On Monday, I told you about the superspreader recently hosted by NorCo GOP Chair Lee Snover in Lower Saucon Tp. Practically none of the true believers, many of whom were old farts like me, practiced social distancing or wore a mask. Neither did Snover or her husband, even though they both appear to be at-risk. This kind of irresponsible behavior mighty be part of the explanation for a recent spike in Covid-19 cases in the Lehigh Valley. In NorCo, this includes 43 cases on October 4; 46 on October 7; and a whopping 83 positives on October 10. While an increase in testing and open schools are probably the biggest reasons fore the surge, these superspreader events are the result of selfish people who have little regard for their fellow man, Unfortunately, they can look to the bad example being set by the Pied Piper of Covid-19, Donald Trump.
Yesterday, he was the star at a rally in Sanford, Fl. As you can see in a
picture from the event, his
mankurts are squeezed next to each other and without masks, even though most already look like they're ready to go tets up.
The Mongols turned prisoners into mankurts by exposing them in the hot sun and wrapping their heads in camel skin. This basically fried their brains. Those MAGA hats must be doing the same thing.
7 am update: No less an authority than
Dr. Anthony Fauci himself has warned of the danger in these super spreader rallies. "“We know that that is asking for trouble when you do that. We’ve seen that when you have situations of congregant settings where there are a lot of people without masks, the data speak for themselves.”
Your hero, Sleepy Joe doesn't have to worry about super spreader events. About 30 cars showed up at his lame-ass rally in Ohio yesterday. Just to hear the foggy headed fogey thank them for supporting his Senate campaign.
ReplyDeleteYet you are deafly silent on "peaceful" protests.
ReplyDeleteHow many mankurts out there believe Joe Biden is competent to be President? I mean President in his own right, not just a placeholder for Harris, or having his strings pulled by others.
ReplyDeleteThe increase in positive test results can easily be explained. Of course, a much greater number of tests being done will produce more results of every kind.
ReplyDeleteSecondly, a positive result can be read from other types of Coronavirus that are not even Covid-19. Four different strains of similar virus share a same 4-part genetic sequence as Covid-19 that will also produce a positive result using the same test. Even a sinus infection can produce a false positive for Covid-19 depending on how much the sample is amplified.
Finally, even if everyone in that photo tested negative at the exact time of their arrival, any one of them could test positive hours later due to something unrelated to being at that event. There can be NO symptoms apparent to the individual.
So, stay home and hide under your bed, I suppose.
Lee and mike already had covid in the spring before anyone knew, so they are thankfully immune. I am sure you are really worried about the health of Trump supporters. I am sure if you stay in the bunker you will be safe.That is how it should be.
ReplyDeleteI think the Republicans need to start rioting without masks since its impossible to get or give the virus than. 60 million with swine flu, though.
ReplyDeleteThank you for this post, and for showing the dangers of mixing politics with "science".
ReplyDeleteIf we are to believe what we're being told about the way the virus spreads, we should be seeing LARGE numbers of Trump supporters contracting the virus, getting seriously ill, and swamping our hospitals.
The problem is we don't see that either nationally or locally. On a national level, those trying to use the "science" for political means will try to claim that a spike in a state is tied to a previous event, but without any evidence that it was the cause. Locally, we've seen Trump rallies in Saucon, Emmaus, and many other places but again, no evidence that these events have actually spread the virus as some would claim.
In fact, if you look at where the actual hot spots are in the Valley, they're in places like downtown Allentown, which I doubt anyone would characterize as being full of Trump supporters. I find the actual evidence to be EXTREMELY curious and often contrary to what we're being told by our politicians.
Now this is not to say I'm recommending attending large gatherings, not wearing masks, etc. What I'm saying is there is likely much that we still don't know about the virus, how it's transmitted and what's effective in counteracting its spread.
Real science is about developing hypotheses, and then testing them repeatedly to see if they hold up. Real science is constantly changing as we seek to learn, and therefore actually learn, more.
It's not about grabbing onto a sliver of what might fit our current political agendas and using that for partisan purposes. Instead of writing posts to browbeat Trump supporters for attending so-called "superspreaders", we should instead be wondering why (and investigating why) the that doesn't seem to be the case and why the actual spread is occurring elsewhere.
In the grand scheme of things, that is far more important than momentary political gains.
In 5 to 14 days we’ll know more. It is difficult to tie infections to these single specific events because these people are also involved in other high risk activities. These are also the folks flaunting their no-mask beliefs in restaurants, bars, golf clubs in Florida. Here, you can meet them in any auto supply store in the Lehigh Valley. The mask requirement seems to end when you pass the “masks required “ notice at the entrance.
ReplyDelete"The problem is we don't see that either nationally or locally. "
ReplyDeleteAre you out of your mind? Numerous people at Trump's Rose Garden announcement concerning Barrett contracted the virus, including Trump himself. After his Tulsa rally, there was a spike in Covid-19. After hgis Mount Rushmore rally, Herman Cain contracted the virus and died.
"Lee and mike already had covid in the spring before anyone knew, so they are thankfully immune."
Given that neither one of them takes precautions, that is no surprise. I hate to break this to you, but they are NOT immune. The antibodies wear off.
"In fact, if you look at where the actual hot spots are in the Valley, they're in places like downtown Allentown,"
"So, stay home and hide under your bed"
How about this? Stop being so selfish and wear a mask and social distance or stay home yourself.
And for the same reason. Many people there refuse to social distance or wear masks.
"you are deafly silent on "peaceful" protests."
"Deafly" is not a word.
No masks or shutdowns in Sweden and they're doing great. I had a lovely dinner in a fine restaurant on Saturday evening and attended church indoors with 200 fellow congregants on Sunday morning, before stopping at a crowded Home Depot for a list that had been growing for months. Authoritarian maskholes (Fauci says they're symbolic and Wolf says he wears one for political effect while cameras are on), are engaged in their new religious crusade. It's like trying to reason with WWE fans. Wrestling is REAL, dammit! Bernie, you still haven't told us who your favorite wrestler is, btw. I'm guessing George The Animal Steele?
ReplyDeleteAlso, the WHO is now imploring world leaders to immediately end lockdowns. Where are the science types on this? Have we flattened the curve? Are LV hospitals overwhelmed with the dying? Science, science, science, you know!
Sweden is doing ok (not great) because it commenced intense testing and contact tracing almost immediately. We did not. In fact, thanks to Trump, there was little in the way of test kits or PPE for the first two or three months. In addition, in Sweden, people follow the rules. When they are told to quarantine, they do. Moreover, Sweden is by no means averse to masks. It will impose a mandate if needed, and I suspect it will be needed. https://outline.com/CBFqam
ReplyDeleteThe delay in tests was not because of Trump, but the fact that they were 30% inaccurate. They decided it was better to perfect tests before widely distributing them. To save people from the chaos from false positives and negatives. More politicization of this virus. We would have done better without the politicization, but it is very unlikely we would have done any better with Joe Biden.
ReplyDeleteIf Trump would have mandated masks we would have seen protest supported by the dems that labeled him an authoritarian.
Lots of willful ignorance in the responses today. There is one question they cannot respond to unless they lie though. Why do we have the worst death and case rate of any country in the industrialized world??? I believe only India has surpassed us and they are hardly a bastion of good healthcare, not to mention having 4 times our population and less access to important hygienic infrastructure.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2020/10/us-leads-19-nations-covid-19-all-cause-death-rates
ReplyDeleteThe US tested and continues to test a far greater proportion of its population than Sweden. We also perform exponentially more tests per positive case than Sweden, which looked for a bit like a lax failure in the making. Sweden proved testing is mostly forensic. We did too, given the number of tests per case we perform due to high rates of false positives and false negatives. Stockholm bars and restaurants and trains were full over the weekend, with few mask wearers to be seen, per the AP. It's math and curve flattening, as you've reported from Steve Thode.
ReplyDeleteSweden tests per 1,000 = 1.84
US tests per 1,000 = 2.87
https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus-testing
BO said:
ReplyDelete"Are you out of your mind? Numerous people at Trump's Rose Garden announcement concerning Barrett contracted the virus, including Trump himself. After his Tulsa rally, there was a spike in Covid-19. After hgis Mount Rushmore rally, Herman Cain contracted the virus and died."
Again, you're misrepresenting what was said to further your political agenda. I'm not saying that COVID doesn't exist, or that some people don't die from it. I'm saying that if you're labeling an event a "superspeader", you should have actual facts that back it up.
It is estimated by the World Health Organization that at least 10% of the population has Covid-19, so we'd expect any group of people to have at least a 10% positive test rate. With that in mind, I'd expect a "superspreader" event to result in more than a 10% positive rate. But we don't see that, either from the Tulsa or Rose Garden events you cite.
Closer to home, and with less opportunity for the numbers presented to be politicized, we don't see our hospitals overwhelmed with Trump supporters, and the areas that have the highest number of cases and spread would be classified as areas of likely Biden voters.
Again, I'm not recommending gathering in large groups, not wearing masks, etc. All I'm saying is that the actual numbers don't back up calling any of these events "superspreaders", and we should probably focus on where the actual hot spots are and what is driving the spread there.
United Kingdon, Peru and Chile have more deaths per 100,00 than the US. Fact Jack
ReplyDeleteAnon 8:16 said:
ReplyDelete"There is one question they cannot respond to unless they lie though. Why do we have the worst death and case rate of any country in the industrialized world???"
That's easy. The high death rate is certainly driven by the decision of blue-state governors forcing COVID positive patients into nursing homes, which was filled with the most vulnerable of our population, surely inflated the death rate. I'm not saying they did it with the intent to do harm, but it was a very costly policy mistake on their part.
In addition, areas like India (which you brought up) have high incidents of malaria and it seems that populations that are already being treated with anti-malaria drugs experience lower Covid rates. Unfortunately, the use of anti-malaria drugs here has been highly politicized instead of further investigating the actual science or experience with those drugs.
The high case rate is likely because (contrary to democrat propaganda) we are doing a large amount of testing, which is identifying those infected, whether they're showing signs of COVID or not.
Deaths per million as of today. Belgium 880, Spain 708, USA 664, Uk 631, Italy 599, france 502. Possibly many factors to consider beyond anyone's grasp.This virus will kill the vulnerable if exposed. We need to take care of our own health. The government, sorry to say, will not save you. numbers from worldometer
ReplyDeleteThese gatherings are dangerous to one's health, according to Pennsylvania's morbidly obese chief medical official. Health lectures from gluttons with no self control are always hilarious.
ReplyDeleteCommon sense people!
ReplyDeleteWear masks and social distancing works!
Other countries are successful!
Trump supporters, are what we call Enablers!
Make excuses for people, ie, making poor choices! He is safe in front of crowds, always has been! Not worried about his audience, and it will be spread! He never got it at the Rallies, but Herman Cain, plus countless others have! He got it at the White House, and then spread it!
Blamed the Gold Star Families!
He needs to go, few leaderships, plus can’t negotiate out of a paper bag! Where’s the Art of the Deal guy when we need it, with the help for Businesses and individuals with the virus! Doesn’t negotiate, just points his finger and blames!
He is the Blamer in Chief!
Time to vote him out! Vote early, vote on Election Day, by mail, but Vote Blue!
"These gatherings are dangerous to one's health, according to Pennsylvania's morbidly obese chief medical official."
ReplyDeleteI am not sure she is "morbidly" obese, Moreover, obesity is NOT the result of gluttony. It can be, but as a formerly obese person, I can tell you there are numerous factors. I also doubt you are a paragon of fitness.
I have little regard for what she or Gov. Wolf says bc I believe much of what is coming from them is political, not scientific. I do, however, consider it advisable to listen to CDC guidance prepared by epidemiologists and public health experts. Those guidelines call for 6' social distancing, masks and doing as much as you can outdoors. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/daily-life-coping/deciding-to-go-out.html
You know this but chose to make an ignorant remark.
And then there's this from the New York Times:
ReplyDeleteA new report from The New York Times indicates that experts have “genuine confidence” that the coronavirus pandemic will end “far sooner” than originally expected and that President Donald Trump’s Operation Warp Speed — the administration’s efforts to facilitate and accelerate the development, manufacturing, and distribution of vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics — has been “working with remarkable efficiency.”
I'm sure the editorial division of the New York Times will now work overtime to discredit the report of their own science experts, but that says it all.
Couple that with the World Health Organization coming out last week against lockdowns - which Biden wants to impose on the entire country if elected - and it's clear who is better suited to lead this country.
Not only did Lee & Mike have Covid, Mike spent 2+ weeks in the hospital, and Lee's father died from it and yet they continue to walk around like nothing happened. SMH.
ReplyDelete"I also doubt you are a paragon of fitness."
ReplyDeleteDoubt away. I'm 60 with a BMI of 19. I walk three miles per evening. Sometimes bike. No sugar, salt, red meat. I drink a couple of beers each week. Levine is certainly medically categorized as morbidly obese and a horrible spokesperson for what is healthy for the rest of us. Levine also ran out to the big BLM protest while case counts were much higher than now. It's difficult enough to believe what Levine says. What Levine actually does is far more instructive and makes maskholes look like the idiot sheep Levine and Wolf think they are. Refer to Wolf's hot mike exchange regarding using masks for political effect on camera. Don't believe me. Believe your Democrat leaders. And finally, most fat people are fat because they eat more calories than they burn. Stop making excuses. You put down your fork and figured it out.
I would be careful about holding yourself up as some kind of superman while mocking others.You are really tempting fate.
Delete9.46
ReplyDelete"he high death rate is certainly driven by ---"
So the policy changed-- why is the US having a thousand deaths a day?
As to betting the farm on anti-malarial drugs
try
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7194665/
" Future studies are needed to investigate whether a) the use of anti-malarial drugs, b) the environmental factors, and c) different strains of COVID-19 reduce the incidence of COVID-19 infection in countries affected by malaria."
" we are doing a large amount of testing" and if no one was infected the rates would show that.
Clearly the spread of the disease is much larger than trump cares to admit(at least to average citizens).
How did that large number of infected folks grow so large?
1.20
ReplyDelete"— has been “working with remarkable efficiency.”
And anyone who was President would have done the same thing.
They just would not of been such a blowhard like trump.
" World Health Organization coming out last week against lockdowns"
You mean the same people who trump said were owned by the Chinese and blamed for the pandemic?
The one trump is withdrawing from?
So if the WHO is reputable that means trump was wrong to want to withdraw or trump is right and the WHO has no credibility.
So which is it?
Trumpkins will follow him over a cliff like the lemmings they are, all the while believing Trump will teach them how to fly before they hit the rocks below.
ReplyDeleteBut I gotta give them credit. If the biggest political sign wins an election, they win with that monstrosity on Rt. 33.
Anon 2:04 said:
ReplyDelete"Not only did Lee & Mike have Covid, Mike spent 2+ weeks in the hospital, and Lee's father died from it and yet they continue to walk around like nothing happened. SMH."
And that's the ironic thing. Before we had Covid lockdowns, mask mandates and other measures, people used to get sick all the time. They'd go to hospitals to get treatment. Some would get better, some wouldn't.
Now obviously that last paragraph is a bit of sarcasm, but it's an unfortunate truth that we're all going to die sometime. And there are many other things besides Covid that can kill you.
Some people want to hide in their basements to be safe, and that's fine. But others want to enjoy their lives to the fullest extent possible. Almost everything in life involves risk, and finding the right balance is key. For most, lockdowns aren't healthy or sustainable.
Well , Didn’t Joe tell the 12 people he was talking to in Ohio,that he was running for Senator?
ReplyDeletePeter for God's sake it was a slip of the tongue. Even you have had that happen.
ReplyDeleteA slip of a lip can sink a ship. -- Ed Norton
Delete5.18
ReplyDelete" Almost everything in life involves risk, and finding the right balance is key. For most, lockdowns aren't healthy or sustainable."
Glad to hear your outlook on life.
One problem is when your actions put me and others at risk.
Kindly stop making my life riskier
Simple as that.
When we are both in the water at the beach you chumming for sharks is a little more than just rude.
One of the major reasons for the spikes we are seeing right now locally:
ReplyDeletehttps://coronavirus.lehigh.edu/covid-19-dashboard-reporting
Well Mr. O'Hare if your take on national political leaders is as bad as your take on local leaders, well then President Trump must be a great leader.
ReplyDeleteLee Snover and Mike Snover both were diagnosed with the Corona Virus. So at this point they are only focused on themselves thinking they are now immune. So, Being the self centered NCRC chief that she is, she really doesn't care if anyone else contracts the virus. Both the NCRC chair and vice chair appear to only care about using others to selfishly attain their movement upward in the political arena, no matter who they hurt physically, mentally or emotionally. The NCRC chair claims to be a self professed Christian, but let's consider her self proclaimed prophecies to the newspapers abusing the 9th and 10th commandments to destroy even her friends/leaders within her own political party. Obviously many of her followers that can be found in that huge crowd certainly drink the Kool Aid she feeds them ...maybe her religious affiliation claims could better be compared to professing to be a female Charles Manson Wannabe???????
ReplyDeletehttps://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/aug/26/obesity-increases-risk-of-covid-19-death-by-48-study-finds
ReplyDeleteWe are an obese nation!!!
Ah, Bernie Joe thought that because you know he incompetence mentos . Sorry. ,he can’t help it but we’re talking National leadership.
ReplyDeleteBernie I have posted here weeks and weeks ago that this virus could return in an other form . .Virususis don’t “live or die” . In Europe an uptic has begun . I told you I was a chemical officer in the U.S.Army once . Tell us ,your constituents not to assemble. I’ve observed today a beautiful day assembled in groups in Nazareth. Please write how you do , Thanksgiving could be a disaster.
ReplyDelete