301–310 of 566 posts
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What can be bigger than that? I have seen interview with a person in Wuhan and his biggest problem is running out of food.
Other people coming to take your food. If there are major food shortages and you have a big stockpile, you better hope you have a way to keep yourself secure.
Over the last few weeks, we have acquired enough food/supplies to stay isolated at our house for about 2 months (a combination of bulk rice/beans/grains, and pre-purchasing anything we use regularly which has a long expiration date). We also have medicines/toiletries/etc to last that long. Maybe 10-12 years ago I read the book 'The Great Influenza'[1], and there are enough similarities between that outbreak and this…
I was under the impression that the Spanish flu was very different from the regular flu and COVID-19, because it was the young/old people that survived it and the healthy 20-50 year old that died the most. Most people died of the Spanish Flu because of their immune response. It looks like COVID-19 is really mild* for lots of people in that age group. Am I missing something? Did the Spanish flu start like COVID-19 and…
The misnamed Spanish flu seems to have killed by triggering a strong immune response. That response is called a cytokine storm. Which means that the stronger your immune system, the more likely you were to be hit hard. It therefore killed the reverse of the groups that normally get killed by diseases.
There is also some evidence that people who experienced the "Russian flu" of 1889-1890 had some level of protection from the Spanish flu.
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Mortality in the west is way lower than what's been reported in China, healthcare and hygiene are very different, as is the distribution network. Even in wuhan the situation is stabilizing
Mortality in the west is way lower because the scale of the disease has not yet reached outbreak proportions. When it reaches outbreak proportions, such as what we saw in Wuhan, hospitals get completely overrun. There are not enough ICU beds or ventilators to support patients. Mortality rate spikes. You are totally mistaken if you think that this cannot happen in the West. But by all means continue to bury your head…
I've already been preparing as a hobby for the last 3 years, not specifically for coronavirus, but here's how I'm prepared for it: - I work remotely, so I can hunker down at home and have my income totally unaffected. - I've close to 6 months worth of food, and I've been buying more in the last month as the news continues. I can give some tips on what I think is good inexpensive food to get in case anyone is interest…
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I grew up in a hurricane-prone state in the US. 95% of the time people stock up and panic and nothing happens. I'm talking about gas shortages and empty aisles in the grocery store. But the 5% where something does happen you wish you stocked up because you're not even able to leave the area because there is no gas. Not debating N95 masks effectiveness but I would rather be at least slightly repaired because things go…
Maybe it's more common in the US as it's more sparsely populated? As in there are more potentially isolated cities? The scenario you're describing doesn't seem plausible to happen in Milan
My impression is that Europeans generally don't know what real severe weather is like. A hurricane that happens to hit close to a population center while it has a strong eyewall is incredibly devastating. Think of it like a tsunami, windstorm, and a family of tornadoes all at the same time.
The wind will knock down trees which crash into houses, block roads, and take down power lines. That alone means most of your human infrastructure is gone. Ambulances cannot reach you, you cannot get out, it's dark, communication technology stops working, you may be overheating without air conditioning, food quickly starts spoiling.
I lived in Orlando when Hurricane Charley hit. Thousands of giant live oak trees were blown over. The drive from my house to my girlfriend's normally took ten minutes. After the hurricane, it took me over an hour to get there because I had to contend with billboards in the road, downed power lines, and enormous trees blocking roads everywhere. Many places were simply inaccessible.
If you are close to the coast, add a storm surge to that. Mass flooding surges through neighborhoods. A tide of opaque, dirty, water containing all manner of dangerous debris. Roads are washed away, houses collapse. People drown. During Hurricane Katrina, a common failure mode was people who climbed into their attic to escape the rising floodwaters, only to get trapped in there and drown when the water level reached the attic itself. (Since then, New Orleanians learned not to go into your attic during a flood unless you bring an axe to chop through the roof.)
Most hurricanes are not this bad. They lose energy quickly when they make landfall and their strength diminishes with distance from the center. But there are half a dozen hurricanes every year and when you throw that many darts at the Gulf coast, eventually some of them will hit.
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It was just an idea. You're right that it may have adverse effects. Yet I wonder: Viruses live longer on a "clean-looking" doorknob than they do in a towel, for example. This was very counter-intuitive to me. So when it comes to a virus, would they live longer on skin or on a bandage or piece of tape?
Thank you for acknowledging this. I really appreciate it. The issue is that the adhesive from tape is a form of glue. It attracts and keeps hold of germs. Plus, it is extremely hard to get fully off in terms of disinfection purposes. I had a central line (dialysis catheter) in my chest for 4 months for a procedure called plasma exchange. You cannot take a shower with an exposed central line. A single drop of water on…
My father had the misfortune of being a civilian in Kuwait during the first gulf war. What I learned from his stories is that the line between normalcy and utter chaos is thinner than one would think. The war itself from the perspective of someone not actively participating is mostly boring (his words) - you can't really go outside, cable is down(no internet back then), not much is happening. But the brief transition…
Fat is actually one of the last things the body burns during starvation. Your muscles usually go first.
My father had the misfortune of being a civilian in Kuwait during the first gulf war. What I learned from his stories is that the line between normalcy and utter chaos is thinner than one would think. The war itself from the perspective of someone not actively participating is mostly boring (his words) - you can't really go outside, cable is down(no internet back then), not much is happening. But the brief transition…
Fat is actually one of the last things the body burns during starvation. Your muscles usually go first.