COVID-19/Coronavirus Information and Support Thread (see OP for useful links)

  • Thread starter baldgye
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Back when Boris gave the public limited time to spend in the parks for exercise, you still had people lounging around and playing sports. Now that "unlimited exercise" is allowed, every open space is going to turn into a festival.

There will always be a group of people who run a mile if you give them an inch.
 
On some other forums, I've read that breakouts of viruses have been increasing worldwide over the last few years.
 
Dotini
On some other forums, I've read that breakouts of viruses have been increasing worldwide over the last few years.
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Well the population has been increasing worldwide over the last few years so that's hardly surprisingly.
 
PeterJB
Well the population has been increasing worldwide over the last few years so that's hardly surprisingly.
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True, but there is discussion of reviewed science papers that tie the mutation and spread of viruses to certain aspects of climate change. They can show correlation, but not prove causation. Not yet.
 
I have a few favorite ways of examining the worldometers data.

This is one of them. I live in a county in the US where the Active Cases per Million People is approximately 12,000

I wonder what got us into this mess? /s

Can we blame it on China? /s

Why did Obama use up all the Covid-19 test kits? /s

I'm running out of sarcasm. /s

PS. The death toll in my county of about 0.5 million people is 4X the total death toll of Australia. Population is what, 25 million? The loonies are demonstrating in the streets for their freedom. To get tattoos, haircuts and whatever

Screen Shot 2020-05-08 at 3.45.36 PM.png
 
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Can you imagine what it will be like come Wednesday? Ready for the second peak? Love the guy nonchalantly getting onto the tube with what looks like his ski's.
 
FT-1
Back when Boris gave the public limited time to spend in the parks for exercise, you still had people lounging around and playing sports. Now that "unlimited exercise" is allowed, every open space is going to turn into a festival.

There will always be a group of people who run a mile if you give them an inch.
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This is the UK's issue with coronavirus, not the government's responses or guidance.

There will always be three groups of people who will ignore anything the government says or does.

Firstly there's the stupid, who are literally too stupid to understand what the threat is or why they should care or change their behaviour. Worse than the stupid are the almost smart, who think they aren't stupid but misconceive what the threat is or how to counter it, and either **** it up or simply don't believe it applies to them; conspiracy theorists also fall into this group. Worst of all is the entitled - that class of Karens and Gareths who dismiss the notion as something that can't possibly enter their world because they're too special (it's a thing that affects the poor, you know) and in any case their homeopath says that their aura is aligned with Jupiter and...


When the government says it advises staying six feet apart, exercising proper handwashing technique, and only going out if necessary, these are the people who carry on as normal. When it says everything is closing because you ignored us, these are the people who kick off on Facebook that they can't get a Nandos/haircut, and try to drive from Matlock to Ambleside for a day out in the Lakes. The middle group argues on the internet that the Netherlands/Sweden/South Korea is doing it right, or that the "convirus" "plandemic" is a Jewish conspiracy to have us all tracked and isn't real, or it is real and it's caused by 5G/vaccines, or Bill Gates is to blame because he has a vaccine and "predicted" it in a TED talk.
PzR Slim
Can you imagine what it will be like come Wednesday? Ready for the second peak? Love the guy nonchalantly getting onto the tube with what looks like his ski's.
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I've just spotted this. That's a very quiet Tube platform, made busier by the camera angle and lens.

Each of those carriages is 18 metres long, and you're looking at seven of them. That's 125m+ of train, and 14 entry points. About 60 people get on (one camera shows the front of the train, the other the rear; there is some overlap) or just over four per door. Also just about 2m of train per person, though we can probably assume there's a handful already on (Canning Town is two stops from the end of the Jubilee Line, and unlikely to have many people on board whichever way it's going), and it will get busier if it heads into London as Canary Wharf is only two stops away.

The only people who'd think that's commuters "piling onto tube trains" are those who've never actually commuted on the Tube, or can't count.
 
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In my opinion, the virus is mutating, adapting to humans to be more infectious. It may represent a moving target for any vaccines.

Scientists have found evidence for mutations in some strains of the coronavirus that suggest the pathogen may be adapting to humans after spilling over from bats.

The analysis of more than 5,300 coronavirus genomes from 62 countries shows that while the virus is fairly stable, some have gained mutations, including two genetic changes that alter the critical "Spike protein" the virus uses to infect human cells.

Scientists will be concerned if more extensive mutations in the spike protein arise, not only because they may alter how the virus behaves.
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https://www.theguardian.com/society...cerned-that-coronavirus-is-adapting-to-humans

The latest NASA measurements show that cosmic rays are intensifying, with an increase of more than 18% since 2015. Cosmic rays are known to pose a variety of threats to human health, increased mutation of viruses among them.
 
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Dotini
Cosmic rays are known to pose a variety of threats to human health, increased mutation of viruses among them.
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They're postulated to (by Wickramsinghe for the most part), but the many postulations of he and Hoyle are considered "fringe" at best. Didn't they once claim the Natural History museum had deliberately glued feathers to a fossil in order to subvert one of their papers?
 
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TenEightyOne
They're postulated to (by Wickramsinghe for the most part), but the many postulations of he and Hoyle are considered "fringe" at best. Didn't they once claim the Natural History museum had deliberately glued feathers to a fossil in order to subvert one of their papers?
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NASA links to cosmic rays with cardiac arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death in the general population:

1. https://www.heartrhythmjournal.com/article/S1547-5271(08)00481-5/fulltext

2. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18810718

3. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1501097/

4. https://shao.az/SG/v1n2/SG_v1_No2_2006-pp-13-16.pdf


General links to cosmic rays and viral mutations:

5. https://www.longdom.org/open-access...nomaly-before-hn-outbreak-2332-2594-2-113.pdf

6. https://www.spaceweatherlive.com/co...he-historic-solar-minimum-cause-the-pandemic/

7. https://www.currentscience.ac.in/Volumes/115/03/0382.pdf <-- Here be opinion by the dreaded Wickramsinghe :confused:

8. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20624059

9. https://www.technologyreview.com/20...-neutrons-and-the-mutation-rate-in-evolution/

10. https://juniperpublishers.com/ijcsmb/pdf/IJCSMB.MS.ID.555636.pdf

11.https://thescipub.com/abstract/10.3844/ajidsp.2005.116.123

12. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/323800049_Was_the_Zika_virus_Outbreak_in_2015_Triggered_by_Cosmic_Event

13. https://www.researchgate.net/public...tic_Field_Cosmic_Rays_and_Zika_Virus_Outbreak

Note: I have made no claim the novel coronavirus is of cosmic origin. Correlation is not causation.

SPACE WEATHER BALLOON DATA: Approximately once a week, Spaceweather.com and the students of Earth to Sky Calculus fly space weather balloons to the stratosphere over California. These balloons are equipped with radiation sensors that detect cosmic rays, a surprisingly "down to Earth" form of space weather. Cosmic rays can seed clouds, trigger lightning, and penetrate commercial airplanes. Furthermore, there are studies ( #1, #2, #3, #4) linking cosmic rays with cardiac arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death in the general population. Our latest measurements show that cosmic rays are intensifying, with an increase of more than 18% since 2015:





The data points in the graph above correspond to the peak of the Regener-Pfotzer maximum, which lies about 67,000 feet above central California. When cosmic rays crash into Earth's atmosphere, they produce a spray of secondary particles that is most intense at the entrance to the stratosphere. Physicists Eric Reneger and Georg Pfotzer discovered the maximum using balloons in the 1930s and it is what we are measuring today.

En route to the stratosphere, our sensors also pass through aviation altitudes:



In this plot, dose rates are expessed as multiples of sea level. For instance, we see that boarding a plane that flies at 25,000 feet exposes passengers to dose rates ~10x higher than sea level. At 40,000 feet, the multiplier is closer to 50x.

The radiation sensors onboard our helium balloons detect X-rays and gamma-rays in the energy range 10 keV to 20 MeV. These energies span the range of medical X-ray machines and airport security scanners.

Why are cosmic rays intensifying? The main reason is the sun. Solar storm clouds such as coronal mass ejections (CMEs) sweep aside cosmic rays when they pass by Earth. During Solar Maximum, CMEs are abundant and cosmic rays are held at bay. Now, however, the solar cycle is swinging toward Solar Minimum, allowing cosmic rays to return. Another reason could be the weakening of Earth's magnetic field, which helps protect us from deep-space radiation.
From today's edition of spaceweather.com
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TexRex
I realize that was sarcasm, but disinformation is one way.



And yes, Matt Gaetz is literally Florida Man. Stupid ****er.
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The comments for this YouTube video are full of people crying "CBS fake noos".
 
UKMikey
The comments for this YouTube video are full of people crying "CBS fake noos".
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Well, YouTube's comment section is basically the worst of the internet. Same people who go on a Doctor's channel who thoroughly explains the virus & say "Noape! Dats not weal".
 
Dotini
The virus is mutating, adapting to humans to be more infectious
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This is not a fact. At best, there's some evidence that this could be happening, but we don't know for sure since we've only been studying the virus for no more than six months. Even the article you quoted doesn't present this as fact.
 
Joey D
This is not a fact. At best, there's some evidence that this could be happening, but we don't know for sure since we've only been studying the virus for no more than six months. Even the article you quoted doesn't present this as fact.
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Okay. I corrected my post to acknowledge your observation.
 
McLaren
Well, YouTube's comment section is basically the worst of the internet. Same people who go on a Doctor's channel who thoroughly explains the virus & say "Noape! Dats not weal".
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The sad fact is it could very well not be real. YouTube isn't this unimpeachable source of the truth. Point of fact, much of the time, one can type something they want to see up in the YouTube search bar, hit enter, and find numerous examples of precisely what they seek.

If someone wants to have a notion reinforced, there's a good bet somebody's uploaded a video that fulfills that desire, and an absence of verifiable information is easily overlooked when what little is provided supports one's preferred narrative.

I don't know that the percentage of people given to put stock in conspiratorial claptrap has increased in any meaningful way--I'd actually wager it hasn't--however, social media has definitely made it easier for those who do to find others who do.

Joey D
This is not a fact. At best, there's some evidence that this could be happening, but we don't know for sure since we've only been studying the virus for no more than six months. Even the article you quoted doesn't present this as fact.
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HastyWateryAnhinga-size_restricted.gif
 
So what is the situation in UK hospitals? My mum is high risk and is in need of an MRI since she seems to have started having temporary paralysis bouts from what could be mini strokes.... yet they've not even confirmed an appointment for a scan yet? Is it that the risk in hospital is so much higher... is it that they are too busy because of Coronavirus, or something else?
 
Dotini
@Joey D
Research on mutations in the novel coronavirus is a fact.
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/ar...-of-new-coronavirus#Need-for-further-research
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Ya, I'm not doubting there's research going on. What's incorrect is to say that the virus "is mutating" instead of saying "there's evidence that suggests the virus could be mutating". One is presented as fact while the other is presented as a statement on the research being done. Probably two of the biggest issues the entire world is facing with the COVID-19 pandemic are rushed conclusions and presenting a hypothesis as a fact.
 
TexRex
The sad fact is it could very well not be real. YouTube isn't this unimpeachable source of the truth. Point of fact, much of the time, one can type something they want to see up in the YouTube search bar, hit enter, and find numerous examples of precisely what they seek.

If someone wants to have a notion reinforced, there's a good bet somebody's uploaded a video that fulfills that desire, and an absence of verifiable information is easily overlooked when what little is provided supports one's preferred narrative.

I don't know that the percentage of people given to put stock in conspiratorial claptrap has increased in any meaningful way--I'd actually wager it hasn't--however, social media has definitely made it easier for those who do to find others who do.
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I'll give you that point in general. However, I don't think it applies if a video presents facts/sources to detail what they're saying & the only reply the doubters can conjure up is, "This is just pushing a narrative" or "it was already known it was a bio-weapon". The commenters who write this nonsense have no interest in actually pointing out what may be false or discussing their own stance with their own info, they just resort to "You're a sheep if you believe it".

If it wasn't so ironic, it'd be amazing how people can accuse others of "blindly following the media/Fauci/whomever" whilst they immediately stick to the words of someone they had no idea existed 2 weeks ago. Or the mental gymnastics that if YouTube or Twitter removes false information, that information must actually be true.
 
MatskiMonk
So what is the situation in UK hospitals? My mum is high risk and is in need of an MRI since she seems to have started having temporary paralysis bouts from what could be mini strokes.... yet they've not even confirmed an appointment for a scan yet? Is it that the risk in hospital is so much higher... is it that they are too busy because of Coronavirus, or something else?
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Sorry to hear that, though my Mum has been to hospital twice during the lockdown (once for an MRI scan) and so I can only assume that it is just pressure/waiting times in your area. A lot of places did cancel non-emergency procedures, and hence there is probably a backlog of things like this. My Mum was in hospital at the end of March, hence may not have been affected in the same way.

-

Meanwhile, the UK Government have put Lord Dido Harding in charge of overseeing mass testing... good to see that the Ministry of Silly Names is still active too.
 
McLaren
I'll give you that point in general. However, I don't think it applies if a video presents facts/sources to detail what they're saying & the only reply the doubters can conjure up is, "This is just pushing a narrative" or "it was already known it was a bio-weapon". The commenters who write this nonsense have no interest in actually pointing out what may be false or discussing their own stance with their own info, they just resort to "You're a sheep if you believe it".

If it wasn't so ironic, it'd be amazing how people can accuse others of "blindly following the media/Fauci/whomever" whilst they immediately stick to the words of someone they had no idea existed 2 weeks ago. Or the mental gymnastics that if YouTube or Twitter removes false information, that information must actually be true.
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Oh absolutely, and I apologize if that came off as me contradicting what you were saying, as that wasn't the intent.

It's really just a matter of an unwillingness to accept something on the basis that it's inconvenient to do so. People are comfortable with their views, and when something comes along to call into question what informs those views, they're put in a position where they may have to question whether their views are valid or not. It's simply easier to be unswayed and reject the new information.

And, yeah, it boggles the mind the lengths people will go to be unswayed. This is where conspiracy theories come in, and social media platforms are often "party to conspiracies" when they "conceal the truth".
 
Touring Mars
Sorry to hear that, though my Mum has been to hospital twice during the lockdown (once for an MRI scan) and so I can only assume that it is just pressure/waiting times in your area. A lot of places did cancel non-emergency procedures, and hence there is probably a backlog of things like this. My Mum was in hospital at the end of March, hence may not have been affected in the same way.
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Thanks, this makes sense.
 
Touring Mars
A lot of places did cancel non-emergency procedures, and hence there is probably a backlog of things like this.
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My father has been not only hospitalised for a week but also in need of medication / exams and this is my experience as well.

@MatskiMonk Maybe consider doing it privately?
 

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