Truth about Covid 19

Let me say up front this is not about trump or fake news. My question is more about irresponsible reporting. Do you feel the media is the cause of a lot of the panic. Do we need to be cautious, yes. But come on saying people are dying followed by the same file photos from Washington state. My point, is it factual report,or yelling fire in a crowded theatre. Yesterday they reported healthcare providers testing positive for virus, sad but remember they are on the front line. Stop going for ratings.
sportfisherman's Avatar
I am not for Chump,but I can separate from that and say ;
The initial WH response was fairly dismissive of this crisis and the concerns seemed to be more about political considerations as opposed to medical or health aspects.It was intimated that it was press and media driven and also Democrat related.The Pandemic Party.
One factual problem has been the slow roll-out of testing here.When I checked ~ 5-7 days ago the data showed we had tested about 18,000 people with about 2000 cases at that time for a rate of 10% positives.
Once we test let's say 5 million people we could have 500,000 cases.
This crisis is real.If there has been some media driven panic aspect to it, that comes partly from the inconsistent messaging conflicting with reports from other countries and from our own scientists,doctors,and experts.It creates uncertainty.
sportfisherman's Avatar
In summary ; To assess the realness just consider ; If you think the NBA,NCAA,MLB,and Las Vegas would shut down and throw away maybe 500 billion or more of revenue over a media hype thing I think you would be off-base on that.
I am not for Chump,but I can separate from that and say ;
The initial WH response was fairly dismissive of this crisis and the concerns seemed to be more about political considerations as opposed to medical or health aspects.It was intimated that it was press and media driven and also Democrat related.The Pandemic Party.
One factual problem has been the slow roll-out of testing here.When I checked ~ 5-7 days ago the data showed we had tested about 18,000 people with about 2000 cases at that time for a rate of 10% positives.
Once we test let's say 5 million people we could have 500,000 cases.
This crisis is real.If there has been some media driven panic aspect to it, that comes partly from the inconsistent messaging conflicting with reports from other countries and from our own scientists,doctors,and experts.It creates uncertainty. Originally Posted by sportfisherman
I appreciate your intelligent well thought out response. Refreshing on these site
The most sobering and insightful article i have read is "Coronavirus: The Hammer and the Dance" by Tomas Pueyo. Easy to find. It really all depends on our response form this point. Get it wrong and we could be looking at 10M deaths. The key statistic isn't the current/historical mortality rate of this bug, but rather the percent of people requiring ICU treatment (5-6%). If the healthcare systems gets overwhelmed, and the vast majority who need an ICU bed and respirator don't have one available, then that basically becomes the new mortality rate, and that's not good.
RustyBalls's Avatar
Let me say up front this is not about trump or fake news. My question is more about irresponsible reporting. Do you feel the media is the cause of a lot of the panic...
* * * Originally Posted by Dr Hackenbush
Simple answer: NO! Reputable sources indicate that we may be 2-3 weeks away from what's happening in Europe. We are not taking effective measures like the Koreans did and we may pay a price in lost lives. Could be especially true in New York and other highly dense cities where social distancing has not worked.

Check out what's happening in Italy--53,000 confirmed cases and 5000+ dead as of today. Both NBC and CBS had footage of hospitals and mass caskets from Italy today.

Italy's death toll spiked today with 793 deaths, setting a new record since Friday's record 627 deaths

Source Johns Hopkins University: https://google.org/crisisresponse/covid19-map

NPR: https://www.npr.org/2020/03/21/81951...irus-epicenter

Time for all to take a vacation from the hobby.
No, it seems that every time I turn on the TV I am seeing Dr. Fauci who is one of the real straight shooters in this crises. The media is using him to debunk D. Chump's misleading and irrelevant gabbing to keep the record straight. The poor guy was hoarse on Meet the Press from talking on TV so much.



This is a DT crises, plain and simple.
Why_Yes_I_Do's Avatar
No, it seems that every time I turn on the TV I am seeing Dr. Fauci who is one of the real straight shooters in this crises... Originally Posted by stikiwikit
He seems straight up, but I'm dubious of him personally, after reading his love letters to Hillary.. They came out in the FOI basket via Judicial Watch of the long lost emails that the FBI released recently. Either way, he seems a net add to the team overall - so far.


What is interesting behind those love letters is that at the time he was working on HIV and one of the meds he was purported to be looking at was Hydroxychloroquine, which is in the news again. There has been some discussion around an HIV like component to the Chinese virus. So I'll go with a cautionary wait and see on him for now and count the silverware each night.
The numbers are what they are according to physicians more so than media.
.5% mortality rate for the flu and 2% (4x higher) mortality rate for Covid. That ain't hype but selective ignorance has an even higher mortality rate..
Why_Yes_I_Do's Avatar
The numbers are what they are according to physicians more so than media.
.5% mortality rate for the flu and 2% (4x higher) mortality rate for Covid. That ain't hype but selective ignorance has an even higher mortality rate.. Originally Posted by Sirgenerous
Solving an equation with multiple unknowns is tricky business. You kinda have to substitute an unknown value with known values iteratively. To wit: How many people in the sample size? Only people known to test positive? Only people that are confirmed dead of it? All people of the world, of a particular location? Etc, etc.

In short, nobody knows the actual mortality rate yet. All commentary to the contrary are, at best, reasonable speculations, based upon substituting a best (reasonable) guess at the base number and comparing against a best (reasonable) guess of the what the actual death numbers are. Juss say'n.
sportfisherman's Avatar
I think Jethro been drinking some of Granny's rheumatiz medicine that she distills out by the cement pond !!
Old-T's Avatar
  • Old-T
  • 03-24-2020, 10:07 PM
Let me say up front this is not about trump or fake news. My question is more about irresponsible reporting. Do you feel the media is the cause of a lot of the panic. Do we need to be cautious, yes. But come on saying people are dying followed by the same file photos from Washington state. My point, is it factual report,or yelling fire in a crowded theatre. Yesterday they reported healthcare providers testing positive for virus, sad but remember they are on the front line. Stop going for ratings. Originally Posted by Dr Hackenbush
You can't have it both ways--though you are trying obviously.

Yes, some of the press coverage is sensationalism and sky is falling kind of stuff. That is wrong. But no more or less than Trump trying to downplay what his own experts are saying and being the Emperor with no clothes.

Both sets of exaggerations are wrong, harmful, and likely intentional.
Solving an equation with multiple unknowns is tricky business. You kinda have to substitute an unknown value with known values iteratively. To wit: How many people in the sample size? Only people known to test positive? Only people that are confirmed dead of it? All people of the world, of a particular location? Etc, etc.

In short, nobody knows the actual mortality rate yet. All commentary to the contrary are, at best, reasonable speculations, based upon substituting a best (reasonable) guess at the base number and comparing against a best (reasonable) guess of the what the actual death numbers are. Juss say'n. Originally Posted by Why_Yes_I_Do
Exactly, many countries are only testing the sickest people and that skews any calculations.
sportfisherman's Avatar
One can perform all the mental gymnastics to minimize things and provide false re-assurance,however,the consensus among Credentialed individuals who are qualified to have a Valid opinion is that the mortality rate is higher than influenza.This would be consistent with a novel or new virus.
Chumpsters though who dismiss the intelligence community,the diplomatic corps,and myriad other sources under the guise of "Deep State",are now dis-crediting scientists,physicians,etc. in order to fit their own narrative. No one of any intelligence could go with any of this shit.
Old-T's Avatar
  • Old-T
  • 03-25-2020, 09:10 AM
We do not need false assurances or false doom. We need clear honest information. The populous as a collective will manage to get through this, but not if people are being told lies--lies that the world as we know it is over, or lies that we'll be back to normal in a couple weeks.

Trump would do himself and everyone else a great help if he would let the experts talk about the virus (that does not include Pence) and he would go listen a few hours of Churchill audio from WWII. He needs to let everyone know we will get through, that the economy will recover, etc., but not with mythical time lines and stupid comments that give false hope (everyone who wants a test can get one, or looks like we'll have a cure any day now, etc.)

Calm honesty and leadership is what a president needs to put forth now. Bush-II right after 9/11 for example. Sadly calm, honest, and leadership are not Trumps strong points.