Live data from Hacker News

Covid 5 years later: Learning from a pandemic many are forgetting

science.org

71–80 of 175 posts

Re: Covid 5 years later: Learning from a pandemic many are forgetting

#71
post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> During May 2022, Western Australia experienced sharply rising cases amongst the highest per capita cases seen anywhere in the world throughout the pandemic. Just delaying it to 2022 according to those same articles, as it had already exited the evolutionary fit population’s memory everywhere else in the world

Delaying any free active COVID presence until 99% of the state population had been double vaccinated and following COVID infections resulted in very few hospitalisations and one of the lowest per capita COVID death rates globally. I suggest you read the articles, from the linked Wikipedia source: Why are there so many Covid cases in Australia? Prof Catherine Bennett, the chair in epidemiology at Deakin University, sa…

I’m glad that worked for them and that there are various states worldwide to compare in that way.

China’s surprise loosening was a disaster, as their vaccines were not the same and didnt have comparable efficacy.

Re: Covid 5 years later: Learning from a pandemic many are forgetting

#72

I still desperately want to know the current (scientific) state of wearing a mask. On the one side we have people that say 'our bodies need to learn again to fight against viruses' and the other side which wants you to put on a mask even if you have the smallest sign of a common cold. - Though, I do understand the fear of people who have/had long covid, MCFS or do know people who have, but I don't know what conclusio…

One of the issues that came out of the covid outbreak was there was not enough masks for medical staff.

They initially said masks wouldn't help so that the public wouldn't buy them up.

This is covered in the documentary "Totally under control".

Re: Covid 5 years later: Learning from a pandemic many are forgetting

#73
post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It seemed entirely appropriate and exactly on point from my PoV: On 24 March, Western Australia closed its borders to the rest of Australia, and on 1 April, the state implemented borders between regions in the state. By mid-April 2020, the state had eliminated community transmission of COVID-19, becoming one of the few places in the world to do so. Elsewhere (the UK and US in particular) looked like a total clusterf*…

> During May 2022, Western Australia experienced sharply rising cases amongst the highest per capita cases seen anywhere in the world throughout the pandemic. Just delaying it to 2022 according to those same articles, as it had already exited the evolutionary fit population’s memory everywhere else in the world

I feel like delaying it isn't a bad move. There were no vaccines or known effective treatments available in early 2020, health services were unprepared and became overwhelmed, and no one knew even simple things about the virus, like how it was transmitted.

In 2022, I'm sure pretty much any region would be much better prepared to get hit by COVID-19 for the "first" time.

Re: Covid 5 years later: Learning from a pandemic many are forgetting

#74
post #5

The deep stupidity with which this subject has been met by political organizations and the broader populace has caused me to reexamine most of my expectations of "adult" behavior from both groups. In 50 years on this planet I've never been closer to losing the battle with nihilism.

same. we probably encounter this type of thing every 100 or so years for centuries, just enough for the previous generation to die off and the new generation to make all the same dumb mistakes again.

Not really true, when you consider how many died of Spanish flu in the early 20th century. We now understand so much more, and despite our shitty ha fling of it, we had a vaccine in a couple of years, and lockdowns and testing regimes likely saved tens of millions of lives. Reality doesn't support your pessimism.

Re: Covid 5 years later: Learning from a pandemic many are forgetting

#75

[flagged]

Have a look at the actual posts to realize why they were flagged. Had they not been, this page would be less than 5% non-cranks.

Even as it is, it's hard to break 10%. Sadly, this seems to have become a flamebait/trollbait/crankbait topic.

Re: Covid 5 years later: Learning from a pandemic many are forgetting

#77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's easy: masks helps to avoid infection or/and buys more time for body to fight a virus. Looking at graphs of mortality rate between countries with good mask culture and bad mask culture, it looks like masks reduced Covid19 mortality by 2x at least. Country # of cases # of deaths USA 111,820,082 1,219,487 UK 24,910,387 232,112 Japan 33,803,572 74,694 S. Korea 34,571,873 35,934

That's of course wayyy oversimplified. There are many more differences between those places than just masking culture. You can't come to a conclusion without evaluating all the other factors. This is exactly the kind of pseudoscience argument people pull in that muddies the water (on both sides of the debate)

This is not a scientific argument (correlation is not causation), but it's an argument supported by numbers, not just words.

If we look at scientific studies, they also confirm the some effectiveness of masks in reducing the risk of influenza or COVID-19 infection and mortality.

One study on mice, I saw, showed that antiviral-coated masks increase the likelihood of developing immunity to infection BEFORE the infection, because fragments of dead viruses enter the lungs and trigger an immune reaction.

Re: Covid 5 years later: Learning from a pandemic many are forgetting

#78

[flagged]

Have a look at the actual posts to realize why they were flagged. Had they not been, this page would be less than 5% non-cranks. Even as it is, it's hard to break 10%. Sadly, this seems to have become a flamebait/trollbait/crankbait topic.

Maybe, but depends on what each person considers cranks

This is one topic where the establishment view is mostly wrong and people broadly engaging in censorship are on the wrong side of history, period

Re: Covid 5 years later: Learning from a pandemic many are forgetting

#79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's easy: masks helps to avoid infection or/and buys more time for body to fight a virus. Looking at graphs of mortality rate between countries with good mask culture and bad mask culture, it looks like masks reduced Covid19 mortality by 2x at least. Country # of cases # of deaths USA 111,820,082 1,219,487 UK 24,910,387 232,112 Japan 33,803,572 74,694 S. Korea 34,571,873 35,934

Is it not more likely the # of deaths are related to obesity for example, where US has 5-7 times as many obese as Japan for example. Which matches the % deaths statistic you have there quite well. In other words: it's not easy. There are many factors at play.

I discounted 10x to 2x, or 20% of the effect.

Re: Covid 5 years later: Learning from a pandemic many are forgetting

#80
post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> During May 2022, Western Australia experienced sharply rising cases amongst the highest per capita cases seen anywhere in the world throughout the pandemic. Just delaying it to 2022 according to those same articles, as it had already exited the evolutionary fit population’s memory everywhere else in the world

that only happened because everybody else fucked up - which is of course predictable, you can't assume 192 countries will do the exact right thing all at the same time. so I agree, they just delayed the inevitable.

> they just delayed the inevitable.

We did, and the inevitable was 99% double vaccination, very few serious (hospitalisation) cases, very few deaths, at the cost of business as usual within the state and goods being quarentine 'airlocked' in and out across the border.

Post reply on HN