Coronavirus pandemic chat [no medical advice plz]

[BBQgiraffe]

I just want to get everyone's opinion on the Coronavirus(because I like data)

 

 

edit: this poll is outdated, please visit the new, less crowded one

Edited April 21, 2020 by BBQgiraffe

[Taw Tu'lki]

God, please, don't let me and my family get this virus.

[Kristian Nebula]

I think there is a lot of media hype around it which has caused a lot of unforseen circumstances and will continue to create them, economically and otherwise. Anyway, it's good to take precautions when not much is yet known about the virus.

There was a study released by China about the whole infected population in China that suggest that it is most dangerous for those with some form of chronic illness that increase the risk. And the risk of death only start to rise considerably after around 50, climbing steeply up at 60-65 years and again at 80+ years. Not a single child under 10 has died because of it. Also there was another study that studied the pathways that the virus uses to infect cells in the lungs. It was found that the asian population seems to have more of a form of receptors in their lung cells called "ACE2" that the virus uses to get into the cells where it starts to replicate. Also smoking and pollution increases the amount of the forementioned receptors in the lungs. The chinese smoke 1/3 of all of the cigarettes in the world.

It continues to spread globally, but seems to slow down in China now. Italy was taken by surprise as well as many other countries. In Finland, a school-aged child got infected and was in contact with at least with 130 people in his school and football club (the school he goes to has 1000 students). Those 130 were put in quarantine for two weeks on sunday, so it will be interesting to see how many new cases will pop out in the capital of Finland Helsinki in this time.

I recommend checking out the Biohacker's Flu Webinar if worried about the Coronavirus and they offer a free e-book with all scientifically referenced supplemental armaments to fortify the immune system against all types of common and novel influenza-type pathogens:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRoDzk-Z7yQ

[seed]

I chose "a bit concerning".

 

From what I understand from experts, it's not exactly of no concern whatsoever, but its threat level is also being drastically overestimated by alarmist media - although to be fair, I can't exactly blame them either considering the sudden outbreak in some countries. Yes, it seems to be dangerous and a cause for concern as a result, but it's not the deadliest thing in existence.

[DRM-MAN]

I don't give a shit about it, my life has ran it's course long enough and i'd be proud to die plus the "politicians" probably don't care either if they did this shit would've not spread as much but that's just my opinion.

[Cacodemon345]

Whilst it isn't all too deadly, given the mortality rate, I don't think we need it to spread to a point where there's no going back. That would be a really, really bad thing.

[Gez]

I'm thankful for how it has helped many discover how fragile our society actually is, thanks to decades of globalization and outsourcing. Now when China is paralyzed, the economy stops everywhere else too. Best case scenario: this will cause businesses to lose enough money that redundancies and local sourcing will again be worth it. Likewise, governments in the West that spent the last four decades slashing public services are discovering suddenly that having closed half their hospitals and leaving the healthcare sector severely short-staffed is a very bad idea can also be a good thing, if it results in actual change in policies. Finally, quite ironically, the covid19 has so far saved more lives than it has claimed. In China, casualties from traffic accidents have dropped by over 16000 compared to last year, simply because people don't drive anymore because of the quarantine. Pollution was also reduced dramatically. Of course this isn't sustainable long-term, the economy will have to restart, but it's kind of eye-opening.

 

Anyway, try not to get sick, it's still a very nasty disease and while it seems to be getting under control in China (thanks to very harsh quarantining), it has only started its conquest in the rest of the world, where the Chinese methods of quarantine are going to be a lot harder to implement.

[Linguica]

I'm not worried about the virus in particular, since there is effectively nothing to be done, but I am worried about what happens when it exposes that the American financial system is no more resilient than it was in 2008 and in fact is likely far weaker in ways that have been carefully papered over.

[ETTiNGRiNDER]

SARS was going to kill us all, too.

[DiamondDude11]

Eh, not too bad. Mortality rate is only 1.4% out of 1100 people.
Or, for every 1000 people, 14 will die. Nothing too bad imo.

[MFG38]

I'm personally not too concerned about the Coronavirus.

 

Let's be real: the Coronavirus isn't as bad as the media makes it out to be. There are a dozen other diseases out there that are more likely to kill you than this thing. Hell, the virus in itself isn't much worse than the common cold at its mildest. People are only going this crazy over the whole epidemic because the media treats it as if it was the worst thing since the Black Plague as far as I can tell.

 

At the same time, I wouldn't mind if the virus did end up claiming a billion lives or so (which is still not going to happen). It'd only be beneficial for the planet - there are too many of us here anyway.

 

Also, I feel bad for the people who bought Finland's entire hand disinfectant stock, completely ignorant of the fact that it's not going to help. The Coronavirus, as its name implies, is a virus, and hand disinfectant is antibacterial, not antiviral. It's useless against viruses.

[BBQgiraffe]

Just now, MFG38 said:

At the same time, I wouldn't mind if the virus did end up claiming a billion lives or so (which is still not going to happen). It'd only be beneficial for the planet - there are too many of us here anyway.

calm down there Thanos

[DesecratorJ]

I guess the classic Influenza virus is killing even more people at an average rate per year and no one is giving a shit a bout that.

 

So yea, corona virus is being abused by the media. 

[silentzorah]

I'm worried about it, due to my impaired immune system.

[nname]

Well, apparently it's not too deadly. But I'm still rather concern, because it's spreading very fast and we still don't have a cure.

[cannonball]

5 minutes ago, DesecratorJ said:

I guess the classic Influenza virus is killing even more people at an average rate per year and no one is giving a shit a bout that.

 

So yea, corona virus is being abused by the media. 

Percentage wise this is killing more people, currently 3.4% compared to around 0.1% for flu. Of course numbers are higher because influenza is fully embedded across the globe and hence infects millions every year and there is not a lot that can be done.

personally getting the virus at my age will be a major inconvenience as I will likely have to be off work for a couple of weeks. But the secondary consequences such the economy and infrastructure this could be disastrous and fully expose how badly many countries are prepared for events like this.

[taufan99]

As speculative as this topic can ever get, I'm afraid the virus can affect me.

[Gregory Stephens]

If it gets me and I die, that'll be that. No use panicking over something like this.

[Doom_Dude]

Not too concerned about it myself.

[DuckReconMajor]

27 minutes ago, MFG38 said:

The Coronavirus, as its name implies, is a virus, and hand disinfectant is antibacterial, not antiviral. It's useless against viruses.

 

This is patently untrue. This is true for antibiotics, but alcohol/hand sanitizer is effective against many viruses, though hand-washing is still better.
 

13 minutes ago, cannonball said:

personally getting the virus at my age will be a major inconvenience as I will likely have to be off work for a couple of weeks.

 

Yeah on top of the issues Gez brought up, the American tradition of never taking a day off work and not giving employees enough off time (and discouraging taking it) is going to be a huge enabler of this disease's spread.

edit: not saying you are american or that this is just an American thing, but it's definitely hardwired into the culture in the US

[Kristian Nebula]

36 minutes ago, Linguica said:

I'm not worried about the virus in particular, since there is effectively nothing to be done, but I am worried about what happens when it exposes that the American financial system is no more resilient than it was in 2008 and in fact is likely far weaker in ways that have been carefully papered over.

 

I'm also following that closely. That will have big global implications, and from what I've followed every now & then that both central banks and the BIS (Bank of International Settlements) are talking of bringing in digital currencies (CBDC's = central bank digital currency). China has e-yuan in development since 2015, and the swedes are also experimenting with their e-krona to replace cash very soon. The US need to bring a digital dollar to stay on track, as well as there is most likely going to be a cryptocurrency-type of solution for bridging all the different CBDC's which will essentially be behind "walled gardens" without a solution for the cross-border payments issue.

[Graf Zahl]

27 minutes ago, cannonball said:

But the secondary consequences such the economy and infrastructure this could be disastrous and fully expose how badly many countries are prepared for events like this.

 

... and you can bet that may of those who are fueling the panic have this on their agenda. The disease itself will certainly die down, judging from the numbers in China - but the deliberately fueled panic is what makes this really dangerous.

 

15 minutes ago, Kristian Nebula said:

I'm also following that closely. That will have big global implications, and from what I've followed every now & then that both central banks and the BIS (Bank of International Settlements) are talking of bringing in digital currencies (CBDC's = central bank digital currency). China has e-yuan in development since 2015, and the swedes are also experimenting with their e-krona to replace cash very soon. The US need to bring a digital dollar to stay on track, as well as there is most likely going to be a cryptocurrency-type of solution for bridging all the different CBDC's which will essentially be behind "walled gardens" without a solution for the cross-border payments issue. 

 

I really don't get it. What's this insanity with entrusting one's entire nation's well-being to computers? Mark my words: This will end in a disaster compared to which the Coronavirus is a minor itch.

 

[Uncle 80]

Overrated, like that swine flu. Media-fuelled hysteria.

[Test Tickle]

People are just fearmongering it, in like a year or so people will forget it existed in the first place

[Kristian Nebula]

25 minutes ago, Graf Zahl said:

 

I really don't get it. What's this insanity with entrusting one's entire nation's well-being to computers? Mark my words: This will end in a disaster compared to which the Coronavirus is a minor itch.

 

 

I suppose it boils down to one word - control. The endgame could possibly mean the complete removal of cash how we know it today. However it could still be decades away to remove it from circulation entirely. They could, in theory if the Coronavirus spreads into a serious pandemic involving hundreds of millions of people decide to remove cash to lower its spread rate. /tinfoil

 

In reality, the cross border problem as it is known today with the SWIFT system is expensive, including nostro and vostro accounts that act as cash deposit and liabilities for banks in countries all around the globe, with approximately 5-20 trillion USD just sitting on these accounts tied up for the cross-border settlement processes. Also, the SWIFT is around 50 years old and effectively just a messaging system with a delay of 4 to 7 days to actually move funds across countries from bank to bank.

Central banks and BIS have started to see that the digital currencies could be an answer to free up this "dormant capital" sitting on these accounts constantly under an inflation risk due to the reason that it is on whatever currency on the account in whatever country and the internal economic fluctuations of these various countries could effect the value of the money sitting on these accounts. Digital central bank currencies with a bridge currency would provide near-instant transfer of funds in a matter of seconds around the globe 24/7/365. And in theory they could use this dormant capital to pay up some global debt if they decided to.

[ReaperAA]

In my case, it is a bit concerning. While there are only five cases in my country so far, two of its neighboring countries are China and Iran. And mine is a third-world country which means less resources to contain the virus spread.

 

I don't think it is as threatening as it is being hyped tho. Spanish flu was easily magnitudes more dangerous/threatening than this and humanity pulled through it. But we should still be prepared for this.

Edited March 3, 2020 by ReaperAA

[cambreaKer]

it's not good

[FractalBeast]

It's a bit concerning. I live in a country with a good healthcare system where sick people can, you know, stay at home sick without worrying about not having an income. I also live in a town that's sandwiched between two Corona virus outbreaks.

 

I've seen photos of a girl who lives in Washington state, and seeing her environment compared to mine... oh boy. We Dutch have no panics, supermarkets are still stocking food and anti-bacterial soaps.

[vinnie245]

1 hour ago, BBQgiraffe said:

calm down there Thanos

Overpopulation is a very serious issue though and one that hardly anyone is talking about, if the pattern continues as it has in the past 30 years we will have 16 BILLION people on earth by the end of the century... that doesn't sound sustainable to me.

[ReaperAA]

9 minutes ago, vinnie245 said:

Overpopulation is a very serious issue though and one that hardly anyone is talking about, if the pattern continues as it has in the past 30 years we will have 16 BILLION people on earth by the end of the century... that doesn't sound sustainable to me.

 

Death of a billion people is not the solution. Education and birth control are.