Coronavirus (COVID-19)

[Wee Willie]

This is a fascinating article from the Rolling Stone Magazine

The Unraveling of America

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/political-commentary/covid-19-end-of-american-era-wade-davis-1038206/?fbclid=IwAR3y7pPUQ7lx2igelAM_P1i_6hwMDq509PN9lv00eSz2e6jrKZl4Thcmti4

 

…The fastest vaccine ever developed was for mumps. It took four years. COVID-19 killed 100,000 Americans in four months...

 

…To this day, American troops are deployed in 150 countries. Since the 1970s, China has not once gone to war; the U.S. has not spent a day at peace. President Jimmy Carter recently noted that in its 242-year history, America has enjoyed only 16 years of peace, making it, as he wrote, “the most warlike nation in the history of the world.”…

 

…Since 2001, the U.S. has spent over $6 trillion on military operations and war, money that might have been invested in the infrastructure of home. China, meanwhile, built its nation, pouring more cement every three years than America did in the entire 20th century…

 

…As America policed the world, the violence came home. On D-Day, June 6th, 1944, the Allied death toll was 4,414; in 2019, domestic gun violence had killed that many American men and women by the end of April…

 

…For every person who has died in British Columbia, 44 have perished in Massachusetts, a state with a comparable population that has reported more COVID cases than all of Canada. As of July 30th, even as rates of COVID infection and death soared across much of the United States, with 59,629 new cases reported on that day alone, hospitals in British Columbia registered a total of just five COVID patients…

[welshbairn]

Before I read the rest of this article I'd just like to point out that the mumps vaccine was first developed in 1967, the science has moved a long way since then. 

[madwullie]

Restrictions coming into force in Preston tomorrow. 

[Todd_is_God]

10 minutes ago, madwullie said:

Restrictions coming into force in Preston tomorrow. 

Averaging 7 cases per day. Incredible.

Giving local councils the power to enforce local lockdowns in England is mental when you see things like that.

Edited August 7, 2020 by Todd_is_God

[Wee Willie]

14 minutes ago, welshbairn said:

Before I read the rest of this article I'd just like to point out that the mumps vaccine was first developed in 1967, the science has moved a long way since then. 

Fair do's but I'm only the messenger

[welshbairn]

28 minutes ago, Wee Willie said:

Fair do's but I'm only the messenger

I've got a few quibbles but I haven't seen a better summing up of what's been going on across the pond. He left out what Eisenhower called the military industrial complex meaning that in order for Congressmen to justify demanding more dollars for arms factories and and military bases in their states, amounting to multiple times more than they needed for defence, they had an urgent motive to justify it with more wars. Anyway, here's a quote I thought summed it up.

Quote

 To live in Canada today is like owning an apartment above a meth lab.

 

Edited August 7, 2020 by welshbairn

[Gaz]

I see that 40% of estimated grades are to be marked down in England, where there is no right of appeal.

I'm sure those that have criticised the SNP over the past few days will be applying equal criticism (if not more) to the Conservative government at Westminster.

[Billy Jean King]

Averaging 7 cases per day. Incredible.
Giving local councils the power to enforce local lockdowns in England is mental when you see things like that.

Again a "plucked" figure. Seven is the rolling average since the middle of June. Of course you knew that but you intentionally post shit to suit your agenda. The 7 day rolling average (the last week, the one that prompted the action) is 49 so 7 times your preferred figure.

[Todd_is_God]

6 minutes ago, Billy Jean King said:

37 minutes ago, Todd_is_God said:

Averaging 7 cases per day. Incredible.
Giving local councils the power to enforce local lockdowns in England is mental when you see things like that.

Again a "plucked" figure. Seven is the rolling average since the middle of June. Of course you knew that but you intentionally post shit to suit your agenda. The 7 day rolling average (the last week, the one that prompted the action) is 49 so 7 times your preferred figure.

Wrong

Edited August 7, 2020 by Todd_is_God

[Mark Connolly]

5 minutes ago, Gaz said:

I see that 40% of estimated grades are to be marked down in England, where there is no right of appeal.

I'm sure those that have criticised the SNP over the past few days will be applying equal criticism (if not more) to the Conservative government at Westminster.

Sturgeon and Swinney made them do it so they could save face.

[Doctor]

On 06/08/2020 at 09:58, Tutankhamen said:

Why the big rush to open pubs in the first place?

we live in a society rife with people who can't go a week without alcohol 

[Melanius Mullarkey]

1 hour ago, Todd_is_God said:

the number of daily cases is looking like it wants to start coming down again.

 

[vikingTON]

18 minutes ago, Gaz said:

I see that 40% of estimated grades are to be marked down in England, where there is no right of appeal.

I'm sure those that have criticised the SNP over the past few days will be applying equal criticism (if not more) to the Conservative government at Westminster.

Further proof, as if it were needed, that the 'professionals' in the education sector (teachers + management) couldn't be trusted to run a Craggy Island raffle fairly never mind actually determine final grades based on their wee stars' tremendous class performance.

[welshbairn]

1 hour ago, Todd_is_God said:

Well no, because you are comparing two very different sets of data. It'll do the job, but it's like using a flamethrower to kill a spide.

Advise a cautionary note to the vulnerable to avoid higher risk activities if you detect a little increase in a particular area.

Shutting venues down should be a last resort, not the first.

I've no idea what your agenda is. One day you're supporting masks and distancing as a sensible way to allow the pubs to open, as soon as they open it's stupid and unnecessary as the shielded are dying anyway so what's the point.

[Monkey Tennis]

25 minutes ago, Gaz said:

I see that 40% of estimated grades are to be marked down in England, where there is no right of appeal.

 Where did you see that? 

That's on an altogether different scale.  

[Todd_is_God]

3 minutes ago, welshbairn said:

I've no idea what your agenda is. One day you're supporting masks and distancing as a sensible way to allow the pubs to open, as soon as they open it's stupid and unnecessary as the shielded are dying anyway so what's the point.

It's not really that hard to follow.

Masks and distancing is fine.

Unless hospital admissions show signs of increasing we should continue to gradually open more and more.

Panicking and closing things again because a few young people test positive is nonsense.

[Gaz]

11 minutes ago, Monkey Tennis said:

 Where did you see that? 

That's on an altogether different scale.  

It's the second story on The Guardian's website.

Not yet on the BBC.

[madwullie]

49 minutes ago, Gaz said:

I see that 40% of estimated grades are to be marked down in England, where there is no right of appeal.

I'm sure those that have criticised the SNP over the past few days will be applying equal criticism (if not more) to the Conservative government at Westminster.

I'm not criticising it because it's the snp, it's because I think it's wrong. There will be plenty snp members whose kids will be affected by this. It goes beyond party politics imo (as does CV) 

I'm not particularly interested in the grades of English students. I know their government is a wreck. I believe ours can do better. 

[madwullie]

31 minutes ago, welshbairn said:

I've no idea what your agenda is. One day you're supporting masks and distancing as a sensible way to allow the pubs to open, as soon as they open it's stupid and unnecessary as the shielded are dying anyway so what's the point.

Always supported the Swedish method, but also supports mandatory masking and distancing. Despises local lockdowns but thinks measures amounting to local lockdowns are sensible. 

Edited August 7, 2020 by madwullie

[Monkey Tennis]

12 minutes ago, Gaz said:

It's the second story on The Guardian's website.

Not yet on the BBC.

Thanks - just had a look.

It sounds horrendous.  Schools can appeal if unhappy in general, but individual appeals aren't an option.

In larger subjects, teacher predictions won't come into it at all.  It's going to be a shitstorm.