Coronavirus Discussion

[Lagie]

8 hours ago, Astreya said:

I'm not going to celebrate my birthday at all - I haven't done so for ages as I'm always puzzled why one should celebrate that one is getting another year closer to death.

 

1 minute ago, Ruby Eyes said:

I'm kinda a decade over that date. I never expected to actually turn 30 to begin with - that's just one effect of depression. Hence, every additional year is a small victory.

 

Not to mention it is the only day of the year that celebrates you being you, and you don't have to share it with everyone else the way you do other holidays.

 

Those of you in England, what's up with this mutated version of the virus that my friends here keep telling me about? (My head cold has freaked everyone out, but it is just a head cold.)

 

Handy chart:

[trystan]

that chart needs allergies too.  Itchy, watery eyes and sneezing are for allergies.  along the runny and stuffy nose, too.

 

a guy who works in the morning in replenishment/stocking at my store lives with someone (the guy's dad) who tested positive for the virus.  the guy gets tested today.  hopefully he's negative!

one of the managers - her sister tested positive, but the manager doesn't live with her sister, but she's out until next monday just out of caution.  fun times!

[squeak]

Well, it totally sucks that 2020 has been ruined by this pandemic (I was really looking forward to the Olympics). Today I had an exam and I thought that the Mayan apocalypse was about to happen. The exam was to start at 1PM but we couldn't access our tests until about 1:30-1:40 since the test was password-protected and the professor wouldn't tell us the password until he made sure that everyone taking that exam was authenticated. Then, Moodle was having difficulties with the test. Thus, I finished the exam at 2:30 PM. Not that I love traveling to the capital for my exams, but this was the worst exam experience in my life (asides from failing an exam after not having sleep at all if that ever happened).

This ordeal of mine may be trivial. The ruling party here has repeatedly used Emergency Powers to curtail municipal and LGBT+ rights. Our "replica" subway stock was found to be Frankensteined from older subway trains. And the most concerning, the pandemic is pushing more and more into poverty. Hungary has the second highest poverty rate and the highest CSE rate.

[Lagie]

1 hour ago, squeak said:

This ordeal of mine may be trivial.

Never trivial! At least you have it behind you now.

 

Covid has affected all sorts of weird and unexpected things. A friend of mine helped coordinate the Christmas Bird Count locally. One of the groups was supposed to do their sightings on the golf course of one of our major resorts (that literally just reopened last week after closing in March when our country was shut down), but the person who did the booking and arranged for access time and golf carts neglected to tell them ALL the group members had to have a current (within 5 days) negative Covid test. So no birdwatching happened yesterday on that golf course. 

[purpledragonclaw]

@Lagie That's a great chart, thank you!

 

@trystan One of the businesses I frequent has a sign up of possible covid symptoms that you have to say you haven't experienced to gain entry inside. Some of the symptoms they've listed are "runny nose, sneezing". I told them when they first put that sign up that they're listing allergy symptoms and that 99% of customers will have those symptoms and just lie about it to get in. Combine that with the fact we're in a record year for allergies and the net they're casting is too wide. I understand why they do it, but there's no need to make people even more paranoid than they already are. That business ended up having to shut down for a week anyway due to one of their own employees being in contact with a person who had covid; they've since re-opened, and that employee tested negative, but the whole business had to be disinfected before they re-opened on abbreviated hours.

[Lagie]

22 minutes ago, purpledragonclaw said:

One of the businesses I frequent has a sign up of possible covid symptoms that you have to say you haven't experienced to gain entry inside.

Maybe you could print out the chart I shared and offer it to them? It's been very useful for me the past few days in helping to reassure my friends that I'm (going to be) fine.

[trystan]

@purpledragonclaw - fortunately for me, my allergies have actually been mild this year.  but yeah, i understand the paranoia.  over the summer, someone was paranoid about hubby's cough in the office, they told him to work from home or get a negative covid test.  he was home for less than a week and the cough had gone away.  it's something in the environmentals at his office, but this is not the time to argue that.  so he's still working from home.

[ValidEmotions]

I understand that frustration. My grandpa has a permanent cough from damage to his lungs thanks to my grandma's years of smoking inside the house (she no longer smokes, now). And a friend of mine gets a wet cough whenever he laughs too hard/too much. Both have gotten disgusting looks out in public, despite being safe and practicing caution for the pandemic. 

Likewise, I get bad allergies whenever my cats accidentally catch a claw in my thigh or hand and the fumes from the travel-sized hand sanitizer I keep with me consistently make me cough upon usage. 

[Queen_of_Jesters]

 

I feel it wouldn't be easy to get rid of this virus with the help of a vaccine - it is constantly mutating. News from England begins to disturb, even if there is no pronounced second wave.

Edited December 22, 2020 by Red_Snake

[ValidEmotions]

Even if the virus didn't mutate, it would still be a long time before we can safely return to some level of normalcy/beat the pandemic with the aid of vaccines. Firstly, it's going to take a long time before any significant percentage of the global population is vaccinated. Secondly, just because you do get vaccinated, you can't just stop practicing safety and have to continue social distancing + wearing masks in public + washing or sanitizing your hands thoroughly.

[Lagie]

27 minutes ago, ValidEmotions said:

Firstly, it's going to take a long time before any significant percentage of the global population is vaccinated.

And given that far too many people in this country believe the vaccine is a plot by Bill Gates to microchip them, it will be a VERY long time...

[Queen_of_Jesters]

1 minute ago, Lagie said:

И учитывая, что слишком много людей в этой стране считают, что вакцина - это заговор Билла Гейтса по их микрочипу, это будет ОЧЕНЬ долго ...

Oh my God, I am so tired to arguing on this topic that I just ignore such people. Poor bill gatesEspecially funny that many, for example, have a troubles with alcohol and think it's ok, as if this way they are not controlled, but the vaccine!

[Lagie]

Just now, Red_Snake said:

Oh my God, I am so tired to arguing on this topic that I just ignore such people. Poor bill gatesEspecially funny that many, for example, have a troubles with alcohol and think it's ok, as if this way they are not controlled, but the vaccine!

I know. It's not worth the argument. It's just astonishing how many believe it. (And when did I learn Russian? )

[trystan]

16 minutes ago, Lagie said:

And given that far too many people in this country believe the vaccine is a plot by Bill Gates to microchip them, it will be a VERY long time...

and the anti-vaxxers all over the US!

 

ugh.

[Queen_of_Jesters]

44 minutes ago, Lagie said:

I know. It's not worth the argument. It's just astonishing how many believe it. (And when did I learn Russian? )

Haha, I was declassified

Even more serious problem is that political differences prevent scientists from different countries from joining forces. Our country, for example, refuses to receive the russian vaccine, and other suppliers are not yet available to us, because the number of vaccines is limited(and why should people get sick and die because the politicians didn't agree on something?!) I generally think that it is time for humanity to learn how to act together, at least in such crises, but it looks like it wouldn't be soon (if it ever happens...)

Edited December 22, 2020 by Red_Snake

[Astreya]

@Lagie

That's really a useful chart!

 

As for the new virus variant of concern - here's an article about it, detailing the changes: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/947048/Technical_Briefing_VOC_SH_NJL2_SH2.pdf

 

@trystan

Yeah, I have allergies myself and sneeze a lot - fortunately mostly at home (and I did have a hyposensitization against dust mites A + B, so it appears there are further types of them XD).

One company played with the panicky reaction of people in an ad for a medication against the common cold:

Spoiler

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-EQrbgJe_s

 

@Red_Snake

Yesterday I managed to explain to one lady who first told me she didn't want to be vaccinated as the vaccine would change her DNA that she doesn't have to fear the vaccine modifying her DNA - she should rather fear that the virus would do right that as it is the modus operandi of viruses. She was very surprised to learn that about 8 percent of the human genome actually is derived from viruses.

 

Plus I used my cookbook analogy to explain how the mRNA vaccines work: the human DNA is a very precious cookbook that you normally keep away from the kitchen in a locked up library. If the cell wants to produce certain proteins, it is as if you go to the library and write the recipe on a piece of paper (the cell copies a part of the DNA and transforms it into mRNA which contains the necessary information) and then go into the kitchen, locking the library again.  In the kitchen you cook your dish, and the cell's kitchen is the area outside the pretty much locked away nucleus. The mRNA vaccine is a recipe that was given to you by a friend to produce some proteins of the virus so that you know what you are dealing with in future. And just as a recipe given to you by a friend doesn't alter your locked away cookbook, the mRNA given as a vaccine can't alter the DNA as it just can't get into the pretty much walled away nucleus. (In contrast, a virus has means to break into the nucleus and rip apart the DNA to enter its own genetic information to force a cell to produce complete viruses.)

 

By the way, if you look at the lists of contributors of the scientific papers on SARS-CoV-2, you will realise that the scientists actually do work together pretty well over country borders. The main problem are the politicians.

Edited December 22, 2020 by Astreya

[Queen_of_Jesters]

@Astreya Yes, perhaps you are right, and the main problem is that they do not want to bring vaccines because of their origin, so the efforts of scientists are not fully justified.

It's good if a person nevertheless agrees with the arguments and ceases to be afraid of this nonsense about changing DNA, everyone is sometimes disinformated, it's ok. But if a person doesn't believe ... it's scary and funny at the same time. 

It seems to be the modern world, but we have many conspiracy theories and, worse, flat-earthers

[Astreya]

@Red_Snake

The weirdest thing for me is when people from medical professions don't want to be vaccinated because they "heard so many things". I just talked with a friend from Berlin and she told me that her sister (a nurse) asked her if she thinks she should put her name onto the list for the people to get vaccinated first. My friend told her of course if she has the chance to get the jab early, and her sister then wanted to know if she really thinks it is safe as there are so many people who warn about it.

 

Actually if one knows "so many" people who warn about it, like said sister, one should probably change one's circle of friends...  My friend was also annoyed as she said that particularly people from medical jobs should find it easier to look up the proper information and actually understand it.

 

 

In Oberhausen, the crisis response team notified the people that we now have a curfew from 9pm to 5am, as our 7-day incident is still well over 300. At least it appears as if the vaccinations will start at Dec, and the vaccination centre here is ready to go and just waits for the vaccine to be delivered.

-------------

As of today, Tuesday, December 22, 11:00 GMT+1, my home town (population 211 000) has 1034 (+36) active cases, while 3674 (+76) people are considered to have recovered. 2411 persons are currently quarantined. All in all there have been 4789 (+112)  people who suffered from Covid-19 since the beginning of the pandemic. The number of newly infected people per 100 000 citizens in the last 7 days is 341.6 (-0.5).

 

Currently 190 (-4) persons are treated in hospitals, with 22 (-1) of them in intensive care, 10 (+-0) of these needing artificial respiration. 83 (+2) persons sadly died.

All in all there have been 60 470 Covid-19 tests in Oberhausen.

[Source: Stadt Oberhausen]

[trystan]

10 hours ago, Astreya said:

One company played with the panicky reaction of people in an ad for a medication against the common cold:

wow, yikes.  also, thank you google translate!

 

as for the vaccine, i find the irony strong with the idjits in washington who have said it's a hoax and "just the flu" and they're all lining up to get the vaccine.  why would they need a vaccine if it's just a hoax? (or vitamin whatever and a strong immune system can prevent it in the first place, so says my boss....) 

 

edit to also mention to @Astreya - the cookbook analogy is great!

Edited December 22, 2020 by trystan

[Ruby Eyes]

45 minutes ago, trystan said:

as for the vaccine, i find the irony strong with the idjits in washington who have said it's a hoax and "just the flu" and they're all lining up to get the vaccine.  why would they need a vaccine if it's just a hoax?

They probably call it a "flu shot"

[trystan]

3 minutes ago, Ruby Eyes said:

They probably call it a "flu shot"

no, they know exactly what it is.

 

i'm sure somewhere, some american - politician or otherwise, donald trump or someone else - had said to keep americans dumb, and that way anyone can tell them what to do and they'll think it's what needs to be done.  it is my opinion that all these republicons know exactly what they're doing, and they're trying to keep their constituents beholden to them.  it's also been said that if one tells a lie long enough and hard enough, people will believe it.  and now, trump's base believes it's a hoax and will continue to support their savior anyway they can even while dying from a very real virus, while the whole time, the smirking politicans are getting their vaccine and staying healthy.

 

(and that ^ is why i try not to let my inner cynic come out and play.  she's too cynical! )

[Queen_of_Jesters]

 

Meanwhile, in Wuhan, where it all began, continuous parties and cases of covid are rare...

[Ruby Eyes]

40 minutes ago, trystan said:

no, they know exactly what it is.

 

40 minutes ago, trystan said:

(and that ^ is why i try not to let my inner cynic come out and play.  she's too cynical! )

So much that she does not recognize sarcasm anymore

[trystan]

4 minutes ago, Ruby Eyes said:

So much that she does not recognize sarcasm anymore

yeah, you're right.  tone on the internet is so weeeird....

[purpledragonclaw]

 

8 hours ago, Red_Snake said:

@Astreya Yes, perhaps you are right, and the main problem is that they do not want to bring vaccines because of their origin, so the efforts of scientists are not fully justified.

It's good if a person nevertheless agrees with the arguments and ceases to be afraid of this nonsense about changing DNA, everyone is sometimes disinformated, it's ok. But if a person doesn't believe ... it's scary and funny at the same time. 

It seems to be the modern world, but we have many conspiracy theories and, worse, flat-earthers

 

My favorite conversations I've seen in the Twitterverse were people saying they wouldn't get the vaccine because they don't want the government tracking them and there are microchips in the vaccine that the government can use to control their movements (all of that is real, no hyperbole). The responses tend to be "You're typing this out using a phone that tracks your location, uses facial and fingerprint analysis technology, on an app that knows your exact location." 

 

Don't get me started on flat-earthers. 

 

As for the vaccine, I'm of the mentality that it won't be available for me until at least April and I'm okay with that. There are a lot of other groups I'd like to see get it first, like hospital workers, frontline workers, and teachers. I can wait.