keroscenefire

Yeah Singapore hasn't been that bad overall..just with their migrant population. As for Ecuador, the biggest outbreak actually has been in the large port city of Guayaquil. This city lies on a muggy coastal delta with average temps in the 80s year round. It does appear that an underfunded and ill-prepared hospital system contributed to the deadly consequences of the outbreak there though.

It's probably a combination of both. Heat and humidity of the summer months likely do damage the virus with increased UV rays unraveling the RNA structures of the virus and increased humidity making it harder for the infectious droplets to spread very far. But yes, it's also likely that more people are outside and not in the crammed indoor conditions that this virus loves to spread in. I also wonder if people are biking and walking more than taking public transit with the warmer weather, decreasing their contact with people. But we've also seen bad outbreaks in very warm and humid areas like Ecuador and Singapore, so we shouldn't assume that we can't have a bad outbreak in the US just because it's summer.

I've been enjoying a local reporter named Kevin Torres. He's actually gay as well. Here is his instagram. He sometimes posts shirtless shots of him in his hot tub. https://www.instagram.com/kevintorresagram/

My car insurance premiums went cheaper. Also my cell-phone got rid of its data caps which of course suggests that they could make plenty of money without caping my data at 10GB. And best of all, my student loan interest has been frozen for six months. I'm using the time to pay down other bills so I'll have less debt overall.

I think that is somewhat unknown at this point. It definitely is the case with some viruses like influenza, that the lower the initial viral load, the less severe of disease. While other viruses like norovirus can sicken people with a very small number of infectious particles. There has kinda been conflicting reports with COVID-19 and the main way to test this through "challenge" studies that give people various doses of the virus under experimental conditions is considered unethical with a virus that is potentially so deadly.

Could be a couple of things: 1) Viral loads may be lower because of social distancing and mask wearing. Those who are exposed to infectious individuals are getting much less virus because of these factors and loosening the restrictions could increase viral loads and therefore create a more harmful illness. 2) There is some thought that COVID is mutating to a less-harmful form. A study from Arizona showed some deletion of nucleotides in the virus over time that is similar to the mutations that occurred with SARS that made it less harmful. In some ways, this could be more advantageous to the virus, because it would allow it to spread more easily among asymptomatic people. We don't know if this mutation is widespread, however. For what it's worth the WHO has pushed back pretty hard against the Italian doctors who said that COVID is losing strength.

This really couldn't happen until prostitution of all kind is made completely legal. The reality is that clients are always going to have the most to lose. Law enforcement rarely if ever goes after providers but they have gone after clients. Plus many escorts (though certainly not all) are completely open about what they do to friends and family with many being in the porn industry or whatever. Very few clients are open about hiring due to the legal and social stigma involved. Ideally we could live in a world where there is no stigma and no legal issues with hiring escorts. But we don't live in that world and the system you propose would be very dangerous as a result.

Yes and a lot of these companies aren't even regularly monitored by the people who own them. Back when the Panama Papers exposed a lot shady offshore accounts, a lot of celebs were listed like Emma Watson, Bono, and Jackie Chan...they had no idea their money was being put there.

Because sometimes our parents/grandparents need much more care than can be provided at home. My cousin(s) recently put my aunt in a nursing home. My one cousin works full-time in a very stressful job and my other cousin is basically a fuck-up, barely able to take care of her own kids (she is one of these religious conservatives that doesn't vaccinate her kids and home-schools them as a result..she has been on social services radar more than once). My aunt has dementia and is very willful and stubborn to the point where she would be leaving the house and getting the police called on her. So everyone thought it would be best to put her in a nursing home where she could be monitored more safely.

It looks like there are many different vaccines with different approaches and results. I think it's possible we'll see a few different ones come into development. Hopefully they offer some strong protection even if it is just to prevent people from getting dangerously ill.

A new study done in California suggests those who recover from COVID have a strong immune response. The doctors behind the study say the T-cells produced after the infection are strong, robust and protective of reinfection. They don't know for sure how long this immunity might last, but are hopeful for a "long-lasting impression," based on the quality and number of memory T-cell produced by the recovered patients they studied (possibly around the same 2-3 year period of SARS and MERS immunity). These same studies have also looked at the data from the Moderna vaccine and the immune response it produced compared favorably to that of these recovered patients. So good news I'd say on the vaccine and immunity front, though this was a relatively small study (only 20 patients), but still good news overall.

I like this idea very much. I've had the pleasure of meeting you in person Maus, but a Zoom call might be the next best thing.

You should get it for your own information. Just remember that we don't know how long immunity lasts for COVID. It probably is not permanent as is the case with other coronaviruses but it probably lasts at least months if not a few years. However, remember that older people tend to produce a weaker immune response as well and everyone is going to be a bit different wit their immune reaction. So just understand that having COVID antibodies does not mean permanent immunity. But I also agree that you are under no obligation to tell your employer.

Denver has a lot of these too....here it is often with an added hippie/stoner element. Managers of a T-Mobile store going to every concert around, buying expensive drugs and living in these expensive luxury condos where they throw elaborate loud parties that they DJ themselves (they're alwasy part-time DJs here). Man this pandemic is going to really put a crimp on their lifestyles.

I met with my regular on Friday. It was a great time. Would likely do it again, though probably only with my trusted regulars.

We should probably be careful. High intensity exercise classes led to COVID being spread to more than 100 people in South Korea from likely COVID positive instructors. Interestingly, low-intensity classes like pilates and yoga didn't appear to cause any infections even though the instructor was likely COVID positive. So maybe not group exercise classes, but possibly low-intensity classes or strength-training with strong social distancing and disinfecting procedures.

So I think I'm jumping back in this weekend. My regular is coming in from Montana. He lives in a very rural community that has seen very little COVID so I think he is pretty safe. First time he has been working since February. For myself, I was finally able to get an antibody test and the presumed COVID I had in March is now almost for sure the real deal. The test has an accuracy of 99.8 percent. My antibody results came back positive so I likely have some temporary immunity to COVID, though of course I know that it won't necessarily last forever. I also haven't had symptoms or a fever for more than 7 weeks now and have gotten the clear from my doctor to even visit my parents. I explained this to my regular as accurately and honestly as possible so he understands the risks. He is only reaching out to previous clients he trusts on this trip and I also am going to be his first client in Denver (though I think he may have one in Wyoming on the way down). It's a risk (probably more for him than me), but I feel okay spending time with a regular I consider to be close to a friend. We already established that the first thing we're going to do is each take a turn in the shower just to clean off anything and then after that we'll have some fun together. Hopefully it all works out. I am glad I took a hiatus but am also glad to be getting back into this with a regular I truly trust and care for. A bit nervous but also excited.

Maybe the bugs have been worked out for earlier, but everything looks fine to me. Nice upgrade!

I'm considering hiring a regular when he travels down from Montana for Memorial Day weekend. He has essentially been isolated in his rural area (only going our for groceries and things) for the last few months and we have a good enough relationship where we'd both would be honest about potential risks.

COVID could truly end up becoming like the flu with limited herd immunity, yearly vaccines, treatments and the ebb and flow of social distancing keeping the disease somewhat in check but never eliminated. It's deadlier now because both the medical system and our individual immune systems have never seen this virus before and so we don't know really what to do with it. As we understand this virus more and more people have been exposed to it, it likely will become a lot more treatable. But like with the flu, we could still see tens of thousands of deaths per year, especially among the most vulnerable populations. We might need to put in social distancing protocols periodically as outbreaks happen in certain areas. I like what they are doing in New Zealand, having everyone think of their lives as a "bubble" that shrinks or expands depending on the severity of the disease outbreak in an area. When things are really bad, the bubble shrinks to just your immediate household and then expands to close friends and family, entire communities and eventually the rest of the world as the threat of the virus lessens.

MERS is actually still around, it's just not very transmittable..most cases are from camel to human transmission (human to human has been recorded but only in hospitals). There actually were 15 cases in Saudi Arabia in March. http://outbreaknewstoday.com/saudi-arabia-reports-15-mers-cases-in-march-2020/

The article doesn't say that because there is coronavirus in semen, that the disease can be sexually transmitted. But like with everything with this disease, we may not know until we do more research.

Most scientists who have studied this suggest that neutralizing antibodies for COVID-19 do provide some protection against the virus. That is certainly what the doctors quoted in this article are saying. “It really shows that most people do develop antibodies, and that there’s very good correlation between those antibodies and their capability to neutralize virus,” Dr. Rasmussen said. Furthermore, the study presented in this article does suggest that the presence of antibodies does mean they have fought off the COVID virus. All the donors who participated in the study had to initially test positive for Coronavirus, recover, return for the donation and then take another COVID test. While some still tested positive for COVID (possibly from some dead virus remaining in their system that is likely non-contagious), those that donated their blood tested negative for active COVID infection AND tested positive for neutralizing antibodies. This means that their body did indeed clear the virus and developed neutralizing antibodies as a result. Of course the big unknown is how long these neutralizing antibodies last. In the coronaviruses that cause the common cold, it's often only months (though they did find that memory B immune cells do respond to these cold viruses and quickly develop antibodies). While more serious coronaviruses like SARS and MERS create immune responses that last a few years. Unfortunately, we probably don't know until time passes and scientists can follow those with antibodies to see how they do over time. Fortunately there are actually many studies doing that very thing, so we'll know eventually.

It's easy enough to take a Clorox wipe on the gas pump. I do that and then clean off my hands with sanitizer after and wash my hands of course when I get home. At my local Target, the put tape over every other urinal and on the toilet in the middle so I guess there is some social distancing there. I'm assuming they clean it regularly, though it wasn't obviously clean when I went in to tinkle. I wore my mask and washed my hands right after doing my business. Opened the door with a paper towel. Faucets and soap had those laser things on them that only work after you put your hand next to them a dozen times or so. I think it worked ok.

Some good news: Most recovered COVID patients do have antibodies. The test was done in hard-hit New York with recovered patients donating their convalescent plasma for those still battling COVID. Researchers tested 1,343 people, the largest antibody study so far with a test that produces less than a 1 percent false positive rate. One promising development was that nearly everyone who recovered from COVID had antibodies regardless if their symptoms were mild, moderate or severe. And doctors do believe these antibodies offer some protection to reinfection from COVID with antibody levels in most patients being high enough to neutralize the virus. Though of course they also cautioned that we still don't know how long these antibodies last and the only way to know is through time. But it's looking more and more clear that many of those who have been sickened once by COVID are at least temporarily resistant to a second infection. That may mean many people could soon people able to return to their lives and also offers encouraging hope that convalescent plasma could be used as a successful treatment for those still suffering from the disease.