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COVID-19

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The shit has finally hit the fan here in Tassie, the 2 local hospitals here have had to close and all their employees have to go into isolation, I hope no one here gets too crook with anything around here as it is a good hours drive to the nearest hospital.
So much for our island isolation...
Our state has now closed everything except essential needs, food and grog and some other stuff I don't need.
 
Finally, a philosopher points out the obvious.

Our Cruel Treatment of Animals Led to the Coronavirus
The conditions that lead to the emergence of new infectious diseases are the same ones that inflict horrific harms on animals.

By David Benatar
Mr. Benatar is a philosopher and author.
April 13, 2020
What should be obvious, but may not be to many, is that none of this should come as a surprise. That there would be another pandemic was entirely predictable, even though the precise timing of its emergence and the shape of its trajectory were not. And there is an important sense in which the pandemic is of our own making as humans...

The coronavirus arose in animals and jumped the species barrier to humans and then spread with human-to-human transmission. This is a common phenomenon. Most — and some believe all — infectious diseases are of this type (zoonotic)... many zoonotic diseases arise because of the ways in which humans treat animals. The “wet” markets of China are a prime example. They are the likely source not only of Covid-19 but also of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and some outbreaks of avian influenza, for example.

Live animals are housed in extremely cramped conditions until they are slaughtered in the market for those who have purchased them. In these conditions, infections are easily transmitted from one animal to another. Because new animals are regularly being brought to market, a disease can be spread through a chain of infection from one animal to others that arrive in the market much later. The proximity to humans, coupled with the flood of blood, excrement and other bodily fluids and parts, all facilitate the infection of humans.

What these and many other examples show is that harming animals can lead to considerable harm to humans. This provides a self-interested reason — in addition to the even stronger moral reasons — for humans to treat animals better. The problem is that even self-interest is an imperfect motivator. For all the puffery in calling ourselves Homo sapiens, the “wise human,” we display remarkably little wisdom, even of a prudential kind.

Some might say that it is insensitive to highlight human responsibility for the current pandemic while we are in the midst of it... Earlier warnings of the dangers of our behavior, offered in less panicked times, went unheeded. Of course, it is entirely possible that even if we are now momentarily awakened, we will soon forget the lessons. There is plenty of precedent for that. However, given the importance of what lies in the balance, it is better to risk a little purported insensitivity than to pass up an opportunity to encourage some positive change. Millions of lives and the avoidance of much suffering are at stake.
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Oh, and by the by....this ^^ is BS. Not even WW II

www.snopes.com

Is This Soldier Carrying a Donkey to Keep It Out of a Minefield?

Caption: "During difficult times the first ones you have to keep under control are the jackasses who don't understand the danger and do as they please."
www.snopes.com www.snopes.com

But its still a good metaphor for the jackasses still ignoring reasonable restrictions on their behavior for the benefit of all.
 
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Baron23 said:
But its still a good metaphor for the jackasses still ignoring reasonable restrictions on their behavior for the benefit of all.
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A dickhead that was in forced isolation in a hotel in Perth was caught on CCTV sneaking out on a number of occasions has been jailed for 4 weeks, 1 week already serbed, 3 to go...fucking 35-year-old yobbo, should have just shot him as he seems brain dead anyway!
 
Cannabis labs join the fight against COVID-19

We’ve already seen all sorts of cannabis businesses join the effort to combat COVID-19, but recently cannabis labs have also joined in to lend their scientific expertise. In Canada, several cannabis labs have answered the call of Health Canada and will assist with COVID-19 testing.

The question now is, to what extent can American labs assist, given that cannabis is still federally illegal in the United States?

Help from a cannabis biodiagnostics company
Facible is an Idaho-based biodiagnostics company who, over the past year, has developed a novel way to test for CBD and THC. They had hoped to roll out a farm-side test sometime soon, so hemp farmers could test for new quality plants, but then COVID-19 hit and threw a wrench into their plans.

Like many cannabis companies, Facible pivoted and developed a COVID-19 test that can yield results in just 5 minutes. Steven Burden, Facible’s CEO, explained their reasons to KTVB7, saying “We’re launching with COVID-19 because the regulations have dropped, they don’t have that year-long FDA approval process.”

Leafly spoke to Facible’s Chief Revenue Officer, Micah Kormylo, who said they should have FDA approval by mid-May.

Cannabis labs join Harvard-led COVID-19 research effort
Michael Wells, a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard studying neuroscience, started endcoronavirus.org, a multidisciplinary database composed of researchers and scientists who have volunteered to fight COVID-19. Wells told the Cannabis Industry Journal: “The cannabis industry relies on specialized laboratories that routinely perform qPCR-based microbial tests,” meaning they could help process some of the backlog.

Jeff Gray, CEO and Co-Founder of SC Laboratories, has already signed up for endocoronavirus.org and was impressed by “the activation and engagement” of the scientific community. “While cannabis labs could accommodate PCR testing, many would need plenty of time to support a potential retrofit of the facility or test area, amendments to testing procedures, revised safe handling protocols, and result-reporting modifications,” said Gray.

But there is a balancing act in deeming cannabis an essential business, which requires labs to perform safety testing, and asking those same labs to help simultaneously process COVID-19 tests. “A sole shift away from cannabis testing becomes a bit of a challenge for cannabis labs and a conflict for patients,” said Gray. “Cannabis is essential for so many people. We want to help but also need to support the industry. It is critical that we protect patients’ access to medical cannabis.”

Gray said that their testing volume has remained consistent, which “bodes well for the financial health of the industry because being shut out of stimulus support means the cannabis businesses are on our own.” Gray continued, saying “if there is a clear path forward and the lab capacity is needed to fill a gap in testing volume, we need to prioritize the greatest good at that moment,” adding they “are ready and eager to join the fight when the path forward is clear.”

One major issue in cannabis labs using their PCR machines is that current FDA regulations may not allow for it. Some, like San Francisco-based investor and activist Yobie Benjamin, are calling on the FDA to grant one.

Until then, cannabis companies will need to look for other creative ways to help out. One lab thinking outside the box is Anresco Laboratories, a cannabis and food testing lab, which has begun to produce their own hand sanitizer for use at the lab, and they are even willing to deliver to people who need it.
 
A local farmer with huge greenhouses that supply flowers Aussie wide to florists but has no demand at this time has delivered a bunch of flowers to every house in my town, my wife was well impressed, best junk mail ever!
 
Heyo, heyo, still alive. Things took a turn for the worse, and I got to have a nice nurse jam swabs up my nose and yup, still COVID-19. It got rough and I still have a good case of pneumonia going on, but I'm back home recovering and stable.
Social distancing seems to be flattening the curve in Northern California. It's been odd being sick with this going on. I'm not seeing the empty shelves, standing in lines, picking up food. It oddly feels like I'm missing what's going on, even as I'm some sort if Petri dish for the virus.
Some stores are now letting First Responders, doctor's and nurses, go to the front of lines so they can get in and out quick. Madri-Guy had to grab lunch, and the manager comped his food. A tire went flat, and the shop owner patched it rather than try to sell him new tires. It's nice when people get how hard it is to see people so sick, not have a cure, or enough equipment, and see these people die. Especially knowing they might have been saved with proper supplies.
Let's hope there is immunity. I want to get well and volunteer. Maybe some good could come of this.
I miss VA, and am resting. Just didn't want to be too far away as we come up on 420.
Stay well. Wash hands.
 
good to hear from @Madri-Gal .. i had been wondering about you. how long has this been for you now? at least a couple weeks i think? i do hope you feel better soon.
i woke with a sore throat today, and while i do not see how i could have caught .. anything really, i found myself googling for possible explanations first thing. but i always google something first thing in the morning, it is part of my coffee ritual. i feel fine. i am washing my hands. i am not worried (about my own health that is, at this point). i worry a bit about people running out of worry though, the mood is noticeably changing. a weird mix of worry and genuine exhaustion from it. and i am not even talking about the legitimate economical concerns that of course need consideration too. it just doesnt work to be in a state of alarm indefinitely. if we all learned how to behave appropriately in these past weeks, ok. because we all need to act appropriately for a good while to come. but even in my own circle of friends - all of whom i consider capable whatever that means - i can witness caution breaking down in favor of getting a breather of normality. the weather has been gorgeous too.
 
Madri-Gal said:
Heyo, heyo, still alive. Things took a turn for the worse, and I got to have a nice nurse jam swabs up my nose and yup, still COVID-19. It got rough and I still have a good case of pneumonia going on, but I'm back home recovering and stable...
It's been odd being sick with this going on. I'm not seeing the empty shelves, standing in lines, picking up food. It oddly feels like I'm missing what's going on, even as I'm some sort if Petri dish for the virus...
Let's hope there is immunity...
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Here's to your swift and full recovery! :cheers:

It's likely you'll have some immunity once you've recovered from a full-blown infection. Your immune system succeeded and should be able to mount a swift and effective response to subsequent infections.

Who Is Immune to the Coronavirus?
Important decisions about this question are being made, as they must be, based on only glimmers of data.

By Marc Lipsitch
Mr. Lipsitch is an epidemiologist and infectious disease specialist.
April 13, 2020

After being infected with SARS-CoV-2, most individuals will have an immune response, some better than others. That response, it may be assumed, will offer some protection over the medium term — at least a year — and then its effectiveness might decline...

A recent peer-reviewed study led by a team from Erasmus University, in the Netherlands, published data from 12 patients showing that they had developed antibodies after infection with SARS-CoV-2. Several of my colleagues and students and I have statistically analyzed thousands of seasonal coronavirus cases in the United States and used a mathematical model to infer that immunity over a year or so is likely for the two seasonal coronaviruses most closely related to SARS-CoV-2 — an indication perhaps of how immunity to SARS-CoV-2 itself might also behave...

South Korea’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently reported that 91 patients who had been infected with SARS-CoV-2 and then tested negative for the virus later tested positive again. If some of these cases were indeed reinfections, they would cast doubt on the strength of the immunity the patients had developed. An alternative possibility, which many scientists think is more likely, is that these patients had a false negative test in the middle of an ongoing infection, or that the infection had temporarily subsided and then re-emerged...

Based on the volunteer experiments with seasonal coronaviruses and the antibody-persistence studies for SARS and MERS, one might expect a strong immune response to SARS-CoV-2 to protect completely against reinfection and a weaker one to protect against severe infection and so still slow the virus’s spread...
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On the hope for a vaccine.

The Coronavirus Is Mutating. What Does That Mean for a Vaccine?
By Nathaniel Lash and Tala Schlossberg
April 16, 2020

Like all viruses, SARS-CoV-2 is mutating as it passes from person to person. A “mutation” is just a change in a virus’s genetic code. Most mutations don’t really change how the virus functions...

Vaccines work by prompting the body to develop antibodies, which neutralize the virus by binding to it in a very specific way. Scientists are watching to see if mutations will affect this interaction. If they don't, then there is hope that a vaccine won't need constant updating...

If the virus mutates in a way that prevents antibodies from binding, it could make a lasting, universal vaccine difficult to create...

Antibodies, which the body produces in response to a vaccine or an infection, work by binding to specific spots on a virus called antigens. If random viral mutations alter the shape of an antigen, it can make a vaccine less effective against the virus... If that happens with the coronavirus, researchers will have to rush to produce and administer new vaccines as novel strains of the virus naturally arise.

For a brand-new virus like SARS-CoV-2, there is no widespread immunity. This virus is encountering few immune hosts who could halt its spread. Since the virus doesn’t need to change to survive, mutations that could modify the shape of the antigens — if they exist at all — are likely rare, and will stay rare. But if people become immune to the dominant strain, either by fighting off the virus or through vaccination, the game changes. Versions of the virus with mutations that get around the population’s immunity are more likely to spread, and can then develop into new strains.

Among the thousands of samples of the long strand of RNA that makes up the coronavirus, 11 mutations have become fairly common. But as far as we know, it’s the same virus infecting people all over the world, meaning that only one “strain” of the virus exists... Only one of those common mutations affects the “spike protein,” which enables the virus to infect cells in the throat and lungs. Efforts to produce antibodies that block the spike protein are central to many efforts to develop a vaccine. Since the spike protein has changed little so far, some scientists believe that’s a sign that it can’t alter itself very much and remain infectious...
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Only leave the house once each week and feel oddly relieved now that's become normal. It's been a remarkably cool Spring. Little traffic, cleaner air. What's left of the songbird population enthusiastically welcomes our absence.
 
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Madri-Gal said:
Heyo, heyo, still alive. Things took a turn for the worse, and I got to have a nice nurse jam swabs up my nose and yup, still COVID-19. It got rough and I still have a good case of pneumonia going on, but I'm back home recovering and stable.
Social distancing seems to be flattening the curve in Northern California. It's been odd being sick with this going on. I'm not seeing the empty shelves, standing in lines, picking up food. It oddly feels like I'm missing what's going on, even as I'm some sort if Petri dish for the virus.
Some stores are now letting First Responders, doctor's and nurses, go to the front of lines so they can get in and out quick. Madri-Guy had to grab lunch, and the manager comped his food. A tire went flat, and the shop owner patched it rather than try to sell him new tires. It's nice when people get how hard it is to see people so sick, not have a cure, or enough equipment, and see these people die. Especially knowing they might have been saved with proper supplies.
Let's hope there is immunity. I want to get well and volunteer. Maybe some good could come of this.
I miss VA, and am resting. Just didn't want to be too far away as we come up on 420.
Stay well. Wash hands.
Click to expand...
Be safe & stay safe!
My wife say’s thing’s that’s blow me away?
The youngest 21 is still at home.
I make too much noise?
Want to move away however my wife like’s where we are?
Lemon HAZE is messing with my mind?
I want some GSC or GDP 2-B CIVILIZED and OXFORDized!

Sorry out in space somewhere like the movie “DUNE” however Please know you are special!
She call’s me name’s however I deserve them!
 
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The Aussie government is developing an app that they want everyone to download so they can 'track us all and get ahead of the pandemic' WTF..sounds like a Commy idea to me, I would throw my phone away before downloading that!
 
LesPlenty said:
The Aussie government is developing an app that they want everyone to download so they can 'track us all and get ahead of the pandemic' WTF..sounds like a Commy idea to me, I would throw my phone away before downloading that!
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:twocents: That is wrong on so many levels and completely circumvent-able. So it defeats the entire purpose of protecting us. Plus providing a false sense of security for those who choose to run that app. Can't even get an old school glass thermometer ATM, much less one that is tied to my phone via bluetooth. Thats if I voluntarily wanted to put my medical state on the cloud. Israel had an app like this early on. Wonder how much effect it really had since then.

Tech isn't solution to COVID-19, says Singapore director of contact tracing app

Just with my current everyday phone use alone, I turn off the GPS and Data connection all the time to save power. And since my smart phone isn't smart enough to run any more apps. Well guess that means my phone has gone rouge.

Once there is enough in production, Every business could invest in a forehead thermometer. And perhaps have more testing options. For employees that are more prone to getting sick and spread more. Retail, restaurant, nursing homes, etc. whom you might want to test say weekly until we have a vaccine or several therapies on hand.
 
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