For anyone here who uses Facebook: Have you noticed a sudden, almost exponential increase in ads selling black face masks to protect against the coronavirus? Every time I closed my browser for a while to read a book (“Whirlwind” by James Clavell, thanks for asking) and then went back to FB, there were, like, dozens more ads.
Facebook is so fucking foul. And I’m covered in fleas, so what does that tell ya.
I am not on facebook and never have been. not on twitter or instagram either.
Corona virus is bullshit. It’s not killing anymore people than the regular flu does.
They’re “poly cotton” masks filled with a layer of “ionic silver.” I guarantee you neither of those things actually means anything. They look like the kind of thing bad guys wear during a skiing scene in an action flick.
I’ve not clicked on them to see what they actually are, but I probably saw 4 of them today, which did strike me as odd since it was also the first I’d seen anything about it.
It’s really incredible how effective hype, hysteria, and mob think is. While I’m a full-blown skeptic about all this shit, I also will admit that even with eyes open and heart closed I can find myself pulled in by the same horseshit. A trade convention I am scheduled to participate in just announced Thursday that it canceled it’s annual “Chinese Pavilion” and I’m seeing several companies pull out altogether. And a friend of mine was just flying from San Francisco to San Diego today and said everyone was putting on the silly SARS masks and it made her nervous.
So, here I am, still saying, “What a bunch of hogwash!”, but yesterday my wife texts me that she’s unable to get hand sanitizer anywhere in town.
I tell her not to worry and that she can get wipes instead if she like (she buys this type of stuff regularly, so it’s not completely because of the recent news). While she was still out I thought maybe I could get a jump on things (and score some brownie points) so I looked up “hand sanitizer” on Amazon . . . . and the usual stuff (i.e. the small Purell bottles) is all completely sold out. I found myself considering buying 12 packs of 8 or 12 ounce pump bottles . . . . for like $130 for the batch. I wasn’t scared of the germs, but suddenly the idea of NOT having access to something I had previously taken for granted became a bit terrifying. Was the apocalypse coming? Would there be riots in the street as roving packs of lunatic zombies roamed in search of hand sanitizer?
I got rerounded . . . a little. But I still observe in myself that I’m doing stuff I don’t normally do and having thoughts that are very atypical for my regular daily routines. Today I started drinking at a water fountain at Target . . . . then looking down and seeing that shitty semi-rusty steel spigot, I spit it out, hahaha.
They’ve done a good job selling the fear this time (or at least to me, haha). So much of that is because with Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, etc., it’s just so much easier to spread such nonsense at breakneck speed.
Well, for now we’ll just hold on and wait for a newer shinier boogeyman to take center stage…
No idea what’s going on on FB, Twitter, Instagram or YT. Don’t care. Masks won’'t do diddly. Neither will dousing yourself in hand sanitizer.
COVID-19 is well on it’s way to becoming a circulating virus like colds and flu. Depending upon the strain, the regular old flu kills anywhere from 15,000 to 75,000 every single year in the US alone. Nobody wigs out. Nobody. COVID-19 is approximately the same as far as mortality goes. At least so far.
The only thing that bothers me at all is that apparently you can be re-infected after recovery. What it can do and has done is generate absurd amounts of fear. It can also cause economic dislocations if large numbers of people are quarantined or are simply afraid to go out. That is the ONLY thing I’m concerned about. The rest is just BS fear mongering from the media.
Poly cotton simply means a polyester and cotton mix. It offers no more protection than wearing your t-shirt over your face. “Ionic silver” almost certainly is colloidal silver. Silver does have antiviral and antibiotic properties. Every hear the saying born with a silver spoon in your mouth? That being said, colloidal silver won’t help you if applied to a mask. You do see it occasionally in liquid form in a “health food/vitamin” shop. DO NOT TAKE IT. Let me repeat, DO NOT TAKE IT. Well, unless you want to waste your money and literally turn silver. It can cause a permanent grey/silver tone to the skin.
THIS ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
I used to think that it was no big deal, but have been following closely as the outbreak happened pretty much the week after I started traveling. It’s spreading throughout the world now. This site has good statistical based info on it: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/#countries
It’s 10 times more deadly than the average flu and frankly flu (in the form of Spanish flu a hundred years ago) killed 5-10% of the global population. So saying it’s just a virulent flu isn’t really a compelling reason not to worry.
Already more people have died than SARS and Ebola. It really is a different thing.
I have a friend in the South Korean epicenter and the area is shut down. Everything inessential is closed. I suspect Kirkland, Washington is going to go through something similar soon.
I’m not saying it’s the end of the world, but if you or your loved ones have pre-existing conditions or are old, concern is legitimate.
Right now in the States, testing isn’t getting done which means the 100 people shown to have it is likely way less than the real picture. This was an interesting article with quotes by a NY Doctor https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/02/coronavirus-new-york-city-doctor-has-to-plead-to-test-people.html
I assume the same is the case in India where I’m at. Even worse here because hand washing and soap isn’t as prevalent.
So yeah don’t panic but also just because we’ve had some instances where “epidemics” turned out to be a whole lot of nothing doesn’t mean that this is the same. These sorts of things don’t need our permission or belief to generally fuck with shit and being careful isn’t a stupid response.
Here’s a good myth busters article (yes face masks actually help): https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/02/worse-than-the-flu-busting-the-coronavirus-myths-face-masks-vaccine-covid-19
Your website shows far more people surviving this flu than dying. 16X more people surviving than dying as a matter of fact.
I prefer this website but it looks like the same numbers, BUT it doesn’t have the buy our face mask commercials on the sides
https://gisanddata.maps.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/bda7594740fd40299423467b48e9ecf6
I’m not sure where you are getting your numbers (10x more deadly?? at worst the numbers are the same between normal flu and corona about 3%) but far far more people die from normal strains of flu than have died from this corona thing. Annually in the US alone on average about 30K die from the flu. with 60k dying on high years and 12k dying in low years. It doesn’t look like corona is gonna do that many with 2 people dying so far.
My buddies wife who is a nurse said the numbers from corona Vs normal flu is no contest. Flu death numbers trounce corona death numbers.
If I’m gonna go full conspiracy nut, I’m gonna jump on the “this is a marketing campaign train.” Water, kleenex, toilet paper, hand sanitizer, soap, All of these things are selling out at stores… Are you fucking shitting me? as if EVER spending money at the mall or the store is gonna keep you from getting sick? Marketing+Fear=$$$$$$$$.
I’m on the this is all bullshit train.
If 45k were dead and 3k recovered then I’d be a smidge nervous. but you are 16X (and rising) more likely to recover. how is that scary?
While I mostly respect the guardian. I have two websites that say masks aren’t helpful at all.
and
Assuming every person in the world gets this Corona flu… and the way the numbers look right now with 1 in 16 surviving… that means .0625 of 8 billion dying. You’re looking at 5 million world wide dying… Not very terrifying. Sucks. Hope the vaccines they’re working on come through but really, not terrifying at all.
Here’s an extra special bit of paranoid conspiracy…
What if this cornavirus is nothing more than your normal seasonal strain of flu? How many of us study strains of flu? How do we know what is normal flu and what is “scary flu?”
So with that being said, now we’ve got California, Australia and the Philippines (? I think) working on a new “Vaccine.” With the hysteria they’re creating over this you’re not gonna have to try really hard to convince people to willingly inject whatever is in that syringe into their body giving them god knows what… Maybe it’s created by the aliens for altering our DNA which won’t show up until generations into the future.
Create a scare, then give people the “antidote,” it’s genius!!
Seriously, doesn’t this sound like a best seller? I’m giving this idea to my dad, he likes to write!
First bullet point in Guardian says it’s 10x more deadly. It has a 2% fatality rate which seems low but is a lot higher than the average seasonal flu. Yes, flu has killed more people but way more people have the flu. From a percentage standpoint of those who get it compared to those who die, Coronavirus kills more people. If as many people get Coronavirus as have the flu 10x as many people will die.
Most sources I’ve read (that aren’t Trump or Pence) say that vaccine will not be ready for private sale for at least a year in order to make sure it’s safe. You can’t rush these sorts of things without potentially creating a generation or two of issues.
Also 1 in 16 is 6.25%. Your math is wrong. 6.25% of 8billion is 492 million. Of course not everyone will get infected and 6.25% is way high for fatality. But still, check your math.
On your conspiracy, it ignores the massive economic effect this is having. Right now the restaurant industry in all of China (including in areas that have had no outbreaks and far from the epicenter) is in the toilet. Travel is also dying on the vine. Whether you like it or not, things are already hit hard. You have to sell a lot of hand sanitizer and face masks to make up for that. Watch the US restaurant and travel industries, furthermore farming. The worst hit will be the small businesses too, that don’t have the backup funds. (This article says 50% of Chinas small business will run out of money by Mid-March: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/with-chefs-idle-and-vegetables-rotting-chinas-virus-hit-restaurants-say-their-goose-is-cooked/2020/03/02/07d781da-59e3-11ea-8efd-0f904bdd8057_story.html ) The Global Market is going to have to do a lot of work to keep this from becoming a recession.
Finally, the Guardian says masks aren’t really useful for walking across town but for close contact they are. Makes sense. If you’re in a taxi with a driver who has it and you’ve got an hour drive, the mask would make a difference. If pass someone on the street, no difference. All that passes the logic test for me. The whole article is well worth reading and the Guardian is, IMO a highly reputable source.
Youre right my math was off but The numbers still arent there for me. More people are recovering thats what is some how getting lost. China has their country on lockdown so no wonder business will fail there mid march. People arent allowed in the streets. Theyve quarantined themselves into near zero pollution levels.
I just dont see the direness of it. Just seems like hype to drive up the price of goods and services.
Certainly dont go vote, all those sick people in line at the polls, its a death sentence!!!
Like i said when 1 in 16 are surviving then ill freak out. Right now, its bullshit nonsense, to me.
1 in 16 surviving would be the apocalypse. If 500 million people dying globally seems like no big deal and an over 50% fatality rate for the entire human race is what it’d take for you to be concerned, I don’t know what to say to that. I have to imagine most people here would get a little nervous before that point.
I was being hyperbolic. (That means extreme exaggeration, thats for djpon3 cause he dont think too good)
But right now the numbers weigh heavily towards recovery and 16x survival rate is just what it is right now. Its been steadily climbing since the outbreak. The death toll has to be a little more drastic for me to take notice. Obviously, not 16 to 1. The numbers become worrisome far before that but its nowhere near any of that. Right now youre far far more likely to recover than die.
You wouldn’t know logic if it took shit on your face, ass.
It would be helpful if they would show the current COVID-19 outbreak data side-by-side with similar data for the Flu or other communicable diseases that move quickly. The first year that my daughter went to Day Care, everyone in my house got sick all the time. Stuff would just sweep through Day Care every couple of months - no one was spared. It was unpleasant at times, but we all sort of just rolled with it.
Nobody said you were a good engineer. And by your own admission you dont code anymore, youve clearly gone rusty. As apparent by the giant shit on your face.
I doubt you could be so lucky… run the numbers logic boy… you think you got a chance?
That would put things in context and is clearly not what is wanted.
Good for you little buddy!