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The Great Coronavirus War Is Upon Us
Townhall.com ^ | March 12, 2020 | Victor, Davis Hanson

Posted on 03/12/2020 4:41:18 AM PDT by Kaslin

Try this thought experiment. Envision the coronavirus, also known as COVID-19, as a living, breathing enemy -- which, of course, is exactly what it is.

But imagine for a moment that we are in real war with a cognizant, thinking and clever enemy whose sole reason to live is to hurt, maim or kill as many of us as it can.

COVID-19 may not have jets, tanks or nukes, like our past enemies. But its arsenal, numbers, cunning and willpower are said to be formidable.

To win its war against Americans, COVID-19 must infect and sicken lots of Americans each day. If it cannot infect enough victims to multiply and sustain a hungry army of viruses, COVID-19 will soon sputter and die. It will get trapped in just a few hosts among an otherwise victorious and healthy nation of about 330 million.

Nature has given COVID-19 some weapons that its defeated cousins -- the H1N1 swine flu and the MERS and SARS viruses -- lacked.

It is more clever by being less lethal -- and a little tougher in its ability to live outside a host. Viral resiliency ensures that it rarely turns into a suicide bomber by dying with a terminally sick host, and that it does not perish so quickly when orphaned in the air and on surfaces.

The coronavirus has allies. It infiltrates our defenses by using our own weapons against us -- our dirty hands, the habitual touching of the face, and indiscreet sneezing and coughing.

Poor personal and public hygiene gives the virus some sustenance and camouflage. To win -- defined as sickening or killing thousands of us -- COVID-19 counts on our laxity. It hates careful individuals who block its invasion into the eyes, nose and mouth.

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


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: bloggers; chinavirus; communityspread; coronavirus; covid19; hysterics; sarscov2; vdh; vdhchinavirus
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To: Travis McGee
That graph pretty much says it all.
81 posted on 03/12/2020 6:26:10 AM PDT by rdcbn ( Referentiai)
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To: AndyJackson

The fire is in the kitchen, the bedrooms and bathrooms and game room are fine.

We’ll be okay, we can always have Uber deliver meals...


82 posted on 03/12/2020 6:26:54 AM PDT by null and void (By the pricking of my lungs, Something wicked this way comes ...)
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To: NittanyLion

Like i said on another similar threads, there are so many, i don’t see why it takes 100 threads to get the word out.
I agree with the basic information.
That is try to avoid closed or confined spaces..wash your hand..especially the elderly or people with compromised immune systems...etc etc.
Being pro-active is wise.
Anything else, in my not so humble opinion,is scare mongering.
Besides, people didn’t heed the warning when it came to tens of millions of illegal occupiers flooding our towns and cities (many as i have said, have not been tested for anything let alone deadly viruses) ..why would they heed the warning over a little virus that has killed a few old people.
I am not saying “a few old people” but that’s what many people who don’t really care are thinking.


83 posted on 03/12/2020 6:30:10 AM PDT by Leep (Everyday is Trump Day!)
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To: dp0622

Wounded soldiers are a huge burden for an army - sick elderly needing ICU care are a similar burden for hospitals with this outbreak, if Italy is any indication


84 posted on 03/12/2020 6:32:06 AM PDT by dirtboy
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To: bert

So there will be some benefits to it after all.


85 posted on 03/12/2020 6:36:56 AM PDT by FLT-bird
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To: AndyJackson
Excellent perspective. For your consideration, here's where I stand:

Although I'm in my early 70s, I am far, far more concerned with the fear and outright panic that's going on throughout our country than with what I am incessantly bombarded with about this new flu virus. I mean, it's like "climate change"on steriods. Get a grip people!

If you practice good hygiene -- alright, "enhanced" hygiene -- and keep yourself in good health and be extra cautious around people who are coughing and sneezing (that is, who look and act like they have a cold or the flu) -- things you should normally be doing anyway! -- you'll very, very, very likely get through this disease just fine. And if you are exposed (that is, you "test positive"), and then if you do happen to get sick, chances are excellent that you won't die, especially if you're under 80.

Despite all the breathless reporting by the fear-obsessed media and by so, so very many "experts", the incessant reporting of how many people are dying (in contrast to how many people recover as they do from the "regular" flu), and the truly over-the-top reactions of so many people and organizations which have been deliberately scared half to death, this virus is not a death-sentence for everyone one who may get sick from it. For God's sake -- if not for the sake of you and for your family -- be cautious, be vigilant but maintain a little perspective here.

A 30-day moratorium on travel and events may be a good idea on a national and international scale, but a 30-day break (or even a one-week break) from the media's outright panic at this point would seem to be a fine idea on a personal level.

Some of the people I've discussed this with have dismissed me as being a "denier" -- a "virus denier" I presume (sound familiar?) Well, I'm not. Just like with so many other hysterias over the decades, I accept that the corona virus is real and that it can make you sick -- I don't "deny" that at all. But I do not believe (and thus, "deny") that the threat posed by this virus to the world's population is anywhere near as bad as so many of my fellow citizens have been scared into believing it is. Buck up, folks. This will run its course and we'll get through this.

I care about people and I care about their health and well-being. So while the virus is a threat to health, so stress-induced panic is to well-being. Cheers!

86 posted on 03/12/2020 6:37:13 AM PDT by glennaro
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To: Travis McGee
But we can beat Italy!!!

We did in WWII, after all!

Let's have Hawaiian judges block travel bans!

Let's have California bureaucrats refuse to put quarantines in place!

Let's give sanctuary in hundreds of US locations to anyone who can hack and cough their way across any border!

Let's insist no child will ever die because of this!

Let's bring the snotty nosed little ones to visit granny in every retirement home full of useless eaters!

WE CAN DO THIS PEOPLE!

87 posted on 03/12/2020 6:40:22 AM PDT by null and void (By the pricking of my lungs, Something wicked this way comes ...)
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To: rdcbn
Excellent, incisive comment.

As to Russia and Saudi being able to endure the pain of low oil prices, it was reported earlier this week (I heard it on Fox Biz) that they have both built up war chests of about $500b each.

As to how long Russia and Saudi can endure the low prices, there's this (from the source linked above)...

Moscow said on Monday it could withstand oil prices of $25-$30 per barrel for 6-10 years. Riyadh, meanwhile, can afford oil at $30 a barrel, but would have to sell more crude to soften the hit to its revenue, according to sources familiar with the matter.
It looks like these two oil suppliers have been preparing for this.

This is an act of war BTW.

88 posted on 03/12/2020 6:42:18 AM PDT by RoosterRedux
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To: Kaslin

Too many slobs in society don’t wash their hands after taking a crap. Then they go and touch everything.


89 posted on 03/12/2020 6:42:42 AM PDT by Old Yeller (Auto-correct has become my worst enema.)
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To: null and void

Yeah, it’s all a big joke. (Eye roll.)


90 posted on 03/12/2020 6:43:03 AM PDT by Travis McGee (EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com)
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To: Governor Dinwiddie

Exactly. The wuhan virus is spreading quickly in Germany. Germany, in square miles, is about the size of Montana. But, the population of Germany is 83,700,000 or approximately 3x the population of Texas. That’s high density, really packing them in.


91 posted on 03/12/2020 6:43:18 AM PDT by Oorang (Tyranny thrives where government need not fear the wrath of an armed people - Alex Kozinski)
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To: Kaslin

Has anyone heard anything out of India? That nasty shithole will be obliterated if the virus takes hold there.


92 posted on 03/12/2020 6:43:55 AM PDT by Old Yeller (Auto-correct has become my worst enema.)
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To: dp0622

If you’re looking at it from a bioweapon standpoint.

It’s better to have a smaller caliber weapon that doesn’t kill its target but instead takes the target and several OTHER people out of the battle to take care of the target.

If your ICU’s are overflowing, you’re not really able to mount any sort of military defense. Or offense either. How old are you flag officers and are they in the ICU?

etc.


93 posted on 03/12/2020 6:44:38 AM PDT by Black Agnes
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To: Maris Crane

Yes. Imagine trying to educate low-IQ hood rats.


94 posted on 03/12/2020 6:45:15 AM PDT by Travis McGee (EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com)
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To: Elsie
Try this thought experiment. Envision abortion, also known as CHOICE, as a living, breathing enemy -- which, of course, is exactly what it is.

It is going kill about 3,000 today; just in the USA.

And they refuse to reject their Baal worship.:(

95 posted on 03/12/2020 6:45:53 AM PDT by 444Flyer (John 3, Revelation 20, Joshua 24:15, 1 Kings 18:16-39, Pick a side...)
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To: Georgia Girl 2; Elsie; AndyJackson

Q from Elsie:

Shouldn’t the size of the country’s population be taken into account?

A from AJ: No! That is the point of exponential increases. The important number is the number of newly infected / day divided by the number of presently infected. If it doubles every three days, it doesn’t matter where you start. Soon most of your population will have been infected. The difference between infecting all of Italy and all of the US is about 1/2 of a week.

By plotting the numbers on a log graph you can determine the alpha for each country and as Travis’s plot shows it is pretty much the same country to country.

Now, if you were to show plots for Taiwan or Singapore or China you would see very different patterns because they have broken the chain of multiplication through effective public health measures.

14 posted on 3/12/2020, 7:58:05 AM by AndyJackson


96 posted on 03/12/2020 6:47:04 AM PDT by Travis McGee (EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com)
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To: Travis McGee

What about reduced effectiveness of our armed forces if it spreads through army bases? I put nothing past the chicomms in their planning. They are furious at the thought of us pulling out of their slave labor country and at not getting full electronic surveillance control over the rest of the world via 5G


97 posted on 03/12/2020 6:49:09 AM PDT by boxlunch (Pray for President Trump! Break up the Demomafia/LyinÂ’media/Deep State Axis of Disinformation.)
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To: hardspunned
Where are all of the smuggled out videos from China the last two weeks?

If you think google and youtube don't censor bad news from China (or anything else, for that matter) would you like to buy a bridge?

98 posted on 03/12/2020 6:49:10 AM PDT by null and void (By the pricking of my lungs, Something wicked this way comes ...)
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To: tinamina

WILL CHINA WIN THE PANDEMIC WORLD WAR?
Posted by Matt Bracken | Feb 26, 2020

https://www.americanpartisan.org/2020/02/will-china-win-the-pandemic-world-war/


99 posted on 03/12/2020 6:49:17 AM PDT by Travis McGee (EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com)
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To: glennaro

Climate change is, at worst, moving at a glacial speed.

Coronavirus is an out of control train coming down the track.

It’s already flattened Italy and it’s on its way here, and folks are still not getting it.

Please see 61. It’s about education while there is time, not spreading panic.


100 posted on 03/12/2020 6:51:55 AM PDT by Travis McGee (EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com)
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