Coronavirus

| February 26, 2020

There are growing concerns about the Coronavirus.

President Trump is due to speak about the Coronavirus soon.

We want to share an excellent video that explains it and talks about measure you can take to reduce risk of infection.

. . .

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HMCS(FMF) ret

Good video, Steve…

Biggest thing he didn’t mention – WASH YOUR HANDS!

JTB

LOL..If there ever was a False Flag event in the history of False Flags this is it…And I don’t believe in that shit in the least…This is nothing but fear mongering…

26Limabeans

It’s like Y2K all over again.

LC

Can you clarify? You don’t think it’s real, or, you expect the fatality rate of the real virus is small enough and/or the containment / vaccination will succeed well enough that it won’t be a dangerous pandemic?

We still don’t have solid data on fatality rates, especially in western countries, but the early data looks higher than the seasonal flu, sometimes by a considerable amount. Young, healthy people are probably at lower risk, and ‘panic’ is definitely not warranted, but it’s also nothing to sneeze at, so to speak.

And if you mean this is an actual false flag operation, … who is executing it? And to what end?

JTB

The data is there…MERS and SARS were both Coronavirus’s…I would say our own MSM is the main operator behind it…This shit is less harmful than the Flu…12 to 30,000 have died in the 2019/2020 Flu season and it didnt make the news…

11B-Mailclerk

There are several strains of Coronavirus that occasionally make cruise ship life …shitty.

This is a new one, not a uniquely new one.

Ebola is coming! MERS! SARS! Flu! Zika! Andromeda Strain!

Yup. Nature mutates viruses. Yup. Socialist/Communist/Authoritarian governments botch the response, and drive folks to hide illness and flee, thus spreading it more effectively.

Some folks here will get sick. Some will die. Most wont. We will improvise, adapt, and overcome. The media and Lefties will try to scare us to death, and to scare us into imprudent responses.

We will overcome it, and the nitwits too.

So tell the idiots to stop sniveling. This isn’t even “1918 Flu” if it is twice as bad as we think. Even if it -is- that bad, we survived -that- pandemic with 1918 medical tech.

LC

That’s a strange way of using ‘less harmful’. By that metric, given the flu kills many more Americans than terrorists, we shouldn’t spend so much on fighting the latter, and more on the former?

The problem here is it’s not clear we’ve contained the virus. If we haven’t, and it spreads, then the loss of life will be measured by how much of the population is exposed, and how lethal it is. We don’t have good numbers on those factors yet, but some of the admittedly noisy numbers look higher on both counts.

As for the media angle, this is new and unknown, whereas the flu is a yearly thing. To go back to the example above, do you honestly think the media would be perpetuating a ‘false flag’ operation if they reported on 1K American deaths per month due to terrorists, since that number is still smaller than flu deaths? No, of course not – it’d be a major story, and for damn good reasons.

The Coronavirus information is news, not a false flag by the media.

11B-Mailclerk

The media -routinely- dramatizes and exaggerates importance to lure eyeballs.

And they have done so for centuries.

“False Flag” may seem excessive, but lately they have routinely embraced things that were flat-out wrong. And little sign of “mea culpa” when found out.

So, of course they are overplaying this new coronavirus,

Just like they did Zika. And MERS. And SARS. And Flu. And…

LC

Define ‘overplaying’ – what parts are they lying about? Did they invent additional deaths? Make up clusters of the virus where they don’t exist? Or are they literally reporting on what is known, and what common-sense precautions are available because people might be afraid? Nobody is predicting the end of the world, but the data we have does make it a ‘concern’.

Again, the hope is this’ll be contained, like SARS, but reporting accurate numbers doesn’t seem to be excessive. I mean, if you have evidence they’re lying about the known cases, by all means, talk to the CDC. But I highly doubt that.

Mason

I think he means literally overplaying. It’s not, “There’s a deadly new virus spreading in Asia” it’s endless talk over and over again with death counters on the screen straight out of the Starship Troopers movie.

It’s like how every few years the media gets a hard on for shark attacks, people getting hit by lightning, or an asteroid flying by. It’s all they talk about, so it gives the impression that it’s suddenly so much worse than it’s ever been before. When in actuality, you’re just hearing about it more. The same numbers are happening.

Should we keep an eye out for this new coronavirus? Absolutely. Should we start stockpiling food and clean water because the end times are nigh? No.

LC

That’s fair enough – I guess I’m a bit defensive since this thread started with the notion that this is some sort of false flag, which conjures up the people claiming things like the Newtown shootings in Connecticut were ‘false flags’ with child actors, and I find that stuff reprehensible.

I like TAH; I’d hate to see it devolve into a place for outrageous conspiracy theories.

Poetrooper

You’re not just a “bit” defensive, you’re surfing hellbent into Lar’s shallow waters when you try to defend the media in the face of the blatant dishonesty they’ve openly, even defiantly, demonstrated since 2015.

As I’ve noted previously, you’re a “bit” of a gadfly, LC.

LC

What dishonesty? Again, have they made up additional deaths? Lied about outbreaks? What, exactly, have they been dishonest about?

My understanding is that Mason was saying they literally play the coverage too often – more often than it warrants, anyway. That’s different from dishonesty.

If you can point out numerous consistent lies from the media about this virus, I’m all ears. But covering a news story that’s in peoples’ minds (even if, arguably, because they play it!) is not dishonesty.

Poetrooper

LC, what part of “since 2015” eludes you?

timactual

“media in the face of the blatant dishonesty they’ve openly, even defiantly, demonstrated since 2015.”

You are too easy on the media. I first really noticed it in the 1980s, by comparing coverage of events on CSPAN to coverage in newspapers and television. Later, the internet made such comparisons between media coverage and reality much more convenient. And much more detrimental to the credibility of the “Mainstream Media”. CSPAN is still the gold standard, though.

Mason

tim, It goes back at least that far. Don Henley pointed it out.

11B-Mailclerk

The media are manipulators. If people are flustered, they eyeBall more clickbait. Ad revenue goes up.

It is how it works.

They are biased. They over-dramatize. Some do outright fraud. Ever see the clip of the reporter in a canoe in a “flooded street”, only to be photobombed by a dude walking through the

Ankle deep water.

That is not unique. So yeah, skeptical about this latest eyeball-bait.

Normal ” big flu year” precautions suffice. Research will occur. Money may get moved around.

But “mutated known virus” is old hat. We survived the influenza pandemic of 1918 with med-tech of that year.

We got this.

Folks are going to get sick. A bunch will die. That may include me. We will figure it out and drive on.

There is absolutely nothing about this novel coronavirus that is worse than any 20th century outbreak.

And perhaps there is a political/hate aspect to some of the more shrill news, yes? That isn’t novel, either.

LC

And once again, just because this likely won’t be worse than any 20th century outbreak does not make it any less newsworthy.

Let’s imagine a scenario where a small war breaks somewhere out and US soldiers are killed.
And the media, naturally, covers it.

And then someone came on here and said, “Eh, the media is over-dramatizing this – yes, folks got hurt. Some got killed. We’ll figure it out and drive on. There’s nothing worse about this war than 20th century wars.”

That’s a true statement, certainly. But the fact that ‘more people died in WW2’ doesn’t mean the news media shouldn’t report it if a mere few hundred or thousand soldiers are killed.

11B-Mailclerk

LC, if this were truly serious, the Dems in congress and the press would put aside their differences with Trump and work with him.

They don’t. They won’t.

So no. I don’t buy that this is anything terribly serious, compared to all the other ways nature tries to kill us all on a yearly basis.

Too many cries of “wolf”. Own it.

Ex-PH2

Since there are people who are turning up with the coronavirus out of nowhere and no known exposure to it, as per news reports this morning, and over 8,000 people have died from this disease with 80,000 to date screening positive (10% death rate), your disdain for this lethal bug is uncalled-for, JTB.

Your ignorance of rapid onset disease epidemics is evidence alone. Coronavirus is NOT a single strain, nor is it in isolation anywhere.

Gee, you should maybe go get your flu shot. The flu is returning and killing people. My doctor scolded me for not getting earlier in the fall.

And you, JTB, are a complete idiot!

Hondo

Might want to check those numbers, Ex-PH2. Johns Hopkins (link in comments below) shows nearly 85,688 confirmed cases to date worldwide and 2,933. And while those numbers likely include nearly all the fatalities from Covid-19, it likely includes only a fraction of actual infections.

As I noted for Poodle below: if there are 9 or 10 unreported and nonfatal cases for each reported/confirmed case, that means the actual fatality rate is between 0.2 and 0.3%. A normal flu season has about a 0.1% fatality rate.

In short: this bears watching, but at this point I think the media is sensationalizing/fearmongering – which they do well, and by default.

Hondo

Please insert “deaths” after 2,933 in comment above.

HMCS(FMF) ret

There was one that was announced in Portland last night (local school district employee) – waiting for the CDC testing to come back. Local health officials pretty sure it’s Coronavirus. School in that district stopped all after-school activities for the weekend and the school the patient works at is closed until Wednesday for cleaning/disinfecting. Employee had “minimal contact” with students.

Local news seemed pretty professional about it… the school district is supposed to have a presser at noon local time to let the public know what they plan on doing.

NHSparky

I’ll put it another way:

96 percent of the cases thus far are in China.

Almost 98 percent of the deaths so far are from China.

90+ percent of the deaths are those over 60, >50% are over 80.

An American company came up with a vaccine within 3 HOURS. They still have to wait until summer to send it out, but still…

So yeah.

BruteLarson407

Yeah, I’m wondering if the crappy medical infrastructure, and upper level age of the fatalities are as much to do with bad healthcare conditions, traditional medicine; and a ‘they are too old to waste resources on’ attitude?

Probably more likely to die if your not a party member as well.

Doubtless, there have been a few cases of acute lead poisoning. You see ChiCom cops or soldiers coming toward you; running isn’t an unreasonable instinct.

I notice the fatality rate is much less in Japan and Korea(last time I saw), but with an admittedly smaller sample size.

Iran’s also a bad place to come down with it considering. It seems to kill upper level managers of health crises when it first arrives in certain types of countries.

Probably using some normal horse sense should go a long way in terms of avoiding it. I do worry a bit for our healthcare workers and system.

I remember a poll that was taken about 20 years ago where I think only about 50% of our healthcare workers said they’d report to work in a deadly pandemic. I could be wrong, don’t take that as gospel.

I gotta think those numbers would be worse today if indeed that was the case.

Hondo

I do worry a bit for our healthcare workers and system.

In the BBC article from about 10 days ago I cite below, they indicate 3019 PRC healthcare professionals had caught Covid-19 and 5 pf them had died.

That works out to just over 0.001656 – or about 0.1656%. percent.

BruteLarson407

Thanks for that!

LC

No doubt, but the CDC is saying it’s likely to spread here – and the problem with China is that the error bars on their statistics are pretty high. If the lethality and the transmission potential are both higher than the flu, that is a major concern.

There’s no reason to panic, but to imply this is ‘nothing’ is kind of crazy. It’ll hopefully become nothing due to quarantine procedures, hard work from doctors and research teams, and erring on the side of caution, but it has the potential to be quite bad. Which makes it a fair news story, not a false flag operation by ‘the media’.

NHSparky

CDC? You mean the statement put out by Rod Rosenstein’s sister?

LC

Sooo…. you think the spokesperson for the CDC, whom you never even heard of until recently, is lying about the virus because she’s the sister of someone you dislike politically?

Or is it more plausible that the woman is doing her job, and reporting what the scientific teams are saying based on their extensive experience with this sort of stuff?

Poetrooper

Sooo, Pollyanna, in spite of her brother being balls-deep in the Deep State attempt to undermine the Trump presidency, we shouldn’t be even the teensiest-weensiest bit wary of her public pronouncements, especially as they regard matters affecting her brother’s nemesis and his re-election chances?

My aren’t you just the most trusting soul now, hmm?

Betcha feel all smugly superior to us suspicious old geezers who’re just so almighty foolish as to believe there just might be a smidgen of truth in that old adage about smoke and fire.

LC

Yes, because a spokeswoman isn’t going to contradict everyone else in the CDC, regardless of whatever conspiratorial, personal or otherwise laughable reasons you might conjure up.

Poetrooper

Once again you miss my point–I’m not say I DO distrust her only that we COULD certainly have reason to based on who she is and her familial connection to previous political events. To blithely accept her at face value indicates a degree of gullibility I don’t possess but apparently some do.

BruteLarson407

Oh, I for one sure as hell don’t think it’s nothing!

I’d like to hear more about how the cases here are doing! Probably you would as well? I mean DETAILS!

What are they doing to stabilize them if that is indeed the case?

I’m a little hinked out by it because I have to go to the hospital a lot as a patient. This Friday again in fact.

I’m also no spring chicken, and am malnourished from difficulty eating. I’m not a strong healthy lad anymore.

I’m a bit spooked you bet! I don’t know what in hell everyone expects when pretty much your ONLY trading partner is The PRC.

That wasn’t as much the case when SARS was running rampant at the beginning of the century. We were trading with them, but now?

I have a hell of a time not buying stuff made there. They’ve gotten better at hiding it too. I have to carry a magnifying glass with me to read all the fine print.

I’m not worried that an actual product is going to infect me. It’s the ships delivering it I’m worried about.

Those people come ashore. Our Longshoremen offload their containers.

It could suck, and keep sucking for awhile.

I don’t like the silence on the disease’s course. Is the pneumonia from a whacked out immune knee-jerk causing a cytokine storm?

If so, watch out young, healthy people as well!

11B-Mailclerk

With absolute certainty it will spread, here. It already is here.

In order to “contain” a virus or other disease, one has to achieve 96% “herd immunity”.

Ninety-six percent -immunity-.

So we wont “contain” this one, any more than we contain flu. Not unless and until we have a good vaccine.

We contained polio and smallpox, almost to the point of declaring them extinct. Anti-vaccine idiots and anti-medicine idiots achieved a resurgence of these scourges.

Ask someone about the march of Polio through America in the early 20th century, before Salk came up with the vaccine.

This is -not- a crisis. This is worse than normal year.

And it is not going to be anywhere near as bad -here- as in China. It cant. We wont make the usual authoritarian mistakes. We -dont-.

Well not for lack of trying by some very misguided folks here, anyway.

Commissar

Sometimes I am still surprised at the nonsense some of you spew.

False flag? How the hell?

For what purpose?

That belief is not only ignorant but there is no rational reason to hold it.

Ret_25X

you know, I often asked myself the same question about “false flag” theories…then I realized that the problem, as I suspect even you must admit, is that the “official” explanation is so often proven to be complete BS. This does not excuse the “truthers” out there, but I can see how they might get there…

As for conspiracy thinking on COVID19, the real problem here is a lack of integrity displayed by all parties. No one is credible, therefore, no story is credible. In the vacuum left by a politicized media….

SFC D

I’m willing to bet you still think good men died in Benghazi because of a video.

Daisy Cutter

You will be hearing the following very soon…

“It’s all Trump’s fault.”

LC

Not POTUS’s fault, obviously, .. but in retrospect, cutting funding for pandemic work, and no longer having experts on the NSC who deal with this sort of thing probably wasn’t the wisest course of action (eg, Bossert, Ziemer, etc.)

It’s a bit like getting rid of military capabilities and experts because you’re in a temporary peace, even though that can change in a moment’s notice.

Poetrooper

Neither Bossert nor Ziemer are irreplaceable, as you seem to imply. One’s a politician and the other a naval aviator, while neither has a medical background, much less medical expertise in epidemiology, which is what this situation will call for if it is indeed as great a threat as the media is playing it up to be.

I’ll readily admit I don’t know nearly enough about this outbreak to speak knowledgeably regarding the potential hazard. However, I do have long experience with and wide knowledge of what an irresponsible bunch of sorry-ass sensationalists the media have proved themselves repeatedly to be.

So until I know more, I’ll refrain from trying to assess blame, which it appears to me is what you’re trying to do in your typical “Yeah but” fashion.

rgr769

He’s an effing career Prog. Don’t waste electrons and keystrokes on him.

LC

Oh no! How dare I make a comment that maybe we had global health and pandemic teams for a valid reason?

rgr769

Hey, I wasn’t talking to you, I was talking to others wasting their words responding to your blather. Obviously you, like your ilk, the commie cuttlefish, are free to post here ad nauseum whenever it strikes your fancy.

LC

I didn’t say they were irreplaceable, but their absence right now is certainly felt – it’s their job to monitor, advise and pull in resources to address stuff like this. Instead, we have Ken Cuccinelli freaking out because he thinks JHU put a map of the virus spread behind a paywall. That’s amateur hour, frankly.

And no, I’m not blaming POTUS – not for the outbreak, anyway. If in 2021 we have President Zombie Clinton, and she decides that we don’t really need the Joint Chiefs or a SecDef since, hey, we’re in peace & love mode, and rapid response teams are stood down across the military… and then a conflict breaks out with American lives at risk in some foreign country, do we blame Zombie Clinton for the outbreak of violence? Of course not. But we can definitely say that drawing down essential national security resources in a shortsighted and ill-advised manner was probably not the best course of action, yes.

Poetrooper

Well, gee, LC, I thought maybe being prepared to deal with national health crises was what we retained this guy and the corps he commands (at no small cost to us taxpayers) for:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerome_Adams

Silly me…

LC

You do realize there’s a vast difference between an anesthesiologist whose office focuses on treating US health issues and infectious disease specialists who try to contain outbreaks, right?

Otherwise that’s like saying we pay Johnny Smith, an Army JAG officer to protect us from ballistic missiles. Just like we have specialization in the military, and many different groups with different responsibilities, the same is true in global health. The Surgeon General plays a role, but so do many other positions and programs… many of which are currently vacant or unfunded.

Poetrooper

Well, gee, there ya got me again, LC, what with me thinking an actual doctor, with three stars and all the medical administration experience and leadership that entails, might actually be better prepared to deal with a US HEALTH crisis, than a politician and a naval aviator.

And of course, being merely the Surgeon General of the United States, a peer of the Surgeons General of the Army, Navy and Air Force, I’m sure this “anesthesiologist” and his layers of specialized staff have never given a single thought to what might be required to contain a major epidemic, what with their being so “focused on treating US health issues,” hmm? Bet there’s not an infectious disease specialist among ’em, right, LC?

JAG officer/ballistic missile defense? That’s a lame response, dude.

Even for you…

timactual

” experts on the NSC who deal with this sort of thing probably wasn’t the wisest course of action (eg, Bossert, Ziemer, etc.)”

“You do realize there’s a vast difference between an anesthesiologist whose office focuses on treating US health issues and infectious disease specialists who try to contain outbreaks, right?”

:You do realize that the phrase “A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds” contains the qualifier “foolish”, don’t you?

Ret_25X

nope. False. Negatron.

There are no gaps in planning for such things as the real work for planning operations is NOT done in DC to begin with.

People ignorant of the way the government ACTUALLY works generally think important work is done by people they have heard of in DC.

Nothing could be further from the truth. The personnel actually behind pandemic response planning are going to be in Atlanta, Redstone, or Colorado Springs, not DC.

All they do in DC is leak to the Post or NYT, although their primary job is briefing Congress to get the resources…which the two non-entities cited here were patently incompetent at.

But what would an old war planner know, amirite?

OWB

Don’t confuse them with reality. Never inject the real world or facts into a conversation with those who prefer their hysteria over actually addressing what is and/or what might be with a bit of research and simple logic.

Naw. Nothing to see here. At least with all this attention on what the media wants to report they are leaving the problem solvers alone to do what they do best – appropriately address the threat, this time a medical/health issue.

timactual

“but their absence right now”

What makes you think experts in the field is absent? Maybe they are actually working the problem instead of attending NSC meetings and getting their names in the not of all wisdom.

11B-Mailclerk

The guy at the top of an organization, is usually best an expert organizer. Subject matter experts is nice to have, but not essential. he can be a generalist and staff with SMEs.

The org head isn’t running the research. He runs the researchers.

Ex-PH2

Perhaps, LC, you should become aware that any virus can mutate at will rapidly into a more lethal form, jump to a new source to spread and rapidly mutate into extreme lethality in the mere blink of an eye.

Just because this version of coronavirus is rapidly rising does NOT mean it can’t pull back, mutate and upgrade at will. Viruses acquire host genetic material, combine it with their own RNA, mutate into the new form, and move on.

Your ignorance of disease and how it spreads itself is appalling. I suggest you stuff your arrogance where the sun don’t shine and back off now.

timactual

No, it’s more like having chemical and biological warfare available on your staff and not as executive officers or chiefs of staff; specialists available during the relatively rare instances when their specialized skills and knowledge are needed.

NHSparky

Already being said, mostly by Botox Nan and Chucky never did shit in his life Schumer.

Sparks

And…as soon as they have a vaccine for it, all the anti-vaxxer parents will be demanding their right to let their kids get the Coronavirus. Because…stupid works, every time.

A Proud Infidel®™

Darwin chuckles and grins at anti-vaxxers.

26Limabeans

There is an election in Maine next
Tuesday with a referendum question about
ending the religous etc. exemptions for
vaccinations.
Lots of anti vaxxers in Maine.
Left over hippies from the 70’s back to
the land movement.

JTB

140,000 died in 2019 from Measles…No one said shit…

Sparks

Again, anti-vaxxers to the scene of the crime.

JTB

In Droves…!!

Mason

I said some shit. Like “Why the fuck are people dying from measles? Don’t we have a safe, highly effective vaccine for that?”

11B-Mailclerk

There is no vaccine against “willful stupid”.

Ex-PH2

THIS!

5th/77th FA

Good video Steve and thanks for posting it. I’ve tried to google foo more on all of this and keep getting bogged down by pop ups and bs. All this is another reason why I like to hibernate at Firebase Magnolia. I have snaks, climate control, cold beer, and top shelf whiskey. Besides that, it is way too yonder peopley out there.

Throwing a few conspiracy theories out just for giggles. Remember the scenario from Clancy’s Executive Orders when the Iranians spread the Ebola Virus? How about the eco hippies that were planning a hopped up version in his Rainbow Six yarn? Saw a short blurb a little while back on the college perferssor that was busted selling stuff to the Chinks. Seems like some of the Chinks were from the Chink city where all of this started. Hadn’t been able to find anything else about either of those two stories since all of this broke. They say that rats caused the Black Plague. Wonder if this one was started by two legged rats. Remember, the Chinks can lose a billion people and still out number us. just saying.

11B-Mailclerk

Personally, I find that your repeated use of “chink” to be detrimental to your argument. So might I politely request that you temper that use with something less offensive like “Chinese” or “ChiComs”.

Why hand a gift like that to the leftist assholes who love to paint this place as populated with ignorant savages?

5th/77th FA

Point well made and noted 11B. You are correct. I will admit to the only prejudice I having is to the ChiCom government. I think that it is their desire and intention to destroy us in any way that they can and, sadly, we have domestic enemies that are helping them, economically and politically. My apologies to any of our readers, who are of Chinese descent and are not in anyway responsible for the actions of the ChiCom government, that took offense in my descriptive adjective.

rgr769

Yeah, you didn’t have a Chinaman’s chance at getting away with using that term without being called out. (Credit goes to Gen. Powell for my descriptor)

timactual

Gen. Powell no doubt learned it as a kid. I did. I am sure the Romans had a similar phrase.

11B-Mailclerk

Doh Jeh.

David

I know some really nice folks in Wuhan. Too, you should hear what they would say about you if they were less polite.

Mason

In your defense, I was probably in my teens before I realized that my parents were using a slur when they always said we were going out “for chink food.”

Daisy Cutter

Should I feel like a target of racial slurs if I say I enjoy going to Cracker Barrel?

Mason

In today’s outrage culture, yes absolutely. Just like I’ll additionally be offended because I share some physical similarities to a barrel and that fat shames me.

timactual

Nah, white folks are fair game. White folks are the new black folks in that respect.

timactual

Actually, I don’t think it was used as a slur in that context. Different cultures/classes/groups sometimes use the same word with different meanings and connotations. Meaning depends on context. As you say, you no doubt used the word “chink” many times without intending any insult before you learned that in some contexts/groups it is offensive.

SFC D

“Chink” is only acceptable if you are referring to flawed armor or filling the gaps in a log cabin.

11B-Mailclerk

Leather protective leggings worn by Cowboys.

MSG Eric

Hey, we’re not “ignorant”!!!

Great book. I was amazed at how good of reads some of his books were.

But, I would also add that as much as the Chinese government might despise and hate America and its 24/7 freedom boner, they know full well they need us to survive economically.

NHSparky

Truth. They need our capital to develop, and $2T worth of T-bills ain’t cutting it.

Our trade deficit with them (and their theft of our copyrights and intellectual property) funds them. Take that away, or significantly slow it down as is the case now, and the Chinese Politburo will become extremely concerned.

2/3 of small and medium Chinese companies (which, like here, make up the bulk of their economy) don’t have enough cash to go beyond 60 days. Less than 10 percent have enough cash to last until July.

Like I said, bigger financial crisis than medical one.

Roh-Dog

This.
The bank failures and corruption had weakened an artificial ‘planned economy’.
This is just the latest oops in a long line of oopses that the ChiComs have perpetrated on their people.
Hopefully it changes in a calm and controlled manner but revolutions are seldom not bloody af.

Jeff LPH 3, 63-66

Back in the 1950’s, usually on a Sunday we all ate chinks and no one saw anything wrong with the word chinks. Later on, PC said that the word Oriental was racist. Did North West Oriental Airlines go out of business because of that??

26Limabeans

Back in the 70’s the term “gook” was
quite common. I’ve even used it here.
Perhaps it is time to tone it down
a bit so I will try to use “dink” instead.

rgr769

Our politically correct term for the Vietnamese was “little people.” I think the term “gook” originated in the Korean War.

Poetrooper

We called them zipperheads or zips–also dinks, as I recall.

Ret_25X

GIs used the word “gook” for the Korean people because that is exactly the word that is used in hangul for people (guk). It may or may not have been used sarcastically or disparagingly at first, but became a slur over time as it was applied to all Asians.

Like most slurs, the origins are not bad, but usage over time changes the word or phrase to change its meaning or usage.

HMCS(FMF) ret

If they had changed their name to “Pan-Asian Airways”, they’d still be flying.

Speaking of that, I’ve got a craving for some General Tso’s from my favorite Pan-Asian restaurant.

The Other Whitey

They keep throwing out that “people of color” bullshit, but when I was a kid (late 80s and 90s), I was told that it was racist to call someone “colored.” I don’t see any reason for that standard to have changed.

Poetrooper

At this point, no one, not even the world’s foremost experts on these types of outbreaks, can accurately predict how serious this outbreak may come to be.

What can be accurately predicted, however, is that our irresponsible media and the despicable Democrat leadership is going to stoke public fears for all they’re worth to gain political advantage over Donald Trump in the approaching election. Remember their thoroughly cynical and contemptible motto:

“Never let a crisis go to waste!”

And the deadlier, more fearful that crisis is, the better it suits their nefarious purposes, the rotten bastards.

rgr769

Yes, they were all saying for months now that they hoped our economy would tank so they could blame it on Trump, the person they refused to give any credit for it roaring back over the past three years.

NHSparky

2000 points in the Dow is nothing to sneeze at, but even that isn’t enough to be considered a market correction, let alone a bear market.

And if you think there aren’t a boatload of folks shorting the market right now, well, surprise!

MSG Eric

A friend of mine on Facebook has a friend of his that’s been posting about how the economy is going to take a huge nosedive in the next 6 months. “Just you wait, within 6 months the economy is going to take a huge hit!”

Yeah, he’s been saying that since Trump was announced as the winner of the electoral vote…

timactual

As the old saying goes, “Economists have predicted with absolute certainty nine out of the last four recessions”.

Mason

Pelosi already has. https://www.politico.com/video/2020/02/26/pelosi-on-trumps-coronavirus-response-efforts-toolate-and-anemic-069728

It’s too late and now we’re doing too little. Heard it from her first, we’re all fucked.

rgr769

Yeah, we should really heed Nanny Lugosi’s words of wisdom. I’ll bet she will be praying we “deplorables” all “get sick and die” like that charming professor of public health from UC Berzerkeley.

OWB

If wishful thinking was sufficient to make us (and him) disappear, it would have already happened.

NHSparky

2700 have died so far worldwide in the last month, give or take.

In the US alone in the last month, we’ve seen more deaths from:

–Automobile accidents
–Opioid overdoses
–Suicide
–Diabetes
–Alzheimers

To say nothing of cancer, heart disease, lower respiratory disease, etc. And we’re less than 5 percent of the world’s population.

This will turn out to be more of a financial crisis than a medical one. YMMV.

MSG Eric

Hey hey hey, don’t forget about all those mass shootings that are killing MILLIONS of children every year!

Poetrooper

Do believe you’re likely correct, Sparky. We’re probably going to see a huge impact on the world travel industry:

https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-impact-america-travel-industry-airlines-economy-2020-2

NHSparky

My guess right now is that even if the Tokyo games do go on in July (and as of today, they’re still a go) it’ll still be a financial shitshow for the Japanese due to countries pulling out, lack of travel, unsold tickets, etc.

A trillion yen loss certainly ain’t nothing to sneeze at.

11B-Mailclerk

Most Olympics are burn-pits for -vast- sums of money. There are very few that are even close to break-even.

Mason

Greece ruined their economy over one.

Mason

So if I’m a suicidal diabetic drug user that drives and forgets where he parks, I’m on borrowed time?

11B-Mailclerk

If you want a surprisingly good primer on epidemiology, and why disease outbreaks fizzle when they reach the USA, read John Ringo’s “The Last Centurion”. It is also highly entertaining.

The numbers for the current mess have been mangled by the PRC. The Party downplays the deaths. They also impose ruthless actions on anyone potentially infected.

Result? Counter-productive.

The folk -know- the government lies like a rug. They believe nothing.

Suddenly sick with something low-level nasty maybe kinda sorta headed the way of awful? speak up go see a doctor, and get camped with people who have “it” for sure.

Good way to get dead eh? No, thank you.

So hide. Ride it out, go stay with cousin Bahb who owes you. See the underground cash-quack he knows.

Spread the disease you have, flu, corona, or whatever.

The party won’t/cant count those, so the ” sick – did not die” numbers are -way- off.

That number is as important as “did die” to epidemiologists. It is -vital-

Authoritarians totally screw up dealing with disease outbreaks. Communists/socialists especially so. Because the stick is always the main thing with those sorts. And that stick drives the very dodgy behaviors that spread a plague.

Here? We run to doc because doc doesn’t screw us. He works for -us- as individuals.

Key point that.

The collectivist/socialized docs are there for the health of the Party/Gov. It is who they serve. It is where their allegiance lies. -you- are secondary to that. Expendable, even, as they are not accountable to anyone but the Party/Gov.

Poetrooper

That’s an excellent (and crucial) distinction that needs to be pointed out, Mail.

Earlier, before getting sidetracked, I had thought to write a comment that if this thing does go balls to the wall worldwide, it will be interesting to see how socialized, government-run, medical systems, such as in the UK and our northern neighbor, that our Democrat candidates all want to emulate, are able to deal with masses of sick citizens as compared to our free-market medical industry.

Anyone care to make any bets?

HMCS(FMF) ret

Just take a look at Bim’s link – for Iran 139 confirmed cases, 19 deaths = 13.6% fatality rate.

Real quality health care in the land of the Mad Mullahs…

11B-Mailclerk

Remember. The authoritarians/socialists give strong incentives to hide the “sick – didn’t die” cases.

It makes things look worse.

They earn a rep for lying about deaths, so folks mentally note “gotta be worse. They always lie”

More hiding.

Then it gets here, and the numbers morph “mysteriously”.

Check all the prior pandemic threats of the last hundred years. Note pattern.

Jason Ellenburg

In the end, you need to treat the symptoms. There is no cure and no vaccine. It also creates no antibodies, so you can catch it again.

If you don’t want it, do the following:

1. Keep an eye on the local blogs and check for anyone with symptomology.

2a. Keep 60 days of food per person in your house.

2b. Keep 60 gallons of potable water per person in your house.

3. Limit your public contact (i.e. grocery delivery).

4. Keep a full stock of over-the-counter medications to treat the symptoms if you do catch it.

5. Educate yourself on the virus.

11B-Mailclerk

Just how weird/bad does it have to get before folks actually bunker-down for 30-60 days?

By then, you are way past the infectious spread point, given the long hang-time of this bug, and the large number of low/no symptom cases.

Practically speaking? It is probably already too late for the “bunker” option. It is going to start popping all over the place, soon. Just like flu does. Same spread, but lower impact and longer incubation, so bigger splash.

And it will be a fizzle. Vulnerable folk will get horribly sick, and some will die. More may get sick and then better. Many, even most, will either get nothing, or nothing unmanageable. It might even be “bad as a noteworthy flu outbreak”. It wont go anywhere near 1918.

Also, if folks have not actually done a 30 or 60 day bug-out/bug-in practice, they probably missed something vital that would force one to break their self-imposed quarantine. “Where do I put all the poop?” is a common one. (Water is off, so toilet wont flush. Oops.)

I occasionally do a weekend trip on my bug-out bag. Fixes problems right quick. Most folks cant take 30 days off work. Not without major blowback.

Ex-PH2

Try coughing loudly and often in public. No one will go near you. And blow your nose a lot in public. Eeeewwwwww!!!

HMCS(FMF) ret

First possible “community spread” of the coronavirus in the US?

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/02/26/cdc-confirms-first-possible-community-spread-coronavirus-case-in-us.html

Not sure how the patient contracted it….

Bim

Not sure if you all have seen it, but Johns Hopkins has a webpage that tracks Coronavirus in real time:

https://www.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/bda7594740fd40299423467b48e9ecf6

It is interesting to see how the infection rates have climbed and it looks like it seems to be leveling out, but that may be due to countries that are less diligent in their record keeping (North Korea, Iran, etc.). BTW, NK still says they have no problems at all and their superior bureaucracy has stopped it before it reached their citizens. Sure.

11B-Mailclerk

The DPRK is likely to get clobbered. They are mostly living on the edge of starvation. (Or in yet another famine.) They are thus highly vulnerable.

Being rabid socialists, their system is wrecked. They have no reserves, and can’t adapt to novel things.

Their ham-handed handling will fuel panic and stupid elsewhere, assuming the word gets out. They may succeed in covering it up, being a closed society. They are no strangers to mass graves.

Note: the thing that made the 1918 flu pandemic so devastating was the virus targeted healthy adults preferentially. This is rare, and -hugely- magnified impact. Losing 10% who are very old, very young, or chronically ill does not wreck a society. Losing 10% of the workforce might.

Mason

Especially given the timing, that it came right after the largest war of all time (to that point) that had already claimed large numbers of reproduction-age men.

I also always wondered how much of the 1918 Flu Pandemic was hastened or worsened by having so many soldiers packed tightly in makeshift garrisons all over the world.

The other amazing thing about that pandemic is how quick it came and how quick it left. One month start to finish.

11B-Mailclerk

Started in 1917.

Ex-PH2

In regard to the 1918 flu pandemic, it killed so many people because they were lying flat instead of propped up, making it more difficult to breathe and cough up gunk. There was NO oxygen equipment to accommodate people who had difficulty in breathing. Dehydration from vomiting added to it. Hospitals were overwhelmed and women trained as nurses were doing the job of care, instead of men.

That flu originated in Chinese workers who were in Spain. When CDC found old slides of tissue samples from back then, they were able to trace the origin of Spanish flu to China.

This info is available at CDC’s website if you want to go looking for it.

Any questions?

Ret_25X

Japan is reporting that a person diagnosed with coronavirus in the past is “reinfected” and back in hospital.

they are now wondering whether she was “cured” before and this is a reinfection, or if the disease went hidden and then reappeared.

It will be interesting to see if this is a rare thing or becomes a pattern…reinfection is probably bad…

Roh-Dog

The *rumor* is the second go-around can cause an overreaction in the immune system like 1918 flu supposedly did:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cytokine_release_syndrome
What is unknown is if the initial reaction is determinate of subsequent reactions.
Note: I don’t know anything! See below.

Ret_25X

we will see…

a new patient here in NOVA is being tested right now. so far, two open cases and 6 that came back negative in VA.

https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/health/northern-virignia-resident-coronavirus/65-0be7a57a-d418-4480-b71a-1e0036bf5d64

Ret_25X

The two open cases may yet come back negative, but I’m sure we won’t know that today…

Ret_25X

took a look at other reporting and it seems that “second go-round” is being reported in China as well.

NYT reports that some are questioning the Chinese testing. It isn’t clear whether the thinking is that the original infection was never fully dealt with and bad tests missed that, or if they think bad tests are giving false positives later…

An interesting story that we will likely have to go to medical journals to follow

HMCS(FMF) ret

The Japanese government has asked that all primary, middle and high schools be closed until early April

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2020/02/27/national/hokkaido-coronavirus-school/

Roh-Dog

Note: I am NOT A MEDICAL WEENIE, I am not a doctor, hell, I’m not even all that bright!
I don’t want to get into a conversation about this, per se. LC is right about one thing: we don’t have solid lethality rates. But what is known is China has not been above board on this and they reacted in a major, major way. It leads to a question: why?
Now I’m going to skirt ““‘conspiracy theory’”” but hear this out:
-The CCP brought mobile crematoria to the city of Wuhan.
-Many medical professionals that were treating this thing have died.
-outbreaks ex-China have been met with serious controls.
It is generally accepted that the serious complication rate is magnitudes higher than other illnesses. This ****may**** tax an already otherwise strained system. Theres been a reduction in the US’s ability to spin up production of medications due to globalization too.
Who gets it worse-est? The usual suspects; the elderly, those with compromised immunity, and anyone with a cardiovascular/pulmonary condition.
Is this you or a loved one? Maybe, but you can take steps to protect yourself: hand washing, good nutrition, STOP SMOKING! There is some evidence that smoking increases ACE2 on the smooth lung tissue and the virus has an affinity to ACE2. Think lock and key.
I don’t think for a second the CDC is asleep on this, those douche bags at WHO on the other hand…
Before you accuse me of ‘fear mongering’, I promise you I have nothing to gain on the results of your planning. The *ONLY* reason I suggest you have supplies/preps is so the idiots that do freak the f** out can’t effect you!
This isn’t Revelations, this is an novel virus that *CAN* cause a serious medical condition.
Just like any other situation in life: have a plan.
Reminder: I ain’t no doctor, didn’t stay at a holiday express last nite, ate fruit roll ups as a kid with the plastic on, etc

Ex-PH2

This is also a virus that can mutate at will and move to a new host in an upgraded form.

Commissar

A few years ago, I warned you all that a viral outbreak was the biggest national security threat we face, and the one we are least prepared for.

I got a bunch of ridicule and crap for it.

I argued that because we don’t have a national healthcare system we are more vulnerable to a serious viral outbreak than most western industrial nations and if one happens.

I argued that we needed to view national healthcare as a national security issue and divert resources to it That providing universal access to healthcare was going to reduce the risk and severity of an outbreak because carriers would be detected more quickly. And in the case of flus more people would get vaccines and thus increase herd immunity.

Most of you all thought nonsense like China invading was a bigger threat.

I have no idea why the right could not get their heads around the threat of a viral outbreak presented or how even in an ordinary year universal access to healthcare would save thousands of lives.

In 2018 Trump eliminated the entire healthcare security team that was set up exactly to deal with this kind of contingency.. he has also purged much of the expertise and experience from various agencies 8ncluding the department of homelend security.

https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/01/31/coronavirus-china-trump-united-states-public-health-emergency-response/

Well, buckle up. But don’t pretend nobody warned you all.

OWB

blah, blah, blah.

and blah.

Ret_25X

“I argued that because we don’t have a national healthcare system we are more vulnerable to a serious viral outbreak than most western industrial nations and if one happens.”

Only if you believe that the government employees running those systems are more competent than private employees doing the same job.

I don’t know where you have seen this hyper-competence in action, but I’m betting your eggs are firmly in the private health care basket…

A Proud Infidel®™

BITCH, PLEASE!!! YOU were screeching to us that the Zika outbreak was the Apocalypse that was going to be the end of our civilization and it wasn’t. National Healthcare System? I say “BITCH, PLEASE!!!” once again because if socialized medicine is SO great then why do so many Canadians come to the USA for their healthcare versus their socialized system?

You lose yet again.

Commissar

Bullshit, I was using the Zika virus as an example. I was talking about viral outbreaks more generally.

Your reading comprehension issues strike again.

Poetrooper

Your cerebral comprehension issues continue…

HMCS(FMF) ret

With no end in sight…

Ex-PH2

Lars, for Pete’s sake, the Zika virus’s physical effects only affected infants and young children, NOT adults.

Your fears of losing half your brain tissue were visible with every word you wrote. You were ridiculously ignorant of it, including the simple fact that the MORTALITY rate was low and it only affected adults as a mild fever with no ill side effects.

Not only did you make every attempt to misinform people, you earned the rep of Doomsday Man while you were at it. You did NOT have or else ignored the correct information on Zika. It passed on and is gone.

You’d be in more danger from contracting Eastern Equine Encephalitis, which is transmissible to humans and comes from Venezuela.

Got any more panic attacks you want to throw at us?

A Proud Infidel®™️

I’m absolutely sure that he does, I merely wonder what his next panic will be after this? NONE of what he has predicted has ever happened, remember also his rants that President Trump wouldn’t even make it halfway through his first term because of Russia and the Mueller Report?

11B-Mailclerk

Our system works better at epidemiology than authoritarian/collectivist systems. Demonstrably. Time after time. You keep losing this argument. You must enjoy embarrassment.

Bon appetite. Have more Crow.

Commissar

Regurgitating propaganda with no basis does not reflect well on your opinion.

We do not have a better system, and universal healthcare is not authoritarian.

Ret_25X

we do have a better system as evidenced by the fact that more than 50% of ALL new medical patents and treatments originate in the USA.

And yes, surrendering your health care choices to the tender care of government is tyranny. Want proof? Try out the VA system.

ya got nothing–I’m starting to believe you are actually a sock puppet for us to kick around.

Poetrooper

Thus spake the propaganda regurgitator non pareil…

SFC D

“Regurgitating propaganda with no basis does not reflect well on your opinion”.

You should say that out loud prior to hitting the “post comment” button.

11B-Mailclerk

Yes, we do have a better system. Repeatedly demonstrated.

Yes, universal health care is authoritarian, like all other “command economy” options. That is by they are anywhere from inferior to F-ed Up.

Your faith in that false savior will not save you.

HMCS(FMF) ret

Tell that to the poor soul in N Korea that was executed for having coronavirus, Lars…

A Proud Infidel®™️

So thus I assume that that’s your latest opinion you got from one of your UC Berzerkely profs?

Mason

You’re as knowledgeable on this topic as you are most all that you pontificate and lecture on.

Without nationalized healthcare we spend more per capita than any other country in the world.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_total_health_expenditure_per_capita

You want to divert MORE resources to health care? We already pay 20% more than our next closest developed country on health care. Since everything the government touches gets orders of magnitude more expensive, how would nationalizing it help?

Odds are the vaccine or treatment for this stuff will come from an American lab even if we put zero additional dollars into it.

Commissar

I want a national healthcare system. Which saves money.

HMCS(FMF) ret

Well, there’s Cuba and Venezuela for starters…

rgr769

He should move to one or the other. But he is such a pussy, he just talks the talk and never takes the walk. A man, and I use the term loosely, who does not have the courage of his convictions. Or, he would already be living in one of the socialist paradises with “national heathcare.”

Ex-PH2

Nah. Russia’s national health care system is much, much worse than those two. I did an article on that a while back, remember?

Send Lars to Russia!!!

The Other Whitey

You mean you want us to pay for your shit. Freeloader.

HMCS(FMF) ret

Lars… when Bernie had his heart attack, why did he go to a private hospital for treatment? Isn’t the local “free clinic” good enough for a man of “the people”?

Mason

When has anything the federal government ever done saved money? Ever.

And we have a national health care system. Just like our law enforcement and many other government services it’s managed at the local level. People in need of medical care are not turned away from the hospital.

SFC D

Whose money? Somebody is paying for it. There ain’t no free shit, that’s one of life’s most important lessons.

OWB

And there you have it. The eternal nonsense coming from the left. “I want…” Doesn’t really matter much what follows. They just do not understand that they do not get to dictate to the rest of us what WE must provide for them just because they want it.

11B-Mailclerk

You are often wrong, often commi-cally so.

Heh.

That virus will do poorly here compared to China.

Bumpy ride? Perhaps. But so far we are in “flu” territory. Even “bad flu” doesn’t wreck the US.

The 1918 flu pandemic didn’t wreck us. And we only had 1918 tech then.

Spare us your hype.

OWB

LC,

Really don’t think anyone here is saying that this virus is not newsworthy. Of course it is. What I understand, and perhaps others do as well, is that what is reported as news is so often skewed toward whatever drives a particular outlet to skew their reporting (could be ratings, competition, economic something, political views, general bias, or something else) AND is so often inaccurate that we viewers are forced to discern how much of what we hear is factual. Not what I want to do when looking for information.

In other words, those who are supposed to be reporting stuff I need to know have proven themselves untrustworthy so often that what they say is now pretty much meaningless even when it is important.

Poetrooper

It’s classic, “The boy who cried wolf.”

LC

And I think that’d be a fair point if you could show the ‘liberal’ news media was talking about this at a significantly higher rate than, say, an unbiased baseline. Fox is clearly pretty conservative, and while this is anecdotal, they were talking about the virus at length this morning when I had it on.

But let’s move beyond anecdotes and look at coverage in other countries – if I pull up the Japan Times, for example, their top stories are all about this. Schools are closing until April. Mask shortages. Policy changes. What is their skew with regard to American politics? I’m inclined to think it’s pretty small; their focus is on people there. How about France? ‘The Local’, a French newspaper which provides news in English has as its headline, “‘An epidemic is coming’ says Macron as France confirms six new coronavirus cases.“. What if we pick a place with no known cases right now, like Belgium? Oops, the headline on The Brussels Times is, “Coronavirus: masks are of ‘little use’ for healthy people, says Belgian virologist“. Saudi Arabia has closed its borders to those seeking a pilgrimage to Mecca. It goes on and on. This isn’t the American news media perpetuating a story for political reasons; it’s a global concern.

Sure, pick a political topic like, say, Grenell as the DNI pick, and you’ll get vastly different headlines on Fox vs. MSNBC, and much less in the international press. That’s political bias. This is ‘fog of war’ reporting on a new pathogen, and while the political blame-game is omnipresent, calling the coverage ‘overplayed’ or, worse, a ‘false flag’ seems ridiculous given the worldwide nature of it.

OWB

Evidently I failed to make myself clear. I don’t give a flip what causes the skew. My point is that I can’t trust them because they all have their biases and seem now to make no attempt to pretend otherwise. (In a way, there is some comfort in them not hiding them, but I still don’t want to wade through whatever is driving their skew.)

I also don’t care if/that media in other countries have their own biases based on the same or different drivers. They all can report however they want – and I can object as much as I want, or ignore them completely. Each of us can. If it seriously bothers me, I can purchase or develop my own news organization, as can you.

Again, my point was simply that I agree with you, LC, that this virus is a legitimate news story. I just question which versions of the story are giving us information which may be useful in our lives.

The US has organizations and individuals who have lots of experience with tracking and treating communicable diseases. The fact that they are quietly doing their jobs without a bunch of hysteria about it gives some of us even more confidence in them.

Poetrooper

LC, if you want to serve as the media’s champion on this forum, knock yourself out, but it’s a fool’s errand. And if you believe you’re going to change anyone’s distrust of the media’s motives or accuracy with your unpersuasive defenses, then you’re the right man for the job.

We do not distrust the media out of some baseless paranoia as you and Lars try to characterize it, but rather from long and ongoing experience with a medium whose coin of the realm is sensationalism and whose favored idiom is venality. It is a distrust well and truly earned. It is also universal, so your citing of foreign sources to buttress your position is laughably misguided.

No one here is trying to convince you not to believe the media if you choose to do that, so why are you so invested in convincing us that we should trust and believe them? You and Lars never seem to grasp that your liberal beliefs wouldn’t be such a hard sell if the facts were on your side. Instead, you both expend great effort in attempting to promote and defend the indefensible.

Imagine that…

LC

I’m hardly trying to serve as the media’s champion – and I’ve agreed, time and time again, that the media thrives on sensationalism. But it’s one thing to think they’ve got a bias, and present.a particular slant on a story, and another entirely to label this a ‘false flag’, which is where I jumped into this conversation.

The difference in how you and I seem to see the media is that I think they’re fallible, but generally based in reality. And you seem to think it’s mostly lies, because they’ve told some in the past. That’s a bit like saying you can’t trust your parents on anything because, you know, back in the day they lied about Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, where babies come from, how your elderly dog is now at a farm upstate, and countless other small things. The lesson from that isn’t that your parents are dirty, stinking liars, it’s that you need to use common sense to assess what seems fishy, and do some due diligence in cases where you’re skeptical.

If the media says we might get snow, and it’s November in Colorado, I’m inclined to believe them. If they say that a zebra at the local zoo started reciting Shakespeare, I’m not.

Now, I know you’re going to come back and say I’m putting words in your mouth, as you didn’t say they always lie, so let’s put some numbers to it? How much of what’s presented as news is false, in your opinion?

Poetrooper

You need to work on your analogies, LC. So far in this thread they’ve been really and truly lame, as has most of your argument. As I said elsewhere, you’re operating at a Lars level.

As I also said previously, if you want to swallow unquestioningly what sources known to be dishonest feed you, knock yourself out. Just quit trying to proselytize on their behalf. “Fallible?” That’s your term for those who routinely abuse their bully pulpits to distort events to fit their agendas? Fallible better describes your discernment of reality in my opinion.

All you had to say at the outset of this thread was that you believe the media. But no, you can’t leave it at that–you have to prove to those of us who rightfully and reasonably disbelieve much of what the media tells us how wrong our thinking is.

Fortunately for us, the gullibility you exhibit isn’t as contagious as a Chinese virus.

Fyrfighter

“If the media says we might get snow, and it’s November in Colorado,”.. Not sure that’s the best example LC, you’ve lived in Colorado long enough to know how unreliable forecasts are out here lol… Don’t get me wrong, I think they try, but Mother Nature is one schizophrenic bitch here in CO… That storm last week that was supposed to drop 4-14 inches of snow ended up giving us a dusting..
I know not really relevant to the discussion, but couldn’t help it when i saw snow in Colorado..

IDC SARC

Ermahgerd, Coronaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh!

Comm Center Rat

The Zombie Apocalypse is real and I’m on the Last Train to Busan!

Commissar

Ok, since most of you use news sources that are trying to downplay this issue to protect Trump’s self serving narrative that this is not something to be concerned about.

Here is what the data shows…

The average infected person infects 3.5 people before it is detected. It is highly contagious,

It is 20X more deadly than the average annual flu. 2% mortality rate. Despite Trump’s idiotic claims to the contrary.

The virus can persist on environmental surfaces for up to 9 days.

A carrier can be contagious for more than a week (estimate 14 days) without symptoms.

An infected person who recovers can be reinfected again with this same strain.

A recovered person can still be a carrier.

It is estimated this virus will infect between 10% and 40% of the US population before a vaccine is developed according to the current estimate of time it will take to develop and field a vaccine 9-18 months.

This virus is now no longer contained, and no longer containable. It will be with us for now on, it will infect up to 40% of us in the coming year or two and most of us can expect to get it at some point in our lives.

Poetrooper

So what’s to worry, Lars? According to you we’re all doomed by global warming anyway. You Chicken Little libs just can’t keep your doomsday predictions properly sorted out, can you?

What is it in the liberal psyche that seems to require a disaster du jour?

Commissar

You are not doomed by global warming, boomer. It is younger generations that are fucked from that.

But this virus is far more deadly the older you are with mortality rates above 5% for people over 70. Even estimated to be as high as 8-10%.

Young people rarely die from this, relatively few even have serious symptoms.

Poetrooper

But, but, but, we are told by your liberal oracles that we shall all perish in but a dozen years. If ol’Poe gets lucky he may live long enough to die from one of your fantasies, hmm?

Like I said, you doomies can’t keep your dooms straight.

And better an old boomer (which I’m not) than a silly doomer (which you are).

Commissar

Though global warming is making viral outbreaks more likely and making populations more vulnerable to viruses they had not previously had much exposure to.

Just Lurkin

So are poop infested city streets but you don’t seem overly concerned about that.

Mason

That’s avant garde street art. Doi.

Fyrfighter

And unrestrained illegal immigration / open borders, bringing formerly eradicated diseases back.

Commissar

Oh, and once you see confirmed community spread cases in your region stop using cash.

Cash is a transmission vector.

Also start carry tissues and disinfectant wipes. Wipe any public surface you use.

Use the tissues to press elevator buttons, opened doors etc.

Wash hands frequently.

Stop shaking hands…

USAF RET

I shoplift but I also use the stairs….so there’s that

OWB

So it’s OK that I stopped picking up pizza at the joint down the street where the guy behind the counter had oozing pustules on his arms and neck? (I didn’t inquire if he was gay or otherwise in a protected class or I might already know the answer to that question.)

USAF RET

Then we are doomed so stop yer bitchin’

Commissar

Well, on the bright side it will reduce the social security funding crisis.

Ret_25X

“Well, on the bright side it will reduce the social security funding crisis.”

Weird how the only actual solution to Leftist created problems always requires dead people.

Commissar

The problem was the tax cuts.

If you have program fund it, Don’t cut taxes and divert trillions to unnecessary wars.

We spent our social security funds on wasteful consumption. Rather than investing in our nation.

So tax cuts and wasteful consumption.

BOTH RIGHT WING PRIORITIES,

Progressive want government dollars invested in workers, education. technology, public health, and infrastructure,

Just Lurkin

Progressives want the bureaucrat class to have more money and cushier jobs, otherwise they would favor greater privatization.

Hondo

The problem was the tax cuts.

Absolute BS. Social Security and Medicare are each designed to be funded “off budget”; tax cuts in other than FICA taxes have no effect on Social Security funding. And FICA taxes are at their highest level ever.

The problem with Social Security is twofold: flawed design and changed demographics.

Regarding the former: Social Security was flawed from day one. In effect it’s a Ponzi scheme (current payouts come from current receipts); it’s only legal because the Government is running it as a government income transfer program and has passed laws mandating participation and payment. Private firms can’t run pensions the same without violating the law.

The second issue is changed demographics. Originally, as I recall the ratio of OASDI taxpayers to beneficiaries was around 11:1 when Social Security started. US population demographics have changed dramatically over the last 85 years; today, if I recall correctly that ratio is somewhere between 2:1 and 3:1. FICA taxes would have to be far higher than today’s 15.3% (7.65% from both employer and employee, and 15.3% from self-employed) to support that ratio over the long term.

Social Security is supposed to be funded from FICA taxes only. That is no longer true, and the SSA itself says the so-called Social Security “Trust Fund” (which for the past few years has been being drawn down to make up the shortfall and pay normal benefits) will be exhausted within 2 decades.

Medicare’s problems are similar. The concept was flawed from day one, and it too is supposed to be funded separately from other Federal expenses via FICA taxes. Those taxes are simply insufficient to keep up with costs – but tax cuts elsewhere have zero impact on Medicare funding.

Sheesh, Commissar – this bogus pronouncement was a new “high water mark of naive ignorance” for you. And that’s saying something.

Mason

I found some of your people.

11B-Mailclerk

You folks must go get your sense of humor surgically removed.

His quip was -funny-.

You got -burned-. Bad. Sick, even.

Instead of owning it, your doubled down, making his quip all the more funny and your antics more …. feeble.

You got schlonged.

HMCS(FMF) ret

Lars loves to get schlonged… especially if Trigglypuff is involved.

A Proud Infidel®™️

Shit Lars, you haven’t been this pissy since the day the Dry Cleaners messed your favorite Judy Garland costume up!

Hondo

Yes, the best study to date of known and reported Covid-19 cases showa a fatality rate of around 2.3% in the PRC, with the bulk of deaths occurring in the elderly and those in chronic poor health. But if you actually take time to do due diligence and dig a bit deeper – which you never do, ‘Roo – you’ll find that “sound bite” number presents far less than the complete picture. Expert analysis of that best study to date goes further. That analysis indicates that a large number of Covid-19 cases – perhaps as many as 10 for each reported case – apparently are never reported. That’s not unreasonable; as with the common cold or seasonal flu, it appears that many Covid-19 infections are mild and don’t require medical treatment. The largest study to date indicates that 80+ percent of reported cases are mild. And overview of the largest Covid-19 study, including some analysis, can be found at https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-51540981 Given China’s heavy-handed approach to Covid-19 during the last few weeks, I’d guess that virtually all mild cases in fact go unreported. However, IMO it’s quite unlikely that many if any fatalities are going unreported; unexplained deaths during a major disease outbreak tend to get attention, particularly in an authoritarian state like the PRC. So I think it’s quite reasonable to believe that the numbers of deaths attributed to Covid-19 to date likely capture virtually all of the deaths caused by the virus. Assuming you can, now do the math. If there are in fact 9 or 10 unreported (and nonfatal) cases for each reported case of Covid-19, that drops the Covid-19 fatality rate to between 0.2 and 0.3 percent. That’s 2x or 3x times as bad as that of normal seasonal flu – and like seasonable flu, Covid-19 appears be most dangerous for the same groups (the elderly or those in chronic poor health). In short, it’s about what you expect from a worse-than-normal flu season. Covid-19 bears watching, like any other new disease outbreak. But I seriously doubt it’s going to be anywhere near as bad as you’re… Read more »

HMCS(FMF) ret

I remember that he earned the title of “Zika Poodle” over his histrionics…

A Proud Infidel®™️

Yeah, the great Zika apocalypse Lars screeched was coming and didn’t!

Mason

No, Hondo. This is another catastrophe of epic proportions. Millions of people will die, DIE I TELL YOU, if we do not immediately nationalize healthcare!

I do like poodle’s line about health care being a national security issue. Really stretches the bonds of credulity. Not that he has much to begin with. It does really try to make this an issue of “if you don’t like nationalized healthcare, you hate America.”

IDC SARC

I’m not saying my dick cures coronavirus, but no woman that has given me a BJ has every been infected with COVID-19 so ladies, my clinic is open…appointments, walk-ins welcome.

Commissar

Gender discrimination.

You will never be able to be the Democratic Party nominee for president now.

Hondo

I’m sure he’s just heartbroken about that, ‘Roo.

SFC D

Ever hear of a guy named Bill Clinton?

The Other Whitey

Or Bob Filner?

Hondo

Or JFK or LBJ for that matter. Both reputedly had severe zipper issues – as in, would hump pretty much anything attractive wearing a skirt (and I’m not positive “attractive” was an absolute requirement).

Just Lurkin

Lars wants to blow you-just to be on the safe side.

USAF RET

well played, my friend, well played

Poetrooper

Well, I’d heard of the Salk vaccine, but the SARC?

HMCS(FMF) ret

Given by “special organic injection”…

11B-Mailclerk

He really hammers that immunization project.

HMCS(FMF) ret

The IDC SARC was made an unofficially official member of the American Pipelayers union (local 69)… the wimmens call him “the jackhammer of love”.

A Proud Infidel®™️

I bet that you always tip the Veal and try the Waitress when you go out to eat!

Hondo

Actually, avoiding the coronavirus seems quite simple: drink Tecate or Modelo instead.

The Stranger

Dos Equis Amber or Cerveza Indio!

SFC D

Support your local brewers.
https://barriobrewing.co/

Eggs

I like Barrio Blonde, the wife likes Rojo.

SFC D

They have a nice variety 12-pack with 4 each of Barrio Blonde, Rojo, and Citrizona.

Hondo

Dos Equis Amber used to be quite good some years ago. IMO, it now absolutely sucks. And their lager isn’t much better.

Wasn’t all that impressed with Estrella Jalisco, either. Can’t say I’ve tried Indio.

Pacifico and Victoria, on the other hand, IMO aren’t bad at all.

Ex-PH2

Hot tea and vanilla ice cream with dark chocolate sauce do the job quite well.

The Other Whitey

Tecate? I’ve been there many times. Never for pleasure, though.

Ret_25X

I thought I have the Bud Lite Flu once…turns out I was just sick of crappy beer….

Switched to Yuengling, never looked back…

LOL

Keepin' It Real

A proctologist was about to do an exam and asked his nurse to bring him a light.

She comes back with a beer and the doctor says “No, no. I wanted a butt light!”

(Somebody stop me)

The Stranger

You need to have a chat with Slow Joe. Life’s too short to drink shitty beer.

HMCS(FMF) ret

Just read this story on how China and Taiwan have handled this crises and public access to information:

https://thediplomat.com/2020/02/the-coronavirus-outbreak-how-democratic-taiwan-outperformed-authoritarian-china/

5th/77th FA

Good article, Thanks Senior. I still like my theory on the ChiCom Gubmint/Military being more involved than they want to say.

HMCS(FMF) ret

They handled the SARS outbreak like a state secret for years… probably will never see the truth on those infected or fatalities.

11B-Mailclerk

All the coronadoom hype is an effort to trash the economy.

The Left is willing to make three hundred million people poorer to score points.

I suspect it won’t work, long term. They seem to wyle-e-coyote everything they try, lately.

Bolshies gonna Bolshie. And wreck and massacre. To no good end.

But one more try to get it right, eh?

Comm Center Rat

“When there’s no more room in Hell, the dead will walk the Earth.”

~ George A. Romero, Director (Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead, Day of the Dead, et al.)

The Zombie Apocalypse has begun!!

Ex-PH2

Bring out your dead!!!!