• Friendly reminder: The politics section is a place where a lot of differing opinions are raised. You may not like what you read here but it is someone's opinion. As long as the debate is respectful you are free to debate freely. Also, the views and opinions expressed by forum members may not necessarily reflect those of GBAtemp. Messages that the staff consider offensive or inflammatory may be removed in line with existing forum terms and conditions.

Time to start calling it the American virus (?)

UltraDolphinRevolution

Well-Known Member
OP
Member
Joined
Jul 30, 2016
Messages
1,806
Trophies
0
XP
2,436
Country
China
Blood samples from 2019 were tested for COVID19 in the US.
"Out of the 7,389 samples, 106 of them tested positive for coronavirus antibodies. Of those, 39 were collected from California, Oregon, and Washington from December 13th to December 13th." (quote from 1st source)

Unless blood doners are more prone to having contracted COVID19, we can deduct from this data that 1,4% of Americans already had the virus by mid January, and 0,5% by December 13th. This means, there were millions (!) of cases in the US in December 2019.
It is weird that the headlines do not support this conclusion. Am I missing something?

[Disclaimer: I am against naming it the American virus; I just wonder how Trump would react if COVID19 originated in the US]

https://bgr.com/2020/12/01/coronavirus-usa-first-cases-early-december-2019-cdc-antibodies-study/
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...-weeks-before-first-case-reported/6475864002/
 

Taleweaver

Storywriter
Member
Joined
Dec 23, 2009
Messages
8,691
Trophies
2
Age
43
Location
Belgium
XP
8,100
Country
Belgium
Also from the first source :

Recently, an Italian study similar to the one CDC researchers performed showed that some Italians had coronavirus antibodies as early as mid-October 2019.


... So it could just as well be Italian. No... The point of these studies undermine the (assumed) China origin. It can't pinpoint the real origin, because for that you've got to test old blood samples worldwide.
 

smf

Well-Known Member
Member
Joined
Feb 23, 2009
Messages
6,649
Trophies
2
XP
5,901
Country
United Kingdom
Recently, an Italian study similar to the one CDC researchers performed showed that some Italians had coronavirus antibodies as early as mid-October 2019.

I thought there was an earlier example in China though. It's more to point out how asleep at the wheel we were.
We should have started testing in January, rather than June.
 

FAST6191

Techromancer
Editorial Team
Joined
Nov 21, 2005
Messages
36,798
Trophies
3
XP
28,374
Country
United Kingdom
Yeah... Luckily, his opinion is becoming irrelevant again.
You say that but even assuming his legal cases don't amount to anything then many expect him to remain a force in US politics for a while yet (whether as pundit or a player I don't know and people are suggesting either), and if indeed 10 million more did feel compelled to vote for him then he will probably coast off that for a while (whether he goes for 2024 I don't know).


and will still just blame it on China.
Does China not share a considerable amount of the blame?
 

Hanafuda

Well-Known Member
Member
Joined
Nov 21, 2005
Messages
4,526
Trophies
2
XP
7,024
Country
United States
I have only anecdotal experience but I'm not alone -- my family caught a virus in January that was different than anything we've had before (I'm 53yo), and different for each of us in effect. For my 17yo daughter, it was more than 2 weeks of fever, chills, cough, etc that antibiotics and steroids couldn't touch. She went back to the doctor twice after the first visit because the fever was lasting so long, medication having no effect. For my wife, it was a week off from work, in bed all day, fever, cough, gunky flowing sinus/throat, and a severe case of the shits. For me, it was fever for one day, headache for 2 days, mildly runny nose. Started on Friday so I only missed one day of work.

Was it Covid? No way to know. It spread around here like wildfire though, local schools were closed for a week. Although there had been news stories here at that time about Covid19, it was still supposed to be in China only, no cases in the US yet.
 

Veho

The man who cried "Ni".
Former Staff
Joined
Apr 4, 2006
Messages
11,407
Trophies
3
Age
42
Location
Zagreb
XP
42,107
Country
Croatia
D

Deleted User

Guest
You say that but even assuming his legal cases don't amount to anything then many expect him to remain a force in US politics for a while yet (whether as pundit or a player I don't know and people are suggesting either), and if indeed 10 million more did feel compelled to vote for him then he will probably coast off that for a while (whether he goes for 2024 I don't know).



Does China not share a considerable amount of the blame?

They just hate the USA - they are taught it in school. They are hoping the virus came from the US just because they think it would make Donald Trump look bad. It's really pathetic. Anyone who disagree with
them are nazis and should be shamed publicly / lose their jobs.
 

Taleweaver

Storywriter
Member
Joined
Dec 23, 2009
Messages
8,691
Trophies
2
Age
43
Location
Belgium
XP
8,100
Country
Belgium
You say that but even assuming his legal cases don't amount to anything then many expect him to remain a force in US politics for a while yet (whether as pundit or a player I don't know and people are suggesting either), and if indeed 10 million more did feel compelled to vote for him then he will probably coast off that for a while (whether he goes for 2024 I don't know).
I'll argue the exact opposite: last I heard his legal cases are now 55 losses against 1 win(1). Republicans abandon him. All courts (including his own appointed supreme court) abandon him. Fox (mostly?) abandons him. Fuck...even Melania "just wants to go home". All he has left is his base, and what does he do with them? Scam them out of their money.

The US currently has a 9/11-amount of deaths on a daily basis and for the foreseeable future due to covid, but Trump just busies himself filing more cases and playing golf (okay: he's dismantling everything the US stands for as well, but that's a different topic).

Once he's out of the white house, the best he can hope for is to be forgotten. Well...that's how the general concensus will be. Of course there'll be people left to believe things like "Elvis is alive", "aliens are real" and "Donald Trump actually won the 2020 election", but they'll be (again) seen as the guys in your local bar you should stay away from. Political influence? No fucking way.


@eastwald: are you the new rightwing sock puppet around here? If so...welcome.
I'm one of the articulate guys from the ACTUAL left side. Shall we agree to disagree or do you want to insult me a bit before I decide to block you? :)



(1): which wasn't about fraud, let alone mass fraud, let alone the sort that would overturn the election. Nope...it was about a legislatory change that wasn't implemented correctly
 

FAST6191

Techromancer
Editorial Team
Joined
Nov 21, 2005
Messages
36,798
Trophies
3
XP
28,374
Country
United Kingdom
It's Trump's virus, he's got 300,000 deaths to answer for. I call it COVID-45 now.
How exactly?

What actions could he have taken that would have prevented seemingly all of the US deaths? I look out at the rest of the world with various other responses (and in some cases even more power in governments) and mostly seems to be a rich-poor divide.

Equally what actions could he have taken that state governors could not have done by themselves?

His actions or inactions might be said to have contributed to something, what percentage I do not know, but blaming the whole deal on him seems a bit strong.
 

vb_encryption_vb

That hardmod guy....
Member
Joined
Nov 21, 2015
Messages
1,995
Trophies
2
Age
42
Location
Acworth, GA
XP
1,967
Country
United States
I have only anecdotal experience but I'm not alone -- my family caught a virus in January that was different than anything we've had before (I'm 53yo), and different for each of us in effect. For my 17yo daughter, it was more than 2 weeks of fever, chills, cough, etc that antibiotics and steroids couldn't touch. She went back to the doctor twice after the first visit because the fever was lasting so long, medication having no effect. For my wife, it was a week off from work, in bed all day, fever, cough, gunky flowing sinus/throat, and a severe case of the shits. For me, it was fever for one day, headache for 2 days, mildly runny nose. Started on Friday so I only missed one day of work.

Was it Covid? No way to know. It spread around here like wildfire though, local schools were closed for a week. Although there had been news stories here at that time about Covid19, it was still supposed to be in China only, no cases in the US yet.

Same here, for me it was 18 days, started at the end of November. Nothing I've ever experienced, Doctor didn't know what the hell it was other than I had lung damage from the excessive coughing. Fevers, chills, cold/hot sweats, aches, trouble breathing, etc, etc
 
  • Like
Reactions: Hanafuda

boomy

Well-Known Member
Newcomer
Joined
Dec 19, 2006
Messages
62
Trophies
1
XP
2,153
Country
Australia
How exactly?

What actions could he have taken that would have prevented seemingly all of the US deaths? I look out at the rest of the world with various other responses (and in some cases even more power in governments) and mostly seems to be a rich-poor divide.

Equally what actions could he have taken that state governors could not have done by themselves?

His actions or inactions might be said to have contributed to something, what percentage I do not know, but blaming the whole deal on him seems a bit strong.
Australia and New Zealand got it right
 

vb_encryption_vb

That hardmod guy....
Member
Joined
Nov 21, 2015
Messages
1,995
Trophies
2
Age
42
Location
Acworth, GA
XP
1,967
Country
United States
How exactly?

What actions could he have taken that would have prevented seemingly all of the US deaths? I look out at the rest of the world with various other responses (and in some cases even more power in governments) and mostly seems to be a rich-poor divide.

Equally what actions could he have taken that state governors could not have done by themselves?

His actions or inactions might be said to have contributed to something, what percentage I do not know, but blaming the whole deal on him seems a bit strong.

Not a damn thing, he could have cured cancer and dems/libs would blame him for not releasing the cure soon enough...
 
  • Like
Reactions: Hanafuda

Jayro

MediCat USB Dev
Developer
Joined
Jul 23, 2012
Messages
13,039
Trophies
4
Location
WA State
Website
ko-fi.com
XP
17,218
Country
United States
How exactly?

What actions could he have taken that would have prevented seemingly all of the US deaths? I look out at the rest of the world with various other responses (and in some cases even more power in governments) and mostly seems to be a rich-poor divide.

Equally what actions could he have taken that state governors could not have done by themselves?

His actions or inactions might be said to have contributed to something, what percentage I do not know, but blaming the whole deal on him seems a bit strong.
Well right before the virus hit america, he fired and refunded the pandemic response team, so that's fuck-up number one, then he refused to take the outbreak serious and downplayed it's seriousness, comparing it to the regular flu. He then refused any respirators from being imported, and closed everything down far too late. Then he refused to keep us in lockdown just so "the economy" wouldn't dip for his businesses. And then the dumb mother fucker INSISTED that kids go back to school WHEN THE VIRUS WAS IN FULL-SWING, further making shit worse. He also refused to listen to Doctor Anthony Fauci's expertise, and even teased he would fire him after the election, when he's done nothing wrong. Trump has just been fucking this whole thing up since the very beginning, and he knew about the virus since November, and he did NOTHING. That's why 300,000 deaths are on his hands.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Taleweaver and Xzi

Taleweaver

Storywriter
Member
Joined
Dec 23, 2009
Messages
8,691
Trophies
2
Age
43
Location
Belgium
XP
8,100
Country
Belgium
Well right before the virus hit america, he fired and refunded the pandemic response team, so that's fuck-up number one, then he refused to take the outbreak serious and downplayed it's seriousness, comparing it to the regular flu. He then refused any respirators from being imported, and closed everything down far too late. Then he refused to keep us in lockdown just so "the economy" wouldn't dip for his businesses. And then the dumb mother fucker INSISTED that kids go back to school WHEN THE VIRUS WAS IN FULL-SWING, further making shit worse. He also refused to listen to Doctor Anthony Fauci's expertise, and even teased he would fire him after the election, when he's done nothing wrong. Trump has just been fucking this whole thing up since the very beginning, and he knew about the virus since November, and he did NOTHING. That's why 300,000 deaths are on his hands.
I'm not sure if I should love your response or criticise you for inaccuracies.

So I'll do both. Keep in mind that you're mostly right, though:

* the pandemic response team was disbanded in 2018. It's a fuck-up, but you're wrong on the timing.
(on the other end...the abcense of this team is one that came to surface. There are other programs that were gutted or sold out that have a much higher damage potential)
* Trump didn't close down a single state. That's, in a way, even worse: after his minimalizing, he went on to say that the states should fend for themselves rather than treating it as a national emergency.
* similarly: he didn't open up a single state either. The thing is that the senators who were trying to keep things (somewhat?) safe got Trump's criticism.
* he didn't "tease" he would fire Fauci after the election: he made it a re-election promise.
* november? If you've got a source on that I'd like to hear it, but AFAIK he was briefed twice near the end of January. But as the link illustrates, how he acted publicly was much different than in private.
* 300'000 deaths? Hmm...a problem with properly criticising Trump is that, like you, it's easy to make him a scapegoat (which is part of why opponents refuse to listen). Let's not kid ourselves: none of us could have prevented ALL deaths. It's just too sudden, too surprising and with too little knowledge (let's face it: oriental countries like South Korea have more experiences with outbreaks, so they acted faster and more efficient now). IIRC, Fauci and the CDC set the initial death rate at around 60'000 in the US (this was march or april). It's only the deaths above that that you can start attributing to the lacking government. So...I'll say that he's (indirectly) responsible for the deaths of around 240'000 US civilians. And counting.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Jayro

UltraDolphinRevolution

Well-Known Member
OP
Member
Joined
Jul 30, 2016
Messages
1,806
Trophies
0
XP
2,436
Country
China
Same here, for me it was 18 days, started at the end of November. Nothing I've ever experienced, Doctor didn't know what the hell it was other than I had lung damage from the excessive coughing. Fevers, chills, cold/hot sweats, aches, trouble breathing, etc, etc
Nov 2019 I reckon? I saw many similar posts on twitter.
 

Site & Scene News

Popular threads in this forum

General chit-chat
Help Users
  • No one is chatting at the moment.
  • K3Nv2 @ K3Nv2:
    Thanks for signing up at LinusTechTips
  • QuarterCut @ QuarterCut:
    holey shmoley!
  • BigOnYa @ BigOnYa:
    Your credit card has been charged. Thank you.
  • K3Nv2 @ K3Nv2:
    Your screwdriverPlus will arrive in three weeks
    +1
  • QuarterCut @ QuarterCut:
    K64_Waddle_Dee_Artwork_1.jpg

    my reaction to such information
    +2
  • BigOnYa @ BigOnYa:
    Press 1 for English. Press 2 for Pig Latin. Or press 3 to speak to a representative.
  • BakerMan @ BakerMan:
    guys, i need help, i got into an argument about what genre radioactive is, and i forgot who made it
  • Sicklyboy @ Sicklyboy:
    @BakerMan, Imagine Dragons
  • Sicklyboy @ Sicklyboy:
    Dragon deez nuts across yo face GOTEEM
  • Sicklyboy @ Sicklyboy:
    lmao now I realize that was probably the joke in the first place
    +1
  • BakerMan @ BakerMan:
    IMAGINE DRAGON DEEZ NUTS ACROSS YO- FUCK HE BEAT ME TO IT
  • BigOnYa @ BigOnYa:
    You have selected 4 - Death by Snu Snu, please stand by...
    +1
  • BakerMan @ BakerMan:
    lucky bastard
    +1
  • Sicklyboy @ Sicklyboy:
    hahahaha I'm half way through a bag off my Volcano and my tolerance is way down because I haven't been smoking much lately, so I was a little slow to catch that that was what your angle was 🤣🤣
    +1
  • Sicklyboy @ Sicklyboy:
    Also I was just excited to know a music reference for once (I am the LAST person in the world that you want on your trivia team)
    +2
  • K3Nv2 @ K3Nv2:
    Bummer webos 7.4 isnt working with dejavuln-autoroot
  • Sicklyboy @ Sicklyboy:
    PS4 right? I think that's what mine's on. Or 5.6, maybe.
  • K3Nv2 @ K3Nv2:
    [!] Installation failed (devmode_enabled not recognized)
  • K3Nv2 @ K3Nv2:
    0.5 seemed to work whatever lol i wont bitch
  • Alysh_Graham @ Alysh_Graham:
    Hehehe
    Alysh_Graham @ Alysh_Graham: Hehehe