Coronavirus thread

Maj · Post by **Maj** » Fri Mar 13, 2020 3:09 pm

Josh_Kablack wrote:My nephew has a 5 point plan

https://photos.app.goo.gl/RfXt8X91YKiH95R7A

Katie Porter is relentless!!!

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/202 ... orter.html

Iduno · Post by **Iduno** » Fri Mar 13, 2020 7:04 pm

Maj wrote: Katie Porter is relentless!!!

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/202 ... orter.html

A politician who wants things to work correctly? Awesome.

Stahlseele · Post by **Stahlseele** » Fri Mar 13, 2020 7:38 pm

Germany is starting to shut down as well.

Nebuchadnezzar · Post by **Nebuchadnezzar** » Fri Mar 13, 2020 8:15 pm

I prefer to read transcripts of press conferences when available as a matter of self-preservation. This makes witnessing the current conference somehow worse. I think my finding that 45's directly refusing to take responsibility and making facile comparisons to swine flu is only exceeded in offensiveness by Pence sucking off Target for allocating some parking lot space is due to my relative privilege.

Username17 · Post by **Username17** » Fri Mar 13, 2020 8:44 pm

Nebuchadnezzar wrote:I prefer to read transcripts of press conferences when available as a matter of self-preservation. This makes witnessing the current conference somehow worse. I think my finding that 45's directly refusing to take responsibility and making facile comparisons to swine flu is only exceeded in offensiveness by Pence sucking off Target for allocating some parking lot space is due to my relative privilege.

Trump just had a bunch of business leaders shake his hands and said that he doesn't quarantine himself after taking pictures with himself and someone who tested positive for COVID-19 because he takes pictures with hundreds of people a day. I just... what?

Donald Trump wrote:I don't take responsibility at all.

That quote is going on a million memes, but it's also probably going to be the money quote for this whole era in future history. This is going to be the signature quote of the Trump administration. We've hit peak Trump.

-Username17

Stahlseele · Post by **Stahlseele** » Fri Mar 13, 2020 10:08 pm

[The Great Fence Builder Speaks] No wishing death on anyone.[/TGFBS]

Kaelik · Post by **Kaelik** » Fri Mar 13, 2020 10:33 pm

[The Great Fence Builder Speaks] No wishing death on anyone.[/TGFBS]

Josh_Kablack · Post by **Josh_Kablack** » Sat Mar 14, 2020 12:31 am

Based solely on what I have read from sources I trust, and not on any sort of formal qualification or prior expertise:

Chamomile wrote:-The worst pandemic in a century, but it passes. Coronavirus has a reinfection rate too low to survive once it runs out of naive hosts, or else an effective vaccine is developed within a few years, or else effective quarantines kill it off within a few years. Coronavirus racks up a global death toll in the millions/tens of millions before it's cured/contained/our biology adapts to it. The population of people in their 60s, 70s, and 80s is decimated in the meantime, but the plague does not become a permanent fixture of the future. The decline in elderly population levels out after a few years as people 60 and below faced few fatalities in the plague, and begin aging into the partly-vacant 70s/80s age brackets. The decline in key demographics may swing some critical elections, but also might have no impact on history at all.

This is the one that currently seems most likely, I expect a reasonably effective vaccine and/or much improved understanding of effective treatment practices inside 24 months. However, I wouldn't rule out the "this is life now" scenario, especially if it mutates and we end up dealing with multiple slightly different strains of the virus.

I really doubt "Indirect Apocalypse" will happen globally -- but I do expect variations on it to happen on the local scale and maybe regional scale -- especially where other hardships and/or natural disasters hit within the next year or two.

Josh_Kablack · Post by **Josh_Kablack** » Sat Mar 14, 2020 2:26 am

Can I wish that the Senators who neutered impeachment be tried for criminally negligent mass homicide?

https://www.wired.com/story/coronavirus ... ebsite/amp

Thaluikhain · Post by **Thaluikhain** » Sat Mar 14, 2020 2:31 am

Josh_Kablack wrote:Can I wish that the Senators who neutered impeachment be tried for criminally negligent mass homicide?

https://www.wired.com/story/coronavirus ... ebsite/amp

"That the White House is finally treating testing with any kind of urgency is a welcome, if belated, push. But the apparent miscommunication—or outright misrepresentation—may bode poorly for the administration’s broader efforts."

Wow, really not holding back from their scathing criticism there.

Mord · Post by **Mord** » Sat Mar 14, 2020 4:13 am

The mayor of Chicago refused to close public schools, but the governor forced the issue by ordering all schools in the state be closed for the next 3 weeks at least. It's long past time from a social distancing strategic perspective, but this is really going to hit poor people even harder since schools are the only child care and a key food provider for a lot of impoverished families.

Meanwhile, I'm still expected to go to work, so I've got that going for me.

Orca · Post by **Orca** » Sat Mar 14, 2020 4:28 am

Anyone coming into New Zealand (except from some Pacific Islands; Aussie definitely not excepted) is going to be asked to self-isolate for 14 days. With required quarantines as a backup if people refuse. Putting off the day when we have to deal with covid-19 spreading in the country is a good thing but tourism is NZ's biggest export earner, a large part of the economy and a correspondingly large employer. It's going to get messy, especially when the National Party inevitably wins the elections which will follow later this year.

Edit: To be clear the National Party is not currently in government. They are clear on wanting to disagree with anything the current gov't does (including related to covid-19) and will seek to talk down, undermine and reverse such policies.

Count Arioch the 28th · Sat Mar 14, 2020 6:19 am

This entire thread should be folded into the Trump thread because this is all about Trump and only tangentially related to the coronavirus.

Maj · Post by **Maj** » Sat Mar 14, 2020 6:24 am

My son's school district just closed until April 24th. They will still be feeding kids breakfast and lunch, grab and go style.

erik · Post by **erik** » Sat Mar 14, 2020 1:45 pm

Central Indiana schools closed on Friday or Monday and won't be open til after their spring break ends in early April. I ran the boys at the state park Friday since they'd been indoors all day. It was pretty vacant, but was also around dinner time. I wonder if people will be avoiding the park in the coming weeks. I've avoided shopping since I've heard stories that places are getting cleaned out and I'm not low on anything. I'd rather avoid the frenzy if I can. Gonna be some weird times ahead though.

My boss continues to think this is all a big hysteria over a flu and the people closing schools are either idiots or out to get Trump. *sigh*

Meanwhile my mother in law in a total absence of understanding of what social distancing means, wants to come over from Missouri next week and spend a few days here. *doublesigh*

I hate that this thing is making me feel like a hypochondriac. I had a sore throat for a few days and every time I blew my nose (rare) I'd be like "Is this it?" Ditto whenever anyone else coughs.

Ancient History · Post by **Ancient History** » Sat Mar 14, 2020 2:43 pm

https://www.npr.org/2020/03/12/81488135 ... fell-short

Josh_Kablack · Post by **Josh_Kablack** » Sat Mar 14, 2020 2:51 pm

erik wrote:I hate that this thing is making me feel like a hypochondriac. I had a sore throat for a few days and every time I blew my nose (rare) I'd be like "Is this it?" Ditto whenever anyone else coughs.

Coughing in public is rapidly becoming as socially unacceptable as farting in a crowded elevator.

Username17 · Post by **Username17** » Sat Mar 14, 2020 5:12 pm

The world is Not running out of toilet paper. However, you should probably have about 2 weeks worth in a cabinet somewhere because there's a good chance you personally are going to be unable to go the store for a few weeks in the near future.

But that's it. It's not a nuclear war. You don't need 20 gallons of bottled water or a shotgun. You're just going to be stuck at home and unable to go to the store for a few weeks. The lights will still come on. The tap will still put drinkable water into your cup.

-Username17

Sigil · Post by **Sigil** » Sat Mar 14, 2020 5:23 pm

Also, if you run out of toilet paper, you presumably still have a shower.

Maj · Post by **Maj** » Sat Mar 14, 2020 6:03 pm

My mother-in-law is freaking out on my behalf. She sent me a text yesterday that said I should fill a bathtub with water (and a little bleach for potability), and my pantry with bags of dried rice and beans.

Apparently people in my area are also feeling it. In addition to toilet paper being sold out, bottled water is, too?!

I don't get it. The garbage is still being picked up. The electricity is still on. The gas is still heating the house. The water is still running - potably (I have never been a fan of tap water before I moved here, but our water is actually really good). The sewers are still removing waste without overflowing. You can still drive your car on roads.

We are not on lockdown. As of 2 PM PDT yesterday, our county had no positive cases of COVID-19. We are just social distancing to flatten the curve. Is this really so foreign a concept that we either are normal or experiencing the apocalypse?

Koumei · Post by **Koumei** » Sat Mar 14, 2020 6:06 pm

We laughed at the French when they invented the bidet, but who is laughing now?

Username17 · Post by **Username17** » Sat Mar 14, 2020 7:16 pm

The World Health Organization (WHO) has determined that dogs can't get COVID-19, and that dogs previously quarantined can be freed.
So... WHO let the dogs out.

I am not sorry.

Working in a UK hospital, and having worked in a Czech hospital and US hospitals, I can say that this chart seems pretty consistent with the feeling 'on the ground.' The UK is proper fucked. The US would actually be doing OK if it had a leader who wasn't a joke character from a Dickens novel.

-Username17

Whipstitch · Post by **Whipstitch** » Sat Mar 14, 2020 7:20 pm

People do dumb things but I think we should pause to recognize how benign the typical overreaction is. I say this because the state of US politics dictates that there are already deplorables on facebook acting like showing concern before Trump admitted there was a problem was tantamount to fomenting civil unrest and looting pharmacies. People get scared but they also adapt and the lesson of all this is that people try their best but in the absence of good information the conclusions they come to may not always be useful.

Kevin Mack · Post by **Kevin Mack** » Sat Mar 14, 2020 10:19 pm

Frank how do you feel the chances of Scotland are relative to the rest of the uk (Since health is a devolved issue far as I know?)

Whipstitch · Post by **Whipstitch** » Sat Mar 14, 2020 10:40 pm

FrankTrollman wrote: The US would actually be doing OK if it had a leader who wasn't a joke character from a Dickens novel.

-Username17

This is just base slander.

Everyone knows Trump is a Captain Planet villain.