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South Dakota nurse says many dying patients still insist Covid-19 'not real'

thehill.com

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Re: South Dakota nurse says many dying patients still insist Covid-19 'not real'

#81

Basically the US’s complete disregard for public education is now coming to a head. I remember one study that said the US students were one of the lowest in terms of education but the absolute highest in terms of self confidence. We are reaping what we have sowed for decades now. We have such a vast uneducated population that this coronavirus is almost more like a horrifying culling of the uneducated than anything el…

> 50% of the population has IQ below 100

Lots of people have IQs of 100. If you have a moment, I'd like to understand why you think half of the population has an IQ below 100, and why that might be significant. Does an IQ of 98 or 99 deem a person a moron?

I agree that the US has an issue with how education is viewed in the popular culture. I would bet, without any acutal supporting data, that compliance with mask orders is highly correlated with the degree of education of a region.

Re: South Dakota nurse says many dying patients still insist Covid-19 'not real'

#82
post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To set the perspective for those not familiar, the population of the state is close to 900k, roughly the same as the city of San Francisco. The normal pace of all-cause deaths is about 24 per day, so with COVID-19 killing off 15 people per day it is probably the leading cause of death in that state today.

If I remember correctly, deaths today are linked with the hospitalizations 12 days prior. From what I've seen, South Dakota is nearly out of ICU beds, as are many other states. These Covid19 death rates are going to get really, really bad this time around.

Definitely. The die, as they say, is already cast. Remember, too, that the trailing 7-day average of an exponential process is incredibly misleading. If it's 15 deaths per day by that measure, that means it's really 50 today and 100+ soon.

Re: South Dakota nurse says many dying patients still insist Covid-19 'not real'

#83

My wife and I just moved from Orange County, CA to Detroit, MI this last August. We decided to drive the northern route. Heading through Vegas, Utah, Yellowstone and Montana. Then onward through the plains of North Dakota and Minnesota. Turning north we entered Wisconsin and finally the UP (Upper Peninsula) of Michigan. After a few days exploring we turned south to Detroit. In Vegas the concern for masks started to w…

Last time I had to hit the road, I noticed that the social distancing/mask wearing travelers were avoiding towns and eating/relaxing at highway rest stops.

Re: South Dakota nurse says many dying patients still insist Covid-19 'not real'

#84

My friend works in the covid ICU here in Michigan and told me yesterday that she's seeing a dramatic increase in patients who are getting angry at her and still believing that covid is not real. When she asks where they may have caught it, they sometimes say at a wedding with 100 people where no one was wearing masks. I can't imagine how emotionally taxing it was to be a healthcare worker attending to people with cov…

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Re: South Dakota nurse says many dying patients still insist Covid-19 'not real'

#85
post #26

Yes, the pandemic fatigue is real. Yes, it would be wonderful to hang out with my friends in person, or to drive 100 miles crossing the border to go visit my children. But the reason this is lasting so long, and things are shutting back down is because people are ignoring the truth. You can talk about the economy all day long, but the fact of the matter is that if we all would’ve taken this seriously and shut everyth…

the fact of the matter is that if we all would’ve taken this seriously and shut everything down, we would be through the worst of it already

This isn't supported by the available evidence. Spain was forbidding people from leaving their homes except for essentials, and now they're worse off than the US in terms of hospitalizations and deaths. Many other countries also had stronger lockdowns that have not spared them from winter surges.

You can say that they didn't do "real" lockdowns, and that if people would just sit quietly in their homes for six months then it would have gone away. Which is about as useful as saying that if everyone ate less and exercised more then obesity would be eliminated, or if everyone stopped having sex outside of marriage then STDs and teenage pregnancies would no longer be problems. Humans do not have infinite willpower, and if your plan is to assert that they should and then shame them for their horrible selfishness of wanting to occasionally visit their families, it is going to fail.

Re: South Dakota nurse says many dying patients still insist Covid-19 'not real'

#86
post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Weird, I moved from SF to Philadelphia last week and most stores on route 80 required masks.

How is the move working out for you, btw?

I have lived in Philadelphia for almost 8 years now and it’s making less and less sense to live here.

City taxes are high, housing prices are steadily increasing, making changes to property is an expensive, bureaucratic nightmare, parking is a nightmare, etc. There aren’t (m)any good places to work that pay well enough to justify the taxes and cost of living. The winter is cold and dreary, the summer is humid.

If not for covid it would make a lot more sense to live in Boston or NYC.

I’m interested in moving to South Carolina or Florida.

Re: South Dakota nurse says many dying patients still insist Covid-19 'not real'

#87
post #26

Yes, the pandemic fatigue is real. Yes, it would be wonderful to hang out with my friends in person, or to drive 100 miles crossing the border to go visit my children. But the reason this is lasting so long, and things are shutting back down is because people are ignoring the truth. You can talk about the economy all day long, but the fact of the matter is that if we all would’ve taken this seriously and shut everyth…

> Comparatively, New Zealand and Canada have done a dramatically better job than America. People there appear to be willing to set aside their selfishness in favor of the common good.

Or even temporary constraints in favor of better things. In New Zealand you wear a mask but at least you can hang out with your friends. It's not even selfishness at that point, just denial and stupidity!

Re: South Dakota nurse says many dying patients still insist Covid-19 'not real'

#88
post #26

Yes, the pandemic fatigue is real. Yes, it would be wonderful to hang out with my friends in person, or to drive 100 miles crossing the border to go visit my children. But the reason this is lasting so long, and things are shutting back down is because people are ignoring the truth. You can talk about the economy all day long, but the fact of the matter is that if we all would’ve taken this seriously and shut everyth…

The country dealing better than any other with Covid has been Taiwan. No lockdown and > 200 days without new Covid case [1] see e.g. [2] for how they did it. It probably helped having had an epidemiologist as vice-president [3].

   Russia is winning.
Why did you have to end an otherwise insightful post with a many-times debunked conspiracy theory? May I recommend removing the last paragraph?

[1] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/oct/29/taiwan-domesti...

[2] C. Y. Wang, C. Y. Ng, R. H. Brook, Response to COVID-19 in Taiwan: Big Data Analytics, New Technology, and Proactive Testing, https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2762689

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chen_Chien-jen

Re: South Dakota nurse says many dying patients still insist Covid-19 'not real'

#89
post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Out of curiosity, what is your basis for wearing a mask?

Even if 10 years from now we discover that wearing a mask was a completely pointless endeavor .... the cost of wearing a mask is SO LOW that it is worth doing it. But it is scientifically proven to limit the rate of the spread, which is the least I can do to protect myself and those around me. I don't care if I get covid ... I don't think it will kill me based on my vitals. However, we don't fully understand the long…

Scientifically proven to limit the rate of spread? Are you sure about that?

Do you think COVID is airborne?

Do you think saliva droplets large enough to collect on the mask are “airborne”?

Do you think saliva carries viral particles?

Do you think breathing through a saliva saturated mask can cause those viral particles to become airborne?

If someone with COVID sneezed into a handkerchief and then draped it over a small fan to dry, would you be comfortable sitting in front of it?

Can wearing a mask improperly increase the chance of spreading COVID?

What percentage of people wear their masks properly?

What new evidence or scientific studies were presented that caused the switch from “no, don’t wear masks” to “yes, do wear masks”?

What does it say about the reasoning behind beliefs when people feel the need to downvote someone for questioning them?

Re: South Dakota nurse says many dying patients still insist Covid-19 'not real'

#90

Basically the US’s complete disregard for public education is now coming to a head. I remember one study that said the US students were one of the lowest in terms of education but the absolute highest in terms of self confidence. We are reaping what we have sowed for decades now. We have such a vast uneducated population that this coronavirus is almost more like a horrifying culling of the uneducated than anything el…

there are plenty of people with high IQs that are plainly in denial. There is a difference between stupidity and delusion.
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