US attacks WHO at World Health Assembly
After a good four hours of countries pledging their support for the World Health Organization, the US took just three minutes to launch a scathing attack on the UN’s health agency.“We must be frank… There was a failure by this organisation to obtain the information that the world needed, and that failure cost many lives”, was one of the brutal opening lines from US Health Secretary Alex Azar. It didn’t get any prettier…
He didn’t specifically name China, but talked about “at least one member state’s apparent attempt” to “conceal this outbreak”, and said the WHO "must become far more transparent and far more accountable”.
As for me
Survival probability of 99.847%
Of course this program likely assumes that I’m living in America where the disease is more pervasive than the Czech Republic.
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If he was truly a holy man, he could just gleek holy water on everyone. It wouldn’t be safe, but it would prove something.
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My wife had to go to the dentist today because of some pain. She said they took lots of precautions. They told her they even do something like a “bug bomb” to each room before each appointment to disinfect everything.
She made my kids and I an appointment for later this week for our regular check-ups. We were supposed to have them in April, but for obvious reasons, they got pushed to September. Problem is, she lost her job and insurance, so if we don’t do it this month, we’ll pay out the butt. Another reminder of why tying healthcare to employment is dumb. Still have time to cancel if I want. Not sure.
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Aren’t Phase III trials though the trials where you are really finding out if the vaccine actually works whereas the safety trials are mostly Phase I & 2? So doing a phase III trial on tens of millions of people normally wouldn’t make sense because of cost concerns, but is it really a bad idea in this case if the vaccine is generally established as safe in Phase I & II? Isn’t the biggest risk you run that the tens of millions of people get a vaccine that doesn’t harm them but also doesn’t give them immunity, and you’ve wasted the money on such a large trial (and who gives a shit about the cost given the circumstances in this case)?
Bingo.
But of course he’ll fall back on his favourite framing device, “What have you got to lose?”
In this case though, he might be right for the wrong reasons. Stopped clock right twice a day, etc.
Dental insurance is actually quite different from health insurance in this regard.
If it’s just for cleanings and checkups, you may not pay as much as you think. Even in good (i.e. non-COVID) times, I know plenty of dentists offer reasonable cash rates for uninsured people. In fact, I know several people who just voluntarily forgo “good” workplace dental insurance because the premiums aren’t much more than just paying for check-ups and cleanings and if something more serious happens, the insurance covers very little.
With COVID, they are probably even more starved for business, so I suspect that if you ask up front, they’ll give you a very reasonable rate for those types of services. Another way you can cut costs is to skip the x-rays and just say you’ll get them when the insurance comes back. The benefit of routine annual dental x-rays is somewhat questionable for many people. Exploring that topic is a rather involved discussion, so if you happen to believe otherwise, feel free to disregard.
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If it’s timed perfectly (for Trump — certainly not for anyone else), it’ll be rolled out in late October and will propel him to re-election before everyone realizes it’s a dud. At which point he’ll just blame the drug companies and enjoy his newfound dictatorship.
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To be fair, that was a BFI post and not a P&S post.
You’re not wrong, though.
This whole thing tilts me. There is the personal risk and then there is the YOU ARE TYPHOID MARY risk.
Gotta reply on LinkedIn last week with some 98 or 99% number.
So great you are drunk driving in a freaking TANK. You most likely won’t get it hurt. People in you path however…
It doesn’t. In fact, I think it might be openly dangerous allowing people to make decisions based on really bad data.
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I was low risk/high risk cohort, because I’m 64 and am being treated for cancer - but I thinks it’s a bit of an overstatement because the issue I have doesn’t have much of an immunologic/chemo exposure.
Gonna stay save, though.
MM MD
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Now do long term lung damage or any other lasting problems.
On the only cruise I’ve been on, i flat out asked one of the casino dealers why most of the staff was Filipino. They actually have maritime schools and degrees that are often the only “advanced” schooling that poor kids can get into. These, of course, feed right into the cruise lines and merchant marine ships all over the world.
We sent our parents on a cruise last year, it was what my mum always wanted and it was there golden wedding anniversary so they got what they wanted. 
And loved every minute of it, sending what’s apps of all the places the visited and finally got to see St Petersburg 
Mums still showing off the photos there are that many. 
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Or because a 6K bulk payment at the end of June is fucking insanity for most people.
You know, I kind of appreciate the Russians’ commitment to defenestration as a tried and true assassination technique. It’s devilishly pure.
https://twitter.com/ChristopherJM/status/1262430604265754626?s=20
…or proof that remdesivir is extremely effective if given early on, before symptoms manifest, combined with the testing and contact tracing capacity and competency to catch most cases early, especially among the most vulnerable people.