throwmeaway_pls

I definitely do not believe NZ’s claim they eradicated COVID with “95% probability.” [1]

I do not trust that number at all.

[1]: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/07/world/australia/new-zeala...

I think people can tell that bullshit has been spewed in all directions. Nobody is looking good here. Nobody is above reproach.

What about viral reservoirs?

They’ve certainly changed my vote. Wow.

That’s an overly simplistic and reductive view of free speech rights. Can my internet service provider shut off my access if I spend too much time reading “misinformation”? Can they give the government a list of all the people reading “misinformation”? Can they require I attend a reeducation program before restoring my access?

The medical chauvinism on display here is the real disaster. We need to have a broader conversation.

Unfortunately when rationality and ideology conflict, ideology tends to win.

Agreed, we are living through a mass hysteria event. The shared delusion is that through moral acts one can somehow avoid exposure to an endemic human coronavirus.

Yes. Look up the “Declaration of Helsinki.”

The eugenic impulse to eliminate disease has lead us down many a dark path.

Exactly, this should be highlighted. The rhetoric seems intended to distract from this fact. How much money does the CDC receive each year?

There are other channels for expressing that opinion. We don’t need a newsfeed from the CCP in the hands of every other teenager in the country.

You’d also be signaling that you lied about your intentions.

It’s not worth optimizing for.

You’re just rebranding a weakness as a strength.

That is not at all the title of the linked article. What is going on?

That is indeed the simple solution to a complex problem advocated by government propaganda, yes.

The WHO estimated 750 million cumulative infections on Friday. This error is not unbelievable because the system is just a bit of political theater. There’s nothing more we can do against an endemic human coronavirus. It’s time to move on.

This culture of deceit needs to change. I don’t blame anybody for not following the rules.

That really does sound like ideology cloaked in common sense. Demand for great healthcare is already essentially infinite no matter what new technology comes along, and we need a sane way to deal with that. Pointing fingers at the demand side is a common diversionary tactic.

Nine out of ten people are not being sent to the doctor for no reason. The rest of this comment is catastrophizing.

10% positive predictive value for something like this is pretty good. It’s certainly better than “hey look at this weird mole.”

If people can live in Florida, I think humanity can make it through climate change.

Are you suggesting this blog post might be misleading by not disclosing the limitations of the referenced work? Why would anybody do such a thing? /s

Look, terabytes of back-and-forth in internet comments has happened over this. The calculation you are asking to do is not a realistic scenario. The pandemic is gonna come out to be on the order of one year’s worth of smoking. People have been dying totally preventable deaths due to cigarettes at that rate your entire life.

Both Vietnam and China have a track record of covering up disease outbreaks. They also both use homegrown tests for COVID-19. It is not unreasonable to discount their figures without independent verification.

Where does all the money actually go? Headcount? Long development cycles? Does anybody have any insight? I know there’s a trite answer, but what is really happening?

Yup, this stuff keeps rising up out of nowhere, and the messages are unnatural to the point that they’re likely engineered.

> we should be having conversations about the present and the future.

I’m not privy to those conversations. Are you?

All I can do as a citizen is hold my government accountable. I’d be a fool not to do so.

> There's no reason to be walking around with a mask.

I see that statement as a lie. Fauci addressed it in the TheStreet interview and explained why he lied. I don’t see how somebody would see that as not-a-lie, but if you’d like to, go ahead.

Endless message mapping and behavior change campaigning was never going to cut it here for an entire pandemic. People know they’re being led by the nose.

I get it, it’s hard, which is why we give the CDC a ton of money every year.

I just don’t have much sympathy for people who deploy preplanned psychological tricks and then don’t get what they want. We deserve better, seriously.