Topic: Is the Corona virus the elephant in the room?

[6pairsofshoes]

It's nice to see you here again, Bea, and I'm sorry about the sinus infection.  The rolling sets of lockdowns in the U.S. and abroad seem common sense to me given how many new cases there are.  Your handwashing sounds like a good precaution as you have to deal with customers.  It's sad to see many restaurants and bars going under from this.  We can only hope that improved testing and vaccines will help us all get back to normal.  It would be nice to be able to stop worrying every time we sneeze or cough that it doesn't necessarily mean curtains.  I hope you can continue to stay safe and that you feel better soon.  Hope the kids are ok.  Are they going to school or doing distance learning?

[smokester]

Is there an argument for vaccines of the future to be offered to volunteers way before the end of clinical trials? They knew these vaccines were going to be effective because of Oxford's SARS vaccine that is incredibly similar and that was very successful. I ask this as rolling out early stage vaccines before their time to volunteers, may save many, many more lives than would be lost by going through the motions. Surely that is the only true objective?

[Beatrix]

Yes, the kids are distance learning.  My daughter is very unhappy with the setting, which is normal especially with the big move. It take her sometimes up to 6 months or better to relearn or retrain certain skills, such as slowly winding down an O.C.D. issue, over time.  Shes going to be 14 in december and her attitude and chemistry are certainly showing, I understand her <3. My son is content as a pig in poo he loves being at home.  I'd love to talk to you about them sometime Six.  They are beautiful. 

[Beatrix]

You know, I'm sure I've told you at least once before I love reading your communicated material. 

Servicemen/ women pray for war, as in war they can earn quick promotion and daily drudgery is minimised in favour of expediency and results.

I guess that the same is true in virology at the moment - there is many a quick route to a Nobel, and you don't have to worry about the usual health & safety nonsense: overall results are more important than losing the odd few volunteers.

[goldshirt*9]

As you know my wife works in the "Main county hospital" and it is a lot worse than the first lockdown, No wards/ beds are available. On top they are trying to catch up with first wave we had.
Majority of cases in the critical wards are men, fighting for their lives and those that do survive have having various after effects. Up to 60 litres of air being pumped into your lungs an hour is not good.

[8ullfrog]

Businesses here have decided to defy orders.

In the first wave they "got away with it" because police refused to enforce the mandates. I remember on the local news the cop was positively smug. Hands on hips and he did like a little wiggle dance as he said they weren't going to enforce. Like the "oh no you di'int" motion.
 I was shocked that someone could be so flagrant.

Apparently there are going to be real consequences this time around. There should have been real consequences then. poo, FOUR RESTAURANTS in Pacific Beach were identified as super spreader locations.

I really don't get this masque of red death poo. Halloween kicked us into this restrictive tier, Thanksgiving is going to be a black wave of death.

[smokester]

You know, I'm sure I've told you at least once before I love reading your communicated material.

That's very gracious of you. There isn't a lot of it about, unfortunately.

You should see the recycle bin. It reads like the bible.

There really isn't a perceivable lockdown this lockdown - at least not in London. That said, I think that there is good adherence to the rules now. This is mainly because there are no longer really "rules" but more just a way of life. Facemasks now live with your phone and keys.

[dweez]

I haven't noticed anything different either except that Starbuck's indoor cafe area is closed (just indoor pickup and go). Since classes started this semester, the cafe has always been full (though social distancing was properly observed). I probably haven't noticed much change because I pretty much stayed in lockdown mode after restrictions were lifted since I was working remote and really had no place to go.

[goldshirt*9]

There really isn't a perceivable lockdown this lockdown - at least not in London. That said, I think that there is good adherence to the rules now. This is mainly because there are no longer really "rules" but more just a way of life. Facemasks now live with your phone and keys.

Same in the midlands, more people wear masks than before except the few, but how do garden centers stay open

[8ullfrog]

10PM curfew goes into effect tomorrow night here, people are already screeching.

There have already been cease and desist orders handed out like candy. One diner is constantly on the news because the owner says he will defy ALL orders.

Because Diners don't have outdoor seating. By design. IT'S A BIG BOX! Still, I wouldn't want to stake my business on pissing off the government.

[dandrummerman]

Hello.

I didn't read back more than a few pages, was wondering if anyone here had gotten it or at least suspected it?

I *suspect* that I had it in early February. My wife and daughter and I had visited the Ann Arbor Hands-On Museum after which my wife and I got very sick (me first). We ended up fighting it in bed for a few days, luckily not at the same time. Our coughs took 4-6 weeks to go away, and our breathing didn't seem to go back to normal for a few months. My daughter (2 at the time) never got sick.

It is possible it wasn't covid. But I'd put a small bet on it if I could. I recently took a rapid covid test and it came back negative for the virus and antibodies. I don't think the antibodies would still be in my system for 9 months though.



I live in the Detroit area, it was bad here once near the start when hospitals reached capacity but we kept it at bay *just enough* back then. Now state numbers are going up again, but is all across the state rather than JUST the Detroit area. Most of this is due to the red areas of the state, which have way more anti-maskers. It is pretty sad.

I'm glad I don't work in healthcare.

MI just reimposed a mask mandate and shut down indoor dining, as well as made HS students distance learning only, among other things. We had several restrictions for months, put in place by executive emergency order by our governor (d) that were struck down just a couple months ago by our supreme court (R).

Go figure that our numbers are on the rise when you remove all those restrictions. The current directives are from the Michigan Department of Health, and I expect that Republicans will work hard to get these removed also.

I hate politics. I hate how the stupid thing has come to be so political.

[smokester]

Hello Dan.

I have had times when I thought I may have it due to an unusual and extreme feeling of fatigue. I also felt under the weather at some of those times so my money was on that I'd had it. However, I was recently asked to participate in the Imperial College research which involved testing (antigen not antibodies) and a lengthy questionnaire (the test was negative). When I got to the questionnaire there was a section about whether I'd had it and the options were was I sure due to a test, had I displayed symptons and had been in close proximity to someone to someone who later tested positive, did I just suspect it without evidence or did I think that I hadn't had it. When I was really faced with the question, I answered that I didn't think I'd had it.

Most people I know think they've had it for one reason or another, but considering the estimate is about on 10% of the population may have had it asymptomatically, I strongly doubt that they have and it's just wishful thinking.

[8ullfrog]

Apparently the antibodies can last up to a year, but all this science is being done at a breakneck pace.

[smokester]

Oxford's vaccine data is announced and sounded disapponting at first glance. However, now after listening through how it all works it's actually quite encouraging. In fact, the result that showed nearly 90% efficacy for a half dose and then a full dose, will not only make the vaccine go much further, but also might be a far more useful result in terms of understanding how the body reacts to these vaccines.

[6pairsofshoes]

Is this the Astrozeneca one?  I think it can also be kept in a regular refrigerator unlike the others that require much colder storage.