Corona Virus

[Sour Masher]

I ain't no doctor (not a medical one, anyway), but I've always thought the best was to get vitamin D was to allow the body to convert cholesterol into it by getting 15-30 minutes of mid-day sun exposure outside 4-5 times a week. Of course, that isn't always possible for many of us, especially those of us who live in areas that don't get a lot of sun. But if possible, it still seems like a good plan. One study found just 30 minutes of mid-day sun exposure was equal to consuming 10k-20k ui of vitamin D, which comes out to the same amount those docs are taking for the initial dose, so more than enough without supplementation: https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/vitamin-d-from-sun

Of course, you have to be careful not to overdue it--you don't want to burn your skin, but mid-day sun seems to be the most efficient way, and the risk of skin cancer from moderate mid-day sun exposure seems pretty low and worth the trade off--those times you cook and burn are what really up your risk.

[Sour Masher]

The Oxford vaccine trial was shut down with a case of traverse myelitis. Most articles are quick to point out this is normal and how the process is supposed to work, but the fact remains it is a delay at best and possibly linked to the vaccine. It is a good reminder of why these trials are needed, and it does reinforce the trust I feel in the process and whatever eventual vaccines get approved. But it also is a bummer, as the dream scenario of a vaccine ready by the end of the year seems less like now: https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/...lysis/12644626

[rhd]

The Oxford vaccine trial was shut down with a case of traverse myelitis. Most articles are quick to point out this is normal and how the process is supposed to work, but the fact remains it is a delay at best and possibly linked to the vaccine. It is a good reminder of why these trials are needed, and it does reinforce the trust I feel in the process and whatever eventual vaccines get approved. But it also is a bummer, as the dream scenario of a vaccine ready by the end of the year seems less like now: https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/...lysis/12644626

From the article: "The review should take a few days at the most, and the most likely outcome is that the trial will resume."

[DMT]

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2020/09/pandemic-intuition-nightmare-spiral-winter/616204/

[Gregg]

I have heard friend of a friend stories exactly like this, but never have I heard it happening to someone I know and trust. This story, almost word for word--it happened to a friend of a coworker of a friend in Texas who filled out the paperwork, decided the line was too long, so they left, then got the positive result. Is it possible that this has happened? Yeah. It is also possible that this is an urban legend that has gotten spread. I believe so. I have heard this story now from 3 different sources in 3 different states. Each source was a right leaning fellow that I know and trust, but it has never been first hand, or second hand. Each of the 3 times, it has been exactly like this, twice removed--it happened to a friend of my friend/boss/coworker.

If it happens, it should make you mad Gregg, but it might also not happen and the story was fabricated to make you mad, and I don't think it is a coincidence that the first incidents of this being claimed came with ready made reasons why--that it is about inflating numbers to increase federal funding, a conspiracy theory that started on right-winged forums. It is possible that this is where this story comes from, originally. After all, you did not hear that this happened to someone you know and trust. You only heard that it happened to someone he knows. That person may be lying, or may have heard and believed it, but made it about themselves, or implied it happened to them when it was just something they heard happened.

You may be right.

I have known my boss for a long time. I do not think he would make up this story for any reason. So I do believe he was told that by someone he knows. Now could that person have made up the story? Sad to say yes that is possible.

And that would be almost as bad as what was reported. Neither being acceptable.

[Sour Masher]

You may be right.

I have known my boss for a long time. I do not think he would make up this story for any reason. So I do believe he was told that by someone he knows. Now could that person have made up the story? Sad to say yes that is possible.

And that would be almost as bad as what was reported. Neither being acceptable.

Yeah, if you said it happened to you, I'd believe it, just as you'd believe it if your boss said it happened to him. But given how cookie cutter the story is--same details and reasoning each time, I'm inclined to believe your boss was lied to, and maybe the person who told him 100% believed it happened, but made it happen to himself, or implied that. But I have never had anyone able to follow the chain to the person who it actually happened to, or any proof shown that it has happened (though it may have happened sometimes, somewhere, though even then, it is possible it was just a mistake--a 1 in many millions of tests error).

[revo]

So in an early February interview with Bob Woodward, Trump said he knew corona was 5x as deadly as the flu and was highly contagious through the air, but that he intentionally covered it up as to not cause panic (or, more likely, to protect his own re-election bid). 185,000 dead now. #thanksdonald

[Teenwolf]

So in an early February interview with Bob Woodward, Trump said he knew corona was 5x as deadly as the flu and was highly contagious through the air, but that he intentionally covered it up as to not cause panic (or, more likely, to protect his own re-election bid). 185,000 dead now. #thanksdonald

How many lives could have been saved if Bob Woodward released his bombshell in May instead of now?

I'm mostly joking. But seriously, thousands extra dead so he could sell more books? Tight publishing timelines right now, or what?

[gcstomp]

trump downplayed to not cause panic? This is so absurd. The same guy who was claiming caravans of murderous dark skinned central american people were crossing the border. The caravans numbered in countless thousands, and were filled with rapists and criminals carrying, I kid you not, leprosy. This led to packs of patrolling patriots at border with high powered weapons to save the union.

That hoax, that racist storyline, blown up, built to a frenzy, led by solely by trumps political ambition, is what, trump also trying to keep nation calm?

[Sour Masher]

trump downplayed to not cause panic? This is so absurd. The same guy who was claiming caravans of murderous dark skinned central american people were crossing the border. The caravans numbered in countless thousands, and were filled with rapists and criminals carrying, I kid you not, leprosy. This led to packs of patrolling patriots at border with high powered weapons to save the union.

That hoax, that racist storyline, blown up, built to a frenzy, led by solely by trumps political ambition, is what, trump also trying to keep nation calm?

The really irony of it is that fearmongering is right in his wheelhouse and he is good at it. He is a demagogue, but one that go so stuck on using black and brown people to create panic and unity among his supporters, he missed a perfect opportunity to use his fearmongering ways against the pandemic. Of course, his brand of it would have leaned hard on anti-China rhetoric (he has done this, but his main talking points are still back and brown people in the US), and as with 9/11, I think it would have been effective. It played right to his strengths, but because downplaying the pandemic was good for the economy in the short term, that is what he went with. It was a fatal strategic error for thousands of Americans. We will see if it will be fatal to his presidency.

[revo]

How many lives could have been saved if Bob Woodward released his bombshell in May instead of now?

I'm mostly joking. But seriously, thousands extra dead so he could sell more books? Tight publishing timelines right now, or what?

That's a very good question. Why did he wait?

[Sour Masher]

That's a very good question. Why did he wait?

Same reason Bolton did? But would it have mattered? I mean, we all knew this stuff already. We knew Trump had been briefed on this. We knew he knew how serious it was. We knew he purposefully downplayed it. I don't see how Woodward saying any of this in May would have made a lick of difference.

[revo]

Same reason Bolton did? But would it have mattered? I mean, we all knew this stuff already. We knew Trump had been briefed on this. We knew he knew how serious it was. We knew he purposefully downplayed it. I don't see how Woodward saying any of this in May would have made a lick of difference.

Bolton had lawsuits against him. Not a defense, but there's that, in addition to the fact that he still is a right wing conservative. Woodward is an investigative reporter, and knows to do the right thing.

[DMT]

That's a very good question. Why did he wait?

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/all/woodward-criticized-not-releasing-trump-s-covid-19-comments-sooner-n1239707

Honestly, it's not like these revelations are surprising. Anyone with a functioning brain knew Trump was lying about the dangers. If he had published right away it would've been swept up with other reports as "alarmist" because there weren't 200K dead.

[Sour Masher]

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/all/woo...ooner-n1239707

Honestly, it's not like these revelations are surprising. Anyone with a functioning brain knew Trump was lying about the dangers. If he had published right away it would've been swept up with other reports as "alarmist" because there weren't 200K dead.

Right, because others were saying it then and that is exactly what he did. I really don't think it would have mattered in terms of policies and response. Still, it is hard to defend Woodward for waiting to put this in his book. His reasoning is very weak sauce: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/polit...VOT?li=BBnb7Kz

He says he waited because Trump is a liar and he wasn't sure Trump was telling him the truth. Come on. He knew Trump was just validating what informed people already knew--this virus was a very serious. It didn't take him this long to verify what he was saying.

"He tells me this, and I’m thinking, 'Wow, that’s interesting, but is it true?' Trump says things that don’t check out, right?" Woodward told AP, referring to Trump's habit of stretching or misrepresenting the truth. And he said he had to determine, "What did he know and when did he know it?" borrowing a phrase from his reporting for The Post on the Watergate break-in.

"The biggest problem I had, which is always a problem with Trump, is I didn’t know if it was true," Woodward told The Post.