[Patrickov]

Chinese Biological Experiments To Infect Humans With Coronavirus Exposed In 2015 By Italian State Media
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/ ... lian-state

Seriously if that is the case then Italy was really doing a bad job because they are hit almost the hardest in this epidemic, despite being one of the first to know what's going on.

[Zionist Nationalist]

Seriously if that is the case then Italy was really doing a bad job because they are hit almost the hardest in this epidemic, despite being one of the first to know what's going on.

I dont think their government took this seriously
actually nobody took it seriously because many countries do similar experiments but nobody fucked this up like China
I wont be surprised if SARS was also some sort of experiment gone wrong

The fact that they reopened those wet markets just shows that those markets are not the real source of this virus

[annatar1914]

Seriously if that is the case then Italy was really doing a bad job because they are hit almost the hardest in this epidemic, despite being one of the first to know what's going on.

I seem to recall that China is Italy's biggest business partner, that Italy is China's biggest partner in the EU. I also read somewhere that there are over 100,000 Chinese workers in Italy as part of all that, legal and illegal, and that many of them are from the regions in and around Wuhan.

[Rancid]

I seem to recall that China is Italy's biggest business partner, that Italy is China's biggest partner in the EU. I also read somewhere that there are over 100,000 Chinese workers in Italy as part of all that, legal and illegal, and that many of them are from the regions in and around Wuhan.

Italy is the only EU country that signed on to the Belt and Road initiative that China is pushing. Thus, this makes sense.

[Rancid]

The Texas Governor has ordered that schools cannot open until May 4th at the earliest. That would leave about 18 days of school before the end of the year. unless school districts extend the school year or something.

[Kaiserschmarrn]

In Austria, there are now around 10,000 confirmed cases, 1,000 are in hospital and 200 in critical care. The country has ca. 2,000 critical care beds and in normal times 80% are occupied on average, although less now as they've been trying to reduce occupancy by carrying out fewer surgeries, the flu season is almost over and at least one region says there are fewer accidents at the moment.

Testing of 2,000 people in the general population is underway and I've been wondering how the high false positives and negatives of the RT-PCR tests will be affecting this if, as is planned, a random sample is tested.

538 have been asking experts 2 weeks ago to estimate the no of cases in the US in 2 weeks' time. What I'm surprised by is not that their best estimates are wrong, but why almost all of them have given tiny intervals from min to max. The top 3 were clearly right in making the confidence intervals large.

@Kaiserschmarrn at this time, the King has no concubines. Just saying...

Sure thing, Godstud. It's actually hard to believe that you believe that.

Then they follow up with this exchange;

Journalist: Taiwan
WHO guy: Can't hear you. Could you ask me a different question?
Journalist: Could you comment on Taiwan?
WHO guy: Nope. -click-
Journalist after calling back: Taiwan, though.
WHO guy: We've already spoken about China.

Most embarrassing interview I've seen in a while. I think this was the same guy who said that he'd choose to get treated in China.

Generally I believe that's true. However, it's possible some regions aren't able to get the supply of test they need. So I wonder if some regions might be buying tests to supplement?

I think in the US the bottleneck was "red tape" or unintended consequences of it. I know it's a right wing talking point but it seems to be actually true in this case, although they've now rectified it. The US is probably among the best placed to quickly increase test availability, but you are right that with the surge in demand and the expedited procedures now in place, some places might be able to circumvent the autorisation processes, find loopholes, etc. I have no idea how one would go about checking this when there's now hundreds of commercial and public labs carrying out tests. It's something news outlets should be trying to find out I think - at least by asking politicians during one of the many press conferences going on now.

[Donna]

We need to start building socialism.

[annatar1914]

We need to start building socialism.

Can't build it on the unstable foundations of Liberalism and Identity Politics. This pestilence transcends politics, just like the Great Patriotic War against Fascism in 1941-1945.

[Donna]

Can't build it on the unstable foundations of Liberalism and Identity Politics. This pestilence transcends politics, just like the Great Patriotic War against Fascism in 1941-1945.

Sounds like nazbol nonsense but ok

[annatar1914]

Sounds like nazbol nonsense but ok

Was the Alliance between the Anglo-Americans and the Soviet Union against the Fascist Axis ''nazbol nonsense''?

[Donna]

Was the Alliance between the Anglo-Americans and the Soviet Union against the Fascist Axis ''nazbol nonsense''?

I'm sorry, what point are you trying to make?

[annatar1914]

I'm sorry, what point are you trying to make?

That people of whatever political ideology that has the slightest humanism about it (feigned or otherwise) needs to come together in projects that protect our common humanity.

Why would that be hard to understand?

[Donna]

That people of whatever political ideology that has the slightest humanism about it (feigned or otherwise) needs to come together in projects that protect our common humanity.

Why would that be hard to understand?

Okay?

[annatar1914]

Okay?

That's how you build Socialism. Being smart. Not an asshole.

[foxdemon]

Everyone wearing masks in Thailand, but heck if I can find one that isn't more than just a fashion accessory(not N95, for sure).

Did my weekly shopping trip. At least the big store was practically empty. Going as soon as it opens is a good idea.

@Kaiserschmarrn at this time, the King has no concubines. Just saying...

There are different strategies that different masks serve.

N95 masks stop the bad stuff getting in almost all the time. These masks don’t stop stuff getting out, particularly if they feature a valve. The strategy they match is stopping virus particles outright in zones of concentration. So health care workers or people at home caring for a family member with SARS 2 would really need such a mask.

Another strategy, used all across Asia, is everyone wears a mask so any muck they breath out, cough, or even the stuff that gets expelled when talking, gets caught in the mask. If everyone does this, then airborne pathogens will have a much harder time getting airborne and spreading. At least that is the theory.

But EVERYONE MUST WEAR A MASK.

So it is a form of heard immunity, but based on behaviour rather than biology. Any mask would work, surgical masks are best but homemade masks or even bandanas would work. N95 masks don’t do a great job. In fact they are close to useless for this strategy if they feature a valve as the contaminated air just comes straight out through the valve.

The west has been slow to take up the heart mask strategy, mainly because western authorities have been worried about shortages of masks. Instead they have been berating the public for wearing masks. This propaganda now has to be undone. Resignations would do a lot to remedy the problem.

[Donna]

That's how you build Socialism. Being smart. Not an asshole.

Okay boomer.

[foxdemon]

An interesting reading: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/30/new-study-sheds-light-on-coronavirus-infection-mechanism

ACE2 receptor site is one possible source of any ethnic variation in susceptiblity.

Just a few provocateurs. Italy has no choice but to remain in the EU as unemployment will rise significantly and the EU allows it to export its unemployed people. We will see more Italians, Spaniards, Greeks leaving home to work in other EU countries. We will welcome them happily in central Europe where we have low unemployment.

The Western Australians are the separatists here. They are lapping up the excuse to close boarders. Probably have to send the tanks in after the pandemic passes.

I'm beginning to think the rate of spread is more genetically determined than by weather. In Sweden it doesn't appear to be spreading faster than in those hot countries and they seem to be doing nothing to restrict it. It would also explain the huge difference in death rates between Germany, Italy, France. Italians, Spaniards may have some evolutionary disadvantage to fight off this particular disease.

Unless there is an official recommendation by an authority like CDC or WHO not to take fever suppressing drugs for COVID-19 I'm going to take them. Having uncontrolled high fever can be dangerous too and could be responsible for some of the sudden deaths at home that were reported.

Bad news seems to be after recovering from COVID-19 one can catch it again in a few months which would put herd immunity strategy in question, although we don't have much data yet.

So, yes. The ACE2 site is one possible source of expressed genetic variation. But the innate immune system would be another area of expressed genetic variation that might explain ethnic variation in the impact of this disease. It is early days and a lot of research would need to be done to establish such a case.

@ThirdTerm follows the genetic stuff more closely than I do.


As to fever suppressing drugs, as I said, best to seek local medical advice. Take this:


Fever does certainly improve immune function. That is what the fever is for. It will help to fight of this virus. But it also uses up energy and oxygen to raise core body temperature.

If the disease is causing low blood oxygen, it is possible that a high fever might use up too much of what oxygen is left in the blood and cause organs to start failing.

Is it good to avoid suppressing fever early in the infection but then switch to suppressing it latter when blood oxygen starts dropping due to lung damage/inflammation?



Well, I don’t have a 6 year medical degree. Nor do I have 20+ years of medical experience. @Drlee tells us to avoid internet medical advice. If you are really worried, I suppose your best bet is to research doctors in your region and figure out who is the most clued up on this new virus and try to be one of his patients.

[Donna]

Should we be surprised that Bhattacharya started speaking out against the economic impact of the pandemic in the Wall Street Journal and gave follow up interviews to the Washington Examiner and National Review? The dude is clearly a neoliberal hack.

[Drlee]

I invite all of the Trump supporters to pay attention to Sivad's article and govern themselves accordingly.

Of course you should ignore your president who has gone from "one case no problem" to 10,000 deaths and withing a week of that 100,000 deaths and a day later as many as 250,000 deaths. So which is it clones? Is Sivad right or is your President?

Sivad's so-called doctor is a dangerous ideologue. A fool.

[Patrickov]

It's amazing that Xi Jinping still has a job.

It is not amazing at all.

China is a totalitarian dictatorship so Xi wouldn't have consequences unless some other entity unleashes something violent on him and his administration.

EDIT: As a matter of fact, I mostly disagree with the rest of the article from which the above quote is extracted. Trump has his faults and so do Democrats, but the most important thing is that most ordinary Westerners have weak senses of taking measures to stop virus spread. It only takes deaths of thousands to make them realise the importance of social distancing and wearing a face mask whenever they are to meet somebody else.

Even the British paid a very high price seeing that their prime minister and health secretary both got infected themselves.