Doom On You… Or Something
Stoopid Hoomans (snort!)
Occasionally, there is something useful on the interwebs, as in this NYT article linked below, with links to other sources for additional information.
I have no idea why the NYT focused on a single popular Austrian ski resort, other than it seems to have been awash in carelessness, lack of awareness by the inhabitants, and denial by local officials regarding the severity of the COVID-19 disease and ensuing pandemic. It’s entirely possible that the visitors to and residents of Ischgl simply did not take the problem seriously, hence the wide dispersal of the disease and its subsequent consequences. But that applies to all the other tourist attractions in Europe and elsewhere, not just to a small Austrian ski resort. There is no doubt that if people had been more aware early on, the disease might not have become as widespread as it is now.
How did the President pick it up, along with his wife and some White House staffers? That is a question, but we likely won’t know until he’s out of the hospital. This is not a disease I would wish on anyone, period, so please save the angst-ridden stuff for sniping at the screen during the next debate.
The origin of the Austrian branch of COVID-19 virus and how it spread is at the link below. I managed to get into it without a problem by using the “incognito” feature when clicking on the link.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/30/world/europe/ski-party-pandemic-travel-coronavirus.html
From the article:
The World Health Organization said open borders would help fight disease. Experts, and a global treaty, emphatically agreed. But the scientific evidence was never behind them. (N.B.: Where is their back up for the statement that the WHO said this?)
ISCHGL, Austria — They came from across the world to ski in the most famous resorts of the Austrian alps.
Jacob Homiller and his college friends flew in from the United States. Jane Witt, a retired lecturer, arrived from London for a family reunion. Annette Garten, the youth director at a tennis club in Hamburg, was celebrating her birthday with her husband and two grown children.
They knew in late February and early March that the coronavirus was spreading in nearby northern Italy, and across the other border in Germany, but no one was alarmed. Austrian officials downplayed concerns as tourists crowded into cable cars by day, and après-ski bars at night.
“The whole world meets in Ischgl,” said Ms. Garten.
Then they all went home, unwittingly taking the virus with them. Infected in Ischgl (pronounced “ISH-gul”) or in surrounding villages, thousands of skiers carried the coronavirus to more than 40 countries on five continents. Many of Iceland’s first known cases were traced to Ischgl. In March, nearly half the cases in Norway were linked to Austrian ski holidays.
BEHIND THE CURVE:
This series of articles examines the missteps, misunderstandings and missed warning signals that allowed Covid-19 to spread around the world.
How the World Missed Covid-19’s Silent Spread
Europe Said It Was Pandemic-Ready. Pride Was Its Downfall.
When Covid-19 Hit, Many Elderly Were Left to Die
Ski, Party, Seed a Pandemic: The Travel Rules That Let Covid-19 Take Flight
Nine months into an outbreak that has killed a million people worldwide, Ischgl is where the era of global tourism, made possible by cheap airfares and open borders, collided with a pandemic. For decades, as trade and travel drew the world closer, public health policy, enshrined by treaty, encouraged global mass tourism by calling for open borders, even during outbreaks. – article
The article itself is quite long, has a lot of photos of the general area of Ischgl and a brief history of how it went from being a “backwater” and quiet little town in Austria to being a mainstream ski resort. However, if the dismissive attitude by locals toward CV19 was pertinent to this (and the authors provide no real back up as a source for their opinion piece), and the spread of CV19 in Germany and Italy was already underway, they need more than opinion to justify pointing the finger at a single town in the Austrian Alps as the source of the spread of this plague.
If it spread from Italy and Germany into Austria, then Ischgl is hardly Gr9und Zero. It was already present in Chicago, IL, and a few other cities in the USA in January 2020, thanks to international air travel.
The spread does seem to be slowing down a bit, but that was also true of the Spanish flu on its first go-round in 1918. It returned with a whammy in 1919 and did not completely fade away until 1920. Mind you, I am not criticising these people for putting this article together, because it does contain some pertinent information about the spread of this disease and the lackadaisical attitude that existed at the beginning of this epidemic. I think they did try to do a good job. But they’ve presented it almost as if they are writing a novel like one of Stephen King’s spook stories, and he already beat them to it with “The Stand”, which was published back in the 1970s.
They did seem to miss the point that they were trying to make, which was that Ischgl became a “disease cluster” because no one took the disease seriously. But this was also true of other towns and cities in Europe, in the same time period and prior to the appearance of CV-19 at Ischgl.
It is interesting, however, as a look at a disease cluster. And it is a long read, so crack a cold one or get a pot of a hot beverage with caffeine and some snacks and enjoy the trip. The landscape in the Austrian Alps is quite beautiful.
Category: COVID-19
The disease became a cluster because it was deemed RAAAAAYYYYCCCIIIISSSSSS to shut down borders in an attempt to slow/stop the spread of a disease that had its Ground Zero as Wuhan, in the Communist Country of China! And it was Trump’s fault! But note that the claim of WHO that it was safe to travel. And note, too, that is has been determined that the Communist Government of China has had a major influence on what WHO has said and done. Make note, also, of who (c what I did there) has poured research and construction money into the University of Wuhan where the virus originated back in 2019 and then was (IMO) deliberately unleashed upon an unsuspecting world as a biological warfare experiment.
Cool linkys Mi’Lady, lots of nice pictures too. Helped out you posting those, enable me to bypass all the obstacles to the Noo Yack Slimes. For some reason if I were to try to go straight to a Slimes article, it’s blocked. May be my firewalls/security features that my Boy put on this machine. Thanks!
Oh, btw…spapos seagull showing up to refute everything I just typed, squawk about China not being Communist, and screech…”ORANGE MAN BAD!”
China is also peeved – really, really peeved – that the US is selling military aircraft of various sorts to Taiwan.
More on that in a bit. Chill some drinks or fix a pot of hot stuff and get your comfy chair going.
The new South Park season premiere covered the C/19 nicely.
Me and the kids laughed at Chin Diapers.
I haven’t watched South Park in a long time except repeats of old stuff. I was a little taken aback at transfer of DNA. But then again, quite a few years ago, they kinda covered this too with the Internet and Randy Marsh so I’m not surprised.
Also,
I’m kinda shocked but not, that South Park has now been on for 24 years. I’m like WTF Holy SHIT and BBQ!!!
So did they note that there were also certain tourists from western China at Ischgl? (I can’t reach NYT from work, it isn’t considered a news source).
It truly amazes me that early when the WH was trying to restrict Chines flights they were labeled racist, but then when the virus had rooted itself in their cities, it became the WH is not doing enough! They seemed to want it both ways!
“…it isn’t considered a news souce.”
MIRanger, you coula posted a spew alert, just for pity’s sake!
Yes, The They do want it both ways because they are afflicted with spoiled brat syndrome.
They will go thru life like that and it will be engraved on their headstones… “He wanted it both ways…” or something like that.
He may have been serious about the NYT, I know I don’t consider it a news source almost all the time. Like the blind squirrel, they find a nut once in a while.
Frankly, they publish so much fiction as “fact” that it hasn’t been a reliable news source in several decades.
Why focus on some small town in Austria?
Why not on the real source of the virus?
What are they really afraid of????
This article read far too much like a novel, not a news story. Not poorly written, but poorly researched, with no references as backups, and ignoring the rest of Europe – this makes it all suspect, in my view.
On the surface, it looks feasible. Then, as you indicate, it slowly sinks into the “blind squirrel” direction and there’s no real story.
It’s probably something they worked really, really hard on, too. (sniffle) Not defending it at all, just wondering what the point was to it.
Looks like the BlueAnon conspiracy mill is spewing all sorts of bizarre stuff about Trump and ChiComCoof19.
What I find fascinating is the idea someone may have targeted Trump and entourage with a bio-attack at the debate. Movie-worthy plot device, but far more likely some unthinking whomever honked a loogie on their mask, touched it “adjusting it”, and then a doorknob or table.
Kudos to Trump for the open use of the still-technically-experimental treatment. Also for the giant F U to the AntiTrumps with the drive-by campaign event.
I thought it was Biden’s breath that was the problem.
But what do I know?
Doomed……
We’re so doomed……
DOOOOOOMMMMEEEDDDDD I say !!!!