Features Mar 11, 2020 at 4:00 am

Life in the epicenter of an epidemic Trump called "a hoax."

King County’s first quarantine site being assembled out of modular housing units on a piece of property in White Center. Lester Black

Comments

1

The irony is, most of Trump’s base is over 60. You’d think he’d respond to a disease killing his supporters.

2

I'm looking at this photo of the quarantine quarters.

And I'm reading this description: "The county bought 14 dour-looking modular housing units from migrant worker camps in Midwestern oil fields. Each unit had four separate rooms with two twin-size beds and a bathroom, although the county didn't think the utilities would be hooked up before quarantined individuals would start moving in at the end of the week. They would have to use portable toilets."

And I'm hearing the NIMBY reaction from the neighbors, now couched in the more palatable language of "marginalized communities," and I'm wondering, should we be calling these the COVID-19 internment camps or the COVID-19 leper colonies? Oh, and is there not going to be an element of compulsion involved in these facilities acquiring their residents?

Maybe I'm missing something about how all this is supposed to work...

5

Biker McBike Face @3, some constructive responses to your skepticism.

Let's keep in mind that--last I checked--in no time more than 600 people have been killed in Italy from this disease. And Italy is hardly some less-developed country or some country less integrated with China than we are.

As for the disease only being a threat to the already infirm, keep in mind that the Wuhan physician who originally tried to raise the alert over the virus and whom the Chinese authorities silenced--a young and healthy man--died from the disease himself. (Hard to think of a more cruel irony.)

When you write "this sort of panic," actually the actions being taken now by the likes of Governor Inslee are the antithesis of panic. They are thoughtful, tried-and-true measures to get out ahead of this problem and #FlattenTheCurve so that we DON'T wind up in a panic. An ounce of prevention...

11

@6: Hey Dave, how's your 401K? So much winning! 45's doing a heck of job soothing global markets what with his daily lies about the state of this crisis not to mention how back footed his administration has been in handling it from the get go....
But seriously, read @8 and then read it again. Particularly the bit about Covid-19 not replacing flu but adding to the stress on our health system.
And then wash your hands and donate to the Stranger so you will still have someplace to blather.

17

@12

DUDE.

18

"Joe Nguyen, the state senator representing the area, put out a statement a short time later questioning the placement of the camp.

'I understand why this facility is needed,' Nguyen said.

'But the appearance of placing it in a neighborhood that has already been historically marginalized conveys a message about whose safety we most value in our society that is not lost on me.'"

Nor is it lost on your Constituents...

Give 'em Hell, Joe.
They got it comin'.

19

@9 - The irony.

Did anyone else read this and just start laughing out loud at the desperate projection going on here? Just wow. It’s as sad as regurgitating propaganda from a president who lies about everything but how much he wants to fuck his daughter, but not surprising considering he’s the type of guy who’d offer his own daughter up to Dear Leader anyway.

20

@19: 100%

It's so pathetic to see those who parrot the propaganda in support of the Grifter-in-Chief when we all know full well that Donnie could not care any less about the poor, unwashed masses who blindly support him.

SAD!

22

Look up antigen drift and antigen shift.

23

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3099(20)30195-X/fulltext

The WHO is estimating mortality rate of Covid 19 at over 3%.
Experts believe that approximately one-third to one-half of all Americans will contract Covid 19.

The population of the United States is over 300 million.

Let's do some simple math.

If one third of Americans contract the virus, that means over 100 million cases and over 3 million fatalities.

If you think these numbers are in any way similar to the flu, think again.

The CDC predicts that at least 12,000 Americans will die from the flu in any given year. As many as 61,000 people died in the 2017-2018 flu season, and 45 million were infected.
Feb 7, 2020

That's more than twice as many infected people, and nearly 50 times the number of fatalities.

24

And that is why we are shutting down everything. Americans are primarily driven by consumerism, so by shutting down public gatherings proactively, it is an indirect means of keeping the population cooperative to avoid mass infection because we lack the authoritarian imperitives of other countries, as well as less solidarity due to attitudes of American exceptionalism and political narcisissm. This may seem drastic, but only a month of lockdowns will massively control what could be the numbers above if people were left to their own whimsical impulses. Have faith, we are doing the right thing, and Trump is largely being superseded now by career professionals. The sense of fear and dread lingering is a necessary communal instinct, but do not act on such. Remember that we are the United States of America, and we will see this through without fail.

Resist fear. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering. People in pain are most likely to show fear, so show them compassion. Two wrongs don't make a right. And learn the power of no.

25

23
Learn to read, you moron.
That paper, using two week old data, looks at mortality rates among tested symptomatic patients.
Millions of people have had and have the virus without ever showing up in the statistics because their symptoms were not that bad and they self treated at home.

Covid 19 will turn out to be just another variety of flu.

The Left hyped the threat to politically damage Trump;
the unwarranted ensuing economic cost will be high but in a few weeks when reality sets in the markets will bounce back and the world will toss Covid 19 in the trash can with Impeachment and Russian Collusion as Democrap Leftist Frauds.

26

16

Did you even read what you cut and pasted, Moron?

"Doctors and scientists are working on estimating the mortality rate of COVID-19..."

They don't even have an 'estimate' of the mortality rate yet,
they are 'working on' it.

And they have zero fucking idea how many people have and have had the virus.

The actual damage from the virus will be minuscule;
the damage from Leftist stupidity and Panic will be immense.

It is at least gratifying to see costal urban Leftist areas bearing the brunt of the damage.

27

And scientists are starting to realize that asymptomatic carriers can and are spreading a lot of the virus; because lots of people have this virus and show little or no symptoms.
Add them into the ratio and Cover-19 is not very lethal at all.

28

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/trump-coronavirus-rally-remark/

Politicizing a public health response to an epidemic is asinine.

29

@26: Calm down. Everybody here hopes you're right that this is no big deal, even while knowing that you're wrong.

If it makes you feel better, pick a number of deaths that you feel is acceptable right now, and any number below that in a year's time will prove you were right that this was all hype. Later on if anybody accuses you of moving the goalposts, you can say, "I clearly stated on March 15th, 2020 that anything less than a million dead was no big deal!" and feel smart about it.

30

@26 and @27 (and other, similar, confused ramblings). The morbidity rate varies depending on age as well as underlying health conditions (comorbidities). It is true that scientists are trying to nail down the exact number, but that doesn't mean that they don't have a range, or that the value will suddenly be off by a factor of ten or twenty (as you suggest). They base these numbers on areas that have done extensive testing, so the idea that we aren't including those that are infected but asymptomatic is simply not true.

Here is an article from a well established, very conservative, right wing publication: https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/coronavirus-vs-the-flu-the-difference-between-a-1-and-0-1-fatality-rate-is-huge/. Let me quote a few parts of this, if I may:

Those who suggest that the coronavirus presents no greater threat than does the seasonal flu need to answer some questions:

Why are Italian hospitals being overrun with Covid-19 patients, and why doesn’t that happen with the seasonal flu? Why can’t that happen here?
Why are the Iranians digging mass graves that are visible from outer space?
Why did Communist China — a regime that cares much more about national strength than about human life — shut down factories and bring its economy to the brink of recession in an effort to contain the spread of the virus?
Why did Japan announce a month-long closure of all schools two weeks ago, when there were only four coronavirus deaths in the entire country?
Are we supposed to believe that the Japanese, South Koreans, and Chinese are panicky idiots who don’t understand math and science?

[End article]. Again, this is not the New York Times, the BBC, or any other publication you consider left wing. This is the fucking National Review!

31

@25

So you believe the entire world, including Spain, Italy, South Korea, Japan and China are conspiring with "the left" in an attempt to bring down Trump?

You're fucking crazy, and you're an idiot.

When someone you care about dies from Covid 19 please come back and tell us that it's no big deal.

One final thought.
If you want to dispute a study from the WHO, please give us some actual statistics, not bullshit you pulled out of your ass.

Where exactly did you hear that millions of people have already contracted the virus?

By the way, coronaviruses are not related to flu viruses.

32

@26

How do you know the damage from the virus will be "miniscule" when you claim that we don't have enough information to calculate the mortality rate?

Are you a fucking psychic?

33

Worldwide, as of today:

Coronavirus Cases:
167,757
Deaths:
6,456
Recovered:
76,598

ACTIVE CASES
84,703
Currently Infected Patients
78,892 (93%)
in Mild Condition

5,811 (7%)
Serious or Critical

CLOSED CASES
83,054
Cases which had an outcome:
76,598 (92%)
Recovered / Discharged

6,456 (8%)
Deaths

If any of you idiots that think this is no big deal please share the data you used to come to that conclusion.

34

Hey Lester, Heidi Groover retweeted some organization that is giving $200 for each journalist being hurt by COVID. Do check it out. It's not much but...
Also maybe go apply for unemployment insurance now before the coming deluge. And please pass on Heidi's info. to the others. I wish I had bookmarked it but I'm super stressed out with plumbing problems and forgot. Hope you see this.

By the way, does anyone know of a trustworthy plumber who charges reasonable prices? I tried B**n before and they charged me $250 for a dripping faucet, and then tried to upsell me to uneccessary shit that would have cost $500+.

Ugh, I already don't like having strangers in my house, and this is like the worst time! So if you guys know of a few good men and women independent plumbers (not with one of those huge companies who take most if the $$ and pay the workers pittance), please, please tell me.

Say, has Phoebe from Wallingford posted lately? Hope she is well.

35

@34: I am well, physically anyway. Thank you and bless you.

36

33

How many of the planets 8,000,000,000 people have been tested for coronovirus?
Your sample size is statistically non-existant.
You, and the 'experts' on CNN and MSNBC, know virtually nothing about the lethality of this virus.
The raw numbers of deaths are laughably small.

Here is a peek into the future:
we will realize in a few months that this was not a particularly lethal virus, and that the panic and hysteria and trillions of dollars in economic damage were poorly spent.

This panic started when the Left decided to hype Covid19 into Trump's Katrina (back when not a single American had died....)
It worked better than they could have dreamed, as they soon had actually terrified themselves shitless, sending them running screaming into the empty streets of their economically locked down ghost towns.

Terror, Panic and Political Hatred are a poor foundation for Public Health policy.

Jackasses.

37

NPR had a nice story this morning that illustrates The Left's actual relationship with "science".
About everyone previous Scientific End-Of-The-World Scenario; Climate Crisis!!

It was about how California has actually performed in it's endlessly lauded claims at reducing carbon footprint etc.
the gist was that nothing has actually been accomplished, despite the endless pontificating and hype.

What The Real World has been observing for decades is that despite assuring the rest of us that the Planet Is In Crisis!! Hollywood and the Leftist controlled states and cities and Elite have done JackSquat themselves of what they want to impose on the rest of us.

Your actions drown out your endless words.

the Left uses Science as a fashion accessory,
not a basis for policy or lifestyle choices.

We remain unfooled.

38

@36

You are a fucking idiot.

Confirmed cases are just that,
Confirmed.

The outbreak didn't start here, so why do you think it has anything at all to do with a plot against Trump.
I know you love conspiracy theories, but that is a stretch.

Try to keep in mind that most countries aren't doing the completely shity job of testing people that we are.

Where did you get the idea that millions of people have already caught the virus?
Fools like you can pull any numbers you want out of your ass, but that doesn't make it so.

I hope you're this skeptical of the experts the next time you need your car or your hous6 repaired, or when you need medical care.

39

@6, & @9 Doofus in Shoreline: Stop when you're centuries behind, already. I'm surprised your MAGAvirus hasn't killed you yet.
@8, @12, @14, & @15 ProfessorHistory and @11 Lissa for the WIN!!
@11 Lissa; .....except that Doofus in Shoreline can't read past a third grade level.
@33 Adam Kadmon: Thank you for sharing. Holy shitstorm.
Everyone stay healthy and safe. May common sense prevail.
@34 iseult: Thank you for passing on helpful info. Sorry to hear about your plumbing situation.
@35 Phoebe in Wallingford: I'm glad you're okay and still with us.

40

38

Confirmed cases are individuals among the tiny number who have been tested who showed the virus.
How many, again, of the planet's 8,000,000,000 people have been tested for coronovirus? We didn't see your answer.
How many of that 8 billion have/had the virus but didn't die, get sick, even show symptoms?
Oh right; you have no fucking idea.

Not a conspiracy, just The Left doing what they do, in broad daylight;
hating Trump with a pathological deranged hatred that is far stronger than their powers of reason.
Blaming anything and everything; from sunspots to their prolapsed rectums, on Trump.

Terror, Panic and Political Hatred are a poor foundation for Public Health policy.

42

"... hating Trump with a pathological deranged hatred that is far stronger than their powers of reason." --@Faceless Raging Fascist

Without projecting, where on Earth
would the far so-called right be?

A. Voiceless.
and maybe
a little
less
sad.


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