The coronavirus spread updated in real time

[_Doctor CamNC4Me]

I think I figured out why the Right is kind of nonplussed with regard to to this coronavirus outbreak versus the previous two iterations. So, they generally don’t understand that this is the third major coronavirus outbreak of the 21st century. They’re dimly aware of SARS and MERS, but weren’t really inconvenienced by it because of a few factors that went largely unnoticed which, if my google-fu is on point, I’ll break down:

1- SARS and MERS had fatality rates of ~15% and ~35% respectively, which meant the response to it was immediate and the sense of urgency much higher. You got sick, you were quarantined, treated, and everyone around you was tested. They were locking you down.

2- SARS2 or COVID-19 has a fatality rate of ~2.5% and is largely asymptomatic, which means you can have it, but not be at risk of death. This means the virus is in this sort of sweet spot where most people will be fine, but it’s incredibly lethal to the vulnerable.

So, who would be dying again?

The mostly unproductive.

This is really it in a nutshell for them. If we had done nothing, 8 million Americans would’ve died, most of them being the old (Google says the above 60 combined total is ~25% of deaths), the obese, and the infirm. Between social security, welfare, and healthcare costs the old, fat, and infirm are pretty pricey and don’t generate wealth.

So. That’s it. That’s my theory as to why the Right wants to get back to work, and it’s because they ain’t worried about it. Between the President, FOX news, evangelicals blowing it away with God Breath, and it killing the takers they’re fine with the risks versus the rewards.

- Doc

[_EAllusion]

I mean, there are states that don't have stay-at-home orders whose economy has collapsed too. People aren't going to go out and consume normally just because some politician says "economy's open folks." "Re-open the economy" is a borderline gibberish phrase meant to paper over this. I don't want to underestimate the amount of real ignorance out there, but I also think this is more about avoiding blame for economic devastation by making it appear that you tried to force things open and fix it, but some other nefarious force stopped you.

I guess if you don't have a legal order closing down your business and you tell your employees to get back to work and they refuse, then you might get away with not having to pay unemployment if you fire them. So that's a bonus.

[_Doctor CamNC4Me]

[quote=EAllusion post_id=1222463 time=1587587600 user_id=1078]I guess if you don't have a legal order closing down your business and you tell your employees to get back to work and they refuse, then you might get away with not having to pay unemployment if you fire them. So that's a bonus.[/quote]

Is that neoliberal, paleo, or run-of-the mill Libertarianism?

[_EAllusion]

[quote=EAllusion post_id=1222463 time=1587587600 user_id=1078]I
Is that neoliberal, paleo, or run-of-the mill Libertarianism?[/quote]
There's no such thing as neoliberal libertarianism. The term for neoliberal thinking is neoliberal. Paleolibertarianism refers to the Von Mises / Lew Rockwell / Ron Paul crowd and run-of-the mill libertarianism is a part of an ideological spectrum that emphasizes economic and civil liberty in a classical liberal tradition, but with a broad range of policies favored and disfavored therein.

So, not any of the above necessarily? This is akin to labeling gulags as liberal. Kinda skirts over a lot of nuance there.

There's a problem here in that when you go out and about as normal you are not just risking getting yourself sick, you're risking getting people other than yourself sick.

You can imagine a sort of libertarian who would favor ending stay-at-home orders and letting tort law function as a regulating measure, but given that the latter doesn't actually exist for this in the United States, that only exists in imagination land. And plenty of other libertarians would regard that as crazy. There certainly are libertarians who are leaning hard into ending these orders, but they tend to be relying on dubious ideas about the disease risk, and aren't basing anything on finding ways to get around unemployment laws. To the extent any of them would be, that sounds more like having a sham justification for an amoral end.

[_EAllusion]

You can make a strong case against the propriety or legality of stay-at-home orders if they were intended to stop the spread of an ordinary influenza season. The libertarians I've seen arguing against them seem to be relying on "it's just the flu, bro" arguments. I'm not reading what every single libertarian is saying, but for those people, where they're going wrong is in being completely, embarrassingly wrong about the disease. And, of course, there are libertarians who favor stay-at-home orders because it turns out there's nothing inconsistent about that and also holding a range of libertarianish opinions.

[_Doctor CamNC4Me]

“Sacrifice the Weak.”

https://www.the-sun.com/news/724137/ant ... see-rally/

I have a feeling that’s a pretty common feeling among the Right.

- Doc

[_Doctor CamNC4Me]

[url=https://ibb.co/HGtkL55][img]https://i.ibb.co/9ybCmQQ/E9-AD686-A-575 ... E638-E.jpg[/img][/url]

:D

That’s, uh, the exact kind of professional we need as spokesman for HHS. More gems from this Trump admin appointee here:

https://www.scribd.com/document/4579208 ... FWScPuXmch

- Doc

[_EAllusion]

I think the Genius in Chief just suggested you mainline bleach Ajax. Who am I to question your God-King? Probably should try it, just to be safe.

[_Doctor CamNC4Me]

I mean, can we just put, like, sunlight inside people? You know, to get to the virus? Also, using a cleaner, to scrub down the lungs, I dunno, seems like a good move to me. That’s where the virus is at, so just go there to clean it up.

- Doc

[_EAllusion]

I checked in on the online MAGA world and, for the moment, they seem split between:

1) Orwellian "he didn't say the things we recorded him saying" insanity

or

2) "Actually, spraying Lysol in your face is good" insanity.

Which will win out? I'm going with #1, but then again, I don't think I would've predicted any of this 10 years ago, so who knows what wonderful surprises reality has in store.