Posts by wiredfalcon2

urbanhawk17 said:you're claiming it kills 30 times more.

You said you weren't even down for the debate 🤷

Michelle Palmer6 said:But honestly, it doesn't even matter; I seriously doubt a single "cure" is going to fix this whole situation. In the best-case scenario, a cure would only be developed after most countries have already weathered the worst of it. This thing will likely just run its natural course, which is exactly what all these interventions are trying to mitigate by flattening the curve. Maybe in the end, all this won't even make a massive dent—who knows? The experts say it's worth the effort, though. That’s actually part of why this is so dangerous: it’s unknown, it’s new, and nobody has built up immunity yet. And once immunity does develop for Coronaviruses, it isn't exactly a quick process either. We don't even know the exact infectivity or prevalence because so many people are asymptomatic, spreading the infection without even realizing they're sick. It carries a heavy mortality rate. It’s not some movie virus that wipes out half the world and turns everyone into zombies, but it definitely kills, both in older populations and in those in their prime without major comorbidities (if I recall correctly, one report suggested about 20% of total deaths in the US were in the 25-50 age range). This isn't just a slightly nasty flu. Even if it were, remember the Spanish Flu? It took 18 million lives in its wake, regardless of the medical capacity or conditions back then.
A cure might not even be super effective, but the pandemic will pass, and the vaccines for this and similar Coronaviruses will likely be developed due to all this massive chaos and hyper-research, protecting us from future waves.

Okay.
Congrats, you won an argument that wasn't even happening! 🤷

🤷

Look, this wasn't some big debate and I’m not trying to walk away with a trophy. I'm just pointing out how this virus actually differs from the usual stuff we deal with. Some people—even on this thread—keep acting like this thing isn't a big deal. I'm not saying it's the worst thing to ever hit the planet, but it's definitely not just some mild flu where you cough once and move on with your day.

Michelle Palmer6 said:There are actually medications out there that work quite effectively if you take them during the early stages of the flu. Right now, researchers are testing various existing drugs developed for Ebola, HIV, or malaria to see if they can be repurposed for the flu, with varying degrees of success...

My big concern with all of this is that once this Corona virus finally settles down, everyone is going to act like we just won a massive, historic victory. On the flip side, we’re going to completely overlook other infectious and non-communicable diseases that are actually much bigger global issues, even if they aren't quite as acute as Corona. Every year, around 900,000 people worldwide die prematurely due to Hepatitis B infections. And the numbers get even more depressing when you look at non-communicable diseases; half the population in America is overweight, and up to 20,000 people die every year in the US alone from metabolic syndrome complications. These issues are—and will continue to be—a far greater economic burden than a month or two of quarantine due to Corona. That phase will pass, but these problems remain.

Yeah, but obesity is a personal choice in 99% of cases for adults. Same goes for metabolic syndrome; it's what happens when you live an unhealthy lifestyle. As for Hepatitis B, most deaths happen in sub-Saharan Africa and poor parts of Asia. Plus, Hepatitis B is a more acute problem because it affects over 250 million people. If you compare that to the Coronavirus death toll, which would be around 10 million people versus the 900,000 for Hep B, the scale is different. And obviously, we're talking about Western medicine standards here, not the conditions in sub-Saharan Africa.

urbanhawk17 said:Of course not.

But I guess you do.

Like how it's somehow thirty times more lethal, too.

That’s all I’ve got. Believe me, I just don't care anymore.

Great, then shut up.

urbanhawk17 said:So, did you actually find a cure for the Corona virus, or are you just sitting there wishing one would show up?

Actually, in the history of mankind, nobody has ever just "found" a cure for a virus, yet you're acting like that's the only thing that can save us.

And then you turn around and call everyone else arrogant?

Anyway, I'm not looking for an argument.😉

Do you honestly think you know more than scientists who spend their entire lives studying this stuff? Yeah or no?

urbanhawk17 said:Vekjo laid it all out for you.

I guess you're all experts now.

So far, there hasn't been a cure for the virus, though Vekjo is looking into it alongside a few other specialists.

Maybe that's our only shot at getting through this.

Look, we can either trust in actual human progress—real science involving levels of global cooperation we haven't seen since... well, maybe climate change—and accept that four more top-tier scientific institutions in the European Union have already jumped on this virus research. We can trust people who spend their entire lives studying this stuff and actually know what they're doing 150 times better than any random person on the internet telling us how to live our lives. Or, we can just be those arrogant jerks who think we know better than everyone else. I get it. We live in a country where institutions are shaky and trust is basically non-existent (for good reason), but let's try to be realistic here. Why on earth would every single sector, every industry, every private funder, and every relevant government agency just commit mass suicide through quarantine just for the hell of it?

Anthony Jackson2 said:No, we can't—that's the whole problem.

Economically, we won't last a month, but the mental breakdown will be much worse.

Even during wartime, people find ways to socialize—to lean on each other and share the depression. But if we're stuck unable to move an inch, people are going to snap like popcorn.

Think about how much easier it would have been after the earthquake yesterday if people could have just popped over to a neighbor's, or visited family to make sure everyone was okay... instead, they had to bottle it up and fight it alone. Mental health isn't some joke.

Look, it's day three of quarantine and you're already losing your mind. It's not something to mess around with, and we need to step up.

Anthony Jackson2 said:And what exactly does "making sure they don't destroy us" actually mean?

Look, right now everyone’s just praying this lockdown doesn't drag on forever. Everyone's banking on things being wrapped up by June, thinking we won't need more restrictions after that and can just deal with the mess some other way. But honestly? Everything is totally up in the air. It changes daily. And I'm not just talking about the government mandates or lockdowns, but everything we're learning about the virus itself. It's all shifting constantly.

Man, you guys are out here looking for answers to something that not even the top economic experts in the world can wrap their heads around. Modern capitalism hasn't even faced anything like this before. We're talking about a hundred million different variables that we'll have to sort out on the fly. If this quarantine drags on, we’re going to have to invent an entirely new economy from scratch. And your big solution? Just go back to how things were, like the virus isn't actually a massive deal. That’s not happening. We aren't going back to the old way until there’s a cure. It's just that simple. What comes next, I haven't a clue, but "business as usual" definitely isn't the answer.

Look, I get it. Living with this much uncertainty sucks. It’s heavy. But this is just the reality we're stuck with right now. Crying about how "the virus isn't that bad" without actually looking at the bigger picture or the massive fallout it's causing... that’s just burying your head in the sand.

The only way out of this mess is finding a cure or a vaccine. To get there, we need to give the experts some breathing room, which basically means keeping the infection numbers down. Look, if I actually knew when they’d crack the code, I wouldn't be sitting here wasting my breath talking to you lot—that much should be obvious. It’s pretty clear to me that none of you have any clue how actual science works, but demanding a deadline from researchers when it's impossible to predict how long a vaccine or a cure will take? That's just borderline stupid. You realize there are labs out there where people are testing stuff, failing, trying again, until something finally sticks, right? But no, Anthony Jackson2 wants a specific date! Give us a timeline, people, stop with the nonsense!

nimblemarlin9 said:You’re still trying to argue that none of this matters 🙏

until 🙏

Until the whole healthcare system finally hits a wall, and you can't get treated for something totally fixable because the doctors were too busy dealing with some other nonsense 🙏

brightpilot6 said:As someone who lives and breathes control, there’s nothing quite as suffocating as the realization that I have zero influence over my own circumstances or how I navigate my life.

If the pandemic hadn't already pushed me to the edge, this morning felt like having a heavy concrete slab dropped right around my neck. Doesn't it just make you feel like a tiny, insignificant worm, waiting to see if some unconscious boot decides whether or not to crush you?

Man, you sound like Real Madrid facing off against some random bottom-tier team from Major League Soccer.

Paul Martinez73, look, we don't see eye to eye on some big-picture stuff, but man, the way you break things down and just tear through this topic... I gotta give it to you, 🙏 Kenek is an old joke, but the kid is killing it. It's actually a blast reading this. Cirque du Soleil better watch their back because there's serious competition coming 🤣

Alright, I guess I'll finally weigh in and sign off on this too. Jessica Gonzalez grabbed some statistical data that's completely irrelevant and spun an entire narrative out of it. Like, look, within those 1.3 or whatever number of posts, you've got people who just pass away from natural causes, not because of a disease you could easily prevent by simply not coughing in everyone's face. The mortality rate for Corona is 30 times higher than your standard flu. Plus, the strain on the healthcare system is massive because people actually need intensive care to recover, unlike the regular flu where you usually don't.

Jessica Gonzalez said:In the US, about 55,000 people pass away annually, and since we have roughly 330 million residents (give or take, let's round it), I guess that means there's a baseline chance of about 1.3-1.4% of dying in any given year, even without considering things like Corona. It might take a lot more time to get solid statistics for Corona, much like how we still don't have exact numbers for H1N1—just general ranges. But assuming a baseline of around 1.35%, I wonder how people have lived with that until now? Are we even really aware of that number? And since death rates tend to rise due to an aging population and shifting demographics, maybe that baseline percentage will continue to climb for a while. Naturally, just like with Corona, the risk increases as you get older. For young people, it’s definitely much lower than 1.35%, whereas for the elderly, it's likely higher.

The Euro is canceled, looks like we all need to become statisticians and doctors overnight ☕

Where are all the experts at? ☕

Gotta get through a massive pile of work today, so please, someone hit me up with a heated debate—something global or ideological. I need a reason to waste my time scrolling this forum instead of actually being productive. Thanks. ☕

Do you actually have to be on a team?

Gerald Thompson62 said:Look at Italy—imagine a whole city under lockdown with no way in or out... which means no deliveries.

The issue isn't that food doesn't exist—it's that grocery stores don't keep massive stockpiles sitting on shelves. If you don't buy your essentials and your neighbors do instead, you’re going to be starving in a week and stuck knocking on their doors. It’s not really about the virus itself; it's about potential supply chain disruptions.
We get most of our produce from Spain, pork from Poland, and so on. Even our local manufacturers rely heavily on imports.

Take masks as an example—supply can't keep up, but everyone wants them to feel "safe." Most major mask producers are in China and Japan; right now, China can barely meet its own demand, so they've started buying back masks already sold to other countries, then reselling them to us at a premium.

It's simple supply and demand... when things get scarce, prices skyrocket. People born around 1995 haven't dealt with shortages, so they aren't prepared—but our grandparents lived through it and understand the value of a stockpile. Back when the American Civil War era hit, everyone had flour, sugar, oil, salt, and coffee tucked away. Everyone had reserves. If you look further back—say, during the 1940s—it was crystal clear: whoever holds the food holds the power. Back then, you could practically trade gold for basic goods.

I gotta say, this all feels super exaggerated to me. There is zero theoretical chance that an American city in 2020 would just starve a few hundred thousand people just because two old folks died from a virus. I don't see that happening.

ironpanther5 said:So, a buddy of mine just told me they’re completely out of flour at Walmart. 🤣
The crew is out there hauling around like they’re prepping for a month-long apocalypse, lugging about 45 pounds of pasta, rice, and canned goods. 😁

Can some saint please explain the actual logic behind this massive food hoarding? Are stores gonna shut down because of the virus? Or is it just "don't leave the house since you have enough supplies"? Like, what even is that?