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[Folly]

Trump addressed the nation this evening, regarding Corona Virus.

Amidst a long string of bullshit, what I found most amusing was his claim that he would never hesitate to do whatever it takes to keep us safe from viral threats. Of course, he has done nothing but hesitate since this whole thing started.

Beyond that, all travel to/from Europe is banned for 30 days, he's asking congress to give money to people and businesses affected by the virus, and some vague stuff about tax relief for those affected.

[dragdeler]

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[MrRoboto75]

Trump addressed the nation this evening, regarding Corona Virus.

did he though

[Iduno]

Far as I'm aware youth turnout's actually been pretty strong lately, anyway. It's just for this primary biden somehow activated the older people vote even harder, and even with strong turnout youngins are kinda', y'know, outnumbered. They can swing an election but not carry it, more or less. If it weren't for them sanders would currently just be a pile of ash on the ground as opposed to "just" getting solidly drummed at the polls (again).

If there's one thing old people love, it's talking about their kids. If there's 2 things, the other is voting to have their kids die horribly.

[Mephisto]

all travel to/from Europe is banned for 30 days

I think Trump's cleanup crew came through afterward and rolled this back pretty severely. Latest I heard was something like this:

No travel to the US from certain European countries by foreigners who have no familial connection to the US. Except if you stop off in the UK first. Then you can board another flight and come straight here.
Three countries that hold Trump resorts are exempt, of course.

[Telgin]

I couldn't tell from a quick search, but has the US even suspended travel from China or any Asian countries?  It would be particularly strange if Trump suspended it from Europe and not the source of the disease.

[TamerVirus]

Trump suspended China travel really early on, and he keeps on repeating that point even though it’s pointless now with community spread happening.

Community spread that was only uncovered when a lab in Seattle had to defy the CDC

[sluissa]

And ended up being shut down because of that.

Honestly, banning travel from anywhere is a little too late. It might slow things down a little. But it's already in almost every state and will be spreading faster domestically now than from any foreign sources.

Stock market hit the first circuit breaker pause within 5 minutes of open.

[Zangi]

On a positive note, it'll be a less of a headache for the countries on the receiving end of that travel ban.  Less people to quarantine. 

Really, us Murricans could have left all outgoing flights open(they obviously can't come back in).  So we could export the sick people and let others handle them, to 'keep the numbers low'.

[McTraveller]

I think we'd have been better off to restrict media coverage of <redacted> - there is so much fear, all that's happening now is mass hysteria.

[sluissa]

Yep, just say. "For unexplainable reasons we are now implementing travel bans, cancelling all large gatherings, and telling people to avoid visiting their elderly family members."

So much better.

[TamerVirus]

The CDC tried the denial strategy.
It didn't work

[Reelya]

A realistic, non-hysterical analysis is that the virus will become entrenched in the community to the level of influenza at about a 1% fatality rate per case. But that would still mean killing up to 500,000 Americans per year vs the up to 50,000 per year for the flu (flu kills 1 in 1000 sufferers). The flu is the single-biggest killing disease in history. Sure, most people won't die but this new thing would have the ability to reduce average life expectancy a bit.

The new virus actually spreads more than the flu: the fact that "most people only get mild symptoms" is actually the dangerous thing about this. It ensures more people spread it. If a disease is stated as "within 48 hours you have bursting pustules then die instantly with your organs exploding!" then that's actually less of a worry. It's easy to contain that. Just stay away from the people with the exploding pustules. We won't be able to vaccine this away. Our vaccines don't work long-term for any other coronavirus, rhinovirus or the influenza virus, so yeah don't hold your breath.

"Just a worse flu" is saying "just worse ... than the single biggest killer in history". It's like hearing a new form of transport is 10 times less safe than driving a car, and saying "pfft, it's just a less-safe form of driving! How bad can it be? Everybody drives"

[McTraveller]

Yes it's worse than Influenza and the cold. Not as bad as Measels or SARS or TB or polio or smallpox or even spanish flu.  (At least according to a plot of mortality vs R0).

The biggest difference I can see with this outbreak: At least 20 times the media coverage of SARS, and 100 times the media coverage of Ebola.

[Il Palazzo]

A realistic, non-hysterical analysis is that the virus will become entrenched in the community to the level of influenza at about a 1% fatality rate per case. But that would still mean killing up to 500,000 Americans per year vs the up to 50,000 per year for the flu (flu kills 1 in 1000 sufferers). The flu is the single-biggest killing disease in history. Sure, most people won't die but this new thing would have the ability to reduce average life expectancy a bit.

In the interview on Sam Harris' podcast, Amesh Adalja suggested that - unlike the flu - coronaviruses don't mutate so rapidly, so once a vaccine is developed, this will go the way of measles rather than the flu. I.e., it's likely a one-off outbreak.