Emergence of a Deadly Coronavirus

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Remember the heydays of Japan in the 1980s? Remember how Mitsubishi bought Rockefeller Center Building, Sony bought Columbia Pictures, and Sony had a sushi bar in their building in Manhattan? Then came the 90s, and Japan went bust. Japanese government decided they couldn't let their major corporations sink. There you have "The Lost Decade" in Japan, which turned out to be more like "The Lost 30 years." Korea was back then a minor player. Today, South Korea has become an economical and cultural powerhouse in East Asia.

There is no mystery in recession. It has always had the same cause, from cavemen's days. If you don't go out and hunt or gather your food, if you stay inside your cave and play poker games, it's all fun for a while, until you suffer. Similarly, as a society, when instead of doing real work, a major portion of the society spends time in zero-sum games, or in material luxury/entertainment, the economy goes bust. Similarly, Bill Gates pointed out the danger of virus a long time ago. We did not listen, we didn't spend a dime on infrastructure preparation, basically, we goofed around. Recession happens because of people goofing around.

Remember how an Italian MP was ridiculed for wearing a mask just a few weeks ago? Yep, the fellow Italian politicians goofed around. And boom! Mother Nature taught them a lesson that they will not soon forget.

We need to get back to the basics. Let us understand the word "economy" again. "Economy" means to do thing in a smart way, so you can get more with the same amount of resources. To do that, you need to be creative. Creativity is at the heart of economy. You need knowledge. You need skills. You need people inventing things, solving problems. If you only focus on people making investments, you will never get out of the boom-and-bust cycle. We have an extremely wasteful investment approach, because people just go herding. People do that because they don't have knowledge, and they don't behave like independent thinkers.

At the core, our people suck in knowledge, in skills. Sure, we have some smart people, but the main body of our population simple sucks. You don't need to look far, look at the people in this forum and you get to see how low they can be.

Education, development of our next generation, are what we truly need. We have goofed around too much. There is no hope with the adults in our society, they have acquired all the wrong values. The worst part of today's adults is a total unwillingness to learn, to acquire new skills. I really don't know what they are thinking.

My wife was talking to an old man the other day. The old man told her not to worry about this COVID-19 thing. He laughed and said, COVID-19 is nothing, and this one shall pass, too. But, he warned, COVID-19 is just the beginning. I think I agree with the old man.

Last edited by eikonabridge on 24 Mar 2020, 10:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.

This is an interesting story. So with many people holed up in their homes in a state of quarantine and some may find it difficult to put food on the table, it appears that the State of Missouri has an alternative.

Missouri will waive fishing permit requirements due to the novel coronavirus until at least mid-April, according to the state’s Department of Conservation (MDC).

“Missouri’s rivers and streams offer high-quality fishing as a way for people to connect with nature while still complying with all health and safety recommendations,” MDC Director Sara Parker Pauley said in a statement on the department's website. “Fishing is also a great way to get some much-needed physical and mental health benefits during this stressful time.”

In Arkansas, the Game and Fish Commission voted in favor of a similar policy that began over the weekend.

Source: Missouri to waive fishing permit requirements during coronavirus outbreak

So I guess one might practice proper social distancing in the great outdoors. Just pack up the wife and kids and go fishing.

I actually learned about hydroxychloroquine last week, interestingly not from the news of French researchers, but from the news of a Japanese case. It turned out that the Japanese were already using hydroxychloroquine from March 2nd and onward, with good results. The Japanese researchers recommend it as the first choice of medicine. I guess the Japanese might have known the effort of the French researchers, so the went ahead with their own people, too. The point is, given that it has been done both in China and in Japan, the risk is lower, and the benefit should be more trustworthy. Of course, I don't expect it to be a magical drug. All drugs have issues and are not 100% effective. I also know there is an on-going double-blind study to check the preventive power of hydroxychloroquine against COVID-19.

I am wondering why stocks of hydroxychloroquine aren't being mobilised in Italy or Iran where the death toll has been so high?

A lot of people believe the top number is actually a lot bigger. So that 4.38% is probably not accurate

There are at least two members in this low traffic forum who posted they think they might have the coronavirus. But I did not see either of them saying they got tested for covid-19

If this virus is very contagious, then there must be many more than the current figure who have it. Meaning it is not that deadly.

The coronavirus can be so mild, some people don't even know they have/had it.
Assuming this safe/axiomatic assumption, the percentage is far too high if you add the "unconfirmed" cases.
Just sayin'.




The mildness, for most people, puts the "novel" in this novel coronavirus.

A friend of mine believes the true number of cases is the number of diagnosed cased multiplied by 261.

I don't know if this is true or not.

I think there is a combination of those who are asymptomatic.

Those who figure they only have a cold or flu (because they have been lead to believe covid-19 = serious symptoms).

And those who do not want to bother with or are leery of going to a medical facility to get tested.

A lot of people have "white coat syndrome" and won't see a doctor unless they think they are dying.

I have heard said that many die of things that could have been caught early and cured, but they did not like doctors so it went undetected or untreated until it was too late.

It has been said that Apple founder Steve Jobs waited until it was too late because of a dislike or mistrust of doctors.

Well considering according to the CDC as many as 45 million people caught the flu in just the US last year, it seems quite probable the number of those who got covid-19 is a huge number compared to what is on the worldometer.

Which is currently 423,621 worldwide. Which looks like a big number, until you compare it to 45 million catching a virus in just one country.

There has got to be a lot more than that considering it has been around since 2019 (which is why it's called covid-19).

That was a really interesting read, thanks.

https://www.smh.com.au/national/nobel-p ... 54dib.html

https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/24/opinions ... index.html

It seems that people who caught it early in the USA had difficulty getting tested.

Sort of like how voter suppression works. You don't meet the guidelines we set so you must be OK. Go home and get better. You don't need to be tested.

Problem is, not everyone realizes what is going on and First Responders get infected because they *wink* *wink* didn't get the message. They were too busy trying to do their job.

Last edited by BTDT on 25 Mar 2020, 3:16 am, edited 1 time in total.

I'm old school.
I generally avoid doctors.
Admittedly, I have died 3 times as a result.
Silly me.

I've only died once, but it was in the hospital.

I have a feeling that shutdowns might extend to April 15th here based on the curve projection and them going by it. Hopefully more like April 5th at the latest.

I would be all for everything shutting down for a couple of months, except that I know the ramifications of that would catastrophic in several ways. Each day puts us down a deeper hole.

Conservatives in Canada had issues with the plan to approve the stimulus package because they didn't want to give Libs power. But at least it was adjusted with a time limit and got approval in the end.

I hope it doesn't turn into another USA with the ventilators issue. I hope there's a way to mass produce those medical essentials here that gets approval. Maybe there can even be a way to send to US states that need it more like NY.
Edit never mind I wasn't listening closely- it has yet to be approved.

All the going back and forth is going to take a while.