NON_POLITICAL China Coronavirus THREAD

[Roger Wilco]

Could be, haven't noticed how it works (on that worldometer site), maybe they retrospectively revise yesterday's numbers sometimes as late data comes in. Also of course(as with climate change!) you can't be sure of 'trends' till you get a reasonable time period of data. "US deaths" had a particularly anomalous day yesterday, but I guess, sadly, that could easily be subject to revision/updating. (Was hoping it meant something good had happened).

View attachment 18846

New cases and deaths were down worldwide yesterday, which hopefully is reflective of all the lockdowns.

 

[pmv]

Don't go stealing jokes from Mitch Hedberg now.

Actually I think I stole it from a 1970's Christmas cracker! I suspect Bram Stoker went round telling that one.

 

[Captante]

Trust and China = Oxymoron at this point.

 

[thestrangebrew1]

Curious. Was looking to order some air filters for my hvac system online since I'm not too keen about going to HD right now. Could the material in those be used for masks? Or are they still too porous for droplets? Are allergens larger than whatever makes up the virus?

 

[Mai72]

I know a handful of people who have it at this point, but one scary one is a guy my age (late 20s) who is fit and eats healthy, gym five days a week, only went out twice to go to the grocery store twice in the past weeks and wore gloves and wiped down food — currently is in the hospital on a respirator.

That's sad. And, the truth is this virus is affecting people differently. You could be healthy and end up in ICU. OTOH you could get the virus and just show only mild symptoms.

 

[Ichinisan]

Wouldn't surprise me at all. Seems quite possible they mislead the world about the deadliness of this thing.

Bloomberg - Are you a robot?

I don't really trust the WHO in relation to China either. But it's nuanced, I think the WHO had some things right, in terms of telling Western governments to be more aggressive about tackling this than they were being. But the level of praise some of the WHO guys heaped on China was a bit weird. And look at this, for example - WHO guy doesn't want to even mention the existence of Taiwan. What's going on there?

https://twitter.com/x/status/1243865641448169474

Hmm, maybe the WHO was so keen on telling Western governments they were being complacent and needed to do more, precisely becuase they knew or suspected the Chinese were undercounting deaths and underplaying the deadliness of the thing, but felt politically unable to outright say so?

Wow. I was already fully aware that the WHO was in China's pocket and refusing to acknowledge Taiwan to appease China, but you can see the panic when this guy was put on the spot about Taiwan and didn't know how to respond in a way that his superiors would allow.

 

[CZroe]

Wouldn't surprise me at all. Seems quite possible they mislead the world about the deadliness of this thing.

Bloomberg - Are you a robot?

I don't really trust the WHO in relation to China either. But it's nuanced, I think the WHO had some things right, in terms of telling Western governments to be more aggressive about tackling this than they were being. But the level of praise some of the WHO guys heaped on China was a bit weird. And look at this, for example - WHO guy doesn't want to even mention the existence of Taiwan. What's going on there?

https://twitter.com/x/status/1243865641448169474

Hmm, maybe the WHO was so keen on telling Western governments they were being complacent and needed to do more, precisely becuase they knew or suspected the Chinese were undercounting deaths and underplaying the deadliness of the thing, but felt politically unable to outright say so?

For a supposedly non-political organization they sure seem terrified of being on the wrong side of China's politics. WHO = China's stooge.

Love how he would only refer to Taiwan as China and was scared to even respond to a question that presumes to distinguish it in any way (even as a region of China)! How could he possibly justify this to himself?!

 

[Muse]

I dunno, just seems odd the same pattern is there for so many different countries. If it isn't the season, why is it happening to all of them? The other possibility is maybe the lock-down policies are now having an effect? Could be that, I guess.

That would be my expectation. The social distancing is having a major effect. It's basically all we have right now while they're scrambling to come up with drugs, vaccines, antibody tests, something approaching adequate infection testing. Absent widespread social distancing at this juncture, this will be hard to manage.

 

[Muse]

Curious. Was looking to order some air filters for my hvac system online since I'm not too keen about going to HD right now. Could the material in those be used for masks? Or are they still too porous for droplets? Are allergens larger than whatever makes up the virus?

SARS-CoV-2 is 1 micron. N95 holes are 5 microns. Question is, can the spores be airborne, i.e. survive in the air without being in droplets. That is uncertain.

 

[randay]

Wouldn't surprise me at all. Seems quite possible they mislead the world about the deadliness of this thing.

Bloomberg - Are you a robot?

I don't really trust the WHO in relation to China either. But it's nuanced, I think the WHO had some things right, in terms of telling Western governments to be more aggressive about tackling this than they were being. But the level of praise some of the WHO guys heaped on China was a bit weird. And look at this, for example - WHO guy doesn't want to even mention the existence of Taiwan. What's going on there?

https://twitter.com/x/status/1243865641448169474

Hmm, maybe the WHO was so keen on telling Western governments they were being complacent and needed to do more, precisely becuase they knew or suspected the Chinese were undercounting deaths and underplaying the deadliness of the thing, but felt politically unable to outright say so?

Thats misleading. He is probably not allowed to violate the one china policy because they dont want cause problems with Chinese leadership that would hinder their efforts or cooperation. The interviewer has to know that and was perhaps trying to bait him into it. I think he did a good job actually. You have to realize here that the options was to answer the seemingly benign but actually loaded question and face (probably extreme) consequences, or to do what he did here which was to abide by chinas "one china policy".

 

[njdevilsfan87]

That would be my expectation. The social distancing is having a major effect. It's basically all we have right now while they're scrambling to come up with drugs, vaccines, antibody tests, something approaching adequate infection testing. Absent widespread social distancing at this juncture, this will be hard to manage.

Not surprising that social distancing slows it: Coronavirus Slowdown in Seattle Suggests Restrictions Are Working

We need some sort of exit strategy though. We can't just open everything back up because we'll be right back to square one in little time. Imo the exit strategy begins and ends with mass testing. If you could wake up every morning and test yourself with a simple prick of a finger - everything goes back to normal (minus that part of your day).

 

[Captante]

A bit of good news:

USNS Comfort docks in NYC

 

[pmv]

Thats misleading. He is probably not allowed to violate the one china policy because they dont want cause problems with Chinese leadership that would hinder their efforts or cooperation. The interviewer has to know that and was perhaps trying to bait him into it. I think he did a good job actually. You have to realize here that the options was to answer the seemingly benign but actually loaded question and face (probably extreme) consequences, or to do what he did here which was to abide by chinas "one china policy".

Well, yeah, but that's surely the point? The WHO, as an international agency, is irremediably political. It has to constantly take into account political sensitivities and the fact it needs national governments, at least of the more powerful countries, to co-operate and fund it. That's why I don't entirely trust it, any more than I do the UN in general. That doesn't mean I'm going to discount _everything_ it says, but you just have to try and think for yourself about each issue, it seems to me.

I disagree with many idealist liberals I've known, who, for example, were OK with supporting the war on Iraq as long as the UN endorsed it. The UN does what the powerful countries want it to do, for example the US can bribe or bully smaller countries into rubber-stamping its decisions to invade other countries, China can demand it not contradict what it says about the virus outbreak, and so on. You can't fully trust _anyone_ in this world.

Similarly, though I'm a 'remainer', I don't have a particularly idealisitc view of the EU, compared to some anti-Brexit people I know - much of what it does is for the benefit of Germany and it's essentially a bunch of cats fighting in a sack.

Edit - I tend to assume all international organisations are at least partially corrupt, till proven otherwise. Why would they not be? See also the IOC and FIFA.

 

[CZroe]

Thats misleading. He is probably not allowed to violate the one china policy because they dont want cause problems with Chinese leadership that would hinder their efforts or cooperation. The interviewer has to know that and was perhaps trying to bait him into it. I think he did a good job actually. You have to realize here that the options was to answer the seemingly benign but actually loaded question and face (probably extreme) consequences, or to do what he did here which was to abide by chinas "one china policy".

Then it's not misleading at all because it means exactly what we thought it meant. You're right: They don't want to cause problems with Chinese leadership. This would not have been an issue if China had not joined the WHO in 2015. Many have argued that this is exactly the kind of influence China had hoped to have and was their reason for joining and funding the WHO. The fact that they can't set aside China's politics when they are supposedly a non-political organization speaks volumes. There should not be these "(probably extreme) consequences" of which you speak. The WHO should have absolutely no obligation to abide by China's One China Policy and should be ashamed to capitulate to it.

Again: It's not misleading at all. The WHO is China's stooge, exactly as we thought.

 

[randay]

Again: It's not misleading at all. The WHO is China's stooge, exactly as we thought.

Thats only the worst assumption that can be made. what about the best? What if the WHO is making leaps and bounds in regards to data gathering and finding the answer to the virus, and that politically burning china now would be foolish?

The problem these days is everything is seen as black and white. In reality it never is.

 

[Brainonska511]

SARS-CoV-2 is 1 micron. N95 holes are 5 microns. Question is, can the spores be airborne, i.e. survive in the air without being in droplets. That is uncertain.

The virus also needs an encapsulating fluid to maintain stability - hence its transmission in respiratory droplets. It's not just the viral particle size that is important. That's why N95 masks are probably pretty effective as PPE.

 

[Mai72]

Will God save us?

 

[IronWing]

Will God save us?

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

Tax related news, not really relevant to COVID-19 other than the fact that it was passed in the stimulus bill having to do with the outbreak....

There is now a permanent $300 charity deduction that you can do on your tax returns that is ABOVE THE LINE. That means, even if you take the standard deduction you can still take up to a $300 adjustment off your taxable income.

This has been a public service announcement.




I'm sure there will be plenty more random things that were tossed into these 500pg+ documents that maybe 1 or 2 people actually read.

 

[rh71]

^ and for those who've already filed?

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

^ and for those who've already filed?

Looks like it's for 2020 and thereafter - sorry, should have clarified that.

Under Section 2204: https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/6819239/FINAL-FINAL-CARES-ACT.pdf

 

[Captante]

Will God save us?

 

[pmv]

Why does your doctor want so much blood so regularly if you have no health problems?




If you count today's new cases before the day is done, of course it will look like a drop at the start of the day because they reset to zero and begin tallying from there throughout the day. Only the previous day's numbers count until you have the final tally for the next day... which can't happen until tomorrow. New cases will be verified throughout the day just like new deaths will be added throughout the day. Can't count your chickens before they hatch.

New cases in the US jumped twice as I wrote this:

This stream updates in "real time" as new cases are reported.

Drat - you appear to be right. Worldometer site has adjusted yesterday's figures upward significantly and now says:

March 30 (GMT)
Due to delayed and incomplete reporting from New York State, we had to make adjustments to yesterday's totals in order to maintain the correct attribution of historical figures. US figures for Sunday, March 29 could still be incomplete.

Post-adjustment, daily cases is now still on an upward trend.

 

[Muse]

The virus also needs an encapsulating fluid to maintain stability - hence its transmission in respiratory droplets. It's not just the viral particle size that is important. That's why N95 masks are probably pretty effective as PPE.

I figure it's probably true. N95 offer a lot of protection from inhaling viral spores, as well as preventing infected people from filling the air around them with infectious droplets when they sneeze or cough. They also help in preventing the wearer from touching in their T zone (mouth, nose, eyes).

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Yes on the advice of his medical experts. I'm sure people here will say something bad about him regardless.

Fuck your feels? Perhaps you could get under a blanket and do a video where you hysterically sob and tells us to leave Donny alone! Anyways, this is the non political version of the discussion, so we both suck. Let's stop and get back to the actual data and analysis of the pandemic, shall we?