Offside Chat Archives (2014-2021)

wiredfalcon2 said:Look, it's day three of quarantine and you're already losing your mind. It's not something to mess around with, and we need to step up.

Thanks. I'll set up a PayPal link later so you guys can chip in.

Vekjo laid it all out for you.

I guess you're all experts now.

So far, there hasn't been a cure for the virus, though Vekjo is looking into it alongside a few other specialists.

Maybe that's our only shot at getting through this.

Michelle Palmer6 said:It’s already getting chaotic.

But hey, at least there's no real damage—besides, those islands are absolutely packed with New Yorkers right now anyway.🤷

🤣🤣

Michelle Palmer6 said:It’s already getting chaotic.

But hey, at least there's no real damage—besides, those islands are absolutely packed with New Yorkers right now anyway.🤷

🤣🤣

Anthony Jackson2 said:No, we can't—that's the whole problem.

Economically, we won't last a month, but the mental breakdown will be much worse.

Even during wartime, people find ways to socialize—to lean on each other and share the depression. But if we're stuck unable to move an inch, people are going to snap like popcorn.

Think about how much easier it would have been after the earthquake yesterday if people could have just popped over to a neighbor's, or visited family to make sure everyone was okay... instead, they had to bottle it up and fight it alone. Mental health isn't some joke.

Look, you've got Skype, WhatsApp, and all these other ways to stay in touch. You can talk to any neighbor you want; the whole point is just not to spread your contacts thin among too many different groups of people.

Of course mental health isn't a joke—believe me, I've lived enough life to know that. But honestly, that specific way of thinking actually ended up causing me physical health issues, which is probably why I had to quickly move past the depression and suicidal thoughts.

China hasn't reported any new infections for five days straight now. It’s looking pretty positive.

urbanhawk17 said:Vekjo laid it all out for you.

I guess you're all experts now.

So far, there hasn't been a cure for the virus, though Vekjo is looking into it alongside a few other specialists.

Maybe that's our only shot at getting through this.

Look, we can either trust in actual human progress—real science involving levels of global cooperation we haven't seen since... well, maybe climate change—and accept that four more top-tier scientific institutions in the European Union have already jumped on this virus research. We can trust people who spend their entire lives studying this stuff and actually know what they're doing 150 times better than any random person on the internet telling us how to live our lives. Or, we can just be those arrogant jerks who think we know better than everyone else. I get it. We live in a country where institutions are shaky and trust is basically non-existent (for good reason), but let's try to be realistic here. Why on earth would every single sector, every industry, every private funder, and every relevant government agency just commit mass suicide through quarantine just for the hell of it?

wiredfalcon2 said:Look, we can either trust in actual human progress—real science involving levels of global cooperation we haven't seen since... well, maybe climate change—and accept that four more top-tier scientific institutions in the European Union have already jumped on this virus research. We can trust people who spend their entire lives studying this stuff and actually know what they're doing 150 times better than any random person on the internet telling us how to live our lives. Or, we can just be those arrogant jerks who think we know better than everyone else. I get it. We live in a country where institutions are shaky and trust is basically non-existent (for good reason), but let's try to be realistic here. Why on earth would every single sector, every industry, every private funder, and every relevant government agency just commit mass suicide through quarantine just for the hell of it?

So, did you actually find a cure for the Corona virus, or are you just sitting there wishing one would show up?

Actually, in the history of mankind, nobody has ever just "found" a cure for a virus, yet you're acting like that's the only thing that can save us.

And then you turn around and call everyone else arrogant?

Anyway, I'm not looking for an argument.😉

ruggedjackal46 said:I don’t know how this isn't crystal clear by now, but we aren't really looking at a matter of choice here. It’s not like we can just decide whether we want to implement a quarantine or simply sit back and let the virus run wild. Our healthcare infrastructure is already pretty thin, and ignoring the situation would almost certainly trigger a massive spike in cases. We’d end up seeing a much higher death toll simply because people wouldn't have an available hospital bed to go to. And honestly, that leads right back to an economic meltdown anyway—you can't run a country if a huge chunk of the workforce is either dead or incapacitated, and you can bet nobody is going to be flying into the States to visit while there's an active epidemic.

Sure, concerns about an economic crash or the mental health crisis are valid—we're definitely looking at some serious trouble ahead—but those are just extra layers of misery to deal with. They shouldn't be used as an excuse to debate whether or not we "need" a lockdown. It’s not like anyone is sitting around thinking, "You know what? A quarantine sounds like a blast, let's force one on us."

The workforce isn't even at risk.

From what I can see, most people have dealt with much worse illnesses than what you'd get from Corona.

I'm talking about the average person.

The media is just hyper-focused on the catastrophe and spreading panic, as usual.
They're hunting for anyone under 80 who might be slightly unwell just to justify the current state of things.

I’m barely even checking the news sites today. I just take a quick glance at the essentials to see what's going on, and then I get out of there. Honestly, the media has proven themselves to be absolute trash, though it’s not like we didn't already know that.

Ashley Bailey6 said:The workforce isn't even at risk.

From what I can see, most people have dealt with much worse illnesses than what you'd get from Corona.

I'm talking about the average person.

The media is just hyper-focused on the catastrophe and spreading panic, as usual.
They're hunting for anyone under 80 who might be slightly unwell just to justify the current state of things.

Look, if 10% of cases are severe and 5% end up needing a ventilator, we have a problem. This virus spreads easily, the incubation period is long, and absolutely nobody has any built-in immunity to it.
If half a million people get hit all at once, that 5% translates to 25,000 people fighting over maybe 500 to 1,000 ventilators.

Just a wonderful situation we've found ourselves in.

urbanhawk17 said:So, did you actually find a cure for the Corona virus, or are you just sitting there wishing one would show up?

Actually, in the history of mankind, nobody has ever just "found" a cure for a virus, yet you're acting like that's the only thing that can save us.

And then you turn around and call everyone else arrogant?

Anyway, I'm not looking for an argument.😉

Do you honestly think you know more than scientists who spend their entire lives studying this stuff? Yeah or no?

Ashley Bailey6 said:The workforce isn't even at risk.

From what I can see, most people have dealt with much worse illnesses than what you'd get from Corona.

I'm talking about the average person.

The media is just hyper-focused on the catastrophe and spreading panic, as usual.
They're hunting for anyone under 80 who might be slightly unwell just to justify the current state of things.

Look, I’ve dealt with things way worse than Corona, but I had the luxury of a functional healthcare system and easy access to medication. If you’re staring down an overwhelming number of cases all at once, that kind of access disappears. Once the hospitals are redlined, even Corona starts looking lethal for younger people. It becomes just like the flu or pneumonia—something that isn't just a nuisance anymore, but a genuine threat.

China can whip up an entire hospital dedicated solely to Corona cases in a single day, so it makes sense they had to roll out those quarantines just to get a handle on the spread. But what about us? What is America supposed to do when our healthcare system is already struggling to stay afloat under normal circumstances, let alone dealing with a full-blown epidemic?

It’s the same old story, isn't it? The media just loves to fixate on the latest disaster and stir up panic. It's like they can't help themselves—they see a crisis and immediately go into overdrive trying to make everyone lose their minds. Typical.
And they’re going to go looking through a magnifying glass, aren't they? They’ll be hunting around for someone under eighty who isn't exactly firing on all cylinders, just so they can find a convenient excuse to justify their current standing. Is that really how this works now?

With all due respect to the media—and I mean all of it—this global political meltdown isn't just some manufactured frenzy cooked up by news outlets. It’s bigger than that.

wiredfalcon2 said:Do you honestly think you know more than scientists who spend their entire lives studying this stuff? Yeah or no?

Of course not.

But I guess you do.

Like how it's somehow thirty times more lethal, too.

That’s all I’ve got. Believe me, I just don't care anymore.

Elizabeth Mendoza said:China hasn't reported any new infections for five days straight now. It’s looking pretty positive.

I don't buy anything coming out of China—the real question is whether they're even testing people, let alone reporting the results accurately.

ruggedjackal46 said:Look, I’ve dealt with things way worse than Corona, but I had the luxury of a functional healthcare system and easy access to medication. If you’re staring down an overwhelming number of cases all at once, that kind of access disappears. Once the hospitals are redlined, even Corona starts looking lethal for younger people. It becomes just like the flu or pneumonia—something that isn't just a nuisance anymore, but a genuine threat.

China can whip up an entire hospital dedicated solely to Corona cases in a single day, so it makes sense they had to roll out those quarantines just to get a handle on the spread. But what about us? What is America supposed to do when our healthcare system is already struggling to stay afloat under normal circumstances, let alone dealing with a full-blown epidemic?

It’s the same old story, isn't it? The media just loves to fixate on the latest disaster and stir up panic. It's like they can't help themselves—they see a crisis and immediately go into overdrive trying to make everyone lose their minds. Typical.
And they’re going to go looking through a magnifying glass, aren't they? They’ll be hunting around for someone under eighty who isn't exactly firing on all cylinders, just so they can find a convenient excuse to justify their current standing. Is that really how this works now?

With all due respect to the media—and I mean all of it—this global political meltdown isn't just some manufactured frenzy cooked up by news outlets. It’s bigger than that.

That’s why the entire US population is way larger than even Wuhan's.

Sure, things would be a mess for a few weeks, but everything would normalize pretty quickly after that.
Life goes on.

It isn't the temporary lockdowns that worry me. It's the fact that this looks like it's going to drag on indefinitely.

ruggedjackal46 said:Look, I’ve dealt with things way worse than Corona, but I had the luxury of a functional healthcare system and easy access to medication. If you’re staring down an overwhelming number of cases all at once, that kind of access disappears. Once the hospitals are redlined, even Corona starts looking lethal for younger people. It becomes just like the flu or pneumonia—something that isn't just a nuisance anymore, but a genuine threat.

China can whip up an entire hospital dedicated solely to Corona cases in a single day, so it makes sense they had to roll out those quarantines just to get a handle on the spread. But what about us? What is America supposed to do when our healthcare system is already struggling to stay afloat under normal circumstances, let alone dealing with a full-blown epidemic?

It’s the same old story, isn't it? The media just loves to fixate on the latest disaster and stir up panic. It's like they can't help themselves—they see a crisis and immediately go into overdrive trying to make everyone lose their minds. Typical.
And they’re going to go looking through a magnifying glass, aren't they? They’ll be hunting around for someone under eighty who isn't exactly firing on all cylinders, just so they can find a convenient excuse to justify their current standing. Is that really how this works now?

With all due respect to the media—and I mean all of it—this global political meltdown isn't just some manufactured frenzy cooked up by news outlets. It’s bigger than that.

It isn't, but it feels like they are completely committed to pushing certain agendas.

wiredfalcon2 said:Paul Martinez73, look, we don't see eye to eye on some big-picture stuff, but man, the way you break things down and just tear through this topic... I gotta give it to you, 🙏 Kenek is an old joke, but the kid is killing it. It's actually a blast reading this. Cirque du Soleil better watch their back because there's serious competition coming 🤣

I’m not here to lecture anyone or play teacher; I just genuinely enjoy a solid debate. I want an actual argument where we can challenge each other—where you might actually convince me I'm wrong, or at least leave me questioning my own stance... But engaging with people who think they're the only geniuses in a world full of idiots? That's just a waste of breath.

The biggest issue here is that people just don't get the point of quarantine. The whole idea is to stay isolated for fourteen days because that’s how long the virus lingers in your system. Think about it—if you take 100 infected people and put them in quarantine for two weeks, theoretically they should all be recovered by the end, and you wouldn't see any new cases popping up. Plus, if new ones do show up, you actually have a functioning system in place to handle them. But we aren't talking about isolating a hundred people; we're trying to halt an entire country to stop the spread, so you don't accidentally pass it to your family only for them to suffer through it at home. The real headache is that some individuals are just plain idiots and refuse to follow the rules, but you also can't exactly shut down the entire United States for two weeks since certain industries have to stay operational... and then there's the medical staff, who are constantly exposed to crowds, making them the easiest way for the virus to jump from person to person...

All of this should ultimately slow down the expansion, giving us a good two to four weeks to let things settle back into a functional groove...

They’re also scrambling to repurpose existing medications, since some drugs are already being tested against the Coronavirus—not exactly seeing massive breakthroughs yet, but more and more treatments already on the market are being tweaked to see if they can fight Corona...
Vaccines are essentially the "new kid on the block," which means they won't be widely available for another year or two... But an actual cure? That could be hitting the scene much sooner, maybe in just a few months. It probably won't be some magic bullet that works 100% of the time, but then again, what ever is?

I’ll say it again: none of us are smarter than the entire scientific community combined. We’re talking about the people who actually discover cures for diseases, engineer spacecraft, and map out gene cloning... so if Ashley Bailey6 or urbanhawk17 really think they have a better handle on things than the global powers running the show, then honestly, they're beyond help. It isn't exactly rocket science to just stay home for fifteen or thirty days. You aren't even under house arrest—you can go for a stroll, sit on a bench in the park, whatever; you just shouldn't be having physical contact or hanging out close to people for that window. You have one simple job: stay home. But apparently, that's too much to ask because everyone is acting like it's some unbearable tragedy that they "can't go out" or "can't socialize"... please. If you catch the flu and need two weeks to recover, what do you do? Wander around the neighborhood sipping coffee? No, you stay home, get over it, and stop whining all over Reddit and Facebook...

urbanhawk17 said:So, did you actually find a cure for the Corona virus, or are you just sitting there wishing one would show up?

Actually, in the history of mankind, nobody has ever just "found" a cure for a virus, yet you're acting like that's the only thing that can save us.

And then you turn around and call everyone else arrogant?

Anyway, I'm not looking for an argument.😉

Papi explained it perfectly ☕

Luckily, we've managed to manage Hepatitis B

and C

and even recently the CDC's focus on HIV

influenza (though effectiveness varies)

HSV, VZV, and CMV

Can hepatitis B actually leave the body after treatment?

What about HIV?

We actually have a vaccine for the flu, but the real headache is how quickly it mutates seasonally—something you don't typically see with the coronavirus