Coronavirus - WTH is going on?

[sleewell]

There has been some promising news coming from the front line doctors. Apparently they have had good results when drawing blood from people who have recovered (and therefore have the antibodies in their blood to fight the virus) and injecting it into people still fighting the virus. Some doctors have called it a game changer, and unlike the other "game changer" that has gotten a lot of press the last few weeks, the people calling it such don't have any monetary interest in pursuing this course of treatment.

If you are talking about the hydroxychloroquine - I thought it was widespread and very cheap.
Who has the monetary interest in this treatment?

If you are talking about Bill Gates, and his vaccine research - I hadn't heard that called a game changer yet - but I am specifically trying NOT to watch the news cycle 24/7.


Also for the blood/antibodies - they are only extracting the blood serum, and injecting that back into people - not whole blood.

the cheerleader in chief.

[clipless bumper]

It's been around for 65 years - how is he invested in this product?


Ok - researched an bit before posting. Overview of a simple Google search shows he is barely invested in Sanofi, possibly as small as $99 (Vox.com). Snopes declared this story of him profiting is 'mostly false'

I'm not seeing much support for this theory.

Google - Trump invested hydroxychloroquine - and see for yourself.

[JiveTurkey]

It's between $99 and upwards of $3kish from various sources I've seen? If a garbage source like Vox (not criticizing you on your source, CB; as something like Vox would definitely slant as far AWAY from said person in question as you could humanly go) actually says a lot. Who knows. Ugh.

[clipless bumper]

It's between $99 and upwards of $3kish from various sources I've seen? If a garbage source like Vox (not criticizing you on your source, CB; as something like Vox would definitely slant as far AWAY from said person in question as you could humanly go) actually says a lot. Who knows. Ugh.

Yeah, I went back and saw I mis-attributed it - Market Watch actually had the 'possibly as low as $99' number. Anyway, it's a small investment in a Mutual Fund that holds Sanofi as ONE of their investments. Hardly motive-worthy.

[GuitarBilly]

thread is taking that turn again....

I am going to start a graph for new COVID cases vs how many times I have to ask to leave politics out. Pretty sure it will be nearly a tie if not a win for leave politics out.

it's a hardheadness pandemic!

[MikeO]

It's been around for 65 years - how is he invested in this product?

I had to laugh when I read this, because you seem extremely confused about how investments work. How exactly would something being around for 65 years prohibit someone from investing in the company who makes it?

[GuitarBilly]

It's been around for 65 years - how is he invested in this product?

I had to laugh when I read this, because you seem extremely confused about how investments work. How exactly would something being around for 65 years prohibit someone from investing in the company who makes it?

Give it a rest!!

[***1776***]

What do you guys think should happen to China? What price should they pay for starting and then lying/hiding about this virus?

Pay some monetary compensation to the countries that they f*cked? Or maybe work out something with the debt?...?

[clipless bumper]

It's a nice talking point - but I don't see any way forward - short of convening 'war crime' tribunals.

Don't see that happening in this current climate (world wide even)

[nightflameauto]

What would be nice is if they'd address their wet markets so this doesn't repeat itself over and over. But we know that's not happening either. There's no way to force China's hand on any issue. Certainly not by us.

[PurpleTrails]

Yeah, I don't see how you enforce anything like that on China.

On the blood plasma thing, my understanding is that is only a small scale solution, which can be used to increase the survival rates for those most ill, but not applicable at scale to the general population. Pulling blood from individuals and then processing it to get the plasma is a pretty slow process.

I have read about some potential treatments coming out of some biotech companies that are trying to modify treatments developed for SARS or MERS epidemics, but even with accelerated testing and approval processes said companies think that having something available in July or August is probably the best case scenario.

[JiveTurkey]

What would be nice is if they'd address their wet markets so this doesn't repeat itself over and over. But we know that's not happening either. There's no way to force China's hand on any issue. Certainly not by us.

These things piss me off to no ends

[PurpleTrails]

There's been a lot of talk both online and with my teams meetings of people just wanting to go back to normal already. I think the more realistic view of this is we're all going to have to accept that there is no going back to normal. Not now, and possible not ever. We may just have to accept for the near term, that there's going to be a new normal when we finally see our way through this situation.

I'm not a dooms-day type thinking we're all royally fucked for ever, but I'm realistic enough about it to realize that the current stay-at-home orders are overly optimistic at this point. Which is why they keep pushing deadlines back. I'm thinking part of that may be strategic, knowing that if they just came out and told people they need to stay this way for several months people will just flat out refuse and say fuck it.

I don't have direct contact with anyone in the medical profession, but read enough about what's happening in the hospitals around the country and the world to know this isn't something we're going to pull out of in an instant. The fastest track I'm hearing for a vaccine is 18 months. While there are treatments being tested at the moment, it sounds like the two options available are almost as dangerous to the patients as the virus itself, so it's not like there's evidence of a sweeping cure for it.

Our medical community and industry is taking a massive pounding right now after years of being streamlined for maximum profit and minimum care whenever possible. That's going to need to be addressed if we don't want to see a massive clusterfuck level failure.

Outside of that I think we're going to see some massive changes in other industries. Theaters are probably going to be done and gone. Smaller concert venues are probably going to shrivel and die. Restaurants aren't all going to be able survive and see the other side of this.

Tons of people are going to be out of work for months if not years.

All of this is going to need to be looked at and analyzed by people with the power to do something about it if we're going to see the other side of this without spiraling into a complete systemic failure. I wish I had faith anyone exists that could accomplish that in a feasible and logistically sound way.

To the bolded I think you're probably right.

To the last sentence, Billy feel free to edit/tell me to remove but I think this will be apolitical enough, I think we have these people in society. We have great and talented minds. In fact we have MANY smart capable people. The sad fact is the system of politics doesn't select for these people. Not to mention these people self sort themselves into places like wall street, silicon valley, and all throughout the private sector. Whatever side of the aisle you prefer I think we can all agree our government isn't our best and brightest especially when you compare them to the private sector.

I've had some interactions with Senators from both sides of the aisle over the years, and more with people who have been aides.

The Senators have universally been impressive individuals, but their prime skill set tends to lie in their ability to communicate, not necessarily to grasp at any level of detail how to form a solution to a problem...and the bigger the problem the more of a shortcoming this is. They depend on aides who specialize in various areas to actually come up with legislation, but the aides tend to be very smart young lawyers, not experts in the field, who themselves have to depend on various experts (often lobbyists or partisan think tanks) to hear about strategies and tactics to deal with any issue. As you might imagine, that results in a unappetizing stew of stuff in any bill.

After the aides are done with their stints, you'll actually find a lot of them working either on wall street or some of the top law firms that deal with high finance...though I do know one who is now an NFL referee, among other things. Not so much in Silicon Valley, or in this crisis, biotech. But when they are aides they are generally inexperienced, which often means they don't have the background or standing to filter out a lot of the bullshit they are hearing from the "experts."

[K-Bizzle]

I think we have to remember that this virus was a shock to the system, from testing to having beds, etc this was a shock to the system and with all the "preparedness" in the world i still think its just a overload of work and supplies etc needed in such a short time, its just something that is hard to overcome with such vast numbers, shit even the so called experts (from ALL OVER!!) who made models have changed the numbers and have been wrong with things


NY state received over 10,000 masks from FEMA with "dry rot" in them (they were from 2010, no good to use!) and also some ventilators that were not working properly from the goverment stockpiles as well, it just shows that the preparedness was not there (for over a decade) on a local or federal level for something this massive in such a short time


With all this said, i am more optimistic than pessimistic (I have healthy respect for this shit) but i do think with all of us putting our heads together we will be ok in the long run

Thats the thing though it did NOT need to be a shock to the system.
There have been folks who said we were not prepared for some like this and made suggestions on how we could be better prepared.
Of course hindsight is 20/20 and all that. I for one didn't take that stuff seriously because like many I had become numb to media hysteria regarding the topic and had fully embraced normalcy bias.

To me our entire leadership class has failed us. Blame whichever specific one you want but they've failed us. We pay these people to handle these things for us collectively and they all get an F on this performance review.
No one saw EXACTLY this coming but I'm barely versed in the topic and I know Mike Osterholm and Bill Gates both made noise on something very much like this happening and saying we were under prepared.
Just because it was going to be bad no matter what doesn't mean we couldn't have been infinitely more prepared.

[sleewell]

^ fully agree. 2 months is crucial in these situations and losing that amount of time is devastating.

[nightflameauto]

Currently in a discussion with a fellow South Dakotan on another message board. Apparently he has himself convinced that the only cases of corona are in Sioux Falls and the rest of the state is perfectly fine so he's just doing what he's always done and he's sick of hearing about it. I even went so far as to confront him with the stats page from our state web site that shows it's more than just Sioux Falls showing cases, and he's still adamant it's only Sioux Falls. Sure, we have the most cases because we're the population hub of the entire state, but it's everywhere.

This genius is sick of it and went full rage boner when shown actual stats. This is the level of concern in the midwest I've run into. People at work are mostly complying with the order, but have no problem stopping at six or seven different shops in a day looking for something particular. Or buying every meal out and going to pick up in person. They're tired of washing hands. They're tired of not being able to party. They're tired of being inconvenienced over something they've seen no proof of because they aren't personally sick.

I'm afraid of what happens when our state actually starts to really climb in numbers. So many stupid people running around doing whatever because they just don't get it and absolutely refuse to. Gawd damn. This sort of shit gets my goat.

'Cause ya know, everybody in South Dakota has one.

Fuck.

[Schweezly]

Currently in a discussion with a fellow South Dakotan on another message board. Apparently he has himself convinced that the only cases of corona are in Sioux Falls and the rest of the state is perfectly fine so he's just doing what he's always done and he's sick of hearing about it. I even went so far as to confront him with the stats page from our state web site that shows it's more than just Sioux Falls showing cases, and he's still adamant it's only Sioux Falls. Sure, we have the most cases because we're the population hub of the entire state, but it's everywhere.

This genius is sick of it and went full rage boner when shown actual stats. This is the level of concern in the midwest I've run into. People at work are mostly complying with the order, but have no problem stopping at six or seven different shops in a day looking for something particular. Or buying every meal out and going to pick up in person. They're tired of washing hands. They're tired of not being able to party. They're tired of being inconvenienced over something they've seen no proof of because they aren't personally sick.

I'm afraid of what happens when our state actually starts to really climb in numbers. So many stupid people running around doing whatever because they just don't get it and absolutely refuse to. Gawd damn. This sort of shit gets my goat.

'Cause ya know, everybody in South Dakota has one.

Fuck.

Im in the nicer suburbs of Chicago, and we still deal with people like this. I have people I’m related to that are “staying home” as they say but still running errands daily and getting carry out from local places like it’s no big deal (and I don’t mean the no contact/we’ll put it in your trunk kind.)

It pisses me off, because they don’t need to do any of what they’re doing.

[TraumaRN]

People need to wake the fuck up. This is NOT going to go away until a legitimate vaccine is produced and distributed. FACT!.. And to all the anti vaccination people-- fuck off-- think about Society instead of yourself.

[K-Bizzle]

I've had some interactions with Senators from both sides of the aisle over the years, and more with people who have been aides.

The Senators have universally been impressive individuals, but their prime skill set tends to lie in their ability to communicate, not necessarily to grasp at any level of detail how to form a solution to a problem...and the bigger the problem the more of a shortcoming this is. They depend on aides who specialize in various areas to actually come up with legislation, but the aides tend to be very smart young lawyers, not experts in the field, who themselves have to depend on various experts (often lobbyists or partisan think tanks) to hear about strategies and tactics to deal with any issue. As you might imagine, that results in a unappetizing stew of stuff in any bill.

After the aides are done with their stints, you'll actually find a lot of them working either on wall street or some of the top law firms that deal with high finance...though I do know one who is now an NFL referee, among other things. Not so much in Silicon Valley, or in this crisis, biotech. But when they are aides they are generally inexperienced, which often means they don't have the background or standing to filter out a lot of the bullshit they are hearing from the "experts."

I'm not saying that there aren't brains there, I'm just saying the skill set for getting elected and being good at governance aren't necessarily the same.
I'm sure there are many smart people, many experienced people, and people we'd consider generally moral. I highly doubt there are many that are all 3.
The proof is in the pudding of many of our systems or the jokes we've seen of senate hearings.

[EndTime]

Yeah it won’t go away. Until a vaccine or basically half the population gets it. Just like any virus that becomes andemic. And this very well may be.. I’m not sure anyone doesn’t understand that anymore. And fwiw, there is a confirmed case in my house. I believe I had it going on 2 weeks. No more symptoms for me. The one confirmed is 19yo. Both my kids are around that same age and likely had/have it with no real symptoms. So besides myself with a lung disease, my wife has had a rough go in recent years health wise and is on many immune suppressant drugs. So she was definitely a high risk person.

But...

She also takes hydroxychloroquine for arthritis. What are the odds? You know who hasn’t gotten sick? The one who should have but was on the drug that shows promise. And I’m laughing at those who were talking about Trump pushing it cause of his few $ in a drug company. L O fucking L. Some of y’all need a real dose of reality... Anecdotal as it may be, she’s fine.. we’ll see if it stays that way.

For myself, 2 weeks back i started feeling off. I canceled my work cause hey, gonna do the right thing.. anyway, whatever I had was “sumthin”. Not bad, just kinda weird but hardly anything I woulda actually noticed besides basically 2 symptoms. Now that my daughters boyfriend is confirmed because his father whom he visited about 3 weeks ago is in the hospital for this. He’s a diabetic. Again, higher risk.. Anyway, the timeline adds up for when I felt off...

So yeah, that gets me back to agreeing everyone will get this, I know it’s getting some severely, but it’s an overwhelming amount that are like myself. And my kids.. where it’s almost nothing.... can’t just hide away from it forever. Cause it’s just not how this works unless we really want to see how hard society can crumble and hide away until there is a vaccine years from now. And it’ll crumble to complete waste if we continue to try and hide away. “Flatten the curve” is all that’s honestly feasible. It seems we are doing about as much as we can in regards to that. I believe 10s of millions have/had this. I believe moving forward people need to start realizing the chances of you catching this Literally around 50%. And if there is no vaccine.. 100%. So your body will most likely do what it’s designed to do. Fight it off and start building an immunity. It’s life... I don’t believe running from it is the answer either since one thing staying at home and watching everything waste away is, the outcome and consequences of that are a guarentee..

[madrigal77]

Oh shit! Looks like some people may be able to be re-infected due to a low antibody response to the virus.

https://youtu.be/aEubPR36pzk

[PurpleTrails]

Thanks for posting that video link. I've been symptomatic, with a very mild case, for a little over a week now. Here I was thinking "at least I'm safe now." Oops!

Getting tested Friday for the viral infection, Saturday for antibodies. We'll see what comes up.

[clipless bumper]

have it checked out.

approx. 90% of people who have symptoms that are tested - test negative.

my wife and I have been sick almost constantly over the last four weeks - we were tested for the virus on Sunday - got results on Tuesday - both negative.

that test is no fun........

[Marc G]

have it checked out.

approx. 90% of people who have symptoms that are tested - test negative.

my wife and I have been sick almost constantly over the last four weeks - we were tested for the virus on Sunday - got results on Tuesday - both negative.

that test is no fun........

I think people are also being overly cautious, and understandably so, when its coming to being tested.... I keep getting really bad sinus flare ups from all the Sahara dust being here and I'll get sore throat, head ache and generally feel shitty.... but then, no fever and it goes away once I take something for it.... but still once it starts up it's like... oh fuck.. did get it?

[GuitarBilly]

I had a bad cough and low grade fever the last few days so I went to the doctor's office this morning and got tested. Negative. Just have a cold and allergies it seems.