By David Futrelle
Fuck. This is all I can think about these days. It looks like it’s going to be bad. And this is the President’s response:
I”m linking to a bunch of articles I found useful; they’re (almost) all from reputable publications you’ve heard of, though I (as a complete non-expert on these things) can’t vouch for everything in them.
How to Prepare for the Coronavirus (NYT)
Preparing for Coronavirus to Strike the U.S. (Scientific America)
You’re Likely to Get the Coronavirus (The Atlantic)
One-page beginner’s guide to the Wuhan coronavirus (theprepared.com)
Trump’s flailing incompetence makes coronavirus even scarier (Vox)
Is It a Pandemic Yet? (NYT)
Trump Has Sabotaged America’s Coronavirus Response (Foreign Policy)
Pence Will Control All Coronavirus Messaging From Health Officials (NYT)
Let’s Revisit Coronavirus Czar Mike Pence’s History on Public Health Initiatives (Slate)
Oh, and here’s a post that’s totally not helpful, but it’s revealing about the right-wing’s attempts to downplay the virus.
Overhyped Coronavirus Weaponized Against Trump (Rush Limbaugh)
DIscuss! Add links to articles you found helpful! And stop touching your face!
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The Game Developers Conference got cancelled/postponed this week after every major company withdrew over the course of the past few days. However real the threat of coronavirus is, there’s no downplaying the sheer paranoia.
Wait, wait, wait. This doctor predicts that up to 70% of the world will get coronavirus. It seems like there’s a 2% mortality rate. So that still means… 100 million ppl are gonna die?
I really can’t deal with this.
And now an employee at a fossil fuel company in Canada is “elevating” the discourse on climate change by … distributing Greta Thunberg KP, apparently.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/greta-thunberg-xsite-energy-sexual-image-1.5478561
Please pass the kitten gifs.
So. I wasn’t that worried about coronavirus until Trump told us not to worry. Now I get the feeling that there’s a whole lot of undiagnosed and/or unannounced case out there.
Kitten gifs as requested:
http://www.cutecatgifs.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/boop.gif
The way Trump is telling us not to worry, I’m half-worried he’s intentionally withholding funding from various health organizations in exchange for the virus giving him information on Joe Biden. I mean, I know that’s impossible, but damn if I wouldn’t put it past him to try it.
Attempt 2 on requested kittens
http://www.cutecatgifs.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/1uHlEY4.gif
http://www.cutecatgifs.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/slpct.gif
http://www.cutecatgifs.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/cat-app.gif
http://www.cutecatgifs.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/slpy.gif
http://www.cutecatgifs.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/cat_n_dog.gif
Now I’m having fun looking at kitten gifs.
I want a ragdoll kitty so bad. But I only adopt, I wouldn’t go to a breeder, so I’d have to luck upon a rescue to ever get one.
I have the feeling the USAiens will need quite a bit of luck. Less so than Iranian and maybe most african, but probably more than other so-called developed countries.
WWTH:
Do you follow any cat foster carers?
There are lots on Instagram.
I’ve seen a few ragdoll kittens being cared for by one or two.
From the NYT article (“U.S. Health Workers Responding to Coronavirus…”) linked above:
This is suck a fuck-up because it basically makes containment impossible. And, of course:
So, the administration’s focus is on containing information, rather than the spread of the infection.
The people handling this have no idea what they’re doing and are more concerned with public image than actual results. That doesn’t bode well.
And of course for most people, if you feel ill/are ill you don’t dare not turn up for work because you might not have paid sick leave/any sick leave. Because in some zero-hours jobs you actually have to pay your employer compensation for your absence. And because in some countries of course you can’t afford medical care.
Funny how decimating employment rights endangers society.
The mortality rate isn’t what I’m worried about, to be honest. Yes, it will be devastating for those patients and their loved ones, but I’m more worried about the other patients. The people who will survive, but whose recovery will be slow, painful (pulmonary issues, for one), and expensive. US hospitals already struggle to care for their patients due to the long-running nursing shortage and other administrative evils.
And speaking of nurses and other healthcare workers … we tend to be the kind of people who push ourselves to exhaustion because the patients need us to be doing our jobs. (This attitude played a part in why I landed in the ICU a few years back.) So imagine what happens if enough physicians and nurses are knocked out due to being too sick to work. Imagine a hospital pharmacy that’s understaffed. Imagine a hospital where housekeeping has only a few people on-site. Imagine a reception area with only one intake clerk. Imagine an HIM department with only one or two people to manage the records and billing of hundreds to thousands of patients.
I’m sure Pence will pray about it. Meanwhile, my colleagues and I will keep doing our jobs under conditions that have grown increasingly stressful over the last 30-40 years.
@WWTH
Same here. The instant Trump says something is safe/under control/not to worry is when you know there is something bad going on.
@KindaSortaHarmless
In a similar vein, I recall someone making the joke on Twitter that if people start a rumor that the coronavirus is transphobic, then Graham Linehan and his TERFy friends will run to its defense.
@Lukas Xavier
A key part of fascism is controlling information, so this doesn’t surprise me that much.
In a similar vein, I recall reading that a lot of conservative evangelicals will celebrate the coronavirus as bringing the end times and as a way of cleansing the population. So there’s that as well.
@Parasol : there’s a reason for why a lot of doctors died in China. Pushing oneself very hard to treat everyone isn’t a good strategy when catching such a dangerous disease.
Statistically speaking, the deads and maimed
@Ohlmann
Exactly. Unfortunately, it’s an attitude that is ingrained in healthcare professionals, fostered by the fact that healthcare attracts people who want to help others, and will do so even at the expense of their own health.
Whilst I can have some sympathy for some victims of the virus, like so many recent problems, humans brought this on themselves.
https://www.businessinsider.com/wuhan-coronavirus-chinese-wet-market-photos-2020-1?r=US&IR=T
We stare at fires and floods and plagues and catastrophes and say “If only there had been some way to have prevented this” like gun control denialists after another mass shooting.
I honestly think the Chinese wet market isn’t anywhere near as much responsible than the authorities of various countries.
Because while the existence of that kind of market do help with diseases switching species, they are also a natural occurence that we should just be prepared to tackle. Making thoses markets a bit more hygienic probably save a lot of chinese in their day to day living, but it would not prevent the emergence of new diseases.
Is anyone here involved in organising a convention or conference? How’s that going? I’ve already decided against attending a couple of events, since rubbing shoulders with thousands of strangers seems like a bad idea right now. So I worry that some events might be facing financial problems.
As a newly retired person, I suppose I’m fairly fortunate, in that I no longer need to travel daily in a crowded train to an unhealthy open plan office. On the other hand, my respiratory system isn’t in great shape at the best of times, so I suspect this virus would hit me hard, and I should probably look into having all my groceries delivered.
Well, if we completely throw away the humanitarian aspect it’s only logical to take very little safety measures. Coronavirus mainly kills elderly people or those with other underlaying medical issues. To most of the population it would not be much worse than cold. So it will clear society of those who use up resources but not contribute to economic developement.
David, my dear, you forgot the people who are actually in charge of education about the virus. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html
There are going to be deaths. There is going to be some disruption in your life, whether you get sick or not.
As a couple of people have noted, conventions, or any gatherings, are going to be a questionable idea for a while. In fact the Republican and Democrats had best plan for nominating their people online, instead of in person.
But running around in a mask will not help. Masks do help prevent you from spreading a virus but don’t protect you from the virus in the environment.
Get into the habit of washing your hands a lot NOW. Practice not touching your mouth, nose, or eyes while you are out and about. Use sanitizer wipes on grocery cart handles and other such public touchy places (door handles, etc.).
But there is no need to wallow in fear. For most people this virus will be a very bad cold. I say that as an elderly person who will be especially vulnerable.
As Herbert noted, fear is a mind-killer. Don’t succumb to it. Take reasonable precautions and get on with things.
hi everyone
I am sorry to intrupt this thread but one of my friends has got entangled wiyh a group calld personal dev for men run by a man called Nelson Rodriguez I have looked at their website and have found some problematic content and wondered if any of you have heard of them.
ps they are UK based
So I am going to the LA area to compete in a Jiujitsu tournament in March. I guess rolling around in very close contact with people that travel from all over might not be the wisest idea now but I pretty sure it will be fine and I scheduled it before California got those new cases. . My biggest worry is that it’s cancelled TBH.
I actually think that there are way more undocumented cases. From everything I’ve read that is reliable, Covid-19 in 80% of cases is not severe. And I am pretty sure that there are a lot of people that got so little symptoms or were asymptomatic that we are going to find out that that mortality rate is much lower, but that it’s already spread well outside the containment areas. The main reason I worry is that this thing is not that well studied (unlike the flu) and might contain some nasty surprises.
Anna: that’s the most heartless, extreme capitalist shit ever. You don’t get to wish death upon my parents for the sin of retiring.
It’s also innumerate. Taking out 5-10% of the economy in order to kill a couple percent of people, some of whom aren’t “productive”, isn’t even an economic win.
Experience shows it should come as no surprise that ghouls can’t do math.