OT: Corona virus

[Canoerebel]

Hey, MakeeLearn, I began re-reading Sam Watkins's Company Aytch yesterday. Superb.

[MakeeLearn]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

Hey, MakeeLearn, I began re-reading Sam Watkins's Company Aytch yesterday. Superb.

Are you a Big Bug or a Little Bug?

[HansBolter]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

The same question could be asked in reverse: Does your right to liberty have more importance than somebody else's right to life? Half of our population thinks so on a scale vastly greater than Covid-19.

ORIGINAL: mind_messing

ORIGINAL: HansBolter




I guess it isn't fair to expect non-Americans to know our history and this illustrious quote:

"Give me Liberty or give me Death!"

Who says the loss of freedoms will be only for a year?
History teaches that once they are sacrificed, a fight is required to regain them.

I do agree that the reprehensible attempt to color those concerned about freedom and liberty as oafs uncaring of the suffering of others is inappropriate.

And this kind of an accusation is anything but dispassionate.

There's the argument of conflicting liberties.

Does your right to, say, liberty of movement or assembly, have more importance that someone else's liberty of life, liberty and pursuit of happiness?

This is obviously a dicey issue.
The manner in which we typically describe the allowable limitations on personal liberty is the swinging punch analogy:

My right to swing my arm and throw a punch ends where your nose begins, or vice versa.

So now do we implement a 'my right to spew germs ends where your breathing begins' approach?

There is no simple answer and people with functional grey matter will disagree on how far to take something like this.

[Cap Mandrake]

ORIGINAL: MakeeLearn

Coronavirus: Gov. Newsom says things will be normal when we have “herd immunity.” Here’s why that’s scary.
What does ‘herd immunity’ look like? About 28 million infected Californians. Maybe 840,000 deaths.
April 16, 2020
https://www.santacruzsentinel.com/2020/ ... ats-scary/

"What’s herd immunity? It’s when so many people have been infected and develop protective antibodies that a virus runs out of hosts. That’s likely what happened in the 1918-1919 flu pandemic, which killed 20 to 40 million people and then vanished.

What does “herd immunity” look like in the age of COVID-19? Without a vaccine, about 28 million infected Californians.

Based on current estimates, about 5 percent of infected people — or roughly 1.4 million Californians — would get severely ill. Of these, 840,000 could die, although there’s hope of holding that number down."

Yes. Guess what the level of measles vaccine compliance is require for "herd immunity" to offer good protection?

93%

[Canoerebel]

In the past few days, while randomly reading things, I've come across a number of passages in which authors are critical of the press. C.S. Lewis takes a swipe in the opening pages of The Screwtape Letters. Sam Watkins does so in the opening pages of Company Aytch. And most of us are familiar with General William T. Sherman's exquisite tirade.

[Encircled]

Back up again the death rate over here.

Still some way to go I fear.

[MakeeLearn]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

In the past few days, while randomly reading things, I've come across a number of passages in which authors are critical of the press. C.S. Lewis takes a swipe in the opening pages of The Screwtape Letters. Sam Watkins does so in the opening pages of Company Aytch. And most of us are familiar with General William T. Sherman's exquisite tirade.

"There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics."; - Mark Twain

[MakeeLearn]

“I hate newspapermen. They come into camp and pick up their camp rumors and print them as facts. I regard them as spies, which, in truth, they are.”

“If I had my choice, I would kill every reporter in the world, but I am sure we would be getting reports from hell before breakfast.”

“I think I understand what military fame is — to be killed on the field of battle and have your name misspelled in the newspapers.”

- Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman

[Canoerebel]

I saw that Encircled. On the good side, the number of new cases remained stable.

Given the high mortality, I figured the Univ. of Washington projection for UK today would've been badly blown. But it projected 1,040 deaths (201 and 3,706 margin of error).

UK is already at 13,800 deaths. U. Wash. projects 23,791 (margin of error: 14k to 51k). Hopefully UK does no worse than the 23k.

[Encircled]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

I saw that Encircled. On the good side, the number of new cases remained stable.

Given the high mortality, I figured the Univ. of Washington projection for UK today would've been badly blown. But it projected 1,040 deaths (201 and 3,706 margin of error).

UK is already at 13,800 deaths. U. Wash. projects 23,791 (margin of error: 14k to 51k). Hopefully UK does no worse than the 23k.

Yeah, this was always going to be the tough week.

But in things like testing we are still miles and miles behind.

Potentially hundreds of thousands of people could have had the virus and never noticed, and the way we are going we might get around to testing everyone by 2035.

[mind_messing]

ORIGINAL: HansBolter

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

The same question could be asked in reverse: Does your right to liberty have more importance than somebody else's right to life? Half of our population thinks so on a scale vastly greater than Covid-19.

ORIGINAL: mind_messing




There's the argument of conflicting liberties.

Does your right to, say, liberty of movement or assembly, have more importance that someone else's liberty of life, liberty and pursuit of happiness?

This is obviously a dicey issue.
The manner in which we typically describe the allowable limitations on personal liberty is the swinging punch analogy:

My right to swing my arm and throw a punch ends where your nose begins, or vice versa.

So now do we implement a 'my right to spew germs ends where your breathing begins' approach?

There is no simple answer and people with functional grey matter will disagree on how far to take something like this.

It is well-documented that quibbles over personal liberty go out the window when public health is concerned. Typhoid in the US immediately springs to mind - Mary Mallon is an interesting case study in the ethics of personal liberty in this space.

[mind_messing]

ORIGINAL: MakeeLearn

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

In the past few days, while randomly reading things, I've come across a number of passages in which authors are critical of the press. C.S. Lewis takes a swipe in the opening pages of The Screwtape Letters. Sam Watkins does so in the opening pages of Company Aytch. And most of us are familiar with General William T. Sherman's exquisite tirade.

"There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics."; - Mark Twain

A quote oft trumpeted by those with a limited understanding of the subject.

[Cap Mandrake]

There are 3 +/- 2 kinds of lies. There is about a 5% chance there might be more than 5 kinds.

[Cap Mandrake]

I don't really trust government. I had one guy tell me once that fluoridation was a government plot.

[MakeeLearn]

ORIGINAL: mind_messing

ORIGINAL: MakeeLearn

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

In the past few days, while randomly reading things, I've come across a number of passages in which authors are critical of the press. C.S. Lewis takes a swipe in the opening pages of The Screwtape Letters. Sam Watkins does so in the opening pages of Company Aytch. And most of us are familiar with General William T. Sherman's exquisite tirade.

"There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics."; - Mark Twain

A quote oft trumpeted by those with a limited understanding of the subject.

Subject? Humor?

[MakeeLearn]

ORIGINAL: Cap Mandrake

I don't really trust government. I had one guy tell me once that fluoridation was a government plot.

Don't you know, they REALLY care about you.

[MakeeLearn]

Which deaths count toward the coronavirus toll? It depends on the state.
April 16, 2020

https://www.inquirer.com/health/coronav ... 00416.html



"In Alabama, officials have ruled that one of every 10 people who died with COVID-19 did not die of COVID-19. Among those excluded from the numbers reported to the federal government were a bedbound patient with aspiration pneumonia in one lung and a person with a buildup of fluid and partial collapse of one lung.

Colorado, by contrast, has included some deaths in which the disease caused by the novel coronavirus was deemed probable — based on symptoms and possible exposure — but not confirmed through a test."

"Health officials in both states say their approach is more accurate. Their divergent methods reflect a national debate over how to count the dead."

[MakeeLearn]

Coronavirus Live Updates: A Loans Program to Save Jobs Runs Dry; 22 Million Americans Have Filed for Unemployment
16,Ap'20

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/16/us/c ... dates.html

"The $349 billion lending program for small businesses has run out of funds.

Trump asks lawmakers for advice on reopening of the country.

Workers have “nowhere to hide” as unemployment permeates the economy.

Protests across the U.S. signal growing opposition to governors’ restrictions.

The Trump administration pushes to restart the economy, but shortages of tests complicate efforts.

Early research suggests that obesity is a big risk factor, but not asthma.

Extending the shutdown to May 15, Cuomo braces New York for a “new normal.”"

[Canoerebel]

I haven't read that article, but there is no way that some official or officials "ruled that one of every 10 people who died with COVID-19 did not die of COVID-19."

There are any number of other possibilities that might make sense to most people but that a press or the press might misreport in their zeal or ignorance. Perhaps, upon secondary examination, Alabama medical officials determined that some mortalities ascribed to COVID were actually attributable to another primary cause of death. Over time, it might be that about 1 in 10 were adjusted in this way (I don't know - just speculating as to what in the world this alleged article is getting at).

The notion of officials willy-nilly declaring, "Hey, let's re-classify one out of every 10 deaths no matter whether it's accurate or not" has to be bad reporting.

[MakeeLearn]

Let's keep this among ourselves


Exclusive: Secret Military Task Force Prepares to Secure the U.S. Capital
2 hrs ago



https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/exclu ... li=BBnb7Kz



"But a little-known military task force charged with evacuating Washington has already been activated, a task force charged with the most sensitive government mission of "securing" Washington in the face of attackers, foreign and domestic—and if necessary, moving White House and other key government offices to alternate locations."