Coronavirus Pandemic Information- Local and Worldwide

endainoz

Water John wrote: »

Normal flu is very low according to the medics in my family.

There could be an argument about how mask wearing and good hand hygiene is stopping many illnesses from spreading. Maybe mask wearing should be encouraged during flu season every year.

whelan2

Water John wrote: »

Normal flu is very low according to the medics in my family.

Very low sales in uniflu etc this year

zetecescort

English Chief Medical Officer claims the new variant spreads more quickly

tanko

Boris is bringing in Level 4 and cancelling Christmas.

yosemitesam1

zetecescort wrote: »

English Chief Medical Officer claims the new variant spreads more quickly

Australia thought a few weeks ago that they had a new super covid strain. Turned out not to be. The danish mink strain also does not seem to have changed things much either

dh1985

Neddyusa wrote: »

https://twitter.com/damianbruced/status/1334884407627444233?s=08

Very very interesting thread here on Varadkar!

Basically he knows the continuous lockdowns are a sham.

However, he's not going to say it too loudly as he knows the media would crucify him (they threw him a warning shot with the leak "scandal")

He can foresee a point in the coming years where the lunacy of these lockdowns will be exposed and he's preparing his quotes to be able to say: "I told ye so"

A smart man - but cynical and self-serving to the core.

Dont know who that guy is but clearly a covid denier to say the least from his Twitter page. Would be taking what he is saying with a shovel of salt. Might be giving leo too much credit for potential foresight when really I dont know if leo is just fond of running his mouth

odyssey06

yosemitesam1 wrote: »

The danish mink strain also does not seem to have changed things much either

I am observing strict social distancing from anything that looks like a mink, to be on the safe side.

Donegalforever

odyssey06 wrote: »

Nope.
If you have anything solid to back that up with pls post otherwise its a garbage claim.
And dont buy anything from wherever you read it.

Don't be so sure that you are correct.
It is not a case of me "buying from wherever"
I read a lot of things and always keep an open mind in the absence of definite proof.

emaherx

Donegalforever wrote: »

Is it not the case that the test for Covid-19 cannot distinguish between Covid-19 and the Flu with the result that all positives get classified as Covid-19 ?

This open mind?

odyssey06

Donegalforever wrote: »

Don't be so sure that you are correct.
It is not a case of me "buying from wherever"
I read a lot of things and always keep an open mind in the absence of definite proof.

I don't have time to entertain mere speculation without foundation or plausibility, we have to proceed on the basis of reasonable certainty in our actions. So yes your claim is one sent straight to the garbage bin.

What you are impying is that in all those tests we didn't find a single person who tested positive for flu.
But we're picking up hundreds or thousands of people per day who test positive for covid.
And yet the covid test is being fooled by flu?

There are even diagnostic tests that will test for covid, influenza A and influenza B.

There is such a thing as a mind so open anyone can fill it with whatever they want.

whelan2

odyssey06 wrote: »

I am observing strict social distancing from anything that looks like a mink, to be on the safe side.

Woukd you be in contact with many mink?

Neddyusa

endainoz wrote: »

A thread written by an antimasker keyboard warrior, a dangerous idiot to listen to.

Lots of colourful adjectives there but no comment on the five well considered statements by the Tainiste...

Zomoradi

its scary dude

Zomoradi

exactly

whelan2

See Holland has banned all flights from the UK from 6am this morning

endainoz

Neddyusa wrote: »

Lots of colourful adjectives there but no comment on the five well considered statements by the Tainiste...

Anything Leo says is politically motivated. As taoiseach under covid his popularity sky rocketed, now as tainiste he's just biding his time.

wrangler

Government is stopping most of the travel from britain now for 48 hrs at least, Can people not stay where they are

yosemitesam1

wrangler wrote: »

Government is stopping most of the travel from britain now for 48 hrs at least, Can people not stay where they are

You think we've reached peak hysteria and then the world gets even worse...

yosemitesam1

Once upon a time, among the activities and occupations of man there was an activity called scientific research, and the performers of this activity were called scientists. In reality, however, these men were builders who constructed edifices, called explanations or laws, by assembling bricks, called facts. When the bricks were sound and were assembled properly, the edifice was useful and durable and brought pleasure, and sometimes reward, to the builder. If the bricks were faulty or if they were assembled badly, the edifice would crumble, and this kind of disaster could be very dangerous to innocent users of the edifice as well as to the builder, who sometimes was destroyed by the collapse. Because the quality of the bricks was so important to the success of the edifice, and because bricks were so scarce in those days, the builders made their own bricks. The making of bricks was a difficult and expensive undertaking and the wise builder avoided waste by making only bricks of the shape and size necessary for the enterprise at hand. The builder was guided in this manufacture by a blueprint, called a theory or hypothesis.
It came to pass that builders realized that they were sorely hampered in their efforts by delays in obtaining bricks. Thus there arose a new skilled trade known as brickmaking, called junior scientist to give the artisan proper pride in his work. This new arrangement was very efficient, and the construction of edifices proceeded with great vigour. Sometimes brickmakers became inspired and progressed to the status of builders. In spite of the separation of duties, bricks still were made with care and usually were produced only on order. Now and then an enterprising brickmaker was able to foresee a demand and would prepare a stock of bricks ahead of time, but, in general, brickmaking was done on a custom basis because it still was a difficult and expensive process.

And then it came to pass that a misunderstanding spread among the brickmakers (there are some who say that this misunderstanding developed as a result of careless training of a new generation of brickmakers). The brickmakers became obsessed with the making of bricks. When reminded that the ultimate goal was edifices, not bricks, they replied that, if enough bricks were available, the builders would be able to select what was necessary and still continue to construct edifices. The flaws in this argument were not readily apparent, and so, with the help of the citizens who were waiting to use the edifices yet to be built, amazing things happened. The expense of brickmaking became a minor factor because large sums of money were made available; the time and effort involved in brickmaking was reduced by ingenious automatic machinery; the ranks of the brickmakers were swelled by augmented training programs and intensive recruitment. It even was suggested that the production of a suitable number of bricks was equivalent to building an edifice and therefore should entitle the industrious brickmaker to assume the title of builder and, with the title, the authority.

And so it happened that the land became flooded with bricks. it became necessary to organize more and more storage places, called journals, and more and more elaborate systems of bookkeeping to record the inventory. In all of this the brickmakers retained their pride and skill and the bricks were of the very best quality. But production was ahead of demand, and bricks no longer were made to order. The size and shape was now dictated by changing trends in fashion. In order to compete successfully with other brickmakers, production emphasized those types of brick that were easy to make, and only rarely did an adventuresome brickmaker attempt a difficult or unusual design. The influence of tradition in production methods and in types of product became a dominating factor.
Unfortunately, the builders were almost destroyed. It became difficult to find the proper bricks for a task because one had to hunt among so many. It became difficult to find a suitable plot for construction of an edifice because the ground was covered with loose bricks. It became difficult to complete a useful edifice because, as soon as the foundations were discernible, they were buried under an avalanche of random bricks. And, saddest of all, sometimes no effort was made even to maintain the distinction between a pile of bricks and a true edifice.

That was a letter written published in the 60's about the problems only starting to emerge in science. It is more important now than ever before as "science" struggles to understand real world situations such as that with covid.

Dinzee Conlee

Neddyusa wrote: »

Lots of colourful adjectives there but no comment on the five well considered statements by the Tainiste...

I’m not on Twitter, so I don’t know if Leo is an avid tweeter or not...
I wonder how many tweets has Leo put out in support of the topics mentioned above? Or is there a context we are missing from the above tweets?

I think in the modern age - it’s easy to edit tweets or statements made, to form a certain narrative... Has this happened in this case?

Personally, I think it’s no great hardship to wear or mask or adhere to the advise being put out.
I certainly don’t agree with your anti-mask friend. Given he does seem to be so anti what the government are asking us to do - I would question his motives...

whelan2

764 new cases

Water John

I see on a Christmas card my niece intended to fly over from the UK for Christmas and she's a doc..
Not to my part of the country TG. Now not happening I hope. But then her parents flew to UK earlier in the year to visit. Some people believe in exceptionalism for themselves.

Donegalforever

odyssey06 wrote: »

I don't have time to entertain mere speculation without foundation or plausibility, we have to proceed on the basis of reasonable certainty in our actions. So yes your claim is one sent straight to the garbage bin.

What you are impying is that in all those tests we didn't find a single person who tested positive for flu.
But we're picking up hundreds or thousands of people per day who test positive for covid.
And yet the covid test is being fooled by flu?

There are even diagnostic tests that will test for covid, influenza A and influenza B.

There is such a thing as a mind so open anyone can fill it with whatever they want.

Has anyone asked you to entertain anything?
It is a good thing that everyone does not think in the same way, otherwise life would become very boring.

greysides

odyssey06 wrote: »

What you are impying is that in all those tests we didn't find a single person who tested positive for flu.
But we're picking up hundreds or thousands of people per day who test positive for covid.
And yet the covid test is being fooled by flu?

There are even diagnostic tests that will test for covid, influenza A and influenza B.

A swab will only detect what it's tested for. Covid swabs would have to be specifically tested for flu viruses to show them present.

odyssey06

greysides wrote: »

A swab will only detect what it's tested for. Covid swabs would have to be specifically tested for flu viruses to show them present.

Even without the below multiplex test, it beggars belief that we've had no positive flu cases in Ireland this winter yet somehow flu is confusing covid tests.

The CDC Influenza SARS-CoV-2 (Flu SC2) Multiplex Assay is a real-time reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test that detects and differentiates RNA from SARS-CoV-2, influenza A virus, and influenza B virus in upper or lower respiratory specimens. The assay provides a sensitive, nucleic-acid-based diagnostic tool for evaluation of specimens from patients in the acute phase of infection.

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/lab/multiplex.html

Neddyusa

Dinzee Conlee wrote: »

I’m not on Twitter, so I don’t know if Leo is an avid tweeter or not...
I wonder how many tweets has Leo put out in support of the topics mentioned above? Or is there a context we are missing from the above tweets?

I think in the modern age - it’s easy to edit tweets or statements made, to form a certain narrative... Has this happened in this case?

Personally, I think it’s no great hardship to wear or mask or adhere to the advise being put out.
I certainly don’t agree with your anti-mask friend. Given he does seem to be so anti what the government are asking us to do - I would question his motives...

I'm no friend of Varadkars - but he's no fool.
As sly as a pet fox.

kk.man

Jeepers it's getting very serious now...

Base price

Neddyusa wrote: »

I'm no friend of Varadkars - but he's no fool.
As sly as a pet fox.

He’s a cute one alright. OH refers to him as - slippy.

jaymla627

kk.man wrote: »

Jeepers it's getting very serious now...

Batsh**t crazy if the r rate that they are predicting comes to pass with the mutated covid strain

Base price

jaymla627 wrote: »

Batsh**t crazy if the r rate that they are predicting comes to pass with the mutated covid strain

“Batsh1t” is apt although the scientists studying the origins of this virus say it could have mutated within different species. That’s the bit I remember from Newstalk/Prof. Luke O’Neill earlier this week.