The Coronavirus thread

Quote: SOOPOO

Out of all the charts, statistics, hypotheses, that I've seen in relation to COVID-19 that is among the most impressive! What restrictions does Michigan have that Ohio does not?

Probably a restriction on counting cases starting Oct 22.

Quote: Tanko

I've posted about this a few times. Perhaps it is too difficult for some people to comprehend. Perhaps they hear something from the talking heads on CNN or MSNBC, and accept it without question, having lost the ability to think for themselves.

The House is the ultimate authority on spending. The dem controlled House controls spending. Not the President. Not the Republicans.

The dem controlled congress repeatedly rejected Trump's proposed budget cuts, and never offered any budget cuts of their own.

Nearly all the increase in spending is due to mandatory spending.

Under Trump, discretionary spending increased by a total of about $400 billion spread over three years.

As a percent of GDP, discretionary spending is at a historic low.

The rest of the $3 trillion increase in the deficit was due to mandatory spending, which passed the tipping point, and began accelerating at an increasing rate as a percent of GDP in 2000.

You make some good points. But I said Republicans sometimes pretend to care about deficits. I didn't say Democrats care about them. They clearly don't. It may the the one thing the major parties agree on, probably because the voters don't care. Hell, there is even an economic school of thought that says deficits don't matter.

A few thoughts:

Spending is only one component of deficits. When Republicans had the power, tax cuts were their priority.


Mandatory spending is largely self funded. The majority of mandatory spending is Social Security and Medicare. Social Security is funded through payroll taxes. It does now run a deficit but it is still paying benefits from accumulated surplus. It's not currently sustainable but that's another issue. Its contribution to the federal deficit is insignificant. Medicare is 57% funded through payroll tax and premiums.

Mandatory spending is only mandatory by laws which can be changed. If it was some immovable obstacle that can't be touched then the Democrats could not have blown it up. If they are helpless to change it then why did my full retirement age change from 65 to 67?

I have seen analyses that the ACA has reduced spending by reducing overall medical costs. The analyses may be flawed, but the point is, it's not as simple as killing ASA to restore spending levels. There are macro impacts to consider.

Edit: I should clarify, I'm not Democrat. I'm not Republican. I think deficits matter.

Quote: Tanko

Consistent low infection rates and deaths across East and South East Asia.

One possible explanation.

They’ve developed immunity over centuries of exposure to corona viruses.

Just as the European settlers had stronger resistance to the diseases they carried to America, which wiped out 95% of the Native population.

“Tatsuhiko Kodama of the University of Tokyo said preliminary studies show that Japanese people’s immune systems tend to react to the novel coronavirus as though they had previous exposure, and notes that there are centuries of history of coronaviruses emerging from East Asia.”

“The enigma of lower death rates in East Asia can be explained by the presence of immunity,” he said.

Yea
But
On the flip side, it's not just Asian countries
Australia has also been very successful in defeating the virus.
The difference
Science
The govts that totally depended on science for their virus response are the ones that defeated the virus

Quote: terapined

Quote: Tanko

Consistent low infection rates and deaths across East and South East Asia.

One possible explanation.

They’ve developed immunity over centuries of exposure to corona viruses.

Just as the European settlers had stronger resistance to the diseases they carried to America, which wiped out 95% of the Native population.

“Tatsuhiko Kodama of the University of Tokyo said preliminary studies show that Japanese people’s immune systems tend to react to the novel coronavirus as though they had previous exposure, and notes that there are centuries of history of coronaviruses emerging from East Asia.”

“The enigma of lower death rates in East Asia can be explained by the presence of immunity,” he said.

Yea
But
On the flip side, it's not just Asian countries
Australia has also been very successful in defeating the virus.
The difference
Science
The govts that totally depended on science for their virus response are the ones that defeated the virus

How do you define 'defeated'. Australia still is having cases most days. They also have had some of the most draconian lock down measures in place. It is not Science that pauses the growth it is the ability and desire to strip your citizens of their basic freedoms and lock everything down. As I have said before we won't know what levels of lockdown worked best until this is over and we can examine all the data without prejudice across all sectors of a country. Remember that we currently only know the deaths to date for any country and not the eventual final total.

Apparently their is a new wave going through London that is a mutation and some evidence of re-infection of those that have had covid. That could be a game changer for those that are banking on the vaccines.

VP Pence to receive the vaccine live in TV Friday morning.

Quote: ams288

VP Pence to receive the vaccine live in TV Friday morning.

Thats really cool
Kudos

Quote: ams288

VP Pence to receive the vaccine live in TV Friday morning.

2 inch needle in the butt?

Quote: terapined

On the flip side, it's not just Asian countries
Australia has also been very successful in defeating the virus.
The difference
Science
The govts that totally depended on science for their virus response are the ones that defeated the virus

In New Zealand, the PM saw that 'flattening the curve' was still going to see the health service overwhelmed, so they adopted a policy of 'Crush the curve' and they were very successful.

Very sad and surprising stat
U.S. adults ages 25 to 44
This past July has been the deadliest month among this age group in modern American history
This age group has averaged 11k deaths every July for 20 years
This July, 16k dead

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/16/opinion/covid-deaths-young-adults.html?utm_source=fark&utm_medium=website&utm_content=link&ICID=ref_fark
"People Thought Covid-19 Was Relatively Harmless for Younger Adults. They Were Wrong."

Maybe the anti-vaxxers are right. Devastating side effects are being discovered.