We’ve gone over the numbers countless times. They don’t add up. The agenda is outstripping the statistics. The coronavirus, in pure numbers terms, is a rounding error on the annual flu season. The Swine Flu “pandemic” of 2009 was 10x more widespread and 100s of times more fatal…did any of this panic porn appear? Did it “change what normal meant”?
No, it was just a new type of flu. It passed, there was media hype, of course, but the world remained the same.
The time for arguing over whether the CFR is 2% or 3% is done, because even if the disease is as bad as they are reporting, none of it can justify the Orwellian nightmare that Britain (and much of the rest of the developed world) is turning into.
People with platforms need to focus on this, without falling for rhetorical traps or emotionally manipulative sob-stories. Human-interest anecdotes are meaningless, and feel good articles about “pulling together” or “not taking any risks” are negative panic at best or enabling emergent fascism at worst.
That would be actual fascism. Not the pretend type that the anti-Trump “resistance” has been rabbiting on about for three years.
Consider that: This is the EXACT SITUATION everybody from the NYT to CNN was hysterically warning Trump would introduce since he was first elected, and where are those people now? Cheering him on. Because of “public health”.
The same people ranting about Boris Johnson being an alt-right neo-Nazi racist and unfit for public office before Christmas, now want to give the man legal authority to arrest anyone with a cough and nail pensioners inside their homes.
Robert I understand your argument and agree to a great extent with you (and, believe it or not 98) that the numbers, while I promise they won't be anything to laugh at when this ends, are not eye popping on a historical scale.
I think there are two issues here, and we must separate the scientific from the political. I like to lean toward the scientific. That said, I feel the "hype" on the scientific side may be justified -- on the political side not so much. Unfortunately the other animal I'm not addressing, the economy, is affected by both.
On the scientific side, this is a novel virus. That is important for so many reasons that we all know by now. It's new. We have no immunity. It's contagious as hell. We have no vaccine yet. Yes, therapeutics are looking promising.
Flu seasons don't see doctors and nurses screaming for PPG, respirators, etc.. Hospitals needing more ICU space and isolation rooms.
Flu seasons don't see folks in hazmat suits spraying streets with disinfectant, cruise lines shut down, airlines coming to a standstill, crematoriums burning 24/7 and mass gravesites being dug.
Flu seasons don't see stay at home orders and quarantine zones.
Considering that this virus is novel, we are learning more about it every day, and even the best scientists can't tell us exactly how this will all unfold or when it will end.
Those same scientists do worry about the possibility of mutations, and the virus becoming endemic which is what they do...
