celadon posted:

also the classical 'viruses love to get less deadly' example is the myxoma virus which originally was killing rabbits at like 99% rate and then mellowed out over time to the totally mild and not a big deal at all 60% death rate

Platystemon posted:

Dog Case posted:

The famous chess term for when one player keeps winning unimpeded while the other player finds out over and over

Platystemon posted:

emgeejay posted:

back to normal, baby!

quote:

WSJ NEWS EXCLUSIVE | U.S.
More Americans Are Ending Up Homeless—at a Record Rate
High housing costs and evictions push more people from homes, advocates say

By Jon Kamp and Shannon Najmabadi
Aug. 14, 2023 10:00 am ET
The U.S. has seen a record increase in homeless people this year as the Covid-19 pandemic fades, according to a Wall Street Journal review of data from around the country.

How we compiled the U.S. homeless numbers
The Journal reviewed available data from more than 300 entities that count homeless people in areas ranging from cities to entire states. Those entities accounted for eight of every nine homeless people counted last year. The data so far this year are up roughly 11% from 2022, a sharp jump that would represent by far the biggest recorded increase since the government started tracking comparable numbers in 2007. The next highest increase was a 2.7% jump in 2019, excluding an artificially high increase last year caused by pandemic counting interruptions. The Journal’s tally thus far includes more than 577,000 homeless people. The outstanding entities, known as continuums of care, declined to provide their numbers, didn’t respond to requests or couldn’t be reached.

These are preliminary numbers, and a final estimate—meant to represent a single night of homelessness in the U.S.—is expected later this year from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The numbers come from so-called point-in-time counts conducted early this year, and pending reports and HUD’s assessment could alter the final percentage change on the year.
Point-in-time counts are widely considered to be an undercount of the true problem. The annual counts can be influenced by factors such as weather and the number of volunteers. Still, HUD considers these numbers a vital tool to measure the homeless population and allocate resources. In some places, increases may reflect the homeless problem becoming more visible following counting issues during the pandemic.

The factors at play, according to advocates
This year’s surge reflects a host of pressures around the U.S. such as rising housing costs, lack of affordable rental units and the nation’s continuing opioid crisis, according to reports from nonprofits and government agencies counting the homeless. The biggest driver remains high housing costs, which are now taking a heavier toll following the wind down of pandemic-era relief spending and policies such as eviction moratoriums, according to advocates for the homeless.

“The Covid-relief funds provided a buffer,” said Donald Whitehead Jr. , executive director at the National Coalition for the Homeless, an advocacy group. “We’re seeing what happens when those resources aren’t available.” Data from the Eviction Lab, a Princeton University research initiative that tracks filings in more than 30 cities, show most of them reported more eviction filings this year, through the end of June, than they averaged before the pandemic. The U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness, a federal agency, also blamed growing homeless counts on housing costs and shortages. The agency said the 2023 numbers don’t reflect recent efforts the Biden administration has undertaken to combat homelessness, such as awarding more than $500 million in new vouchers and grants to address rural and unsheltered homelessness.

HUD, which deferred comment on the Journal’s findings to the homelessness agency, hasn’t released its report from counts performed in early 2023. But the Journal has reviewed preliminary numbers from most of the roughly 400 continuums of care, ranging from metro areas with huge homeless populations such as Los Angeles to rural areas and the island territory of Guam. “We are beginning to feel the full economic fallout of the Covid-19 era,” said Jamie Rife, executive director of the Metro Denver Homeless Initiative, the local continuum. Denver reported a 32% increase in homeless numbers in this year’s point-in-time count, among the largest increases in big cities. The Journal reported in June, based on data at that time from places representing about 43% of the prior year’s homeless population, that numbers were trending higher around the U.S. Since then reports have come in from many more places, including Los Angeles County, which reported a nearly 10% increase.
For select places such as Seattle and San Francisco that didn’t perform unsheltered counts this year, the Journal followed HUD’s methodology by using the prior year’s unsheltered number.

Some places, particularly New York City, say an influx of migrants have also inflated homeless counts. The city, where court decisions have established a legal right to shelter, recently reported about 82,700 people in its shelter system. In Massachusetts, Democratic Gov. Maura Healey declared a state of emergency this month because of a fast-rising number of migrant families in need of shelter and services. That state has a unique law requiring shelter for homeless families. The New Orleans-area continuum saw its homeless count rise almost 15%, reversing recent improvements. A host of factors contributed to the increase, including rising rents and damage from Hurricane Ida in 2021, said Martha Kegel, who leads the local continuum. “It’s all the more disheartening because we made huge progress in reducing homelessness during the first two years of the pandemic,” Kegel said.

Why Am I So Tired posted:

Oh man, I'm so sorry. I hope she's able to fully recover and somehow manage to avoid getting infected. Everyone responsible should be rotting in a cell, it's 100% social murder.

tuyop posted:

hell yeah, well said

I hope things turn out ok in this situation but we know there are lots that don’t.

The Demilich posted:

Hi I'm a doctor, we ran out of thermometers so I have to put my tongue in your mouth to guess the temperature.

How dare you get angry at my methodology I went to Harvard!

Steve Yun posted:

ayyyyyy



https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/more-70-us-household-covid-spread-started-child-study-suggests

The Demilich posted:

Hi I'm a doctor, we ran out of thermometers so I have to put my tongue in your mouth to guess the temperature.

How dare you get angry at my methodology I went to Harvard!

Morbus posted:

This is a nice essay, but honestly occam's razor is just that these aren't smart people. On it's face, this is an entirely natural conclusion--why would they be? Nothing about the selection of these elite in-groups places particularly high demands on intelligence, wisdom, or experience as such. In many cases it arguably demands the opposite. I think the conflict is just that people have been so rigorously conditioned to believe that our society is at least some kind of meritocracy--even if it is a ruthless and injust one. But it isn't. Humans have created an increasingly complex technological society that is beyond the ability of a few disconnected specialists to understand let alone control, and in that context it is no surprise that a bunch of lawyers and fundraisers are doing a poo poo job at governing it

Pablo Nergigante posted:

Sounds pretty unlikely to me.

Steve Yun posted:

ayyyyyy



https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/more-70-us-household-covid-spread-started-child-study-suggests

good luck to the parents

quote:

Findings In a cohort study of 166 170 households with adults and children using smart thermometers, among 38 787 inferred household transmissions of viruses over 3 years, including SARS-CoV-2, 70.4% had a pediatric index case. Rates dropped during school breaks.

quote:

In our continuing focus on CDC’s HICPAC (Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee), we’ve looked at their upcoming August 22 teleconference, where it seems likely that the conflicted commitee will downgrade HCW protection from airborne diseases from N95s to “Baggy Blues.”

quote:

In a later post, I’ll examine HICPAC’s guidelines more closely. In this post, however, I will examine the Committee itself. Personnel, after all, is policy! Here is the roster of HICPAC members:

I will now go through each committee member, present any relevant publications, and present the current masking policy of each hospital with which they are affiliated. [...] I’m going to examine the members a little out of order, because I notice an old friend–

-

Some conclusions:

1. None of the hospitals with which the HICPAC members are affiliated have a policy of universal masking.

2. Though some of the HICPAC members look not unfavorably on masking, and on airborne transmission generally, none could be characterized as advocates.

3. Favorability toward universal masking, ideally with N95s, is inversely correlated with institutional clout; Mass General/Brighams vehemently opposed; the University of North Carolina and Barnes-Jewish persuadable.

4. The HICPAC committee members are in the pleasant position of being able to ratify as guidance policies that their institutions have already adopted (i.e., no universal masking, let along universal masking with N95s, going forward). One might, indeed, go so far as to characterize the HICPAC meeting as theatre, were there drama involved in a clearly pre-determined outcome[2].

Pablo Nergigante posted:

Sounds pretty unlikely to me.

The Demilich posted:

Hi I'm a doctor, we ran out of thermometers so I have to put my tongue in your mouth to guess the temperature.

How dare you get angry at my methodology I went to Harvard!

16-bit Butt-Head posted:

what the hell are you talking about what doctors are you going to

mark immune posted:

dr hellworld!

ibid posted:

Coming up quick.

https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/202...conference.html

https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/202...e-on-masks.html

Modus Pwnens posted:

How does a person in the US get rapid test kits these days? My insurance doesn't offer it anymore.

ibid posted:

Coming up quick.

https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/202...conference.html

https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/202...e-on-masks.html

Morbus posted:

This is a nice essay, but honestly occam's razor is just that these aren't smart people. On it's face, this is an entirely natural conclusion--why would they be? Nothing about the selection of these elite in-groups places particularly high demands on intelligence, wisdom, or experience as such. In many cases it arguably demands the opposite. I think the conflict is just that people have been so rigorously conditioned to believe that our society is at least some kind of meritocracy--even if it is a ruthless and injust one. But it isn't. Humans have created an increasingly complex technological society that is beyond the ability of a few disconnected specialists to understand let alone control, and in that context it is no surprise that a bunch of lawyers and fundraisers are doing a poo poo job at governing it

Oracle posted:

so there has to be public comment on this or something, right? some way making them realize we see what they’re doing? OSHA? Anyone?

Oracle posted:

so there has to be public comment on this or something, right? some way making them realize we see what they’re doing? OSHA? Anyone?

quote:

I would, nevertheless, try to join the August 22 teleconference. There’s nothing wrong with throwing a tomato at a rotten performance!

emgeejay posted:

back to normal, baby!

Modus Pwnens posted:

How does a person in the US get rapid test kits these days? My insurance doesn't offer it anymore.

Salt Fish posted:

New BSL 3 guidance is to protect workers with a plastic bag filled with glue vapor that they can huff if they feel worried about getting sick.

quote:

chase out the people who are making the thread lovely. doesn't really matter how

quote:

FYI I am required to wear one of these at work when working with actual SARS-CoV-2 positive samples, current variants are the most infectious virus in human history

quote:

not sure how that's relevant to people wearing it while eating toothpicked cheese and hotdogs or getting contactless delivery

Rochallor posted:

You know, I skimmed through these and they make a good point. Most of the population has already had covid at least once, so the only people who should be masking are those with pre-existing conditions, like a previous covid infection.

ibid posted:

Coming up quick.

https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/202...conference.html

https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/202...e-on-masks.html

The Demilich posted:

Hi I'm a doctor, we ran out of thermometers so I have to put my tongue in your mouth to guess the temperature.

How dare you get angry at my methodology I went to Harvard!

16-bit Butt-Head posted:

what the hell are you talking about what doctors are you going to

Snowglobe of Doom posted:

It's just like that scene in Star Trek: The Next Generation where Data realises he can't outright beat that alien dude at 3D chess and the best he can do is draw even ..... then he realises he can just draw out the game indefinitely until the other dude forfeits in frustration. He doesn't get tired and he's not programmed to feel boredom so as long as he stays in the game he's going to win via attrition.

Covid also never gets tired or bored.

The Demilich posted:

I assure you my credentials are top of the line, and my diploma hangs on many fridges.
Please step into my office:

quote:

In bystander activation, T and/or B cells, of random self-specificity, are unleashed after accidentally getting costimulated by infection signals. The fact that specificity is random means that the T and B may set off autoimmune responses against different (random!) tissues. 3/x