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re: Daily COVID Updated as of 11/2/20 8:00 PM
Posted on 7/13/20 at 4:22 pm to Athanatos
Posted on 7/13/20 at 4:22 pm to Athanatos
quote:That is an interesting read indeed. But it still doesn't explain why they were so much more fearful of this virus than the flu.
China doesn't care about human life, but the government does need to do certain things to keep the Mandate of Heaven under Chinese political theory (the Chinese equivalent of consent of the governed).
I often wonder if this board actually understands that it's possible to have a virus/plague/etc. that is worth doing what has actually been done this time. I'm guessing that what has amounted to crying wolf will only make it worse when it actually does come.
Posted on 7/13/20 at 4:56 pm to Big Scrub TX
quote:
I often wonder if this board actually understands that it's possible to have a virus/plague/etc. that is worth doing what has actually been done this time. I'm guessing that what has amounted to crying wolf will only make it worse when it actually does come.
Well, a big issue is when a virus has become a big enough deal "to do something" and of course, to what extent.
We know we've had pandemics in the past.
We know the response to this one is unprecedented.
We know prior ones were definitely deadlier.
Does that mean we are doing too much? Does that mean prior responses did too little? Does modern society value life differently than in those past ones? Are we "over/undervaluing" certain lives relative to others?
Those questions and their answers are less about science and more about current values, morals and yes, politics. That whole disagreement isn't seriously about if the virus is real, its about this debate and all these things and where you are on the spectrum of how you value these factors against other factors.
This post was edited on 7/13/20 at 5:01 pm
Posted on 7/13/20 at 5:02 pm to Big Scrub TX
quote:
That is an interesting read indeed. But it still doesn't explain why they were so much more fearful of this virus than the flu.
I often wonder if this board actually understands that it's possible to have a virus/plague/etc. that is worth doing what has actually been done this time. I'm guessing that what has amounted to crying wolf will only make it worse when it actually does come.
I think it does. The number of Chinese people in poverty is almost three times the total US population. Initial data, I believe, had a hospitalization rate of 20% of those infected. But even taking current hospitalization rates in the US as an assumption (4.9%) and a 25% prevalence (225 million people), the Chinese government would have been expecting twice as many people in poverty being hospitalized than China has hospital beds as a country. And that's just taking into account those below China's poverty line. Guaranteed that those beds would first go to government officials, their families, the business leaders, and the 300 million person "middle class." That's a recipe for unrest, if I've ever heard.
Now imagine that China's initial assumption was that the hospitalization rate was going to be four times worse. China's government maintains power because it is selling its ability to handle crises and continue to generate wealth for China. Having people dying in the streets of giant cities doesn't fit the brand.
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