Is coronavirus being overplayed? Hyped up fear mongering going on?

[Twilight Hue]

What do you think?

New York Post Opinion piece...

https://nypost.com/2020/12/10/us-media-overplays-covid-19-threat-undermines-effort-to-beat-virus/

 

[Shadow Wolf]

New What do you think?

The blizzard of snowflakes overwhelming the medical system need to grow up. This is killing more people a day than tobacco, amd we are very strict about that and would generally agree only an idiot would downplay the dangers and risks of tobacco.

 

[Quetzal]

I would prefer an overreaction than underestimation. But I will draw attention to this:

That choice reflects a broader pattern in American media coverage of the pandemic, which tends to accentuate the negative, exaggerate risk and ignore encouraging information.

I disagree. Many media outlets I follow are releasing encouraging information related to vaccine distribution. Further, they are optimistic in regards to the Moderna vaccine.

With that said, bad news always sells better than good news. This is a common critique of the media that I can get on board with.

 

[exchemist]

What do you think?

New York Post Opinion piece...

https://nypost.com/2020/12/10/us-media-overplays-covid-19-threat-undermines-effort-to-beat-virus/

Imbecile article, frankly. They quote one doctor with a public relations agenda - and try to suggest from that a whole conspiracy of doom-mongering.

The problem the US faces is that, due to the abysmal lack of political leadership, the view that it is a fuss about nothing is encouraged in large sections of the population, not least by articles like this one.

What you need to do is keep a watch on the state of your hospitals. How full are they and are they filling up further or emptying? The game is to stop them getting overloaded. It's true that the number of infections does not directly tell you that, because the number of new hospital cases lags about 2 weeks behind the headline rate for new infections. But, by the same token, it is a predictor of what the hospital occupancy will be a fortnight hence.

There is bound to be a lot of poor media coverage, as that is the way of newspeople hunting for a headline. But all the numbers I am seeing show the infection rate increasing in the USA and that means your hospitals will be getting filled up.

There is no way to portray that situation as good news. I know a lot of Americans are incapable of believing in bad news but, tough, this is what it is.

 

[Unveiled Artist]

What do you think?

New York Post Opinion piece...

https://nypost.com/2020/12/10/us-media-overplays-covid-19-threat-undermines-effort-to-beat-virus/

Well. I agree so far I'm reading:

That choice reflects a broader pattern in American media coverage of the pandemic, which tends to accentuate the negative, exaggerate risk and ignore encouraging information. The result isn’t just depressing but misleading and potentially counterproductive, as Americans are told to keep up their guard against the virus during the winter they will have to get through....This unrelenting, indiscriminate negativity fosters suspicion and resistance

After reading, I still agree. Though it shouldn't devalue the seriousness of the issue just put it in perspective.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

What you need to do is keep a watch on the state of your hospitals. How full are they and are they filling up further or emptying?

We're at 0% in this part of California.

 

[Brickjectivity]

What do you think?

New York Post Opinion piece...

https://nypost.com/2020/12/10/us-media-overplays-covid-19-threat-undermines-effort-to-beat-virus/

I think it causes cells to age more quickly, but beyond that I'm not certain what it does. In general it probably decreases the average lifespan. If I am correct it explains why its most deadly to the elderly and the very young.

 

[SigurdReginson]

You know, One of the floors I work on is a covid floor. The other, isn't. They are both ICU (intensive care unit) floors. With the way things have been going, my other ICU floor might also start housing covid patients. The scary thing about it is that the majority of people there are people in the danger zone age range.

I've known quite a few people who have gotten sick from it, and of those people, some of them either recieved perminant damage (so far) or died.

If we care about the wellbeing of others, we take this seriously.

 

[Twilight Hue]

I think it causes cells to age more quickly, but beyond that I'm not certain what it does. In general it probably decreases the average lifespan. If I am correct it explains why its most deadly to the elderly and the very young.

I think the more educated we get, like understanding how it works and what it does, rather than just saying its bad or putting on a political spin, would bring about more cooperation in helping prevent the spread and looking for a cure or control.

 

[Brickjectivity]

I think the more educated we get, like understanding how it works and what it does, rather than just saying its bad or putting on a political spin, would bring about more cooperation in helping prevent the spread and looking for a cure or control.

When the disease was first announced they didn't know how virulent it would be, and they weren't sure how dangerous it was only that it was dangerous. Many wheels were set into motion. The epidemiologists have been trying to make prediction models since March. As the numbers come in they update their models based upon whatever happened two weeks ago. Since there's no accurate test they have to go by inaccurate information.

They didn't know in the first months if we'd all turn into zombies or what, but by the third month in policy makers had to make political decisions using best guesses. Naturally this also became a political wrangle, since the two major parties always talk smack about each other's policies.

Meanwhile the Republican voters were having to make excuses for their candidate, and the Democrat voters were making everything be about that candidate. Of course, and by then each party was dedicated to the proposition that its determination based upon guesswork had been correct. Those who had insisted upon curfews doubled down. Those who insisted on no masks doubled down, too.

 

[sun rise]

Hospitals full.
ER's out of capacity
hundreds of thousands dead
Worse versions spreading in the UK and South Africa

And idiots, some with degrees, LIE. Those covidiots are terrorists because they're spreading fear and terror by their refusal to admit what is going on thus making the situation worse. They need to be treated as the terrorists they truly are.

 

[Daemon Sophic]

I think it causes cells to age more quickly, but beyond that I'm not certain what it does. In general it probably decreases the average lifespan. If I am correct it explains why its most deadly to the elderly and the very young.

Uh...No, it does not age people. It does not age parts of their body more than normal. It in no way triggers apoptosis of cells (programmed cell death from age).
It acts like any upper respiratory flu-like infection; however, what we often see is an over-active (or hyper-active) immune response, with our own white blood cells dumping inflammatory chemicals (cytokines) into the lungs and other parts of the body, which causes both the severe respiratory illness (blocking off airways with mucous and pus (pneumonia) and damaged/scarred lung tissue.....as well as the disseminated intravascular coagulopathy (DIC) picture (tiny blood clots showering into the lungs, kidneys, brain (mini-strokes), etc...
It is more highly infectious than the normal flu, so it spreads faster, and it seems tougher for the body to kill it (which is likely why we make the big cytokine storms I outlined above).
Basically its just a monster of a flu.
No aging. The elderly are always more vulnerable to the flu every year, but every year some younger people die from the flu too. Now just multiply their numbers by about 30.

 

[Sunstone]

Sure, the media is overplaying the danger from the coronavirus. Only a mere 300,000 Americans have died from it. A number so tiny in comparison to infinity as to be laughable!

 

[Orbit]

What do you think?

New York Post Opinion piece...

https://nypost.com/2020/12/10/us-media-overplays-covid-19-threat-undermines-effort-to-beat-virus/

Oh, I don't know. Ask the hospitals that are out of ICU beds and building MASH style tents in their parking lots if it's hype.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

Sure, the media is overplaying the danger from the coronavirus. Only a mere 300,000 Americans have died from it. A number so tiny in comparison to infinity as to be laughable!

320,000.
The numbers have skyrocketed the past couple months.

 

[Twilight Hue]

Oh, I don't know. Ask the hospitals that are out of ICU beds and building MASH style tents in their parking lots if it's hype.

Where? None of that is happening in my area.

 

[crossfire]

Where? None of that is happening in my area.

Here's an article from Oklahoma about hospitals putting up overflow tents.
Oklahoma City hospitals turn to COVID-19 overflow tents

I heard one hospital in Nevada is using their parking garage as an overflow area.

 

[crossfire]

Oh, I don't know. Ask the hospitals that are out of ICU beds and building MASH style tents in their parking lots if it's hype.

They will probably run out of staff to take care of the people.

 

[Subduction Zone]

We're at 0% in this part of California.

I think that you meant 100% since he asked how full hospitals are, not how much room that they have. But your point was taken.

 

[Subduction Zone]

And currently the lead cause of death in the U.S, but that is nothing to worry about

COVID-19 was the leading cause of death in the U.S. this week, report says