I have a low tolerance for spreading misinformation. That, to me, is unconscionable. People need to make informed decisions. If these pseudo-experts have any credentials, they should be stripped of those credentials. They are putting lives at risk.
Ah. Now I see where this nonsense is coming from.
It’s about patents. Tony Fauci has his name on patents that might be relevant to vaccines. The company that makes the vaccines would have to pay Fauci to license them, the argument goes, so Fauci would profit from vaccine development.
People who make this argument do not understand (or pretend not to understand) that patents developed in the course of employment normally belong to the employer, not the employee. Fauci’s patents don’t belong to him. They belong to the NIH.
My son had the nasal swab Sunday night. He said it caused less discomfort than the strep throat swab.
The German article was addresssd above.
If you WATCH the video attached to the Austria link, it states that this system will not work for testing normal volumes of pax, and the test costs 190 Euro. I would gladly pay $200 if it means no quarantine for me in Hawaii, for example. Will everyone else have the extra $200? No. So low number of pax times probability a pax would want a test means a PCR lab like the one set up at the airport in Vienna can process the samples it gets in a day, but I guarantee this lab will absolutely choke if the volume increases.
Germany does throat swabs. I thought it was extremely uncomfortable. My kids didn’t mind it at all. Go figure.
Wisconsin Supreme Court strikes down Gov Ever’s stay at home order:
Sounds like re-opening will be messy.
Oh GOOD GOD!!! Absolutely correct. The NIH etc. own the patents. I have not looked what patents there are with Fauci as an inventor, but given his long time employment with the agency, these are probably patents on things he invented quite some time ago, so I bet that a good chunk of those vaccine patents are expired - meaning everyone and their mother can use the inventions as they please! But… can’t reason with stupid.
Among other things, Gawande writes on the effectiveness of masks. My summary of what he writes about filtration effectiveness:
Mask type Outbound Inbound
(protect (protect
others) wearer)
Surgical 99% 75% ("about three quarters")
Two layer 60% 37% ("half as much on average")
cotton
N95 no valve 95% 95%
N95 with valve low 95%
Thanks so much for posting The New Yorker article.
Construction guys were working on the road by my home today. Only one of the five men wore a mask, and they were working close together. 
Had a fellow from a glass company come into my home to measure our patio door which needs to be replaced sooner rather than later. He wore a mask and touched nothing but the door and his clipboard. He stayed six feet away at all times and tried to work mostly on the outside of the door. I offered him hand sanitizer while he was here, but he didn’t need mine as he carried a small container in his pocket. After he left, I sprayed the carpet where he had walked with Lysol and I sprayed the area he was in and the door he touched too. While he was here, I kept the windows open.
We’ve done pretty well in Tennessee.
"Vanderbilt University researchers released new estimates that the coronavirus outbreak in Tennessee has plateaued at its current level of about 300 hospitalizations - a massive decrease from a prior prediction of a peak of thousands.
The shift, researchers say, is the result of statewide social distancing lowering the transmission rate of the virus faster than predicted in even their most optimistic scenarios. By staying at home to starve the virus, Tennesseans made a month of progress in less than a week, halting the outbreak before it could grow, they said. "
I went to get the oil changed and tires rotated today. I have been holding off but my D might need to use the car for a few months and I didn’t want her to have to worry about it.
It was a sunny day and I dropped off my car and went for a leisurely walk.
When I came back I observed other customers dropping off and picking up cars and buying cars.
Almost everyone wore masks, staff and customers alike. A couple offered to wear masks in the vehicle during their test drive as well.
Then two women just walked right into the showroom, without any masks.
I don’t know what they were thinking.
The company for which I work has about 2000 customer facing locations in every state. The states where we are getting extreme pushback on mask requirements for customers- even where it is the law- are Michigan and Maine. These include threats abuse and violence.
Wow. I just don’t understand what makes people think this is okay. We’re seeing a whole side of humanity that either has grown exponentially, or was always there but more hidden. Very scary.
Do you have any notion why this might be true? It could be that there’s something about Maine and Michigan people that makes them particularly resistant to masks, or maybe mask-resistance is rare and the mask resisters just happened to show up in Maine and Michigan.
Wow. A tribally owned casino is reopening tonight, and cars are lined up to get into the parking lot. This is in Washington State, where we are still in Phase 1 of a slow reopening of businesses.
The tribes have their own laws.
Edited to add: I looked up when the California casinos will open. Monday.
Mainers are stubborn. ?
My doctor has me take VitD3 and K2 supplements.
A dear friend of mine has been working in construction outdoor through out the shutdown. I asked him who he is working with and if he wears mask. He told me that he works with the same guy for years and they always do things as pair. Neither wears mask. Both of them basically said to each other, dude if you got it, i got it, and that is just going to be the way it is. They made a pack and a conscious decision. They are the only 2 in each of their family who are outside working. It’s a risk and their families know it, accept it and have zero problem with it.
I wouldn’t make the same decision but I understand them completely and I don’t blame/judge them at all. I am sure others may feel differently but that’s how I feel.