5 ms·

No thanks. I don’t stay at home worrying about tractor-trailers or terrorists, either.

davidw 7y ago
This is exactly the mentality that has lead to the virus spreading like wildfire in parts of Italy. This thread discusses the health care system in one part of Italy being stretched to the breaking point: https://twitter.com/silviast9/status/1236933818654896129 https://twitter.com/silviast9/status/1236933818654896129
- jvagner 7y ago
  SF BART was just as full today as it usually is. Headlines might be that big tech companies are telling staff to WFH and paying their hourly employees during this, but most people at most jobs are going about their lives per the usual, because everyone's locked into it. So far.
- thrwaway69 7y ago
  No, it's because of the asymptomatic nature of it and carelessness by the officials. Without supply and strong backend infrastructure, panic will only cause situation to worsen as people crowd up to get supplies, find them out of stock and blow themselves up over it. Panic will also cause a shortage of human resources which are required to handle the situation. People will line up over small issues and displace those who truly need the help like what happened with masks and hand sanitizers. Hospitals won't be able to keep up. The staff will have other problems to deal with as their toddlers or family members are in panic at home due to schools, offices etc everything shutting down. Mortality rate for people under 40s is not high. When you consider the risk factor, you would be more likely to die from using escalators and stairs over a period of 1-2 year. Stop overblowing/underblowing the thing.
  - davidw 7y ago
    You're right that we should not panic, but start doing the easy things right away to slow the spread.
  - hajile 7y ago
    Overall mortality rate for the flu is around 0.1% and most of those are very old or very young. Mortality in your 30s for COVID-19 is around 0.2% which is twice that if flu overall making the rate much, much higher than normal for that age group.
  - lliamander 7y ago
    > Without supply and strong backend infrastructure, panic will only cause situation to worsen as people crowd up to get supplies, find them out of stock and blow themselves up over it. If you do not give people social permission to take reasonable precautions when things are still good, the panic that happens when things get bad will be worse. > Panic will also cause a shortage of human resources which are required to handle the situation. People will line up over small issues and displace those who truly need the help like what happened with masks and hand sanitizers. Hospitals won't be able to keep up. The staff will have other problems to deal with as their toddlers or family members are in panic at home due to schools, offices etc everything shutting down. The more people are able to take reasonable precautions that involve social distancing and self-isolation, the more drastically we can reduce the number of people infected, and the less impacted the healthcare system will be. > Mortality rate for people under 40s is not high. It's still higher than the flu, and the risk of hospitalization is still pretty high. "Healthy people under 40" are not the only demographic that should be considered when responding to a pandemic. Many people are not "healthy people under 40". Many of us have dependents who would be at grave risk if they were to be infected with the virus. The danger to them is significantly higher than the flu. There are no vaccines, and no treatments for this disease. Our only recourse is to reduce spread through social distancing. Fortunately, unlike with the seasonal flu, it may still be possible to stamp out this disease.
    - jbay808 7y ago
      Yes, exactly this. And if you have any concern for the at-risk populations in your area, rather than just yourself, you should quarantine yourself if you get sick, and you'll want to have the supplies on hand to do that.
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
- guscost 7y ago
  Fear will cause more damage than the disaster itself. I don't agree with your priorities, I think your behavior is just as destructive as you must think mine is, and none of that is likely to change.
  - davidw 7y ago
    I listed some simple actions that many people can do. They're not 'panic'; they're a rational response to something that spreads between people: stay away from other people as much as possible.
    - guscost 7y ago
      > spreading like wildfire > stretched to the breaking point If you don't want people to panic, maybe you should avoid this rhetoric?
      - davidw 7y ago
        This is an accurate description of the situation in several areas in Italy.
        hef19898 7y ago
        Are you in Italy by any chance or is it just hearsay?
        davidw 7y ago
        I lived there for a number of years, have in-laws there, and read Italian newspapers on-line. I'm not reporting rumors. Here's a good site for the numbers: https://lab24.ilsole24ore.com/coronavirus/ https://lab24.ilsole24ore.com/coronavirus/ - look at that growth curve :-(
        hef19898 7y ago
        You do know that the increase in cases is directly related to the number of tests conducted, right?
- hef19898 7y ago
  Please, could we refrain from using Twitter as a source by now? Also, the first strain is, from what I understood, in the wild since January in Italy. Wouldn't be surprised if that's the case across Europe, so. Back then nobody panicked. But now the media, and even worse the internet, is on it and people start to loose their heads.
  - graeme 7y ago
    It’s an English translation of this article: https://bergamo.corriere.it/notizie/cronaca/20_marzo_07/coronavirus-bergamo-medico-humanitas-facebook-situazione-drammatica-altro-che-normale-influenza-4fdf6866-6088-11ea-8d61-438e0a276fc4.shtml https://bergamo.corriere.it/notizie/cronaca/20_marzo_07/coro... It was linked in the thread, had you cared to read it. Nobody panicked in Italy, and now they’re in a general lockdown! Clearly, they should have taken social distancing measures sooner, as we should now.
    - hef19898 7y ago
      Good, so we have a stock photo on top of a clickbaity article based on a social media account. Well, that is how you get linked on Twitter. Traffic is everything it seems...

This is exactly the mentality that has lead to the virus spreading like wildfire in parts of Italy. This thread discusses the health care system in one part of Italy being stretched to the breaking point: https://twitter.com/silviast9/status/1236933818654896129 https://twitter.com/silviast9/status/1236933818654896129

jvagner 7y ago
SF BART was just as full today as it usually is. Headlines might be that big tech companies are telling staff to WFH and paying their hourly employees during this, but most people at most jobs are going about their lives per the usual, because everyone's locked into it. So far.
thrwaway69 7y ago
No, it's because of the asymptomatic nature of it and carelessness by the officials. Without supply and strong backend infrastructure, panic will only cause situation to worsen as people crowd up to get supplies, find them out of stock and blow themselves up over it. Panic will also cause a shortage of human resources which are required to handle the situation. People will line up over small issues and displace those who truly need the help like what happened with masks and hand sanitizers. Hospitals won't be able to keep up. The staff will have other problems to deal with as their toddlers or family members are in panic at home due to schools, offices etc everything shutting down. Mortality rate for people under 40s is not high. When you consider the risk factor, you would be more likely to die from using escalators and stairs over a period of 1-2 year. Stop overblowing/underblowing the thing.
- davidw 7y ago
  You're right that we should not panic, but start doing the easy things right away to slow the spread.
- hajile 7y ago
  Overall mortality rate for the flu is around 0.1% and most of those are very old or very young. Mortality in your 30s for COVID-19 is around 0.2% which is twice that if flu overall making the rate much, much higher than normal for that age group.
- lliamander 7y ago
  > Without supply and strong backend infrastructure, panic will only cause situation to worsen as people crowd up to get supplies, find them out of stock and blow themselves up over it. If you do not give people social permission to take reasonable precautions when things are still good, the panic that happens when things get bad will be worse. > Panic will also cause a shortage of human resources which are required to handle the situation. People will line up over small issues and displace those who truly need the help like what happened with masks and hand sanitizers. Hospitals won't be able to keep up. The staff will have other problems to deal with as their toddlers or family members are in panic at home due to schools, offices etc everything shutting down. The more people are able to take reasonable precautions that involve social distancing and self-isolation, the more drastically we can reduce the number of people infected, and the less impacted the healthcare system will be. > Mortality rate for people under 40s is not high. It's still higher than the flu, and the risk of hospitalization is still pretty high. "Healthy people under 40" are not the only demographic that should be considered when responding to a pandemic. Many people are not "healthy people under 40". Many of us have dependents who would be at grave risk if they were to be infected with the virus. The danger to them is significantly higher than the flu. There are no vaccines, and no treatments for this disease. Our only recourse is to reduce spread through social distancing. Fortunately, unlike with the seasonal flu, it may still be possible to stamp out this disease.
  - jbay808 7y ago
    Yes, exactly this. And if you have any concern for the at-risk populations in your area, rather than just yourself, you should quarantine yourself if you get sick, and you'll want to have the supplies on hand to do that.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
guscost 7y ago
Fear will cause more damage than the disaster itself. I don't agree with your priorities, I think your behavior is just as destructive as you must think mine is, and none of that is likely to change.
- davidw 7y ago
  I listed some simple actions that many people can do. They're not 'panic'; they're a rational response to something that spreads between people: stay away from other people as much as possible.
  - guscost 7y ago
    > spreading like wildfire > stretched to the breaking point If you don't want people to panic, maybe you should avoid this rhetoric?
    - davidw 7y ago
      This is an accurate description of the situation in several areas in Italy.
      - hef19898 7y ago
        Are you in Italy by any chance or is it just hearsay?
        davidw 7y ago
        I lived there for a number of years, have in-laws there, and read Italian newspapers on-line. I'm not reporting rumors. Here's a good site for the numbers: https://lab24.ilsole24ore.com/coronavirus/ https://lab24.ilsole24ore.com/coronavirus/ - look at that growth curve :-(
        hef19898 7y ago
        You do know that the increase in cases is directly related to the number of tests conducted, right?
hef19898 7y ago
Please, could we refrain from using Twitter as a source by now? Also, the first strain is, from what I understood, in the wild since January in Italy. Wouldn't be surprised if that's the case across Europe, so. Back then nobody panicked. But now the media, and even worse the internet, is on it and people start to loose their heads.
- graeme 7y ago
  It’s an English translation of this article: https://bergamo.corriere.it/notizie/cronaca/20_marzo_07/coronavirus-bergamo-medico-humanitas-facebook-situazione-drammatica-altro-che-normale-influenza-4fdf6866-6088-11ea-8d61-438e0a276fc4.shtml https://bergamo.corriere.it/notizie/cronaca/20_marzo_07/coro... It was linked in the thread, had you cared to read it. Nobody panicked in Italy, and now they’re in a general lockdown! Clearly, they should have taken social distancing measures sooner, as we should now.
  - hef19898 7y ago
    Good, so we have a stock photo on top of a clickbaity article based on a social media account. Well, that is how you get linked on Twitter. Traffic is everything it seems...