BF2S Forums Pandemic thread

As we learned from the browser game Pandemic, closing borders/airports/seaports after the infection hits the country is shutting the barn door after the horses have bolted. What does President Madagascar have to say, that's what I want to know.

how the fuck do you get a head start on a disease with a two-week incubation time? which breaks out, furthermore, at a transport/logistics hub in a major city?

come on, nostradilpers. tell us.

i think i have to agree with jay on this matter (it was just a leap year, after all): that's just so much bullshit illusion of control. there is no government on earth who could effectively shut down everything and stop the world economy at the first sign of a novel infectious disease. governments just do not have that much control over what is going on. it's a complete fantasy of power to imagine we could have shuttered everything in a day and sat this thing out.

the more relevant discussion is how should a globally connected world prepare for inevitable pandemics, in terms of communication and mobilising responses. quarantine is not going to work.

Last edited by uziq (2020-03-01 15:57:19)

uziq wrote:

looks like that correction will take out the corona drinks brand. weep.

Dilbert_X wrote:

Should probably quarantine permanently any nation which eats bat, pangolin, snake, monkey and human.

Might as well quarantine the US because "bush food" is sometimes eaten here too. Snakes, alligators, squirrel, etc.

Also "traditional" western livestock can sometimes transmit disease to humans.

"Don’t buy China’s story: The coronavirus may have leaked from a lab" -nyt
https://nypost.com/2020/02/22/dont-buy- … from-a-lab

And then there is this little-known fact: Some Chinese researchers are in the habit of selling their laboratory animals to street vendors after they have finished experimenting on them.

[…]

Instead of properly disposing of infected animals by cremation, as the law requires, they sell them on the side to make a little extra cash. Or, in some cases, a lot of extra cash. One Beijing researcher, now in jail, made a million dollars selling his monkeys and rats on the live animal market, where they eventually wound up in someone’s stomach.

If true, maybe not do this? Instead of, you know, overreacting about people eating bugs and bats or whatever.

Dilbert_X wrote:

Should probably quarantine permanently any nation which eats bat, pangolin, snake, monkey and human.

swine flu, look it up.

for the third time in this thread.

no epidemiologist attributes every zoonotic illness to consumption of animal protein. we make contact with animals for many other reasons than meat. fair enough if you want to go full vegan and never wear anything containing animal products or tested on animals. meanwhile for the rest of the world, it's sadly inevitable that, in places without the most stringest hygiene and sanitary conditions (i.e. most real-world, out of the lab environments), zoonotic diseases are going to exist.

i'm not sure what 'over-consumption' means in this context, anyway. another self-invented dilbert measure betraying only his own prejudices. what if we just farmed enough meat for a basic monthly intake? and still an infection broke out? is that 'over-consumption' of protein? is everyone in china simultaneously eating 200 snakes and trying to become body-builders, or what? make sense man.

ironically the chinese, who eat bugs and insects as a source of protein, unlike most other cultures on the planet, are only further denigrated and exhorted with disgust by you. very neat.

you keep blaming these things on the chinese eating 'humans' and 'bats'. again, for the umpteenth time this thread, eating bat is a delicacy in china. it's like prattling on about debauched westerners eating half-rotted, buried birds. stupid, ignorant, and hysterical.

many things outside of farming/harvesting animals is going to contribute to future zoonotic transmissions. chief among them the increasing population and our rapid encroachment onto wild land. we are increasingly moving into, chopping down habitats, and displacing animals that may have been carrying infections like ebola for centuries. all it takes is one poor person to eat some bushmeat in a circumstance like that, and you have EVD and an outbreak. factory farming is not the problem.

i think the epidemiologists have a better, more realistic grip on the problem than you, who seems to think the solution is 'total veganism and abstention from animal contact, worldwide' and 'total quarantine'.

Last edited by uziq (2020-03-02 02:56:22)

i had a case of the flu that stuck around for about 3 weeks over the new year. i was bed-bound, feverous, aching, etc. the whole time. really unpleasant. first time in my adult life that it has actually brought me down and made me unable to work. i'm going to consider getting the annual flu jab each year now. before i thought it was just for the senile. christ.

we had a major tech conference cancelled at the last minute. I suspect over the next month or so we will start seeing huge impacts to the supply chain of major electronics manufacturers, which will result in lower earnings, resulting in stock market dips, resulting in another recession.

The tariffs were the first blow to China's economy. This will be a huuuuuge blow because it freezes cash. Unless the Chinese government is feeling generous enough to infuse struggling businesses with cash, this is going to be huge. It's just not fully formed yet because a lot of people were kind of using the excuse of the Chinese New Year as to why supply and services aren't at 100% capacity.

I'm convinced despite no evidence that the most recent dips in the stock market over the past few days were institutional investors slowly liquidating their holdings. They will horde cash until after the sell-off and buy everything back on the cheap.

we as a company have instituted a quarantine for guests to our corporate HQ and travel restrictions, along with a litany of personal hygiene recommendations.

Anecdotally, I was traveling over the past few days and there is a very real fear at airports and generally in any spaces where travelers congregate.

It is going to get worse before it gets better.

I am worried about my parents. They are over 50 and don't have excellent health.

Jay wrote:

It's just the fucking flu, people. So massively overblown

Also something about people with hand sanitizer OCD, as he puts it.

On the masks, I haven't taken to wearing them.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/medica … r-BB10B8KU

From CDC:

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-nc … ml#protect

DC does not recommend that people who are well wear a facemask to protect themselves from respiratory illnesses, including COVID-19. You should only wear a mask if a healthcare professional recommends it. A facemask should be used by people who have COVID-19 and are showing symptoms. This is to protect others from the risk of getting infected. The use of facemasks also is crucial for health workers and other people who are taking care of someone infected with COVID-19 in close settings (at home or in a health care facility).

Though I'm not yet concerned that the US government will start sealing the exits to homes and apartments, as an aside I do wonder at the impact unreliable access to healthcare will have on this country. People too afraid to seek medical attention because of the expense, poor to no coverage, and surprise bills.

unnamednewbie13 wrote:

Though I'm not yet concerned that the US government will start sealing the exits to homes and apartments, as an aside I do wonder at the impact unreliable access to healthcare will have on this country. People too afraid to seek medical attention because of the expense, poor to no coverage, and surprise bills.

It'll mostly be poor people dying, thats how natural selection works.