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The media mostly ignored this story for 1 entire month despite its constant seriousness and despite it being clear that it was the biggest event of the year so

The media mostly ignored this story for 1 entire month despite its constant seriousness and despite it being clear that it was the biggest event of the year so far. Only this last week has it picked up on it. For people who have been following it from the start that fact was used as evidence that it was an actually serious problem given that the media was constantly downplaying it or just ignoring it. In regards to the disease's lethality, even though most people will experience it as just a flu, between 10% to 15% of people experience it bad enough that they need hospital beds. If there's a generalized outbreak in the population like there was in China hospitals will be overloaded and general chaos will ensue, because hospitals in most countries aren't ready to deal with this kind of surge.

bart_spoon 7y ago
The media has been reporting on every detail of the coronavirus for over a month now. If you have only just started noticing, that is your fault. No one is ignoring anything.
phreeza 7y ago
Just to point out that this was already being well reported at least a month ago [0], and that at that point people on HN were projecting millions of deaths by yesterday [1]. [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22167157 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22167157 [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22167881 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22167881
dr_dshiv 7y ago
So, my son had a really bad cold that resulted in an infected lymph node and a course of antibiotics. They never ran a test for covid-19. So, how do we know that we have anywhere close to the right number of total patients? Do you have any citations for these high numbers? Some statistical skepticism is important in matters of public concern.
- adnzzzzZ 7y ago
  https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.02.18.20024539v2 https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.02.18.20024539v... This is a paper that looks at 50k Chinese patients and 18.1% of them are considered "severe cases", which China has been using to mean needing special care in the hospital. And based on a WHO official's statements they found no evidence that there was a big number of unreported cases in China. https://www.statnews.com/2020/02/25/new-data-from-china-butt... https://www.statnews.com/2020/02/25/new-data-from-china-butt..., https://twitter.com/HelenBranswell/status/123233479099875328.. https://twitter.com/HelenBranswell/status/123233479099875328.... Which would mean that these numbers coming out of there are likely more correct than wrong.
  - dr_dshiv 7y ago
    From your second link: "“What [the data] support is that sure, there may be a few asymptomatic cases … but there’s probably not huge transmission beyond what you can actually see clinically,” Aylward said. The claim was quickly challenged by an infectious diseases expert who serves on a committee that advises the WHO’s health emergencies program."

bart_spoon 7y ago

The media has been reporting on every detail of the coronavirus for over a month now. If you have only just started noticing, that is your fault. No one is ignoring anything.

phreeza 7y ago

Just to point out that this was already being well reported at least a month ago [0], and that at that point people on HN were projecting millions of deaths by yesterday [1]. [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22167157 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22167157 [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22167881 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22167881

dr_dshiv 7y ago

So, my son had a really bad cold that resulted in an infected lymph node and a course of antibiotics. They never ran a test for covid-19. So, how do we know that we have anywhere close to the right number of total patients? Do you have any citations for these high numbers? Some statistical skepticism is important in matters of public concern.

adnzzzzZ 7y ago
https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.02.18.20024539v2 https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.02.18.20024539v... This is a paper that looks at 50k Chinese patients and 18.1% of them are considered "severe cases", which China has been using to mean needing special care in the hospital. And based on a WHO official's statements they found no evidence that there was a big number of unreported cases in China. https://www.statnews.com/2020/02/25/new-data-from-china-butt... https://www.statnews.com/2020/02/25/new-data-from-china-butt..., https://twitter.com/HelenBranswell/status/123233479099875328.. https://twitter.com/HelenBranswell/status/123233479099875328.... Which would mean that these numbers coming out of there are likely more correct than wrong.
- dr_dshiv 7y ago
  From your second link: "“What [the data] support is that sure, there may be a few asymptomatic cases … but there’s probably not huge transmission beyond what you can actually see clinically,” Aylward said. The claim was quickly challenged by an infectious diseases expert who serves on a committee that advises the WHO’s health emergencies program."