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California Covid-19 traffic report finds silver lining

ucdavis.edu

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Re: California Covid-19 traffic report finds silver lining

#41

I've been meaning to ask in /r/theydidthemath if the quarantine is actually reducing violent crime, car accidents, pollution, other infectious diseases, STDs, etc. so that we may come out break even or even ahead compared to covid deaths. Just trying to find the silver lining here.

Look at the unemployment rate. What else validation do you need? You can't just ask people to stay locked in their homes and assume everything would be ok.

Re: California Covid-19 traffic report finds silver lining

#42
post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m also expecting some long term after-effects that will increase diabetes and heart disease as most people are locked up.

Really? Maybe my local experience is an outlier but I've seen significantly more people cooking meals at home and exercising. The number of daily runners in my neighborhood has easily increased 10x. Are gluttony and sedentary lifestyles not the major contributors for type-2 diabetes and heart disease?

I've had a similar experience, though I have no idea if the runners I'm seeing makes up for less activity throughout the day, gyms being closed, etc. It's possible that the 4% of people who go to the gym regularly are now running outside, and everyone else is even less active.

Also, heart disease and type-2 diabetes are years in the making, and a month of moderate exercise and better eating won't make up for it overnight. Not to mention added stress.

Re: California Covid-19 traffic report finds silver lining

#43
post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Really? Maybe my local experience is an outlier but I've seen significantly more people cooking meals at home and exercising. The number of daily runners in my neighborhood has easily increased 10x. Are gluttony and sedentary lifestyles not the major contributors for type-2 diabetes and heart disease?

Has the number of runners increased more than the number of people going to gyms/sports leagues/swimming pools has dropped?

Also, are the people running new runners, or people who would otherwise be going to gyms?

Re: California Covid-19 traffic report finds silver lining

#44
This seems like a low effort illogical argument to push an anti car agenda? Obviously the economic benefit of cars is far greater than $40M a day for CA. Everything we do involves risk, whether it is driving or flying or simply leaving the house. With risk comes the chance of injury and death. We still decide to go about our lives because there is immense benefit in that. So I don’t see why this is a problem.

Re: California Covid-19 traffic report finds silver lining

#45

I've been meaning to ask in /r/theydidthemath if the quarantine is actually reducing violent crime, car accidents, pollution, other infectious diseases, STDs, etc. so that we may come out break even or even ahead compared to covid deaths. Just trying to find the silver lining here.

Apparently the death rate (general) in South Africa has dropped as a result of lockdown

Re: California Covid-19 traffic report finds silver lining

#46
post #32

will US learn to be less car-centric after this?

No amount of pandemics can smoosh buildings closer.

Many European cities actually have very wide streets—they just choose to cede space for bikes, trams, buses, and wider sidewalks, instead of dedicating 100% of the streets to single-occupancy cars and car storage like we do.

An example—Overtoom in Amsterdam: https://www.google.com/maps/@52.3620058,4.8722503,3a,75y,96....

Re: California Covid-19 traffic report finds silver lining

#47
post #32

will US learn to be less car-centric after this?

No.

For one, this situation has nothing to do with cars, so there's no obvious lesson about cars to be drawn from it. Accidents are relatively rare, and when you frame the headline, as another commenter did, as $1 per person-day, it's a lot less impressive.

It's also not viable in a lot of places. Mass transit and living close to work, shopping, and services, is only viable in certain urban centers. NYC, DC, Boston, maybe Chicago are good. LA, not so much (but improving), Dallas, hah! And if you live in a suburb our outside the city? Car.

What will change is habits around traveling. Maybe there will be more working from home (or maybe not). Maybe cities aren't as desirable (or they still are). Maybe there's a broader economic reshuffle. Oil is incredibly cheap right now. Those are the factors that will drive car use over the next few years, not a dollar figure that is, not surprisingly, on the order of what I pay for car insurance. If a $1000 annual insurance bill doesn't keep people out of their cars, why would this headline?

Re: California Covid-19 traffic report finds silver lining

#49
post #5

When you say something “saves money” do you think it’s reasonable to require such a statement attest that there is a net savings? If I go on vacation and set my Nest to eco mode, am I saving money? Sure, certainly I may be saving $5 a day in home utilities cost on my $300/day vacation. But that is not to say that said vacation is actually saving me money. It would be accurate to say that vacation may be costing me $2…

I don't think this comment deserves to be downvoted. It seems sensible. Sure, it's mostly sensitive to the phrasing, but careful phrasing matters in matters of finance and politics.

Thank ideologues.

Re: California Covid-19 traffic report finds silver lining

#50

I've been meaning to ask in /r/theydidthemath if the quarantine is actually reducing violent crime, car accidents, pollution, other infectious diseases, STDs, etc. so that we may come out break even or even ahead compared to covid deaths. Just trying to find the silver lining here.

>>so that we may come out break even or even ahead compared to covid deaths. Just trying to find the silver lining here.

Everything you said above are really down in North Korea, and have been so for decades. I doubt they're doing OK

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