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Flight Attendants and Covid-19

confessionsfromaflightattendant.wordpress.com

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Re: Flight Attendants and Covid-19

#71

Post by newsbinator »

_drimzy wrote: post #58
walterbell wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I sat there and silently asked a number of them what they'd tell us, if they could. Don't dig up my body and recreate the 1918 virus? http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/523163.stm > Because the corpses were buried in the "permafrost" - ground that is frozen even at the height of the Arctic summer - tissue samples from the brain, kidney, lungs and spleen were well preserved.

Viruses can survive in the "permafrost", because they are frozen. Pretty sure no virus can survive for a 100 years buried in ground at normal temperatures!

> Pretty sure no virus can survive for a 100 years buried in ground at normal temperatures!

I want to agree with you, although usually when we say things like that about viruses a few years later we find a class that can.

Re: Flight Attendants and Covid-19

#72

Post by pinkfoot »

stormdennis wrote: post #63
Mvandenbergh wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What price did the world exact from the because of the 1918 or Mexico for the swine flu pandemics? Ok, so we only discovered for sure that the 1918 flu came from the US recently, but swine flu we knew right away. Also, China has paid an enormous price for this. Do you think that Chinese administrators are looking at what happened and saying, "golly, we got off lightly here, no need to make any changes". Also: claimin…

They apparently have paid a price in lives that's but a fraction of the price many European countries and the United States have each paid. Their system of government has led to this pandemic. That's why a price needs to be paid

And if China gets a secondary wave of infection from negligence in the USA? Then what? The Treasury is going is going to cut China a cheque?

Re: Flight Attendants and Covid-19

#73

Post by newsbinator »

Marsymars wrote: post #69
jrockway wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am assuming people would want to see benefits in being infected before they're going to volunteer. We don't have conclusive data that you can only get COVID-19 once. We don't have conclusive evidence that viral load / exposure volume is what controls the severity of the disease. Right now, it simply looks too risky to attempt; people will volunteer to die painfully, and the ones that survive might not even be spare…

> I am assuming people would want to see benefits in being infected before they're going to volunteer. Counterpoint: I would volunteer for this today if it was an option.

I'm curious about your reasoning for that

Re: Flight Attendants and Covid-19

#75

Post by Zigurd »

checker659 wrote: post #3

> The days of carefree travel are long gone. I've been digging up videos of people from the early 1920s and I see very little impact of the Spanish Flu on people's mannerisms even just within a year or two after (like no masks in the streets even though mask wearing was apparently a big thing during the pandemic). Just the other day, I was reading up on Charlie Chaplin. Looking at his filmography, I noticed a a gap o…

There are several simultaneous misperceptions I see:

First, noted in the article, is a false sense of security. If the Secret Service in the White House can have an outbreak, any workplace can have an outbreak. The pandemic has yet to hit large swathes of the planet, but it will probably do so before a vaccine is available. This is really, really bad, and will be until there is some substantial change.

Third is a sense of false optimism: There is one antiviral that has been tested to have a significant but relatively modest effect on recovery time, and that may reduce risk of death by an as yet unknown amount. Other than that, no confirmed breakthroughs in treatment. Nothing that sharply reduces risk of death or duration and severity of illness. In other words, the risks are almost the same as on day one. Why does anyone thing a lockdown can be lifted with a price in terms of many tens of thousands of lives just in the US?

Lastly, there is a sense that we will be in a permanent pandemic. As the above comment points out, the direct impact will be felt for one or two years. There will be permanent changes, perhaps as a result of the realization that access to health care is key to minimizing pandemics. Perhaps infectious disease surveillance will rise in importance. But the economy will resume. Un-parking airplanes will happen. Humans want to travel. Businesses may realize that business travel can be cut down. Schools may realize distance learning can work. But I see no reason why discretionary travel would not resume and grow. I see no reason why in-person social mingling would not resume, maybe with a bang, as people celebrate being vaccinated.

Re: Flight Attendants and Covid-19

#76

Post by stormdennis »

Mvandenbergh wrote: post #55
stormdennis wrote: post #9

It's reactionary to say it but China has to pay a price for this, otherwise what's to stop it happening again? Edit :I've been completely hammered on this topic so I won't make any more comments. Hope that's ok

What price did the world exact from the because of the 1918 or Mexico for the swine flu pandemics? Ok, so we only discovered for sure that the 1918 flu came from the US recently, but swine flu we knew right away. Also, China has paid an enormous price for this. Do you think that Chinese administrators are looking at what happened and saying, "golly, we got off lightly here, no need to make any changes". Also: claimin…

I don't believe that Mexico or the USA actively tried to suppress news of those epidemics. Am i wrong?

Re: Flight Attendants and Covid-19

#77

Post by stormdennis »

pinkfoot wrote: post #72
stormdennis wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They apparently have paid a price in lives that's but a fraction of the price many European countries and the United States have each paid. Their system of government has led to this pandemic. That's why a price needs to be paid

And if China gets a secondary wave of infection from negligence in the USA? Then what? The Treasury is going is going to cut China a cheque?

Not unless the USA tries to deceive them like what China did originally

Re: Flight Attendants and Covid-19

#78

Post by jfoster »

simion314 wrote: post #34
stormdennis wrote: post #9

It's reactionary to say it but China has to pay a price for this, otherwise what's to stop it happening again? Edit :I've been completely hammered on this topic so I won't make any more comments. Hope that's ok

It will happen again, we knew something like this will happen, isolating China is maybe a solution for some politicians to get some points. Ideally we learn this time and everyone will be prepared with masks, we somehow fix the anti-vacine movement, implement contact tracing etc. Sure in parallel we should see if and who is guilty of what , but this should be a side thing and not the main focus.

If the past 100 years are anything to go by, on average, it ought to happen about once every 25 years; 1918, 1957, 1968, 2020. More often than that if you start thinking about how close to being one of those SARS and MERS were.

I think there were a few interesting factors this time around:

1. Better communication: In the previous cases, there was no internet. Communication even between doctors would have happened via governments, international media, or international conferences.

2. Increased travel: The globalisation of the virus was certainly a bit faster than it otherwise would have been due to the greater level of international travel that (until covid) had been the status quo.

3. Politics: It seems as though health issues, whether to wear masks, whether the virus is "real", how businesses should respond, and so on have become divided along political lines. I'm not sure whether this happened in 1918, 1957 and 1968, but I am guessing it didn't happen to the same degree.

Will we be better prepared next time? Ideally yes, but I'm not sure that it's a certainty.

Re: Flight Attendants and Covid-19

#79

Post by OJFord »

Trasmatta wrote: post #46
walterbell wrote: post #10

Humans continuously invent their "normals". There was no "old normal" and there won't be a "new normal". Already, different countries and regions have different cultures, histories, responses and outcomes. If anything, their future societies are diverging as a result of conscious choices and actions by humans exercising creative will.

Out of all the buzzwords to come out of COVID, "new normal" is maybe my least favorite. What the hell does it even mean?

That what ends up being considered 'normal' is not what used to be (the 'old normal').

Re: Flight Attendants and Covid-19

#80

Post by faizmokhtar »

ISL wrote: post #7

The days of carefree travel will return. It'll be a while, but it will be back. In early March, looking for a park to sit quietly with my thoughts in the sunshine but away from others, I found myself in a local cemetery. Alone, but not far from a great many people. Seattle's a pretty young place on the scale of things. I was surprised to find that our local graveyard had a substantial contingent that had lived throug…

Personally, I think it will have permanent effects on airport operations.

Some of the steps like social distancing, wearing masks, temperature checks, sanitizers, etc will remain even after the vaccine is found.

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