Coronavirus/COVID-19, Thread 3 (Omicron & Delta Variants)

[OBisHalJordan]

I'm vaxxed and wear a mask all the time but I'm also very concerned about how covid is giving rise to medical policing and so many people are cheering it and trying to enforce it. At the university where I work, some professors are calling campus cops to report students who aren't complying with the mask mandate. Disgusting!

I wrote this about with a colleague last summer: https://www.radicalphilosophy.com/article/beware-medical-police

But the virus has revealed something that has been inherent in medical police ever since life was redefined as information and the body as an information technology: the fact that the body is simultaneously the site of disease and information creates the opportunity for it to be policed through that very information. This enables any authority which can rightly claim access to that information – employers, credit card companies and insurance companies as well as the state – to keep constant watch over the body’s biochemical processes and shape the behaviour of the subject. The issue here is not the fact of surveillance or the infringement of privacy but the formation of the pacified subject. The issue, in other words, is not surveillance, but ways in which the police power fabricates forms of subjectivity and submission.

[canman1971]

ICUs at 100 percent capacity: See the hardest-hit hospitals in the U.S.
Early this month, Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta delayed elective surgeries and procedures. The reason: There were so many Covid-19 patients in the hospital's intensive care unit that there was just no room for anyone who isn't seriously ill.

The “second-hand smoking” analogy is powerful to me. I’m scheduled to go in next month to get my now huge balls (thanks Moderna!) sculpted into an even more impressive profile and I’d hate to reschedule my crowning glory (I’m getting offers to be in porn) just because ddb rolled into the hospital and took the last bed.

Funny though how people like this think they are sooo morally superior and better people than unvaccinated, but I've never seen an unvaccinated person make fun or wish ill on the vaxed. Wishing to see people in a hospital lmao for real, what has the world come to. There's even people celebrating death of others just because they were unvaccinated, who knows for what reason.
Also fyi there's 107 VAERS reports of swollen testicles. And lots of cases are not reported on there. But **** those people who are ill for life because they don't fit your "vaccine is from the gods" agenda right?

Hyperbole. People aren't wishing for anyone to die. Fact is, people are dying in many cities as many people who have Covid are taking up beds that otherwise could be used for those with other ailments. What people are saying is had those gotten the vaccine, they very well could have avoided hospitalization and not overcrowded hospitals and force doctors to make decisions they shouldn't have to make. I hear of people all the time being yelled at for wearing a mask. Look at what happened at the NH. Anti vaccine people stormed what was supposed to be an Executive Council meeting, and they had to cancel it. Also, school board members in NH are being threatened by the same. In some towns, police escorts are needed so they can get to their car. But those who don't want the vaccine are all peaches and cream. All you need to do is read through this thread again and look at facts and statistics to understand this.

[exculpatory]

The “second-hand smoking” analogy is powerful to me. I’m scheduled to go in next month to get my now huge balls (thanks Moderna!) sculpted into an even more impressive profile and I’d hate to reschedule my crowning glory (I’m getting offers to be in porn) just because ddb rolled into the hospital and took the last bed.

Funny though how people like this think they are sooo morally superior and better people than unvaccinated, but I've never seen an unvaccinated person make fun or wish ill on the vaxed. Wishing to see people in a hospital lmao for real, what has the world come to. There's even people celebrating death of others just because they were unvaccinated, who knows for what reason.
Also fyi there's 107 VAERS reports of swollen testicles. And lots of cases are not reported on there. But **** those people who are ill for life because they don't fit your "vaccine is from the gods" agenda right?

Hyperbole. People aren't wishing for anyone to die. Fact is, people are dying in many cities as many people who have Covid are taking up beds that otherwise could be used for those with other ailments. What people are saying is had those gotten the vaccine, they very well could have avoided hospitalization and not overcrowded hospitals and force doctors to make decisions they shouldn't have to make. I hear of people all the time being yelled at for wearing a mask. Look at what happened at the NH. Anti vaccine people stormed what was supposed to be an Executive Council meeting, and they had to cancel it. Also, school board members in NH are being threatened by the same. In some towns, police escorts are needed so they can get to their car. But those who don't want the vaccine are all peaches and cream. All you need to do is read through this thread again and look at facts and statistics to understand this.

Smart man you are, Can.

[Marley2Hendrix]

Spoiler:

Right click image, open in new tab, click to magnify. The one thing I've wanted for months that I can't find is a breakdown of COVID deaths by age and comorbidity. If you are under 50 and healthy with no comorbidities, statistically speaking, dying of COVID is quite likely to be an exceptionally atypical outcome. Unfortunately, I do believe the percentage of people under 50 with one or more comorbidities (i.e., obesity, diabetes, anxiety/stress disorder, etc.) is probably depressingly high. Based on nothing more than numbers, I have reservations about mass vaccinating children. If not immuno-compromised, it would seem most over 50 should get vaccinated.



As an aside, two books that seem relevant to life and culture over the past 18 months:

Ernest Becker's Man's Denial of Death (https://www.amazon.com/Denial-Death-Ernest-Becker/dp/0684832402/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=mens+denial+of+death&qid=1633018597&sr=8-1)

The Population Bomb (https://www.amazon.com/Population-Bomb-Paul-R-Ehrlich/dp/B000EI3XOS/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=population+bomb&qid=1633018641&sr=8-1)

Lastly, it raises an eyebrow this has had no coverage:

https://pathologie-konferenz.de/en/

https://odysee.com/@en:a5/PK_Tot-durch-Impfung_english:a

Disclaimer - Not a medical professional/not pretending to be one. I got my second shot of Pfizer in March, primarily driven by two things - 1) I'm a psychologist and I work with a generally vulnerable population [prison settings] 2) I like to travel, and, around January, I heard horror stories of friends essentially getting extorted to pay large sums of money to prove they were negative for covid to travel out of some foreign countries [I also thought a vax passport situation likely would arise]. I wanted to avoid that mess.

ETA - of note, if you made a same breakdown of COVID deaths in healthier countries like Canada/Australia, it really highlights how unhealthy America is. If I recall correctly, I believe around 2/3rds of the COVID-19 deaths in Canada/Australia were attributable to individuals older than the average life expectancy for their respective countries (roughly 50% of all COVID deaths in the US have been individuals older than the US life expectancy of 78.54 y/o. It sounds callous, but it makes me think of Jurassic Park, nature, uh, finds a way).

Just so as to not be construed as fake news, my estimate of 2/3rds of COVID deaths in australia being individuals over their average life expectancy was inaccurate. It's closer to 3/4 (N.B., This was part of a post I made in the Current Affairs forum in early August, hence the June numbers. I sincerely doubt the demographics have shifted since then.).



695/910 COVID Deaths in Australia have been people 80 or older. That is 76% of total Covid deaths since the pandemic began. 94% of COVID Deaths in Australia have been people 70 or older.

ETA - More, now than ever, spread love, not COVID, fam.

[coach mang]

fine work OB. a critique of [REDACTED] from its left flank is rare and dangerous indeed

you've intro'd mang to the ontology of BIOPOWER and GOVERNMENTALITY

dat fourth footnote is full of dark vigor and proof of life as well

keep doing wut ur doing bub

discourse like this and wut we've seen in the last page or so may begin to bend the arc of this threads history back to a place that doesn't so closely resemble hell

[Marley2Hendrix]

I'm vaxxed and wear a mask all the time but I'm also very concerned about how covid is giving rise to medical policing and so many people are cheering it and trying to enforce it. At the university where I work, some professors are calling campus cops to report students who aren't complying with the mask mandate. Disgusting!

I wrote this about with a colleague last summer: https://www.radicalphilosophy.com/article/beware-medical-police

But the virus has revealed something that has been inherent in medical police ever since life was redefined as information and the body as an information technology: the fact that the body is simultaneously the site of disease and information creates the opportunity for it to be policed through that very information. This enables any authority which can rightly claim access to that information – employers, credit card companies and insurance companies as well as the state – to keep constant watch over the body’s biochemical processes and shape the behaviour of the subject. The issue here is not the fact of surveillance or the infringement of privacy but the formation of the pacified subject. The issue, in other words, is not surveillance, but ways in which the police power fabricates forms of subjectivity and submission.

Thanks for sharing. What has been going on in Australia terrifies me, and it astounds me the majority of Americans are unaware. The last six months have highlighted to me how much influence Google has. DuckDuckGo hence forth for this guy.

[Curmudgeon]

The point is that the young people who don't die nonetheless help spread the virus to older people who do. Is this such a difficult concept?

[Marley2Hendrix]

The point is that the young people who don't die nonetheless help spread the virus to older people who do. Is this such a difficult concept?

I mean, again, I think it would seem most over 50 should be vaccinated. I think by looking at the statistics, the real question to be addressed is what percent of the over 50 group are immunocompromised and cannot get vaccinated. I would guess that is a rather small percentage - at what percentage then, should that minute population drive/force the actions of the majority (when, unless in a nursing facility/prison, they can safely practice masking/social distancing)?

I would never tell anyone under 50 not to get vaccinated. I, however, would never support mandates that they must.

Further:

The point is that the young people who don't die nonetheless help spread the virus to older people who do. Is this such a difficult concept?

This is where I think we're not good with statistics. What number is "older people who do?" - From the graphic, the young people (49 or younger) who don't die is 99.999114% of the US population.

From my prior graphic - 2.9% of people over 85 in america have died of covid. 1.1% of 75-84 year olds have died of COVID. I repeat that the average life span in the US is about 78 years old. 1/2 of a percent of individuals 64-75 have died of covid. 1/5 of a percent of americans 50-64 have died of COVID. As I said, of these percentages, and we each can ascribe a personal weight how significant they are (alarmingly high, minimal, to be expected, etc.), but I'd venture it's a small percentage of each of these groups that now cannot get vaccinated. Given that exceptionally small percentage of the population (i.e., the small percentage of the 50 and up who cannot get vaccinated), again, I think it's very difficult to make a judgment on how much it should determine the course for the rest.

Lastly, I'll reiterate, with America being unhealthy, our age-based percentages are skewed much younger than say the UK, Canada, Australia, etc... I wish more emphasis was placed on diet, exercise, and bolstering our general health since the onset of the pandemic.

[Andrew McCeltic]

ICUs at 100 percent capacity: See the hardest-hit hospitals in the U.S.
Early this month, Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta delayed elective surgeries and procedures. The reason: There were so many Covid-19 patients in the hospital's intensive care unit that there was just no room for anyone who isn't seriously ill.

The “second-hand smoking” analogy is powerful to me. I’m scheduled to go in next month to get my now huge balls (thanks Moderna!) sculpted into an even more impressive profile and I’d hate to reschedule my crowning glory (I’m getting offers to be in porn) just because ddb rolled into the hospital and took the last bed.

Funny though how people like this think they are sooo morally superior and better people than unvaccinated, but I've never seen an unvaccinated person make fun or wish ill on the vaxed. Wishing to see people in a hospital lmao for real, what has the world come to. There's even people celebrating death of others just because they were unvaccinated, who knows for what reason.
Also fyi there's 107 VAERS reports of swollen testicles. And lots of cases are not reported on there. But **** those people who are ill for life because they don't fit your "vaccine is from the gods" agenda right?

People like who? I think what you’re describing is repulsive - the “haha, Darwin Award” stuff, people celebrating anti-vax radio hosts who die of COVID. I understand some of it comes from frustration but it’s still venomous. Only sympathize with people on the front lines who are mad but have to be professional in spite of exhaustion and preventable deaths. I’m just teasing ddb to try to coax him off the fence.

Think my pick-your-gun Russian roulette analogy still works even with the balls stuff. But 107? Really?? That’s a lot of fluid

[Andrew McCeltic]

Spoiler:

Right click image, open in new tab, click to magnify. The one thing I've wanted for months that I can't find is a breakdown of COVID deaths by age and comorbidity. If you are under 50 and healthy with no comorbidities, statistically speaking, dying of COVID is quite likely to be an exceptionally atypical outcome. Unfortunately, I do believe the percentage of people under 50 with one or more comorbidities (i.e., obesity, diabetes, anxiety/stress disorder, etc.) is probably depressingly high. Based on nothing more than numbers, I have reservations about mass vaccinating children. If not immuno-compromised, it would seem most over 50 should get vaccinated.



As an aside, two books that seem relevant to life and culture over the past 18 months:

Ernest Becker's Man's Denial of Death (https://www.amazon.com/Denial-Death-Ernest-Becker/dp/0684832402/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=mens+denial+of+death&qid=1633018597&sr=8-1)

The Population Bomb (https://www.amazon.com/Population-Bomb-Paul-R-Ehrlich/dp/B000EI3XOS/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=population+bomb&qid=1633018641&sr=8-1)

Lastly, it raises an eyebrow this has had no coverage:

https://pathologie-konferenz.de/en/

https://odysee.com/@en:a5/PK_Tot-durch-Impfung_english:a

Disclaimer - Not a medical professional/not pretending to be one. I got my second shot of Pfizer in March, primarily driven by two things - 1) I'm a psychologist and I work with a generally vulnerable population [prison settings] 2) I like to travel, and, around January, I heard horror stories of friends essentially getting extorted to pay large sums of money to prove they were negative for covid to travel out of some foreign countries [I also thought a vax passport situation likely would arise]. I wanted to avoid that mess.

ETA - of note, if you made a same breakdown of COVID deaths in healthier countries like Canada/Australia, it really highlights how unhealthy America is. If I recall correctly, I believe around 2/3rds of the COVID-19 deaths in Canada/Australia were attributable to individuals older than the average life expectancy for their respective countries (roughly 50% of all COVID deaths in the US have been individuals older than the US life expectancy of 78.54 y/o. It sounds callous, but it makes me think of Jurassic Park, nature, uh, finds a way).

Just so as to not be construed as fake news, my estimate of 2/3rds of COVID deaths in australia being individuals over their average life expectancy was inaccurate. It's closer to 3/4 (N.B., This was part of a post I made in the Current Affairs forum in early August, hence the June numbers. I sincerely doubt the demographics have shifted since then.).



695/910 COVID Deaths in Australia have been people 80 or older. That is 76% of total Covid deaths since the pandemic began. 94% of COVID Deaths in Australia have been people 70 or older.

ETA - More, now than ever, spread love, not COVID, fam.

Helpful context, but does it matter? Pop-Pop was already 72, so, you know, I’m glad we had that barbecue.

[Andrew McCeltic]

Think everyone should get vaxed but, also very concerned about the Australian surveillance stuff especially. And in the states.. like our bosses don’t have enough power already?

[Marley2Hendrix]

Spoiler:

[spoiler]

Right click image, open in new tab, click to magnify. The one thing I've wanted for months that I can't find is a breakdown of COVID deaths by age and comorbidity. If you are under 50 and healthy with no comorbidities, statistically speaking, dying of COVID is quite likely to be an exceptionally atypical outcome. Unfortunately, I do believe the percentage of people under 50 with one or more comorbidities (i.e., obesity, diabetes, anxiety/stress disorder, etc.) is probably depressingly high. Based on nothing more than numbers, I have reservations about mass vaccinating children. If not immuno-compromised, it would seem most over 50 should get vaccinated.



As an aside, two books that seem relevant to life and culture over the past 18 months:

Ernest Becker's Man's Denial of Death (https://www.amazon.com/Denial-Death-Ernest-Becker/dp/0684832402/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=mens+denial+of+death&qid=1633018597&sr=8-1)

The Population Bomb (https://www.amazon.com/Population-Bomb-Paul-R-Ehrlich/dp/B000EI3XOS/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=population+bomb&qid=1633018641&sr=8-1)

Lastly, it raises an eyebrow this has had no coverage:

https://pathologie-konferenz.de/en/

https://odysee.com/@en:a5/PK_Tot-durch-Impfung_english:a

Disclaimer - Not a medical professional/not pretending to be one. I got my second shot of Pfizer in March, primarily driven by two things - 1) I'm a psychologist and I work with a generally vulnerable population [prison settings] 2) I like to travel, and, around January, I heard horror stories of friends essentially getting extorted to pay large sums of money to prove they were negative for covid to travel out of some foreign countries [I also thought a vax passport situation likely would arise]. I wanted to avoid that mess.

ETA - of note, if you made a same breakdown of COVID deaths in healthier countries like Canada/Australia, it really highlights how unhealthy America is. If I recall correctly, I believe around 2/3rds of the COVID-19 deaths in Canada/Australia were attributable to individuals older than the average life expectancy for their respective countries (roughly 50% of all COVID deaths in the US have been individuals older than the US life expectancy of 78.54 y/o. It sounds callous, but it makes me think of Jurassic Park, nature, uh, finds a way).

Just so as to not be construed as fake news, my estimate of 2/3rds of COVID deaths in australia being individuals over their average life expectancy was inaccurate. It's closer to 3/4 (N.B., This was part of a post I made in the Current Affairs forum in early August, hence the June numbers. I sincerely doubt the demographics have shifted since then.).



695/910 COVID Deaths in Australia have been people 80 or older. That is 76% of total Covid deaths since the pandemic began. 94% of COVID Deaths in Australia have been people 70 or older.

ETA - More, now than ever, spread love, not COVID, fam.

[/spoiler]

Helpful context, but does it matter? Pop-Pop was already 72, so, you know, I’m glad we had that barbecue.

Yeah, the does it matter is the tough question. I don't think we as a society do well with being confronted by our own mortality. I never share any of my thoughts in person lest I come off as incredibly cold. I'll never judge someone harshly for being passionately pro-covid vax because they want to reduce the risk their 55-, 65-, 75-... year-old, vaccinated parents might contract covid and die, because I get that impulse, and it's not one that would be comforted by letting them know that outcome is quite unlikely.

Different stokes - for context, my dad is late 60s, my mom is early 60s, and my paternal grandfather is early 90s. They've gotten various vaccines throughout their lives, though none of them have gotten the covid vaccine. I would say my father/grandfather are in exceptional shape for their ages. Although it goes against my mantra that it would seem vaccine is the way to go for anyone over 50, I'd never push it on them, particularly my grandfather - frankly, I admire he still walks a few miles every day into town, socializes for a few hours, and then gardens. I wouldn't say any of them have a particularly conspiratorial bent, though they definitely embody the spirit, "when it's your time to go, it's your time to go."

[Curmudgeon]

To repeat myself, if we wanted all the anti-vaxers to die, we'd be anti-vaxers.

[canman1971]

To repeat myself, if we wanted all the anti-vaxers to die, we'd be anti-vaxers.

Common Sense wasn't just a pamphlet written by Thomas Paine published in 1776.

[Ed Pinkney]

I'm vaxxed and wear a mask all the time but I'm also very concerned about how covid is giving rise to medical policing and so many people are cheering it and trying to enforce it. At the university where I work, some professors are calling campus cops to report students who aren't complying with the mask mandate. Disgusting!

I wrote this about with a colleague last summer: https://www.radicalphilosophy.com/article/beware-medical-police

But the virus has revealed something that has been inherent in medical police ever since life was redefined as information and the body as an information technology: the fact that the body is simultaneously the site of disease and information creates the opportunity for it to be policed through that very information. This enables any authority which can rightly claim access to that information – employers, credit card companies and insurance companies as well as the state – to keep constant watch over the body’s biochemical processes and shape the behaviour of the subject. The issue here is not the fact of surveillance or the infringement of privacy but the formation of the pacified subject. The issue, in other words, is not surveillance, but ways in which the police power fabricates forms of subjectivity and submission.

Thanks for sharing. What has been going on in Australia terrifies me, and it astounds me the majority of Americans are unaware. The last six months have highlighted to me how much influence Google has. DuckDuckGo hence forth for this guy.

Apologies if I missed something obvious, but as an Australian I am wondering what you mean by being "terrified by what is going on here"?

Generally, Australia has had it pretty good over the course of the pandemic but Delta has really changed that. We have been dealing with a big delta outbreak here for the last three months or so. The data in Australia is still skewed towards younger people (20-40 year olds) for cases, and skewed towards older people (70-90 year olds) for deaths. But Delta effects young people much more than the previous strains which is definitely a big concern. The Delta outbreak in Indonesia had 12.5% of all cases being children, which led to a high number of deaths, 50% of which were in children under 5.

I am certainly no expert, but this is the worry if you let the virus continue to circulate in large numbers in whole populations, especially in the age brackets that have low risk of severe cases or death. High circulation means the potential for high mutation rates which means the risk of new strains appearing goes up. Perhaps these strains over time become more infectious but less virulent and COVID becomes endemic in humans like influenza or the common cold. But what if they become more virulent?

We really need to be doing whatever we can globally to break the chain of infection, at the moment that means masks, restrictions on contact such as physical distancing or lockdowns, and the hope of vaccination programs getting to some sort of herd immunity level.

[Marley2Hendrix]

I'm vaxxed and wear a mask all the time but I'm also very concerned about how covid is giving rise to medical policing and so many people are cheering it and trying to enforce it. At the university where I work, some professors are calling campus cops to report students who aren't complying with the mask mandate. Disgusting!

I wrote this about with a colleague last summer: https://www.radicalphilosophy.com/article/beware-medical-police

Thanks for sharing. What has been going on in Australia terrifies me, and it astounds me the majority of Americans are unaware. The last six months have highlighted to me how much influence Google has. DuckDuckGo hence forth for this guy.

Apologies if I missed something obvious, but as an Australian I am wondering what you mean by being "terrified by what is going on here"?

Generally, Australia has had it pretty good over the course of the pandemic but Delta has really changed that. We have been dealing with a big delta outbreak here for the last three months or so. The data in Australia is still skewed towards younger people (20-40 year olds) for cases, and skewed towards older people (70-90 year olds) for deaths. But Delta effects young people much more than the previous strains which is definitely a big concern. The Delta outbreak in Indonesia had 12.5% of all cases being children, which led to a high number of deaths, 50% of which were in children under 5.

I am certainly no expert, but this is the worry if you let the virus continue to circulate in large numbers in whole populations, especially in the age brackets that have low risk of severe cases or death. High circulation means the potential for high mutation rates which means the risk of new strains appearing goes up. Perhaps these strains over time become more infectious but less virulent and COVID becomes endemic in humans like influenza or the common cold. But what if they become more virulent?

We really need to be doing whatever we can globally to break the chain of infection, at the moment that means masks, restrictions on contact such as physical distancing or lockdowns, and the hope of vaccination programs getting to some sort of herd immunity level.

Australia is even more divided than the US. The population is 25.36 million, and there's been around 1000 total deaths, only 138 of which have been individuals under SEVENTY! Put another way, immense restrictions secondary to 0.0005% of the UNDER 70 population dying of COVID.

From my perspective, which is not the end all be all, of course, the restriction measures are over the top. As an owner of four rescue dogs, this is absolutely disgusting: https://www.yahoo.com/now/local-council-shoots-rescue-dogs-195000980.html

And for a country, the US, which was obsessed with following all protests, particularly those focused on police brutalisty/use of force, until January, I haven't heard a peep about any of the australian police/use of force issues from any of my friends, peers, and coworkers who talked non-stop about the protests here (FWIW, I live in Minnesota, and, on Saturdays, I work about 2 blocks away from the epicenter of all of the protests here).

https://streamable.com/707n1o

I hate everything about this:

Watch on YouTube

Looking at the data, what prompted heightened restrictions in August/September (N.B., Look at the y-axis, we're talking five-seven deaths):



https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/sydney-covid-19-lockdown-be-extended-until-sept-end-2021-08-20/

General summary (the presenter is not a great human, unfortunately):

Watch on YouTube

I end with a digital fist in the air for the workers protest from September 21.

[Ed Pinkney]

Spoiler:

Thanks for sharing. What has been going on in Australia terrifies me, and it astounds me the majority of Americans are unaware. The last six months have highlighted to me how much influence Google has. DuckDuckGo hence forth for this guy.

Apologies if I missed something obvious, but as an Australian I am wondering what you mean by being "terrified by what is going on here"?

Generally, Australia has had it pretty good over the course of the pandemic but Delta has really changed that. We have been dealing with a big delta outbreak here for the last three months or so. The data in Australia is still skewed towards younger people (20-40 year olds) for cases, and skewed towards older people (70-90 year olds) for deaths. But Delta effects young people much more than the previous strains which is definitely a big concern. The Delta outbreak in Indonesia had 12.5% of all cases being children, which led to a high number of deaths, 50% of which were in children under 5.

I am certainly no expert, but this is the worry if you let the virus continue to circulate in large numbers in whole populations, especially in the age brackets that have low risk of severe cases or death. High circulation means the potential for high mutation rates which means the risk of new strains appearing goes up. Perhaps these strains over time become more infectious but less virulent and COVID becomes endemic in humans like influenza or the common cold. But what if they become more virulent?

We really need to be doing whatever we can globally to break the chain of infection, at the moment that means masks, restrictions on contact such as physical distancing or lockdowns, and the hope of vaccination programs getting to some sort of herd immunity level.

Australia is even more divided than the US. The population is 25.36 million, and there's been around 1000 total deaths, only 138 of which have been individuals under SEVENTY! Put another way, immense restrictions secondary to 0.0005% of the UNDER 70 population dying of COVID.

From my perspective, which is not the end all be all, of course, the restriction measures are over the top. As an owner of four rescue dogs, this is absolutely disgusting: https://www.yahoo.com/now/local-council-shoots-rescue-dogs-195000980.html

And for a country, the US, which was obsessed with following all protests, particularly those focused on police brutalisty/use of force, until January, I haven't heard a peep about any of the australian police/use of force issues from any of my friends, peers, and coworkers who talked non-stop about the protests here (FWIW, I live in Minnesota, and, on Saturdays, I work about 2 blocks away from the epicenter of all of the protests here).

https://streamable.com/707n1o

I hate everything about this:

Watch on YouTube

Looking at the data, what prompted heightened restrictions in August/September (N.B., Look at the y-axis, we're talking five-seven deaths):



https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/sydney-covid-19-lockdown-be-extended-until-sept-end-2021-08-20/

General summary (the presenter is not a great human, unfortunately):

Watch on YouTube

I end with a digital fist in the air for the workers protest from September 21.

We have a conservative goverment in power at the moment at the federal level (and a clown for a prime minister) and in NSW (the most populace state) that I personally find embarassing, depressing, frustrating etc to have to live with. I disagree with a huge amoint of their policies and what they stand for. But having said that a few comments on some of the things you said.

Yes, there has only been about 1200 deaths from COVID in Australia, but there has also only been about 100,000 cases. So I think it is important to keep that in mind as it means the mortality rate is about 1.2% overall but about 0.13% for under 70 if the number you mentioned is correct (I don't actually know without looking it up).

I didn't watch all of them to be fair, but the two YouTube clips you posted are a little over the top alarmist. They seem to imply Australia is descending into some sort of authoritarian police state which I find a little ridiculous. We are definitely over regulated in some areas (and probably under regulated in some areas) but I think a lot of people just seem unwilling to do do the bare minimum to contribute to some sense of "greater good" that try and make things better for the rest of the population because they don't want put up with any discomfort or inconvenience. We have it too good compared to many parts of the world, a majority of Australians I don't think have any understanding of what real hardship or sacrifice is (I certainly don't) and appear to find being asked to stay home for an extended period of time is too much to ask.

And rightly or wrongly, the government has taken the path of basically closed borders until certain vaccination milestones are achieved. We can only really do this because we are an island, I imagine a lot more countries would be doing it to if they could but they share borders with multiple other countries which makes it unrealistic. And you can leave Australia and return at the moment, it is just a little difficult, time consuming and expensive. One of my colleagues is from Italy originally and she was able to return to Italy to see her dying mother and come back to Australia without too much trouble. I know a lot of Australian citizens are stuck overseas who have had trouble getting back, but that is likely to ease over the coming months as we are approaching these vaccination milestones.

And lastly, the protest you mentioned was during a lockdown in Melbourne and was hijacked by far-right groups (including some fascist/neo nazi groups) and anti-vax groups posing as construction workers. The construction industry in Melbourne has largely been able to continue working throughout the various lockdowns (unlike the retail and hospitality industries that have been smashed), but a large number of new cases were being linked to construction sites not following health regulations so the government put in a two week shutdown which there were some protests about.

[Fencer reregistered]

Glenn Greenwald is still valorizing Jonathon Isaac.

This is about as sane a version of the wrong side of the argument as one can find. Further, it's reasonably short, assuming one doesn't go past the paywall.

https://greenwald.substack.com/p/an-nba-star-and-new-yorks-governor-8d1

Sane but immoral.

Sane but wrong is a much better starting point than scared, uninformed and wrong.

Those two sets of adjectives are not contradictory.

Almost all anti-vaxxers greatly exaggerate the risks of vaccines. That error usually is associated with a very limited knowledge of relevant biology.

[GWVan]

Rand Paul lines up why people are pushed away from getting vaccinated. And defends Jonathan Isaac's right to make his own decision.

Edit: When you attempt to shout down or shut down dissenting opinion then some people will become suspicions of your motives and move away from your opinion rather that towards it. I am one of those people.

I have the pneumonia vaccine, have the flu vaccine, but nobody called me names for not getting them. When we lost my mother in law to covid in February I looked at the data and we decided the smartest thing my wife and I could do was to take of the weight and be more active (both 20+ lbs and counting and I walked almost 50 miles in the last week)

Don't call me a flat earther or assume I'm a redneck trump supporter or some anti-vaxer because I don't think I need the vaccine when I already had covid and my body handled it fine as the numbers told me it would. I am a effing senior database architect, I can read the data.

I don't understand what drives people to be so derogatory and denigrating on this issue but I'm telling you know it's not getting you anywhere.

/rant


[url]

Watch on YouTube

;ab_channel=ForbesBreakingNews[/url]

[GWVan]

This study seems to indicate that the vaccine will lower immunity in people who have acquired natural immunity by catching covid 19.
I do not have a medical background but would appreciate someone who has one breaking it down.


https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.03.22.436441v1.full