Off Topic Coronavirus

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Staines R's said:
Sorry if this offends anyone but my random thoughts......

It seems to me that there are some who think that anyone who dares to question anything about the virus and the measures being taken against it are somehow delusional and are branded ‘COVID deniers’....burn them at the stake the bloody heretics !!
I’m also seeing an avalanche of emotion on social media of reports of that person, this person dying of COVID and how terrible others are to question anything to do with COVID, trying it seems to shame people into acceptance if everything.

It’s as if too many questions are being asked
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I am amongst the first to challenge the government handling of this crisis and have been critised here many times for it.
But I will not stop challenging people who claim the virus is nothing dangerous or does not even exist
 
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qprbeth said:
I am amongst the first to challenge the government handling of this crisis and have been critised here many times for it.
But I will not stop challenging people who claim the virus is nothing dangerous or does not even exist
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Ultimately then, most of us are singing from the same hymn sheet. There plainly is a virus, it’s clearly nasty to some, fatal to others and doesn’t touch many. So we come back to the handling, the proportions and their consequences. Ineptitude or malevolence. Who knows?
 
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Woodyhoopleson said:
....although there are serious questions to be asked about the validity of the test results. Still ongoing as far as I know.
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My son has just done the postal antibody test conducted by Imperial College/IPSOS MORI on behalf of the NHS. He tested negative i.e. implies that he has not had the virus.

But, given the doubts about the validity of test results, should we assume that he has, in all likelihood, actually had the virus?

I’m just having a laugh. If the doubt is from the Carl Heneghan stuff, I think this article is helpful. It seems to me that the argument is about the definition of a case rather than the validity of a test. Including lots of asymptomatic and possibly non infectious people in the ‘case’ figures might be misleading, and in fact the PCR test might be too sensitive, detecting single, non infectious strands of virus DNA. It looks like an arcane debate between scientists to me.

https://www.bmj.com/content/370/bmj.m3374

So, as usual, my interpretation seems to differ from yours. And the ease with which the same data can be interpreted differently is one of our root cause problems, when all we all want is definitive answers to things.

Ineptitude.
 
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sb_73 said:
My son has just done the postal antibody test conducted by Imperial College/IPSOS MORI on behalf of the NHS. He tested negative i.e. implies that he has not had the virus.

But, given the doubts about the validity of test results, should we assume that he has, in all likelihood, actually had the virus?

I’m just having a laugh. If the doubt is from the Carl Heneghan stuff, I think this article is helpful. It seems to me that the argument is about the definition of a case rather than the validity of a test. Including lots of asymptomatic and possibly non infectious people in the ‘case’ figures might be misleading, and in fact the PCR test might be too sensitive, detecting single, non infectious strands of virus DNA. It looks like an arcane debate between scientists to me.

https://www.bmj.com/content/370/bmj.m3374

So, as usual, my interpretation seems to differ from yours. And the ease with which the same data can be interpreted differently is one of our root cause problems, when all we all want is definitive answers to things.

Ineptitude.
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I’ll read that later, cheers.
 
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qprbeth said:
I am amongst the first to challenge the government handling of this crisis and have been critised here many times for it.
But I will not stop challenging people who claim the virus is nothing dangerous or does not even exist
Click to expand...

Sometimes though Beth, and I’m not pointing the finger at you particularly, but it’s the WAY people who question are challenged.
 
Staines R's said:
Sometimes though Beth, and I’m not pointing the finger at you particularly, but it’s the WAY people who question are challenged.
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This is an interesting point...much like how some remainers challenge brexiteers ( ie think they are ignorant ).

I bet someone somewhere has tried to link how remainers/brexiteers think about coronavirus and its severity!
 
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surreyhoop said:
This is an interesting point...much like how some remainers challenge brexiteers ( ie think they are ignorant ).

I bet someone somewhere has tried to link how remainers/brexiteers think about coronavirus and its severity!
Click to expand...

I don’t think it’s a perfect left/right or Remain/Blue Passport stupid ****s split but there’s definitely pressure predominantly from the right to open up quicker / play down Covid.

Some people may suggest this is related to the government’s shambolic handling of the situation meaning it’s in their interests for other things to dominate the news. Not me, of course.
 
sb_73 said:
I think it’s pretty clear that there is a massive tension at the heart of this between those who are concerned about the impact of the virus and those who are concerned about the impact of the response to the virus. But nowhere do I see the debate being stifled or suppressed. Then again, apart from here, I don’t do social media. But I do see plenty of mainstream media platforms for people like Peter Hitchens and Lord Sumption, and plenty of people in Parliament (mostly Tories) arguing the libertarian side of the case.

The way I see it is - the virus exists and can have devastating consequences for large numbers of people. The efforts to control the virus will damage the economy (have damaged the economy) and will upset those who are very focussed on their individual ‘rights’. The ‘cure’ could be as bad as or worse than the disease. Getting the balance right is the job of government based on scientific evidence. So far this has been a bit of a fiasco, neither curing the disease nor avoiding the side effects of the treatment. And we are all getting increasingly wound up and neurotic as a result, and because, in these times of ‘rights’ and instant gratification, this has gone on for longer than our puny attention spans can cope with, and our skins are too thin to manage the differences of perspective.

There is right on both sides.
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Excellent post SB. It’s a mire for sure, and those who can only deal with black and white clearly struggle with the multiplicity of grey shades that the virus, it’s impact and the response has dealt us all. It clearly has lots of people roaming their minds with their hands on their heads looking for the simple answer. Trouble is there isn’t one answer.
 
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So now in the North East you can only go to a pub or restaurant with people from your own household.....but you can go to work (and school) with whoever.

Whatever your basic position on this stuff it seems to me that it cannot be denied that the measures are confusing, contradictory and knee jerk. Closing pubs and restaurants while keeping shops and schools open next I’m guessing.

Tell you what, a decent and rapid testing service would make a big difference......

Just heard from my daughter that the police are out in the student residential zone asking people if they are from the same household.
 
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Staines R's said:
Sorry if this offends anyone but my random thoughts......

It seems to me that there are some who think that anyone who dares to question anything about the virus and the measures being taken against it are somehow delusional and are branded ‘COVID deniers’....burn them at the stake the bloody heretics !!
I’m also seeing an avalanche of emotion on social media of reports of that person, this person dying of COVID and how terrible others are to question anything to do with COVID, trying it seems to shame people into acceptance if everything.

It’s as if too many questions are being asked
Click to expand...

I only get cross with people who suggest that it's just a hoax.
Questioning the death totals, whether the restrictions work etc etc is completely valid imo.
 
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