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Belgian scientific base in Antarctica engulfed by Covid despite strict measures

brusselstimes.com

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Re: Belgian scientific base in Antarctica engulfed by Covid despite strict measures

#141

Post by mayregretit »

machinelearning wrote: post #118
anm89 wrote: post #54

Its almost like canceling all of humanity although it accomplishes extremely little but a CYA for the politicians is not the best way to handle this. Im sure when are fighting the 200th variant whose symptoms are a day of fatigue we will almost be ready to end the restrictions. And just for the record, im 2x vaccinated, not an antivaxxer or denier or something.

Why do you feel like you have to qualify your comment by disclosing your vaccination status? Surely that shouldn’t dictate whether you’re allowed to express your thoughts on a subject or the factual accuracy of your statements.

I found the disclosure helpful because I had assumed they were one of those vocal antivaxxers.

Re: Belgian scientific base in Antarctica engulfed by Covid despite strict measures

#142

Post by overkalix »

funwares wrote: post #70
gerikson wrote: post #6

TIL Belgium has an Antarctic research station.

Belgium actually had the first winter expedition to the Antarctic in the late 1800s. Although it was mostly Belgian in name only and also a complete disaster, save for a commendable amount of scientific data being collected. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belgian_Antarctic_Expedition The book "Madhouse at the End of the Earth" by Julian Sancton is a great read for this story of the first humans to spend a sun-less w…

You wouldn't have more recommendations about this topic, would you?

Re: Belgian scientific base in Antarctica engulfed by Covid despite strict measures

#143

Post by nradov »

benjaminwootton wrote: post #77
kuraudo wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's complete nonsense. If covid wasn't as deadly as we have been reliably informed, then they would not be forcing us to go through these otherwise-draconian and insane mandates or lockdowns.

I just spent 10 minutes Googling for a good source and surprisingly couldn’t find one. For under 65 say, the fatality rate is well under 1%. This was before vaccines and Omnicron is estimated as 70% lower. We must be well under the IFR of flu already.

The CDC has published estimates of fatality rate by age group.

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/cases-updates/burd...

Re: Belgian scientific base in Antarctica engulfed by Covid despite strict measures

#144

Post by nradov »

Havoc wrote: post #123
anonygler wrote: post #31

With a minuscule fatality rate at this point, all these measures seem like a massive waste of energy and resources. Masks, vaccines, dividers, hand sanitizer… none of it actually stops transmission. Spare everyone from this godawful ceremony.

>With a minuscule fatality rate at this point, Even at 0.1% over 7b population that's still a couple million body bags so measures even if only partially effective at preventing transmission are still worthwhile

Transmission can be delayed in some cases but ultimately prevention is futile and everyone will be exposed. Fortunately the vaccines and other treatments cut the fatality rate way down.

https://www.medpagetoday.com/opinion/vinay-prasad/94646

Re: Belgian scientific base in Antarctica engulfed by Covid despite strict measures

#145

Post by ed25519FUUU »

No severe symptoms? Great! Let them all go back to normal after this. Remove the social distancing, the masks, the plastic shields. Let them party, dance, etc

It’s torture to take an already isolated group and isolate them with “strict measures” which apparently do nothing to stop infection.

Re: Belgian scientific base in Antarctica engulfed by Covid despite strict measures

#146

Post by lucb1e »

lettergram wrote: post #83
petercooper wrote: post #25

Viruses are interesting things. I once enjoyed a case study about an outbreak of common cold on an Antarctic base that only happened after 17 weeks of isolation: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2130424/ (I'm no virologist but given that the common cold didn't seem to be impacted by the severe lockdowns in the UK at all, whereas flu was, I've gotten the - uneducated - feeling the cold is a bit like some S…

The CDC recently admitted as much. People can test positive for covid weeks after initially testing positive. Which implies they still are shedding the virus. https://twitter.com/abc/status/1476189028982702080?s=21

Not a native speaker. Just to clarify: shedding the virus means being infectious? Or just their body is still doing cleanup but not necessarily that the virus is still intact and contagious/infectious? (The dictionary entry for shedding doesn't feel specific enough to draw conclusions from.)

Re: Belgian scientific base in Antarctica engulfed by Covid despite strict measures

#147

Post by anm89 »

machinelearning wrote: post #118
anm89 wrote: post #54

Its almost like canceling all of humanity although it accomplishes extremely little but a CYA for the politicians is not the best way to handle this. Im sure when are fighting the 200th variant whose symptoms are a day of fatigue we will almost be ready to end the restrictions. And just for the record, im 2x vaccinated, not an antivaxxer or denier or something.

Why do you feel like you have to qualify your comment by disclosing your vaccination status? Surely that shouldn’t dictate whether you’re allowed to express your thoughts on a subject or the factual accuracy of your statements.

Because people like to group everyone in to camps so if I say anything remotely dismissive of an official covid narrative, I'm probably just some anti science, anti vaxxer, whose opinion isn't worth listening too (according to them).

So at a minimum, dismiss me if you want, but not because I'm in the evil other camp, because I'm not.

Re: Belgian scientific base in Antarctica engulfed by Covid despite strict measures

#148

Post by trompetenaccoun »

akomtu wrote: post #39

What's going to happen if they simply do nothing? Basically, if they treat it like flu?

It would very likely spread and infect more people. And by 'it' I mean awareness about how most of the measures are useless and that the vast majority of infections are benign.

Re: Belgian scientific base in Antarctica engulfed by Covid despite strict measures

#149

Post by DoreenMichele »

All staff members preparing to depart to the station had to undergo a PCR test in Belgium two hours before leaving for South Africa, take a PCR test five days after their arrival in Cape Town, where they also had to quarantine for ten days. Another test was required when leaving Cape Town for Antarctica and another PCR test had to be undergone five days after arrival.

To me, that sounds like lots of testing, not strict health measures. There is a difference.

Re: Belgian scientific base in Antarctica engulfed by Covid despite strict measures

#150

Post by TMWNN »

Spooky23 wrote: post #108
enchiridion wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How about scale up the hospitals, or at least covid capacity in a meaningful way. How long does they public have to bear burden of insufficient health infra. EDIT: Sorry that might have come off a bit blunt. But the entire pandemic response has been frustratingly insufficient in my opinion. A variant like Omicron was long predicted and expected. How are we not prepared with a plan to end lockdowns? And blaming unvacc…

The US is a public health failure. We didn’t want “socialized” medicine. So we got what we wanted, the best nurses are making $300/hr in COVID hotspots and leaving new grads and understaffed facilities in their wake.

Feel free to name the country that isn't experiencing the exact same issues regarding COVID hotspots and understaffed facilities, "socialized medicine" or not.
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