The Coronavirus Thread

[Hermit]

Bloody Ozland and Fernland are so far away but even they cant control it with the present regimes of lockdown and mask wearing...

You're confusing control with eradication, Scotty. Let's look at the situation in terms of deaths per million in habitants and total infections per million inhabitants.

Counties where the pandemic is out of control:

USA             1,028    59,029 
Sweden          817    39,095
Netherlands    641    44,480

Counties where the pandemic is under control:

New Zealand      5       429
Japan               25    1,721     
Australia          35    1,104

[Hermit]

A common accepted term for people following the herd. So what is your point?

"Sheeple" is a commonly used term by people like Galaxian and Seth. I have not noticed others employing it.

You obviously dont read many newspaper reports.

Take any dictionary:
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sheeple

: people who are docile, compliant, or easily influenced : people likened to sheep James Nichols, who ran the family farm here, stamped dollar bills with red ink in protest against currency and told his neighbors that they were "sheeple" for obeying authority like livestock.

I have read enough to know what "sheeple" means. Also enough to know that the word was coined at least as early as 1945. Lastly, I have read enough to know that the word is predominantly used by right wing nuts and utterly batshit crazies. They have basically appropriated it.

For me, it's just another ad hominem. Accusing someone of following the crowd or government direction in no way invalidates what they are doing or saying. As an argument, it is fallacious and should be dismissed as such, and newspapers using the term doesn't mean fuck all.

Just my opinion of course.

Not just yours. It is one of a list of derogatives rarely used outside right wing communities. Another one is "cuck". On the left there is "Karen" and probably a slew of others. All communities, sexists, racists, incels, MRAs and so on, have their particular argot.

[pErvinalia]

A common accepted term for people following the herd. So what is your point?

"Sheeple" is a commonly used term by people like Galaxian and Seth. I have not noticed others employing it.

You obviously dont read many newspaper reports.

Take any dictionary:
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sheeple

: people who are docile, compliant, or easily influenced : people likened to sheep James Nichols, who ran the family farm here, stamped dollar bills with red ink in protest against currency and told his neighbors that they were "sheeple" for obeying authority like livestock.

I have read enough to know what "sheeple" means. Also enough to know that the word was coined at least as early as 1945. Lastly, I have read enough to know that the word is predominantly used by right wing nuts and utterly batshit crazies. They have basically appropriated it.

For me, it's just another ad hominem. Accusing someone of following the crowd or government direction in no way invalidates what they are doing or saying. As an argument, it is fallacious and should be dismissed as such, and newspapers using the term doesn't mean fuck all.

Just my opinion of course.

Scot doesn't know how to construct a rational argument, so it's all he's got.

The reality is that the containment measures in Australia and New Zealand worked when we had outbreaks. As I said, it's a sense of social duty. Calling it being "sheeple" is stupid nonsense. But that's what we have come to expect from Scot.

[Brian Peacock]

The critical thing about obedience to government directions is to consider first, whether it is a popularly elected government (and yes, I know, there are always flaws in most electoral systems) and secondly, to consider the rationale for those directions. IMO, said directions must be:

* rational, and based on a consensus of scientific advice, i.e. not for religious or other reasons

* proportionate, in that a reduction in freedom from said directions must be in proportion to the useful outcome expected from those directions

* aimed to benefit the community in general, or if more narrowly targeted, those in the greatest need or risk

The Great Barrington Declaration fulfills all those conditions, wherein scientists argue that social restrictions result in disproportionately adverse outcomes and don't really benefit those in greatest need/risk.

[NineBerry]

Just because some scientists say something doesn't make it scientific. You have to look at the consensus reached in published and peer-reviewed articles.

On. And sitting in a Koch brother living room and sipping champagne is a very good hint they aren't doing good science.

[Brian Peacock]

Just because some scientists say something doesn't make it scientific. You have to look at the consensus reached in published and peer-reviewed articles.

On. And sitting in a Koch brother living room and sipping champagne is a very good hint they aren't doing good science.

Some might say that The Great Barrington Declaration is more convincing than you are. I can understand why some might say that, but I wouldn't.

[NineBerry]

Is that champagne you are sipping from that cup?

[Brian Peacock]

Champagne or Kool Aid. Who can tell?



An interesting element of The Great Barrington Declaration is its contribution to the wilful bankrupting by equivocation of the term 'herd immunity'. Epidemiologists talk about herd immunity specifically in relation to immunisation, not as a natural feature of a population's resistance to infectious diseases. In an epidemiological context herd immunity represents an estimation of the proportion of a population that needs to be immunised to successfully suppress the propagation of a viral or bacterial agent. Exposing a population to a virulent and lethal contagion no more results in herd immunity than exposing a population to high levels of beta or gamma radiation results in immunity to high-energy radioactive particles - in both cases, while some might survive, in the end there probably wouldn't be enough people left to bury all the dead.

[NineBerry]

Damn. I was hoping to see some bare arms there

[Scot Dutchy]

Bloody Ozland and Fernland are so far away but even they cant control it with the present regimes of lockdown and mask wearing...

You're confusing control with eradication, Scotty. Let's look at the situation in terms of deaths per million in habitants and total infections per million inhabitants.

Counties where the pandemic is out of control:

USA             1,028    59,029 
Sweden          817    39,095
Netherlands    641    44,480

Counties where the pandemic is under control:

New Zealand      5       429
Japan               25    1,721     
Australia          35    1,104

Once again cherry picking. Keep going. Who says they are out of control? You?
You lot have trouble controlling a population density of 5 sheeple per sqkm and only 5 slightly urban areas hundreds of kilometres apart. Never mind Fernland it has two very slightly urban areas with a density of 15 sheeple per sqkm.
But you just love making these ridiculous comparisons in your pissing up the wall games.

[pErvinalia]

Fernland, sheeple, fairy data... Someone's not functioning correctly.

[Brian Peacock]

Japan's population density c.355 people/km², with the Netherlands being c.410 people/km². However, Japanese conurbations are significantly more densely populated than NL, with Tokyo for example seeing around 6000 people/km². So the population density is both lower overall in Japan than the Netherlands but also higher in the cities. Population density is primarily a factor in the speed a contagion spreads buts says very little about its lethality.

[Tero]

Illuminati at work! It's a conspiracy to destroy the MAGA movement! Hide now!


A very small number of Covid patients who have never experienced mental health problems are developing severe psychotic symptoms, including hallucinations, paranoia and violent impulses, weeks after contracting the virus.

https://nl.nytimes.com/ newsletter

[aufbahrung]

Article doesn't say what happens if they have the nuclear codes and are about to lose their house/job when developing post-covid psychosis though?

[Joe]

Japan's population density c.355 people/km², with the Netherlands being c.410 people/km². However, Japanese conurbations are significantly more densely populated than NL, with Tokyo for example seeing around 6000 people/km². So the population density is both lower overall in Japan than the Netherlands but also higher in the cities. Population density is primarily a factor in the speed a contagion spreads buts says very little about its lethality.

That's a fair apples to apples comparison for cherry picked data, Brian.

I don't know what to compare New Zealand with, but do you think Canada would be a decent comparison with Australia? It's less populous and has lower population density, and yet has 399 deaths and 14,647 case per million according to Worldometer, which suggests Straya's control measures are pretty effective.