Panic gets a bad rap. It is much better to panic early, when you have the leisure to plan ahead with abundant resources. Panic becomes bad late in the game when resources are constrained and there is not time to implement or optimize a plan. In short: The time to panic is now.
Mass hysteria is making coronavirus worse than it is
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Re: Mass hysteria is making coronavirus worse than it is
#92Earlier quoted context omitted.
and it's up to around ~6% - 10.5% risk for those with a precondition. If this estimate[0] turns out to be correct, everyone will either have been directly affected by loss of somebody, know somebody who lost someone, or are dead themselves. [0] https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/coronavirus-age-se... PRE-EXISTING CONDITION | DEATH RATE confirmed cases | DEATH RATE all cases Cardiovascular disease | 13.2% | 10.…
Why is diabetes a risk factor?
Diabetes produces high blood sugar that damages the walls of the arteries and veins
A combination of damaged lungs (less oxygen intake than normal) and troubles moving the scarce oxygen around the body trough a partially blocked circulatory system is not good news for the patient and can increase the risk of a heart failure and dead. If the lungs fail, the heart will fail next.
Re: Mass hysteria is making coronavirus worse than it is
#93This might be a case of excessively binary thinking? Stocking up on things you normally use is not panic buying, it's a sensible no-regrets precaution. But it tends to get called "hoarding" anyway. Buying stuff you don't normally use can also be sensible. Consider putting together an earthquake kit in California. Unfortunately, having a pandemic kit ready isn't something most people do, but maybe it should be? There…
>someone can ship you something when it's time. The issue with 'prepping' as a lifestyle, the lifestyle you are wanting to sell with this idea, is that it's about prepping for the unknown. You're preparing for the worst disaster before it happens. In that case, the idea of course is that regular routes to receive goods, like shipping, are off-line. >Usually there is advance notice for a pandemic Where'd you come up w…
Diseases take time to spread.
Unless you're particularly unlucky about being where it starts, it's not like an earthquake where you have no warning.
Re: Mass hysteria is making coronavirus worse than it is
#94“Mass hysteria” sounds extreme and seems to exaggerate our joint response to date.
What I’ve observed from friends and news out of Seattle is general caution and a measured public response, which if successful can dramatically slow the rate of transmission.
Re: Mass hysteria is making coronavirus worse than it is
#95For me, the critical pieces of info everyone should consider are these: 1) Washing hands often, significantly reduces chances of getting infected (because virus has a fat membrane that breaks when in contact with soap) 2) If you are under 60 yrs old, covid-19 infection becoming fatal is extremely low, which in turn means, keep older population away from anyone carrying this virus, hence self-quarantine around elders…
> correct me if I'm wrong
Your #3 is not borne out by evidence or studies. Respirators, surgical masks, and pediatric masks have all modeled and/or shown to provide a significant degree of protection.
A related questions to ask oneself:
- who most needs to be healthy, you or medical providers?
- assuming we agree medical providers are in greater need of remaining healthy, does buying a mask from Ace Hardware or Home Depot take it out of the hands of a medical provider?
- will masks being out of stock at Ace Hardware affect a supply chain decision that would have otherwise gone to the hospital? if so, who is doing that wrong and why not intervene there?
- what about the principle where airlines tell you to put on your oxygen mask before your child's, and the notion that some % of Americans will find themselves as medical care providers to a household?
Having enough masks for the second scenario is relevant if you have 'at risk' household members.
On #4, some research suggests 9 days at comfortable room temperatures, 30C for instance.
Re: Mass hysteria is making coronavirus worse than it is
#96This was originally going to be a reply to Fruffy's comment.
I don't see mass hysteria, but I do see growing concern.
The last several decades of child-rearing in the US have been marked by an increased focus upon stress rduction, conflict mitigation, and obstacle-clearing for the purposes of opening up a larger swath of opportunities for our children in their futures.
Especially among the upper and middle-classes, I believe that this has resulted in a larger portion of the population lacking the fundamental coping mechanisms to respond rationally and proportionally to perceived threats.
Combined with a lack of actual experience dealing with pandemics in our cultural memory, lower social capital in our immediate communities preventing stronger bonds of mutual reassurance/support, and our ability to communicate our concerns with a broad likeminded audience over the internet, and I don't wonder that an unreasonably high number of young individuals panicking over the COVID outbreak.
I don't know that this is the case in Europe, as it is outside my direct experience. But Europeans seem to have a greater sense of institutional trust than we do here stateside.
We seem to be in a constant state of cultural hyperventilation right now. Of all the wolves we've worried about wandering the earth, COVID's the one that's actually coming for us, irrespective of ethnicity, gender, or creed, and it's also the one we lack the tools to effectively combat at scale.
Even though the article raises a number of reasons why the outbreak may not be as bad as we fear, if someone's truly concerned that they're in danger of passing from it, reach out to them and ask how you can help.
Especially among the lower-classes, self-quarantine isn't a realistic option, and constructing a network of mutual support for the event that it does become as bad as our most panicked commentators say it might be is a good way to keep everyone's emotional and physical struggles down while we weather the storm, if and when it comes.
Re: Mass hysteria is making coronavirus worse than it is
#97Earlier quoted context omitted.
No, Trump did not say the virus was a hoax, that was fake news.
> “This is their new hoax,” he said, referring to the coronavirus. https://www.cnbc.com/2020/02/28/trump-says-the-coronavirus-i... Straight from the horses mouth. But I'm sure he was misquoted and taken out of context...
He actually was misquoted or taken out of context...
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/trump-coronavirus-rally-re...
His exact words:
> Now the Democrats are politicizing the coronavirus. You know that, right? Coronavirus. They’re politicizing it. We did one of the great jobs. You say, ‘How’s President Trump doing?’ They go, ‘Oh, not good, not good.’ They have no clue. They don’t have any clue. They can’t even count their votes in Iowa, they can’t even count. No they can’t. They can’t count their votes.
> One of my people came up to me and said, ‘Mr. President, they tried to beat you on Russia, Russia, Russia. That didn’t work out too well. They couldn’t do it. They tried the impeachment hoax. That was on a perfect conversation. They tried anything, they tried it over and over, they’ve been doing it since you got in. It’s all turning, they lost, it’s all turning. Think of it. Think of it. And this is their new hoax. But you know, we did something that’s been pretty amazing. We’re 15 people [cases of coronavirus infection] in this massive country. And because of the fact that we went early, we went early, we could have had a lot more than that.
Re: Mass hysteria is making coronavirus worse than it is
#98This might be a case of excessively binary thinking? Stocking up on things you normally use is not panic buying, it's a sensible no-regrets precaution. But it tends to get called "hoarding" anyway. Buying stuff you don't normally use can also be sensible. Consider putting together an earthquake kit in California. Unfortunately, having a pandemic kit ready isn't something most people do, but maybe it should be? There…
> I'm also wondering if there might be an untapped market to help people be prepared without keeping a lot of inventory themselves? Usually there is advance notice for a pandemic so you just want some assurance that someone can ship you something when it's time. This would avoid shortages by making it profitable to keep inventory. This is an interesting idea, but you'd need to be really careful to avoid price-gouging…
Well, the idea would be that the option corresponds to a kit that's actually in stock somewhere, and you need to buy the option well in advance. The option would be to purchase the kit at regular price. If you don't need it, you could transfer the option to a charity.
Maybe a medical distributor would be in the best position to do this; they could regularly replace and sell this extra inventory to keep it from getting too old.
Re: Mass hysteria is making coronavirus worse than it is
#99[deleted]
Re: Mass hysteria is making coronavirus worse than it is
#100I live 1 mile from Evergreen Hospital and 3 miles from the Life Care facility, and I'm immunocompromised. Most of my B lymphocytes and a bunch of my T helper cells are gone. In the past couple of days 7 immunocompromised people within walking distance of me were killed by this thing. I don't think I'm in hysteria, but I sure as hell am not leaving my house until I can be convinced that it's under control in my area.…
I looked for a news story about this. They don't seem to all be immunocompromised people? Maybe you have different information.
https://www.kirklandreporter.com/news/coronavirus-death-toll...