Coronavirus

[code monkey]

Yes, testing is the key to getting in front of outbreaks. And a lot of companies or schools are just not prepared or willing to do the level of testing they need to.

add in hhs pushing the fda aside and permitting tests without a demonstration of accuracy (what? we'll figure that out later.) and one has a real mess.

[Rommie]

So, when I was a freshman in college I'd gone straight from an all-girls school to an intro physics class with ~150 people, 20% women. It was a little intimidating especially because guys would stare at me, so my solution at the time was sitting in the front row. Because I knew the room was still 80% guys, and some were still staring, but honestly if I couldn't see it it was easy to ignore and focus on what matters.

I realized yesterday working from the office is just like that feeling. No one is really in- I am the only one on the bike rack that's normally full this time of year, and my boss isn't in because his kid got a fever this weekend and you know what excitement that causes during the pandemic. (I got tested negative after the last time we met in person, so not a concern there, and I'm pretty sure toddlers have a million more benign reasons to get fevers.) So it is very definitely quiet with not much going on compared to before. But oh man... I just love my office, and am so happy to be back in it and am so much more productive. I just sit with my door closed facing my monitor and window, and swear to God I draw energy to work through problems just by being in an institute again. Amazing how the mind works in this.

But yeah, if I face the other way to go to the bathroom or go outside or whatever, you see all the empty offices and can't ignore the reality of how strange it is. (I'm irrationally wondering if I should be here, even though come on realistically if I'm not running into anyone, what's the problem.) I have no idea if any of this makes sense, just it's a strange mix of feelings so I wanted to share it.

[SciFiFisher]

At my office we were talking about that sort of thing with almost half or more of the staff out most of the time now. there are a lot of days when I go hours without talking to anyone in the office. Before it was almost impossible to go an hour without having some sort of chitchat with people.

I refer to it as "the last few people on the planet" sort of feeling. Like we had an apocalypse and the survivors are all still hunkering down waiting for it to be over.

[lady_*nix]

I had no idea things were this bad:

https://www.theroot.com/a-fact-worth-re ... 1845230760

"A Fact Worth Remembering From Tuesday’s Debate Debacle: 1 in 1,000 Black Americans Have Died This Year Because of the Coronavirus"

That's not "1 in every 1000 deaths of Black Americans was caused by COVID-19". That's "1 in every 1000 Black Americans died this year."

There's a reason I keep saying the Trump administration has weaponized COVID as a tool of genocide. They knew who it was most likely to kill, and they allowed it to run rampant (even to the point of blockading supplies to hard-hit blue states). Trump said over and over again that he would deliberately harm Black and Latine people in the US, and now the pandemic has given him the tools to do so, and he has done so.

Genocide does not need to involve death marches, mass shootings, gas chambers. It can also be done through starvation and disease, and that has been done many times in the past. The Trump administration is doing it again.

[Rommie]

You should watch the new South Park from last night. As a side plot, Mister Garrison/ Trump refused to do anything about the pandemic because he realized it was killing Mexicans.

I will disagree with calling it genocide though because of essentially the same reason the boys had- "a lot of other people are getting hurt too, not just Mexicans!" And Trump/Garrison just shrugged. Similarly, I think calling something genocide is very serious and should not be a term watered-down, and the definition implies a definite intention that is not what's happening right now. Does the pandemic affect minorities more? For sure. Is that tied into the systematic racial injustices present in our society? Also definitely true. But I wouldn't call it genocide.

[lady_*nix]

@Rommie

That's the thing though, I the intention part really is there. Trump and his people told us over and over again that they would deliberately hurt Latine people. They instituted family separation at the border (already genocide by UN definitions), they let COVID run rampant in ICE/CBP concentration camps. They called a bunch of actual neo-Nazis "fine people". Like no offense but it's fucking ridiculous for anyone to still be acting like the intent isn't there. The intent has been crystal clear from the very first day, and people have been telling y'all over and over again that things would get bad.

There is a reason those words, "over and over again", keep coming up. "There's no intent though..." and yet, what do you call deliberately blockading supplies to major cities during a pandemic? What do you call literally kidnapping Latine children from their parents, literally meeting the UN definition of genocide? What do you call abducting undocumented Latine people into internment camps, where they're crowded shoulder to shoulder and disease is allowed to run rampant? Do you remember that Anne Frank died of dysentery, not in a gas chamber?

I'm trying to be polite about this and stuff, I really am, but this is the reality we're living in. Genocides don't start off looking like the Holocaust at its worst. Nazi Germany lasted 12 years, and we're only on year 4 of Trump's regime (and started with institutions stronger than the Weimar Republic's).

Edit: I think I'll pass on South Park, honestly I consider Matt Stone and Trey Parker complicit in a lot of the way this country has gone lately. The Golden Mean/"sane middle ground" equivocation, the "ironic" antisemitism with Stone acting as cover, the endless harping on people for actually caring about shit... all of it.

Edit 2: also going to note in passing that US policy towards undocumented Latine people has qualified as ethnic cleansing, by UN definitions, for much longer than the last 4 years - under Obama as "Deporter in Chief", and under Bush before him even. Obama had over a million people deported in his first three years in office, mostly Latine folks and other people of color - what else are we going to call that?

[Rommie]

lady_*nix, I'm getting a little tired about how I always explain that I care about what is happening in our country too, but you always insist that I don't care enough and you act like you are the only one who does, just because you think things are worse and act like you're the only one who saw it coming.

[lady_*nix]

@Rommie

Yeah I get that. I don't think you "don't care enough", and I certainly don't think I'm the only one who knew this was coming. Just... I'm also exhausted. And honestly I'm in no position to criticize people for not doing enough - I'm not doing enough, IDK if anyone is, IDK if anyone can. It just gets incredibly tiring to constantly hear "It's not as bad as you say though?" when the evidence of how bad it is, and how much worse it's going to get, has been staring us in the face every day from day one.

[SciFiFisher]

Hope Hicks, someone who is literally glued to Trump all the time has tested positive for COVID. And apparently is showing symptoms. I wish I could say I was not wishing for bad things to happen.

[lady_*nix]

Trump himself just tested positive.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/202 ... oronavirus

He'll probably survive same as BoJo did, but after how his administration has handled the pandemic? I feel like the virus killing him would be karmic justice.

[SciFiFisher]

Trump himself just tested positive.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/202 ... oronavirus

He'll probably survive same as BoJo did, but after how his administration has handled the pandemic? I feel like the virus killing him would be karmic justice.

Some of the commentators I follow are suggesting that he might be lying about testing positive. It would get him out of the next two debates and distract people from some of the other stories about him. I can't say the idea didn't cross my mind too. But, I really hope that he has it. And that it is very bad. I rather like the idea of Trump of sucking on an endotracheal tube.

[Rommie]

Trump himself just tested positive.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/202 ... oronavirus

He'll probably survive same as BoJo did, but after how his administration has handled the pandemic? I feel like the virus killing him would be karmic justice.

Some of the commentators I follow are suggesting that he might be lying about testing positive. It would get him out of the next two debates and distract people from some of the other stories about him. I can't say the idea didn't cross my mind too. But, I really hope that he has it. And that it is very bad. I rather like the idea of Trump of sucking on an endotracheal tube.

Just commented on this in politics. Honestly the shocking thing about a man who flouts coronavirus mitigation procedures and hangs out at giant indoor rallies is that it took this long to test positive.

[pumpkinpi]

Trump himself just tested positive.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/202 ... oronavirus

He'll probably survive same as BoJo did, but after how his administration has handled the pandemic? I feel like the virus killing him would be karmic justice.

Some of the commentators I follow are suggesting that he might be lying about testing positive. It would get him out of the next two debates and distract people from some of the other stories about him. I can't say the idea didn't cross my mind too. But, I really hope that he has it. And that it is very bad. I rather like the idea of Trump of sucking on an endotracheal tube.

Just commented on this in politics. Honestly the shocking thing about a man who flouts coronavirus mitigation procedures and hangs out at giant indoor rallies is that it took this long to test positive.

And small indoor gatherings. As I said in elections thread, he met with GOP leaders and fundraisers in Minnesota Wednesday night. MrPi knows one of them. It was a dinner at $200,000 per couple. Think they were all wearing masks the whole time?

[Rommie]

Hells no. Tuesday was a great example of this- Republican half of the room were all handed masks and told to wear them, they declined, Cleveland Clinic staff were told there's nothing else that could be done about it.

Also, I found this article about the complete lack of anything regarding social distancing/ precautions at the White House, published in August, really interesting. (I do remember distantly seeing the staffers leaving around 4pm the day we walked around that area in August, and indeed none had masks despite DC's requirement for people to wear them in public.) We actually have far more strict coronavirus requirements to work in my astronomy department right now- one person per office door closed, masks unless you're in your office w the door closed/ wipes everywhere you might touch something, fill out a survey every day to confirm you don't have symptoms, etc.) And this is just a random-ass astronomy department, not the friggin' White House. It's pretty criminally negligent how little they gave a shit, no wonder Republicans were pushing to absolve liability from workplaces if people catch coronavirus.

[SciFiFisher]

And Trump was hospitalized Friday, 10/2/2020, due to having symptoms. Of course, he has already received treatments that are not readily available to the general public. Which supports what I have been saying for a while now. The rich and powerful don't fear COVID because they know they will get the best care in the world. It is highly unlikely that he will die from it. Although given his co-morbidities they are saying he has a 10% chance of having a very serious disease course.

I guess that shoots down the "he's faking it" theory.

[lady_*nix]

The rich and powerful don't fear COVID because they know they will get the best care in the world.

Yup, billionaire child rapists get the best care in the world, while working moms are expected to shut up and die (and to hell with their kids). Welcome to how I became a socialist.

[lady_*nix]

Also, fun new wrinkle: one of the doctors let slip that he'd tested pos ~2 days before it came out in the media ("72 hours", when we were 24 hours into this fiasco). Nobody was told. So he was interacting with other people, unquarantined and maskless, while probably already having been told he was pos. It's quite possible Hope Hicks actually first got it from him.

What an absolute piece of shit.

[code monkey]

And Trump was hospitalized Friday, 10/2/2020, due to having symptoms. Of course, he has already received treatments that are not readily available to the general public. Which supports what I have been saying for a while now. The rich and powerful don't fear COVID because they know they will get the best care in the world. It is highly unlikely that he will die from it. Although given his co-morbidities they are saying he has a 10% chance of having a very serious disease course.

I guess that shoots down the "he's faking it" theory.

1. amazing that, given his carrying on about how good the drug was, he didn't get hydroxychloroquine
2. shoots down the theory? how do we know that he's actually being treated or having symptoms?
3. want another wild theory? a small group of people close to him, some very high up in the military, some from the various -ia agencies, are holding him captive. they've been alarmed at his actions and found his statements of the last few weeks to be the last straw. books may or may not be published in feb2021.

[SciFiFisher]

Meanwhile, the list of GOP members and White House staffers who are testing positive just keeps getting longer.

The Worst Lady - Melania Trump
Kelly Ann Conway
Christie
Hope Hicks
Senator Lee
Senator Tillis
Senator Ron Johnson
Trump Campaign Manager Bill Stepien
Republican Chair Ronna McDaniel

and more!

[code monkey]

anyone notice mood changes in the list of dexamethasone aes?

[lady_*nix]

How do you even tell if a guy like Trump is getting mood swings though? Like, relative to what? He makes me look stable just by default...

[SciFiFisher]

How do you even tell if a guy like Trump is getting mood swings though? Like, relative to what? He makes me look stable just by default...

LMBO... Well, you are a kind person. Which places you light years ahead of the orange baboon.

[lady_*nix]

Edit: moved to Politics thread LOL, this got way too ranty

[SciFiFisher]

I don't want to depress people but the projections for COVID deaths by the end of the year are not rosy.

[code monkey]

I don't want to depress people but the projections for COVID deaths by the end of the year are not rosy.

if you're not depressed you're not paying attention.