India's holiest river Ganges is swollen with Covid victims • Hacker News Board

Re: India's holiest river Ganges is swollen with Covid victims

#61

Post by aww_dang » Thu, May 20, 2021, 5:32 AM UTC

robbiep wrote: post #47

hzay wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A lot of comments that appear neutral here are actually political btw. Saying that deaths are undercounted or citing foreign media is seen as "anti national" now within India.

Everything regarding COVID is political which is absurd. I'm not indian or have any indian family but I am a Doctor and most of my lines of data come from the medical community reporting back

Most things can be interpreted politically.

That doesn't mean "here's why I blame COVID on my political opponents, AKA the evil-doers", is an interesting or useful start to a discussion. If it is, the counterpoint about protests is equally valid.

Re: India's holiest river Ganges is swollen with Covid victims

#62

Post by ithastobe » Thu, May 20, 2021, 5:33 AM UTC

hangonhn wrote: post #4

What is the best way for someone in the US to donate to help with the situation in India? I'm not Indian so I don't know much about charities in India but news like this is just heartbreaking and I want to do my minuscule part in helping. Thanks in advance.

I donated to the Chief Minister State fund of Tamil Nadu ans I am originally from there.

https://ereceipt.tn.gov.in/cmprf/Cmprf

As far as I know, the state of Tamil Nadu is doing a good job in being transparent with the funds.

Re: India's holiest river Ganges is swollen with Covid victims

#63

Post by ganeshkrishnan » Thu, May 20, 2021, 5:35 AM UTC

actuator wrote: post #30

ganeshkrishnan wrote: post #8

The number of fatalities is 10x-100x more than what is published officially. Most people died at homes due to them being rural and all hospitals working at capacity. At government hospitals, you have to be tested and be covid positive to be listed as covid death. Private hospitals in rural areas simply don't send the stats back. I don't know any family in India that didn't have a death among their relatives. They sai…

The situation is quite sad, and I am happy you and your family are fine as you mentioned in your other comment. I am quite sure you can do without spreading FUD here though. If you have data to back up the 10-100x claim, please share it. There has been undercounting in most countries and India having largely poor infra you would expect it to be higher there. The data has been analysed by a lot of experts and most are…

>If you have data to back up the 10-100x claim, please share it.

15x more death certificates issued.

10x lower death per million wrt comparable countries

Much more rural deaths in second wave which were totally not counted.

The "daily bhaskar" did an investigative report in couple of districts and said it was 20-40x.

I am not trying to fear monger. Just obey the lockdown, use the mask and get the vaccines. And when things return to normal focus on development instead of egoistical statues and temples.

Re: India's holiest river Ganges is swollen with Covid victims

#64

Post by ganeshkrishnan » Thu, May 20, 2021, 5:38 AM UTC

dukeofdoom wrote: post #56

robbiep wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Feeling doesn't have anything to do with facts, as I pointed out to the other poster. However in a situation with very little in the way of actual verifiable facts, what is someone actually asking for in terms of something that will support the evidence? What is a source in this environment? And at various thresholds of that, I will give you many sources (mostly medical) that will support 1-2 orders of magnitude incr…

Since COVID takes out mostly old people with multiple life threatening conditions. It seems to have replaced the flu. So not much impact on overall yearly mortality rate.

>Since COVID takes out mostly old people with multiple life threatening conditions

My brother's two employees died. One was 28 and other in 30's. No complications, physically active people.

Re: India's holiest river Ganges is swollen with Covid victims

#65

Post by dukeofdoom » Thu, May 20, 2021, 5:42 AM UTC

hangonhn wrote: post #4

What is the best way for someone in the US to donate to help with the situation in India? I'm not Indian so I don't know much about charities in India but news like this is just heartbreaking and I want to do my minuscule part in helping. Thanks in advance.

Perhaps a charity that builds toilets or improves sanitary conditions. That seems to have an overall biggest health payback.

Re: India's holiest river Ganges is swollen with Covid victims

#66

Post by Shievani » Thu, May 20, 2021, 5:44 AM UTC

hangonhn wrote: post #4

What is the best way for someone in the US to donate to help with the situation in India? I'm not Indian so I don't know much about charities in India but news like this is just heartbreaking and I want to do my minuscule part in helping. Thanks in advance.

Hello! I run a non profit called Enrich Lives Foundation in Mumbai and we're doing COVID relief work since day one of the pandemic. We distribute food, cooked meals and grocery kits to the most needy. We also are setting up COVID care centers and mobile health clinics. You can donate directly via GiveIndia at www.tinyurl.com/Donate2ELF

You'll even get tax benefits also in US and India

We would be grateful for your support!

Re: India's holiest river Ganges is swollen with Covid victims

#67

Post by [deleted] » Thu, May 20, 2021, 5:46 AM UTC

apoorvagk wrote: post #21

ganeshkrishnan wrote: post #8

The number of fatalities is 10x-100x more than what is published officially. Most people died at homes due to them being rural and all hospitals working at capacity. At government hospitals, you have to be tested and be covid positive to be listed as covid death. Private hospitals in rural areas simply don't send the stats back. I don't know any family in India that didn't have a death among their relatives. They sai…

> I don't know any family in India that didn't have a death among their relatives. I am sorry for the losses you and your friends have experienced. I came here to provide a contrarian view just so that the readers here do not get a skewed view of what is going on. I agree with you that the actual deaths are at least 10X and possibly 100X more than the official numbers. But nobody in my family has been tested positive…

[deleted]

Re: India's holiest river Ganges is swollen with Covid victims

#68

Post by Shievani » Thu, May 20, 2021, 5:46 AM UTC

Shievani wrote: post #66

hangonhn wrote: post #4

What is the best way for someone in the US to donate to help with the situation in India? I'm not Indian so I don't know much about charities in India but news like this is just heartbreaking and I want to do my minuscule part in helping. Thanks in advance.

Hello! I run a non profit called Enrich Lives Foundation in Mumbai and we're doing COVID relief work since day one of the pandemic. We distribute food, cooked meals and grocery kits to the most needy. We also are setting up COVID care centers and mobile health clinics. You can donate directly via GiveIndia at www.tinyurl.com/Donate2ELF You'll even get tax benefits also in US and India We would be grateful for your su…

In my day job I also work as an impact investment professional. We run this NGO completely transparently and all donations go towards relief directly, we are completely volunteer run. I'm on Twitter @ShievaniU and would be happy to personally answer any of your queries.

Re: India's holiest river Ganges is swollen with Covid victims

#69

Post by Exmoor » Thu, May 20, 2021, 5:53 AM UTC

dukeofdoom wrote: post #37

robbiep wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm just trying to understand how insensitive it is to comment on a thread where OP is clearly someone who has either suffered loss or has an entire network suffering loss, and then go full strong systemiser and ask for a reference. The absurdity of asking is even stronger when almost any understanding of the situation on the ground in India would mean an understanding that there is widespread and systemic problems w…

What do feeling have to do with facts. COVID has at most 1% mortality rate. It hasn't been shown to significantly increase yearly mortality rate. About the same number of people are dying as every year. The Ganges is a large river. The claim is a hyperbolic exaggeration.

> What do feeling have to do with facts. COVID has at most 1% mortality rate.

The basis for this is data from places with at least some level of health care. From the reports I'm hearing, a lot of India's rural population is not making it medical care.

Also, worth mentioning that 1% of India's population is 13.8 million people.

Re: India's holiest river Ganges is swollen with Covid victims

#70

Post by nandhinianand » Thu, May 20, 2021, 6:03 AM UTC

apoorvagk wrote: post #21

ganeshkrishnan wrote: post #8

The number of fatalities is 10x-100x more than what is published officially. Most people died at homes due to them being rural and all hospitals working at capacity. At government hospitals, you have to be tested and be covid positive to be listed as covid death. Private hospitals in rural areas simply don't send the stats back. I don't know any family in India that didn't have a death among their relatives. They sai…

> I don't know any family in India that didn't have a death among their relatives. I am sorry for the losses you and your friends have experienced. I came here to provide a contrarian view just so that the readers here do not get a skewed view of what is going on. I agree with you that the actual deaths are at least 10X and possibly 100X more than the official numbers. But nobody in my family has been tested positive…

There's a big difference in prevalence/spread of covid across economic classes. Without knowing which one you belong to, this is not a great data point.