No crowds

It will be interesting to look back in a couple of months or so to see if this marked the start of a significant trend for larger collegiate athletic events.

Mind you, the school made this particular call, not the NCAA.  Then again, considering Hopkins has been in the forefront of tracking Coronavirus…

Advertisement

62 Comments

Filed under Science Marches Onward

62 responses to “No crowds

  1. Mayor

    Let me just say it: I have never seen as bad an overreaction to a disease as we are witnessing right now with the corona virus. The 24 hour news cycle media has whipped the US and the world into a frenzy that is totally unwarranted driving the stock market down 3000 points and scaring people into altering normal operations of all kinds (schools, churches, businesses-you name it). Here are some facts the media doesn’t like to tell us. It’s just another strain of what is essentially the flu. The death rate for this virus is actually 1.4%. That means for every 200 people who get it 197 people survive. It’s not the plague or the Black Death where everybody who caught it died. Last flu season (a little more than the past 6 months) more than 30,000 people died from the regular flu. 55,000 people died last year in the US in car wrecks. In a few months a vaccine will be developed just like we have against other strains of the flu.

    Like

    • That’s a relief. I was worried that the experts at one of the leading medical institutions in the world might have legitimate cause for concern.

      Thanks, Mayor!

      Liked by 2 people

    • ASEF

      This isn’t flu. A vaccine is at least 18 months out, and that’s if all goes perfectly.

      They still don’t even know exactly how to treat it. People are testing negative after extended hospital stays and then relapsing. It’s a small percentage, but enough to force extensions in the protocols that release people back into the public. We saw a case of that in San Antonio last week.

      Flu in this country infects about 60,000,0000 people a year, which is why we line up for flu shots. We know how to treat flu. Yes, about 1 in 2000 people still die of it.

      This new virus seems to range somewhere between 1 in 150 to 1 in 40. Maybe that number will go down as we get better testing and a better sense of how many people are actually infected, but absent a vaccine and wide spread distribution of it, no one is pretending that the number is going to be 1 in 2000.

      We are going through a huge learning curve on how to mitigate this thing. But if it does infect 60,000,0000 people in this country, like the flu, that’s about 8,000,000 people spending a month in the hospital and somewhere between 800,000 and 1,200,000 dead.

      No, I don’t think it will come to that, but I’m not an epidemiologist or virologist either.

      John Hopkins is a leading medical research hospital. Maybe we shouldn’t assume their position is based on media panic?

      Like

    • CB

      100k confirmed cases 3.4k confirmed deaths. That’s 3.4%. 1918 flu pandemic had a death rate of 2.5% and an estimated 50 million people died. Currently the flu death rate is well under 1%. All this begs the question where tf are you getting your information? And how is it possible that in you’re head you would have a better perspective on this virus than the officials at one of the best medical schools in t he country? There’s moronic and then there’s moronic.

      Liked by 1 person

  2. If this is the canary in the coal mine to force us all to watch college sports on TV, I guess I’ll be finding other things to do on weekends especially in the fall.

    Like

  3. Bigshot

    Shouldn’t bother GT. They have plenty of experience playing in empty venues.

    Liked by 2 people

  4. ApalachDawg aux Bruxelles

    In Brussels, work as usual for now…
    But over here, we hear that Pres. Trump is on the mutha so we are assured USA will be awe-eye-tuh.
    Tres bien!

    Like

    • ugafidelis

      From Apalach to Brussels. That’s one heck of a jump!

      Like

      • ApalachDawg aux Bruxelles

        In Apalachicola we were surrounded by exactly 1 french speaking family (from France) which is still a high franco speaking number for the panhandle. However we are surrounded by a lot more frog speakers in Brussels.
        Bon soir y’all.

        Like

  5. ASEF

    8 weeks ago, Wuhan had a couple of hundred cases.

    8 weeks later, China had to lock down an entire province of 60 million people. Tens of thousands cases and thousands of deaths. This thing just exploded on them.

    Italy and Iran have overwhelmed health care systems, which spikes the death rate. Why? Got behind the curve with this thing,

    What we know: staying ahead of the curve saves a lot of lives and keeps a lot of people who survive from having to spend a month on the hospital.

    I am taking a lot of precautions – not because I worry about me but because I don’t want to be a link in the chain. That’s a collective effort and one worth participating in. If my mother or mother in law gets this, they are respectively looking at a 1 in 10 or 1 in 5 shot of not surviving this. My daughter’s friend with the compromised immune system would be in trouble.

    The goal here is to “flatten the curve” – to prevent a surge in cases that exceeds the local health care system’s ability to handle it. It’s delaying the spread. And given how little we know about this virus to this point, that does not seem like hysteria. It’s evidence based prudence.

    Liked by 1 person

  6. 3rdandGrantham

    This entire thing is way overblown, and institutions like Hopkins – which is close to where I live – merely are overpreparing now so they won’t face backlash either. I can’t go into specifics, but late last week I was in a meeting with a prominent head of a particular gov. organization who is involved in all of this, and they said point blank the coronavirus is getting far more attention than is needed, but they can’t come out publicly and say so.

    Fact is, if you are under the age of 70 with no major underlying conditions, catching the virus will almost certainly result in a mild cold with some respitory discomfort, and that’s it. The projected mortality rate here also will mirror the common flu as well, which again for otherwise healthy Americans is something like .001%.

    Lastly, China is getting a handle on this and most operations are back up and running there. Things have yet to peak here clearly, but I’m very confident we will look back on this in a few months and realize we made a far bigger deal out of this than was needed.

    Like

    • The Dawg abides

      I’m glad that you and Mayor obviously don’t have anyone in your life that is in the high risk demographic that you stated. People seem to be throwing out the death rates like sports statistics instead of people actually losing their life.
      So for those of you who are convinced that you’ll just throw this off like a common cold, let me put a little personal perspective on the situation. I’m a healthy 51 year old that takes preventative health measures and supplements regularly to boost my immune system. I have for years, so with the information we have, I feel pretty confident I could handle the virus with minimal complications. However, a large portion of my life consists of caring for my elderly parents. My mom is 83 and is seven years deep into Alzheimer’s. Besides cognitive function, she’s relatively healthy so I’m not sure how much she’d be compromised. But my dad is 86 and has mild COPD, so he is definitely in the high risk category. He’s full of life and very active for his age. They’ve gotten every recommended vaccine, and get the high-dose flu shot every year. There’s no vaccine or any chance for natural immunity from Coronavirus.
      They have a large property and don’t have to get out often. My dad does enjoy getting out and running his errands a few days a week, but as more cases emerge in Georgia I’m going to severely limit both of them from leaving the property. The concern lies in the fact that between me, my sisters, and their in-home caregiver, there’s still a good chance someone carrying the virus could infect them. So I’m heeding all advice and taking every precaution available, including limiting my travel over the next few months and exposure to large groups of people. To others, someone in my dad’s category may seem like an expendable statistic, but I don’t want to lose him to some novel pandemic while he’s still a fairly thriving senior. So for those of you in your own bubble looking at the death rate as some distant, acceptable statistic while spouting that this is overblown and no big deal…..Fuck You!

      Liked by 1 person

      • Biggus Rickus

        People die everyday from things other than the coronavirus. Should people stop living their lives because they might contract TB and infect an elderly relative?

        Like

        • The Dawg abides

          To each their own, but I’m going to do everything I can to keep my family healthy right now until the world health community gets a better understanding of this thing. I’m taking my advice from the experts, not politicians or idiot talking heads on cable news. This isn’t the zombie apocalypse, but it’s definitely not “no big deal” either. I’m not going to quit living my life, but I’m going to take all recommended precautions to not become infected so I won’t pass it on to someone more vulnerable.

          Like

        • CB

          They have a TB vaccine. Don’t be a dumbass.

          Like

      • 3rdandGrantham

        Lol, the Deputy head of HHS just stated that the coronavirus in the US is less contagious than the typical flu AND most likely will have a lower mortality rate. …but feel free to continue to panic.

        OJ Simpson has killed more people in the US than the Coronavirus has here thus far. Zero kids under 10 worldwide have died from it. Finally, fwiw, my dear grandmother died from the flu at 83 last year, so I certainly have empathy for our elders.

        With that said, again the hysyeria over this thing is absurd.

        Like

        • 3rdandGrantham

          Just found this. Calm the F down people. You are more likely to die walking out to your mailbox to check the mail than you are to die from Coronavirus.

          https://mobile.twitter.com/NBCNews/status/1235956761015783427

          Like

          • With all due respect, how does he know? They’ve done an abysmal job of tracking so far.

            Again, they need to quit treating this like a PR crisis and deal with it for what it is.

            Like

            • 3rdandGrantham

              I would think the HHS would know what they are talking about, and he’s relaying info from the top. The WHO also has publicly stated the same.

              I’m really surprised someone of your intellect would get sucked into this nonsense.

              Like

          • CB

            What part of 3.4k deaths out of 100k cases are we not understanding here? That’s 3.4% regardless of how much you hate Hillary Clinton. Math doesn’t change.

            Like

            • 3rdandGrantham

              The overwhelming majority of deaths have occured in China, in which most of the country has third world health care at best. For developed countries, the rate is significantly lower. Hell, look at Italy, and their health care isn’t all that great to begin with.

              Like

              • CB

                You might be right, but it seems like you’re guessing. I’m gonna roll the opinion of the CDC and doctors. You do you though.

                Like

              • ASEF

                Honest question: where are you getting your info? Because it’s consistently dead wrong.

                The WHO has pegged the fatality rate at 3.4%. I think that’s high, based on the fact that testing to date has probably oversampled sever cases and undersampled the mildly contagious or asymptomatic. But there is nothing from the WHO saying this is no more deadly than the flu, which is usually cited at 0.1 percent.

                If it’s no big deal, why is Trump banning travel? Is he falling for it?

                China built 60000 emergency beds, bought a crap load of ventilators, and for those that were failing on ventilators actually oxygenated their blood. Very expansive and very advanced.

                Italy’s death rate is hovering around 4% of tested cases so far. Higher than China, not lower.

                I am surprised someone of your intellect seems to have gone down an alternative facts rabbit hole. If you want to be this passionate about it, research it. Start here:

                https://panopto.lshtm.ac.uk/Panopto/Pages/Embed.aspx?id=83ba0783-b1ce-4053-aaa5-ab6600da76d8&start=294

                Like

        • ASEF

          OJ Simpson killed 15 people? Did not know that.

          No one has said that the mortality rate from the corona virus will be less than the flu. No one. The best we’ve seen anywhere is South Korea, which is still substantially higher than the flu. The flu rate is about 1 in 2000. In South Korea, the corona virus rate is about 13 in 2000.

          We can’t even test adequately yet, so no one knows exactly how contagious it really is.

          Tell me the last time the flu caused China to shut down a province of 60 million people and import 40,000 medical people from across their country. Or swamped Italy’s health care system .
          Some of the corona stuff is way overblown. But oppositional reactions like yours are just as bad.

          Liked by 1 person

      • Mayor

        FWIW I am at risk myself as I am over 70 and a lung cancer survivor having lost 1/2 of my left lung to surgery. I also have a 93 year old mother. I personally am doing all the things you suggested in your post. My point was, and remains, that the media has overhyped this health issue and is causing economic damage by doing so.

        Like

  7. Granthams replacement

    The media is treating the outbreak like they do when they get a video of a shark bite.

    Like

    • Mayor

      ^^This. The media loves this kind of thing. A tornado in the middle of nowhere now is a national story. A house fire in suburbia is now a national story. A robber shooting up a convenience store in rural Kansas is now a national story. The corona virus is the best of all possible worlds for CNN and MSNBC—they can on an ongoing basis report about what is going on internationally to fight it plus on slow news days report the drip, drip, drip of each new case wherever it shows up in the nation. Fills up airtime between those commercials!

      Like

    • Maybe if the feds were treating this like a public health issue instead of a PR crisis, the media might behave differently.

      Liked by 2 people

    • Tony Barnfart

      The old saying with local news…..”if it bleeds, it leads”…now applies nationally as well, and probably has for some time. Shame what has happened to legacy media.

      Like

  8. CB

    I hope Derek is able to cancel his hotel. I know he’ll be devastated by this news given his love for D III football.

    Like

  9. Debby Balcer

    Women’s SEC tournament is happening in Greenville SC right now.

    Like

  10. CB

    Is it considered irony that the Boomers who get their COVID advice from Sean Hannity are also the ones who are the most at risk of dying from it?

    Like

  11. Mick Jagger

    I’m gonna wash my hands, use sanitizer, and carry on as usual.

    Don’t fear the reaper…. Blue Oyster Cult
    I got all this and Heaven above…… Bad Company

    Like

  12. Tony Barnfart

    The English Premier League is expecting to go to crowdless games too in the near future. Any medical pros in here ? Is it unreasonable to think that this thing might peter out in the summer months like a lot of viruses do ?

    Like

    • Mayor

      When people start changing the channel en mass from the 24 hour news networks because they are tired of hearing the gloom and doom of the corona virus predictions then the overhyped coverage will stop. In the meantime CNN et al will continued to destroy our economic institutions with hyperbole hurting every person in this country whether that person is at risk from the corona virus or not. And why does CNN do it? For money—that’s why.

      Like