A time to keep calm during this crisis

[Guitarist41]

24/7 bombardment of coronavirus fears. Reports of those who have passed away. Horror stories of how terrible this disease is.
I’d like to take some facts, and add some of my own thoughts as well.
Most believe this was a crisis that was started by China. Information was withheld that could’ve bought precious preparation time.
China, now is attempting to come to the rescue of the world, please do yourself, our people and your respective nation a favor and research before you buy and DON’T BUY FROM CHINA!
They have withheld medications, they have bought up so many of the needed n95 masks from 3m (who also deserves no added business), and 3m has now opened a factory in Beijing, oh! In just 6 days by the way. Now, China wants to make a profit by selling masks to us, that should’ve never left.
Partisan politics being played, no matter which side of the isle you may reside.
Let’s look at some facts.
This years flu season has killed more people than in recent memory. When was the last time that a flu case was reported on the news? This years flu, thus far, has killed over 22,000 people in the US alone, and that was approximately mid March. This isn’t reported. The news is not giving the many sad stories of those who have lost loved ones to the flu, so they go unnoticed. Yet, we are constantly being reminded of the dangers of Covid-19.
When was the last time this country went into a national lockdown for the flu?
The media is sensationalizing this situation to their advantage.
The President has spoke of Hydrochloroquine to help with cases of Covid, yet many media outlets resist this notion, even as more proof has come out that its effective. Whether you like him or not, it’s not the point. The point is simply that a drug that is readily available, was made in 1945, and obviously is considered safe in the majority of cases... will be resisted because big pharma will not be able to charge hundreds or thousands of dollars for treatment.
Vitamin C is being used now by hospitals in several states, and there is a current clinical trial in China on its effectiveness. Yet, major media outlets, also resist this. These are the same media outlets that cut to commercials for Bayer, and other pharmaceutical medicines. One Chinese American doctor had a youtube channel on intravenous use of vitamin C, after 300,000 views, his videos were removed. Insisting it was misinformation. The problem is, vitamin C is NOT toxic even in extremely high doses, aside from possible nausea or diarrhea. Yet it’s effectiveness on lung infections is very promising in clinical trials. Humans cannot make vitamin C, unlike other animals, thus, we must have supplemental vitamin C in some form. It’s also known that stress, anxiety, and sickness quickly depletes our C levels, making us more susceptible to infections of colds, viruses, diseases, etc. If vitamin C cannot cause harm, what’s the harm in using it?
With my rant, again I ask when was the last time any of us became panicked about possibly getting the flu? H1N1? Etc?
These are simply things to help everyone here to keep things in perspective. This is not a death sentence, it’s not the end of the world.

 

[Dboy95]

People have every right to be worried by this cause unfortunately this is not anything like the flu. The mortality rate is 20× higher then the flu, causing people to panic therefore the media has no choice but to report on this 24/7. I agree that being calm will help this situation a great ton. The reality is this will not be over for a long time and people need to adapt to this life for awhile

 

[Guitarist41]

People have every right to be worried by this cause unfortunately this is not anything like the flu. The mortality rate is 20× higher then the flu, causing people to panic therefore the media has no choice but to report on this 24/7. I agree that being calm will help this situation a great ton. The reality is this will not be over for a long time and people need to adapt to this life for awhile

it’s not 20x more than the flu, they don’t even know the true numbers yet. How many silent cases are walking around there?

By the numbers


Infections
COVID-19: Approximately 1,216,422 cases worldwide; 312,245 cases in the U.S. as of Apr. 5, 2020.*
Flu: Estimated 1 billion cases worldwide; 9.3 million to 45 million cases in the U.S. per year.
Deaths
COVID-19: Approximately 65,711 deaths reported worldwide; 8,503 deaths in the U.S., as of Apr. 5, 2020.*
Flu: 291,000 to 646,000 deaths worldwide; 12,000 to 61,000 deaths in the U.S. per year.

 

[Bobnnat]

There is a yearly injection, albeit with varying effectiveness for the flu. There is an anti-viral Tamaflu that lessens symptoms for those who caught the flu. With COVID there is nothing. No vaccine, no anti-viral. Even Trump admits at least 100k will die from this. Unless people take this seriously, and 99:9% of Americans comply with what the experts say, that number will be double, triple or even over a million deaths. Sadly (my opinion) Trump has not been forceful and as a result, I think it’s 9 states do not have stay at home orders. All red states by the way. People have said these are not densely populated states; but even Nebraska has big cities that could erupt with cases. Plus we of course don’t have border restrictions between states. People from say Oklahoma travel to Texas, Colorado or anywhere. They can spread the disease in other states so every single community should be on lockdown, again my opinion.

The press goes where the news is. The fact is that everyone is thinking of this disease. Everything else has stopped. No one is even thinking about the election for example. That news was front and center everywhere, including Fox. I’ll stop now. I wish you were right Guitar. I’d be the first one to agree it’s overkill by the media. It’s true the media is politicized on both sides. Fox and CNN before COVID were totally Trump..he’s the best, he’s an abomination, etc. If it was sensationalism I’d call it out..except it isn’t.

 

[Guitarist41]

Whether red or blue states, doesn’t matter. I also want to note that I never said we should all just go right out, no masks, cough on each other, etc. I think that caution is always warranted. I do believe that it’s being fear mongering.
You have to ask yourself a question... what IF this was a test? Not a fake, but a test.” Let's see what the American people do when we lock them up”. Who does it benefit? Everyone gets rich off of some crisis.

 

[Dboy95]

reality is people are dying at an alarming rate. it may not be a death sentence to us but because this is so contagious, we got to worry about the more vulnerable people in society. But youre right, panicking is never the approach to any problem, but for some people they are very scared and I can understand that
and based off your stats. the mortality rate for the flu is .1% compared to covid19 at 2.7%. so its definetily a big difference

 

[Guitarist41]

reality is people are dying at an alarming rate. it may not be a death sentence to us but because this is so contagious, we got to worry about the more vulnerable people in society. But youre right, panicking is never the approach to any problem, but for some people they are very scared and I can understand that
and based off your stats. the mortality rate for the flu is .1% compared to covid19 at 2.7%. so its definetily a big difference

the biggest problem is that the actual mortality rate is unknown for Covid-19 because so many only have mild to moderate symptoms.
Another thing to consider is this:


According to Prof Walter Ricciardi, scientific adviser to Italy’s minister of health, the country’s mortality rate is far higher due to demographics – the nation has the second oldest population worldwide – and the manner in which hospitals record deaths.
“The age of our patients in hospitals is substantially older – the median is 67, while in China it was 46,” Prof Ricciardi says. “So essentially the age distribution of our patients is squeezed to an older age and this is substantial in increasing the lethality.”
…
But Prof Ricciardi added that Italy’s death rate may also appear high because of how doctors record fatalities.
“The way in which we code deaths in our country is very generous in the sense that all the people who die in hospitals with the coronavirus are deemed to be dying of the coronavirus.
“On re-evaluation by the National Institute of Health, only 12 per cent of death certificates have shown a direct causality from coronavirus, while 88 per cent of patients who have died have at least one pre-morbidity – many had two or three,”he says.

OPINION: A Few Questions About Whether Italy's COVID-19 Mortality Rate Is Inflated

www.redstate.com

 

[Guitarist41]

Interesting article I just saw shows this:

“
The chance of someone with symptomatic Covid-19 dying varied by age, confirming other studies. For those aged 15 to 44, the fatality rate was 0.5%, though it might have been as low as 0.1% or as high as 1.3%. For people 45 to 64, the fatality rate was also 0.5%, with a possible low of 0.2% and a possible high of 1.1%. For those over 64, it was 2.7%, with a low and high estimate of 1.5% and 4.7%.
The chance of serious illness from coronavirus infection in younger people was so low, the scientists estimate a fatality rate of zero.”

Lower death rate estimates for coronavirus, especially for non-elderly, provide glimmer of hope

The new #Covid19 death rate is significantly below earlier estimates and raises hopes that the worst consequence of the #coronavirus will be rare.

www.statnews.com

 

[jimmy schmendrik]

Hi ist

I see where you're at.

I think you might be a bit unfair of China. I mean they never intentionally caused that pestilence. Throughout history psetilences have started in places where folk and animals live in close proximity. They reckon Spanish flu started in lil ole Kansas. Where Dorothy and her 3 buddies come from.

Most masks are made in China anyway for the Asian market. Now the whole world wants them. If you read the French news you will have learnt that American companies are at Chinese airports hijacking mask shipments to other countries by paying double or more in cash. Probably not in US news.

These days you can't boycott stuff made in China when the parts often come from other countries. Like iPhones. But probably not for much longer because China is facing a labor shortage and salaries are getting uncompetitive. A lot of production is slowly being moved to Vietnam, Cambodia etc. Who knows what the situation will be when economic activity returns. There will definitely be some kind of realignment.

Easy to bash China but their government is no better or worse than anywhere else. In fact If say it's better because they build cheap housing for everyone and have a far better and faster health service than USA which has become a business rather than a public service.

I'd live in China if it wasn't for the crowds. If only one person in ten thousand is a barsteward that's still one helluva lotta barstewards.

What will happen now is a ban on the sale of live animals in outdoor markets. If it is enforced. There will always be poachers.

So yeah, I think we should all go easy on them Chinese. They got a magnificent culture and are just ordinary folk doing their best in a crazy world.

Jimmy

 

[Guitarist41]

They knew, and they said nothing, and did nothing to keep it contained

 

[jimmy schmendrik]

"They knew ....."

Who is they? I think you're referring to the Chinese government.

China is a massive country. The central government is in Beijing and is widely respected even though folk don't vote.

The problem in Wuham was that local government knew but we're hoping it would go away so told nobody. In China, as in many other countries, local 'rulers' are held responsible for everything whether it's their fault or not.

In our beloved USA, there was a mercury poisoning scandal in Mississippi. Local government tried to hush it up but the story got out. Even today, folk is still drinking water with mercury in it.

So US got no right to criticize China or anywhere else

 

[Guitarist41]

"They knew ....."

Who is they? I think you're referring to the Chinese government.

China is a massive country. The central government is in Beijing and is widely respected even though folk don't vote.

The problem in Wuham was that local government knew but we're hoping it would go away so told nobody. In China, as in many other countries, local 'rulers' are held responsible for everything whether it's their fault or not.

In our beloved USA, there was a mercury poisoning scandal in Mississippi. Local government tried to hush it up but the story got out. Even today, folk is still drinking water with mercury in it.

So US got no right to criticize China or anywhere else

No one is more aware more of the sins of our country. With that being said, China is China to me. This isn’t the only time the communist government has done shady things. They take advantage of this country in many ways. They were keeping their medication, taking all the n95 masks. Not to mention, it’s estimated that 430,000 people came here AFTER they knew about the virus. They also came here WITH vials that had viruses in them.

Stop sticking up for China so much.

 

[Guitarist41]

I saw on the news today that the CDC was going to start naming ALL deaths of those who die with covid-19, even if that isn’t the main cause. IE. If they have heart disease, diabetes, asthma, etc etc.
That makes little sense to me.

 

[Tourmaline]

It makes perfect sense, because generally speaking, a virus/bacteria and its disease doesn't deal the killing blow. It's the complications that arise from them. Septic shock; cardiac arrest; ARDS; pneumonia. These are all way people die BECAUSE of COVID-19, as well as countless other pathogenic diseases. If someone dies of cardiac arrest because COVID-19 sent their body into distress due to an immune response, that is absolutely, 100% a result of COVID-19 and should be counted. If someone dies of diabetic shock because their pancreas shut down due to lack of oxygen from COVID-19 attacking the lungs, that should 100% count. COVID-19 doesn't have a signature deathstrike, it kills in many different ways, and recognizing the ways it does so is how the CDC is going to track how many people die because they became infected.
I say this not to scare anyone- I apologize, because I suffer from severe health anxiety myself and I know how easy it is to read something alarming and assume the worst for myself. If you are reading this and my above post scared you, I apologize, but remember that these worst-case scenarios really do represent a tiny fraction of people who contract COVID-19. That isn't fake news- you have an overwhelmingly likely chance of surviving this illness, even if you are part of an older demographic. I just wanted to make sure that Guitarist41 and others who find the CDC's decisions to be puzzling have the opportunity to understand their methodology a bit.

 

[Guitarist41]

It makes perfect sense, because generally speaking, a virus/bacteria and its disease doesn't deal the killing blow. It's the complications that arise from them. Septic shock; cardiac arrest; ARDS; pneumonia. These are all way people die BECAUSE of COVID-19, as well as countless other pathogenic diseases. If someone dies of cardiac arrest because COVID-19 sent their body into distress due to an immune response, that is absolutely, 100% a result of COVID-19 and should be counted. If someone dies of diabetic shock because their pancreas shut down due to lack of oxygen from COVID-19 attacking the lungs, that should 100% count. COVID-19 doesn't have a signature deathstrike, it kills in many different ways, and recognizing the ways it does so is how the CDC is going to track how many people die because they became infected.
I say this not to scare anyone- I apologize, because I suffer from severe health anxiety myself and I know how easy it is to read something alarming and assume the worst for myself. If you are reading this and my above post scared you, I apologize, but remember that these worst-case scenarios really do represent a tiny fraction of people who contract COVID-19. That isn't fake news- you have an overwhelmingly likely chance of surviving this illness, even if you are part of an older demographic. I just wanted to make sure that Guitarist41 and others who find the CDC's decisions to be puzzling have the opportunity to understand their methodology a bit.

I do understand, yes. I’m simply saying that we see a statistic, and just assume it’s a perfectly healthy person who gets this, and just dies from it right away. That’s the problem with just looking at a number.

 

[asdfzxh]

wrg, no anxietyx etc for suchx, anyx, do things not anxiety about things etc

 

[NuckingFutz]

First they estimated 2.2 million deaths from this thing in America alone, then it went down to between 100,000 - 240,000 and now it’s down to 60,000, that’s a bad flu season. Stop letting the media live rent free in your heads.

 

[anxiousinamerica]

First they estimated 2.2 million deaths from this thing in America alone, then it went down to between 100,000 - 240,000 and now it’s down to 60,000, that’s a bad flu season. Stop letting the media live rent free in your heads.

It's good news, but it's going down because people are following the recommended social distancing guidelines. As soon as people stop following them, cases will skyrocket again. It's like if an overweight person were to say, "OK, I'm beginning to lose weight now...guess I no longer need to eat healthy and exercise."

And we know more about the flu and how it is spread, whereas we know very little about this virus. And the flu has a vaccine, this doesn't. So it's different. Once better testing, better treatment, and a vaccine become available, then we can start treating it more like the flu.

 

[NuckingFutz]

It's good news, but it's going down because people are following the recommended social distancing guidelines. As soon as people stop following them, cases will skyrocket again. It's like if an overweight person were to say, "OK, I'm beginning to lose weight now...guess I no longer need to eat healthy and exercise."

And we know more about the flu and how it is spread, whereas we know very little about this virus. And the flu has a vaccine, this doesn't. So it's different. Once better testing, better treatment, and a vaccine become available, then we can start treating it more like the flu.

I can understand your point of view on it, at home with nothing to do and constantly having that drilled in your head by the MSM, it’s bound to happen. There’s PLENTY of articles by top scientists and epidemiologists that challenge the mainstreams narrative. Unfortunately you have to search deep for them because they’re not readily available. Has nothing to do with the “shelter in place” orders. But you have the right to believe whatever you like. I would suggest doing some research on your own and take what the MSM tells you with a grain of salt.


Have a great day and stay safe!

 

[Guitarist41]

I can understand your point of view on it, at home with nothing to do and constantly having that drilled in your head by the MSM, it’s bound to happen. There’s PLENTY of articles by top scientists and epidemiologists that challenge the mainstreams narrative. Unfortunately you have to search deep for them because they’re not readily available. Has nothing to do with the “shelter in place” orders. But you have the right to believe whatever you like. I would suggest doing some research on your own and take what the MSM tells you with a grain of salt.


Have a great day and stay safe!

My days aren’t much different from before. I pick my son up, or drop him off, or I have him for a few days. This saves me gas money so... it’s not all bad.
I would like to read some articles though. If you feel like posting them, that would be great.