At what point did you / will you take the coronavirus epidemic seriously?

[Color Me Badd Fan]

Want a deeper dive into that French study about chloroquine/azithromycin and COVID-19? Or perhaps you were wondering why there are no error bars in the graph that made such a splash?

https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/are...-for-covid-19/

My brother retired a full bird colonel from one of the branches at the age of 49 (luckily he got his 25 years). He can't hold a driver's license anymore because of his eyes which may have been at least partly due to taking this medication. My mother had macular degeneration in at least one of her eyes which was dealt with through surgery. My brother never had great eyesight, my other brother was somehow blessed with 20/10 vision.

Another anecdote -- a guy in my parents' Provo ward is a big game hunter who would take trips to Africa. His wife went with him in the past and took either this medication or something like it and experienced some fairly adverse side effects. Well, the husband went to Africa again and brought the wife along only this time she decided not to take the medication. Low and behold she ends up dying of malaria leaving behind a bunch of kids, some still pretty young. The stupidity of all of this is mind-boggling, from the husband being into big game hunting (something I will never, ever understand) to bringing his wife on the trip and declining to take the medication.

[Omaha 680]

Is Italy turning the corner? I hope so; they have been through hell.

https://www.worldometers.info/corona...country/italy/

It appears new infections and deaths will be down again (slightly) today in Italy. I'm looking for good news wherever I can find it.

[swampfrog]

Our on-line platforms have been built to social-media shame any that disagree with our media-manufactured groupthink. Was there a balanced discussion in the media wrt Bush/Iraq? Hell, no. We are dashing headlong into economic devastation because a few thousand folks are going to die from this Chinese bat virus. SU is a prophet.

I think we are still in the infancy of social-media use. We haven't yet discovered how to use it effectively as a replacement for broadcast media, but we're headed that way. We may very well destroy ourselves first though. Depending on who is followed, Twitter is a completely different place for many people.

This whole thread is worth the read:

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It's not like similar alarms are not being raised:

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[falafel]

This is wishful thinking.

A few thousand American citizens die on 9/11. What followed?

• virtual unlimited war powers granted to the Executive Branch (yet to be revoked)
• the PATRIOT act
• the TSA as "security theater"
• state-sanctioned torture

But Trump.

Is this just a more detailed whataboutism?

[Walter Sobchak]

Is this just a more detailed whataboutism?

Possibly. Check this out:

At least while they were frightened, people complied. At times when people fear death, they go along with measures that they believe, rightly or wrongly, will save them—even if that means a loss of freedom. Such measures have been popular in the past. Liberals, libertarians, democrats, and freedom-lovers of all kinds should not fool themselves: They will be popular now too.

Note that Republicans are not specifically included as a group of "freedom-lovers" by the author.

Republicans expand power when the opportunity presents itself, something the Dems would never do? Unlikely. Obama didn't do shit to reverse Bush's excesses, instead he amplified many of them.

[UVACoug]

Regardless of what you think of the policy or person, it sure would be nice to have a President that could speak as clearly as this:

https://twitter.com/BorisJohnson/status/1242187201334607886

[Katy Lied]

Serious question about the missionary pick up and that picture. I haven't left my city in over a week, but I could see myself in that picture. If you're standing in a space where you're at least 6-10 feet away from others, like it appears how people are in that picture, and if you're standing in small groups of immediate family--people you've already been quarantined with, is what they're doing really that unsafe?

I looked at the pictures and there were small greeting groups- 4 or 5 or 6. The problem is when there are 100 missionaries on the flight, that is going to add up.

[Pelado]

This view from another Stanford biophysicist and Nobel Prize winner is encouraging.

I found this snippet pretty interesting:

Getting vaccinated against the flu is important because a coronavirus outbreak that strikes in the middle of a flu epidemic is much more likely to overwhelm hospitals and increases the odds that the coronavirus goes undetected. This was probably a factor in Italy, a country with a strong anti-vaccine movement, he said.

[Northwestcoug]

My brother retired a full bird colonel from one of the branches at the age of 49 (luckily he got his 25 years). He can't hold a driver's license anymore because of his eyes which may have been at least partly due to taking this medication. My mother had macular degeneration in at least one of her eyes which was dealt with through surgery. My brother never had great eyesight, my other brother was somehow blessed with 20/10 vision.

Another anecdote -- a guy in my parents' Provo ward is a big game hunter who would take trips to Africa. His wife went with him in the past and took either this medication or something like it and experienced some fairly adverse side effects. Well, the husband went to Africa again and brought the wife along only this time she decided not to take the medication. Low and behold she ends up dying of malaria leaving behind a bunch of kids, some still pretty young. The stupidity of all of this is mind-boggling, from the husband being into big game hunting (something I will never, ever understand) to bringing his wife on the trip and declining to take the medication.

Exactly. These drugs are not without their side effects. And mass use of them would have some pretty significant harms to patients who need them. But Trump is too ignorant to even contemplate that this.

[myboynoah]

Impossible... MBN says that South Korea is kicking our asses in COVID-19 testing thanks to the CDC being a bunch of government dipsh*ts.

Ha. Korea won that race over a month ago.

It's good to see that the U.S. has a more robust and immproving testing regime. That is key to stopping the spread. Korea new cases were only 64 yesterday. The government is asking people to be extra vigilant in staying at home and practicing social distancing over the next two weeks in anticipation of opening schools on April 6.

Italy numbers looking better. I hope that holds.

[Solon]

Possibly. Check this out:



Note that Republicans are not specifically included as a group of "freedom-lovers" by the author.

Republicans expand power when the opportunity presents itself, something the Dems would never do? Unlikely. Obama didn't do shit to reverse Bush's excesses, instead he amplified many of them.

I agree that the article falls apart a little when it goes after Trump, but the main point of the article - developments in Israel, Hungary, Poland, as well as increased police presence and surveillance in France and Italy - are reasons for heightened vigilance at least and perhaps even alarm in the world's democracies.

[swampfrog]

And here's why this is so hard to wrap my head around.

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[Uncle Ted]

And here's why this is so hard to wrap my head around.

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[Uncle Ted]

Want a deeper dive into that French study about chloroquine/azithromycin and COVID-19? Or perhaps you were wondering why there are no error bars in the graph that made such a splash?

https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/are...-for-covid-19/

Apparently there is an hell of a trial of these drugs going on in NY...

New York moved to begin trials Tuesday, procuring 70,000 doses of hydroxychloroquine and 750,000 doses of chloroquine, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said. In addition Bayer, the drug maker, has donated 3 million doses of Resochin, its brand name for chloroquine, to the federal government.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/23/health/chloroquine-hydroxycholoroquine-drugs-explained/index.html

[PaloAltoCougar]

Regardless of what you think of the policy or person, it sure would be nice to have a President that could speak as clearly as this:

https://twitter.com/BorisJohnson/sta...87201334607886

The contrast between Johnson's presentation and Trump's this evening couldn't be more stark. Johnson projects both gravity and yet hope. Trump, even when he's reading prepared remarks, seems like the kid at the back of the classroom who gets called on, unprepared, but thinks he can wing it anyway.