Zardnaar
Legend
Don't wanna do that. Managed a couple of MP games of Europa Universalis IV but that's also fallen off.
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D&D and the rising pandemic
- Thread starter GreyLord
- Start date
Don't wanna do that. Managed a couple of MP games of Europa Universalis IV but that's also fallen off.
Ralif Redhammer
Legend
I would concur that right now hearing other people's voices (and seeing their faces, if they've got webcams), regardless of whether or not you're gaming, is really important.
I've got my D&D session coming up this weekend, and I'm possibly playing in one later in the week. Looking forward very much to seeing my friends' faces, in addition to just gaming.
I've got my D&D session coming up this weekend, and I'm possibly playing in one later in the week. Looking forward very much to seeing my friends' faces, in addition to just gaming.
GreyLord
Legend
It's interesting at least. Its different, but it's still gaming. I've been using Portal recently, but someone suggested to try Zoom instead. Not sure how easy it is for everyone to log into Zoom and how friendly it is to tablets and cellphones as well as PC's.
It can be tougher at times to get people to focus on the game this way, but I think they do appreciate being able to chat with each other even if we are not seeing each other face to face in person. There is always some sort of chit chat going on in the past few game sessions onlne.
HarbingerX
Rob Of The North
While I agree that the quality of information provided by the Chinese government should be considered suspect, there is strong evidence support that they aren't lying about their numbers that much. China has a population of 1.5 billion which makes the number of potential cases staggering. If the disease was still spreading from their peak of ~80000 4 weeks ago, they would now be at numbers of ill that would have major impacts on their ability to manage the country. The level of infection and dead would be easily detectable from outside, let alone the amount of leaks that would be happening inside a country dealing with millions of ill.
Instead there is tons of evidence they are reopening factories and goods are beginning to flow again to their Western partners.
I won't comment on the politics as requested by the mod, but I do recommend taking some time looking at the numbers and what news is coming out of China right now. Mistrust is healthy, but don't let it get in the way of facts.
FitzTheRuke
Legend
It's sadly too late for that good a job. A bad job has already been done.
A good job in the USA had to have started 10 years ago.
A reserve of cheap respirators. A SARS and MERS vaccine. Treatments for SARS and MERS. SARS and MERS test kits. Ridiculous stockpiles of PPE. A disease alert network, and mandatory training for dealing with respiratory epidemics. Reserve hospital capacity requirements. A functional pandemic response council. Funding global pandemic response.
Many of these things where tried. Their funding was cut and the systems gutted.
Taiwan didn't let their systems get gutted.
A reserve of cheap respirators. A SARS and MERS vaccine. Treatments for SARS and MERS. SARS and MERS test kits. Ridiculous stockpiles of PPE. A disease alert network, and mandatory training for dealing with respiratory epidemics. Reserve hospital capacity requirements. A functional pandemic response council. Funding global pandemic response.
Many of these things where tried. Their funding was cut and the systems gutted.
Taiwan didn't let their systems get gutted.
Ralif Redhammer
Legend
Our switchover, once we got the tech kerfuffles ironed out, was pretty seamless. About the only difference is that I try to call on people one-by-one rather than just the blanket "what are you doing?" I find that helps minimize people talking at once, which online can make things much more difficult.
This is the second report I’ve seen that suggests Covid-19 might have had a slightly earlier jump into humanity than the recent events in Wuhan..
www.yahoo.com
This could be similar to what happened with HIV. While it was first identified in the 1980s, we NOW know of cases going back to the late 1950s (due to preserved blood samples). Other research suggests that the progenitor strain to the pandemic jumped into humanity in the early 1900s, and may have been circulating regularly as early as the 1920s.
Coronavirus: Scientists suggest theory that COVID-19 has lived inside humans for years
A study recently published in Nature highlighted the fact that the virus is definitely not man-made, and is the product of natural evolution.
This could be similar to what happened with HIV. While it was first identified in the 1980s, we NOW know of cases going back to the late 1950s (due to preserved blood samples). Other research suggests that the progenitor strain to the pandemic jumped into humanity in the early 1900s, and may have been circulating regularly as early as the 1920s.
To be fair, many countries tried for years on both. In fact, There were 4 cases of SARS among lab technicians in China due to accidents in the research process in the 3 years following the outbreak.
But money for it did dry up.
This isn’t news, though. Orphan drugs are a thing. And even with persistent afflictions, funding can evaporate for a lot of reasons. If you look back 20 years ago, there were several pharmacology companies working on flu vaccines and treatments. Now we’re down to a fraction of what we had, and supplies sometimes run out.
My Dad has a MPH (Masters in Public Health) to go with his MD. One of his mottoes is that public health measures have saved more lives than medicine ever will. Hopefully, some governments & other institutions will take that to heart.
Also, sometimes, efforts fail:
The U.S. Tried to Build a New Fleet of Ventilators. The Mission Failed.
Thirteen years ago, a group of U.S. public health officials came up with a plan to address what they regarded as one of the medical system's crucial vulnerabilities: a shortage of ventilators.The breathing-assistance machines tended to be bulky, expensive and limited in number. The plan was to build
www.yahoo.com
Cliff’s Notes version: company won a US gov’t contract to produce ventilators for @1/3 the going costs, but a combination of mergers, acquisitions, and the rise of the Ebola threat killed the project. And subsequent examination of the prototypes indicate they might not have been satisfactory (or deliverable at the contract price) even if they had been produced.
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Enevhar Aldarion
Hero
I won't generalize and will keep trying to not be political. New reports are just coming out of Wuhan about the govt lying about the number of dead from this and that incinerators have been running 24/7, which will make it really hard to get any kind of accurate count. Cremation data out of Wuhan indicates closer to 40k died from this just in Wuhan, rather than the official 2500 being claimed.
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