Covid Spread Can’t Only Be Explained by Who’s Being ‘Bad’
Seeing disease in moral terms seems to be the American way. But scientists still have a lot of questions.
By Faye Flam
There are some weird things going on in the coronavirus data. It’s curious that cases dropped so fast, and have stayed pretty low, in the spring hot zones — New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. And why did cases remain so low in Idaho and Hawaii until recently?
The mainstream narrative is that it’s all about good behavior when cases go down — mask wearing and giving up our social lives for the greater good. And conversely, bad behavior must be what makes them go up. We talk about certain regions having the virus “under control,” as if falling cases are purely a matter of will-power. A sort of moral reasoning is filling in for evidence.
Bloomberg - Are you a robot?
It's nice that someone in the media picked up on something I've been saying here and elsewhere all along.
We are also facing a pandemic of cherrypicking Covid data to fit whatever their preferred political narrative is.
If Hollywood celebrities have been convinced it's all about masks and restaurant closings then surely it must be.
The media performance on this issue has been irresponsible. Little different than the Hollywood celebrities. Since one does not even see disconfirming evidence raised, one wonders if they even know it exists.
Instead its more stories about people who won't wear masks getting into fights in stores.
And let me state I am not "anti mask". I wear one because I figure it can't hurt. Masks are just one of the issues.
The real issue is there is a lot that we don't know. A real discussion should reflect that. A scientific discussion should certainly entertain disconfirming data.
It's a good rule of thumb that if your theory can't explain some data your theory is wrong.
Bloomberg - Are you a robot?
It's nice that someone in the media picked up on something I've been saying here and elsewhere all along.
We are also facing a pandemic of cherrypicking Covid data to fit whatever their preferred political narrative is.
If Hollywood celebrities have been convinced it's all about masks and restaurant closings then surely it must be.
The media performance on this issue has been irresponsible. Little different than the Hollywood celebrities. Since one does not even see disconfirming evidence raised, one wonders if they even know it exists.
Instead its more stories about people who won't wear masks getting into fights in stores.
And let me state I am not "anti mask". I wear one because I figure it can't hurt. Masks are just one of the issues.
The real issue is there is a lot that we don't know. A real discussion should reflect that. A scientific discussion should certainly entertain disconfirming data.
It's a good rule of thumb that if your theory can't explain some data your theory is wrong.
Bloomberg - Are you a robot?
It's nice that someone in the media picked up on something I've been saying here and elsewhere all along.
We are also facing a pandemic of cherrypicking Covid data to fit whatever their preferred political narrative is.
If Hollywood celebrities have been convinced it's all about masks and restaurant closings then surely it must be.
The media performance on this issue has been irresponsible. Little different than the Hollywood celebrities. Since one does not even see disconfirming evidence raised, one wonders if they even know it exists.
Instead its more stories about people who won't wear masks getting into fights in stores.
And let me state I am not "anti mask". I wear one because I figure it can't hurt. Masks are just one of the issues.
The real issue is there is a lot that we don't know. A real discussion should reflect that. A scientific discussion should certainly entertain disconfirming data.
It's a good rule of thumb that if your theory can't explain some data your theory is wrong.
The article is poorly researched. Yes, we don’t know everything about the virus but we do know how to control it. Masks and social distancing are talked about the most because they are something everyone can do.
Controlling the virus basically requires slowing down the virus transmission rate to the point where on average each infected person infects less than one additional person. If you do that it is mathematically certain that the number of cases will go down.
There are many ways to slow the transmission like:
Masks
Social distancing
Lockdowns
Testing, quarantine and contact tracing
Business closings
Avoiding activities with large crowds
Different countries and states have employed different mixtures of the above, but they all help.
The article asks why Sweden’s caseload has plummeted, but the fact that they are asking tells us that they believe the popular myth that things are normal in Sweden. That is not true. Why the cases went down is not a mystery
Sweden does not mandate masks but the employ social distancing and they have now figured out that testing, quarantine and contact tracing REDUCES cases not increases cases. Unfortunately for the US, Trump has never grasped this.
“Sweden is tackling the COVID-19 pandemic through both legally binding measures and recommendations. The government and the Swedish Public Health Agency have taken a number of decisions involving a wide range of new regulations and recommendations that affect the whole of society, including people’s private lives. There is no full lockdown in force, but many parts of Swedish society have shut down.
Life is not carrying on as normal in Sweden. Many people are staying at home and many have stopped travelling. This has had severe effects on Swedes as well as on the Swedish economy. Many businesses are folding. Unemployment is expected to rise dramatically. The Government has taken several measures to mitigate the economic effects and to stabilise the economy.
Sweden shares the same aim as all other countries: to protect the life and health of its population. Fundamentally, Sweden’s measures only differ from other countries in two regards: we are not shutting down schools for younger children or childcare facilities and we have no regulation that forces citizens to remain in their homes.”
Sweden’s response to COVID-19: “Life is not carrying on as normal”
“Sweden was slow to ramp up testing for any but the seriously ill and healthcare workers, but weekly numbers for tests have more than doubled since late may, putting the country in the same bracket as extensively testing nations such as Germany”
Every time you find an infected person and they quarantine, you are reducing the average transmission rate.
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When you shut bars you do not stop people from drinking together. When you wear a mask in a restaurant you do not stop a bunch of 22 year olds from having a party at a lake house.
My guess the reason you don't see a big drop in COVID cases when there is a mask mandate in grocery storest is this: unmasked people in grocery stores was not a large cause of the disease spreading
There just is not much evidence to suggest some of these government policies are much more than symbolic gestures.
Now we even have a case of a requirement to wear masks on video conferences. It's more the behavior of a mask worshipping cult than anything based on reason.
I think you are making the mistake of conflating "masks and social distancing" with "government mandates".
I really don't doubt that if we all stayed 50 feet away from every other person the disease would not spread very much. I don't see how a mask can hurt. I make an effort to avoid getting close to people except a very select few. However, I can observe in my own sphere of contacts there are many people who don't. In spite of the fact they are required to wear a mask in the grocery store by mandate!
What I think is unproven is whether things like mandating restaurants stay closed or that people must wear a mask in a grocery store has much effect.
When you shut bars you do not stop people from drinking together. When you wear a mask in a restaurant you do not stop a bunch of 22 year olds from having a party at a lake house.
My guess the reason you don't see a big drop in COVID cases when there is a mask mandate in grocery stores is this: unmasked people in grocery stores was not a large cause of the disease spreading
There just is not much evidence to suggest some of these government policies are much more than symbolic gestures.
Now we even have a case of a requirement to wear masks on video conferences. It's more the behavior of a mask worshipping cult than anything based on reason.
The article is poorly researched. Yes, we don’t know everything about the virus but we do know how to control it. Masks and social distancing are talked about the most because they are something everyone can do.
Controlling the virus basically requires slowing down the virus transmission rate to the point where on average each infected person infects less than one additional person. If you do that it is mathematically certain that the number of cases will go down.
There are many ways to slow the transmission like:
Masks
Social distancing
Lockdowns
Testing, quarantine and contact tracing
Business closings
Avoiding activities with large crowds
Different countries and states have employed different mixtures of the above, but they all help.
The article asks why Sweden’s caseload has plummeted, but the fact that they are asking tells us that they believe the popular myth that things are normal in Sweden. That is not true. Why the cases went down is not a mystery
Sweden does not mandate masks but the employ social distancing and they have now figured out that testing, quarantine and contact tracing REDUCES cases not increases cases. Unfortunately for the US, Trump has never grasped this.
“Sweden is tackling the COVID-19 pandemic through both legally binding measures and recommendations. The government and the Swedish Public Health Agency have taken a number of decisions involving a wide range of new regulations and recommendations that affect the whole of society, including people’s private lives. There is no full lockdown in force, but many parts of Swedish society have shut down.
Life is not carrying on as normal in Sweden. Many people are staying at home and many have stopped travelling. This has had severe effects on Swedes as well as on the Swedish economy. Many businesses are folding. Unemployment is expected to rise dramatically. The Government has taken several measures to mitigate the economic effects and to stabilise the economy.
Sweden shares the same aim as all other countries: to protect the life and health of its population. Fundamentally, Sweden’s measures only differ from other countries in two regards: we are not shutting down schools for younger children or childcare facilities and we have no regulation that forces citizens to remain in their homes.”
Sweden’s response to COVID-19: “Life is not carrying on as normal”
“Sweden was slow to ramp up testing for any but the seriously ill and healthcare workers, but weekly numbers for tests have more than doubled since late may, putting the country in the same bracket as extensively testing nations such as Germany”
Every time you find an infected person and they quarantine, you are reducing the average transmission rate.
Access Denied
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Whether you get the coronavirus is not just a function of your own actions? It also depends on other people's actions? No ****! :roll:
But thank you for accidentally making the point that we need a nationwide mask mandate.
All people are adverse to admitting that they don't know something. Experts times ten.
As Ronnie said ....... they know so much that isn't so...
The article is not poorly researched, it is very well researched.
You don't like it because it contradicts your world view.
Controlling the virus basically requires slowing down the virus transmission rate to the point where on average each infected person infects less than one additional person. If you do that it is mathematically certain that the number of cases will go down.
There are many ways to slow the transmission like:
Masks
Social distancing
Lockdowns
Testing, quarantine and contact tracing
Business closings
Avoiding activities with large crowds
Coronavirus Immunity and Reinfection (WebMD). Herd immunity estimations are all based upon "assumptions". Different assumptions yield different results. As with all scientific determinations, "garbage in = garbage out". We don't know enough yet to determine which of the various assumptions are garbage.Other types of coronaviruses appear to cause some immunity. Studies show that people are protected against the coronaviruses that cause the common cold for up to a year after an infection. And our bodies have antibodies against the SARS coronavirus for up to 4 years.
Most people who've recovered from COVID-19 do make antibodies against the virus. But so far, there's no evidence that this will protect them against the virus if they're exposed to it again.
In South Korea, more than 160 people tested positive again after they had recovered from COVID-19. In China, 5%-10% of people tested positive again after they'd recovered, according to news reports. It's not clear whether:
These people got infected again
The virus reactivated in their bodies after being quiet for a while, or
The test results were flawed
fine the militant maskless a couple hundred a pop when they go out in public without a mask. fine the places that let them in a couple hundred a pop. if either refuses to pay, up it to thousands.
problem solved.
There are some weird things going on in the coronavirus data. It’s curious that cases dropped so fast, and have stayed pretty low, in the spring hot zones — New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. And why did cases remain so low in Idaho and Hawaii until recently?
But why, then, have cases plummeted in Sweden, where mask wearing is a rarity?
This is the barely coherent and grammatically inept speech of a man who desperately wants to be able to claim that he "cured coronavirus."
That's it, in a nutshell. When we do get a handle on this crisis, he wants to be able to pull out footage and declare "I called it! I said use this! I said try this! I told them to do this, it was my idea!" He's just doing it with lots of stupid stuff because he doesnt want to miss an opportunity. He's afraid 'the big one' will be mentioned and he wont get credit for it.
It's all about declaring himself the savior of the cv crisis and we'll hear all about it, esp in his campaign. (Which is basically each of his press briefings these days) --- Lursa
Whether you get the coronavirus is not just a function of your own actions? It also depends on other people's actions? No ****! :roll:
But thank you for accidentally making the point that we need a nationwide mask mandate.
"No it's not!"
"Yes, it is!"
"I'm right, you're wrong, times infinity!"
Seriously?
isNOT!You are so right!
Sometimes in life it is important to know when to stop arguing with people and simply let them be wrong.
The anxiety and hysteria in this country over an engineered virus is amazing. The Swedes are so lucky to have honest leaders.
Hope you don't mind me addressing just this part...
I do believe they help and wear mine pretty much every time I go out, but more important is when we have mask mandates in place, everyone's behavior changes and we're all a lot more careful.
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