From Pine View Farm

Health and Sanity category archive

Contagion, Reprise 0

Speaking of said less than competent response, here’s a view from the trenches.

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Uncoordinated 0

An interstate trucker draws on her own experience to talk with Thom about the need for a coordinated national response to COVID-19.

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The Wall 0

At last, a theory about the TP frenzy . . . .

Man and woman behind high wall of toilet paper.  Man says,

Click for the original image.

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Bait and Switch 0

What happens if you are ill and get unknowingly referred to an “out of network” health care provider?

Why, you get to shake the fee hand of the market.

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A Trumpled Emergency 0

Frame One, captioned

Click for the original image.

A Poem, Not by Henry Gibson:

Thank heavens for governors with guts,
Though they hardly make up for President Putz.

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The Fee Hand of the Market, Going Viral Dept. 0

Title:  Pandemic advice from the invisible hand of the free market.  Image:  A hand, dressed in a doctor's white coat, speaks:  I'm not a doctor, but I sometimes dress like on, so as to appear implicitly trustworthy.  And, yes, I'm aware that you can see me.  It's the magic of the free market.  Don't overthink it.  The coronavirus is spreading exponentially and hardly anyone has been tested, but don't worry.  Everything is under control!  Sort of.  I guess.  More test kits might be available soon.  Unless, you know, they're not.  Who the hell knows, really?  Some people think this crisis proves that health care should be guaranteed for all.  But Americans don't want free stuff.  Americans are rugged individualists who love to survive pandemics without help from an intrusive big government.  You got this!  I believe in you!  And just think of the damage socialized medicine would do--to the private insurance industry.  Their job is the make profits, not to provide everyone with a relaxing free vacation in a luxurious hospital room.  If you don't have insurance, you can always go to the emergency room and give them a fake name or maybe run a GoFundMe or something, I don't know.  What part of rugged individualism did you fail to comprehend?  Anyway, wash your hands and don't touch your face, which is admittedly complicated in my case.  You would not believe how much Purell I go through, when I can even find it!  Have you seen those price gougers?  I'm very proud of them.

Click for the original image.

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Hazmat 0

Man on street corner reading news story about COVID-19 looks up to see man in hazmat suit carrying

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Lies and Lying Liars, Going Viral Dept. 0

At azcentral.com, E. J. Montini reviews news of the coronavirus and rounds up the flock of falsehoods flooding the foreground, foremost among them those fomented by our Liar-in-Chief.

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Facebook Frolics, Going Viral Dept. 0

At Science 2.0, Hank Campbell warns us that Facebook is not a good place to study epidemiology.

Follow the link for his evidence.

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Impending 0

Scientist looking through a microscope at a virus with Donald Trump's hair and the label,

Via The Bob Cesca Show Blog.

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Anxiety Attack 0

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Epidemiology, Claim Denied Dept. 0

Farron discusses an article by a doctor arguing that “Medicare for All” is the best option for providing decent healthcare to Americans, as opposed to our current predatory for profit system.

Transcript here.

Aside:

We went to the symphony yesterday. When the conductor came on stage, instead of shaking hands with the first violinist/concert master, as is the custom, the two of them bumped elbows.

The guest soloist did the same with the first violinist and the conductor.

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The Fee Hand of the Market 0

Image of classified ad page with one ad circled.  It says,

Click for the original image.

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Clouds of Witless 0

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Health Care in a Health Scare, Reprise 0

Title:  U. S. Health System Readying for Coronavirus.  Image:  Doctor reading CDC report. Nurse holding box of masks.  Insurance companty readying

Via Juanita Jean.

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Health Care in a Health Scare 0

David discusses the financial implications facing individuals as regards coronavirus testing and treatment in our predatory for profit health care system.

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Trumpled Epidemiology 0

In related news, “infodemic.”

The stupid. It burns (us all).

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Just the Vaxx, Ma’am 0

Doctor:  The science on vaccines is indisputable.  Anti-Vaxxer carrying

Click for the original image.

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Welcome to the Medicine Show 0

Via C&L.

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Blinders 0

Farhad Manjoo uses the spread of the coronavirus–more precisely, the spread of misinformation and hysteria and outright falsehoods about the coronavirus–to highlight a larger problem: the failure to pay attention to and heed what science and scientists have to say about real things happening in the real world.

Here’s a bit (emphasis added):

On social networks and in too many corners of the mainstream media, scientific expertise is cloaked by a fog of propaganda, misinformation and scam ads for essential oils and that one mystery food every gut doctor in America is begging you to throw out. From the food industry to the drug industry to the oil and gas industry, corporate America routinely hides science under a haze of well-funded oppo. The gun industry did one better: Under legislation pushed for by the National Rifle Association, the federal government until recently was hamstrung in even funding scientific research into gun violence.

Our collective inability to communicate about science has thoroughly perverted our politics. Because science has become so deeply intertwined with partisan dogma, people’s very conception of scientific expertise has been hijacked by tribal reflex. Today, a lot of people seem to determine how much they trust scientists based on their political ideas, which is backward and bizarre.

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