DC Tom

I am not and have never been a Trump supporter, you mammoth idiot.

You did, when you said that the tests for COVID can be developed the same as the flu. We have an entire industry for producing flu tests and vaccines, and for surveillance of the flu. We don't for coronavirus. You cannot go directly from the lab setting to mass production of a coronavirus test like you can a flu test, because the production infrastructure does not exist for coronavirus, but does for the flu. You cannot scale your lab work to mass production in two weeks. If you develop drugs, you should know that. Testing stages aside, what does it take to take a drug from laboratory samples to mass production?

Yeah, after weeks of people screaming "coronavirus isn't the flu," we'll just pretend it is the flu now, so you can be right. Whatever.

18 and 16 years old. One may last a good while longer - skin cancer, very slow growing. She's had it for years, but the only way to treat it now is with a leg amputation, and I'm not putting an 18 year old cat through that. Kidney failure may get her first. The other has a visceral mast cell tumor. She's in chemo (surprisingly inexpensive), but not doing well on it. I doubt she'll last the year. They're both senior. 16's a pretty good run for a cat. The 18 year old is a Manx, and that's a damned near miraculous run (Manxs are tailless, which is a spinal deformity. They usually don't make it past 10 years, because of spinal issues.)

Aviation Gin. Promised I'd try it, after Ryan Reynolds spoofed the Peloton commercial ('cause it was a really good spoof). And it's actually very good. Was discussing it at work, and someone said "Gin tastes like Christmas." To which I replied "Yes, but Aviation Gin tastes like Christmas when your twelve years old and there's a dirt bike under the tree."

H1N1 isn't a novel virus, and influenza surveillance efforts give a 6-12 month lead time for manufacture, by the same process they make tests for other flu viruses. The novel Coronavirus is a novel virus (pro tip: you can tell, because the microbiologists and epidemiologists call it "novel.") That means no warning, no lead time, and no preexisting industrial infrastructure on which to base test manufacture. But I'm sure I'm somehow wrong, and a million tests for anything and everything under the sun should just appear magically, as you seem to expect. Prius died six months ago. And good riddance.

They have cancer - they only have a few months left.

Everyone in the country has a preexisting medical condition of some kind. I all but expect to die from this bug. To be honest...I'm looking forward to it. I am sick of all this *****.

*****. I'm almost out of gin.

Why? Is the price too low?

We're social distancing, so we have to shout!!!!

For example: you're an idiot.

I was reading about that last night. This is very similar to Katrina, in that the federal government has tried to engage the state and local resources for preparation...but no one was interested because "it won't happen to us." Preparation requires a contextual shift of "it will happen to us." Federal officials tend to have that contextual shift early, because we provide so much support overseas (most CDC officials working this right now were involved directly, overseas, with SARS, MERS, and the 2014 Ebola epidemic.) State and local officials don't have that context - their view is much more parochial. Contrast to Superstorm Sandy, where we'd already had that context shift at state and local levels, from Katrina. And contrary to popular belief, the federal government cannot - does not have the equipment or the authority - to push aside, ignore, or supersede state and local responders. Particularly in matters of public health. It has never, ever, ever worked that way. The most recent example is the 2014 Ebola epidemic - the Americans who caught Ebola and became sick with it were treated with local resources; the epidemiology and public health actions (e.g. quarantine, contact tracing) were performed by state public health resources. The federal government - the CDC - provided advice, training, and laboratory support. Just like they're doing now.

Both of them, asshat. Total bull####. How do you enforce a nationwide lockdown or curfew? State, county, and city law enforcement are going to bother with that? And if they are...why not let the state, county, and local authorities, who know most about what's happening in their own regions, determine the needs themselves? People have gone from being terrified of fascism, to begging for it, in two goddamn weeks.

Wait...you mean they had the epidemiological and public health systems in place because this has happened to them before??????

Bob, if I know anyone with a disease caused by the coronavirus, will pot treat it? ***** off with your stoner bull####.

It shouldn't have. It was obviously happening in China, as a matter of casual contact (as opposed to close or intimate). A realistic appraisal of the administration's actions would be that they dithered for as much as four weeks on a casual assumption that p2p transmission wouldn't occur here. I don't even think that was an explicit assumption, just a matter of context. But it was still a bad assumption. Imagine if it were treatable by toilet paper...

Boomers have a different view of infectious disease than the rest of the country - they're the last ones to grow up with it, before widespread use of antibiotics and vaccinations. Our parents' attitudes like that are understandable, at least. Conversely, millennials and late Gen-Xers are the first generation to grow up with no concept of infectious disease. Their attitudes towards this are understandable as well. They're both stupid, of course.

Fake news. Trudeau not only had the coronavirus, he died from it. The current "Trudeau" is a deep-state clone, by the same people that cloned Ginsburg. Get your ***** together, man.

Important to remember: we've had cases in the US since about six weeks ago. But we've only had person-to-person transmission in the US for about two weeks. Until then, they thought they had it contained, like Ebola or SARS.

Key point, too. Eventually, this infects everyone. The current isolation and quarantine directives will slow, but not stop, it. They're really designed to not overload critical care settings with the dying all at once. All my prudence isn't intended to keep my SIL from getting ill, but to hopefully delay it long enough that treatment or a vaccine is developed to protect her. I'm...honestly not optimistic about that.

You're an idiot. ***** off. Still miss me?

Norwalk virus has been around since 1974. But only NOW you're going apeshit over stupid people going on cruises?

Been three weeks since I stocked up on non-perishables (yes, including toilet paper). Told my wife "No, I'm not panicking. This is prudence, because in about two weeks everyone else is going to panic." Also told my boss last week (Monday) that I would be full-time remote starting last Thursday, because I have a sister-in-law with COPD living with us, who I don't want to risk exposing to COVID. Not panic, prudence - I'm in close contact with a high-risk individual. Also, since last Monday, me, my wife, and my SIL have been taking our temperatures twice daily. Again, prudence, not panic. Also had to go out this morning. Wore bright green nitrile gloves from my workshop...less as a barrier against fomites than to make myself hyper-aware of what surfaces I touched, and what risks I might be encountering. Again, prudence. It's actually a pretty simple set of actions that keep my sister-in-law relatively safe, if you have half a brain. Clearly, most people don't.

Not true. They also want to deploy the military, because something something magic something what, you don't want to, why do you want everyone to die?