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Dave W.
Info Junkie

USA
26020 Posts

Posted - 04/26/2020 :  17:36:56  Show Profile  Visit Dave W.'s Homepage Send Dave W. a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Today, April 26th, 2020, the number of people who've died from COVID-19, the illness caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, surpassed the number of people who died from automobile accidents in 1972, 54,589.

Let me put that a different way: never in the entire automotive history of the U.S.A. have as many people died on public roads over an entire single year than have died from COVID-19 in the past 80 days.

I really dislike the term "social distancing" (not least because we're actually practicing physical distancing - some people are having just as active social lives via Zoom and Facebook as they always have), but social distancing is analogous to having an anti-lock brake system (ABS) on your car: ABS helps you not have a fender-bender in the first place, just like 6-foot distancing and face masks help you to not become infected.

Since 1972, mandatory ABS, seat-belts, drunk-driving laws, air bags, etc. have massively dropped the annual number of fatalities on our highways, while the total miles traveled per year since then has nearly tripled and our population has increased by over 55%. Exceedingly few people argue against seat-belt laws or mandatory safety inspections; those who do tend to be seen (rightly) as cranks.

I hope that everyone who reads this also sees premature calls to eliminate distancing, masking, or limits on gatherings as crankish. Generally, those calls are being made for the sake of "freedom," but people: you're still free to go seek out folks with active COVID-19 and try to get them to cough in your unprotected face. Have fun. You can't make the rest of us come with you.

- Dave W. (Private Msg, EMail)
Evidently, I rock!
Why not question something for a change?
Visit Dave's Psoriasis Info, too.

Dave W.
Info Junkie

USA
26020 Posts

Posted - 04/27/2020 :  21:12:31   [Permalink]  Show Profile  Visit Dave W.'s Homepage Send Dave W. a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Holy crap, this comes from the National Catholic Reporter:
The question for the church in the United States is whether we will come out of this austere moment able to admit the role Catholics and their leaders played in electing and enabling a man who, far from being pro-life, has proven himself a distinct danger to life on several levels.

...

This awful moment has laid bare the high cost to the U.S. church of 30 years or more of accommodation to a culture of political expediency and an attempt to diminish the community of faith's responsibility to the common good. Single-issue voting relieved too many of us of the responsibility to engage deeper political and historical realities. The questions we're left with are urgent.

The reckoning is upon us.
What's next, the Pope saying, "boy, we really screwed up!"?

- Dave W. (Private Msg, EMail)
Evidently, I rock!
Why not question something for a change?
Visit Dave's Psoriasis Info, too.
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Dave W.
Info Junkie

USA
26020 Posts

Posted - 04/28/2020 :  23:38:27   [Permalink]  Show Profile  Visit Dave W.'s Homepage Send Dave W. a Private Message  Reply with Quote
On April 28th, the death toll from COVID-19 in the US surpassed, in just 83 days, the number of Americans killed during the ten years of the Vietnam War.

- Dave W. (Private Msg, EMail)
Evidently, I rock!
Why not question something for a change?
Visit Dave's Psoriasis Info, too.
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Dave W.
Info Junkie

USA
26020 Posts

Posted - 04/29/2020 :  20:24:35   [Permalink]  Show Profile  Visit Dave W.'s Homepage Send Dave W. a Private Message  Reply with Quote
On April 29, 2020, the number of dead from COVID-19 surpassed the estimate for the 2017-2018 flu season, meaning if COVID-19 were the flu, we would be in the midst of the worst flu season for which we have good records (going back to 1976). So for anyone saying, "this isn't as bad as the flu," I have news for you: yes it is.

And it hasn't stopped killing people yet. In the last 84 days, SARS-CoV-2 has killed more people than seasonal influenza ever has in a single entire recorded flu season (generally October through May, call it 240 days, almost three times longer than COVID-19 has been killing Americans), and while the death rate has slowed recently, it ain't zero.

And that's the modicum of good news: the ratio of COVID-19 deaths to total resolved cases has dropped to 29%, a much better number than the 37% it was just 12 days ago.

But here's the real kicker: COVID-19 has been this deadly even with all the "social distancing" and hand washing and work-from-home stuff we're doing. Imagine how bad it would have been by now had we treated it like just another flu season.

Before this, I had no problems wearing a mask at work if I were sick. I didn't want to spread it to my coworkers if I had to be at work. But cultures differ: in Japan, mask-wearing is normal for people who feel sick. Any sickness. It's been that way for decades. Here, not so much. Wearing a mask in public was culturally frowned upon because it would scare other people. Well, hell yeah: I want them to know that I'm feeling peaked and they should stay away from me. But apparently a lot of other people think that scaring people when there is a real threat is somehow a bad thing.

If there's a silver lining to COVID-19, I hope it's that the American cultural response to mask-wearing changes. There's more evidence for masks reducing infections than there is for zinc or vitamin C reducing recovery times, and masks - especially simple, washable fabric masks - are cheaper than either of those snake-oil nostrums.

Given that my wife is immunocompromised, I've recently realized that I should have been wearing a mask (and being better about hand-washing) for the last 28 years. Nothing I've passed on to her has killed her yet, but in the future, I see wearing a mask in any store or office as my new normal.

Yes, masks aren't 100% preventative, but they're better than nothing. And masks are both vastly cheaper and more convenient than even a common cold. The cost-to-benefit calculation is obvious to me, now.

Oh, and "I don't shake hands" should be everyone's new normal, too.

- Dave W. (Private Msg, EMail)
Evidently, I rock!
Why not question something for a change?
Visit Dave's Psoriasis Info, too.
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Dave W.
Info Junkie

USA
26020 Posts

Posted - 05/01/2020 :  17:47:08   [Permalink]  Show Profile  Visit Dave W.'s Homepage Send Dave W. a Private Message  Reply with Quote
For the binary-inclined, we surpassed 216 deaths from COVID-19 in the US today.

- Dave W. (Private Msg, EMail)
Evidently, I rock!
Why not question something for a change?
Visit Dave's Psoriasis Info, too.
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Dave W.
Info Junkie

USA
26020 Posts

Posted - 05/09/2020 :  20:51:09   [Permalink]  Show Profile  Visit Dave W.'s Homepage Send Dave W. a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Plandemic looks to be utter garbage.

- Dave W. (Private Msg, EMail)
Evidently, I rock!
Why not question something for a change?
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moakley
SFN Regular

USA
1888 Posts

Posted - 05/11/2020 :  19:59:47   [Permalink]  Show Profile Send moakley a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Originally posted by Dave W.

Plandemic looks to be utter garbage.
read one review that I believe could be summarized as, “Just another anti-vaxer turd, but at least it is a well polished turd.”

Life is good

Philosophy is questions that may never be answered. Religion is answers that may never be questioned. -Anonymous
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Dave W.
Info Junkie

USA
26020 Posts

Posted - 05/11/2020 :  20:15:54   [Permalink]  Show Profile  Visit Dave W.'s Homepage Send Dave W. a Private Message  Reply with Quote
More about Plandemic. A well-polished turd, indeed.

- Dave W. (Private Msg, EMail)
Evidently, I rock!
Why not question something for a change?
Visit Dave's Psoriasis Info, too.
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Dave W.
Info Junkie

USA
26020 Posts

Posted - 05/23/2020 :  19:53:12   [Permalink]  Show Profile  Visit Dave W.'s Homepage Send Dave W. a Private Message  Reply with Quote
"What do you get for pretending the danger's not real?" - Pink Floyd, Sheep, 1977.

- Dave W. (Private Msg, EMail)
Evidently, I rock!
Why not question something for a change?
Visit Dave's Psoriasis Info, too.
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Dr. Mabuse
Septic Fiend

Sweden
9687 Posts

Posted - 07/26/2020 :  03:58:44   [Permalink]  Show Profile  Send Dr. Mabuse an ICQ Message Send Dr. Mabuse a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Last week, Sweden had its first day without any recorded fatalities due to Covid-19. If this trend keeps, we'll finish this pandemic just under 6000 deaths in total with a population of 10 million.

A slightly higher number than it should have been, as right wing parties of Sweden have insistently worked on cutting down on staff for elderly care, and civil emergency response depots. Having elder care running anaemic on staff forced a lot of caregivers to circulate between different workplaces, and thus spreading around infection. Also, moving patients around unnecessarily because of being understaffed also caused more spread than necessary.
Mistakes were made here too, and I blame market economy preachers.

Dr. Mabuse - "When the going gets tough, the tough get Duct-tape..."
Dr. Mabuse whisper.mp3

"Equivocation is not just a job, for a creationist it's a way of life..." Dr. Mabuse

Support American Troops in Iraq:
Send them unarmed civilians for target practice..
Collateralmurder.
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On fire for Christ
SFN Regular

Norway
1273 Posts

Posted - 09/12/2020 :  07:17:42   [Permalink]  Show Profile Send On fire for Christ a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Sweden completely fucked the dog, their arrogant approach cost lives.

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Dr. Mabuse
Septic Fiend

Sweden
9687 Posts

Posted - 09/12/2020 :  07:38:24   [Permalink]  Show Profile  Send Dr. Mabuse an ICQ Message Send Dr. Mabuse a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Originally posted by On fire for Christ

Sweden completely fucked the dog, their arrogant approach cost lives.

HAHA... LOOK WHO's TALKING!

For the last month, death toll in Sweden has consistently stayed below 10 per day with a population ~10 million. That's less than one ppm per day. Where's USA at?

In the meanwhile, American christians are flocking to the churches like the plague-rats they are.

Dr. Mabuse - "When the going gets tough, the tough get Duct-tape..."
Dr. Mabuse whisper.mp3

"Equivocation is not just a job, for a creationist it's a way of life..." Dr. Mabuse

Support American Troops in Iraq:
Send them unarmed civilians for target practice..
Collateralmurder.
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MagicMissy
Banned

Philippines
45 Posts

Posted - 09/22/2020 :  00:15:32   [Permalink]  Show Profile Send MagicMissy a Private Message  Reply with Quote
how far is the plandemic???

MagicMissy
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farrowpledge
Banned

25 Posts

Posted - 09/29/2020 :  10:00:00   [Permalink]  Show Profile Send farrowpledge a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Surely, this is not the first time this happened to us. But the fact that it's broadcasted everywhere created so much anxiety and fear.
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