Stupid shit in Medellin

I just saw a story that Bogota is back in the red with ICU capacity at 84%. I expect Medellin will be there soon. Many places in the US have seen the number of new infections triple in recent weeks. This trend is likely to continue, at least in the US and probably Colombia as well.

If you're shocked, or grasping for reasons why this could be happening now, it's easy to explain. We've already done it once.

If you go back to March-April 2020, what was happening in the US and Colombia? Communities were mandating masks and social distancing, gatherings were prohibited, travel was restricted, people were asked to stay home except for essential trips, many employers, when able, had employees work from home, schools were all closed. In simpler terms, we took the recommended steps to limit the spread of the virus. In the US we did this for almost 5 weeks.

It was effective. New infections started dropping, number of deaths and hospitalizations peaked and began to fall. If we had continued for 2 more weeks, last summer probably would have been much better. Instead, after 4 weeks, people, including people in power, began to demand all those precautions end. Armed protesters even stormed one state capitol. People argued for open bars and restaurants, reopening schools and removing masks. Over the next 7 weeks the number of cases more than tripled.

At that point there was some pushback. Masks became common again, more stores began controlling customer entry, more restrictions were placed on gatherings. Which brought us to our second dip, in August and early September, still twice as high as the lowest point of the first dip, but an improvement.

And then we reopened the schools. There was a strong push to return everything back to normal. Masks were compared to The Holocaust, blah, blah, blah. Between September and January the daily number of new cases increased 1,000%. We went from a low of 25 k new cases on September 7 to 250 k on January 10. We went from under 300 deaths daily to over 4,000 over roughly the same time period (the deaths curve follows 3-4 weeks behind the infection curve).

Then we once again began emphasizing the common sense measures which were effective before, along with distribution and campaigns to get people vaccinated. By June we had reached levels that we haven't seen since late March 2020.

It's almost as if we're afraid of success. Every time we can see the light at the end of the tunnel, we start screaming that we need to return to the dark ages.

Masks in the US have almost completely disappeared. All the signs posted a month ago are gone. I do at least still see people social distancing in stores, but there's a strong push to open up events to spectators, without limits. At the same time there's an active push to discourage people from being vaccinated. It doesn't take a PhD in mathematics to project the curve.

As things are going, the number of infections will continue to rise and the rate of new vaccinations will continue to fall. Assuming that doesn't change the US will be back in the 1500-2500 deaths per day range before Thanksgiving, which would have us approaching 1 million deaths early 2022. Remember when 80,000 deaths was an impossible number?

Although the new variants are part of the problem, there's no magic bullet. If you increase the opportunity for virus transmission, you increase the number of new infections. Increase the number of new infections and you increase the likelihood of new variants.

There is one bright spot in this. The people who will die will almost exclusively be the people who refused to get vaccinated. Eventually we'll reach a level of stabilization, after enough anti-vaxx people tell their family "I wish I'd gotten vaccinated."

In a moment of serendipity I just saw a story last night about a couple from Missouri who refused the vaccine and ended up hospitalized for Covid. Let's just say an extended stay in ICU clarifies the "should I get vaccinated" question.

The good news is that this will mostly be over in another year. At least in the US. It's already nearly over in many countries. When it ends depends almost entirely on the local vaccination rates.

[QUOTE=PVMonger;2580335]Look at what is happening in red states like Tennessee. Vaccine outreach has been terminated by RepubliKKKans. Why? Makes no sense. [/QUOTE]The answer to this can be found in right wing media, with the old Chicken Little, slippery slope fallacy. They think that if canvassing to encourage vaccination is allowed then they'll next be knocking on doors asking for their guns and bibles. It would be hilarious if the matter weren't so serious. They make us the laughing stock of the world.

"The problem with this reasoning is that it avoids engaging with the issue at hand, and instead shifts attention to extreme hypotheticals. ".

[URL]https://yourlogicalfallacyis.com/slippery-slope[/URL]

[QUOTE=PVMonger;2580335]RepubliKKKans, including the orange buffoon, were against any form of mitigation (masks, distancing, etc)[/QUOTE]So what about damn near every other country on the planet? Were they full of Republikkkans or did they have an orange buffoon? When there were only 1000 cases and 10 deaths in Thailand everyone was wearing a mask, social distancing, curfews, the whole 9; and fines and jail time for not obeying. Now there are 363,000 cases and have been over 2900 deaths. This has nothing to do with politics, religious beliefs, or none of that shit.

[QUOTE=MrEnternational;2580400]So what about damn near every other country on the planet? Were they full of Republikkkans or did they have an orange buffoon? When there were only 1000 cases and 10 deaths in Thailand everyone was wearing a mask, social distancing, curfews, the whole 9; and fines and jail time for not obeying. Now there are 363,000 cases and have been over 2900 deaths. This has nothing to do with politics, religious beliefs, or none of that shit.[/QUOTE]They were (are) unable to get the vaccines. Vaccination rate there is currently 4.6%.

[QUOTE=MrEnternational;2580400]So what about damn near every other country on the planet? Were they full of Republikkkans or did they have an orange buffoon? When there were only 1000 cases and 10 deaths in Thailand everyone was wearing a mask, social distancing, curfews, the whole 9; and fines and jail time for not obeying. Now there are 363,000 cases and have been over 2900 deaths. This has nothing to do with politics, religious beliefs, or none of that shit.[/QUOTE]Well said.

[QUOTE=MrEnternational;2580400]So what about damn near every other country on the planet? Were they full of Republikkkans or did they have an orange buffoon? When there were only 1000 cases and 10 deaths in Thailand everyone was wearing a mask, social distancing, curfews, the whole 9; and fines and jail time for not obeying. Now there are 363,000 cases and have been over 2900 deaths. This has nothing to do with politics, religious beliefs, or none of that shit.[/QUOTE]Many countries have had great success by complying with common sense protocols, masks, social distancing, and restrictions on movements. That includes many Asian countries, including Thailand who recently let down their guard and has had a slow vaccine roll out. It also includes the Nordic nations excluding Sweden. But to notice that a number of countries have had weak compliance, as well as many fools chasing conspiracy theories, then jump from that to claiming it's all apolitical is ludicrous. Mr E has some of the best mongering posts around, but when he jumps into politics gets every logical fallacy under the sun going.

Yes, in general terms there has been quite a divide between Repubs and Dems in the US in matters of Covid, though of course their are individual exceptions in both camps. The former generally has fought us every step of the way. First it was just the "Kung Flu" and a left wing hoax to sabotage Trump re-election chances. Then the numbers were faked, hospitals lying about the cause of deaths in order to rip off Medicare. Of course the fact that deaths were spiking in many countries where no such incentive exists never crossed their minds. Then it's masks, social distancing, and "lockdowns" don't work. Or that it's unconstitutional, even though people are often required to wear clothes in public, and our movements are restricted all the time, like at traffic lights or with prohibitions on demonstrations without permits. Not to mention that the Supreme Court in the past has upheld forced quarantines of TB patients. But where do we wind up? Well of course, with anti-vaxxers as they are intent on fighting us every step of the way. Plus right wing media needs hot button issues to spin in their propaganda hours because that's how they draw a crowd and make money. Listen to them in their own words, Fox and Newsmax, which further confirms as ludicrous, your claim that none of this is political.

[URL]https://www.cnn.com/videos/media/2021/07/14/fox-news-newsmax-vaccine-misinformation-newday-vpx.cnn/video/playlists/coronavirus/[/URL]

[URL]https://logicallyfallacious.com/logicalfallacies/Non-Sequitur[/URL]

[QUOTE=JustTK;2580361]And so it goes on! Really, you're incredible! I never once claimed that the vaccine has killed thousands. I really can't be bothered to read the rest of your diatribe if you can't even get the first premise correct. "You need to be informed that you are being stupid. ".[/QUOTE]You scoffed when I asked if English was your native language. I feel the need to ask again.

[B]"I never once claimed the vaccine has killed thousands."[/B]

Are you certain? Absolutely certain? Do you unequivocally stand behind that statement?

[QUOTE=JustTK;2580361]No one has forced me or my wife or children or loved ones to take part in these experiments. Thats bcos I am lucky. [B]But there are thousands of innocent sentient beings that have been forced in to these experiments. And been murdered.[/B] And that is what I do not accept.[/QUOTE]Which language is your native tongue? Perhaps it loses something when crossing from the UK to the USA.

You start off mentioning your wife, children and loved ones. Is it safe to assume they are not only sentient beings, but also human? Because, if your wife, children and loved ones are sentient and human, it follows that the "thousands of innocent sentient beings" were also human. Your use of the word "murdered" supports that. Since the discussion is about getting vaccinated (in your prior post you even stated "potential vaccines" am I out of line to assume you were stating thousands of people were forcibly vaccinated and killed by the process. Do you understand that is a claim that thousands have been killed by the vaccine?

It would seem 1 of 3 possibilities is at play here.

1. You're not being honest. You lack the moral integrity to acknowledge that you made a statement, which you can't defend.

2. Your grasp of English is tenuous at best and you lack the ability to understand the words you are using.

3. You simply lack the intelligence to be involved in this discussion.

I'm going to go with option number 1, although 3 is certainly tempting. However, lack of moral integrity is well supported by this:

"I really can't be bothered to read the rest of your diatribe if you can't even get the first premise correct. ".

You see, part of that nasty moral integrity is that you don't discount something without reading it first. It would be similar to writing a terrible review of a restaurant which you've never visited, solely because you don't like someone who works there.

This is a regular occurrence with you and I expect you're incapable of better behavior. Your other post lends credence to my claim. In it you claim we're in agreement about the long term effectiveness of the vaccine, yet that's a gross misunderstanding of my view on the subject. You support avoiding vaccination because long term effectiveness is unknown. Sorry, you appear to claim that the uncertainty of long term effectiveness is a valid reason to avoid vaccination. I don't. I've spelled it out in intricate detail. Yet you lack the honesty to address my statements.

You can continue with this as long as you wish, or until you contract Covid and you stop posting (either through incapacity or the inability to admit the flaws in your position). I made a valid effort to steer this to a respectful discussion. However, you again demonstrated your lack of moral integrity by refusing the possibility of a respectful discussion.

Unless I get bored and just want to poke fun at the mentally disadvantaged, I'll leave you to your psychosis.

[QUOTE=MrEnternational;2580400]So what about damn near every other country on the planet? Were they full of Republikkkans or did they have an orange buffoon? When there were only 1000 cases and 10 deaths in Thailand everyone was wearing a mask, social distancing, curfews, the whole 9; and fines and jail time for not obeying. Now there are 363,000 cases and have been over 2900 deaths. This has nothing to do with politics, religious beliefs, or none of that shit.[/QUOTE]Much of it, depending on the country has plenty to do with politics and religious beliefs. I won't get into that discussion, but you can easily compare infection rates by country and look at what actions were supported by the government of each country. Draw your own conclusions.

Going directly to Thailand, that's fairly easy. They were on the ball early. They did all the right things for a year, with a great deal of success. However, 3 things are currently working against them.

1. The Delta variant is much more contagious.

2. They have a very low vaccination rate.

3. Most of the vaccines given were the Sinovac vaccine which appears to be mostly ineffective against the Delta variant.

I don't know for certain, but I would suspect Thailand (Vietnam, Indonesia, etc) started relaxing restrictions somewhat shortly before the Delta variant hit the country. As we've seen again and again the waves take several weeks to develop and then rage on for several weeks, after measures to combat them are taken.

Without widespread distribution of a vaccine effective against the Delta variant, along with a return to the masks, curfews and lockdowns, they're in for a bumpy ride.

[QUOTE=JjBee62;2580231]You have to take Elvis with a grain of salt. For him everything has to be expressed along political lines. Unless you agree 100% with his current position, you're a liberal and the cause of all the world's problems. This might make sense if his position on the pandemic didn't change drastically from day to day.[/QUOTE]LOL. Yes, when I am critical of "science" loving douches, it has to be political? Ha. You were busy kissing Fauci's ass when that MF partially caused the pandemic. Hell, you were cheering on the travel ban and economic destruction.

My position changed from early on. Covid had an early pattern, that was all that was known about it, and it broke the pattern. If you applied any of your mathematical principles to almost any other virus, you would have been wrong. Covid was different because it was man made.

[QUOTE=JjBee62;2580231]For months he claimed it wasn't worse than the flu. Although there were several numbers he claimed the US death toll would never reach, the most renowned was 80,000.[/QUOTE]I am not even going to bother with you anymore. When you claim to have superior knowledge with predictions (and yours were awful), you personally were dumb enough to get sick with the virus, board an airplane, and spread it around to God knows how many people. On the other hand, I have been exposed to dozens if not hundreds of people with Covid and have not gotten it.

I told you all to avoid people who look sick and got mocked. Of course, then you hung around with your sick brother and got Covid. And that nonsense about how far away from him you were, if that were true, I would have been sick dozens of times. No, you were close to him, and you got it because you were stupid.

All this social distancing, hand sanitizer, wearing mask outside BS, and I said the smartest thing was to avoid sick people, and your dumb Democratic douche ass could not even follow that advice.

And then you thought you had Covid when you had a heart condition and had Covid when you thought it was something else. Throughout this, you still think you have the need to lecture. Dummy, you infected God knows how many people. Will you STFU on this topic? No one thinks you are an expert. You could not even diagnose in yourself. You are a clown.

I can see what I posted was misinterpreted. There are 750 people who have died of Covid who have had the vaccine and 4000 people who have gotten the vaccine and been hospitalized with Covid.

As for your mathematical predictions, the chance of a NFL player dying from Covid is less than 1% but vertigo rates are north of that. With the kind of vertigo I have seen, the chances of it being career ending are very real. So from a society stand point, should the NFL player get the vaccine? Yes. From an individual stand point? IMO the answer is no.

You are only looking at things from a life and death perspective. Economics matter, and that is the problem with you Democratic douches. You made Covid into this huge boogie man and insisted all the sacrifices were worthwhile when they were not. The part of medicine where the first rule of do no harm was thrown out the window, and you all just ignored all the harm you were doing.

[QUOTE=JjBee62;2580478]You scoffed when I asked if English was your native language. I feel the need to ask again.
[B]"I never once claimed the vaccine has killed thousands."[/B][/QUOTE]Your absolute certainty in your own incorrect understanding is astounding. A clear and strong case of Dunning and Kruger.

[QUOTE=JjBee62;2580478]Are you certain? Absolutely certain? Do you unequivocally stand behind that statement?[/QUOTE]Yes I am happy with my statement. As you urself point out, I am talking about the experiments that pharma companies run in developing and testing potential vaccines. It's called vivisection. That is a very different thing to deaths caused by the actual administration of the vaccine to the general public once the vaccine has been approved. I claim the former whereas you throw the latter at me.

[QUOTE=JjBee62;2580478]It would seem 1 of 3 possibilities is at play here.

1. You're not being honest. You lack the moral integrity to acknowledge that you made a statement, which you can't defend.

2. Your grasp of English is tenuous at best and you lack the ability to understand the words you are using.

3. You simply lack the intelligence to be involved in this discussion.
[/QUOTE]No. There is a 4th possibility – that you are too stupid to understand the difference between experiments on potential vaccines and the use of approved vaccines.

[QUOTE=JjBee62;2580478] You support avoiding vaccination because long term effectiveness is unknown. Sorry, you appear to claim that the uncertainty of long term effectiveness is a valid reason to avoid vaccination. I don't.[/QUOTE]Once again, flat out wrong. I do not support the vaccine bcos I think it is immoral to murder innocent beings in the experiments conducted to research, develop and test pharmaceutical products. I have stated that several times. I do not know why it will not sink in to your thick head. Sentient beings are raped, enslaved and encaged, their babies stolen from them, mutilated, tortured and murdered. Why? So that another sentient being can live? If you are not willing to sacrifice urself or your own loved ones for such a cause, you have no moral right to force others to do it. That is why it is immoral to me. So very far from your ridiculous assumptions.

[QUOTE=MrEnternational;2580400]So what about damn near every other country on the planet? Were they full of Republikkkans or did they have an orange buffoon? When there were only 1000 cases and 10 deaths in Thailand everyone was wearing a mask, social distancing, curfews, the whole 9; and fines and jail time for not obeying. Now there are 363,000 cases and have been over 2900 deaths. This has nothing to do with politics, religious beliefs, or none of that shit.[/QUOTE]As usual mr e spitting facts.

Honestly so tired hearing EL USO DE TAPABOCAS ES OBLIGATORIO all over Colombia, everyone who needs to be vaccinated is already, the whole world is maskless, yet the constant fear mongering and propaganda has colombians OBSESSED with tapabocas, social distance, etc. It's pretty god damn ridiculous right now.

I just want to go back to picking up non pros on the street without having to wonder what their mouth and nose look like which is pretty much a deal breaker.

The cdc (who have shown theyre buffoons, but thats the authority covid fanatics submit to) already said if you're vaccinated, no mask needed.

I ask the punk / hipsters here why theyre wearing a mask outside, they say because it's an order from the ministry of health. Yet at the same time they're protesting govt incompetence / corruption. Kind of an oxymoron. There is just a lack of critical thinking here, which would explain the constant dictatorships/lack of democracies over the past century in south america. The people here enjoy doing they they’re told; following orders

I guess this is what you deal with in the third world, a lack of common sense.

Enough with the fanaticism this shit is over with. As for me, no mask anywhere unless they tell me to in stores, lets get the ball rolling ;)

[QUOTE=JohnnyWalker55;2580744]As usual mr e spitting facts.

Honestly so tired hearing EL USO DE TAPABOCAS ES OBLIGATORIO all over Colombia, everyone who needs to be vaccinated is already, the whole world is maskless, yet the constant fear mongering and propaganda has colombians OBSESSED with tapabocas, social distance, etc. It's pretty god damn ridiculous right now.

I just want to go back to picking up non pros on the street without having to wonder what their mouth and nose look like which is pretty much a deal breaker.

The cdc (who have shown theyre buffoons, but thats the authority covid fanatics submit to) already said if you're vaccinated, no mask needed.

I ask the punk / hipsters here why theyre wearing a mask outside, they say because it's an order from the ministry of health. Yet at the same time they're protesting govt incompetence / corruption. Kind of an oxymoron. There is just a lack of critical thinking here, which would explain the constant dictatorships/lack of democracies over the past century in south america. The people here enjoy doing they they're told; following orders.[/QUOTE]Lovely, just lovely. How can the Colombian Ministry of Health require people to wear masks (tapabocas) and restrict social gatherings? Dear God, don't they know there are some fat, stupid Americans who came here for sex tourism and they don't want to be inconvenienced. What on earth were they thinking. Surely the selfish desires of some morons should take precedence over the health needs of the nation.

If you don't like what they do here then why don't you go to Africa. I'm sure there are some countries over there where you can get your fill of cheap pussy and they are too poor to wear masks or concern themselves with surviving past the current day. Seems like the perfect place for a selfish fuck.

[QUOTE=JohnnyWalker55;2580744]As usual mr e spitting facts…[/QUOTE]I agree!. It seems like it has become his specialty lately.

[QUOTE=JohnnyWalker55;2580744]…Honestly so tired hearing EL USO DE TAPABOCAS ES OBLIGATORIO all over Colombia, everyone who needs to be vaccinated is already…[/QUOTE]Sorry, not in Colombia, and many other countries. In fact, lack of vaccines is the case in most countries of interest to mongers.

[QUOTE=JohnnyWalker55;2580744]…the whole world is maskless, yet the constant fear mongering and propaganda has colombians OBSESSED with tapabocas, social distance, etc. It's pretty god damn ridiculous right now…[/QUOTE]I wish that were the case. I was there last month for 2 weeks, in Poblado. Folks wore masks only when the cops were there, and the distancing? Non existing. In fact, a Colombian couple thought I was an idiot for trying to maintain distancing while in line to get coffee at a JV store. I ended up getting into an argument with them. I then realized that I was fully vaccinated and they were most likely not. So, I changed to a don't care attitude.

[QUOTE=JohnnyWalker55;2580744]…I just want to go back to picking up non pros on the street without having to wonder what their mouth and nose look like which is pretty much a deal breaker… [/QUOTE]I agree it's a pain when it comes to picking up FLs. Luckily, I maintain sort of a harem there, and so far I am sticking to it.

[QUOTE=JohnnyWalker55;2580744]…I ask the punk / hipsters here why theyre wearing a mask outside, they say because it's an order from the ministry of health. Yet at the same time they're protesting govt incompetence / corruption. Kind of an oxymoron… [/QUOTE]Not quite, IMO, it's even more important to wear masks when you have a corrupt and / or incompetent government.

[QUOTE=JohnnyWalker55;2580744]...everyone who needs to be vaccinated is already, the whole world is maskless...
Enough with the fanaticism this shit is over with...[/QUOTE]This shit is not over with. This shit will not be over with, no matter how much you wish it to be so, until the virus is crushed either by everyone getting the vaccine or the disease. 20% of Colombians are vaccinated. Masking is not about you or your dick, it's about preventing a public health emergency. The ICU's in Bogota, Medellin and Cartagena are currently 92% full.

Imagine this: you step out of your hotel in Bogota and are hit by a cab and have major head injuries. There are no ambulances; however, the cab driver takes you to the hospital, but there are no beds. You can't breathe on your own, but all the ventilators are being used by Covid patients. Sorry, you die.

You want to monger in Vietnam, sorry only 4% of people have been vaccinated. Kenya, 2%. There are probably three or four billion people on Earth who have not been vaccinated or who have not had the disease. If you want 'this shit to be over with' and to go back to normal where you can stroll past smiling prostitutes, then you should be lobbying your representative for more federal vaccine funding for all people on earth.

[QUOTE=Villainy;2580772]Lovely, just lovely. How can the Colombian Ministry of Health require people to wear masks (tapabocas) and restrict social gatherings? Dear God, don't they know there are some fat, stupid Americans who came here for sex tourism and they don't want to be inconvenienced. What on earth were they thinking. Surely the selfish desires of some morons should take precedence over the health needs of the nation.

If you don't like what they do here then why don't you go to Africa. I'm sure there are some countries over there where you can get your fill of cheap pussy and they are too poor to wear masks or concern themselves with surviving past the current day. Seems like the perfect place for a selfish fuck.[/QUOTE]The degree of selfishness found among many mongers is mind boggling. It's all about them and their dicks.