Coronavirus, Covid 19 Discussion and How It Has Affected Your Daily Life Chat Thread

[heatherbeast]

Because everyone has the means and supplies to actually stay home for two weeks? And no, it would not have worked.

That's the complete point. Most (60%!) of Americans are living paycheck-to-paycheck, they HAD to go in to put food in their bellies and keep the roof over their heads.

 

[heatherbeast]

How is it possible to know who's body will overreact to the virus.

It is currently NOT known. The best use of genetic tests like 23 and Me would be to identify people who have a tendency to develop cytokine storms in response to respiratory diseases like CoVID and flu by looking for certain genetic markers, right? But no, this private company just sells its data to insurance companies so they can jack up deductibles and rates on people who fall in to more vulnerable categories.

 

[heatherbeast]

Like, how do you even DEAL with headlines saying "Throw the test out"? No, just the 3rd tube that also looks for other respiratory disease like flu because it was wonky? That was gravy. That was icing on the cake, that was a nice thing that folks in Respiratory Diseases came up with to help clinicians rule out other respiratory crud. But no, the ENTIRE THING IS WRONG according to the media. Eff em!

 

[heatherbeast]

FWIW I am also super-mad about the disruptions and delays to diagnostic care that @Hayden Goseek brought up. I had an Army Ranger buddy die from lymphoma last year that probably could have benefitted from earlier detection. I have a single-mom friend who is up the creek with a pituitary tumor wreaking havoc on her temperature and hormone regulation. Another friend with first stage colon cancer that had to wait. They all had to wait in that hell-hole year of 2020, with 2021 not being better. 2022 isn't much better, with wait times for endoscope procedures averaging 4+ months.

All of this was due to not knowing how badly people would react to CoVID. Anyone in ARDS (acute respiratory distress) was another bed claimed with a ventilator or BPAP. I had a couple of friends who had pretty bad cases that were sent home to do positioning breathing exercises to get through it because of how badly the hospitals were taxed.

Army Ranger's widow is a close friend of mine, and I can't even visit her because I am getting some kind of different respiratory crud every week from the kid being unmasked in school. She's immune-compromised, and nearly died in May from a previously undiagnosed peritoneal abscess. I am well-aware of how badly messed-up our healthcare system is. I urge all of you to consider the ROOT cause. I know that over-emphasis on CoVID care has created difficulties, but we are mad at the wrong people. Profit should never come into decisions on who receives what care.

 

[heatherbeast]

And yes, @Hayden Goseek , good science is NEVER 'settled'.

I understand that people are perturbed at the fluidity of the great work. "I was wrong, here's a better answer" feels like a betrayal to some people. But we must always, always, question and improve. That is the very basis of "quality control" and progress. Once you know better, do better.

 

[heatherbeast]

I still need to do a "MASKS! Huah! What are they good for?!" post. AFK for paid work now. FWIW I get paid fairly well to go "No, you suck" to asshole smarty-pants doctors that think they're god's gift to the world.

(Which makes the political meddling so upsetting to me. We are paid well for the use of our brains and not to be influenced by regulatory capture like FDA and EPA. It bothers me a LOT, reminds me of the silencing during the 80's AIDS epidemic. )

 

[Hayden Goseek]

It is currently NOT known. The best use of genetic tests like 23 and Me would be to identify people who have a tendency to develop cytokine storms by looking for certain genetic markers, right? But no, this private company just sells its data to insurance companies so they can jack up deductibles and rates on people who fall in to more vulnerable categories.

And if your a "conspiracy theorist" like me, I think they're all processed in Red China.

 

[Hayden Goseek]

That's the complete point. Most (60%!) of Americans are living paycheck-to-paycheck, they HAD to go in to put food in their bellies and keep the roof over their heads.

And people had to keep the water, electricity, water, etc running. Transportation, police, fire, Hospitals, grocery stores had to run.
Imagine for a minute the riots in the street if the internet had gone out.

 

[heatherbeast]

And if your a "conspiracy theorist" like me, I think they're all processed in Red China.

I mean, labor is cheap there. Don't hate on the Reds, tho, they gave us some really sweet firearms. Modern-day China is really capitalist, in spite of the communism veneer.

 

[heatherbeast]

And people had to keep the water, electricity, water, etc running. Transportation, police, fire, Hospitals, grocery stores had to run.
Imagine for a minute the riots in the street if the internet had gone out.

Well, I admit I am trying to figure out of 'riots' is a dog whistle for 'protests against killing black people'. I have easy access to downtown ATL and I was involved with a lot of actions against police overreach while on leave.