Did his friend die?
Coronavirus Thread
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figmentPez
Staff member
Just ask Herman Cain.
I'll take No Way Jose for $200, Alex... uh, I mean, Ken.
figmentPez
Staff member
The bad news is that there is a new strain of COVID-19 that may be even more infectious, the good news is that it appears that the vaccines that have been developed will still be effective against it.
Though this another reason why the "herd immunity without a vaccine" was always a bad idea. Not just because of the inevitable deaths and disability, but because of the inevitablity that the virus would mutate, and have a lot more chances to produce a new strain that people who got the old one are not immune to.
EDIT: changed wording for clarity.
Though this another reason why the "herd immunity without a vaccine" was always a bad idea. Not just because of the inevitable deaths and disability, but because of the inevitablity that the virus would mutate, and have a lot more chances to produce a new strain that people who got the old one are not immune to.
EDIT: changed wording for clarity.
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figmentPez
Staff member
See, I've been seeing this a lot. Point is, while the new variation may be more transmittable, this is currently a working hypothesis. Sure, it's why we're all closing our borders to the UK for the moment (completely useless as the new variant has already been found in the Netherlands, Denmark and Germany too), but this is how it goes.
BBC: "It is too early to tell", " "The amount of evidence is inadequate to draw strong opinions on whether the virus has increased transmission", " we do not have absolute certainty. New strains can become more common simply by being in the right place at the right time", etc
Good Guy making a TL;DR: "there is a new strain of COVID-19 that is even more infectious"
Bad Guy wanting to create a panic: "It's mutating! It'll keep mutating! The vaccines won't work! We're all doomed!" (or "it's all fake, the government is just using it to keep us all indoors" or whatever)
To be clear, Pez, I'm not at all attacking you or pointing fingers, you just happen to be the umpteenth example I run into today. There's a lot of uncertainty, this strain may simply be taking over in London because of a few major spreader events - London had fairly relaxed measures until a short while ago. It may be more transmittable, or it may be weaker and thus present asymptomatically more often - researchers are hard at work on it, but we don't know. Not telling the public until they're sure would've been bad. Telling the public like this just results in fear mongering and exaggerated claims/ideas. There's no good solution, really, but it's just weird to see it happen so fast and in front of your eyes. I've seen it go from a decent basic article like the BBc one linked here to "oh god we're never getting rid of this! This is covid-20! We're all dead" in single facebook threads. Ugh.
figmentPez
Staff member
Is anything I said wrong though? Am I mistaken in my understanding that the more the virus spreads, the more chances it has to mutate, and the higher the likelihood that a resistant strain develops?
That part's all good. "There is a new strain of COVID-19 that is even more infectious" isn't. I mean, it may well be - it probably is! - but at the moment, we just don't know. It's either more contagious, or got lucky, or more easily detected, or a number of other reasons which may have caused it to increase so quickly in certain areas.
It's just the way media and people treat science these days. "Research finds a gene that may play an important role in fat storage in the body and may be able to change this in people with specific types of obesity" -> "Science Found fat Gene - Say Goodbye To Your Belly!" in three or four steps.
You know, I don't generally wish the worst of someone, but all these Republicans who denied Covid-19 and made everything worse by their actions? I would love if they got the absolute worst side effects of the vaccine they're suddenly rushing to get.
If this is anything like Plague, Inc, this is the moment the player dumps as many of his mutation points into making people bleed out of all their orifices while vomiting and shitting all over the place.
If this is anything like Washington, this is the moment the Congresscreature dumps as many of their stock options while their constituents bleed out of all their orifices and vomit and shit all over the place.
So, originally Taiwan had a streak of 200+ days with no community transmission cases. Every single case of COVID in Taiwan was from someone bringing it here, and we caught them all at the border.
And then a few days ago, a pilot from New Zealand flew into Taiwan while sick with COVID. He was able to do this by lying about his health and his travel history. Because pilots and air crew aren't subject to as strict quarantine requirements as other travelers, he ended up moving around Taiwan while still contagious, and he infected a Taiwanese woman, thus ending Taiwan's record of no domestic transmissions. And he wasn't even forthcoming about the time he spent with this woman, it all only came to light when his phone's movements were reviewed by the police. It was also found that pilot had been to crowded places like department stores and hypermarkets, so it's possible he's also infected other people, but currently we don't know for sure.
In response, the pilot is getting the book thrown at him (I believe he's been fired by the airline, and he's been subject to the highest fine allowable under the law), and every place he's been has been given a thorough disinfection. Also, a bunch of new measures have been put in place, such as no eating at public events. But it's possible that this one dude will have made all of Taiwan's efforts for naught.
Also, there's been rampant speculation about the relationship between the pilot and the Taiwanese woman. For some reason, and I suspect it has something to do with misogyny, people have jumped to the conclusion that she's his mistress.
And then a few days ago, a pilot from New Zealand flew into Taiwan while sick with COVID. He was able to do this by lying about his health and his travel history. Because pilots and air crew aren't subject to as strict quarantine requirements as other travelers, he ended up moving around Taiwan while still contagious, and he infected a Taiwanese woman, thus ending Taiwan's record of no domestic transmissions. And he wasn't even forthcoming about the time he spent with this woman, it all only came to light when his phone's movements were reviewed by the police. It was also found that pilot had been to crowded places like department stores and hypermarkets, so it's possible he's also infected other people, but currently we don't know for sure.
In response, the pilot is getting the book thrown at him (I believe he's been fired by the airline, and he's been subject to the highest fine allowable under the law), and every place he's been has been given a thorough disinfection. Also, a bunch of new measures have been put in place, such as no eating at public events. But it's possible that this one dude will have made all of Taiwan's efforts for naught.
Also, there's been rampant speculation about the relationship between the pilot and the Taiwanese woman. For some reason, and I suspect it has something to do with misogyny, people have jumped to the conclusion that she's his mistress.
figmentPez
Staff member
The US has passed 330,000 deaths from COVID-19, meaning about 1 in 1,000 Americans have died from the virus.
I thought I mentioned it here, but last Sunday at around 7:30 pm, they send out an emergency notice that all 5th graders at my son's school must remote-only the next day. No further explanation. By 3pm the next day, an email was sent by the Board of Ed that due to the amount of Covid cases amongst the students and the lack of staff healthy/available to teach in-school, our school specifically would be switching to full-remote schooling for everyone until after the winter break (and even then, an additional week of remote-only will be happening after the break).
So impressed by all the families that traveled during Thanksgiving, and are planning on traveling during this break. What a shock this happened.
So impressed by all the families that traveled during Thanksgiving, and are planning on traveling during this break. What a shock this happened.
I missed it, who's the second?
I think @Frank missed that the other legislator to die of 'Rona in NH was a state legislator.
Dammit, that's actually better.