The Black Swan may destroy the Red Dragon

[Tunnelcat]

I was talking to a friend of mine from college who was an immigrant to the U.S. from Shanghai years ago. He hates the Chinese Communist government and believes that they're hiding the true number of deaths and infected from the Corvid-19 outbreak and that's it far more virulent than the general public realizes. It may be more virulent and deadly than even the Spanish Flu, which killed millions. He also believes that they're rapidly losing control of the situation. Not only is this bug contagious while a person is asymptomatic, but so far it's been found to survive on hard surfaces for more than 14 days. In fact, no one has even tested how long this virus can survive outside a host. Damn.

That doesn't bode well for the Chinese and by extension, the world economy, let alone the possibility of a worldwide pandemic. If this virus can shut down whole factories by turning them into hot zones where people can't work without fear of catching this thing, factory output will come to a screeching halt. And the Communist government is operating in crisis mode and getting very heavy handed with their attempts at containment. How long before the Chinese people revolt? He thinks that this pandemic may be a Black Swan event and the start of a revolution, perhaps signaling the end of the current communist dynasty in China.

Here are also many conspiracy theories running rampant about the origins of this virus, including one about the U.S. deliberately spreading it in China or the more plausible possibility that this virus escaped quarantine from a Chinese bio-laboratory located in Wuhan.

https://www.thelifetrends.com/2020/02/r ... id-19.html

Either way, this bug is damn scary. It essentially kills it's victims by causing their own immune system to destroy their lungs. Even if someone survives this thing, their lung capacity is forever reduced because of the scar tissue. This virus is also small enough that those masks everyone is wearing is not protection. I mean, we pretty much have a bio-hazard level 4 bug that's loose on a large population of people where worldwide air travel can spread it like wildfire.

https://covid19info.live/

[Krom]

It is kind of obvious with how quickly the infected numbers are growing that its currently completely out of control, getting a lid on this one is not going to be easy. Also didn't help that it happened during some of the worst timing for population movements in China. The question is how much damage will be done before the 18 months needed to get a vaccine out in force is over.

But to put things in perspective, so far there are millions of cases of the Flu and it has killed more than 10,000 people just in the US. This new virus is plenty dangerous, but society continues on every year together with another virus that is pretty much equally as dangerous. This too will pass, just keep active and in shape, and get your vaccines (practically nothing else in the history of medicine has proven as safe and effective as vaccination).

[Tunnelcat]

I guess time will tell as this thing burns through affected populations. But it is VERY contagious between humans so far. It's a tough virus. On those affected cruise ships, it's spreading like crazy. It's the mortality rate that has yet to be really seen and in a developing country, it could be fatal for a lot of people without access to good medical care, like in say India.

[Tunnelcat]

How presidential of Trump. Shortsightedly eliminate the very infrastructure we'll surely need from our government and we have a recipe for disaster in the face of this virus, all because it was an Obama creation.

https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/01/31/co ... -response/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-polic ... nevitable/

As for the great economy, if there is uncertainty and untrustworthiness from our own government officials, like Larry Kudlow saying we've got this contained or Trump tweeting we got this under control, the market will react negatively and toss out Trump's only lifeline to him winning the 2020 election. Idiot.

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/02/25/trump-i ... fears.html

This is currently how the Three Stooges of the Trump administration is running the show.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/c ... story.html

https://arstechnica.com/science/2020/02 ... gainst-it/

[Tunnelcat]

We're so screwed. Alex Azar is corrupt and incompetant, not surprising coming from the most corrupt and inept administration ever elected into office and his response to this whistleblower is to punish by reassignment. Now this nasty bug is loose in California and coming to a town near you because HHS and the State Department royally fucked up.

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/02/2 ... rus-118051

If anyone thinks we're going to get the truth, forget it. Trump gave Pence the right to control ALL messaging coming out of the government concerning the cornavirus, essentially muzzling the CDC's doctors.

[vision]

I must say I'm growing ever more concerned about this virus. The response in other countries is more intense than I expected and it looks like the mortality rate is a bit higher than what was first claimed. I heard an interview with someone from the CDC and they said the best comparison is the Spanish Flu, which is not a reassuring comparison...

[Krom]

Not to go out and defend republicans who are hell-bent on dismantling every branch of government they can possibly get their hands on, but I highly doubt anyone would be able to deal with this issue. Plenty of other governments around the world are demonstrating that this virus does its own thing and how any given government is organized has very little relevance to the outcome.

I mean seriously, as much as Republicans like to hate on China, it is extremely close to their ideal form of government (capitalist authoritarian) and look at how spectacularly it is failing at containing this virus. Like the best answer to this virus is probably the food and drug administration, which for the most part protects Americans from eating wild animals carrying deadly pathogens and for which China undoubtedly lacks any sort of analog of.

There is one outcome that is going to happen with this virus: it runs it course. A local medical professional on the radio said the CDC estimate is that this virus will infect anywhere from 40 to 70 percent of the global human population. Billions of people are going to be infected by this virus and there is nothing any government can do to stop it.

[Tunnelcat]

Ok, Trump could at least TRY to have a little leadership with this mess instead of being an orange asswipe and blaming others or sitting on his butt worrying about how the Stock Market is tanking and possibly ruining his chances in 2020. Poor baby. If I get this thing, he can come and kiss my ass. What did he do with his time just recently for example, while the Stock Market was taking a dive and 3 new cases of community spread have popped up? He spent some of that time talking to the actors of a conservative play called "Deep State". WTF? Who the ★■◆● cares? That doesn't include his little boner rally in South Carolina he's got planned, where he's going to spread more lies and continue to blame the Dems for nearly all the issues surrounding this virus, when in fact most of the failures were caused by his inept leadership, including getting rid of the Obama virus agency response setup right after taking office. Even Pence, who's been put in charge of this thing, is out at some damn fundraiser kissing ass hoping to get re-elected. So you know when this thing goes tits up, and it will, Pence will be Trump's fall guy, just you watch because Trump has NEVER taken responsibility when things go wrong.

https://mellonpost.com/amid-coronavirus ... tate-play/

For the greatest country in the world with the supposed best health care in the world, the CDC doesn't have enough test kits for the virus to send out to local counties nor do our hospitals even enough ventilators if this virus starts burning through our population and hitting people hard. I mean, these things cost as much as a car, so someone doesn't go out and buy one when needed. Just in the most recent community transmission case in Northern California, the patient was treated at a local hospital when she went to the ER with symptoms. She thought she had the flu, but by the time she was tested and it was discovered that the she DID have Covid-19, 124 hospital nurses and workers had already been exposed. So they were sent home to self quarantine. I don't know about you, but losing a 124 workers at a local hospital during the outbreak of a nasty virus is going to be a BIG problem, especially of this happens at multiple hospitals around the country. Eventually there won't be enough people to treat patients as they start rolling in. We are that unprepared for this type of pandemic.

And then tonight, 2 cases of community spread have popped up in Oregon. One of these people actually visited a local elementary school in my home town of Lake Oswego before it was known he had the virus. He unintentionally may have spread it to a bunch of kids and those kids went home and potentially exposed their parents. So now the local authorities have to decide whether to close the school next week and in all probability, Hillsboro and Lake Oswego are now hot zones where this person has been walking around. Because for every person that comes down with this virus, they spread it to at least 2 other people. Do the math and you'll soon realize we have a BIG problem.

Vision, it looks like this virus has a 2% mortality rate, slightly lower than the 2.5% of the Spanish Flu. SARS and MERS had a higher 10% death rate, but it didn't infect as many people or spread as rapidly before it was contained. Corvid-19 is NOT even close to be contained at all. The problem is that this bug can be spread when people are asymptomatic and it spreads even when someone touches their mouth and nose and touches something else. It's really contagious if they cough or sneeze fine particles. Right now, they don't even know how long it survives on surfaces. I'm guessing it's longer than we think for this particular bug, which would be rare for a corona virus. Right now, this country is in for a nasty ride. I'm in my 60's and I'm not looking forward to catching this thing. If it leads to viral pneumonia, in all likelihood it could kill me since I already have some minor lung issues. THAT'S why I'm worried.

[vision]

Yeah, I'm not normally the paranoid type, but this country is far less prepared than other developed nations to handle a pandemic. I've has the sniffles all day, and I know it's probably allergies, but damn, what timing...

[Tunnelcat]

Let the freakout begin in Oregon. I go to the local stores to buy groceries and all the hand sanitizers and disinfecting wipe products are sold out.

Anyone see Mike Bloomberg's new campaign scare tactic ad? I think he's going to end up shooting himself in the foot by playing the Corvid-19 fear card. By doing that, he's playing right into Trump's hand that the Dems are out fearmongering this thing just to get votes, unless people are really that stupid.

[Krom]

A friend of mine in New Jersey said people are basically doing doomsday prepping and cleaning out grocery stores because of the corona virus. Thing is, for a generally healthy working age adult this thing is a ordinary cold or mild flu at the worst. It is ultimately no more or less dangerous than the seasonal flu, which despite being quite deadly itself has failed to collapse society even though it has been killing people by the tens of thousands a season for decades.

[Tunnelcat]

I'm over 60 and the CDC is warning that this virus seems to be hitting people over that age the hardest, so that's why I'm a little concerned about getting it since I already have phlegmy lungs. It's also proving to be very transmissible and more deadly to certain people than the flu. Officials in Washington State are now assuming that it's already been circulating in the state for weeks, so it can't be very obvious when most people come down with it. I'm wondering in children if it presents as a bad cold, so unknowingly, kids may end up being the biggest vectors. Some parent in the store today had her obviously sick, coughing and sniffling child sitting in a grocery cart spreading who knows what illness to anyone who stood near her or got the misfortune of using that cart when mom got done shopping. What's funny about how people react is that they try to prevent something by going into prepper mode, charging out to the store, getting in contact with all sorts of other people during their quest to find some magic chemical or mask to protect them, but then are so unconscious as to be idiots about what they do with their own hands, what they touch after blowing their noses or coughing or about washing those hands properly afterwards, not understanding that no amount of hand sanitizer or disinfectant wipes are going to save their day. In fact, a whole bunch of bugs are now proving resistant to hand sanitizers, which doesn't give me the warm and fuzzies since that's what nurses and docs now use to clean their hands in between multiple patient contacts. Yes, they no longer actually wash their hands in most hospitals and doctor's offices while going between patients because I actually saw that cutting corners practice not so long ago when I visited a friend in the hospital. Uck! At least my dentist still actually washes his hands between patients.

https://bestlifeonline.com/hand-sanitizer-germs/

[Tunnelcat]

Fascinating. You can also guarantee this is the main reason that the Stock Market is falling. Even looking at the increasing product unavailability on Amazon is revealing. A LOT of stuff is made in China. I guess we're all quickly finding out that having one country monopolize the production of goods and products has a big downside in the event of a disaster. Maybe, during this Earth Month, the planet is exacting some revenge upon humanity.

https://www.earthobservatory.nasa.gov/i ... over-china

[Krom]

It is the simple consequence of supply lines with a single point of failure. All the eggs in one basket...

[woodchip]

So still think the southern boarder wall is a bad idea? Will you continue to think so as more corvid cases are shown to come from latin america?

[woodchip]

.

I mean seriously, as much as Republicans like to hate on China, it is extremely close to their ideal form of government (capitalist authoritarian) and look at how spectacularly it is failing at containing this virus. Like the best answer to this virus is probably the food and drug administration, which for the most part protects Americans from eating wild animals carrying deadly pathogens and for which China undoubtedly lacks any sort of analog of.

Do you know how confused you are? Last I looked the Reps. don't have a commie who thinks cuba is the greatest thing since sliced bread running for president, Nor did a former Rep. administration have a proud Mao lover. And where in gods name do you think we promote "Capitalist Authoritarianism". You confused with free market? Small business hires over half of the people in US. And are you trying to coin a new term? I googled CA and didn't find anything.

[LightWolf]

I'm trying to figure out if coronavirus panic is gonna cause issues... we've already had one temporary hospital collapse.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/07/china/ch ... index.html

[vision]

So still think the southern boarder wall is a bad idea? Will you continue to think so as more corvid cases are shown to come from latin america?

What a bizarre time and place for racism...

Do you know how confused you are? Last I looked the Reps. don't have a commie who thinks cuba is the greatest thing since sliced bread running for president, Nor did a former Rep. administration have a proud Mao lover. And where in gods name do you think we promote "Capitalist Authoritarianism". You confused with free market? Small business hires over half of the people in US. And are you trying to coin a new term? I googled CA and didn't find anything.

What?!

[Tunnelcat]

Never in my life have I heard such baseless idiocy or bigotry. I guess I should expect crap like that from people who support a pea-brained idiot with a Napoleon complex. Fer cripes sake, Mexico has less cases of Covid-19 than we do, at least for now. I'd have thought we'd start seeing a migration the other way by now too. The one cold hard fact remains. Trump dismantled Obama's virus rapid response agency (in the link at the top of this post) and now he's running around like a chicken with it's head cut off as this thing spreads, and believe me, it will spread and keep on killing because Trump is not a leader. The more Trump says keep calm and that a vaccine is near, the more people are going to freak out because they want facts, not a load of bull★■◆● from our government. I mean, if Ben Carson is any indication, everyone at the Trump Administration has their collective heads up their asses. And by God, what is he smoking? He looks like he's stoned out of his mind.

[Top Gun]

Woody jumps right from COVID-19 To hating brown people. I for one am shocked. Shocked, I say.

[Tunnelcat]

.

I mean seriously, as much as Republicans like to hate on China, it is extremely close to their ideal form of government (capitalist authoritarian) and look at how spectacularly it is failing at containing this virus. Like the best answer to this virus is probably the food and drug administration, which for the most part protects Americans from eating wild animals carrying deadly pathogens and for which China undoubtedly lacks any sort of analog of.

Do you know how confused you are? Last I looked the Reps. don't have a commie who thinks cuba is the greatest thing since sliced bread running for president, Nor did a former Rep. administration have a proud Mao lover. And where in gods name do you think we promote "Capitalist Authoritarianism". You confused with free market? Small business hires over half of the people in US. And are you trying to coin a new term? I googled CA and didn't find anything.

I Googled, which is more than you apparently did woody. All it took was swapping letters. Behold, a Wiki entry. Plus, all the current examples Wiki lists are countries led by dictators that Trump worships, like Putin of Russia and Erdoğan of Turkey. Even Nazi Germany has been called an example of Authoritarian Capitalism. A coincidence with our current "leader"? A "leader" who's now really pissed off he can't bully or control a lowly but very dangerous virus?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Authoritarian_capitalism

And now several Republican Senators and Reps have been exposed to someone who had coronavirus at a CPAC conference. A couple of them are doing the right thing and self-quarantining, even one who rode on Air Force One in close quarters with Trump, who still insists on hand shaking and holding his virus spreading boner rallies. Of course there's Louie Gohmert, who was also exposed at that CPAC conference and who's decided that since a CDC physician told him it was OK, he is NOT going to self-quarantine. We shall see....

https://www.rawstory.com/2020/03/louie- ... e-himself/

https://thehill.com/homenews/house/4867 ... sure-after

Oh, and Krom, my Chinese friend told me that the Chinese will eat anything that swims, crawls, slithers, walks and flies, up to a 747.

[woodchip]

So still think the southern boarder wall is a bad idea? Will you continue to think so as more corvid cases are shown to come from latin america?

What a bizarre time and place for racism...

What a eye bleeding little hypocrite you are. Forget about TB? All the time you ridiculed him. Did you catcg where he explained he was "brown skinned? I state we nee to protect our borders and you project that to mean racism. You directly attack a Latino and you are what...a hero of the liberal cause?

Do you know how confused you are? Last I looked the Reps. don't have a commie who thinks cuba is the greatest thing since sliced bread running for president, Nor did a former Rep. administration have a proud Mao lover. And where in gods name do you think we promote "Capitalist Authoritarianism". You confused with free market? Small business hires over half of the people in US. And are you trying to coin a new term? I googled CA and didn't find anything.

What?!

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/24/us/b ... orida.html

[Tunnelcat]

Well, maybe we should bring back those anti-spitting in public laws that were enacted years ago to stop the spread of TB. I see a lot of old men horking loogies nowadays.

Oh and woody, this thing came from Asia, not Mexico, by people who traveled on planes. Why in the hell are you still ruminating about the southern boarder?

And what the hell's wrong with Trump's pathetic response to this mess? We don't have enough test kits to test everyone who's suspected of carrying this thing, we don't have enough ventilators once people come down with viral pneumonia and all Trump does is ban travel to Europe??? He excluded the U.K. and one of the biggest hot spots, South Korea. I mean, they're still letting people go to the movies for cripes sake when they're canceling NBA games and campaign rallies. Talk about a mass of people sitting close to each other. And why in the hell are people hoarding distilled water?

[vision]

Forget about TB? All the time you ridiculed him. Did you catcg where he explained he was "brown skinned? I state we nee to protect our borders and you project that to mean racism. You directly attack a Latino and you are what...a hero of the liberal cause?

I can't attack TB because he's "brown skinned" even though he says racist stuff? Isn't that your position, that brown people can be just as racist as white people? Because I agree, but also there is context to consider. If you are so worried about our borders during a pandemic, why only mention a wall to keep Latin Americans out? That looks hella-racist, lol!

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/24/us/b ... orida.html

That link does not support your claim that Sanders is a "commie". Try again. Better yet, try reading comprehension and critical thinking.

[Tunnelcat]

The man can't help but to lie to the American people, even in the face of some cold hard facts that are easily found on the internet.

https://www.alternet.org/2020/03/its-a- ... mic-group/

The question was not nasty, but lying about it was really nasty. Projecting perhaps?

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/trump ... emic-team/

[Tunnelcat]

People are going crazy. They're breaking into people's cars for cases of toilet paper if they see it through the windows. I always thought that those apocryphal movies were fantasy. Well, I'm starting to think they're closer to reality than is comfortable. People are even stocking up on ammo and wiping the shelves clean too. This virus is showing us that a lot of people in this country will resort to their basal instincts rather than be calm and think things through.

[vision]

It's only bad because our current government is completely incompetent. It didn't have to be this way. We had months to prepare, but no, can't startle the billionaire class! Whatever will they do in their hi-tech bunkers while their go from have too much money to spend in 10 lifetimes to more than what can be spent in 9 lifetimes! The horror! Don't worry, there is always socialism for the rich. They should be fine after billions in bailouts.

[woodchip]

Forget about TB? All the time you ridiculed him. Did you catcg where he explained he was "brown skinned? I state we nee to protect our borders and you project that to mean racism. You directly attack a Latino and you are what...a hero of the liberal cause?

I can't attack TB because he's "brown skinned" even though he says racist stuff? Isn't that your position, that brown people can be just as racist as white people? Because I agree, but also there is context to consider. If you are so worried about our borders during a pandemic, why only mention a wall to keep Latin Americans out? That looks hella-racist, lol!

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/24/us/b ... orida.html

That link does not support your claim that Sanders is a "commie". Try again. Better yet, try reading comprehension and critical thinking.

Here maybe these will be clearer:

Bernie Sanders is a communist.

Those aren’t my words (although I believe it to be true). These are the words of Democratic pundit James Carville. For those of you too young to remember, he was the mastermind of Bill Clinton’s surprise win in 1992.

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/20 ... communism/

Perhaps vision, you should look at who Bernie praises to understand his affiliations.

[woodchip]

It's only bad because our current government is completely incompetent. It didn't have to be this way. We had months to prepare, but no, can't startle the billionaire class! Whatever will they do in their hi-tech bunkers while their go from have too much money to spend in 10 lifetimes to more than what can be spent in 9 lifetimes! The horror! Don't worry, there is always socialism for the rich. They should be fine after billions in bailouts.

OK mr expert, what specifically has Trump done to show incompetence? Even Rep Omar has praised his actions. Better yet, since you are a expert you can tell us what he should of done instead of flapping your gums in the liberal mantra of Trump bad and being rich is evil.

[vision]

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/20 ... communism/

That article, an opinion piece, does not support your argument. Two strikes. Want to try for three? I notice that the quality of you "sources" is declining. What's next, a meme?

Perhaps vision, you should look at who Bernie praises to understand his affiliations.

Does this work both ways? If Trump praises a dictator, is he also a dictator? It's been clear to everyone without their head up their but that Senator Sanders praises ideas, like universal health care and free education, and not people.

OK mr expert, what specifically has Trump done to show incompetence?

You don't actually care. I can provide documented instances of his incompetence, but you, as a Cult45 member, will dismiss it as "fake news". You're completely hopeless. You've become comedy on this forum, like TB before you. And eventually, we'll all tire of you.

[Vander]

I hope you're taking care of yourself, woodchip.

[Tunnelcat]

Trump talks too much and only to quell the markets. He just can't help but get ahead of himself in desperation. He's claiming the FDA has approved the use of Chloroquine, an old malaria drug, for the treatment of Covid-19. Nope. It can only be used off label for "compassionate care" and is NOT YET approved by the FDA to treat the virus. He also fibbed on Remdesivir, an Ebola drug, which has only been approved for clinical trials. These drugs may or may not work in all cases and that's why the FDA proceeds with caution. You don't want to hurt more people than cure using untested drugs on emerging diseases. The "real cure" won't be until they come up with a vaccine and that's at least a year to 18 months off. In the meantime, Trump keeps flapping his pie hole and getting people's hopes up. What's going to happen when these drugs don't pan out and the death toll skyrockets hmmmm?

https://www.factcheck.org/2020/03/trump ... therapies/

I wonder just how far our government will go as this thing explodes. In a couple of weeks, the U.S. is going to look like Italy. The idiot Millennials are all out in large groups partying on beaches for Spring Break, ignoring that this thing has been hitting young people hard too. The other day a 34 year old patient died from this virus. So it begs the question, would Trump declare martial law and put a hold on the next national presidential election, all so he can stay in power under the guise that he's the best person to fight this thing? Good gawd, I'm willing to make a wager that will actually happen. Corona Virus or not, I'd be out protesting that development because I'm tired of this despot.

https://thehill.com/homenews/administra ... ent-powers

Woody, drop it about Sanders. He's not going to be the candidate for the Dems this time, or ever. He's also a Democratic Socialist, not a Communist, there's a difference. Take a political science lesson. Like all rabid right wingers, you keep conflating to 2 ideologies. Sure, he fawned over the Commies, but he'd NEVER get full blown Communism to take root in this country anyway. So quit flogging yet another conservative dead horse. Besides, the U.S. already uses several socialist policies that are well embraced by the American people, like Social Security, Medicare, the eight hour workday and public education. There's also the public police and fire departments around the country. You say you hate authoritarian socialists like Chavista? Well, there happens to be a difference between Authoritarian and Democratic Socialists, because there are several flavors to any political ideology. Don't forget, capitalism also has it's unpleasant authoritarian side and it's glowing bright orange right now under it's current exalted leader, Donald Trump. All he's worried about right now is the Stock Market and his re-election chances. He could gives a rat's ass about the lowly and quickly getting sick people of this nation, because he got rid of the one government agency that was already set up for this kind of pandemic response and now he's having to badly bumble his way through rebuilding it from scratch, and not doing it very well either.

[LightWolf]

Not going to be much partying in Wyoming. The governor just outlawed gatherings of more than 10 people.
https://www.rocketminer.com/news/local/ ... f1cb9.html

[vision]

The governor just outlawed gatherings of more than 10 people.

It's not enough. This is a world-changing event. The entire country should have been on lock-down weeks ago.

[woodchip]

OK so we go into lock down for 2 weeks. Then what? The virus will just crop up again without some sort of vaccine to prevent it from spreading. I'm afraid we are in for a long extended problem. Hope the chinese are satisfied in creating this bug and letting it escape.

[Vander]

OK so we go into lock down for 2 weeks. Then what? The virus will just crop up again without some sort of vaccine to prevent it from spreading. I'm afraid we are in for a long extended problem.

A vaccine is a year+ away. We'll be in lockdown until after the burden on hospitals has peaked, and testing is widespread enough so that people without symptoms are tested. After that, we'll probably see localized or individual lockdowns to deal with specific outbreaks until widespread vaccination occurs.

Regardless of how China has reacted, we're at least month, and probably more like two, behind in reaction time and preparation for mitigating the worst effects. As soon as the first case was discovered in the US, non-disruptive preparation like stockpiling/distributing hospital supplies and testing should've been ramping up with urgency. That this didn't happen to the extent possible is a scandal that will end up costing a lot of lives and trillions of dollars.

South Korea and the US had their first confirmed cases on the same day, but they had two big advantages. They took it seriously early, and they had infrastructure in place that made taking it seriously more effective.

I live in Santa Clara County, one of the first places in the US with a confirmed case and community spread. We've been a bit ahead on reacting seriously and taking proactive measures, so hopefully it will only be really really bad instead of catastrophic. We'll probably find out this coming week.

[Krom]

China's lock down actually appears to have worked for now, or at the very least bought them some more time while everyone is working on treatments and vaccines. All this effort is to limit the damage while we work on more permanent solutions. If we can slow down or limit the spread then more people get to live, that is the bottom line.

You want to know something interesting, the folding@home project said it would devote all its compute resources towards this virus and in less than a week their total compute throughput managed to exceed that of the top 7 super computers in the world combined.

[Top Gun]

OK so we go into lock down for 2 weeks. Then what? The virus will just crop up again without some sort of vaccine to prevent it from spreading. I'm afraid we are in for a long extended problem. Hope the chinese are satisfied in creating this bug and letting it escape.

How do you manage to be so completely, objectively wrong with every single thing you post here? Is this a bit? Are you doing this on purpose to get a rise out of us? Or are you just so massively ill-informed that you genuinely believe the nonsense you spew?

[Tunnelcat]

I agree with woody except for his last ignorant bigoted sentence. Even the right wingers writing letters to our paper sound just like him. He needs to realize that most of our worst viruses come from either tropical climates or places where people eat what can charitably be called "bush meat". My Chinese friend said that the Chinese will eat anything that crawls, walks and flies, up to a 747, so naturally this virus started there as do most flu bugs too. Researchers say that the virus' genome indicates it came from natural sources and is not engineered, so they can't be blamed for living as they do. This virus could have just as easily migrated here from Africa or South America where people eat all sorts of wild things. Cultures are what they are. Where WE can be blamed is not reacting fast enough. We had a couple of months to prepare for this. Travel could have been restricted right away and all cruises stopped. This thing first took off on cruise ships and then spread on land. EVERYONE traveling in from affected areas should have been quarantined right off the bat. China was the warning bell and our government ignored it while Trump went on his little impeachment revenge spree. So now our glorious leader is stumbling in a daze, contradicting his own experts in a failed attempt to cheer people up with outright falsehoods and his sycophants don't know what the Hell to do other than hem and haw on TV and worry if Trump won't like their messaging while our glorious capitalistic system lets companies price gouge the states for desperately needed medical supplies for our hospitals, which are being quickly overwhelmed.

As for the length this thing will last, months is a better descriptor than weeks. I mean, the incubation period for this virus is almost 2 weeks in many people. Some never show symptoms, but spread it anyway. We have a veterans home in the next county. 18 of them came down with the virus, so SOMEONE brought it in who's out circulating in our community and no one knows who it is. Not all our states have enforced a lockdown either. They haven't yet done it here in Oregon, but wise minds should move quickly. It's going to have to happen since a lot of people, especially young people, are not taking this thing seriously. What a bunch of hedonistic idiots. They're sitting there on the beaches during spring break calling it something only the old people get and they don't give a damn if they get it or if the old people die or not and they have a right to drink and have fun. ★■◆● YOU AND THE HORSE YOU RODE IN ON TWERPS! They also don't give a damn whether THEY spread this bug to their parents or grandparents. Well, they'd better give a damn because in Italy, half the people who died from this bug were over 50, the other half were under. Even Dr. Fauci said that this bug is 10 times more lethal than the normal flu and 3 times more lethal than the Spanish Flu of 1918. I've heard from a reliable family source that Homeland Security is mobilizing the National Guard and not one peep from the news, so they've managed to keep it under the radar. I'm betting even odds that Trump will soon evoke the Stafford Act in short order to stop the inevitable chaos as this thing progresses because people are already going bonkers. Trump can't legally force a national quarantine, but he CAN help stop the inevitable crime and looting.

[vision]

Hope the chinese are satisfied in creating this bug and letting it escape.

Or are you just so massively ill-informed that you genuinely believe the nonsense you spew?

I'm sure he believes it. I had this experience in real life the other day. My mother, who is amazingly still alive, and who I only talk to once every several years because she's insane, called to tell me the Chinese created the virus because they are communists who don't care about their own people and that Bernie Sanders is trying to turn America communist. She went on and on with this Red-Scare bull-crap and I literally couldn't stop laughing, which made her furious, so she called me a brainwashed Liberal and hung up on me. It was the weirdest 3-minute call I've ever had. Legitimate crazy person. If she survives this pandemic maybe I'll hear from her again is a few years? Yes, I'm sure woodchip is exactly like my mother and he genuinely believes the garbage he posts.