Let's continue the conversation!
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I've noticed some quibbling in yesterday's blog. Please do not attack each other. All reasonable opinions are welcome here.
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I've noticed some quibbling in yesterday's blog. Please do not attack each other. All reasonable opinions are welcome here.
Comments
They also ignore the question of who we needed to get information from:
"China didn't warn public of likely pandemic for 6 key days"
The Associated Press
https://apnews.com/68a9e1b91de4ffc166acd6012d82c2f9
I am just not interested in reading the politics. I am way too stressed and have had a neighbor die from it. I also have those in my circle have family and friends die. Many of my extended family are doctors. My British Aunt contracted COVID-19.
Regarding criticism of Bill DeBlasio, I don't think people realize that he is the most disliked NYC Mayor. He and his wife have been involved in a huge scandal during his tenure: https://nypost.com/2019/02/28/de-blasio-and-co-mayor-wife-have-wasted-1-8b-of-taxpayer-money/
He may be on the Left but there's a spectrum of the "Left-Coast" and he's never been popular or considered competent. I don't think I know anyone who likes him and no one is surprised by his mishandling of COVID-19. Like Bloomberg said: "NYC runs itself and it's hard to screw up." Bill DeBlasio always screws up and was inevitable with him at the helm. Bill DeBlasio was unqualified when he entered the Mayor Office and he still hasn't figured out what his job is. I suspect his political career is dead after he leaves the Mayoral Office.
Not just not knowing the square root of this virus, I think there is a lack of understanding the macro-economic problems COVID-19 poses. Lost income is one thing but this virus is wreaking havoc on economies because China's obfuscation of data and information has made it impossible to allocate resources efficiently, manage it's risks, and maintain good faith in institutions. The latter two will be extremely hard to establish again and primarily why stay-at-home orders cannot just exist in "hot-zones."
There will be a normal and that is not limited to people's hygiene practices. Markets across the board will change accordingly. In order for the economy to function well, we will need comprehensive data to construct a new normal for labor markets, supply-chain, services, consumer goods, and so on...
This is a broadcast from a 5-programme BBC World Service series by Robin Lustig on Free Speech.
This particular programme deals with `Tech Companies and Free Speech' and the second half is particularly relevant to our present problem with C-19 and what went awry at the beginning:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/w3ct074d
The preceding programmes look interesting as well but I haven't listened to them yet.
They're going to wait to see what happens as other countries remove the restrictions first. Very wise, I think.
We still need to know a darn'sight more about what we're up against - it keeps springing nasty surprises on us. For example, nobody anticipated that younger folk would be hit so badly - the assumption was that there'd be a correlation with age (in general, immunity declines with age - a reasonable assumption but not necessarily so in this case).
Obesity has proved to be a risk factor (simple anatomy - internal fat hinders effective breathing) - we know obesity damages many aspects of health but doctors fear being accused of `fat shaming' if they express themselves too forcefully to obese patients.
It looks as if there may be a genetic link to C-19. Some ethnic minorities are over-represented in the death figures. An unexplained high mortality rate among doctors from the Sub-continent suggests that it is not the `health inequality' beloved of some of our politicians that is to blame - doctors have good remuneration. Cause could be genetic or behavioural.
Biobank, the store of genetic information, linked to patient's medical histories, may shed light on this. I joined the longitudinal study run by our local university medical school, so my genotype if there and they regularly interrogate my medical record at the GPs. The store of info now, with many participants, is large enough I think to give statistically valid results as to whether there is/is not a connection.
Only time will show if non-compliance with the distancing regulations has resulted in higher mortality.
People keep screaming about the Government `hiding' information about the deaths - that's because, although they've been told, repeatedly, what the limitations are on the daily reported hospital death toll, they can't see that only the weekly ONS figures give a true picture of what's happening overall.
Hitherto, ageism has been allowed to flourish unchecked here. The irony will be if we oldies survive through doing as we're told and if those in favour of letting us die peg out instead.
We need more emphasis on the wisdom of old people, mental decline doesn't affect everyone.
@charade: I hope your aunt gets better!! 💜💜✨
The stay-at-home orders have a lot more to do with collecting data and managing risks. We need lots of data and that requires diversity in pool sets: hot zones and non-hot zones.
You cannot make accurate mathematical models by assuming this virus is similar to influenza because of volume of deaths. Comparing COVID-19 to influenza gives a starting point for analysis and we HOPE it's a good starting point. There is no guarantee it is. Time and collecting diverse data pool sets can only be achieved with more testing and slow and controlled transitions to our "new normal."
The Labour party here (HM's `Loyal Opposition) is demanding to know when/how we are going to start loosening the lock-down. HM Government, OTOH, has said it's going on for another 3 weeks at least as it's far too early to relax regulation
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Would you feel comfortable explaining the Labor Party versus HM’s party? When I first read HM I interpreted it as Her Majesty but know that can’t be true as the Queen is supposed to be apolitical.
Thank you.
I don’t believe the disagreement was over meat. Certain people have been in attack mode ever since this blog started and now people are beginning to see through them and they don’t like it.
I literally scroll right past those posts bc I won’t be trolled anymore but from the responses of others, I’m thinking that was the real issue.
I think maybe people just need to be aware of their own mental/emotional states. Like when I get angry, I usually check my menstrual app to see if I'm just PMS-ing or legit angry.
It's the lockdowns stressing people out.
Take care everyone. 💜💜
Unlike the U.K., the President of the United States is both Head of State and Head of Government.
@Wild Boar Battle-Maid was pointing out that the British Conservative Party aren't rushing for the economy to open up again unlike the "anti-Monarch and pro-Republic" Labour Party. Their Conservative Party skews older whereas their Labour Party skews younger.
You're correct that I don't spend much time moderating this blog. It's not a paying enterprise for me (neither is the other one), and since I have a full-time job and a family, my free time is limited.
The idea with this blog was to give people on the other blog who wanted to talk about Coronavirus a place to do so.
It gets about 500 views per day.
The `UK Government' is whichever party won the latest General Election. The Leader of that party becomes Prime Minister. As Charade says, we have a Conservative government at the moment, led by PM Johnson.
Whichever ever party is in power forms what is formally known as `Her Majesty's Government'.
The losers in the General Election become known as `Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition'. At the moment, that’s the Labour party. They `shadow’ the ones in power. Hence we have `shadow ministers’ & secretaries of state - Keir Starmer is leader of the Opposition who have a Shadow Home Secretary and so on.
Both parties sit in Parliament, facing each other at 2 swords' lengths apart! (This goes back to when they used to sit in St Stephen's Chapel in the old Houses of Parliament - like the part of an English Cathedral where the choir sits, or an Oxbridge Chapel). It's a literal `opposition'. Nothing to do with being Monarchists or Republicans.
Parliament (both House of Lords & House of Commons) meet in what was originally the medieval Palace of Westminster. Westminster Hall is the only original bit of that building that's left. The rest burnt down in the 1834.
See paintings by Turner https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Burning_of_the_Houses_of_Lords_and_Commons
Charles I found to his cost that it didn't do to fall out with Parliament. Subsequent Stuarts would have liked to have ruled without Parliament, as absolute monarchs, but the country wouldn't have it. George I wasn't interested, spent most of his time in Germany, so the PM got on with the job instead, along with others of his party - what we now call the Cabinet.
The Monarch, or any member of the Royal Family, who expresses a political opinion is asking for trouble – they would be seen as divisive, a threat to the nation and the Constitution. MM didn’t hesitate to flout that most important convention. Royals can think what they like, as long as they don’t let on what they’re thinking. Even praising, say biscuits, on a factory visit can cause embarrassment.
As a poster reminded us within the last couple of days on the other blog, Edward VIII’s departure was really down to his Nazi sympathies – Wallis gave PM Baldwin the perfect `public’ reason to get rid of him, as divorces was a big no-no in those days.
The British Constitution is summed up as `The Queen is Sovereign in Parliament’. Like many other things here, nobody has ever sat down and planned it in advance. It has evolved over time and by and large it works, even if it seems odd to others.
I'm thinking about making Indian fry bread* for the bottom layer of the taco meat and chopped lettuce/tomato mixture like we used to have on the rez in Arizona. (Navajo reservation in this case, although several other tribes have reservations as well for those of you that haven't lived in the southwest or have reservations in your state.)
https://thestayathomechef.com/authentic-indian-fry-bread/
*A puffy flat bread made by folk with hungry people to feed and no money for fancy ingredients.
@Anon-Unknown I want to apologize if my posts today have disturbed you. I have been avoiding posting because I was not comfortable with the NY-bashing and the Pro-Trump rhetoric. I also happen to be younger than most of the posters here and there has been young-people bashing too.
Anyways, I think I will resign myself to permanent lurking. My mental health has been in frays for too long and I need to make sure I can hold up for all the people that depend on me.
Please forgive me for my emotional rant.
May everyone here have safety, good health, and happiness.
Thank you @Nutty for these blogs. May you and your loved ones always stay happy and healthy.
The feel-good morning news had a segment on a lady in St. Johns County in her 70s, former dance instructor, that lugs her big speakers outside in the morning and has a neighborhood dance party where everybody dances to sprightly pop, rap, and country tunes in their own driveways. What a great idea for those missing their dancercise!
Thank you for that lovely explanation. So whichever party is in power becomes HM’s Government and the other is the opposition.
I did know the monarchy was supposed to appear neutral, which is good. Here in the US that would be like our judges. No matter what they think, we want to believe that they will make a ruling based on law and not on their opinions. Is the monarchy able to vote? They probably don’t, but would they be allowed?
Meghan Markle is and was a mess, I do not disagree with you. I’ve followed along Nutty’s other blog since it’s inception, but have never felt a need to comment. So many people have seen her for what she is. Many, before I picked up on it.
Is Indian fry bread like naan? I know they are two different types of ‘Indian,’ but that’s kind of what it sounds like to me. Or is the fry bread more similar to a tortilla?
Thank you also for your explanation. I wish I was more educated on the political systems of the world. It would make sense that those with more conservative values often skew older, same here in the US, although it can largely depend on how you are raised and even where you are raised in the US.
I am younger also, perhaps you are younger even than I. It is sad if this blog doesn’t give you comfort and I wish you could stay but wish you well, regardless. Also, I hope those you love stay safe.
I can't make any generalisation about Labour. Some are within a whisker of Communism, others are a long way back towards the centre ground. Some are definitely anti the Crown, for all that they have to take an oath of loyalty.
Other parties eg Lib Dems are left of centre to varying degrees. Lord knows where the Scots Nats stand on it. None have a republican policy though. Ulster Unionists are generally pro-monarchy, Sinn Fein are anti-Britsh and don't take their seats even if elected (they take their pay, though). Greens are pretty left, more so than many people think.
I'm not and never have been a member of any party. I think for myself. I've always been conservative (small `c') but don't always vote that way.
Charade, sorry to hear your nerves are in tatters - I think mine would be too if I lived where you do, rather than one of the safest areas of the UK. I'm one of the oldest here and can recall some many difficult times but nothing,of course, quite like this.
I hope you and those you love stay well. Take care of yourself. Hope to hear from you again.
After all, if our ancestors hadn't survived pestilence and famine we wouldn't be here!
Just to further elaborate on our differences in government, HMTQ as the Head of State is a representative of the people and has no say in policy or rather how the government should run.
The U.S. President is Head of Government but remember, we have 3 branches of Government: Executive (President), Legislative (Senate and House of Representatives), and Judicial (SCOTUS). Judges represent the Judicial Branch so they interpret laws and are therefore directly involved with the judgement of policies. What you are describing about Judges is their responsibilities in Judicial Interpretation of the Constitution. However, since there job is directly involved in how the government *should* run, Judges are technically political.
There *could* be a breakthrough treatment today but that would depend upon how long will it take for it to be manufactured so that there is a large enough supply for the entire world. We as a country are not even able to manufacture enough masks yet for our hospital people and the construction people, technology that Americans patented, and I consider this shameful. I 'hear' a disposable glove shortage is looming as well (which may or may not be true, that is what I hear about supply availability). I can only imagine the anger of people in New York state, away from New York City, that effectively have no representation, much like the people in Illinois that have to suffer with Chicago. This is going to have to change.
Even when (or if) businesses open up, there is a shortage of parts/components that are manufactured in other parts of the world *cough*China*cough*.
I believe that when manufacturing does return, it will be in the south and 'flyover'* states. My opinion is that a lot of people will leave California and the northeast. (Well, they have been leaving, but the trickle will turn into a torrent.)
Florida will be adversely affected if the tourism industry remains shut down for a prolonged period of time.
*Flyover states are the states in the middle of our country that are hardworking communities that are not sufficiently glamorous, morally depraved, or hedonistic to attract the left or right coasters.
Perhaps bad example. I was trying to think of someone in our US system that ‘should’ be neutral. Back to the drawing board.
Maybe the US system doesn’t have anyone like that.
Where are you located? Are you in the NY or NJ area? I’m not sure if you have heard of the LizzieTheOther website. It’s also a blog and over at that website there is a separate non-royal discussion board looking and awaiting to know about the safety of Jenny. Jenny is a lovely and kind commenter and was fairly active. She’s from Long Island, NY and no one has heard from her. Everyone is very concerned.
I'd say that the Indian fry bread is a thicker, puffier tortilla that is deep fried. https://thestayathomechef.com/authentic-indian-fry-bread/
Tortillas: https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/homemade-tortillas/
Churros are an easy Mexican/Spanish pastry that is similar in that it doesn't use yeast and is deep fried, but does have butter and eggs. https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/churros-recipe3-1943046
They are all easy, quick (well, the naan takes a little longer) and inexpensive to make at home.
I am so deeply sorry for your losses. I pray things will began to improve up there.
All sound delicious!!
CookieShark,
French Bread sounds amazing too! With what will you pair it?
DallasAlice,
We all need some quarantini’s
We all need some quarantini’s
I, uh, may have accidentally bought a bunch of clearance chocolate eggs, milk chocolate, dark chocolate, and sea salted caramel filled. I don't know if that would go with the quarantinis but I am willing to try it.
(The drive through testing isn't the *only* testing site; it is the most convenient for people downtown and no appointment is necessary.)
I hope this link works! NYC mask wearing is mandatory going forward. Found on the DM.
I would guess that travel (cruise and even vacations in general) is down and that’s a big reason. Plus I’ve said it before and will say it again, the people I encounter on my daily walks and as we’ve ventured into grocery stores are being very cautious. I’ve seen many masks, people are very respectful of social distancing which stores have marked out with tape or even security guards at the door limiting people. I would like to say that we are all taking it very seriously down here, but can’t speak for everyone.
I know I am ready to get back to work. Believing you’ll get more done if you have more time....lies. In my case I find myself on the verge of complete entropy.
Although the coronavirus is not a parasite, experts suggest that ivermectin basically treats it like one, blocking the viral RNA — ribonucleic acid — from invading healthy cells and giving the immune system more time to fight off the illness.
The most promising coronavirus breakthroughs so far, from vaccines to treatments
The next step, according to the researchers, is “to determine the correct human dosage — ensuring the doses shown to effectively treat the virus in vitro are safe for humans.”
Shah cautioned that “there are numerous examples of drugs with in vitro activity not proving effective in human studies.”
But he added: “That being said, given there are no proven therapies against COVID-19 to date and we are in the midst of a pandemic, drugs that show promise in early in vitro or observational studies such as ivermectin should be rigorously evaluated to understand safety and effectiveness.”
Another study conducted by researchers at the University of Utah found that “critically ill patients with lung injury requiring mechanical ventilation may benefit from administration of ivermectin,” ABC News reported.
“We noted a lower mortality and reduced health care resource use in those treated with ivermectin,” wrote lead author Dr. Amit Patel.
And at Broward Health Medical Center in Florida, Dr. Jean-Jacques Rajter has already been using ivermectin in addition to hydroxychloroquine, azithromycin and zinc sulfate to treat his COVID-19 patients, according to NBC Miami.
“If we get to these people early, and what I mean by that is if their oxygen requirements are less than 50 percent, I’ve had nearly a 100 percent response rate, they all improve, if they’re on more oxygen than that, then it becomes a little more varied, some people, they don’t respond anymore because they are too far advanced,” Rajter told the outlet.
The doctor is in the process of publishing a scientific paper, but it could take weeks for the findings to be publicized.
“But if I wait, every day that goes by is another day when lots and lots of people get very sick, go to ICU, many of them die and that could theoretically even be preventable and that’s why I thought it was so critically important to get this information out there,” he said.
His wife, Dr. Juliana Cepelowicz-Rajter, also a pulmonologist, said: “More studies need to be conducted. We haven’t had any ill effects from it and it’s readily available, we have some patients who are pretty advanced, not yet intubated, and even those, in 12 hours, they showed a significant improvement.”
On Monday, Rajter received approval from Broward Health to use his protocol in all of their hospitals.
Sounds like they're throwing everything that might work at patients in Broward county to try to save as many as possible. Patients can go from stable to critical in hours. Sadly, once the pneumonia arrives, it progresses so quickly. I'm afraid that too many people that arrive at the hospital get there too late/don't have enough time for the hydroxychloroquine or the ivermectin to work, or the doctors wait until the patients are in critical condition.
I really, really hope this works out and could be a safe, cheap, and effective treatment that can be given at the first sign of symptoms. Disclaimer: The following is for information only from my experience, I'm not advocating for or against it. Ivermectin has been used on people for years. I've used it on livestock for years and I haven't had any bad reactions from the livestock (or heard of any). It is safe during pregnancy (for livestock). I've accidentally had a a dose several times higher than is recommended for my weight (dang cows) and suffered no ill effects.
Mañana is a *very* seductive concept. I'm going beyond mañana into siesta for a week.
An interesting article about how early and widespread testing (even those who had no symptoms) helped to control the spread of the virus in Iceland.
The study yielded other interesting findings as well.
One is that 43% of people who tested positive either had no symptoms, or at least they did not at the time of their testing. This provides further evidence that many carriers of the virus are asymptomatic or presymptomatic.
The bread turned out delicious. I brushed it with salted butter instead of egg white, and it turned out crispy-chewy almost pretzel like. Would have liked to have paired it with something fancy, but we were eating a chicken/black bean/cornmeal dish. Tortilla chips would have been better.
@Anon-Unknown I hope you are okay. I am sending a virtual hug to you right now. Us "hotspots" are going to get through this. Thank you for all the input, kindness, and support. Please know you are in my thoughts constantly and I hope you and everyone you love stays safe, healthy, and happy.
@SwampWoman Let's have at those Quarintinis. I say they go great with lots of chocolate and coconut. Heck, why not have hard liquor because that's keto right?
May everyone here be well and blessed. Please forgive me if I didn't address everyone. You are in my thoughts and have my best wishes always.
Donald Trump claims other countries are COVERING UP deaths as U.S. hits 20 per cent of all global coronavirus fatalities with just four per cent of the population
I have a few questions about this headline:
1. Does this mean that USA has 4 per cent of the entire population of the world? If so, remember that Africa is a HUGE continent with a HUGE population and there are a very small number of COVID-19 deaths recorded because there are a relatively small number of infections. There are also huge swathes of South America where the number of infections is low.
2. Different countries use different criteria to record COVID-19 deaths, so one cannot use such a crude comparison. We can look at how many deaths in the USA in comparison with number of confirmed infections in the USA, but even then, unless we are comparing apples with apples, the information we get will not be useful.
3. China was not truthful about the number of deaths in that country, but they were ruthless in shutting down areas where the infection was running rampant and in literally dragging people out of their residences to be tested and isolated in quarantine.
Everyone has made mistakes in dealing with this pandemic. Blame and sensationalism is not useful, because we are all learning as we deal with it.
It is possible that lifestyle conditions, such as morbid obesity, are a factor in the number of deaths in a wealthy country like the USA but we will not know this until after the pandemic when we get reasonable scientific analysis.
Part of the problem may be the New York City hospitals. New York has the majority of the nation's deaths; word getting back to us from volunteers that went to NYC to help with the surge in the inner city hospitals is that the hospitals are bad. Incredibly bad. Horrifically bad. Underequipped, understaffed, old equipment. An emergency room nurse that 'volunteered' because they had no patients here (whose Momma lives near me) says that her daughter says she's seen rural hospitals that have been closed down that were better equipped than the New York hospitals in the cities.
I'm sure that New York City must have some shiny new hospitals somewhere to treat the politicians and the financially well equipped but it wasn't where the Medicare and Medicaid patients were going.
New Yorkers would probably know where their fright show hospitals are located. That may be the reason so many New Yorkers fled their state. I'm in Florida and when a county near mine announces an abnormally high death rate of nursing home patients that have contracted the disease, I know why.