Wuhan Coronavirus: Megathread - Got too big

[X Prime]

https://academic.oup.com/aje/advance-article/doi/10.1093/aje/kwaa093/5847586

I thought Yale New Haven said HCQ was ineffective 9 days ago and the left-wing news sites jumped all over it, now this? Which is it?

 

[Rudy Russo]

Outside China

5,719,310 confirmed / 355,153 dead / 2,336,589 recovered

5611049 / 351050 / 2270721 yesterday

USA

1,721,479 confirmed / 101,573 dead / 399,991 recovered JohnHopkins
1,723,449 confirmed / 101,758 dead / 498725 recovered Infection2020

1699933 / 100442 / 391508 yesterday JohnHopkins
1704207 / 100109 / 490130 yesterday Infection2020

Spain

237,906 confirmed / 27,119 dead / 150,376 recovered

236259 / 27117 / 150376 two days ago

Italy

231,732 confirmed / 33,142 dead / 150604 recovered

231139 / 33072 / 147101 yesterday

France

186,346 confirmed / 28,665 dead / 67,309 recovered

183038 / 28599 / 66702 yesterday

Germany

182,196 confirmed / 8,470 dead / 163,360 recovered

181524 / 8428 / 162820 yesterday

 

[Saint Skittles]

Never thought I'd see this, the Sheriff in my boonie little corner of California just told the County Health Officer to get fucked. (Archive)

 

[Kiwi Lime Pie]

The NFL is trying to figure out ways to have games with only a limited number of fans in attendance. Don't think that will work. NFL could be in deep shit. Whatever. NFG.

I forget which thread it was on, but I had mentioned before that partial capacity at sporting events simply won't fly because those that pay exorbitant amounts for season tickets will not like being told they can only attend 1/4 of the games, and casual fans would be irate if season ticket holders got to attend all games while everyone else had to fight for what would be an extremely limited number seats left over. All or none seems to be the only viable options for attendance at bigtime sporting events.

That said, between players injecting themselves into politics and dragging the NFL along with it and then doubling down on it disenfranchised a lot of football fans from the big leagues. Focus was well on the way of shifting to college leagues and small potato local sports. I'm thinkin that sentiment will only get stronger as lockdown eases further.

You largely ninja'd what I was going to say. The NFL has been suffering an image issue the past couple of seasons and the overall quality of play (apart form the top teams) has been average to mediocre at best. NGL, the rebooted XFL seemed more exciting than the NFL this year until COVID-19 led to it's unexpected, untimely demise.

Perhaps the bigger issue is that the average person who is making less, or no, money right now perceives players and owners disagreeing over multi-million dollar contracts and how to share additional millions of revenue to be a first world problem when they're trying to figure out how to keep current on their bills and feed themselves. None of the major pro sports can afford to lose any significant amount of their fan base, especially those sports that end up playing only a partial schedule.

 

[JosephStalin]

Never thought I'd see this, the Sheriff in my boonie little corner of California just told the County Health Officer to get fucked. (Archive)

My county's sheriff would never do such a thing. He's pretty useless. Have no idea what he does or is doing except making the process of getting a concealed weapons carry permit as difficult as possible.

 

[Stoneheart]

number of infected in germany is below 10k. open up everything but the borders NOW! i wanna see football live again...

 

[ToroidalBoat]

I don't keep up with news because it's all a circus now, but how long until this coronapanic finally ends? It can seem endless...

 

[nya001]

https://academic.oup.com/aje/advance-article/doi/10.1093/aje/kwaa093/5847586

I thought Yale New Haven said HCQ was ineffective 9 days ago and the left-wing news sites jumped all over it, now this? Which is it?

the WHO says don't use those drugs, governments say don't use those drugs. This guy says use them. In the still unpublished paper (available as a pdf), he wrote:

"Conflict of Interest: Dr. Risch acknowledges past advisory consulting work with two of the more than 50 manufacturers of hydroxychloroquine, azithromycin and doxycycline. This past work was not related to any of these three medications and was completed more than two years ago. He has no ongoing, planned or projected relationships with any of these companies, nor any other potential conflicts-of-interest to disclose. "

I would add "wink wink, nudge nudge"

Sure, you worked with two, you won't name them (generally people do, they have no problem naming the companies. Sure, those two companies might not have anything to do with you, but others might. Naughty naughty.

 

[gangweedfan]

This is from Vaush’s twitter btw

View attachment 1319216

god I hate these memes

is there a dedicated covid-19 cringe thread? or is this it?

EDIT: also I am on the hunt for pictures and artwork of masked people glaring in anger at some guy not wearing a mask (best if at a grocery store) for my personal cringe folder so please post them if you have any.

 

[EmuWarsVeteran]

Small news roundup. So, we started pretty heavy. Yesterday's circus was more than the usual and got heated. And the civil guard fight is getting worse because it seems the minister wasn't lying when he said the reason for the firing was a restructuring due to the fact that those cunts had some really fucking corrupt bullshit going on since the dictatorship due to priviledges obtained under franco. And he is keeping on with the restructuring, and the corrupt upper charges are far from thrilled, and by that I mean they are throwing fake evidence trying to get the goverment officials investigating and restructuring them jailed. Which seems to be why they attacked the gov with the 8M bullshit. So... yeah that's gonna be serious. Also the stocks of pretty much almost everyone have started in the deep red today, not just spain, just fucking everything's coming down.

But today the left has at least apologized for their part of the clownshow, and called for dialogue, which was the right move that's for sure. The judge had put a stop to the 8M bullshit by stating outright that Fernando Simon won't be prosecuted and showing that she knows damned well the Guardia Civil's bullshit is far from the truth, and the stocks are slowly perking up and at this point we even see some greens (not in spain but at least spanish stocks aren't as shit as they could be, seems at this pace we're gonna close with only relatively minor damage along the lines of what we gained yesterday or slightly lower), and I am sure the right wing will make its circus but for now the situation has calmed quite a bit.

Also, UBI just got approved, at it seems sensible enough, starting at half what minimum sallary gives you with a lower limit for large families at around minimum salaries and having proper legislation bureaucratically. They're still trying to implement the universal social security card which would've been the best to come from this (it basically cuts a fuckton of bureaucracy and is an efficient anti-fraud measure) abd the autobomies have yet to see what aid they'll cut during its incorporation (part of the point was to stop the lunacy of some autonomic aid programs) so hoping that comes out later but for today that's decent enough news. Here's to hoping this doesn't end too badly.

 

[Otterly]

My original post:

Find the original scientific paper linking HIV to AIDS. PRO TIP: it doesn't exist

Can I ask what you think that proves? Which original paper? Why is it’s absence bad? Has it been removed or are you saying it never existed? I’m confused as to why the absence of one paper would be a gotcha and why one paper going missing negates the rest of the body of work?

Sorry for being dim. I feel like I’m missing something. People infected with HIV follow a predictable route where the outcome is death, with AIDS following infection taking about a decade - via a specific set of processes that result in their immune system being fucked, death of CD4+ cells blah blah.

There’s a massive body of work on this - why is one paper not being there a smoking gun? Genuine question.

 

[Underestimated Nutria]

Can I ask what you think that proves? Which original paper? Why is it’s absence bad? Has it been removed or are you saying it never existed? I’m confused as to why the absence of one paper would be a gotcha and why one paper going missing negates the rest of the body of work?

Sorry for being dim. I feel like I’m missing something. People infected with HIV follow a predictable route where the outcome is death, with AIDS following infection taking about a decade - via a specific set of processes that result in their immune system being fucked, death of CD4+ cells blah blah.

There’s a massive body of work on this - why is one paper not being there a smoking gun? Genuine question.

Suspect he's referring to Duesberg's idea of HIV supposedly failing to meet Koch's postulates.

 

[EmuWarsVeteran]

On the good news. Spain gov passes new antifraud legislation (independent of the social card) which makes a lotta shit more public and a lotta shit more simple. Progress! Sadly I didn't notice on time for my prior message because the news are on FULL TDS mode about the fucking protests. But that's gonna help a lot and will keep public funds on tighter check too by scrutinizing the possible intermediaries. So I'm super happy.

On bad news. The plummet in the stocks is real. OOOOf. At least we're still en route to close the month with substantial recovery compared to where the starting hammering left us, but ouch anyway.

 

[Dog-O-Tron 5000v5.0]

LOL NY is a shitshow. Half the state was supposed to open for Phase 2 today inc offices, public retail, and haircuts. Gov reversed course last night after some regional heads wanted to wait another 2 weeks.

Businesses and some local politicians are freaking out and saying they will open anyway. Today's press conference will be the hottest thing outside Minneapolis.

 

[Silence of the Troons]

The trust for the Swedish government and the National Health Agency goes bust by 11% respectively 8%. http://archive.md/K6qd9

Confidence in government plunges: "A new signal"

Confidence in the government backs over ten percentage points, according to a new survey from Sifo.
Support for the Public Health Authority has also decreased.
"This is a significant decline for both government and government," says Toivo Sjörén, Sifo's opinion chief.

Since the beginning of the corona pandemic, the Sifo publications company has published weekly measurements of the Swedes' confidence in government, responsible authorities and healthcare.
Early in the crisis, the population joined up with both the government and the Public Health Authority. The support for the government, which has previously been around 30 per cent, doubled. At the same time, as many as 80 percent had confidence in the expert authority with state epidemiologist Anders Tegnell at the forefront.
Now Sifo is seeing a clear decline for the first time.
- There has been an exceptional rise in confidence in the government during the corona crisis. Now comes a sign that this first phase is over, where one joins the leaders. This is a new signal - something is about to happen. There is also a tendency for the authorities not to have the same confidence as before, says Sifo's opinion manager Toivo Sjörén.
Support for government backs
In the survey, which was carried out between May 21 and May 27, support for the government falls from 59 percent to 48 percent - a drop of eleven percentage points.
For a long time there was a kind of bourgeois peace in Swedish politics, but Toivo Sjörén believes that the debate that has arisen about the elderly care, high death rates, tests and Sweden's strategy has affected.
- Confidence in corona management is no longer unreserved, but there are nuances, he says.

Confidence in Public Health authorities is also reversed in the new survey. The support for the authority lands at 70 percent, compared to last week's 78 percent. The National Board of Health's confidence figures are also decreasing, from 47 percent to 40 percent. Like the Swedish Agency for Social Protection and Preparedness, MSB, which collected 53 percent compared to last week's 58 percent.
In total, Sifo's documentation comprises 7,065 interviews, where 100 interviews are conducted daily. The material from May 21-27 is based on 700 interviews.
- This is a significant decline for both government and government, says Toivo Sjörén.

But, but, the 99% herd immunity will be here any day soon, we promise!

"In a few days, Sweden will probably have the best and most accurate corona statistics in the world" – Anders Tegnell (April 5th) http://archive.md/Bgfmb

More dead in covid-19 than the statistics show

The number of deaths in covid-19 in Sweden is probably higher than the 4,220 that have now been registered. To date, there are another 1,000 deaths that are not included in the statistics but constitute so-called excess mortality.

- Some of the 1,000 will be derived from covid-19. But we do not know how much higher the number will be, says AnnaSara Carnahan, epidemiologist at the Public Health Authority.

The statistics that the Public Health Agency reports at its press conferences are how many people have died in confirmed covid-19. On Thursday, the figure was 4,220. But there may be significantly more people who have died as a result of covid-19.

According to statistics from the National Health Authority from the latest weekly report, which runs from March 23 to May 3, there has been a death toll of 4,046 cases, which is to be compared with the fact that during the same period the authority received 3,039 deaths which could certainly be linked to covid 19 through laboratory tests.

Mortality is the number of more people who have died compared to an expected normal value for the season, which is based on data on the deaths over the past five years. Spring and autumn weeks are usually used here, which are usually flu-free and have a normal temperature, during the last five years. The difference then becomes 1,007 deceased, which is thus not counted in the Public Health Authority's statistics on deceased confirmed cases.

- During that period, we captured 75 percent of all cases, but now we are up over 90 percent in recent weeks. It probably reflects that the sampling has increased, for example, on special housing. But not everyone will be caught in the statistics because not everyone is being tested and all infections are not known by the health service, says AnnaSara Carnahan, epidemiologist at the Public Health Authority.

Is it reasonable to believe that most of these 1,000 deaths were caused by covid-19?

- The mortality during the period is likely to reflect the covid pandemic, but we will not know for sure until afterwards what caused the deaths. It is reasonable to believe that they are covid-related, but whether there are people who have died directly in covid-19 or who had the infection but died of other causes we do not know.

- Other effects of the pandemic on causes of death will also be visible only afterwards.

AnnaSara Carnahan says there will always be a dark night. Even during regular flu seasons, people die from a flu infection without knowing the cause.

- Some of the 1,000 will be derived from covid-19. But we do not know how many there are, says AnnaSara Carnahan.

- Most countries have some kind of dark figure in their statistics.

Speaking of a certain epidemiologist, or rather the ex-state epidemiologist who is rumored to have made sure the current one got his job: Johan Giesecke, who's been portrayed as an independent expert all along, serves as an (expensive) advisor for the National Health Agency, something which neither of them or Swedish media have been honest about up until now. http://archive.md/wip/dCdJo

Johan Giesecke's contract with the Public Health Authority - can work for half a time during 2020

Former state epidemiologist Johan Giesecke has had a major influence in the debate on Sweden's corona management. His formal role on the Public Health Authority, on the other hand, has been unclear.
In a document that this blog has taken note of, his mission is clarified: Working with analysis for up to 800 hours, in 2020.

Johan Giesecke has a solid track record. After resigning as Sweden's state epidemiologist in 2005, he was head of research at the European Infection Protection Unit and after retirement he has been an advisor to the WHO. In recent months, he has become especially known to an international audience as the face of Sweden's corona strategy. In South American media he has taped the magazines' digital leaflets and gained tremendous dissemination in social media. In English-speaking media, he has had at least as much impact, perhaps most notably in the youtube clip that Lockdown TV has published, with over a million views.

In Sweden, too, he has been given considerable room in the debate. He calls current state epidemiologist Tegnell one of his "boys" and has been seen in the corridors of the Public Health Authority. "Consultant" has been his title, but the extent unknown. Until now.

In a document that this blog has reviewed - whose legitimacy has been confirmed by the Public Health Authority - Johan Giesecke has been contracted by the authority for up to 800 hours. The contract was signed last March, but is valid from March 23 this year, when the epidemic broke out in Sweden. On the same day, Giesecke published a debate article in Svenska Dagbladet with the headline: "Researchers should stay within their fields".

The contract states that the authority needs a "senior expert" due to "high workload". The expert will "assist in modeling different outbreak scenarios". Furthermore, the person should have "good knowledge of epidemiology and the spread of infection, as well as various measures that can be implemented in a pandemic and its effects on health care".

The assignment is then formulated specifically:

For the assignment, Johan Giesecke is paid SEK 1,250 per hour, excluding VAT. If all 800 hours are utilized during the year, Giesecke can bill exactly SEK 1 million, excluding VAT, to the Public Health Authority. A fairly modest sum, says Sven Söderberg, president of the Association of Private Physicians.

- A doctor who writes a certificate for the Social Insurance Office can invoice SEK 2,200 excluding VAT for a certificate. A general practitioner can bill between SEK 1,600-2,400 per hour, although in the latter case staff, rent, material costs should be included.

Would you even be able to say that the level of fees is a little lower?
- No, but it's not loud. Most consultants have at least this level, says Sven Söderberg.

In March, Johan Giesecke invoiced 50 working hours for eight days. In April he invoiced 157 hours, but that invoice has not been approved.

 

[Simpadoo]

The trust for the Swedish government and the National Health Agency goes bust by 11% respectively 8%. http://archive.md/K6qd9
But, but, the 99% herd immunity will be here any day soon, we promise!

"In a few days, Sweden will probably have the best and most accurate corona statistics in the world" – Anders Tegnell (April 5th) http://archive.md/Bgfmb
Speaking of a certain epidemiologist, or rather the ex-state epidemiologist who is rumored to have made sure the current one got his job: Johan Giesecke, who's been portrayed as an independent expert all along, serves as an (expensive) advisor for the National Health Agency, something which neither of them or Swedish media have been honest about up until now. http://archive.md/wip/dCdJo

I saw an interview of him. Some of his arguments are good but I did notice he was a believer of the Climate Change Tooth Fairy. Kinda says he’s not really a scientist but more of a grifter. Too bad, the logic is sound for the Rona.

 

[Otterly]

Suspect he's referring to Duesberg's idea of HIV supposedly failing to meet Koch's postulates.

What an exceptional individual. Cases Untreated needlestick/lab accidents and contaminated blood causing CD4 wipeout and pneumocystis are living examples. Meh, cant argue with these people though, they’re operating on faith not evidence. I wonder if they’d accept a unit of HIV infected blood?

my facebook is full of people shrieking about lockdown being loosened too soon. I am sick to the back teeth of it all.

 

[Silence of the Troons]

Löfven thinks that the Swedish population is too stupid to understand the government's testing strategy: http://archive.md/cgais

The quarrel about the tests escalates - Löfven strikes back
Already at the end of March, the government promised greatly increased testing for covid-19 in Sweden, and in April the target was also cited. By mid-May, Sweden would do 100,000 tests a week, the message said.
But still, only about a third of it is reached.
For the government and Prime Minister Stefan Löfven, the question of the tests has become increasingly troublesome. The fact that Sweden fails to test more has also spilled over into an increasing questioning of the entire Swedish corona strategy.
One reason why the tests do not increase is that the government and regions interpret the Public Health Authority's testing strategy differently and have for several weeks discussed who should be responsible for the different groups.
On Thursday, the discussions gained further nourishment after Stefan Löfven was interviewed on Swedish Radio.
"The regions now say that they intend to test all four categories," Stefan Löfven said.
Löfven pressed for the tests
This prompted Sweden's municipalities and regions, SKR, to send out a press release and dismiss the information. The responsibility for all groups in the population is not correct, according to the regions.
“With regard to Group 4, SKR and the regions have not been asked. If it were to be asked, it is of course something that must be discussed and then the purpose and financial conditions would have to be clarified, ”wrote Emma Spak, Head of Section for Healthcare.
At the party leader meeting in the government district on Friday, the prime minister was pressed about the tests. Afterwards, several party leaders were dissatisfied with the message.
- It was rather increased uncertainty. New uncertainty is created almost every day. I think it's a shame because we really want the same thing, have extensive sampling. The government must set foot on exactly who bears responsibility for exactly what. It's very unclear right now, said Ulf Kristersson (M).
Jonas Sjöstedt (V) was also critical.
- We were not told how to arrange the testing. The most frustrating thing is that after eleven weeks, the government and the regions do not even have a common picture of who should do what, he said after the meeting.
Åkesson: "Government must take command"
The same was heard from the Christian Democrats' Ebba Busch.
- The government still cannot explain why the regions do not deliver a higher level of tests. This just has to be solved, she said.
"The government must take command," said Jimmie Åkesson (SD).
At Friday's press conference with the prime minister, several media outlets, including the Expressen, tried to get answers from Löfven about who is actually responsible for testing the public.
"We have no reason to have a discussion, should they be tested or should they be tested and who should stand for it," said Löfven.
- We have been very clear: We allocate resources for testing. We have a responsibility together with the people of our country.
Löfven: Strange discussion for the people
Löfven pointed out that the government has invested considerable resources in expanding the test capacity, but that it cannot be borne by the regions responsibility. At the same time, he meant that the whole discussion becomes incomprehensible to the public.
- Let's not argue about any category 3 or 4, people do not understand what it is. We will test as many as possible. The strategy with the different categories was a way to increase test capacity, then we start with patients and then we go up and so on. But there is no dispute that this group should not be tested and so on. No, we want to do the best possible for the population and then we have a shared responsibility, Löfven said.
What is really the responsibility of the different groups?
- When the strategy was developed, it was based on four steps, on four categories. None of them are excluded. Everyone is a resident somewhere. You are a citizen and live in a healthcare region. Thus, the region is responsible for health care and care. How to deal with this, it must be taken step by step.
How can this still be unclear?
- I think it is important now that those who need to be tested must do so and of course at the pace that the regions can handle. But now the regions themselves say they want to do it, says Löfven.
- I think it will be a strange discussion for the population. Is it that group or that group? We will do our best to test as many people as possible and it is up to us and it is up to the regions.
On Friday, Social Minister Lena Hallengren (S) also said that the discussion about who is responsible for the tests must come to an end.
- It would be good if we could end up with this type of discussion, which I do not think anyone appreciates and which hardly favors the question of testing. Since it is a socially dangerous virus, the health care cannot be completely disconnected, but they may gladly take the help of other actors. We have assisted not only financially, but also with 100,000 lab analyzes, so it is very good if we can get out of this so the testing can get started, said Lena Hallengren.

http://archive.is/idj4N

The government agency wanted to avoid a "difficult debate" about masks - as shown in the deleted e-mail

The Swedish Work Environment agency has repeatedly denied that it would have backed down on pressure on the masks at the Serafen retirement home. In an internal email, however, the changed position of the agency is defended - with the aim of avoiding "a difficult debate". The e-mail was later deleted. Now critics want to see the Director General fired.
SVT has previously revealed how the Swedish Work Environment agency has adapted to pressure from municipalities 'employers' organization SKR, by backing from a strict requirement for both visor and oral protection in all patient-related work. Instead, SKR has, with the support of the Public Health agency recommendations, wanted the issue of oral protection to be decided before each individual task.

In various contexts, the authority's management has denied that they should have backed down. But in an internal email that SVT took note of, the chief lawyer Anna Varg describes how to release the harsh requirement to "align with the Public Health agency if possible" and to "not get a situation where different authorities are opposed to one another, society's message is perceived as contradictory and we have a difficult debate to deal with ”.

"Public Health Agency is not God"
The handling elicits strong reactions. Anna Rask-Andersen, senior professor at Occupational and Environmental Medicine in Uppsala and former safety representative, believes that the Swedish Work Environment Authority's Director General Erna Zelmin-Ekenhem should be fired.

- The Public Health Agency is not God, they are not experts in the working environment. The safety representatives must be able to trust that the Swedish Work Environment Authority cannot be affected.

The e-mail was later deleted. The agency's press service writes to SVT that “We strive to continuously clear away anything that is overplayed and should not be kept diarrhea. The emails you have requested fall into that category and therefore we have not saved them. "

The Swedish Work Environment Agency's management has repeatedly declined a TV interview with SVT about the process around Serafen. Anna Varg now states in a written comment that the e-mail in question was sent in an internal dialogue on how to argue when the Serafen case would come up in administrative law. “Of course, it is important to us that our requirements do not conflict with the recommendations of the Public Health Agency. The aim was to be clear in a situation that is new and challenging for many in society, in order to avoid misunderstandings. "

 

[EmuWarsVeteran]

Academic news today!

1-Spanish researchers prove that certain antiinflamatory medicine inhibit an enzime necessary for coronavirus replication.

https://www.20minutos.es/noticia/4274952/0/investigadores-espanoles-identifica-dos-farmacos-impiden-replicacion-coronavirus/

Now, we all knew certain antiinflamatories worked but now they proved why they do and what they are inhibiting which allows for the creation of more direct antimicrobians. Ladies and gentlemen, we gor her!

2-study proves that an undersea volcano actually contains more volume than the one previously believed to be the largest. Taking into account how the year is going I expect it to erupt by june.

https://www.20minutos.es/noticia/4275310/0/descubren-volcan-mas-grande-tierra/

 

[Simpadoo]

What an exceptional individual. Cases Untreated needlestick/lab accidents and contaminated blood causing CD4 wipeout and pneumocystis are living examples. Meh, cant argue with these people though, they’re operating on faith not evidence. I wonder if they’d accept a unit of HIV infected blood?

my facebook is full of people shrieking about lockdown being loosened too soon. I am sick to the back teeth of it all.

These word filters are awesome, aren’t they?