COVID-19 ongoing thread part 2

[Ralin]

I mean, that's a moderately responsible position to take compared to many of his peers.

[Zaune]

I fully acknowledge that Reagan was a piece of shit and part of the long decline of the Republicans toward a fascist party.

But at the same time is it even possible for you to respond to anything Trump or the Trumpers do without implicitly or explicitly saying "But they're no different from any earlier administration", and thereby normalizing them?

Your first time being treated as a drain on resources to be discarded and/or too far from the commonly-accepted definition of "normal" to really count as people in the eyes of authority figures, is it?

[The Romulan Republic]

I fully acknowledge that Reagan was a piece of shit and part of the long decline of the Republicans toward a fascist party.

But at the same time is it even possible for you to respond to anything Trump or the Trumpers do without implicitly or explicitly saying "But they're no different from any earlier administration", and thereby normalizing them?

Your first time being treated as a drain on resources to be discarded and/or too far from the commonly-accepted definition of "normal" to really count as people in the eyes of authority figures, is it?

I'm not one of the targeted groups here personally, so your implication that I only care now because I'm personally affected is as false as it is offensive.

[Crossroads Inc.]

Well holy sheeeeeeet
Good ol boy Herman Cain kicks the bucket from COVID

https://www.npr.org/2020/07/30/89715891 ... m-covid-19

Martinez Monsivais/AP
Former Republican presidential candidate and pizza magnate Herman Cain has died from the coronavirus.

Cain, 74, had been hospitalized since early July after he began having trouble breathing.

"Herman Cain – our boss, our friend, like a father to so many of us – has passed away," aides announced on Cain's website Thursday.

Employees of Cain said they do not know where he contracted the coronavirus. He attended President Trump's rally in Tulsa, Okla., in late June and was photographed in the arena without a mask.

Cain was a prominent Trump supporter. He was the co-chair of the Trump campaign's outreach initiative for Black voters.

Trump supported Cain to serve on the Federal Reserve Board last year, but Cain withdrew from consideration a few weeks later.

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said in a tweet that Cain "embodied the American Dream and represented the very best of the American spirit. ... We will never forget his legacy of grace, patriotism, and faith," she said.

[Zaune]

I'm not one of the targeted groups here personally, so your implication that I only care now because I'm personally affected is as false as it is offensive.

I'm sorry, I didn't mean it that way. But my point was that you've missed the boat on preventing the normalisation of this sort of thing. It's how a truly depressing percentage of the population of the United States -hell, of the whole world- have been treated their whole bloody lives. And not just by right-wing governments, or governments at all for that matter.

[Elfdart]

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/07/2 ... rus-386076

Louie Gohmert, who refused to wear a mask, tests positive for coronavirus
The Texas Republican received the diagnosis during a pre-screening procedure at the White House on Wednesday morning.

Totally did not see this one coming.

I thought Louie Gohmert couldn't possibly humiliate himself more than he did during the Barr hearings, when he claimed BLM protesters were Bolsheviks. His source? Holocaust "revisionist" David Horowitz!

Now he claims the Corona-19 he caught has because he was wearing a mask. Of course, he also claims that all those goats and donkeys got STDs because he was wearing a condom.

[mr friendly guy]

I thought Louie Gohmert couldn't possibly humiliate himself more than he did during the Barr hearings, when he claimed BLM protesters were Bolsheviks. His source? Holocaust "revisionist" David Horowitz!

Now he claims the Corona-19 he caught has because he was wearing a mask. Of course, he also claims that all those goats and donkeys got STDs because he was wearing a condom.

Damn it Elfdart. I nearly spat at my tea to stop myself laughing after reading your statement. Which would have been unfortunate since I am work in front of a computer.

[The Romulan Republic]

I'm not one of the targeted groups here personally, so your implication that I only care now because I'm personally affected is as false as it is offensive.

I'm sorry, I didn't mean it that way. But my point was that you've missed the boat on preventing the normalisation of this sort of thing. It's how a truly depressing percentage of the population of the United States -hell, of the whole world- have been treated their whole bloody lives. And not just by right-wing governments, or governments at all for that matter.

I mean, yes and no. Its true that the groundwork for what Trump is doing goes back before Trump, of course-the decline of the Republican Party specifically can be traced to Nixon and the Southern Strategy, and arguably all the way back to the corrupt bargain of the 1876 election and the withdrawl from Reconstruction, and white supremacy in America literally predates America, and in fact has been stronger at certain points in the past than it is today (though Trump is working hard to turn the clock back).

But, at the same time, Trump has crossed certain lines that even the most vile of his predecessors did not, which to my mind makes him uniquely dangerous. He has repeatedly and somewhat effectively attacked the core institutions and principles which, for all their flaws and hypocrisies, still acted as a check on even the worst President, keeping them from going full Dictator For Life. The only precedent I can think of for so thoroughly challenging the limits of the American system of government is... the Civil War, and its immediate run-up and aftermath.

So, we need to find a way to both acknowledge that Trump is a product of a long process and that his crimes have precedents in the behaviors of other leaders, but at the same time recognize that he is something new in American politics, a new permutation of an old evil maybe, but still a more dangerous mutation, and not diminish or normalize that.

Put it this way... Trump is like a familiar disease which has suddenly mutated to become more contagious and lethal.

[Zaune]

So, we need to find a way to both acknowledge that Trump is a product of a long process and that his crimes have precedents in the behaviors of other leaders, but at the same time recognize that he is something new in American politics, a new permutation of an old evil maybe, but still a more dangerous mutation, and not diminish or normalize that.

Put it this way... Trump is like a familiar disease which has suddenly mutated to become more contagious and lethal.

That's a pretty good summary, actually. Difficult to condense into something that would fit on a sign or within the character limit of a tweet, but then again reducing everything to the level of a soundbite is probably a major factor in how we all got in this mess in the first place.

Also, on further reflection it does occur to me that my... desensitisation, for lack of a better word, might be more about my life-experiences being worse than average rather than yours being better as such.

[The Romulan Republic]

So, we need to find a way to both acknowledge that Trump is a product of a long process and that his crimes have precedents in the behaviors of other leaders, but at the same time recognize that he is something new in American politics, a new permutation of an old evil maybe, but still a more dangerous mutation, and not diminish or normalize that.

Put it this way... Trump is like a familiar disease which has suddenly mutated to become more contagious and lethal.

That's a pretty good summary, actually. Difficult to condense into something that would fit on a sign or within the character limit of a tweet, but then again reducing everything to the level of a soundbite is probably a major factor in how we all got in this mess in the first place.

Also, on further reflection it does occur to me that my... desensitisation, for lack of a better word, might be more about my life-experiences being worse than average rather than yours being better as such.

Probably a bit of both, to be honest.

But I think that analogy works fairly well, yeah.

[Elfdart]

I thought Louie Gohmert couldn't possibly humiliate himself more than he did during the Barr hearings, when he claimed BLM protesters were Bolsheviks. His source? Holocaust "revisionist" David Horowitz!

Now he claims the Corona-19 he caught has because he was wearing a mask. Of course, he also claims that all those goats and donkeys got STDs because he was wearing a condom.

Damn it Elfdart. I nearly spat at my tea to stop myself laughing after reading your statement. Which would have been unfortunate since I am work in front of a computer.

Well, I think it might be somewhat off-color to suggest Gohmert was barebacking the livestock.

[mr friendly guy]

Just saw the headline for the local newspaper at the newsagent.
96% of Western Australians back a hard border.

This is in the context of how WA has managed to keep coronavirus numbers down, our cases/capita is only second to the NT. Our jobs losses as a percentage is also less than the other states and territories. While nearby SA and NT also has good case numbers, Victoria and NSW are being hit, particularly Victoria. Victoria shares a border with SA and the South Australian authorities have already caught numerous people from Victoria trying to sneak across the borders. With this in mind, lots of Western Australians are reluctant to reopen so soon. The fears are, we might have to go back to lockdown measures again after instituting staged easing of the lockdown.

That of course hasn't stopped rich guy and fat piece of shit Clive Palmer from suing to open the borders. All this so he can go to WA to have business meetings, because, Zoom or Skype isn't a thing for him or something. The court base is backed by the Federal government, although its just moral support and not financial. This has just turned me off further from the PM. The PM agrees borders should be closed to Victoria, so its not like he doesn't believe in closing borders.

The argument from Palmer's lawyers include
a. COVID kills less people than Hep B, and we don't lock the borders for that. Hep B takes decades to kill someone, whereas COVID can take days. Hep B is blood borne so less contagious than COVID. And we have a vaccine for Hep B, we don't have one for COVID.

b. The states which aren't Victoria aren't so bad, so we don't need to close borders to them. The funny thing is, Scott Morrison would not apply this standard in his decisions. If the same logic was applied, someone can likewise argue we should have the borders closed to every Chinese province except... Tibet, which has only one case ever (so far) and zero fatalities. Which have better numbers than any Australian state or territory.
--------------------------

The funny thing is, Clive Palmer has political aspirations and an entire party. I think his reputation in WA is going to take a hit after this.. if the voters remember.

[bilateralrope]

Well holy sheeeeeeet
Good ol boy Herman Cain kicks the bucket from COVID

I think this is the first person whose name I recognize to die from it. Or were there others I missed ?

[mr friendly guy]

Well holy sheeeeeeet
Good ol boy Herman Cain kicks the bucket from COVID

I think this is the first person whose name I recognize to die from it. Or were there others I missed ?

Most likely the first one you recognise.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_d ... o_COVID-19

Had a quick look, people listed might be known in their field of academia etc, but most of those don't ring a specific bell for me aside from Herman Cain.

[The Romulan Republic]

Since Cain likely got it attending Trump's thinly-veiled Nazi rally at Tulsa, my sympathy is very limited. This seems rather karmic, to be honest.

[ray245]

Since Cain likely got it attending Trump's thinly-veiled Nazi rally at Tulsa, my sympathy is very limited. This seems rather karmic, to be honest.

It is possible other attendees might have passed away as well from getting COVID at the rally. But his death has prompted even some of the most ardent Trump supporters to start posting about the need to wear masks.

So the narrative on mask-wearing is changing even amongst the Trump fans.

[PainRack]

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asia/covid-19-vietnam-reports-first-death-virus-emerge-danang-12979308



Vietnam brilliant streak comes to a close sigh their first death. Vietnam has been undergoing hits by imported cases and their microbubble quarantine may not be able to repeated if more cases emerge, given the costs of the virus on the world economy

[ray245]

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asia/covid-19-vietnam-reports-first-death-virus-emerge-danang-12979308



Vietnam brilliant streak comes to a close sigh their first death. Vietnam has been undergoing hits by imported cases and their microbubble quarantine may not be able to repeated if more cases emerge, given the costs of the virus on the world economy

Did Vietnam open up travel to tourists?

[madd0ct0r]

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asia/covid-19-vietnam-reports-first-death-virus-emerge-danang-12979308



Vietnam brilliant streak comes to a close sigh their first death. Vietnam has been undergoing hits by imported cases and their microbubble quarantine may not be able to repeated if more cases emerge, given the costs of the virus on the world economy

Did Vietnam open up travel to tourists?

The outbreak is in da nang, my father in law's home city (he went through the first wave in UK, a d now is dissspointingly blasé about the first wave in Vietnam)..

The outbreak is still being traced. The typical attitude is to blame the Chinese (a few were found to have snuck to Da Nang to wait it out in a villa). Some western immigrants getting shit too. Da Nang has a lot of tourism, and Internal tourism was being promoted to keep industry ticking over, so outbreak could reflect it from anywhere.
The gov has also being doing lots of rescue flights - such as 200 ill dambuilders from guinea.

It's loose in the hospital, with 3 dead so far. It's loose in the community for now. The family behind my relatives house have been moved to quarantine as they hosted a party a known case attended. Hopefully they can keep on top of it, but building the field hospital has started.

[mr friendly guy]

Meanwhile in Australia after supporting Clive Palmer in trying to force WA to open its borders, the PM has backed down.

https://www.skynews.com.au/details/_6177348887001

PM withdraws support in Clive Palmer’s court fight to open WA border
02/08/2020|1min
The Prime Minister has reportedly withdrawn support for Clive Palmer's high court challenge of the West Australian government’s hard border.

The Queensland mining magnate wants the border re-opened and Scott Morrison's government initially supported the case.

The Sunday Times now reports the Prime Minister has written to Premier Mark McGowan to confirm he's backed down.

Hopefully they will be a big swing against the Coalition in WA.

[madd0ct0r]

Vietnamese contact tracing is hilarious.
The gov already knows your mobile and home location - it's used for fire flood and storm warnings already.

Currently locals are getting texts like "three days ago Covid risk Mr Nguyen had coffee in cafe rex and noodles at the stand outside 186."


So it's like the south Korea model but with more fuck anonymous. It does seem to be helping the tracking in detail (my wife is very envious of how people were eating out 3-4 times a day). It does seem to reassure people that tracking is happening.

It does not seem to encourage people to stay at home or the truly old to shield. I think they might be in same denial as I was when I was joking about the impossibility of closing the pubs in UK. The scale is enormous. 70000 Hanoi ans holidaying in da Nang have gone North

[mr friendly guy]

If it wasn't bad enough that ICE was spreading covid, now its the US spreading it via their military personnel.

https://www.dw.com/en/japan-okinawa-dec ... a-54400818

Japan: Okinawa declares COVID-19 emergency after US base outbreaks
Okinawa has seen a record daily spike in infections in addition to the island's total cases, the majority of which have been traced to US troops based there. The surge has increased tensions among locals and US forces.

Japan's Okinawa prefecture has declared a state of emergency following a spike in coronavirus infections connected to an outbreak among US forces based in the region.

Okinawa Governor Denny Tamaki on Friday announced that Japan's southernmost prefecture, compromising of dozens of islands, will be placed under a state of emergency between August 1 and 15.

"We're seeing an explosive spread of infections. We declare a state of emergency" Tamaki told reporters, adding that he was "shocked" by the high numbers. Tamaki said hospitals in the region were being overwhelmed by the "explosive spread" of COVID-19 cases.

<snip the rest, click on the link to read further>

[mr friendly guy]

Just found out, that Victoria has declared a state of emergency.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-08-02/ ... e/12515914

Melbourne placed under stage 4 coronavirus lockdown, stage 3 for rest of Victoria as state of disaster declared
Posted 4hhours ago, updated 1hhour ago

Sweeping new restrictions, including a night-time curfew, will be imposed across Melbourne under stage four restrictions from tonight and regional Victoria will move to stage three restrictions from Thursday.

Premier Daniel Andrews said 671 new coronavirus cases had been detected since yesterday, with 6,322 infections now active in the state.

Seven people have died from coronavirus in Victoria in the last 24 hours, taking the state's death toll to 123. Six of the seven cases are linked to aged care outbreaks.

There are now 385 people in Victorian hospitals, 38 of whom are in intensive care.

The state's aged care outbreak has now grown to 1,083 active cases.

The Premier said there was an "unacceptably high" number of community transmission cases, and the state had 760 active COVID-19 infections where the source of the transmission was not known.

"Those mysteries, that community transmission, is in many respects our biggest challenge and the reason why we need to move to a different set of rules," he said.

From 6:00pm tonight, a state of disaster will be declared across Victoria, which will act in addition to the state of emergency.

Further restrictions targeting workplaces will be announced tomorrow.

For the latest news on the COVID-19 pandemic read our coronavirus live blog.
Residents of Metropolitan Melbourne and the Mitchell Shire are almost halfway through what was meant to be a six-week lockdown under stage three stay-at-home orders.

Mr Andrews said the current strategy undertaken by the Government so far had avoided "thousands of thousands" of cases from overwhelming hospitals, but it was "not working fast enough".

He said after much detailed analysis, the state's health experts told him the current strategy would not see the state reach a point where it could reopen until the end of the year.

"Therefore we have to do more and we have to do more right now," he said.

<snip the rest>

Shite. Can't reopen until the end of the year. More reason why WA needs to keep the borders closed. We have easing of lockdown measures. What needs to be done is border closures with Victoria, with medical staff from elsewhere sent to Victoria if their health system is overwhelmed. Like how China did when they locked down Hubei province.

[Elfdart]

If it wasn't bad enough that ICE was spreading covid, now its the US spreading it via their military personnel.

https://www.dw.com/en/japan-okinawa-dec ... a-54400818

Japan: Okinawa declares COVID-19 emergency after US base outbreaks
Okinawa has seen a record daily spike in infections in addition to the island's total cases, the majority of which have been traced to US troops based there. The surge has increased tensions among locals and US forces.

Japan's Okinawa prefecture has declared a state of emergency following a spike in coronavirus infections connected to an outbreak among US forces based in the region.

Okinawa Governor Denny Tamaki on Friday announced that Japan's southernmost prefecture, compromising of dozens of islands, will be placed under a state of emergency between August 1 and 15.

"We're seeing an explosive spread of infections. We declare a state of emergency" Tamaki told reporters, adding that he was "shocked" by the high numbers. Tamaki said hospitals in the region were being overwhelmed by the "explosive spread" of COVID-19 cases.

<snip the rest, click on the link to read further>

I'm only surprised this didn't happen sooner -especially after Il Douchebag dismissed that Navy captain.

[bilateralrope]

Gabe Newell is riding the pandemic out in New Zealand. How he got in:

Appearing on TVNZ1's Breakfast this morning, Mr Newell said he had just finished shipping a new game - likely to be VR title Half-Life: Alyx - and was visiting New Zealand with a group of friends when Covid-19 hit the world, so he decided to stay and work remotely.

He just happened to be down here and decided to stay.

Shite. Can't reopen until the end of the year. More reason why WA needs to keep the borders closed. We have easing of lockdown measures. What needs to be done is border closures with Victoria, with medical staff from elsewhere sent to Victoria if their health system is overwhelmed. Like how China did when they locked down Hubei province.

That sounds like the lockdown is going to last longer than necessary. Though announcing a long lockdown, then shortening it once it works would get less complaints/noncompliance than announcing a shorter lockdown then having to lengthen it.