Ohmsen wrote:
 
If false positives were a problem, then Australia would be having as bad case numbers as the rest of the world. We test a lot, although the government is having to encourage people to test because we tend to ignore symptoms with the number of cases in the wild down to 0.

Oregon man foiled in attempt to steal 108 rolls of white gold (toilet paper), sheriff’s officials say

 ScottFromWyoming wrote: 
I've been taking C and zinc daily as a cold preventative for nearly 25 years.  Cheap when you buy them separately as pills.  The common cold is the Corona Virus so one would think that these have at least some sort of impact towards system immuno function.  Since my transplant, I have added Vito D3 for about the past 10 or so years.  I take 10,000 units daily and my D tests out around 65 (5,000 units only got me to 30 which is the bottom of good at 25) which is right in the middle of where we are supposed to be.  My level was 15 after my transplant. You do need a separate blood test to find out your vito D levels and may have to lobby hard to get one, but everyone needs to do it at least twice.  First time to find out where you are and then maybe 6 moths later to see what any adjustments have achieved.  D is fat soluble and must be taken with food to get it to digest properly.  The gel caps are just fine.

A couple of months ago there was a run on zinc and I had to search Amazon to find some when I ran out instead of walking into Walmart and snagging a bottle for $2.55  Paid 10 times that on Amazon.  I did score 3 bottles of zinc at WM a month ago.

With all of these crazy shortages, I'm buying things when I see them, whether I need them now or not.  Went to WM last week to get some selenium and there was no zinc to be found again.  I bought three bottles of selenium then, cuz people might find out what it does and cause a run on it, too.  For those who do not know, selenium is a key compound that unlocks the functionality and helps to metabolize many supplements and vitos, one significant is Vito E.  It's kinda a missing link or key to actually how much you may benefit from supplements.  And it is cheap as well.  These 4 items (C, zinc, D3 and selenium) together can't cost more than 10¢ per day and they do so much.

 cc_rider wrote:
 
I flunked statistics three times so I know a thing or two... but this argument that more testing = more cases is the weirdest convolution possible. Sure, if you test more, you find more cases. It's pretty simple to find the test positivity rate, though, and there you get better information if you test a lot more... if you only test sick people, your test positivity rate will be sky high. So you test everyone you can, and get a better idea of how prevalent it is in the community.

 ScottN wrote:
 
Yeah, I gotta go with you on this one. Let's assume he's correct: the second wave of cases was(is) actually false positives. So 'testing' indicates there are lots of people infected that are not. Fine, that's not actually so unreasonable.

Now tell that story to the quarter-million DEAD people - whether they were tested or not, they're dead. Add in many more hundreds of thousands who have suffered through the virus' effects - are those people false positives too? It's all some mass hysteria causing people to have chills and fever, unable to draw breath enough to sit up? How about the people with long-lasting, sometimes permanent organ and brain damage? More false positives there too? Lots of those folks never even had a chance to get tested, or if tested, were able to get timely results when it might have mattered.

That guy's credentials may be impeccable, but his argument, is, uh, pure bull$hit.
c.

 miamizsun wrote:
 

Early on, zinc lozenges were impossible to find; Vitamin D supplements seem to be advised now. And there's a nasal spray with xylitol that is getting some buzz. Point is, I think a lot of people are doing quite  a bit when they feel iffy...

 Ohmsen wrote: 
Please tell us again how testing is the problem.

 NoEnzLefttoSplit wrote: 

of course there's always a legal escape clause/disclaimer in tiny print

i like the concept of statista, pretty graphs and charts are great

however methodology/accuracy is crucial

wandering around on "Our World In Data" it would seem there are third(ish) world countries that have fared better than some of the more developed countries

begs the question:  why? shouldn't we look?

i'm still somewhat surprised that we haven't got it together on some early home treatment to minimize hospitalization and improve and tilt toward better outcomes

maybe a care package with some basic therapeutics and instructions to take at the first sign (or even prophylaxis) if you're high risk and been in contact with someone who has confirmed positive

if we could even get a small percentage to avoid hospitalization, say ten to fifteen percent, that would be great

a lot of hospitals tend to run near capacity in normal times

i don't know, just sitting around and letting the disease ravage an at risk person and then hospitalizing seems like a poor strategy to me

just concerned that we may be missing something here that could benefit us all

 ColdMiser wrote:
 
Austin has been seeing some form of that for years. All the surrounding areas too. Even here about a 1/2 hour east of Austin, houses are going up as fast as they can build them. Helps(?) that the Tesla plant is going in too, it's between us and Austin. West of Austin, in the 'Hill Country', high-end development on previously pristine land has rendered it out of reach for most - east was our only real option. But we are happy about our move - if we were still in 1,000 sqft in downtown Austin, we'd have killed each other by now.
c.

 ColdMiser wrote:
 
I think it's a great time to buy in NYC.

9/11 depressed prices for a while, but the financial district became a relatively hot area over the past few years, and for every $10k over asking in Bozeman there is an accepted offer of $100k under asking in Brooklyn.   This recovery will take longer and will have movement in many places, but after everyone settles in and adjusts to country living, many will have FOMO as their old friends post about the great new exotic food place or bar down the street.

Added bonus....fewer people on the subway!

 Lazy8 wrote:
 
Hopefully a taste of your winter will send them back home with tails between their legs. 

oldviolin wrote:

Yes. Or just regular. Whichever is scarier.

 Lazy8 wrote:
 
From Mars, or no?

ColdMiser wrote:

Yes, it's pure hell. And we have spiders.

Tell all your friends!

I read an article in the New Jersey Sunday paper about the mass exodus of people from the city to the suburbs and rural areas. City folks escaping the pandemic (or assuming they are) and the social unrest.
The focus was on Lazy 8's hometown of Bozeman, referred to  now as Boz-Angeles. Sounds like crazy times there, people moving to the area without even visiting or seeing the home they are buying other than on the internet. Home prices EXPLODING, local services straining from the influx of so many people in so short a time frame. And I thought things were nuts here in Jersey where houses were selling like hotcakes, tens of thousands over asking price. It will be years till we see the real fallout from these times I guess. 

 miamizsun wrote: 
ha, that's interesting... as compared to the current ranking (also from statista):

from the world economic forum in nov 2019...

These are the top 10 countries for pandemic preparedness

 ScottN wrote:
 


Same story here in Derplahoma.

 Ohmsen wrote:
 
 Yeadon was up and about saying herd immunity had all but taken over in the UK and that no second wave was to going to occur.
He's gone a bit quiet of late , since the recent new spike and thousands of new  Covid 19 deaths .