Promising New Coronavirus Vaccine

[Alan Klein]

Baloney. The exact opposite is true. It is precisely because of government planning and preparations made many years in advance, for a possible pandemic flu outbreak, that vaccines were available and produced so quickly for COVID.

https://www.cdc.gov/flu/pandemic-resources/pdf/pandemic-influenza-strategy-2005.pdf

The link above documents the planning and preparations which boosted the sped up efforts in the development of advanced vaccine technology and established BARDA to streamline and accelerate the production of vaccines.

You didn;t understand my post.  I never mentioned preparation.  I said with 61,000 death from flu in one season, tens of thousands every year, year after year, we didn't shut down the economy or wear masks.  So the idea we would do so with just a couple of thousand deaths from Covid, was not enough to seem like a shutdown was yet necessary. 

[TechTalk]

Restriction?  Shutdown?  A distinction without a difference.

"A distinction without a difference." You keeping trotting out that same old line as cover for your carelessness with words.

Your inability to recognize differences doesn't mean they do not exist in the real world outside of your mind.

[TechTalk]

You didn;t understand my post.  I never mentioned preparation.  I said with 61,000 death from flu in one season, tens of thousands every year, year after year, we didn't shut down the economy or wear masks.  So the idea we would do so with just a couple of thousand deaths from Covid, was not enough to seem like a shutdown was yet necessary.

I understood your post. Influenza was never "ignored", as you put it, by public health officials at any level of government, whether as annual seasonal flu or the potential for pandemics.

There is a difference in the response to infectious diseases, of which there are many, which are not of a pandemic nature and those that are more deadly and pandemic. A distinction with major differences in both outcome and response.

[Alan Klein]

You might not have noticed, but Trump was the President... Biden was a private citizen at the time.

He was a former Vice President currently running for president. 

[TechTalk]

there were demands for the shutdown of the entire economy

By whom? The CDC issued common sense public health recommendations for masks; social distancing; working from home where possible; and avoidance of large gatherings or crowded situations. State and local governments instituted restrictions which affected certain types of businesses, like restaurants with indoor dining as an example—which too many chose not to follow, unfortunately.

Myself and many others stopped dining inside restaurants or going to concerts, but beyond that continued to go shopping for whatever was needed. Like others, I did learn to cut my own hair with a clipper set that I purchased in person at a store. Most other businesses continued operating within common sense guidelines.

In short, there was no "shutdown of the entire economy". Who demanded that the entire economy shutdown? Are we going to be treated to yet another "distinction without a difference"?

[Alan Klein]

By whom? The CDC issued common sense public health recommendations for masks; social distancing; working from home where possible; and avoidance of large gatherings or crowded situations. State and local governments instituted restrictions which affected certain types of businesses, like restaurants with indoor dining as an example—which too many chose not to follow, unfortunately.

Myself and many others stopped dining inside restaurants or going to concerts, but beyond that continued to go shopping for whatever was needed. Like others, I did learn to cut my own hair with a clipper set that I purchased in person at a store. Most other businesses continued operating within common sense guidelines.

In short, there was no "shutdown of the entire economy". Who demanded that the entire economy shutdown? Are we going to be treated to yet another "distinction without a difference"?

Are you kidding?  I'm a New Yorker.  In Midtown, there were no cabs, buses, traffic cops, ticket cops, practically no one.  I parked on the street in a no-standing zone - no parking zone, and no one even cared.  All the shops were closed.  Sure people worked at home, but some much was shut down.  I went there for a dental appointment after dentists started to work again.  He's in a high-rise office building, 60 stories or so.  Here's a picture of me and the other people on the elevator.  The second shot is the street by the bank around the corner.

Don't crowd me by Alan Klein, on Flickr


This Side Up - Park bench to Park Avenue by Alan Klein, on Flickr

[TechTalk]

Oh! Well... that certainly proves that the "demands for the shutdown of the entire economy", from the anonymous people you cited, were carried out!

[TechTalk]

The point is Trump acted long before Biden

He was a former Vice President currently running for president. 

Then what's your point? Biden had no office and no authority to act. He did use his voice to urge people to follow common sense public health measures; to wear a mask in public; and stay safe—even though Trump mocked Biden's mask wearing during the debates and at rallies.

[Alan Klein]

Then what's your point? Biden had no office and no authority to act. He did use his voice to urge people to follow common sense public health measures; to wear a mask in public; and stay safe—even though Trump mocked Biden's mask wearing during the debates and at rallies.

It shows that Trump was more concerned about Covid than Biden was.

[LesPalenik]

It shows that Trump was more concerned about Covid than Biden was.

Not quite, Alan. He said several times that covid is just a small flu and then even more times that US is rounding the corner on the covid. Trump said U.S. was ‘Rounding The Final Turn’ On Aug. 31 – and on 39 of the 57 days since.

President Trump has said the United States is “rounding the turn” – or “corner” or “bend” – on the coronavirus pandemic with shocking consistency over the last two months, a period in which average daily cases have risen sharply.

Trump first said in a virtual Nevada tele-rally on Aug. 31 that the U.S. was “rounding the final turn” on the virus, repeating the line again at a Sep. 3 Pennsylvania rally “we are rounding that turn, and vaccines are coming along great.” The biggest gap came when Trump contracted the virus himself at the beginning of October and briefly receded from public view, though he began saying it once again on Oct. 8.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/andrewsolender/2020/10/27/trump-said-us-was-rounding-the-final-turn-on-aug-31-and-on-39-of-the-57-days-since/?sh=7ed3caf37299

[Peter McLennan]

It shows that Trump was more concerned about Covid than Biden was.

Alan, you're either an absolute dead-loss idiot or the most skillful troll on LULA.

[Alan Klein]

Not quite, Alan. He said several times that covid is just a small flu and then even more times that US is rounding the corner on the covid. Trump said U.S. was ‘Rounding The Final Turn’ On Aug. 31 – and on 39 of the 57 days since.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/andrewsolender/2020/10/27/trump-said-us-was-rounding-the-final-turn-on-aug-31-and-on-39-of-the-57-days-since/?sh=7ed3caf37299

I was referring to Jan 2020.  Then everything went south as everyone played the political game and took up sides because of the upcoming presidential election in Nov 2020. The entire Covid fiasco has been political since the beginning with the public caught in the middle. 

[TechTalk]

Alan, you're either...

To tell you the truth, his post was one of those comments that I thought was better left to just sit and rot of its own accord without a response.

But, I do understand the response.

[Slobodan Blagojevic]

Alan, you're either an absolute dead-loss idiot or the most skillful troll on LULA.

This is simply despicable!

And if there is a moderators, you’d be banned for a while.

[Slobodan Blagojevic]

It shows that Trump was more concerned about Covid than Biden was.

Remember the time when Biden was actively campaigning against “Trump’s” vaccines? “Who’s gonna take that shot!? Who’s gonna take that shot!?”

[TechTalk]

That has been a repeated right-wing narrative that is so skewed, twisted, distorted, and pulled away from any context that it bears little resemblance to reality.

[josh.reichmann]

Remember the time when Biden was actively campaigning against “Trump’s” vaccines? “Who’s gonna take that shot!? Who’s gonna take that shot!?”

Agree. Peter, there are other ways of demonstrating your exaustion or bafflement with a POV.
Let's pull back from any personal attacks or temp banning is not out of the question.


Josh

[Robert Roaldi]

It shows that Trump was more concerned about Covid than Biden was.

This must be your third or fourth howler this week. Thanks for the entertainment.

[Robert Roaldi]

... So the idea we would do so with just a couple of thousand deaths from Covid, was not enough to seem like a shutdown was yet necessary.

The indications were clear around the globe and many people and several countries understood and acted. Re-hashing every statement from the last 18 months is a bit beside the point. The richest nation on earth with 4% of the population had 20% of the deaths, and all this week, daily deaths have been hovering at the 2000 mark. I simply cannot believe that people are still peddling the "nothing we could have done" line when people were doing a lot everywhere else. And you even seem to be trying to pin it on Biden while he was out of office. How can you expect people to take you seriously?

This is a huge societal failure on the part of the US, with Trump as a major co-morbidity (author Michael Lewis's word). What the country should be doing is figuring out all the points of failure and re-designing them, but instead there are people worried about vaccine shredders and others still whining about masks and "freedom". It's incredible, really.

[Slobodan Blagojevic]

... trying to pin it on Biden while he was out of office...

He has been in office the last eight months. 300,000 on his watch. Or you are trying to pin that too on Trump?