oldmanfan

You are unfortunately being deliberately obtuse. The science dudes as you put it said millions would did if no measures were talent to try and control the spread. And the measures the science dudes said initially were to quarantine to bend the curve and keep hospitals from being overrun, and to do things like distance and hand washing and wear masks. Thankfully enough people listened to the experts and not the guy in the White House saying not to wear masks; it kept the death rate down to “only” 300k. And don’t even try the “but Fauci said not to wear masks garbage( he said that early on when PPE needed to be in the hands of front line workers and before the research showed beneficial effects of masks to slow the spread. And as for Trump explains his Woodward comments? The ones where he claimed he didn’t want to panic people? Being honest and straightforward with the public in the midst of a crisis does not panic people, it gives them resolve. He lied, he can try to couch it any way he wants but he lied. And that is not acceptable. And now he’s gone. Good.

You and the other gentleman refuse, absolutely refuse, to acknowledge that the president has the ultimate responsibility in a national crisis. Regardless of party, regardless of the nature of the event. That is their job. I cannot think of another president in the history of this country who said, when asked if he takes responsibility, said no. For a crisis that affects the entire nation. If something similar happens the next 4 years and Biden shirks responsibility you’ll hear the same from me. How you can defend the kind of nonsense our now official soon to be ex-president is beyond me and most clear thinking Americans. First I have no problem and never did opening things after the initial concern about hospitals being overrun. And that could have been done safely if the president actually supported the recommendations of distancing and masks. Instead he ridiculed masks and such and refused to act as a leader. And now 300,000 people are dead. I do give credit for Warp Speed; although Pfizer did not take government resources to develop theirs placing a priority of vaccine development was good. I get mine Sunday. I am stunned at the level of excuse making for a leader who did not want to lead.

No excuse. At all. All presidents have a lot on their plate; that’s the job. And when prioritizing you should put a global pandemic near the top of the list, right? Instead he decided to lie to the American people as shown by the Woodward interview, and when asked what responsibility he had he said he took no responsibility. He abdicated his duties as president. Why do you try to defend that?

One of your best in a series of great reviews, my friend. Could not agree more with everything you wrote.

absolutely

Very good analysis. The Steelers d (and the Bills D for that matter) played great in the first half. It was good to see the young QB not get down on himself, and for him and the coaches to make the necessary adjustments in the second half. I said a couple years ago that Josh had the same issue many if not all young QBs have, that the game has to slow down for the young QB to make the right reads and such. The game has slowed down considerably for Josh this year.

Investigate and if he's found to have committed these acts then whatever appropriate punishment should be undertaken including his resignation. Sexual harassment is not a political issue, or at least shouldn't be.

You don’t care about the country. I do.

He has Congressmen threatening to try and uproot a free and fair election, all because his ego can’t take that he lost. That should concern any American citizen. Laugh if you want but I guess you don’t take freedom and the Constitution seriously.

What the hell is Mahomes thinking?

He is a narcissistic con man who right now is trying to tear down our democracy by making false accusations about the election. You want unity and to break corruption (as if his administration has done either)? We need a viable third party and/or have those in the middle politically (like you and me I suspect) take the country back from the fringe lunatics.

An outsider is one thing. A pathologic personality like Trump's is another.

We had a fair and free election and we have a three year old trying to now say our entire election process is wrong. And let's recall, he was claiming this before votes were even cast to protect himself against having to admit his own failure. This has potential devastating consequences for the future. There is an article on Politico's web site, indicating there are Republicans that lost elections by dozens of percentage points that refuse to concede, and instead are talking about irregularities and machine problems and all this crap. If our electoral system is destroyed, there goes the country. And that cannot be allowed to stand. We need to save the country at this point. If he refuses to leave, then arrest him and charge him with sedition. If he actively tries to foment rebellion (as in get people like The Proud Boys) to riot) then charge him with treason. And if supporters riot, take them into custody and charge them. If Congressmen or women support this, don't swear them in as they are in violation of the Constitution and as such would not be faithful to their oath. And I would say the same thing if it were a Democrat acting this way. We have passed the point of being ridiculous now. We are letting the three year old dictator wanna be to foment insurrection and it must be stopped.

Ok boys, let’s matriculate the ball down the field!

Laws be damned? Go ahead and try- you’l be dead or in jail.

It is done. It was done Nov 3rd. The only reason we have to put up with this is because a 3 year old in the White House is having a temper tantrum. If he tries anything else like forcing legislators to change the will of the people he should be arrested for sedition.

But it could lead us towards somehow improving weakened immune systems.

Well, the connection is simple: the virus. Why it affects people differently has to do with initial viral load, the patient’s immune system, and co-morbidities. I’d focus on children and why they can carry a large viral load and still have low incidence of symptoms.

I am guilty of getting too hot under the collar myself at times. Feel free to call me out if I do so.

Ideally we should outfit everyone in the country with N95 masks, as they are the most efficient and can be fitted better than cloth. The gaiter ones should not be used. That would be my first move if I were running the show

Unfortunately folks will drift to their own echo chambers with like minded individuals, which will just inflate division and ignorance. We are at a time when problem solving for all the issues facing the country is needed, but no one understands the value of discussion and compromise

Underrated. Great leader, handles team dynamics well. And a good winning record.

You can't say masks are a tool for the spread of the virus but not a solution. Those don't match, and do not agree with both observational studies as well as many lab studies indicating that masks can help control spread of droplets and aerosols, the vectors by which the virus is transmitted. I would encourage you to look at the Duke study on masks, it shows that different masks are more effective at controlling droplet spread. One of the issues with designing really good research is to avoid bias up front. That is the biggest issue with studies I have reviewed and rejected for publication; they have a preformed conclusion and try to set up experiments to support it. It might be mask studies reflect that a bit, depending on the specific study you review. But the bigger issue with observational studies, especially with masks, is you depend on the study participants to independently do what you ask in the way you instruct them, or they falsely report what they're doing. For masks, I suspect there is some of that going on, either not wearing them correctly or saying they wear them and don't. I know you live there and see a lot of mask wearing, but you don't know what's going on behind the scenes. I could theorize on other unknown variables that could be affecting rates. Perhaps the spread in very small aerosol droplets is increasing, which would be an argument for all to wear surgical or N95 masks (see the Duke study which would concur), and that would then be an issue for government to be able to supply these. Perhaps virus lasts longer on surfaces than currently believed. But just knowing something about viral infection in general, I can't think of other independent variables that would affect things, Respiratory viruses spread by either contact or inhalation. Covid seems to be highly infectious, which means that strenuous use of mitigating factors is needed to slow things down. Again, slow things down and not completely prevent. You can't let great be the enemy of good. The mitigating strategies, on their own are good things (really the only things) we can do right now while waiting for vaccines to be widely distributed. Vaccines will be great, masks and hand washing and such a re good. They are not mutually exclusive.

No, not at all. You talk about science; I am a clinical lab director and researcher for 40 years, so I am a scientist. And science generally is not an all or none phenomenon. The mitigating factors I described are just that, mitigating factors. When used correctly they will greatly diminish the spread of the virus. They are not cures. If used correctly they deprive the virus of hosts for infection We will have vaccines now, and the early data is they seem to be very effective. But to have them to work, or to have things like masks and such work, it requires a team effort. This is a public health crisis and requires public unity to fight it. That is why these silly arguments about masks need to stop, and why people need to get vaccinated.

I suspect your estimation of either the number of people properly wearing masks, number of people really doing distancing, or number of people properly hand washing may be off. This is an extremely contagious virus so it has to be all hands on deck continuously and correctly. Unfortunately that isn't being done as well as it could be. We all need to remember these are mitigating strategies designed to limit spread, they don’t completely eliminate.