Encouragement Thread - If you need support let’s help

[N.E. Brigand]

2 hours ago, kdaddy said:

I'd be curious to know the general acceptance of vaccinations back in the day. Less knowledge, communication, and manufacturing ability sure, but I assume there wasn't a significant proportion of the population saying "polio is like the flu." 

The most famous early vaccination work is Edward Jenner's smallpox innoculation in 1796, which used the related but less dangerous cowpox virus. According to the Wikipedia entry on vaccinations, there was some "controversy within the medical profession and religious opposition to the use of animal material". So there has been opposition to vaccines about as long as there have been vaccines. Globally one challenge has been that sometimes governments have co-opted vaccination efforts in third world societies as a way of secretly advancing some other goal, which, if people learn about it, makes them suspicious of medical researchers. (The linked article specifically concerns polio vaccinations in Pakistan in the past decade.)

[Cappybara]

On 6/20/2020 at 6:32 AM, garfield said:

Wait, you mean it WASN'T an invitation to become a keyboard infectious disease Google search expert relating every occurance to the implications of repeating circumstances in the most densely-populated city in the country with the intent of scaring the entire population into staying home and shutting down a vibrant economy strictly to negatively affect the incumbent's chances in the upcoming presidential elections?

Can we get the Mandarins to play true colors again 

Edited June 21, 2020 by Cappybara

[Ghost]

2 minutes ago, Cappybara said:

Can we get the Mandarins to play true colors again 

For a healthy donation more than what the New Zealand lady gets.

[Cappybara]

15 hours ago, MikeRapp said:

I work in clinical trials and in fact designed the world’s first Covid 19 patient registry. And my wife is the lead iv therapist for the largest hospital in Tennessee, and has personally cared for every single diagnosed patient at the hospital. Yes she wears a hazmat suit. I live it, for better and for worse.

The reason we have a clinical trials process is because it takes trial and error and great expertise to successfully diagnose effective treatments. Most of the clinical trials do not make it to Phase 3 for a variety of reasons. What we are seeing right now with this vaccine is unprecedented in human history in so many ways that it is really inconceivable to me that the process won’t lead to several successful vaccines by winter 2021.

I could be wrong.

I am not a doctor. I have no inside knowledge, only knowledge that I have gained and must have to do my job. It is possible that this process could drag on into 2021 but I think it is extremely likely, based on the sheer volume and power of the companies involved, that we will have several ways to effectively combat this virus soon.

Well we’ll find out in 6 months

[Cappybara]

5 minutes ago, Ghost said:

For a healthy donation more than what the New Zealand lady gets.

She knows how to monetize her sweet charm and looks, I’ll give her that 

[N.E. Brigand]

22 hours ago, JimF-LowBari said:

Any word on changes to the coronavirus make up (aka mutations) yet. My biggest worry is this acts like 1918-1920 and mutates at least one. IIRC from Barry's The Great Influenza, the second strain was the killer. And I don’t know enough about viruses for chances vaccine can/cannot handle mutations.

As noted yesterday, all indications so far are that the virus mutates slowly enough that vaccines, once developed, will be quite effective.

That said, there is still a lot to learn. Based on the comparison of the genetic variation in the virus in different parts of the world on different dates, the current consensus view is that it jumped from animals to humans in November. But there is some other evidence that suggest an earlier date. I previously noted a recent study, which apparently mimics the work of U.S. intelligence agencies, that found an unusual spike in the number of cars at Wuhan hospitals and an unusual increase in internet searches originating in Wuhan for Covid-19 symptoms as far back as October. These were well above the regular amount of such activity in previous Octobers. But that could just be a coincidence. However, just yesterday Italy announced that analysis of wastewater has found the virus was in that country by the third week in December -- before the disease was even identified by doctors in China. And today the Los Angeles Times reports that medical examiners want to investigate a mysterious cluster of pneumonia-like deaths in southern California also dating from December.

Remember: when we started discussing coronavirus (and its potential impact on drum corps) on these forums in late February, there were no known U.S. deaths and fewer than 100 known cases. Subsequent investigations have confirmed a U.S. death on February 6, which suggests infection at some point in January. But it may be that the virus was already in this country even before that. In other words, we have a lot to learn. And one element of that will be more testing.

It may be that if evidence confirms the virus jumped to humans even before November, then that means that it mutates even more slowly than believed, which again would suggest that vaccines will work quite well as a public health measure.

[MikeD]

4 hours ago, Cappybara said:

She knows how to monetize her sweet charm and looks, I’ll give her that 

I had no idea reaction videos were a “thing” until a month or so ago. There are folks with hundreds of thousands of views on a variety of reaction topics. I have been binging in a few folks most evenings. Primarily popular music. She does a nice job.

[garfield]

9 hours ago, Cappybara said:

She knows how to monetize her sweet charm and looks, I’ll give her that 

For a small fee, of course.

 

[MikeRapp]

19 hours ago, N.E. Brigand said:

As noted yesterday, all indications so far are that the virus mutates slowly enough that vaccines, once developed, will be quite effective.

That said, there is still a lot to learn. Based on the comparison of the genetic variation in the virus in different parts of the world on different dates, the current consensus view is that it jumped from animals to humans in November. But there is some other evidence that suggest an earlier date. I previously noted a recent study, which apparently mimics the work of U.S. intelligence agencies, that found an unusual spike in the number of cars at Wuhan hospitals and an unusual increase in internet searches originating in Wuhan for Covid-19 symptoms as far back as October. These were well above the regular amount of such activity in previous Octobers. But that could just be a coincidence. However, just yesterday Italy announced that analysis of wastewater has found the virus was in that country by the third week in December -- before the disease was even identified by doctors in China. And today the Los Angeles Times reports that medical examiners want to investigate a mysterious cluster of pneumonia-like deaths in southern California also dating from December.

Remember: when we started discussing coronavirus (and its potential impact on drum corps) on these forums in late February, there were no known U.S. deaths and fewer than 100 known cases. Subsequent investigations have confirmed a U.S. death on February 6, which suggests infection at some point in January. But it may be that the virus was already in this country even before that. In other words, we have a lot to learn. And one element of that will be more testing.

It may be that if evidence confirms the virus jumped to humans even before November, then that means that it mutates even more slowly than believed, which again would suggest that vaccines will work quite well as a public health measure.

All coronaviruses mutate slowly due to their lack of complexity.

I have no clue when this started but it seems like it was significantly earlier than January. The Wuhan institute was frantically promoting new positions for people to work on a new virus last fall. 

[N.E. Brigand]

1 hour ago, MikeRapp said:

The Wuhan institute was frantically promoting new positions for people to work on a new virus last fall. 

On the one hand, that would further confirm the reporting I mentioned about increased hospital visits and coronavirus symptom web searches in Wuhan in October. On the other hand, doctors in Wuhan's hospitals don't seem to have realized until December that they were dealing with a new virus (and then some of them were censored by their own government). Google News isn't turning up a story like the one you mentioned. I would love to read it; do you have a link?