Althouse: At the Monday Night Café...

April 6, 2020

At the Monday Night Café...

... you can talk all night.

295 comments:

«Oldest ‹Older 201 – 295 of 295

FullMoon said...: From Insta. Dems always jokin' around

NBC REPORTS RALPH NORTHAM WEARS ‘BLACK FACE MASK.’ HILARITY ENSUES; 4/6/20, 10:43 PM
Jon Ericson said...: Good night, Pee Wee.; 4/6/20, 10:44 PM
Drago said...: Howard: "So why did Trump fire the pandemic expert who worked in the Beijing office back in 2018?"

The lies just never stop. Ever.

We'll be back to Moscow hookers peeing on beds before we are through.

Look up the "National Biodefense Strategy" of 2018 and you'll see what happened.

But only what actually happened.

So, on second thought, don't. Your lies make you feel better, and that's what really counts.; 4/6/20, 10:44 PM
Drago said...: Personally, I'm interested in what the ChiCom's next wave of propaganda will focus on so naturally I'll be looking for ARM's posts on those subjects.; 4/6/20, 10:45 PM
Johnathan Birks said...: Sweet leaping Jesus, the trollery is strong tonight.; 4/6/20, 10:46 PM
Marc in Eugene said...: Am learning the bass parts of Tomás Luis de Victoria's responsoria for Tenebrae-- a challenge and a diversion, not that I have any intention of ever inflicting my voice on others.

The local SSPX church will perhaps (a decision tomorrow) have the Mass in Coena Domini (Holy Thursday) celebrated at an altar erected outdoors with the faithful allowed to attend from their cars, with another complement of 25 inside the church hall. I expect that if this goes well enough then they will also celebrate the Good Friday rites in a similar way, and at Easter, too. Weather cooperating, of course.; 4/6/20, 10:47 PM
narciso said...: Yes you find it everywhere from the atlantic to the bulwark, i like to find the nuggets in the mountain of pyrite.; 4/6/20, 10:47 PM
Gahrie said...: As I understand it, there are 2 working title options: "Little Men" and "War and Peace and Other Stuff".

It was originally published as Neal Kinnock: A Life Story; 4/6/20, 10:47 PM
Drago said...: We should start a pool: What will be the subject matter of the next wave of ChiCom propaganda lies that ARM will trumpet at Althouseblog?

In recent weeks, we have seen the ChiComs continue to lie about their infected and death counts, which ARM gleefully parroted, as well as the ChiComs lie about defective equipment they shipped around the world, which ARM also gleefully parroted.

But if I had to guess, given where things stand today, I'm going to guess that Xi and his pals will have the ARM's of the world pushing the US Military is responsible for the virus lie again.

Thats just my opinion. We'll know soon enough when ARM starts posting it.; 4/6/20, 10:48 PM
Jon Ericson said...: Thousands read the Althouse blog.
It's a really good thing Howard and ARM are here to do their thing.
Clears things up.; 4/6/20, 10:48 PM
narciso said...: I included the town and country properlt formatted about the hemingway hadley zelda fitzgerald quarantine talk about awkward.; 4/6/20, 10:50 PM
narciso said...: Theres an interesting ensemble series thar premiered on pbs a little like folletts fall of giants, about world war 2, world on fire; 4/6/20, 10:52 PM
narciso said...: The former stretched from world war to the 00s and became more wedded to prog tropes; 4/6/20, 10:53 PM
Mark said...: She was sad. Now Erin's jumping up and down happy.; 4/6/20, 10:56 PM
walter said...: With temps in 70's tomorrow, gonna smell a lot of grilled pangolin in the neighborhood.; 4/6/20, 10:57 PM
Guildofcannonballs said...: I blame the Coen's for Laslo's lack of success.

Jealous or envious, I am too dis-educated to know, for sure.

But if I were educated... Oh I'd be like Lebron James.... Wise enough to have enough people around him to say "shut up or we will make sure you never speak again" or something.

What if our paid-by tax dollars actually did some good.

Could you imagine the good that could be done now? It is hard. But, if you are able, the amount of good could be staggering.; 4/6/20, 10:57 PM
Drago said...: "“We’re gonna have to conduct the election on November 3rd — we did it — there, we, we have to make our democracy as well as dealing with disease *coughs* function *wipes his eyebrow* and we can do both,”
----Joe Biden, April 6, 2020; 4/6/20, 10:59 PM
narciso said...: another from the same author, the opening might be a little squeamish; 4/6/20, 11:00 PM
Mark said...: Those epilogues were always dangerous in saying what someone would later do. There was always the chance that they might change the plot line in later seasons.; 4/6/20, 11:00 PM
Char Char Binks, Esq. said...: Trump has gone seven days without saying "Chinese virus"!? He's a foreign agent -- IMPEACH!; 4/6/20, 11:01 PM
walter said...: Don't judge. We would normally have gone with bat but for the ban.
Fucking Evers.; 4/6/20, 11:01 PM
Kyzer SoSay said...: "It was originally published as Neal Kinnock: A Life Story"

Laughed out loud at that.; 4/6/20, 11:04 PM
Mark said...: Of course, the movie screenplay was (co-)written by Buck Henry.; 4/6/20, 11:04 PM
Kyzer SoSay said...: "dealing with disease *coughs* function *wipes his eyebrow* and we can do both"

The Party of SCIENCE!!; 4/6/20, 11:05 PM
narciso said...: The similarity between this offering and magnum is misdirection, or what hitchcock called the mcguffin, get people looking in one direction, while you get away with a grand scheme.; 4/6/20, 11:06 PM
Sebastian said...: The Godfather, in the other thread: "Let's remember that the theory is, and has been all along, that mitigation -- social distancing, shelter in place, closing "non-essential" businesses, etc. -- isn't intended to reduce the total number of Chinese virus cases; it's only supposed to spread that total number out over a longer period of time, so they won't overwhelm medical resources. That is supposed to reduce total deaths from the virus, because every patient will be able to get treatment, but it won't reduce total cases.

So it follows, as the night the day, that we should begin to lift the mitigation efforts in each jurisdiction as soon as the number of cases is low enough that we can be confident that medical resources won't be overwhelmed."

Yes, it follows. So, besides NC and WI, how many other regions fit?

But the argument assumes the "theory" was the actual motivation for the actual shutdowns. Perhaps not: other motives came into play: pure panic, CYA politicians' need to be seen doing "everything," desire to tank the Trump economy, favoring entitled seniors over relative weak young people.

Nor is the insistence on maintaining them ("if it only saves one life!") motivated by the theory. And of course, logic has little to do with politics in any case. Which increases the conundrum: if politicians ordered shutdowns to cater to the save-any-life faction, then they will think they will be held responsible for any fatalities after reopening, which will reduce their incentive to shut down the shutdowns.; 4/6/20, 11:11 PM
Mark said...: Spain has passed Italy in number of confirmed cases, with a higher proportion of the population in cases and deaths.; 4/6/20, 11:11 PM
narciso said...: Buckley is a fascinating character, son of texas wildcatters, born in new orleans he goes to an english boarding school amd yale joins the company in latin america. Learns about international communism from eudocio ravines sets up national review with a crew of ex marxists.; 4/6/20, 11:12 PM
Guildofcannonballs said...: If only witness would come forward.

All the rape and evil they saw and refused to testify against.

Back then it wasn't Orange Man Bad.

But now we know indeed it always was Orange Man Bad.

God has blessed America, and if we don't watch out He won't no more. So Let's Watch Him Work Mirracles Through Us. God Bless Laslo, The Human Wordsmith.; 4/6/20, 11:13 PM
Lewis Wetzel said...: My mother is almost 80 years old. Her parents were both 45 years old when she was born in 1940. Her father, my grandfather, was an enlisted man, a groom, stationed at Fort Snelling in Saint Paul during the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918-1919. Talking about the current crisis, my mom told me that she could remember her parents reminiscing about their marriage ceremony (1918). Grandpa and Grandma both recalled that, nearly every day, they heard about a friend or acquaintance who had died from the Spanish Flu. Grandad and Grandma would have been in their mid-twenties in 1919. As a groom in the army, Grandpa was part of a team that piled the bodies in a wagon to take them to burial.
Covid-19 is not like that, yet.; 4/6/20, 11:14 PM
Kyzer SoSay said...: "Thousands read the Althouse blog.
It's a really good thing Howard and ARM are here to do their thing.
Clears things up."

+100; 4/6/20, 11:17 PM
walter said...: Thai Muslim insurgents commit for first time in 17-year conflict to de facto ceasefire to facilitate humanitarian response to Covid-19
Feature..not a..; 4/6/20, 11:21 PM
Mark said...: other motives came into play: pure panic, CYA politicians' need to be seen doing "everything,"

In addition to herd immunity in an epidemic, there is also the potential for herd stampede. But it is hard to criticize when the "experts" are yelling, "We're all gonna die!!! It's the end of the world!!"; 4/6/20, 11:23 PM
Lewis Wetzel said...: Viruses reproduce with RNA, not DNA. RNA is far more subject to reproduction errors than DNA. It is not a minute possibility that the covid-19 virus will mutate to the point where it is no longer deadly or communicable between human beings.; 4/6/20, 11:25 PM
Churchy LaFemme: said...: I think S.M. Stirling has written SF or fantasy versions of The Battle of Rorke's Drift at least twice, but just where escapes me right now.; 4/6/20, 11:25 PM
narciso said...: Even the taliban thinks its time for a pause.; 4/6/20, 11:26 PM
Mark said...: For a week or two here, we had a lot of people saying that everyone was going to get it.

And then they and/or others did the math with then-existing death rates and insisted that we were going to have three million covid dead by the end of summer.; 4/6/20, 11:26 PM
Churchy LaFemme: said...: Well, McMaster has dropped the hammer: Gov. McMaster toughens SC coronavirus stance, ordering state to work or ‘stay home’. Just when I thought we might remain an island of semi-sanity.; 4/6/20, 11:27 PM
Mark said...: First it rapidly coagulates blood. Then it dissolves rubber. Then it just fades away.; 4/6/20, 11:27 PM
narciso said...: Thats the andromeda strain,; 4/6/20, 11:29 PM
n.n said...: "Thai Muslim insurgents commit for first time in 17-year conflict to de facto ceasefire to facilitate humanitarian response to Covid-19"

Feature..not a..

A Planned Pandemic (PP)? Would they? Yes, they would, they have. #Wicked; 4/6/20, 11:29 PM
Mark said...: Maybe they've been too restrictive. But if any place turns into another hot zone because of a lack of restrictions and/or idiot people not taking precautions, which threatens the rest of the country when those idiots then travel to other states, then we have a problem.; 4/6/20, 11:31 PM
Guildofcannonballs said...: So I read $26.99" or something.

Went: no booze.

Dif loc: only one kind of booze $8.88 cheaper.

Jemeson or is it really an I? I don't spect I'll ever know any info like that.

Duh,; 4/6/20, 11:31 PM
walter said...: Ev'rybody's talking about
Trumpism, Shagism, Dragoism, Madison, Biden's son, Gagism
This-ism, that-ism, is-m, is-m, is-m
All we are saying is give Trump a chance; 4/6/20, 11:31 PM
Mark said...: Is Covid Andromeda?; 4/6/20, 11:32 PM
narciso said...: I wouldnt recommend nuking it, but it has some remarkably devilish properties, wildfire was the research facility like wuhan.; 4/6/20, 11:34 PM
Lewis Wetzel said...: Because I've read some cold war history, I am certain that the Chinese intelligence services are monitoring the US response to the pandemic, and noting weaknesses and strengths, and are also devising plans to take advantage of the weaknesses and our strengths weaker. I am also certain that our intelligence services are doing the same with the Chinese response to covid-19.; 4/6/20, 11:35 PM
narciso said...: Someone reminded me of the sverdlovsk small pox outbreak in 1979, it was largely contained but denied for at least 15 years; 4/6/20, 11:37 PM
Kyzer SoSay said...: "Is Covid Andromeda?"

We'll know if the ventilator tubes and acrylic face shields start disintegrating out of nowhere. But I really hope not, because out of all the Odd Men here, the Very Oddest is ARM, and his crisis instincts are about as good as Biden's.; 4/6/20, 11:41 PM
narciso said...: i stand corrected; 4/6/20, 11:42 PM
walter said...: Lewis,
I tend to think that's correct. And part of why formerly abrasive to China Trump is appearing to kiss ass. Another element is the unfortunate necessity due to US Ag. Pompeo seems to run the Bad Cop side.; 4/6/20, 11:44 PM
narciso said...: Andromeda replicated at a ridiculous rate, it mutated often, from infectious to not, the trearment protocols were tricky.; 4/6/20, 11:44 PM
Mark said...: At what point can it be said that hydroxychloroquine+ qualifies as the answer?

Does it have to work in every case? What about 80 percent effectiveness? What if it works only 50 percent of the time? Do we toss it aside because it does nothing half the time? Or is it worth using if even only 20 percent benefit from it? 20 percent of people that could be saved, but must now be sacrificed because it has been deemed a boondoggle?

Is "good enough" good enough?; 4/6/20, 11:46 PM
narciso said...: Wuhan is viral chernobyl or sverdlovsk on steroids,; 4/6/20, 11:48 PM
walter said...: Mark,
It has to fight not only covid, but the necessary undermining by TDS.; 4/6/20, 11:49 PM
Kyzer SoSay said...: @ Mark, 11:46PM

Considering that there is generally no effective treatment for most viruses other than supportive care while they run their course, in my opinion anything north of 50% qualifies this treatment as a "strong option". Anything over, say around 75% and it's a "cure", especially if the majority of ineffective cases are either very advanced already or stricken with significant comorbidities - the kind that would make the common cold into a deadly threat.

Frankly, any cases that start going south, sans contraindications from the patient's medical history, ought to be started on the treatment given how mild and well-understood the drugs are.; 4/6/20, 11:50 PM
walter said...: Necessity being the mother effer of invention, I suspect this situation is going to change the fairly immediate perception of therapeutic development and modeling.; 4/6/20, 11:55 PM
narciso said...: Jenner fleming pasteur, reed finlay would you insist on a perfect record before protocols were applied.; 4/6/20, 11:57 PM
Kyzer SoSay said...: "Necessity being the mother effer of invention, I suspect this situation is going to change the fairly immediate perception of therapeutic development and modeling."

Something else that Trump has quietly been on the leading edge of is the Right to Try law. Personally I wish it went further and had a little less red tape, but it is still a great step in the right direction. If you're gonna die anyway, why not give an experimental treatment a try? If it works, yay for you (and for others who might be in need). If not, it's another data point for science and doctors, and maybe it's mechanism of failure will teach them something about the illness they're attempting to treat. Currently I believe it only covers the terminally ill, but I'd like to see it offered to anyone with serious quality of life issues that is willing to be a guinea pig and made to understand the potential risk.

Hence why I believe that it's incredibly dumb to be against continued investigation and application of the hydroxy+zpak+zinc treatment. We've got great field evidence from reliable witnesses that it works, even on advanced cases, and it's a well-known and very predictable drug in terms of side effects and contraindications. And thus far, the only trial that casts serious doubt on it omits a third of the treatment, the zinc part, which is important to get the ball rolling.

But Trump said it showed promise a few times, so it must be Literally Hitler.; 4/7/20, 12:07 AM
Mark said...: AH MSM is trying to make a big deal out of Fauci saying that hydroxychloroquine-plus seems to work in some cases and doesn't work in other cases. They are spinning that as he says it is useless and in opposition to the President.

Of course, EVERY drug will work in some cases and not work in other cases.; 4/7/20, 12:07 AM
Mark said...: Meanwhile, I don't exactly trust the FDA for anything.

I took an FDA approved drug, a drug that should have been outlawed years ago, but the FDA still allows on the market -- levofloxacin -- and it wreaked havoc on my Achilles tendon and triggered neuropathy, and would have rendered me permanently immobile if I hadn't stopped after taking only TWO of those poison pills.

If the FDA is going to allow that to remain on the market, it is worthless as a drug safety watchdog.; 4/7/20, 12:14 AM
Gahrie said...: I think S.M. Stirling has written SF or fantasy versions of The Battle of Rorke's Drift at least twice, but just where escapes me right now.

One was in On the Oceans of Eternity part of the Island series. A unit from Nantucket commanded by a man named O'Rourke gets attacked by tribesmen armed mainly with shield and spear.

I seem to remember a second one also, but it doesn't immediately come to mind.; 4/7/20, 12:16 AM
Kyzer SoSay said...: I put the odds at about 99% that his "didn't work" cases are mostly from that study where the zinc was overlooked. He ought to give Dr. Cardillo out in California a call and have a long, productive conversation.; 4/7/20, 12:16 AM
walter said...: Kyzer SoSay,
I agree..though our Sen Ron Johnson was a major driver of that.
It primed the pump for Trump understanding the medical derivative of "What do you have to lose?".; 4/7/20, 12:23 AM
Kyzer SoSay said...: According to Wikipedia, levofloxacin is on the WHO's list of essential medicines. While I'm sure the side effects you experienced are awful, and the WHO is not exactly a paragon of candor, I don't see why it would be on that list if it's truly a menace. Maybe I'm wrong, I don't really know much about it, but the drugs on that list are supposed to be pretty safe and good at what they do.

Or maybe Wiki is wrong and it's not actually on the list. I don't personally know much about it either way.; 4/7/20, 12:23 AM
walter said...: (A phrase in his mind from 2016 appeal to minorities vs Dems); 4/7/20, 12:25 AM
Mark said...: I trust WHO even less than FDA.; 4/7/20, 12:37 AM
walter said...: Mark,
Kinda depends on why you got that drug.
As antibiotic, was there a sensitivity test? Allergy to others?
Many drugs have paradoxical responses for some.
One of the worst nights of my life was riding one out under diphenhydramine (Tylenol PM). Put me to sleep, then I woke up with brain afire, clinging to kitchen table.; 4/7/20, 12:39 AM
Kyzer SoSay said...: Reading further, it seems like levofloxacin does have some pretty serious and irreversible potential side effects and has enhanced warning label/literature in both the US and UK, so maybe it IS the WHO that fucked up. Then again, there are also apparently 3 million prescriptions each year for it in the US alone, so maybe it's the only effective treatment for certain infections? I dunno.

My worst medication story pales in comparison to yours. At 4 years old I came down with pneumonia and was given tetracycline for it, which stained my (still-unerupted) adult teeth light brown. Of course, nobody knew it was doing that - until awhile later when the Tooth Fairy started visiting and the new ones grew in. Made for a tough childhood since my parents couldn't afford veneers and dentists were worried that bleaching agents would cause more problems (which I feel was bullshit because in my 3+ decades I've had exactly one fucking cavity). I am lucky it didn't cause more damage or I'd probably be wearing dentures by now. Sounds like you had a much worse experience with side effects than I did, though.; 4/7/20, 12:51 AM
walter said...: WHO's Aylward?
WHERE?
https://www.thenation.com/article/world/taiwan-who-coronavirus-china/; 4/7/20, 12:58 AM
walter said...: It is so sad to hear various metros spew out fatality rates with incomplete data. I mean way over what's realistic.; 4/7/20, 1:05 AM
StephenFearby said...: Kyzer SoSay said...
"From the reading I've done, it looks like the most effective treatment for those stricken with the WuhuFlu is hydroxychloroquine + azithromycin + zinc. Zinc gives the HCQ an ion channel into the red blood cells where it protects the iron portion of the hemoglobin from viral hijacking. The virus kills by allowing the iron radical out of the blood cell, and this iron ion is toxic to the body. Simultaneously, that blood cell is now less capable of oxygen transport..."

Interesting, but I think this is probably more likey:

LOS ANGELES (KABC) April 5, 2020 11:48PM

LA doctor seeing success with hydroxychloroquine to treat COVID-19

Dr. Anthony Cardillo said he has seen very promising results when prescribing hydroxychloroquine in combination with zinc for the most severely-ill COVID-19 patients.

"Every patient I've prescribed it to has been very, very ill and within 8 to 12 hours, they were basically symptom-free," Cardillo told Eyewitness News. "So clinically I am seeing a resolution."

Cardillo is the CEO of Mend Urgent Care, which has locations in Sherman Oaks, Van Nuys and Burbank.

He said he has found it only works if combined with zinc. The drug, he said, opens a channel for the zinc to enter the cell and block virus replication.

He added that the drug should not be prescribed for those who are presenting only mild symptoms, as there are concerns about shortages for patients with other conditions who need to take the drug on a regular basis.

"We have to be cautious and mindful that we don't prescribe it for patients who have COVID who are well," Cardillo said. "It should be reserved for people who are really sick, in the hospital or at home very sick, who need that medication. Otherwise, we're going to blow through our supply for patients that take it regularly for other disease processes."

https://abc7.com/coronavirus-drug-covid-19-malaria-hydroxychloroquine/6079864/

This is very interesting in the context that supplemental zinc (form not mentioned) may be necessary for at least some patients instead of relying on their endogenous supplies.

Usually lost in the shuffle is that chloroquine and (almost certainly) hydroxychloroquine are zinc ionophores (meaning that the greatly facilitate entry of zinc into infected cells to kill pathogens:

PLoS One. 2014; 9(10): e109180.
Chloroquine Is a Zinc Ionophore

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4182877/

Am J Clin Nutr. 2007 Mar;85(3):837-44.
Zinc supplementation decreases incidence of infections in the elderly: effect of zinc on generation of cytokines and oxidative stress.

https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/1111/6558de00f3cc34601cbec8e847680dbab8ce.pdf; 4/7/20, 1:19 AM
Ralph L said...: I'm galvanized by the news about zinc.; 4/7/20, 1:36 AM
walter said...: "the drug should not be prescribed for those who are presenting only mild symptoms, as there are concerns about shortages"
Alternatively, push to increase supply, considering the Italy article:
"We have just understood that the virus has an evolution in two phases and that it is during the second phase, after a few days (about a week), that the situation can suddenly, in 24 or 48 hours, worsen and leads to respiratory failure requiring intensive care.

The results that we are starting to accumulate suggest that hydroxychloroquine administered early, gives the possibility of avoiding this evolution in a majority of patients and is also helping us to prevent hospitals from filling up.”
https://www.trustnodes.com/2020/03/29/italy-finally-starts-mass-treatment-with-hydroxychloroquine
--
Hello?; 4/7/20, 1:42 AM
walter said...: Perhaps our Viagra and Cialis factories can be retooled to deliver life saving meds.; 4/7/20, 1:46 AM
walter said...: We are getting glimpses of the breadth, impacts of scarcity concerns.; 4/7/20, 2:24 AM
walter said...: Berno: Food lines are good!; 4/7/20, 2:26 AM
Derve Swanson said...: This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.; 4/7/20, 2:32 AM
walter said...: BTW, I remember talk of N95 mask decon machines.
Where dat?; 4/7/20, 2:36 AM
walter said...: Yes, well. There was a time i felt used clothing from Goodwill and St. Vinnie's was beneath me.
"Trending" 40% in my wardrobe currently.
Sorry to give Antideshitter the sads,but..; 4/7/20, 3:19 AM
walter said...: "Non urban areas safer."
Fun to listen to Westy radio attempt to correlate NY results to their data.; 4/7/20, 3:23 AM
walter said...: Has our legions of scientists definitively determined lab vs zoological origin of this shit?; 4/7/20, 3:30 AM
walter said...: Last shot:
"14 hrs ·

And we’re off, spring planting 2020. The ultimate social distancing, stay safe fellow brother and sister farmers and good luck! Maybe this is finally the year we get a livable price for our commodities"; 4/7/20, 3:37 AM
rhhardin said...: What happened to Scott Adams's last night periscope? Did he get pissed off again and flounce away? Happened once before, and the podcasts disappeared too.

I heard only the beginning and went to bed, and today there's no trace of it.; 4/7/20, 4:25 AM
rehajm said...: Anger at the absurdity and waste of the bloated medical bureaucracy pointlessly flailing to develop a vaccine. If the stakes weren't so high it would be comical.; 4/7/20, 4:45 AM
BUMBLE BEE said...: Reading TV shows? People, get outside... breathe.; 4/7/20, 4:49 AM
Jon Ericson said...: *Shake it
Shake it
Shake it

Like a Polaroid picture*; 4/7/20, 5:17 AM
Rory said...: There's a Barney Miller episode where a crazy man from "the future" convinces Harris that the world economic system is about to collapse and Harris should sell his gold and invest in zinc. This could explain why.; 4/7/20, 5:32 AM
Fernandinande said...: Zulu movie - some great music on that soundtrack, check it out.; 4/7/20, 6:48 AM
Jeff said...: It is not a minute possibility that the covid-19 virus will mutate to the point where it is no longer deadly or communicable between human beings.

Actually, it's almost a certainty that it already has. At least a few instances of the virus probably have, since random mutations are happening all the time and the number of instances (i.e., individual virus copies) is probably in the trillions by now.

Organisms that use DNA and/or RNA to reproduce are subject to random mutations. Mutations that enhance the probability that the organism will reproduce become more widespread in the population over time. Those that make reproductive success less likely will die out. So, a mutation that made the virus not communicable will die out.

A mutation that makes the virus less deadly could enhance reproductive success if victims are contagious for a longer period of time before dying. But if that mutation also makes it easier for our immune systems to defeat the virus, which is pretty likely, the effect on reproductive success is unclear.; 4/7/20, 8:13 AM
Michael McNeil said...: Viruses reproduce with RNA, not DNA.

Wrong. Some viruses carry their genetic material in the form of RNA, others in the form of DNA.

RNA is far more subject to reproduction errors than DNA.

Given the first error, how can I believe your second unsupported assertion? I doubt this one myself because basically the same mechanism is used in biology for transcribing both RNA and DNA. Anyway — reference please!

It is not a minute possibility that the covid-19 virus will mutate to the point where it is no longer deadly or communicable between human beings.

It could — theoretically. However, its spontaneously becoming non-communicable between people — while certainly possible — is contrary to the force of evolution, therefore quite unlikely.; 4/7/20, 8:19 AM
mockturtle said...: Zulu movie - some great music on that soundtrack, check it out.

One of my late husband's favorites. He did observe that Michael Caine was somewhat miscast. I haven't watched it in years but it would make a nice evening's entertainment.; 4/7/20, 8:29 AM
Michael K said...: The results that we are starting to accumulate suggest that hydroxychloroquine administered early, gives the possibility of avoiding this evolution in a majority of patients and is also helping us to prevent hospitals from filling up.”
https://www.trustnodes.com/2020/03/29/italy-finally-starts-mass-treatment-with-hydroxychloroquine

Yes. I have been suggesting this for two weeks. Or more in spite of insane opposition from the left, especially on facebook.; 4/7/20, 8:55 AM
Michael K said...: I took an FDA approved drug, a drug that should have been outlawed years ago, but the FDA still allows on the market -- levofloxacin -- and it wreaked havoc on my Achilles tendon and triggered neuropathy, and would have rendered me permanently immobile if I hadn't stopped after taking only TWO of those poison pills.

You sure you were not eating grapefruit and taking statins for cholesterol ? That sounds more like what happens. I have prescribed levofloxaquin for years, since it was approved, and have not seen that effect.; 4/7/20, 9:01 AM
Marc in Eugene said...: In a couple of hours, I am, as the idiom goes, having an MRI. A first time for everything. Had wondered about the dental fillings but evidently that's not an issue, at least in the sense that they aren't going to come flying out of my mouth.; 4/7/20, 10:04 AM