Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

No, We're Not About to See 'Contagion' Come True
Film School Rejects ^ | 01/21/2020 | Ciara Wardlow

Posted on 02/01/2020 5:10:17 PM PST by BenLurkin

The thing about R0 values is that they are averages. And to explain why that makes a difference, we need to talk about Coronaviruses. Before 2019-nCoV, the most notorious Coronaviruses were MERS and SARS. MERS, or Middle East respiratory syndrome, has had several small outbreaks since it was first discovered in 2012, and while very severe in terms of mortality (the case fatality rate is around 30 to 40 percent), the virus’s R0 is very low.

And then there’s SARS. Because while SARS, or Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, caused a huge uproar in its heyday of 2002-3, good old fashioned quarantining ultimately went a long way, and the virus is now considered functionally extinct.

While you’d have a better chance of surviving SARS than MERS (the case fatality rate of the latter was somewhere between 9 and 16 percent) it was considerably more adept at spreading person-to-person. At least, kinda. The weird thing about SARS was it displayed a pattern of “super-spreaders” — a select group of individuals, for reasons scientists don’t fully understand, were incredibly contagious.

Most people infected with SARS did not infect anybody; a select bunch infected dozens. At least one super-spreader infected over 100. It’s a weird quirk, but not unheard of. So the original projected R0 for SARS was between 2 and 4, and everybody panicked. One research team that later went back and factored out super-spreaders found that in their absence the R0 was more like 0.4, so containing SARS proved to be a matter of identifying and isolating super-spreaders as quickly as possible, which is a far more manageable task than a scenario where R0 is around 2 and all infected individuals prove more or less equally contagious — the maximum difficulty scenario that Contagion runs with.

(Excerpt) Read more at filmschoolrejects.com ...


TOPICS: Health/Medicine; Science; TV/Movies
KEYWORDS: 2019ncov; arenotaretoo; contagion; coronavirus; gaslight; rnaught; superspreaders
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-48 next last
To: BenLurkin

She obviously knows a lot more than that dumb Chinese govt with its draconian ongoing containment efforts


21 posted on 02/01/2020 6:51:25 PM PST by silverleaf (Remember kids: You can vote your way into communism, but you have to shoot your way out!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: datura

Govt is now warning that sewage must be sterilized


22 posted on 02/01/2020 6:52:44 PM PST by silverleaf (Remember kids: You can vote your way into communism, but you have to shoot your way out!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]

To: hardspunned

Mask. Goggles. Rubber Gloves.

Such a minimal investment covers serious risk.


23 posted on 02/01/2020 6:53:25 PM PST by TheNext (Peaceful Victory)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: E. Pluribus Unum

Its an artificially manipulated coronavirus, not something that naturally evolved. The inserted HIV genes are a giveaway.
If nothing else watch the 4 minutes starting at 37:00
https://youtu.be/UeR9i4BNTTY


24 posted on 02/01/2020 6:58:31 PM PST by silverleaf (Remember kids: You can vote your way into communism, but you have to shoot your way out!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 19 | View Replies]

To: E. Pluribus Unum
80,000 Americans died of the flu last year.

It’s just another flu.

80,000 out of 49 million died. For this flu, depending on the mortality rate you chose, let's use the current world wide rate, it would be 1,027,000 dead. If you used the Hubei province rate, it would be 1,588,000 dead. It's not just another flu.

25 posted on 02/01/2020 7:10:04 PM PST by IndispensableDestiny
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 19 | View Replies]

To: IndispensableDestiny

Or not. I can pull numbers out of my Obamahole just like you.


26 posted on 02/01/2020 7:39:14 PM PST by E. Pluribus Unum (Democrats only believe in democracy when they win the election.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 25 | View Replies]

To: E. Pluribus Unum
Or not. I can pull numbers out of my Obamahole just like you.

I choose to call it arithmetic.

27 posted on 02/01/2020 7:44:59 PM PST by IndispensableDestiny
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 26 | View Replies]

To: E. Pluribus Unum

SARS is gonna kill us all!
We’re all gonna die from Ebola!
Swine flu is gonna kill us!
Bird flu is gonna kill us!
Corona virus is coming for us!

So far most of us have managed to survive.


28 posted on 02/01/2020 7:54:14 PM PST by hirn_man
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 19 | View Replies]

To: hirn_man

Ebola is gonna kill us all!! The media LOVES hysteria!! Hurricanes are gonna kill us all EVACUATE, EVACUATE!!!


29 posted on 02/01/2020 7:56:11 PM PST by Trump Girl Kit Cat (Yosemite Sam raising hell)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 28 | View Replies]

To: IndispensableDestiny

You’re just one of those people who likes to pretend they know everything.


30 posted on 02/01/2020 7:57:18 PM PST by E. Pluribus Unum (Democrats only believe in democracy when they win the election.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 27 | View Replies]

To: DownInFlames

Anonymous sources are the most reliable sources. </sarcasm>


31 posted on 02/01/2020 7:58:50 PM PST by E. Pluribus Unum (Democrats only believe in democracy when they win the election.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 20 | View Replies]

To: E. Pluribus Unum
You’re just one of those people who likes to pretend they know everything.

At this point, the people saying "It's just another flu!" are no different than those saying "We're all going to die!" None of us knows enough about what this thing is or what it is capable of even to have an educated opinion on the subject.

I'm just kicking back and waiting to see if anyone rises from the dead. 'Cause there's damn sure no more room in hell (except maybe for Hillary - she's had a longtime reservation).
32 posted on 02/01/2020 8:07:48 PM PST by fr_freak
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 30 | View Replies]

To: fr_freak

Have to manufacture a crisis to have one to exploit, don’t ya?

None of the gaslight media’s frenzies have come true. That’s a lot of data right there.

But you just keep hoping there Butch. It’s what you’re good at.


33 posted on 02/01/2020 10:04:26 PM PST by E. Pluribus Unum (Democrats only believe in democracy when they win the election.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 32 | View Replies]

To: IndispensableDestiny
Colloidal silver kills all viruses 🦠
34 posted on 02/01/2020 10:07:57 PM PST by Truthoverpower (The guv mint you get is the Trump winning express !)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 25 | View Replies]

To: BenLurkin

I guess Everybody should Wang Chung Tonight.. for Tomorrow May Never Come.


35 posted on 02/02/2020 3:37:52 AM PST by DivineMomentsOfTruth ("There is but one straight course, and that is to seek truth and pursue it steadily." -GW)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Trump Girl Kit Cat

The thing is look how China has reacted. Have we ever seen them shut down entire cities? Something is up. Not going to freakout though. Common sense, Faith and Prayer.


36 posted on 02/02/2020 3:47:40 AM PST by DivineMomentsOfTruth ("There is but one straight course, and that is to seek truth and pursue it steadily." -GW)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 29 | View Replies]

To: 11th_VA

I like that analogy!

I seem to recall that rattlesnake deaths in the USA are less than lightening deaths.

I did a job in Taiwan. Read up on the snakes - some nasty critters. (”two-step Black Mamba”).

The local engineers thought I was nuts going into the jungle. They wouldn’t go off the road. The local crew seemed to have no worries. I did use a long stick to tap the ground ahead of me. And I had snake proof gators on. (Yes - the local crew gave me a hard time over that!)

Hmm - perhaps another analogy. Prepare the best that you can, take the necessary precautions, but carry on.


37 posted on 02/02/2020 3:59:03 AM PST by 21twelve (Ever Vigilant. Never Fearful.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: 21twelve

When were black mambas introduced to Taiwan?


38 posted on 02/02/2020 4:06:23 AM PST by HartleyMBaldwin
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 37 | View Replies]

To: HartleyMBaldwin

I was going off my failing memory of 20 years ago. Looking on the net, I’m guessing a Black Mamba didn’t swim from Africa to Taiwan! (BTW - never did see a snake there!)

From the nets:

Banded Krait

This colourful snake from South East Asia has a very potent neurotoxic venom. During the Vietnam War US soldiers referred to this snake as ” two step’” meaning if bitten you would walk two steps before dying. Us soldiers also referred to the Banded Krait as the ” cigarette snake” meaning you would die in the time it took to smoke a cigarette. Both these names are over-exaggerations.


39 posted on 02/02/2020 4:20:34 AM PST by 21twelve (Ever Vigilant. Never Fearful.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 38 | View Replies]

To: 21twelve

Kraits are nasty, too. When my brother was in India many years ago, his guide prevented him from stepping on one.

Glad you didn’t have to deal with any. Snakes never seem to be around when you’re watching out for them, anyway. I live in Arizona and hike and hunt quite a bit, but I very seldom see rattlesnakes.


40 posted on 02/02/2020 4:36:08 AM PST by HartleyMBaldwin
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 39 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-48 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson