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What Is A PCR Test And How Does It Work? [Muldoon]

Coronavirus is an RNA virus consisting of a chain of RNA (approximately 30,000 links) surrounded by a protein shell. In general an RNA virus infects by attaching to the surface of a human cell and injecting its RNA into the cell. Once inside, the virus 'hijacks' the cell's own machinery to reproduce many thousands of copies of itself, which eventually cause the cell to rupture, releasing the new viruses, which are able to spread and repeat the process with other cells. Fortunately though for mankind through the ages, the immune system recognizes the foreign invader and begins the process of fighting off the infection.

When intact virus particles are released into the bloodstream (viremia) the body reacts with inflammation resulting in systemic symptoms (fever, chills). When intact viruses are released at the surface of the nose and throat localized symptoms (sneezing, coughing, runny nose) occur and viruses can exit the body (viral shedding). During the incubation phase there may be no viral particles in the nasal mucus. During the contagious phase the mucus membranes will contain both complete viruses and fragments of destroyed viruses. As the infection subsides (convalescence) fragments of virus can remain in the upper airway for days or potentially weeks. Either intact virus or RNA fragments can be detected in a laboratory by the process of PCR or ( polymerase chain reaction).

Genetic information in nature exists in the form of either DNA or RNA. DNA consists of two matched chains (like a spiral zipper) made up of molecules known as nucleotides (A, T, C & G) in a specific sequence. This is essentially a four-letter alphabet that carries the code for whatever that section of DNA controls. RNA is a single strand (like one side of the spiral zipper). In human cells RNA is copied from the source DNA to provide the blueprints for making proteins. Reverse transcriptase is an enzyme that can produce a DNA copy from an RNA strand (the reverse of what happens in normal cell function). Polymerase is an enzyme that can build a matching complementary strand of DNA to match an existing single strand of DNA. It does not work on RNA.

So the PCR test for viruses in general works like this:

1. Cotton swab is used to obtain sample from nose, (mucus, cells, and general debris).

2. Sample is processed to remove extraneous components such as fats and proteins, leaving just nucleic acid (both DNA from the patient or microorganisms and RNA from viruses).

3. RNA in the sample must be converted to DNA by using reverse transcriptase.

4. The sample is heated to denature or unzip the double stranded DNA into single strands.

5. The polymerase enzyme makes a matching segment of DNA for both of the single DNA strands that were unzipped by the denaturing process, thereby doubling the total number of DNA segments.

6. The heating and cooling cycle is repeated over and over, generally between 30 and 40 cycles, doubling the DNA each time.

7. Specific segments of unique coronavirus RNA that have been tagged with a fluorescent marker are included in the mix, and if matching stretches of coronavirus genetic material were present in the original sample the fluorescent marked reagent will bind to them, and when a critical mass of viral DNA copies have been produced the fluorescence is detectable by a scanner and the test is deemed positive.

Theoretically, even if there is just a single fragment of coronavirus RNA in the sample, the amplification effect of the PCR process can render it detectable. 35 cycles of doubling will produce over 30 billion copies of a single DNA fragment. In contrast, if the patient is in the active phase of virus shedding during a clinical infection and has many thousands of viruses or virus particles in the sample, the fluorescence could be detectable earlier in the cycling process, perhaps after 25 cycles. This means there is a semi-quantitative aspect of the PCR procedure, as the number of cycles provides a rough estimate of the amount of genetic material in the original sample.


The amplification process can produce a positive result in somebody with such a small viral load that they are not contagious (e.g. in the late convalescent phase or a subclinical level of infection). Defining a "case" of coronavirus solely on the basis of a positive PCR test in an asymptomatic patient gives a potentially distorted view of the extent and the attendant risk of the epidemic. As an example, say you have a rate of positive tests in the general population of 5%. if you are equating a positive PCR test with infectiousness you would then expect that if you are in a group of 100 people that 5 of them could infect you, when in reality maybe only two or three are actually contagious. Ironically, Colorado is using a positivity rate of less than 5% as one of their desirable target metrics for relaxing restrictions.

Compare these two graphs (screenshots) from the official Colorado COVID dashboard page: COVID-19 data | Colorado COVID-19 Updates The so-called secondary wave of coronavirus cases that occurred in July graphically appears nearly equal to the original wave in April. This was largely an artifact produced by a shift in the testing strategy. In April the majority of people tested were obviously symptomatic and Colorado was testing on the order of 3,000 people/day with perhaps 25% positivity rate. By July Colorado was testing 12,000 people/day, largely in a self-referred population of individuals concerned they had been exposed, or individuals who needed a test to return to work or school and were asymptomatic. The positivity rate dropped to less than 5%.

muldoondata1a.jpg
Click for larger image


Although the raw number of cases appears graphically to be comparable or even slightly higher than the primary peak in April, there was no corresponding secondary peak in deaths or hospitalizations.

Muldoondata2a.jpg
Click for larger image

This is in large part due to performing PCR testing as a screening test in asymptomatic people rather than employing PCR as a clinical diagnostic test. This detected a subset of the population that surely existed back in April but were not tested. By changing the case definition and the testing strategy, Colorado began comparing apples to rutabagas.

We need to stop testing asymptomatic people, or at the very least stop using these results as the basis for public policy.

Posted by: Open Blogger at 03:42 PM




Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 Could you rephrase this as a limerick?

Posted by: bear with asymmetrical balls at September 09, 2020 03:42 PM (H5knJ)

2 I was told there'd be no science!

Posted by: zombie at September 09, 2020 03:42 PM (HEEq1)

3 FIRST!!!!!

Posted by: Sponge - China is Asshoe! at September 09, 2020 03:43 PM (Zz0t1)

4 My friends from Graduate Hospital in Philly told me way back in March they didn't trust the COVID test because it looks for an RNA strand that is similar to a whole lot of other coronavirus strains, aka the common cold. IOW, false positives would be common

Posted by: kallisto at September 09, 2020 03:43 PM (DJFLF)

5 That PDF in the sidebar from "Dave in FL" is excellent -- very reassuring, actually. Can we get it posted in HTML somewhere, so we can pass it around more easily?

Posted by: A Tabby Cat at September 09, 2020 03:43 PM (dJs6r)

6 Th

Posted by: Do they wobble to and fro at September 09, 2020 03:44 PM (D/SYi)

7 You know who else injects his RNA into stuff?

Posted by: Bill Clinton at September 09, 2020 03:44 PM (xfb67)

8 How does the rapid test work?

Posted by: Grump928(C) at September 09, 2020 03:45 PM (yQpMk)

9 There were no rhymes in this limerick

Posted by: vmom 2020 sipping Amontillado at September 09, 2020 03:45 PM (EGSGm)

10 Who does this limerick writer think he is? A doctor!?

Posted by: Buzzion at September 09, 2020 03:45 PM (WsAWg)

11 thank you, Muldoon.
I need to read it again. and share with coworkers who are still having snits.

Posted by: nurse ratched at September 09, 2020 03:46 PM (W2Pud)

12 I think this is more like a haiku.

Posted by: blaster at September 09, 2020 03:46 PM (ZfRYq)

13 The blue graph looks like tits.

Posted by: Puddin Head at September 09, 2020 03:46 PM (0agRW)

14 Muldoon
I read somewhere that the PCR tests we are using here is using an excessive amount of magnification, as compared to other countries

Posted by: vmom 2020 sipping Amontillado at September 09, 2020 03:46 PM (EGSGm)

15 On this blog, we believe:

-- Science is real
-- Black holes matter
-- Women deserve equal pay (if they don equal work)
-- Hate is hate
-- Some humans are illegal(ly present here)
-- Human rights are not subject to government limitations

Posted by: zombie at September 09, 2020 03:46 PM (HEEq1)

16 I suspect that in the future, it is going to be discovered that this process is not as exact and reliable as believed.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at September 09, 2020 03:46 PM (KZzsI)

17 Could you rephrase this as a limerick?
Posted by: bear with asymmetrical balls at September 09, 2020 03:42 PM (H5knJ)

LOL. The only thing I really understood was "We need to stop testing asymptomatic people, or at the very least stop using these results as the basis for public policy."

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at September 09, 2020 03:47 PM (WkPC9)

18 In case people forgot, the NYT covered this weeks ago. 40 cycles were being used routinely, long after live virus was only seen at 35 cycles or less.

Most of our public health knowledge is a total scam.

Posted by: trev006 at September 09, 2020 03:47 PM (sxIsQ)

19

4 My friends from Graduate Hospital in Philly told me way back in March they didn't trust the COVID test because it looks for an RNA strand that is similar to a whole lot of other coronavirus strains, aka the common cold. IOW, false positives would be common
Posted by: kallisto at September 09, 2020 03:43 PM (DJFLF)


CDC website admits to that.

Covid Theatre, all the way down.

Posted by: Flyover at September 09, 2020 03:47 PM (Rbu5d)

20 Theoretically, even if there is just a single fragment of coronavirus
RNA in the sample, the amplification effect of the PCR process can
render it detectable.

Is this how even dead COVID 19 shows up as positive?

Posted by: kallisto at September 09, 2020 03:47 PM (DJFLF)

21 13 The blue graph looks like tits.
Posted by: Puddin Head at September 09, 2020 03:46 PM (0agRW)


Good takeaway.

Posted by: blaster at September 09, 2020 03:47 PM (ZfRYq)

22 This sounds like what my doctor told me earlier this year when I got the Covid test.

Posted by: PUE 206 at September 09, 2020 03:47 PM (D/SYi)

23 Charts? Is that allowed under the AoSHQ no-math rule?

Posted by: Gref at September 09, 2020 03:47 PM (AMIL/)

24 14 er amplification not magnification

Posted by: vmom 2020 sipping Amontillado at September 09, 2020 03:47 PM (EGSGm)

25 And thank you, Muldoon.

Posted by: Flyover at September 09, 2020 03:47 PM (Rbu5d)

26 That's a lot of reading. Can I get a short version, with more cursing?

Posted by: lorien1973 at September 09, 2020 03:48 PM (SpKeo)

27 Can you explain it to us in a limerick? We're morons.

Posted by: Jane D'Doh at September 09, 2020 03:48 PM (ptqGC)

28 How exactly does the posi Trac on a Plymouth work?

Posted by: Puddin Head at September 09, 2020 03:48 PM (0agRW)

29 You're wrong.

We're all going to die. Shut up and accept it.

Posted by: Sponge - China is Asshoe! at September 09, 2020 03:48 PM (Zz0t1)

30 What would be much more valuable would be a quick and effective antibody test, so we could prove that over half of the population is already immune.

Posted by: Vashta Nerada at September 09, 2020 03:48 PM (kA3Cp)

31 Posted by: Flyover at September 09, 2020 03:47 PM (Rbu5d)

You're in for a treat.

Posted by: blaster at September 09, 2020 03:48 PM (ZfRYq)

32 13 The blue graph looks like tits.

Posted by: Puddin Head at September 09, 2020 03:46 PM (0agRW)

U-235 Fission Product Yield Curve was called the Mae West Curve.

Posted by: sniffybigtoe at September 09, 2020 03:48 PM (xfb67)

33 Although the raw number of cases appears graphically to be comparable or even slightly higher than the primary peak in April, there was no corresponding secondary peak in deaths or hospitalizations.
==========

But we're being assured now that another spike is coming and it will be like nothing we've ever seen!

Posted by: bicentennialguy at September 09, 2020 03:48 PM (vg8iE)

34 FLYOVER TO THE COVID BARREL

Posted by: vmom 2020 sipping Amontillado at September 09, 2020 03:48 PM (EGSGm)

35 Where does the hot iron come in?

Posted by: wth at September 09, 2020 03:48 PM (v0R5T)

36 "We need to stop testing asymptomatic people, or at the very least stop using these results as the basis for public policy."
Who is actually using test results as basis for public policy? The demorats are just using whatever will hurt Trump as their public health policy.

Posted by: kallisto at September 09, 2020 03:49 PM (DJFLF)

37 I was promised no actual science on the blog.

Posted by: Jane D'Doh at September 09, 2020 03:49 PM (ptqGC)

38 Muldoon, this was very interesting and helpful. Thank you!

Posted by: lizabth at September 09, 2020 03:49 PM (L3Rsz)

39 Posted by: Flyover at September 09, 2020 03:47 PM (Rbu5d)


*spock eyebrow*

Posted by: The Barrel at September 09, 2020 03:49 PM (yQpMk)

40 I understood the word Q-tip.

Posted by: Weaning is hard at September 09, 2020 03:49 PM (8eVay)

41 Flyover to the barrel please.

Posted by: Muad'dib at September 09, 2020 03:49 PM (sjdRT)

42 I just received a notice to go for testing again -- my employer insists we do this stupid dance every month. The email, however, says we have 14 days to schedule after receiving the email. What if I were to let that expire, or nearly, and then tell them I have no availability for a test? They'd have to send a new email, and the clock would start over, and . . .

Nuts. They'd probably make me trek all the way to downtown at some ridiculous hour. "Downtown clinic has an opening at 7:45 pm on Saturday night!"

Still, I might try it next month.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at September 09, 2020 03:49 PM (Ejm1K)

43 Posted by: Flyover at September 09, 2020 03:47 PM (Rbu5d)

Ladies and gentlemen.

Ctrl-A
Ctrl-C
Ctrl-V

In person.

Posted by: Sponge - China is Asshoe! at September 09, 2020 03:49 PM (Zz0t1)

44 Muldoon!!!

I used to know how PCR worked but my brain made sure to evict that information after it was no longer needed.

Posted by: chique l'African Viking Queen of Greenland (don't forget that Epstein didn't off hisself) at September 09, 2020 03:49 PM (9hauA)

45 What would be much more valuable would be a quick and effective antibody test, so we could prove that over half of the population is already immune.
======

But but but one person in Hong Kong got it twice! We're all going to die!! REEEEEEEEEE!!!

Posted by: bicentennialguy at September 09, 2020 03:49 PM (vg8iE)

46 Well, that escalated quickly.

Posted by: Vashta Nerada at September 09, 2020 03:49 PM (kA3Cp)

47
28 How exactly does the posi Trac on a Plymouth work?
Posted by: Puddin Head at September 09, 2020 03:48 PM (0agRW)



Well actually....

Posted by: PUE 206 at September 09, 2020 03:49 PM (D/SYi)

48 Those graphs replicate what I'm seeing on the Milwaukee County Covid web portal. Deaths are are way way down, going days without a death. Same thing for hospitalizations which are way down.

Hospitalizations and deaths/day is what matters and the news will absolutely not report on either.

Posted by: WisRich at September 09, 2020 03:49 PM (G0vdT)

49 I like the part where the virus injects itself into other cells.

Posted by: Puddin Head at September 09, 2020 03:50 PM (0agRW)

50 Yeah. Wisco is showing a gozillion positives, with no increase in hospitalizations.

Posted by: Roland THTG at September 09, 2020 03:50 PM (88+cf)

51 I watch the Texas COVID dashboard daily, and I've been noticing something over the last 4 weeks that I think is quite related to this. Cases peaked on or about July 15 at 10,500 per day (in Texas) and since then have been falling steadily, but in a pattern that appears to be a shallow hyperbolic curve with a fat tail.

However, Fatalities per day have been falling at a much sharper rate, in what looks like a steep upside down "V" curve.

Why would fatalities fall so much faster than cases?
only 3 reasons I can see:
1) treatment is getting better and better
2) at risk populations are now being protected
3) an increasing percentage of asymptomatic cases.

Posted by: I-gor at September 09, 2020 03:50 PM (Kpl3J)

52 IOW, they are screwing with the sample and have no way of determining the actual viral load.

Posted by: Mr. Peebles at September 09, 2020 03:50 PM (oVJmc)

53 OT Trump up on Scotus.

Posted by: lizabth at September 09, 2020 03:50 PM (L3Rsz)

54 Every now and then I am reminded of how stupid I really am.

Posted by: BeckoningChasm at September 09, 2020 03:50 PM (E+OcO)

55 16 I suspect that in the future, it is going to be discovered that this process is not as exact and reliable as believed.
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at September 09, 2020 03:46 PM (KZzsI)

... not as exact and reliable as PROPAGANDIZED.

But, yes..

Posted by: Flyover at September 09, 2020 03:50 PM (Rbu5d)

56 We need to stop testing asymptomatic people, or at the very least stop using these results as the basis for public policy.
Posted by: Open Blogger at 03:42 PM


And give up our dictatorial powers? ARE YOU MAD???

Posted by: Dem Governors and Media Minions at September 09, 2020 03:50 PM (z79tQ)

57 RE: article

My 17-yr-old tested positive. Asymptomatic. Went back to school 10 days later. So WHAT? But... he's a "new case" on the scoresheet!

In what way does it make sense to categorize him as "a case"?

Posted by: Won Hung Lo at September 09, 2020 03:50 PM (Cssks)

58 Ooops.

Posted by: Flyover at September 09, 2020 03:50 PM (Rbu5d)

59 Look, do you want a pandemic or not? Get with the program or we'll have to have a Great Leap Forward!

Posted by: klaftern at September 09, 2020 03:51 PM (RuIsu)

60 Hospitalizations and deaths/day is what matters and the news will absolutely not report on either.

Posted by: WisRich at September 09, 2020 03:49 PM (G0vdT)

Because Maggie wants us to wear face diapers.

Posted by: Roland THTG at September 09, 2020 03:51 PM (88+cf)

61 Muldoon is Mr. Science.

Posted by: dantesed at September 09, 2020 03:51 PM (88xKn)

62 Ladies and gentlemen.

Ctrl-A
Ctrl-C
Ctrl-V

In person.
Posted by: Sponge - China is Asshoe! at September 09, 2020 03:49 PM (Zz0t1)

Could've been worse. Could've been several hundred comments instead of 4.

Posted by: Jordan61 at September 09, 2020 03:51 PM (Ez6QX)

63 Hope he says he's going to end the terror of the Ivy League on SCOTUS.

Posted by: lorien1973 at September 09, 2020 03:51 PM (SpKeo)

64 A polymerase chain reaction
For the doctors held quite some attraction
When flourescent fragments
Glow from their tagments
Muldoon's work is gaining some traction

Posted by: Bandersnatch at September 09, 2020 03:51 PM (q2K0j)

65 Thanks Seamus.

Posted by: Muad'dib at September 09, 2020 03:51 PM (sjdRT)

66 31...
You're in for a treat.
Posted by: blaster at September 09, 2020 03:48 PM (ZfRYq)

Please, no...........

Posted by: Flyover at September 09, 2020 03:51 PM (Rbu5d)

67 Ted Cruz *heads explode*

Posted by: lorien1973 at September 09, 2020 03:51 PM (SpKeo)

68 Tom Cotton on the SCOTUS list. Cruz, too.

Posted by: lizabth at September 09, 2020 03:51 PM (L3Rsz)

69 Bold strategy pasting the entire post into the comments, Cotton.

Let's see if it pays off.

Posted by: sniffybigtoe at September 09, 2020 03:52 PM (xfb67)

70 U-235 Fission Product Yield Curve was called the Mae West Curve.
Posted by: sniffybigtoe at September 09, 2020 03:48 PM (xfb67)



A man in the house is worth two in the street.

Same as in town.

Posted by: PUE 206 at September 09, 2020 03:52 PM (D/SYi)

71 As you know, I tested positive on both the slow and rapid tests, yet never hand any symptoms.

What's up with that?

Posted by: Grump928(C) at September 09, 2020 03:52 PM (yQpMk)

72 Ooooh..Hawley of MO.

Posted by: lizabth at September 09, 2020 03:52 PM (L3Rsz)

73 https://bit.ly/3bJmnEq
*******
"That's Not Joe Biden - That's a Shell of His Former Self" - Former Biden Stenographer Rips Shockingly Senile Joe Biden (VIDEO)

Posted by: Ghost Of Qassem Soleimani at September 09, 2020 03:52 PM (1Dmt5)

74
Could've been worse. Could've been several hundred comments instead of 4.
Posted by: Jordan61 at September 09, 2020 03:51 PM (Ez6QX)


Yes.

Very true.

Silver linings n' shit.

Posted by: Sponge - China is Asshoe! at September 09, 2020 03:52 PM (Zz0t1)

75 Ted Cruz


It.Moved.

Posted by: Grump928(C) at September 09, 2020 03:52 PM (yQpMk)

76 I'm interested in how many on the list did not go to Harvard or Yale.

Posted by: Mark1971 at September 09, 2020 03:52 PM (xPl2J)

77 Who is actually using test results as basis for public policy? The demorats are just using whatever will hurt Trump as their public health policy.
Posted by: kallisto at September 09, 2020 03:49 PM (DJFLF)

Hi there, How ya doin'????

Posted by: Governor Gregg Abbott at September 09, 2020 03:52 PM (Kpl3J)

78 Just list random swing state judges. LOL

Posted by: lorien1973 at September 09, 2020 03:52 PM (SpKeo)

79 Yes, Ted Cruz for supreme court.

Posted by: Vashta Nerada at September 09, 2020 03:52 PM (kA3Cp)

80
Kudos to Muldoon! Excellent explanation. Could you go on national television to offer this up to the public at large?

Yeah, the "asymptomatic" cases are the new scare tactic. At least, one of them, anyway.

Posted by: Prime sistah at September 09, 2020 03:52 PM (tQL7r)

81 Noooooooooo.......
[echo]

When do
I get released.

Well, as long as I'm going...(gets Clorox, rags, scrub brushes...)

Posted by: Flyover at September 09, 2020 03:53 PM (Rbu5d)

82 Thank you Muldoon

Posted by: Bruce at September 09, 2020 03:53 PM (vd8XM)

83 Who is actually using test results as basis for public policy? The demorats are just using whatever will hurt Trump as their public health policy.
Posted by: kallisto at September 09, 2020 03:49 PM (DJFLF)

Hi there, How ya doin'????
Posted by: Governor Gregg Abbott at September 09, 2020 03:52 PM (Kpl3J)
======

Hey there, fella!

Posted by: Gov DeWinemom at September 09, 2020 03:53 PM (vg8iE)

84 So in the blue graph, if I understand correctly, the peak on the left does not include hardly any asymptomatic cases, peak on the right does. So they really are two separate graphs that shouldn't even be on the same page.

If they'd been testing asymptomatic cases back in the spring (left peak), the blue graph as a whole should resemble the red graph.

Posted by: Hands at September 09, 2020 03:53 PM (786Ro)

85 So what is the false positive rate (the percentage of tests that are positive where the virus is not, in fact, present at all)? What is the false negative rate (the percentage of tests that are negative despite the virus being, in fact, present)? What is the likelihood that a positive test means you're actually infectious? These are the usual ways we would evaluate a test for a virus. But for COVID-19 - unexpectedly! - we don't know. At all. Nobody is trying to measure these or publish them.
That's because this isn't a medical test. It's a political virtue signal.
Anybody without symptoms who volunteers for this test is an idiot. Anybody with mild symptoms who seeks medical care for their cold in this political moment is also an idiot.

Posted by: Bartlett at September 09, 2020 03:53 PM (UjY6E)

86 Flyover, the good news is, there's no COVID in the barrel.

The bad news is, there are worse things.

Posted by: Jane D'Doh at September 09, 2020 03:53 PM (ptqGC)

87 Daniel Cameron AG Of Kentucky

Posted by: Ghost Of Qassem Soleimani at September 09, 2020 03:53 PM (1Dmt5)

88 Okay, Joe Biden: your turn.

Posted by: lizabth at September 09, 2020 03:53 PM (L3Rsz)

89 Lot of intriguing names on the list, but only about 5 of them would be realistic nominees, I think.

Posted by: Nick in Tallahassee at September 09, 2020 03:54 PM (JRaU+)

90 65 impressive!!!!

Posted by: vmom 2020 sipping Amontillado at September 09, 2020 03:54 PM (EGSGm)

91 In person.
Posted by: Sponge - China is Asshoe! at September 09, 2020 03:49 PM (Zz0t1)

Yeah, I'm on aniPad. Doesn't work that way.

Posted by: Flyover at September 09, 2020 03:54 PM (Rbu5d)

92 Hospitalizations and deaths/day is what matters and the news will absolutely not report on either.

Posted by: WisRich at September 09, 2020 03:49 PM (G0vdT)

Because Maggie wants us to wear face diapers.
Posted by: Roland THTG


Because we'd riot when there's ONLY three deaths over the weekend.

Posted by: rickb223 at September 09, 2020 03:54 PM (ctGui)

93 Well, as long as I'm going...(gets Clorox, rags, scrub brushes...)
Posted by: Flyover at September 09, 2020 03:53 PM (Rbu5d)

Friggin 1%ers and your fancy Clorox...

Posted by: Jordan61 at September 09, 2020 03:54 PM (Ez6QX)

94 For your viewing and listening pleasure during This Difficult Time(tm), here's two versions of Blinded By Science. First, Thomas Dolby's Extended Version:

https://tinyurl.com/Dolby-Blinded-Extended-Vers

And William Fucking Shatner, of all people, has a version as well (G-D help us):

https://tinyurl.com/Shatner-Blinded-Kill-Me-Now

Posted by: Sharkman at September 09, 2020 03:54 PM (BM2fS)

95 Newsreader: "We have tragic news. Justices Ginsburg, Breyer, and Sotomayor were tragically killed in a freak rabid weasel accident."

War Turtle: *Smiles*

Posted by: Colorado Alex In Exile at September 09, 2020 03:54 PM (SgjGX)

96 57 RE: article

My 17-yr-old tested positive. Asymptomatic. Went back to school 10 days later. So WHAT? But... he's a "new case" on the scoresheet!

In what way does it make sense to categorize him as "a case"?
Posted by: Won Hung Lo at September 09, 2020 03:50 PM (Cssks)

Guess what, now you're a "Probable Case" , which goes into the numbers as a Case, because you were in the same house as a Case. Surprise! And you didn't even know it!

Posted by: Tom Servo at September 09, 2020 03:54 PM (Kpl3J)

97 It occurred to me yesterday while looking at the numbers of confirmed cases in my state that the actual number of 'infected' is probably AT LEAST DOUBLE the numbers they claim, since the process to get confirmation is such a hurdle.


It's very likely that asymptomatic cases are much, much higher than the confirmed cases indicates, and, as they are asymptomatic, the disease is much, much LESS a problem than anyone will admit.


All this while the rate of deaths is barely noticeable.

Posted by: Mr. Peebles at September 09, 2020 03:54 PM (oVJmc)

98 As you know, I tested positive on both the slow and rapid tests, yet never hand any symptoms.



What's up with that?

Posted by: Grump928(C) at September 09, 2020 03:52 PM (yQpMk)

You will report to the incinerator at once.

Posted by: Roland THTG at September 09, 2020 03:55 PM (88+cf)

99 Who is actually using test results as basis for public policy? The demorats are just using whatever will hurt Trump as their public health policy.
Posted by: kallisto at September 09, 2020 03:49 PM (DJFLF)

Hi there, How ya doin'????
Posted by: Governor Gregg Abbott at September 09, 2020 03:52 PM (Kpl3J)
======

Hey there, fella!
Posted by: Gov DeWinemom at September 09, 2020 03:53 PM



Yoo hoo! Over here! The Gates Foundation's #1 Bitch here!

Posted by: Jay Inslee at September 09, 2020 03:55 PM (786Ro)

100 65 A polymerase chain reaction
For the doctors held quite some attraction
When flourescent fragments
Glow from their tagments
Muldoon's work is gaining some traction
Posted by: Bandersnatch at September 09, 2020 03:51 PM (q2K0j)


Haha

Posted by: PUE 206 at September 09, 2020 03:55 PM (D/SYi)

101 It's very likely that asymptomatic cases are much, much higher than the confirmed cases indicates, and, as they are asymptomatic, the disease is much, much LESS a problem than anyone will admit.


All this while the rate of deaths is barely noticeable.
=======

Keep wearing the mask.

Posted by: Gov DeWinemom at September 09, 2020 03:55 PM (vg8iE)

102 Is this how even dead COVID 19 shows up as positive?
Posted by: kallisto


********

Yes. The PCR detects nucleic acid (in this case RNA), and does not need intact viruses to show up as positive.

And to be infectious, the individual needs to have intact virus particles, otherwise the RNA cannot be inserted into the new exposed person's cells.

Posted by: Muldoon at September 09, 2020 03:55 PM (Fc5rx)

103 Who is actually using test results as basis for public policy? The demorats are just using whatever will hurt Trump as their public health policy.
Posted by: kallisto at September 09, 2020 03:49 PM (DJFLF)

Hi there, How ya doin'????
Posted by: Governor Gregg Abbott at September 09, 2020 03:52 PM (Kpl3J)
======

Hey there, fella!

Posted by: Gov DeWinemom at September 09, 2020 03:53 PM (vg8iE)



You go, Girl!

Posted by: Granny Kay Ivey at September 09, 2020 03:55 PM (yQpMk)

104 Thanks for this excellent explanation Muldoon!

Posted by: IrishEi at September 09, 2020 03:55 PM (sGotD)

105 ace there is a pretty interesting data table showing that over 26k students at 100 universities have returned positive tests in a two week period.

There have been zero hospitalizations.

I'll see if I can get you a link when I stop driving.

Posted by: Bitter Clinger at September 09, 2020 03:55 PM (kSP5e)

106 I saw a story on OANN this morning that seventeen airports in the USA are remodeling what used to the massage stations in the airports into Covid 19 Quick tests centers and that the airlines are looking at making EVERY passenger submit to one of these and be negative before they board the plane. These things had chairs with armboards like you see in labs , curtains, etc.
It was creepy as hell, and unbelievably unecessary. You would swear that ebola was rampaging the country.

Posted by: Jen the original at September 09, 2020 03:56 PM (+5aTf)

107 Trouble is we are wll past the point of being driven by science and data. That died along with George Floyd.

My mother is really smart and a huge Trump supporter. But she lives for the case counts and they keep her in her house. I tell her that they do not matter, how are deaths? She says they are in single digits but then immediately hones in on increases in counts! There were kids at a pool with no masks and the COVID count went up!

Heavy sigh.

Posted by: blaster at September 09, 2020 03:56 PM (ZfRYq)

108
My friends from Graduate Hospital in Philly told me way back in March they didn't trust the COVID test because it looks for an RNA strand that is similar to a whole lot of other coronavirus strains, aka the common cold. IOW, false positives would be common
Posted by: kallisto

Yeah, that seems right, regarding some other things I have read.

A few actual "rhino" viruses are also "corona" viruses, and some of us might already be carrying around RNA fragments that look like the Covid 19 virus (and also have resistance) to the PCR test.

The PCR test uses a proven design (there are a lot of these readers around) from several different manufacturers, and it was just designing the kits to be specific for Covid 19 that was the problem.

Posted by: Bozo Conservative....living on the prison planet at September 09, 2020 03:56 PM (vcOmj)

109 It has been clear for a while that our betters have been playing fast and loose with the facts, and conflating tests with deaths and hospitalizations. It is certainly not about science or public health, but about politics.

Posted by: Vashta Nerada at September 09, 2020 03:56 PM (kA3Cp)

110 102 Am I deleted yet?
Posted by: Dingler at September 09, 2020 03:55 PM (biMXh)



Only if you are really cool.

Posted by: PUE 206 at September 09, 2020 03:56 PM (D/SYi)

111 Gummibear737 did a whole thread on this on Twitter.

Posted by: InCali at September 09, 2020 03:56 PM (9AFWN)

112
Why would fatalities fall so much faster than cases?
only 3 reasons I can see:
1) treatment is getting better and better
2) at risk populations are now being protected
3) an increasing percentage of asymptomatic cases.
Posted by: I-gor at September 09, 2020 03:50 PM (Kpl3J)


The treatment protocols in effect when this started advanced the disease and killed the patients.

Skip to page 17: https://preview.tinyurl.com/vytf3ye

Posted by: fktheleft at September 09, 2020 03:56 PM (lvXKd)

113 75 https://bit.ly/3bJmnEq
*******
"That's Not Joe Biden - That's a Shell of His Former Self" -

---

A Revenant

Posted by: vmom 2020 sipping Amontillado at September 09, 2020 03:56 PM (EGSGm)

114 Polar Bear Rattles for sale! I got yer Polar Bear Rattles right here!

Posted by: zombie at September 09, 2020 03:56 PM (HEEq1)

115 I knew this post was wordy when I wrote it. Didn't need Flyover to copy/paste the whole damn thing again.

Posted by: Muldoon at September 09, 2020 03:56 PM (Fc5rx)

116
Yeah, I'm on aniPad. Doesn't work that way.
Posted by: Flyover at September 09, 2020 03:54 PM (Rbu5d)


The results, however are exactly the same.

My point stands.

Posted by: Sponge - China is Asshoe! at September 09, 2020 03:56 PM (Zz0t1)

117 61 Hospitalizations and deaths/day is what matters and the news will absolutely not report on either.

Posted by: WisRich at September 09, 2020 03:49 PM (G0vdT)

Because Maggie wants us to wear face diapers.
Posted by: Roland THTG at September 09, 2020 03:51 PM (88+cf)

I'm not sure how much hospitalizations matter.

My friend is an infectious disease doctor in nyc, and she said half the people in there with covid almost definitely don't need to be in a hospital, but they freaked themselves out, and the hospital policy is to admit them.

They're just kind of ... hanging out. Taking up bed space.

Posted by: Harry Paratestes at September 09, 2020 03:56 PM (cnTJD)

118 Apparently the way it works is, Biden gives propaganda to CNN and they publish it no questions asked.

Washingtonian
@washingtonian
#Breaking: CNN says Biden Campaign provided doctored photo of Redskins cap

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at September 09, 2020 03:56 PM (+y/Ru)

119 How ironic would it be if Covid 19 would be used in the future to inject into cancer cells so that the immune system could be triggered to kill those cells that are normally disguised.

Posted by: Weaning is hard at September 09, 2020 03:56 PM (8eVay)

120 At this point it's all bullshit. Add in the increased number of people that have immunity and it becomes more bullshit.

Masks, shutdowns, fear. All bullshit. Don't even start about treatments. We have drugs we have plasma from recovering patient's. Bullsht all the way down.

Posted by: USNtakim at September 09, 2020 03:56 PM (0OmEj)

121 Nuts. I was hoping for a real world version of The Stand.

Posted by: Puddleglum at work at September 09, 2020 03:57 PM (MVR7y)

122 You also have to consider that this is quantitative PCR (qPCR) in which the instrument detects signal (or doesn't detect based on the chemistry of the test) with the amount of nucleic acid then calculated from the point at which the signal was detected. Given enough cycles the chemistry can/will produce amplification- or fluorescence-based artifacts and produce a signal that may be interpreted as a positive result.

It was determined early on that live virus could not be cultured from samples in which the PCR product was detected after about 34 cycles, but we now know that these tests are being run for 37 to 40 cycles. We don't know how the results are being reported and it's safe to assume that most of the high cycle threshold positive tests are probably not being retested.

PCR should only be used as a confirmatory test for those who have been examined by a physician and never as a diagnostic

Posted by: Ghost of Lee Atwater at September 09, 2020 03:57 PM (O/8ot)

123 88 Flyover, the good news is, there's no COVID in the barrel.

The bad news is, there are worse things.
Posted by: Jane D'Doh at September 09, 2020 03:53 PM (ptqGC)

[loads magnum]

Posted by: Flyover at September 09, 2020 03:57 PM (Rbu5d)

124 90 Okay, Joe Biden: your turn.

Posted by: lizabth at September 09, 2020 03:53 PM (L3Rsz)

If he says anything, he'll announce his first nominee will be a black female.

Posted by: Gref at September 09, 2020 03:57 PM (AMIL/)

125 "We need to stop testing asymptomatic people, or at the very least stop using these results as the basis for public policy."

Grayson County Texas just announced yesterday unlimited free drive up covid testing to anyone who wants it.

I expect the local news channel to be freaking out over the "spike" in positive coivd cases in Grayson County Texas by next week.

Posted by: Mr. Scott (Formerly GWS) at September 09, 2020 03:58 PM (JUOKG)

126 And the bear nails it right out of the starting gate.

*golf clap*

Posted by: RedMindBlueState at September 09, 2020 03:58 PM (ejd/p)

127 122 How ironic would it be if Covid 19 would be used in the future to inject into cancer cells so that the immune system could be triggered to kill those cells that are normally disguised.

Posted by: Weaning is hard at September 09, 2020 03:56 PM (8eVay)

Funny you should mention it......

Posted by: sniffybigtoe at September 09, 2020 03:58 PM (xfb67)

128 Soon.

Posted by: Captain Trips at September 09, 2020 03:58 PM (yQpMk)

129
And William Fucking Shatner, of all people, has a version as well (G-D help us):

https://tinyurl.com/Shatner-Blinded-Kill-Me-Now
Posted by: Sharkman at September 09, 2020 03:54 PM (BM2fS)


I don't know when.

I don't know where.

But mark my words.

I WILL GET YOU FOR THIS!!!!!

Posted by: Sponge - China is Asshoe! at September 09, 2020 03:59 PM (Zz0t1)

130 Trump's up right now. The talking points on covid are old on both sides.

Posted by: Blonde Morticia at September 09, 2020 03:59 PM (G51Gf)

131 If he says anything, he'll announce his first nominee will be a black female.
Posted by: Gref at September 09, 2020 03:57 PM (AMIL/)

Tank Adams? Cynthia McKinney?

Posted by: dantesed at September 09, 2020 03:59 PM (88xKn)

132 Someone explain to me this whole #TrumpKnew shit that is currently setting peoples' hair on fire?

Posted by: Defenestratus at September 09, 2020 03:59 PM (9V81o)

133 108 ace there is a pretty interesting data table showing that over 26k students at 100 universities have returned positive tests in a two week period.

There have been zero hospitalizations.

I'll see if I can get you a link when I stop driving.
Posted by: Bitter Clinger at September 09, 2020 03:55 PM (kSP5e)

==========

They probably all died on their way to the hospital.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, shouting Lawrence! into the desert at September 09, 2020 03:59 PM (LvTSG)

134 The first (blue) chart would be useful if there was a line on the chart showing Number of People tested. Then you would see a vast increase in tests and compared to the number of cases, the obvious percentage change would be easily seen.

Posted by: Mikey NTH -Convention Specials! Scalp Weasel Grooming Products 25% at The Outrage Outlet! at September 09, 2020 03:59 PM (v3nfR)

135 I'm grateful that KTY's college just did random sampling tests at the start of school, and is only testing symptomatic students now

Posted by: vmom 2020 sipping Amontillado at September 09, 2020 03:59 PM (EGSGm)

136 Morgan Freeman's career magically saved. Mind you, working him into the remake of "Downfall" will be tricky...

*gentle clarinet*

Morgan Freeman Narrates:

The first time I laid on on ol' Adolf, I thought he'd fall over in a stiff breeze. It turns out that ol' Adolf had a trick or two up his sleeve, that was going to turn people's heads from Paris all the way to Stalingrad. That was nineteen thirty three, and all of us working for the newspaper were about to learn something from that little Fuerer.

Posted by: BourbonChicken at September 09, 2020 03:59 PM (LxTcq)

137 Polar Bear Rattles for sale! I got yer Polar Bear Rattles right here!
Posted by: zombie at September 09, 2020 03:56 PM


Ask not for whom the polar bear rattles.

Posted by: RedMindBlueState at September 09, 2020 04:00 PM (ejd/p)

138 In an abundance of caution, we have designated that there are 338 million potential cases of chinese flu. Everybody has to stay home and never go out.

You are welcome.

Posted by: The CDC at September 09, 2020 04:00 PM (pw+jk)

139 Thanks for the info Muldoon. As a CO resident, those graphs and they way they were done have bothered me from the beginning. At the very start they even refused to say how many people were hospitalized for wuhu even tho they were laying off nurses.

And excellent layman's writing for us Morons.

Posted by: Guy Mohawk at September 09, 2020 04:00 PM (r+sAi)

140 A polymerase chain reaction
For the doctors held quite some attraction
When flourescent fragments
Glow from their tagments
Muldoon's work is gaining some traction
Posted by: Bandersnatch



********

I'm going to throw a penalty flag for 'tagments', but thanks for the nod.

Posted by: Muldoon at September 09, 2020 04:00 PM (Fc5rx)

141 Wonder if Muldoon could do this well explaining the STD Test for the male of the specie? Well done on explaining the Covid testing.

Posted by: JROD at September 09, 2020 04:00 PM (0jZnq)

142 I know this is off topic, but I bet no one want Trump to win New York more than me.

Posted by: A Dog at September 09, 2020 04:00 PM (WsoO5)

143 57 RE: article

My 17-yr-old tested positive. Asymptomatic. Went back to school 10 days later. So WHAT? But... he's a "new case" on the scoresheet!

In what way does it make sense to categorize him as "a case"?
Posted by: Won Hung Lo at September 09, 2020 03:50 PM (Cssks)

Guess what, now you're a "Probable Case" , which goes into the numbers as a Case, because you were in the same house as a Case. Surprise! And you didn't even know it!
Posted by: Tom Servo at September 09, 2020 03:54 PM (Kpl3J)

Universities are not just contact tracing from positive individuals, but are requiring testing of every individual Even if you subsequently test negative, they are requiring that students stay out of University property for 14 days.
It's why several university sports teams have had to cancel games in leagues that are playing , because despite everyone else being negative , there is a 14 day quarantine.

Posted by: Jen the original at September 09, 2020 04:00 PM (+5aTf)

144 118...
Didn't need Flyover to copy/paste the whole damn thing again.


Posted by: Muldoon at September 09, 2020 03:56 PM (Fc5rx)

SO great it needed to be said TWICE!

Posted by: Flyover at September 09, 2020 04:00 PM (Rbu5d)

145 In the interest of racial healing, the nation's black people should be the only recipients of any COVID vaccine for the next five years.

Posted by: Moron Robbie - So my white special needs child is more privileged than black men? at September 09, 2020 04:00 PM (x46Og)

146 I believe it goes even further than that. Once hospitals and doctors offices started opening up for "routine" care, virtually everyone who might be at risk (or needed hospitalization) was being tested.

Meaning you had a lot more people who were otherwise sick being tested, and MANY of these people were being hospitalized IN THE FIRST PLACE. So looking at the hospitalization stats are artificially inflated.

Not to mention the death rates, with ALL those people needing critical care, finally being allowed into hospitals, and the positive tests meant that when the death cert was signed, there was COVID 19.

Posted by: BurtTC at September 09, 2020 04:00 PM (hku12)

147 Wonder if Muldoon could do this well explaining the STD Test for the male of the specie? Well done on explaining the Covid testing.
Posted by: JROD


Does it hurt when you piss? Congratulations!
You have the clap.

Posted by: rickb223 at September 09, 2020 04:01 PM (ctGui)

148 Grayson County Texas just announced yesterday unlimited free drive up covid testing to anyone who wants it.


Posted by: Mr. Scott

--

They ordered three tests per person in the county, and hired additional techs, and need to spend their budget, or it gets cut in January.

Posted by: Vashta Nerada at September 09, 2020 04:01 PM (kA3Cp)

149
Sample is processed to remove extraneous components such as fats and proteins, leaving just nucleic acid (both DNA from the patient or microorganisms and RNA from viruses).


The testing process boosts the levels of all nucleic acids in the original sample, including any other coronaviruses that might have been present.

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at September 09, 2020 04:01 PM (pNxlR)

150 re: Biden will be re-nominating RBG, because experience and pudding pops count.

Posted by: mallfly the Georgia Peach at September 09, 2020 04:01 PM (4a9Vv)

151 Not a single limerick in the entire fucking piece. Just a lot of science and facts. WTF

Posted by: Marcus T at September 09, 2020 04:01 PM (VpIIl)

152 Anybody without symptoms who volunteers for this test is an idiot. Anybody with mild symptoms who seeks medical care for their cold in this political moment is also an idiot.
Posted by: Bartlett at September 09, 2020 03:53 PM (UjY6E)

Other than the tens of thousands of people who are forced to take one in order to return to work or get medical care in a hospital.
I had to take one or no surgery for me, which was scheduled for two days after they closed the world down. China is asshoe. So is fauci.

Posted by: OneEyedJack at September 09, 2020 04:01 PM (z79tQ)

153
Does it hurt when you piss? Congratulations!
You have the clap.
Posted by: rickb223 at September 09, 2020 04:01 PM (ctGui)


Uh oh.....

Posted by: Sponge - China is Asshoe! at September 09, 2020 04:01 PM (Zz0t1)

154 That's because this isn't a medical test. It's a political virtue signal.
Anybody without symptoms who volunteers for this test is an idiot. Anybody with mild symptoms who seeks medical care for their cold in this political moment is also an idiot.
Posted by: Bartlett at September 09, 2020 03:53 PM (UjY6E)

That's why hospitals around the country have never advocated for blanket testing of their doctors/nurses when asymptomatic. They know damn well any positive results are likely false positives and would keep these otherwise healthy people from work.

Where I work, they don't even want the doctors tested now if they are symptomatic. They just say stay home until you're asymptomatic for three days and then come back into work.

Posted by: stremko at September 09, 2020 04:02 PM (9Aon7)

155 151 Not a single limerick in the entire fucking piece. Just a lot of science and facts. WTF
Posted by: Marcus T at September 09, 2020 04:01 PM (VpIIl)

========

Someone's socking Muldoon!

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, shouting Lawrence! into the desert at September 09, 2020 04:02 PM (LvTSG)

156 124 Nuts. I was hoping for a real world version of The Stand.
Posted by: Puddleglum at work at September 09, 2020 03:57 PM (MVR7y)

Instead, we got a real world version of The Sting.

and we're the marks.

Posted by: Tom Servo at September 09, 2020 04:02 PM (Kpl3J)

157 Someone explain to me this whole #TrumpKnew shit that is currently setting peoples' hair on fire?
Posted by: Defenestratus

Zero Hedge has a pretty good write up on it. But basically, Trump didn't 'panic' enough for the Left re: Big 'rona.

Posted by: lizabth at September 09, 2020 04:02 PM (L3Rsz)

158 Science demands that we also note that the median age of COVID-19 deaths in the US is 80 years old. Oh, and the average US male lifespan is 76 years old.

Posted by: Moron Robbie - So my white special needs child is more privileged than black men? at September 09, 2020 04:02 PM (x46Og)

159 We need to stop testing asymptomatic people, or at the very least stop using these results as the basis for public policy.

I think testing asymptomatic people is very useful in terms of study and data collection. Nobody has ever done anything like this with any other disease, so we're learning tons about how they spread, act, grow, die, and are carried harmlessly by some and not by others.

All that is terrifically useful in epidemiology, its an amazing opportunity to expand our understanding of diseases and how they behave in a population.

But no, we should not be using this for policy, let alone breathless newscasts designed to scare the crap out of people.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at September 09, 2020 04:02 PM (KZzsI)

160 I'm going to throw a penalty flag for 'tagments', but thanks for the nod.


I started looking for two rhymes for polymerase and gave up quickly.

Posted by: Bandersnatch at September 09, 2020 04:02 PM (q2K0j)

161 They are forcing you to take the test in certain situations. I was forced to take it twice now, plus the other test to see if I had antibodies.

Posted by: Marcus T at September 09, 2020 04:03 PM (VpIIl)

162 I believe it goes even further than that. Once hospitals and doctors offices started opening up for "routine" care, virtually everyone who might be at risk (or needed hospitalization) was being tested.

Meaning you had a lot more people who were otherwise sick being tested, and MANY of these people were being hospitalized IN THE FIRST PLACE. So looking at the hospitalization stats are artificially inflated.

Not to mention the death rates, with ALL those people needing critical care, finally being allowed into hospitals, and the positive tests meant that when the death cert was signed, there was COVID 19.
Posted by: BurtTC



Once the Fedgov agreed to reimbursing hospitals $13.5k per positive Covid patient, EVERY metric was inflated.

Every. Metric.

Posted by: rickb223 at September 09, 2020 04:03 PM (ctGui)

163 The first (blue) chart would be useful if there was a line on the chart showing Number of People tested. Then you would see a vast increase in tests and compared to the number of cases, the obvious percentage change would be easily seen.
Posted by: Mikey NTH

********

There is a chart of that. Go to

https://covid19.colorado.gov/data

and click on the TESTS link near to top of the page. The first chart that comes up is number of tests (select DAILY or WEEKLY) with an overlay of percent positives.

Posted by: Muldoon at September 09, 2020 04:03 PM (Fc5rx)

164 So Tuca likes taking on the low hanging fruit at CNN

how about the Trump haters at Fox ?

Wake the fuck up, Tuca

Posted by: REDACTED at September 09, 2020 04:03 PM (O+AcM)

165 How good are the antibody tests?

Posted by: Grump928(C) at September 09, 2020 04:03 PM (yQpMk)

166 US Labs were doing 40 cycles..
European labs only 30 cycles

THATS one reason we have so many more cases
and higher probably false positives

Posted by: McCool at September 09, 2020 04:03 PM (ubMg5)

167 141 Wonder if Muldoon could do this well explaining the STD Test for the male of the specie? Well done on explaining the Covid testing.
Posted by: JROD at September 09, 2020 04:00 PM (0jZnq)



Love getting my bore punched!

Posted by: PUE 206 at September 09, 2020 04:03 PM (D/SYi)

168 I don't know when.

I don't know where.

But mark my words.

I WILL GET YOU FOR THIS!!!!!

Posted by: Sponge - China is Asshoe!



You have to admit, Shatner is hilarious in everything he does, even the things that make you want to Commit the Ultimate.

Posted by: Sharkman at September 09, 2020 04:03 PM (BM2fS)

169 Double helix in the sky tonight.
Throw out the hardware,
Let's do it right.

Posted by: Aja at September 09, 2020 04:03 PM (WsoO5)

170 Does it hurt when you piss? Congratulations!
You have the clap.
Posted by: rickb223on

Every time. Damn lid keeps falling

Posted by: Bruce at September 09, 2020 04:04 PM (vd8XM)

171 The testing process boosts the levels of all nucleic acids in the original sample, including any other coronaviruses that might have been present.

Right, and that is complicating matters, creating false positives

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at September 09, 2020 04:04 PM (KZzsI)

172 Apparently the way it works is, Biden gives propaganda to CNN and they publish it no questions asked.



Washingtonian

@washingtonian

#Breaking: CNN says Biden Campaign provided doctored photo of Redskins cap

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at September 09, 2020 03:56 PM (+y/Ru)

===
Then nyt and wapo report on XiNN's reporting of said doctored photo. Then AP and all the daily newspapers report on it.
Then XiNN reports on the mass of confirming reports of the fake photo.
On to tomorrow's fake news and propaganda.

Posted by: Jukin the Deplorable and Totally Unserious at September 09, 2020 04:04 PM (pw+jk)

173 On my teleprompter this will not fit
I'm going to lose to Donny Two Scoops
Guess I'll grab a tit
Before I have to go poops.

Posted by: Joe Biden at September 09, 2020 04:04 PM (OYsdM)

174 Someone explain to me this whole #TrumpKnew shit that is currently setting peoples' hair on fire?
Posted by: Defenestratus at September 09, 2020 03:59 PM (9V81o)

it fits nicely into the Dem narrative of the past few weeks that Trump didn't care about Covid 19 and did nothing about it. Seriously, there are numerous campaign ads out there with Trump saying Covid 19 was a hoax. That he downplayed it right from the start and it killed 200,000 Americans. Supposedly there was something Trump didn't do that had he done it, no one in the USA would have died from Covid. But because he didn't care, our country is dying of Covid and the economy is on it's last breath.

Now we have the proof.

Posted by: Jen the original at September 09, 2020 04:04 PM (+5aTf)

175 Media already jumping on Trump for his response to the direct question about him downplaying the severity in Coronavirus due to the Woodward "revelations."

Biden also jumping on it stating that Trump could've saved tens of thousands of lives had he just acted a few weeks earlier, in March.

He blocked travel from China in January............

Posted by: Sponge - China is Asshoe! at September 09, 2020 04:04 PM (Zz0t1)

176 As I understand it, when you test positive, you are testing positive for A coronavirus, not specifically Covid-19.

/also, covid might stand for "certificate of vaccination ID"

Posted by: shibumi, awaiting SMOD at September 09, 2020 04:04 PM (ZCiJZ)

177 how about the Trump haters at Fox ?

Wake the fuck up, Tuca
Posted by: REDACTED at September 09, 2020 04:03 PM (O+AcM)


Bite not the hand that signs the check.

Posted by: blaster at September 09, 2020 04:04 PM (ZfRYq)

178 Very helpful, Muldoon!
This explains why the MSM and others have become obsessed with the number of cases instead of deaths.


Just to be clear, though: Muldoon, do you, in fact, believe in science???

Posted by: Lizzy at September 09, 2020 04:04 PM (bDqIh)

179 In the interest of racial healing, the nation's black people should be the only recipients of any COVID vaccine for the next five years.


Then we'll get 'killing black people with a genocide drug' conspiracy theories.

Posted by: Mr. Peebles at September 09, 2020 04:04 PM (oVJmc)

180 Zero Hedge has a pretty good write up on it. But basically, Trump didn't 'panic' enough for the Left re: Big 'rona.
Posted by: lizabth at September 09, 2020 04:02 PM (L3Rsz)

I just heard the out of context Woodward recording.

While I understand what Trump was doing-why the hell is he going on the record with these people who want to destroy him?

Posted by: Defenestratus at September 09, 2020 04:05 PM (9V81o)

181 I cannot understand how any sentient person sees Joe Biden and thinks, "yeh, this is the guy to lead the most powerful nation in history..."

Also, what of the Astra Zenica vaccine pause? Why no screaming and gnashing of teeth in the media?

Posted by: Actually Inside the Beltway at September 09, 2020 04:05 PM (fMhOl)

182 Biden also jumping on it stating that Trump could've saved tens of thousands of lives had he just acted a few weeks earlier, in March.

He blocked travel from China in January............
Posted by: Sponge - China is Asshoe! at September 09, 2020 04:04 PM (Zz0t1)


And now you see why Trump agreed to interviews with Woodward.

Posted by: blaster at September 09, 2020 04:05 PM (ZfRYq)

183 @167 PUE-......and the lecture from the doctor and bag of free Gold Coin condoms.

Posted by: JROD at September 09, 2020 04:05 PM (0jZnq)

184 Seriously, there are numerous campaign ads out there with Trump saying Covid 19 was a hoax. That he downplayed it right from the start and it killed 200,000 Americans.

-

Wait, so the left is saying Trump saved two million people?

Posted by: Moron Robbie - So my white special needs child is more privileged than black men? at September 09, 2020 04:05 PM (x46Og)

185 While I understand what Trump was doing-why the hell is he going on the record with these people who want to destroy him?
Posted by: Defenestratus

Don't have an answer to that, unless it is sheer bravado?

Posted by: lizabth at September 09, 2020 04:06 PM (L3Rsz)

186 184 Seriously, there are numerous campaign ads out there with Trump saying Covid 19 was a hoax. That he downplayed it right from the start and it killed 200,000 Americans.

-

Wait, so the left is saying Trump saved two million people?
Posted by: Moron Robbie - So my white special needs child is more privileged than black men? at September 09, 2020 04:05 PM (x46Og)

========

That's what it sounds like to me.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, shouting Lawrence! into the desert at September 09, 2020 04:06 PM (LvTSG)

187 165 How good are the antibody tests?
Posted by: Grump928(C) at September 09, 2020 04:03 PM (yQpMk)



The doc said 65% accurate assuming all protocols are followed.

Posted by: PUE 206 at September 09, 2020 04:06 PM (D/SYi)

188 OK so Facebook's standards for political information and posts is that if there is any inaccuracy or misleading info in them, such as an image that's been doctored to make a candidate look better or worse, then it is "fact checked" by their crack team of Soros workers workers. If it is found to be misleading, they put a transparency over the image with a warning, and a link below to the fact check.

So I posted the Biden image of him and the kid with the edited Redskins hat, to see how long it takes before the fact checkers nail it.




I'm still waiting.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at September 09, 2020 04:06 PM (KZzsI)

189 It takes Biden a day to figure out where he is. So please define "faster" in that context.

Posted by: Marcus T at September 09, 2020 04:06 PM (VpIIl)

190 I have tin-foiled over to the thinking that the masks are just another way for wearing the yellow star or the hijab. It is a test to see how much of the population can be cowed by panic and fear without questioning the authorities.

And apparently its a mega F-ton of people.

Posted by: Guy Mohawk at September 09, 2020 04:06 PM (r+sAi)

191 Bite not the hand that signs the check.
Posted by: blaster at September 09, 2020 04:04 PM (ZfRYq)

I want to give Tuca a little more credit than that

but you may be right

I remember the stun face that Tuca displayed when Stewart bitch slapped him

Posted by: REDACTED at September 09, 2020 04:06 PM (O+AcM)

192 Bite not the hand that signs the check.


TuCa has gone to war with Chris Wallace. Not as brutally as Gutfeld went after Shep, and Shep's gone.

A little more testicular fortitude, Tucker, you're almost there.

Posted by: Bandersnatch at September 09, 2020 04:06 PM (q2K0j)

193 Flyover, the good news is, there's no COVID in the barrel.

The bad news is, there are worse things.
Posted by: Jane D'Doh at September 09, 2020 03:53 PM (ptqGC)

[loads magnum]
Posted by: Flyover at September 09, 2020 03:57 PM (Rbu5d

Don't forget these!
*throws earplugs*

Posted by: OneEyedJack at September 09, 2020 04:06 PM (z79tQ)

194 Wait, so the left is saying Trump saved two million people?


2.2 million.

Posted by: Grump928(C) at September 09, 2020 04:06 PM (yQpMk)

195 Other than the tens of thousands of people who are forced to take one in order to return to work or get medical care in a hospital.
I had to take one or no surgery for me
Posted by: OneEyedJack at September 09, 2020 04:01 PM (z79tQ)


It's almost certain that your surgeon never had to take such a test.

None of these sports leagues would be playing right now if it wasn't for Detroit's Matt Stafford calling BS on his positive test result. He forced the NFL to institute a policy to question all positive results as false positives, which baseball soon instituted as well. As a result, the large team positive clusters, as happened with the Marlins and Cardinals, haven't arisen again, just a sporadic positive here and there

Posted by: caddre at September 09, 2020 04:06 PM (9Aon7)

196 Muldoon, thanks for that! I have a dumb question:

Is any test other than an RNA test reliable for diagnosing COVID infection? It seems like lots of people diagnosed with COVID (or untested people who are just _sure_ they had it) base their conclusion on presence of symptoms alone. But the reported symptoms are so broad and commonplace, they can indicate lots of other diseases. Isn't RNA test the _only_ sure way to know whether actual COVID infected a patient?

Posted by: gp's Lived Experience: Doesn't GAF Anymore at September 09, 2020 04:06 PM (qpX6U)

197 Muldoon could have at least written it in iambic pentameter.

Posted by: Cat Ass Trophy at September 09, 2020 04:06 PM (dNzKv)

198 Muldoon!!!

I used to know how PCR worked but my brain made sure to evict that information after it was no longer needed.
Posted by: chique l'African Viking Queen of Greenland (don't forget that Epstein didn't off hisself) at September 09, 2020 03:49 PM (9hauA)


Same here! Once upon a time I could tell you how all this worked, in context of HIV testing.

There were PCR RNA and PCR DNA tests available, and the oversimplified explanation was, RNA found free floating virus, and DNA found it inside infected cells.

I have no idea how that related to COVID 19 though.

Or as others are saying, how you distinguish genetic markers for THIS virus, as opposed to other Covid viruses.

Posted by: BurtTC at September 09, 2020 04:07 PM (hku12)

199 At the very start they even refused to say how many people were hospitalized for wuhu even tho they were laying off nurses.

And excellent layman's writing for us Morons.
Posted by: Guy Mohawk


Agreed with major props for Doctor Muldoon (retired).

One of the big things I have noticed right from the start of this Corona Virus panic (even from China last January) was the incredible amount of .......

MISINFORMATION !!!!..... that has been bandied about. And how low the fact levels have been in much of the reporting.

Posted by: Bozo Conservative....living on the prison planet at September 09, 2020 04:07 PM (vcOmj)

200 here's how it works: I go to a family affair. No masks. A week later I find out I tested positive (oh, my, look at all that dead virus fragmenty stuff.) Aunt Kathy was at the family affair, and a week later she goes to visit her brother Sam and his wife Susie, who a week later goes to visit her 89 year old aunt Ellen who's in the hospice with terminal cancer.. Now the 89 year old dies a week later and the coroner says she tested positive for the corona virus.

AND IT"S MY FAULT!
Muldoon, do I have that about right?

Posted by: mallfly the Georgia Peach at September 09, 2020 04:07 PM (4a9Vv)

201 The testing process boosts the levels of all nucleic
acids in the original sample, including any other coronaviruses that
might have been present.

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at September 09, 2020 04:01 PM (pNxlR)

And there are errors each cycle. The math is ugly.

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at September 09, 2020 04:07 PM (xT2tT)

202 Don't have an answer to that, unless it is sheer bravado?

I think that's it. He has nads like the Astrodome and complete confidence in his ability to handle anything so he goes straight at them and sometimes he gets burned.

Not that this is particularly problematic.

"President slows information release to prevent panic" is hardly a campaign killing headline

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at September 09, 2020 04:07 PM (KZzsI)

203 >>So Tuca likes taking on the low hanging fruit at CNN
how about the Trump haters at Fox ?
Wake the fuck up, Tuca
- - - -


He's doing this because Zucker has made the editorial decision to have all CNN show/stars attack Tucker. I would assume the ultimate goal is to make Tucker seem so "problematic" for Fox that they dump him.
He is fighting back.

Posted by: Lizzy at September 09, 2020 04:08 PM (bDqIh)

204 Teleprompter...no, it's not even...the polls don't tell the story...look man, answer yourself to just one question; are you better off then you were 4 minutes ago?

Posted by: Joe Biden at September 09, 2020 04:08 PM (2M/TV)

205 So I suppose Trump is responsible for the China flu in the rest of the world?

Posted by: It's me donna at September 09, 2020 04:08 PM (Zmnko)

206 Isn't RNA test the _only_ sure way to know whether actual COVID infected a patient?
Posted by: gp's Lived Experience:


Rna is the only way to be sure. There are antibody tests that are ok. Or you could just diagnose based on symptoms and prevalence in the community.

Posted by: Cat Ass Trophy at September 09, 2020 04:08 PM (dNzKv)

207 Thanks Muldoon.

You rock

Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards, Mostly Peaceful, Free WA, Buy Ammo at September 09, 2020 04:08 PM (ifmtJ)

208 A little more testicular fortitude, Tucker, you're almost there.
Posted by: Bandersnatch at September 09, 2020 04:06 PM (q2K0j)

I got my hopes but I'm afraid Tuca is just a slick sellout

Posted by: REDACTED at September 09, 2020 04:08 PM (O+AcM)

209 So Tuca likes taking on the low hanging fruit at CNN


Don Lemon?

Posted by: Mr. Peebles at September 09, 2020 04:08 PM (oVJmc)

210 186 184 Seriously, there are numerous campaign ads out there with Trump saying Covid 19 was a hoax. That he downplayed it right from the start and it killed 200,000 Americans.

-

Wait, so the left is saying Trump saved two million people?
Posted by: Moron Robbie - So my white special needs child is more privileged than black men? at September 09, 2020 04:05 PM (x46Og)

========

That's what it sounds like to me.
Posted by: TheJamesMadison, shouting Lawrence! into the desert at September 09, 2020 04:06 PM (LvTSG)


Didn't he say the *media hysteria* was the hoax?

Posted by: Flyover at September 09, 2020 04:08 PM (Rbu5d)

211 Muldoon, thanks for that! I have a dumb question:

Is any test other than an RNA test reliable for diagnosing COVID infection? It seems like lots of people diagnosed with COVID (or untested people who are just _sure_ they had it) base their conclusion on presence of symptoms alone. But the reported symptoms are so broad and commonplace, they can indicate lots of other diseases. Isn't RNA test the _only_ sure way to know whether actual COVID infected a patient?
Posted by: gp's Lived Experience: Doesn't GAF Anymore at September 09, 2020 04:06 PM (qpX6U)


That's what I'm wondering, how people we hear "died of COVID 19" were ever tested for it.

And why aren't we doing antibody testing.

Posted by: BurtTC at September 09, 2020 04:08 PM (hku12)

212
AND IT"S MY FAULT!
Muldoon, do I have that about right?
Posted by: mallfly the Georgia Peach

----------

Have to be a husband for everything to be your fault.

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at September 09, 2020 04:09 PM (mht8P)

213 She would have been a good woman if it had been someone there to shoot her every minute of her life.

Posted by: Puddin Head at September 09, 2020 04:09 PM (0agRW)

214 >>> At this point it's all bullshit. Add in the increased number of people that have immunity and it becomes more bullshit.

Masks, shutdowns, fear. All bullshit. Don't even start about treatments. We have drugs we have plasma from recovering patient's. Bullsht all the way down.
Posted by: USNtakim at September 09, 2020 03:56 PM (0OmEj)

======

Yes. And this was clear back in mid-May. And I stupidly thought that surely people would realize that, and this nonsense would end.

Speaking of plasma, my 20 yo sons, who had it in June, made $400 for giving plasma. Gets another $150 for a successful referral.

Posted by: Chin Music at September 09, 2020 04:09 PM (oTFT2)

215 So Tuca likes taking on the low hanging fruit at CNN


Don Lemon?

Posted by: Mr. Peebles at September 09, 2020 04:08 PM (oVJmc)



Yeah, that was a hanging curve ball for sure.

Posted by: Grump928(C) at September 09, 2020 04:10 PM (yQpMk)

216 "President slows information release to prevent panic" is hardly a campaign killing headline
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor

Agree. This isn't going to do squat for the Leftists. Well, aside from giving them something new to gibber about together, that is.

Posted by: lizabth at September 09, 2020 04:10 PM (L3Rsz)

217 re 210: your question at the end: yeah, I think that was it

Posted by: mallfly the Georgia Peach at September 09, 2020 04:10 PM (4a9Vv)

218 The media have been doing nothing but attempted "gotcha" by way of moving goalposts since the whole thing started, e.g.

1. Media clamors "Orangemanbad because we're running out of ventilators My God no ventilators Oh My God we're all gonna die because no ventilators !!!
But ventilators are for those already circling the drain and whether or not we have enough isn't really driving mortality, i.e. those needing ventilators will already likely be expiring, and the key is avoid getting them there. But Trump knows that the media will endlessly exploit a "ventilator shortage" and so has private industry pull out the stops and we are now the leading exporter of ventilators in the world.

And not a word more about ventilators...

2. Exhibit #2: The US is behind in testing !!! We need moar testing !!!! Right from the get go another totally bogus issue. Trump who has a good, working understanding of practical math understood this months ago when commenting very early on that the "lethality" of the virus would be understood as far less once there was widespread testing, due to the huge asymptomatic and vaguely symptomatic cases being undercounted in the initial estimates. The correlate being that "cases" without much significance are just that: insignificant. Or, arguably, helpful to help build herd immunity.

But to avoid the "test gap" and to preserve his political viability (which is now essential for our national survival) Trump willingly played along, and we became the Test Manufacturing hub of the world.

I do believe the leftist, nanny, Statists (but I repeat myself) have badly overplayed their hand and the residual group of vaguely American Americans left will toss their collective asses out of office this November.

Unless of course we're all screwed by cheat-by-mail

Posted by: Zek at September 09, 2020 04:10 PM (r4fw8)

219 "We need to stop testing asymptomatic people, or at the very least stop using these results as the basis for public policy."


Sheesh, right?!?

My wife was already sick of me saying something similar all the way back in March. And I am by no stretch of the imagination a medical doctor.

But I DO know a little something about transmission of biological materials and research methodology.

Posted by: Shinjinrui at September 09, 2020 04:10 PM (Gb130)

220 And why aren't we doing antibody testing.


Well, my hands shake too much to reliably fill the test tube and the results are a string of numbers that are just gibberish to me.

That's why I'm not doing antibody testing, why aren't you?

Posted by: Bandersnatch at September 09, 2020 04:10 PM (q2K0j)

221 Posted by: Puddin Head at September 09, 2020 04:09 PM (0agRW)

Flannery? Is that you?

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at September 09, 2020 04:10 PM (xT2tT)

222 And excellent layman's writing for us Morons.
Posted by: Guy Mohaw


**********

Thanks. And thanks to all the other commenters who expressed appreciation.

SIDE NOTE: I am by no means an expert on PCR or virology, but one of the skills I was most proud of in my career was an ability to act as a translator of "medical speak" into terms that non-medical people could comprehend. I hope that was the case here.


I'm sure Ace will be along shortly with some raw red meat for y'all.

Posted by: Muldoon at September 09, 2020 04:10 PM (Fc5rx)

223 Right now, friend that works ICU and was freaking right the fuck out back in March through July now admits almost nobody landing in their hospital (one of the largest in SoCal). He won't go so far as to say herd immunity, but he did say those words.

The only really sick people he saw was right at the beginning of the shutdown. And that was when they were still doing shit like intubation that they've since decided was the wrong thing to do.

Seems like it's mutating into a less virulent but still somewhat contagious strain. Plus, herd immunity. Doctor friends/relatives are admitting there's ZERO difference between places that closed up and those that went on as usual.

This is crap, straight up. Political leeches are still destroying lives while they are obviously not living in fear and still collecting a paycheck.

Posted by: President Joe at September 09, 2020 04:11 PM (8B6Ng)

224 So this is the September surprise it seems like.

This one seems to it can stick given the persistent hysteria around Wuhan flu.

I can only imagine what is going to happen when October rolls around. We need to drop some neutron political bombs on Biden soon.

Something that will stick.

Posted by: Defenestratus at September 09, 2020 04:11 PM (9V81o)

225 AND IT"S MY FAULT!
Muldoon, do I have that about right?
Posted by: mallfly the Georgia Peach

----------

Have to be a husband for everything to be your fault.
Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh


*fistbump

Posted by: rickb223 at September 09, 2020 04:11 PM (ctGui)

226 I'm kinda thinking the people we trust at Fox are just a bunch of greedy sellouts


How much fucking money do you guys need ?

Posted by: REDACTED at September 09, 2020 04:11 PM (O+AcM)

227 Thank you Muldoon
Very excelent job

The science is settled

Now. Please go bitch slap falsie Fauci

Posted by: Larro at September 09, 2020 04:11 PM (YZPwu)

228 221 Posted by: Puddin Head at September 09, 2020 04:09 PM (0agRW)

Flannery? Is that you?
----------------
Yep. Read that last night. For fucks sake Flannery is a gritty woman.

Posted by: Puddin Head at September 09, 2020 04:11 PM (0agRW)

229 Another dumb question for Muldoon:

COVID mutates, I don't know if more or less than other viruses, but in my naivete it looks like it mutates a lot. Doesn't that impact the effectiveness, or even the feasibility, of developing a real, usable vaccine?

Posted by: gp's Lived Experience: Doesn't GAF Anymore at September 09, 2020 04:11 PM (qpX6U)

230 stinky sticky sock

Posted by: clutch cargo at September 09, 2020 04:12 PM (8B6Ng)

231 The first two paragraph's of Muldoon's excellent exposition read like a metaphor for our current political situation.

Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara at September 09, 2020 04:12 PM (slRS9)

232 The only way to be truly safe:

https://tinyurl.com/y5atqmmu

Posted by: wth at September 09, 2020 04:12 PM (v0R5T)

233 Thank you, Muldoon.


I've been wanting this explained simp,y and you knocked it put of the park.

Posted by: BifBewalski 🂡 Moron at September 09, 2020 04:12 PM (VcFUs)

234 183 @167 PUE-......and the lecture from the doctor and bag of free Gold Coin condoms.
Posted by: JROD at September 09, 2020 04:05 PM (0jZnq)


Last time it was a really attractive redhead with long French manicured nails and surprise, surprise when she grabbed my member it went erect. I blushed and attempted a stunted apology. She said not to be embarrassed it made it easier that way.

Posted by: PUE 206 at September 09, 2020 04:12 PM (D/SYi)

235 And there are errors each cycle. The math is ugly.
Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at September 09, 2020 04:07 PM (xT2tT)

One of the reasons why the quantity matters. If you have enough of the "real" RNA then an error doesn't matter much because the real signal drowns out the error. On the other hand, when you have very little "real" RNA then the effects of an error can be magnified (depending on how early in the cycling the error occurs).

Posted by: Ghost of Lee Atwater at September 09, 2020 04:12 PM (O/8ot)

236 If Trump downplayed the virus , I would hate to see what Trump would have done if he thought the Covid was severely deadly.

Posted by: Weaning is hard at September 09, 2020 04:13 PM (8eVay)

237 I've had two negative tests to be allowed to visit my dad at his retirement home. (No cases; no deaths.) They're not required now to visit outside but are still required to visit indoors. I haven't met inside yet but with it being a very cold September so far, I'll probably be indoors for my next one.

Posted by: andycanuck at September 09, 2020 04:13 PM (an7Mv)

238 >>He's doing this because Zucker has made the editorial decision to have all CNN show/stars attack Tucker. I would assume the ultimate goal is to make Tucker seem so "problematic" for Fox that they dump him.
He is fighting back.

That's exactly why he's doing it. Nobody at Fox is threatening his career or encouraging mobs to attack his family.

Posted by: JackStraw at September 09, 2020 04:13 PM (ZLI7S)

239 re 229: that was Fauci's excuse in a 2008 interview for why they didn't have an AIDS vaccine after 20 years: it kept mutating

Posted by: mallfly the Georgia Peach at September 09, 2020 04:13 PM (4a9Vv)

240 For fucks sake Flannery is a gritty woman.

Posted by: Puddin Head at September 09, 2020 04:11 PM (0agRW)

Damn...that is a great short story.

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at September 09, 2020 04:13 PM (xT2tT)

241 I think a lot of the reason behind these news bursts (expect 2-3 a week from now until November) is damage control.

Moms are terrified of their kids getting sick. President is accused of keeping information back and downplaying danger, moms get angry and frightened. This helps keep moms from straying off the plantation when they get angry and scared of rioters and looters

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at September 09, 2020 04:14 PM (KZzsI)

242 Something that also needs to be reviewed is why the threshold for a "positive" test was set at such a minuscule level.

I used to work for the court system administering drug tests, and the threshold for a "positive" test using chromatography tandem mass spectrometry assay tests was not binary in nature as one might believe.

In other words, it was not "present" or "not present" when sampling urine.

A "positive" text was determined when the number of nano-grams per million exceeded a certain threshold. This was to prevent false positives from exposure to some of these molecules that may just be in the ambient environment.

This when an individual claimed to have been exposed to second hand pot smoke or they ate a poppy-seed muffin as their excuse for blowing up a test, the test had already built in a margin of error.

It would have been highly unlikely for anyone to have absolutely zero nanos per million, even if they never were around pot or opioids. I tested myself once, having smoked nothing and been around no one and still had trace amounts.

As to the PCR tests, the presence of RNA, in an of itself, is not really evidence of infection for the disease COVID when the threshold is set at a binary level of "present" or "not present". For the onset of what one would rationally conclude as "infected", you would need to see a threshold that indicated a viral load large enough to result in the bodies reaction to the disease and the symptoms to appear.

A positive is not really a positive.

Posted by: Bitter Clinger at September 09, 2020 04:14 PM (kSP5e)

243 >> "We need to stop testing asymptomatic people"


Ugh, not with schools and businesses depending on this to re-open, sadly.

We're getting our son tested in a few days because he must prove he *doesn't* have it before he can get back on campus. Oh, and one or both of us have to do the same in order to get on campus to help him move in, too.

And then when one of his teachers or fellow students in his "pod" - a designated group of kids he has classes with - gets COVID they will test all of them, possibly even before they show symptoms.

There will be so much d@mn testing in the next few months as administrators freak out over possible outbreaks and mass death counts, you guys on campus.!!

Posted by: Lizzy at September 09, 2020 04:14 PM (bDqIh)

244 I have seen on the internet, so it must be true, that 10% of the people they test for the flu die. That is testing the people bad enough to end up in the hospital and need to be tested. The mortality rate from the flu of 0.01% (or whatever) is based upon making up how many people they wild ass guessing have it each year.

Posted by: Burnt Toast at September 09, 2020 04:15 PM (/Dgcm)

245 t's almost certain that your surgeon never had to take such a test.

None of these sports leagues would be playing right now if it wasn't for Detroit's Matt Stafford calling BS on his positive test result. He forced the NFL to institute a policy to question all positive results as false positives, which baseball soon instituted as well. As a result, the large team positive clusters, as happened with the Marlins and Cardinals, haven't arisen again, just a sporadic positive here and there
Posted by: caddre at September 09, 2020 04:06 PM (9Aon7)

JImmie Johnson of Nascar fame tested positive after his wife went to the MD for allergy symptoms , was tested and told she was positive. Johnson was trying to win his eighth championship, which would have been an all time high for any Nascar driver. He had to stay out of the car for that particular race. During the week of the race, he was tested two more times and both were negative, the second test coming on Monday after the Sunday race, and only seven days after his first positive test.

Two weeks ago, Johnson finished six points behind the cutoff he needed to be in the playoffs for the championships this year. Had he been able to race in in the missed race, even if he had crashed out, or DNF, he would have had enough points from starting that he would have earned enough points to be in the playoffs.

In interviews this past Sunday, he tried to be forgiving about it.

Posted by: Jen the original at September 09, 2020 04:15 PM (+5aTf)

246 So Woodward sat on this important information for months just so they could weaponize it during the election.

Nevermind that Trumps actions took the virus seriously. He shutdown travel from China while Pelosi and Trudeau called him a racist.

He shutdown travel from Europe.

He wanted to quarantine New York but I am told by a friend that Cuomo threatened civil war over that.

Meanwhile Pelosi and Trudeau went to Chinatown huge gatherings and told everyone else to not be RACISTS and do the same. That RACISM was destroying the businesses of China town.

But hey protesters and looting by BLM is more than tolerated by the Left.

Posted by: Greange at September 09, 2020 04:15 PM (3hNep)

247 How much fucking money do you guys need ?

"more"
--Everyone working in showbiz

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at September 09, 2020 04:15 PM (KZzsI)

248 In the Old North State, before the medical empires were allowed to reopen, we never had fewer than seven thousand empty, as in not used, hospital beds.

During the Spanish Flu epidemic, the wealthiest people in the state were building charity hospitals as fast as they could, and they were filling up as soon as they opened. Our largest medical empires, Wake Forest, Moses Cone, Novant, Duke, all started with Spanish Flu charity hospitals.

Posted by: VADM Collingwood RN - holding Nelson's rum ration at September 09, 2020 04:15 PM (9X60i)

249 232 The only way to be truly safe:

https://tinyurl.com/y5atqmmu

Posted by: wth at September 09, 2020 04:12 PM (v0R5T)


That photo was not what i expected. This one. From space.

https://tinyurl.com/yy2c4h93

Posted by: BifBewalski 🂡 Moron at September 09, 2020 04:15 PM (VcFUs)

250 That's exactly why he's doing it. Nobody at Fox is threatening his career or encouraging mobs to attack his family.
Posted by: JackStraw at September 09, 2020 04:13 PM (ZLI7S)

They would if they thought they could get away with it

these people are NYC scum

Tucker knows this

yet he yucks it up with them

I've given up on Sean, a fucking sellout

and the jury is out on Laura but it don't look good

Posted by: REDACTED at September 09, 2020 04:16 PM (O+AcM)

251
that was Fauci's excuse in a 2008 interview for why they didn't have an AIDS vaccine after 20 years: it kept mutating
Posted by: mallfly the Georgia Peach

----------

Sorry, gays. No vaccine, no sex with strangers. This is no time to relax our vigilance.

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at September 09, 2020 04:16 PM (mht8P)

252 Once the Fedgov agreed to reimbursing hospitals $13.5k per positive Covid patient, EVERY metric was inflated.

Every. Metric.
Posted by: rickb223 at September 09, 2020 04:03 PM (ctGui)


When I was working in STD world, CDC put out stats that said the highest growing grouping of HIV infections were heterosexual.

Not most cases, highest growth rate.

And CDC put out all sorts of data breaking down groups by all sorts of things, like age, race, gender, and so on.

You know the one group they would NOT provide a breakdown for? Number of heterosexual cases that were female versus male.

Why? Because female to male transmission was/is almost non-existent, but you can't let people know that, or else they might stop funding the CDC.

Posted by: BurtTC at September 09, 2020 04:16 PM (hku12)

253 Deaths are red
Cases are blue
You better wear a mask
Or the COVID's gonna get you!

Posted by: Karen McScoldy at September 09, 2020 04:16 PM (Do5/p)

254 If Trump downplayed the virus , I would hate to see what Trump would have done if he thought the Covid was severely deadly.
Posted by: Weaning is hard




If this had been as deadly as they were saying, you'd have seen bodies in the streets and 1918 numbers and no one would have had to bullshit anyone.

Posted by: rickb223 at September 09, 2020 04:17 PM (ctGui)

255 #237 BTW, the three tests I've had all took less than 24 hours to be completed.

Posted by: andycanuck at September 09, 2020 04:17 PM (an7Mv)

256 247 How much fucking money do you guys need ?

"more"
--Everyone working in showbiz
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at September 09, 2020 04:15 PM (KZzsI)

and that's fine

as long as you accept that Tuca is showbiz

not a Goddamn thing more

Posted by: REDACTED at September 09, 2020 04:17 PM (O+AcM)

257 IOW, they are screwing with the sample and have no way of determining the actual viral load.
Posted by: Mr. Peebles



*********

There is a correlation (of sorts) between the number of heating/cooling cycles needed before fluorescence is detected and the amount of RNA in the sample (although how much actual snot is obtained with the swab is variable). My understanding is that 30 cycles is standard, but up to 40 cycles is being used by many labs.

Posted by: Muldoon at September 09, 2020 04:17 PM (Fc5rx)

258 Thanks, Muldoon. I really did understand more than I said I did. I was kidding around a bit. My sister who works in a hospital as a lab tech sometimes has to translate medical things for me. It is a very useful skill to have. I appreciate you taking the time to do this.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at September 09, 2020 04:17 PM (WkPC9)

259 Another interesting fact about PCR is that the inventor, Kary Mullis, has indicated that he was on LSD when he came up with his discovery.

Posted by: RTW at September 09, 2020 04:17 PM (jJlJu)

260 I still don't personally know anyone who had the Covid. I'm taking a Covid test tomorrow in preparation for my colonoscopy on Tuesday. I predict I will be the first person I know who has tested positive.

Posted by: Weaning is hard at September 09, 2020 04:17 PM (8eVay)

261 Thanks, Muldoon.

Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at September 09, 2020 04:18 PM (Q8c/L)

262 Biden event in MI drew 1 supporter. But, yeah, he is winning.

Posted by: Cat Ass Trophy at September 09, 2020 04:18 PM (dNzKv)

263 I have seen on the internet, so it must be true, that 10% of the people they test for the flu die.


They should stop fucking doing that. That test is killing people.

Posted by: Bandersnatch at September 09, 2020 04:18 PM (q2K0j)

264 >>They would if they thought they could get away with it

these people are NYC scum

Tucker knows this

yet he yucks it up with them

I've given up on Sean, a fucking sellout

>>and the jury is out on Laura but it don't look good

Maybe your expectations are a bit too high. I know very few people who go against the ownership of their companies be they media companies or any other company. Most people tend to want to keep their jobs.

Fox is center right. It's not some super conservative station, never really was. Tucker Carlson isn't going to change that.

Posted by: JackStraw at September 09, 2020 04:18 PM (ZLI7S)

265 Once the Fedgov agreed to reimbursing hospitals $13.5k per positive Covid patient, EVERY metric was inflated.

Yeah I do not comprehend why on earth Trump signed off on that. Clearly it is encouraging high positives and false data. You're paying people to say something, of course they are gonna say it, particularly if it hurts you politically. Are you new or something???

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at September 09, 2020 04:19 PM (KZzsI)

266 Also they can prove this testing supposedly that some bikers rally is responsible for an enormous proportion of COVID

But BLM is germ free. Antifa is a prophylactic.

I mean it does keep tourists away so they have that going for them. Plus hell the fires are cleansing 11!1!

Posted by: Greange at September 09, 2020 04:19 PM (3hNep)

267 I have seen on the internet, so it must be true, that 10% of the people they test for the flu die.


They should stop fucking doing that. That test is killing people.

Posted by: Bandersnatch at September 09, 2020 04:18 PM (q2K0j)



It did feel like they were probing my brain stem.

Posted by: Grump928(C) at September 09, 2020 04:19 PM (yQpMk)

268 from the last thread:

210 Most people wear masks when the air quality from the smoke is bad.. They even have a warning to do so, so they're saying wearing masks increases your risk for China flu?
Posted by: It's me donna


nope. they said that cloth masks don't protect against the particulates in the air from forest fires that cause inflammation to the lungs. and the inflammation causes a person to be more susceptible to COVID.

they're just making this shit up as they go.
Posted by: nurse ratched at September 09, 2020 03:10 PM (W2Pud)
==============
Particulates of smoke, which can darn near be seen by the nekkid eyeball are not blocked by cloth masks, yet people are forced to wear a mask, and cloth is acceptable, to block a virus particle that can only be seen with an electron microscope, right?!? The way the leftist Ds behave when they don't think the cameras are on them is the biggest tell of all - the whole mask thing is a psyop and a test to see how much bullshit We The People will tolerate before going Rambo on them.
Unfortunately, most of We The People failed the test.

Posted by: Bonecrusher at September 09, 2020 04:19 PM (JNTt1)

269 re 229: that was Fauci's excuse in a 2008 interview for why they didn't have an AIDS vaccine after 20 years: it kept mutating
Posted by: mallfly the Georgia Peach at September 09, 2020 04:13 PM (4a9Vv)


So does the flu, but you manage to inject millions with whatever the hell every year.

Posted by: Sponge - China is Asshoe! at September 09, 2020 04:19 PM (Zz0t1)

270
No fever, no cough? No Q-tip up my nose.

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at September 09, 2020 04:19 PM (mht8P)

271 Us political junkies know how bogus the testing-pron is but the average citizen remains in panic. Mission accomplished MSM

Posted by: zeera My tomatoes are doing GREAT at September 09, 2020 04:19 PM (zUdXR)

272 why don't they give Gutfeld a prime time show

within a month he would crush the rest

Posted by: REDACTED at September 09, 2020 04:19 PM (O+AcM)

273 but like I said the other day, if Hillary were President, we could have had twice as many deaths and the MSM would be praising her for how low the numbers were compared to the models.

Posted by: mallfly the Georgia Peach at September 09, 2020 04:19 PM (4a9Vv)

274 When I was working in STD world, CDC put out stats that said the highest growing grouping of HIV infections were heterosexual.

I'm guessing either "straight" men, or black women whose boyfriends are on the down low.

Posted by: Colorado Alex In Exile at September 09, 2020 04:20 PM (SgjGX)

275 "239 re 229: that was Fauci's excuse in a 2008 interview for why they didn't have an AIDS vaccine after 20 years: it kept mutating"

Isn't that the reason we don't have a vaccine for the common cold?
Do we have an effective AIDS vaccine? (I am naive, please forgive me.)

The reason I asked is, a lot of people, and our leaders, seem to expect that a vaccine WILL be developed, and it's only a matter of time. I suspect that that might be false hope. If the hope isn't fulfilled, it seems to raise the possibility that some "authority" will label saline solution (or something sinister) as "COVID vaccine," and inject millions with it, to satisfy their vain hope.

Posted by: gp's Lived Experience: Doesn't GAF Anymore at September 09, 2020 04:20 PM (qpX6U)

276 Well, my hands shake too much to reliably fill the test tube and the results are a string of numbers that are just gibberish to me.

That's why I'm not doing antibody testing, why aren't you?
Posted by: Bandersnatch at September 09, 2020 04:10 PM (q2K0j)


Next time the song "We Are the Champions" comes on the radio, you're not allowed to sing along.

Posted by: BurtTC at September 09, 2020 04:20 PM (hku12)

277 Trump adds Senators to SCOTUS list. Ted Cruz. Josh Hawley. Tom Cotton.

Bring it.

Posted by: blaster at September 09, 2020 04:21 PM (ZfRYq)

278 OT/ but 3 of the potential nominees for SCOTUS are Josh Hawley , Ted Cruz, and Tom Cotton

Posted by: It's me donna at September 09, 2020 04:21 PM (Zmnko)

279
Oh man, this is awesome. A couple years ago, Lady YD received some postal returns that had her name and address, but letters in broken English inside. She reported it to police, but they said they couldn't do much, and we couldn't find any suspicious charges or claims. And we didn't receive collections notices, or anything like that.

Then today, we received a court summons for a hospital bill around that time that wasn't her. Apparently Fake Lady YD from Guadalajara or wherever made an uninsured trip to the ER under her name.

From now on, every illegal alien female I meet catches a boot right to her yeasty Aztec clam until I'm sure I've gotten the right one.

*spits*

Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at September 09, 2020 04:22 PM (Fwug1)

280
>>Although the raw number of cases appears graphically to be comparable or even slightly higher than the primary peak in April, there was no corresponding secondary peak in deaths or hospitalizations.


this is our obsession with numbers. Numbers without context. I work in "media," and every day we simply report NUMBERS.

Of course, there's never a decrease; the best you can do is have no new cases. And iwth the numbers "increasing" constantly, the general hysteria and the push for testing increases. Every positive test is reported as a "case," even if the person is leaping around healthy. Wildly exploding "cases" but no new hospitalizations or deaths. No problem with hospital capacity, even though we're always bracing for the next "wave" or "spike."

And populations, demographics -- who gets the virus? So far, heavy in the ag industry, which is big where i live, although no one reports death by industry. Are ag workers recovering? Are they even getting sick, or just testing positive?

Doesn't matter, because of those "numbers" in that industry, the whole county has to shut down -- tourism, maritime, schools, athletics, marathons, everything.

Posted by: Blonde Morticia at September 09, 2020 04:22 PM (G51Gf)

281 Trump created or saved 5 million lives.

Posted by: Cat Ass Trophy at September 09, 2020 04:22 PM (dNzKv)

282 Posted by: blaster at September 09, 2020 04:21 PM (ZfRYq)

Beat me to it LOL

Posted by: It's me donna at September 09, 2020 04:22 PM (Zmnko)

283 When I was working in STD world, CDC put out stats that said the highest growing grouping of HIV infections were heterosexual.
------------------------------
I'm guessing either "straight" men, or black women whose boyfriends are on the down low.
Posted by: Colorado Alex In Exile at September 09, 2020 04:20 PM (SgjGX)


There was a researcher who followed up on New York Health Department cases of "heterosexual transmission." She found about 2/3 of the cases of men who initially claimed they got it from a woman, changed their tune. Either from another man or a needle.

And the other 1/3 continued to lie.

Posted by: BurtTC at September 09, 2020 04:22 PM (hku12)

284 Maybe your expectations are a bit too high. I know very few people who go against the ownership of their companies be they media companies or any other company. Most people tend to want to keep their jobs.

Fox is center right. It's not some super conservative station, never really was. Tucker Carlson isn't going to change that.
Posted by: JackStraw at September 09, 2020 04:18 PM (ZLI7S)

OK , my expectations are lowered now

Tuca is the creamiest


OMG, just shoot me

Posted by: REDACTED at September 09, 2020 04:22 PM (O+AcM)

285 why don't they give Gutfeld a prime time show


He's better as a foil on the Five than he is on his weekend show.

His skillset is reactive sniping. He said something similar in a Howard Stern interview a couple of years ago. The Five is not worth watching if Gutfeld isn't on.

Posted by: Bandersnatch at September 09, 2020 04:22 PM (q2K0j)

286 237
I've had two negative tests to be allowed to visit my dad at his
retirement home. (No cases; no deaths.) They're not required now to
visit outside but are still required to visit indoors. I haven't met
inside yet but with it being a very cold September so far, I'll probably
be indoors for my next one.


Posted by: andycanuck at September 09, 2020 04:13 PM (an7Mv)
My mom is in a NY nursing home. She was transferred up from FL at the end of June. We weren't allowed to see her at all when she was in FL from first week of March until she came to NY. We were then allowed "window visits". During this time she had suffered significant mental decline. She only responds to basic yes/now questions. When I saw her in March she was relatively normal and could converse completely with her. Now she is effectively gone. I'm just hanging on to hope that I'll be able to hug her before she passes away.

Posted by: Our Country is Screwed at September 09, 2020 04:23 PM (N39Ws)

287 My understanding is that 30 cycles is standard, but up to 40 cycles is being used by many labs.
Posted by: Muldoon at September 09, 2020 04:17 PM (Fc5rx)

Data early on demonstrated that live virus could not be cultured past about 34 cycles in nasopharyngeal swabs (and IIRC those people were only mildly symptomatic at that point of the collection) so 35 should have been an acceptable endpoint for the test, or at least it should be now.

Posted by: Ghost of Lee Atwater at September 09, 2020 04:23 PM (O/8ot)

288 Early on I saw this whole scam as a psyop. The news gave no context regarding cases or deaths. Every data point was (and still is) projected to create fear. I even found myself being uneasy, but I calmed my anxiety by doing research on critical data with the basic approaches used for responding to HazMat.

The "experts" were spouting so much nonsense and contradictions that I quickly came to disregard anything they said, except as the reveals of the hidden agendas they were promoting.

It's an op.

Posted by: Minuteman at September 09, 2020 04:23 PM (PIOBS)

289 why don't they give Gutfeld a prime time show

He's got a show on Saturday nights

Posted by: It's me donna at September 09, 2020 04:23 PM (Zmnko)

290 No fever, no cough? No Q-tip up my nose.
Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at September 09, 2020 04:19 PM (mht8P)


No Fever!
No Cough!
No Q-Tip Nasal Fuck!

Posted by: Sponge - China is Asshoe! at September 09, 2020 04:23 PM (Zz0t1)

291 There was a researcher who followed up on New York Health Department cases of "heterosexual transmission." She found about 2/3 of the cases of men who initially claimed they got it from a woman, changed their tune. Either from another man or a needle.

And the other 1/3 continued to lie.
Posted by: BurtTC at September 09, 2020 04:22 PM (hku12)


Yup. If you're a monogamous heterosexual dating another monogamous heterosexual, and neither of you are IV drug users, your chances of contracting it are almost nil.

Posted by: Colorado Alex In Exile at September 09, 2020 04:24 PM (SgjGX)

292 On Jan 16th, the day after the Impeachment .. Trump should have locked down the country and said "suck it, bitches."

I mean, that would've gone over well. Right?

Posted by: lorien1973 at September 09, 2020 04:24 PM (SpKeo)

293 thanks Muldoon for this informative post!

my view:

- all the data is garbage
- all the hospitals are desperate and broke and lying for govt covid money
- PCR test being misused
- many seasonal "flus" are actually coronavirii the only wild thing about this one was the Wuhan/SARS connection, fortunately their GOF work was kind of shoddy

and most importantly

- WE KILLED PEOPLE WITH VENTILATOR USE

that's where a LOT of the mortality came from

and no one is going to own up to that

Posted by: BlackOrchid_j9HX3 at September 09, 2020 04:24 PM (j9HX3)

294 Something that also needs to be reviewed is why the threshold for a "positive" test was set at such a minuscule level.



I used to work for the court system administering drug tests, and
the threshold for a "positive" test using chromatography tandem mass
spectrometry assay tests was not binary in nature as one might believe.



In other words, it was not "present" or "not present" when sampling urine.



A "positive" text was determined when the number of nano-grams per
million exceeded a certain threshold. This was to prevent false
positives from exposure to some of these molecules that may just be in
the ambient environment.



This when an individual claimed to have been exposed to second hand
pot smoke or they ate a poppy-seed muffin as their excuse for blowing up
a test, the test had already built in a margin of error.



It would have been highly unlikely for anyone to have absolutely
zero nanos per million, even if they never were around pot or opioids. I
tested myself once, having smoked nothing and been around no one and
still had trace amounts.



As to the PCR tests, the presence of RNA, in an of itself, is not
really evidence of infection for the disease COVID when the threshold is
set at a binary level of "present" or "not present". For the onset of
what one would rationally conclude as "infected", you would need to see a
threshold that indicated a viral load large enough to result in the
bodies reaction to the disease and the symptoms to appear.



A positive is not really a positive.





Posted by: Bitter Clinger at September 09, 2020 04:14 PM


---

I was part of the "drug free program" the Navy set up back in the day.


We would test people and send the stuff to the drug lab at NTC Great Lakes. Seems we were busting a whole lot of Sailors for opiates like heroin which was a very uncommon drug in the Military back in the 80s. A bunch of Sailors and Marines were claiming they never did drugs and it must have been something they had eaten.


The head of the drug lab, a Captain whose name I can't recall decided to do the poppy seed bagel test. He ate two poppy seed bagels from the Navy Exchange and peed in the bottle the next day and popped positive.

The Navy drug lab immediately increased the amount of opiates present in the test to indicate a "positive" result.

Posted by: Mr. Scott (Formerly GWS) at September 09, 2020 04:24 PM (JUOKG)

295 Awesome Muldoon!!! Can wait to display my high level awareness to some uninformed schumk.

Posted by: Sock Monkey.. doing the monkey boogaloo at September 09, 2020 04:24 PM (JU0sr)

296 I prefer the PBR test.

Posted by: Mr. Peebles at September 09, 2020 04:24 PM (oVJmc)

297 As hard as it is to get GOP senators elected

why talk about putting them on the SCOTUS

he's just BSing and that's cool

ACB will be the next nominee and he knows it

he just hopes and prays that he gets the chance to nominate her

Posted by: REDACTED at September 09, 2020 04:25 PM (O+AcM)

298 277. I hope Cruz realizes he will never be POTUS, and embrace his true calling. Trolling the left from his lifetime appointment

Posted by: Nick in Tallahassee at September 09, 2020 04:25 PM (JRaU+)

299 >> The Five is not worth watching if Gutfeld isn't on.


THIS

Posted by: Lizzy at September 09, 2020 04:25 PM (bDqIh)

300 "So does the flu [also mutate,] but you manage to inject millions with whatever the hell every year."

Yes, I gather that "experts" get together every year and try to predict the flu strains that will be prevalent in the coming season. Then they mix together three or four vaccines, and shoot that. In my naivete, I have always assumed that those flu vaccines have been double-blind clinically proven to be at least somewhat effective. But who knows? Medical science seems to have become at least partly politically corrupt.

Posted by: gp's Lived Experience: Doesn't GAF Anymore at September 09, 2020 04:25 PM (qpX6U)

301 He wanted to quarantine New York but I am told by a friend that Cuomo threatened civil war over that.

=======

Worth it.

Posted by: Burnt Toast at September 09, 2020 04:25 PM (/Dgcm)

302
OT/ but 3 of the potential nominees for SCOTUS are Josh Hawley , Ted Cruz, and Tom Cotton
Posted by: It's me donna

=======

Ruth, the vultures are circling.

Posted by: Blonde Morticia at September 09, 2020 04:26 PM (G51Gf)

303 Fox is center right. It's not some super conservative station, never really was. Tucker Carlson isn't going to change that.
Posted by: JackStraw at September 09, 2020 04:18 PM (ZLI7S)

Tucker Carlson won his face-off with Shep, when Shep turned all screamy bitch.

in any inter-office contretemps, it's usually the Instigator who gets canned. Some people would say, don't shit in your own mess-kit.

Posted by: Tom Servo at September 09, 2020 04:26 PM (Kpl3J)

304 Gutfeld's best work was Red Eye, which was great at times and good when it wasn't (after the early kinks got worked out). I understand that it was a dead end career-wise for him to be on at that hour. But anything less comedic is a waste of his talents and outside his primary strength, which is never going to be hard news/commentary.

Posted by: bear with asymmetrical balls at September 09, 2020 04:26 PM (H5knJ)

305
Fox is center right. It's not some super conservative station, never really was. Tucker Carlson isn't going to change that.
Posted by: JackStraw at September 09, 2020 04:18 PM (ZLI7S)


They have a few right-leaning opinion shows.
There news division is as center-right as MSNBC.

Posted by: OneEyedJack at September 09, 2020 04:26 PM (z79tQ)

306 I'm taking a Covid test tomorrow in preparation for my colonoscopy on Tuesday. I predict I will be the first person I know who has tested positive.
Posted by: Weaning is hard at September 09, 2020 04:17 PM (8eVay)

FYI the swab is supposed to go up your nose.

Posted by: Ghost of Lee Atwater at September 09, 2020 04:26 PM (O/8ot)

307
He wanted to quarantine New York but I am told by a friend that Cuomo threatened civil war over that.

----------

It's not too late, you know.

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at September 09, 2020 04:26 PM (mht8P)

308 COVID mutates, I don't know if more or less than other viruses, but in my naivete it looks like it mutates a lot. Doesn't that impact the effectiveness, or even the feasibility, of developing a real, usable vaccine?
Posted by: gp's Lived Experience:


*******

Not my area of expertise, but I think you are correct. That is why there is no effective vaccine for other coronaviruses.

My son-in-law works for Pfizer. He tells me that when the original SARS epidemic hit that Pfizer was furiously working on a vaccine, but the outbreak petered out so quickly that they shelved all that work. With this outbreak, they pulled some of that work off the shelf, dusted it off and are now applying it towards a possible SARS-2 (COVID) vaccine.

Posted by: Muldoon at September 09, 2020 04:27 PM (Fc5rx)

309 Tucker Carlson won his face-off with Shep, when Shep turned all screamy bitch.



That's right, I got it backwards. Tucker got a pelt. Gutfeld has to work harder on getting Chrissie's.

Posted by: Bandersnatch at September 09, 2020 04:27 PM (q2K0j)

310 If the kung flu is airborne why wouldn't an air sample like they use for lead and asbestos work?


Because Shut Up.

Posted by: Burnt Toast at September 09, 2020 04:27 PM (/Dgcm)

311 There was a researcher who followed up on New York Health Department cases of "heterosexual transmission." She found about 2/3 of the cases of men who initially claimed they got it from a woman, changed their tune. Either from another man or a needle.

And the other 1/3 continued to lie.
Posted by: BurtTC at September 09, 2020 04:22 PM (hku12)

Yup. If you're a monogamous heterosexual dating another monogamous heterosexual, and neither of you are IV drug users, your chances of contracting it are almost nil.
Posted by: Colorado Alex In Exile at September 09, 2020 04:24 PM (SgjGX)


And the other group of people they figured out were pretty much never transmitting HIV to each other: The gals who only ever did other gals.

Posted by: BurtTC at September 09, 2020 04:27 PM (hku12)

312 No fever, no cough? No Q-tip up my nose.
Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at September 09, 2020 04:19 PM (mht8P)

No Fever!
No Cough!
No Q-Tip Nasal Fuck!
Posted by: Sponge



If it's so easy to catch by passing in the aisle at Wal Mart, there is no reason to swab your brain stem.

Posted by: rickb223 at September 09, 2020 04:27 PM (ctGui)

313 When you are trying to scare people with inflated case counts, you set the sensitivity of the test as high as possible.

Posted by: Cat Ass Trophy at September 09, 2020 04:27 PM (dNzKv)

314 His skillset is reactive sniping. He said something similar in a Howard Stern interview a couple of years ago. The Five is not worth watching if Gutfeld isn't on.
Posted by: Bandersnatch at September 09, 2020 04:22 PM (q2K0j)

Gutfeld could fill an hour show on just rapping on the stupid shit that lefties say

Tucker has a blind spot

why, don't know

suspect it's cash related

Posted by: REDACTED at September 09, 2020 04:28 PM (O+AcM)

315 the scare shit is never going to stop. It is working too well. thanks MEDIA for your 1000% contribution.

Posted by: projection on steroids at September 09, 2020 04:28 PM (V9NdA)

316 Plus each case is an individual test. So, a person who has to get 2 negative tests before they are cleared to go back to work may have 10 tests, the first 8 of which are positive, and that counts as 8 cases.

Posted by: jsg at September 09, 2020 04:28 PM (pOXLi)

317
If it's so easy to catch by passing in the aisle at Wal Mart, there is no reason to swab your brain stem.

Posted by: rickb223 at September 09, 2020 04:27 PM (ctGui)


This.

Posted by: Sponge - China is Asshoe! at September 09, 2020 04:28 PM (Zz0t1)

318 The reason I asked is, a lot of people, and our leaders, seem to expect that a vaccine WILL be developed, and it's only a matter of time. I suspect that that might be false hope. If the hope isn't fulfilled, it seems to raise the possibility that some "authority" will label saline solution (or something sinister) as "COVID vaccine," and inject millions with it, to satisfy their vain hope.
Posted by: gp's Lived Experience: Doesn't GAF Anymore at September 09, 2020 04:20 PM (qpX6U)

So you're saying it's going to be just like all the other flu vaccines?

Posted by: Tom Servo at September 09, 2020 04:28 PM (Kpl3J)

319 He wanted to quarantine New York but I am told by a friend that Cuomo threatened civil war over that.

=======

Worth it.
Posted by: Burnt Toast at September 09, 2020 04:25 PM (/Dgcm)

We're about 20 years too late I think.

Posted by: Ghost of Lee Atwater at September 09, 2020 04:28 PM (O/8ot)

320 >>Tucker Carlson won his face-off with Shep, when Shep turned all screamy bitch.

Yep.

Posted by: JackStraw at September 09, 2020 04:28 PM (ZLI7S)

321 He wanted to quarantine New York


Cleansing nuclear fire.

Posted by: Grump928(C) at September 09, 2020 04:29 PM (yQpMk)

322
It's not too late, you know.
Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at September 09, 2020 04:26 PM (mht8P)


*******

Cuomo disgusts me. The Left Turing him into a heartthrob for their teenagers makes me want to projectile vomit.

The shit I have to listen to...

Oh yes the Cuomo Boyz are hell hot hmmm ummm.

Oh gawd,

Posted by: Greange at September 09, 2020 04:29 PM (gAVXW)

323 they will have a vax but it will be just like flu vax

ie not really a vaccination in the sense that most people think of

just a bit o the rona to get your immune system reactive, for a few months, exactly like flu "vax"

Posted by: BlackOrchid_j9HX3 at September 09, 2020 04:29 PM (j9HX3)

324 The reason I asked is, a lot of people, and our leaders, seem to expect that a vaccine WILL be developed, and it's only a matter of time. I suspect that that might be false hope.

I really don't understand why people think there will be a vaccine.

Posted by: bear with asymmetrical balls at September 09, 2020 04:30 PM (H5knJ)

325 308 COVID mutates, I don't know if more or less than other viruses, but in my naivete it looks like it mutates a lot. Doesn't that impact the effectiveness, or even the feasibility, of developing a real, usable vaccine?
Posted by: gp's Lived Experience:

*******

Not my area of expertise, but I think you are correct. That is why there is no effective vaccine for other coronaviruses.

My son-in-law works for Pfizer. He tells me that when the original SARS epidemic hit that Pfizer was furiously working on a vaccine, but the outbreak petered out so quickly that they shelved all that work. With this outbreak, they pulled some of that work off the shelf, dusted it off and are now applying it towards a possible SARS-2 (COVID) vaccine.
Posted by: Muldoon


There was a recent study that showed that the 2019 coronavirus is mutating even more wquickly and in so doing is becoming even less lethal than previous years' coronaviruses. By now, it is very very contagious, and very very mild.

Pretty soon, nearly everyone will have caught it, and most of those people will never know (aside from later being tested), having been asymptomatic.

By next year, it will be more common than, and less lethal than, the common cold.

Posted by: zombie at September 09, 2020 04:30 PM (HEEq1)

326 CDC put out stats that said the highest growing grouping of HIV infections were heterosexual.

Which was probably accurate but... misleading.

Homosexuals make up less than 3% of the general population. Thus, a even large increase in their numbers getting HIV is only a tiny portion of the general population. Say 2/3rds of the homosexual population gets AIDS. That's still only 2% of the overall population.

But if 2.1% of the population of normal folks gets HIV, that's a greater increase than in the homosexual population. By a miniscule amount, but greater: hence, fastest growing.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at September 09, 2020 04:30 PM (KZzsI)

327 the left are a bunch of hysterical jackels

Posted by: Nevergiveup at September 09, 2020 04:30 PM (Sqfzg)

328 FYI the swab is supposed to go up your nose.
Posted by: Ghost of Lee Atwater at September 09, 2020 04:26 PM (O/8ot)


Ah...Idiocracy!

Posted by: PUE 206 at September 09, 2020 04:30 PM (D/SYi)

329 You're paying people to say something, of course they are gonna say it, particularly if it hurts you politically. Are you new or something???

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at September 09, 2020 04:19 PM (KZzsI)


The old saw that

"What you tax, you get less of;
what you subsidize, you get more of!"

is so obviously applicable here, I can't believe that it got overlooked!

Posted by: Commissar Hrothgar -Your Rulers Have, and Deserve, Different Rules! - at September 09, 2020 04:30 PM (2C38g)

330 OT

Listening in on my kids fifth grade propaganda. They are talking about how evil plastic straws are.

Because they can cause air bubbles in kids and bloating.

Not joking

Liberalism is a mental disorder

Posted by: Loki at September 09, 2020 04:30 PM (M7LK4)

331 ie not really a vaccination in the sense that most people think of

just a bit o the rona to get your immune system reactive, for a few months, exactly like flu "vax"
Posted by: BlackOrchid_j9HX3 at September 09, 2020 04:29 PM (j9HX3)


98% of the people that get 'rona, don't know they have it.

I won't be worried about a vaccine.

Posted by: Sponge - China is Asshoe! at September 09, 2020 04:30 PM (Zz0t1)

332 I love you guys, I really do

but you have got to ease up on the Tucker love

I don't even think he likes Trump

And if Trump were defeated, his life would become oh so much less complicated

which I think is important to him

Posted by: REDACTED at September 09, 2020 04:30 PM (O+AcM)

333 sundown is in the angry stage of senility

Posted by: Nevergiveup at September 09, 2020 04:31 PM (Sqfzg)

334 I think I anger stroked during my last comment.

Pardon the Joey Biden like jibberish.

Posted by: Greange at September 09, 2020 04:31 PM (gAVXW)

335 ... When I was working in STD world, CDC put out stats that said the highest growing grouping of HIV infections were heterosexual.

Not most cases, highest growth rate. ...
Posted by: BurtTC at September 09, 2020 04:16 PM (hku12)
++++++++++++
Sure. It might even be periodically true. This is easy to do when the numbers are small. It's like when businesses advertise things like "the fastest-growing market consultancy in the industry last quarter." Sure, but how many customers do you actually have? If you went from 2 customers to 200, you grew 100x - very impressive - but you still only have well under 500 customers...

Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at September 09, 2020 04:31 PM (Q8c/L)

336 Non-Binary Ben says Biden's winning all the states by all the points except maybe Florida.

Posted by: Guy Smiley at September 09, 2020 04:31 PM (jbF6h)

337
We've had - OMG!!! - 9000 cases in my county. But only 2300 are active, a number that is quickly going down. Yesterday we had 72 new cases and 239 recoveries.

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at September 09, 2020 04:31 PM (mht8P)

338 "Not my area of expertise, but I think you are correct. That is why there is no effective vaccine for other coronaviruses."

Are rhinoviruses taxonomically related to coronoviruses? I guess, more specifically, are rhinos _within_ the taxonomic "family" or whatever, of coronas?

Posted by: gp's Lived Experience: Doesn't GAF Anymore at September 09, 2020 04:31 PM (qpX6U)

339 They are talking about how evil plastic straws are.

Because they can cause air bubbles in kids and bloating.



Last year it was because they killed the sea turtles.

Posted by: Bandersnatch at September 09, 2020 04:32 PM (q2K0j)

340 agree with you on Tuck, REDACTED. something about him does NOT sit right with me. he makes me itchy

bad vibe off him

ANYWAY - yes Sponge - ya don't need the eventual rona vax - just l like flu vax - but people will be forced to have it for work and school etc

it's no big

Posted by: BlackOrchid_j9HX3 at September 09, 2020 04:32 PM (j9HX3)

341 Because they can cause air bubbles in kids and bloating.

Not joking

Liberalism is a mental disorder

Posted by: Loki at September 09, 2020 04:30 PM (M7LK4)


Which is an issue for rabbits, which aren't physically able to fart.

Humans have no such issue.

Injested gas into the digestive system is either burped or farted out.

DAYUM dey stupit.

Posted by: Sponge - China is Asshoe! at September 09, 2020 04:32 PM (Zz0t1)

342 I'm here.
I haven't read all the comments yet but wanted to immediately put on record how unbelievable impressed I am with how smart the Horde is. I read and understood the content because it was presented in a way that even a layperson can understand. Thank you. I just wish that if I presented this to any members of my family, they would not care less and keep telling me anecdotal things about people who have died by going to family gatherings and even 3 deaths is too many and so we have to keep wearing masks and social distancing. Sigh.....

Posted by: sharon(willow's apprentice) at September 09, 2020 04:32 PM (sd8p8)

343 My kids and I are laughing our asterisks off at the teacher and her plastic straw propaganda.

Too bad I cant help the rest. They are so serious and brainwashed about this.

Posted by: Loki at September 09, 2020 04:32 PM (M7LK4)

344 174 Someone explain to me this whole #TrumpKnew shit that is currently setting peoples' hair on fire?
Posted by: Defenestratus at September 09, 2020 03:59 PM (9V81o)

it fits nicely into the Dem narrative of the past few weeks that Trump didn't care about Covid 19 and did nothing about it. Seriously, there are numerous campaign ads out there with Trump saying Covid 19 was a hoax. That he downplayed it right from the start and it killed 200,000 Americans. Supposedly there was something Trump didn't do that had he done it, no one in the USA would have died from Covid. But because he didn't care, our country is dying of Covid and the economy is on it's last breath.

Now we have the proof.

Posted by: Jen the original at September 09, 2020 04:04 PM (+5aTf)


Masked Joe wants everyone to believe he'd have taken the virus seriously, unlike Evil OrangeMan, and fixed the virus real quick. How, Joe? "By science, by listening to the scientists!" So if you'd been President, no one would have died of COVID? "Nope, because I'd have been on top of it from the start, and worked with other nations and the World Health Organization to fix the virus, not ignore it and make happy talk!" But every other country in the World worked with the WHO, and has suffered deaths from COVID. Why is that? "Sorry, but I need to leave to catch a plane. I'm already late."

Posted by: Gref at September 09, 2020 04:32 PM (AMIL/)

345 OT

James Woods links Rules for Best Picture on his twitter

So, comrades, here are the new mandatory requirements for Oscar eligibility for Best Picture. Fun game: pick any past Best Picture winner or nominee that would NOT qualify under these insane rules, e.g. The Godfather, Saving Private Ryan, etc.
https://tinyurl.com/y2o5mlhl

Posted by: artisanal 'ette at September 09, 2020 04:32 PM (rjE57)

346 I'm going to open a bar that is lit only using ultra violet lamps.

Posted by: Weaning is hard at September 09, 2020 04:32 PM (8eVay)

347 just a bit o the rona to get your immune system reactive, for a few months, exactly like flu "vax"

Correect, there is no vaccine for a virus, at least not in the sense that its usually meant. You can only be given a tiny amount for your body to react to and be ready to kill next time.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at September 09, 2020 04:33 PM (KZzsI)

348
For the onset of
what one would rationally conclude as "infected", you would need to see a
threshold that indicated a viral load large enough to result in the
bodies reaction to the disease and the symptoms to appear.

=============

No one even talks about this in "media." It's just testing positive = ZOMG A NEW CASE EVERYONE GRAB YOUR MASK.

Posted by: Blonde Morticia at September 09, 2020 04:33 PM (G51Gf)

349 They are talking about how evil plastic straws are.

Well they are...ever been catherized with a plastic straw?

Posted by: Nevergiveup at September 09, 2020 04:33 PM (Sqfzg)

350
TLDR;

virus virus stuff rna, dna, more stuff


you got it; you ain't got it

Posted by: Sphynx at September 09, 2020 04:33 PM (rXie1)

351 The first two paragraph's of Muldoon's excellent exposition read like a metaphor for our current political situation.
Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara


*******

Nice! I wish I could claim credit for noting that parallel.

Posted by: Muldoon at September 09, 2020 04:33 PM (Fc5rx)

352 The Five is not worth watching if Gutfeld isn't on.
Posted by: Bandersnatch at September 09, 2020 04:22 PM (q2K0j)
.......

Are you not entertained by the splendid repartee, insightful discussions, and sexual tension between Juan and Dana?

Posted by: wth at September 09, 2020 04:33 PM (v0R5T)

353 "So you're saying it's going to be just like all the other flu vaccines"

Please see 300.

Posted by: gp's Lived Experience: Doesn't GAF Anymore at September 09, 2020 04:33 PM (qpX6U)

354 Sponge

This is one of the best school districts in Calizuela.

I am only a fEw months from escaping. It cant be too soon.

Posted by: Loki at September 09, 2020 04:33 PM (M7LK4)

355 I prefer the PBR test.
Posted by: Mr. Peebles at September 09, 2020 04:24 PM (oVJmc)


I'm taking the CCR test.

So excuse me, I gotta put on my running shoes, head for the jungle.

Posted by: BurtTC at September 09, 2020 04:34 PM (hku12)

356 332 I love you guys, I really do

but you have got to ease up on the Tucker love

I don't even think he likes Trump

And if Trump were defeated, his life would become oh so much less complicated

which I think is important to him
Posted by: REDACTED at September 09, 2020 04:30 PM (O+AcM)



Thought that before, not so much now.

Posted by: PUE 206 at September 09, 2020 04:34 PM (D/SYi)

357
Listening in on my kids fifth grade propaganda. They are talking about how evil plastic straws are.

Because they can cause air bubbles in kids and bloating.



Because humans are balloons.

Posted by: Mr. Peebles at September 09, 2020 04:34 PM (oVJmc)

358 un game: pick any past Best Picture winner or nominee that would NOT qualify under these insane rules, e.g. The Godfather, Saving Private Ryan, etc.

"THE DAY IS MINE!"
--Tyler Perry

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at September 09, 2020 04:34 PM (KZzsI)

359 When I was working in STD world, CDC put out stats that said the highest growing grouping of HIV infections were heterosexual.

Growth rate vs. absolute incidence. Emphasizing the former smacks of political correctness. If there's one case of heterosexual HIV infection, and then a second, that's a 100% growth rate. RUN!!

But while you're running, make sure you bump up the CDC's budget. And for God's sake, don't quote the absolute incidence among homosexuals or druggies.

(According to the LAT, 25% - 25%! - of male homosexuals in California are HIV-positive. Yow.)

Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara at September 09, 2020 04:34 PM (slRS9)

360 A positive is not really a positive.

Posted by: Bitter Clinger at September 09, 2020 04:14 PM (kSP5e)


********

Well stated comment and salient! Thanks.

Posted by: Muldoon at September 09, 2020 04:34 PM (Fc5rx)

361 Sure. It might even be periodically true. This is easy to do when the numbers are small. It's like when businesses advertise things like "the fastest-growing market consultancy in the industry last quarter."
Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at September 09, 2020 04:31 PM (Q8c/L)

This is the same stunt that they have pulled with "Covid in kids ZOMG!!!" because there are so few that catch it.

Posted by: Ghost of Lee Atwater at September 09, 2020 04:34 PM (O/8ot)

362
I haven't read all the comments yet but wanted to immediately put on record how unbelievable impressed I am with how smart the Horde is.

----------

*polishes fingernails on lapel*
*inspects them with self-satisfied air*

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at September 09, 2020 04:34 PM (mht8P)

363 Globe Life Field in Arlington will host the National Finals Rodeo this December.

Interesting.

They're selling tickets to it, so the public will be invited, although I'm sure in limited number.

Posted by: Sponge - China is Asshoe! at September 09, 2020 04:34 PM (Zz0t1)

364 oh joy. cavuto is giving former gov Snyder a platform.

why do i subject myself to this?

and great stuff Muldoon. this is a good explanation of what's going on.

Posted by: SturmToddler at September 09, 2020 04:34 PM (8D42x)

365 KT Tunstall and Darryl Hall - "Something to Talk About"
https://youtu.be/EP-to6u8TXE?t=99

Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at September 09, 2020 04:35 PM (Q8c/L)

366 *polishes fingernails on lapel*


She didn't mean you.

Posted by: Bandersnatch at September 09, 2020 04:35 PM (q2K0j)

367 >> In general an RNA virus infects by attaching to the surface of a human cell and injecting its RNA into the cell.


Like an Otter.

Posted by: garrett at September 09, 2020 04:35 PM (At04b)

368 one other thing: maybe 25 years ago, we were told there was a big jump in the number of women with AIDS. Why? Because the experts decided that if a woman with cervical cancer also tested HIV positive, she had AIDS.

Posted by: mallfly the Georgia Peach at September 09, 2020 04:36 PM (4a9Vv)

369 Thought that before, not so much now.
Posted by: PUE 206 at September 09, 2020 04:34 PM (D/SYi)

expand

Posted by: REDACTED at September 09, 2020 04:36 PM (O+AcM)

370 In the meantime, my stupid governor is crowing about his idiotic color code approach to COVID. Newsom can take his color code and shove it up his ass. idiot.

Posted by: IC at September 09, 2020 04:36 PM (a0IVu)

371 The Wu Flu has nothing to do with RNA/DNA science or infection rates. It was the vehicle that was used to shackle the economy and our freedom. It is an instrument of fear that too many people fell for.

This was a DNC/Chicom/deep-state op after the first few days of it's disclosure. Everyone should know this by now.

Posted by: Justsayin' at September 09, 2020 04:36 PM (8VBOr)

372 I bet you all the money in the couch cushions that the infamous picture of a turtle with a straw in its nose like Scarface is faked

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at September 09, 2020 04:36 PM (KZzsI)

373 Coronavirus is an RNA virus consisting of a chain of RNA (approximately 30,000 links)



So, it's like JJ's Morning Report.

Posted by: deplorable unperson - refuse to accept the Mask of the Beast at September 09, 2020 04:36 PM (+MpRO)

374
She didn't mean you.
Posted by: Bandersnatch

----------

The never do.

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at September 09, 2020 04:36 PM (mht8P)

375 (((Jason Rantz)))

So today's contrived scandal is that @realDonaldTrump
didn't try to panic the public and tell us coronavirus will kill everyone, while also implementing recommendations from public health officials? Oh. How will he overcome this?

Posted by: artisanal 'ette at September 09, 2020 04:36 PM (rjE57)

376 "350 TLDR;"

Sorry, this is my first chance to ask questions of somebody who seems to know something about the subject. I've been agnostic on the whole COVID thing from the beginning. Now's a chance to discuss it reasonably.

This thread will willow rapidly enough to suit your objection.

Posted by: gp's Lived Experience: Doesn't GAF Anymore at September 09, 2020 04:36 PM (qpX6U)

377 nood

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, shouting Lawrence! into the desert at September 09, 2020 04:37 PM (LvTSG)

378 I don't love any political pundit. I barely like them if I'm being honest.

Posted by: Weaning is hard at September 09, 2020 04:37 PM (8eVay)

379 364 oh joy. cavuto is giving former gov Snyder a platform.

why do i subject myself to this?

Cause people like Tuca are cool with it

never says a word

besides money, why ?

Posted by: REDACTED at September 09, 2020 04:37 PM (O+AcM)

380 ok, new thread

Posted by: mallfly the Georgia Peach at September 09, 2020 04:37 PM (4a9Vv)

381 I haven't read all the comments yet but wanted to immediately put on record how unbelievable impressed I am with how smart the Horde is.

I'm here to give better contrast, like the black velvet behind a gem

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at September 09, 2020 04:37 PM (KZzsI)

382 air bubbles in kids

Oh, good. I like 'em carbonated.

Posted by: Joe Briben at September 09, 2020 04:37 PM (jbF6h)

383
Nood Nobel

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at September 09, 2020 04:37 PM (mht8P)

384 I prefer the PBR test.
Posted by: Mr. Peebles at September 09, 2020 04:24 PM (oVJmc)
.......

If you can't get that, try the IPA.

Posted by: wth at September 09, 2020 04:37 PM (v0R5T)

385 #286 My sympathies and prayers, Our Country is Screwed.

My dad's mind is generally fine and while we couldn't see him in person from mid-March to May, he had telephone calls to me about once a week and the home gave him an Apple device of some type so he was videoconferencing with my other brothers who had smart-phones during the complete lockdown period as well.

Posted by: andycanuck at September 09, 2020 04:37 PM (an7Mv)

386
So today's contrived scandal is that @realDonaldTrump
didn't try to panic the public and tell us coronavirus will kill everyone, while also implementing recommendations from public health officials? Oh. How will he overcome this?



At the same time that liberal icons were telling people it's no big deal, go to Chinatown, eat out, enjoy the Chinese New Year.

Posted by: Mr. Peebles at September 09, 2020 04:38 PM (oVJmc)

387
Why does the PCR test amp up the amount of RNA? Just to make sure it's detected if there's even one strand in the original sample?

Posted by: Blonde Morticia at September 09, 2020 04:38 PM (G51Gf)

388 The evolution of the virus happens through extremely rapid "natural selection":

-- If a person catches a very deadly early form opf the virus, they die quickly and by so doing don't have much of a chance to infect many other people;

however

-- If a person catches a slightly mutated less-deadly early form of the virus, they walk around for days or weeks infecting people, because they aren't dying from it, or are being only mildly symptomatic.

As a result, the "next generation" of the virus (only days or weeks later) has a much higher percentage of people who aught the less-deadly version aa compare to those who cauht the more-deadly version.

So in the next generation, for every person who has the more-deadly version, there are five or ten people who have the miler version. And so the statisticalr process repeats. And then repeats again.

In a matter of months, the less-deadly variant outnumbers the deadly variant 100-too-1.

This is happening coast-to-coast, hour by hour, with hundreds of different mutations, ongoing, constantly.

It's the same process that happens with every communicable disease -- the deadlier it is, the less likely it is to spread; the milder it is, the more likely.

I personally think we've already long passed the point where this new coronavirus is any more serious than any of the dozens of other coronaviruses that are endemic in the human population (cold, flu, etc.).

Yes, coronavirus-19 "will always be with us," but that's also true of coronavirus-18, coronavirus-17, and so on back to the beginning of recorded history.

Posted by: zombie at September 09, 2020 04:38 PM (HEEq1)

389 This thread will willow rapidly enough to suit your objection.
Posted by: gp's Lived Experience: Doesn't GAF Anymore at September 09, 2020 04:36 PM (qpX6U)

377 nood
Posted by: TheJamesMadison, shouting Lawrence! into the desert at September 09, 2020 04:37 PM (LvTSG)

Heh.

Posted by: Pug Mahon (xPJvm), All Het Up Again at September 09, 2020 04:38 PM (xPJvm)

390 The Five is not worth watching if Gutfeld isn't on.


THIS

Posted by: Lizzy at September 09, 2020 04:25 PM (bDqIh)

even with greg, is juan is on, it's almost not worth it.

Posted by: SturmToddler at September 09, 2020 04:38 PM (8D42x)

391 79 Yes, Ted Cruz for supreme court.
Posted by: Vashta Nerada at September 09, 2020 03:52 PM (kA3Cp)
===========
When the LSM and Deep State can no longer hide the fact that maggots are crawling in RBG's eyes, Trump nominates Ted Cruz for SCOTUS as her replacement. Lib heads exploding nation wide.

It would be fun to watch.

Posted by: Bonecrusher at September 09, 2020 04:38 PM (JNTt1)

392 ... When I was working in STD world, CDC put out stats that said the highest growing grouping of HIV infections were heterosexual.

Not most cases, highest growth rate. ...
Posted by: BurtTC at September 09, 2020 04:16 PM (hku12)
++++++++++++
Sure. It might even be periodically true. This is easy to do when the numbers are small. It's like when businesses advertise things like "the fastest-growing market consultancy in the industry last quarter." Sure, but how many customers do you actually have? If you went from 2 customers to 200, you grew 100x - very impressive - but you still only have well under 500 customers...
Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at September 09, 2020 04:31 PM (Q8c/L)


Exactly.

If you are selling cheeseburgers, and last year you sold one, and this year you sold 50, your growth is exponentially greater than McDonald's growth rate.

Posted by: BurtTC at September 09, 2020 04:38 PM (hku12)

393 351 The first two paragraph's of Muldoon's excellent exposition read like a metaphor for our current political situation.
Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara

*******

Nice! I wish I could claim credit for noting that parallel.
Posted by: Muldoon at September 09, 2020 04:33 PM (Fc5rx)


Apologies for the gratuitous grocer's apostrophe in "paragraphs." No idea how/why I did that. I know better.

Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara at September 09, 2020 04:39 PM (slRS9)

394
Also: Is there a "ceiling" in the PCR test where it maxes out the amount of flu RNA? And is the test designed to hit this ceiling every time?

Posted by: Blonde Morticia at September 09, 2020 04:39 PM (G51Gf)

395 I'll never understand details enough, so have to depend on those that know those details. It does seem we should be able to get results at 30 samples, AND at 40, so we can better analyze how much of the outcome might be due to the extra cycles, and use all those details of the test to compare to ... Europe, for example.


Problem is we have political people running a PsyOp, getting their scientists to blow smoke. Hence PlanDemic ... they prepared the path for this, like they did for Trump/Russia, like they are doing for CheatTheVote (by mail). Smells like an op .... even the early spread of the virus ... THEN the shut down. And to help get the numbers up, send infected people to nursing homes.

Posted by: illiniwek at September 09, 2020 04:39 PM (Cus5s)

396 372 Christopher Taylor

Agreed. My gut is that the turtle was fake too, but even if it wasnt. So? How many sea critters are killed during fishing? Should we stop fishing?

And... the turtle was still alive and kicking. Seemed like it hurt a lot more getting the straw out.

We live in Heinliens insane years as Insty likes to say.

Posted by: Loki at September 09, 2020 04:40 PM (M7LK4)

397 FYI the swab is supposed to go up your nose.

Posted by: Ghost of Lee Atwater




"All the best RNA scraps are found deep in the Corpus Callosum, so you'll FEEL like you're getting a lobotomy but really, we're just getting those juicy scraps that'll give us a proper test result.

PROMISE!"

Posted by: Sharkman at September 09, 2020 04:41 PM (BM2fS)

398 "The Wu Flu has nothing to do with RNA/DNA science or infection rates. It was the vehicle that was used to shackle the economy and our freedom."

Perhaps you are correct. But then where is all the genetic sequence info for COVID and its mutations coming from? It is cataloged by great big reputable virology databases, and used by researchers all around the world. Is it all fiction? Is the corruption of science worse than even I thought?

Posted by: gp's Lived Experience: Doesn't GAF Anymore at September 09, 2020 04:43 PM (qpX6U)

399 There are more Trump haters on Fox than non Trump haters. I only watch news max now. Most of the people are former Fox people, and whenever I have recently watched Fox, it's unwatchable.

Posted by: Chillin the most at September 09, 2020 04:43 PM (lonOK)

400 You expect me to use dirty money to snort with?

That's so 70s, 80s, 90s, 2000s, 2010s.

Posted by: humphreyrobot at September 09, 2020 04:44 PM (pB6Gt)

401 "The Wu Flu has nothing to do with RNA/DNA science or infection rates. It was the vehicle that was used to shackle the economy and our freedom."

Believe me, I don't have a dog in the COVID controversy. These are just questions that a STEM-educated person might ask when given an opportunity. But as I've noted a few times before, AoSHQ is for lulz and outrage, not for reasoned debate, so I should not expect too much.

Posted by: gp's Lived Experience: Doesn't GAF Anymore at September 09, 2020 04:46 PM (qpX6U)

402
If it's so easy to catch by passing in the aisle at Wal Mart, there is no reason to swab your brain stem.

Posted by: rickb223 at September 09, 2020 04:27 PM (ctGui)


If the heads of our government science departments were't political tools we would have accurate knowledge about this virus.

Posted by: Braenyard at September 09, 2020 04:52 PM (xcd1u)

403
In a matter of months, the less-deadly variant outnumbers the deadly variant 100-too-1.

Posted by: zombie

========

Does the test recognize the variants or are they all COVID AAGGHHH SHELTER AND MASK WE'RE GOING TO DIE??

Posted by: Blonde Morticia at September 09, 2020 04:53 PM (G51Gf)

404 "The Wu Flu has nothing to do with RNA/DNA science or infection rates. It was the vehicle that was used to shackle the economy and our freedom."

Perhaps you are correct. But then where is all the genetic sequence info for COVID and its mutations coming from? It is cataloged by great big reputable virology databases, and used by researchers all around the world. Is it all fiction? Is the corruption of science worse than even I thought?
Posted by: gp's Lived Experience



That's real.
Our response was to a fictionalized disease.

Posted by: rickb223 at September 09, 2020 04:53 PM (ctGui)

405 (approximately 30,000 links)

So, it's like JJ's Morning Report.
Posted by: deplorable unperson



********

Threadwinner!

Posted by: Muldoon at September 09, 2020 04:54 PM (Fc5rx)

406 In addition to the amplification effect of PCR testing, some states count positive antibody tests as positive Covid-19 results. You can acquire this antibody from the flu or cold months earlier, but that gets lumped in with the other tests.

It's all rigged to get an excuse for tyranny.

Posted by: Editor at September 09, 2020 04:57 PM (EmSd1)

407 "That's real.
Our response was to a fictionalized disease."

I agree that much of the epidemiological data on COVID is corrupt.

Cause of Death data seems to be so bad as to be useless. It depends on the whims of thousands of politicized medical examiners, coroners, and pathologists.

Posted by: gp's Lived Experience: Doesn't GAF Anymore at September 09, 2020 04:57 PM (qpX6U)

408 expand
Posted by: REDACTED at September 09, 2020 04:36 PM (O+AcM)



Maybe he is unwilling to sound as pro Trump as me, but there isnt anyone as anti Joe as him.

Posted by: PUE 206 at September 09, 2020 05:00 PM (pCdQf)

409 Why does the PCR test amp up the amount of RNA? Just to make sure it's detected if there's even one strand in the original sample?
Posted by: Blonde Morticia


********

Exactly right. It allows detection of very small quantities of material.

Posted by: Muldoon at September 09, 2020 05:00 PM (Fc5rx)

410 403
In a matter of months, the less-deadly variant outnumbers the deadly variant 100-too-1.

Posted by: zombie

========

Does the test recognize the variants or are they all COVID AAGGHHH SHELTER AND MASK WE'RE GOING TO DIE??
Posted by: Blonde Morticia


I don[t think they segregate out the variants. They're all lumped together as "2019 Novel coronavirus."

Posted by: zombie at September 09, 2020 05:00 PM (HEEq1)

411 "some states count positive antibody tests as positive Covid-19 results. You can acquire this antibody from the flu or cold months earlier, but that gets lumped in with the other tests."

Yes, that's what I was getting at in my first comment above. IgG tests seem to be sensitive to antibodies that can be created in response to other infectious agents. But when I asked the same question here a couple months ago, somebody said that COVID responsed IgG is always specific to COVID. I honestly do not know, hence my questions.

Posted by: gp's Lived Experience: Doesn't GAF Anymore at September 09, 2020 05:01 PM (qpX6U)

412 Does the test recognize the variants ...?
Posted by: Blonde Morticia

*********

The tests do not look for the entire 30,000 molecule long genetic content of the virus. It looks for a shorter segment of RNA that (ostensibly) is unique to the SARS-2 (COVID) virus. Different labs and developers utilize different fragments in their specific test.

Think of RNA or DNA as being like an alphabet, with words and sentences formed by putting the letters in a specific order. If you are looking for a passage of Shakespeare and you are using an internet search engine you would not have to type in the entire soliloquy, but could just type a short portion such as "to be or not to be". That is enough to presumptively identify it as Hamlet.

As long as the mutated form of the virus contains the key search fragment, it will test positive, even if the rest of the genetic information has been altered. So the answer to your question is a definite maybe.


A false positive test would be if some schlub (not Shakespeare) with a blog used the phrase 'to be or not to be' and turned up in your search results.

Posted by: Muldoon at September 09, 2020 05:12 PM (Fc5rx)

413 This needs to be pinned somewhere.

Posted by: MW at September 09, 2020 05:36 PM (gWtVa)

414 I think testing asymptomatic people is very useful in terms of study and data collection. Nobody has ever done anything like this with any other disease, so we're learning tons about how they spread, act, grow, die, and are carried harmlessly by some and not by others.

Christopher Taylor nails it.

And Muldoon proves himself dangerously irresponsible ... but welcome to Ace Of Spades 2020.

Posted by: boulder t'hobo at September 09, 2020 05:46 PM (ykYG2)

415 Took time to read it all

Posted by: Skip at September 09, 2020 05:57 PM (OjZpE)

416 Thanks, Muldoon. You made this very understandable.

Posted by: My life is insanity at September 09, 2020 06:22 PM (tSb5B)

417 MasKabuki

Posted by: Mongerel at September 09, 2020 06:55 PM (RmsRO)

418 A minor quibble on your good PCR overview: regarding steps 3-4, reverse transcription does not produce double stranded DNA (dsDNA), it produces a RNA/DNA hybrid. The first round of DNA-dependent DNA polymerization then produces dsDNA.

Posted by: zincfinger at September 09, 2020 07:55 PM (+Ub5Z)

419 Apropos the question of detecting variants: I'm currently running the Covid sequencing center for a medical school. We take all the 'positive-by-PCR' samples, and sequence the whole covid genome (by amplifying the whole genome by PCR).

So far, almost all (~99%) the samples are in fact positive by our method, and we're in the process of tracing infection chains, outbreaks, and the like, by the genetic sequence of the virus.

If people are interested in looking at the actual strain/genomic diversity in their region, you can go to the worldwide Covid sequence data repository at
https://nextstrain.org/ncov/north-america for a pretty cool interactive map which is updated frequently. You can scroll down and select your own state, and possibly county, depending on where you live.

Posted by: MurphyzLaw at September 10, 2020 12:46 AM (eXzA1)

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