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Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19): Conspiracy Theories & Claims

Trevp666 said:
Doesn't anybody realise.....Boris died in hospital and got replaced by a lookalike. That's why his hair is a bit different. And he sounds a bit different.
He's actually a bricklayer named Terry from Penge who was recruited as soon as Bojo went into St Thommo's hospital.
And Sunaks hair hasn't changed cos he's actually a Gargalflaxian who arrived with the fleet several weeks ago. He put's on the Human-like suit every day (you can sometimes see the join at the back) and that suit has real hair but it doesn't grow.
It's all true I tell ya......
Click to expand...

Given the weirdness of these times, this is actually the most reasonable explanation.
 
Humans are idiots.

Mobile phone masts in the UK are still being attacked by arsonists on a daily basis because of a conspiracy theory linking 5G to the spread of coronavirus. New data seen by WIRED reveals that dozens of attacks have taken place in the last fortnight, with conspiracy theorists targeting both infrastructure and key workers in the misguided belief that they are somehow spreading coronavirus. In one incident, a broadband engineer was spat at in the face by an enraged member of the public. The engineer is now ill with suspected coronavirus.

The online spread of the conspiracy theory is still having dangerous real-world consequences. Openreach engineers, none of whom are even involved in installing 5G infrastructure, have been exposed to a barrage of abuse. One person threatened to throw a brick at an Openreach engineer’s head, returning several minutes later shouting and wielding a bottle. In another incident, an engineer was told they would be in “fucking trouble” if it turned out they were installing 5G, with the abuser then punching their van door and walking off. Elsewhere, a woman shouted that 5G was “more dangerous than Covid-19”, called an Openreach engineer “‘fucking mental” and said she would get her brother and six friends over to “do him in”.

https://www.wired.co.uk/article/5g-coronavirus-conspiracy-theory-attacks
 
Ogdred Weary said:
I know plenty of veggies and vegans and they all seem fine, no sicker than meat eaters.
Click to expand...


I'm a meat-eater I get most of my meat from a friend who shoots his own animals in the head. They die instantly, no going to the meatworks. No stress.

I've been vegetarian at times for months, once close to a year.

I actually felt a lot better when I went without meat. Less bloated - much healthier.

The difficulty is planning vegetarian meals I don't give a shit what people say it is a lot harder to do if you a vegetarian.

Obviously meat tastes better - it just does.
 
Naughty_Felid said:
I'm a meat-eater I get most of my meat from a friend who shoots his own animals in the head. They die instantly, no going to the meatworks. No stress.

I've been vegetarian at times for months, once close to a year.

I actually felt a lot better when I went without meat. Less bloated - much healthier.

The difficulty is planning vegetarian meals I don't give a shit what people say it is a lot harder to do if you a vegetarian.

Obviously meat tastes better - it just does.
Click to expand...

I have sometimes been vegetarian for three, even four days in a row; actually that's quite often the case. It's not long enough to notice any difference, obviously. 90% of my meals that aren't either breakfast or sandwiches are stir frys, so making them without meat is possibly slightly easier than with. I'm not sure that meat tastes "better" to me, just different. I really like meat but don't miss it if I don't eat it and often don't miss it enough to take it out of the freezer in time to defrost for a meal.

Most of my meat comes from my friends too, I shoot them in the back of the head and its all over quickly.
 
Ogdred Weary said:
I have sometimes been vegetarian for three, even four days in a row; actually that's quite often the case. It's not long enough to notice any difference, obviously. 90% of my meals that aren't either breakfast or sandwiches are stir frys, so making them without meat is possibly slightly easier than with. I'm not sure that meat tastes "better" to me, just different. I really like meat but don't miss it if I don't eat it and often don't miss it enough to take it out of the freezer in time to defrost for a meal.

Most of my meat comes from my friends too, I shoot them in the back of the head and its all over quickly.
Click to expand...


I don't insist on meat. I had a vegan friend (my wife's friend really) who cooked delicious meals, and I was happy to cook her vegan curries and the like. But I do like meat. I'm very familiar with the process by which meat gets on to my plate, unlike many. But I don't eat it raw, nor do I buy live animals that have been captured. I've no desire to eat pangolin or monkey. Think we may have got a tad off topic though :)
 
blessmycottonsocks said:
"Compare to Boris's mop, for example, which was noticeably longer after he came out of hospital. "

Either that or his head shrank.
Click to expand...
I'm not being funny, but his head may have shrunk a bit. I see signs of weight loss.
 
Cochise said:
I don't insist on meat. I had a vegan friend (my wife's friend really) who cooked delicious meals, and I was happy to cook her vegan curries and the like. But I do like meat. I'm very familiar with the process by which meat gets on to my plate, unlike many. But I don't eat it raw, nor do I buy live animals that have been captured. I've no desire to eat pangolin or monkey. Think we may have got a tad off topic though :)
Click to expand...

Nah I love a good monkey burger when I'm in Cromer.
 
AlchoPwn said:
You forget how many points of external contact people who are staying at home are still encountering in their daily life. For example, most people will need to go shopping and NYC is a hotbed of C-19, so they go to the supermarkets and even if they social distance, the infected person who wandered the isle before them has still left their virus behind. Then there are issues like mail and currency, which will get handled, but is the deliverer safe? The other thing is that the issue of airborne transmission hasn't been properly resolved, so we don't know how long c-19 will last in the air once somebody coughs. Not to mention issues like hand-rails, taps, etc. C-19 can apparently last up to 5 days on a cool surface like metal. Most people don't have the werewithall to set up their own decontamination center and airlock their apartments.
Click to expand...
OK - Then why stay in?
Remember the infection rate was 'much higher' among those who stayed in.

The news today tried to explain by saying that maybe they just stayed in their
apartment building and still interacted with people in the building.

FACT - If you don't do statistical analysis properly and have not set up carefully
defined parameters of what you are talking about - And have not considered
corollary factors that could effect the outcome...............Then your statistics
are worthless opinion driven drivel designed get the effect some special interest
wants to see.

So some commentators on news Stations are attacking Trump because he wants to open the country while infection rate is still rising - But if staying in is doing no good anyway, and in fact may be making things worse - You can't really blame
him for trying to stop what was once one of the richest nations in the World
to becoming a third world nation of poverty. - my opinion.
 
AlienView said:
The news today tried to explain by saying that maybe they just stayed in their
apartment building and still interacted with people in the building.
Click to expand...
Are the buildings air conditioned? The news from the cruise ships that were affected suggests that the virus was constantly recycled through the A/C.
”Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide”
 
Tribble said:
Humans are idiots.

Mobile phone masts in the UK are still being attacked by arsonists on a daily basis because of a conspiracy theory linking 5G to the spread of coronavirus. New data seen by WIRED reveals that dozens of attacks have taken place in the last fortnight, with conspiracy theorists targeting both infrastructure and key workers in the misguided belief that they are somehow spreading coronavirus. In one incident, a broadband engineer was spat at in the face by an enraged member of the public. The engineer is now ill with suspected coronavirus.

The online spread of the conspiracy theory is still having dangerous real-world consequences. Openreach engineers, none of whom are even involved in installing 5G infrastructure, have been exposed to a barrage of abuse. One person threatened to throw a brick at an Openreach engineer’s head, returning several minutes later shouting and wielding a bottle. In another incident, an engineer was told they would be in “fucking trouble” if it turned out they were installing 5G, with the abuser then punching their van door and walking off. Elsewhere, a woman shouted that 5G was “more dangerous than Covid-19”, called an Openreach engineer “‘fucking mental” and said she would get her brother and six friends over to “do him in”.

https://www.wired.co.uk/article/5g-coronavirus-conspiracy-theory-attacks
Click to expand...

Welcome to the "New Age of Superstition".:(
 
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Australia pushing back against Trump Wuhan conspiracy theories. 5 eyes involved, not:

, have been pushing American spy agencies since January to hunt for evidence to support the theory. The agenda was given new momentum in April by Steve Bannon, the ex-chairman of far-right website Breitbart and a former adviser to Mr Trump, who promoted the theory throughout the month as part of a campaign demanding compensation from China for the outbreak.

https://amp.smh.com.au/politics/fed...0200506-p54qhp.html?__twitter_impression=true
 
James_H said:
Article in the NYT about Corona conspiracies

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/08/world/europe/coronavirus-conspiracy-theories.html
Click to expand...
Has there ever been a major event, especially of this magnitude, that has not generated a host of conspiracy theories? From all significant historical events
to famous assassinations {JFK, etc.} you can automatically expect conspiracy theories.


COVID: Top 10 current conspiracy theories
https://allianceforscience.cornell.edu/blog/2020/04/covid-top-10-current-conspiracy-theories/
 
AlienView said:
OK - Then why stay in? Remember the infection rate was 'much higher' among those who stayed in.
Click to expand...
Sorry, you missed my subtext here... They weren't really "staying in". They likely weren't disinfecting the surfaces of their house regularly either, or turning their doorway into a mud room-come-airlock. In other words, they were quarantining themselves incorrectly out of ignorance.

It is a FACT that if you are infected, then staying locked down means you are a lot less likely to spread the disease to other people.

It is also a FACT that if you don't want to catch the disease, staying locked down and avoiding contact with people is the best way to do that.

Nothing is going to change these facts.

AlienView said:
The news today tried to explain by saying that maybe they just stayed in their
apartment building and still interacted with people in the building.
Click to expand...
Q.E.D.
AlienView said:
FACT - If you don't do statistical analysis properly and have not set up carefully
defined parameters of what you are talking about - And have not considered corollary factors that could effect the outcome...............Then your statistics are worthless opinion driven drivel designed get the effect some special interest wants to see.
Click to expand...
I have spent a lot of time doing stats over the years, and I agree with this, but I ask you very sincerely, have you truly displayed this same critical function of removing bias in the formation of your own opinions? I ask this because you seem far too certain in your opinions, and that cries out "bias" to me.

The science of quarantines is well established, but we as US citizens haven't had to face a quarantine for a very long time, and we are a complacent society that favors convenience over conscientiousness 9 times in 10, so is it so very surprising that people who have neglected their education for most of their lives are getting it so wrong?

Now admittedly there can come a point when you say "I've seen enough", and can form what you consider to be an informed opinion, but have we actually reached that point? From what I can see, the quarantine has failed in much of the USA because people didn't trust the science, or didn't know the science, or couldn't keep themselves quarantined because they had no resources to fall back on. Government should have taken a far more active role from a far earlier time, but failed to do so until the situation was utterly out of control, and then has not gone the distance once what was necessary became apparent. The choice has been to feed the people to the virus and blame China. Now the blame China thing is fine, China is guilty, but the feeding people to the virus is a deliberate, bloody-handed and atrocious choice that the present administration is responsible for and must carry the blame for.
AlienView said:
So some commentators on news Stations are attacking Trump because he wants to open the country while infection rate is still rising - But if staying in is doing no good anyway, and in fact may be making things worse - You can't really blame him for trying to stop what was once one of the richest nations in the World to becoming a third world nation of poverty. - my opinion.
Click to expand...
Trump richly deserves to be attacked for his incompetence and vicious disregard for the health and safety of the American people.

For the better part of February 2020 Trump claimed that Covid-19 was a hoax by the Democrats.
Trump calls Covid-19 a Democrat hoax
Next he claimed there would be a sudden and miraculous cure for Covid-19.
Trump says Miracle cure will happen
Then there was the CPAC scare, and suddenly, as it began to threaten them personally, the Reps began to take the matter more seriously.
CPAC story
Trump's response? Inject disinfectant:
Trump says people should inject disinfectant or scorch themselves with UV light
Then when armed maniacs stormed the Michigan Legislature
Gunmen in Michigan Legislature
Does Trump say things have gone too far? Nope, he supports the dangerous idiots.
Trump says protestors "very responsible".
Now the Republican Lincoln Institute blame Trump for his incompetence:
Lincoln Institute on Trump's mismanagement of Covid-19

Seriously, how much more incompetent could a leader possibly be? Why do you feel the need to defend this indefensible disgrace to the office of President AlienView? The man is a murderous catastrophe, brought to you by Putin, to undermine the USA in the most fundamental ways, and it has worked. There are now more dead US Citizens as a result of Trump's appalling mismanagement of Covid-19 than died in the Vietnam War, and that number is growing fast. Soon it will pass the number who died in the Civil War, and those numbers are likely to keep rising.

Opening the country up when we haven't even managed to perform a proper quarantine in the first place is so far beyond stupid it is Goddamn unbelievable. We have more than a million people infected while quarantine has (sort of) been in place. The minute everyone returns to work, our great nation is going to get sick in a much bigger way than anybody has thought possible. We are talking about millions dead, and no exaggeration. Why? Because at the moment the health system can (just barely) cope with the dangerously ill c-19 patients coming in, but when the quarantine is lifted, that number will explode. Presently, our recovery rate is only slightly better than 2 out of 3 recovering after being tested. Now I know there is a hidden stat that there are MANY more infected than are being tested, but we have already lost way too many people to be taking this in the disinterested fashion that Trump has been doing.

Now the fact is that the Constitution protects your freedom of assembly, and if you want to go out and get sick, risking death, that is your choice. I won't be making that choice myself however.
 
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1588941714465.png
 
AlchoPwn said:
Sorry, you missed my subtext here... They weren't really "staying in". They likely weren't disinfecting the surfaces of their house regularly either, or turning their doorway into a mud room-come-airlock. In other words, they were quarantining themselves incorrectly out of ignorance.

It is a FACT that if you are infected, then staying locked down means you are a lot less likely to spread the disease to other people.

It is also a FACT that if you don't want to catch the disease, staying locked down and avoiding contact with people is the best way to do that.

Nothing is going to change these facts.

Q.E.D.
I have spent a lot of time doing stats over the years, and I agree with this, but I ask you very sincerely, have you truly displayed this same critical function of removing bias in the formation of your own opinions? I ask this because you seem far too certain in your opinions, and that cries out "bias" to me.

The science of quarantines is well established, but we as US citizens haven't had to face a quarantine for a very long time, and we are a complacent society that favors convenience over conscientiousness 9 times in 10, so is it so very surprising that people who have neglected their education for most of their lives are getting it so wrong?

Now admittedly there can come a point when you say "I've seen enough", and can form what you consider to be an informed opinion, but have we actually reached that point? From what I can see, the quarantine has failed in much of the USA because people didn't trust the science, or didn't know the science, or couldn't keep themselves quarantined because they had no resources to fall back on. Government should have taken a far more active role from a far earlier time, but failed to do so until the situation was utterly out of control, and then has not gone the distance once what was necessary became apparent. The choice has been to feed the people to the virus and blame China. Now the blame China thing is fine, China is guilty, but the feeding people to the virus is a deliberate, bloody-handed and atrocious choice that the present administration is responsible for and must carry the blame for.

Trump richly deserves to be attacked for his incompetence and vicious disregard for the health and safety of the American people.

For the better part of February 2020 Trump claimed that Covid-19 was a hoax by the Democrats.
Trump calls Covid-19 a Democrat hoax
Next he claimed there would be a sudden and miraculous cure for Covid-19.
Trump says Miracle cure will happen
Then there was the CPAC scare, and suddenly, as it began to threaten them personally, the Reps began to take the matter more seriously.
CPAC story
Trump's response? Inject disinfectant:
Trump says people should inject disinfectant or scorch themselves with UV light
Then when armed maniacs stormed the Michigan Legislature
Gunmen in Michigan Legislature
Does Trump say things have gone too far? Nope, he supports the dangerous idiots.
Trump says protestors "very responsible".
Now the Republican Lincoln Institute blame Trump for his incompetence:
Lincoln Institute on Trump's mismanagement of Covid-19

Seriously, how much more incompetent could a leader possibly be? Why do you feel the need to defend this indefensible disgrace to the office of President AlienView? The man is a murderous catastrophe, brought to you by Putin, to undermine the USA in the most fundamental ways, and it has worked. There are now more dead US Citizens as a result of Trump's appalling mismanagement of Covid-19 than died in the Vietnam War, and that number is growing fast. Soon it will pass the number who died in the Civil War, and those numbers are likely to keep rising.

Opening the country up when we haven't even managed to perform a proper quarantine in the first place is so far beyond stupid it is Goddamn unbelievable. We have more than a million people infected while quarantine has (sort of) been in place. The minute everyone returns to work, our great nation is going to get sick in a much bigger way than anybody has thought possible. We are talking about millions dead, and no exaggeration. Why? Because at the moment the health system can (just barely) cope with the dangerously ill c-19 patients coming in, but when the quarantine is lifted, that number will explode. Presently, our recovery rate is only slightly better than 2 out of 3 recovering after being tested. Now I know there is a hidden stat that there are MANY more infected than are being tested, but we have already lost way too many people to be taking this in the disinterested fashion that Trump has been doing.

Now the fact is that the Constitution protects your freedom of assembly, and if you want to go out and get sick, risking death, that is your choice. I won't be making that choice myself however.
Click to expand...
Right on all points, thank you. That "stay at home" criterion came from one survey by the State of NY and I imagine heads have already rolled about the lousy definition of data. People who chose "staying at home" were probably the ones who were not going to work. Staying at home except for going out to the grocery store, walking in the park, arranging play dates with their children, dealing with their roommate who is going to work every day, etc. Speaking from among those who truly have been locked in the house for 8 weeks, walking only to the mail box, shouting to a very few people (one or two a week) from 15 feet away, that's "staying home." That criterion is "hunkering."

All of you who are carefully counting the number of deaths in the UK, thankfully decreasing, yes indeed we will all see a large second wave two weeks after we all "open." We know this because we've been there before in 1918. I think that those who decide to go out and assemble should have mark put on their wrist like if they go to a club. No emergency services for them, putting medical personnel and their families in jeopardy.. Of course, they will all go home and slowly and inexorably infect their families even in the rural areas. At this point my reasoning power descends to thoughts of whether the human race is in fact ripe for extermination so I will close.
 
Lb8535 said:
Right on all points, thank you. That "stay at home" criterion came from one survey by the State of NY and I imagine heads have already rolled about the lousy definition of data. People who chose "staying at home" were probably the ones who were not going to work. Staying at home except for going out to the grocery store, walking in the park, arranging play dates with their children, dealing with their roommate who is going to work every day, etc. Speaking from among those who truly have been locked in the house for 8 weeks, walking only to the mail box, shouting to a very few people (one or two a week) from 15 feet away, that's "staying home." That criterion is "hunkering."

All of you who are carefully counting the number of deaths in the UK, thankfully decreasing, yes indeed we will all see a large second wave two weeks after we all "open." We know this because we've been there before in 1918. I think that those who decide to go out and assemble should have mark put on their wrist like if they go to a club. No emergency services for them, putting medical personnel and their families in jeopardy.. Of course, they will all go home and slowly and inexorably infect their families even in the rural areas. At this point my reasoning power descends to thoughts of whether the human race is in fact ripe for extermination so I will close.
Click to expand...

This is possible, even probable, but not guaranteed, this not the Spanish flu, so it may not behave that way.
 
With the spanish flu we didn't have a second wave. The spanish flu had just gone on siesta for a bit.
 
Indeed the Spanish flu outbreak in 1918 ripped through the population of Europe over a period towards the end of WW1, then lessened for a couple of months (most likely as a result of a certain amount of 'herd immunity'). When it returned for it's 'second wave' this wasn't because of any lifting of restrictions (there were no restrictions imposed) but because many troops were returning to their hometowns carrying a mutation of the virus, which was as infectious but less fatal. Cases continued to be reported into 1919 until it eventually lessened enough to be non-reportable.
 
Ogdred Weary said:
This is possible, even probable, but not guaranteed, this not the Spanish flu, so it may not behave that way.
Click to expand...
Unless you believe based on wishes that the communicability will alter as of May 15 (or whenever) it is simply logical thinking. More people wandering around, all those people who can't tolerate discomfort as in wearing masks and not bullshitting in groups, just doing what makes them short-term happy, of course the cases will increase. Possibly by a lot again overwhelming the hospitals. Not even considering unknown behavior of the virus itself in the fall. Hope is not a strategy.

And yes of course people will start to travel to visit people and places because the modern western world thinks life is not worth living if they can't. The most insidious aspect of this disease is that the incubation period can be as long as 14 days. You do something, nothing happens, you feel safe, you keep going to the bar. It's herd inability to think logically. I have no problem with it if it only affects the people behaving like adolescents, but unfortunately it also affects me and everyone I know.

And most of my work career was in the live theater. I am horrified and continuously depressed by the situation in the performing arts for the art and for the people who work in the industry (including ushers, crew, etc.). I really want this to be over. But that doesn't mean that it is. Only massive testing and resulting isolation will bring about a situation that will serve all of us.
 
AlienView said:
Has there ever been a major event, especially of this magnitude, that has not generated a host of conspiracy theories? From all significant historical events
to famous assassinations {JFK, etc.} you can automatically expect conspiracy theories.


COVID: Top 10 current conspiracy theories
https://allianceforscience.cornell.edu/blog/2020/04/covid-top-10-current-conspiracy-theories/
Click to expand...

Only since the internet was born. Before that, us Conspiracy buffs, relied on newspapers, books. libraries and talking to people. So 9/11 was the first.
 
No you are wrong. Columbine and many more came before.


Alcho is wrong about our health system being crushed except for ny city. That was the fear and what they keep pushing. Most states are only using 20 to 30 percent of available ventilators and icu beds.
 
Historical disputes about the correct interpretaion of The Bible are pretty rife. No internet needed.
 
AlienView said:
OK - Then why stay in?
Remember the infection rate was 'much higher' among those who stayed in.

The news today tried to explain by saying that maybe they just stayed in their
apartment building and still interacted with people in the building.

FACT - If you don't do statistical analysis properly and have not set up carefully
defined parameters of what you are talking about - And have not considered
corollary factors that could effect the outcome...............Then your statistics
are worthless opinion driven drivel designed get the effect some special interest
wants to see.

So some commentators on news Stations are attacking Trump because he wants to open the country while infection rate is still rising - But if staying in is doing no good anyway, and in fact may be making things worse - You can't really blame
him for trying to stop what was once one of the richest nations in the World
to becoming a third world nation of poverty. - my opinion.
Click to expand...

Old people in care homes are pretty much isolated and they’re dropping hideously.
 
Yes, and it might not be the same care worker either. They could probably have several different ones in a week.
 
Analogue Boy said:
Old people in care homes are pretty much isolated and they’re dropping hideously.
Click to expand...

So many countries seem to have discounted the risk to care homes. It's the blot on Sweden's copybook that enables people to pretend their overall strategy was wrong. Undermining that is that Swedish politicians have owned up that they missed the vulnerability of care homes.

So different to our own dear arse lickers politicians.

I wonder what you have to do to move to Sweden, it being the nearest country to me that has behaved rationally.

Edit: As a bonus I believe Swedish is easier to learn than Welsh.
 
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