It's not just about the fatalities
This is such a dangerous thing to get hung up on. The long term damages that we are seeing so far have been rather alarming. Scarring on organs, including the heart and lungs, neurological damage, not to mention the psychological damages. These things have a way of severely affecting the quality of life for people who contract the virus. But because it is not as easily quantifiable, people tend to stick with discussing death only.
This is a case in which I am in support of being cautious, fuck the economy.
People over profits, period.
I'm done with you as well
[QUOTE=WillShookSpear;4762004]And this is why you're wrong, and it's the basis of your contention.
Let's take this apart for a minute. Do young people get Covid? Yes, they do. Do they get sick? Often not. Are they then carriers that can affect others? Yes.
Exponential growth happens in all of the population, and in fact asymptomatic young people are among the most dangerous carriers as they are least likely to socially distance. This is why your "if you're at risk, stay home", which translates as "if you're not at risk, I. E. Young, this stuff doesn't matter" is patently, completely and dangerously false.
[URL]https://www.citylab.com/equity/2020/03/coronavirus-vunerable-elderly-adults-ageism-younger-people/608224/[/URL]
This is where your focus on point statistics is simply wrong; EVERYONE is at risk. EVERYONE can carry the disease. Exponential growth in cases can affect the ENTIRE population.
I'm out; we're unlikely to reach an accord and in the end the vast majority of guidance says I'm right. And a small smattering of anecdotal situations here and there prove. Nothing.[/QUOTE]You keep saying the same shit over and over again and NEVER answering the question. Like I said last time, it's because you can't. And you ignore anything you don't want to address like the millions you would condemn to a slow death of starvation.
Stop relying on click-bait!
[QUOTE=MassageMeow;4762174]The long term damages that we are seeing so far have been rather alarming. Scarring on organs, including the heart and lungs, neurological damage, not to mention the psychological damages.[/QUOTE]You apparently don't have a science degree. If you did, you'd now several things:
1. There are no "long term" effects yet. Five months isn't "long term".
2. The single report that every third-rate media site relied on for that, had no credibility to begin with. Of course, as it gets quoted and the quotes re-quoted, you lose track of the original.
3. Subsequent to that, due to inquiries, Johns Hopkins, who had nothing to do with the discredited report, released a report on the scarring from COVID-related pneumonia. Which is scary, as is regular pneumonia. But only an absolute idiot would somehow believe (as you seem to) that this would be symptomless. These are the older people with pre-existing co-morbidities who wind up in a morbid state. And yeah, some, if they fail to die, are damage. What a shock!
4. That mostly applies to 65+ year olds with other issues, such as diabetes, obesity or a reasonably short list of common issues. Those are the people who should be quarantining.
5. The psychological damage of isolating teens, or of destroying the savings and jobs of individuals, of restricting social contacts, far outweighs the unverified risks you're specifying.
Lastly, did you forget the initial death estimates? Neil Ferguson (Imperial College) estimated something like over 2 million deaths in the USA Initially. Clearly flat-out wrong. The quarantines? They were to "flatten the curve" so the hospitals wouldn't be overwhelmed, not to prevent the spread at all. Just to slow it. But hospitals have not been overwhelmed. In fact, the Army hospital at Safeco, 500 beds or so, was closed unused. The USA S. Comfort in NYC, set up as an emergency overflow, similarly left under-utilized.
The curve has been flattened, and the reason we flattened it. To avoid overrunning hospitals. Has been disproven. Stop following the false prophets who keep changing the goal posts.
Agreed about grumpy mcgrumpypants
[QUOTE=Efurufe;4730092]What is "$x4"? Definitely a new notation for me.
I read it as $400, or possibly $140 (similar to ' 4'.
Have to admit that I've never quite understood the reason for these abbreviations. Presumably it's to protect against LE action, but any code that you and I understand, they will too, and certainly a jury would.
I highly doubt that "I had a dream that I had FS for $$" is much less incriminating than "I paid $200 for sex" (but maybe I'm wrong. Anyone have evidence that this "code" actually protects anyone?[/QUOTE]Remember when this forum was about sex workers and people confusing symbols for numbers? Those were good times.
Rebutting the Reality-Deniers
[QUOTE=WillShookSpear;4778603]The models were all based on a maximum of 50% compliance with social distancing, including sheltering place, directives. [/QUOTE]Alex Berenson, who is in a much better position than you to know, says you're wrong. Most of the models had social distancing baked in, at least into the ranges.
The initial models that the draconian lockdowns were based on, were from Neil Ferguson of the Imperial College. He included ranges for behaviors. And then.
On March 22nd, he admitted that his models weren't even Coronavirus-specific. Instead, he used an opaque 13,000 line computer program he described as "undocumented", which he wrote to model flu, not CV, pandemics.
Six weeks later, still never having let anyone review his code or models, he revised it heavily. Yes, he "corrected" it. Not due to new data so much as due to the fact that the Coronavirus IS NOT THE FLU. He had previously not even modeled the Coronavirus.
To your claim that the lower deaths were due to Social Distancing, his later model had Sweden paying a huge price for no lockdown, with 40,000 COVID deaths by May 1, and 100,000 by June. As you (hopefully) know, Sweden has not done a lockdown, and as of today, it's had 3,220 deaths. And it crested last month.
Ferguson has a greatest hits of failed models.
[LIST][*]2002: He said up to 150,000 people could die from exposure to BSE (mad cow disease.) So far, 177 people have died. Not 177 [i]thousand[/i], just 177.[*]2005: He predicted "up to 150 million people" could die from bird flu. The tally after six years: 282. Not 282 [i]thousand[/i], just 282.[*]2009: He was in a U.K. government committee that, with his advice, estimates that "up to" (or "worst case") swine flu would be 65,000 just in the UK. They lost 457.[/LIST]
Now, with your demonstrated dishonesty, I fully expect you to say, "well, he said [B]UP TO[/B] each time. He wasn't [B]wrong[/B], just overly cautious. " No, he's been so far off, every time, including with COVID in Sweden this time, that if you were less of an apologist you would understand that the other lower deaths have ALSO been due to his models being flat-out wrong.
Brookings, by the way, admits the models were wrong but values the conversation. "Despite some notable flaws, the epidemiological models have cumulatively had a beneficial effect on the national conversation. " In other words, similar to when false accusations against white men happen, there's no need to apologize because being a white man is, intrinsically, to be guilty.
For better honesty, try epidemiologist Ruth Etzioni of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center "That the IHME model keeps changing is evidence of its lack of reliability as a predictive tool. " Yeah, you know more about models than an actual epidemiologist at a top research center.
What are you talking about?
[QUOTE=WillShookSpear;4779817]Really, I should know better.
I'm not "looking for a fight"; I simply believe the information I get from mainstream sources, while others get theirs from the fringe because they have a deep-seated need to find conspiracy everywhere. The two perspectives are irreconcilable.
Which is why this is how these wackadoodle conversation go. "All the experts" turns into a fringe ex-journalist and spy novel author, Brazil being 8th in the world (and moving up fast) becomes a discussion about map projection models and perception. And the next credible source is a diet doc off of Oprah. It's a bunch of unrelated information that could be seen to support a perspective. So that's how it's used.
So. No, I won't be listening to Dr. David Katz, a nutritional expert with absolutely no infectious disease credentials who is just managing his brand and getting on TV as much as he can talk about a pandemic. He even hash tagged his perspective to "get the hits". You can go to your proctologist for investment advice, but don't be surprised when the results are shit. The question isn't why won't I watch it. The question is why would you? Ah, because he supports your fringe perspective. And maybe because you watch a lot of Oprah.
Nor will I be paying any attention to a former newspaper reporter and spy novel author for my pandemic information. The question is: why are you? Ah, because he supports your perspective.
Let the hilarity resume. Should be interesting to see what happens with the re-opening.[/QUOTE]You said that if the US did as Brazil did they would be in worse shape. Brazil clearly by any measure is not doing worse than the US. 8th what? Cases? Deaths? What?
Brazil has registered 12,000 deaths with a population of 200,000,000 people while the US has 80,000 with a population of 331,000,000 how is that worse?
Diet doctor on Oprah that's kinda funny how you reduced an Ivy League educated physician to a diet doc on Oprah.
Like I said, you just want to fight.
Who the fuck is the spy novel author? What the fuck are you even ranting about?