This is a cold! Is Western Civilization going to collapse over this?

A variation on the theme of the cold -- a cold with an attitude. Is Western civilization going to collapse over a cold?

As Newsweek stated a few months earlier:

[A] cold can also have more severe symptoms in the very young and the very old. Older people are more likely to develop a more serious infection compared with adults or older children. And people who smoke -- or who are exposed to second-hand smoke -- are also more likely to get a cold and have more severe symptoms.

Another group of people who are more severely affected by infection with cold-causing viruses are people with an existing lung condition. They can include people with asthma, cystic fibrosis or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Infection with a virus that causes inflammation of the airways can make breathing much harder. People with COPD who catch a mild cold virus are also at risk of developing a bacterial infection. – Newsweek, “Why the Common Cold can Sometimes be Deadly”

That is what we are experiencing.

Is the death rate from the coronavirus higher in the very old? So is the death rate from colds (see above). Yet, we see that many people are asymptomatic.

The biggest breakdown yet of novel coronavirus cases suggests that 80% are mild. Some patients never show symptoms. -- Business Insider

Many do not show symptoms?! Of course not! Everyone has had colds in their lives, and we acquire immunity from them. Those who have already had colds from similar strains of coronavirus will have acquired a degree of immunity. Hence, the rather high 80% of people who do not show serious symptoms.

Coronaviruses are an extremely common cause of colds and other upper respiratory infections. -- Harvard Health

For those times when being a "it's just the flu, bro!" simply isn't enough denial...

Bring Out Your Dead

Post to me or FReep mail to be on/off the Bring Out Your Dead ping list.

The purpose of the “Bring Out Your Dead” ping list (formerly the “Ebola” ping list) is very early warning of emerging pandemics, as such it has a high false positive rate.

The false positive rate was 100%.

At some point we may well have a high mortality pandemic, and likely as not the “Bring Out Your Dead” threads will miss the beginning entirely.

*sigh* Such is life, and death...

If a quarantine saves just one child's or one old fart’s life, it's worth it.

There are over 200 viruses that cause the common cold, most commonly these:

Rhinovirus. Cause 10%-40% of colds. You’ll feel plenty miserable when you catch one, but they rarely make you seriously sick. Most active in early fall, spring, and summer.

Coronavirus. Cause 20% of colds. These tend to do their dirty work in the winter and early spring. There are more than 30 kinds, but only three or four affect people.

RSV and parainfluenza. Cause 20% of colds. They sometimes lead to severe infections, like pneumonia, in young children.

Other viruses. Cause 10%-15% of adult colds. These viruses are also responsible for other, more severe respiratory illnesses.

I have been saying to my wife lately that everyone is counting raindrops.

My primary point was: If the guy sitting next to you are work was infecting everyone, would you still sit next to them?

Most everyone would obviously distance themselves. No one wants to get sick. We are not normally concerned with dying...and we shouldn’t be now.

What seems to be pissing off everyone is being told what to do. What you would probably do without being told.

It’s not a panic inducing concept. It’s not dismissive either. It’s right down the middle. Just do what is normal and natural.

No Mike, (not you, Seek), this is not a cold nor is it the flu.

Frankly, it's a bioweapon. A weapon, that is, used as an extension of politics by other means.

As a tactical/personal thing, the symptoms are severe, even for those who are going to recover from it, either with or without medication.

(I'd rather not say how I know this, just please trust me that it has to do with real people in the real world.) That's why it's been reclassified as a SARS (SEVERE ACUTE Respiratory Syndrome) virus, but please note that I prefer Trump's colloquialism for it, CHINA flu.

For the last three years, China's been getting their butt kicked in the trade/monetary war with us. They've been hoping for StormyStormyStormy, RussiaRussiaRussia, etc, to take Trump down but they just got to the point where they just decided to play their Ace in the hole...

Problem is, we're able to talk about it here but Trump can't come out and call it what it is without moving towards a shooting war. Which would blow; we'd lose some people and maybe some ships and aircraft and China could escalate by moving on Taiwan and the whole thing would get out of control... Insert Fred Thompson meme here... It would also mess up our economy which would be what China wants right now.

They want to get Trump as much as the Democrats, the media, and yes the RINOs do.

To describe it as just a hifalutin' cold is macho oversimplification and not much more, Mike.

Science is the belief in the ignorance of experts.

When someone says, “Science teaches such and such,” he is using the word incorrectly. Science doesn’t teach anything; experience teaches it. If they say to you, “Science has shown such and such,” you might ask, “How does science show it? How did the scientists find out? How? What? Where?”

It should not be “science has shown” but “this experiment, this effect, has shown.” And you have as much right as anyone else, upon hearing about the experiments–but be patient and listen to all the evidence–to judge whether a sensible conclusion has been arrived at.

-What Is Science?, by Richard Feynman (one of the top 2 or 3 physicists of the 20th century)

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