Friends, as we face this pandemic, it's important to keep things in perspective. For the elderly, and especially for the chronically sick elderly, COVID-19 is a very dangerous virus. For people who are young and healthy, it rarely is. We have to ask the question, therefore: is quarantining EVERYONE the best way to handle the outbreak? Theoretically, if the virus can't spread at all, we can beat it, sure. If all we do is slow down the spread, however, we will be drawing out the pain and the death, and prolonging the recession/depression, but not necessarily sparing many lives in the final analysis. The public health/economic calculus is tough! I don't have all the answers. Maybe you do?
https://www.foxnews.com/world/95-percent-of-european-coronavirus-victims-over-60-who-says
I'm getting the idea from various medically oriented articles, that the possibility exists, that this virus started out last Fall 2019. So the question being debated now is whether or not this virus has been counted in with the deaths from flu over the 2019/2020 Winter.
ReplyDeleteRay? Anonymous? Pancho Villa? Just wondering...if not, welcome. grin.
DeleteLook, it has been here longer than what has been stated. WHATEVER I had last spring, WHATEVER nearly killed me, it is very similar to what this virus is. I can make own conclusions, don't need the CDC to tell me other wise. wink
All medical debates aside, the fact exists that the DemoLIARS are already beginning to blame Trump for not doing enough to stop the spread of the virus, and you can be sure that they will use it in another attempt to impeach him. I see where one of the Chief Liars of the DemoCROOKS (initials B.O.) has now come out and is accusing Trump of not doing enough.
ReplyDeleteBody Odor? (initials B.O., GRIN). This to will fall flat on the democrats.
DeleteAfter this Chinese originated pandemic passes, it will be very interesting to see if our elites will continue to be pimps for the great whore of China. After all, it is Americans who decided to get "in bed" with China a very long time ago, culminating in our shipping almost our entire manufacturing base over to them, in infantile hopes that China would be our bosom buddy forever. For all this we can thank generations of Americans who decided to stick their collective noses in China, mostly for profit, when our juvenile missionaries were not running around attempting to convert the Chinese to whatever form of Christianity tickled their fancy at any given time. So in more ways than one, our current dilemma is our own fault. If our relationship with one of the most ruthless dictatorships in the world does not change drastically after this pandemic, it will be because our elites found "business" to be way too lucrative, and said The Hell with The American people.
ReplyDeleteI read today that the owner of the Patriots is buying masks from China, so, there is your answer. And to tell you the truth, nothing will change.
DeleteWell...I can tell you here in Steuben County (our county) has 40 cases, 10 here in our town/city of 9,000 people. I don't know the answer to this pandemic. We were just discussing about limiting the want/need to go to the store. For the record, I don't trust the WHO. And another factor, this virus truly shows no age bias towards one age to another. I just wonder, especially in Italy, how many deaths are truly related to the virus? (Beg forgiveness for repeating myself)
ReplyDeleteRay, Linda -- it's an open question exactly how COVID-19 deaths are counted. What if a person died because of multiple conditions? What if they died of something flu-like but were never tested for the virus? That will be true in many places in the Third World. The numbers we have now, and which the press treats as gospel, are anything but. They are a very flawed measure of this evolving crisis.
ReplyDeleteRay, I think ALL Democrats have long since decided that the pandemic is Trump's fault. The question is whether they can convince a majority of the American people to agree. So far, not. They will keep trying!
Ray, I have to say I lean to Linda's view that it will be business-as-usual with China when this crisis is over. There's money to be made, after all, and national security and the U.S. job market pale in comparison to the corporate bottom line. The Chinese also have, as you observed, a good percentage of our opinion leaders in their hip pockets.
On the contrary. I totally agree with you and Linda. It will indeed be business-as-usual with China. No doubt about it. And quite frankly, I would not at all be surprised if this nice virus gift from them might not be a warning that if you try to get trade tough with us, we will release some more germs in your direction.
DeleteWho knows, but by the end of this century, maybe China will be here and controlling us directly up to The Mississippi, with Russia controlling the rest of it. Kind of along the lines of "The Man In The High Castle". Sound far-fetched. Think again. In fact I'm willing to bet that by the second half of this century the "Late Great U.S.A." will have experienced dictatorships and civil wars. Sorry to be grim, but we are not "immune" from history.
Oh, do bite your tongue, Ray (grin). However, I can't argue with you, because I am afraid...that is very true.
DeleteThe implication from the introduction to this entry is that those who are younger and don't die, but rather get sick from the virus are not impacted. No one wants to get sick from this virus. Many patients getting sick are suffering terribly for 2-3 weeks, and can be left with permanent lung scarring.
ReplyDeleteSo, yes, social distancing is important. This is especially true for people who have the virus, but don't have any symptoms, and yet can affect others.
Professor Carveth, that is the scary truth. For the sake of repeating myself, this virus has been here for a lot longer than what is being told. There are a lot of us who were sick last spring from some unknown entity which resembles the Covid 19 virus.
DeleteSo Ray, you're a "Man in the High Castle" fan... Me too. That was a very intriguing show. I have no doubt that many Americans would accept dictatorship and get on with their lives, but our system has been more durable than many observers (in Europe) expected. More durable even than the Founders expected!
ReplyDeleteYou're right, Rod -- no one wants to get sick with COVID-19. Well, I take that back: quite a few people wouldn't mind getting sick and getting it over with, assuming they were going to be asymptomatic or nearly so. That's a big assumption, however! My question: why are symptoms so severe in the U.S. and Western Europe, when the rest of the world seems to be doing relatively well? I haven't heard about spiking death rates in Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, or even most of Asia.