The C**** government lied from the very beginning. I see no reason to believe they're not lying now. Their totalitarian regime makes a mockery out of truth.

 

https://www.foxnews.com/health/coronavirus-in-italy-clinically-no-longer-exists-doctor-says

This is probably another case where I'm not even close to being qualified to draw any conclusions, which happens frequently, but I've been watching the world case map based on Johns Hopkins for months and it shows approximately 40,000 active cases in Italy. The same map has shown active cases and deaths to be strikingly low in China for weeks. Obviously all locales have different latencies and degrees of accuracy in reporting these things but I can't help wonder if I've been observing a random number graphic all this time, at least to some degree, all the while trying to evaluate the danger and trajectory of this pandemic.

Perhaps the qualifier "clinically" has some special significant meaning which would clarify the doctor's statement. Admittedly, the doctor may be full of excrement as well. I didn't trust any claims at the beginning of this but increasingly I'm wondering if there has been significant willful spread of disinformation rather than an understandable lack of data for the novel virus we're experiencing.

Zangrillo told Reuters: 'We have never said that the virus has changed, we said that the interaction between the virus and the host has definitely changed.'

He said this could be due either to different characteristics of the virus, which he said they had not yet identified, or different characteristics in those infected.

"Clinically no longer exists" as applied to pandemic deaths here IMO means it has killed all it can under the current conditions with humans it can quickly and rapidly reproduce in. What left are the marginal reproducers that will result in a slow killing off of the virus under the current conditions if they remain the same for some long period of time.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...ay-coronavirus-appears-declining-potency.html

Doctors at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center say the coronavirus appears to be becoming less potent.

Dr Donald Yealy, chair of emergency medicine at UPMC, explained at a press conference on Thursday that people seem to be contracting the virus less easily and cases appear to be less severe then when the pandemic first took hold in the US early this year.

'The virus may be changing,' Yealy said. 'Some patterns suggest the potency is diminished.'

He noted that UPMC has successfully treated more than 500 coronavirus patients since March, and in recent weeks fewer patients are requiring ventilators to help them breathe.

 

Nothing re COVID, but:

New antibiotic promises to win war against superbugs.

I don't have a subscription to The Times, so I cannot read all the text. But here is an analysis* from one of my favorite sites.

*Disclosure: the last time I linked to an article from this site I got banned for a week. I still don't know why. Let's hope the management recognizes that -- while the site is political in nature -- the article to which I linked is not.

 

And I got a bridge to sell you.

Somehow I've managed to acquire more bridges than I can afford already. So you are just suggesting what we'd all expect, which is the Chinese data is propaganda undoubtedly underestimating the impact of the illness. No surprise. Still, why would Johns Hopkins not flag the data? Perhaps due to political optics, they expect everyone to just know the data is meaningless. Further, what other countries' data are suspect or even known to be false? Perhaps the easiest heuristic is to discount data that doesn't follow the others especially when weighted by the known untrustworthiness of a given regime.

Sure, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar likely would be highly suspect. I'm not expert on Asian geopolitics, but Thailand? Perhaps these neighboring states are pressured by nearby giant China to underreport. Still, if the actual data is dramatically worse than what's reported, it would seem difficult to conceal eventually.

 

The Chinese data looks good when compared to North Korea.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_pandemic_in_North_Korea

Although South Korean media shared news hinting at the spread of the COVID-19 epidemic to North Korea, the WHO denied the veracity of such claims. On 18 February, Rodong Sinmun quoted a public health official reiterating the country had had "no confirmed case of the new coronavirus so far". The WHO prioritised aid for North Korea, including the shipment of protective equipment and supplies.[26]

Military
In early March, the North Korean government continued to deny that they had any cases of COVID-19. However, according to South Korean media outlet Daily NK, 180 soldiers had died. There was no estimate of those merely infected.[1]

In February and March, U.S. officials observed a decrease in military activity in North Korea, believed to be a sign that there are COVID-19 cases in the country.[2] General Robert B. Abrams observed that the North Korean military had "been on lockdown for about 30 days" and "didn’t fly an airplane for 24 days".[2]

 

The Chinese data looks good when compared to North Korea.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_pandemic_in_North_Korea

North Korea was one of the first countries to close borders due to COVID-19...

Yeah, back in 1945.

 

Somehow I've managed to acquire more bridges than I can afford already. So you are just suggesting what we'd all expect, which is the Chinese data is propaganda undoubtedly underestimating the impact of the illness. No surprise. Still, why would Johns Hopkins not flag the data? Perhaps due to political optics, they expect everyone to just know the data is meaningless. Further, what other countries' data are suspect or even known to be false? Perhaps the easiest heuristic is to discount data that doesn't follow the others especially when weighted by the known untrustworthiness of a given regime.

Sure, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar likely would be highly suspect. I'm not expert on Asian geopolitics, but Thailand? Perhaps these neighboring states are pressured by nearby giant China to underreport. Still, if the actual data is dramatically worse than what's reported, it would seem difficult to conceal eventually.
View attachment 208978

Nothing would surprise me about death reports from that area. We watched two million people murdered during the 70's and 80's in Cambodia without the blink of a an eye of the local dictators.

 

Nothing would surprise me about death reports from that area. We watched two million people murdered during the 70's and 80's in Cambodia without the blink of a an eye of the local dictators.

Sure, but in the age of the internet and camera density it seems apples to oranges to me.

In my extended social network (small, I have no friends, lol) I am aware of 3 individuals that have been diagnosed with Covid19. Approximate ages are 90, 80, 60; all 3 reportedly recovered. The older guys are known to have very serious health problems. The 90 year old has COPD to some degree. The 80 year old has multiple challenges and suffered a heart attack while in the hospital being treated for Covid19. The 60 yo (stepson of 80 year old) AFAIK is healthy. The older guys had a rough time of it. Ventilators were involved. The younger guy was at first at home recovering, but later had difficulty breathing, so was hospitalized. Mother of 60 yo (wife of 80 yo) has struggled with occasional hospitalizations over the last couple years, and if she became ill from the virus I would have heard about it.

These cases occurred within the last 4-6 weeks. Perhaps as time passed doctors were able to learn and adapt more effective treatments which improved survival somewhat.

 

Sure, but in the age of the internet and camera density it seems apples to oranges to me.

Sure, we would hope so but ask the people in China about how internet and camera density has helped them tell the truth when the dictatorship controls the internet and the people with cameras under the threat of death or imprisonment.

 

I'm not disagreeing with that. But having worked in several areas of China (1995-2010) I've seen that common views of freedom versus tyranny vary from region to region. (Shanghai seemed especially "liberal" - in the freedom sense.) Also, technologies exist to thwart government meddling and retaliation. In general my view of Chinese is that they tend to be relatively clever, and there has been, at least until recently, a measurable population that were inexplicably (to me anyways) willing to act against the ruling overclass.

Something I've deemed widely misunderstood by Americans and Europeans is the sea change that was Tiananmen. The communist party took a serious if not almost fatal hit. But perhaps they've recovered from that.

 

 

https://www.foxnews.com/health/coronavirus-in-italy-clinically-no-longer-exists-doctor-says

This is probably another case where I'm not even close to being qualified to draw any conclusions, which happens frequently, but I've been watching the world case map based on Johns Hopkins for months and it shows approximately 40,000 active cases in Italy. The same map has shown active cases and deaths to be strikingly low in China for weeks. Obviously all locales have different latencies and degrees of accuracy in reporting these things but I can't help wonder if I've been observing a random number graphic all this time, at least to some degree, all the while trying to evaluate the danger and trajectory of this pandemic.

Perhaps the qualifier "clinically" has some special significant meaning which would clarify the doctor's statement. Admittedly, the doctor may be full of excrement as well. I didn't trust any claims at the beginning of this but increasingly I'm wondering if there has been significant willful spread of disinformation rather than an understandable lack of data for the novel virus we're experiencing.

Well and here in the U.S. it's difficult to be absolutely sure whether or not our own numbers have been inflated just for the simple fact that COVID reporting has basically become incentivized by the C.A.R.E.S Act.

https://www.factcheck.org/2020/04/hospital-payments-and-the-covid-19-death-count/

The W.H.O. has been providing similar funding to countries around the world, so I wouldn't be surprised if that sort of dynamic could develop in those places as well.

Which isn't to say that it is necessarily a problem. I would certainly hope that doctors wouldn't take advantage of such a thing. But people are people, and whenever money is involved, well...

 

Well he did change his position on the effectiveness though first he said it was good then he said on national TV that it was not as effective as he thought because people were fiddling with the mask now and then and thus touching their face.
SO although he did not say not to wear one, he did say the effectiveness was not as good. Some people will translate that to not having to wear a mask. There is also talk about the mask actually causing more problems for a human wearer.

My own position is that if it is worse to wear one, i cant believe it entirely so i wear one and besides many stores around here have signs on the doors saying either you must wear a mask or "please" wear a mask.

I think we also have to keep in mind that we all learn as we go with this crisis so oppinions change with time.

As I've said before, I wear a mask when that's effective for the conditions. I'm dealing with this on a daily basis. At work the official policy is to wear a mask in public areas. Our technical work shop (mine and others work offices now) is in a clean-room 100 space with ultra-HEPA lam-flow filtering. We don't wear masks in that space because they provide no additional protection.

 

As I've said before, I wear a mask when that's effective for the conditions. I'm dealing with this on a daily basis. At work the official policy is to wear a mask in public areas. Our technical work shop (mine and others work offices now) is in a clean-room 100 space with ultra-HEPA lam-flow filtering. We don't wear masks in that space because they provide no additional protection.

I just got some new masks in took three weeks to get here. The filtering particle size is so small it doesnt even let oxygen through

Seriously though they have something like activated charcoal in them that does really good filtering but it makes it harder to breath through them unfortunately. You notice it going up flights of stairs for example and they tend to keep the heat from the mouth in also which is strange.
Of course none of the masks seem to prevent side leakage except the kind that have a strap that goes around the back of the head and are made partly of rubber, not just some sort of cloth or paper. The only cloth or paper is in the breathing chambers that have the special filters in them. Those kind are priced much higher too around 40 dollars USD each and come with only one set of filters.

 

Recently removed my N95 after walking out of the grocery store and was struck by the sudden aroma of some nearby flowering trees. I know nothing of relevant particle sizes, but the mask seems to be doing something. Yesterday had a haircut after 3 months, I was starting to look like the Ancient Aliens guy. I had to remove the top strap of my mask which was OK but then the bottom kept slowly pulling the mask down and creating gaps. The gal wore a mask but talked the whole time.

 

https://www.the-scientist.com/news-...urgispheres-study-on-hydroxychloroquine-67613

Lancet, NEJM Retract Surgisphere Studies on COVID-19 Patients

 

So I see a user comment on foxnews that the death rate in Sweden is 10%, and 5% in the US. I replied, no, it's much lower, CDC is estimating 0.4% (revised to 0.26% today). Then I was berated for not understanding basic math. I had a short but similar discussion with a family member. They see total cases in the US is 2 million, deaths 100K, so rate is 5%. Presumably the CDC is estimating uncounted cases due to mild symptoms that now can be derived with antibody tests. The online guy was really angry. Maybe it's a Chinese/Russian troublemaker, but I think the basic concepts aren't that complicated.

 

https://www.the-scientist.com/news-...urgispheres-study-on-hydroxychloroquine-67613

Lancet, NEJM Retract Surgisphere Studies on COVID-19 Patients

Yes i heard about this earlier today. So there is still hope for the drug.
So he who's name we dont want to mention was right when he stated that the studies were bogus.
I am hoping that it works not for any other reason than it helps people get better. Of course i might be a tiny bit biased to one side of the isle

Not sure if anyone mentioned it yet or not but there is also a trial vaccine in the US that is working with little side effects. From what i understand though it has to go through rigorous testing which could take months. Let's hope and pray (if you are so inclined) that it works and does not have serious side effects. One joke was that yeah it works but you grow two more heads That's just a joke though.

 

So I see a user comment on foxnews that the death rate in Sweden is 10%, and 5% in the US. I replied, no, it's much lower, CDC is estimating 0.4% (revised to 0.26% today). Then I was berated for not understanding basic math. I had a short but similar discussion with a family member. They see total cases in the US is 2 million, deaths 100K, so rate is 5%. Presumably the CDC is estimating uncounted cases due to mild symptoms that now can be derived with antibody tests. The online guy was really angry. Maybe it's a Chinese/Russian troublemaker, but I think the basic concepts aren't that complicated.

Right now the US is blaming the Chinese gov for the outbreak, and i agree, but i think all countries should follow that and maybe we can get China to change its practices in order to prevent this again. This is probably the fourth one that came out of China throughout history. It's time to end it. I think even Russia should hold them accountable.
Dont get me wrong though, i dont blame the Chinese people themselves and i dont think i have ever met a Chinese person in the US that i didnt like. It's the gov that hides information and does not comply with any standards set by the WHO.

 

So I see a user comment on foxnews that the death rate in Sweden is 10%, and 5% in the US. I replied, no, it's much lower, CDC is estimating 0.4% (revised to 0.26% today). Then I was berated for not understanding basic math. I had a short but similar discussion with a family member. They see total cases in the US is 2 million, deaths 100K, so rate is 5%. Presumably the CDC is estimating uncounted cases due to mild symptoms that now can be derived with antibody tests. The online guy was really angry. Maybe it's a Chinese/Russian troublemaker, but I think the basic concepts aren't that complicated.

The official total confirmed cases death rate numbers are useless as a reality data-point. CDC is in the right ballpark for most current models at this point in the pandemic.

"The numbers are even higher in New York City — antibody testing found a positivity rate of 24.7 percent in city samples, suggesting almost 2.1 million city residents could have been infected at some point."
https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/loc...ily-deaths-hit-lowest-level-in-weeks/2390949/

Two million were suspected as carriers just in NYC where a huge amount of deaths were caused by forcing nursing homes to take COVID-19 infected. This caused a 'honey-pot' effect for the virus in a population known to be the most affected.
https://fee.org/articles/how-states...g-them-to-admit-discharged-covid-19-patients/

The practice is coming under increased scrutiny by health experts and family members of deceased patients who say the orders needlessly put the most susceptible populations at risk.

“The whole thing has just been handled awfully ... by everybody in regard to nursing homes,” said Kathleen Cole, a nurse who recently lost her 89-year-old mother who lived at Ferncliff Nursing Home in Rhinebeck, New York. “It’s like a slaughterhouse at these places.”