Mega-Thread: Coronavirus Pandemic

[Edge-]

Joe Rogan is an idiotic Anti-Vaxxer

https://www.rollingstone.com/culture...video-1233134/

Ah good, yet another reason to mock anyone I know that listens to this retarded chucklefuck because "he talks to interesting people!"

Seriously, if you want to hear interesting interviews listen to Fresh Air with Terry Gross. Because she's actually competent interviewer and doesn't bring Alex Jones on just to have some laughs at his mental illness while platforming his insanity.

[Rasulis]

Unless you’re in the category of needing a booster (weakened immune system, elderly, etc) I wouldnt get the booster, as it’s not being recommended for the general public.

Link: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cnb...-conclude.html

My father and mother are in their 80s. My father already received his third Moderna. My mother is scheduled next month (waiting for the 6 months period). My dad was perfectly fine after getting the shot. He came home and, against my mother's wishes, he went kayaking. The idea of my 87-year old father going out into the open sea on a kayak by himself always scares the hell out of me. There is nothing that we can do to stop him. The guy is stubborn like a mule.

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Talking about privileged places.

Sharecare 2020 Community Well-Being Index

San Francisco leads nation in community well-being

The Greater San Francisco area’s community well-being was bolstered by strong performance across the Index’s domains, in particular housing and transportation (#1); food access (#4); financial well-being (#3); physical well-being (#4); social well-being (#4); and purpose well-being (#5).

The following MSAs round out the top five positions on Sharecare’s Community Well-Being Index:

San Francisco-Oakland- Hayward, CA
San Jose-Sunnyvale- Santa Clara, CA
Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV
Boston-Cambridge- Newton, MA-NH
Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, CT

Conversely, the five MSAs ranked lowest on the Index are:

McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, TX
Las Cruces, NM
Sumter, SC
Farmington, NM
Pine Bluff, AR

[PhaelixWW]

Talking about privileged places.

Sharecare 2020 Community Well-Being Index

The following MSAs round out the top five positions on Sharecare’s Community Well-Being Index:

San Francisco-Oakland- Hayward, CA
San Jose-Sunnyvale- Santa Clara, CA
Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV
Boston-Cambridge- Newton, MA-NH
Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, CT

Yep, that one is tied more to privilege, for sure.

[Rasulis]

Panic Buttons Added to Employee Badges at Missouri Hospital as Assaults on Staff Triple

Healthcare workers at a Missouri hospital will be given a panic button on their employee badges following a spike in assaults on employees during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Staff members at Cox Medical Center Branson have reported being spit on, cussed at and even beaten by patients, the Springfield-based news station KY3-TV reported.

In the past year, there have been a staggering 123 assaults and 78 injuries against the hospital's healthcare workers, according to the Skaggs Foundation, the Missouri nonprofit that is helping to fund the devices. In 2019, there were 94 assaults and 17 injuries, making for a 63 percent increase in injuries. Many workplace violence events also go unreported.

"It's in our critical care units, it's in our med surge floor areas. A lot of times it's repeated violence as well we may have the same patient doing the same thing or getting worse each time they do it," Angie Smith, the hospital's patient safety facilitator, told KY3-TV.

Smith said she realized the system was needed after analyzing these numbers. The buttons will have a GPS-like system so employees who are victims of violence can be found easily found.

The buttons are being funded by a $132,000 grant by the Skaggs Foundation, the organization said in a press release.

"This project protects our No. 1 resource—our healthcare workers," Skaggs Legacy Endowment Grant Committee Chairman Nita Jane Ayres said in the statement. "When this project was presented to us in August, we saw the importance and urgency of it. Our healthcare workers already sacrifice so much but their safety should never be sacrificed."

Up to 400 employees could receive the devices, according to the foundation.

Nurse Ashley Blevins said she believes the pandemic has had an impact on the rising violence, saying she feels "it's nice we have the chance to press our button and security knows exactly where we are."

"They come in here and they have to sit in here because everywhere's full, we have no placements to put anybody and that's frustrating on the patient that's frustrating on us and I think that's increasing a lot of violence towards everyone," Blevins told KY3-TV.

The COVID-19 pandemic has taken a toll on medical workers across the country, who have put in long hours to treat large numbers of patients who have been infected with the virus. Many healthcare workers have been on the receiving end of violence both before and during the pandemic.

According to a data analysis by the Journal of the American Medical Association, violence against healthcare workers had been growing in the years preceeding the pandemic. In 2011, there were just over 8,000 nonfatal workplace injuries among healthcare workers.

By 2018, that number had topped 15,000.

There have been countless reports of healthcare workers being attacked during the pandemic, and the attacks are often mask-related. In September, a medical office worker in Buffalo, New York, was pepper sprayed after asking a woman to wear a mask.

A nurse in Spain lost sight in one of his eyes after he was attacked by a maskless man on a train in July.

And a nurse in Canada was allegedly assaulted by a man who accused her of vaccinating his wife. She was allegedly hit several times in the face and was recovering in a hospital last week.

Never thought that it would get this bad. Depressing.

[Edge-]

Panic Buttons Added to Employee Badges at Missouri Hospital as Assaults on Staff Triple



Never thought that it would get this bad. Depressing.

Can you ban people from hospitals for life? Because that sounds like something they should look into for the safety of their staff and other patients.

[CostinR]

Wouldn't it be better if they focused on convincing more people to get their 1st and 2nd dose as that has a much larger effect?

Romania has 27.85% fully vaccinated and <1% partially vaccinated, that is substantially below the world average. (And an outbreak growing out of control.)

They can try, they have failed so far meanwhile vaccine doses are going to waste.

[Zan15]

Joe Rogan is an idiotic Anti-Vaxxer

https://www.rollingstone.com/culture...video-1233134/

he's full tilt to get as much of the wandering Rush FattyDrugBaugh audience he can so he can cash in on stupidity.

Even though he's most likely fully vaxxed

[Edge-]

https://www.alaskapublic.org/2021/09...say-hes-wrong/

In which Death Cultists blame...vaccine mandates for hospital staff shortages, rather than unvaccinated assholes. And is lying about it.

Hospital representatives say there’s no evidence to support the mayor’s contention. The largest two hospitals in Anchorage have announced vaccine mandates, but they haven’t gone into effect yet.

Because that's not why there's a staffing shortage, they haven't even gone into effect.

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he's full tilt to get as much of the wandering Rush FattyDrugBaugh audience he can so he can cash in on stupidity.

Even though he's most likely fully vaxxed

Goop for Rush Limbaugh fans.

[Rasulis]

https://www.alaskapublic.org/2021/09...say-hes-wrong/

In which Death Cultists blame...vaccine mandates for hospital staff shortages, rather than unvaccinated assholes. And is lying about it.



Because that's not why there's a staffing shortage, they haven't even gone into effect.

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Goop for Rush Limbaugh fans.

Sometimes I feel that we are competing on who can post the craziest anti-vaxx and anti-mask mandate GOP politicians.

As the morgues and ICUs in Idaho overflow with COVID patients, Republican Governor Brad Little said he was “exploring legal action to protect the rights of business owners and their employees" from “President Joe Biden’s plan to fine private employers with 100 or more employees that do not mandate the COVID-19 vaccine or routine testing.”

Dying people be damned, as Republicans turn against each other in contests up and down the ballot and across the country to see who can get farthest to the right to claim the Trumpian mantle.

The Republican primaries are shaping up like the Hunger Games, dystopian battles among the Trumpian faithful. “What you’re seeing are incredible races to the bottom as they one up each other to be the craziest and the Trumpiest in whatever context presents itself,” says Matt Bennett, a co-founder of Third Way, a moderate Democratic group. The fights and the lies can be over mask mandates, or vaccines, or how we teach children about slavery, with all of them tying into the Big Lie that Trump somehow won the election and was cheated out of his supposedly rightful victory.

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Yep, that one is tied more to privilege, for sure.

I am actually curious to see the numbers once they start breaking down the decline in life expectancy by state, county and metro area basis.

[Edge-]

As the morgues and ICUs in Idaho overflow with COVID patients, Republican Governor Brad Little said he was “exploring legal action to protect the rights of business owners and their employees" from “President Joe Biden’s plan to fine private employers with 100 or more employees that do not mandate the COVID-19 vaccine or routine testing.”

Oh wonderful! They can keep filling the ICU wards in neighboring Washington, where the Washingtonians and medical staff there are rightfully pissed that locals can't get the care the need due to hospitals being packed with folks from Idaho because Idaho doesn't have room for them.

I'm fine if a state wants to shoot themselves in the foot like this and while it sucks, decide that they're fine letting people die. But they need to contain that to their state, their failures shouldn't negatively impact the states around them.

MAN, THIS IS SOUNDING FAMILIAR I WONDER WHAT OTHER TOPIC THIS RELATES TO.

It's definitely not headaches and taking a Tylenol for it. Definitely not, even if Death Cultists think that spontaneous headaches are contagious. Or are dishonest liars.

[Edge-]

On the one hand, you have a proven vaccines that's free and shown to be extremely effective in reducing the chances of catching covid, and if you do get a breakthrough case considerably reducing the severity and risk of hospitalization/death.

On the other hand, you have a right wing network of quacks, including the lady that things "demon sperm makes you infertile" who appear to be making a pretty penny off this - https://theintercept.com/2021/09/28/...mectin-hacked/

America’s Frontline Doctors, a right-wing group founded last year to promote pro-Trump doctors during the coronavirus pandemic, is working in tandem with a small network of health care companies to sow distrust in the Covid-19 vaccine, dupe tens of thousands of people into seeking ineffective treatments for the disease, and then sell consultations and millions of dollars’ worth of those medications. The data indicate patients spent at least $15 million — and potentially much more — on consultations and medications combined.

$15M spent...likely more...when they could have literally gotten a free vaccine. Bonus points - This group apparently has a history of not actually calling people for their consultations after receiving payment.

Grifters gonna grift, and the grifted will continue to direct their anger at everyone else because surely they weren't duped by some obvious, low-effort grifters. It's those libs that put them in the impossible position of getting a life-saving vaccine, or getting "cucked" and made fun of for getting the life-saving vaccine. It's a touch choice apparently? I dunno, that's what they write, but it seems like a fairly easy one. I'm not into "cucking", though I'm not gonna judge others, but I'll happily be a "cuck" and get a free vaccine to protect me from a dangerous virus.

[Rasulis]

On the one hand, you have a proven vaccines that's free and shown to be extremely effective in reducing the chances of catching covid, and if you do get a breakthrough case considerably reducing the severity and risk of hospitalization/death.

On the other hand, you have a right wing network of quacks, including the lady that things "demon sperm makes you infertile" who appear to be making a pretty penny off this - https://theintercept.com/2021/09/28/...mectin-hacked/



$15M spent...likely more...when they could have literally gotten a free vaccine. Bonus points - This group apparently has a history of not actually calling people for their consultations after receiving payment.

Grifters gonna grift, and the grifted will continue to direct their anger at everyone else because surely they weren't duped by some obvious, low-effort grifters. It's those libs that put them in the impossible position of getting a life-saving vaccine, or getting "cucked" and made fun of for getting the life-saving vaccine. It's a touch choice apparently? I dunno, that's what they write, but it seems like a fairly easy one. I'm not into "cucking", though I'm not gonna judge others, but I'll happily be a "cuck" and get a free vaccine to protect me from a dangerous virus.

On that note, Utah's governor highlighted a controversial essential-oil MLM as a way to protect school kids from a COVID-19.

Utah Gov. Spencer Cox took to Twitter to thank doTerra, a controversial direct-sales company, for donating its products to prevent COVID-19 transmission in schools. doTerra is a multi-level marketing company that sells essential oil-based products.

In the 2020 election cycle, doTerra International donated $10,200 to Cox, according to non-partisan research firm Vote Smart.

doTerra has described its On Guard wipes as containing ingredients like "Eucalyptus, Wild Orange, Clove, Cinnamon, and Rosemary essential oils," along with 70% ethyl alcohol. In 2020, Federal Trade Commission ordered doTerra to stop promoting its oils as COVID-19 cures.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention generally recommend frequent handwashing, and listed "touching mucous membranes with hands soiled by exhaled respiratory fluids containing virus or from touching inanimate surfaces contaminated with virus" as causing infectious exposure to COVID-19.

"As Gov. Cox mentioned yesterday, we appreciate the willingness of private sector businesses like doTERRA to support our schools," senior advisor of communications Jennifer Napier-Pearce said in a statement sent to Insider.

doTerra did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

Before he became governor in 2021, Cox served as the state's lieutenant governor for Gary Herbert starting in 2013. In 2016, Herbert presented at the World Trade Association of Utah, where doTerra was recognized as the International Company of the Year.

Cox's tweet underscores Utah's strong connection to MLMs. In 2016, local station KUTV reported that the state had the most MLMs per capita. MLMs based in Utah include Nu Skin Enterprises, Young Living, USANA Health Sciences, Morinda, Inc., and Younique.

In the world of MLMs, doTerra has attracted controversy since its founding. The direct-sales company first launched in 2008. Founders David Stirling, David Hill, and Emily Wright previously worked as executives at essential oil giant Young Living. Young Living sued doTerra over allegations of corporate espionage. In 2018, a judge ruled that Young Living acted in "bad faith" and ordered it to pay attorney fees amounting to $1.8 million to its competitor, according to the Salt Lake Tribune.

But the battle against Young Living doesn't capture the entirety of doTerra's legal history. Insider identified 27 bankruptcy cases naming doTerra as a party. These cases took place between 2008 and 2020, and involved individual doTerra sellers declaring bankruptcy. Financial difficulties or outright ruin are common outcomes for MLM sellers: A 2018 survey from the AARP Foundation finding that 73% of respondents who participated in MLM schemes either lost money or made no money. Of the quarter of respondents who did earn money, 53% made less than $5,000.

doTerra is also an defendant in an ongoing civil case from a Minnesota seller named Ruth Van Horn, who alleged that the company's green tea extracts caused her liver to fail.

The company's philanthropic efforts have also attracted scrutiny. In 2018, the Pacific Standard reported that the company's foundation was accused of pocketing donations intended for the victims of Hurricane Harvey.

Multi level marketing? GOP politicians have reached a new low.

[Edge-]

Multi level marketing? GOP politicians have reached a new low.

Man, only idiots fall for th...oh...yeah.

Damn, this has to be the least surprising thing I didn't expect to read this week.

[Forogil]

What? It had to do with you thinking we were using patent waivers to distract from our vaccine rollout.

Patent waivers have always been a distraction - and has been used by many countries for that. Additionally many countries and companies want to be seen as important (and/or get money) without being able to contribute, like companies showing off their factory that could make other vaccines.

Mate most of those countries didnt even try to mount a coherent covid response, this whole "big countries cant use lockdowns" is really unbelievable when you look at China.

An authoritarian country. Most countries find that welding apartment doors is a bit excessive response.
You are still not contributing anything.

The point is that being healthy and young drastically reduces the risk of covid-19, that's why it's difficult to find top-level athletes that died in it (excluding non-healthy sports like Sumo-wrestling) - but easy to find former athletes.

[Forogil]

And to not having to write some of the facts once more about patent waivers.

You were starting about patent waivers (which are a distraction), and first incorrectly try to claim that AstraZeneca make money from it, and then you switch to claims about Pfizer profits. I assumed you had a coherent thought in your conversation, shall I stop assuming you make sense at all and just think you are posting randomly stuff?


A local company, https://www.southpacificsera.co.nz makes some vague claims about vaccine and seems to get money from the state. Local media always love that - but it isn't anything meaningful.

All they have are sterile parts and experience with serums, and they mention that they might need to fertilizers? I haven't heard anyone else mentioning the need for that in this vaccine context - so it just seems that they have no clue of what they even need to make the vaccine.

If we look more realistically at what Dr. Rolleston says that traditional vaccines might be easy and take several months. But no such covid-vaccines are used in the EU/US. If we look at mRNA and viral vector it seems they would have to build a new facility that will take 6-8 months, and then add the finicky stuff and it will take longer.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/hea...cine-then-what (yes, from last year; not much have changed.)

And additionally:

The discussion about patents on vaccines is a distraction.
Look at how much problem AstraZeneca had with building factories in Mexico and in EU. What makes you think that it would be better if AstraZeneca didn't try to help, since they didn't have the patent?
BioNTech has partnered with Fosum in China to make their vaccine; it was started long ago but it's still not authorized as far as I know - and that's the same vaccine that is sold as Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine in the rest of the world. Thinking that it would have worked faster if BioNTech didn't try to help is plain ridiculous.

Seems that the latter is still not approved and now it has become a political issue
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world...ons/ar-AANOBVX

[RCA]

Don't want to dive into any of this, but reading of firing of nurse workers, when there is a shortage is all too strange; what game plan is implemented here, extreme pain before selective personal comfort? AKA serious incoming the overall hurt peeps...

[Forogil]

You're making assumptions about their physical fitness just because they're no longer playing at a professional level, its weird.

People claimed that Olympian athletes died in covid-19, but no such cases of active athletes have been presented.

If someone wants to claim that specific former athletes were as healthy as during the Olympian days - they have to present evidence, especially as in several cases photos suggest otherwise.

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Nz has had enough doses on backorder for awhile now. We acquired enough doses for 5 million people pretty early on, our concern with vaccine patents was making sure the rest of the world could get them.

Vaccines can only be used when delivered, not when on backorder.

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Don't want to dive into any of this, but reading of firing of nurse workers, when there is a shortage is all too strange; what game plan is implemented here, extreme pain before selective personal comfort? AKA serious incoming the overall hurt peeps...

That was an expected issue, and I don't know if there is a game plan.
However, as many other things it seems there's also some exaggeration of the problems so we will see.

That is not only for the US, but also in France. For NY specifically there's also the issue that nurses from other states are likely reluctant to relocate after the mess last year (with trying to recruit out-of-staters temporarily and then being so slow that it didn't happen).

Basically when you say: get vaccinated or else; you need to have a plan for "or else".

Instead saying "you will need to be tested daily unless vaccinated" might get a similar vaccination-result - with less pain; but we will see.

[s_bushido]

Don't want to dive into any of this, but reading of firing of nurse workers, when there is a shortage is all too strange; what game plan is implemented here, extreme pain before selective personal comfort? AKA serious incoming the overall hurt peeps...

Unvaccinated workers in hospitals are a danger to the health of the patients they would be caring for. Which defeats the purpose of them being there in the first place. What's hard to understand about that?

[Corvus]

DeathSantis has claimed Australia is less free than communist China because we have things like masks and lockdowns and encourage people to get vaccines. I'd much prefer to live in this 'hellhole' with a slightly higher population that has managed to keep deaths down to 1100 since the pandemic began. Meanwhile DeathSantis is killing that many every 2or 3 days.

[Poopymonster]

On that note, Utah's governor highlighted a controversial essential-oil MLM as a way to protect school kids from a COVID-19.



Multi level marketing? GOP politicians have reached a new low.

They can make Tshirts! Schools in particular can sell em as a kids fundraiser! It'll be perfect! Just change "Wife" to "Mom"!