Stories During Corona Virus 2

[Cartmann99]

 

[smittykins]

11 hours ago, Ozlsn said:

Make ill-informed choices, die a lonely, crappy and most likely preventable premature death on a ventilator. Honestly, why do these guys believe it won't happen to them?

1. Because “muh freedoms.”

2. Because “99-point-whatever-percent survival rate.”

3. Because “owning the libs” is the only thing that matters to them.

Edited January 29, 2022 by smittykins

[thoughtful]

Vaccine borg?

 

"Resistance is idiotic, because you're likely to be killing yourself and your loved ones, but go ahead, knock yourself out" is not nearly as dramatic as "Resistance is futile."

Also, does that mean Fauci is Locutus, the spokesperson? Because, as cute as he is, he's not as cute as Sir Patrick.

Spoiler

 

[Ozlsn]

7 hours ago, smittykins said:

1. Because “muh freedoms.”

2. Because “99-point-whatever-percent survival rate.”

3. Because “owning the libs” is the only thing that matters to them.

Because they're healthy, so they'll be fine. Honestly if Clive Palmer can delude hinself into thinking he'll be fine (photo of hin in spoiler) then what hope does a 30-something actually fit person who's been listening to the propaganda have?

Spoiler

I mean if that photo doesn't scream low risk what does, right?

Apparently 31% of Australians fall into the "obese" category, and I would bet at least half don't think of themselves as higher risk - although most are vaccinated.

[Dandruff]

On 1/28/2022 at 10:40 PM, Ozlsn said:

Make ill-informed choices, die a lonely, crappy and most likely preventable premature death on a ventilator. Honestly, why do these guys believe it won't happen to them?

Because it hasn't happened yet, which - of course - is true until it isn't.

[Alisamer]

Quote

Right-wing anti-vaccine "expert" Sherri Tenpenny claims COVID vaccines are designed to turn humanity into "transhumanist cyborgs" and "electronic avatars" that are connected to "the hive mind."

She says that like it's a bad thing...

Honestly. If we were going to be turned into cyborgs, I'm thinking a vaccine is not the way they'd go. If they have that sort of technology (they don't), why not inject universal translator things like in Farscape? Or something that makes you remember where you left your keys?

My reaction to literally everything Sherri Tenpenny says: "Well. Those are certainly some words in some order!" (stolen from somewhere I can't remember.)

[Cartmann99]

 

[Alisamer]

Honestly I think the best thing anyone could do at this point, is buy up a bunch of the vaccine - maybe one of the one-dose ones - and heavily market it in right wing spaces as an all-natural "anti-vaccine" injection to prevent you from being affected by whatever vaccinated people are supposedly "shedding".  It'd be questionable, legally, but I bet somebody could make a few million dollars selling an "anti-vaccine" vaccine that actually is a vaccine that people could easily get for free, before they got shut down or the truth came out. And they'd raise the vaccination rate among the stupid and deluded population immensely. 

[Cartmann99]

 

[Cartmann99]

‘Journalists Are Demonic’: Stew Peters And Stella Immanuel Freak Out Over The Daily Beast

Quote

Last month, Right Wing Watch posted a clip to our Twitter page of right-wing anti-vaccine “expert” Stella Immanuel claiming that if Christians who have taken a COVID-19 vaccine will simply repent and pray, God will forgive them and physically cast the vaccine out of their bodies.

Reporter Zachary Petrizzo wrote a short piece about the clip for The Daily Beast, and now Immanuel is accusing him of being possessed by demons.

Immanuel appeared Tuesday on “The Stew Peters Show,” where she and Peters attacked The Daily Beast and its reporters, repeatedly asserting that they are not even human.

“Well, The Daily Beast is really putting in the work to live up to its name,” fumed Peters. “They want to be the newspaper of the Beast of Revelation. The Daily Beast just put out a hit piece against Dr. Stella Immanuel, a recurring guest on this program. The Beast ridicules Dr. Immanuel because she suggested that praying over COVID patients to help them recover is a legitimate thing.”

Immanuel, of course, was not simply encouraging people to pray for those with COVID-19; she was claiming that prayer can physically remove the vaccine from people’s bodies.

 

“Journalists are demonic,” Peters continued in his rant Tuesday. “They hate religion. They hate Christ. They hate God. They hate prayer. They worship a different god—the golden calf they call the vaccine—and they want you to receive communion in the form of a booster shot four, or six, or 12 times a year.”

“They are blood drinkers,” Immanuel agreed. “They want people to die. They want to make money. They want to reduce the population. And of course, they see me as some voice that is standing against all this because why should The Daily Beast, why should Rachel Maddow, all these people do hit pieces on me?”

“These Daily Beast people are funded directly by the Clinton machine,” Peters responded. “They’re directly tied to Hillary Clinton. Think of the blood and the kids—the innocent children—and all the rape and incest and lives that have been lost at the hands of people like that.”

“All of this is part of a plan to overthrow the government and kill Christians,” Peters continued. “This is a war on Christianity, the elimination of God, the elimination of your spiritual connection with Jesus Christ, the deletion of your God gene—if there is such a thing—and trying to control your thoughts and your body and your mind and dehabilitate anybody who is a dissident or anybody who says, ‘No, no, no, I don’t want that.’ They will then either lock you up or kill you and then kill your kids. … These aren’t even people. These are like a lizard species. This is a reptilian species.”

“I would dare any one of them to lock me up [in a room for] one hour with them in prayer, and they will be on the floor slithering like snakes,” Immanuel declared. “They’re just writing about me. We’re gonna pray that them snakes come out of them very soon.”

 

[Ozlsn]

On 2/2/2022 at 2:03 AM, Alisamer said:

Honestly I think the best thing anyone could do at this point, is buy up a bunch of the vaccine - maybe one of the one-dose ones - and heavily market it in right wing spaces as an all-natural "anti-vaccine" injection to prevent you from being affected by whatever vaccinated people are supposedly "shedding".  It'd be questionable, legally, but I bet somebody could make a few million dollars selling an "anti-vaccine" vaccine that actually is a vaccine that people could easily get for free, before they got shut down or the truth came out. And they'd raise the vaccination rate among the stupid and deluded population immensely. 

Bizarrely I saw a tweet about someone askimg in a pharmacy for the Novovax, and then, when they were told the TGA approvals hadn't gone through yet, declaring they didn't want it if it was governmemt approved, they thought it was "natural". So... that would work I think.

Meanwhile in Canberra we still have a group of idiots blocking the Federal Highway, harrassing teenage cashiers and refusing to wear masks as required in shops, setting fire to things and generally being a nuisance. What do they want? Change! Of what? Everything! And nothing! My favourite description of yesterday's events is:

They are also annoyed that the media is "misrepresenting" them, so someone collated a list of their speech:

Spoiler

Coherent and united behind one message they are not.

[Howl]

Y'all I have a question on something that's been nibbling at the edges of my mind.  Not related to COVID specifically, but to the virulent anti-vax insanity infecting our populace that's now front and center with COVID. 

My question is, does their anti-vax fanaticism extend to not vaccinating pets? 

I live in an urban neighborhood of single-family homes with yards. We're six or 7 blocks away from a park with a large creek.  (my neighborhood isn't platted in city blocks, but it's about that far)

I've seen (and smelled) skunks, spotted foxes and opossums in my back yard.  Nearby neighbors have reported coyotes and raccoons are always about.  With the exception of opossums, all these animals can carry rabies.  Even if a pet cat or dog, for example, never leaves its back yard except on a leash, they are easily exposed to animals that could potentially be affected by rabies or distemper because most of these critters have no problems climbing up and over wood privacy fences. 

I'd never thought about distemper until this morning.  I check in on the Durango, CO Herald now and again and just found this piece on distemper in wild animals that is extremely contagious for unvaccinated domestic pets. 

Gray fox in La Plata County tests positive for transmissible disease

Aside: Years ago I read Jimmy Carter's boyhood autobiography.   He discussed the terror when people were exposed to rabid animals, either domestic or wild.  At the time, there was no rabies vaccination for pets and certainly no shots for people who had been exposed to rabies.  This made such a strong impression on me I think about it to this day. 

**********************************************

ETA: Okay, y'all, I should have googled firsts. 

Not vaccinating pets is a thing, because of course it is. 

I googled "do antivaccine people vaccinate their pets?" and got a very robust response.  Holy crap.  The trend of anti-vax people not vaccinating their pets has been covered in the main stream media beginning in 2019. 

Just a reminder that humans do not survive an active rabies infection.  

CDC rabies protocol after exposure: When should I seek medical attention?

Edited February 9, 2022 by Howl

[thoughtful]

I was first exposed to some anti-vax sentiment from the left-leaning side of things, starting in the late 1990s.

Most of my exposure came via the Jill-like housemate I sometimes talk about - she went through whatever "all-natural" trend that came down the pike, including homeopathy, although she did also get vaccinations and use allopathic treatment.

Through her, our dogs' vet, and the greyhound adoption and raw-feeding communities, I met lots of people who were questioning vaccinations for dogs.

One of my personality flaws kicked in - the tendency to think "Gee, sounds like these people have researched this and know more than I do."

But I could definitely see how her cure-alls were not helping her, and were based on the vaguest of rumors. I knew enough about human health that I pretty quickly realized that a lot of the stuff for humans was useless woo, and got better at sorting  out the down-home and helpful stuff from the magic beans. And our vet was basically allopathic, and firm about using real medicine when needed.

So I never picked up on it for myself, and didn't go whole-hog with it for my dog. I discussed it with the vet, was offered titre tests for some vaccinations that were optional, and did that for a while.

Not vaccinating pet dogs, cats and ferrets for rabies is illegal in most US states.  I know that dog-related businesses near me demand a rabies certificate before grooming, boarding, etc. Many also require vaccination against bordatella.

At this point, I don't know where on the political spectrum the non-vaxxing pet owners are. I've long had the sense that not neutering dogs, making them live outdoors, and using harsh training methods tends to go with right-wing thought, but that could just be a stereotype.

I would imagine that, as with human health, anti-vax for pets is where the Birkenstocks and the jackboots meet.

[Ozlsn]

2 hours ago, thoughtful said:

would imagine that, as with human health, anti-vax for pets is where the Birkenstocks and the jackboots meet.

That is a beautiful description, thank you.

[thoughtful]

24 minutes ago, Ozlsn said:

That is a beautiful description, thank you.

You're welcome, and thanks for the compliment. I considered saying Doc Martens instead of jackboots, but they have gone either way over the years, I think.

[smittykins]

I have a recertification coming up for my(federally subsidized)apartment, and I was asked to provide proof of Shadow’s rabies vaccination(which she had last year).

[Audrey2]

So just curious if one of these anti-covid vax people that have gone totally anti-vax gets bitten by an animal that may have rabies, would they get the rabies shots or would they consider that a vaccination and let nature take its course?

[danvillebelle]

My better half was venting to me yesterday that he is now literally the only person in the entire office (over 100 people work there) that wears a mask.  He said it feels weird and he wonders if he should take it off. I asked, are people there still coming down with Covid?  "Yep."  Then don't you dare take it off until you feel 100% comfortable doing so and to hell with the trumplican anti-vaxxers who might think badly of you.  Who the fuck cares what they think? 

[Howl]

On 1/28/2022 at 9:40 PM, Ozlsn said:

Make ill-informed choices, die a lonely, crappy and most likely preventable premature death on a ventilator. Honestly, why do these guys believe it won't happen to them?

I'm starting to see more information on post-viral syndromes ("Long Covid") on twitter. 

There's also an emphasis on understanding covid as a vascular disease. Physicians are starting to see way too many cases of blood clots showing up in weird places in healthy patients (no predisposing conditions) weeks after their mild covid cases had "resolved."   Apparently this scenario can get serious and life-threatening really fast and can be hard to diagnose. 

I googled this and it's interesting.  Some studies say no increased risk of blood clots but as far back as 2020, a higher risk of blood clots was noted, but it seemed to be more related to severe cases in hospitalized patients. 

However, here's one European study that does demonstrate increased risk of thromboembolism post covid: 

Risk of dangerous blood clots linked to moderate COVID-19; high-dose blood thinner can prevent clots

 

 

[Smash!]

4 hours ago, Howl said:

There's also an emphasis on understanding covid as a vascular disease. Physicians are starting to see way too many cases of blood clots showing up in weird places in healthy patients (no predisposing conditions) weeks after their mild covid cases had "resolved." 

I think this is why pregnant women who get Covid are more at risk for miscarriage/stillbirth. Blood clots form in the placenta that results in cutting the fetus from nutrients/oxygen.

How anyone can say Covid is mild when we still don’t know enough about the after effects is beyond me. But I think it will lead to a better understanding of post-viral diseases which is very important. 

[Becky]

14 hours ago, Smash! said:

…

How anyone can say Covid is mild when we still don’t know enough about the after effects is beyond me. But I think it will lead to a better understanding of post-viral diseases which is very important. 

Exactly! I apparently had rheumatic fever as a child. I say “apparently” because it was so mild it was never diagnosed and nobody knew I had even had it. However, decades later, the rheumatic damage to my heart valve has progressed to the point of needing intervention,  and the cardiologist assures me I WILL need a valve replacement in 3-5 years. All because I had a mild infection a long time ago. So don’t tell me a mild case of COVID-19 is harmless, the fact is we simply don’t know yet.

[Smash!]

6 minutes ago, Becky said:

All because I had a mild infection a long time ago. So don’t tell me a mild case of COVID-19 is harmless, the fact is we simply don’t know yet.

I‘m wondering if we and the scientific community are underestimating the damage even mild viral infections can do to our bodies. Maybe through this pandemic it just became more visible because so many people are getting infected. 

[danvillebelle]

4 hours ago, Smash! said:

I‘m wondering if we and the scientific community are underestimating the damage even mild viral infections can do to our bodies.

Oh wow, you just gave me something to chew on with that.  In December of 2006 my younger son had pericarditis and myocarditis and was in the PICU for over a week.  They ran every test imaginable and never figured out exactly what caused it.  Now I'm wondering if the truly horrific flu virus we all had 2 years before could have had anything to do with his heart being more vulnerable. Hmmm.

[Ozlsn]

7 hours ago, Smash! said:

I‘m wondering if we and the scientific community are underestimating the damage even mild viral infections can do to our bodies. Maybe through this pandemic it just became more visible because so many people are getting infected. 

I think it has been historically hard to link mild, or even more acute but short illness to long term damage, especially decades later. Where you have much larger numbers it can make it easier - but even Subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE) was only definitively linked to measles after vaccination effectively reduced the number of cases. When everyone has had the virus linking rare, and importantly, long-term later onset conditions is really hard. Covid has the advantages of mart numbers reporting infection and then more rapid development of long covid. Long term, late onset things are likely to be harder to definitively link e.g. childhood infection with illness appearing in late 20s.   

This tweet summed up a lot for me:

HIV takes a median of 7-10 years to kill people without treatment. In 1981 asking "did you get sick between 1971 and 1974?" - it would have been hard to make a link with anything.

[Smash!]

Bateses, Duggars and the other fundamentalist families we discuss here: By not wearing masks and refusing to get vaccinated you are not pro Life. Because look what the virus can do to the placenta;

From People Magazine: covid can destroy the placenta and cause stillbirths during pregnancy in rare cases

[quote]COVID-19 can destroy the placenta and lead to stillbirths during pregnancy in rare cases, according to new research, further highlighting the potential risks of the virus to the mother and fetus.

The virus can directly attack and destroy the placenta, cutting off its life-giving supply of oxygen and nutrients to the developing fetus and causing asphyxiation and death, the study, published in the journal Archives of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine, found.[…]

For this study, researchers from 12 countries, including the U.S., looked at placental tissue from 64 stillbirths and four newborns who died shortly after birth. All of the fetuses were from mothers who were unvaccinated and had COVID-19 during pregnancy.

"We have never seen this level of destruction from an infectious illness before. It rendered the placenta unfit to carry out its duties," Dr. David Schwartz, a perinatal pathologist and lead author of the study, told NBC News. "These fetuses and newborns died from asphyxiation due to lack of oxygen."

COVID-19 appeared to cause three issues in the placenta: a build-up of a protein that can cause blood clots, the death of cells in its protective layer and inflammation.

The researchers found that around three-quarters of the placenta was damaged in each case, making it unable to function.

"It's almost the exact opposite of what we see in other infectious diseases like zika, rubella or syphilis," Schwartz said. "It's not the fetus that is being attacked and destroyed by the virus. It's the placenta." […]
[/quote]