You are entirely correct. I think that is why we held out as long as we did.
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Oh, absolutely. It is still part of the fucked up US healthcare system. We just don’t have that additional layer of fuckery on top of it.
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On CNN’s front page just now:
Counters…grocery packaging…both are…surfaces…
If there’s no need to wipe down one, why the need to wipe down the other??
Gah!
I often think all we’re really wiping away is a bit of fear anxiety.
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Some mostly positive news (although it does complicate testing)
The country’s central clinical committee for emerging disease control said there was no live virus present in such cases, positively refuting theories like the virus being reactivated or reinfection.
They said that apparent reinfection cases came because fragments of the virus remained in their bodies and showed up in test kits.
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Bathroom counters can be a source of transmission between people living together; bathrooms are clouds of invisible water droplets, that fall on all the hard surfaces.
If you’re living alone, then of course you should keep your counters clean so that if you’re hit by a bus the people who come to the apartment after you’re gone won’t judge you.
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I gave myself a home hair cut with scissors. I’ve invented a new style. I call it the “Travertine Terrace”.
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It actually might make sense.
The virus has different survial probabilities on different surfaces. Also, in case of toilets, the virus can be detected in large amounts in faeces for a long time (though there is no indication that it is still infectious, it’s probably better to be prudent - there’s a case from the first SARS epidemic which is not purely anecdotal and has been backed up by lab science to be possible.)
Bottom line, y’all: don’t be confused about apparently conflicting advice. There are many factors to be considered. And headlines don’t allow for this kind of nuance, nor are journalists (and the general public) trained to be precise, and (above all) able to consider different probabilities.
At the moment, to the best of my knowledge, there is little evidence that contact infections are a relevant factor in this pandemic. If you want to be careful, wash your hands several times, don’t touch everything and especially not your face, and above all: keep your distance.
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One thing about the new version of Leverage. No one should be able to claim that the villains are unrealistically evil. (They weren’t in the original, but people thought they were because reality wasn’t quite as blatantly in everyone’s faces).
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Drosten covered SK’s cases of testing of recovered patients a while ago1 in the (now twice-weekly) interview podcast. Bottom line: medical (and testing) lab/reporting culture is different compared to, in this case, Germany. From his experience in working with Asian colleagues in the public health sector, he says that they often do everything extremely thorough and by the book. This, he explained, means labs and authorities also report findings which would raise eyebrows in Germany. Quoting him, about Germany: “[Here,] results are questioned relatively quickly and rules are always seen with the possibility of an exception.”
He suggested that the virus was detected due to high sensitivity of the PCR, and compared it to “fishing for gold fish in a swimming pool” and went on to explain that when you take some samples (i.e., buckets of water) and don’t find a goldfish, you might think the pool is devoid of goldfish (and, in case of Covid-19, release the patient). However, testing again, later could lead to finding another goldfish. (I’ll add, staying in the image, that would be ok as long as the fish isn’t actually reproducing, especially not reproducing exponentially. A dead goldfish would be optimal, and this seems to be the case here. Or rather, they found some pieces of goldfish.)
There’s a broader implication in what he described.
I know this is a sensitive issue, but we have to account for different local and regional cultures and habits when comparing results, and even scientific reports. This is one reason why I argue that you can’t just copy measures taken against a virus like this. It is important to realise that even in official scientific reports a lot goes unsaid because the writers assume that everyone understands the relevant contexts. Upthread, I mentioned Amoy Gardens2. The WHO lists this as a SARS superspreading event via plumbing, and
I want to highlight different cultural, habitual and legal context in one example of a measure, again.
Germany is slowly coming to terms with community masks, and struggles to do so. This would not be a problem in most Asian countries, because people there are already used to wearing a mask.
In Germany, we e.g. have a discussion if you can wear a facemask in your own car. Even though § 23 Abs. 4 StVO basically says you can’t, but legal consensus right seems to be that you can wear a mask as long as it only covers your mouth and nose, and the rest of your face is visible. There are now discussions if an employer can force employees to wear a mask, or - especially interesting - force employees not to wear a mask. Apparently, some employers object having employees wearing masks because they have contact with customers (and “your face is the face of the company”, I presume). This will need legal clearance, soon. Culturally, seeing someones face is very highly valued around here and even already took precedent (legally!) over religious freedom. (We had interesting cases if people could wear a hijab in school, or court.) So, a wild mix of stuff to consider, but the current willingness to wear a mask is high. Social pressure in Germany is also quite a thing: the majority of people do not want to stand out, and if more people are wearing a facemask in public, many will follow.
1: Try Google Translate, it will give you a nearly understandable version.
2: Just a very speculative footnote - please don’t overinterpret my curiosity: I would be quite interested in the opinion of experienced “western” epidemiologists if the related reporting, research and publication could also be due to the described thoroughness of authorities and researchers in HK. It is quite standing out, but then, the case seems to be especially interesting for a city with such a population density and amount of high-rise communities.
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I feel that the Flowbee’s reputation is unreasonably undercut. It’s how astronauts (and cosmonauts) get their hair cut at the International Space Station:
OT, I know… but if you are self-isolating, and you have a electric clipper and a shopvac, it’s not hard to combine the two.
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I guess it was really only a matter of time before economic circumstances drove Musk to go full Trump.
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I don’t when think it’s a matter of circumstance, he’s been steadily careening into narcissistic separation from reality for a while now.
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Wait, what? Really?
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Word, Leverage’s reboot is quite timely, given the current level of unbelievable fuckery…
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I said it before: Bezos, the Waltons, the Weston family, etc… all of them sell things people need. They’re not panicking in this pandemic, because business is fine.
Musk went after the luxury market. A market that – unlike food and delivery of goods – isn’t considered desirable when people are staying the fuck home. Sure, when you could feel superior in a world when everyone was driving everywhere, but now? And all his other hobby businesses cost money.
So, he’s panicking. He’s not the golden boy, anymore. People can see he’s just a dillitante playing with grandaddy’s money. Hence the need to do what every fraud does: outrageous things to distract from the truth.
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