Wuhan virus 2020

[skidman]

Kary Mullis is known for his strange opinions. He said, for example, AIDS did not exist. Back in 1983, when the PCR method was first established, there were numerous factors that could lead to false positive (and false negative) results. But the procedures have been refined remarkably since then and when used for medical or forensic applications strict protocols have to be followed.

The standard Sars-Cov2 PCR test, at least in the EU, is based on detection of two specific sequences not found in any other Coronaviridae. The number of cycles is standardized as is the extraction time and temperature. For me that's good enough, but OK, I've only carried out hundreds of PCR tests myself between 2000 and 2006. What do I know.

Could you please stop spreading lies. Everyone here has recognized you are trying to downplay COVID19 whatever it takes. I get it. Your mission is to prove the pandemic is sensationalized for political reasons (by the loony left of course, the source of all evil), but I doubt anyone on SS falls for your made up stories and faked evidence.

[3catcircus]

Originally Posted by skidman

Kary Mullis is known for his strange opinions. He said, for example, AIDS did not exist. Back in 1983, when the PCR method was first established there were numerous factors that could lead to false positive (and false negative) results. But the procedures have been refined remarkably since then and when used for medical or forensic applications strict protocols have to be followed.

The standard Sars-Cov2 PCR test, at least in the EU, is based on detection of two specific sequences not found in any other Coronaviridae. The number of cycles is standardized as is the extraction time and temperature. For me that's good enough, but OK, I've only carried out hundreds of PCR tests myself between 2000 and 2006. What do I know?

Could you please stop spreading lies? Everyone here has recognized you are trying to downplay COVID19 whatever it takes. I get it. Your mission is to prove the pandemic is sensationalized for political reasons (by the loony left of course, the source of all evil), but I doubt anyone on SS falls for your made up stories and faked evidence.

Why are you denying The guy who *invented* PCR?

Not everywhere may be standardized like the EU. Most places aren't and the disparity in testing protocols and resultant reported cases skews the statistics.

[Catfish]

I take it the video which is being shared everywhere among the mask haters and Covid 19 deniers, is now 30 years old, and tests have been developed and improved. I cannot imagine they did not also do so in the US ?

OT in this context:
New report traces the history of conspiracy theories claiming COVID-19 is a bioweapon:

https://medium.com/dfrlab/new-report...n-49903924182e




b.t.w. again three empty lines between the paragraphs before reediting two times..

[Rockstar]

COVID isn't the only on going health concern. If I remember correctly from the outset the primary reason for the current response was to prevent overwhelming all ready strained hospital and ICU availability. Is there anyway to tell if COVID had any impact on the availability hospital and ICU beds. Or are hospitals just dealing with the same 'routine' occupancy and ICU bed shortage they've always been known to have?

[3catcircus]

Originally Posted by Rockstar

COVID isn't the only on going health concern. If I remember correctly from the outset the primary reason for the current response was to prevent overwhelming all ready strained hospital and ICU availability. Is there anyway to tell if COVID had any impact on the availability hospital and ICU beds. Or are hospitals just dealing with the same 'routine' occupancy and ICU bed shortage they've always been known to have?

Funny. The media in various states and cities breathlessly reported ICU occupancies were in the 90+% range "due to COVID" not expecting people to question the narrative - because most people don't realize that ICUs in most US hospitals normally run them roughly 85% occupied in order to make a profit. The ideal overall hospital occupancy is 75-85% depending upon day of the week - and number of beds is less important than *bed-hours* in determining overload status.

Additionally, in *many* places in the US, the number of available beds is low because you're a rural hospital serving a community that may consist off multiple outlying counties and may only have a few dozen total beds .

https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/2016/089.pdf

This is only through 2014, but you can clearly see - the larger the number of beds in a hospital, the higher the occupancy - because you need them occupied to bill for services. A large number of empty beds and unoccupied staff = loss of profit.

Here's a current estimate of covid impact on hospital occupancy for 2021:

https://www.aha.org/statistics/fast-facts-us-hospitals

[Buddahaid]

They primarily staff nursing based on patient load, not available beds. Also public and not for profit hospitals aren't getting rich. They have to serve whomever comes into the ER whether they have insurance, or not, by law. Also not for profit hospitals have charitable outreach services to serve the poor in the community. Fees are regulated so profits are tight and reducing hospital stay times in one of the ways to stay afloat.

You need to look beyond the excesses of some for profit groups and shady pill mill doctors.

Another thing is it's very expensive to run a hospital, far more so than a typical business because of all the regulation and inspection processes they need to pass in order to get government funding help like Medicare.

[August]

Originally Posted by Buddahaid

They primarily staff nursing based on patient load, not available beds.

And patient load is determined by the number of beds and other available hospital facilities I would think.

[3catcircus]

Originally Posted by Buddahaid

They primarily staff nursing based on patient load, not available beds.

I don't doubt it. But the patient load isn't just a simple x number of beds. As I indicated, it's really "bed-hours."

(Population x attack rate x ICU rate x ICU length of stay)/ length of outbreak = number of ICU beds.

And that's still a simplification of what it really is.

Even nonprofits still adhere to a plan for occupancy because, even though they're "nonprofit," they still can't continuously operate in the red and hope to continue serving their communities.

The whole "flatten the curve" was intended to prevent sending a horde of people to every hospital all at once. It was never intended to result in no one getting sick.

As to treating anyone - the reason that insurance payments are so high is because those that have insurance partially end up subsidizing those who don't have insurance.

Every time I've had an ER visit for myself or my family, I pay my copay and my insurance company gets a bill. Without fail, they pay the contracted rate and issue an EOB that clearly states that I'm not responsible for paying the remainder above what they already payed. Without fail, the hospital sends me a bill for the remainder, at which point I have to call the insurance company to get on a 3-way phone call to tell the hospital they're not getting any more money from me or the insurance because that were paid what they agreed to be paid in the contract that signed with the insurance company.

How much time and effort is wasted having administrators to go through this process instead of just writing off the uninsured treatments - that's funding that could've been spent on more hospital supplies or hiring more medical staff? That's the one thing that other countries have an advantage over the US in when it comes to health care - no one is trying to squeeze patients for payment.

[Rockstar]

I was using this, https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/us-map , seems to be updated frequently. It shows some counties at or very near 100% capacity. Would they have been worse off without COVID restrictions or is it just another day in the life for that county? I just dont know. Does seem though the argument for or against restrictions and personal protection has strayed far from what I thought was the original intent. Now the argument has turned once again about believers and unbelievers.

Another thing about these restrictions is I don't feel infringed upon by them at all. I've traveled over 4000 miles from Maryland to outlying states, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina. Been to Florida twice in the last five months, been to restaurants, department stores, highway rest stops, hotels, grocery stores, even used vault toilets at parks. Only thing that's really changed for me is I now keep masks, hand sanitizer in the car and self isolate when I return home before venturing out again. For me life hasn't really changed at all.

[Jimbuna]

[Jimbuna]

[Buddahaid]

Originally Posted by August

And patient load is determined by the number of beds and other available hospital facilities I would think.

It's how many patients admitted at that time. They don't staff if patients aren't there.

[Skybird]

Brussels' "vaccination socialism".

https://translate.google.com/transla...pfsozialismus/

------------

• "The European Commission ordered too late, limited its focus to only a few pharmaceutical companies, agreed on a price in a typically bureaucratic EU manner and completely underestimated the fundamental importance of the situation. We now have a situation where grandchildren in Israel are already vaccinated but the grandparents here are still waiting. That's just completely wrong." — Markus Söder, Bavarian premier and possible future German chancellor.
• "I now fear that the European Union will find itself in the impossible situation of having to prolong some of the existing [Covid-19] restrictions beyond the summer, while both Britain and the United States start to normalize. That is the cost of the vaccine delays: a very high cost in lives, prestige and further economic losses." — Bruno Maçães, political scientist and former Portuguese Europe Minister.
• "The commission decided to aggrandize its competence and it wasn't up to the job — it didn't have the right people or the right skills." — Adrian Wooldridge, political editor, The Economist.
• "In the dispute over the delivery delay of the AstraZeneca vaccine, the EU Commission is currently making the best advertisement for Brexit: It is acting slowly, bureaucratically and protectionist. And if something goes wrong, it's everyone else's fault." — Bettina Schulz, commentator, Die Zeit.

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/1...nation-failure

[Jimbuna]

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon is to announce whether more pupils will start to return to Scottish classrooms from next week.

Schools in Wales begin the process of reopening on Monday; in Northern Ireland, schools remain closed to most pupils until at least 8 March.

In England, PM Boris Johnson will set out a roadmap for easing lockdown - including opening schools - on 22 February.

People must be "optimistic but patient" about the coronavirus situation in the UK and the end to restrictions, the PM said on Monday.

The newly-appointed head of the World Trade Organization has told the BBC that vaccine protectionism must be overcome to solve the pandemic.

Lockdown has seen a "disturbing" rise in the number of blind people experiencing distressing hallucinations, according to the RNIB charity.

Globally, there have now been more than 109 million confirmed Covid cases and 2.4 million deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University.

[Jimbuna]

Arrivals in England who are required to quarantine in a hotel face an additional £1,200 bill if they test positive for coronavirus, the government says. This is on top of the £1,750 cost for the entering the quarantine hotel programme and will apply to guests forced to extend their stay beyond the initial 11 nights.

Poland is witnessing a growth in new coronavirus infections, according to Health Minister Adam Niedzielski.
He says there were over 1,000 more infections on Tuesday than a week earlier, with the average seven-day trend is positive for the first time since mid-November, excluding the post-Christmas anomaly period.
The Health Ministry says there were 5,178 new infections and 196 virus-related deaths in the previous 24 hours.

The Dutch curfew must be lifted immediately, the preliminary relief judge in The Hague concluded.
The curfew has been established on the basis of an emergency law, which states that a cabinet can introduce rules in an emergency without consulting the House of Representatives and the Senate.
But, according to the court, the curfew is not an emergency "as is the case with a dyke breach".
The lifting of the curfew is effective immediately.

France is to hold experimental concerts in Paris and Marseille in the spring to work out how to reopen the culture sector. Culture Minister Roselyne Bachelot says she’s very optimistic about seated events but standing events are more complicated. If all goes according to plan, 1,000 people will attend a seated event at the Marseille Dôme venue in the second half of March with the audience having the chance to stand up.

Italy’s last-minute decision to halt the reopening of ski resorts until 5 March has prompted the new government’s first row. Local governors and some ministers are furious and a flash mob staged a protest at the northern resort of Bardonecchia.

The Czech government has approved plans for a “state of danger” to replace a state of emergency rejected last week by MPs. Many but not all the emergency powers will be available. The government in Prague wants to gradually reopen schools from 1 March.

Germany's BDI industry federation has warned of major consequences because of border closures with the Czech Republic and Austria's Tyrol region. Director Joachim Lang says there's a risk of European supply chains breaking down.

An opposition motion of no confidence in Slovenia’s government for its handling of Covid and for alleged undemocratic behaviour has failed by six votes. Opposition MPs accused PM Janez Jansa of trying to turn Slovenia into an “authoritarian democracy”.