Coronavirus Open Thread 2022

OK, you expected me to assume there were more than the two sides you said could never meet.

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I wouldn’t worry about it. It’s obviously a ridiculous non-answer typical of this poster on this topic, and he ignores (/lacks the ability to answer) anything more detailed that I or others post in response to his nonsense. :rofl:

Andrew

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Even though his “sides” fail to capture any of the actual arguments being made (including, funnily enough, those on Side A) I think he’s broadly correct that there is no middle ground on which society can reconcile. The authorities seem to have made a deliberate effort to create polarization and enmity.

You’re correct that I would support vaccination for people at risk (on their own terms, of course). What dropped out of the ONS statistics was rather surprising: the age-group that experienced the most tragic loss of life was not the elderly but the 50-65 range. The problem, though, seems to be something like this: the virus itself is not particularly virulent, so when people die, it’s often because something unusual has happened - a dysfunctional immune system reaction, in many cases. The implication is that those who are at most risk of death from the virus are also those at higher risk of death (or injury) from vaccination. It’s definitely not a perfect overlap, but if you look at the age-risk curve for VAERS reports, it has an almost perfect correlation with all-cause risk. There are various possible interpretations, but it suggests to me that one of the mechanisms for vaccine-induced death could be the same one involved in COVID-induced death.

In other words, the very people who you might target with a ‘life saving’ vaccine are the same people who are likely to make your vaccine look bad by inconveniently dying. If you had an actual vaccine which was safe and effective, the greatest number of life-years could have been saved by vaccinating the subset of people in their 50s and 60s who are identifiably at risk: my hunch is that they’re people who have accelerated their own ageing by not looking after themselves. But we don’t have an actual vaccine. It might have been marginally effective at one point, but it certainly isn’t now. So that theoretical utility is merely theoretical.

The truly tragic thing is that those people die of COVID because they’re at the top end of their all-cause risk distribution in their age demographic. They could reduce their all-cause risk by doing some very simple things. That, of course, would be derided by a certain subset of Side A adherents who think there’s a pill for every ill.

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Come on BD, how old are you? A single had a “B side” that nobody ever listened to. A 12" could be manufactured to play at 45rpm with a wider dynamic range and a correspondingly short running time (4 standard 3-minute songs, IIRC, or an extended mix of one or two songs that would normally go onto two sides of a 7" single). I think Cake is suggesting that Guy’s argument is laughably low-fi and would benefit from being re-released for a more discerning audience.

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What are the current rules or recommendations for self-quarantine after you’ve had covid? Everything I can find about it is for inbound travelers. If someone gets it, how long should they isolate after they first show symptoms, or stop showing symptoms? If they get a negative home test, after most symptoms are gone, are they allowed to go out?

You’re supposed to report* at a local clinic/hospital or via the EUCARE app. See my recent experience here and the blog post @lostinasia linked to:

Yeah, it’s surprisingly difficult to find government guidelines for this, at least in English. I couldn’t find anything either.

7 days, which is really 8 days, or maybe longer. :man_shrugging: See the hassle I had.

Still 7/8 days or longer as above. A negative test doesn’t affect that, and it’s not a requirement for leaving quarantine either from what I understand.

(*My phrasing here is deliberate.)

Clipping from a (probably free local) paper:

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Based on what I’ve seen in Canada this summer, I think a more correct phrase would be “no managing of Covid-19.”

Guy

So it’s just a pure power grab?

If you could clarify your pronoun “it,” I could then try to understand your question.

Guy

I assumed you were responding to the article above your post.

I really don’t understand why IATA have so little power in this matter.

It’d be a dangerous game of chicken, but I would have thought they have enough leverage to call a general air-traffic boycott on any country that continues with this kind of nonsense. No air freight, no passenger traffic, no nothing. I suppose the problem is that governments like Canada’s - which seem hell-bent on causing maximum mayhem out of pure spite - would probably call their bluff and say “ok, fine” as the economy collapsed around their ears.

This here is really the crazy part.

" The Covid test, which is free, must be taken on the day of arrival or the following day. The government says: “You can complete your test in-person or pick up a self-swab kit at select test provider locations, select pharmacies, or via a virtual appointment for a self-swab test.”

While waiting for the result – which could take up to four days – travellers are free to go where they wish.

But if the test is positive, the visitor must isolate for 10 days from the time of the result."

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So it 100% is a power grab and nothing to do with public health.

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I know most people don’t have the time to watch videos, but this is something you can just sit and listen to while you eat lunch.

Sayers does a very good job of taking the devils-advocate position here and Weinstein does a good job of addressing it, so I think it’ll be of interest to people who don’t accept that something bad has been constructed around COVID. Whatever else you might think of him, Weinstein is an extremely smart guy and comes from what used to be called The Left, so I don’t think anyone can accuse him of being just Alex Jones with more hair.

It’s a wide-ranging discussion around scientific fraud, censorship, medical ethics, and the nature of “conspiracies”.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/sport/2022/aug/08/tahlia-mcgrath-plays-amid-covid-drama-as-australia-win-games-cricket-gold

Covid positive but Australia still played her. She even celebrated with the team. The horror. However, bit hypocritical considering you can’t play there even if you don’t have covid if you haven’t bent the knee to the vaccine gods.

Realistically, she probably didn’t actually have COVID - I doubt you’d be able to play at the top of your game with what is supposedly a serious respiratory disease. Basically, she just tested positive.

Jordan?