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Past Time to Tell the Public:It Will Probably Go Pandemic, We Should Prepare Now

virologydownunder.com

91–100 of 394 posts

Re: Past Time to Tell the Public:It Will Probably Go Pandemic, We Should Prepare Now

#91
post #21

https://www.ready.gov/pandemic Basic things the US gov recommends in the case of a pandemic. I personally went out and got 2 weeks of supplies last night.

> 2 weeks

What a noob

Seriouslu though, if it strikes it'd be at least for a few months.

Re: Past Time to Tell the Public:It Will Probably Go Pandemic, We Should Prepare Now

#92
post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Regardless of the other three points, it is generally rational to mistrust authority because many authorities have repeatedly failed in the past to protect lives during emergency scenarios.

And yet 99% of the time, the authorities do a great job of running everything here in the west. The 1% of the time they fail, it proves the conspiracy theorists and fear mongers’ point.

In 2020 it's more like 90% of the time, but the point still stands

Re: Past Time to Tell the Public:It Will Probably Go Pandemic, We Should Prepare Now

#93
post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Regardless of the other three points, it is generally rational to mistrust authority because many authorities have repeatedly failed in the past to protect lives during emergency scenarios.

And yet 99% of the time, the authorities do a great job of running everything here in the west. The 1% of the time they fail, it proves the conspiracy theorists and fear mongers’ point.

Of all the national emergencies in the US since 2000, Katrina, Sandy, Puerto Rico, etc., does anyone know offhand how many were handled properly?

Seems like ~20-40% are handled improperly if not more.

Re: Past Time to Tell the Public:It Will Probably Go Pandemic, We Should Prepare Now

#94
post #31

As Hacker News is usually full of people that can provide good advice: What should I personally do to prepare? I'm living alone and have the ability to work remotely once the virus starts spreading here. My guess is mostly stocking up on food, which I've planned to do for a long time - sounds like a good motivation to finally prepare a list and get shopping. Should I bother with a N95 mask? I already have surgical ma…

I have: 1. n95 masks, e.g. 50 of them. technically, each mask can only last several hours 2. UVC light for cleaning up used n95 masks so they can last a few days each 3. protective eyeglasses if you need to visit hospital for any reason in the next few months 4. ethanol (not for your masks) 5. medical gloves

Unless you are doing work that involves lots of tiny particulate matter (and even if you do), I think 50 n95 masks is pretty darn excessive. Most people don't even wear them correctly.

Re: Past Time to Tell the Public:It Will Probably Go Pandemic, We Should Prepare Now

#95
post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, we won't all die. But the impact will be substantial if the infections are not brought under control. Just like not everybody dies from many other diseases such as the flu. The difference here is that it also hits hard on otherwise healthy people and that healthcare workers are very much exposed to infection. If that front line does not hold it can get worse rapidly. Western countries with good medicine and infra…

You can't controll infections. You can try to fasttrack vaccinies, but you can't really stop a virus with such a transmission way from spreading. That is a problem but it is nothing new. Every few years we will have new diseases and unfortunately they will spread and kill people. The flu does that yearly. Does that suck? Yes Will it mean the end of the world or have a high impact on countries that have a robust healt…

> You can't controll infections.

No, but you can try to slow down the rate of infection to avoid overloading the healthcare system.

> You can try to fasttrack vaccinies, but you can't really stop a virus with such a transmission way from spreading.

Agreed.

> That is a problem but it is nothing new.

It certainly isn't anything new. But if the past is a guide here than the impact can be substantial.

> Every few years we will have new diseases and unfortunately they will spread and kill people.

We do. But most of those do not have this combined potential of spreading a-symptomatic; long incubation time and relatively high mortality. That makes this one more serious than for instance SARS and MERS, the impact of which was already substantial.

> The flu does that yearly.

If you want to compare what is happening now to the seasonal flu then you are probably not equipped to evaluate the risks. The flu predominantly affects those that are already weakened and it tends to kill people who would have been dead soon anyway. This virus is nothing like that.

> Will it mean the end of the world or have a high impact on countries that have a robust healtcare system? No

It won't mean the end of the world but it likely will have high impact on countries with robust healthcare systems because (1) the economies of those countries depend on everybody being free to move around and interact with each other, something which anti-spreading measures will affect and (2) even the most wealthy countries with robust healthcare systems have limited healthcare capacity, typically on the order of 1 ICU bed per 10000 people. Assuming you can staff them.

Re: Past Time to Tell the Public:It Will Probably Go Pandemic, We Should Prepare Now

#96
post #60

As Hacker News is usually full of people that can provide good advice: What should I personally do to prepare? I'm living alone and have the ability to work remotely once the virus starts spreading here. My guess is mostly stocking up on food, which I've planned to do for a long time - sounds like a good motivation to finally prepare a list and get shopping. Should I bother with a N95 mask? I already have surgical ma…

CDC says no facemask isn't necessary for healthy people. Apparently https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/about/prevention-t... > facemaskst “end up creating a false sense of security and most people don’t wear them appropriately,” https://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-cdc-says-americans-don...

Face masks don't prevent highly-infectious airborne viral diseases from being caught by healthy individuals, they mainly reduce the chances of an infected person spreading it more.

This panic buying of face masks and toothpicks to press elevator buttons is hygiene theater. If you're sick, stay home. The. End.

Re: Past Time to Tell the Public:It Will Probably Go Pandemic, We Should Prepare Now

#98
post #30

> One horrible effect of this continued “stop the pandemic” daydream masquerading as a policy goal: It is driving counter-productive and outrage-inducing measures by many countries against travelers from other countries, even their own citizens back from other countries. But possibly more horrible: The messaging is driving resources toward “stopping,” and away from the main potential benefit of containment – slowing…

The time that border closures would have stopped the spread is past. Those measures are useless now, 25+ countries have the virus within their borders now (and likely, many more without knowing it) so it will spread within those communities unless measure to stop that spreading will be taken.

This sucks but if you live in a wealthy country you will likely survive this, it may still impact you economically.

Re: Past Time to Tell the Public:It Will Probably Go Pandemic, We Should Prepare Now

#99

Before you propagate this information and take action, read this post about the psychology of fear mongering, and ask yourself if you identify with it. 1. Do you tend to mistrust authority? 2. Do you feel powerless to control the course of your life? 3. Do you feel like you have special information and insight the rest of us do not? 4. Do you feel comfort when thinking about the end of the world because once it happe…

This is hilarious. Isn't 2012 the underlying model they use for everything today?

Fearmongering is the go-to default for absolutely every issue the media covers. Then during an actual literal pandemic they take a short break from every other the-world-is-ending story to give us the "don't fearmonger" lecture.

If you ever find yourself split in doubt between your own sanity and that of the media's, please for the love of God assume they're insane first.

Re: Past Time to Tell the Public:It Will Probably Go Pandemic, We Should Prepare Now

#100

Before you propagate this information and take action, read this post about the psychology of fear mongering, and ask yourself if you identify with it. 1. Do you tend to mistrust authority? 2. Do you feel powerless to control the course of your life? 3. Do you feel like you have special information and insight the rest of us do not? 4. Do you feel comfort when thinking about the end of the world because once it happe…

Regardless of the other three points, it is generally rational to mistrust authority because many authorities have repeatedly failed in the past to protect lives during emergency scenarios.

Conspiracy theorists tend to mistake incompetence for malice; or partial incompetence for total incompetence. Hurricane Katrina doesn’t invalidate health and building codes; education; law enforcement and EPA, FAA, and SEC regulations. Decisions made are both bad and good, but it’s irrational to think the decision makers are generally untrustworthy.
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