Help the Fight Against COVID-19

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Dale LeClaire said:
Bringing this back to the topic of "folding@home" for a moment...

I set up last night since my studio computer is idle most of the time. I noticed that in the web client it tells you what you're contributing to while a work package is running. Both of the work packages my system has done have been supporting cancer research according to the contribution notes. Is there a way to set it to contribute to specific things? Or is it more like "any of these packages could help any number of things"? I see there's an option to select certain categories, but "coronavirus" or "viral infections" or those types of things aren't there as options, it's more like "Alzheimer, Cancer, etc" and there's only 4 categories.

Not that I wouldn't want to contribute to those other research categories, but since the thread is about fighting COVID-19 I thought I'd ask.
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Currently no specific choice for covid.
 
chris said:
Why don’t doctors have ample protected/reserved supply to begin with though?
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Because you need a lot ...
You have to change your mask very often. Gloves as well. But yes, there should have been a bigger reserve.
 
crdark said:
Because you need a lot ...
You have to change your mask very often. Gloves as well. But yes, there should have been a bigger reserve.
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Yup. They should have access to that and have an easy way to get more in case a major epidemic begins. Preparedness vs Reaction. That’s all.
 
yek said:
@Nathan M.
Stop your attempts to push this into political terrain. Last warning.
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No ill will was intended I read the article this morning and thought it was a very good FAQ concerning the topic of conversation touching on numerous points discussed in this thread. I thought it would be helpful to those searching for info.

If my comment about the source being trusted is a problem, well Fox, CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS news divisions (Not opinion and commentary) are all considered trusted news sources here and are the most frequented channels people tune into for news and information.

Now back to the topic at hand, thank you.
 
crdark said:
Depends on who does what to be 'prepared'.
Common people buying and even stealing protective gear and disinfectant, that is actually needed in hospitals. Already happening everywhere. No protective gear for doctors = no doctors, no doctors = no care for the sick and an increasing number of dead people.
Everyone with a common flu thinks they've got corona and want to be tested, when in most countrys there aren't enough capacities to test everyone. And not everyone has to be tested in general.
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If we don't enact social distancing measures and the health care system gets overrun, hospitals will be out of gear in a matter of mere days. If you care about the supply of health care goods, you should recognize that the message of "make sure not to miss out on your social gatherings" from Dr. Abdu Sharkawy is so far from appropriate.
 
yeky83 said:
If you care about the supply of health care goods, you should recognize that the message of "make sure not to miss out on your social gatherings" from Dr. Abdu Sharkawy is so far from appropriate.
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To be honest, I overlooked that statement. You are right. That statement is really inappropriate. I guess I need some sleep.
 
I’m wondering how up to date the reporting is on this. My girlfriend went to a lab today for routine bloodwork and asked the tech about covid testing and apparently they’d had quite a few positive results already. Yet, the news is reporting 7 cases in NC. It’s hard to know what to believe.
 
hippietim said:
I’m wondering how up to date the reporting is on this. My girlfriend went to a lab today for routine bloodwork and asked the tech about covid testing and apparently they’d had quite a few positive results already. Yet, the news is reporting 7 cases in NC. It’s hard to know what to believe.
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Every other country on earth has a central government body responsible for organizing a response to the outbreak, managing testing, and publishing testing results to keep the public informed. The US has... Well, the president posted on twitter that there's nothing to worry about.
 
GlennO said:
Every other country on earth has a central government body responsible for organizing a response to the outbreak, managing testing, and publishing testing results to keep the public informed. The US has... Well, the president posted on twitter that there's nothing to worry about.
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Is this not what the CDC is supposed to do here? Earnest question, new'ish to America...
 
iaresee said:
Is this not what the CDC is supposed to do here? Earnest question, new'ish to America...
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You would think so, wouldn't you? However, after the CDC testing efforts were botched, local governments and private organizations gave up on depending on the CDC and developed and administered their own tests. When this happened last week, the CDC stopped trying to report comprehensive test results. Instead they now only publish limited test results, with important footnotes (see below). The CDC has now announced their only role is to provide advice to anyone who cares to ask for it.

State and local public health departments are now testing and publicly reporting their cases. In the event of a discrepancy between CDC cases and cases reported by state and local public health officials, data reported by states should be considered the most up to date.

CDC is no longer reporting the number of persons under investigation (PUIs) that have been tested, as well as PUIs that have tested negative. Now that states are testing and reporting their own results, CDC’s numbers are not representative of all testing being done nationwide.
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Until a short while ago, the CDC was one of the most trusted, accomplished, and expert institutions in the federal government. Things have changed in the past couple of years.
 
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The CDC should have had the independence of, say, the Fed or FTC since it’s inception but unfortunately that’s never really been the case.
 
GlennO said:
Until a short while ago, the CDC was one of the most trusted, accomplished, and expert institutions in the federal government. Things have changed in the past couple of years.
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CDC’s efforts to be an apolitical body, while at the same time trying to do their job, i.e. determining the cause of and preventing disease put them in a position of having to be political as well as scientific. I’m talking specifically about how social and humanistic problems manifest themselves in disease process - smoking, alcohol, drugs of abuse, obesity - these are things that politically manifest themselves as votes and dollars. Scientists are great at doing science, but they are terribly positioned from a standpoint of skill sets in politics, which makes them a chew toy for inherently narcissistic humans aka politicians of any stripe.
They’re doing the best job they can in a landscape that is predisposed to making it as difficult as possible - Murica 2020 where people cherry-pick facts that support narratives or, if none are to be had, simply make up facts as they see fit.

This is going great.
 
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GlennO said:
You would think so, wouldn't you? However, after the CDC testing efforts were botched, local governments and private organizations gave up on depending on the CDC and developed and administered their own tests. When this happened last week, the CDC stopped trying to report comprehensive test results. Instead they now only publish limited test results, with important footnotes (see below). The CDC has now announced their only role is to provide advice to anyone who cares to ask for it.




Until a short while ago, the CDC was one of the most trusted, accomplished, and expert institutions in the federal government. Things have changed in the past couple of years.
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Its really hard to not get political on this topic considering that this is a worldwide health crisis and considering there are some countries that appear to be better than others in their response to it. I will only say there are some world leaders who do not believe in science and/or what scientists and experts are telling them. And also believe this can be prayed "away" and will be gone in April because of the weather. That's where we're at - and I'm glad that some states and communities are taking it upon themselves to try and mitigate.
 
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