Obeah posted:

Welp, my fellow gooners, it's finally happened. My goddamn mother's communal house is apparently under some level of pandemic-time scrutiny (though the specific nature of that scrutiny she herself does not seem to know), and as a result, the elders there have been divvying up the kids to send to houses outside of their property. I guess in case there's a CPS issue or something?

So now, mid-apocalypse, I have been saddled with a dumb ten year old with filthy hands and no common sense and apparently no family within the state that isn't currently living at the communal facilities. His first day here he was touching goddamn everything, so I've sat aside four pairs of nitrile gloves for him to use that we rotate day to day. He takes off the old ones when he wakes, we put them into their respective drawer, and we check off and move to the next day's.

https://i.imgur.com/W74CMw9.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/NWv6Kbq.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/3RoaWNp.jpg

Because those religious fanatic nutsos like to keep kids in the dark, I had to explain to him that likely every adult he knows will be dying within the next 2-3 years (whether of the virus itself, starvation, or the impending revolutions and riots), but that we could at least extend every meaningful person's respective lifespans a little bit by following basic loving common sense procedures.

And he's been good at that for the most part, admittedly. He cried a lot the first few days or so, but he seems pretty content to just lay around within the guest room now. He does keep asking about masks. We have two n90 masks that my cousin and I use about the house through most of the day (typical boomer uncle refuses to wear one except for when we send him out for groceries), and a loving gigantic stockpile of them we bought in February. Our mid-day rotationals have been hung up and had a warning sign placed above them so his grubby little mitts know to lay off.

https://i.imgur.com/2omXfIN.jpg

I still hate having a potential contagion in the house, but mom's gonna be cutting a check at the end of the month for us so it's whatever. Uncle has some recurrent cardiac issues, and I love him to pieces, but if he croaks, I'll finally be getting the bedroom with the en suite bathroom, limiting my chances of getting infected or, conversely, infecting the others.

I will say that reading this thread has at least made me happy to know I'm in good company. Stay safe, goons!

Pick posted:

quote:

Donald Trump has declared that he would like the United States to stop funding the World Health Organization. It’s unclear if he has the authority to change policy in this way, but he’s trying. He wants to further break the WHO in ways it’s already broken.

Trump’s ploy to defund the WHO is a transparent effort to distract from his administration’s failure to prepare for the COVID-19 pandemic. It would be disastrous too. Many nations, especially poor ones, currently depend on the WHO for medical help and supplies. But it is also true that in the run-up to this pandemic, the WHO failed the world in many ways. However, President Trump’s move is precisely the kind of political bullying that contributed to the WHO’s missteps.

The WHO failed because it is not designed to be independent. Instead, it’s subject to the whims of the nations that fund it and choose its leader. In July 2017, China moved aggressively to elect its current leadership. Instead of fixing any of the problems with the way the WHO operates, Trump seems to merely want the United States to be the bigger bully.

Fixing the WHO is crucial, because we desperately need well-functioning global health institutions. But that requires a correct diagnosis of the problem. There is an alternate timeline in which the leadership of the WHO did its job fully and properly, warning the world in time so that effective policies could be deployed across the planet. Instead, the WHO decided to stick disturbingly close to China’s official positions, including its transparent cover-ups. In place of a pandemic that is bringing global destruction, just maybe we could have had a few tragic local outbreaks that were contained.

...

We can get a glimpse at that alternate timeline by looking at the two places where COVID-19 was successfully contained: Taiwan and Hong Kong. With dense populations and close links to and travel from China, Taiwan and Hong Kong are unlikely candidates for success. Yet Taiwan reported zero new confirmed cases on Tuesday, fewer than 400 confirmed cases since the beginning of the outbreak, and only six deaths. Taiwan’s schools have been open since the end of February and there is no drastic lockdown in the island of almost 30 million people.

Hong Kong has had a slightly tougher time. It is ruled by an unpopular leader handpicked by Beijing, so not all the recommendations of its health experts could be implemented. But still, the city has had just more than 1,000 cases and only four deaths, despite never completely closing its border with mainland China and despite a lot of the city functioning as usual. Taiwan and Hong Kong succeeded because they ignored, contradicted, and defied the official position and the advice of the WHO on many significant issues. This is not a coincidence, but a damning indictment of the WHO’s leadership.

...

We must save the WHO, but not by reflexively pretending that nothing’s wrong with it, just because President Trump is going after the organization. We should be realistic and honest about the corruption and shortcomings that have engulfed the leadership of an organization that is deeply flawed, but that is still the jewel of the international health community. The WHO employs thousands of dedicated and selfless health-care workers in 194 countries, and even now it is leading the fight globally against polio and Ebola. It needs to be restructured, and the first order of business is to make sure that it’s led by health professionals who are given the latitude to be independent and the means to resist bullying and pressure, and who demonstrate spine and an unfailing commitment to the Hippocratic oath when they count most.

Shaocaholica posted:

If I were China I would just pick up the WHO tab and make Trump look even dumber.

Sir Not Appearing posted:

WTF. You should just go ahead and call CPS. They can go ahead and put the kid in therapy since he now thinks he's going to be living in a wasteland made up of children with adult corpses covering the landscape.

Louisgod posted:

tfw u have a right to feel healthy and also not have universal healthcare

https://twitter.com/mindfulmoon10/status/1250637227744309248?s=21

Burt Sexual posted:

Uh communal house? And good job on getting your own bathroom weirdo

Burt Sexual posted:

I missed the part where he has plenty of masks but keeps them away from the kids grubbby hands. I’m waiting for your response this nonsense op. Come back before the Burt spurt

Burt Sexual posted:

Child abuse, lol!

Burt Sexual posted:

Yeah yeah I noticed, but the child abuse is not funny to a lot of people. Moving on!

Chomp8645 posted:

That might be a good outcome for embarrassing Trump, but it would NOT be a good outcome for any other purpose, unless you are a member of the CCP.

Ocean Book posted:

lol great

Pick posted:

Some of the Sheep posted:

Please don't move on before banning that piece of poo poo, right now you're looking a lot like Bobbie Wickham.

Lotti Fuehrscheim posted:

Open air classes for school children might be a possibility.

Being together in a room is bad, singing together is the worst, as it produces all this aerosol, a church service singing hymns is covid paradise.

Xenocides posted:

Trump kept stepping in to interrupt the doctors who were asked more adult questions to talk about random things such as in 1917 where something happened, he does not seem to know what it actually was nor did he pay enough attention to get the right year.

Shaocaholica posted:

He’s not wrong according to the stats.

Burt Sexual posted:

I walked by the tv tonight, I can’t watch him anymore, and he says “this virus, it’s very contagious, most people don’t know that right now.” Ty for ur service mr president

coronavirus posted:

Slight problem, your choices for leader to guide us to a comprehensive welfare state utopia is either 1- an egotistical rear end in a top hat who cares more about his image than good policy, or 2- someone who literally can't string together sentences and has trouble understanding the world around him.

50s girl groupon posted:

Bigly contagious and too smart for antibiotics, they just can’t keep up.


We’re all gonna die.

Burt Sexual posted:

In part because of him?

Spinz posted:

Well I picked the wrong day to catch up on all my projects

What the hell is a console?

Burt Sexual posted:

It was a story dude, poor taste, but thanks for the advice and insult!

EA Sports posted:

inoculation programs for teens and kids without preconditions might be a good idea.

Spinz posted:

Well I picked the wrong day to catch up on all my projects

What the hell is a console?

Il Federale posted:

i, too, want the west coast to be obliterated by the military

dee eight posted:

Bend Over and Open Up Again, America!

BOOUAA!

50s girl groupon posted:

We’re all gonna die.

Spinz posted:

Well I picked the wrong day to catch up on all my projects

Noblesse Obliged posted:

Goatse America

bird with big dick posted:

Lol at the snowflakes itt that refuse to tell children the truth that everyone they know will be dead soon and they'll be living in a lord of the fliesesque hellscape for the remainder of their short and miserable lives.

Earwicker posted:

most american soldiers, many of whom are from the west coast and even more of whom have close family and friends on the west coast, are not going to "obliterate" states for taking steps to peacefully leave. and the rightwing elements in the remainder of the country would probably be happy we left.

if there was violent opposition it would more likely come from the various fringe militias within california and oregon, of which there are many

however i dont think newsom is going to go that far anytime soon really

Cthulu Carl posted:

"Billy, I know it's nice out, but this is important, you're going to need to know these skills some day. Now one more time. Kill the pig..."

"Cut her throat. Spill her blood."

"Good. Now get your conch shell, it's time for your music lessons."