COVID-19 ... how we cope :)

[Aris Marghetis]

Thank you for the important posts today, especially the ones from Frank and Dilip.

Brad, I feel your frustration, but I don't see how a true total world lockdown could ever happen. Rather organized nations haven't even been able to pull off rather partial lockdowns. I just don't know that billions of people can be controlled that much for enough time. So given that, I believe that we must all keep doing what we can, over and over, think compound interest, in the battle against viral exponential growth. In a way, the fact that the omicron variant seems to be not ridiculously deadly but more able to breakthrough-infect the vaccinated, well this might serve to help people understand to be doing what they should (social distancing, masking, etc.) REGARDLESS OF THEIR LEVEL OF VACCINATION. Will everyone get that, doubtful. But some are, and that should help. The trick will be to get enough improvement in behaviours before some horrific variant emerges. We kinda need to learn enough and self-modify enough before some super-variant emerges, as that's when COVID and Excess Deaths will prolly blow up. I think multiple blow-ups will happen, and their effects will depend on how much we've accepted to change by then.

I know that's not a happy viewpoint, but it is what it is. For example, almost a couple of weeks ago, multiple patients of my fully vaxxed physiotherapist, yet breakthrough-infected, were identified as "high-risk contacts", and instructed to self-isolate. I've been in the basement since then, NO contact with the rest of my family. I've emailed with my physio, and not everyone is being as diligent, and now some of the patients' families have to self-isolate. Was anyone gonna check I was self-isolating, no. Was I just lucky to not test positive, maybe. But I played the odds right for the rest of my family. The more people that play the odds better, then the better for all of us. This is just the power of math, and again, it's one defence we have to reduce exponential growth.

Finally, for today, Pargat mentioned something Sid must have posted (clogging spike proteins), that I've never seen documented by reputable science. Until I do have scientific confidence in it, I suspect it's one of hundreds of ploys intended to inject doubt into vaccination, which quite frankly, has been a miracle for humanity. I suspect many of you aren't old enough from certain parts of the world to have actually watched polio victims suffer literally for decades. Anyway, I digress. Without the current COVID vaccines, we would just keep getting decimated each variant?!

[Sid Belzberg]

Finally, for today, Pargat mentioned something Sid must have posted (clogging spike proteins), that I've never seen documented by reputable science. Until I do have scientific confidence in it, I suspect it's one of hundreds of ploys intended to inject doubt into vaccination, which quite frankly, has been a miracle for humanity. I suspect many of you aren't old enough from certain parts of the world to have actually watched polio victims suffer literally for decades. Anyway, I digress. Without the current COVID vaccines, we would just keep getting decimated each variant?!

Do you read much?

https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMcibr2113694

"For SARS-CoV-2 infection, attention centers on the spike (S) protein and its critical use of the angiotensin-converting–enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptor to gain entry into the cell. Given its critical role in regulating angiotensin responses, many physiological effects can be influenced by ACE2 engagement.⁹ The S protein itself has a direct effect on suppressing ACE2 signaling by a variety of mechanisms and can also directly trigger toll-like receptors and induce inflammatory cytokines.^10"

[Brad Thomson]

Brad, I feel your frustration, but I don't see how a true total world lockdown could ever happen... The trick will be to get enough improvement in behaviours before some horrific variant emerges. We kinda need to learn enough and self-modify enough before some super-variant emerges, as that's when COVID and Excess Deaths will prolly blow up. I think multiple blow-ups will happen, and their effects will depend on how much we've accepted to change by then.

Agreed, but we are not preparing for this at all. No journalist has ever posed the question to any "expert", what is the worst case scenario? When the super-variant emerges, and it will, we will not be at all prepared, thus it will be the end sooner or later, and probably sooner.

[Brad Thomson]

Do you read much?

https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMcibr2113694

"For SARS-CoV-2 infection, attention centers on the spike (S) protein and its critical use of the angiotensin-converting–enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptor to gain entry into the cell. Given its critical role in regulating angiotensin responses, many physiological effects can be influenced by ACE2 engagement.⁹ The S protein itself has a direct effect on suppressing ACE2 signaling by a variety of mechanisms and can also directly trigger toll-like receptors and induce inflammatory cytokines.^10"

With all due respect, this is gibberish to the common man regardless of how much we read.

[Sid Belzberg]

With all due respect, this is gibberish to the common man regardless of how much we read.

Well, since Aris insisted on information in a respected medical journal t can only assume that he has the knowledge to understand it. Either that or he simply
does not know what he is talking about and likes the sound of his own voice. Ok with me but he can stop accusing me of things when he does not know what he is talking about.

[Pargat Perrer]

Agreed, but we are not preparing for this at all. No journalist has ever posed the question to any "expert", what is the worst case scenario? When the super-variant emerges, and it will, we will not be at all prepared, thus it will be the end sooner or later, and probably sooner.

There are some new twists appearing in the overall plot. Up to now, China has coped best of all nations with covid because of their zero-tolerance policy, which is enabled by the fact China already had totalitarian control of their population. That has been good for them, economically speaking. Their economy began booming again.

Now the twist comes in the apparently milder Omicron variant. If China still pursues zero-tolerance, they will endure stifling economic shutdowns because Omicron threatens to overrun the entire globe, lockdowns or not. So China even now has major cities in lockdown, but the Omicron variant will not be denied, it will spread its tentacles everywhere even throughout China. It remains to be seen whether China will change its policy once the futility of fighting the spread becomes evident. If they keep trying to fight the spread with lockdowns, their economy suffers. Meanwhile, Joe Biden has already announced no further lockdowns or school closings in the U. S. over Omicron, so that the economy can keep going. He has no choice, there is no more money for covid relief. So Biden's message to the unvaccinated is that 2022 will be a winter of "misery and death" for a good portion of them and the government isn't going to do any more lockdowns to try and save them.

What remains to be seen is just what kind of daily death numbers we will see. Cases can go into the millions and that is fine, but deaths, if they go up to 10K or even 20K daily, the pressure to do something will grow. It is a slow-motion tsunami coming and we can feel it coming. I believe Biden will remain in a no lockdowns policy no matter how high the daily death rate becomes. Trudeau will probably have to go in lockstep with that.

Every variant off of Omicron is going to be at least as contagious, and possibly more deadly. Thus by accepting Omicron and it's contagious nature, we are guilty of a form of desperado: in order to stop the world economy from permanently seizing up and causing a global depression greater than that of the 1930s, we are gambling that Omicron will not mutate into such an equally contagious but more deadly form. The odds are not good.

[Brad Thomson]

He has no choice, there is no more money for covid relief... Thus by accepting Omicron and it's contagious nature, we are guilty of a form of desperado: in order to stop the world economy from permanently seizing up and causing a global depression greater than that of the 1930s, we are gambling that Omicron will not mutate into such an equally contagious but more deadly form. The odds are not good.

The great fear that the globalist banksters have is that more and more people are learning that their debt based financial system is a complete scam. All we need to do is fabricate our own money out of thin air and be indebted to no one rather than let private banks fabricate our money out of thin air and then be indebted to them. We can lock down, print the money people need, and have no debts and no fear of our grandchildren having to pay back the money so long as we tell the banksters to go to hell. We must lock down, this will address climate change as well. This is our last chance as a species on earth. The globalist banksters are pure evil, they are the reason we are "out of money". They are the reason we have "depressions". We will have a variation as transmissible as Omicron but far more lethal than any we have yet experienced, it is only a matter of time. We need a miracle, a divine intervention or else we all go off. Make the most of your remaining time, and if you are religious, pray.

[Dilip Panjwani]

The great fear that the globalist banksters have is that more and more people are learning that their debt based financial system is a complete scam. All we need to do is fabricate our own money out of thin air and be indebted to no one rather than let private banks fabricate our money out of thin air and then be indebted to them. We can lock down, print the money people need, and have no debts and no fear of our grandchildren having to pay back the money so long as we tell the banksters to go to hell. We must lock down, this will address climate change as well. This is our last chance as a species on earth. The globalist banksters are pure evil, they are the reason we are "out of money". They are the reason we have "depressions". We will have a variation as transmissible as Omicron but far more lethal than any we have yet experienced, it is only a matter of time. We need a miracle, a divine intervention or else we all go off. Make the most of your remaining time, and if you are religious, pray.

Of course! Let us lock down... why produce goods and services, when we can print money out of thin air, eat it, wear it and shelter with it, during our 'remaining' time...?

[Brad Thomson]

Of course! Let us lock down... why produce goods and services, when we can print money out of thin air, eat it, wear it and shelter with it, during our 'remaining' time...?

Thank you for your intelligent and sincere questioning of my opinion. Naturally all essential services will have to continue. The rest of us should be locked down and given the money to buy what we need. The climate went completely bonkers this past year, we should be radically reducing our economic output regardless of whether we have a pandemic or not. The pandemic is a perfect time to do it. But we have fools for politicians instead of statesman who speak the truth and have the guts to say and do what is necessary. If we do not choose to radically reduce economic activity we will be forced to, Nature will not tolerate our destructive conduct any longer. The problem with the atheists is that they think this is all blind, the problem with the theists is that they think some "merciful and benevolent" God will save us. Neither is the case. Nature is a conscious power that created ourselves, but it will defend itself from ourselves if we threaten to destroy the entire ecosystem through our greed and stupidity. This is my opinion. Further, unless we live forever all of us only have a certain amount of "remaining time". No?

[Dilip Panjwani]

Naturally all essential services will have to continue. The rest of us should be locked down and given the money to buy what we need.

Why only some in our society do work which is 'essential' while the rest spend their entire lives doing 'non-essential' stuff? Things which were essential in 2019 are essential even today (ask the school kids suffering from lack of company, or the chess players suffering from lack of otb games), and that which was non-essential in 2019 will remain non-essential (like most governmental activities) even after the pandemic... In my humble opinion, it is not 'lock-down' but sensible precautions like masks, social distancing, hand washing, etc. which helped the health care workers and other 'essential' workers to carry on doing their jobs without 'dying from COVID' during the pre-vaccination 2020, and which schools and chess players and all other workers could also have adopted...

[Brad Thomson]

In my humble opinion, it is not 'lock-down' but sensible precautions like masks, social distancing, hand washing, etc.

If we did not have the deadly serious problem of climate change to deal with then I would agree with you. Only a vast economic shutdown NOW will save us from complete ecological disaster. The pandemic has offered us a chance, an excuse. A cull is taking place, we may not go extinct but we will be radically reduced in numbers before this is all over, if it ever ends. The problem is not our individual carbon footprints, the problem is that there are far too many of us on this planet doing it. Mankind needs to wake up and smell the coffee, see the writing on the wall, read the tea leaves. But we collectively appear to be too stupid to do so. We cannot go on like this. If we do we go off. Just my opinion.

[Neil Frarey]

Omicron lock down seems so completely unnecessary. As too does closing businesses and cancelling flights etc..

[Patrick Gougeon]

Chess and mental wellbeing:

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/20...-mental-health

[Aris Marghetis]

Chess and mental wellbeing:

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/20...-mental-health

Merci bien Patrick!!

[Brad Thomson]

With respect to our mental well-being, it seems to me that we have a self-fulfilling prophesy. I guess we must have had terrible mental problems before the internet, before television, before radio, before electricity, before books. Thank God all of these things came along or we would still be collectively insane. We need to suck it up and act like adults and stop talking about how we are having mental problems simply because we cannot indulge in the same decadent lifestyle we have been used to. We are stronger mentally than people want to pretend, all we need to do is face reality. Especially sickening is the suggestion that children are suffering mentally because of this. Children are incredibly capable of amusing themselves, something we adults seem to have forgotten how to do. Their mental problems exist becaue we tell them they have mental problems. The media "experts" need to stop telling us about all of the "mental problems" we are having. The only true mental problem is the fact that the masses are brainwashed and unwilling to accept a changed world.