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

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

#111

Post by [deleted] » Sun, Feb 23, 2020, 4:12 PM UTC

arkades wrote: post #64

PragmaticPulp wrote: post #6

The premise of this article is that we should essentially press the “panic button” now, to get people through the shock of preparing for a pandemic while we know it’s safe to do so. > Suggesting things people can do to prepare for a possible hard time to come doesn’t just get them better prepared logistically. It also helps get them better prepared emotionally. It helps get them through the Oh My God (OMG) moment eve…

> - Get extra prescription medicine now if you might need it I hate this advice. It's not "wrong," in the sense that technically it would be a good thing to do, but it's also so wrong that it transcends categories of right and wrong. Your refill schedule will not allow you to get extra prescription meds early. And if it did, your insurance wouldn't pay for it - which means paying sticker price, which means ... well,…

[deleted]

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

#112

Post by leesec » Sun, Feb 23, 2020, 4:13 PM UTC

animalnewbie wrote: post #91

leesec wrote: 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.

I don't think the idea is to be sustainable for 2 weeks, it's to mitigate the stress on the supply line by staggering demand.

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

#113

Post by jacquesm » Sun, Feb 23, 2020, 4:13 PM UTC

throwlaplace wrote: post #102

jacquesm wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder how those questions would be answered by that doctor that tried to ring the alarm but was silenced.

Have you ever heard The expression "the exception that proves the rule"? Do you understand the meaning of the expression? It means that the rule is so good that exceptions to it are so rare that they seem significant. The prototypical examples are plane crashes.

What do you think the chances are that I haven't heard about that? What do you think makes this an exception?

There is a lot of politics happening around this theme. Can you trust the numbers put out by the authorities? Yes, within a margin of error due to unreported cases.

The article is not at all in the fearmongering category. It appears to me quite level headed and simply acknowledges that we are past the point of containment, something that seems born out by the facts.

To continue to deny that there is a pandemic will do a lot more harm than to accept that as a fact and act accordingly.

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

#114

Post by jjallen » Sun, Feb 23, 2020, 4:13 PM UTC

johnwheeler wrote: post #100

etangent wrote: post #56

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.

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.

Didn’t all of these agencies come about after some incident happened that was disastrous?

The SEC came about after/during the Great Depression. Building codes stiffened after terrible hurricanes.

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

#115

Post by Alex3917 » Sun, Feb 23, 2020, 4:13 PM UTC

johnwheeler wrote: post #49

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…

> 1. Do you tend to mistrust authority?

If you think the entire government has your specific best interests at heart, isn't that a sign of schizophrenia? That sounds not much different than people who think that songs on the radio or TV shows were created for them specifically.

> 3. Do you feel like you have special information and insight the rest of us do not?

Most people are following this story very little or not at all, so if you're even remotely paying attention then you have special information and insight that the vast majority of people do not.

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

#116

Post by iforgotpassword » Sun, Feb 23, 2020, 4:13 PM UTC

velcro wrote: post #44

At the risk of going full doomsday mode (and besides stockpiling on food and masks) - lets say pandemic happens and some useful meds/vitamins do go out of stock - is there any advice what those are i.e. what kind of meds/vitamins would be practical to buy right now to help fight/slow COVID-19/infection in the future?

No, just food and meds for fever. I'm actually concerned there will be a shortage of food just because everybody is stocking up at a sudden panic, not necessarily because we actually end up with a huge pandemic (which might or might not happen at a later point in time). So for the first time in my life I'm thinking about actually doing this.

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

#117

Post by toofy » Sun, Feb 23, 2020, 4:13 PM UTC

etangent wrote: post #56

johnwheeler wrote: post #49

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.

This could easily be an issue of colloquial interpretation barriers, but there is a significant difference between healthy skepticism and a mistrust driven by assuming the other party is always acting in bad faith.

Like I said, this could be a simple misunderstanding of concepts, but there is a percentage of the population who have drifted from a healthy skepticism into paranoidTown where they assume good faith people/humanity are out to get them. This mistrust is causing many of them to fail to apply basic logic in their decision making.

Hopefully your post was advocating for what I would call a healthy skepticism.

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

#118

Post by matt-attack » Sun, Feb 23, 2020, 4:14 PM UTC

arkades wrote: post #64

PragmaticPulp wrote: post #6

The premise of this article is that we should essentially press the “panic button” now, to get people through the shock of preparing for a pandemic while we know it’s safe to do so. > Suggesting things people can do to prepare for a possible hard time to come doesn’t just get them better prepared logistically. It also helps get them better prepared emotionally. It helps get them through the Oh My God (OMG) moment eve…

> - Get extra prescription medicine now if you might need it I hate this advice. It's not "wrong," in the sense that technically it would be a good thing to do, but it's also so wrong that it transcends categories of right and wrong. Your refill schedule will not allow you to get extra prescription meds early. And if it did, your insurance wouldn't pay for it - which means paying sticker price, which means ... well,…

I guess buying sofas “isn’t a thing” by your logic since an insurance company doesn’t buy sofas for people.

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

#119

Post by dangrossman » Sun, Feb 23, 2020, 4:15 PM UTC

arkades wrote: post #64

PragmaticPulp wrote: post #6

The premise of this article is that we should essentially press the “panic button” now, to get people through the shock of preparing for a pandemic while we know it’s safe to do so. > Suggesting things people can do to prepare for a possible hard time to come doesn’t just get them better prepared logistically. It also helps get them better prepared emotionally. It helps get them through the Oh My God (OMG) moment eve…

> - Get extra prescription medicine now if you might need it I hate this advice. It's not "wrong," in the sense that technically it would be a good thing to do, but it's also so wrong that it transcends categories of right and wrong. Your refill schedule will not allow you to get extra prescription meds early. And if it did, your insurance wouldn't pay for it - which means paying sticker price, which means ... well,…

> Until that happens, I don't even know what to /do/ with that kind of "advice."

My wife asked once, and was told that 3 month supply prescriptions are common for people that use mail order pharmacies, and was happy to write one. Insurance covered it too, since the refill schedule was every 3 months -- it comes out to the same cost in the end.

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

#120

Post by hysan » Sun, Feb 23, 2020, 4:15 PM UTC

johnwheeler wrote: post #100

etangent wrote: post #56

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.

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.

I feel like there must be some sort of internet law that says, “gross incompetence is indistinguishable from malice.”