Do you need to vent about things COVID-19?

[Ceka Cianci]

7 hours ago, Drakonadrgora Darkfold said:

Covid is not going anywhere anytime soon. It will more than likely be around even in late 2021 and even possibly into 2022. pandemic level viral infections usually don't go away in just a year because they mutate and change and often become more virulent and resistant to any vaccines made to combat them. Until herd immunity is high enough to fight off any changes or mutations its not going away soon at all. And currently herd immunity is very low.

For those who do not understand or like this possible outcome.. go and find and play the game Plague Inc. its on android. It will teach you a lot about how bacterial or viral infections mutate and grow and can become world ending.

In fact when I first found the game I created two infectious diseases that completely decimated the world population in less than 3 years because of how much they mutated and changed. mutating from just air to food and then to water and even causing skin legions that when popped released even more contagion. I named them Furry and BDSM respectively.. even when the world governments shut down flights, closed borders, stopped all shipping, stopped all travel it still was transmitted.. by animal and bird and insect. even when they began to make a vaccine it mutated and became resistant and overcome the immunity.

Buckle up everyone the covid ride is far from over or even being close to being done.

It could mutate into a weaker version also..

[Drakonadrgora Darkfold]

9 minutes ago, Ceka Cianci said:

It could mutate into a weaker version also..

Yes but  that's not often the case. 

[foneco Zuzu]

In the end the Cubans will laugh like ship when they will be the single survivors on the American continent.

 

[Qie Niangao]

26 minutes ago, Ceka Cianci said:

It could mutate into a weaker version also..

Generally mutations are all over the map, being random and all. But remember "natural selection": the weak ones will die off, assuming some kind of population pressure such as availability of susceptible viral hosts. That's the thing about resistance to agents such as antibiotics, pesticides, etc: the pressure is from an agent that directly works on the population itself, so only the "strong" mutations survive, if strength is defined as resistance to the agent. It's certainly possible for that resistance to coincide with less lethal or less contagious "weaknesses" (and that actually happens more often than by chance) but it's pretty random.

Thing is, we have a bunch of vaccines coming and I doubt they all mimic the same spike proteins (or whatever), so even if the virus mutates to resist immunity conferred by one vaccine, all won't be lost.

[Arielle Popstar]

19 hours ago, Gatogateau said:

That is, I'm sorry to say, one of the most dangerous, myopic, selfish, idiotic things I have read in a while. "Oh well. *I* don't see it, so... meh."   

People are dying. For realzies. To say otherwise is wrong and stupid. Just stupid. And dangerous. Thank god I don't come into contact with people like you (because I come into very little contact with people).

With covid cases sky rocketing in the USA, months and months into this. How can anyone be this ... stupid?

"Gosh, not in MY corner of the world."     !!!

My corner of the world is what I need to look at to do a proper risk assessment for me and what I need to do to protect myself. I don't have the option of huddeling at home working on developing both agoraphobia and PTSD and cashing the government cheque at the end of the month. If I don't work, I don't eat or pay my bills. Thanks though for prompting me to look even deeper at the risk assessment for the area I live and work in. From that perspective I found out that in my area just outside Toronto, the 700,000 residents of the area spread over 2,500 sq km currently has an active Covid case load of just under 400 known with 12 in hospital and 4 in ICU with 2 of those on ventilators. There have been 186 deaths since the start with 154 of those being people in nursing homes for the elderly. It is unknown how many of the remaining 32 deaths were front line workers or people contracting the virus during a visit to a health care facility for an unrelated incident but undoubtedly they are a percentage of that 32 which then leaves only a few deaths as a result of getting the virus out in the wild. Probably if I was to do an even greater risk analysis I would find that statistically I stand a much greater chance of dying from hitting one of santa's reindeer while i drive the the 150 miles of country road I do daily or a heart attack from reading hysterical media reports of the end being nigh if I don't have a proper mask on.

I'll leave you to the angst ridden hysterics but will say in parting that you might want to back away from all that high strung media reporting and go get some peace of mind playing tiddly winks or something as that will do your immune system a world of good.

[Arielle Popstar]

9 hours ago, Drakonadrgora Darkfold said:

Buckle up everyone the covid ride is far from over or even being close to being done.

Counter to that I ran across this article/study by a former VP of Pfizer who is of the opinion that the virus is at about its end point:

Quote

 

Abstract

SAGE made – and continues to make – two fatal errors in its assessment of the SAR-CoV-2 pandemic, rendering its predictions wildly inaccurate, with disastrous results. These errors led SAGE to conclude that the pandemic is still in its early stages, with the vast majority (93%) of the UK population remaining susceptible to infection and that, in the absence of more action, a very high number of deaths will occur.

Error 1: Assuming that 100% of the population was susceptible to the virus and that no pre-existing immunity existed.

Error 2: The belief that the percentage of the population that has been infected can be determined by surveying what fraction of the population has antibodies.

Both of these points run entirely counter to known science regarding viruses and to a significant amount of evidence, as I will demonstrate. The more likely situation is that the susceptible population is now sufficiently depleted (now <40%, perhaps <30%) and the immune population sufficiently large that there will not be another large, national scale outbreak of COVID-19. Limited, regional outbreaks will be self-limiting and the pandemic is effectively over. This matches current evidence, with COVID-19 deaths remaining a fraction of what they were in spring, despite numerous questionable practices, all designed to artificially increase the number of apparent COVID-19 deaths. https://lockdownsceptics.org/what-sage-got-wrong/

 

https://lockdownsceptics.org/what-sage-got-wrong/

I have no idea which opinion is the correct one but I do hope it is this one Drakon, no offence intended.

[Drakonadrgora Darkfold]

2 minutes ago, Arielle Popstar said:

Counter to that I ran across this article/study by a former VP of Pfizer who is of the opinion that the virus is at about its end point:

https://lockdownsceptics.org/what-sage-got-wrong/

I have no idea which opinion is the correct one but I do hope it is this one Drakon, no offence intended.

none taken. being a little hopeful is not bad. but being unrealistically optimistic or hopeful like some get at times is. some people here and else where are not realistically grounded enough and panic at the slightest things that go wrong.

the point to my post was do not just believe what you see or hear in the media about any cure and the end to covid, for it might not happen so easily or so quickly. covid could or could not stick around for another year or even longer. It wont be over until its over and we don't really know when that is and don't really have any control over when that is even if we want to think we do.

it could simply fade away in a few months after finally mutating to nothing but the common cold. it could mutate in to a super virus and kill off half the population of the planet no matter what is tried to prevent it.

people want bad things to go away as quick as possible... sometimes you have to ride out the storm until the end and there is no quick or simple way to avoid it like some want to think or believe there is or can be or should be.

[Extrude Ragu]

My biggest windup about what is going on right now is that nobody seems to be doing cost benefit on the measures they are taking to combat it. Many of the measures put in place are ineffective and yet harmful to society in one way or other.

What's worse is, you get the usual hysteric crowd gobbling it up, these people seem to love the idea that the whole world is ending, that  we should all be cowering in our basements. I suspect perhaps because the same people feel validated for never leaving their basement in the first place.

And then there's the 'It's the stupid people's fault' group. Don't get me started on these kind of people. I've gone through life and met too many finger pointers and too few people who have even a strong bone in their spine.

[Drakonadrgora Darkfold]

2 hours ago, Qie Niangao said:

Generally mutations are all over the map, being random and all. But remember "natural selection": the weak ones will die off, assuming some kind of population pressure such as availability of susceptible viral hosts. That's the thing about resistance to agents such as antibiotics, pesticides, etc: the pressure is from an agent that directly works on the population itself, so only the "strong" mutations survive, if strength is defined as resistance to the agent. It's certainly possible for that resistance to coincide with less lethal or less contagious "weaknesses" (and that actually happens more often than by chance) but it's pretty random.

Thing is, we have a bunch of vaccines coming and I doubt they all mimic the same spike proteins (or whatever), so even if the virus mutates to resist immunity conferred by one vaccine, all won't be lost.

thats an overly optimistic and unrealistic approach to things. for it could also mutate to an life ending, world ending virus and nothing will stop it until its run its course and there is not enough people left to continue to transmit it between each other.

[Drakonadrgora Darkfold]

2 hours ago, foneco Zuzu said:

In the end the Cubans will laugh like ship when they will be the single survivors on the American continent.

 

eh it will be any islander that is cut of from 90% of the world because getting to and from their location requires extreme means of travel.

people really should pay attention to some of the zombie movies out there.. like World War Z.. yes people are not becoming zombies, but the effect is the same in many ways.

Oh and the funny thing is.. there is a cure already.. its just not easily retrieved or massed produced. its in the blood serum of those that have already had covid and nearly died and survived.

[Gatogateau]

48 minutes ago, Arielle Popstar said:

I'll leave you to the angst ridden hysterics but will say in parting that you might want to back away from all that high strung media reporting and go get some peace of mind playing tiddly winks or something as that will do your immune system a world of good.

Caring about what is going on beyond the tip of *my* nose is not hysterics. Nor am I hysterical in any other sense. I'm actually weathering covid rather well. If by "high strung media reporting" you mean factual reporting of statistics, trends, and scientific discoveries, then yeah, sorry, I think I will maintain my intelligent education. But you do you. Sadly, you also have the mindset to "do" (infect) others, but hey, not your worry, eh?

You might want to consider who you are also getting your "likes" from on your comment above. Good company in any intelligent discussion (sarcasm font). 

My frustration and anger at people doing stupid things, and having selfish, myopic and dangerous beliefs and actions stands. As do my comments that gee, maybe you are seeing lower statistics near Toronto than we are here in the USA precisely because of the measures your government has chosen,  including keeping Americans out. Concept. 

Edited November 30, 2020 by Gatogateau

[Lyssa Greymoon]

39 minutes ago, Arielle Popstar said:

https://lockdownsceptics.org/what-sage-got-wrong/

Looks like a credible source. 

[Drakonadrgora Darkfold]

12 minutes ago, Lyssa Greymoon said:

Looks like a credible source. 

 

12 minutes ago, Lyssa Greymoon said:

Looks like a credible source. 

totally legit.. i would believe that.. because I have no reason not too unless there is a the smell of drugs coming out of it. or I see the drugs being moved out of it. until then its completely legit and believable.

Edited November 30, 2020 by Drakonadrgora Darkfold

[Qie Niangao]

3 hours ago, Drakonadrgora Darkfold said:

Oh and the funny thing is.. there is a cure already.. its just not easily retrieved or massed produced. its in the blood serum of those that have already had covid and nearly died and survived.

If only it worked. (And more recently more doubt.) It's not completely hopeless, but early enthusiasm for convalescent plasma therapy has waned as better controlled studies are finding less encouraging results.

3 hours ago, Drakonadrgora Darkfold said:

thats an overly optimistic and unrealistic approach to things. for it could also mutate to an life ending, world ending virus and nothing will stop it until its run its course and there is not enough people left to continue to transmit it between each other.

Perhaps, but I'm not seeing why a mutation for vaccine resistance would coincide with such heightened lethality.

In theory, any virus could mutate into a species-ending threat. As viruses go, I suppose COVID has a head start because it affects so many systems.

And it's certainly possible that the next wave of evolution will start with viruses after something kills off everything else, and that killer something might be a virus.

Viruses (among other threats) have the advantage of very short lifespans, so successive mutations can respond to selection pressures a lot more quickly than humans can. There may even be mutant humans with some natural genetic immunity to COVID-19 already (like the immunity to malaria conferred by the sickle cell anemia gene) but that way of winning herd immunity to a species-killer would also thin the herd dramatically.  

[Sassy Kenin]

Your DNA is made from 50% Dormant Virus Code.

Our evolution has depended on them we could not be here today without them

99% of all virus are harmless and even help us..right now each of you have over 100 million virus cells inside your body and on your skin.

Please help promote tolerance and education towards our non vocal viral minorities in our communities, just because we cannot see them with the naked eye should not treated if they have no good importance to us and our fellow inhabitants of the ecosystems. ...#VirusLivesMatter!

 

 

Edited December 1, 2020 by Sassy Kenin

[Arielle Popstar]

On 11/30/2020 at 10:12 AM, Gatogateau said:

My frustration and anger at people doing stupid things, and having selfish, myopic and dangerous beliefs and actions stands.

As I sit here preparing to go to work I am reminded of various movie scenes where a dozen soldiers are being transported by airplane to be dropped somewhere behind enemy lines. A few that I can't name off the top of my head, showed scenes of how each of them dealt with the fear and anxiety they had to go through at the thought they were about to be faced with a potential life and death situation. One over in the corner quietly throwing up on himself, another making light of it with humour, a third fervently praying, another checking and rechecking weapons that they are all functional and working, while a couple of others sit quietly and stoically with grim looks on their faces as the battle hardened veterans matter of factly discuss the upcoming mission. And then there is another gibbering and freaking out as fear gets the better of him. The commanding officer has to deal with that one going into hysterics because if he doesn't, the negativity and pessimism that is at the root of the fear could infect others who in spite of their calm exterior, are also on an emotional razors edge, barely keeping their own fear at bay. 

That is how I see this. Each of us has a different way of dealing with this covid threat. If you want to do empathy, then maybe try to identify with each one of those soldiers and how they are coping rather then just your particular way.

[Rowan Amore]

6 hours ago, Arielle Popstar said:

As I sit here preparing to go to work I am reminded of various movie scenes where a dozen soldiers are being transported by airplane to be dropped somewhere behind enemy lines. A few that I can't name off the top of my head, showed scenes of how each of them dealt with the fear and anxiety they had to go through at the thought they were about to be faced with a potential life and death situation. One over in the corner quietly throwing up on himself, another making light of it with humour, a third fervently praying, another checking and rechecking weapons that they are all functional and working, while a couple of others sit quietly and stoically with grim looks on their faces as the battle hardened veterans matter of factly discuss the upcoming mission. And then there is another gibbering and freaking out as fear gets the better of him. The commanding officer has to deal with that one going into hysterics because if he doesn't, the negativity and pessimism that is at the root of the fear could infect others who in spite of their calm exterior, are also on an emotional razors edge, barely keeping their own fear at bay. 

That is how I see this. Each of us has a different way of dealing with this covid threat. If you want to do empathy, then maybe try to identify with each one of those soldiers and how they are coping rather then just your particular way.

None of those soldiers would go into that battle without the proper weapons regardless of how they were dealing with the situation.  Going into battle without your helmet, flak jacket and weapon would be insane.  Your analogy doesn't fit aside from how each person feels not how they should behave.

[Luna Bliss]

7 hours ago, Arielle Popstar said:

On 11/30/2020 at 9:12 AM, Gatogateau said:

My frustration and anger at people doing stupid things, and having selfish, myopic and dangerous beliefs and actions stands.

As I sit here preparing to go to work I am reminded of various movie scenes where a dozen soldiers are being transported by airplane to be dropped somewhere behind enemy lines. A few that I can't name off the top of my head, showed scenes of how each of them dealt with the fear and anxiety they had to go through at the thought they were about to be faced with a potential life and death situation. One over in the corner quietly throwing up on himself, another making light of it with humour, a third fervently praying, another checking and rechecking weapons that they are all functional and working, while a couple of others sit quietly and stoically with grim looks on their faces as the battle hardened veterans matter of factly discuss the upcoming mission. And then there is another gibbering and freaking out as fear gets the better of him. The commanding officer has to deal with that one going into hysterics because if he doesn't, the negativity and pessimism that is at the root of the fear could infect others who in spite of their calm exterior, are also on an emotional razors edge, barely keeping their own fear at bay. 

That is how I see this. Each of us has a different way of dealing with this covid threat. If you want to do empathy, then maybe try to identify with each one of those soldiers and how they are coping rather then just your particular way.

What an utterly ridiculous comparison you've made. Of course, we all have differing ways of coping with our fear, and normally this should be respected as frequently our initial defenses are the only means we have to cope at that moment. But the way the Trumpies and conservatives such as yourself are coping with the fears surrounding Covid is killing people, and they should be confronted! You have praised Alcoholics Anonymous and touted their methods for confronting those using the defense of denial in hopes they will stop drinking and harming themselves and their loved ones, yet you can't recognize what is happening here with Covid deniers as a need for the intervention/confrontation so primary to AA methods!!??

You stated earlier that because you don't personally see a lot of Covid cases in your neighborhood that Covid cases and dangers are overblown by the media -- you are so encased in denial you can't even recognize that your personal living environment is not representative of every other place on earth. 
You've made jokes about mask-wearing despite a consensus by reputable health organizations that they do indeed save lives.
You constantly source your beliefs from alt-right rags and have no idea how to locate reputable scientific research.

Nobody should approve of, respect, or have empathy for the way you are coping with the dangers we all face now with Covid -- over 2,600 people died in the US yesterday, and this number continues to climb because idiots deny the dangers and kill not only themselves but others around them. Hospitals are becoming overwhelmed due to increasing cases, and some will die do to lack of hospital space/personnel to take care of them.
Your beliefs/defenses are murdering people... and now you're telling others not to get emotional about it??!!  JFC!  Yes, I'm emotional about it -- somebody I love might die because of people like you.

[Arielle Popstar]

26 minutes ago, RowanMinx said:

None of those soldiers would go into that battle without the proper weapons regardless of how they were dealing with the situation.  Going into battle without your helmet, flak jacket and weapon would be insane.  Your analogy doesn't fit aside from how each person feels not how they should behave.

How each feels is exactly the issue as that will determine the amount of defensive and offensive equipment each one will choose to bring to a potential fight. I don't know of a relevant study but my guess would be that the one with the most fear would be likely to want to load themself up with all available defensive and offensive firepower whereas the one who is not too concerned would prefer to remain fast and light. Who is to say which is the right one?

 

[LittleMe Jewell]

1 minute ago, Arielle Popstar said:

How each feels is exactly the issue as that will determine the amount of defensive and offensive equipment each one will choose to bring to a potential fight. I don't know of a relevant study but my guess would be that the one with the most fear would be likely to want to load themself up with all available defensive and offensive firepower whereas the one who is not too concerned would prefer to remain fast and light. Who is to say which is the right one?

 

There is actually much truth in this.  Though I do wear a mask when I'm in public, it is primarily because it is required - and it is more for protecting others if I'm asymptomatic than to protect myself.  I do not spend all my time doing extra hand washings, using hand sanitizer, and/or sanitizing everything that comes into my house.  In the beginning, I was quite a bit more fearful than I am now.  However, since I seldom go out -- mostly by choice -- I'm just not as scared as I was back then.  Even when I do go out, I no longer wear gloves or bother with hand sanitizer every 30 seconds.  I use the wipe cloth that the grocery store provides to wipe down the handle of the cart, but I've done that since long before covid -- primarily because of kids touching that handle with who knows what on their hands.  Otherwise, I'm not really using any other special precautions right now.

[Rowan Amore]

7 minutes ago, LittleMe Jewell said:

and it is more for protecting others if I'm asymptomatic than to protect myself.  

This^^^.   If everyone would think this way, things would probably be getting better and not worse and it's almost from the beginning that people have fought about wearing a mask.  Why?  If I can keep one person safe, what's the downside??  Are masks 100% effective?  Nope but it's what we have and a very small thing we each can do to help someone else.  It's a no brainer.

[Ceka Cianci]

I wonder with all this social distancing and all the things people are doing to not catch this, how much the flu and colds will not be showing up.. I don't think I've come across one person with even the sniffles so far this season..

 

Also, I was looking at my dog just looking at the wall..

I really wonder if they think things like this?

[Arielle Popstar]

10 minutes ago, Ceka Cianci said:

I wonder with all this social distancing and all the things people are doing to not catch this, how much the flu and colds will not be showing up.. I don't think I've come across one person with even the sniffles so far this season..

Just read a recent article actually that mentioned regular flu's are at a historic low. 

[Lyssa Greymoon]

9 minutes ago, Ceka Cianci said:

I wonder with all this social distancing and all the things people are doing to not catch this, how much the flu and colds will not be showing up.

I remember seeing an Australian YouTuber mention that their flu season has been extremely quiet this year. Did a quick check and found this:

https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/wr/mm6937a6.htm

[LittleMe Jewell]

12 minutes ago, Ceka Cianci said:

 

Also, I was looking at my dog just looking at the wall..

I really wonder if they think things like this?

I always sort of chuckled when I heard people say things like "Who's a good boy?" to their pet.  

Saying 'Good boy' to them is one thing, asking them the question is another.