Day of Chaos 2: a.Covid-19 thread.

[shaolin_monkey]

Independent SAGE warns of thousands more deaths unless government changes COVID19 policy from England's  'drift' tactic to Scotland's 'elimination' tactic, in open letter.

https://twitter.com/independentsage/status/1284036144192249856?s=21

[Funt Solo]

BBC video article on an upsurge in conspiracy theory cultism during the pandemic: QAnon, coronavirus and the conspiracy cult

It's so sad because, like a lot of pure belief systems, there's no way to logically discuss it with a believer. They believe almost anything except reason. And isn't that weird?

The interviewer asks a Qanon believer "Is there a conspiracy theory that you don't believe?" His response: "No, I don't think there is."

[Professor Bear]

People always seek rational explanations for irrational situations - and when they don't find it, that's why we have religion.

[TordelBack]

Well this has ruined my day. Hannah Davis describes her 4 month non-recovery from C19, with a suggestion that 1/3 of survivors are in the same boat. Having just last night let my kids out to play with their friends for the first time since the beginning of March I'm feeling like a right moron.

My brother and his wife,  with professional and academic biological science backgrounds, have been encouraging their 2 year old (in creche,  visits to the zoo etc) to hug and play with my father, a 77 year old diabetic cancer patient who is in having (mild) chemo today. This, when my own kids,  who have been effectively completely isolated (except from us) for 4.5 months now,  haven't been let within 5m of him since February.

So feeling like a stupid prick and being aware that my mental health is akin to a fire in a council tip, and thus largely unreliable as a guide, and having watched the giant 30-kid rucks that have been everywhere since the end of May , and that they're going to jammed into a classroom by govt mandate in a few weeks, I decided that I was being completely paranoid and let them the fuck out.  I mean what are the odds that I'm the only one that's right?

And then I read something like that,  in tandem with the ever-accelerating global numbers, and government exhortations to get out there and holiday and consume and play contact sports and for God's sake spend money.

We are fucked.

[JOE SOAP]

We are fucked.

I've been browsing survivor groups for the past month and there are thousands like Hannah. Lot of people are going to end up with post viral fatigue that is chronic.

[von Boom]

We are fucked.

I've been browsing survivor groups for the past month and there are thousands like Hannah. Lot of people are going to end up with post viral fatigue that is chronic.

Which makes it all the more important that we increase our efforts to get rid of this virus now. I'm sick of hearing about parties and people not wearing masks or taking basic precautions because, 'you know, it's summer. You don't get sick in summer.'

Maybe this should be on the stupid things people said thread. *sigh*

[Tjm86]

...feeling like a stupid prick and being aware that my mental health is akin to a fire in a council tip, and thus largely unreliable as a guide, and having watched the giant 30-kid rucks that have been everywhere since the end of May , and that they're going to jammed into a classroom by govt mandate in a few weeks, I decided that I was being completely paranoid and let them the fuck out.  I mean what are the odds that I'm the only one that's right?

a) right now I think that the sort of 'paranoia' that MHC's confer on some of us is probably the most accurate type of thinking going.
b) you aren't the only one
c) with the utterly insane (to my thinking) decision to let everyone jet off all over Europe on holiday, September might well turn out to be a rather unpleasant surprise

... in tandem with the ever-accelerating global numbers, and government exhortations to get out there and holiday and consume and play contact sports and for God's sake spend money.

The economy has taken the sort of shock that is going to take decades for it to recover from with a vaguely competent government.  What we have now is so far on the other pole that the HST would struggle to see it.

Far too many folks are watching the news about the end of the furlough scheme with a growing sense of dread.  Even folks in relatively stable jobs are eyeing economic news with uncertainty.  Get out and spend?  More like stay in and save.

I think that the "Inverse Johnson Law" has to be the safest approach for some time to come:  if he or any of his ministers suggest it is a good idea, don't do it.

[sheridan]

MHCs?  major histocompatibility complex ?
HST?  high speed train?

[Jim_Campbell]

if he or any of his ministers suggest it is a good idea, don't do it.

My long-standing support for the BBC largely stems from applying this principle to anything Rupert Murdoch says.

[Tjm86]

MHC - mental health condition
HST - Hubble Space Telescope.

As for the Beeb, Jim.  I find myself struggling continuously to make sense of some of the complaints from some quarters. 

Everyone seems to think that the Beeb is biased against them.  So either the Beeb is not biased or it is equally biased?  Go figure.

TBH my bigger problem on breakfast news is with the simpering presenters. 

My news consumption covers pretty much the entire spectrum from Spikd, Mail, Express through Grauniad to Newsthump and Daily Mash.  Sometimes I struggle to tell the difference between the satirical websites and the real ones though.

[CalHab]

The guy who does the Scotland Coronavirus tracker dashboard now does a UK one:
https://www.travellingtabby.com/uk-coronavirus-tracker/

I find it interesting to look at these, as the daily data and the narrative in the news frequently don't match (this seems to be a particular problem in Scotland). It may be less reassuring at the moment if you live in NW England, however.

[Jim_Campbell]

Everyone seems to think that the Beeb is biased against them.  So either the Beeb is not biased or it is equally biased?  Go figure.

No... the Brexit right (for example) complain, without basis, that the BBC is biased against them whenever a sole remain voice is given air-time. You only have to look at the Question Time panel composition over the last few years to realise that these complaints are baseless.

The left, on the other hand, point out the revolving door between senior news positions and the Conservative party, and offer evidence of systemic bias against anything leftwards of Tony Blair and are dismissed out of hand.

[Professor Bear]

The straw man argument here is that politics is a binary rather than a spectrum.  Rather than striking a "balance" between two viewpoints as they'd like to you to think, the BBC instead represents a neoliberal consensus slaved to the class interests of its own staff, whose output is framed by preexisting cognitive bias.  They really do need to employ more people who didn't go to school with Tory ministers.

As for the Beeb, Jim.  I find myself struggling continuously to make sense of some of the complaints from some quarters.

As with all things, take each incident on its own merits.

[CalHab]

An interview from a public health expert focusing on eliminating the virus, rather than reducing numbers:
https://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/what-europe-can-learn-from-scotland-in-fighting-the-pandemic-a-43c59573-f8f1-489e-ba4b-269974a73eee

[sheridan]

The straw man argument here is that politics is a binary rather than a spectrum. 

Straw Man?  More like Wickerman!  In the UK and US at least...