Miscellaneous And Off Topic Subjects

[Fraquar]

Jeff, you are missing the bigger picture. What makes College Football is two things, both of which you arguments can't guarantee isolation from.
1) The build up. The travel of 10's of thousands of people in between games (just the Big 10 mind you) all across the country to follow their team
2) The game, where you surely know there are in excess of 100,000 fans at these games.
That is a metric fukton you can't insure away. At some point you need to assess and REALLY look at what is best for the antagonists (players) safety. Anyone who has lived a second as an adult knows full well adults will turn on you in a NY minute, no matter what you tell or guarantee them.

[AlabamAlum]

They are cutting attendance to distance and whatever. At Alabama, they dropped it to 20%. So a stadium that holds over 100,000 will kick off with 20k. Cancelled all tailgating and get-togethers and what not. And people Have to do a health check before entry.

80% reduction and no tailgating is sad, but at least there is football.

[Jeff Buchanan]

Jeff, you are missing the bigger picture. What makes College Football is two things, both of which you arguments can't guarantee isolation from.
1) The build up. The travel of 10's of thousands of people in between games (just the Big 10 mind you) all across the country to follow their team
2) The game, where you surely know there are in excess of 100,000 fans at these games.
That is a metric fukton you can't insure away. At some point you need to assess and REALLY look at what is best for the antagonists (players) safety. Anyone who has lived a second as an adult knows full well adults will turn on you in a NY minute, no matter what you tell or guarantee them.

"Tens of thousands" of fans exercising irresponsible behavior wrt to COVID are not a given. In fact, U officials where CFB is being played are implementing various and proven risk reduction strategies to reduce contagion among fans. The college team 's COVID preventative protocols that I have seen in any detail (U of Miami) are solid and fact based.

Your position, Fraquar, is full of subjective feelings. If you want to argue against playing CFB and have some facts to support your view, I'll be glad to participate in a discussion.

[Hannibal]

So are you refusing to even wear a mask at this point? Are you urging everyone you know to refuse the vaccine when it comes because the disease is "harmless" unless you're 85 and 'morbidly obese"?

You see anyone here suggesting that a vaccine would be a bad idea or that it wouldn't be worth getting a pin pick to prevent getting infected? That's a long way from getting shut in your home or cancelling your way of life.

[CGVT]

She never said that. It is making rounds with the Trumpsters, but it is not a true quote. It is from a satire site.

You should fact check before you believe or post this bullshit

On August 7, 2019, the bustatroll.org website published an article positing that Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris had proclaimed that after President Donald Trump is impeached, “we’ll be coming for [his supporters] next”:

[Ghengis Jon]

As if having the Anti-Christ as President weren't evidence enough, here is proof that the End of Times is nearing.



qgm3o2e10bt41.jpg

[Ghengis Jon]

Terrorists supporting terrorists.

https://www.fox5dc.com/news/osama-bin-ladens-niece-endorses-trump

[lineygoblue]

I deleted the post just for you CGVT.

You're welcome.

[Jeff Buchanan]

I deleted the post just for you CGVT.

You're welcome.

Liney, you're not alone in being intentionally mislead by persons or organizations with no interest in the truth or facts but only in creating a false reality to advance an agenda designed to sew discontent with and distrust of law enforcement along with federal, state and local government. I know you don't like Harris and worry that the Biden presidency is a front for the liberal left's political agenda. So, that false characterization of Harris resonated with you. Your normal sense of awareness got unwittingly compromised by experts in the promulgation of misinformation for malevolent purposes. These days the meme, "trust no one, believe nothing" is a bit to dark for me but it's always in the back of my mind when I read an article or news paper, hear a news broadcast or, on the rare occasion that I venture to Face Book, see a post there. It's a distasteful aspect of our time but given our known adversaries inside and outside the US, vigilance is a sensible by-word.

https://apnews.com/bb93b567f39655e0ab11bae609a15907

[Jeff Buchanan]

This NYT treatment and vaccine tracker comes out every Sunday. It is the best source of information on these subjects that I am aware of. It's very complete and it's open source for now but you have to click through a lot of hoops suggesting you need to subscribe to read it. You don't. The articles are broken into two sections. The first link is to the drugs used to treat COVID. There's a link to the vaccine tracker at the end of the drug tracker.

The key point here is that there's is shit-ton of misleading and false information out there - I actually don't think this is intentional to the extent of the misinformation on other subjects I've railed against; it's more likely that it involves complex subject matter that journalists writing articles on this either don't grasp or they grasp it but have to write about it in a streamlined sense. Can't do that and have readers fully understand the stuff that comes out of the president's mouth versus what is really happening.

In short, there are drugs emerging on almost a daily basis with usefulness in managing C-19. Unless you are actually involved in patient care, talking daily with colleagues, it's difficult to understand the advances that are being made in patient care. It's not just one or three drugs that will save a C-19 patient's life, it is the nuanced care a team of nurses and doctors provides, often using these drugs, that makes the difference.

The vaccine thing got a big boost last week when journalists started reporting on a Trump contention of vaccine availability "before the election." Of course that became instantaneously political much to the disservice of people interested in knowing the facts on where the vaccines stand. Another complex subject not easily explained or written about in a 400 word news paper piece or a 2-3 minute broadcast news segment. You'll fine everything you need to know - the facts - at the link if you are so inclined:

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/...h=login-google

[Jeff Buchanan]

The Cliff Notes version on vaccines follows. While the most likely vaccine to be licensed first in the US is a Pfizer product, it's a collaborative effort between Pfizer and others.

The German company BioNTech entered into collaborations with Pfizer, based in New York, and the Chinese drug maker Fosun Pharma to develop an mRNA vaccine. In May they launched a Phase 1/2 trial on two versions of the vaccine. They found that both versions caused volunteers to produce antibodies against SARS-CoV-2, as well as immune cells called T cells that respond to the virus. They found that one version, called BNT162b2, produced significantly fewer side effects, such as fevers and fatigue, and so they chose it to move into Phase 2/3 trials. On July 27, the companies announced the launch of a Phase 2/3 trial with 30,000 volunteers in the United States and other countries including Argentina, Brazil, and Germany.

In that same month, the Trump administration awarded a $1.9 billion contract for 100 million doses to be delivered by December and the option to acquire 500 million more doses. Meanwhile, Japan made a deal for 120 million doses. In September, the chief executive of Pfizer said they would know if the vaccine works as soon as October 2020. If approved, Pfizer has said they expect to manufacture over 1.3 billion doses of their vaccine worldwide by the end of 2021.

Keep in mind the different types of vaccines. BNT162b2 is an mRNA vaccine much like Moderna's. These are easier to manufacture at scale but are an untested technology as compared to other types of vaccines that have a history. It's the Pfizer, Moderna (mRNA) and Oxford-AZ vaccines (classic human analog) in the lead for US approval. While I think Pfizer's product will be the first to gain US approval/licensing, the other two will be close behind.

[CGVT]

"In short, there are drugs emerging on almost a daily basis with usefulness in managing C-19. Unless you are actually involved in patient care, talking daily with colleagues, it's difficult to understand the advances that are being made in patient care. It's not just one or three drugs that will save a C-19 patient's life, it is the nuanced care a team of nurses and doctors provides, often using these drugs, that makes the difference."

This is an important point.

The "It's not a bad as we were led to believe" crowd point to the lower death rates as proof when in reality our ability to treat the C-19 is improving every day. That constant improvement in treatment and understanding along with the eventual advent of viable vaccines will be what brings us back to normal.

[Jeff Buchanan]

That constant improvement in treatment and understanding along with the eventual advent of viable vaccines will be what brings us back to normal.

I'd like to think a return to "normalcy" is attainable but I don't think it is. Not immediately and that means over the next 2 years. In 3? Maybe but the damage that has been done to the public health, to the economy and our social fabric by the global pandemic and the officially mandated reaction to it is huge and unprecedented. I've seen articles comparing the post COVID world to be like the post WWI and WWII worlds. I can't agree with that. Not only is the damage from this pandemic more systemic and widespread but it also much more thoroughly embedded requiring long periods of time to fix it.

That's the challenge to the human race. Certainly, human ingenuity and technology will manifest itself in whatever fixes are needed but the post COVID world is not going to look anything like the pre-COVID normal.

[AlabamAlum]

We got over things in 1918. Social media and the internet makes it harder now. Constantly bombarded with an angst that seems to breed depressive bouts and nihilism. I know I’ve suffered from it.

[Dr. Strangelove]

RE: the vaccines, all the major companies working on vaccines are planning to put out a joint statement sometime soon to say they will not allow the process to cut corners or rush out a product that hadn't gone through the usual rigors.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/covid-19-vaccine-developers-prepare-joint-pledge-on-safety-standards-11599257729