Coronavirus 2019-2020 thread (no unsubstantiated rumours!)

[Mr T]

Very positive development.

The National Research Council of Canada and CanSino Biologics Inc. announce collaboration to advance vaccine against COVID-19

I think people need to dial down the optimism on a vaccine. Lots of countries are working on one, but it's unrealistic to think we'd have one this year - certainly if we respect the health of volunteers, so we're not injecting them with potentially dangerous substances in the hope of finding something that works.

Also, even if/when something effective is developed, it's going to take a long time to get enough doses to everyone. Healthcare staff will need to be prioritised, then there's the question of whether older or younger people will need it more. In short, this will take years to deal with. And that's on assumption Covid-19 doesn't mutate to something more tricksy like the common cold or flu.

 

[Rettam Stacf]

I think people need to dial down the optimism on a vaccine. Lots of countries are working on one, but it's unrealistic to think we'd have one this year - certainly if we respect the health of volunteers, so we're not injecting them with potentially dangerous substances in the hope of finding something that works.

Also, even if/when something effective is developed, it's going to take a long time to get enough doses to everyone. Healthcare staff will need to be prioritised, then there's the question of whether older or younger people will need it more. In short, this will take years to deal with. And that's on assumption Covid-19 doesn't mutate to something more tricksy like the common cold or flu.

Agree.

But if you filter out the marketing hypes, some actually from vaccine researchers themselves, and listen to the more trustworthy sources like Dr Fauci (Director of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases) and Dr H. Gao (Director of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention). Their optimistic project, and they both qualified it with "if everything goes right", is for a vaccine to be available by this fall for emergency use by high risk medical personnel and next Spring for the general population.

Let's hope that they both are right. There will not be enough vaccines for everyone then. But having a vaccine for some is still better than not having vaccine for anyone.

 

[vesicles]

Agree.

But if you filter out the marketing hypes, some actually from vaccine researchers themselves, and listen to the more trustworthy sources like Dr Fauci (Director of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases) and Dr H. Gao (Director of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention). Their optimistic project, and they both qualified it with "if everything goes right", is for a vaccine to be available by this fall for emergency use by high risk medical personnel and next Spring for the general population.

Let's hope that they both are right. There will not be enough vaccines for everyone then. But having a vaccine for some is still better than not having vaccine for anyone.

I may sound like a broken record, but I promise you that I’m not that old yet. Anyways, I’ve said this so many times. Don’t count on the vaccines. They won’t come out until the end of the year at the very earliest. No responsible company will rush their vaccines. As I’ve explained many times before, you are giving a vaccine to healthy people and you are giving a vaccine to a population much much much larger than a population that could ever be infected with a virus. That’s why it is absolutely essential to make sure the vaccine is safe.

It is simply morally and ethically unacceptable to give an experimental vaccine to any large population. It is even more wrong to give an experimental vaccine to the frontline healthcare workers. If something goes wrong with the vaccine, a large percentage of the doctors and nurses goes down with vaccine malfunction. That will create absolute chaos as you will be losing your ONLY defense against the virus, the healthcare professionals who will be saving your lives when you are sick.

A vaccine is never meant to be used for an on-going outbreak of a new virus. Never! It’s meant to be used for later outbreaks.

As I’ve described in detail before, a vaccine is fundamentally different than a drug. A drug is meant to be given to a sick person. If the illness is life threatening, any slim hope to save his life will be better than none. And side effects are not an issue when you are trying to keep him alive for the next few seconds, minutes, hours. Then no one really cares too much about anything else other than keep the patient alive for as long as possible. That means the doctors will give the patient a drug that might have serious side effects and destroy his kidney, liver, lungs and heart in 5 years.

So again, don’t count on the vaccines. Just imagine you are in a desert and hoping that someone will come in and terraform the desert into a tropical island. Not gonna happen. And the sooner you stop the unrealistic dream and get back to the real task of social distancing and masks and hand-washing, the better for you and everyone else around you.

I apologize for the harsh tone. I’m just frustrated... When someone is holding on to an unrealistic hope, they forget or lose focus of their immediate tasks, which may be the very thing that will save your life.

 

[bajingan]

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

Another threat from the us, this time threatening to cut off China access to us capital markets, assets freezes and visa revocation, unless China agreed to independent investigation of covid19 and the release of hong kong prisoners

The bully barks start getting louder, China must not yields to this pressure especially the matter of hong kong

 

[supercat]

I agree that vaccine developers have to be very careful, considering that even baseless rumors such as "vaccines cause autism in kids" can prevent a lot of people from getting vaccinated and as a result, causing a large part of the population missing out on the full benefits of these vaccines.

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

Another threat from the us, this time threatening to cut off China access to us capital markets, assets freezes and visa revocation, unless China agreed to independent investigation of covid19 and the release of hong kong prisoners

The bully barks start getting louder, China must not yields to this pressure especially the matter of hong kong

Good, I cannot wait for the U.S. to cut off China's access to U.S. capital markets, freeze Chinese assets, and revoke Chinese visas, so Chinese crooks and corrupt officials cannot transfer their ill-gotten gains from China to the U.S., and they cannot escape to the U.S. after they engaged in despicable criminal activities in China. In the meantime, it will be a big wake-up call to arouse the ordinary Chinese from their stupor.


Situation in the U.S. on May 12:

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

Situation in China on May 12, excluding HK, Macau, and TW: note: Chinese officials are planning test all 11 million Wuhan residents in a 10-day period, although there is no recent cluster from there.

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

 

[shanlung]

One minute was enough watching for me.
I commend and wish those protestors against lockdowns well
on their given what they wanted and collective Darwin's award to them and their communities that they in.

Covid19 will be delighted in such fertile wholesome environment to grow and truly prosper.

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

 

[Dolcevita]

Nah even in the west it’s the same. Often the migrants choose to cram dozens in a house to save as much money they can.

There are many Chinese migrant workers in Australia like this. They pretty much get enslaved and often get raped. Then again people don’t learn until they get hurt.

I hope China is carefully and thoroughly testing these imported American pork shipments, as I have massive reservations about their hygiene standards when so many of their workers are getting COVID19 from working in those plants. It would be a disaster if imported contaminated American pork caused a second wave of COVID19 in China.

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

plawolf, you have point here. China and everyone else should be weary about those American pork or meat product. It should be banned for safety reason until such time when we have better understanding of how coronavirus behave after freezing and thawing.

Trade deal or not, Food safety and public health should take precedence over a questionable trade deal.

Even if not banned, we should avoid American meat product if we can.
If unavoidable, we should be very careful how we handle those meat.

According to the Food and Environment Reporting Network, at least 99 meatpacking and processed food plants had at least 6,832 workers confirmed sick, at least 25 dead along with two agricultural inspectors.

Here is an idea.

Given US livestock producers are unable to process their livestock and safety provide safe supply of meat for China due to uncontrolled outbreak of Covod-19 within their meat packaging facilities.
Also given China needs to protect public health and ensure untainted and safe supply of meat.

China could purchase the unprocessed and excess livestock and ship them to China for processing to help ensure a safe meat supply. Wouldn't this a prudent thing to do to ensure the highest quality of meat and protect public health.

This should also be applicable for any country close to China that has uncontrolled outbreak in their livestock industry. BRI transportaion routes can also be better utilized for such purpose.

What do you guys think?

Something like these.

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

 

[Canuck place]

pretty interesting PR stuff inside

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

• Chinese observers and former envoys caution against Beijing’s attempts to define international opinion in the face of a global health crisis
• Be aware of criticism in usually friendly countries as they question China’s position, observers say

LOL

it took me some time, but found it:

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1241031638504493056

a byproduct of this search is the sentence, now ironic, "By the way, has the US paid its dues to WHO?"
inside

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1240998180075925504

This is an older post but seems like a recurring theme, I wonder what your guys thoughts are on this "Wolf worrior" diplomacy.

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

A little push back from diplomats is ok, but too much can have opposite effect. Although when I read the bbc article I actually feel that these diplomats posts aren't really that aggressive. I wonder if it would be more beneficial for China to take a much softer approach during this time then ramp it up later on if needed?

 

[localizer]

This is an older post but seems like a recurring theme, I wonder what your guys thoughts are on this "Wolf worrior" diplomacy.

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

A little push back from diplomats is ok, but too much can have opposite effect. Although when I read the bbc article I actually feel that these diplomats posts aren't really that aggressive. I wonder if it would be more beneficial for China to take a much softer approach during this time then ramp it up later on if needed?

I often feel like I can't judge Chinese politicians because I don't know what's going on behind the scenes. It's a different world they live in. Just like how poor and rich live completely different realities.

 

[Dolcevita]

This is an older post but seems like a recurring theme, I wonder what your guys thoughts are on this "Wolf worrior" diplomacy.

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

A little push back from diplomats is ok, but too much can have opposite effect. Although when I read the bbc article I actually feel that these diplomats posts aren't really that aggressive. I wonder if it would be more beneficial for China to take a much softer approach during this time then ramp it up later on if needed?

I have no problem with the tone of the Chinese diplomat. If anything, it is very reserved and restraint. You are getting played by the bombastic and sensationalist headlines from the anglo MSM headlines if that is what you think.