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India’s second wave

ft.com

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Re: India’s second wave

#451

Post by dartharva »

orblivion wrote: post #438
dartharva wrote: post #399

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most don't. At most the ones in drier regions use cheaply-made desert coolers (that are effective, no doubt), but air conditioning systems are a sign of luxury in India.

That's what I figured. And it was one plausible explanation I had for how apparently India wasn't doing so badly before. But I guess it's not enough. Though I'm not sure if the desert cooling systems means closed or open windows. (The other explanation was that the numbers weren't trustworthy, based on a the assessment of a friend living in India now.)

Desert coolers generally mean open windows

Re: India’s second wave

#452

Post by [deleted] »

sudosysgen wrote: post #444
nradov wrote: post #436

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you even live in the real world? Because your numbers are just totally disconnected from reality. In my city way more that 8% of people work in essential fields like food production and distribution, emergency services, utilities, transportation infrastructure, vehicle repair, home repair, healthcare, military, etc.

Food distribution and emergency services typically get taken over in good part by the military. Necessary food production is generally outside of cities. All Healthcare except for what is immediately necessary similarly is not needed, same for vehicle repair and so on. Keep in mind, this is only for a very short period of time. You don't have to deploy anywhere near the population needed for a sustainable organizatio…

[deleted]

Re: India’s second wave

#454

Post by fogihujy »

mikem170 wrote: post #446
fogihujy wrote: post #422

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Worst case would be healthcare systems collapsing, and a majority of essential workers falling ill, dying, or simply refusing to go work. It would possibly cause severe supply chain disruptions, which in its turn could result in local food shortages, civil unrest and so on. If such a situation would be allowed to spiral out of control, it could very well result in a systemic collapse, especially on a local or regiona…

I'm glad you agree that covid-19 is not a threat to our species! Why did you bring up systemic collapse? You made some pretty broad statements. Things like food shortages and civil unrest happen all the time, for lots of reasons. There's Syria, Somalia, the former Soviet Union, the Arab Spring, everywhere a war is fought, etc. It wouldn't be surprising for this pandemic (and/or lockdowns) to tip some country over the…

It was a counter-point to the "existential threat" argument.

> Do you think something like that might happen in a developed country?

Do I beleive it could happen? Yes, but it's quite unlikely, and it requires a series of fuck-ups from a lot of people. It's also more likely to happen in undeveloped countries:

> It wouldn't be surprising for this pandemic (and/or lockdowns) to tip some country over the edge, somewhere. But maybe not.

> Wouldn't hospitals just triage patients, letting the old and sick die?

I think you underestimate how pissed off people might get if the system they entrusted their relatives' care to suddenly decided to just let them manage on their own.

On a local level, things are messier - as you say, local governments fall every now and then and covid is just about as likely to trigger it as any other major issue.

I find it far more likely that it won't happen,though.

As for worst-case scenarios in general, I think it's simply a way for us to plan ahead. "Shit will happen. It might be rough. We'll manage because we though of it beforehand." And yes, it' probably good for the survival of the species. :D

Re: India’s second wave

#455

Post by lolthishuman »

vram22 wrote: post #434
lolthishuman wrote: post #373

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You sound just like a religious zealot.

Har de har har. Pot calling the kettle black, you jingoistic freak. I notice you did not address even a single one of the points in my comment that you replied to just above. Typical age-old cowardly attention-diverting rabble-rousing tactic, well-known to all. Spout more bile to your heart's content. I will not dignify your trollery / tomfoolery with a reply. I'm done with this thread.

Nonsense has no right to a reply. Trying to shed some light is only right. May you be well.

Re: India’s second wave

#456

Post by supernovae »

mikem170 wrote: post #375
supernovae wrote: post #241

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a HUGE difference in accepting a dole because you're shut down for the survival of your species and can't work vs how you see yourself functioning in a society where you can work.

> shut down for the survival of your species Do you really believe the survival of our species is at stake? There have been 1754 covid-19 deaths per million people in the USA since the start of the pandemic [0], a seemingly reliable number. That works out to 1 out of 570 people that have died of covid. Mostly older and less healthy folks. Part of the problem may be that not everyone is that scared. Living in democrac…

It doesn't matter how I framed it... take it however you want. Here in texas, people were lined up for miles to buy guns because we were borderline on the edge of failing. People were stocking up food, toilet paper, supplies. We weren't talking about taking care of each other, we were focusing on gimmics we thought would help us survive what many expected to be collapse. We had a failed presidency, we had a failed response, millions lost their jobs, millions of people lost incomes...

I don't think people realize how bad it got and just how quickly we forget and forgive those who were in charge that led us down the path that almost led to certain failure.

So yeah, our species may have survived if you want to frame it as such to debate the words used more than the reality of what the words meant.

I intentionally chose the words I said because it was a disaster and to be honest, we still haven't really learned from it.

Re: India’s second wave

#457

Post by supernovae »

KorematsuFred wrote: post #321
supernovae wrote: post #241

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a HUGE difference in accepting a dole because you're shut down for the survival of your species and can't work vs how you see yourself functioning in a society where you can work.

I do acknowledge the difference, what I am trying to highlight that perhaps dole is not what they want. Perhaps the poor people are not interested in staying indoors in return for dole and would rather risk their lives to seek things that value more than dole. It is not the lack of dole that is causing the failure of lockdowns.

It is the lack of dole that caused the failures of lockdowns in combination with a lack of systemic social safety nets to help support people. If you were unemployed, you lost your healthcare, if you lost your healthcare getting sick probably means losing your house/rent or getting behind, if you get behind none of those stimulus checks do anything for those that are behind because the system was never designed to support people through a pandemic.

You're trying to highlight something that doesn't exist.

Re: India’s second wave

#458

Post by supernovae »

llampx wrote: post #268
systemvoltage wrote: post #260

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Every sovereign nation with resources should be able to handle emergencies. India is not a small nation without resources. At this point, it seems that people are shifting blame from an ineffective government as well as people's will to cooperate on some externality such as world reserve currency. Did people read the FT article at all?

Shutting down an economy is well past any fathomable emergency.

If the economy doesn't serve the people, it deserves to be shutdown - especially in an emergency.

Re: India’s second wave

#459

Post by supernovae »

sgt101 wrote: post #261
supernovae wrote: post #245

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In a democracy, This isn't a privilege, its the will of the people. Why frame it as money printing? Does everything that can help people have to be pejorative?

I think that the OP is pointing out that some democracies are freer to act than others. The USA has absolute latitude, especially after demonstrating that countries that might threaten that latitude (ie. anyone who cut the oil off up to 10 years ago - now irrelevant) will be destroyed. India does not have all that much latitude.

It's political, i get it... but its laughable they try and prove a point through downvotes... but such is hacker news, hide the reality they don't agree with :)

Re: India’s second wave

#460

Post by supernovae »

JohnCohorn wrote: post #226
supernovae wrote: post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

2400 a month is rent here in Austin - and not even expensive rent. Without income, those rentals will foreclose/be evicted. Are you saying future pandemic responses should imply much of society simply deserves to be destitute?

> 2400 a month is rent here in Austin Just no, not unless you live in a luxury dwelling or location. Here’s an example place I used to live long ago. Centrally located, next to the major highways, and not unsafe. It’s old and not fancy, but under $1000 and your living expenses can be much lower than that with a roommate. https://www.livechevychase.com/floorplans

Dude, I have a wife and 2 kids and my house is small and yes, it would cost 2400 a month to rent it, luckily i bought it before it tripled in value... i wouldn't buy it for 500k today...

(also, every single room but an efficiency is sold out and there is no pricing on their 3 bedrooms)

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