Latest Coronavirus - Yikes

[Franklin Pierce]

Guess Who’s Pushing Chinese Propaganda Disguised as News?

TownHall Political Editor Guy Benson posted an interesting graphic on Twitter today (taken from this Gallup poll), but it doesn’t speak well of public trust for media during the coronavirus crisis of the past few weeks.

​

Every single entity polled is above water on trust, by significant margins.​

Except one.​

Our condescending, hectoring, blinkered, self-appointed arbiters of truth are underwater by double digits:
https://twitter.com/guypbenson/status/1243217870168956930/photo/1​

Guess Who's Pushing Chinese Propaganda Disguised as News?

 

[RikidyBones]

We are getting one meal out a day (drive through of course) to do our part. Today was Arby's.
There is a small family owned Italian restaurant down the street that is selling make your own pizza packs. Thought it was a great idea. That's the Friday night plan.

Keep American Deli lively. That place was awesome.

 

[Franklin Pierce]

Tom Cotton Goes On the Offensive Against China for “Unleashing This Plague” With Bill that Breaks Our Pharmaceutical Dependence

As we deal with a pandemic caused directly by the incompetence and shadiness of the Chinese government, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) is looking to go on the offensive and hit China in one of the places they have us at their mercy.

Cotton, along with Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI), has introduced a bill that will end our dependence on China for our pharmaceutical needs. Known as the “Protecting Our Pharmaceutical Supply Chain From China Act,” the bill will require purchases of drugs from China to cease for government-run hospitals and more according to an article they co-wrote at Fox News:

Our bill would require federal entities like the Department of Defense, VA hospitals, Medicare and Medicaid to cut off purchases of drugs with Chinese ingredients no later than 2025. This requirement would phase in over a period of years to give drug companies time to adjust, but would put clear pressure on importers to stop doing business with the CCP. The bill also would require drug companies to label the origins of ingredients in their drugs, so U.S. consumers are better informed of where their medicine comes from and whether it’s likely to be safe.

Finally, our bill encourages the medical industry to manufacture in our country again by offering full and immediate expensing of factories, warehouses and capital goods related to the manufacture of drugs and medical devices on American soil.​

Tom Cotton Goes On the Offensive Against China for "Unleashing This Plague" With Bill that Breaks Our Pharmaceutical Dependence

 

[DynaLo]

They will be suing employers because an employee “got it” at work. They will be suing retailers, restaurants ext because a customer “got it” at the establishment. I wouldn’t doubt landlords will be sued, it will be litigation out the wazzu.

Plus bankruptcies.

Eldest child has previously teleworked while she was home sick.

She’s immunocompromised and has formally requested a reasonable accommodation to telework under an ADA disability and is awaiting a response from HR after an earlier informal request got blown off by the company nurse. I’m not a litigious person but you can bet your butt if her request gets denied again and she catches this at work, I’m going after them full bore. Especially after them finally sending home someone today in her sector who’s been in close contact with a confirmed case.

 

[Franklin Pierce]

The Ratings for Trump’s Wuhan Virus Pressers Are Absolutely Mind-Blowing

Trump’s Wuhan virus pressers have formed the center of the news cycle for weeks now, with them providing plenty of political fodder.

For their part, the media have been absolutely terrible, asking ridiculous questions (someone actually asked Trump “how many deaths are acceptable to you” yesterday) and misleading the public about what’s happening. It’s safe to say more time has been spent on their own hand wringing that getting out vital information.

Regardless, if the ratings for these briefings are any indication, people aren’t looking to The New York Times for their information. Instead, they are watching it themselves, forming audience sizes rivaling Monday Night Football.


This per the New York Post.

​

President Trump’s daily White House coronavirus briefings are a ratings hit.

The president, who has taken the lead in the task force’s daily updates to the nation, has attracted an average audience of about 8.5 million viewers on cable news — about the number of viewers who watched the season finale of “The Bachelor,” The New York Times reported on Wednesday, citing Nielsen numbers.

The Ratings for Trump's Wuhan Virus Pressers Are Absolutely Mind-Blowing

 

[DinkinFlicka]

Guess Who’s Pushing Chinese Propaganda Disguised as News?

TownHall Political Editor Guy Benson posted an interesting graphic on Twitter today (taken from this Gallup poll), but it doesn’t speak well of public trust for media during the coronavirus crisis of the past few weeks.

​

Every single entity polled is above water on trust, by significant margins.​

Except one.​

Our condescending, hectoring, blinkered, self-appointed arbiters of truth are underwater by double digits:
https://twitter.com/guypbenson/status/1243217870168956930/photo/1​

Guess Who's Pushing Chinese Propaganda Disguised as News?

Great source as usual.

 

[VolnJC]

Finally starting to see some movement in the recovered number. 78,307 active cases or 0.02% of the population

 

[Orangeburst]

It would take something mind bogglingly left to happen. The fairway is narrow and lined with trees, so you cannot start out slightly right and yank it or gently draw it. Rather, you'd have to hit it in such a manner that it went pretty straight for about 200 yards to the end of the tree line, then abruptly left at something like a 90 degree angle.

Like Roger McDowell's luge. Defies physics.

 

[lawgator1]

The Ratings for Trump’s Wuhan Virus Pressers Are Absolutely Mind-Blowing

Trump’s Wuhan virus pressers have formed the center of the news cycle for weeks now, with them providing plenty of political fodder.

For their part, the media have been absolutely terrible, asking ridiculous questions (someone actually asked Trump “how many deaths are acceptable to you” yesterday) and misleading the public about what’s happening. It’s safe to say more time has been spent on their own hand wringing that getting out vital information.

Regardless, if the ratings for these briefings are any indication, people aren’t looking to The New York Times for their information. Instead, they are watching it themselves, forming audience sizes rivaling Monday Night Football.


This per the New York Post.

​

President Trump’s daily White House coronavirus briefings are a ratings hit.

The president, who has taken the lead in the task force’s daily updates to the nation, has attracted an average audience of about 8.5 million viewers on cable news — about the number of viewers who watched the season finale of “The Bachelor,” The New York Times reported on Wednesday, citing Nielsen numbers.

The Ratings for Trump's Wuhan Virus Pressers Are Absolutely Mind-Blowing

Proof positive that everyone is staying in and has literally nothing else to do.

 

[Smokey'sHandler]

Of course the problem with that is incubation time, testing delays, and testing availability.

This season, there have been 5,140 lab-confirmed flu deaths over 23 weeks as you point out. That’s 223 deaths a week. We are seeing that many lab-confirmed CV deaths a day right now. And we are only in the beginning stages of the spread. I think that tells us all we need to know.

Trying to run specific mortality rates by takes deaths/cases is of course riddled with error.

What I mean by that is that we are looking backwards in time in a fast changing situation. Deaths today translate to deaths of people who were infected 2.5-3 weeks ago. When cases are doubling every three days, that creates massive skew.

Also a flu test is obtained in just a few minutes while we’ve been at 3-5 days for CV. Also many people are getting the virus and not being able to get tested. However, unlike flu, we don’t know how to extrapolate from measured cases to actual cases. This further obfuscates the mortality rate.

Some of these factors deflate the rate. Some inflate it.

That’s why for the time being I’m using the Princess Diamond data to make my arm-chair assessments.

One quick correction the 5,140 deaths for the flu was over an 11 week span vs. 23 week span. I agree with you that all of the data can be riddled with error. I do find more clout in the flu data since we have been studying the flu for over 100 years, at this point I would trust their data and estimations.

The CoronaVirus is an interesting bug right now since we really don't have much data on it. While the Princess Diamond is a great case to study I would still hold it suspect due to sample size and the demographic distribution of the passengers.

The thing that muddies up all of the waters is how quickly this thing can spread under the radar. Of the 712 passengers/crew who tested positive 331 or 46.5% were asymptomatic at the time of testing. This is very similar to the results that Iceland has been seeing in that 50% of the positive cases are asymptomatic. With this information one could assume that this virus is spreading like wildfire without us detecting it or ever even knowing it. That's why I am erring on the side that our case rate is significantly higher than what has been measured and the death rate is more than likely much lower than the flu. Heck in what we can measure right now it is lower than the flu.

 

[PEPPERJAX]

Proof positive that everyone is staying in and has literally nothing else to do.

Ok, I found the humor in this.

 

[508mikey]

what is it with these Kentucky goobers in DC ? House leaders look to expedite $2.2 trillion relief package but face possibility that one GOP lawmaker may delay passage

 

[DynaLo]

I defy you to find 10 people amongst the hundred million-plus that you are talking about who said, prior to this, that avoiding a world pandemic is why they chose to live where they do.

I’ve got his 10 covered with my family members alone. It’s one of the top 5 reasons we've been actively looking at acreages large enough to support multiple family dwellings for the past few years. Getting our hippie on and disconnecting from crazy.

 

[PEPPERJAX]

I’ve got his 10 covered with my family members alone. It’s one of the top 5 reasons we've been actively looking at acreages large enough to support multiple family dwellings for the past few years. Getting our hippie on and disconnecting from crazy.

Hide your pot from helicopters and the eradicators.

 

[05_never_again]

One quick correction the 5,140 deaths for the flu was over an 11 week span vs. 23 week span. I agree with you that all of the data can be riddled with error. I do find more clout in the flu data since we have been studying the flu for over 100 years, at this point I would trust their data and estimations.

The CoronaVirus is an interesting bug right now since we really don't have much data on it. While the Princess Diamond is a great case to study I would still hold it suspect due to sample size and the demographic distribution of the passengers.

The thing that muddies up all of the waters is how quickly this thing can spread under the radar. Of the 712 passengers/crew who tested positive 331 or 46.5% were asymptomatic at the time of testing. This is very similar to the results that Iceland has been seeing in that 50% of the positive cases are asymptomatic. With this information one could assume that this virus is spreading like wildfire without us detecting it or ever even knowing it. That's why I am erring on the side that our case rate is significantly higher than what has been measured and the death rate is more than likely much lower than the flu. Heck in what we can measure right now it is lower than the flu.

Can't confirm that yet, but all signs point to that.

Also, I think it is highly likely that the virus was in Italy and NYC way before (I'm not talking a couple weeks before, more like a couple months before) the first positive test. That's the best explanation of why it is spreading so rapidly there. That would mean it has been in Italy since perhaps the first of the year, NYC probably not long after that.

There are still way more cases of it out there, untested, and most are probably asymptomatic or very mild. That ultimately is a good thing

 

[508mikey]

If everyone quit paying on their credit cards starting today banks would become insolvent

 

[TennTradition]

One quick correction the 5,140 deaths for the flu was over an 11 week span vs. 23 week span. I agree with you that all of the data can be riddled with error. I do find more clout in the flu data since we have been studying the flu for over 100 years, at this point I would trust their data and estimations.

The CoronaVirus is an interesting bug right now since we really don't have much data on it. While the Princess Diamond is a great case to study I would still hold it suspect due to sample size and the demographic distribution of the passengers.

The thing that muddies up all of the waters is how quickly this thing can spread under the radar. Of the 712 passengers/crew who tested positive 331 or 46.5% were asymptomatic at the time of testing. This is very similar to the results that Iceland has been seeing in that 50% of the positive cases are asymptomatic. With this information one could assume that this virus is spreading like wildfire without us detecting it or ever even knowing it. That's why I am erring on the side that our case rate is significantly higher than what has been measured and the death rate is more than likely much lower than the flu. Heck in what we can measure right now it is lower than the flu.

No I think it’s actually 24 weeks (correction to my earlier 23). That confused me at first as well.

When they say week 11, they mean week 11 of the year. They record flu seasons starting in week 40. So 13 weeks in 2019 and then the 11 weeks of 2020.

 

[Franklin Pierce]

Two European Countries Report High Error Rate For Chinese-Supplied Coronavirus Tests

Medical personnel in Spain and the Czech Republic have reported that the coronavirus rapid tests their respective countries have received from China are faulty and have a high error rate.

Several labs in Spanish hospitals have reported that the test kits they purchased, manufactured by Chinese company Bioeasy and based in Shenzhen, have a sensitivity of 30% when the sensitivity should be above 80%, Spanish newspaper El País reported Thursday. Due to the test’s lack of reliability, medical personnel in Spain have switched back to the PCR test, which takes up to four hours for a diagnosis, while rapid tests take between 10 to 15 minutes. (RELATED: Chinese Propaganda Has Infected Daily Mail’s Coronavirus Coverage)

The Spanish government purchased 340,000 tests from the Chinese company, a similar quantity to the tests ordered by the Czech Republic, where medical personnel also report an 80% failure rate. China has been attempting to deepen ties with Europe by supplying countries like Italy, Greece, Bulgaria, and Slovenia with medical equipment and testing amid the outbreak.

Prague Morning reported Thursday that the Chinese tests, worth over $2 million, were showing false positives and false negative results. Health officials determined the failure rate was too high and the tests were unreliable.

“We used the tests on those who came to the testing station. Fortunately, we also took samples for further testing and thus learned about the error rate of the tests,” Pavla Svrčinová, a hygienist from the Ostrava region of the country said according to the Prague Morning.

Two European Countries Report High Error Rate For Chinese-Supplied Coronavirus Tests

 

[PEPPERJAX]

If everyone quit paying on their credit cards starting today banks would become insolvent

Why stop with credit cards? How about mortgages too? There would not be enough man power to carry out all of those evictions.

 

[508mikey]

Why stop with credit cards? How about mortgages too? There would not be enough man power to carry out all of those evictions.

that too, but the credit cards alone, would be the nail in the coffin anyway

 

[TennTradition]

One quick correction the 5,140 deaths for the flu was over an 11 week span vs. 23 week span. I agree with you that all of the data can be riddled with error. I do find more clout in the flu data since we have been studying the flu for over 100 years, at this point I would trust their data and estimations.

The CoronaVirus is an interesting bug right now since we really don't have much data on it. While the Princess Diamond is a great case to study I would still hold it suspect due to sample size and the demographic distribution of the passengers.

The thing that muddies up all of the waters is how quickly this thing can spread under the radar. Of the 712 passengers/crew who tested positive 331 or 46.5% were asymptomatic at the time of testing. This is very similar to the results that Iceland has been seeing in that 50% of the positive cases are asymptomatic. With this information one could assume that this virus is spreading like wildfire without us detecting it or ever even knowing it. That's why I am erring on the side that our case rate is significantly higher than what has been measured and the death rate is more than likely much lower than the flu. Heck in what we can measure right now it is lower than the flu.

I agree the biggest risk with the Princess Diamond data is that it was less than a thousand people total tested (positive or negative) and less than 10 deaths. Gonna have some error bars.

I’m less worried about the demographics because we are getting enough data on demographics with CV to correct for that.

 

[PEPPERJAX]

that too, but the credit cards alone, would be the nail in the coffin anyway

On a serious note, I hate credit cards with interest. AMEX all the way.

 

[508mikey]

Two European Countries Report High Error Rate For Chinese-Supplied Coronavirus Tests

Medical personnel in Spain and the Czech Republic have reported that the coronavirus rapid tests their respective countries have received from China are faulty and have a high error rate.

Several labs in Spanish hospitals have reported that the test kits they purchased, manufactured by Chinese company Bioeasy and based in Shenzhen, have a sensitivity of 30% when the sensitivity should be above 80%, Spanish newspaper El País reported Thursday. Due to the test’s lack of reliability, medical personnel in Spain have switched back to the PCR test, which takes up to four hours for a diagnosis, while rapid tests take between 10 to 15 minutes. (RELATED: Chinese Propaganda Has Infected Daily Mail’s Coronavirus Coverage)

The Spanish government purchased 340,000 tests from the Chinese company, a similar quantity to the tests ordered by the Czech Republic, where medical personnel also report an 80% failure rate. China has been attempting to deepen ties with Europe by supplying countries like Italy, Greece, Bulgaria, and Slovenia with medical equipment and testing amid the outbreak.

Prague Morning reported Thursday that the Chinese tests, worth over $2 million, were showing false positives and false negative results. Health officials determined the failure rate was too high and the tests were unreliable.

“We used the tests on those who came to the testing station. Fortunately, we also took samples for further testing and thus learned about the error rate of the tests,” Pavla Svrčinová, a hygienist from the Ostrava region of the country said according to the Prague Morning.

Two European Countries Report High Error Rate For Chinese-Supplied Coronavirus Tests

well yeah, anything made in China is junk

 

[CagleMtnVol]

Chances of catching this while running or riding a bike? ....hmmmmm.

Probably lower than getting shot while running or biking in Chicago.

 

[Smokey'sHandler]

While we still have a lot to learn about this coronavirus, we know a great deal about the flu. You quoted a poster who either doesn't know how to interpret the data presented on the flu in the source material he referenced, or he is being intellectually dishonest. Either way, his statements about the flu are both wrong and not supported by the CDC data he referenced.

If that is the case take a look at the data and please provide a counterargument. My goal was not to be intellectually dishonest but to show the data that is on the website (some may require some additional clicking and digging) and present what I found.

Several media pundits and posters on here have taken the death rate of the CoronaVirus as purely being deaths vs. positive cases. The CDC website referenced by another poster has data on the flu for this season and historical data where you can perform the same calculation. This year's version of the flu has been a rough one and that is supported by the data on the website and by the number that I represented.

The purpose of this exercise it to show that even though the CoronaVirus as it sits in the US has a 1.5% death rate and this year's flu with the same data shows a 2.2% death rate. Do I believe that the death rate of this year's flu is 2.2%? No I firmly believe that the 0.1% death rate that has been reported by many is accurate. Come to find out that although that number is more than likely true from data the CDC has to make an estimation on the total number of cases in order to achieve the 0.1%. They even say as much on the front page of the "Weekly US Influenza Surveillance Report" when they say the CDC estimates that so far this season there were 38 million flu illnesses.

The problem is with measuring CoronaVirus you are going to have to do the same thing. Although we cannot accurately estimate how many have been infected like we can with the flu one has to assume that the virus has infected much more than what the positive tests are showing therefore potentially drastically decreasing the mortality rate than what is currently being reported.

Please provide your data and counterargument.