Apr 5, 2020 06:10 AM
(This post was last modified: Apr 5, 2020 06:56 AM by C C.)
Yep, lots of luck with that trying to shut-down a cultural tradition. About as likely as Russians giving up vodka, Americans giving up guns, China putting an end to TCM, and Asia in general abolishing wet markets for good. Or as likely as quitting smoking after being diagnosed with lung cancer --> Betty Draper, S7-E13.
(RELATED: China Already Reopening Its Wet Markets. Bloomberg Says That's Good)
Gabon bans sale & eating of bats & pangolins
https://phys.org/news/2020-04-gabon-pang...demic.html
EXCERPT: Gabon on Friday banned the sale and eating of bats and pangolins, which are suspected of sparking the novel coronavirus in China where they are highly prized in traditional medicine. [...] The central African nation is 88 percent covered in forest and hunting and bush meat have long been a way of life.
The water and forest ministry said the novel coronavirus was a "combination of two different viruses, one close to bats and the other closer to pangolins", and claimed to be quoting a scientific study published in Nature.
Gabon has declared 21 COVID-19 infections, but none from animals, the ministry said. "A similar decision was taken by the authorities when our country was affected by the Ebola virus—a ban on eating primates," Forestry Minister Lee White said.
[...] The pangolin, the world's most heavily trafficked mammal, also called the scaly anteater, is believed to have possibly been a vector in the leap of the novel coronavirus from animal to human at a market in China's Wuhan city last year. Its body parts fetch a high price on the black market as they are commonly used in traditional Chinese medicine, although scientists say they have no therapeutic value... (MORE - details)
The noble lie about masks and coronavirus should never have been told
https://theweek.com/articles/906647/nobl...-been-told
EXCERPT: . . . The 180-degree shift in acceptable public opinion about masks is in line with how the rest of this crisis has unfolded [contradictory]. Masks won't help. Everyone needs a mask. It's not worth shutting down travel to and from China over the virus, and Trump is just being a xenophobe here. Trump should have done more to prevent the virus from coming to these shores. It's less dangerous than the flu; calling it less dangerous than the flu is a right-wing meme, perhaps even (one shudders) "misinformation." [...] it originated with animals in Chinese open-air "wet" food markets. Talking about the wet markets is racist, except when Dr. Fauci does it.
Can we please stop talking this way? As I write this our paper of record is all but publicly rooting for the failure of anti-malarial drugs that appear to have been successful in treating some coronavirus patients. It is not against "science," whatever that may be [...] It is not for science, either. It's just a fact that may or may not have limited application depending upon what happens over the next few months. A bit more epistemic humility would be welcome all around.
[...] We must put an end to the idea that the best way to get through this crisis is to say things we know are not true in the hope of getting people to behave a certain way. This means not saying masks are useless when what you really mean is, "Masks are in short supply, please consider before you start hoarding them whether you really need them at present and if so how many."
Ditto the painfully relentless attempts to give young people the impression that they are horribly likely to die from the new virus.[*] Even in Italy, the country with the worst measured fatality rate so far, around 86 percent of all the deceased have been aged 70 or older, and 50 percent were at least 80. [...] It should be enough to say, "Even though you are very unlikely to die from coronavirus ... please don't revel with 5000 strangers at the beach and then run home to give Grandma a hug."
This is how grown-ups talk to one another... (MORE - details)
- - - extraneous footnote - - -
[*] But the under-50 crowd who do acquire significant symptoms may suffer unpleasantly before that outcome of "most of them not dying", as well as medical care being in short supply during that period.
(RELATED: China Already Reopening Its Wet Markets. Bloomberg Says That's Good)
Gabon bans sale & eating of bats & pangolins
https://phys.org/news/2020-04-gabon-pang...demic.html
EXCERPT: Gabon on Friday banned the sale and eating of bats and pangolins, which are suspected of sparking the novel coronavirus in China where they are highly prized in traditional medicine. [...] The central African nation is 88 percent covered in forest and hunting and bush meat have long been a way of life.
The water and forest ministry said the novel coronavirus was a "combination of two different viruses, one close to bats and the other closer to pangolins", and claimed to be quoting a scientific study published in Nature.
Gabon has declared 21 COVID-19 infections, but none from animals, the ministry said. "A similar decision was taken by the authorities when our country was affected by the Ebola virus—a ban on eating primates," Forestry Minister Lee White said.
[...] The pangolin, the world's most heavily trafficked mammal, also called the scaly anteater, is believed to have possibly been a vector in the leap of the novel coronavirus from animal to human at a market in China's Wuhan city last year. Its body parts fetch a high price on the black market as they are commonly used in traditional Chinese medicine, although scientists say they have no therapeutic value... (MORE - details)
The noble lie about masks and coronavirus should never have been told
https://theweek.com/articles/906647/nobl...-been-told
EXCERPT: . . . The 180-degree shift in acceptable public opinion about masks is in line with how the rest of this crisis has unfolded [contradictory]. Masks won't help. Everyone needs a mask. It's not worth shutting down travel to and from China over the virus, and Trump is just being a xenophobe here. Trump should have done more to prevent the virus from coming to these shores. It's less dangerous than the flu; calling it less dangerous than the flu is a right-wing meme, perhaps even (one shudders) "misinformation." [...] it originated with animals in Chinese open-air "wet" food markets. Talking about the wet markets is racist, except when Dr. Fauci does it.
Can we please stop talking this way? As I write this our paper of record is all but publicly rooting for the failure of anti-malarial drugs that appear to have been successful in treating some coronavirus patients. It is not against "science," whatever that may be [...] It is not for science, either. It's just a fact that may or may not have limited application depending upon what happens over the next few months. A bit more epistemic humility would be welcome all around.
[...] We must put an end to the idea that the best way to get through this crisis is to say things we know are not true in the hope of getting people to behave a certain way. This means not saying masks are useless when what you really mean is, "Masks are in short supply, please consider before you start hoarding them whether you really need them at present and if so how many."
Ditto the painfully relentless attempts to give young people the impression that they are horribly likely to die from the new virus.[*] Even in Italy, the country with the worst measured fatality rate so far, around 86 percent of all the deceased have been aged 70 or older, and 50 percent were at least 80. [...] It should be enough to say, "Even though you are very unlikely to die from coronavirus ... please don't revel with 5000 strangers at the beach and then run home to give Grandma a hug."
This is how grown-ups talk to one another... (MORE - details)
- - - extraneous footnote - - -
[*] But the under-50 crowd who do acquire significant symptoms may suffer unpleasantly before that outcome of "most of them not dying", as well as medical care being in short supply during that period.
