Miscellaneous And Off Topic Subjects

[froot loops]

One thing to be done about it is have mass scale testing like they are doing in other countries.

[THE_WIZARD_]

Come November...they will be talking about Reagan-Mondale and Nixon-McGovern as tight races...

[froot loops]

I see math isn't your strong suit.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Really looking forward to hearing from Trumpers how Biden can't be President because he says stupid shit and has "gaffes"

[Dr. Strangelove]

Bummer. Next Bond movie has been delayed to November. Was supposed to come out next month but COVID-19 fears got the studio to bump it

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/bond-movie-no-time-die-delayed-due-coronavirus-1282170

[THE_WIZARD_]

fuckin' Trump

[froot loops]

-1 for not using the preferred nomenclature Joementum.

[froot loops]

I feel like the Bond movies should always come around the holiday period.

[Ghengis Jon]

Corona virus hand wringing kicking into full gear. The wife just back from the local Costco. They have no chicken, organic or otherwise, to sell. Seems $100,000 worth of chicken was sold over the weekend, due to the virus fears.

[froot loops]

Great news, the Mooch has reaffirmed his standing in the resistance. Well done Anthony.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Joe's night concludes with 10 states won out of 14 total. Kind of funny that the easternmost state was the last to be officially called.

And three of the states Bernie won are mail-in ballot states that started mailing back votes weeks ago. 75% of Colorado had already mailed back their ballot by Election Day.

[THE_WIZARD_]

shaddup

[Hannibal]

ESPeYnZU8AABy6K.jpg

[THE_WIZARD_]

heh

[Jeff Buchanan]

In rational news and information on COVID-19 ...... yes, the US is under-testing. That is important, according to WHO, to data analysts looking at disease presence regionally and how fast the disease is progressing and in what form.

The Chinese have identified two strains of COVID-19. The one version is more aggressive and more lethal; the other less so and the less aggressive nature of it is attributed to containment measures in China that put pressure on the more aggressive version and it mutated to the less aggressive version - good news. So, it appears containment works. The scale of it within countries and within those regionally matters..... that it does probably explains why health officials globally and the US are implementing strict travel restriction, school closures and cancellations of large gatherings. These are all containment measures. Few countries can do what China did so, there is that. Still, they can do things that have the potential of working.

Korea, experiencing a very rapid increase in confirmed cases - and mostly because they are testing on a large scale - has imposed the kind of quarantines that democracies can actually implement. These are less enforceable than in China, for example, and involve self-imposed isolation at home but not any work place closings unless they are absolutely identified as having had a confirmed COVID-19 infected employee. If we start to see a drop in new cases - or a vice-versa - an assessment of this kind of approach to isolation is possible and works.

Testing in greater numbers is essentially immaterial to disease acquisition on an individual basis or it's absolute mortality and morbidity. It's important in determining how different types of containment measures are working. Reportedly, local labs in the US, not previously equipped, will be able to test something like 1m people over the next several days following the loosening of criteria for such testing - like there aren't any other than suspicion of exposure - on Monday of this week. So, public health measures are underway in the US to respond to the need for data but, keep in mind, this has noting to do directly with the absolute risk of getting infected or sick from COVID-19.

TBF, it does matter indirectly as containment using various types of it can be evaluated for effectiveness and modified then implemented as appropriate to reduce disease spread. I don't think the press has made that discrimination clear.

BTW, I'm in the Southern Caribbean waters about 400 miles N of Cartagena, Columbia on a cruise ship. There is no COVID-19 out here; hopefully, none brought on-board by passengers boarding in Fort Lauderdale. The cruise line took very aggressive steps to limit who could board. Many were probably told not to come or denied boarding if they showed up anyways (I didn't see that at all on Monday when we boarded. People who were notified not to try to board paid attention to the several emails put out by the cruise line) Those people would have been from or traveled through the usual countries enroute to this cruise.

Onboard, the ship's staff has emphasized the importance of hand washing to prevent the spread of disease. Something they do all the time but its a little more obvious this time. None of this has involved speaking of COVID-19. People seem to be paying attention. You may have read about cruise ships being denied port access in the Caribbean the last few days after those ships reported illness aboard ship to local port authorities - all of it Influenza A or B, all of it isolated cases involving one confirmed flu + crew member. One ship had a common Norovirus outbreak unrelated to COVID-19 and returned a day early to FOrt Lauderdale. It was typical over-reaction but not unexpected under the circumstances. No problems for us .... yet. Our first port is Cartagena tomorrow.