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Cell-tower attacks by idiots who claim 5G spreads COVID-19 reportedly hit US:
US warns carriers to boost security, citing reports of attacks in several states.
The Department of Homeland Security is reportedly issuing alerts to wireless telecom providers and law enforcement agencies about potential attacks on cell towers and telecommunications workers by 5G/coronavirus conspiracy theorists. The DHS warned that there have already been "arson and physical attacks against cell towers in several US states."
The preposterous claim that 5G can spread the coronavirus, either by suppressing the immune system or by directly transmitting the virus over radio waves, led to dozens of tower burnings in the UK and mainland Europe. Now, the DHS "is preparing to advise the US telecom industry on steps it can take to prevent attacks on 5G cell towers following a rash of incidents in Western Europe fueled by the false claim that the technology spreads the pathogen causing COVID-19," The Washington Post reported last week.
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FACT: 5G mobile networks DO NOT spread COVID-19!
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(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 20 2020, @01:02PM (7 children)
There actually doesn't seem to be a terribly strong correlation between per-capita Covid mortality and the quality of government. If there were, you'd be forced to draw some strange conclusions. In particular, that Africa is governed better than Europe, or that Little Rock, Arkansas is particularly well governed vs. New York City, or that some countries in Europe would be doing just as well or better if Trump were in charge!
IMHO, the strongest driver of Covid mortality is travel and association. The US has that in spades on the coasts, and so does Europe with its essentially open borders between EU nations. Hard data is hard to come by anyway. The former East Bloc nations might look like they're doing better; but any honest source will tell you that the data are subject to variations in the way they test. Even if they are doing better, it might simply be because people there don't travel as much. That's our whole strategy to combat it without a vaccine: live like peasants who never leave our villages. If your country already has a lot of people living like that, it's going to have less cases, but that doesn't mean it's a superior country.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 20 2020, @02:20PM (4 children)
Not just countries, there's interesting counting being done in the backward states, e.g. Georgia [ajc.com].
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 20 2020, @02:26PM (1 child)
She was so respected in her field that she became a democrat state representative.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 20 2020, @02:58PM
Great research well done. Have another one [theguardian.com].
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Thursday May 21 2020, @02:11AM (1 child)
And that's just the latest Republican attempt to ratfuck the data.
Florida scientist says she was fired for refusing to change Covid-19 data 'to support reopen plan' [theguardian.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 21 2020, @03:15AM
Ratfuck?
When did their personal standards rise?
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Thexalon on Wednesday May 20 2020, @06:43PM (1 child)
I actually wouldn't be surprised if African governments were in fact better prepared than European ones in responding to pandemics. And the reason is that many African governments have had a lot of practice, between HIV, malaria, Ebola, TB, and cholera. And that experience means that African governments and citizens alike are much more likely to take the threat seriously and accept the kinds of restrictions that are needed to reduce its spread, plus it's given them longstanding relationships with the WHO, MSF, and other international health care NGOs.
And more importantly, what they definitely don't have is the same level of arrogance and denial that characterized the responses in Spain Italy, the USA, and Sweden which most definitely made things much worse than they had to be. For example, South Africa had domestic travel restrictions in place a few days after their patient 0 was detected, and has been in complete lockdown for a couple of months now, whereas much of the USA and Europe dragged their feet on both of those measures.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 20 2020, @10:54PM
Back in the 90s when AIDS was ripping the country apart, South Africa bought a couple dozen fighter jets to protect themselves against, uh, Namibia? I guess?