Posted by Rampop II  7/11/2022 2:29 am | #1 |
Hopefully it's the only one.
Re–commit to the vigilance, everybody, because this new variant is on a rampage that's blowing through vaccinations like dragon's breath through straw huts. That may not be news to any of you, but be advised. These new variants stand a chance of causing the worst wave of infections we've yet seen, able to evade antigens and infect a person within a fraction of the time the initial 2019-2020 virus needed.
I'm having trouble remembering what I intended to write here because I've got COVID and it is no joke. That's why I've been absent for so long. I'm pissed. I'm also butt–hurt because I've been so cautious. Now I not only have it, but I've infected my 72 year–old mother.
My shit list of parties I'm pissed at is long, and the CCP government — that's Chinese Communist Party — is right at the top.
Let me emphasize the word government; I do not blame the citizens of China. Chinese citizens tried to sound the alarm about the outbreak. They were silenced by their oppressive totalitarian government.
Let me also emphasize that I do not believe the virus was manufactured, or released deliberately, or any of that other unfounded fringe conspiracy theory bullshit. True to form — oafs that they are — the CCP tried to cover up the initial outbreak, and in doing so they caused a pandemic.
If I weren't so exhausted I would do more than pay the briefest lip–service to the myriad rivers of discussion radiating from this, including but not limited to:
The so–called "CCP threat" with its armies of Internet trolls and historical revisionists, and general diabolical plans to conquer and brainwash the entire fucking planet,
The numerous glaring examples of just how much the CCP government abysmally sucks,
The fact that rightly blaming the CCP for causing a pandemic has been muffled by fears of either fueling anti–Asian racism or being accused of doing so,
The importance of taking measures to prevent the CCP from fucking the world like this a third time,
and
Humanity's unsolved propaganda problem, flanked by the catastrophic consequences of suppressing free speech (like causing a pandemic) and the horrendous evils that can be accomplished with free speech (like drowning an entire society in rabble–rousing disinformation).
Instead of saving lives, the CCP prioritized saving face. They say "stop meddling in China's internal affairs," but 6.35 million dead worldwide is not China's "internal affair." Ditto for the millions more disabled, world economies and whole societies in ruins... trying to think of something humorous to add here; anybody wanna help me out?
I'm fatigued and brain–fogged, so let me roll film; Frontline's excellent breakdown of the CCP's COVID coverup as it unfolded can be viewed on the PBS website ad–free, or in dirty old YouTube form, presented right here on Plato Shrimp:
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Posted by Rock 7/11/2022 3:32 am | #2 |
Hope you and your mother have a mild case and a speedy recovery.
I'm continuing to mask when I go out, but as all mandates (both masking and vaccination) have been lifted here, it seems increasingly like I'm in the minority. It would be nice if the bare minimum of safety precautions weren't politicized into some grand inconvenience or a great infringement of our civil liberties, but that stupidity has unfortunately taken hold here in Canada as well.
I am not above abusing mod powers for my own amusement.
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Posted by Rock 7/11/2022 3:36 am | #3 |
Also, I've been forced to start going back to the office once a week since last month. Last week two thirds of people worked from home that day because they were sick with something or other. With this new wave, I have my doubts on how long this policy will Last, given we've been working from home without issues for the last two years.
I am not above abusing mod powers for my own amusement.
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Posted by Jinnistan 7/11/2022 6:58 am | #4 |
So let me tell you something. Not really covid related, but I think it captures the essence of the issue.
I was in Walgreens the other day (for Canadians, it's a drug store), and I find myself standing behind a guy in the check-out who's eating a sandwich. Ok. They don't sell sandwiches in Walgreens. This motherfucker bought a sandwich someplace, and rather than eat it in his car, or wherever, he thought, "I need an audience for this". So he's munching, I'm trying not smell this meatball breath. Oh, how do I know it was a meatball sandwhich?
Good thing you asked, as I know it arouses a couple of possibilities. As this hungry cunt was guzzling a bite, about a quarter of his sandwich slid out the bottom and plopped right onto the register counter. What do you think he did? He laughed. And a laugh that happened to be from a mouthful of sandwich, so we all got to see the bouillabaisse of bread crumbs and meat sweat that spritzed and sprayed from his guffawing maw. Then, as if he had not done enough, he took his bare ass hand and wiped the spewage from the counter onto the floor, leaving a grease-sauce streak, and exclaiming "Ooops!" like it was his big punchline, and walking out like he was actually proud of what he had done here today. The cashier, a poor young high school lass, was understandably traumatized. As I apprehensively approached, she had no idea what to say. I told her that she should probably call a manager up to deal with the mess and that maybe she should take a 15.
What crossed my mind wasn't so much covid but "This! is how Monkeypox starts".
But this is also why America was so disproportianately affected but the global pandemic regardless. Too many of us just have given up on giving a shit, and, rather than taking the more courageous step into effortless oblivion, these snotgobblers have determined to stick around in order to make life more miserable for those of us left who do still give a shit. This is the gift that America now represents to the world. You're welcome.
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Posted by Rampop II 7/11/2022 10:50 pm | #5 |
Rock wrote:
Hope you and your mother have a mild case and a speedy recovery.
Thank you, Rock.
the bouillabaisse of bread crumbs and meat sweat that spritzed and sprayed from his guffawing maw.
Poetry, Jinnistan. That town sounds weirder with every account. I'm beginning to believe a geiger counter might be a worthwhile investment? I hope you have a bugout plan for the day these otherworldly inhabitants finally discard their human skins and commence the next phase of their mission on Earth.
I flew from WA to TN on the 1st (against my better judgment but I had my reasons) and found myself seated between two of these creatures on the plane. To one side of me sat a woman who sniffed wet snotty sniffles every five seconds or so throughout the entire flight, and to the other side of me sat a man who coughed gurgly chest coughs throughout the entire flight, neither of them wearing masks. Since nobody I've interacted with in WA has COVID, I'm 100% convinced I got infected by these two selfish stains before bringing the unsanitary souvenir straight home to Mom. Hearing the sound of her violent hacking through the night is heartbreaking. Makes me see red. I've been disgusted by our lying leaders, amoral rabble–rousers and rabid anti–maskers already, but now, it's personal.
Some coverage of the current uptick in cases has paid lip service to the likelihood of the numbers being higher than those reported due to the increasing use of at–home rapid tests. Now I see why. It seems I can't report my case even if I wanted to.
In order to self–report my case to the necessary authorities, I would need to include the number printed on the test kit. Not on the box it came in, but on the actual plastic tray inside, into which the snotty swab is inserted. This thing:
But the instructions (which are ridiculously overcomplicated) say to discard those things immediately, which I have already done, and trash day has already come and gone. I guess I could splurge on a new test kit and just use the numbers from that but right now I'm too sick to go shopping anyway.
Complicating things even more is the fact that the process for self–reporting positive results on home tests differs not only from state to state, but from county to county, and some counties have no way to report at all.
Didn't you go to a clinic, Rampop? Clinics are responsible for reporting new cases.
I did. The doctor I saw declined to actually diagnose me with COVID–19, even though I had tested positive at home, and even though he knew it was COVID–19, because, he said, in order to call it COVID–19 on paper, he needed a positive result on a test performed at his particular clinic... at a cost of $100 from my own pocket. That's $100 regardless of whether they gave me the PCR test (which we can get for free at a testing site) or the rapid antigen test (which we can buy off the shelf for a fraction of that). Sounds like a bit of graft, to me, but I'm not the one with an MD, so what do I know?
[My mom interjects, do they want everybody to get tested and be safe, or not? Bonne question, Maman.]
Instead the doctor (Doctor Guru, I swear you can't make this shit up) diagnosed me with a "viral respiratory infection," and I had to pay $130 just for the visit. They don't take my insurance.
Canadian heads exploding, yet? Hold on...
The only reason I even went to a clinic in the first place was to get a prescription for the antiviral Paxlovid. Now, normally I would get the prescription from my regular doctor, but, since my regular doctor is licensed to practice in Washington State, they couldn't do anything for me because I am currently visiting family in Tennessee and therefore not physically in Washington State at this very moment. Fuck my brains, why do we put up with this bullshit in the U.S.
Well, good thing you got the Paxlovid, right, Rampop?
Wrong. In order to prescribe Paxlovid, the doctor "needed" a positive result on a test performed at that very clinic, for which I would have had to shell out that additional $100. I declined.
So, when we hear someone say the case count is "likely" much higher, I say bullshit, it is absofuckinglutely wayyy fucking higher.
I know I was partially lulled into a false sense of security by the modest numbers I've been seeing in the news. If I had known what complete bullshit those case counts were, I might never have made this trip.
I could write another paragraph about the wild goose chase my mom and I went on just to find a clinic that would see me, not because I was infected, but because of my insurance, and I could write more about all the insurance/provider/rat maze bullshit they put sick people through down here in the Land of the Free, but even if I weren't worried about boring you with all that, my friends, it wears me the fuck out just trying to type it all. One amusing thing is that the first clinic I tried had assured me over the phone they would definitely see me even if I had to pay out–of pocket. But after my mom chauffeured my sick ass down there, and after I filled out all their paperwork, they refused to see me, even if I paid out–of pocket, because I'm on Medicaid. I do not understand this, but it's a thing. They flat–out refused to see me, even for cash.
I ask again, why do we tolerate this fucking bullshit???
But let's get to something entertaining. I have read about lots of symptoms of COVID–19, but never the following. My hearing is impaired in one ear, and I'm losing my balance when I walk. I think both of these might be related to sinus congestion, though I'm also getting the spins quite often and have to suddenly brace myself against something or sit down to keep from falling over. It's just weirdly interesting. It's sort of like being on drugs, but without the fun part. Speaking of which, none of my usual reliable OTC meds seem to be working like they usually do in this case. Omicron is apparently not only vaccine–proof, its symptoms are remedy–proof.
I'd like to entertain thoughts about the possibility that this whole COVID situation might finally be the straw that breaks the back of the healthcare behemoth in the U.S., but that degree of optimism is just too high for the mercury in my thermometer.
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Posted by Jinnistan 7/12/2022 12:50 am | #6 |
Since nobody I've interacted with in WA has COVID, I'm 100% convinced I got infected by these two selfish stains before bringing the unsanitary souvenir straight home to Mom.
Sounds reasonable enough. Although looking at the numbers from just the 1st (2.5 million air travellers), it's mind-boggling to imagine how many potential opportunities for infection that you were exposed to, and many of them would involve not needing to be in proximity to the infected person (ie, the virus droplets still linger in the air for hours, so in any terminal of capacity, you'd have exponential vectors).
It is fun to think back to those airline assurances of the air-purifying systems they use on board. One airline claimed that their cabins were safer than an outdoor park. Cool, but why can't I eat peanuts? Oh, because the aerosolized particles of my munching can choke a motherfucker on the other side of the plane? I'm willing to bet that more people were infected with covid on airplanes recently than suffered anaphylactic shock.
Wrong. In order to prescribe Paxlovid, the doctor "needed" a positive result on a test performed at that very clinic, for which I would have had to shell out that additional $100. I declined.
And I assume the Paxlovid would come with an additional out-of-pocket cost, probably pushing your ultimate bill close to $400.
I know I was partially lulled into a false sense of security by the modest numbers I've been seeing in the news. If I had known what complete bullshit those case counts were, I might never have made this trip.
Coverage has overall been crap, but it has been noted that since many infections among the vaccinated have not required emergency medical attention, with self-testing and people riding it out at home for a few days, that we weren't getting a proper read of the numbers involved. It was brushed off precisely because hospitalizations and deaths were low, the virus was becoming "seasonal" (not an accurate term, but one I've seen many articles use regardless) and manageable like the normal flu. But more than that is the sense, again repeated throughout the coverage, that "Americans are done with the pandemic". Not that the pandemic is done with us, but simply that Americans are tired of hearing about the pandemic and fear and mitigation and therefore the news media, increasing oriented to giving the audience what they want to hear rather than what they need to hear, has obligated with less and less attention devoted to the issue. Also, in a more macroeconomic level (because the corporations that own news outlets have bigger fish to fry), it wouldn't do to have news of a case surge prior to a lucrative travelling holiday. Get out there and stimulate the economy, you sick fucks.
they refused to see me, even if I paid out–of pocket, because I'm on Medicaid. I do not understand this, but it's a thing. They flat–out refused to see me, even for cash.
This is ridiculous. Isn't the whole point of Medicare-caid that it's government-secured and universally accepted? "No, sorry, we only take private insurance here. No poors policy."
Omicron is apparently not only vaccine–proof, its symptoms are remedy–proof.
It's worth distinguishing that you likely have the recently prevailing BA.5 subvariant of Omicron, because it's more virulent than the initial Omicron and we're only starting to learn about its effects. We do know that it is particularly resistent to the antibodies produced from the vaccines and previous infections, which suggests that its symptoms could take on new characteristics.
I'd like to entertain thoughts about the possibility that this whole COVID situation might finally be the straw that breaks the back of the healthcare behemoth in the U.S., but that degree of optimism is just too high for the mercury in my thermometer.
Probably too late for that now. It may have been an opportune window in early 2021, when covid deaths were at their peak and pre-vaccines, for the incoming administration to push for insurance reform, normalizing that initial universal care that they implemented with the vaccine rollout and initial testing availablity. But even then not a certainty, as Joe Manchin prepares to unzip his pants and eagerly wait to be wooed.
Last edited by Jinnistan (7/12/2022 1:02 am)
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Posted by crumbsroom 7/12/2022 8:12 am | #7 |
Yes, Godspeed to wellness Rampop.
I imagine its only time before I join your ranks. I work in a hospital, and tend to people who are either likely or are definitely infected with COVID. And, even though I've yet to be infected this way (there are obviously lots of safety protocols in place) my girlfriend's office just got shut down because some mouthbreater went to work with COVID, and apparently he was coughing all over her, so I'm being assailed on both fronts.
All said, everything so far said in this thread is imminently depressing. And I'm also wondering if that Meatball goblin JJ encountered was the very same who was hoovering down a sub during a viewing of 2001 I went to a few years back. Hopefully not though, since I've been secretly hoping he'd have choked to death on one of his grotesque morsels by now.
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Posted by Jinnistan 7/12/2022 11:40 am | #8 |
Fauci: Take new subvariant seriously, but don’t ‘let it disrupt our lives’
Also: "Officials are discussing opening up second booster shots to all adults, but noted the final decision is with the Food and Drug Administration."
I'm not as excited about that as I would have been, considering on how this BA.5 subvariant is proving to evade the boosters' antibodies. I don't know if I should wait for the Omicron-specific boosters that Pfizer and Moderna have recently authorized, set to roll out this fall. The problem with the latter is that Republican congresspeople are already trying to stick their oars in the mud on that, refusing to consider future funding for additional vaccines. In some cases, this refusal is conditioned on Biden not repealing 'Title 42', which was the Trump-era rule which used the pandemic as an excuse to blanket-refuse immigrant asylum claims. Yes, you see. Obviously we've already spent too much covid bailout money as it is (with some blaming this for inflation), so we don't need to spend more now that we have it under control. But it's still so terrible that we mustn't dare let these filthy infected flearags (their words, not mine) to bring their disease into our free land.
Most amusingly, one of the main Senators blocking this new vaccine appropriation is Richard Burr, who you may/may not remember as one of the Senators who happened to get caught offloading stocks immediately after getting briefed on exactly how bad the upcoming pandemic and lockdown was really going to be, weeks before anyone bothered to tell the rest of the citizenry. This is the man deciding whether or not the country can actually afford this fall's vaccine supply.
Last edited by Jinnistan (7/12/2022 11:40 am)
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Posted by Rampop II 7/12/2022 5:25 pm | #9 |
Yes, Godspeed to wellness Rampop.
Thank you, Crumbs. I hope you and your girlfriend dodge the bullet.
It's worth distinguishing that you likely have the recently prevailing BA.5 subvariant
True, I probably should have specified that.
"Officials are discussing opening up second booster shots to all adults..."
I read that myself, and it ruffled my feathers because before I made this trip I tried repeatedly to find a site that would go ahead and give me the second booster, only to be repeatedly denied because I'm 48 instead of 50. So my initial reaction to this news was "You're a little late, motherfuckers!" It might not have mattered anyway. People with both boosters are still catching BA.5.
But speaking of late...
Apparently that "new subvariant" is old news. Friends, meet Centaurus:
‘Centaurus’: virologists express concern at new Covid subvariant
FML.
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Posted by Jinnistan 7/12/2022 8:30 pm | #10 |
‘Centaurus’: virologists express concern at new Covid subvariant
"it gives the virus a bit of a ‘wildcard’ property where the sum of the parts could be worse than the parts individually"
Bitches.
Last edited by Jinnistan (7/12/2022 8:32 pm)
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Posted by Rock 7/19/2022 8:58 pm | #11 |
So...my team is supposed to go into the office once a week at the moment, with the caveat that if you're sick, you're supposed to stay home. (We have work from home capabilities and have been using it for over two years.)
Today, one guy who I've never met, who isn't even in our team and apparently isn't subject to this requirement, decides to come into the office on a whim, sits in the desk next to mine, and spends the entire day loudly coughing. I'm 90% sure this is the same guy who's been unplugging my desktop when I'm not in the office, (meaning that I can still work from home with my laptop, but can't remote into that desktop computer to use certain applications).
I was very close to yelling at him, but instead spent the entire day muttering under my breath. If I get the 'rona, I know who to blame.
Also, they've lifted all the mask mandates in my province, but I still see people wearing chin diapers. I don't understand these people who apparently care enough to still wear a mask, but not enough to do it correctly. A very interesting demographic Venn diagram.
Last edited by Rock (7/19/2022 9:00 pm)
I am not above abusing mod powers for my own amusement.
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Posted by Jinnistan 7/20/2022 1:34 pm | #12 |
I'm 90% sure this is the same guy who's been unplugging my desktop when I'm not in the office.
Is this guy under the impression that he's saving a significant amount of electricity this way?
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Posted by Rock 7/20/2022 1:59 pm | #13 |
I'm 90% sure this is the same guy who's been unplugging my desktop when I'm not in the office.
Is this guy under the impression that he's saving a significant amount of electricity this way?
The desks are set up with docking stations for laptops as well as desktops, but only one set of peripherals (monitors, keyboards, mice, and most importantly network cables). Rather than finding a desktop that's not in use (of which there are several), someone's been unplugging all my cables so they can use their laptop at my desk, and somehow not getting the hint when I replug everything back into the desktop on the days I go into the office. I left a polite post-it note last week which seemed to have worked, but we'll see how it goes.
I am not above abusing mod powers for my own amusement.
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Posted by Jinnistan 7/22/2022 8:26 am | #14 |
Nurses Getting Assed-Out With This CDC Shit
[As the letter points out]"on February 25, 2022, the CDC changed the metrics it uses to recommend when people should wear masks indoors in public.” The new community levels metric “means that the CDC is now waiting for cases to skyrocket and hospitalization to rise before recommending people take measures to protect themselves from infection.” NNU expressed serious concern about the new metric in a letter to the CDC on March 1, 2022, “because it creates a dangerous lag time between widespread transmission of the virus and implementation of prevention measures.” In addition, the CDC’s new community levels metric is “based on flawed assumptions that future variants will be mild and immunity will not wane over time.”
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Posted by Jinnistan 8/05/2022 11:23 pm | #15 |
So it seems more and more certain that you also suffered this "Paxlovid rebound", no?
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Posted by Rampop II 8/08/2022 7:55 pm | #16 |
Today, one guy who I've never met, who isn't even in our team and apparently isn't subject to this requirement, decides to come into the office on a whim, sits in the desk next to mine, and spends the entire day loudly coughing.
This shit triggers the hell out of me. 
I wonder if I'll ever achieve the self–control to swallow my rage and say something like, "Hi, friend, that sounds like quite a cough you've got there. Do you think it might be a good idea to wear a mask? I have one right here..."
Makes me vomit in my throat a little bit. And that might just invite the risk of him actually replying and spewing more of his microbes with whatever ignorant verbiage comes forth from his facehole.
I'm done holding my breath over this bullshit. It's personal, now. No more Mister Nice Guy. I have a crazy story about how I recently came nowhere close to being so nice. In retrospect I should have taken a nasty shit in the restroom of that airplane for all those unmasked passengers to smell. "Would you like to wear a mask, now?"
Maybe we should all start carrying fart spray. Or just stop bathing.
Last edited by Rampop II (8/08/2022 7:55 pm)
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Posted by Rampop II 8/08/2022 9:50 pm | #17 |
That guy wasn't eating a meatball sandwich by any chance, was he, Rock?
Last edited by Rampop II (8/08/2022 9:54 pm)
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Posted by Rampop II 8/08/2022 9:53 pm | #18 |
I'm also wondering if that Meatball goblin JJ encountered was the very same who was hoovering down a sub during a viewing of 2001 I went to a few years back.
This reminded me of Cape Fear.
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Posted by Rock 8/08/2022 9:56 pm | #19 |
That guy wasn't eating a meatball sandwich by any chance, was he, Rock?
He thankfully didn't partake in the team potluck, but I didn't see what he had for lunch.
I am not above abusing mod powers for my own amusement.
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Posted by Jinnistan 8/08/2022 10:05 pm | #20 |
Or just stop bathing.
In the first year of the pandemic, I would only bathe after coming home from public interactions as a handy strategy to enforce my 6-foot social distancing.
