Thursday, September 03, 2020

Some COVID thoughts

*  the Victorian lockdown certainly seems to show, again, that strict lockdowns work;

*  there seems to be surprisingly infrequent polling on whether Dan Andrews and his government are suffering in popularity over this.   Polling back on 11 August indicated 70-something percent support for the current lockdown;  perhaps it has eroded a bit since then?  On the other hand, as case numbers come down, and it seems to work, I wouldn't be surprised if support is still pretty high.   We need to know, so (if public support is still high) we can gloat at the tiny fists being waved about in anger at Catallaxy about this is the worst civil rights crisis ever.  Sinclair just loves to go all civil/property rights on matters which kill and sicken people (in favour of the thing that will sicken them), just as he did with tobacco plain packaging. 

*  news about the possible long term effects of COVID infection on the heart is pretty worrying; except to the likes of Adam Creighton, for whom there is no hill high enough to die on over this.

Fauci is never coming back into Trump's (or his cult's) "good books".  No one sensible would ever want to be there, anyway.




12 comments:

GMB said...

Did you see that arrest of the pregnant woman? Your first point is crazy. We know where the second wave came from. A failed lockdown policy using hotels. Getting that right should be where the effort ought to have gone. Thats where the failure was. Thats what needed correction.

Strict lockdown doesn't work. You don't have the data for that. Thats the policy we have had and it hasn't solved the problem. What works is ending the ruthless campaign of treatment and preparation denial.

"Works" means results for every dollar of cost, damage, value forgone. So you cannot make that case. Treatment ad preparation is very cheap. On the other hand lockdown was fair enough to buy time early on. We didn't know that you loony toons would want to ALWAYS oppose treatment and preparation and ALWAYS want more house arrest.

GMB said...

Fauci is the longest serving public servant in a single job since J Edgar Hoover. Now he's a mass murderer. Killed more homosexuals than any Ayatollah crazy ever could hope to. Plus a lot of other people. This is Michael Mann all over again. You just know nothing about science.

GMB said...

" news about the possible long term effects of COVID infection on the heart is pretty worrying; except to the likes of Adam Creighton, for whom there is no hill high enough to die on over this."

Proof that the lockdown, combined with ruthless treatment and preparation denial, did not work. Its there in your own post. No wonder you share such empathy for Biden. Time to pivot policy. The lockdown ought just have been a means of buying time.

GMB said...

Hey great work Steve. Thanks. The sustained anger through all three posts really only came because I didn't think I'd get any posts through. I remember back to the start of this matter and in fairness I had to give them the first three weeks of lockdown, with an option to do the same one or two times in the future. Because back then we had no stocks of masks, vitamins, the shelves were recently empty, we needed to size up the disease and so forth.

Over at JQ's place he's got starting point thoughts for assessing lockdown. But if you exclude preparation and treatment then that analysis is premature. I would have been scrambling to make sure I had all the resources for the retirees. Even if it cost a tonne of money it would have cost a whole lot less than small business destruction.

I would have been also scrambling to place the costs away from small business and onto banks, utilities and public servant jobs. What I wouldn't have done, and Sco Mo deserves credit here, is this massive increase in Newstart allowance. Thats a stroke of genius because it geographically corrects monetary base movements and it could allow for a lot of banking and public sector job cutbacks to pay for the costs involved in combatting the virus.

Now that we've got this big newstart in place, we have a cushion for major structural reform. A lot of people could use a nice holiday like I have had. Really I need a job now. The holiday was great so I want others to experience it with this enhanced newstart. Fantastic.

Not Trampis said...

I see government types criticising Victoria, Qld and WA.
no mention of Tassy and SA on closed borders for example.

I cannot understand why

TimT said...

I'd be surprised if Andrews polls well from now on. We'll have had at least half a year of lockdown by the time this is over - not exactly proof that lockdowns work. (And yes, for quite some time there in our current crisis it looked as if the lockdowns *weren't* working - I suspect people are just tired of the laws and know they are ridiculous). I hope Labor loses next election - arresting of political dissenters under the pretext of emergency powers is completely unacceptable.

Steve said...

I'm a bit torn about the woman arrested for the Facebook post.

I'm pretty tempted to endorse the arrest of anyone who uses Facebook for political purposes.

On the other hand, it does annoy me when police do the whole arrest thing when there can be other ways of dealing with a breach of a law.

GMB said...

"I'm a bit torn about the woman arrested for the Facebook post."

Torn? How can you be torn? She's in Ballarat. Only 5 sick people in Ballarat . She was only under level 3 restrictions. Not level 5 restrictions. She has a legitimate disagreement. She as an Australian had a right to protest. I didn't see this sort of hand-wringing when it came to black lives matter protest which was about as risky as you can get. What's the matter with you. Those policeman need to be punished. They have to be sacked.

"I'm pretty tempted to endorse the arrest of anyone who uses Facebook for political purposes. "

What the hell are you talking about. Facebook has been used to incite violence all over the world. It has been used in Orange revolutions. Terrorist attacks. Its run by a fellow who has the personal security of a dictator. And it started off as a chick-rating app for a university.

And you want her punished for sullying the good name of facebook? This what you are telling me? This incident is an international disgrace and those two clowns need to be sacked.

Not Trampis said...

lockdowns work if people respond. They did the first time.


In Melbourne the second time they did not. you even had people turning up to work with the virus. Complacency in abundance

GMB said...

We've got this ongoing problem where you leftists cannot see what you are looking at. If fascism has come to Melbourne, or some variant of Bolshevism, thats something you have to understand when you see it.

Now see this video here. Every single one of these sonofabitches has to be taken off the force. They are acting like Bolsheviks. There is no excuse for this. Its not doing anything to stop the spread of Covid. The Victorian Police/Legal system has been turning bad on us for at least a generation and now they are right over the edge. There has to be sackings.

There is no excuse here. Its not about sullying the purity and honour of facebook. Its not rational infection control. Its just fascism/Bolshevism rearing its ugly head.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZHuuSmjws8

GMB said...

So have you seen the video? Do you see what is going on now? Its normal Police business. They are breaking in illegally, without warning, for no sound reason. They are ringing up or sending a letter, or requesting an interview. The fellow who supplies the search warrants and the goons they send around are both acting ruthlessly outside the law.

I think the Victorian legal system, like the DNC in America, has been taken under more direct oligarchical control. Thats the only way I could explain it. And the filth they are sending around. Note how they refused to talk in any sane fashion or answer any questions. They are busting in to peoples houses without explaining why. Those are just the two we've caught on film. Imagine how they act when they aren't on film?

GMB said...

Your only chance to fight this Bolshevism is while you are still safe in New South Wales or Queensland. Once they come to your state there isn't an whole lot you can do.