D&D and the rising pandemic

Hussar · Apr 13, 2020

Japan's testing numbers are still ridiculously low. They've now designated a hotel in my area as a potential temporary hospital. Yay. First week of real shut down, but, frankly, it's not really shut down at all. I went to the supermarket on Saturday and the place was packed. Made me very nervous. Will make sure to go at a different time.

On the bright side, we're still not seeing huge numbers of patients. So, that's good. I guess. It really is quite frightening when I cannot actually be sure the government is deliberately suppressing information.

One of the reasons they are not testing extensively is because of a law in place where all positives MUST be hospitalized. So, they are deliberately slowing testing so they don't overload the hospitals.

NotAYakk · Apr 13, 2020

Hussar said:
One of the reasons they are not testing extensively is because of a law in place where all positives MUST be hospitalized. So, they are deliberately slowing testing so they don't overload the hospitals.

Wow, that is a way to ruin your own plans. Robbing Peter to pay Paul.

Lwaxy · Apr 13, 2020

The virus has killed less people than the flu so far and has, at least in Europe, prevented many flu deaths due to the isolation rules. Maybe we should distance more every flu season. If not for the lockdowns,we would have a lot more deaths and dying though.

I'm classified as high risk due to all my many pre-existing conditions,and it seems when people talk about everyone who has been dying has a known or unknown pre-existing condition and thus not to worry, I feel like people not only devalue the lives of sick people, but also disregard the fact that many more people have pre-existing problems they do not even know about.

GreyLord · Apr 13, 2020

Lwaxy said:
The virus has killed less people than the flu so far and has, at least in Europe, prevented many flu deaths due to the isolation rules. Maybe we should distance more every flu season. If not for the lockdowns,we would have a lot more deaths and dying though.

I'm classified as high risk due to all my many pre-existing conditions,and it seems when people talk about everyone who has been dying has a known or unknown pre-existing condition and thus not to worry, I feel like people not only devalue the lives of sick people, but also disregard the fact that many more people have pre-existing problems they do not even know about.

Something else I have been wondering about. With all the lockdowns, stay at homes, and other items we are following I imagine car traffic is extremely low on the roads (also why oil has had it's struggles with their companies recently).

I wonder if car accident related deaths are likewise dropped to a much lower number recently.

Lwaxy · Apr 13, 2020

Yes they have,down to less than 30'% in my area and less than 10% where I used to live. The virus has also saved about 10k people in China alone who would usually die during the season due to air pollution, mostly people with asthma and obstructive pulmonary diseases. I can't find the source right now for this though. I was surprised reading this, it shows how less we value live and the environment over profit.

Dannyalcatraz · Apr 13, 2020

GreyLord said:
Something else I have been wondering about. With all the lockdowns, stay at homes, and other items we are following I imagine car traffic is extremely low on the roads (also why oil has had it's struggles with their companies recently).

I wonder if car accident related deaths are likewise dropped to a much lower number recently.

Almost everything* has dropped. The car accidents, shootings, etc. Covid-19 is almost the only things ERs are seeing.

Law of Unintended Consequences: medical professionals who AREN’T on the front lines of the pandemic are facing salary cuts because their specialties are becoming less and less profitable.

* domestic assaults and similar issues are up, though

Hussar · Apr 13, 2020

NotAYakk said:
Wow, that is a way to ruin your own plans. Robbing Peter to pay Paul.

Oh, it's bloody insane. See, Japan doesn't actually have a CDC. As in a separate body, funded by the government, staffed by scientists whose job it is to combat diseases. No, instead, Japan has bureaucrats in charge of science, with little or no actual science background, and often responsible to their political parties.

Oh, yeah, it really inspires confidence in the government's handling of things when you flat out KNOW that the people making all the decisions actually have zero science background.

Dannyalcatraz · Apr 13, 2020

Hussar said:
Oh, it's bloody insane. See, Japan doesn't actually have a CDC. As in a separate body, funded by the government, staffed by scientists whose job it is to combat diseases. No, instead, Japan has bureaucrats in charge of science, with little or no actual science background, and often responsible to their political parties.

Oh, yeah, it really inspires confidence in the government's handling of things when you flat out KNOW that the people making all the decisions actually have zero science background.

PREACH!

Zardnaar · Apr 13, 2020

And there goes our tourism industry.

Stuff

i.stuff.co.nz

Last plane out as such apart from the odd charter plane.

Deset Gled · Apr 13, 2020

Lwaxy said:
Yes they have,down to less than 30'% in my area and less than 10% where I used to live. The virus has also saved about 10k people in China alone who would usually die during the season due to air pollution, mostly people with asthma and obstructive pulmonary diseases. I can't find the source right now for this though. I was surprised reading this, it shows how less we value live and the environment over profit.

I don't think it has as much to do about valuing life as it does to being able to draw the line.

When someone dies of COVID19, we have a test that can prove it, we can tally the numbers, and we can show clear cause and effect.

When someone dies of an asthma attack, you can say that air quality was a factor. And you can say that genetics was a factor. And access to long term vs. emergency health care was a factor. And their personal exercise regimen and BMI was a factor. When you can't draw a hard, direct, black line from the death to a single cause, you end up with ... statistics.