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I've been tracking the coronavirus news for the past few weeks and have found https://www.reddit.com/r/covid19 https://www.reddit.com/r/covid19 to be good for t

by lhl 7y ago

I've been tracking the coronavirus news for the past few weeks and have found https://www.reddit.com/r/covid19 https://www.reddit.com/r/covid19 to be good for tracking the latest scientific/medical publications, and https://www.reddit.com/r/coronavirus https://www.reddit.com/r/coronavirus for general news. For transmission rates, this team is updating their modeling results often: https://cmmid.github.io/topics/covid19/current-patterns-transmission/global-time-varying-transmission.html https://cmmid.github.io/topics/covid19/current-patterns-tran... On twitter, @datagraver is publishing some of the most interesting visualization/graphs: https://twitter.com/Datagraver https://twitter.com/Datagraver I've found this via mrb (@zorinaq) who's been tracking the covid19 spread: https://twitter.com/zorinaq/status/1235850389020270595 https://twitter.com/zorinaq/status/1235850389020270595

haunter 7y ago
Both of those subs are incredibly tinfoily and panicky. Honestly reddit is the worst. And BI is right that they are doing the same as always, just consiparcy things https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-reddit-social-platforms-spread-misinformation-who-cdc-2020-3 https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-reddit-social-pl... Also you might as well rename /r/Coronavirus/ to /r/politics2 aka fucktrump. It's the same thing over and over again
- DuskStar 7y ago
  /r/Coronavirus used to have some info on it. But yeah, for the past week+ (since Reddit began linking it on the front page, maybe?) every other article has been "the US isn't testing enough", and the comments of every article have degenerated into "Trump is literally evil, this is all being done for the benefit of corporations, he just wants to protect the stock market" which is really not helpful. It might (or might not) be accurate, but that's kinda irrelevant.
- tic_tac 7y ago
  Agreed, Reddit is cancer. Reactionary hive mind internet at its worst. One of the biggest problems with Reddit is that Americans go on boards like /r/politics or in this case /r/Coronavirus, see extreme hostility towards America and Trump and assume that this hostility is all coming from Americans themselves, when really a substantial number of Reddit users (and users elsewhere on the Internet) are not American. Not being Americans, their hostility comes more from predisposed bias against Trump and America than a careful analysis of what's best for America.
  - endorphone 7y ago
    Reddit is 50% American, and overwhelmingly skews young. It isn't surprising that it has a "predisposed bias" against Trump: The young aren't really a key Trump demographic (Trump has a >67% unfavorability rating among those under 40). Indeed, Trump's statist media is Fox News that has an average viewer ago of 68 years old (who, ironically, will be the bulk of the victims of COVID-19). Though anyone with even the slightest hint of morality or intellectual sincerity has a predisposed bias against Trump. He has pushed it way beyond politics, and now it's whether you're a very stupid, terrible person or not.
    - JaxonH 7y ago
      I’m not a fan of the man, but frankly, so many on the other side make him look like a saint that I struggle to understand the outpouring of hate against him. And it’s true Fox is just an extension of the Republican Party, but so likewise are CNN, MSNBC and (basically every other major news site) extensions of the Democratic Party. In fact I think that’s why Fox News was created, to have at least one outlet of propaganda for the Republicans given everything else was propaganda for the Democrats. The big take away from that though is that all major media is just official propaganda for a political party. What kills me though is the “if you disagree with me politically you’re obviously just a racist/homophobe/etc. That social justice agenda has to stop. And reddit is prime real estate for where they congregate. I watched a mass reddit mob harass anyone who claimed an accusation from a woman shouldn’t be automatically taken as fact, and that women NEVER lie and you are guilty the moment you are accused, and you’re a “horrible human being” if you even dare to think a single woman could EVER possibly lie when accusing someone. The internet has done a lot of good, but it’s become Ground Zero for extremist ideology like that to run rampant.
    - unishark 7y ago
      The thing is Trump isn't even particularly relevant to the vast majority of the stories, even when it's the federal govt screwing up. But reddit posters are constantly making it about him. The moderators do try to prevent the worst of political posting to their credit. What's so ironic about foxnews viewers being victims? They aren't panicking appropriately enough or something? I just glanced at their website and it didn't seem particularly slanted on the topic. Looks like they have multiple coronavirus stories coming out every hour. One can easily freak out if so inclined.
- jacobolus 7y ago
  Edit: here’s a Lancet Editorial “COVID-19: too little, too late?” https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)30522-5/fulltext https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6... * * * Seattle is about 2 weeks behind Lombardy. The Bay Area maybe 3 weeks behind. Everywhere in the US is going to be in that situation in 2 months at most, unless something very dramatic changes ASAP. The kinds of measures being taken in the US are grossly inadequate for this challenge: leaders and some media outlets continue to downplay risks, residents continue to blithely go about their everyday lives, large gatherings like church meetings and sporting events continue as usual, the CDC/FDA is still blocking sufficient testing around the country, hospitals and medical workers are not being sufficiently trained and prepared, and the supply of personal protective gear and ICU beds is not going to suffice. We have squandered 4–6 weeks of preparation for this crisis, and hundreds of thousands of people in the US may die as a result, with others experiencing permanent lung damage. China has shown that this virus can be managed if the number of patients stays low enough that infections are discovered early and patients are treated aggressively with antivirals, supplemental oxygen as soon as blood oxygen starts to drop, mechanical ventilators for severe cases, etc. People’s immune systems generally do fight this virus off if we can keep them breathing for long enough. But that depends on having enough hospital capacity. If everyone stays complacent and continues to mingle until there are hundreds of local deaths in each area it’s going to be a disaster. Edit 2: To everyone here: If you have what seems like a minor cold, even if you are a young adult, please stay away from people and don’t spread it. What is 2 weeks of minor cough and sore throat for you might become severe pneumonia requiring hospitalization for your parent or neighbor or coworker. If anyone in the family gets a minor cold, please keep your kids out of school. Etc.
  - lettergram 7y ago
    I had an interesting experience - my local hospital (which is actually a very good medical hospital). Has already called in every at risk (which I am) person and had them do a check up (and in my case an x-ray). They also have already stock piled masks and additional resources. The medical staff in the area are similarly mentally preparing, schools are prepping for the shutdown (at home school). I wouldn’t say the US is doing nothing, this is rural Illinois. There just isn’t much to do here until it’s a problem. But as soon as we get a few test positives schools are planning shutdown (I’m assuming gyms will be used for patients as necessary).
- nodamage 7y ago
  This Business Insider article seems really pointless and vapid to me. Their criticism of reddit is they don't link to official CDC or WHO pages at the top of their search results? You might as well level the same accusation at Hacker News or any other internet forum. And the fact that Facebook and Twitter has those links does nothing to stop them from being full of misinformation themselves. I looked through /r/covid19/ and it mostly seems to be an aggregator of research papers. Don't really see much tinfoily or panicky stuff there. I also have no idea why posting this chart would be considered "making bold and fearmongering claims": https://www.reddit.com/r/dataisbeautiful/comments/euokq5/oc_coronavirus_in_context_contagiousness_and/ https://www.reddit.com/r/dataisbeautiful/comments/euokq5/oc_... Besides, I'm not sure why Business Insider thinks linking to the CDC is some sort of be all end all solution to providing coronavirus information. They've actually been incredibly slow to provide up to date information (not to mention testing). This article comes across as Business Insider taking a petty swipe at reddit to generate clicks and trying to stir up drama where none exists.
  - TeMPOraL 7y ago
    It is, and pulling out the marathon bombing case just shows it's a hit piece. Social media in general, and Reddit in particular, are commoditizing news publications, and displacing them as trusted sources of information. That's IMO why there have been so many such articles coming out regularly in the past few years.
    - lonelappde 7y ago
      You don't find it terrifying that anonymous unaccountable randos are displacing the mainstream media?
      - TeMPOraL 7y ago
        Mainstream media is almost as anonymous and just as unaccountable as Internet "randos". The latter at least link to their sources sometimes.
  - crocodiletears 7y ago
- icegreentea2 7y ago
  /r/coronavirus can definitely be bad on your mental health, but /r/covid19 is pretty level headed. Like ya, there are some scared people on it, but it's not very conspiracy-y.
  - asdfman123 7y ago
    One thing I don't understand is why we shouldn't all have a healthy dose of anxiety about the outbreak. Most of the stuff in life people go around worrying about is meaningless -- what will people think of me? What happens if I lose my job? But if anxiety leads more people to self-quarantine and wash their hands over and over again, it will save lives. Potentially a lot of them. Anxiety doesn't normally have a place in society because it's so overwhelmingly safe most of the time, but we're facing a legitimate threat that people can do something about. Obviously, there's no place for panic and stockpiling, but most of the people I see don't seem too worried -- they don't seem worried enough. People should be more cautious.
- killjoywashere 7y ago
  Your take on things is interesting as one instance of 3blue1brown's point in the video: if everyone is worrying, you don't have anything to worry about. But if no one is worried, you should be worried. You seem to be taking a position of "Everyone else is worried. I assert that my non-worry will be proven to be the correct position." Yet, your prediction that the redditors are excessively worried ("panicky") will only be borne out if those who worry are sufficient in number and intensity to keep downward pressure on the exponential multiplier. There's a worry vector field around the Earth here, I can feel it. I wonder what you get with the line integral?
  - haunter 7y ago
    I worry but I don't accept reddit's panicky "70% will be infected + 4% death rate = 150 million deaths" I even think the 500k death in the US is too much https://www.businessinsider.com/presentation-us-hospitals-preparing-for-millions-of-hospitalizations-2020-3 https://www.businessinsider.com/presentation-us-hospitals-pr... >Lawler's estimates include: >4.8 million hospitalizations associated with the novel coronavirus >96 million cases overall in the US >480,000 deaths Once again I'm not downplaying it but I think we will be closer to the 1957-59 asian flu which had 70k deaths in the US and 2 million global BUT maybe that's even too much https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Influenza_A_virus_subtype_H2N2 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Influenza_A_virus_subtype_H2N2
    - oska 7y ago
      Except downplaying it is exactly what you are doing, based solely on a personal opinion which you do not back up in any way.
- meroes 7y ago
  BI posts a hitpiece on their competitor and that's the message you took. Social media and YouTube at least provide a way to find and post first hand information that is needed when traditional news sources have their own agendas that don't always align with the truth.
- knzhou 7y ago
  I've yet to see any opinion pieces from Business Insider that weren't shallow hit pieces. It's not a place for intelligent people to get information. Or, really, anyone.
- asdfman123 7y ago
  The thing about reddit is it can be very useful if you know when to take it seriously and know when they're being over the top. All the subs are subject to hivemind, so you have to correct for that.
momentmaker 7y ago
This is a good dashboard tracker as well: https://avatorl.org/covid-19/ https://avatorl.org/covid-19/
humaniania 7y ago
Why not get the news right from the primary source? The World Health Organization (part of the United Nations) publishes a daily situation report: https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/situation-reports https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2... Their director also has statements published regularly: https://www.who.int/dg/speeches/detail https://www.who.int/dg/speeches/detail
- kohtatsu 7y ago
  The numbers from China are not reliable; there are only disincentives to proper reporting. The way the WHO has coddled China is not exactly commendable. Diversity of sources and information is good anyway, barring some caveats. There is more than just raw numbers at play; you need a variety of sources to see impacts on daily life, how people are preparing, etc. I follow CBC (Canada), some fellow humans on twitter, and especially appreciate the stuff this guy puts out; https://twitter.com/balajis https://twitter.com/balajis
  - duedl0r 7y ago
    China is not reliable? You follow some random guy on twitter? Here is some tinfoil for you...
    - kohtatsu 7y ago
      I get info from WHO, just making it clear they're not my only source. If I had to choose just one, sure WHO is great. Nobody has the "real" numbers for China so it's moot. He's not a random guy; https://twitter.com/balajis/status/1228752554022068226 https://twitter.com/balajis/status/1228752554022068226 but he's also not my only source. [Edit: I also didn't get my suspicion of China's numbers from him or anyone in particular; I follow China a lot and it's my own conclusion. In January I personally saw packed hospitals and dozens of dead bodies in twitter videos, and it's not exactly easy or safe to get those videos out.] Maybe I've just been following the topic a lot more than other people. I can understand not having time for it. I have a respiratory condition, and live with an elderly person, so I actually worked my last day as a barista today in order to eliminate public contact. Where I am the virus probably won't come for a couple to a dozen weeks, if ever, but it's still a precaution I can afford to take so I did (I can consult from home). Also I love tinfoil hats, thank you <3 (Sorry for the long thread, kinda hoping we get collapsed)
yodsanklai 7y ago
This is a good list of resources. https://gist.github.com/Gro-Tsen/866cb55d6004356c142ebab462b50025 https://gist.github.com/Gro-Tsen/866cb55d6004356c142ebab462b...
yodsanklai 7y ago
> https://cmmid.github.io/topics/covid19/current-patterns-transmission/global-time-varying-transmission.html https://cmmid.github.io/topics/covid19/current-patterns-tran... I found this link very interesting. It seems to show the reproduction number is decreasing quite fast in Italy (before the latest quarantine measures, making me wonder if they were really needed). In Korea, it's also just below 1, which would mark the end of the virus propagation if this is confirmed. If these numbers are accurate, it seems that the epidemics can be controlled without resorting to extreme measures. I'd be curious to get other people's opinions. I'm not quite sure I'm interpreting this data correctly.
- lhl 7y ago
  Yeah, certain countries seem to be doing a very good job at keeping the spread at bay. SK is doing the best job at mitigation. TW, HK, and SG have so far been very effective at containment. CN dropped to the ball to start, but it turns out they managed to take it seriously in time and it may be under control. Their biggest risk, ironically enough is probably going to be spread from international travelers. From today's new case report and death count (not to mention the 16M person lockdown of all of Lombardy), the worst may not be over for Italy yet (although I think they're doing the best job of the European countries from what I can see)... https://www.reddit.com/r/Coronavirus/comments/fffppj/italy_reports_1492_new_cases_of_coronavirus_and/ https://www.reddit.com/r/Coronavirus/comments/fffppj/italy_r... Of the 133 deaths today in Italy, it appears to be primarily older folks atm, but the reports of running out of ICU beds is not a good sign (anyone in serious condition, regardless of age, requires intubation at least): https://i.imgur.com/VYWdjEI.png https://i.imgur.com/VYWdjEI.png For those that aren't taking COVID-19 very very seriously, I'd recommend reading a frontline report from an Italian HCW: https://www.reddit.com/r/Coronavirus/comments/ffa2tf/testimony_of_a_surgeon_working_in_bergamo_in_the/fjx5tc8/ https://www.reddit.com/r/Coronavirus/comments/ffa2tf/testimo... I'd also encourage everyone to take as many reasonable steps as possible to reduce the spread of infection (proper hygiene, avoiding crowds/public contact as much as possible, social distancing when unavoidable), as lowering the capacity pressure on the healthcare system will be key to saving lives, even if your personal risk is low. We'll be able to see on a country-by-country basis soon which governments/societies have responded the best, but as the WHO put it, "this is not a drill," and I hope everyone here stays safe.
gruez 7y ago
>[...] and https://www.reddit.com/r/coronavirus https://www.reddit.com/r/coronavirus for general news A couple of weeks ago I saw a comment alleging that the subreddit had a pro-china bias[1]. Personally, I've noticed some patterns that seem to be consistent with those allegations: * I frequent /r/all. when the subreddit shows up on /r/all (first or second page), it's almost always negative news about some country other than china * I visited the subreddit on occasion and negative news about china are... few and never anywhere close to the top. At the writing of this comment[2] the only post about china is good news about a 100 year old man recovering from the infection. * A few days ago there were stories of a hotel collapse in china (it was used to quarantine patients). Posts from various subreddits were showing up on /r/all (first page), however in the /r/coronavirus subreddit the story was in the middle of the first page. You'd think that if such a story was showing up on /r/all, that it'd be #1 or #2 place in the subreddit. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22438754 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22438754 [2] https://archive.is/DBWSj https://archive.is/DBWSj
- knzhou 7y ago
  Just a month ago that subreddit was nothing but negative news about China, because China was doing a terrible job. Now China is evidently doing a good job and other countries are screwing up, so they're getting called out. Please don't turn every observation into the world into a conspiracy. It's possible for people to lack your nationalist fervor without being paid shills.
  - gruez 7y ago
    > Just a month ago that subreddit was nothing but negative news about China, because China was doing a terrible job. Now China is evidently doing a good job and other countries are screwing up, so they're getting called out. That explains the first two points, but not the last. It is also consistent with a "moderator takeover" that the original commenter claimed. As it stands, the subreddit hasn't gone full blown /r/sino so it's hard to definitively tell. > Please don't turn every observation into the world into a conspiracy. Actually I never claimed there was any sort of conspiracy, just a bias. /r/politics has a liberal (and probably bernie) bias, but I, nor most people would call it a conspiracy. > It's possible for people to lack your nationalist fervor without being paid shills. Sure. OTOH you don't seem to think it's possible for me to bring up this topic without being nationalist.
lobotryas 7y ago
I wonder how the US military is preparing or dealing with Corona. We have multiple active deployments and need to maintain a fairly robust military readiness. Soldiers often live very close together. Imagine an entire regiment being sick and unable to deploy.

by lhl 7y ago

haunter 7y ago

Both of those subs are incredibly tinfoily and panicky. Honestly reddit is the worst. And BI is right that they are doing the same as always, just consiparcy things https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-reddit-social-platforms-spread-misinformation-who-cdc-2020-3 https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-reddit-social-pl... Also you might as well rename /r/Coronavirus/ to /r/politics2 aka fucktrump. It's the same thing over and over again

DuskStar 7y ago
/r/Coronavirus used to have some info on it. But yeah, for the past week+ (since Reddit began linking it on the front page, maybe?) every other article has been "the US isn't testing enough", and the comments of every article have degenerated into "Trump is literally evil, this is all being done for the benefit of corporations, he just wants to protect the stock market" which is really not helpful. It might (or might not) be accurate, but that's kinda irrelevant.
tic_tac 7y ago
Agreed, Reddit is cancer. Reactionary hive mind internet at its worst. One of the biggest problems with Reddit is that Americans go on boards like /r/politics or in this case /r/Coronavirus, see extreme hostility towards America and Trump and assume that this hostility is all coming from Americans themselves, when really a substantial number of Reddit users (and users elsewhere on the Internet) are not American. Not being Americans, their hostility comes more from predisposed bias against Trump and America than a careful analysis of what's best for America.
- endorphone 7y ago
  Reddit is 50% American, and overwhelmingly skews young. It isn't surprising that it has a "predisposed bias" against Trump: The young aren't really a key Trump demographic (Trump has a >67% unfavorability rating among those under 40). Indeed, Trump's statist media is Fox News that has an average viewer ago of 68 years old (who, ironically, will be the bulk of the victims of COVID-19). Though anyone with even the slightest hint of morality or intellectual sincerity has a predisposed bias against Trump. He has pushed it way beyond politics, and now it's whether you're a very stupid, terrible person or not.
  - JaxonH 7y ago
    I’m not a fan of the man, but frankly, so many on the other side make him look like a saint that I struggle to understand the outpouring of hate against him. And it’s true Fox is just an extension of the Republican Party, but so likewise are CNN, MSNBC and (basically every other major news site) extensions of the Democratic Party. In fact I think that’s why Fox News was created, to have at least one outlet of propaganda for the Republicans given everything else was propaganda for the Democrats. The big take away from that though is that all major media is just official propaganda for a political party. What kills me though is the “if you disagree with me politically you’re obviously just a racist/homophobe/etc. That social justice agenda has to stop. And reddit is prime real estate for where they congregate. I watched a mass reddit mob harass anyone who claimed an accusation from a woman shouldn’t be automatically taken as fact, and that women NEVER lie and you are guilty the moment you are accused, and you’re a “horrible human being” if you even dare to think a single woman could EVER possibly lie when accusing someone. The internet has done a lot of good, but it’s become Ground Zero for extremist ideology like that to run rampant.
  - unishark 7y ago
    The thing is Trump isn't even particularly relevant to the vast majority of the stories, even when it's the federal govt screwing up. But reddit posters are constantly making it about him. The moderators do try to prevent the worst of political posting to their credit. What's so ironic about foxnews viewers being victims? They aren't panicking appropriately enough or something? I just glanced at their website and it didn't seem particularly slanted on the topic. Looks like they have multiple coronavirus stories coming out every hour. One can easily freak out if so inclined.
jacobolus 7y ago
Edit: here’s a Lancet Editorial “COVID-19: too little, too late?” https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)30522-5/fulltext https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6... * * * Seattle is about 2 weeks behind Lombardy. The Bay Area maybe 3 weeks behind. Everywhere in the US is going to be in that situation in 2 months at most, unless something very dramatic changes ASAP. The kinds of measures being taken in the US are grossly inadequate for this challenge: leaders and some media outlets continue to downplay risks, residents continue to blithely go about their everyday lives, large gatherings like church meetings and sporting events continue as usual, the CDC/FDA is still blocking sufficient testing around the country, hospitals and medical workers are not being sufficiently trained and prepared, and the supply of personal protective gear and ICU beds is not going to suffice. We have squandered 4–6 weeks of preparation for this crisis, and hundreds of thousands of people in the US may die as a result, with others experiencing permanent lung damage. China has shown that this virus can be managed if the number of patients stays low enough that infections are discovered early and patients are treated aggressively with antivirals, supplemental oxygen as soon as blood oxygen starts to drop, mechanical ventilators for severe cases, etc. People’s immune systems generally do fight this virus off if we can keep them breathing for long enough. But that depends on having enough hospital capacity. If everyone stays complacent and continues to mingle until there are hundreds of local deaths in each area it’s going to be a disaster. Edit 2: To everyone here: If you have what seems like a minor cold, even if you are a young adult, please stay away from people and don’t spread it. What is 2 weeks of minor cough and sore throat for you might become severe pneumonia requiring hospitalization for your parent or neighbor or coworker. If anyone in the family gets a minor cold, please keep your kids out of school. Etc.
- lettergram 7y ago
  I had an interesting experience - my local hospital (which is actually a very good medical hospital). Has already called in every at risk (which I am) person and had them do a check up (and in my case an x-ray). They also have already stock piled masks and additional resources. The medical staff in the area are similarly mentally preparing, schools are prepping for the shutdown (at home school). I wouldn’t say the US is doing nothing, this is rural Illinois. There just isn’t much to do here until it’s a problem. But as soon as we get a few test positives schools are planning shutdown (I’m assuming gyms will be used for patients as necessary).
nodamage 7y ago
This Business Insider article seems really pointless and vapid to me. Their criticism of reddit is they don't link to official CDC or WHO pages at the top of their search results? You might as well level the same accusation at Hacker News or any other internet forum. And the fact that Facebook and Twitter has those links does nothing to stop them from being full of misinformation themselves. I looked through /r/covid19/ and it mostly seems to be an aggregator of research papers. Don't really see much tinfoily or panicky stuff there. I also have no idea why posting this chart would be considered "making bold and fearmongering claims": https://www.reddit.com/r/dataisbeautiful/comments/euokq5/oc_coronavirus_in_context_contagiousness_and/ https://www.reddit.com/r/dataisbeautiful/comments/euokq5/oc_... Besides, I'm not sure why Business Insider thinks linking to the CDC is some sort of be all end all solution to providing coronavirus information. They've actually been incredibly slow to provide up to date information (not to mention testing). This article comes across as Business Insider taking a petty swipe at reddit to generate clicks and trying to stir up drama where none exists.
- TeMPOraL 7y ago
  It is, and pulling out the marathon bombing case just shows it's a hit piece. Social media in general, and Reddit in particular, are commoditizing news publications, and displacing them as trusted sources of information. That's IMO why there have been so many such articles coming out regularly in the past few years.
  - lonelappde 7y ago
    You don't find it terrifying that anonymous unaccountable randos are displacing the mainstream media?
    - TeMPOraL 7y ago
      Mainstream media is almost as anonymous and just as unaccountable as Internet "randos". The latter at least link to their sources sometimes.
- crocodiletears 7y ago
icegreentea2 7y ago
/r/coronavirus can definitely be bad on your mental health, but /r/covid19 is pretty level headed. Like ya, there are some scared people on it, but it's not very conspiracy-y.
- asdfman123 7y ago
  One thing I don't understand is why we shouldn't all have a healthy dose of anxiety about the outbreak. Most of the stuff in life people go around worrying about is meaningless -- what will people think of me? What happens if I lose my job? But if anxiety leads more people to self-quarantine and wash their hands over and over again, it will save lives. Potentially a lot of them. Anxiety doesn't normally have a place in society because it's so overwhelmingly safe most of the time, but we're facing a legitimate threat that people can do something about. Obviously, there's no place for panic and stockpiling, but most of the people I see don't seem too worried -- they don't seem worried enough. People should be more cautious.
killjoywashere 7y ago
Your take on things is interesting as one instance of 3blue1brown's point in the video: if everyone is worrying, you don't have anything to worry about. But if no one is worried, you should be worried. You seem to be taking a position of "Everyone else is worried. I assert that my non-worry will be proven to be the correct position." Yet, your prediction that the redditors are excessively worried ("panicky") will only be borne out if those who worry are sufficient in number and intensity to keep downward pressure on the exponential multiplier. There's a worry vector field around the Earth here, I can feel it. I wonder what you get with the line integral?
- haunter 7y ago
  I worry but I don't accept reddit's panicky "70% will be infected + 4% death rate = 150 million deaths" I even think the 500k death in the US is too much https://www.businessinsider.com/presentation-us-hospitals-preparing-for-millions-of-hospitalizations-2020-3 https://www.businessinsider.com/presentation-us-hospitals-pr... >Lawler's estimates include: >4.8 million hospitalizations associated with the novel coronavirus >96 million cases overall in the US >480,000 deaths Once again I'm not downplaying it but I think we will be closer to the 1957-59 asian flu which had 70k deaths in the US and 2 million global BUT maybe that's even too much https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Influenza_A_virus_subtype_H2N2 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Influenza_A_virus_subtype_H2N2
  - oska 7y ago
    Except downplaying it is exactly what you are doing, based solely on a personal opinion which you do not back up in any way.
meroes 7y ago
BI posts a hitpiece on their competitor and that's the message you took. Social media and YouTube at least provide a way to find and post first hand information that is needed when traditional news sources have their own agendas that don't always align with the truth.
knzhou 7y ago
I've yet to see any opinion pieces from Business Insider that weren't shallow hit pieces. It's not a place for intelligent people to get information. Or, really, anyone.
asdfman123 7y ago
The thing about reddit is it can be very useful if you know when to take it seriously and know when they're being over the top. All the subs are subject to hivemind, so you have to correct for that.

momentmaker 7y ago

This is a good dashboard tracker as well: https://avatorl.org/covid-19/ https://avatorl.org/covid-19/

humaniania 7y ago

Why not get the news right from the primary source? The World Health Organization (part of the United Nations) publishes a daily situation report: https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/situation-reports https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2... Their director also has statements published regularly: https://www.who.int/dg/speeches/detail https://www.who.int/dg/speeches/detail

kohtatsu 7y ago
The numbers from China are not reliable; there are only disincentives to proper reporting. The way the WHO has coddled China is not exactly commendable. Diversity of sources and information is good anyway, barring some caveats. There is more than just raw numbers at play; you need a variety of sources to see impacts on daily life, how people are preparing, etc. I follow CBC (Canada), some fellow humans on twitter, and especially appreciate the stuff this guy puts out; https://twitter.com/balajis https://twitter.com/balajis
- duedl0r 7y ago
  China is not reliable? You follow some random guy on twitter? Here is some tinfoil for you...
  - kohtatsu 7y ago
    I get info from WHO, just making it clear they're not my only source. If I had to choose just one, sure WHO is great. Nobody has the "real" numbers for China so it's moot. He's not a random guy; https://twitter.com/balajis/status/1228752554022068226 https://twitter.com/balajis/status/1228752554022068226 but he's also not my only source. [Edit: I also didn't get my suspicion of China's numbers from him or anyone in particular; I follow China a lot and it's my own conclusion. In January I personally saw packed hospitals and dozens of dead bodies in twitter videos, and it's not exactly easy or safe to get those videos out.] Maybe I've just been following the topic a lot more than other people. I can understand not having time for it. I have a respiratory condition, and live with an elderly person, so I actually worked my last day as a barista today in order to eliminate public contact. Where I am the virus probably won't come for a couple to a dozen weeks, if ever, but it's still a precaution I can afford to take so I did (I can consult from home). Also I love tinfoil hats, thank you <3 (Sorry for the long thread, kinda hoping we get collapsed)

yodsanklai 7y ago

This is a good list of resources. https://gist.github.com/Gro-Tsen/866cb55d6004356c142ebab462b50025 https://gist.github.com/Gro-Tsen/866cb55d6004356c142ebab462b...

yodsanklai 7y ago

> https://cmmid.github.io/topics/covid19/current-patterns-transmission/global-time-varying-transmission.html https://cmmid.github.io/topics/covid19/current-patterns-tran... I found this link very interesting. It seems to show the reproduction number is decreasing quite fast in Italy (before the latest quarantine measures, making me wonder if they were really needed). In Korea, it's also just below 1, which would mark the end of the virus propagation if this is confirmed. If these numbers are accurate, it seems that the epidemics can be controlled without resorting to extreme measures. I'd be curious to get other people's opinions. I'm not quite sure I'm interpreting this data correctly.

lhl 7y ago
Yeah, certain countries seem to be doing a very good job at keeping the spread at bay. SK is doing the best job at mitigation. TW, HK, and SG have so far been very effective at containment. CN dropped to the ball to start, but it turns out they managed to take it seriously in time and it may be under control. Their biggest risk, ironically enough is probably going to be spread from international travelers. From today's new case report and death count (not to mention the 16M person lockdown of all of Lombardy), the worst may not be over for Italy yet (although I think they're doing the best job of the European countries from what I can see)... https://www.reddit.com/r/Coronavirus/comments/fffppj/italy_reports_1492_new_cases_of_coronavirus_and/ https://www.reddit.com/r/Coronavirus/comments/fffppj/italy_r... Of the 133 deaths today in Italy, it appears to be primarily older folks atm, but the reports of running out of ICU beds is not a good sign (anyone in serious condition, regardless of age, requires intubation at least): https://i.imgur.com/VYWdjEI.png https://i.imgur.com/VYWdjEI.png For those that aren't taking COVID-19 very very seriously, I'd recommend reading a frontline report from an Italian HCW: https://www.reddit.com/r/Coronavirus/comments/ffa2tf/testimony_of_a_surgeon_working_in_bergamo_in_the/fjx5tc8/ https://www.reddit.com/r/Coronavirus/comments/ffa2tf/testimo... I'd also encourage everyone to take as many reasonable steps as possible to reduce the spread of infection (proper hygiene, avoiding crowds/public contact as much as possible, social distancing when unavoidable), as lowering the capacity pressure on the healthcare system will be key to saving lives, even if your personal risk is low. We'll be able to see on a country-by-country basis soon which governments/societies have responded the best, but as the WHO put it, "this is not a drill," and I hope everyone here stays safe.

gruez 7y ago

>[...] and https://www.reddit.com/r/coronavirus https://www.reddit.com/r/coronavirus for general news A couple of weeks ago I saw a comment alleging that the subreddit had a pro-china bias[1]. Personally, I've noticed some patterns that seem to be consistent with those allegations: * I frequent /r/all. when the subreddit shows up on /r/all (first or second page), it's almost always negative news about some country other than china * I visited the subreddit on occasion and negative news about china are... few and never anywhere close to the top. At the writing of this comment[2] the only post about china is good news about a 100 year old man recovering from the infection. * A few days ago there were stories of a hotel collapse in china (it was used to quarantine patients). Posts from various subreddits were showing up on /r/all (first page), however in the /r/coronavirus subreddit the story was in the middle of the first page. You'd think that if such a story was showing up on /r/all, that it'd be #1 or #2 place in the subreddit. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22438754 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22438754 [2] https://archive.is/DBWSj https://archive.is/DBWSj

knzhou 7y ago
Just a month ago that subreddit was nothing but negative news about China, because China was doing a terrible job. Now China is evidently doing a good job and other countries are screwing up, so they're getting called out. Please don't turn every observation into the world into a conspiracy. It's possible for people to lack your nationalist fervor without being paid shills.
- gruez 7y ago
  > Just a month ago that subreddit was nothing but negative news about China, because China was doing a terrible job. Now China is evidently doing a good job and other countries are screwing up, so they're getting called out. That explains the first two points, but not the last. It is also consistent with a "moderator takeover" that the original commenter claimed. As it stands, the subreddit hasn't gone full blown /r/sino so it's hard to definitively tell. > Please don't turn every observation into the world into a conspiracy. Actually I never claimed there was any sort of conspiracy, just a bias. /r/politics has a liberal (and probably bernie) bias, but I, nor most people would call it a conspiracy. > It's possible for people to lack your nationalist fervor without being paid shills. Sure. OTOH you don't seem to think it's possible for me to bring up this topic without being nationalist.

lobotryas 7y ago

I wonder how the US military is preparing or dealing with Corona. We have multiple active deployments and need to maintain a fairly robust military readiness. Soldiers often live very close together. Imagine an entire regiment being sick and unable to deploy.