Covid-19 Discussion (moderated)

And now we know that he is nice and he feel empathy.

This article, https://www.justsecurity.org/69770/can-governors-close-their-borders-to-pandemic-risks/ begins to address some considerations re the US Constitution, and SCOTUS decisions pertaining to States' Rights when it comes to travel restrictions vis-a-vis entry into States in the US.

By the way, just as an FYI for other readers/posters, when I see posts like this from a first time (to this thread) poster whose account was created this year, I take a look at their threads started.  When I see a bunch of similar one-liners and nothing of substance (whether about chess or something off topic), I am just blocking them out of the gate.

If anybody posting here (or even a well-known. long term poster that is reading but not posting here) has a case to make for anyone I have blocked like this, just let me know, and I will give them a shot.  So far it seems to be working quite well.

Good luck in all your future endeavors.

Agreed .  It's amazing how fast a philosophical discussion can take off...which is fine, as long as it circles back around to the topic when it runs its course, or is taken offline is it gets into multi-page territory.

There's certainly a tendency to downplay the independence of each state.  There's also the tendency to inflate the executive branch's power because people simplistically associate leadership with a single person.  Any real examination of the US 3-branches-of-government system will quickly determine that the legislative branch is the heavy hitter, and the judicial and executive branches provide checks on the passage of laws, and allow for the taking of immediate actions that a large group of representatives could never agree upon fast enough.

It's not a surprise in the new age of populism and fake nationalism that leaders are trying to pretend they have powers nobody has given them or that laws expressly forbid them.  And it's a short journey to dictatorship if people let it happen.  

  The CDC is saying there's a possibility that we could see a 2nd wave of the virus this winter.....

You're surprised hearing that news?

Lockdown vs. no lockdown (nope, not NY vs. California):

https://www.yahoo.com/news/sweden-nearly-10-times-number-210442597.html

So when are we having a vaccine to go back to normal life?

Most of the experts are saying 1 to 1-1/2 years, and that's IF the vaccine(s) are both effective and safe. And that's not necessarily a given. And then there's the issue of the virus continuing to mutate into other strains, which may require more work on more vaccines...

We can hope we get lucky...

  Read post 560....I'm just too lazy to transfer it...                                          https://www.chess.com/forum/view/off-topic/is-it-safe-to-go-to-tournaments-yet-2?page=28#last_comment

So, everybody got real quiet about hydroxychloroquine...

https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/more-deaths-no-benefit-malaria-160619592.html

Trump, Fox News, and Dr. Oz have all backed away with their hands in the air now.

Yeah, but they were the real heroes, spreading hope and love, and you can't blame them for not knowing, at least they were trying, unlike those stuck up "experts" who whine about "boo hoo the facts say this, the facts say that."

-- Impersonation of a Trump cultist.

I forgot Dr. Phil.  

I am only directly aware of the political positions of the first two, but I don't really care about the politics of it...just the "ignoring real science" stances followed by pretending they never said a word when it all goes south.  Of the set, only Dr. Oz actually had the cajones to say "we should wait for clinical trials now", even if he did not say he was wrong for pushing it to begin with.

I'm not hanging my hat on hydroxychloroquine, but before we put the final nail in the coffin of that drug, I feel like I have to raise the issue of zinc. That link doesn't mention the added use of zinc along with HCQ. In Dr. Zelenko's patients, he also prescribed zinc along with HCQ and erythromycin, and he had very good results. Some are thinking that the HCQ opens a transport path into the cells, but zinc needs to be present to enter the cell. The zinc supposedly inhibits replication of the virus inside the cell. I'm guessing that without zinc present, HCQ might not be very effective.

Also, I believe that if you're going to use HCQ, you probably should be checked for susceptibility to heart arrhythmias (long QT), especially if you're also using erythromycin.

So, I think we need studies using HCQ, erythromycin, *and* zinc, and also prescreening /monitoring for heart arrhythmia side effects.

Just my 2 cents, which might be worth nothing ;-)

You are not going to fool me with your new right wing character

I smell something good here

I wasn't trying to fool anyone... but I forgot to take Poe's law into account.

Yeah, it's a parody

It was a good one!