It is Day 97 (approx) of the Great China Virus Apocalypse. The Diplowife and I are hunkered in our Wilmington bunker, the monotony of confinement shattered only by lunch-time trips to the hot bar at the local Harris-Teeter supermarket. We are limited to huge helpings of fresh salmon, pulled pork, shredded beef, prime rib, roasted turkey, chicken breast and wings, and tilapia in tomato sauce, not to mention fried okra, roasted vegetables, mac-n-cheese, mashed potatoes, roasted red potatoes, broccoli with bacon, cauliflower, and a range of Asian foods, ironic given the origins of our current viral crisis. Has humanity no pity for our suffering? How much more of this can we take? President Trump, hear our cries! Mail us $1000! Send us more government! We can't take care of ourselves!
Signed for what posterity might follow, if any,
The Diplomad"
I have revealed to you the most private of my writings: the first page of my Viral Diary.
As you have guessed, I remain greatly troubled by the China Virus--and, yes, it is the China Virus as much we have had the German Measles, the Spanish Flu, the West Nile Virus, the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), the Lyme (Connecticut) Disease, a new Rebel Wilson Movie, etc.
The actual effect of the virus--I suspect--will be nothing more than another in a long line of flu epidemics/pandemics. The mortality rate numbers appear way off (see here for a good common sense look at those) and exaggerated either deliberately or through ignorance--you decide. The whole crisis, all over the world, is being used to increase dramatically the power and reach of government; the control by government over our daily lives is rising exponentially in "response" to the "crisis." Panic is being engendered by the mass media, government spokesmen, and, of course, the internet in all its manifestations. It is very difficult to get the truth of what is happening, so I fall back on my default setting of cynical disbelief. Whenever the media and government grab hold of a complex scientific issue and make an issue of it, beware. Something is afoot. I have worked overseas with the CDC, for example, and while there are some fine and dedicated people there, it is, as I have noted before (here and here, for example) a den of politically correct bureaucrats and Deep Staters as much as any other public entity. The CDC has spent a lot of time on nonsense having nothing to do with infectious diseases and has pursued the tax dollar with studies on gun violence, homosexuality, domestic abuse, etc., instead of being prepared for real diseases. The much quoted Dr. Fauci (NIAID director), whom I don't know, was dead wrong on HIV/AIDS, and his predictions on that disease were way off (look'em up; you'll see). Take what he says on the China Virus with a grain of highly sterilized salt. He hasn't met a camera he doesn't like.
My gym is closed, the restaurants are closed . . . I haven't tried the gun range, yet.
Anyhow, here I sit, wondering if we are going to go nuts like this every time something unexpected happens.
The numbers are indeed fishy out of China.
ReplyDeleteDomestic concern is that if we do follow the intent of "stretching out the case-load time to avoid overloading the hospitals", this crisis could theoretically extend out for a very long time.
The SF bay area's "shelter in place" order is disturbing. The claim is that there's a misdemeanor for anybody out 'without a proper reason'.
Here's an idea: ask nicely.
The government has every constitutional right to shutter *businesses*. But extending that to locking people up in their homes is problematic. Close the businesses, people generally won't have any place to go, and there's no further problem. *Why* go beyond that? Just to test the waters?
Perhaps the panic is being used as an excuse to explore the possible repercussions of a coup should Trump be reelected? (Or rather, I mean, 'adjust votes to reflect what people *really* want to vote for'..)
Don't get me wrong.. I'm taking the *threat* seriously. Shut-in time certainly doesn't bother me.
- reader #1482
Greetings from Port Charlotte, FL, where, if wikipedia is correct, 34% of the population is over 65. This is a higher % than Japan and possibly Italy. The last few weeks, we have been enjoying spring (lows 60F and highs 80-85F). To date, while the presstitutes eagerly await a local outbreak, there is only one (1) known Wu flu sufferer. The temperature may be in our faver(or not), demographics are not, but there is one factor the oldsters(me included) have in their favor. Boy, have we had practice in hunkering down. Restaurants routinely shut their kitchens at 8PM - only chains and fast food seem to be available later. We are not on the road late for other reasons, either, thanks to greatly decreased night vision. In fact a large number of codgers don't like going anywhere any time of day. Time will tell if we dodge the bullet.
ReplyDeleteDNR range is staying open here in GA. I had some 45GAP and 357MAG happiness this afternoon.
ReplyDeleteSpending some quality time with the Dillon 550Bravo.
ReplyDeleteNeed more rifle powder.
Dip, the 1st part of your diatribe made me REALLY hungry.
I blame you...
Years ago, I heard a power company CEO explaining why his company had (before his tenure) made a rather unfortunate investment in a nuclear power plant: Peer Pressure. At the time, a CEO could not hold his head up at an industry meeting unless he had a share in a nuclear power plant.
ReplyDeleteSome similar Peer Pressure seems to be making politicians and bureaucrats lose all sense of reason. Think of the ridiculousness of San Franciscans 'Sheltering in Place' while the usual suspects defecate on the sidewalks outside their doors. The President of the Philippines has ordered all shops closed and people to stay indoors in Manila -- stay indoors & starve?
We can safely predict the human costs of politicians' anti-virus panic reactions are going to far exceed the human costs of the virus itself.
I would very much prefer to disagree with you, as we've been taking steps to make sure we don't catch this... but the reality so far is, the numbers aren't looking nearly as bad as predicted early from Wuhan. It seems like being reasonably cautious, the world will lose maybe 100k+ to this virus. That may also happen pretty quickly, but still over several months. But 150,000 people die every day in the world.
DeleteIf it's going to wind up at millions dead, fine. It does look 'pretty deadly' and 'very infectious in a strange way', but it hasn't exactly left a wide swathe of destruction in its wake, even in the hardest hit areas like Wuhan.
- reader #1482
Thanks for mentioning Fauci. When they wheeled him out in front of the cameras, I couldn't believe the discredited old gloryhog had been put in charge.
ReplyDeletePoor Spain. The Spanish had nothing to do with the origin of that Influenza pandemic they just happened to suffer the highest rate of casualties in terms of percentage of population when it spread to them.
ReplyDeleteDown here in Oz the media are going nuts over it. You can almost hear the disappointment that more people haven't quit this mortal coil as a result of the Wu Flu
Here in Oregon there are about 70 known cases so far, and one death. In the state just north of me, there are 900+ cases and 50+ deaths. It is the respiratory distress of this disease that is so frightening. There is no immunization other than to contract it and survive. So far, there is no therapy other than slap on a ventilator and hope you live through it. Taking these extreme measures are an attempt to slow the spread which gives our medical community more time to work on therapies that can increase survivability. Maybe North Carolina does not need to go full shutdown, but Oregon certainly does. We are on the cusp of either blunting it, or it becoming a lot like Washington.
ReplyDeleteHere in the belly of the beast in Santa Clara, the crazy thing is how you are not supposed to be in large groups, but the grocery stores were packed with people in close proximity.
ReplyDeleteNone of the grocery clerks wear masks. The CDC and public health "experts" lie and say it does no good. The actual reason is that we do not have enough masks. On March 3rd California released some of the 21,000,000 masks they have for "emergency use" but only to medical staffs.
So we have another example of security theater, where they only want to look like they are doing something. I have a mask to wear when we go out. Here, you can go walk in the park as long as you stay 6 feet from strangers. So it isn't exactly shelter in place.
The fact that US deaths jumped by 4 times in one week, (from 24 to 102), says that this is something to take seriously . The problem is you can't trust anything in the MSM, except assume it is lies.
I have what should be the name. Call it "Wuhan 19", or "Wuhan 419" an echo of the prophetic novel by Dean Koontz.
Volley #2 for the coming election:
ReplyDelete"The Trump administration was unprepared and distracted when it came to Covid!"
"Yes, you successfully distracted us with this bogus impeachment circus and successfully imported this virus. We were unprepared for this attack-from-within on Americans."
- reader #1482
PresbyPoet: "The fact that US deaths jumped by 4 times in one week, (from 24 to 102), says that this is something to take seriously ."
ReplyDeleteTake it seriously, but keep a sense of proportion. In the last week, about 54,500 Americans died from all causes. So we can observe that 99.8% of Americans who died this week did NOT die from the Panic Virus.
People who are healthy and under 60 years old should be more concerned about having an accident than about catching the Panic Virus. People who are in the At Risk group of older & medically compromised should be taking sensible precautions -- avoid crowds, wash hands regularly. No-one should be panicking -- and that includes politicians, bureaucrats, and the media.
My Dipowife is ethnic Chinese and her reply to the hoopla about "Chinese" or "Wuhan" virus ha been "So? It started in Mainland China, didn't it?"
ReplyDelete