Are you personally worried about getting the Coronavirus?

[PCHawk]

Once it gets to one half of seasonal flu rates. Chill.

Are you not aware of how many are dying in all the other countries that let it get out of hand from the start?

 

[PCHawk]

More the latter. This is an opinion piece by a physician (not an epidemiologist) with scarce data. He also qualifies everything by saying this COULD become a global health crisis eventually.

If you want to consume some content from the "dire" end of the spectrum:

It's Okay to be Smart is a science education video channel, I enjoy watching it with the kids. They just did a nice piece on the realities of exponential growth:

This piece took a modeling approach to explain why it is necessary to enforce some pretty harsh restrictions right away:
The latter piece really has a doomsday feel where they paint the worst-case-scenario, which I hope would not be very likely. But they say all of this is manageable (even the economic side) if we react strongly now before things get too bad.

Some point out the fact that China and South Korea have gotten things under control as reasons for why we DON'T have to respond harshly. However, those countries got things under control BECAUSE OF harsh restrictions. In the case of S. Korea, the restrictions have been much less harsh than others (China, Italy, Spain, France, etc.), but they were able to do that because of their extensive testing and tracking, and because their populace took the social-distancing recommendations seriously (largely due to previous experience with '02/'03 SARS pandemic). There are still quite a few people in this country who think this is all made up.

China is straight full of shit so we can't even use their numbers. But that's a good point about a country being more ready to handle it after being through it once before so recently. I imagine half the country will have masks in their storage room by the time the next one comes along.

 

[PCHawk]

A million and a quarter road deaths worldwide on an annual basis. Is that a crisis? What number constitutes a crisis?

There is some comfort in old numbers that have always been there. In the case of driving, they started small and grew slowly over time. 65000 people dying from the flu is an old number that people are comfortable with. A new virus that was 0 last year and a million this year is something most people aren't comfortable with. And rightfully so. I'm a small business owner who finds old people dying less tragic than most so I'm of the opinion that we need to power through this. I've softened on that opinion some recently after more thought of how brutal it is to need medical help and not be able to get it. If my kid's appendix ruptures in a few weeks, they probably die. That thought scares the shit out of me.

 

[clownkilla]

There are no safe places in this thing called life. Death is one of our only absolutes. Resist fear and hate because it will consume you. Live life. Enjoy the ride, be happy we've made it this long. I'm a firm believer that when it's your time... it's your time. If you're gonna go...go with a smile. You know...shit like that and stuff. Peace!

 

[RobHowe]

 

[tksirius]

A fiasco in the making? As the coronavirus pandemic takes hold, we are making decisions without reliable data
https://www.statnews.com/2020/03/17...e-are-making-decisions-without-reliable-data/

 

[99topdawg]

social distancing is effective at limiting the spread of the virus

Tyler Goodson practices social distancing. Or is it Nebraska's defense trying to stay away from all our guys?

 

[PCHawk]

A fiasco in the making? As the coronavirus pandemic takes hold, we are making decisions without reliable data
https://www.statnews.com/2020/03/17...e-are-making-decisions-without-reliable-data/

There's an interesting point in there about what happens if we try to flatten the curve to keep the health care system from overloading but can't quite keep it under the line anyway. Instead of the healthcare system being overloaded for a short period of time, it will be overloaded for an extended period of time. If you have a heart attack that needs medical attention, you will die if the healthcare system is overloaded. Is it better to have it overloaded for a shorter period of time? I'm not sure. But it is another interesting take.

 

[HawksMN]

Are you not aware of how many are dying in all the other countries that let it get out of hand from the start?

Yes I'm also aware of how many more common influenza kills each year without anyone really thinking too much about it. You keep hiding in your house. I'll keep spending cash trying to keep businesses from folding due to this load of shit.

 

[HawksMN]

Do us all a favor and stop making stupid, meaningless posts. Thanks!

Like you flipping out over this is doing much good....

 

[HawksMN]

If we choke the economy for another 6 weeks, the farm and business failures and job losses will lead to a suicide wave that will exceed the number of lives saved from the draconian measures.

Very true. Economic disaster in the making. Some businesses won't bounce back. Jobs won't come back. Retirement plans will take a good long while to recover.

 

[PCHawk]

Yes I'm also aware of how many more common influenza kills each year without anyone really thinking too much about it. You keep hiding in your house. I'll keep spending cash trying to keep businesses from folding due to this load of shit.

And I thought my take of the economy being more important than people's lives was extreme. You still believe that this is no worse than a standard flu? How is that possible with the numbers coming from Europe?

 

[PCHawk]

Yes I'm also aware of how many more common influenza kills each year without anyone really thinking too much about it. You keep hiding in your house. I'll keep spending cash trying to keep businesses from folding due to this load of shit.

So tell me your take then. What do you think is going on here? Europe is weeks ahead of us and they are dropping like flies. Is your take that the numbers in Europe happen every year? Are you saying that the total numbers aren't more but are just condensed into a smaller timeframe? Are you saying the numbers are lies? Are you saying what's happening in Europe won't happen here even if we just go about business as usual? Seriously man, I want to know your thoughts. How do you see the numbers in Europe and still think it's no big deal?

 

[tksirius]

And I thought my take of the economy being more important than people's lives was extreme. You still believe that this is no worse than a standard flu? How is that possible with the numbers coming from Europe?

Of all people this Dr that's made a living off promoting fear over viral disease explains how it's no worse.

 

[HuckFinn]

Like you flipping out over this is doing much good....

I don’t call it flipping out when we are seeing people die, thousands sick, a spreading virus for which we have no defense, and a government who knew about this danger in January and did nothing. To add to that, people don’t have insurance, or have lost their jobs and their insurance, who are not receiving a paycheck. Are they silly for flipping out, as you suggest? Yeah. Probably.

 

[HawkGold]

I don’t call it flipping out when we are seeing people die, thousands sick, a spreading virus for which we have no defense, and a government who knew about this danger in January and did nothing. To add to that, people don’t have insurance, or have lost their jobs and their insurance, who are not receiving a paycheck. Are they silly for flipping out, as you suggest? Yeah. Probably.

A lot of people are uptight over this, be it over fear of the illness or fear of the econ damage or both.

Think we all could use a little Grace right now. I'm more thinking about my daughter right now. Seeing her 2x passed out this week at 4am totally out, not asleep is more overwhelming for me than maybe losing my job or seeing my 401k wiped out.

She s had 4 transfusions now this week. Looks like a blood shortage is developing.

You see the 4 politicians helping themselves....ya it's irritating....criminal, but in my world not as important at the moment.

Not chewing on anyone, just reflecting.

 

[PCHawk]

Of all people this Dr that's made a living off promoting fear over viral disease explains how it's no worse.
View attachment 6497
View attachment 6498

The problem with still believing it's no big deal is every government disagrees with you. Different countries can't agree on shit but they all agree this is a huge deal. Why are you having such a hard time seeing bull shit. The guy shows Italy's numbers and said we are 5 times bigger so if we suffer 5 times more deaths, it's no big deal. That part is true. The total BS is it's not even close to over, AND they are shutting everything down in hopes to lower the number. If they didn't shut everything down and we waited until the finished number, then multiplied it by 5, it's very obvious at this point the number would be huge. A lot of what he said makes sense. But that part is ridiculous.

 

[tksirius]

The problem with still believing it's no big deal is every government disagrees with you. Different countries can't agree on shit but they all agree this is a huge deal. Why are you having such a hard time seeing bull shit. The guy shows Italy's numbers and said we are 5 times bigger so if we suffer 5 times more deaths, it's no big deal. That part is true. The total BS is it's not even close to over, AND they are shutting everything down in hopes to lower the number. If they didn't shut everything down and we waited until the finished number, then multiplied it by 5, it's very obvious at this point the number would be huge. A lot of what he said makes sense. But that part is ridiculous.

Because governments are always competent and never lie.

 

[Adam]

There's a video of a Brit who caught it on that Princess cruise liner who said it was just a tickle and minor cough at first.

People are always going to complain about the government when there is a crisis, like this pandemic. But Western society simply isn't ready for something like this. I have a shitload of masks at home. 99.9 anti viral things. My old lady buys them in Japan. How many American houses have masks? Way under 1%. Of course the media says "masks don't help." Yeah right. You look at the infection rates in Korea and Japan versus rest of the world. That ain't from testing, it's because those people have lived through SARS and other pandemics and the populace is loaded up on masks. A mask keeps the viral load close to the infected person and keeps people from touching their nose and mouth. Anyway, that is a long way of saying that lady who was coughing showed less courtesy for her common man than the average Japanese person getting on a train or going to the grocery store. No one is out without a mask if there is a pandemic. To walk through a hospital ward without one in a situation like this (no matter what your role) is borderline criminally negligent.

The summary that Asian nations are far more prepared for this is absolutely correct. They have lived through this threat now for 20 years. Masking up is second nature. It makes all the difference early on.

The scary information was more about how fast it spread in China. A nation with loads of experience and authoritarian control over the populus. They wasted no time in identifying and acting and it still spread so fast and so large that it sent up those real scary red flags.

In contrast had this virus started in America. We would likely be looking at a Spanish flu level event. Simply our society doesn't care much for being restricted negatively by state or federal governments. I don't believe the average American chooses precautionary saftey over material or social desires. Clearly our elected leaders do not.

Good news is though we can probably avoid such a crazy death toll. This will serve as a good wakeup call to America. We have become way to accustomed to this relatively easy era of time. Perhaps we will actually plan, fund, and rehearse better and quicker responses. With the slew of virus mutations, seemingly happening every few years. We should consider that one of these future contagions won't leave any room for tactical errors. Like they say in earthquake country "Prepare for the big one".

 

[PCHawk]

Because governments are always competent and never lie.

What does that have to do with anything? You post an article, I point out the BS in it, then you respond with that? Is your point that you can post stupid articles because the government isn't always truthful?