All things CoronaVirus

[Typical Lax Dad]

https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/05/us/los-a ... index.html

Where's the hospital ship when you need it?

well here's one of the dumbest vids on it you may find:
https://www.nbclosangeles.com/on-air/ma ... a/2497757/

supposedly, it's complicated but they don't say why. and the last lady on doesn't seem to understand the utility of clearing up hospital space.

in any event, hahn and others in la county a week ago supposedly put a call out for the ship. usually what we do in this situation is wait until everything has crested and by the time the ship rolls in it's not needed.

so good news when they finally send it.

Why? My PM buddy believes other than people already dead on the way to the hospital, there is plenty of capacity. Its all fear porn. Ton of excess capacity.

[wgdsr]

https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/05/us/los-a ... index.html

Where's the hospital ship when you need it?

well here's one of the dumbest vids on it you may find:
https://www.nbclosangeles.com/on-air/ma ... a/2497757/

supposedly, it's complicated but they don't say why. and the last lady on doesn't seem to understand the utility of clearing up hospital space.

in any event, hahn and others in la county a week ago supposedly put a call out for the ship. usually what we do in this situation is wait until everything has crested and by the time the ship rolls in it's not needed.

so good news when they finally send it.

Why? My PM buddy believes other than people already dead on the way to the hospital, there is plenty of capacity. Its all fear porn. Ton of excess capacity.

what is weird is why la county? 70 degrees every day. business restrictions. stay at home orders. masks.

once the virus gets hold of a dense population it doesn't have much chance to be corralled? minority pop bad/worse outcomes? why not miami? maybe they're next.

[Typical Lax Dad]

https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/05/us/los-a ... index.html

Where's the hospital ship when you need it?

well here's one of the dumbest vids on it you may find:
https://www.nbclosangeles.com/on-air/ma ... a/2497757/

supposedly, it's complicated but they don't say why. and the last lady on doesn't seem to understand the utility of clearing up hospital space.

in any event, hahn and others in la county a week ago supposedly put a call out for the ship. usually what we do in this situation is wait until everything has crested and by the time the ship rolls in it's not needed.

so good news when they finally send it.

Why? My PM buddy believes other than people already dead on the way to the hospital, there is plenty of capacity. Its all fear porn. Ton of excess capacity.

what is weird is why la county? 70 degrees every day. business restrictions. stay at home orders. masks.

once the virus gets hold of a dense population it doesn't have much chance to be corralled? minority pop bad/worse outcomes? why not miami? maybe they're next.

The old 80/20. In this case it might be 85/15

[a fan]

i don't see 3 times anywhere but i'm sure you can find a metric somewhere.

Yeah...I admit that that was a rhetorical trap.

In other words, you're telling me that we're "only" paying 2x+ what Canada is paying, and we're getting a worse outcome for our total population?

not everyone agrees worse outcome.

If you are only looking at the outcome for your own family? Sure. My family gets world class care. No if's and's, or but's.

What I'm talking about is the outcome for our population as a whole. And using that metric? You can't argue that our results are worse. Pick a metric, and I'm happy to go over it.

....anyway, we'll be able to leverage canada's covid vaccine development

And why do you think Pfizer and Moderna have vaccines, my man? Where do multinational pharmaceutical companies get their R&D cash from?

Banks?

Turn off the R&D taxpayer spigot for these companies. Watch what happens. I've posted this before-----the last decade's worth of drugs getting FDA approval all----100% of them----received R&D money from taxpayers.

Did taxpayers get royalties? F no. Why? Because we have millions of Americans who think that we're in a free market, and those drugs come from free market forces. Nope.

[holmes435]

Egypt: Entire ICU ward dies after oxygen supply fails

Video is heartbreaking.

[Brooklyn]

Dr Fauci appeared this morning on Newsday with some very interesting info on the vaccines:


https://projects.newsday.com/long-islan ... -dr-fauci/



dunno if a subscription is required for access but please give it a try as it is very informative

[ggait]

what is weird is why la county? 70 degrees every day. business restrictions. stay at home orders. masks.

once the virus gets hold of a dense population it doesn't have much chance to be corralled? minority pop bad/worse outcomes? why not miami? maybe they're next.

It is weird. SoCal is suburban and spread out, car-based, warm weather, outdoors oriented, generally affluent, and non-MAGA compliant. All good demographic characteristics.

Friends in SoCal say that the poor/minority population is the driver.

[jhu72]

Now being reported that Southern California ambulance drivers are now being told not to waste time transporting those unlikely to survive. Similar to NYC in the spring. We have broken one of the most advanced healthcare system in the nation and the world. Good going America. Ain't the freedom not to ware a mask great. For those smart asses that think its only California, THIS IS COMING TO A STATE NEAR YOU.

[Typical Lax Dad]

Now being reported that Southern California ambulance drivers are now being told not to waste time transporting those unlikely to survive. Similar to NYC in the spring. We have broken one of the most advanced healthcare system in the nation and the world. Good going America. Ain't the freedom not to ware a mask great. For those smart asses that think its only California, THIS IS COMING TO A STATE NEAR YOU.

Nope. My PM buddy says those people are all dead anyway. There is plenty of capacity for sick people. It’s just fear porn. DNR order is for vegetables.

[a fan]

Friends in SoCal say that the poor/minority population is the driver.

Manufacturing. Distribution. Think of all those jobs in 20K+ square foot buildings. Ports, importing all the stuff listed on Amazon.

[jhu72]

i don't see 3 times anywhere but i'm sure you can find a metric somewhere.

Yeah...I admit that that was a rhetorical trap.

In other words, you're telling me that we're "only" paying 2x+ what Canada is paying, and we're getting a worse outcome for our total population?

not everyone agrees worse outcome.

If you are only looking at the outcome for your own family? Sure. My family gets world class care. No if's and's, or but's.

What I'm talking about is the outcome for our population as a whole. And using that metric? You can't argue that our results are worse. Pick a metric, and I'm happy to go over it.

....anyway, we'll be able to leverage canada's covid vaccine development

And why do you think Pfizer and Moderna have vaccines, my man? Where do multinational pharmaceutical companies get their R&D cash from?

Banks?

Turn off the R&D taxpayer spigot for these companies. Watch what happens. I've posted this before-----the last decade's worth of drugs getting FDA approval all----100% of them----received R&D money from taxpayers.

Did taxpayers get royalties? F no. Why? Because we have millions of Americans who think that we're in a free market, and those drugs come from free market forces. Nope.

Yup, pharma is not a free market. Lots of government money driving it. I can't say 100%, but it is a very large %.

[CU77]

So you understand. And you know what CU said is BS. It's a much bigger job than he acknowledges.
ANd on top of it all, you're gonna have to leverage big data.

If we're talking about the vaccine, I agree. But I thought we were talking about national policy re lockdowns etc.

And the US cannot just emulate Germany in this regard. Germany has enormous advantages, built over decades, in terms of how well gubmint, industry, and unions interact, trust each other, and cooperate.

[a fan]

Yup, pharma is not a free market. Lots of government money driving it. I can't say 100%, but it is a very large %.

I'll find the citation I gave a year or so back-----every single FDA approval over a decade in the 2000's had received taxpayer money.

All of them.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: if that's what we want to do, that's fine----but charge a royalty until the R&D money is paid back.

Or-----open a Federal lab, and keep it every penny of profit for the US taxpayer.

The way we are doing it now is simply fleecing taxpayers. It's corruption of the worst kind.

[jhu72]

Yup, pharma is not a free market. Lots of government money driving it. I can't say 100%, but it is a very large %.

I'll find the citation I gave a year or so back-----every single FDA approval over a decade in the 2000's had received taxpayer money.

All of them.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: if that's what we want to do, that's fine----but charge a royalty until the R&D money is paid back.

Or-----open a Federal lab, and keep it every penny of profit for the US taxpayer.

The way we are doing it now is simply fleecing taxpayers. It's corruption of the worst kind.

I agree with your general take on this and I agree American's should be reaping the reward of their R&D dollars not big pharma. I just find the 100% number questionable. Does it mean every penny for every drug, or does it mean at least 1 penny for every drug. I think the later is more likely.

[jhu72]

An overview of the state of our healthcare system as of today. It will get worse before it gets better.

[a fan]

I agree with your general take on this and I agree American's should be reaping the reward of their R&D dollars not big pharma. I just find the 100% number questionable. Does it mean every penny for every drug, or does it mean at least 1 penny for every drug. I think the later is more likely.

Oh, I'm sure their costs aren't 100% covered. It means that 100% of the drugs received SOME Federal money. And you and I both know it's not chump change.

And you know how Federal Grants work-----50% can go to pretty much anything and everything. So Pfizer gets world class lab equipment on the taxpayer's dime. Do they throw that equipment away when the R&D the grant is based on is done?

Nope.

Whatever the number, a. that's not the free market, and b. I want our money back paid in full. We do that? I have no complaints. It would be like the SBA program, where the fees cover the the cost of the program. The SBA turns a profit every year.

[jhu72]

I agree with your general take on this and I agree American's should be reaping the reward of their R&D dollars not big pharma. I just find the 100% number questionable. Does it mean every penny for every drug, or does it mean at least 1 penny for every drug. I think the later is more likely.

Oh, I'm sure their costs aren't 100% covered. It means that 100% of the drugs received SOME Federal money. And you and I both know it's not chump change.

And you know how Federal Grants work-----50% can go to pretty much anything and everything. So Pfizer gets world class lab equipment on the taxpayer's dime. Do they throw that equipment away when the R&D the grant is based on is done?

Nope.

Whatever the number, a. that's not the free market, and b. I want our money back paid in full. We do that? I have no complaints. It would be like the SBA program, where the fees cover the the cost of the program. The SBA turns a profit every year.

It is not just pharma R&D, all government R&D grants work the same way. The American people should be getting reasonable royalty return (not venture capital returns) where the grant goes to an organization that then sells product or I/P based on that R&D.

[holmes435]

Just got the first dose of the Moderna vaccine. It was a drive-thru setup at a local volunteer EMS station, where they were vaccinating 8 people at a time in their cars. Took about 5 minutes for the actual vaccination part, but they had overbooked I there was a 40 minute wait.

Looks like it's a city or county driven thing, as Virginia Beach is doing a bit better than some counties nearby at distribution. We were automatically scheduled for a second dose 4 weeks from today when we signed up.

Will report back on any side effects.

[CU77]

what is weird is why la county? 70 degrees every day. business restrictions. stay at home orders. masks.

My daughter lives in LA County. According to her, lots of people not staying home. Lots of people not wearing masks, even more wearing them carelessly (eg with nose exposed). When she went out for evening walks in her neighborhood during Xmas week, she frequently heard parties going on.

Trump got 27% of the vote in LA County. That's a whole bunch of people who think covid is going to go away, like a miracle.

[Typical Lax Dad]

what is weird is why la county? 70 degrees every day. business restrictions. stay at home orders. masks.

My daughter lives in LA County. According to her, lots of people not staying home. Lots of people not wearing masks, even more wearing them carelessly (eg with nose exposed). When she went out for evening walks in her neighborhood during Xmas week, she frequently heard parties going on.

Trump got 27% of the vote in LA County. That's a whole bunch of people who think covid is going to go away, like a miracle.

85/15 rule for COVID.