OT: Coronavirus

@"StickyBun" said:

@"JimmyinSD" said:

@"StickyBun" said: Seriously, wtf is with people denying this is a real thing? How ignorant and stubborn can you be?

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/chuck-woolery-coronavirus-son-tested-positive-214332776.html

I think he meant the extent of the situation,  not that the whole thing is a hoax....to some extent I agree,  to much at stake here for this to all be on the up and up.  So much money to be made.

I don't know where to begin to disagree with you on this, so I will respectively not do so. 

And they said I was too old to learn!  :p

@"JimmyinSD" said:

@"StickyBun" said:

@"JimmyinSD" said:

@"StickyBun" said: Seriously, wtf is with people denying this is a real thing? How ignorant and stubborn can you be?

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/chuck-woolery-coronavirus-son-tested-positive-214332776.html

I think he meant the extent of the situation,  not that the whole thing is a hoax....to some extent I agree,  to much at stake here for this to all be on the up and up.  So much money to be made.

I don't know where to begin to disagree with you on this, so I will respectively not do so. 

And they said I was too old to learn!  :p

IIRC you yourself were questioning the veracity of some of the reporting werent you?

I am not discounting the virus and its potential,  just some of the way the numbers are calculated and how they are reported.

@"MaroonBells" said:

@"JimmyinSD" said:

@"StickyBun" said:

@"JimmyinSD" said:

@"StickyBun" said: Seriously, wtf is with people denying this is a real thing? How ignorant and stubborn can you be?

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/chuck-woolery-coronavirus-son-tested-positive-214332776.html

I think he meant the extent of the situation,  not that the whole thing is a hoax....to some extent I agree,  to much at stake here for this to all be on the up and up.  So much money to be made.

I don't know where to begin to disagree with you on this, so I will respectively not do so. 

And they said I was too old to learn!  :p

IIRC you yourself were questioning the veracity of some of the reporting werent you?

I am not discounting the virus and its potential,  just some of the way the numbers are calculated and how they are reported.

The media over-report and exaggerate everything. But that's different than suggesting that "the whole thing" is not on the up and up and the reason it's not is because there's money to be made. That makes it sound like there is something or someone behind all of this pulling the strings...in other words, like a conspiracy. 

@"MaroonBells" said:

@"JimmyinSD" said:

@"StickyBun" said:

@"JimmyinSD" said:

@"StickyBun" said: Seriously, wtf is with people denying this is a real thing? How ignorant and stubborn can you be?

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/chuck-woolery-coronavirus-son-tested-positive-214332776.html

I think he meant the extent of the situation,  not that the whole thing is a hoax....to some extent I agree,  to much at stake here for this to all be on the up and up.  So much money to be made.

I don't know where to begin to disagree with you on this, so I will respectively not do so. 

And they said I was too old to learn!  :p

IIRC you yourself were questioning the veracity of some of the reporting werent you?

I am not discounting the virus and its potential,  just some of the way the numbers are calculated and how they are reported.

The media over-report and exaggerate everything. But that's different than suggesting that "the whole thing" is not on the up and up and the reason it's not is because there's money to be made. That makes it sound like there is something or someone behind all of this pulling the strings...in other words, like a conspiracy. 

@"JimmyinSD" said:

@"StickyBun" said:

@"JimmyinSD" said:

@"StickyBun" said: Seriously, wtf is with people denying this is a real thing? How ignorant and stubborn can you be?

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/chuck-woolery-coronavirus-son-tested-positive-214332776.html

I think he meant the extent of the situation,  not that the whole thing is a hoax....to some extent I agree,  to much at stake here for this to all be on the up and up.  So much money to be made.

I don't know where to begin to disagree with you on this, so I will respectively not do so. 

And they said I was too old to learn!  :p

IIRC you yourself were questioning the veracity of some of the reporting werent you?

I am not discounting the virus and its potential,  just some of the way the numbers are calculated and how they are reported.

@"JimmyinSD" said:

@"MaroonBells" said:

@"JimmyinSD" said:

@"StickyBun" said:

@"JimmyinSD" said:

@"StickyBun" said: Seriously, wtf is with people denying this is a real thing? How ignorant and stubborn can you be?

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/chuck-woolery-coronavirus-son-tested-positive-214332776.html

I think he meant the extent of the situation,  not that the whole thing is a hoax....to some extent I agree,  to much at stake here for this to all be on the up and up.  So much money to be made.

I don't know where to begin to disagree with you on this, so I will respectively not do so. 

And they said I was too old to learn!  :p

IIRC you yourself were questioning the veracity of some of the reporting werent you?

I am not discounting the virus and its potential,  just some of the way the numbers are calculated and how they are reported.

The media over-report and exaggerate everything. But that's different than suggesting that "the whole thing" is not on the up and up and the reason it's not is because there's money to be made. That makes it sound like there is something or someone behind all of this pulling the strings...in other words, like a conspiracy. 

hospitals putting way more people on vents than other areas have seen require them... IIRC the gov was paying handsomely to hospitals per day per vent used,  I am sure there are other areas where this has been exploited for monetary gains by public and private entities.  Govt agencies get bigger budgets and more employees based on "need",  why would anybody skew the numbers?  there is no conspiracy,  greed is everywhere.

@"MaroonBells" said:

@"JimmyinSD" said:

@"MaroonBells" said:

@"JimmyinSD" said:

@"StickyBun" said:

@"JimmyinSD" said:

@"StickyBun" said: Seriously, wtf is with people denying this is a real thing? How ignorant and stubborn can you be?

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/chuck-woolery-coronavirus-son-tested-positive-214332776.html

I think he meant the extent of the situation,  not that the whole thing is a hoax....to some extent I agree,  to much at stake here for this to all be on the up and up.  So much money to be made.

I don't know where to begin to disagree with you on this, so I will respectively not do so. 

And they said I was too old to learn!  :p

IIRC you yourself were questioning the veracity of some of the reporting werent you?

I am not discounting the virus and its potential,  just some of the way the numbers are calculated and how they are reported.

The media over-report and exaggerate everything. But that's different than suggesting that "the whole thing" is not on the up and up and the reason it's not is because there's money to be made. That makes it sound like there is something or someone behind all of this pulling the strings...in other words, like a conspiracy. 

hospitals putting way more people on vents than other areas have seen require them... IIRC the gov was paying handsomely to hospitals per day per vent used,  I am sure there are other areas where this has been exploited for monetary gains by public and private entities.  Govt agencies get bigger budgets and more employees based on "need",  why would anybody skew the numbers?  there is no conspiracy,  greed is everywhere.

Right. Mistakes are made everywhere. And some here and there might even be intentional abuses. As long as you don't believe it's coordinated by someone somewhere. That's where the batshit starts. But, as we all know, there's no shortage of folks who will believe that.  

Gotta strongly disagree with ya Jimmy---can there be some cooking of the books(yes) but the death toll is real

US makes up 4,25 % of world population but accounts for 24% of deaths---dead people don't lie

@"Akvike" said: Gotta strongly disagree with ya Jimmy---can there be some cooking of the books(yes) but the death toll is real

US makes up 4,25 % of world population but accounts for 24% of deaths---dead people don't lie

what are you disagreeing with?  I have not refuted that people are indeed dying,  but are the death numbers being exaggerated or manipulated... I think so.

and are all the other countries testing every single person that dies and reporting them as covid deaths?   I have heard of people dying from car crashed or other physical trauma and being tested and reported as covid related deaths,  that is unheard of.   Imagine if every single person that died in this country got tested for other diseases and had their cause of death listed as such if they tested positive regardless of symptoms.   

Who's reporting car crash victims being listed as covid deaths---I believe there might be some number added but that it is isolated and marginal at best.

We failed to get ahead of this early on(Leadership) and are reaping our reward

@"JimmyinSD" said:

@"Akvike" said: Gotta strongly disagree with ya Jimmy---can there be some cooking of the books(yes) but the death toll is real

US makes up 4,25 % of world population but accounts for 24% of deaths---dead people don't lie

what are you disagreeing with?  I have not refuted that people are indeed dying,  but are the death numbers being exaggerated or manipulated... I think so.

and are all the other countries testing every single person that dies and reporting them as covid deaths?   I have heard of people dying from car crashed or other physical trauma and being tested and reported as covid related deaths,  that is unheard of.   Imagine if every single person that died in this country got tested for other diseases and had their cause of death listed as such if they tested positive regardless of symptoms.   

@"Akvike" said: Who's reporting car crash victims being listed as covid deaths---I believe there might be some number added but that it is isolated and marginal at best.

We failed to get ahead of this early on(Leadership) and are reaping our reward

it was part of report I read back in april or may in regards to abuses to the govt cost sharing for hospitals treating covid patients,  no matter what brings people into the hospitals they are/were getting tested and if it was positive they we listed as being admitted for covid treatment.

@"MaroonBells" said:

@"JimmyinSD" said:

@"Akvike" said: Gotta strongly disagree with ya Jimmy---can there be some cooking of the books(yes) but the death toll is real

US makes up 4,25 % of world population but accounts for 24% of deaths---dead people don't lie

what are you disagreeing with?  I have not refuted that people are indeed dying,  but are the death numbers being exaggerated or manipulated... I think so.

and are all the other countries testing every single person that dies and reporting them as covid deaths?   I have heard of people dying from car crashed or other physical trauma and being tested and reported as covid related deaths,  that is unheard of.   Imagine if every single person that died in this country got tested for other diseases and had their cause of death listed as such if they tested positive regardless of symptoms.   

We get incorrect numbers because that's just what happens, whether you're talking about war, famine, disease, whatever. Where you jump the shark is thinking that it's intentional, or worse, that someone somewhere is directing it. There are people who believe that, Jimmy. Don't be one of those people. 

So this has never been posted here?  I mean this was stated back in April but yet there are people who think the Covid death numbers are not inflated? 

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/ncna1234293

This isn't about red vs. blue, it's about stupid.  Trying to block funding for COVID testing, tracing, and the CDC while the country is setting new records for daily cases is mind boggling. 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2020/07/18/white-house-testing-budget-cdc-coronavirus/

@"RS Express" said:

This isn't about red vs. blue, it's about stupid.  Trying to block funding for COVID testing, tracing, and the CDC while the country is setting new records for daily cases is mind boggling. 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2020/07/18/white-house-testing-budget-cdc-coronavirus/

This is probably the last, big COVID package before November elections. We can all argue till the cows come home, but POTUS doesn't like the perception the #'s are giving.

Red/Blue political goals aside, testing and tracing is the best bullet in the holster we got right now.

Cutting $ there doesn't pass the idiot test. 

Kroger Stops Giving Change to CustomersThe Kroger Co. reportedly has stopped giving coins as change to customers during cash transactions, putting the money instead on loyalty cards or giving it to charity. 
The move reflects another of the many problems caused by the ongoing pandemic: a coin shortage in the United States because of the decline of cash transactions as more consumers and retailers shift toward contactless purchases. 
Kroger didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from Progressive Grocer.  

“The remainders from cash transactions will be applied to customers’ loyalty cards and automatically used on their next purchase,” reported Cincinnati.com, located in Kroger’s hometown. “Customers are also encouraged to ‘round up’ to support the company’s Zero Hunger | Zero Waste Foundation.”

The new process stems from a situation that emerged publicly in June when the U.S. Federal Reserve announced that the “COVID‐19 pandemic has significantly disrupted the supply chain and normal circulation patterns for U.S. coins. In the past few months, coin deposits from depository institutions to the Federal Reserve have declined significantly and the U.S. Mint’s production of coin also decreased due to measures put in place to protect its employees.”

UK coronavirus vaccine prompts immune response in early test

LONDON — Scientists at Oxford University say their experimental coronavirus vaccine has been shown in an early trial to prompt a protective immune response in hundreds of people who got the shot.
British researchers first began testing the vaccine in April in about 1,000 people, half of whom got the experimental vaccine. Such early trials are designed to evaluate safety and see what kind of immune response was provoked, but can't tell if the vaccine truly protects.
In research published Monday in the journal Lancet, scientists said that they found their experimental COVID-19 vaccine produced a dual immune response in people aged 18 to 55 that lasted at least two months after they were immunized.
"We are seeing good immune response in almost everybody," said Dr. Adrian Hill, director of the Jenner Institute at Oxford University. "What this vaccine does particularly well is trigger both arms of the immune system," he said.
Hill said that neutralizing antibodies are produced — molecules which are key to blocking infection. In addition, the vaccine also causes a reaction in the body's T-cells, which help by destroying cells that have been taken over by the virus.
The experimental COVID-19 vaccine caused minor side effects like fever, chills and muscle pain more often than in those who got a control meningitis vaccine.
Hill said that larger trials evaluating the vaccine's effectiveness, involving about 10,000 people in the U.K. as well as participants in South Africa and Brazil are still underway. Another big trial is slated to start in the U.S. soon, aiming to enroll about 30,000 people.
How quickly scientists are able to determine the vaccine's effectiveness will depend largely on how much more transmission there is, but Hill estimated that if there were enough data to prove the vaccine's efficacy, immunization of some high-risk groups in Britain could begin in December.
He said the vaccine seemed to produce a comparable level of antibodies to those produced by people who recovered from a COVID-19 infection and hoped that the T-cell response would provide extra protection.
"There's increasing evidence that having a T-cell response as well as antibodies could be very important in controlling COVID-19," Hill said. He suggested the immune response might be boosted after a second dose; in a small number of people, their trial tested two doses administered about four weeks apart.
Hill said Oxford's vaccine is designed to reduce disease and transmission. It uses a harmless virus — a chimpanzee cold virus, engineered so it can't spread — to carry the coronavirus' spike protein into the body, which should trigger an immune system response.
Hill said Oxford has partnered with drugmaker AstraZeneca to produce their vaccine globally, and that the company has already committed to making 2 billion doses.
"Even 2 billion doses may not be enough," he said, underlining the importance of having multiple shots to combat the coronavirus, given the ongoing surge of infections worldwide. "I think its going to be very difficult to control this pandemic without a vaccine."
Hill said researchers were also considering conducting a "challenge" trial by the end of 2020, an ethically controversial test where participants would be deliberately infected with COVID-19 after being immunized to determine if the vaccine is effective.
"This has been done before in 19 different infectious diseases to develop vaccines and drugs and is likely to happen for COVID-19 as well," he said.
Numerous countries including Germany, France, the Netherlands, Italy, U.S. and the U.K. have all signed deals to receive hundreds of millions of doses of the vaccine — which has not yet been licensed — with the first deliveries scheduled for the fall.
Chinese researchers also published a study on their experimental COVID-19 vaccine in the Lancet on Monday, using a similar technique as the Oxford scientists. They reported that in their study of about 500 people, an immune response was detected in those who were immunized. But they noted that because the participants weren't exposed to the coronavirus afterwards, it wasn't possible to tell if they were protected from the disease.
CanSino Biologics' vaccine is made similarly to Oxford's except the Chinese shot is made with a human cold virus, and the study showed people whose bodies recognized it didn't get as much of the presumed COVID-19 benefit. Still, China's government already gave special approval for the military to use CanSino's vaccine while it explores final-stage studies.
In an accompanying editorial, Naor Bar-Zeev and William Moss of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health called both the Oxford and Chinese results "encouraging" but said further judgment should wait until the vaccine is tested on much bigger populations.
Bar-Zeev and Moss also called for any effective COVID-19 vaccine to be distributed equitably around the world.
"Global planning is underway, but should be underpinned and informed by specific local realities," they wrote. "Only this way can these very encouraging first earlyphase randomised trial results yield the global remedy for which we all yearn."
Last week, American researchers announced that the first COVID-19 vaccine tested there boosted people's immune systems just as scientists had hoped and the shots will now enter the final phase of testing. That vaccine, developed by the National Institutes of Health and Moderna, produced the molecules key to blocking infection in volunteers who got it, at levels comparable to people who survived a COVID-19 infection.
The vaccine being developed by Pfizer also works to trigger a similar dual immune response as the Oxford shot. Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech also released an encouraging Phase 1 report Monday.