At what point did you / will you take the coronavirus epidemic seriously?

[Northwestcoug]

I am waiting until NWCoug has had a chance to review the results... He will point out the faults in the studies for us. Just like he did for Hydroxychloroquine. Speaking of which can you believe those Koreans are still using that stuff? Don't they know the side effects will just make things worse?

https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/hydroxychloroquine-used-by-korea-for-covid-19-while-us-is-divided/

What a bunch of dummies.

In other news six monkeys didn't catch COVID-19...

https://www.businessinsider.com/monkeys-given-new-oxford-vaccine-coronavirus-free-strong-exposure-encouraging-2020-4

So maybe some good news for monkeys.

At least Remdesivir has a solid theoretical reason why it should work against coronavirus. Most of the clinical data so far is cautiously optimistic. The challenge is out there Ted. If you can point to any relatively large study that shows a benefit with HCQ, I would like to see it. I'm sure you're link finding skills are up to the task, and you'll be able to find something more authoritative than a times of Israel blog!

[Sleeping in EQ]

It’s almost like an algorithm.

No kidding.

[UVACoug]

Those lockdown protests have been astroturfed and people with definite agendas. Fox News is giving Dr. Katz some play because they like what he is saying. They have one of the worst track records on fairness and bias.

Protestors have agendas? Shocking!

[Bo Diddley]

Notice Ted's rhetorical structure:

Sarcasm (waiting for NWCoug)
Sarcasm (Koreans)
Mockery (dummies)
Sarcasm and Mockery (news speak and monkeys)
Sarcasm and Mockery (news speak and monkeys)

It’s almost like an algorithm.

It's poetry...beautiful poetry.

[Uncle Ted]

Protestors have agendas? Shocking!

Yeah, I don't know if they have agendas... but they are fun to watch!

[Uncle Ted]

Notice Ted's rhetorical structure:

Sarcasm (waiting for NWCoug)
Sarcasm (Koreans)
Mockery (dummies)
Sarcasm and Mockery (news speak and monkeys)
Sarcasm and Mockery (news speak and monkeys)

I need to spice up the algorithm a bit.

[Northwestcoug]

Potentially good news on the immunity front. Korean epidemiologists believe patients thought to be reinfected were false positives. Meaning that the RNA detected was probably 'dead' virus and not a reinfection:

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/126675...ns-experts-say

[CardiacCoug]

It has actually been dropping over the last week to two weeks. we are down to about 4%. not sure that changes the point you're making, but just want to point that out. i

My favorite thing from the comments section is “So what do the 95% of people who test negative HAVE?!?! What other crazy illnesses are going on that we haven’t figured out yet?! WHAT IS GOING ON?!?!”

I guess it makes me laugh because there are SO many other things going on: dozens of cold viruses, flu, seasonal allergies, heart disease, COPD, pulmonary embolism, anxiety due to Covid, anxiety due to finances. The list never ends!

[smokymountainrain]

regardless of where you stand on social distancing vs getting back to normal or covid 19 is the flu vs it will kill everybody on the planet, can we all agree that these dumbasses like the UofW model that seems to be the model model, making these ridiculous predictions are a pathetic joke and entirely unhelpful?

https://covid19.healthdata.org/united-states-of-america/utah

they keep moving the goal posts, so it's hard to really quantify how wrong they are, but on the linked page, it's pretty clear. as of a few days ago - giving them the benefit of moving goal posts (at one point utah's peak was supposed to be 18 deaths a day on 4/22), there were supposed to be 11 deaths reported today (which would ultimately by yesterday's deaths) and we had 0. they were only 11 off. they have since moved that number to 9, but still equally pathetic. if you look at the graph on the attached link, despite the fact that utah's biggest day was 5 deaths - NEARLY A MONTH AGO - and the fact that there were 0 reported today, they continue to report this imaginary peak that they continue to push the date out on. just a few days ago, the "peak" was to be on 5/9 with 13 deaths (now 5/10 with 12 deaths), climbing from 9-12 deaths a day starting yesterday when again, there were 0. They want us to have a peak so badly, but utah just isn't cooperating. there is no curve, there is no peak. smh

[smokymountainrain]

My favorite thing from the comments section is “So what do the 95% of people who test negative HAVE?!?! What other crazy illnesses are going on that we haven’t figured out yet?! WHAT IS GOING ON?!?!”

I guess it makes me laugh because there are SO many other things going on: dozens of cold viruses, flu, seasonal allergies, heart disease, COPD, pulmonary embolism, anxiety due to Covid, anxiety due to finances. The list never ends!

yep. my wife had the most mild sore throat of her life so we went to get her tested simply to be good soldiers and add to the data for utah. they tested her and of course she was negative. anyway, that's what they have in a lot of cases - nothing.

[Sleeping in EQ]

regardless of where you stand on social distancing vs getting back to normal or covid 19 is the flu vs it will kill everybody on the planet, can we all agree that these dumbasses like the UofW model that seems to be the model model, making these ridiculous predictions are a pathetic joke and entirely unhelpful?

https://covid19.healthdata.org/united-states-of-america/utah

they keep moving the goal posts, so it's hard to really quantify how wrong they are, but on the linked page, it's pretty clear. as of a few days ago - giving them the benefit of moving goal posts (at one point utah's peak was supposed to be 18 deaths a day on 4/22), there were supposed to be 11 deaths reported today (which would ultimately by yesterday's deaths) and we had 0. they were only 11 off. they have since moved that number to 9, but still equally pathetic. if you look at the graph on the attached link, despite the fact that utah's biggest day was 5 deaths - NEARLY A MONTH AGO - and the fact that there were 0 reported today, they continue to report this imaginary peak that they continue to push the date out on. just a few days ago, the "peak" was to be on 5/9 with 13 deaths (now 5/10 with 12 deaths), climbing from 9-12 deaths a day starting yesterday when again, there were 0. They want us to have a peak so badly, but utah just isn't cooperating. there is no curve, there is no peak. smh

Yes.

Some people have a better grasp of the relevant facts than do others, but if there's one thing the media coverage of this pandemic has revealed is that we're all so damned righteous about our opinions.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Yes.

Some people have a better grasp of the relevant facts than do others, but if there's one thing the media coverage of this pandemic has revealed is that we're all so damned righteous about our opinions.

Yeah, that has been interesting to observe. So many folks seem more concerned with winning arguments and "proving" a point than a genuine exchange of ideas. It is like they need to make some enemies so they can lash out.

On second thought, I guess none of that should be surprising. Just a new battlefield for the culture wars.

[New Mexican Disaster]

regardless of where you stand on social distancing vs getting back to normal or covid 19 is the flu vs it will kill everybody on the planet, can we all agree that these dumbasses like the UofW model that seems to be the model model, making these ridiculous predictions are a pathetic joke and entirely unhelpful?

https://covid19.healthdata.org/united-states-of-america/utah

they keep moving the goal posts, so it's hard to really quantify how wrong they are, but on the linked page, it's pretty clear. as of a few days ago - giving them the benefit of moving goal posts (at one point utah's peak was supposed to be 18 deaths a day on 4/22), there were supposed to be 11 deaths reported today (which would ultimately by yesterday's deaths) and we had 0. they were only 11 off. they have since moved that number to 9, but still equally pathetic. if you look at the graph on the attached link, despite the fact that utah's biggest day was 5 deaths - NEARLY A MONTH AGO - and the fact that there were 0 reported today, they continue to report this imaginary peak that they continue to push the date out on. just a few days ago, the "peak" was to be on 5/9 with 13 deaths (now 5/10 with 12 deaths), climbing from 9-12 deaths a day starting yesterday when again, there were 0. They want us to have a peak so badly, but utah just isn't cooperating. there is no curve, there is no peak. smh

They are way off every time. They will issue a new model and within a day it misses low in the hotspots and barely budges in certain other states. I know it is hard to predict but if your model has to be adjusted upward by 10% twice a week there is a problem. They are not that bad at guessing the peaks but the model expects everything to taper off really quickly when a casual glance at Spain, Italy, the UK and Sweden for example shows that this thing lingers.

[Uncle Ted]

They are way off every time. They will issue a new model and within a day it misses low in the hotspots and barely budges in certain other states. I know it is hard to predict but if your model has to be adjusted upward by 10% twice a week there is a problem. They are not that bad at guessing the peaks but the model expects everything to taper off really quickly when a casual glance at Spain, Italy, the UK and Sweden for example shows that this thing lingers.

I blame it on all those Utahns not staying home and going out to take a hike, etc. And they thought they were too good for a SIP order and could just use the honor system. Get back into the circle, damnit...

[myboynoah]

WARNING: Focus on a nutjob

The Washington Post takes down FOX's nutjob Laura Ingraham. Also, excellent graphics on the seasonal flu and COVID-19 spread in New York.

Dissecting Laura Ingraham’s attempt to gin up a mystery around coronavirus in New York

From a rhetorical perspective, Ingraham needs to diminish the effect of the stay-at-home order to bolster the argument that we should quickly restore economic activity to normal levels.

“Remember, even when early on we were warned that this flu season was going to be particularly deadly, we didn’t pull kids from schools. Remember, we played those clips for you last night. People were warning about this is going to be one of the worst on record. But still, we didn’t require people to wear masks on planes or in grocery stores, and we didn’t decide to ruin our economy,” Ingraham said. “But then covid hit. And it was like this flu season we were hearing about [that was] going to be so horrific never even happened at all. The media never talked about it. And even our infectious-disease specialists didn’t really address it as time went on. Why? I think we need answers so we can move forward with a full understanding of what actually happened here and how deadly covid really was.”

This is, to put it bluntly, nonsense. While it is the case that we accept a certain number of flu cases and deaths that are preventable, we also have systems in place that already contain the flu’s spread. We have vaccinations. We have people with immunity. We should, in fact, wash our hands more during flu season than we do and be more careful about our own exposure. But because there are containment systems, that’s less urgent than it was for the coronavirus, for which no vaccine and no immunity existed when it arrived.

Does it really need to be said that COVID-19 is no worse than the flu?