COVID19 Factors We Should Consider/Current Events

[Mark Rippetoe]

Lifetime channel? If yes, my life improves dramatically, since my wife loves that station, and it's awful.

He probably means Lifetime Fitness. Huge commercial gyms. Maybe owned by that parent company?

As was mentioned, this says a lot about us regarding the differences in approach to the problem. My argument would be that the economic hardships of this will be largely temporary, whereas death is not. As I said before, I am a healthcare worker who will be on the front lines of this. Your view places me at increased risk as hospitals start to become overwhelmed.

The economic hardships will certainly as hell not be temporary. Only a fool looks at 3.28 million unemployment claims in one week and thinks that this is temporary. I would tell you that if you're afraid to go to work in your hospital, get a better job -- but you can't, because of the economic hardships your fear has produced, and it will be quite some time before you can. Meanwhile, wash your hands.

[wiigelec]

My argument would be that the economic hardships of this will be largely temporary, whereas death is not.

Which is the crux of the issue. With our current path of near complete shutdown the long term political, societal and economic impacts are quite certain, whereas the catastrophic virus impacts are quite uncertain and based on admittedly flawed and incomplete data modeling...

[Mark Rippetoe]

From: Coronavirus disease 2019: the harms of exaggerated information and non-evidence-based
measures

Evidence is lacking for the most aggressive measures. A systematic review on measures
to prevent the spread of respiratory viruses found insufficient evidence for entry port screening
and social distancing in reducing epidemic spreading.10 Plain hygienic measures have the
strongest evidence.10,11 Frequent hand washing and staying at home and avoiding contacts when
sick are probably very useful. Their routine endorsement may save many lives. Most lives saved
may actually be due to reduced transmission of influenza rather than coronavirus.
Most evidence on protective measures comes from non-randomized studies prone to bias.
A systematic review of personal protective measures in reducing pandemic influenza risk found
only two randomized trials, one on hand sanitizer and another on facemasks and hand hygiene in
household members of people infected with influenza.11

And: Imperial College scientist who predicted 500K coronavirus deaths in UK revises to 20K or fewer

[Mark Le Comte]

The government of Sweden, many people's idea of a sensible and compassionate country, has announced they do not intend to implement a lockdown, are permitting mass gatherings, and are encouraging businesses to remain open:

Coronavirus in Sweden: why the largest country without any lockdown measures thinks its approach will pay off

We now have a very useful comparator for the health effects of locking down vs not locking down (assuming the Swedish continue their approach). The economic impacts may be a little more difficult since everyone else locking down will affect Sweden through trade etc.

[Yngvi]

I would encourage everyone to practice the best hygiene possible, to stay at home if sick, 6-foot radius, and for susceptible people to stay away from everybody else if they are concerned for their safety above all else (some are not -- some value the things in life more than life itself). I would encourage the governor to keep soldiers and police out of our business, and to let us decide how we handle this. This will be called "irresponsible" by the Fascists (finally, a chance to use the word correctly) currently in charge. But it's already too late for this.

Good advice. He just yesterday decided to allow the top unelected health department bureaucrat in one of the most populous counties to issue a mandatory shelter in place order backed by the local police and 6 months jail time for offenders. At the same time, they are releasing prisoners due to "fear of virus spread".

Now, the next question is: How would you get other influential members of the community and state government on board? They also largely do not not have bio science backgrounds. Many of them would be held socially liable or potentially legally liable in today's litigious judicial system, even if in hindsight they are proven to have made the correct decisions. They are just trying to avoid being slaughtered by the media and social shaming mob. Whatever their actual thoughts on the matter are, the decision that safely gets them and their large businesses through is to just accept the national paradigm go along with it.

Best bits from the news around the world as of today:

The Croatian government just yesterday tried to pass a law that would enable them to continually monitor everybody's cellphone location, in order to "go after quarantine breakers

You can't make this shit up. Who knew that the apocalypse was gonna be so fun.

It also appears they are reviewing this information on the cell phones of Americans. It will never officially be used to prosecute, but they will monitor and use the information nonetheless.

You forgot to include that they now considering sending troops to the Canadian border to help contain people.

It's the government's job to manage the logistics and supply chain for American companies? They decide which companies get what supplies? What? Do you seriously believe that? How retarded are you?

Unfortunately, his thoughts are pretty common in the country now.

Although COVID-19 does not appear to be mutating much, TDS-16 has clearly mutated enough to be classified TDS-20 by the CDC.

If only there was hope for a vaccine in the future to prevent this virus. TDS-20 is scary.

I thought that the bill that passed yesterday would get me payroll, but apparently not.

But, at least they have passed the first universal basic income plan, right? Now you won't have to work at all. Thank your glorious lords and leaders!

I can assure you though that barbell training is not the solution to the problem and the gym should be closed for now.

Fuck off! Do you know where you are posting!?

[BrunoLawerence]

The economic hardships will certainly as hell not be temporary. Only a fool looks at 3.28 million unemployment claims in one week and thinks that this is temporary. I would tell you that if you're afraid to go to work in your hospital, get a better job -- but you can't, because of the economic hardships your fear has produced, and it will be quite some time before you can. Meanwhile, wash your hands.

Excellent post, now address the rest of what I said. There is going to be an economic impact regardless. Eventually businesses will open back up, jobs will once again be available. I'm sorry that you need need short-term gratification and are unable to grasp the larger picture. Your decisions can in fact put other people at risk and create economic burdens for them. You may be whole, others won't be. I understand we have a difference of opinion, but as I said in my prior post, this tells us a lot about who we are. I am saying look after your fellow man as well as yourself. You are saying "fuck him as long as i'm good". What you don't seem to grasp is that in the long run things will get bad for you regardless. Businesses will close anyway because they won't have staff, that is unless they come to work sick and suddenly that jimmy johns you had for lunch leads to you being in a hospital on a vent.

It is a terrible situation all around. Just because you haven't seen it yet doesn't mean it's not coming. It is far better to take steps and prepare for it now and get ahead of it before it fucks you harder in the end. There is no point in quoting stats or epidemiological studies as you don't believe them. There is no need for explanations from physicians or other medical experts because everyone else is stupid anyway, right? I honestly would prefer that you are right and this won't be as bad as they expect. But in the event that you are wrong can you please give the "Do Not Resuscitate" order if you end up in the hospital? I would prefer to save the lives of those you infected instead.

[Buddy Rich]

Did you hear about the 80,000 Deaths in America? No, I'm not talking about the fear porn headline on Drudge. I'm talking about the 80,000 people who died from the flu in 2017. Where were the Andrew Cuomo's, Bill Deblasio's, CNN's, and MSNBC's then? Why were none of them promoting the total collapse of the American economy because a virus was about to kill 80,000 Americans? Where were the screams for PPE, ventilators and activation of the Military to get control of this angel of death?

Two answers rise to the top. We had the savior of the world ready to sell in the form of flu shot 2017. Worked real great, right? Couldn't sacrifice that money even though the flu is novel every single year. It wasn't a big election year either. Can't let Trump win again and have Congress go full Republican. Right? Overwhelming rejection of the radical policies pushed by Democrats and RINO's was going to be a reality.

Better burn the whole country down with corona fear to maintain swamp power instead, right? But swamp power and their useful idiots don't exist, right? Congratulations useful idiots. Just with the Restaurant industry shutdown alone, you killed an estimated $899 BILLION in projected 2020 sales. Nice job.

You got scared because they told you there was no vaccine and you let them ruin the lives of millions in your own country. Nice job. I continue to ignore everything they tell me I should do. I go to work. I talk to people. I visit every store you and your rulers have allowed to be open. I'm not going to conform to your insanity. Fuck the swamp and their useful idiots. Go to work as you were born to do.

[Mark Le Comte]

And: Imperial College scientist who predicted 500K coronavirus deaths in UK revises to 20K or fewer

Ferguson credited the U.K.’s lockdown for stopping the spread of the virus Like I said many post ago, if the virus turns out not to be so bad then it will be publicised as due to the brilliance of the response. Sweden's stats are vital to understanding this in the post-event analysis.

[Rob Waskis]

My hospital specifically hasn't yet but, we know it is coming.

No, we don’t know that.

given this viewpoint will increase the spread of the virus

We don’t know that either. I just read an article in JAMA this morning with Fauci as the first author that said "This suggests that the overall clinical consequences of Covid-19 may ultimately be more akin to those of a severe seasonal influenza..."

Keep in mind PPE are a limited resource and unfortunately Macguyver was not my mentor.

Ironic you should mention that. My son just left the house a little while ago to get elastic that a member of my community is donating. He’s going to drop it off to my mother in law who has been sewing masks for the last few days at the request of several nurses we know. I’m sorry there is a shortage of PPE. I don’t know the root cause of that. I’ve seen things that say the stockpile was never replenished after H1N1. I’ve seen things that say there was a run because of the media frenzy. I’ve seen that they are being treated as disposable when in fact they can be sterilized. I honestly haven’t been following too closely. The fact that you are being placed at increased risk because your management can’t supply you adequately sucks, and I’m sorry.

What would you tell to the individuals outside the hospital who will inevitably become sick who will no longer be able to show up to work and earn a living to feed their family as they too are sick as you exposed them? Unfortunately ~60% of the country would be unable to cover a $500 emergency expense without going debt. What happens when these people are off work for > 2 weeks sick assuming they are lucky enough to only have a mild form of the illness. Keep in mind a lot of people have no PTO or sick leave and would now be out 2 weeks pay.

I’m not sure exactly what you’re arguing here. These people are out of work RIGHT NOW, because various governments have told them they have to be.

I don't know what you do for a living and I too am bummed that my gym is closed. I can assure you though that barbell training is not the solution to the problem and the gym should be closed for now.

Is that what you think my beef is? Really? That I can’t go to the fucking gym? I just did handstand pushups on cinder blocks and single led deadlifts with some farmers handles I built. I push my wife’s SUV in the parking lot of the local park. I’ve got a half finished strongman yoke in my garage. I’m not worried about my gainzzz, I’m worried there might not be a gym to go back to.

[MWM]

Oh dear. What was it all for, Mr Johnson? How much longer can you continue to justify this insanity?

High consequence infectious diseases (HCID) - GOV.UK

Status of COVID-19

As of 19 March 2020, COVID-19 is no longer considered to be a high consequence infectious diseases (HCID) in the UK.

The 4 nations public health HCID group made an interim recommendation in January 2020 to classify COVID-19 as an HCID. This was based on consideration of the UK HCID criteria about the virus and the disease with information available during the early stages of the outbreak. Now that more is known about COVID-19, the public health bodies in the UK have reviewed the most up to date information about COVID-19 against the UK HCID criteria. They have determined that several features have now changed; in particular, more information is available about mortality rates (low overall), and there is now greater clinical awareness and a specific and sensitive laboratory test, the availability of which continues to increase.

The Advisory Committee on Dangerous Pathogens (ACDP) is also of the opinion that COVID-19 should no longer be classified as an HCID.

The need to have a national, coordinated response remains, but this is being met by the government’s COVID-19 response.

Cases of COVID-19 are no longer managed by HCID treatment centres only. All healthcare workers managing possible and confirmed cases should follow the updated national infection and prevention (IPC) guidance for COVID-19, which supersedes all previous IPC guidance for COVID-19. This guidance includes instructions about different personal protective equipment (PPE) ensembles that are appropriate for different clinical scenarios.