The COVID-2019 Thread

[Bogon]

Anyhoo, the end of the world has been confirmed. Michael Bublé only gets wheeled out at Christmas and is then put back in his cave for the remaining 50 weeks. They have let him out in April, so I predict we only have about 17 days left until the apocalypse.

Part 1: The Digital Concert

When?

The digital stream will kick off at 2pm ET and run until 8pm on ET on Saturday 18th April, which works out as 7pm to 1am in UK (BST).

Where?

You can stream this for free worldwide on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, Facebook, Instagram, Twitch, Twitter and YouTube.

Who’s performing?

Adam Lambert, Andra Day, Angèle, Anitta, Annie Lennox, Becky G, Ben Platt, Billy Ray Cyrus, Black Coffee, Bridget Moynahan, Burna Boy, Cassper Nyovest, Charlie Puth, Christine and the Queens, Common, Connie Britton, Danai Gurira, Delta Goodrem, Don Cheadle, Eason Chan, Ellie Goulding, Erin Richards, FINNEAS, Heidi Klum, Hozier, Hussain Al Jasmi, Jack Black, Jacky Cheung, Jack Johnson, Jameela Jamil, James McAvoy, Jason Segel, Jennifer Hudson, Jess Glynne, Jessie J, Jessie Reyez, John Legend, Juanes, Kesha, Lady Antebellum, Lang Lang, Leslie Odom Jr., Lewis Hamilton, Liam Payne, Lili Reinhart, Lilly Singh, Lindsey Vonn, Lisa Mishra, Lola Lennox, Luis Fonsi, Maren Morris, Matt Bomer, Megan Rapinoe, Michael Bublé, Milky Chance, Naomi Osaka, Natti Natasha, Niall Horan, Nomzamo Mbatha, P.K. Subban, Picture This, Rita Ora, Samuel L Jackson, Sarah Jessica Parker, Sebastián Yatra, Sheryl Crow, Sho Madjozi, SOFI TUKKER, SuperM, The Killers, Tim Gunn, Vishal Mishra and Zucchero.

[sabang]

Is it so hard? Green = NHS. Red = none. Others in betweenie.

[Seekingasylum]

That's outstanding.

God bless you Tom (and Aneurin Bevan).

"The collective principle asserts that ... no society can legitimately call itself civilised if a sick person is denied medical aid because of lack of means."

The ease with which the government's "nudge" unit has manipulated public opinion in this disaster is truly quite remarkable and perhaps a revealing testament to the current British inclination to wallow in mawkish emotion.

This government's special advisers were wheeled in at an early stage once BoJo the Clown and Goebbels Cummings realised they had made a catastrophic mistake in simply doing nothing and allowing the misapplication of the concept of creating a herd immunity to take root. Using the fundamental advertising principle of repetition of slogans, they quickly wove the NHS into the theme that to do the government's bidding was to protect the NHS. This was quite clever in that it personified the Service as a national champion against an evil scourge threatening us all and linked the Tory government on a daily basis with the NHS to the extent the two are indivisible - no mean feat for a party that has systematically denuded it of funds over a decade.

Once the ball was rolling it was simply a matter of glad-handing, the placement of feel-good stories and the portrayal of a plucky nation's champions waging war against the foe and the campaign got a boost when the nation was led into that absurd pantomime of clapping for the NHS the length and breadth of the country.

But the real coup was the focus upon a little old man trudging up and down his garden in a bid to do his part for the NHS - it was a godsend that he was a former soldier in the Second WW in that they could now re-create the whole sentimental panoply of emotions recalling how Blighty vanquished Johnny Foreigner. He was automatically a " hero " and if that were not enough the Nudge Unit got him dressed up in his best bib and tucker suitably regaled with all his medals and surrounded him with serving soldiers, in his words, the " best sort of people ". Cue the biography of his war service and his fight against cancer, parade the ranks of plucky nurses wracked with emotion as they celebrate his devotion to them replete with tears and smiles and orchestrate the public clamour in the press that Captain Tom be knighted, sanctified and elevated to the pantheon of Gods - " Tom is a Legend " - and now we have a living, breathing opera of the great and good and above all, it's British!

It is only a matter of time that BoJo the Clown and Capt. Tom are photographed together in a comradely embrace.

Tears, rampant emotionalism, the creation of heroes and the manipulation of a credulous nation so easily swayed by the legerdemain of a government without any principles of its own other than populism.

Shades of " Take Back Control " and the Brexit disaster, eh?

[Bogon]

^^ Not difficult, but if you are gonna produce a map where the information provided is associated with a colour coded key, then it would be nice to have the key colour.

No beef, obviously it didn't come up with the copy and paste.

[OhOh]

ameristani leaders caught lying again.

The New Anti-China Campaign Is Built On Lies


"To avoid self-examination of the failures that let that U.S. exceed covid-19 casualty numbers of every other nation the powers that be decided to blame someone else.

Trump first attempt was to blame the World Health Organization for not providing all information. But 16 U.S. administration officials were embedded with the WHO in Geneva. They relayed real time updates of all information the WHO received."

MoA - The New Anti-China Campaign Is Built On Lies

Trump tells a damnable and murderous lie

"As Trump surely knows, and as I have learned from people with knowledge of the situation who spoke to me on the condition of confidentiality, 15 officials from his administration were embedded with the WHO in Geneva, working full time, hand-in-glove with the organization on the virus from the very first day China disclosed the outbreak to the world, Dec. 31. At least six other U.S. officials at WHO headquarters dedicated most of their time to the virus, and two others worked remotely with the WHO on covid-19 full time. In the weeks that followed, they and other U.S. government scientists engaged in all major deliberations and decisions at the WHO on the novel coronavirus, had access to all information, and contributed significantly to the world body’s conclusions and recommendations.

Everything that the WHO knew, the Trump administration knew — in real time. As congressional investigators who requested WHO documents and communications are now learning, senior Trump administration officials — Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar; the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Robert R. Redfield Jr., Anne Schuchat, Ray R. Arthur and Jeffrey McFarland; the National Institutes of Health’s Anthony S. Fauci and H. Clifford Lane, and many others — consulted with the WHO throughout the crisis."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opini...murderous-lie/

[harrybarracuda]

Well we all know baldy orange cunto is an inveterate liar, and the Washington Post is a respected journal.

But trying to conflate that with some of your whackjob bullshit to protect the chinky liars?

Feeble Hoho, Feeble.

[harrybarracuda]

Given that most people with a functioning brain knew by the end of January the virus was a killer and transmissible between humans at an alarmingly fast rate, it was fucking obvious to all global authorities that their citizens the world over were at risk if they did not take steps to impede the extent of the contagion.

Almost universally, those authorities declined to do so because of socio-economic reasons.


If they had curtailed all air travel, both domestic and international, introduced regional quarantines within states and began a regime of universal testing, then we would not be were we are at now.

To attribute blame to the WHO and its titular leader is not only stupid, it is a cynical device to deflect blame from where it truly belongs i.e. individual leaders within governments the world over.

So, please, stop with this crap, it is just making you look like an idiot.

Your feeble attempts at protecting the Ethiopian and his British lackey, who did their best to protect the chinkies and their cover up, makes you sound like HoHo on one of his epic waffles.

Two wrongs do not make a right you vapid blatherer.

[NamPikToot]

I note John Hopkins have updated their website with a specific chart for the US.

https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/us-map

[Latindancer]

Two wrongs do not make a right you vapid blatherer.

HoHo logic :

China has (very) approximately three times the population of the US.

So three Wongs make a white.

[Switch]

Hindsight is such a wonderful thing, especially when viewed from the armchair bought with your CS pension.

[bowie]

Now, just finished watching Thai TV, CNN and BBC coverage - not really "good" reports - lots of finger pointing and playing the blame game - but, the deflection set aside and ignored...

Seems the general publics getting just a bit fed up with the restrictions. Beaches opened in Ft Lauderdale, for exercise only, well, no lack of exercisers, police enforcing the "no sunbathing" no congregating rules, governor in Texas announces plans to reopen Texas but a rally's going on demanding opening now, as in today. Long lines of folk crowding together for handouts of THB 200... churches holding services ignoring social distancing...

In all, the news reports show instance after instance of the general public blatantly disregarding restrictions and voicing their discontent along the lines of "enough is enough already".

Nice talking heads explaining how the people must listen to the advice of the talking heads to prevent further deaths - yet, quite apparent that none of the talking heads or commentators are suffering any financial hardship - they are all getting their paychecks - the protesting persons are the ones who are suffering the financial hardships and unemployment the restrictions are causing.

So, how do you impose\enforce Covid restrictions (for the greater good of the people) if they do not cooperate?

Can a country enforce hardline restrictions on population that refuses to comply? Police state?

I obviously cannot speak for the general public, but, in the USA, if the people will not listen, I cannot see the police being able to enforce strict regulations. Not going back to Kent State protest with national guardsmen firing on students. I do not believe the US police and National Guard and Military would be able to enforce compliance.

What about your home country? Would your home country be able to enforce strict regulatory control of your general population?

[HuangLao]

ameristani leaders caught lying again.

The New Anti-China Campaign Is Built On Lies


"To avoid self-examination of the failures that let that U.S. exceed covid-19 casualty numbers of every other nation the powers that be decided to blame someone else.

Trump first attempt was to blame the World Health Organization for not providing all information. But 16 U.S. administration officials were embedded with the WHO in Geneva. They relayed real time updates of all information the WHO received."

MoA - The New Anti-China Campaign Is Built On Lies

Trump tells a damnable and murderous lie

"As Trump surely knows, and as I have learned from people with knowledge of the situation who spoke to me on the condition of confidentiality, 15 officials from his administration were embedded with the WHO in Geneva, working full time, hand-in-glove with the organization on the virus from the very first day China disclosed the outbreak to the world, Dec. 31. At least six other U.S. officials at WHO headquarters dedicated most of their time to the virus, and two others worked remotely with the WHO on covid-19 full time. In the weeks that followed, they and other U.S. government scientists engaged in all major deliberations and decisions at the WHO on the novel coronavirus, had access to all information, and contributed significantly to the world body’s conclusions and recommendations.

Everything that the WHO knew, the Trump administration knew — in real time. As congressional investigators who requested WHO documents and communications are now learning, senior Trump administration officials — Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar; the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Robert R. Redfield Jr., Anne Schuchat, Ray R. Arthur and Jeffrey McFarland; the National Institutes of Health’s Anthony S. Fauci and H. Clifford Lane, and many others — consulted with the WHO throughout the crisis."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opini...murderous-lie/

Imagine that.....

[HuangLao]

I note John Hopkins have updated their website with a specific chart for the US.

https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/us-map

Become quite a detailed and fascinating morbid site.
On the world tab - the countries/territories that have not shown any documented cases aren't listed. Noting, that one could probably do the geographic math or breakdown.

Most of the Pacific Island nations.
Amazingly enough, a handful of Central/South Asian countries.
Indian Ocean nations.
Greenland??

[Dragonfly]

the confinement proved to be a failure, what does it change people getting out today vs in 2 weeks ? absolutely nothing,

hospitals would get run over in 2 weeks with new cases, there is no way 2 weeks is going to give time to prepare for a new wave when years have been neglected to prepare

we are all fucked either way,

[Dragonfly]

What about your home country? Would your home country be able to enforce strict regulatory control of your general population?

they are trying but they know it's not sustainable, there were high hopes that the 1 month confinement would bring significant results, but it didn't, the results are marginal, but they are celebrating because it's so grim, they have no other choice than grasp the little bit of hope they got from all this disaster

MSF said it from the start, you can't contain the spread of a virus, period. It has to go through, and no public policies is going to stop it

of course, global leaders being clueless and unprepared did what scared people do, make things worse

[Seekingasylum]

Nonsense, this is a lethal threat that can be withstood with the right resources pending a vaccine and that means creating a buffer permitting the build up of PPE, CPAPs and ventilators while increasing intensive training for their use, and of course developing the right blend of existing therapies that have potential for successful COVID treatment.

That means quarantine and minimal social interaction for at least another month.

Talk of collapsing economies and the end of the world is merely profit protection rhetoric for the existing corporate titans etc. Money is merely a function of demand and its supply can be extended to account for profit loss for another two months, at least.

Brexit is looking increasingly stupid by the day, however, but I imagine that won't trouble the current Tory orcs and The Clown.

That speech of Bojo's in early Feb doing the rounds is pure gold. Only the English could elect such an arsehole. What a terrible pity he didn't die, it would have been a beautiful General Sedgwick moment.

[Seekingasylum]

Your feeble attempts at protecting the Ethiopian and his British lackey, who did their best to protect the chinkies and their cover up, makes you sound like HoHo on one of his epic waffles.

Two wrongs do not make a right you vapid blatherer.

You miss the point. Why do you think anyone would listen to the WHO in, say, January when neither the US nor the UK listened to them and Italy in March when the fucking bodies were stacking up like firewood, you silly old twat.

Anyway the WHO scientists and epidemiologists had already published myriad papers on the danger of COVID early on, to which both the UK and US had immediate access.

Accept it dear boy, to have stymied the pandemic it would have required a total cessation of international engagement and we all know that that was never going to happen.

Money is too important.

Scapegoating the WHO is the work of intellectual pygmies.

[bowie]

Talk of collapsing economies and the end of the world is merely

Not the case here - yes, the rhetoric from the corporations may read that way - but, the front line or base is the people who lost their jobs and are now looking at the destruction that occurred to their financial game plan. Their economy has been derailed. It is their financial future - their individual "economy" that has collapsed.

The base population is being told by the talking heads that their job is gone to protect the population - yet, apparently only the elders are suffering the effects - yes, young folk have become infected and a few have died, those with compromised immune systems. So, to save granddad you are unemployed. "OK" they can accept tht until the children start crying for their dinners.

Point is - the working folk, unless they have lost a loved one, are not being impacted by Civd and, since it is their finances that are suffering, their patience is wearing thin, very, very thin.

[Seekingasylum]

Fair enough but when the virus mutates and kills all first born males under the age of 40 then we grunters can dance on your grave.

I have no interest in this race except my own self preservation and frankly if you did not have the sense to prepare for economic distress when the times were good then you must accept responsibility for your demise.

I understand that many in the UK, around 20 millions, had less than £500 in savings prior to the disaster.

Let's hope it is a learning curve for them.

[harrybarracuda]

Donald Trump has declared that he would like the United States to stop funding the World Health Organization. It’s unclear if he has the authority to change policy in this way, but he’s trying. He wants to further break the WHO in ways it’s already broken.

Trump’s ploy to defund the WHO is a transparent effort to distract from his administration’s failure to prepare for the COVID-19 pandemic. It would be disastrous too. Many nations, especially poor ones, currently depend on the WHO for medical help and supplies. But it is also true that in the run-up to this pandemic, the WHO failed the world in many ways. However, President Trump’s move is precisely the kind of political bullying that contributed to the WHO’s missteps.

The WHO failed because it is not designed to be independent. Instead, it’s subject to the whims of the nations that fund it and choose its leader. In July 2017, China moved aggressively to elect its current leadership. Instead of fixing any of the problems with the way the WHO operates, Trump seems to merely want the United States to be the bigger bully.

Fixing the WHO is crucial, because we desperately need well-functioning global health institutions. But that requires a correct diagnosis of the problem. There is an alternate timeline in which the leadership of the WHO did its job fully and properly, warning the world in time so that effective policies could be deployed across the planet. Instead, the WHO decided to stick disturbingly close to China’s official positions, including its transparent cover-ups. In place of a pandemic that is bringing global destruction, just maybe we could have had a few tragic local outbreaks that were contained.

This mission-driven WHO would not have brazenly tweeted, as late as January 14, that “preliminary investigations conducted by the Chinese authorities have found no clear evidence of human-to-human transmission of the novel #coronavirus (2019-nCoV) identified in #Wuhan, #China.” That claim was false, and known by the authorities in Wuhan to be false.. Taiwan had already told the WHO of the truth too. On top of that, the day before that tweet was sent, there had been a case in Thailand: a woman from Wuhan who had traveled to Thailand, but who had never been to the seafood market associated with the outbreak—which strongly suggested that the virus was already spreading within Wuhan.

We can get a glimpse at that alternate timeline by looking at the two places where COVID-19 was successfully contained: Taiwan and Hong Kong. With dense populations and close links to and travel from China, Taiwan and Hong Kong are unlikely candidates for success. Yet Taiwan reported zero new confirmed cases on Tuesday, fewer than 400 confirmed cases since the beginning of the outbreak, and only six deaths. Taiwan’s schools have been open since the end of February and there is no drastic lockdown in the island of almost 30 million people.

Hong Kong has had a slightly tougher time. It is ruled by an unpopular leader handpicked by Beijing, so not all the recommendations of its health experts could be implemented. But still, the city has had just more than 1,000 cases and only four deaths, despite never completely closing its border with mainland China and despite a lot of the city functioning as usual. Taiwan and Hong Kong succeeded because they ignored, contradicted, and defied the official position and the advice of the WHO on many significant issues. This is not a coincidence, but a damning indictment of the WHO’s leadership.

Taiwan’s and Hong Kong’s health authorities assessed the pandemic accurately, and not just with respect to the science. They understood the political complexities, including the roles of the WHO and China in shaping official statements about the virus. They did not take the WHO’s word when it was still parroting in late January China’s cover-up that there was no human-to-human transmission. They did not listen to the WHO on not wearing masks, which the WHO continues to insist are unnecessary to this late day, despite accumulating evidence that masks are essential to dampening this epidemic’s spread. Taiwan ignored the WHO’s position that travel bans were ineffective; instead, it closed its borders early and, like Hong Kong, screened travelers aggressively.

Hong Kong and Taiwan remembered that China has a history of covering up epidemics. In 2003, the world didn’t learn about SARS until after it had escaped China and become impossible to deny. (Back then, the WHO openly criticized China for its lack of transparency and cover-up, and we contained the epidemic just in the nick of time.) This time, the WHO was told the truth early on: Taiwanese health authorities sent their own medical teams to Wuhan in December. Those scientists confirmed human-to-human transmission—the most crucial piece of information for determining the difference between a local tragedy (if viruses are only jumping from infected bats or pangolins to humans in wildlife markets where people interact directly with them) and a brewing global pandemic. Taiwan isn’t allowed to be a member of the WHO, because of China’s objections, but it still informed the organization. Hong Kong health authorities, too, announced as early as January 4 that they suspected human-to-human transmission was already occurring, as they also looked at the evidence and their own contacts in Wuhan.

Imagine the WHO took notice of the information it received from Taiwan and Hong Kong. Imagine the WHO also recognized that whistleblower doctors in Wuhan were being threatened with jail time. It would have realized that something important was happening, something worth investigating. It could have immediately, but politely, demanded access to the region around Wuhan and its hospitals.

This alternate timeline does not ignore realpolitik. China is not a nation known for cooperating with international agencies when it doesn’t want to. (This tendency is not specific to China. A U.S. law nicknamed the “Hague Invasion Act” threatens to invade the International Criminal Court in The Hague should any U.S. service member be indicted.) If China refused access, as it likely would have, the expectation isn’t that the WHO officials would just get up and yell “Freedom!” at China’s leadership. But there was a path that would recognize the constraints of international diplomacy, but still put the health of billions above all else.

When independent access to Wuhan was denied, instead of simply relaying what China claimed as if it were factual, the WHO could have notified the world that an alarming situation was unfolding. It could have said that China was not allowing independent investigations, and that there were suggestions of human-to-human transmission that needed urgent investigation. That would have gotten the world’s attention. And it could have happened the first week of January, mere days after China reported 41 cases of a mysterious pneumonia, but before China’s first announced COVID death. This is when Taiwan banned travel from Wuhan and started aggressive screening of travelers who had been there in recent weeks. It’s also when Taiwan ramped up its domestic mask production, in order to distribute masks to its whole population, despite WHO (still!) claiming they aren’t necessary. This is when Hong Kong health authorities started implementing similar measures, in that case in spite of their own government dragging its feet. Hong Kong’s population started a massive grassroots campaign to don masks. Activists from Hong Kong’s protest movement used their organizational networks to acquire and distribute masks to the elderly and the poor. This is also when U.S. health authorities were looking at the signs and desperately trying to get the administration to start preparing. As we know now, they were ignored.

The WHO should not have waited until January 22 to confirm human-to-human transmission, after China finally did. By that point, a deadly horse had mostly left the barn. The WHO should not have waited until the end of January to declare a Public Health Emergency of International Concern—a move that recognizes the severity of the crisis and calls for “a coordinated international response.” The WHO should not have let February and nearly half of March pass before finally declaring a pandemic. By that point, a staggering 114 countries had already reported cases, and more than 4,000 known deaths had occurred. By then, the declaration did not matter in the same way an earlier one would have.

Pandemics are exponential events. In January and even in early February, the world had a fighting chance. The first case known to occur in Seattle was as late as February 21. We know this with relatively high confidence because Seattle has an excellent flu-tracking program, which gave it a time machine: the ability to go back and test earlier flu samples for COVID-19. Many countries may not have had their first imported case until late January or early February. Researchers estimate that acting even a week or two early might have reduced cases by 50 to 80 percent. With proper global leadership, we may have had a very different trajectory.

A mission-driven WHO would not have repeatedly praised China for its “transparency,” (when it was anything but) nor would it have explicitly criticized travel bans when they were being imposed on China but remained silent when China imposed them on other nations. Strikingly, the only country the WHO’s leader, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has directly criticized is Taiwan, whose diplomats he accused (without proof) of being involved in racist attacks on him. Unfortunately, the WHO seems to remember its principles only when they align with China’s interests. For example, the WHO correctly opposes calling SARS-CoV-2 the “Chinese virus,” as the U.S. administration has tried to do, in another of its attempts to shift the conversation away from its own failings and onto the familiar turf of culture wars. But when China goes on a brazen global misinformation spree, making outrageously false claims about SARS-CoV-2 being a CIA operation or calling it a “U.S.A. virus,” the WHO is silent.

Speaking up against China might have ended the international political career of Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who was elected to his post with the support of China and its bloc. But that is the cost of putting mission first.

Be that as it may, President Trump’s own attempt to bully the WHO is worse than being merely a distraction from his own lack of preparation and the spectacular public-health failure that is now unfolding across the United States. The president wants to break the WHO even more dramatically, in precisely the way it is already broken. He wants it to bow to the outsize influence of big powerful nations at the expense of its mission.

Defunding the WHO is not just foolish. It is dangerous: A pandemic needs to be contained globally, including in the poor countries that depend on the WHO. The WHO is the only global organization whose mission, reach, and infrastructure are suitable for this. The U.S. funds about 15 percent of the WHO’s current budget, and the already stretched-thin organization may not be able to quickly make that up.

We must save the WHO, but not by reflexively pretending that nothing’s wrong with it, just because President Trump is going after the organization. We should be realistic and honest about the corruption and shortcomings that have engulfed the leadership of an organization that is deeply flawed, but that is still the jewel of the international health community. The WHO employs thousands of dedicated and selfless health-care workers in 194 countries, and even now it is leading the fight globally against polio and Ebola. It needs to be restructured, and the first order of business is to make sure that it’s led by health professionals who are given the latitude to be independent and the means to resist bullying and pressure, and who demonstrate spine and an unfailing commitment to the Hippocratic oath when they count most.

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/a...failed/610063/

[Dragonfly]

Nonsense, this is a lethal threat that can be withstood with the right resources pending a vaccine and that means creating a buffer permitting the build up of PPE, CPAPs and ventilators while increasing intensive training for their use, and of course developing the right blend of existing therapies that have potential for successful COVID treatment.

yeah, in a perfect world it would be the proper course of action, but it's not the case here. There are no resources left to fix this, and 1 more month will not change a thing. We are already fucked. You are just in denial over it, like most people. This is not a Hollywood blockbuster where Bruce Willis find the cure in 1 hour and save the world.

a vaccine is 18 months away, maybe 6 months if we are very lucky, and we can't vaccinate everyone in 1 day, who gets priority etc... it's an unworkable nightmare

[bowie]

Fair enough but when the virus mutates and kills all first born males under the age of 40 then we grunters can dance on your grave.

No, SA - I'm one of the at risk over 60's - I'm fine financially so jobs, unemployment, the economy, are of no concern to me. The biggest risk Covid presents to me is if I or my wife contract it. If either of us do I certainly hope we fall into the 80% of minor or no symptoms. That being said. We follow the protocols, face masks, food shopping only, shelter-at-home, hand sanitizers, etc. Not because I am afraid of dying, I will as does everybody eventually, but, I have an adverse reaction to being sick - I'll avoid it at any cost. Covid or no.

My comments are about what I see and observe - not the rhetorical lines fed to us, the general public, by the talking heads on the TV.

Go ask someone with a family to support who is unemployed waiting for their THB 5k stipend, or, a recently unemployed worker among the 20 million recently unemployed, ask him how long it will take him to find his next job? Ask all of them just how good a job their government is doing protecting them and how bright their future looks?

[bowie]

a vaccine is 18 months away, maybe 6 months if we are very lucky, and we can't vaccinate everyone in 1 day

I saw an interview with the CEO of one of the big vaccine manufacturers. In his honest opinion a vaccine cure to solve the Covid situation will take five years. Basically, develop, test, manufacture, inoculate, elimination of the Covid threat. The time is in manufacturing enough doses and inoculations. Be he right or be he wrong - it is his business to know.

[Dragonfly]

indeed, there will not be enough vaccine for everyone, and then that doesn't include the side effects and the warnings for some demography

6 months is feasible, but dangerous, and the remedies might be far worse than the disease, so who the fuck knows

maybe that Lab in that Chinese city where everything started had some data on the experiments they were conducting, maybe the Chinese will share with us, or we might have to go to war with them over it

[Warwick]

The prohibition on selling alcohol in BKK was due to expire at midnight tonight I think. Does anyone know if it has been extended.

I just want to get a feel for what the central gov plan is. I am sure there are some who would like to extend the ban indefinitely