[Shop-talk] everybody OK with Covid-19?

[Donald H Locker]

But we know that Italy has good health care, as does Germany and the US. 
We are succumbing because the virus is more dangerous and has a 
mortality rate that exceeds that of influenza by a factor of 20x-40x. 
(China in general may not have the best of health everywhere, but Wuhan 
is a very modern, sophisticated, healthy city. Even there, the mortality 
rate was 4.6% (3130/67800 as of today) - that is HUGE by any measure. 
Italy's mortality rate is 8.3% (3405/41035); USA is at 1.5% (200/13680) 
as of 15 minutes ago.

This is not a disease to take lightly from all the evidence.

We'll be able to tell if we haven't taken adequate precautions because 
we will have a catastrophe. If we take adequate or more-than adequate 
precautions, we will have a nothingburger - that is the goal and we 
should all strive for it, IMO. The catastrophe scenario (1918 Flu, Flint 
water, Fukushima) is not one I wish on anyone.

Donald.

*Plain Text* email -- it's an accessibility issue
() no proprietary attachments; no html mail
/\ <https://www.georgedillon.com/web/html_email_is_evil.shtml>

On 2020-03-19 6:31 p.m., eric--- via Shop-talk wrote:
> I do appreciate everyone's comments here.  I'm not trying to start a war 
> or anything, and I will stop if no one wants to hear my side (just let 
> me know)
> 
> But I'm guessing we all have some extra time on our hands now and this 
> is a great way to stay in touch with others, without risk.
> 
> A few rebuttals,
> 
> Yes, they are saying that this seems to be more fatal then the flu, 
> however, I believe there are 2 main reasons for that.
> 1-where it started, china then moved to Iran.  Both of these places have 
> poor nutrition, poor medical care (and even poorer access to it.), and 
> elderly populations.  Italy also has poor medical care (albeit better 
> than the other two.)  So fatalities were higher than average modern 
> populations.
> 
> 2-Then, there is most likely a vast populations (even in those areas) 
> that got the virus, and shrugged it off as the flu, got better, and 
> never reported it.  So that means that you can track 100% of the 
> fatalities, but you do not know how many 'sick but were fine' people you 
> had.  This will artificially inflate fatality statistics.
> 
> So, that is why it may SEEM to be worst. Next, comparing this to the 
> Spanish flu is unfair as we have a way more advance medical machine 
> worldwide now.  Even if that flu hit today, there wouldn't be the same 
> amount of deaths.
> 
> For my job. I have been living and breathing this stuff for almost two 
> weeks. We are taking a in depth look at every aspect.  The victims in 
> our state all had other serious health issues. In fact the first person 
> to die here had just about every major issue you can think of.
> Is it sad people are dying? Yes. I am not trying to down play it.  But 
> these were all people that the flu most likely would have impacted as 
> well.  It doesn't make it any less tragic, but it does instill fear in 
> the rest of the population for something they can't see the details on. 
> People see a "number of fatalities" statistic.  But they don't see the 
> "aggravating factors for each person" facts.
> 
> My point is that the response may be way worst than the virus itself. 
> Entire cities/states/countries shutting down.  Livelihoods lost.  People 
> losing jobs, and means to support their families. Even with stimulus 
> packages (that further reduce the dollars worth) business will be closed 
> for good, jobs that don't come back. All because populations of people 
> that were vulnerable to the flu or other viruses, contracted one called 
> 'covid-19.'  If they contracted the regular flu and died, it would have 
> been like any other year. I hate to sound so insensitive, but it is 
> because I'm rooting for the whole society and what's best for the vast 
> majority. (yes, I'm sure sounds like the plot to an original Star Trek 
> episode.)
> 
> Populations are panicking, I hope we don't see riots for food and 
> supplies as people are being bombarded with more and more fear mongering 
> by the media. And yes, people choose their media,but the vast majority 
> of people just watch one side of the 24h networks and have no idea how 
> mis-informed they are. I can say without reservations that the people on 
> this list are unequivocally in the 'better informed and educated' group, 
> but go talk to the average person on the street if you want to see how 
> mis-informed people are. A good test is to ask 100 people "who the 
> speaker of the house is?"  I'd be amaze if you got 10 correct answers 
> (and if more than 20 people even had an educated guess.)
> 
> Even if it doesn't come to riots, the stress on people, the loss of 
> educational opportunities (many college students may have to repeat 
> classes or entire semesters, delaying their graduations.)
> 
> Or, if there is a REAL emergency that comes later, how many people will 
> completely ignore it because covid-19 was a big nothing burger?
> 
> I'm not even going to go into my future prediction, as this is already 
> enough of a bummer.
> 
> To leave on a positive note, it is awesome that most families are going 
> to get to spend a ton of time together.  It's great that we get time to 
> pursue our passions and hobbies. It is also great that this is happening 
> when we are entering spring and the weather is breaking.
> 
> Please feel free to comment, I will not respond unless asked to as I 
> don't want this to drag out unless there is enough interest.  This list 
> has been a great resource for me for decades, and I respect each and 
> ever one of you opinions and advice.
> 
> Now, I'm going back to look in the sofa cushions to see if I missed 
> something.  8>)
> 
> "Be as beneficent as the sun or the sea, but if your rights as a 
> rational being are trenched on, die on the first inch of your 
> territory." Ralph Waldo Emerson
> -Who is John Galt?