covid-19

[Steely Glint]

Per capital data is only really useful once the outbreak is over.

If you have a forest of a million trees and a forest of 10,000 and both of them have a fire, the fire isn't going to spread faster in the million tree forest because it's larger so in the early hours of the fire you're going to have the same number of trees burn in each, and if you compare the number of burnt trees per capita, you'd come to the entirely erroneous conclusion that the fire was far more serious in the smaller forest.

[Lewkowski]

Per capital data is only really useful once the outbreak is over.

If you have a forest of a million trees and a forest of 10,000 and both of them have a fire, the fire isn't going to spread faster in the million tree forest because it's larger so in the early hours of the fire you're going to have the same number of trees burn in each, and if you compare the number of burnt trees per capita, you'd come to the entirely erroneous conclusion that the fire was far more serious in the smaller forest.

Its a lot more useful than raw numbers at this point.

EDIT: At least in comparison purposes for seeing how well a particular state government handled the outbreak.

[Aimless]

Its a lot more useful than raw numbers at this point.

EDIT: At least in comparison purposes for seeing how well a particular state government handled the outbreak.

It's not more useful, and it's not more useful for that purpose.

[LittleFuzzy]

Its a lot more useful than raw numbers at this point.

EDIT: At least in comparison purposes for seeing how well a particular state government handled the outbreak.

Handled. That's a presumption there that it's over. And it further ignores all sorts of things. Looking at NY State and Texas numbers and declaring "well Texas clearly handled matters better" on that basis alone is all kinds of asinine.

[RandBlade]

Handled. That's a presumption there that it's over. And it further ignores all sorts of things. Looking at NY State and Texas numbers and declaring "well Texas clearly handled matters better" on that basis alone is all kinds of asinine.

Its remarkable the way some people think population density etc don't matter and make all sorts of stupid comparisons. Asinine is the right word - if Kansas had anywhere even a fraction of death rate of New York then something would have gone dismally wrong there.

[RandBlade]

Per capital data is only really useful once the outbreak is over.

If you have a forest of a million trees and a forest of 10,000 and both of them have a fire, the fire isn't going to spread faster in the million tree forest because it's larger so in the early hours of the fire you're going to have the same number of trees burn in each, and if you compare the number of burnt trees per capita, you'd come to the entirely erroneous conclusion that the fire was far more serious in the smaller forest.

We're not in early hours though, we are past the peak* and four to five months into the outbreak being present in our countries.Your logic works if the outbreak is confined within a 10,000 tree area of the forest, but if the fire has spread beyond that and is now across the entire million tree forest that's not the case. Per capita is entirely appropriate by now.

Of course that says nothing about demographics, population density and everything else you need to make an educated comparison. Comparing Smallville to Metropolis is never going to be reasonable.

Edit: * Well at least in Europe we're past the peak. Who knows what's happening in the USA.

[Steely Glint]

Edit: * Well at least in Europe we're past the peak. Who knows what's happening in the USA.

Some states are past the peak, others are just getting started. Some are past the peak, but are at risk of getting a second peak because there are states that aren't past the peak who are reopening prematurely and you can't exactly restrict interstate travel the way you can in Europe. Big ole mess, basically.

[Ominous Gamer]

To show, again, how useless per capital data is, here is some data tracking cases by state as they rise or fall. You might notice that several states that are at the bottom of lewks list are still showing a rise in cases

https://graphics.reuters.com/HEALTH-...kpb/index.html

[RandBlade]

To show, again, how useless per capital data is, here is some data tracking cases by state as they rise or fall. You might notice that several states that are at the bottom of lewks list are still showing a rise in cases

https://graphics.reuters.com/HEALTH-...kpb/index.html

That just means they're behind the curve potentially. No matter how you model it, that would place them lower down in total.

[Ominous Gamer]

You can't claim effectiveness of a particular state government without knowing when the curve peaks, and for several states that peak hasn't occurred yet. It took more than a month from our first death till the 50th state reported a case. There was no starting line to judge states by.

[Aimless]

Should Laura Kelly be praised for ensuring that Kansas has a lower population density than NYC?

[Aimless]

Twitter Link

POTUS smrt

[Timbuk2]

Members of the Russian parliament have started wearing badges that purportedly protect the wearer from coronavirus, reports say.



The badges, which feature a white cross design and appear to be of the type falsely marketed as “virus stoppers” in Russia, were spotted at a recent meeting of the State Duma lower house

However, the US Federal Drug Administration (FDA) says the active ingredient in such products, the bleaching agent chlorine dioxide, is harmful and calls claims that it helps against Covid-19 “fraudulent”.

“Chlorine dioxide products have not been shown to be safe and effective for any use, including Covid-19”, the FDA says.

President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, has also been seen wearing a similar kind of product.

When asked by reporters if he was sure the badge worked, he said: "To be honest, I’m not sure if it helps in any way. I’ve read that many experts say it can be harmful.”

On Tuesday, Peskov confirmed he had been diagnosed with the virus and is being treated in hospital.

[RandBlade]

Belarus's President reckons that the virus can be stopped with vodka - which would make it remarkable anyone in Russia is sick.

I think we can take the numbers coming out of Russia with a mountain of salt. Russia will have many, many more cases than they ever admit.

[Loki]

There's also the more mundane issue of testing. Crappy tests and poor reach outside of Moscow and St. Petersburg.

[RandBlade]

Which is another way of saying crappy country with a crappy government that doesn't care to save it's people. Putin isn't especially bothered to resolve this.

[Loki]

He's bothered enough to make it look like he's trying. Reminds me of Trump in that regard.

[RandBlade]

Trump's very trying.

[Loki]

Trump's very trying.

He really isn't. He has to be restrained by less idiotic aids every step of the way.

This is the weirdest most unexpected turn this pandemic circus could've taken, as far as I am concerned:

According to a whistleblower, the highly publicized—and severely criticized—Santa Clara seroprevalence study out of Stanford was funded by... well, you gotta read it.

I doubt it had any impact on an already-flawed endeavour, but good god is that an unnecessary embarrassment.

The main guy in that study has been drinking a lot of Kool-Aid lately.

[LittleFuzzy]

He really isn't. He has to be restrained by less idiotic aids every step of the way.

Wrong usage of trying. Rand was playing with an idiomatic homonym.

[Aimless]

This is the weirdest most unexpected turn this pandemic circus could've taken, as far as I am concerned:

According to a whistleblower, the highly publicized—and severely criticized—Santa Clara seroprevalence study out of Stanford was funded by... well, you gotta read it.

I doubt it had any impact on an already-flawed endeavour, but good god is that an unnecessary embarrassment.

[Loki]

Ah, long day. I don't even know what day it is.

[LittleFuzzy]

Ah, long day. I don't even know what day it is.

It's Tuesday.

[Timbuk2]

It's Tuesday.

Thanks for the tip.

[Loki]

It's Tuesday.

The concept of "Tuesday" doesn't exist in a post-human contact world.

[ar81]

I know Sodium bicarbonate affects some virus RNA. I wonder if gargle with it would be useful. Inocuous and cheap. Should we give it a try?

[Timbuk2]

I know Sodium bicarbonate affects some virus RNA. I wonder if gargle with it would be useful. Inocuous and cheap. Should we give it a try?

Yes, probably. Go gargle some, head to the covid 19 treatment ward of your local hospital, get some folk to cough on you for a bit, then report back to us ...

[BalticSailor]

I know Sodium bicarbonate affects some virus RNA. I wonder if gargle with it would be useful. Inocuous and cheap. Should we give it a try?

[LittleFuzzy]

Oh fucking god, don't let the Republicans see that!

[BalticSailor]

Oh fucking god, don't let the Republicans see that!

Size of SARS-CoV-2 virions is given as 50-200 nm, which is a lot smaller than wavelengths of visible light. Therefore, it physically cannot be black.