Covid-19 miscellany

[bilby]

Went to a a restaurant in LA proper yesterday. They’re a bit more stickler for rules in LA it seems, vaccine check and masks required. Didn’t sit well with me. Hostess asked me to put on a mask, I muttered “oh ffs” under my breath and said I didn’t have one. Well she provided me with one. But oddly they didn’t ask to see proof of vaccine. So I walked the 20 feet to the table sat down, removed the mask and never put it on again. Enjoyed my meal.

Another trip to the supermarket sans mask and nobody said anything. Nice to see at least five other people maskless in the store.

Gosh, you're such a rebel. Your brave and noble fight against tyranny is an inspiration to us all. I bet you have beautiful women throwing themselves at your feet, and strong men breaking down in tears, to witness the sheer manliness of your struggle against impossible odds.

Such a brave and glorious fighter for the rights of we, the unworthy plebeians, for whose freedom you battle so selflessly and at such great risk to your own life and liberty.

How can the world ever hope to repay even a fraction of the debt we owe to you for your glorious stand against evil?

 

[TSwizzle]

I'm sure you are very proud of yourself.

Proud, hmmm not particularly. But I do feel a certain amount of satisfaction for not going along with this charade. It’s over fella.

 

[bilby]

I'm sure you are very proud of yourself.

Proud, hmmm not particularly. But I do feel a certain amount of satisfaction for not going along with this charade. It’s over fella.

So brave.

So smart.

So wonderful.

"It's over fella". How could anyone possibly disagree with such a towering intellect, such powerful and well considered knowledge, such clear and detailed reasoning?

 

[ZiprHead]

It’s over fella.

Did you tell that to the virus?

 

[blastula]

Went to a a restaurant in LA proper yesterday. They’re a bit more stickler for rules in LA it seems, vaccine check and masks required. Didn’t sit well with me. Hostess asked me to put on a mask, I muttered “oh ffs” under my breath and said I didn’t have one. Well she provided me with one. But oddly they didn’t ask to see proof of vaccine. So I walked the 20 feet to the table sat down, removed the mask and never put it on again. Enjoyed my meal.

Another trip to the supermarket sans mask and nobody said anything. Nice to see at least five other people maskless in the store.

Let's go Rosa Parks!

 

[repoman]

In a

Fact Check-COVID-19 boosters do not cause positive HIV tests

Social media users have widely shared a claim that late French virologist Dr Luc Montagnier suggested people who had received a third dose of a COVID-19 vaccine should get tested for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). There is no evidence Montagnier said this, and COVID...

www.reuters.com

Social media users have widely shared a claim that late French virologist Dr Luc Montagnier suggested people who had received a third dose of a COVID-19 vaccine should get tested for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). There is no evidence Montagnier said this, and COVID-19 boosters can not lead to positive HIV tests.

Montagnier, who won a Nobel Prize for his part in discovering HIV, died on Feb 8. 2022, according to reports (here, here) .

Social media users have since shared a quote attributed to Montagnier, but Reuters could not find any evidence the words came from the French scientist. It reads: "For those of you that have taken the third dose, go and take a test for AIDS. The results may surprise you. Then sue your government.” Examples can be seen here and here .

I think there was an Australian covid vaccine that was scrapped because of a risk of a meaningless positive HIV test. Was Dr. Luc confused about this?

This article talks about the use of an HIV protein in the scrapped vaccine:
How did the University of Queensland/CSL vaccine fail due to ‘false positive’ HIV tests? A vaccine expert explains

Both of these are from Reuters:

December 2020
Australia halts local COVID-19 vaccine development due to false HIV positives

Feb 15, 2022
Fact Check-Australia halted the development of a COVID-19 vaccine in December 2020
showing that old article was recycled on social media as if fresh news

The half/quarter/eighth/sixteenth truth aspect of this makes it dangerous.

But on the other side to protect from this, will some people say that no HIV component of any kind was ever a part of any vaccine? It is not a dangerous part of HIV as they say, but people are people and words like "HIV" are spooky incantations for many of them.

 

[TomC]

I think there was an Australian covid vaccine that was scrapped because of a risk of a meaningless positive HIV test. Was Dr. Luc confused about this?

Doesn't "Australian" refer to the place where white people can't quite tell up from down?
Tom

 

[Loren Pechtel]

I'm sure you are very proud of yourself.

Proud, hmmm not particularly. But I do feel a certain amount of satisfaction for not going along with this charade. It’s over fella.

Masks mandates are pretty much over. Covid, not so much.

The mandate has been lifted here--I'd say if anything I see more people wearing respirators, a lot fewer people improperly wearing junk.

 

[lpetrich]

Efficacy of Ivermectin Treatment on Disease Progression Among Adults With Mild to Moderate COVID-19 and Comorbidities: The I-TECH Randomized Clinical Trial | Complementary and Alternative Medicine | JAMA Internal Medicine | JAMA Network

Quick summary:

Question: Does adding ivermectin, an inexpensive and widely available antiparasitic drug, to the standard of care reduce the risk of severe disease in patients with COVID-19 and comorbidities?

Findings: In this open-label randomized clinical trial of high-risk patients with COVID-19 in Malaysia, a 5-day course of oral ivermectin administered during the first week of illness did not reduce the risk of developing severe disease compared with standard of care alone.

Meaning: The study findings do not support the use of ivermectin for patients with COVID-19.

So what works on arthropods and nematodes doesn't work on coronaviruses.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

I think there was an Australian covid vaccine that was scrapped because of a risk of a meaningless positive HIV test. Was Dr. Luc confused about this?

It's not meaningless--it would mean standard HIV tests would not work on anyone who had the vaccine. That's a bad thing. It's tolerated when a vaccine causes a false positive for the disease it's vaccinating against, it's not acceptable when it causes a false positive for something important that it doesn't protect against.

 

[Metaphor]

I think there was an Australian covid vaccine that was scrapped because of a risk of a meaningless positive HIV test. Was Dr. Luc confused about this?

Doesn't "Australian" refer to the place where white people can't quite tell up from down?
Tom

Australians certainly hear a lot of mindless northern hemisphere chauvinism, but it's probably from walking on our hands all the time and the blood rushing to our head and such like.

 

[TomC]

it's probably from walking on our hands all the time and the blood rushing to our head and such like.

Prolly.
But it's adorable when a hardcore Aussie explains it that way.

Hugs.
Tom

ETA ~Wrestle a crocodile for my amusement, OK?
I'm an American.~

 

[Metaphor]

Prolly.
But it's adorable when a hardcore Aussie explains it that way.

The idea that Australians walk on their hands was from a British children's book (Alice though the Looking Glass, I think). Reading this as a young child was very confusing, because I knew we didn't walk on our hands, and I also did not see how doing that would stop us falling off the globe anyway.

 

[Elixir]

Catholics are taught that all people inevitably sin, but we can be forgiven if we repent.

Yeah, that's one of the sickest things about Catholicism. A lot of them spend a lot of time repenting. Others put it off indefinitely, figuring that any time is as good as any other and they might as well save up enough sins to make it worth the effort. So they can simultaneously act without ethical or moral restraint, and still exhibit the kind of pious condescension that only a person convinced that they have the upper hand can put on.
It's like a get out of hell free card that only expires if you die before using it. Drop another buck in the basket... god will still be there tomorrow.

 

[blastula]

COVID-19 Testing

Every home in the U.S. is eligible to order an additional 4 free at-⁠home tests beginning November 20. If you did not order tests this fall, you may place two orders for a total of 8 tests.

www.covidtests.gov

I ordered mine 4 weeks ago and just got them.

 

[ZiprHead]

Thanks for the link, blastula. I just ordered a set.

 

[Hermit]

Doesn't "Australian" refer to the place where white people can't quite tell up from down?

We so can. You are the confused one.

 

[crazyfingers]

Only people on the poles are correctly up or down. Everyone else are various degrees of sideways.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

Prolly.
But it's adorable when a hardcore Aussie explains it that way.

The idea that Australians walk on their hands was from a British children's book (Alice though the Looking Glass, I think). Reading this as a young child was very confusing, because I knew we didn't walk on our hands, and I also did not see how doing that would stop us falling off the globe anyway.

I have never seen it in a context other than as a joke.

Thanks for the link, blastula. I just ordered a set.

Beware with those tests--they can be compromised (false negative) if they're allowed to freeze. Mail distribution was a bad idea!

 

[repoman]

Not taking the obvious implication that it is VIRAL genomic sequencing is either from total scientific ignorance (not a value judgment) or malicious intent (maximum negative value judgment). It was so obviously "viral" that the poster didn't think it needed to be added, in hindsight it would have been better if it was.

The CDC has problems, but bad faith actions to unfairly discredit them make it harder to look at them objectively concerning actual actions and decisions they have made.