Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/04/08/stop-spreading-unconfirmed-cov.html
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Reminds me of what I posted in another covid article thread yesterday:
I wonder if most (all) covid reporting should be accompanied by a breaking news disclaimer (this one curtesy NPR):
This is a developing story. Some things that get reported by the media will later turn out to be wrong. We will focus on reports from police officials and other authorities, credible news outlets and reporters who are at the scene. We will update as the situation develops.
There’s just so much “covid may…” stuff flying around and at this point we really don’t know.
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I have two amazing girls (8 &12) who are going CRAZY. They are both social beasts confined to their zoo(m). The secondary effect is that I’ve lost a lot of hearing (intentional), my brain is being impaired (because I can’t intentionally lose all of my hearing), and I often stare into space and wonder how this will all end.
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Always be wary of #slatepitches.
I’m sure there will be lots of great peer reviewed papers with good r values in 18 months, assuming anyone is alive then to write them.
In the meantime I’m willing to entertain the correlations observed by front line doctors because, as we all know, correlation suggests causation.
But most importantly, it is critical to understand the difference between suggesting an apparent symptom (worst case scenario: someone who doesn’t have it gets tested) and pushing unproven medications (people die). That’s why these symptoms are being actively discussed by doctors.
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Conjunctivitis (pink eye) and anosmia (loss of smell) are symptoms associated with covid in respectable medical papers. Associated is an important word there. The others sound more like cabin fever. self-diagnosis is always dicey, but in the current situation, we are largely left on our own and stuff like that is bound to happen.
edit for typo. Elf diagnosis sounds like fun, though!
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I hear the Coronavirus spreads rumors. Pass it on! 
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I didn’t realize Trump had a stake in chloroquine. Can we please remove him from office-- nay, from the planet? I’m sure Mars could use a wannabe fascist dictator kleptocrat.
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Isn’t covid a lower respiratory infection? That of the lungs? Upper would be the nose/sinus.
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Wait, that wasn’t intentional!?
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Wow, I had no idea elves were such assholes. Probably bored teenaged elves, though.
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Hmm. I had it in my mind from early on that it was a lower respiratory infection. Now the upper chest issues I’ve had for the last few days are that much more concerning. But we’ve also been topping out the pollen count scale for the last week (11.5 average out of 12), so maybe it’s that? Sigh. I guess I’ll keep an eye out for a fever and go from there.
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The point of that poster is that the rumors were dangerous because they contained real facts that the Germans used, for example, to sink ships. I don’t think SARS-CoV-2 is listening in on us.
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The larger point of that poster is that rumour-mongering is dangerous in a wartime or emergency situation. But since you’re not worried about the virus listening in, feel free to discount the danger of spreading unfounded rumours in the current situation.
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It sucks that we need more real doctors in the hospitals, and more real doctors on the internets.
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Yeah, but that would be easy to remedy separately:
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I read it. It is an interesting anecdotal first person account of the experience. He was not presenting it as a scientific study. Those will be done, in time. Just not yet.
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The gentleman that is the janitor for my building has always been a nice guy to chat with. But since covid-19 he must have a lot of free time to read conspiracy theories online. The first time I wrote it off. The second time I literally backed toward the elevator, whacked the button without looking, and then backed into the elevator like Homer slipping into a bush. After the doors closed I could still here him yelling his nonsense at me.
The only silver lining is that he hates Trump so the ranting was at least palatable. But still, shout talking produces more aerosolized spit than non crazy talking. Now I am actively avvoiding him when I take my dog to go pee.
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