Well in world units, if you are using the standard freedom social distancing minimum guideline, it's 1.8288 meters, dumbass...
Coronavirus
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It appears they have real-time health reporting over a centralized linked health care network and they are aggressively using drugs that the US FDA is regulating to very narrow uses...In a country of 24 million people, explain this...note the update timestamp....
What are they doing that we aren't?
Look at the recovery rate at 97.5%. Doing the math, that means 4 people are still sick or not fully recovered and the mortality rate with the way Taiwan is dealing with the virus is a whopping 1.5%.
I have been told via word of mouth and keep in mind this is hearsay, that what they are doing in Taiwan is using asthma medicine and giving a person with symptoms an inhaler which they use for 5 minutes. That seems to mitigate the disease. I have not tracked that "treatmnent" down yet, but it's food for thought. If an effective treatment is as simple as an inhaler, who would gain from not using them? Follow the money...
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...ds-remdesivir-to-treat-covid-19-idUSKBN23609Q
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Actually I am pretty certain we do know - it was niether released by accident nor on purpose:
Yeah, yeah you'll give me a hard time for quoting Reddit but this guy's CV checks out and every thing he say he backs up with sources. So, I think it is pretty conclusive. BTW it is a very very interesting read I learned a lot about viruses and Crisper and other gene editing by reading the whole thing.
Indeed, I don't like where this is going. As, a Canadian we feel your pain - just in a different way - hostage diplomacy - that's disgusting.
Impressive and informative article.
I've watched a few documentaries about China since the outbreak, including one about Wuhan.
One thing that struck me was how easily I could identify with the citizens and doctors.
A fairly modern city, struggling with a (then) largely unknown threat.
I think that the tribalism and xenophobia between countries is often created by their government's actions.
The vast majority of citizens in any country are just like you and me, working, looking after their families and going about their lives.
Then you get a few rotters in power, surrounded by sycophants, and it starts going to hell.
Maybe it's just ego. Must feel powerful, looking down on all those little ants in your empire.
It's why we all need checks and balances. Constantly on guard.
This is one of the roles journalism was supposed to provide, but it has been struggling to do its job.
While there are a lot of people talking about how the media has become just an entertainment business,
imagine trying to operate as a journalist with integrity in a country like China (and a growing list of other countries - even Australia has had some big problems recently).
You'll be 'vanished' from sight if you criticize your overlords.
When doctors in Wuhan started to report on the troubling news of a new virus, local government swept in to shut them up.
I've watched a few documentaries about China since the outbreak, including one about Wuhan.
One thing that struck me was how easily I could identify with the citizens and doctors.
A fairly modern city, struggling with a (then) largely unknown threat.
I think that the tribalism and xenophobia between countries is often created by their government's actions.
The vast majority of citizens in any country are just like you and me, working, looking after their families and going about their lives.
Then you get a few rotters in power, surrounded by sycophants, and it starts going to hell.
Maybe it's just ego. Must feel powerful, looking down on all those little ants in your empire.
It's why we all need checks and balances. Constantly on guard.
This is one of the roles journalism was supposed to provide, but it has been struggling to do its job.
While there are a lot of people talking about how the media has become just an entertainment business,
imagine trying to operate as a journalist with integrity in a country like China (and a growing list of other countries - even Australia has had some big problems recently).
You'll be 'vanished' from sight if you criticize your overlords.
When doctors in Wuhan started to report on the troubling news of a new virus, local government swept in to shut them up.
I am not saying it’s manufactured nor am I saying it was intentionally let loose, what I am entertaining is the idea that one party, after viewing the way the virus worked, saw an opportunity and leveraged it by not completely containing it within their boundaries will suppressing information about the severity of it until it got out. I know you think I am full of shit but I have seen the good and the bad in people and I have seen the good and bad in nation’s actions. Maybe I am cynical but I believe it is highly probable that the virus was not contained so an advantage could accrue that could shift the balance of things. I think nation states do that kind of shit all the time. I bet even Canada has a skeleton or two hidden somewhere.
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Yep, I am not the most travelled fellow but I have been to quite a few countries and since many times I was visiting my dad who was working there or family friends from there I met a good number of locals and you conclusion is pretty clearly correct.
Sadly many governments like it that way to allow them to push their policies.
Having said that - there are clearly governments that don't do the best thing for its own citizens let alone act in good faith with other countries. I think we can put the Chinese government firmly in the bad actors group. I personally, when I write and speak about other governments, try refer to them as the government of X in an attempt to separate my criticisms for said government from the people from place X. It's a small thing and I'm sure I mess up but I feel its my small part in trying to separate the acts of a government from the people it represents.
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Indeed - that analysis of the state of the art of gene editing and virus research makes no comment at all about what happened after the outbreak started. Clearly the Chinese goverment tried to hide the truth at the very least. That's their normal mode - I find it an odd obsession - they would rather let their own citizens get sick and die than admit something bad is going on and act to make things better. It's sad really.
It's all about not losing face with them. Motivates everything they do. Trust me , my Dad had the experience of dealing with them on a big purchase and his experience was that in negotiations "it was all about them not losing face". If they conceded anything to a non-Chinese, that was a major loss of face. And that's why I think they let it loose. First, if they look incompetent to the rest of the world, they lose face. Second, if they can create an issue by letting a virus "out" with a world leader who has been taking them to task and they have had to make some concessions (major loss of face) on trade, so be it. It's payback time in the face loss department.
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I totally agree that the loss of face concern leads one to make sub optimal decisions. I know whenever I have made that my reason for doing anything I always end up looking back on it and regretting it. That mode of operations though is very short term focused and frequently does not lead to good long term planning. Things like pretending that a disease does not exist fits that, fighting like crazy to prevent true data about the extent of the outbreak fits that, pretending that everything is OK now when it likely is not fits that. I don't think that figuring out that doing a slap dab job and letting the virus out on purpose actually fits that mode of operation. Especially once you factor in that the outbreak in Europe likely started in December before the Chinese government internally even accepted it was a thing.
I think the very low level of competence and basic caring for its own citizens, by the Chinese government, is a much better explanation for why they failed to protect them and thus put the rest of the world at risk.
I think the very low level of competence and basic caring for its own citizens, by the Chinese government, is a much better explanation for why they failed to protect them and thus put the rest of the world at risk.
Hey, we ain't going to win any kudo's for the way it's been handled here. And as I mentioned previously my family had COVID like symptoms in late November- early December last year. But I also think the virus was out in 2018 in China. I think it made it to the US sometime last year. Many kids at the University of Kansas came down with this thing last fall. I am not saying it was COVID, but the doctor at the clinic I got tested at said that he and the other doctors are remembering that they had a bunch of folks with flu-like symptoms last Fall that tested negative for the flu. he also stated in looking back that in his opinion it might have been COVID. Ironically there were news stories talking about how the flu vaccine really missed the mark this past flu season.
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It will be interesting to see how that information shakes out as we learn more. People in my son's lab (analytical chemistry) were feeling crappy a couple of months before this go going too. As COVID broke we figured that their flu like symptoms were too early. Might have to reconsider that.
This morning I read some articles on the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation). The ABC is Australia's national broadcaster, based on the BBC.
It is principally funded by direct grants from the Australian government but is expressly independent of government and partisan politics.
Even in a democratic country, the ABC is under pressure. Government officials trying to cut its funding and even to shut it down.
Recently it has come under government attack, like the Australian Federal Police raiding their head office (and homes of journalists) to snatch info on whistleblower materials relating to SAS war crimes in Afghanistan.
The government has also recently prosecuted a whistleblower and his lawyer (a former attorney-general) over an illegal government bugging of East Timor over an oil deal.
They want to have a secret trial, presumably to protect 'national security' (and scrutiny of their illegal behaviour).
One of the articles I read this morning on the ABC website was about several governments in the Asia region who are using the pandemic as an opportunity to crack down on free speech.
Internet surveillance, with people expressing concerns about the pandemic or being critical of their government being arrested and imprisoned. Whoosh! Gone.
The list of governments taking steps to silence speech include Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam.
Australia's Minister for Home Affairs, a newly created portfolio giving oversight of ASIO, the AFP and Border Force.
What could possibly go wrong.
It is principally funded by direct grants from the Australian government but is expressly independent of government and partisan politics.
Even in a democratic country, the ABC is under pressure. Government officials trying to cut its funding and even to shut it down.
Recently it has come under government attack, like the Australian Federal Police raiding their head office (and homes of journalists) to snatch info on whistleblower materials relating to SAS war crimes in Afghanistan.
The government has also recently prosecuted a whistleblower and his lawyer (a former attorney-general) over an illegal government bugging of East Timor over an oil deal.
They want to have a secret trial, presumably to protect 'national security' (and scrutiny of their illegal behaviour).
One of the articles I read this morning on the ABC website was about several governments in the Asia region who are using the pandemic as an opportunity to crack down on free speech.
Internet surveillance, with people expressing concerns about the pandemic or being critical of their government being arrested and imprisoned. Whoosh! Gone.
The list of governments taking steps to silence speech include Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam.
Australia's Minister for Home Affairs, a newly created portfolio giving oversight of ASIO, the AFP and Border Force.
What could possibly go wrong.
Smells like Australia's version of Homeland Security...
It is supposed to be independent of government and partisan politics, it is also supposed to be unbiased, and like its BBC counterpart is heavily biased towards the left on socio-political issues.
As far as I'm concerned, if it can't be an unbiased source of news, then it has no place being taxpayer funded, my tax dollars also pay for the ABC, and I agree with very little of what they have to say.
This rings very true for me, I think the whole 'face' thing encompasses many Asian races. My wife is Thai and it is very much a part of their culture too, people always comment on visiting Thailand and how friendly and smiling the people are, what they don't seem to realise is that Thais, and other asian cultures, are very good at hiding what they truly feel. This is equally the case with Thai to Thai interactions, my wife will tell me she is unhappy about something to do with one of her friends, and even if I suggest that she talks to her friend about it, such a thing is unthinkable for Thais, above all they do not want to deal with a problem by having an awkward, but necessary, conversation.
Confrontation is to be avoided at all costs, instead it will all be hidden behind the 'mask' and she will carry on as if everything is fine. I don't know if this is specifically a Thai issue, or a woman issue, or both.
Not dealing with a personal problem is an alien concept to we westerners, particularly men, if I have an issue with someone at work, I take them aside and talk to them about it - we talk our issues over, sort it out, and then all should be good.
If the guy is being unreasonable and it makes my work harder, then, and only then, will HR be called in to mediate - and fortunately I've never had to take this step. Ironically all companies I've worked for want us to bring in HR immediately instead of working the problem out between us, bugger that, we're both adults and should be able to sort out our differences as men. Nip the issue in the bud, shake hands, done, sorted.
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Yeah it certainly isn't perfect. However,
"The ABC’s editorial independence is enshrined in legislation. The act specifies that the ABC must maintain an independent national broadcasting service.
The ABC is also prohibited from broadcasting advertisements to ensure that it maintains independent of commercial interests."
Most commercial media organisations in Australia are owned by the even more dubious Murdochs, Fairfax, Kerry Stokes and James Packer.
The main point of my post however was to highlight the disturbing developments of the Australian government cracking down on whistleblowers and investigative journalism, and the pattern of crushing free speech emerging in Asia during the pandemic.
"The ABC’s editorial independence is enshrined in legislation. The act specifies that the ABC must maintain an independent national broadcasting service.
The ABC is also prohibited from broadcasting advertisements to ensure that it maintains independent of commercial interests."
Most commercial media organisations in Australia are owned by the even more dubious Murdochs, Fairfax, Kerry Stokes and James Packer.
The main point of my post however was to highlight the disturbing developments of the Australian government cracking down on whistleblowers and investigative journalism, and the pattern of crushing free speech emerging in Asia during the pandemic.
This made me LOL.
Wow, saw on the 'net that you are more likely to get COVID from a family member in your own home than from a stranger in public. Good luck trying to get your family to wear a mask in your own house.
Saw on the 'net today some conventional wisdom expressed - if you can smell a fart when wearing your mask you can probably get COVID. That's a rule to live by.
Saw on the 'net today that most other industrialized nations are sending their kids back to school. Why should the US be different?
Saw on the 'net today where the governor of a prominent US State said something to the effect that "Americans have the right to demonstrate, even violently". What? The 1st Amendment to the US Constitution says Americans have "...the right of the people peaceably to assemble...". So when you have governmental leaders who are so woefully ignorant of the foundations of law in their country as framed by the Founding Fathers, is it any wonder this country is f**ked up?
Saw on the 'net today some conventional wisdom expressed - if you can smell a fart when wearing your mask you can probably get COVID. That's a rule to live by.
Saw on the 'net today that most other industrialized nations are sending their kids back to school. Why should the US be different?
Saw on the 'net today where the governor of a prominent US State said something to the effect that "Americans have the right to demonstrate, even violently". What? The 1st Amendment to the US Constitution says Americans have "...the right of the people peaceably to assemble...". So when you have governmental leaders who are so woefully ignorant of the foundations of law in their country as framed by the Founding Fathers, is it any wonder this country is f**ked up?
1. Other Industrialized nations managed to take the virus seriously, and crushed the transmission rate. Therefore, they get to go back to school. We have taken the exact opposite approach. This is simple to figure out HOA....just where on the ’net’ are you hanging out these days?
2. Please tell me who the Governor is. This smells like BS.
2. Please tell me who the Governor is. This smells like BS.
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