Offside Chat Archives (2014-2021)

brightpilot6 said:I suppose they’re planning on most of us getting infected over the next three months, but doing it under a "flattened curve" that won't crush the healthcare system. That way, new outbreaks become irrelevant.

Honestly, I don't know; nobody is talking about it, and I can't wrap my head around it myself. I'm just trying to make sense of it all. It would be much easier to stomach all this nonsense if someone could actually provide a projection like that. Otherwise, aren't we just destined to deal with the exact same mess every single autumn once the temperature drops?

Fine, I've got a better idea. I'll just reach out and ask them to infect me on purpose. There are millions of us—between 20 and 40 years old, totally healthy, no chronic issues—so why don't we just speed up the spread? If the plan is just waiting for everyone to get it anyway, let's get on with it.

This is what happens when we just sit around waiting instead of actually doing something.

In an effort to combat the spread of Corona, Mexico has implemented an "absolute curfew" from 8:00 PM until 5:00 AM alongside restrictions that prohibit anyone over the age of 65 from leaving their homes in urban centers and those over 70 in rural areas. Furthermore, starting today, the military will assume responsibility for border control and providing security for hospitals.

I believe the bolded portion of this report represents an exceptionally wise strategic move. This demographic constitutes our most vulnerable population, and they simply must act accordingly. Just yesterday in the city, I observed that nearly 90% of people over sixty were out and about, showing a complete disregard for the gravity of the situation. While the entire nation grinds to a halt and citizens face the loss of their livelihoods, they continue their routines—heading to the local market, boarding streetcars, or visiting doctors for routine checkups—acting as if none of this applies to them. 🙏

This is precisely how we should have handled things here in the States. At the onset of this crisis, there should have been clear, multi-level communication across all sectors of society. We needed to repeatedly emphasize, almost like a mantra, the necessity of responsible behavior and the vital importance of minimizing social contact to the absolute bare minimum. For everyone else, we should have allowed life to proceed with some semblance of normalcy; because if the scientific assessment holds true—that perhaps only 20% of the population will contract the virus and experience symptoms—then these measures aren't just extreme, they suggest that someone is playing a very dangerous game with our lives.

urbanhawk17 said:Coronavirus Cases:
198,737
Deaths:
7,989
Recovered:
82,779

I suppose the biggest issue here is just how little we actually know about this virus.

urbanhawk17 said:Drop a link for this.

Well, I think I found my own answer...🤷
So if you have 8,000 deaths for every 80,000 recoveries, and you assume that ratio holds steady for everyone else, you’re looking at 160,000 recoveries and 16,000 deaths—which is a 10% mortality rate, not some tiny 1.3% figure people keep throwing around.

Jessica Gonzalez said:I'm sorry, but if you take another look at my post, you'll see I wasn't getting into the weeds. I was just highlighting some basic stats regarding the death toll in America. That includes everyone—deaths from old age, various illnesses, accidents, homicides, suicides, and so on, including well-known viruses. It’s basically the national mortality rate, and unfortunately, the US is already struggling quite a bit with it, which is something I see happening right here in my own community. And yeah, looking at the nation as a whole, the risk factor is definitely higher than it is in Italy.

My point was more about how people are acting. Honestly, they're behaving like animals. We had our own Civil War not too long ago, and even then, we didn't see this kind of frantic hoarding in grocery stores. Global and national health organizations are doing their jobs, and I hope they're doing them well, but modern communication technology means ideas and behaviors spread incredibly fast—maybe even faster than the virus itself. People are spending thousands of dollars on meat, leaving hundreds of others potentially hungry.

That’s true, but you have to remember there was no internet or smartphones back then.

brightpilot6 said:Is Vučić really implementing a curfew with the military patrolling the streets from 8 PM to 7 AM, while simultaneously allowing shops to open for seniors between 4 and 7 in the morning when absolutely nobody else is out? I mean, what on earth is the logic there?

Mexican business 🙄

Paul Martinez73 said:Well, I think I found my own answer...🤷
So if you have 8,000 deaths for every 80,000 recoveries, and you assume that ratio holds steady for everyone else, you’re looking at 160,000 recoveries and 16,000 deaths—which is a 10% mortality rate, not some tiny 1.3% figure people keep throwing around.

Hmm...
Paul Martinez73 is just playing with percentages.

Nah, you don't calculate the percentage like that 🤦

The Italians, and by extension the entire European Union, have made a massive blunder by failing to halt direct flights from China—specifically from Wuhan. While footage of the Wuhan quarantine circulated globally, those "brilliant" bureaucratic leaders were busy reciting platitudes about the vital necessity of free movement and the "massive" impact such restrictions would have on the global economy. Now that they are at least two weeks late in implementing adequate measures, the sheer stupidity of that decision and its economic fallout are finally becoming apparent.

Furthermore, these claims that all passengers are being screened with thermal cameras at terminals are nothing more than nonsense.

The Chinese are handling their business with a certain level of intensity, and frankly, the measures are extreme. No one goes outside without a mask, and only those absolutely essential for maintaining order and supply chains are permitted out. Public transit is non-existent; only small shops and pharmacies remain open. If anyone complains or fails to comply with the regulations, they deal with the consequences via a baton. There is no such thing as a simple sanitary self-isolation period where someone can just wander through the whole town; you follow the rules or you face the repercussions.

While things are still relatively manageable here, and despite our challenges, we aren't quite as globally interconnected as places like Italy or China. For now, everything remains somewhat under control. Let’s hope it stays that way.

Paul Martinez73 said:Well, I think I found my own answer...🤷
So if you have 8,000 deaths for every 80,000 recoveries, and you assume that ratio holds steady for everyone else, you’re looking at 160,000 recoveries and 16,000 deaths—which is a 10% mortality rate, not some tiny 1.3% figure people keep throwing around.

That logic only holds up if every single person with Corona is included in these 200,000 reported cases.

Are you seriously suggesting there isn't a single person on Earth with Corona who isn't part of that 200,000 count?

Right now, the Corona mortality rate is sitting at 4%.

Plus, the global mortality rate for hospitalized flu patients is about 7%.

Italy was the first to ban flights from China, but the whole thing backfired because travelers just started rerouting through other countries to get into Italy, making them even harder to track and monitor.

Paul Martinez73 said:Well, I think I found my own answer...🤷
So if you have 8,000 deaths for every 80,000 recoveries, and you assume that ratio holds steady for everyone else, you’re looking at 160,000 recoveries and 16,000 deaths—which is a 10% mortality rate, not some tiny 1.3% figure people keep throwing around.

Actually, that wouldn't be 10%; it would be 9.09%.

But then again, the raw data itself is double-edged.

Tracking mortality rates is honestly a waste of time. Like, 80% of people are just gonna end up with symptoms that feel exactly like a common cold, so they won't even show up in the official data anyway.

Then you'll just end up with these massive, inflated numbers that trigger way more unnecessary panic than anything else.

ruggedjackal46 said:Italy was the first to ban flights from China, but the whole thing backfired because travelers just started rerouting through other countries to get into Italy, making them even harder to track and monitor.

They might have been the first, but there were direct Milan-Wuhan flights running quite normally for a significant period, even while drastic measures were already being enforced in China.

In our neck of the woods, that group from Wuhan hit the border; apparently, they were screened in Milan, and things had already escalated by the time they reached us. Granted, those specific individuals might not have been infected, but it’s inevitable that others who actually were traveled the exact same route.

Later, that damn virus spread, hitting the European Union hard and creating secondary outbreaks everywhere. Even here, the "most likely" first cases came from Milan, potentially via contacts from the Atalanta vs Valencia match. Those later cases were being brought in from places like Austria, Germany, and so on.

Paul Sanders5 said:Fine, I've got a better idea. I'll just reach out and ask them to infect me on purpose. There are millions of us—between 20 and 40 years old, totally healthy, no chronic issues—so why don't we just speed up the spread? If the plan is just waiting for everyone to get it anyway, let's get on with it.

This is what happens when we just sit around waiting instead of actually doing something.

So, where are you, Boris Johnson? ☕

Paul Sanders5 said:Tracking mortality rates is honestly a waste of time. Like, 80% of people are just gonna end up with symptoms that feel exactly like a common cold, so they won't even show up in the official data anyway.

Then you'll just end up with these massive, inflated numbers that trigger way more unnecessary panic than anything else.

Exactly.

For now, we can really only talk about hospitalization rates. It’s true the Corona death rate jumped from 3.4% to 4% in about ten days, but it’s still lower than the flu (and honestly, hospitalization counts are the only thing that matters right now).

Claiming Corona is 30 times more lethal is just irresponsible, even if it comes from Vekjo.☕

@Jacob Kern2 makes a good point. We should probably isolate the elderly and keep them from going out. I guess Vučić is actually right on this one.

The mortality rate might look statistically insignificant on paper, but when you're the one facing it, that percentage hits a hard 100 percent...

Noah Perez2 said:They might have been the first, but there were direct Milan-Wuhan flights running quite normally for a significant period, even while drastic measures were already being enforced in China.

In our neck of the woods, that group from Wuhan hit the border; apparently, they were screened in Milan, and things had already escalated by the time they reached us. Granted, those specific individuals might not have been infected, but it’s inevitable that others who actually were traveled the exact same route.

Later, that damn virus spread, hitting the European Union hard and creating secondary outbreaks everywhere. Even here, the "most likely" first cases came from Milan, potentially via contacts from the Atalanta vs Valencia match. Those later cases were being brought in from places like Austria, Germany, and so on.

So, where are you, Boris Johnson? ☕

What I'm getting at is that it’s better to actually keep an eye on potentially infected people rather than just slapping a ban on flights from China and assuming the problem is solved. Besides, a lot of Italians were coming back from China back then because, let's be honest, they just wanted to get home—and their own government couldn't exactly pretend they weren't part of the equation.

ruggedjackal46 said:What I'm getting at is that it’s better to actually keep an eye on potentially infected people rather than just slapping a ban on flights from China and assuming the problem is solved. Besides, a lot of Italians were coming back from China back then because, let's be honest, they just wanted to get home—and their own government couldn't exactly pretend they weren't part of the equation.

And that is precisely why you find yourself two weeks later—maybe even less—forced to implement exactly those kinds of restrictions, only now they're much more draconian.

Noah Perez2 said:And that is precisely why you find yourself two weeks later—maybe even less—forced to implement exactly those kinds of restrictions, only now they're much more draconian.

The real question isn't whether the measures are too harsh; it's whether they actually work. Take Italy, for example. They were the first to go all in with those extreme rules to stop flights from China, but then they just sat back and watched while the virus spread through Northern Italy. I get the feeling some politicians in the European Union only introduce these heavy-handed mandates to look like they're actually doing something.

Amanda Evans2 said:The mortality rate might look statistically insignificant on paper, but when you're the one facing it, that percentage hits a hard 100 percent...

Dickey, we didn't even recognize you there. ☕

Nancy Sanchez31 said:Dickey, we didn't even recognize you there. ☕

Dr. Mijomir Pelemiš here, and it seems I am still flying under your radar... ☕

Amanda Evans2 said:The mortality rate might look statistically insignificant on paper, but when you're the one facing it, that percentage hits a hard 100 percent...

What an absolute ace.🙏

I mean, seriously, where did Vučić even find this guy? Did he just pluck him out of some random flower shop in New York?