NON_POLITICAL China Coronavirus THREAD

[Torn Mind]

In general the vaccine passport system, or the fact that it would become permanent was seen as a conspiracy theory at the beginning, and now it's true. Digital ID system as well was a conspiracy, and they're now talking about that for 2022. If you read between the lines it's pretty easy to guess what the potential steps of that could lead to once it's refined. Basically a social credit system.

The biggest losers would be those who got a shot or two but were advised not to get another or those communities that the government has fucked up in the past and thus caused them to develop an attitude of suspicion, and that suspicion would be justified.

Knowing how Canada loves to fuck over first nations, the would be the first to suffer "inconveniences" of such a system since the government has engaged in actual misconduct in such a manner where mistrust has been developed and will only continue to be sustained.

 

[pmv]

Saw on TV news tonight expert opinion that fully vaccinated should now be 3 shots, not two.

Pfizer two shots is showing 37% effectiveness against Omicron, but 3 shots 75%, a world of difference.

Studies apparently show two AZ shots are less than 10% effective! (Though they emphasise those are very small early studies). Two AZ and a Pfizer chaser, though, gets it back up to near 75%.

But what does this mean for places like India, that have struggled to vaccinate people the first time round? Now they are going to have to do it all again with a third shot. Getting the whole world vaccinated seemed a tough proposition already, now it just got 50% more difficult.

 

[Charmonium]

It seems like we get new "variants of concern" every few months. If that continues to hold true, we'll never catch up to it - certainly not globally.

There has to be some sort of end point though, right? There can't be an infinite number of mutations that keep increasing transmissibility, virulence, etc.

Maybe omicron is the sort of mutation we'll see - meaning that maybe the virus is settling into a sort of steady state where any new mutations are trade offs. So with omicron, it has better transmissibility but seems to be less severe. Next time it will be a different trade off.

If there's no limit to how bad it can get, then at some point it becomes the viraL world's version of Godzilla - eating nuclear radiation and waging war with other viruses.

 

[Brainonska511]

In general the vaccine passport system, or the fact that it would become permanent was seen as a conspiracy theory at the beginning, and now it's true. Digital ID system as well was a conspiracy, and they're now talking about that for 2022. If you read between the lines it's pretty easy to guess what the potential steps of that could lead to once it's refined. Basically a social credit system.

Digital ID? As if the State doesn't already have information on you in electronic form - driver's license, ID cards, tax returns? And social credit systems that we already have, like credit reports and background checks - both things that can impact whether you're the "right person" for a job or credit? And other systems that track your every movement, that people participate in voluntarily (cell phones)?

Vaccine passports are becoming a thing because a large enough chunk of people decided they have no duty to society, as if they live in some sort of State of Nature. So the rest of society is taking action to protect itself and make public life difficult for selfish asshats.

 

[Muse]

No, I am seeing the light. Almost all of the conspiracy theories so far have ended up being true.

you're already a nut

 

[Captante]

No, I am seeing the light. Almost all of the conspiracy theories so far have ended up being true.

I'm thinking your little red choo-choo may well have gone chugging around the bend bro sorry.

😛

Your name is associated with countless numbers, barcodes and assorted other digital "ID's" already I hate to break it to you. Having one you can display on a smartphone is no big deal at all.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Just because they have some info on us should not mean we should be ok with EVEN MORE spying. By making it an app it forces you to use a mainstream phone OS instead of a custom rom, and the app itself will be spying on you 24/7. They all do, it's the only motive to making something into an app.

I prefer to actually have control over my privacy than to be forced into something I don't want. It's not really that much to ask for really.

 

[Captante]

I'm already able to pull up my vaccine status on the CVS app and/or the CVS website... the data is already there and associated with digital ID's.

All I'm saying is that although being frustrated over the fact that in modern society privacy is pretty much dead is something I CAN understand, THAT SHIP HAS SAILED. (years ago too)

Additionally I find it hilarious how conspiracy nut-cases ascribe the ability for a small group of folks to control everything AND keep it mostly secret too when actual world governments can't control anything.

Down the road your following is a militia camp full of wannabe Uni-bombers.

😉

 

[MrSquished]

Just because they have some info on us should not mean we should be ok with EVEN MORE spying. By making it an app it forces you to use a mainstream phone OS instead of a custom rom, and the app itself will be spying on you 24/7. They all do, it's the only motive to making something into an app.

I prefer to actually have control over my privacy than to be forced into something I don't want. It's not really that much to ask for really.

So you know this app will be spying on you 24/7? You really have some good inside connections I must say.

 

[sdifox]

Just because they have some info on us should not mean we should be ok with EVEN MORE spying. By making it an app it forces you to use a mainstream phone OS instead of a custom rom, and the app itself will be spying on you 24/7. They all do, it's the only motive to making something into an app.

I prefer to actually have control over my privacy than to be forced into something I don't want. It's not really that much to ask for really.

you can print the QR code on paper and take that with you. no app needed. I have a pdf on my phone.

 

[Red Squirrel]

you can print the QR code on paper and take that with you. no app needed. I have a pdf on my phone.

For now. They want to convert all ID to digital in 2022. Will eventually be mandatory.

Ontario's Digital IDs Are Getting Delayed Until Next Year & Here's Why

You will have to hold onto your physical cards for a little longer!

www.narcity.com

"If you like holding onto the plastic version of your photo card or driver's licence, switching to the digital version will not be mandatory when the program launches." AKA "It will eventually be mandatory"

Lawyer: Ontario’s coming ‘digital ID’ could ‘evolve’ into ‘vaccine passport’ - LifeSite

‘While the proposed digital ID is allegedly voluntary, it is unlikely to stay that way,’ a lawyer for the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms warned.

www.lifesitenews.com

It's also pretty well established that most apps are designed to also spy on you passively. Otherwise, why even bother making it an app in first place. All those food order apps, social media apps etc, even lot of flashlight and other random apps, are all spying on you.

Of Course iPhone Apps Spy on You: Here's What to Do About It

It shouldn't be news that iPhone apps spy on you. That's how they make money. Fortunately, there are a few things you can do about it.

www.tomsguide.com

That's specific to iphone but you kind of get the jist.

 

[MrSquished]

For now. They want to convert all ID to digital in 2022. Will eventually be mandatory.

Ontario's Digital IDs Are Getting Delayed Until Next Year & Here's Why

You will have to hold onto your physical cards for a little longer!

www.narcity.com

"If you like holding onto the plastic version of your photo card or driver's licence, switching to the digital version will not be mandatory when the program launches." AKA "It will eventually be mandatory"

Lawyer: Ontario’s coming ‘digital ID’ could ‘evolve’ into ‘vaccine passport’ - LifeSite

‘While the proposed digital ID is allegedly voluntary, it is unlikely to stay that way,’ a lawyer for the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms warned.

www.lifesitenews.com

It's also pretty well established that most apps are designed to also spy on you passively. Otherwise, why even bother making it an app in first place. All those food order apps, social media apps etc, even lot of flashlight and other random apps, are all spying on you.

Of Course iPhone Apps Spy on You: Here's What to Do About It

It shouldn't be news that iPhone apps spy on you. That's how they make money. Fortunately, there are a few things you can do about it.

www.tomsguide.com

That's specific to iphone but you kind of get the jist.

Of course some apps ask to to agree to their terms in order to collect data on you,. But also a lot of apps do not spy on you, I know, I use some. You have to specifically prove that an app spies on you 24/7 before making such claims. Because x apps collect some data on you then all apps must spy on you 24/7 is just not a smart or logical statement. It is to kooky conspiracy theorists thoughl.

 

[sdifox]

For now. They want to convert all ID to digital in 2022. Will eventually be mandatory.

Ontario's Digital IDs Are Getting Delayed Until Next Year & Here's Why

You will have to hold onto your physical cards for a little longer!

www.narcity.com

"If you like holding onto the plastic version of your photo card or driver's licence, switching to the digital version will not be mandatory when the program launches." AKA "It will eventually be mandatory"

Lawyer: Ontario’s coming ‘digital ID’ could ‘evolve’ into ‘vaccine passport’ - LifeSite

‘While the proposed digital ID is allegedly voluntary, it is unlikely to stay that way,’ a lawyer for the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms warned.

www.lifesitenews.com

It's also pretty well established that most apps are designed to also spy on you passively. Otherwise, why even bother making it an app in first place. All those food order apps, social media apps etc, even lot of flashlight and other random apps, are all spying on you.

Of Course iPhone Apps Spy on You: Here's What to Do About It

It shouldn't be news that iPhone apps spy on you. That's how they make money. Fortunately, there are a few things you can do about it.

www.tomsguide.com

That's specific to iphone but you kind of get the jist.

until the government is willing to buy everyone a digital device to carry the digital ID, it cannot be mandatory and only way to ID one self.

 

[Charmonium]

They're not spying on me, they're spying on one of my aliases. Haha.

Years ago, before you had to prove your identity to get a mobile number, I put the account in one of those names. Then I just kept transferring the acct to a different provider and everybody just sort of assumed I was legit - surely the previous carrier did the necessary checks. Uh, yeah. Of course. Heehee

 

[sdifox]

They're not spying on me, they're spying on one of my aliases. Haha.

Years ago, before you had to prove your identity to get a mobile number, I put the account in one of those names. Then I just kept transferring the acct to a different provider and everybody just sort of assumed I was legit - surely the previous carrier did the necessary checks. Uh, yeah. Of course. Heehee

Inigo Montoya?

 

[Muse]

It seems like we get new "variants of concern" every few months. If that continues to hold true, we'll never catch up to it - certainly not globally.

There has to be some sort of end point though, right? There can't be an infinite number of mutations that keep increasing transmissibility, virulence, etc.

Maybe omicron is the sort of mutation we'll see - meaning that maybe the virus is settling into a sort of steady state where any new mutations are trade offs. So with omicron, it has better transmissibility but seems to be less severe. Next time it will be a different trade off.

If there's no limit to how bad it can get, then at some point it becomes the viraL world's version of Godzilla - eating nuclear radiation and waging war with other viruses.

Check this post:https://forums.anandtech.com/thread...navirus-thread.2575795/page-698#post-40648307

I saw one very impressive interview, John Swartzberg, professor emeritus at U.C. Berkeley, around 3-4 days ago, in which he said that Omicron could be less severe and that historically there have been coronaviruses (e.g. late 19th century) that lost severity and morphed into strains of the common cold (~4 of which are coronaviruses) and that it's possible that covid-19 will have this trajectory or something similar.

So, there's at least a fair chance that the covid-19 pandemic will play out that way, eventually becoming more of an annoyance than a serious threat, maybe no worse than the flu or even the "common cold." I saw that very encouraging video interview (by a news team, I believe, probably locally because Swatzberg is a UC Berkeley Prof emeritus) about 10 days ago.

 

[Torn Mind]

Check this post:https://forums.anandtech.com/thread...navirus-thread.2575795/page-698#post-40648307
So, there's at least a fair chance that the covid-19 pandemic will play out that way, eventually becoming more of an annoyance than a serious threat, maybe no worse than the flu or even the "common cold." I saw that very encouraging video interview (by a news team, I believe, probably locally because Swatzberg is a UC Berkeley Prof emeritus) about 10 days ago.

There is no evolutionary pressure for COVID to "weaken". By the time symptoms arise, the seeds already have been sowed elsewhere if you had to interact with other people. I recall that the first phase of my infection was "anesthesia", and a miserable sleepy, tiring, and irritable anesthesia at that. When the virus was "beaten". the anesthesia lifted and that's when the symptoms started settling in.

If Omicron is weaker, it's because everybody that could have gotten an earlier variant has gotten something already.

Or maybe just luck, as the virus made an exchange with the cold itself and that is how it obtained its greater transmissibility and a little less virulence. https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2021/12/04/omicron-coronavirus-transmissible-cold-variant/

 

[JujuFish]

Of course some apps ask to to agree to their terms in order to collect data on you,. But also a lot of apps do not spy on you, I know, I use some. You have to specifically prove that an app spies on you 24/7 before making such claims. Because x apps collect some data on you then all apps must spy on you 24/7 is just not a smart or logical statement. It is to kooky conspiracy theorists thoughl.

I'm actually with Red on this. It's safer to assume apps are spying on you.

 

[MrSquished]

I'm actually with Red on this. It's safer to assume apps are spying on you.

You know what they say about assuming. He doesn't support proving vaccination status, therefore anything that does that he will say it's doing this and this and this bad thing. Plus mark of the beast and stuff.

I dunno, people that talk about the mark of the beast, it's safe to assume I will question what they are saying is fact

 

[PingSpike]

I'm actually with Red on this. It's safer to assume apps are spying on you.

You don't have much control over apps in the end. And our perverted capitalism demands that your personal data be sold to the highest bidder. If the data is collected, it will be sold. Even if its collected by an entity you trust, the entity themselves can be sold.

You don't have to something mandatory really, you can make it effectively mandatory by making it extremely difficult to function in monitor society if you opt out. There's plenty of real world examples of this.

No idea what they'll do in Canada but around here the vaccine checks are entirely theoretical, literally no one has asked to see my card except my work. And since they are a piece of a card stock a elementary school student with a laser printer could make a fake anyway. The whole thing is a joke.

 

[Torn Mind]

Government spying should have become common and accepted mainstream thought after Snowden spilled all the beans. What could have been deemed conspiracy in a more ignorant time has become fact and truth, much like other shadow entities like the mafia operating.

Shit, even Disney made a movie featuring Will Smith years before(Enemy of the State).

Americans(and other western democracies) are grotesquely spoiled by the systemic chokes on their government that they mistake an inherently corrupt and nigh-unaccountable entity being obstructed as actual benevolence.

And don't think this is just a corrupt capitalist system. China was well ahead of the game back in the days of analog even during Mao's peak. A bird or two would inform the private citizen not to spill any bad news to western press people during Nixon's visit. My mother personally experienced it.

Right now, the Ontario mandates is for mere "frivolous" things that no one would have a really good objection to, like restaurants, concerts, etc. People who need to go to court will not be denied, for example(it appears). The main benefits is less people going to the hospital just in case, but it's also a beta test of the system.

 

[Charmonium]

I saw one very impressive interview, John Swartzberg, professor emeritus at U.C. Berkeley, around 3-4 days ago, in which he said that Omicron could be less severe and that historically there have been coronaviruses (e.g. late 19th century) that lost severity and morphed into strains of the common cold (~4 of which are coronaviruses) and that it's possible that covid-19 will have this trajectory or something similar.

Cool. Very interesting. I guess from the point of view of the virus (to anthropomorphize a bit) what matters is propagation rather than virulence. There's no benefit to the virus in killing the host. It just needs your body to pump out lots of baby viruses then slam, bam, thank you mam. If you just happen to die as a result, well, sucks to be you.

Inigo Montoya?

Ben Dover is my fave. There's also Bob Sprick

I've never actually seen Princess Bride. Not really much of a Disney fan. Did you know that adult Disney fandom is considered a mental illness in the DSM V? (no, of course it isn't. Still funny though).

 

[Muse]

There is no evolutionary pressure for COVID to "weaken". By the time symptoms arise, the seeds already have been sowed elsewhere if you had to interact with other people. I recall that the first phase of my infection was "anesthesia", and a miserable sleepy, tiring, and irritable anesthesia at that. When the virus was "beaten". the anesthesia lifted and that's when the symptoms started settling in.

If Omicron is weaker, it's because everybody that could have gotten an earlier variant has gotten something already.

Or maybe just luck, as the virus made an exchange with the cold itself and that is how it obtained its greater transmissibility and a little less virulence. https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2021/12/04/omicron-coronavirus-transmissible-cold-variant/

Swartzberg is very much better trained than you and I had the impression that as professor emeritus he's invested a great deal of his time paying attention to this pandemic. When asked if he thought the Omicron variant may have originated in a single infected person he responded that it was quite possible that it did, some person in whom a strain was fought for a long period of time, possibly an immune compromised person and the virus had a lot of time to mutate before emerging and infecting someone else. His saying that covid-19 could wain and become something like the common cold eventually was based on the history of several potent coronaviruses that had just that trajectory.

 

[Muse]

I've never actually seen Princess Bride. Not really much of a Disney fan. Did you know that adult Disney fandom is considered a mental illness in the DSM V? (no, of course it isn't. Still funny though).

I'm not a Disney fan either, however I don't believe The Princess Bride had anything to do with Disney. It's actually quite a great (and highly rewatchable) film. It's pretty clever, witty, funny, well staged, well paced (for the most part, it's been a while since I watched it). It's a bit of a spoof, actually, turns the fairy tale aspect of story telling on it's head. Less goofy than, say, Monty Python. It really delivers.

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

I've never actually seen Princess Bride. Not really much of a Disney fan.

Princess Bride has nothing to do with Disney. It's a brit film.