Denmark to cull millions of minks over mutated coronavirus • Hacker News Board

Re: Denmark to cull millions of minks over mutated coronavirus

#151

Post by zarkov99 » Wed, Nov 04, 2020, 9:51 PM UTC

Etheryte wrote: post #99

zarkov99 wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Perhaps keeping humans in packed conditions should also be reevaluated. My whole family hasn't had as much as a cold since the lockdown began. Many others seem to be experiencing the same benefits.

I didn't downvote you, but perhaps as feedback on why your opinion may be controversial, most humans aren't forced to live in packed conditions. Generally you're free to pack up and move somewhere else if it's too cramped for your taste. Living in cities is usually a choice as it offers convenience and numerous opportunities.

Thanks for the feedback. Did not realize I was being controversial, it was just a random personal insight. Fewer crowds, fewer diseases. Of course its obvious but one thing is to read it in a book and the other is to live it.

Re: Denmark to cull millions of minks over mutated coronavirus

#152

Post by bobthepanda » Wed, Nov 04, 2020, 9:52 PM UTC

szopa wrote: post #120

This article may be unnecessarily alarmist: https://twitter.com/BallouxFrancois/status/13240857614493040...

Is it alarmist? The article is mostly covering the action of the Danish government, which has decided to cull all the minks.

The action may be alarmist but that's another story.

Re: Denmark to cull millions of minks over mutated coronavirus

#153

Post by m4rtink » Wed, Nov 04, 2020, 9:55 PM UTC

gamacodre wrote: post #127

mcguire wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A question: Why aren't we running randomized survey testing to determine the extent of infections?

Who would pay for it? Or do the work, or collate it, or publish the results? Portions of the federal government are actively hostile to fact-based public health work. The rest of it seems to be either defunded or demotivated, as opportunity allows.

Slovakia just tested their whole adult population with antigene tests: https://www.euronews.com/2020/11/03/slovakia-attempts-to-tes...

Yes, it's just a couple milion people & antigen tests are not 100% precize, but it demonstrates something like this can be done.

Re: Denmark to cull millions of minks over mutated coronavirus

#154

Post by Vrondi » Wed, Nov 04, 2020, 9:59 PM UTC

Devils-Avocado wrote: post #102

graeme wrote: post #18

This is one of the serious dangers with the idea of letting the virus run wild to achieve herd immunity: you create a lot of animal reservoirs. Though minks do seek way riskier than average.

I would consider it the danger of lockdown. We guarantee that the virus is still festering somewhere on the planet, and that vulnerable populations remain around the world, risking flareups. With zero response - ie. what we do for influenza - we establish herd immunity over a short, sharp period, and the virus immediately falls over. In any case, even if this mink-mutant variant is slightly deadlier, the data from Sw…

No competent medical professional ever uses the term "herd immunity" in any instance where they are not talking about a vaccine. Without a vaccine to _create_ herd immunity, what you are proposing is just sitting back and willfully letting huge numbers of people die, willfully allowing the virus to mutate unchecked as it spreads unchecked, etc. You should really give this a listen: https://maximumfun.org/episodes/sawbones/herd-immunity/

Re: Denmark to cull millions of minks over mutated coronavirus

#155

Post by bpodgursky » Wed, Nov 04, 2020, 9:59 PM UTC

ada1981 wrote: post #67

napier wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Banned in the US, but presumably outsourced to wherever else the research funding flowed to?

It was banned but the ban was lifted a few years ago by Trump.

... at the urging of pre-pandemic Fauci

Edit: It's literally true, you idiots. Stop downvoting: https://covid19data.com/2020/05/03/dr-fauci-backed-controver...

https://www.newsweek.com/dr-fauci-backed-controversial-wuhan...

Re: Denmark to cull millions of minks over mutated coronavirus

#156

Post by core-questions » Wed, Nov 04, 2020, 10:01 PM UTC

MaxBarraclough wrote: post #145

core-questions wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Contrasting opinion here (and that of the majority): stop anthropomorphizing animals. They aren't people. Their "feelings" do not matter - what matters is ensuring that we have reliable, self-reproducing, adaptable sources of protein for the population. Your lab-grown burgers that depend on thousands of years of technological development and piles of infrastructure are not the solution. Forcing everyone to become veg…

> stop anthropomorphizing animals They aren't. No-one is saying that a pig has the same moral standing as a human. > They aren't people. Their "feelings" do not matter So you believe that animals are just automata with no consciousness? That animal cruelty cannot exist even in principle, any more than cruelty to sand? Descartes believed this. Today, we know better. > to call it "horrific" is a massive insult to the h…

> So you believe that animals are just automata with no consciousness?

I don't think their consciousness matters. Obviously they're conscious and sentient to some extent; but that does not make them human, and I will not draw false equivalency here so as to be put in the position of having to have the same moral standards for how we treat animals as we treat people. Obviously, if I was going to do that, I wouldn't accept killing and eating them, either.

Herds of domesticated pigs exist because _we created them_, by domesticating and farming them over thousands of years. Evolutionarily, they owe their existence to mankind. We're certainly not going to let them die out.

> That animal cruelty cannot exist even in principle, any more than cruelty to sand?

There is a distinct difference between animal cruelty (hurting an animal for your own personal amusement) versus farming an animal in a cost effective way (which it may not enjoy). It's a slippery slope, for sure, and I'm fine with improvements to their standard of living as long as meat remains affordable to everyone.

Re: Denmark to cull millions of minks over mutated coronavirus

#157

Post by brnt » Wed, Nov 04, 2020, 10:01 PM UTC

zepearl wrote: post #63

mikkelam wrote: post #14

As a dane I'm not really proud that these things were here to being with

Dammit, and since years I was thinking that anything related to fur was a closed chapter, at least in Europe. This is horrible and absolutely superfluous, used to produce luxury goods :(

The killer is that much of the furry collars on clothing items sold in Europe, which we often presume to be fake, are in fact from Chinese racoondogs.

Re: Denmark to cull millions of minks over mutated coronavirus

#158

Post by klaudius » Wed, Nov 04, 2020, 10:02 PM UTC

pinipedman wrote: post #85

apazzolini wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I completely agree with your first paragraph, but humans > minks by literally any measure.

You're giving human measures of value undue precedence here. It's the same way racists give precedence to their own race, colonialists give precedence to their own culture, and how most humans give precedence to their own species. You belong to a certain group, in this case humans, and your tendency seems to be to apply measures of value that reward the traits at which your group naturally excels. Which all reduce to…

Great comment. Speciesism is just another form of bigotry similar to racism. Bigots try to justify this by pointing out some differences between humans and other species, but differences exist within human species and they are not the basis for discrimination.

Re: Denmark to cull millions of minks over mutated coronavirus

#159

Post by kylebenzle » Wed, Nov 04, 2020, 10:10 PM UTC

Sharlin wrote: post #9

I hope this hastens the end of factory farming animals for their fur, as a tiny silver lining to this whole coronavirus situation.

Because everyone wearing plastic fabrics is somehow better?

Re: Denmark to cull millions of minks over mutated coronavirus

#160

Post by xnyan » Wed, Nov 04, 2020, 10:14 PM UTC

mrweasel wrote: post #124

cheph wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Denmark is not a socialist/communist/marxist country, it is not the Danish state's function to provide jobs for people.

No, but it is the states function to provide for the unemployee. The state also runs job centers, which helps people find new jobs. You don’t need to be communist to care for people, or help the find employment.

Ahem, the US would like a word with you.