within it's limits.

I take your point about not aiming at anyone, but for the record I spent twenty-five years doing historical population studies,. That often entailed reconstructing causes of mortality. But my above comments were basic math.

Outside AHB, yes, many people wade into the subject in a reckless manner, but my main quarrel is that they cherrypick data to serve a political agenda.

 

[Feldon]

“You may abuse a tragedy, though you cannot write one. You may scold a carpenter who has made you a bad table, though you cannot make a table. It is not your trade to make tables.”

attrib. Samuel Johnson, in James Boswell’s Life of Johnson

 

[raybies]

I really miss the times where people who didn't REALLY know about something shut the phark up and let people who are actual experts on the subject area give their expertise for all.

Where were these times? Outsourcing cognition has always been the relm of the feeble minded.

What we have now is a case of the experts, some of whom invented the technology, advising you not to perform an action, and social media deplatforming these experts because politicians are saying you must perform said action "because the science says so", and YOU can not question the science.

If there was ever a time not to outsource your cognition, this is it.

 

[BrewLizard]

Is that a deliberately vague way of saying you disagree with current public health recommendations?

 

[raybies]

Is that a deliberately vague way of saying you disagree with current public health recommendations?

I like to follow the science, however in this instance the FDA/Pfizer is asking for 75 yrs to release the clinical trial documents, because as you know, nothing says follow the science like wait 75 years. So I guess we've all got a very long wait before we know if Comirnaty is safe and effective.

 

[MHB]

I think that is very misleading, true there is a FOI request in front of a court, the FDA maintain that they only have enough staff to vet the relevant documents at something like 100 pages per week and that that rate it will take a ridiculously long time to process all the documents. Bear in mind that they have a lot of other FOI requests to work on as well and that the last administration gutted their budget. Apparently it didn’t like being told that Corona virus was real and that horse worming paste and bleach weren’t valid treatments...

Probably not a case of deliberately trying to hide facts, tho no doubt there are some political machinations going on, given how government works it’s likely to be more about getting their budget back.
Mark

 

[chrisfromperth]

I understand the science behind the virus, the rationale behind public health measures, and vaccines. I don't always agree 100% based on my own preconceptions, but I'm going to listen to professionals that do this for a day job.

I also understand aerodynamics and how planes fly. Do you trust me in the front seat of a 747?

Attribution: New Yorker magazine.

 

[JDW81]

Just a comment on vaccines from someone who’s had a bit of exposure to severe COVID over the last 2 years.

I work directly with COVID patients in ICU and other areas of one of the major Victorian COVID hospitals. From an at the coal face perspective I have seen the effectiveness of the vaccine program. There are very few fully vaccinated people who end up in hospital with COVID and even fewer who end up getting proper sick in ICU. All of the sickest people I’ve been involved with have all been unvaccinated (and almost all chose not to be vaccinated). Those who have been vaccinated and do contract are far less likely to get severe disease and to pass it on (well to the alpha/delta variants at least). They are also far less likely to develop the long COVID syndrome.

With respect to evidence there are a number of peer reviewed articles available from reputable sources like the NEJM/Lancet which report the results of ongoing RCTs/clinical trials which show the vaccines are effective and safe in the short term (and I consider the 1:3 000 000 chance of dying from a rare blood clotting disorder barely worth mentioning, given the background rate of death from car accidents is around 2-3:100000 - the media has a lot to answer for for this one). These articles appear when you search via your usual search engine

I’ll concede we don’t know the long term safety data, but I’m willing to take the risk, given the burden that the long COVID syndrome is having on people.

I’ll continue to trust the experts I work with on the vaccines and public health measures, just as they trust me to look after their relatives when they are critically ill. I’ll also take notice of what is published in reputable medical journals. I try and avoid opinions, as they mostly come from people with an axe to grind, who wouldn’t know the first thing about critically appraising a robust piece of evidence so choose to do their research on Facebook.

JD

 

[MHB]

Big Ups, and thanks for the work you are doing.
I remember talking to my grandmother who was born in 1920 about her growing up in western Queensland. Going to school three kids on a grey mare, the first time she saw an electric light turn on, the first aeroplane and car that came to their town... watching her cry during the first moon landing. She also talked about local kids dying of polio and whooping cough.
Anti-vaxxers are fuckwits! (just a personal opinion)
Mark

 

[Mooroolbark_Mick]

Just a comment on vaccines from someone who’s had a bit of exposure to severe COVID over the last 2 years.

I work directly with COVID patients in ICU and other areas of one of the major Victorian COVID hospitals. From an at the coal face perspective I have seen the effectiveness of the vaccine program. There are very few fully vaccinated people who end up in hospital with COVID and even fewer who end up getting proper sick in ICU. All of the sickest people I’ve been involved with have all been unvaccinated (and almost all chose not to be vaccinated). Those who have been vaccinated and do contract are far less likely to get severe disease and to pass it on (well to the alpha/delta variants at least). They are also far less likely to develop the long COVID syndrome.

With respect to evidence there are a number of peer reviewed articles available from reputable sources like the NEJM/Lancet which report the results of ongoing RCTs/clinical trials which show the vaccines are effective and safe in the short term (and I consider the 1:3 000 000 chance of dying from a rare blood clotting disorder barely worth mentioning, given the background rate of death from car accidents is around 2-3:100000 - the media has a lot to answer for for this one). These articles appear when you search via your usual search engine

I’ll concede we don’t know the long term safety data, but I’m willing to take the risk, given the burden that the long COVID syndrome is having on people.

I’ll continue to trust the experts I work with on the vaccines and public health measures, just as they trust me to look after their relatives when they are critically ill. I’ll also take notice of what is published in reputable medical journals. I try and avoid opinions, as they mostly come from people with an axe to grind, who wouldn’t know the first thing about critically appraising a robust piece of evidence so choose to do their research on Facebook.

JD

Well written JD!

 

[yankinoz]

Just a comment on vaccines from someone who’s had a bit of exposure to severe COVID over the last 2 years.

. . . I’ll continue to trust the experts I work with on the vaccines and public health measures, just as they trust me

Do you mind if I forward your full comment to an ***** I know back in the US? Others have said much the same, but yours is particularly well put.