Why is covid-19 being downplayed?

Why is no one discussing the massive Hong Kong and mainland student protests in China that have magically disappeared. The current regime had a slowing of the economy, and civil unrest that could not be contained as it was in the Mao regime. So.... no more protests, everyone is secluded and political dissidents are are screened and taken care of.

educated runner wrote:

Seriously, I'm rarely outraged, but listening to Rojo on this week's podcast was disgusting to say the least. I don't mind him rambling nonsense when it's not serious, but this topic is no joke.

Not sure what Rojo said on the podcast. Podcast was recorded before anything was cancelled this week except Ivy League basketball tourney. I was critical of Ivy League for cancelling basketball tournament yet allowing spring sports to go on and allowing Yale to go play NCAAs with fans. That isn't a logical decision. I even wrote the Yale athletics department saying as much, Excerpt: "If the school presidents know something the rest of the NCAA does not, and strongly believe no events should be held, then they should speak out much louder and cancel all sporting events. Instead they have not done that and it leaves a very bad impression."

They then changed their minds and made a consistent decision.

But I wouldn't say this is being downplayed at all. Here's a NY Times piece from yesterday.

It says if we start immediately with interventions that there will be 300,000 DEATHS In the US. I see there is an aggressive model as well with intervention that says there will be 51,000 deaths in the US. So that is a NY Times opinion article writer saying that is the best case scenario in the US. How is that downplaying it?

I find it hard to believe that is the best case scenario. But if I say that does that mean everyone is downplaying it? Well I see his model goes into 2021 so that mike explain some of his numbers but that seems a high number but over 2 years maybe now. I know some people don't like the flu comparison but the flu kills 20-60,000 a year in the US. So if the Times is saying best case scenario with this thing going into next year (so 2 flu years) it kills 51,000, so it's like an extra flu but with extreme social distancing put in place I guess I can see how one could argue that is the best case, as this by all indications is deadlier than the flu, but I don't think that is the best case scenario.

Normalcy bias, or normality bias, is a tendency for people to believe that things will always function the way they normally have functioned and therefore to underestimate both the likelihood of a disaster and its possible effects. This may result in situations where people fail to adequately prepare themselves for disasters, and on a larger scale, the failure of governments to include the populace in its disaster preparations. About 70% of people reportedly display normalcy bias during a disaster.

Even if you don't die, severe pneumonia often causes lung fibrosis. This is a permanent condition that reduces the lung's ability to uptake oxygen. Care yet, runners?

That graph is depressing. Dosen't end until January 2021? No wonder everyone in Seattle is packing the ski hill as if nothing's changed. If only we knew how many people have this thing... How would one figure that out?

Hopefully the liberal media will stop the pandemonium. Ultimately, the poor will suffer the most. We aren't seeing many liberals posting here because they are out helping the poor.

Yep...that dang liberal media and Trump (who just declared a national emergency and is spending 50 billion now) are working in concert again! It’s like he’s still secretly pro-choice huh?

This virus specifically attacks the lungs.

If one already has a lung condition they will likely die. We do not have a shot for it. It’s extremely contagious in both the air and last days on surfaces. You can have it for 5 days, have no symptoms, so easily spread it to others.

Our hospitals only have so many ventilators. Doctors will have to choose who lives and dies as it continues to scale higher from a lack of social distancing. That’s what’s happening in Italy rate now. We are 11 days away from that at this rate.

Conservatives fear this is making Trump look bad and could cost him re-election. Evangelicals fear losing money by not having churches meet. Businesses fear losing lots of money. Parents fear losing wages from having to stay home with kids.

Can we all just get over it and put peoples health first. The economy will rebound. Places in the world that have taken this seriously have kept it relatively minimized. It’s time to put on the big boy pants and do the same.

Don't scare anyone with things you have no facts for such as the situation in Italy or that it's very contagious. Both are false. The fact is this most likely will be all over by May 1.

I'm conservative and don't care how it makes Trump look. There are enormous short and long term economic consequences to the all the closures and cancellations. Whether it's warranted or not, many businesses will not recover. If this goes on for more than a month or 2, it will take years for the economy to recover. This will make the 2008 financial crisis look like an economic boom. My sister is an entertainer in Las Vegas. All the shows are cancelled. The sportsbooks and poker rooms are closed. Hotel rooms are empty. Layoffs in the hundreds have already begun. The cancellation of the Pro tennis tournament in Palm Springs (Indian Wells) cost the local economy 450 million dollars. That's not coming back. This is happening all over the country. It will take affected businesses years to recover from this. We are a service based economy and that's the majority of affected businesses.

I think it will cost Trump the election. But judging by what is happening in the rest of the world, I'm not sure he was any more incompetent than anyone else. And, in fairness to him, when this first broke out in China, the high fatality rate was attributed to the fact that China has a very high rate of cigarette smokers and that the majority of deaths were elderly males who were life time smokers.

drthh wrote:

Don't scare anyone with things you have no facts for such as the situation in Italy or that it's very contagious. Both are false. The fact is this most likely will be all over by May 1.

I hope it’s contained by May 1st but also hope we take precautions so as few as possible die from it.

lack of leadership in U.S. wrote:

asia and elsewhere are doing a much better job than the U.S. Trump has failed us massively.

Those countries you mention have much higher rates of infection than the US. People criticize the testing, but testing is not a cure. If a person is sick, they should self isolate regardless of what the disease is. They should only seek emergency services when they are in need of emergency care. They had drive thru testing in Denver the other day. Out of 650 tests, they had 10 positives. That is 640 hypochondriacs. Testing everyone that has cold symptoms would be a colossal waste of money and resources. Just practice social distancing, and if your conditions are terrible, seek medical attention. But don’t clog up emergency rooms because you have a cough.

I also wonder if the economic damage from tanking the economy and shutting down society is the right call. That could be worse than attempting to put a full stop on this thing. There's gotta be a better way.

normalcy bias wrote:

Normalcy bias, or normality bias, is a tendency for people to believe that things will always function the way they normally have functioned and therefore to underestimate both the likelihood of a disaster and its possible effects. This may result in situations where people fail to adequately prepare themselves for disasters, and on a larger scale, the failure of governments to include the populace in its disaster preparations. About 70% of people reportedly display normalcy bias during a disaster.

If not being freaked the F out every minute of the day by a ubiquitous invisible threat is "normalcy bias", I think I'll chance it thanks.

This thread is dumb......the "right" wing media hasnt downplayed this at all.

It just looks like that since the left has went full retarded on it and politicized it to the max.

Our Republican president has nailed this thing and surely will get reelected because of it

Bob schul country wrote:

This thread is dumb......the "right" wing media hasnt downplayed this at all.

It just looks like that since the left has went full retarded on it and politicized it to the max.

Our Republican president has nailed this thing and surely will get reelected because of it

the guy who told the nation that he takes no responsibility for shutting down the WH office that takes care of pandemics? The guy who wears campaign merchandise to press conferences about the disease? The guy who sent flunkies out to say it was contained? The guy whose government botched early testing over and over?

joedirt wrote:

lack of leadership in U.S. wrote:

asia and elsewhere are doing a much better job than the U.S. Trump has failed us massively.

Those countries you mention have much higher rates of infection than the US. People criticize the testing, but testing is not a cure. If a person is sick, they should self isolate regardless of what the disease is. They should only seek emergency services when they are in need of emergency care. They had drive thru testing in Denver the other day. Out of 650 tests, they had 10 positives. That is 640 hypochondriacs.

You got verification of that stat?

Best I could find is 800 tests and 100 positives in Colorado from below:

But it would be good for states to share their testing results and not just positive tests.

All the people downplaying Covid-19 are attention seeking trolls. Ignore them.

You can't possibly watch what is going on in Italy, Iran, Korea etc and think that it couldn't happen in an American city.

IMO, The scare and shutdowns have little to do with Trump, right wing, left wing, or any other political factors.

They are based on insurance companies and corporate/ gov’t lawyers covering their arses. They don’t give a flying fig about flattening the hospitalization curves. They are terrified of class action lawsuits for negligent exposure so they are shutting everything down because they can handle a lull in cash flow better than a future incalculable legal battle in our ridiculous US civil court system.

In the meantime, see what a 2 month shutdown in backbone economy and education does to home values, crime rates, and joblessness rates.