Had to return to this one sorry, it was playing on my head as I can't be arsed getting sick again really. Prefer to think of my post-covid state as one of antibody freedom for a bit.
The "EVERYONE GETS RE-INFECTED" (no dig intended) on page 174-
This links to a guardian (alleged bastion of press standards if you listen to them drone on) article that doesn't quote it's source. Eventually if you search for the origin, it links to a Reuters
article with no statistics or evidence to clearly back it up. Just anecdotal evidence from doctors from one region. Not denying the veracity of those statements- what the fuck do I know- but if you're just reading the guardian in this situation, it's judiciously quoted and presented as gospel. This may be 23 patients out of 30k+ plus, but droid's perspective is "they will lock the infected away".
But really what's the basis for this. A handful of cases that may indicate false negatives because people have been really sick and it's just lurking somewhere in a recess of the body regrouping? They're referencing a very small minority of people here, and although I appreciate that the Chinese situation is clouded in mystery a bit, where's the evidence for this in a reliable sense. Zero documentation, zero peer review, just a few quotes. Don't doubt the sources are valid but where's the scientific basis for any of it.
It applies to both sites of the spectrum of course- over the last month Trump's malaria drug was a cure, vitamin c definitely sorts it, nictotine patches now. No basis for any of it bar a couple of theories. These articles are everywhere.
It's odd that in such uncertain times- literally no-one knows anything here- there's such a rush in the press to present everything as fact. I guess speculative reporting is difficult but there is no other scientific field where people would be jumping in with such willingness to report on un-reviewed material and then it's circulated at such a rapid pace.
That thing about the multitude of strains is interesting too- "hasn’t yet been vetted by the peer-review process or published in an academic journal"- reported anyway. Fuck it, who cares.
It's almost like disinformation in a way.