Coronavirus with an R0 of 3 or beyond

[Emil El Zapato]

well the thought of a plague indicating the end of the world tends to make me a bit 'antsy'... I'll take your advice...

[Dreamtimer]

Our food chains are going to be more and more disrupted. With the increase in activity there will be more infections. There is less hospital space and fewer health care professionals available to help not only those with this virus, but also those with other conditions.

Stroke as well as heart disease seem to be caused by this virus.

Altogether, it's lookin' pretty darn bad.

I'm optimistic, but it's harder and harder to find solid reasons to be so.

We still have the same agricultural practices. We are, like it or not, at the end of an era in terms of how we operate and now it's a matter of transitioning into a new way of being.

Not to mention the climate pressures coming.

I've been hearing about the long-term drought which seems to be hitting the southwest of the US. This will be bad for food supplies. And then there are the sea level rises and ocean acidification.

One major event, i.e. massive volcanic eruption, Canary island tsunami, asteroid hit, etc., would push us well over the edge.

I hope I can finish my projects in time.

Time for a cosmic :batman

[Chris]

Currently I'm not sure whether to be optimistic or pessimistic. It usually depends on the news of the day.

The good news is, that at least in Europe, the number of daily infections and deaths is going down. The situation in Hungary and the region at large seems to be under control. There were actually comparatively few infections and deaths here. About a dozen people are dying from Covid-19 every day in this country and that number appears to be stable.

One thing I did not know and took me by surprise is that post-communist countries are actually better prepared to deal with major pandemics than most other countries. Similarly to how it is in Cuba, communist governments invested a lot in public health facilities and training as well as inoculations, which actually left these countries better prepared than one would expect. We have a lot more hospital beds, including ICU units per head than countries such as Italy, the UK and the USA for instance.

The vast difference in the severity of the pandemic between Central Europe as compared to the likes of Italy, Spain, the UK and the US is rather interesting and many now think (including some doctors I know), that it can be explained by the much more rigorous vaccination schedule in the region. For instance, BCG (to fight Tubercolosis) has been compulsory in Hungary since the 1940s and it was widely administered in the thirties, so pretty much everyone here alive today has gotten it. More than one doctor I spoke to told me that they widely suspect in the medical community now that either this vaccine or perhaps some of the others that everyone gets here, without exception, has prepared the immune system to fight off Covid-19 much more effectively than in those that did not get this vaccination.

It's an interesting theory and it would explain a lot. However, this doesn't bode well for the likes of Africa, India or South and Central America (with Cuba being an obvious exception). I've noticed that Ecuador is one of the worst hit countries right now with appalling fatality numbers and dead bodies washing up on the beach, but it hardly gets a mention.

[Wind]

You'd hope something like this would be a joke, but knowing 'Muricans it probably isn't.

[Dreamtimer]

It's not. It's the same mentality that will say a man has the right to be 'free' to have slaves. Or has the 'freedom of religion' to proselytize and shove religious morals down others' throats.

It's the same mentality that causes Bill Barr to threaten to sue states in utter ignorance of the 10th Amendment.

People are turning things on their heads.

And you can be sure that when they get sick they will want all of the governments' services and all of the tax dollars they can get.

Ayn Rand, hero of the right, had no problem using government services when the time came that she needed them.

[Aragorn]

It's not. It's the same mentality that will say a man has the right to be 'free' to have slaves. Or has the 'freedom of religion' to proselytize and shove religious morals down others' throats.

The acolytes of liberty often tend to forget that their freedom ends where someone else's freedom begins.

[Chris]

The acolytes of liberty often tend to forget that their freedom ends where someone else's freedom begins.

I've read a very thoughtful writeup by a conservative commentator on this very issue. His point was that these protests are idiotic and Trump should be ashamed of himself for encouraging them, because you're not free if you are a corpse. The very first right everyone should have is to Life and that should trump all other considerations. Once you have your Life, you can start worrying about Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness, but there is a reason they were put in that order.

[Fred Steeves]

You'd hope something like this would be a joke, but knowing 'Muricans it probably isn't.

A quick note from a ‘Murican: be a little easy in lumping us all together under any given ridiculous protest sign. Not all of us thought it was cool to wear pink pussy hats in protest either.

[Emil El Zapato]

<sigh>

[Wind]

A quick note from a ‘Murican: be a little easy in lumping us all together under any given ridiculous protest sign. Not all of us thought it was cool to wear pink pussy hats in protest either.

Well of course I don't think you peeps as a hivemind entity, it's obvious that you're quite divided within your great nation.

I just refer to the special kind of American stupidity and I mean no offense with that.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0-54efWJSI

[Emil El Zapato]

The Kansas Department of Health issued a public health message warning people to not drink cleaning fluids after a man reportedly did that (I told you that my home state was only marginally smarter than Texas).

Until I saw the report it was going to be one of those stories that I refused to believe (fake news). I didn't think anyone could be THAT stupid. Might have been a nutcase. There are plenty of people that crazy, witness the election of the U.S. President. I always go back to the election of Jesse Ventura. I remember thinking, I believe it was Minnesota, was a state with a fantastic sense of humor. Little did I know people were serious about his potential...Gawd!

[Emil El Zapato]

I just heard Kansas ranks last in testing...perhaps for marginal reasons. My brother and sister-in-law live there and she was working among the public until pretty recently. She travels to all parts of the city of Wichita during her work day and I thought it was a really really bad idea to be doing that.

[Wind]

So there are now over three million confirmed cases, over one million are in the US.

Of course the real numbers are much, much higher.

https://gisanddata.maps.arcgis.com/a...23467b48e9ecf6

[Emil El Zapato]

Here's an article about the 'true' death rates...take it with a grain of salt. I haven't really investigated the background of the site...

[Dreamtimer]

The article is so mysterious, it cannot be seen.