Posted on 03/03/2020 7:20:23 PM PST by DouglasKC
A part of me wants to crap the pants, especially when I read the growing numbers of cases and deaths.
The other part of me plans on how to bunker down if and when it hits my community. We are steadily increasing food supplies and preaching to my wife and daughter daily about hand washing and taking multivitamins.
I’m 90% no go on a trip to DC later this month. If things are still quiet around here, may just stay around the house or go to the lake
I’m thinking to myself, when was the last time things were normal?
There’s a website called “Not Always Right” where people post stories about crazy, funny, or just plain stupid customers. You would not believe the number of stories in which a building catches fire, and people insist on staying and finishing their shopping. Or they walk right past the firetrucks and step over the hoses, with people shouting at them to stay back, because they can’t comprehend that the store is ON FIRE!!!
I’ve seen normalcy bias in action on occasion. It’s always a little freaky when you shout instructions at somebody, and they just stare at you dumbly like you’re speaking gibberish. If the instruction is something like “stay back!”, they’ll walk right into the disaster, while still staring at you.
Coronavirus is the same as anthropogenic global climate change...just sped up about 1,000 times.
I remember when my wife was driving a truck, pretty far ahead of us dropped a mattress. My wife kept humming along, as in a trance, while the mattress did its dance before settling down. Finally I yelled “slow down”. No accident, but it is a pretty normal reaction on her part.
The conditioned reaction, which I’ve pretty well trained myself, is to hit the brakes as early as possible, even when there’s a lot of room ahead. The way I see it, I can always speed up later, once I’ve got the situation figured out.
I'm not worried about getting the disease. Doing what you are...prepared and washing hands. If we get it we get it but odds are that we'll be okay. Even if we get it we're at peace with God.
The big problem and the one governments fear is the collapse of the healthcare system. We already have a shortage of doctors and nurses. If it becomes really widespread hospitals and doctors are going to be overwhelmed. Those not in there for corona are in weakened states and will catch corona and once that's gone the true death toll...what happens without treatment.
That will end up costing trillions.
“Interesting article that explains the reaction by both sides to the unfolding saga of the corona virus. 70% will refuse to see disasters as disasters until it’s too late.”
It does seem that way. By the time they figure out that they need toilet paper, for example, they’ll find themselves limited to one package at Costco, and will wind up having to drive to 4 of them just to get a half-decent supply - and that even assumes that Costco even allows that, since they can easily set a limit of, say, one package per week, per membership. Want two packages - then open a new membership. LOL.
The other thing they’ll find is why many of us chose to prepare PRIOR to the chaos...which is that we’d much rather NOT have to stand in line after line for things, with people who may or may not be healthy.
So it’s time to panic?
“I don’t know. I think it’s the perfect example. When I saw all of the extreme unprecedented measures that every country on earth has taken to stop or slow this I assumed that the alternate would be disaster. The alternate being that it spreads. “
The normalcy bias here is thinking that this virus will simply ‘blow over’ the United States because we have big oceans on both sides (reminds me of 1941), or that millions of empty shipping containers won’t start to affect what’s in our stores, or whether parts remain available for our cars, or meds remain available, etc.
“So it’s time to panic?”
I’m planning to panic a week from Tuesday, but everyone can make their choice as they see fit.
That’s a bit extreme. People aren’t turning into zombies and overtaking the world — that might be construed as a disaster. This isn’t a plane crash or a tornado or a blitz military invasion. We’re talking about a mild contagion.
The 2-percent mortality figure is tossed around, but nobody has any idea how many people have actually been infected. Many people may be asymptomatic or have only mild signs for a few days and never be entered in the statistics. Immune-compromised people who acquire this infection or any other will always be more susceptible to poor outcomes.
I don’t see any reason, on evidence-based science and experience, to panic and spread unhelpful fear in the population at large. It’s being taken seriously. Panicking won’t help and it won’t stop the transmission of the virus. Washing your hands and not coughing on people would help a lot, though.
Exactly. It's going to happen. It's happened everywhere else the virus hit. It doesn't take a genius to figure it out. If everyone prepared early there would be no panic. Instead we have people telling us it's stupid to prepare because the ship isn't sinking!
LOL! OK I might panic Saturday, depending on how warm it is this weekend.
“LOL! OK I might panic Saturday, depending on how warm it is this weekend.”
Come to think of it, I have to work a week from Tuesday, but this Saturday I might be free. Perhaps that’s a better time for me to panic?
This is exactly what I'm talking about. The actions of every government of the world show that they do not consider this a "mild contagion". They are combatting it as if it's a threat to their country. This includes our own government who are having an unprecedented response to it. There have been and still are mass quarantines in every country where it has struck. Schools and businesses have been closed in every country where it has struck. In short EVERY country on the face of the earth is doing everything they possibly can to slow or stop its spread.
And yet many look at these CLEAR warning signs and react EXACTLY like below:
"It can result in the inability of people to cope with a disaster once it occurs. People with a normalcy bias have difficulties reacting to something they have not experienced before. They also tend to interpret warnings in the most optimistic way possible, seizing on any ambiguities to infer a less serious situation. "
Almost NOBODY has experienced this before. Therefore it's 100% certain that there is normalcy bias present. The warnings are there but people will minimize them by saying "it only affects asians. It only affects 3rd world countries. It only affects the really sick. It only affects smokers. etc etc." It is the text book examples of looking at warnings in the most optimistic ways possible.
So seriously, I’m not getting wound up about this. It seems like the flu, you don’t want it but unless you are older and have health issues I don’t see any reason to panic. I avoid crowds any way. Maybe I’ll to off my supplies a little.
Far worse are those that are complacent AND seek to make others complacent as well. Blood on their hands.
IOWs "freaking out" is the appropriate reaction. I think they teach that to the SEALs in BUD/S.
No, they said 10-15% freak out, another 10-15% do correct action, and the big normalcy bias middle sometimes impede the act appropriately crowd.
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