Is anyone gonna be sorry to see 2020 go?

[truthingtotruth]

There are a lot of lessons to be learned from any tragic happening, but the scale of this one is such that the lessons will be very significant to those that have to face this sort of thing in the new virus trouble or medical trouble that hits humans in about another one hundred years.

One of the first things I did at the beginning of 2020, when the first reports were coming out of China of trouble, was to study the Spanish flu trouble, and humans sure have gotten better at this stuff.

If this one had hit back then, we'd have been . . . well, it would have been even worse than the Spanish flu was.

By the way, folks, you best not think this is soon to be going away. Those variants we are starting to see, and the strength of some of them, scare me a whole bunch. This battle is far from over.

And there were a whole bunch of other lessons to be logged into our places of study from other events that took place in 2020.

Let's face it, folks, we can't toss history into some trash can like I see is in some video thingy up a few posts. That may look cute in a video, but it is not so smart. How about this - - - how many of you have studied/experienced the winter of '63 in the UK? Do you know how home building codes were changed because of that event? How your home is now safer because of that?

Let us see, - - - how about the lesson we learned in 2020 about aviation safety and new software related to aviation safety. You reckon that will allow for fewer lives lost in future years? You can bet your sweet bippy it will.

How many of you remember that "sweet bippy" expression? (Did I spell that correctly?)

 

[Nev_Dull]

If we'd really learned from the Spanish Flu, there would have been universal mask mandates and social distancing rules in place from the start, and a whole lot of people would still be around. Science has made great advances, politics has not.

I'm very curious about what happens next. If we manage to reach the needed level of vaccinations to generate herd immunity and stop c19 this year, next year should be interesting. Many are expecting a Roaring 20's sort of bounce back with an "everything to excess" attitude prevailing. That will boost economies but could also see some downsides from too many hedonistic excesses. It would also be bad news for organized religion if we follow history. (Not a bad thing, in my opinion.)

 

[zappaDPJ]

I'm very curious about what happens next.

I'm sure as a species we'll learn very little. When the true zombie apocalypse hits and we are faced with an extinction level event most of us will still be wandering around clueless, fighting over toilet rolls and the perceived loss of personal freedoms.

 

[truthingtotruth]

I must confess Nev_Dull that you've made me realize that I am a serious jerk at times (maybe more often than that). I had not been thinking about average folks and such when I was giving thought to the past being of help. I was thinking about the medical professionals and the researchers that had to come up with vaccines in what has to be considered an amazingly short period of time. I think all those professionals were able to draw upon lessons from the past.

But I really hadn't given much thought to the folks on the street, or in their homes, workplaces, schools, and such. And that means I am not a very good human, am I? Never even thought about the average folks.

Then I decided to go check and see if any professionals had written anything about this business of masks and I found that in 2010 the US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health placed this in their files:
The Effect of Mask Use on the Spread of Influenza During a Pandemic

Well, I assume "published online" means they did the publishing.

May I ask anyone that was in the U.S. in the first few months of 2020 when this trouble was properly identified as being big trouble; were there enough masks for everyone that wanted them?

By the way, didn't that top doctor fella F-something (Fau-something off the top of my old brain) - - - don't I remember reading some press release that he stated at first the mask thing wasn't important?

 

[Pete]

Well, I’m on the way to seeing the back of 2020... I got my (first) vaccination over the weekend and while I spent most of the last 3 days with a raging fever, I’d do it again without hesitation to be allowed outside again, etc.

 

[truthingtotruth]

Well, I’m on the way to seeing the back of 2020... I got my (first) vaccination over the weekend and while I spent most of the last 3 days with a raging fever, I’d do it again without hesitation to be allowed outside again, etc.

I do hope that you get through that fever stuff. Have you called a doc fella/gal about that and been told it is okay.

I'm in a really nasty category for any of this - - - I have blood cancer. If things go south with me I am likely going to be done in. But I can't complain, because I wasn't "done in" so many years ago when I was on active duty.

Anyway, Pete, I hope you'll be okay.

 

[Pete]

I haven't called a doctor or anything like that - it's quite common amongst first-dose of AstraZeneca/Oxford to have these symptoms, the only variation really is on how long/deep the symptoms run, I've had a fever and a sore arm which is anecdotally very common.

It's clearing up so I'm not so worried.

I hope you come out of this OK too - this has been awful for everyone, and I'm just enjoying feeling like there is something on the horizon to look forward to.

 

[truthingtotruth]

I suppose I was a tad lucky that I spotted this coming out of China very early - - - I think I logged my first notice in very early January and some reason it had me worried right away and I started doing the mask thing way before anyone was pushing it. I also pulled myself out of the medical arrangement we had going for the program they call maintenance chemotherapy. I smelled hospitals to get to be a really bad place to be rather early, too. And being retired also allowed me to restrict my activities a whole bunch. So I have avoided the bug trouble up to now. I had to go to a different hospital for a few months for something the cancer caused but was outside of that group of specialists, but then that fixed itself, much to everyone's surprise, especially the doc folks. I sense I'll get through this. But this nation where I reside has one problem and that is a serious distrust of vaccine programs and so authorization from the health top bosses here took a long time. I might get my first shot next month, if I'm - - - well, I'm sort of lucky that I'm on the radar screen of some local leaders and they will get me a shot sort of early. After all the medical professionals get theirs.

What I'd like to know with no reservations is that this whole trouble wasn't caused by certain human folks in a certain lab location. That one has my mind very troubled.

 

[Pete]

What I'd like to know with no reservations is that this whole trouble wasn't caused by certain human folks in a certain lab location. That one has my mind very troubled.

I understand the concern but my counter-question: who would gain from it? What benefit would there be to have such a thing running rampant? Who would want to orchestrate it?

I can't imagine for a moment that any of the big pharma crowds are sufficiently unethical that they would consciously cause this - not even the ones that have manufactured a vaccine. And the worldwide effects have been so profound, if it were grown in a lab in one of these establishments, someone would have said something.

The alternative is a nation-state power doing it and I can't actually imagine any of the groups with the technological capability would have the willingness - considering how widely and deeply this has affected the world.

If I were to speculate on a non-organic cause, I'd actually have put it on a fringe environmental group because there was a mass reduction in air pollution almost everywhere, though of course as life stubbornly tries to return to normal, so too air pollution, so that wasn't it, I guess.

 

[truthingtotruth]

I'm absolutely sure that if it was even close to what has me worried it would have definitely been an accident that let it out. I hadn't thought of that FEG idea, but we'd best not go too far with this as I remember back a couple years that some topics, or discussions heading into such topics, are a big no-no in this community.

 

[Carbonzxc]

No of course. Wish its not happened.

 

[zappaDPJ]

I got my (first) vaccination over the weekend and while I spent most of the last 3 days with a raging fever, I’d do it again without hesitation to be allowed outside again, etc.

I had my first jab recently and was similarly ill for a longer period but like you I'd do again without giving it a second thought.

 

[snerd]

I got my first shot of Moderna on Jan 7, and the second on Feb 4. No reaction, just that area a little sore for a couple days. It has been a very rough year for the world, for sure! I sympathize and empathize with all of us. Just hang in there everyone, hopefully the end is in sight.

 

[Nev_Dull]

I doubt very much that this was caused by anyone intentionally or accidentally. Nature is very good at developing the means for controlling runaway populations like ours. For better or worse, we've become far too good at thwarting those efforts, so I suspect we've not seen the last of these sort of events.

As for the end of this, I think it's still a ways off.

 

[zappaDPJ]

I doubt very much that this was caused by anyone intentionally or accidentally. Nature is very good at developing the means for controlling runaway populations like ours. For better or worse, we've become far too good at thwarting those efforts, so I suspect we've not seen the last of these sort of events.

As for the end of this, I think it's still a ways off.

I agree with both points. Steven Soderbergh’s 2011 film Contagion puts forward a very credible explanation of how, where and why a virus like this might have originated. Nature is indeed a marvel that should never be underestimated. If you collected every atom of coronavirus present in the world it would barely fill a cup.

It should be obvious (but clearly isn't) to everyone the only way out of this is to vaccinate and that will take a while. Hopefully once that's been done we'll return to some semblance of normality.

 

[R0binHood]

Hopefully once that's been done we'll return to some semblance of normality.

Until......Some time late next year, coming soon, Covid 2022. Electrictrified Bat Boogaloo.

By-line:
A new pandemic strikes when a group of backpackers decides to try and cook a bat on an induction hob deep in the heart of Transylvania. Some dodgy wiring results in both the cooker and the cookie getting electrocuted and the chef gets turned into a Vampire infected with Covid 2022.

A series of 80s style hip hop, rap and Hamilton style broadway cut scenes play out at the world gradually gets infected. Citizens of the globe unite and battle it out using a combination of crucifixes, silver bullets, lab coats and vaccines.

 

[Pete]

So basically we've moved on 10 years and 15 days...

 

[R0binHood]

Yes, the LMFAO music videos end up being canon prepper survival guides. A strange time, it will be, but 2B view can't be wrong, it's science at this point!

 

[\o/]

Remember when you were happy that 2020 is over?

 

[Pete]

Can I have 2020 back again? It was an improvement over most of 2021.