Covid-19 miscellany

[blastula]

Desantis scolds kids to take off their masks during a photo op.



I thought it was all about FREEEEEDOM. If it is, then shut the fuck up and say nothing to them. If Desantis talked to my kid like that, I'd be helping his teeth achieve freedom from his stupid fat cunty mouth.

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Another student yelled at by Desantis to take mask off speaks up with a more interesting story to tell. A staffer for Desantis called him over and told him to either take his mask off or stay off camera if he kept it on. His grandfather’s immune system is compromised.

It's not just the freedom slogan that's empty, but the "parental rights" one too.

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"I would tell (the governor) to stop bullying kids." Kevin Brown says Gov. DeSantis had no right to tell his son and the other high school students to take off their masks. His son decided to keep his mask on during the press conference at USF. https://wfla.com/news/politics/this-is-ridiculous-desantis-scolds-students-for-wearing-face-masks-during-his-usf-visit/…
@WFLA

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"I took mine off." "Did you feel pressure by the governor to do that?" "A little." This @HillsboroughSch senior's mom says she's very upset and it was "shocking" for Gov. DeSantis to ask her son & the other high school students to take off their masks.

 

[Don2 (Don1 Revised)]

Interesting article:

Scientists have now found the coronavirus in 29 kinds of animals, a list that has been steadily growing almost since the start of the pandemic and includes cats, dogs, ferrets, hamsters, tigers, mice, otters, and hippos.

Wow, Chyynna has been busy.

 

[Toni]

Any society that does not see youth as more important is fucked up.

Why? What have young people ever done to be considered so important?

They have potential; Older people have actuality.

If young people are so important, how come we all aspire to grow older?

I want to love in a society that values me more over time, for the experience and knowledge I have acquired; Not one that values me less and less, for no particular reason.

Sadly I think too much of the west has adopted your POV: the young are not as important as the older people are.

If being old were so great, why do so many of us pine for our youth, and pine to be thought more youthful?

But of course, that has nothing to do with anything. The biological purpose of reaching adulthood is to be able to reproduce. The biological purpose of living after one has reproduced is to stick around and help offspring reach maturity and reproduce. Now that people are living longer, the purpose of living past the age when offspring have reached maturity is to help them raise their offspring.

Of course, our entire reason for existence is not merely fulfilling our biological imperatives.

 

[Elixir]

If being old were so great, why do so many of us pine for our youth, and pine to be thought more youthful?

It’s not so much that it’s great to be old ( it sucks), rather it’s great for a society to have old people.

Now that we have the internet it’s not so important any more, but primitive societies like in the 20th century tended to venerate older people, thinking they might know stuff.

 

[Toni]

If being old were so great, why do so many of us pine for our youth, and pine to be thought more youthful?

It’s not so much that it’s great to be old ( it sucks), rather it’s great for a society to have old people.

Now that we have the internet it’s not so important any more, but primitive societies like in the 20th century tended to venerate older people, thinking they might know stuff.

Right now, society has a lot more old people still kicking than at any previous time in history.

Meanwhile birthrates keep falling.

This does not bode well for the generations succeeding us.

As for getting/being old sucking: As my dad used to say, 'It sure beats the alternatives.'

 

[Elixir]

If being old were so great, why do so many of us pine for our youth, and pine to be thought more youthful?

It’s not so much that it’s great to be old ( it sucks), rather it’s great for a society to have old people.

Now that we have the internet it’s not so important any more, but primitive societies like in the 20th century tended to venerate older people, thinking they might know stuff.

Right now, society has a lot more old people still kicking than at any previous time in history.

Meanwhile birthrates keep falling.

This does not bode well for the generations succeeding us.

As for getting/being old sucking: As my dad used to say, 'It sure beats the alternatives.'

I think it’s great if birth rates plummet and average life expectancy goes up. Maybe some day a human life will be worth something by universal agreement, when the global population falls to about a quarter of what it is now.

 

[Toni]

If being old were so great, why do so many of us pine for our youth, and pine to be thought more youthful?

It’s not so much that it’s great to be old ( it sucks), rather it’s great for a society to have old people.

Now that we have the internet it’s not so important any more, but primitive societies like in the 20th century tended to venerate older people, thinking they might know stuff.

Right now, society has a lot more old people still kicking than at any previous time in history.

Meanwhile birthrates keep falling.

This does not bode well for the generations succeeding us.

As for getting/being old sucking: As my dad used to say, 'It sure beats the alternatives.'

I think it’s great if birth rates plummet and average life expectancy goes up. Maybe some day a human life will be worth something by universal agreement, when the global population falls to about a quarter of what it is now.

I really disagree. With all of the assumptions.

For instance now, birth rates are plummeting. We do not seem to value children any more for that.

 

[lpetrich]

Interesting article:

Scientists have now found the coronavirus in 29 kinds of animals, a list that has been steadily growing almost since the start of the pandemic and includes cats, dogs, ferrets, hamsters, tigers, mice, otters, and hippos.

Wow, Chyynna has been busy.

Titled link: COVID found in 29 kinds of animals, including deer

I've found Animals and COVID-19 | CDC

Understanding the prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) exposure in companion, captive, wild, and farmed animals - PubMed

I looked at the range of species that have members that are known to get the disease, and they are all in Boreoeutheria, one of the three subtaxa of the placental mammals. The other two are Xenarthra (armadillos, sloths, South American anteaters) and Afrotheria (a motley collection that includes elephants and manatees).

There is a curious gap in the species with known infections: domestic ungulates (hoofed animals). Bovines, water buffalo, sheep, goats, pigs, camels, llamas, horses, donkeys, ... I couldn't find anything on COVID-19 in cows, for instance, even though a wild ungulate, the whitetailed deer, is known to get it. A family tree of the artiodactyls, the even-toed ungulates:

• Tylopoda - Camelidae: camels, llamas
• Artiofabula
  • Suina: pigs
  • Cetruminantia
    • Hippopotamus
    • Cetacea: dolphins, porpoises, whales
    • Ruminantia
      • Bovidae: (Bovinae) bovine, water buffalo, (Caprinae) sheep, goat
      • Cervidae: deer (one species known to be infected)
      • Giraffidae: giraffe

There is a domestic ungulate that is the source of a similar disease. MERS is known to be spread from camels: High Prevalence of MERS-CoV Infection in Camel Workers in Saudi Arabia | mBio

Another oddity is the lack of reports of COVID-19 in raccoons, despite being closely related to coatis, which are known to get the diease.

 

[lpetrich]

I found
Susceptibility of ferrets, cats, dogs, and other domesticated animals to SARS-coronavirus 2 - PubMed - "We found that SARS-CoV-2 replicates poorly in dogs, pigs, chickens, and ducks, but ferrets and cats are permissive to infection. Additionally, cats are susceptible to airborne transmission."

So cats are susceptible while dogs are not. Weird. This suggests that susceptibility to COVID-19 may be very patchy.

 

[lpetrich]

The last common ancestor of Boreoeutheria was a primitive mammal. It would have looked much like a rat but with fangs instead of big first incisors. Like some small opossum. It lived in the mid-Cretaceous, during the later years of the (non-avian) dinosaurs.

My earlier-mentioned link mentioned tests on chickens and ducks, and those are, of course, birds. The common bird-mammal ancestor was an early reptile, using "reptile" in the informal sense of an anmiote that is not a bird or a mammal. It lived some 310 million years ago, late in the Carboniferous. That was a time of huge forests whose remains survive as coal, thus the name. The trees did not decompose much because that was before the evolution of efficient wood digestion by termites and certain fungi. Termites are descended from cockroaches that liked to eat wood.

Nevertheless, some flu viruses have jumped across that gap - Bird flu - NHS - so COVID-19 might do so as well.

 

[IIDB Staff]

THREAD SPLIT:

Posts about the origins of SARS CoV-2 have been split to their own thread

Origins of SARS CoV-2 - split from: Covid-19 miscellany

The probability that the pandemic originated in a lab (whether by the virus being engineered in a lab, or else by the virus being collected from the wild but scaping from a lab) is higher than 0.5, on the basis of the evidence I've seen Show your math. I don't have any math to show, but I did...

iidb.org

If we missed any posts that need to be moved, either report the post and request a move, or use the Private Feedback forum to provide a list if there are a bunch.

 

[lpetrich]

Understanding the prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) exposure in companion, captive, wild, and farmed animals

I'll update my artiodactyl phylogeny with evidence of wild boars having the virus.

• Tylopoda - Camelidae: camel (has MERS), llama
• Artiofabula
  • Suina: pig
  • Cetruminantia
    • Hippopotamus
    • Cetacea
    • Ruminantia
      • Bovidae: (Bovinae) bovine, water buffalo, (Caprinae) sheep, goat
      • Cervidae: white-tail deer
      • Giraffe

 

[lpetrich]

Among Carnivora, I find:

• Caniformia
  • Canoidea: Canidae: domestic dog, jackal, fox
  • Arctoidea
    • Mustelida
      • Mustelidae: ferret, mink, otter
      • Procyonidae: raccoon, coatimundi
      • Mephitidae: skunk
    • Ursida: Ursidae: bears
    • Pinnipedia: seals etc.
• Feliformia
  • Feloidea: Felidae:
    • Felinae: domestic cat, fisher cat, Canadian lynx
    • Pantherinae: snow leopard, tiger, lion
  • Viverroidea
    • Viverridae: binturong
    • Hyena

 

[blastula]

Hong Kong bet on zero-Covid. Now it's facing a 'preventable disaster' | CNN

Morgues are nearly at capacity, hospitals overwhelmed and, as fears grow of a citywide lockdown, panicked shoppers have stripped supermarket shelves bare.

www.cnn.com

Hong Kong is getting hammered by ba2, the big problem is their elderly have very low vaccination rates. Appears they were too complacent because of their success.




Thailand and NZ are experiencing spikes too.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Interesting article:

Scientists have now found the coronavirus in 29 kinds of animals, a list that has been steadily growing almost since the start of the pandemic and includes cats, dogs, ferrets, hamsters, tigers, mice, otters, and hippos.

Wow, Chyynna has been busy.

Titled link: COVID found in 29 kinds of animals, including deer

I've found Animals and COVID-19 | CDC

Understanding the prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) exposure in companion, captive, wild, and farmed animals - PubMed

I looked at the range of species that have members that are known to get the disease, and they are all in Boreoeutheria, one of the three subtaxa of the placental mammals. The other two are Xenarthra (armadillos, sloths, South American anteaters) and Afrotheria (a motley collection that includes elephants and manatees).

There is a curious gap in the species with known infections: domestic ungulates (hoofed animals). Bovines, water buffalo, sheep, goats, pigs, camels, llamas, horses, donkeys, ... I couldn't find anything on COVID-19 in cows, for instance, even though a wild ungulate, the whitetailed deer, is known to get it. A family tree of the artiodactyls, the even-toed ungulates:

• Tylopoda - Camelidae: camels, llamas
• Artiofabula
  • Suina: pigs
  • Cetruminantia
    • Hippopotamus
    • Cetacea: dolphins, porpoises, whales
    • Ruminantia
      • Bovidae: (Bovinae) bovine, water buffalo, (Caprinae) sheep, goat
      • Cervidae: deer (one species known to be infected)
      • Giraffidae: giraffe

There is a domestic ungulate that is the source of a similar disease. MERS is known to be spread from camels: High Prevalence of MERS-CoV Infection in Camel Workers in Saudi Arabia | mBio

Another oddity is the lack of reports of COVID-19 in raccoons, despite being closely related to coatis, which are known to get the diease.

Shouldn't Hippos and Whales be Cetancodonta, where they split off from Ruminantia under Centruminantia?

• Artiofabula
  • Pigs
  • Centruminantia
    • Ruminantia
      • Giraffes
      • Bovine
      • NASCAR viewers
    • Cetancodonta
      • Whales
      • Hippos
      • Fat Unicorns

 

[Elixir]

birth rates are plummeting. We do not seem to value children any more for that.

Population is still rising.
When population starts dropping, the value of human life will begin rising.

 

[ZiprHead]

Fla. surgeon general claims masks didn't save lives during the pandemic

Florida’s surgeon general, Dr. Joseph Ladapo, made claims Thursday that masks didn’t save lives during the COVID-19 pandemic and criticized doctors who recommended or mandated wearing masks.

www.abcactionnews.com

PANAMA CITY, Fla. — Florida’s surgeon general, Dr. Joseph Ladapo, made claims Thursday that masks didn’t save lives during the COVID-19 pandemic and criticized doctors who recommended or mandated wearing masks.

Dr. Ladapo was speaking during a campaign-style event in Panama City with Governor Ron DeSantis and others when he made his claims.

“What did the two randomized clinical trials that we’ve done during the pandemic, what did they show? Ask them that when they tell you that these things save lives,” Ladapo said. “One found nothing, zero benefit. The other found a small benefit, like a tiny benefit that’s a little bit methodologically shaky. And by the way, none of them found a benefit in young people. Not a single one found a benefit in young people. That’s the highest-quality evidence, that’s what it showed.”

Ladapo went on to criticize the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for using what he called lower quality studies for its data. He then inferred doctors and other researchers who found the usefulness of masks must have “been taken over by zombies or something.”

His claim that studies have found no benefit from masks have been proven wrong in repeated studies including ones by:

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the U.S.A.
Stanford University and Yale University
University of Cincinnati/Cincinnati Children's Hospital
British Medical Journal
University of Central Florida

 

[Loren Pechtel]

Deniers, enjoy your body falling apart:

Note that this is just cardiovascular stuff, not all the things the "harmless" virus can do to you.

 

[Jarhyn]

Deniers, enjoy your body falling apart:

Note that this is just cardiovascular stuff, not all the things the "harmless" virus can do to you.

Holy. Fucking. Shit.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Deniers, enjoy your body falling apart:


Note that this is just cardiovascular stuff, not all the things the "harmless" virus can do to you.

Source? Also, wow on the aFib!