Serious coronavirus thread. No deniers

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Scientists and researchers, in general, are not very well paid. They do their work because they’re passionate about it and it’s necessary work that could be valuable to society. Many of them would make plenty more money if they became school teachers. Governments, corporations, Universities, pharmaceutical companies etc fund scientific research based on how valuable the end results learned may be - so cures for some diseases et researched because those diseases affect a lot of people and cost a lot of money to treat or in lost economic activity. Other diseases won’t get $$$ to research cures because they’re rare and no one will ever be able to sell enough medicine to make their investment back on the research, never mind profit.

Scientific research from medicine to materials has become a business like any other. If scientists want to earn enough money to pay their bills, they have to sell out and research whatever pays them vs whatever else they may want to - much like an artist who has to create paid commissioned pieces if they want to be able to eat instead of just being creative and creating whatever they like.

That’s life.

Sometimes it’s a win-win, like the $50M Canada is pumping into nuclear medicine research at the TRIUMF collider here at UBC. There’s strong evidence to suggest that they will be able to produce many times the world supply of an ultra rare cancer treatment that’s currently only a byproduct of nuclear weapons production. Scientists believe they can use the particle accelerator to make the stuff, and kilos of it not grams/year like now, without having to manufacture nuclear weapons. Win-win-win, lives saved, money made, no additional nuclear weapons etc.

Sometimes it’s some stupid BS to make some big pharma company another Billion dollars at the expense of studying rare childhood cancers.

He who holds the gold makes the rules.. whoever is paying the bill dictates what gets researched and what problems they want solved - and typically the reason is because they think they can make a lot of money off the solution.

You don’t have to understand science at all to understand this, only the basics of business & economics.

And of course right now researchers around the world are all raving towards a vaccine against C-19. Whoever wins the race and has a viable scaleable product is going to make BILLION$. No one is going to take any longer than they Have To to start selling their “jabs.”

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No for supporting trump. Because doing so is deplorable.

More nonsense.

I graduated from business school when I was 19 years old. I comprehend economics just fine.

Many of us in developed nations will be able to weather this storm just fine. It’ll just deplete some savings and we won’t build wealth by working, saving, and investing. We’ll have to depend on family, friends, and ourselves for financial support and food security but people will survive it for 18 months ignoring that’s what they have to do. Obviously the poorer someone is with fewer supports the shorter the time they can go without earning an income, and in some places on this Earth if people don’t work Today, they don’t eat Today. We, OTOH, have it pretty damned easy.

Bunch of chicken little crap IMO. People stay home and play video games and watch Netflix and be antisocial all the time. When they visit their family they ignore them and stare at their phones instead. Then when they’re instructed to do this for a time everyone loses their minds and wants to go out and gather lol idiots. It’s been SUPER easy to chill out at home for a month or so already. Time just slips by. Worst is. It being productive enough nor getting enough exercise - but I easily have the power to control that via self discipline.

*yawn* Self iso/quarantine is hard!! I “can’t,” go on!! ! Lolz so hard. Bunch of first world problems hanging out in a comfy home full of food and entertainment and endless knowledge connected via the internet. The deceased from WW1 & WW2 are rolling they eyes so f*****g hard at us rn that they’re literally rolling over in their graves 6’ so damned fast the topsoil is being tilled and is ready for planting.

We are blessed to be in this situation. We’ve survived the last month or so just fine and can carry on doing the same for months, and then carry on with deeply restricted lives for several more months/18 months if that’s what it takes. It’s really not that hard not to interact with other people for a while. One day at a time of avoiding people added up for ~550 days or so and boom we’re at 18 months in the blink of an eye.

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No for supporting trump. Because doing so is deplorable.

I know that sounds so simple but it is not. I'm on a low income. What's going to happen when the government can no longer keep giving out free money to those who are self-isolating? What about people who don't have family or friends to lean on? Will half the country be kicked out of their homes and on to the streets? The money has got to come from somewhere. The government doesn't just magic a load of money and hand it out freely to people who's financial situations have been affected due to the lockdowns. Yes they may be able to do it for a short time but not for another year and a half.

This is what I meant about you thinking that the world being on lockdown for another 18 months is manageable. Yes we got internet for social interaction (even though I'm advised to limit social media to prevent panic attacks whenever I see triggering news articles), but what happens to people who might not be able to pay their bills much longer and won't be able to have access to the internet or any electrical thing? An 18-month lockdown is not as simple and easy as it sounds. You're just not getting it. It is not a first world problem. I'm not the only one that is freaking out about this, although I seem to be the only one on WP who is. Sitting around on your couch each day with an excuse not to have responsibilities and having the government handing money to you for 18 months is not as luxurious as it sounds. Many of us would rather have our freedom. It is not something to be taken lightly.

We won’t be in isolation for 18 months.

That’s the way the media works. You get conflicting information. You have to read things from reliable sources, not Facebook.

Based on what I have read, I feel they might come up with a vaccine by September. The second phase for this (first human trials) has already begun.

The way I see it, it's impossible to know when this pandemic will be over, so speculating will do you no good. All we can do is wait it out and do everything we can to minimise the spread of the virus.

Probably plasma treatments from people who have recovered.

Or something similar to gamma globulin treatment given to people exposed to infectious diseases like measles.

Why can’t governments just hand our money for 18 months? They can if they want to. Money is fake, anyways. They just print more of it via central banks whenever they want.

USA’s first Coronavirus stimulus spending bill is over $2 Trillion. Only $1200 for each person and the other $16,800 for corporate welfare. They could give that money to people for food instead.

Why would half the country be kicked out into the streets? Governments could just decide that our system of paying mortgages and rents is stupid right now and that everything is just on pause until life can resume again. Literally all options are on the table. You think any developed nation is going to allow half of its citizens to become homeless all for the sake of some BS accounting balance sheet? Highly unlikely. There will be some solution OR people back to work in stages before that’s ever allowed to happen. Lol tens or hundreds of millions of empty homes and everyone on the street = people would revolt. No government wants to deal with a violent revolution, so they won’t let it happen.

Here, people are supposed to pay their rent and mortgages if they can, or pay as much as they can, but evictions during C-19 are now illegal. Of course there’s going to be tension with many landlords and banks etc but what the f**k ever people will get through this.

As for food security for those who are concerned about being able to afford to buy food over the long run: Plant seeds now. Just like in every time of war or economic depression, people plant gardens and grow enough of their own food to survive. The sooner people do it, the sooner they’ll have crops to harvest - even if they’re just in old buckets and food containers vs a plot of land. Desperate times call for desperate measures. Plant food crops ASAP and in time they’ll supplement your food supply & provide enough nutrients to survive rough times.

The world is not going to stop spinning and the sky isn’t going to fall because of all of this. Life will go on, it’ll just be different for a while.

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No for supporting trump. Because doing so is deplorable.

18 months with little business is bad for anyone.

This 2-3 month stint isn’t that great, either.

Unbridled printing of money produces inflation, and devalues the currency.

I'm kinda glad the world is ending. There's too many a**holes on this planet.

Hate to break it to you, buddy.

The world is not ending.