Coronavirus/Covid-19 Discussion Thread

[alphanguy74]

Factory farming is awful... but also a large portion of the United states does not do it. For isntance, there are 600 cattle farms in my county, and not one of them is a factory farm. they are all cattle grazing on open land. Much of it is the way the animals are handled, and how they are eaten. After all, when was the last time a new virus originated in North america?

[reallyhateskateonlost]

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[JaneAusten]

Any farm that is sublet by the mega corps does it. McDonalds has their own blend of what their cows are fed. Purdue owns farms all over this country as does Monsanto. If you think those animals on all those farms are not pumped up with antibiotics you're fooling yourself. When was the last time you saw a chicken breast in the store that wasn't twice as big as it should be had that chicken been raised safely and humanly. There might be more farms out there right now that aren't like that but the food supply I see in the grocery store - mega sized chicken breasts as an example - don't reflect that those farms are a huge part of our daily food supply.  But aren't you blaming all of China for something that might be an outlier as you claim those factory farms are outliers here. Perhaps neither one of those things are true.

[alphanguy74]

It's simply the manner in which the Chinese process and sell. They simply need to update their food handling practices, or else the next virus might kill half the world's population or worse.  and this article was written 14 YEARS ago. 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16940861

 

Edited April 10, 2020 by alphanguy74

[JaneAusten]

I don't think I denied that did I.

[DramatistDreamer]

The U.S., which also has a disgusting system of factory farming, is in no position to throw stones at China. Both have practices that are uttery foul.

People do know that there is coronavirus spreading all over U.S. meat and poultry plants, right?

 

[alphanguy74]

And FYI... hormones and steroids are banned in chicken production by the FDA in the United States, these huge chicken breasts you see today are a result of selective breeding. Antibiotics are absolutely used, but they do not affect the finished size of the bird. If most people had actually tasted a free range chicken, they'd be demanding THAT, and factory farms would go the way of the wind. It's all about consumer demand. High fructose corn syrup is reducing in use year by year also, due to consumer demand. 

[DramatistDreamer]

[alphanguy74]

Stones should be thrown at both. BTW... can you give me the name of one country that does not practice factory farming?

Edited April 10, 2020 by alphanguy74

[JaneAusten]

You're the one sitting here defending factory farming - no one else. As factory farming lobbyists are pushing congress to criminalize protestors.  And as Coronavirus is running rampant in their facilities as we speak.  

Edited April 10, 2020 by JaneAusten

[alphanguy74]

How am I defending it? It's a global scourge. I wish it was gone TODAY

[DramatistDreamer]

Anyone participating in the factory farm system has no place to talk. Unless you're vegetarian or own, raise your own chickens, it's all just idle talk, isn't it?And both countries are no doubt, under-counting their dead. 

Trump can talk his bullsh*t at his circus PR conferences all day, every day but it doesn't negate or even obscure the truth that the intelligence about this growing COVID-19 crisis was there since late last year, if only he'd read a goddamned intelligence report.

Now because of the buffonery and ignorance of that oaf in the WH, we have to see scenes like this play out in NYC and likely in other places across America.

 

China is a repressive government that lies to their own people, which left Chinese citizens unable to protect themselves. America has a racist, white supremacist, xenophobic, misogynist wannabe authoritarian who doesn't have the sense and intelligence God gave a gnat and it is causing the deaths of thousands of people.

 

 

 

 

 

[alphanguy74]

I agree with you about Trump. But the spread of this virus is caused by one thing. People in too close a proximity to each other. In New York, this fire was ignited by the subway system, and apartment buildings that cram people in like sardines. All in the name of the almighty dollar. 

Edited April 10, 2020 by alphanguy74

[JaneAusten]

Population density certainly is a factor . But this virus is now moving to parts of rural America. You can't blame that on population density. There has been mass closure of rural hospitals over the past 15 to 20 years and they have also been heavily under resourced - people and supplies.

[alphanguy74]

It's not really. That is spin. Outbreaks in rural counties are traced to nursing homes and public events that have been held there. It's almost all density. Some of it is the actual DESIGN of the housing. In most of rural America, apartment buildings aren't multiple floor buildings with a single entrance, like New York. they are 3 floor complexes with covered outdoor stairs. No shared entry door to the building, no shared laundry facilities, no shared elevators. In New York, the percentage of positive cases to people tested is 40%. In my county, it is 4.5%. It's 8.5% in the entire state of Missouri, and that takes into account St. Louis, which has 58% of the positive cases. 

Edited April 10, 2020 by alphanguy74