The Coronavirus Thread

[laklak]

Been listening to the various conspiracy nutjobs. One theory is this is just a ploy by the NWO (New World Order, not Niggers With Ortitude) to strip of of all rights and turn us into prole-slaves. In this one, Bill Gates figures prominently and Covid is much less infectious and lethal than the flu. Another one is that the Chinks have been lying all along and there are actually millions dead, and this is a plot by them to decimate our populations and take over the world.

They both can't be right.

[Cunt]

There's heaps of evidence about China lying. Less so once you drift into speculating as to why they told this or that lie.

I like the hopeful conspiracies (like qanon) but the 'lying China' thing isn't conspiracy. The silence (do you remember the NBA silencing their staff about the protests recently) around reporting on their activities is almost a bigger lie.

There was that Harvard prof, arrested for illegally starting a big fancy bio-lab and running it, in Wuhan. Dr. Leibowitz or similar.

But if it is a 'conspiracy', that conpiracy is one of silence, by media who are paid to be pro-China, and the NBA. (maybe others)

[Tero]

538
A recent paper published by Imperial College London estimated that the true number of people who had been infected with the coronavirus in the U.K. as of March 30 was somewhere between 800,000 and 3.7 million1 — as compared to a reported case count through that date of just 22,141.

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/co ... aningless/

[Scot Dutchy]

"Pick a number, any number".

The data is not good. The claim that these are daily figures has been disputed. Reporting is quite hap hazard.
Do people really believe the third world countries' reporting?

[Brian Peacock]

Isn't a Zebra just a painted Mule?

[JimC]

"Pick a number, any number".

The data is not good. The claim that these are daily figures has been disputed. Reporting is quite hap hazard.
Do people really believe the third world countries' reporting?

The data is highly variable, but for western Europe, the US and Oz, I'm fairly certain it is at least not deliberately distorted. Epidemiologists say that there are likely to be many more people infected with little of no symptoms that nothing other than universal testing would reveal, but that is known by the people analysing the data. However, the death rates are real, with the caveat that some of the very elderly and infirm were destined to die soon of old age or other illnesses, but that too is known by all.

Sure, there are many places in the world where the figures are dodgy, for at least 2 possible reasons. In many cases, a chaotic health and government system might mean the governments involved may have no real idea of how rapidly the virus is spreading in their jurisdictions. Alternatively, some governments may be for a variety of political reasons deliberately mis-reporting the numbers.

In both cases, though, that would mean that the real figures are much higher. Scot, at times you seem to think that the whole thing is a beat-up, a crisis which has been over-blown for nefarious reasons. However, the data discrepancies, where they exist, would mean that the real numbers are higher still. You can't have it both ways...

[laklak]

800,000 to 3,700,000. All righty then. Why not 946,436 to 4,144,396? How about 777,777 to 3,333,333?

Fucksake. Honestly, WTF good are figures like that? These people certainly ain't engineers.

[Brian Peacock]

"Pick a number, any number".

The data is not good. The claim that these are daily figures has been disputed. Reporting is quite hap hazard.
Do people really believe the third world countries' reporting?

The data is highly variable, but for western Europe, the US and Oz, I'm fairly certain it is at least not deliberately distorted. Epidemiologists say that there are likely to be many more people infected with little of no symptoms that nothing other than universal testing would reveal, but that is known by the people analysing the data. However, the death rates are real, with the caveat that some of the very elderly and infirm were destined to die soon of old age or other illnesses, but that too is known by all.

Sure, there are many places in the world where the figures are dodgy, for at least 2 possible reasons. In many cases, a chaotic health and government system might mean the governments involved may have no real idea of how rapidly the virus is spreading in their jurisdictions. Alternatively, some governments may be for a variety of political reasons deliberately mis-reporting the numbers.

In both cases, though, that would mean that the real figures are much higher. Scot, at times you seem to think that the whole thing is a beat-up, a crisis which has been over-blown for nefarious reasons. However, the data discrepancies, where they exist, would mean that the real numbers are higher still. You can't have it both ways...

But Scot thinks the deaths are insignificant Jim, even if they're preventable deaths. And we can't borrow deaths from the future to downplay what's preventable today by saying that some (incalculable) proportion of people who died from Covid-19 would have died anyway - because we all die anyway, in the end. We can talk about risk though - such as your likelihood of seeing the year out if you're 90 is less than if you're 80, or 50, or 25 etc - but with teenagers without underlying health conditions dying from the infection as well the as elderly, admittedly in different proportions, preventing preventable illness and death has got to be a public health priority for any democratic society.

In the UK the Tories promoted the so-called 'herd immunity' strategy all the way through February, basically saying that we should let the chips fall were they may, until they belatedly started applying what the epidemiologists had been saying all along and realised the prospect of a year's worth of dead people in one quarter would cripple the health services, panic the population, and render them unelectable for decades to come. There is a political dimension to all this of course, but it's not the one Scot thinks it is.

[Scot Dutchy]

World population? 71,000,000,000

Deaths:
64,580 (presumed Corona)

Please.

[Cunt]

World population? 71,000,000,000

Deaths:
64,580 (presumed Corona)

Please.

Dutch figuring is best figuring.

[JimC]

World population? 71,000,000,000

Deaths:
64,580 (presumed Corona)

Please.

Let's look at the numbers again in a week's time, or a month's time...

[Cunt]

World population? 71,000,000,000

Deaths:
64,580 (presumed Corona)

Please.

Let's look at the numbers again in a week's time, or a month's time...

Might take longer than that, to get the numerator up to seventy-one billion. I'm not all that good at numbers and maths. Not like the Dutch.

[pErvinalia]

World population? 71,000,000,000

Deaths:
64,580 (presumed Corona)

Please.

Let's look at the numbers again in a week's time, or a month's time...

And not to mention his claim that there's 71 billion people on earth.

[Brian Peacock]

World population? 71,000,000,000

Deaths:
64,580 (presumed Corona)

Please.

71 billion eh? Woops! If you compared the number of dead to the number of galaxies in the visible universe you'd still be missing the point.

By entertaining the premise of the following question in good faith I hope you'll be able to articulate your view on why any of those 60,000+ deaths isn't really important. Ready?

If the death of anyone is preventable should effort be made to prevent it?

[Scot Dutchy]

World population? 71,000,000,000

Deaths:
64,580 (presumed Corona)

Please.

71 billion eh? Woops! If you compared the number of dead to the number of galaxies in the visible universe you'd still be missing the point.

By entertaining the premise of the following question in good faith I hope you'll be able to articulate your view on why any of those 60,000+ deaths isn't really important. Ready?

If the death of anyone is preventable should effort be made to prevent it?

To put it in perspective 8,3 deaths per 1,000,000.
Since when do we bother about people dying? We dont prevent many deaths which are readily preventable so please stop being hypocritical. Reduce the speed limit on roads to 50 kph or ban all high powered vehicles and you would save far more lives. Have the rich pay their proper share of taxes would save far more. Bring in UHC for everyone on the planet would save millions of lives. Carrying on like this about a virus is lunacy.
Strangely the one country that has been given as an example of how cope is the one country where its people have no freedom and have sacrificed all their civil liberties. 65,000 deaths world wide is a good reason to sacrifice all freedoms? Sorry. Where are the 1% in all this? Never hear them moaning.

Do you think South Korea will return back to where it was?