I was hoping for this, lets do social distancing a tradition for every winter
Even easier and also reliable, normalize wearing surgical masks. Outside of Asia, wearing a surgical mask before the outbreak might invite some funny looks.
Social distancing slowing not only Covid-19, but other diseases too
51–60 of 234 posts
Re: Social distancing slowing not only Covid-19, but other diseases too
#52Earlier quoted context omitted.
(Removed)
This line: >Recent data clearly show the spread of Covid-19. On March 19, the share of Americans with temperatures indicating they had flu-like symptoms was about 4.9% when it typically would be expected to be about 4.0%. This was likely a result of the spread of Covid-19, according to Kinsa’s researchers. ... means that 1 week ago 2,964,898 Americans (0.9%) had Covid-19. Today there are 65,950 recorded cases in the…
Wow that’s pretty amazing. Really makes you wonder.
And that would just be the people with symptoms right now. It wouldn’t include recovered, asymptomatic, nor people in the incubation period.
Re: Social distancing slowing not only Covid-19, but other diseases too
#53Just imagine how many fewer people would fall ill each year with the flu if we didn’t shake hands as our default greeting?
I really hope this helps kill the concept of handshaking entirely. Unfortunately, there's still a large segment of dirty-handed people who think you can judge a person based on their handshake.
Is there any evidence that people who prefer handshakes have dirtier hands on average? What a bizarre stereotype.
Re: Social distancing slowing not only Covid-19, but other diseases too
#54Earlier quoted context omitted.
As of right now, covid-19 is killing about 2,200 people/day, compared to about 3,300 people/day for car accidents. So it hasn't caught up yet, but it's still on an exponential climb and will probably get there in another week or so, and then keep right on climbing. This whole "the flu/cars/heart disease is way worse" shtick people are leaning on has got to stop. It's true until exponential growth suddenly means it's…
Wouldn’t the number of people the virus will kill will reach a maximum and then decline rapidly as the remaining population will be immune to it?
Yes, but not so soon: at the moment in most of the places it grows exponentially, the numbers doubling every three to four days.
So "and will probably get there in another week or so" is probably too slow. If it's really 2000 deaths per day now, I can safely estimate 4000 deaths per day in just three to four days. Then in next 4 days it will be 8000. Save this estimate and compare.
In order for the effect you describe to happen (the maximum to be reached) the most popular estimate is that the number of infected has to reach around 70% of the population. Until that point the doubling of deaths every few days, without the measures to prevent that, would continue, deaths happening in always bigger amounts, but concentrated in the few weeks.
Re: Social distancing slowing not only Covid-19, but other diseases too
#55Earlier quoted context omitted.
I really hope this helps kill the concept of handshaking entirely. Unfortunately, there's still a large segment of dirty-handed people who think you can judge a person based on their handshake.
Is there any evidence that people who prefer handshakes have dirtier hands on average? What a bizarre stereotype.
They touch other people's hands more often?
Re: Social distancing slowing not only Covid-19, but other diseases too
#56Earlier quoted context omitted.
Potentially. But I find there to be zero value in touching the hands of someone I only just learned the name of. Especially considering I don't even know whether they're the type to cough in their hands, or the type to not wash after using the toilet. Bro hug with a friend I haven't seen in a while? Okay. Sweaty hand contact with a stranger? Never.
The danger is higher - that's exactly why we do it. It's an easy way to create intimacy with a stranger quickly. There's a reason politicians shake hands and kiss babies.
Re: Social distancing slowing not only Covid-19, but other diseases too
#57Earlier quoted context omitted.
This line: >Recent data clearly show the spread of Covid-19. On March 19, the share of Americans with temperatures indicating they had flu-like symptoms was about 4.9% when it typically would be expected to be about 4.0%. This was likely a result of the spread of Covid-19, according to Kinsa’s researchers. ... means that 1 week ago 2,964,898 Americans (0.9%) had Covid-19. Today there are 65,950 recorded cases in the…
Wow that’s pretty amazing. Really makes you wonder. And that would just be the people with symptoms right now. It wouldn’t include recovered, asymptomatic, nor people in the incubation period.
Or the data is invalid. We'll find out soon enough, there are millions of test kits being made available soon.
Re: Social distancing slowing not only Covid-19, but other diseases too
#58The lockdown of non-essential businesses has essentially reduced traffic accidents here to zero when usually there'd be a over a hundred deaths and few thousand injuries per week. By comparison there's only been 20 deaths from covid-19 over the space of 3 months, nearly all of them elderly people with pre-existing conditions. Yet people are emotional creatures and not all deaths are equal.
"How many people died of this" is only the tiniest factor to consider when trying to evaluate how dangerous a problem is. Consider the death of half a dozen unrelated people in city A, and the deaths of half a dozen separately unrelated people in city B. Who cares, right? That many people die every three seconds or something. Now add the information that the 6 people in city A died of smallpox. The 6 people in city B were all pedestrians hit by cars.
Should both cities react the same way?
Re: Social distancing slowing not only Covid-19, but other diseases too
#59Earlier quoted context omitted.
Do you really think we're going to come out of this period causing people to lose their jobs, lose their savings, lose their loved ones, not see their friends, stop going to sports and social events… and everyone's going to be like "Hey, that was fun, let's do it again next year"?
Some countries have week-long holidays where most people go home/travel/don't work. Their economies aren't dead. Make it a tradition where everyone with non-essential work stays home at least one week a year, all at the same time. More time is better, but even a little bit would likely cut back on disease. Governments already define Christmas/New Years/etc as a holidays and huge numbers of people aren't working on th…
In Europe this is called "August".
Re: Social distancing slowing not only Covid-19, but other diseases too
#60Earlier quoted context omitted.
As of right now, covid-19 is killing about 2,200 people/day, compared to about 3,300 people/day for car accidents. So it hasn't caught up yet, but it's still on an exponential climb and will probably get there in another week or so, and then keep right on climbing. This whole "the flu/cars/heart disease is way worse" shtick people are leaning on has got to stop. It's true until exponential growth suddenly means it's…
Wouldn’t the number of people the virus will kill will reach a maximum and then decline rapidly as the remaining population will be immune to it?
Not all diseases cause reliable immunity.