the no-nonsense, nothing-but-the-facts-m'am C19 thread

[jeremyp]

Meanwhile from Iran......Tehran on Wednesday reported 1,680 new infections, nearly double the figure four days ago and the highest daily figure since 11 April when it allowed a phased return to work amid fears of economic collapse. A ban on travel between cities and business at shopping malls has since also been lifted.

“We are witnessing a rising trend in the past three or four days,” said a health ministry spokesman, Kianoush Jahanpour, blaming “our behaviour, especially in the past two weeks. A part of society has apparently had a change of attitude.”

[Conor Dary]

Already posted..dude.

Dude yourself....Lots of posts have been duplicates of stuff I posted already.....I occasionally, but not often, note it...but I don't make insults about it. I make a point to read what was posted but I do miss some...I hadn't seen that particular Swedish story before....

[bhall]

An Update on COVID-19 Immunity with Arturo Casadevall

http://johnshopkinssph.libsyn.com/an-update-on-covid-19-immunity-with-arturo-casadevall?tdest_id=1899134

[The Klingon]

Some of yall are skating on thin ice. LOL!!

[Tuariki]

New Zealand and Australia are discussing about having a trans-Tasman bubble allowing free unrestricted travel between our countries.

Our borders will otherwise remain closed.

[polevaultpower]

This is one of the reasons why "corona deaths" is a somewhat subtle question. If an 80 year old former smoker with a dilated atrium, high blood pressure and asthma dies in a hospital of cardiac arrest after a terrible bout with the corona virus it is quite a bit different a category as a 30 year old perfect health female yoga instructor dying of the virus.

Yes, they both died "of" corona virus. The 30 year olds death tells us something much more significant about the virus, the 80 year olds death tells us not nearly as much.

Having just seen a 59 year old friend die of the virus after working a long week in a nursing home and knowing that he had asthma but was otherwise in near perfect health tells me that at present this virus is quite a bad ass bat lung ninja. If an 85 year old obese smoker dies of CV19 its not as strong evidence for the same conclusion. The same holds for the aggregate statistics. Once they are broken down into proper categories we can make a clear picture of how deadly the virus is.

This is an issue around how infectious disease deaths are reported in the US, it is not unique to coronavirus.

If you have an positive test for influenza, and you get sick and die, it is an influenza death. And then they multiply that by a number to estimate total flu deaths because we don't really test for it all that aggressively.

The only measles death in the US was someone they didn't even know had measles, they had multiple comorbidities and they only knew they had measles because of post-mortem testing.

So at least they are consistent in doing it the same way for coronavirus, even though _some_ of the deaths are in people who would have died anyway of something else.

[Conor Dary]

Meanwhile....

The Problem With Stories About Dangerous Coronavirus Mutations

There’s no clear evidence that the pandemic virus has evolved into significantly different forms—and there probably won’t be for months.

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2020/05/coronavirus-strains-transmissible/611239/

[gh]

uh-oh! (Behind paywall)

‘A Bargain With the Devil’—Bill Comes Due for Overextended Airbnb Hosts

Entrepreneurs built mini-empires of short-term rental properties, borrowing against revenue that’s now vanishing under coronavirus lockdowns

https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-bargain-with-the-devilbill-comes-due-for-overextended-airbnb-hosts-11588083336?mod=e2fb&fbclid=IwAR0OpKpcGIR4KtYJ4L0yDPjTrAnwA4WmpsMpoCY_xM1hb5aGDZLjtkBRfrk

[Conor Dary]

The company's future doesn't look bright either....


The layoffs at Airbnb cast a dark shadow over Silicon Valley

Airbnb is laying off a quarter of its staff.

https://www.vox.com/recode/2020/5/5/21248381/airbnb-layoffs-brian-chesky-startups-coronavirus-pandemic-revenue

[user4]

‘A Bargain With the Devil’—Bill Comes Due for Overextended Airbnb Hosts

Entrepreneurs built mini-empires of short-term rental properties, borrowing against revenue that’s now vanishing under coronavirus lockdowns

Another silver lining to the covid cloud.

[El Toro]

Meanwhile....

The Problem With Stories About Dangerous Coronavirus Mutations

There’s no clear evidence that the pandemic virus has evolved into significantly different forms—and there probably won’t be for months.

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2020/05/coronavirus-strains-transmissible/611239/

Yeah, there's been some terrible clickbait headlines and hysterical commentary.

The reality is that these mutations are the equivalent of localised versions of English. American English is different from Indian English which is different from UK English where English English is different from Scottish English, etc. etc.

While you can identify clear differences (mutations) in vocabulary, phrasing and accent, none of these variations affect the functionality of the language - everybody can still communicate effectively with everybody else.

LIkewise, the mutations in the virus are minor and don't affect its ability to infect cells or kill you. This virus will continue to mutate but its effectiveness is unlikely to change except possibly over the very long term, not over weeks or months.

[El Toro]

A literature reveiw of transmission dynamics for coronavirus via Twitter. Very high signal to noise ratio with no nonsense and nothing but the facts, from a ma'am.

https://twitter.com/mugecevik/status/1257392347010215947

[18.99s]

40 years later and there is still no HIV vaccine.

Because HIV operates in a completely different way. Everybody who recovered from COVID-19 is alive because their immune system eventually got rid of the virus, whereas nobody's immune system has been able to get rid of HIV (except maybe for some reports of a few people with a rare genetic mutation).

The fact that over 95% of infected people have an effective immune response to the coronavirus is an indicator of the realistic possibility of a vaccine for it, much more likely than a vaccine for HIV.

[norunner]

Germany's Bundesliga (premier soccer league) will resume play next week without spectators in the stadiums. Probably the first major league to resume activity, it will be interesting to watch how fans will react. If thousands meet in front of stadiums, the season could end again very quickly, but if it actually works out, it could be a positive sign for other sports leagues around the world.

[gh]

and in the "you can't make this shit up" category:

5G coronavirus conspiracy theory results in 77 mobile towers burned, report says


Attacks on cell towers continue across the UK.

https://www.cnet.com/health/5g-coronavirus-conspiracy-theory-sees-77-mobile-towers-burned-report-says/#ftag=CAD590a51e