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For WHOm the Bell Tolls - Covid-19 #11


ithanos

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1 hour ago, The Anti-Targ said:

Lemme check my notes...

Yep you are partially right. The exact note from the slide presentation is:

So ferrets can get infected, but not shown to transmit. In this case infected = substantial virus replication in the species, but not necessarily illness or transmissibility. Those species mentioned are all (I believe) animals that are traded in the Wuhan markets, which is why they would have been experimentally exposed, unlike say cattle and sheep which have not been studied, yet. Whether for food or otherwise is not terribly relevant as you are most likely to pick up infection from the live animal.

 

 

I read something that they were already used as animal model in South Korea (but could not find it again)

But here an interesting chinese study about animals and SARS-CoV-2: https://science.sciencemag.org/content/early/2020/04/07/science.abb7015

from the summary: "... The fact that SARS-CoV-2 replicates efficiently in the upper respiratory tract of ferrets makes them a candidate animal  model for evaluating antiviral drugs or vaccine candidates against COVID-19. "

Sadly this study also confirms the problems with cats, they may be a reservoir for the virus, where it can hide and resurface later.

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1 hour ago, Heartofice said:

My assumption is that Trump is doing his usual power play tactic to the WHO by withdrawing funding. There has been a lot of talk that China has been overly influential in the WHO despite not being the major funder. I doubt Trump is interested in them being independent, more that he wants them under US control rather than Chinese.

Assuming it's true that China has influence beyond what its financial contributions would indicate, the question is why it has that influence. If we follow the money, maybe it's because significant private funders have significant economic interests in China (whether factories for making stuff, or China being a big market for selling stuff), and therefore the private funders want the WHO to not piss off China. So that circles back to govts fully funding WHO so that private interests have basically no influence. There could be other reasons I'm not thinking about, but I generally go with money being at the root of all evil, money talks and other money based cliche's. So even if Trump can't be appealed to in terms of the benefits of WHO being truly independent, he could be appealed to in respect of diminishing China's real or perceived influence over the WHO by making sure funding is as distanced from China as possible.

13 minutes ago, JoannaL said:

I read something that they were already used as animal model in South Korea (but could not find it again)

But here an interesting chinese study about animals and SARS-CoV-2: https://science.sciencemag.org/content/early/2020/04/07/science.abb7015

from the summary: "... The fact that SARS-CoV-2 replicates efficiently in the upper respiratory tract of ferrets makes them a candidate animal  model for evaluating antiviral drugs or vaccine candidates against COVID-19. "

Sadly this study also confirms the problems with cats, they may be a reservoir for the virus, where it can hide and resurface later.

Cats would probably be better, but less palatable to the public in terms of what animal needs to suffer to give us the protections we need. Only a small number of people love ferrets the way millions / billions of people are nutty about cats.

The role of cats both in the origin and persistence of the disease needs a lot more study, and unfortunately that does mean lab cats being subject to some treatment that many people wouldn't like to think about.

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So here's another study (preprint, no peer review yet), that I definitely want to see a follow-up on. https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.04.12.20059618v1

Quote

Upon observing a cluster of COVID-19 cases from a single large homeless shelter in Boston, Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program conducted symptom assessments and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing for SARS-CoV-2 among all guests residing at the shelter over a 2-day period. Of 408 participants, 147 (36.0%) were PCR-positive for SARS-CoV-2. COVID-positive individuals were more likely to be male (p<0.001) but did not differ significantly from COVID-negative individuals with respect to other demographic and clinical characteristics. Cough (7.5%), shortness of breath (1.4%), and fever (0.7%) were all uncommon among COVID-positive individuals.

It's another population study finding a large number of positive cases, but very high asymptomatic rates. Is it another example of it being too early to see symptoms or is something else going on? For instance, maybe homeless individuals are overexposed to Vitamin D and that plays a role in helping fight off the virus? I've no idea.

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Imma say this: cats are also a great protection against vermin that bring other diseases, which is why in ye olden days people kept a cat or two in their place of business -- and in NYC the older small delies and bodegas still keep them, and so do more restaurants than you may realize, unless you live on the block and get a chance to see them come up from the basement now and again to sun themselves and take a look around.

In ye olden days, you are infested, you call the rat catcher to come, and come he did with his ferrets.

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Another example of income inequality.

Residents, and people who work there, of a wealthy enclave in Miami called Fisher Island all got tested for Covid-19 antibodies, at a cost of $17 each, by the University of Miami Health Centre.

The U of M said they weren't getting preferential treatment, it was just another community with needs that had to addressed. 50% of the community residents are over 60, and the first person who tested positive in Miami-Dade County lived on the island. Condos on the island cost $2 M to $40 M and residents come from 40 different countries.

Of course, if a person just got the virus they won't have antibodies yet, so there may be some false security in the testing. But I'd pay $17 for an antibody test right now.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/wealthy-private-community-florida-testing-every-resident-worker-coronavirus-antibodies-n1183541

 

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11 minutes ago, Zorral said:

Imma say this: cats are also a great protection against vermin that bring other diseases, which is why in ye olden days people kept a cat or two in their place of business -- and in NYC the older small delies and bodegas still keep them, and so do more restaurants than you may realize, unless you live on the block and get a chance to see them come up from the basement now and again to sun themselves and take a look around.

In ye olden days, you are infested, you call the rat catcher to come, and come he did with his ferrets.

And in China town, you could almost taste them.

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Anyway, before I got distracted by making a joke that would equally annoy cat owners and Asians, wanted to say, that Germany has prodcued a timetable for the stepwise lifting of the current restrictions. Starting monday small shops (size<800m²) and libraries open up again.

Starting May the 3rd schools do partially open up again. Little kids to stay at home, as in, they are too small to grasp the necessity to wear face masks and the social distancing. Oh, also barber shops open then up again. Presumably.

Mass gatherings to be banished till August.

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28 minutes ago, Zorral said:

Imma say this: cats are also a great protection against vermin that bring other diseases

I think it depends on the cat. Cats that are kept as pets can vary a lot in how useful they are as hunters. If you're talking about rats as well they're towards the tougher end of what cats will prey upon so some cats won't bother with them. My cat has caught a couple of rats over the years but I wouldn't trust him to actually be determined enough to hunt down and exterminate any sort of infestation.

Apparently rats do tend to avoid places they think there are cats though. So basically having a cat isn't a bad way to avoid getting rats in the first place but if you want to actually deal with an existing rat problem there's a good chance getting a cat wouldn't be much use.

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6 minutes ago, A Horse Named Stranger said:

Oh, also barber shops open then up again. Presumably.

 

How on earth are they going to make barber shops safe in terms of social distancing? Your barber can't work on you from six feet away.

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11 minutes ago, Ormond said:

How on earth are they going to make barber shops safe in terms of social distancing? Your barber can't work on you from six feet away.

Protective gear (that's at least what has been mentioned).

Of course, watching people in a barber shop wearing surgeons' outfits is almost worth it for me to visit a barber shop again (yes, my hair has grown thin, so I sport a buzz cut anyway).

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2 minutes ago, A Horse Named Stranger said:

Protective gear (that's at least what has been mentioned).

Of course, watching people in a barber shop wearing surgeons' outfits is almost worth it for me to visit a barber shop again (yes, my hair has grown thin, so I sport a buzz cut anyway).

The barber can wear protective gear. I don't see how the client can wear protective gear and have services performed the way they usually are. The barber can't give a shave to someone wearing a mask, and can't even cut or shave around the ears properly when someone is wearing a mask. 

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Yep. I think that's the pretty much it.

You enter the chair, you remove your face mask (if you wear any), and let the hair surgeons do their work. I am mildly curious, whether they will get sufficient masks and gloves. Not to mention sanitizers for their tools.

Anyway, like I said, won't really be any of my concern.

 

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21 minutes ago, A Horse Named Stranger said:

Yep. I think that's the pretty much it.

You enter the chair, you remove your face mask (if you wear any), and let the hair surgeons do their work. I am mildly curious, whether they will get sufficient masks and gloves. Not to mention sanitizers for their tools.

Anyway, like I said, won't really be any of my concern.

 

Having looked for clippers to buzz my hair down, it seems like the supply chain problems have come for hair grooming supplies as well. I might be okay my wife using my, uh, personal grooming clippers to shave my head, but I think it'd feel weird to use them on our son as well.

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17 minutes ago, DanteGabriel said:

Having looked for clippers to buzz my hair down, it seems like the supply chain problems have come for hair grooming supplies as well. I might be okay my wife using my, uh, personal grooming clippers to shave my head, but I think it'd feel weird to use them on our son as well.

Make up your mind.

You want a healthy or a groomed kid. Anyway, I better do not ask what you use your personal grooming clippers for otherwise, that it would make it feel weird for you. But you are supposed to clean it after using it anyway. If you just oppose the idea of having your kid run around with a buzz cut. Just use the setting that leaves a bit of "wool on your little sheep". Or give him a trendy mullet ala Tywin. On a second thought, I think the buzz cut is underrated.

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Well, some idiots have decided to picket and protest Michigan's Governor Whitmer's closing of non-essential businesses and invoking "shelter in place" and the rest.  They've also filed a federal lawsuit saying she's encroaching on their Constitutional rights.  I can only assume they're talking about the right to die, which I wasn't aware of.

She just gave a really great speech on why these steps are necessary.  I really like our governor, no matter what our "asshole-in-chief" says about her.  

 

ETA: Apparently, some of these yahoos blocked the entrance to a hospital.

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Just now, Tears of Lys said:

Well, some idiots have decided to picket and protest Michigan's Governor Whitmer's closing of non-essential businesses and invoking "shelter in place" and the rest.  They've also filed a federal lawsuit saying she's encroaching on their Constitutional rights.  I can only assume they're talking about the right to die, which I wasn't aware of.

She just gave a really great speech on why these steps are necessary.  I really like our governor, no matter what our "asshole-in-chief" says about her.  

I assume Republicans are ramping up a hate campaign against her just in case she becomes the VP pick.  Aside from that there's no reason whatsoever why the state with the 4th most confirmed cases would be lifting restrictions now.  If you be a moron and pressure a governor to lift restrictions, do it in Alaska or Montana or something. 

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44 minutes ago, A Horse Named Stranger said:

Anyway, I better do not ask what you use your personal grooming clippers for otherwise, that it would make it feel weird for you.

I suppose an accurate description would be that I use it to mow the field in which I grow my fucks.

 

44 minutes ago, A Horse Named Stranger said:

If you just oppose the idea of having your kid run around with a buzz cut. Just use the setting that leaves a bit of "wool on your little sheep". Or give him a trendy mullet ala Tywin. On a second thought, I think the buzz cut is underrated.

He does need at least some hair on his head to balance out his Eugene Levy eyebrows. Really the main issue is I don't think a personal groomer is meant to clip hair as thick as scalp hair (we both have thick heads of hair) and it could get blunt or snag too much when the little guy is getting clipped.

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