TallGuyJohninBKK

"We reached out to Kevin McKernan, an author on both preprints, to better understand his views. Rather than replying to our email, he posted a screenshot of it on X, formerly known as Twitter, and included responses there. McKernan, who has an undergraduate degree in biology, is the founder of Medicinal Genomics, a company that markets test kits and genomics-related services to the cannabis, hemp and mushroom industries. [emphasis added] https://www.factcheck.org/2023/10/scicheck-covid-19-vaccines-have-not-been-shown-to-alter-dna-cause-cancer/ Another authoritative anti-vaxer source.... 🤡

Re the above-cited alarmist claims by McKernan and Speicher, a bunch of recycled COVID anti-vaccine misinformation, as shown below: COVID-19 Vaccines Have Not Been Shown to Alter DNA, Cause Cancer October 26, 2023 SciCheck Digest "Small amounts of DNA from the manufacturing process may remain in the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines. Purification and quality control steps ensure any leftover DNA is present within regulatory limits. There isn’t reason to think that this residual DNA would alter a person’s DNA or cause cancer, contrary to claims made online." ... "A spokesperson from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration told us in an email that “no safety concerns related to residual DNA have been identified.” The spokesperson added that “with regard to the mRNA vaccines, while concerns have been raised previously as theoretical issues, available scientific evidence supports the conclusion that the minute amounts of residual DNA do not cause cancer or changes to a person’s genetic code.” A spokesperson for the European Medicines Agency — which helps regulate medical products in the European Union — told us via email that the agency “can confirm that we have not seen any reliable evidence of residual DNA exceeding approved/safe levels” for the Pfizer/BioNTech or Moderna COVID-19 vaccines. Nor is the EMA “aware of scientific evidence showing that the very small amounts of residual DNA that may be present in vaccine batches could integrate into the DNA of vaccinated individuals,” the spokesperson continued." https://www.factcheck.org/2023/10/scicheck-covid-19-vaccines-have-not-been-shown-to-alter-dna-cause-cancer/ VAERS and plasmid DNA “contamination” of COVID-19 vaccines: The nonsense continues This week, a new preprint made the social media rounds falsely claiming a correlation between “contamination” of COVID-19 vaccines with plasmid DNA and VAERS reports of adverse events. How does its methodology stink? Let me count the ways. October 21, 2023 ... The preprint being flagged as “concerning” is apparently McKernan’s followup to his original awful study of his that I first discussed in depth a few months ago and that led to followup studies that were equally bad by scientists like Phillip Buckhaults. I will agree that the study is “concerning,” but not because it provides support for the claim that mRNA vaccines are massively contaminated with plasmid DNA to the point that they can cause “turbo cancer,” Prof. El-Deiry’s post/Tweet notwithstanding. A quick read of the preprint, DNA fragments detected in monovalent and bivalent Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna modRNA COVID-19 vaccines from Ontario, Canada: Exploratory dose response relationship with serious adverse events, revealed many problems to me other than its having been coauthored by at least two antivaxxers, Kevin McKernan and Jessica Rose and abusing the Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS) database in a way that antivaxxers love to do. ... In the end, this is yet another awful study that, even if taken at face value and assuming the methodology was valid and analyzed correctly, doesn’t show what the authors claim that it shows. Add the methodological questions and the lack of some key controls, and it’s not only not good evidence for harm from residual plasmid DNA left in COVID-19 vaccines, but it’s downright uninterpretable. With this study, McKernan and Rose have joined the long, dishonorable list of antivax “scientists” producing bad science to support their antivaccine fear mongring going all the way back to Andrew Wakefield." https://www.respectfulinsolence.com/2023/10/21/vaers-and-plasmid-dna-contamination-of-covid-19-vaccines-the-nonsense-continues/ The above authored by David H. Gorski, MD, PhD, FACS – Managing Editor of the online newsletter Science Based Medicine

What Is Asymptomatic COVID-19 and Are You Contagious? Studies suggest 1 in 5 people infected with the coronavirus never develop symptoms Cleveland Clinic May 28, 2024 ... What does asymptomatic COVID-19 mean? "Simply put, the word “asymptomatic” means being sick without having symptoms. No fever, no cough, no body aches, no fatigue. Nothing. Your body’s actively battling a disease — and in some cases spreading it — without you even realizing you’re unwell. [emphasis added] ... The bottom line "Approximately 20% of individuals infected with COVID-19 are asymptomatic. That means they don’t have any symptoms and may never even know they were sick. That’s a problem from a public health standpoint because the person who had COVID-19 is still contagious and can unknowingly spread the virus to other people. It’s also reason #418 that staying up to date on your COVID-19 vaccines is so important. If you know that you have an asymptomatic case of COVID-19, be sure that you wear a mask and practice social distancing if you’re going to be around other people. Isolation guidelines are changing as the virus becomes part of our everyday lives, but your responsibility to protect others from infection isn’t." https://health.clevelandclinic.org/asymptomatic-covid

As is to be expected in this particular subforum ("no proof required') and from this particular poster, the OP here is based in an article from a retired chiropractor (everyone's favorite source for COVID expertise ) with a long history of spouting fundamentally documented COVID misinformation. Per Agence-France Presse (AFP): Retired US chiropractor makes multiple false claims about Covid-19 October 19, 2021 "During a meeting in Orange County, Florida, a retired chiropractor made several false claims about Covid-19 and vaccines. A three-minute video of his testimony has been shared widely on social media. In the video, Kevin Stillwagon repeats previously debunked myths about Covid-19." ... A Google search for “Dr. Kevin Stillwagon” yields few results, other from these links that reveal he is a retired chiropractor (since 1988) and a former airline captain. ... However, his claims are based on recycled Covid-19 misinformation." (more) https://factcheck.afp.com/doc.afp.com.9PW8PJ "Dr. Kevin Stillwagon Retired chiropractor/airline captain, science communicator, educator on the immune system, inventor, author, lecturer, do it yourselfer, freedom fighter." https://substack.com/@drkevinstillwagon

You're trying to bring actual facts and documented reality to a nonsense thread in a AN subforum (Off the beaten track -- "no proof required") devoted to unproven and unsubstantiated nonsense threads like the OP here??? How dare you!!!

Oh ya... really great folks behind BiosafetyNow: ‘Lab-leak’ proponents at Rutgers accused of defaming and intimidating COVID-19 origin researchers Letter by 12 COVID-19 scientists says social media attacks violate university policy and could incite physical harm "Fraudsters. Liars. Perjurers. Felons. Grifters. Stooges. Imbeciles. Murderers. When it comes to describing scientists whose peer-reviewed studies suggest the COVID-19 virus made a natural jump from animals to humans, molecular biologist Richard Ebright and microbiologist Bryce Nickels have used some very harsh language. On X (formerly Twitter), where the two scientists from Rutgers University are a constant presence, they have even compared fellow researchers to Nazi war criminals and the genocidal Cambodian dictator Pol Pot. But now, their targets have had enough. A dozen scientists filed a formal complaint with Rutgers yesterday alleging that the two faculty members have violated the university’s policies on free expression by posting “provably false” comments that are often defamatory, and that some of their actions could even threaten scientists’ safety. “It’s just a very clear daily harassment campaign directed at people that they disagree with. And I don’t think that’s right,” says letter organizer Kristian Andersen, an evolutionary biologist at Scripps Research who has co-authored papers in Science that link the origin of the pandemic to wildlife sold at a market in Wuhan, China. He and his colleagues also worry Ebright and Nickels are “engaging with the more extreme right,” including one person who has joked about executing some researchers." (more) https://www.science.org/content/article/lab-leak-proponents-rutgers-accused-defaming-and-intimidating-covid-19-origin PS - I see nothing on the Cell journal webpage for the article or elsewhere that indicates there's anything afoot to remove or otherwise retract the subject study... notwithstanding the opinions of the two guys behind BioSafetyNow.

The absence of actual supporting facts and pertinent evidence won't stop the outspoken conspiracy theorists from continuing to peddle their fact-deficient wares, no matter what term anyone wants to use to characterize them. But if any of them ever actually come up with any real and scientifically relevant direct evidence, I'm sure the scientific community at large certainly would be willing to examine what they've got. But for now, a fair summary of the known facts and scientific expertise leaves the COVID origin issue as a matter that remains in dispute, but with more of the actual evidence and expert opinion leaning toward the natural cause theory. And that's the way it's going to remain, until and unless something new and credible emerges to meaningfully move the needle on that debate.

The problem with many of the lab leak proponents is that they're often political partisans (or right-wing echoing news outlets) who continue to advance their theory pretty much in the absence of any real pertinent facts to directly support it. I see the nonsense Republican-led U.S. House subcommittee investigating the origins of COVID issued its final report earlier this month concluding COVID came from a lab leak. But as the following Science journal article on the Republicans' report notes: "The committee’s 520-page report, released on 2 December, offers no new direct evidence of a lab leak, but summarizes a circumstantial case, including that the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) used NIAID money to conduct “gain-of-function” studies that modified distantly related coronaviruses. [emphasis added] ... Democrats on the panel released their own report challenging many of their colleagues’ conclusions about COVID-19 origins. They conclude, for example, that the viruses studied at WIV with EcoHealth funding were too distantly related to SARS-CoV-2 to cause the pandemic." https://www.science.org/content/article/house-panel-concludes-covid-19-pandemic-came-lab-leak That final conclusion reported above is one that Dr. Fauci and other scientists have repeatedly reinforced. "The definition of “gain of function” covers both general research and especially risky experiments to “enhance” the ability of potentially pandemic pathogens to spread or cause severe disease in humans. Fauci stressed he [in rejecting Republicans' claims] was using the risky experiment definition, saying “it would be molecularly impossible” for the bat viruses studied with EcoHealth’s funds to be turned into the virus that caused the pandemic." [emphasis added] https://apnews.com/article/fauci-covid-pandemic-origin-congress-a66625482f25824476ee315484790230

This is one of the more recent scientific reports I've seen on the COVID origins issue, published in the journal Cell in September 2024 by an international team of researchers: Genetic tracing of market wildlife and viruses at the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic ... Discussion "Extensive epidemiological evidence supports wildlife trade at the Huanan market as the most likely conduit for the COVID-19 pandemic’s origin.3,76 Herein, we both describe metagenomic evidence for identification of the plausible intermediate host species at the market, and analyze metagenomic and phylogenetic evidence that further supports the hypothesis of zoonotic emergence at this location. ... Retrospective studies should be performed, where possible, testing the species described here throughout the animal supply chains of Southeast Asia and southern China, through which in all scientific likelihood the COVID-19 pandemic emerged." https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(24)00901-2 And as reported in more layman's terms by the BBC: Genetic ghosts suggest Covid’s market origins 19 September 2024 "A team of scientists say it is “beyond reasonable doubt” the Covid pandemic started with infected animals sold at a market, rather than a laboratory leak. They were analysing hundreds of samples collected from Wuhan, China, in January 2020. The results identify a shortlist of animals – including racoon dogs, civets and bamboo rats – as potential sources of the pandemic. Despite even highlighting one market stall as a hotspot of both animals and coronavirus, the study cannot provide definitive proof." (more) https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy8095xjg4po

The rewritten report above by the Rupert Murdoch-owned Wall Street Journal says the COVID lab leak theory "has gradually gained traction." I don't see anything in the OP re-write that actually supports that premise. What the OP report above fails to say is that U.S. government intelligence and scientific agencies have been divided on the COVID origin issue for a long time, with more of them favoring the species jump theory and a minority of them, the FBI and DOE, favoring the lab leak theory. AFAIK, nothing much has changed in that regard. And the Republicans in the U.S. House of Reps. spent more than a year supposedly trying to produce some clear evidence or proof that a lab leak was the origin of COVID, and in the end, they came up with nothing that established that premise or even moved the needle in any way. As the New York Times reported last May: "But in a report and in extensive questioning on Wednesday, the Republicans offered no new information suggesting that EcoHealth Alliance or Dr. Daszak were involved in the coronavirus outbreak. And they did not produce any evidence pointing directly to a coronavirus leak from a lab in China, with or without EcoHealth’s involvement, a hitch in their yearslong effort to implicate Chinese and American scientists in the beginnings of the pandemic. [emphasis added] ... The subcommittee, which is led by Republicans, has reviewed nearly a half-million pages of documents and conducted over 100 hours of private interviews in the course of investigating the origin of Covid, Representative Raul Ruiz of California, the panel’s top Democrat, said on Wednesday. But, Mr. Ruiz said, the subcommittee has found “no evidence” linking the pandemic to EcoHealth’s research. And he added that the investigation had not “meaningfully advanced our understanding of the pandemic’s origins.” Rather, he said, the subcommittee’s work now “appeared to be an effort to weaponize concerns about a lab-related origin to fuel sentiment against our nation’s scientists and public health officials for partisan gain.” https://archive.ph/Ho5gO And as further reported by the Associated Press in June 2023: "There was newfound interest from researchers following the revelation earlier this year that the Department of Energy’s intelligence arm had issued a report arguing for a lab-related incident. But Friday’s report said the intelligence community has not gone further. Four agencies still believe the virus was transferred from animals to humans, and two agencies — the Energy Department and the FBI — believe the virus leaked from a lab. The CIA and another agency have not made an assessment." [emphasis added] The [Wuhan] lab genetically engineered viruses as part of its research, the report said, including efforts to combine different viruses. But the report says U.S. intelligence “has no information, however, indicating that any WIV genetic engineering work has involved SARS-CoV-2, a close progenitor, or a backbone virus that is closely-related enough to have been the source of the pandemic.” [emphasis added] https://apnews.com/article/covid19-united-states-intelligence-china-23dcbde0be5638556739b564ece97027

Re the photo above... I've heard that some women like having their hair pulled back from behind and having a pair of handcuffs slapped on as part of their frisky time escapades.... But that's just hearsay, mind you...

Was that at BKK CW or elsewhere?

Are there any traffic police actually left on duty there in Udon Thani? Or, do they have so many plods out collecting cash, that missing 18 really won't make any difference?

On your first question above, I asked that same exact question of a fellow forum member here some years ago who used to do a lot of counter withdrawals. As best as I can recall, I think he just told me to say "counter withdrawals" or "withdraw" and perhaps hold up and show your VISA or MC debit card when saying so. About the exchange rate involved, I can't remember as it's been years since I've done one. I think it's likely going to be either the card network rate minus any foreign use fees charged by your card issuer OR the Thai bank's buying TT rate. Just can't recall!

Fact Check: No evidence for vaccine DNA risk raised by Florida Surgeon General By Reuters Fact Check February 6, 2024 "There is no evidence to suggest that residual DNA fragments in mRNA COVID-19 vaccines pose a health risk raised in statements by Florida Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo." https://www.reuters.com/fact-check/no-evidence-vaccine-dna-risk-raised-by-florida-surgeon-general-2024-02-05/ https://fullfact.org/health/covid-vaccines-not-dna-altering/

Rubbish reports from rubbish sources, most importantly, without any direct comment or substantiation from Professor Iwasaki, the claimed source of these reports, which seems entirely fitting for this new AN sub-forum: https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/vigilant-news-bias/ https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/world-tribune/ https://www.factcheck.org/person/alex-berenson/ and a long list fact check reports on Berenson's past false statements and claims regarding COVID. The most recent published comment that I can find from Akiko Iwasaki, who is indeed a prominent and respected researcher, regarding COVID vaccines came last month in November to NBC News, as follows: Do the Covid vaccines provide long-lasting protection? The CDC is recommending that older adults get a second Covid shot in the spring. How durable are the vaccines? "Despite the CDC recommending an additional shot, there’s no evidence that the mRNA vaccines aren’t working as expected, said Akiko Iwasaki, a professor of immunology at the Yale School of Medicine.Rather, Iwasaki said, there may be something unique to this virus that is preventing people’s bodies from maintaining high levels of immunity." [emphasis added] https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/durable-are-mrna-covid-vaccines-rcna178457 And a news search of the subject of this thread finds ZERO recent news reports from any reasonably credible sources reporting any of the claims being made in this thread.

So-called counter withdrawals are a very long-standing method of foreigners obtaining Thai baht cash here that became particularly popular in recent years as the Thai banking industry, presumably in cahoots with the government, began jacking up the per withdrawal Thai bank ATM fees to the current 220 baht level, which from my past checking was one of the highest national ATM surcharges out there. gamb00ler's post above did a pretty good job of explaining the basics of how it works. The advantage is it allows you to avoid the 220b Thai Bank ATM fee. Another advantage is the withdrawal amount can pretty much be as much money as you have in your checking account linked to your debit card, unlike the typical 25-30K THB limits that apply per withdrawal for most Thai bank ATMs. The potential disadvantages are several: 1) you have to deal with Thai-speaking bank staff who may or may not understand what you want. 2) Some branches and/or tellers will claim they can't do the counter withdrawal and they either don't have the necessary machine or know how to accomplish it. I haven't found any absolute pattern to that, it seems to be hit-and-miss as a general rule. So it might involve some branch shopping to find a cooperative branch. FWIW, you don't have to actually be an account holder at the bank company where you're trying to do a counter withdrawal, although presumably being an account holder with them should help. The transaction is pretty much just like making a POS purchase with your debit card, except instead of buying items, you're essentially buying Thai baht. In my experience, you can either ask them to simply give you the THB cash you want and they'll hand it over to you. Or, if you have an account with that particular branch, they should be able to instead simply do a deposit into your account for you for the corresponding amount. As always, you do need to be mindful of fees. As time has passed, several of the Thai banks I believe have begun charging their own flat fees for counter withdrawals, SCB being one of those, and Krungsri also last time I checked, but I think for only one of the two major card types, and I can't recall OTTOMH whether it's for VISA or MC branded cards. Also, if your home country bank charges a foreign currency conversion fee on foreign POS purchases or ATM withdrawals, that same percentage fee would apply for a foreign counter withdrawal. I've also seen, as best as I can recall, some U.S. banks also starting to charge their own added fee for counter withdrawals, even those done in the U.S. with domestic banks. So that's also something to check on/watch out for when you go to use any particular bank's debit card here. Lastly, most people general should NOT attempt to do counter withdrawals here with foreign CREDIT CARDS, because doing so often is going to result in added fees for foreign currency conversion AND what can be very steep cash advance transaction fees (a percentage of your withdrawal amount) charged by your credit card issuer. That, and, the credit card issuing is going to have interest start accruing on the amount you advance as of the date of the transaction, without the typical one-month grace period that normally applies for regular credit card purchases. And as noted above, to do a counter withdrawal here, you'll typically need to bring and present your original passport document to the bank teller.

The rates you want to be looking at to determine what's going on with a foreign bank card here are the actual VISA and MC foreign currency conversion websites, as follows: https://www.mastercard.us/en-us/consumers/get-support/convert-currency.html https://usa.visa.com/support/consumer/travel-support/exchange-rate-calculator.html When a foreigner uses their home country VISA or MC debit card at an ATM in Thailand, it is indeed the VISA or MC networks that are setting the BASE exchange rate for the transactions -- unless the cardholder is duped at the ATM into consenting to DCC (Dynamic Currency Conversion) where the Thai bank is allowed to substitute their own much lower rate (often a 4-5% hit) in exchange for showing you the transaction amount in your card's home country currency instead of Thai baht. Just say NO to that. The only other reason a net/received exchange rate should differ much from the BASE MC or VISA card network rates for a given day is if one's home country bank is adding their own fees for foreign transactions, so-called foreign currency conversion or cross-border transaction fees. Those are very common, at least among major U.S. banks, including Chase, often in the 3-4% range. So if your net achieved exchange rate using a foreign VISA or MC is different from the daily rates shown on the above VISA and MC websites (allowing for some minor variance in rates that occur during the day), it's probably because your home country bank is adding their own foreign currency conversion fees and/or because you've mistakenly agreed to DCC at the Thai ATM.

Thanks! No, my Play Store is set to the U.S.... But I didn't know that would result in them hiding reviews... Oddly, I did see and get reviews for the sister Tourist Police app that's the subject of the OP here..... Strange....

When I do a search in the Google Play Store for the app title used in the OP report above -- "Thailand Tourist Police Application" -- the app title you posted here is the only pertinent app that seems to surface. The Google store reviews for the app, which shows 10,000+ downloads, are decidedly mixed. Sixty one listed ratings and a 2.6 overall score on a scale of 5, with the largest number being the lowest "1" rating. The app info says it was originally released in March 2018, and the most recent version 1.3.0 was updated in June 2024.... (which of course helps explain why we have the police doing some kind of big announcement about it now... NOT!) One reviewer from 2023 wrote: "Useless. I contact them, they told me to call. Then I call they tell me to go to office..." App listed as having been created/authored by some entity named Arunsawad Dot Com Co. Ltd. The same entity has another similar app apparently for Thai police in general called "Police i lert u" that's listed as having 500,000+ downloads, but oddly NO ratings or reviews whatsoever.

The Schwab card is a VISA debit card that has no foreign currency fees and automatically refunds other banks' ATM charges that you may incur. both domestically and abroad. The debit card is linked to a Schwab Bank checking account that Americans get automatically when they choose to open a no-obligation, no minimums Schwab regular brokerage account. I believe non-Americans from certain countries can also obtain a similar Schwab debit card, but the non-U.S. accounts, last time I checked, had a required minimum initial investment to open of around $25,000 USD put into the brokerage account. The opening process for Americans with normal ID documentation is easy and can be completed online. Not sure if the international version has that same capacity or not.

Except the OP's question is about his first couple months in the PH when he wouldn't have the typical PH IDs yet, such as an ACR card. And the Union Digital Bank you mention above appears to require those kinds of ID from foreigners wanting to open accounts: "Can foreigners open an account with UnionDigital Bank? Foreigners with Philippine mobile numbers and proof of residency can open a UnionDigital Bank account. Please make sure to have your supporting documents (such as ACR-I card) ready for a smooth account opening process." https://uniondigitalbank.io/en/faqs/can-foreigners-open-an-account-with-uniondigital-bank https://uniondigitalbank.io/en/faqs/what-kind-of-ids-can-i-use-to-open-a-uniondigital-bank-account

The answer to your question is yes. Yes to masking to protect against COVID, particularly since I'm now a senior in the higher risk group. And yes to masking to protect against very harmful PM2.5 seasonal air pollution in BKK where I live. It also factors in that when I do go out, it usually involves traveling on the BTS Skytrain near my home, and thus being close quarters with who knows who people from all around the world. Including among people like some posters here who dismiss the simple safeguards to protect their own health and the health of those around them.

The comments expressed in the OP post here, likely sourced from some social media post by Dr. Yong, are so general as to almost be meaningless for individual people. Yes, the risks of COVID these days -- in general -- are lower than they were in the past because earlier variants of the virus had more severe health impacts, and, the worldwide COVID vaccination campaign, including here in Thailand, helped provide protection that also has overall reduced the risk of serious health effects... HOWEVER, and it's a big HOWEVER, the current health risks of COVID still remain and can be serious and even fatal, particularly for high-risk populations, such as those over age 70 and those with various chronic health conditions. Likewise, the overall risk of COVID varies by season, with Thailand typically in recent years having increased COVID infections and hospitalizations in the months starting with Song Kran and thereafter. In the U.S., in contrast, the biggest peaks typically have been in the December to January holidays period. So one's risk also depends on the time of the year. The latest Ministry of Public Health report for COVID in Thailand (see the chart below) says there were 577 COVID hospitalizations nationwide for the first week of December, and nearly 44,000 cumulative for 2024. The MOPH said there currently are 107 COVID patients hospitalized in serious condition with pneumonia type symptoms and 42 requiring intubation to breathe. Fortunately, no reported COVID deaths for Thailand in the past week, but 220 cumulative COVID deaths for Thailand thus far in 2024. None of that is reported in Dr. Yong's reported remarks above. https://ddc.moph.go.th/covid19-dashboard/?dashboard=main In the U.S., COVID levels right now are at one of the lower points of the year, but there still were more than 500 recorded COVID deaths for most recent full week of data (the last column below in blue), the first week of November, as per the CDC chart below. The numbers below are widely expected to spike upward again toward the end of 2024 and into 2025, similar to what they did at the start of 2024. https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#trends_weeklydeaths_select_00 Overall for the U.S., the CDC reported the country had nearly 44,000 COVID fatalities during 2024 through the end of November. More than two-thirds of those involved COVID as the underlying (primary) cause of death, as opposed to being listed as a contributing cause of death. With 2024 data added in, that has brought the U.S.'s total number of COVID deaths since the start of the pandemic to more than 1.2 million (87% of those involving COVID as the underlying/primary cause). In recent times, more than three-fourths of those COVID deaths have been among the elderly. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/covid19/index.htm Even though you don't see news headlines about COVID deaths and hospitalizations so much any more, the virus continues to take its toll on the health and lives of people, especially among the elderly, and even moreso among the elderly who are not up-to-date on their COVID vaccinations.

I think it depends somewhat on the particular dish being ordered... But overall at the T21 food court, I'd say the most common mode is the main menu item food choices typically are pre-prepared in large pots / trays and then served up in individual portions when ordered. But there also are some cooked or assembled-to-order items there. Just depends.