BF2S Forums Pandemic thread

Dilbert_X wrote:

China could have got this under control, the world could have got this under control if China had been honest about it, most countries could have got this under control if they'd followed normal pandemic controls.

I'm glad this has come full circle and China is suffering.

china did have it 'under control' with lockdowns during that time. wtf are you on about lmao.

we have been through the timeline of this so many times.

yes, they were dishonest about the nature of the disease. yes, local politics hampered the response and china's collaboration with the international community.

but the pure epidemiological picture is such that a novel, highly infectious disease originating in a highly connected logistics hub like wuhan would have about 30 different vectors for leaving china before even being detected. the first 'alpha' variant was asymptomatic for 7–10 days. do you know how much transmission could take place, and how many air miles of freight or tourism could be covered, in that time?

the comprehensive study linked recently by larssen deep-dived into this picture and made this abundantly clear. 'patient zero' and the local clusters of wuhan were passing it around among themselves with zero knowledge for the first few weeks, to such a point that several different variations occurred before it even garnered major attention. the in-built 'lag' between new infection and presenting symptoms made this disease very able to hop borders, even with all the best intentions and perfect compliance in the world (which, yes, the CCP surely were not interested in, but that's by the by).

the idea of 'nipping it in the bud' when talking about a highly infectious and crucially INVISIBLE new disease is a pure fantasy of control. that you've clung to it like a toddler with a pacifier for the last 3 years says more about your infantilism than anything else. covid was a disease well-adapted to take advantage of the global system we have created – a highly interconnected global system that disease experts have been warning is highly conducive to creating pandemics for decades.

and the fact that china under lockdown and closed borders are still dealing with repeated reintroductions of novel strains – most of which have evolved way beyond china and made it back there to their major cities – says everything you need to know about the feasibility of the rest of your equally risible fantasies of total control. a totalitarian total-surveillance regime, which can track the doings and sayings of just about every uyghur male in xinjiang province, can't keep a disease out of its borders. but apparently it's easy to keep omicron+ at bay if authorities in melbourne just clean up their hotel quarantine act.

pathetic. do better.

Last edited by uziq (2022-09-03 03:33:26)

Dilbert_X wrote:

But they allowed it to escape.

other countries let them in.

you wanna know why taiwan didn't have an issue with covid? cos they were monitoring that shit since December.

uziq wrote:

funny how the trajectory went exactly as i said, based on by-the-minute virological and epidemiological reports, and not as dilbert kept frowning about. omicron got an evolutionary edge over its more harmful peers. give or take a few worrying half-variants in between, which didn't seem to outcompete the former, and it seems that covid is slipping into abeyance globally.

multi-variant vaccines have been approved and should be going out this winter, to be taken like a flu jab. should give a nice update to the yes, frankly piteous performance of the first-gen vaccines at this point. that plus the other raft of anti-virals medication, nasal sprays, throat lozenges, steroidal treatmets, and god knows what else: covid is licked for 99% of people.

can't wait to send you all selfies from a beach in thailand.

we should just be like adelaide and thats how theyre safe cos no one lives there or wants to fucking go there.

Dilbert_X wrote:

At best everyone is going to get flu and covid every year now.

At worst - we'll see what the next variant looks like.

uziq wrote:

can't wait to send you all selfies from a beach in thailand

Its hilarious that of all the members of this forum you were the one to become an asian sex tourist.

We're not out of the woods yet.

One thing we can say about this supposedly stable virus is it mutates pretty fast.

And don't worry, the Chinese have far nastier bugs ready for release, this was a beta test.

It was just a flu

"Out of the woods."

Unlike the earlier days of this thing, we have countermeasures beyond locking everyone up at home. Unless science eventually finds a way to completely eradicate covid-19, we're always going to remain in view of that forest, but at least we're not kickboxing the grizzly bear anymore.

you’ve been saying for months that the vaccines are ‘next to useless’. now the virus is just as deadly but the vaccines are so good? LMAO.

omicron is milder. it doesn’t affect the deep lung tissues that led to such acute respiratory problems (and death). it infects tissues in the throat predominantly. that’s inherently less of a risk to vital systems. the virus is literally more mild.

amazing how you’re our resident scientist and you don’t know shit.

picking and choosing australia and japan to cherrypick your argument doesn’t avoid the fact that weekly deaths are below 10k globally. that’s a huge reduction on this time last year.

Last edited by uziq (2022-09-18 01:20:46)

Dilbert_X wrote:

Why are more Japanese dying than ever if Omicron is so benign?

they finally started recording it - japanese hospitals were refusing people with symptoms with OG rona when it started.

they also have a higher elderly population.

Woke up with a sore throat, runny nose, sneezing, and body aches. Took a sick day. Lying in bed with tissues in my nose. Some people I came in contact with got COVID.

That's a good one!

I was at a big union meeting yesterday, handing out bottles of water, and setting the food up. I spent a good amount of time with a new hire (23 year old brunette) there too. Totally asymptomatic the whole time.

The union boss couldn't be at the event because he, his wife, and child are got COVID. I had seen them a week before. Apparently a lot of the people who were part of the backpack give away got COVID now too.

Nobody could have seen this coming

Is everyone getting the Monkeypox vaccine in the US? Should I?