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  1. In Memory of LAJ_FETT: Please share your remembrances and condolences HERE

Senate Pandemics in the Age of Globalization: Coronavirus (COVID-19) Discussion: See OP Warning

Discussion in 'Community' started by Darth Punk , Jan 21, 2020.

  1. Rew

    Rew Chosen One star 5

    Registered:
    Dec 22, 2008
    In Columbia, SC masks are basically a thing of the past, including in medical facilities. No one wears them at my local doctor's office (and one nurse even tried to convince me how useless they are), and when I visited a local hospital only a couple weeks ago, very few were wearing masks--including doctors and nurses.
     
  2. Lowbacca_1977

    Lowbacca_1977 Chosen One star 7

    Registered:
    Jun 28, 2006
    Leaving it to be little surprise that South Carolina is in the bottom ten states when it comes to life expectancy.
     
  3. Jedi_Sith_Smuggler_Droid

    Jedi_Sith_Smuggler_Droid Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    Mar 13, 2014
    It’s on the top 15 compared to the country 150 years ago.
     
  4. LAJ_FETT

    LAJ_FETT Tech Admin (2007-2023) - She Held Us Together star 10 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    May 25, 2002
    I think masks are still required in a medical setting here in England.
     
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  5. anakinfansince1983

    anakinfansince1983 Skywalker Saga/LFL/YJCC Manager star 10 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Mar 4, 2011
    Had a procedure done earlier in the week in which I had to be anesthetized. My mask only came off so they could give me oxygen. My husband had to keep his mask on the entire time.
     
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  6. solojones

    solojones Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Sep 27, 2000
    Went to see Black Panther last night and we all wore N95s.
     
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  7. DarkGingerJedi

    DarkGingerJedi Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Nov 21, 2012
    Two more infants in my son's room at daycare now have covid. The contact point was last Monday and Tuesday. Luckily he was out those days recovering from an ear infection. I think he's still the only infant currently there this week. Today his teacher is celebrating his 1st bday (he turns 1 on Friday)

    The daycare just brought back masks tho for anyone older than 2.
     
  8. Darth_Accipiter

    Darth_Accipiter Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Feb 2, 2015
    The triple threat of covid, rsv and flu is exploding just in time for Thanksgiving here in the US. I had RSV last month, quite unpleasant. Now my father has the flu after traveling from Florida via airline. Hoping it stays mild for him and hoping I don't catch it for the double whammy.

    Needless to say, Thanksgiving has been cancelled for us. At least there's football.
     
    Last edited: Nov 23, 2022
  9. j-jawa3

    j-jawa3 Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Sep 4, 2004
    All is well on the west coast-Wa. State. Long ago, while on a trip from Wisc. to W.Va. the weather made me arrive sick! How? it was hot and muggy in Wis. The plane was well air conditioned and my sinuses did not like that, we landed, it was hot and muggy in W.Va. due to the changes in pressure and temperature, I caught a cold! I had not been sick before the trip! sometimes non bacterial or viral conditions can cause one to become sick also, my situation however, was worse, my sister was undergoing chemo for cancer at the time when I arrived! I was told not to come if I was sick! Fortunately, her condition was not affected. Whew!
     
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  10. Darth_Accipiter

    Darth_Accipiter Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Feb 2, 2015
    I've heard that it is pretty bad in Los Angeles.
     
    Last edited: Nov 23, 2022
  11. Mar17swgirl

    Mar17swgirl Chosen One star 7

    Registered:
    Dec 26, 2000
    Depends on where. We had to visit our GP with our two-year-old a couple of times in the last few weeks and didn't need a mask. The GP did wear one, though.
     
  12. BigAl6ft6

    BigAl6ft6 Chosen One star 8

    Registered:
    Nov 12, 2012
    Chinese citizens giving the government hell over "Zero Covid" policy. Maybe Xi will actually stop in 2 years. I'll take the over!

    In videos shared on social mediaon Saturday, people in Ürümqi, the capital of the Xinjiang region, appeared to be angrily confronting officials after an apartment fire killed 10 people.

    Thousands of workers in an Apple iPhone factory in central China last week clashed with riot police and tore down barricades. The previous week, migrant workers in the southern Chinese metropolis of Guangzhou crashed through lockdown barriers and marched on the streets.

    Also in recent weeks, there has been an outpouring of grief on social media over the death of a four-month-old baby whose father said her medical treatment was delayed for 12 hours because of Covid curbs. The death of a three-year-old boy in north-west China from carbon monoxide poisoning after his father was stopped by enforcers of Covid rules from taking him to a hospital also sparked outrage.

    A 32-year-old mother of two killed herself in a quarantine centre in Guangzhou earlier this month after she was tested positive and separated from her husband. The news story, reported by respected financial publication Caixin, was quickly scrubbed from social media.

    The public’s sense of scepticism over the effectiveness of the zero-tolerance approach is increasingly obvious too. Voices of dissent or narratives that deviate from the official lines are also swiftly taken down from the internet.

    One of those was a social media post that asked 10 tough questions about the authorities’ handling of the pandemic. “Historically, have any flu viruses ever been wiped out? If not, how can the coronavirus be eradicated? What price must we pay? What is the point of rounds and rounds of PCR tests?” it asked.
    ...
    Given that restrictions are unlikely to be lifted any time soon, analysts expect the protests to escalate, but also they noted that these instances of sporadic unrest are unlikely to pose a threat to a dictatorial government that has the power to swiftly crack down on them.

    “The protests have stayed sporadic and unorganised … If they look like they are snowballing, it is more because people everywhere are affected,” said Prof Victoria Tin-bor Hui, a political scientist at Notre Dame University in Indiana. “[But] Covid measures have also drastically increased the party’s surveillance capacity. The tensions will escalate, but we can’t predict when the explosion will come.”

    Prof Chung Kim-wah, a social scientist formerly at Hong Kong Polytechnic University, said the protests “demonstrate that people have lost patience with the unreasonable [Covid] measures and are questioning their effectiveness”, but added that the unorganised protests are not a strong enough force to confront the government. He noted that if minor adjustments are made, protesters typically give in. “This makes bottom-up changes very difficult, if not impossible,” he said.
     
    Last edited: Nov 27, 2022
  13. Mar17swgirl

    Mar17swgirl Chosen One star 7

    Registered:
    Dec 26, 2000
    And some people still have the gall to praise China for its Covid policies and even claim we should follow their "example". Sickening.
     
  14. Darth Guy

    Darth Guy Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Aug 16, 2002
    If it weren't for China's policies, millions of people would be dead and tens of millions more would be disabled at some level. This would happen even with effective vaccines. The Western press emphasizes the anecdotes of people falling through the cracks and deliberately miss the big picture because China shutting down factories temporarily makes capitalists mad and the low, low death rate makes the West look bad.



    In the US, we're experiencing high levels of flu and RSV hospitalization likely because of the damage COVID does to the immune system-- damage experts have known about since 2020. Damage similar to what was seen with people who survived SARS-CoV-1 or "SARS." Damage that may increase in likelihood and severity with each infection. I don't know about anyone else, but to me that looks far more bleak long-term than occasional lockdowns.
     
    Last edited: Nov 27, 2022
  15. Runjedirun

    Runjedirun Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    Sep 3, 2012
    I noticed a lot of people wearing masks at Target yesterday. By a lot I mean about 20-25% and admittedly not me. But a lot more than I have seen in some time. I did not see this same thing in the less blue area when we were out shopping on Friday. Yup, I got a shiny new laptop on black Friday. It was busy, but not insane. I really like how the stores don't do doorbusters anymore, it helps a lot with crowds.

    I also just scheduled my 9 year old for his updated Covid booster. That way three of us in the house will have the booster and flu shot. Can't force my husband to do anything. I'm not surprised he won't get the flu shot, he never would. I think since we got Covid he's more frustrated with the boosters, but considering how quickly he got over it compared to other illnesses he's had you'd think he'd be more of a believer. It's really frustrating that no one wants the updated booster. I can only do what I can do so me and the kids are covered.
     
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  16. Pensivia

    Pensivia Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Apr 24, 2013
    I didn't go out shopping this weekend, but the Black Friday footage I saw on the news (shot in various US locations) included a noticeable number of people wearing masks--not the majority by any means, but more than I expected to see.

    Edit: and yes, the generally dismal levels of uptake for the bivalent booster are not encouraging.
     
    Last edited: Nov 27, 2022
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  17. DarkGingerJedi

    DarkGingerJedi Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Nov 21, 2012
    Wife is sick (not covid) and now my 1 yo is super sick. 102.3 fever. Cough and runny nose. He was up all night and slept to 10am. We'll prob take him to the doctors tomorrow. I'm worried its RSV. Given that most of his daycare currently has covid and RSV. Fingers crossed.
     
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  18. anakinfansince1983

    anakinfansince1983 Skywalker Saga/LFL/YJCC Manager star 10 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Mar 4, 2011
    I thought the RSV increase was due to kids born in 2019 or later not being exposed the way older kids might have?

    As far as China’s policy—maybe if the West (or specifically the US) had mandated vaccines when they became available and mandated lockdowns (including recurring payments so people can survive) prior to vaccinations, we would not be in a position for any country to feel the need for recurring lockdowns or in a position where “zero Covid” is not possible.

    But I don’t think stopping people from getting life saving medical treatment for other conditions, or causing death by suicide, fits with a philosophy of saving as many lives as possible, and given that “zero Covid” is not a possibility, I wonder if China plans to extend lockdowns into perpetuity.

    ETA: Just listening to an interview with Dr. Fauci. He pointed out that lockdowns are supposed to be temporary with an end goal—to get enough people vaccinated to achieve herd immunity, and/or to ensure that hospitals have the capacity to treat everyone. Therefore according to him China’s lockdown policies don’t make sense from a public health standpoint because they don’t seem to have an end goal.
     
  19. Darth Guy

    Darth Guy Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Aug 16, 2002
    The end goal is to keep people alive and healthier. Contrary to how Western media portrays it, at any given moment 95%+ of the Chinese population is not under quarantine measures. It can't be a perfect system. There will always be mistakes (though social media anecdotes filtered through a reporter aren't the best sources). This is about tough choices-- there is nothing that will magically make it 2019 again-- and in the West and the US in particular the easy choice was made to sacrifice people on the altar of the capitalist economy.

    And this idea of "immunity debt" (coined in 2021 by a COVID skeptic) is nonsense. Were most US Americans really strictly masking and avoiding gatherings at this point last year? Between then and now, we had two gigantic COVID infection waves and who knows how many were undercounted. There is precedent-- like I said, SARS-CoV-1 was found to cause immune system damage (the other long-term symptoms are also familiar), and even the 1918 flu pandemic may have been responsible for odd epidemics in the 1920s.
     
    Last edited: Nov 27, 2022
  20. anakinfansince1983

    anakinfansince1983 Skywalker Saga/LFL/YJCC Manager star 10 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Mar 4, 2011
    Yes, the US under both the Trump and Biden administrations made lockdown and quarantining decisions based on economics and not public health. Industries getting to open earlier if they had more influence on government. The way we did it was wrong.

    But I think there is a middle ground. Nothing open but health care facilities, pharmacies, public transit, and schools (yep, I said it, albeit with the benefit of hindsight, and not for reasons that Republicans wanted schools open). Groceries available for delivery in a way that minimizes person to person contact for delivery drivers. Pay people to stay home.

    Not separating families and barring people from seeking health care.
     
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  21. DarkGingerJedi

    DarkGingerJedi Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Nov 21, 2012
    Last week my 1 year old was sick. Not covid. Not RSV. Just some bronchitis.

    Today my 4 year old had a 103.5 temp, cough, and was tired. Woke up at 4am crying begging for mom and dad to sleep with him. He's now at a point when he knows he's sick. (As opposed to toddler who just sorta ignores it all). He said he really didn't want to take his meds, unless we reassured him they tasted good and will help... and he told us he was scared cuz he was hot. Poor guy.

    Covid test tomorrow, first thing.
     
  22. Jedi_Sith_Smuggler_Droid

    Jedi_Sith_Smuggler_Droid Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    Mar 13, 2014
    That is equally heart breaking and incredibly cute.

    I hope your 4 year old is feeling all better in no time.
     
  23. DarkGingerJedi

    DarkGingerJedi Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Nov 21, 2012
    So we called the on call night doctor at 2am cuz he was just out of breath and coughing continually. They listened to him over the phone and said he sounds pretty bad, and normally they would advise that he go to the ER. But he said that the ERs have a 10-12 hour wait, and all child beds are pretty much taken. And if he spent that much time in the waiting room, he'd probably get covid if he doesn't have it already.

    He said there are soooo many kids sick right now. And they want to see him at the pediatricians office today. His fever dropped to 100 this morning today though so that's a relief.
     
  24. Pensivia

    Pensivia Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Apr 24, 2013
    Ah, sorry to hear that @DarkGingerJedi. It must have been so stressful and worrisome for you and your wife to hear that normally they would recommend you taking him to the ER but that you couldn't do that due to the overload of pediatric illness right now. Glad at least his temp dropped ...hope your little guy is feeling much better soon!
     
  25. Darth Guy

    Darth Guy Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Aug 16, 2002
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