COVID-19 ... how we cope :)

[Aris Marghetis]

Deaths for those over 100 is greater than deaths for those under 45 in absolute numbers. In Windsor 75% of deaths to date were in old folks homes or old age facilities. The death rate for younger healthier people is so close to zero percent as to be statistically insignificant.

Well if the death rate for younger healthier people is close to zero, that would be FANTASTIC news! But where are you getting that from? The estimates I have seen range from 1% to 4%

[Vlad Drkulec]

Well if the death rate for younger healthier people is close to zero, that would be FANTASTIC news! But where are you getting that from? The estimates I have seen range from 1% to 4%

I got that from a news report but a google search confirms this. If you have an underlying condition (diabetes, high blood pressure, immune issues) you can still die if under 20 though it is very unlikely.

https://www.worldometers.info/corona...-demographics/

https://www.statista.com/statistics/...e-group-italy/

https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/c....htm#AgeAndSex

https://www.nextbigfuture.com/2020/0...onditions.html

https://www.webmd.com/lung/news/2020...dly-to-seniors

[Vlad Drkulec]

Of course this does me little good as I am in the group that is likely to die if I catch it. I'll have to start taking that anti-malarial drug if I want to survive.

[Aris Marghetis]

I got that from a news report but a google search confirms this. If you have an underlying condition (diabetes, high blood pressure, immune issues) you can still die if under 20 though it is very unlikely.

https://www.worldometers.info/corona...-demographics/

https://www.statista.com/statistics/...e-group-italy/

https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/c....htm#AgeAndSex

https://www.nextbigfuture.com/2020/0...onditions.html

https://www.webmd.com/lung/news/2020...dly-to-seniors

WOW, checking out those sources really improved my outlook, THANKS!

In a nutshell, the 1%-4% range that had been my impression seems to be AT MOST 1% for healthier/younger people?! That would be GREAT!

I also noticed in one of the articles that the ESTIMATED infection rate in New York is now at least 20%, which is also great news, as far fewer cases have been caught, meaning that way more people than previously thought have already been infected, but recovered too easily to even bother being tested. That's less than the ideal 67%, but that's way better news than testing results!

[Aris Marghetis]

Of course this does me little good as I am in the group that is likely to die if I catch it. I'll have to start taking that anti-malarial drug if I want to survive.

I would like to think you're kidding. Maybe first ask a doctor who doesn't have a TV deal lol

[Pargat Perrer]

1) There appears to be a link between Vitamin D deficiency and bad Covid outcomes. One source of Vitamin D is sunshine. Fresh air and exercise also helps with ...

2) Vitamin D is found to help with depression. I would be willing to bet that although social distancing and quarantining people for the first month was a net positive, over time the deleterious effects of prolonged quarantine (isolation, depression, alcoholism/drug abuse, spousal abuse, lack of exercise, boredom, increased stress due to job/income loss) is going to at the very least negate much of this. You save one basket of people by sacrificing another.

On top of that the government has absolutely no right to extend the lockdown "for our protection". We are free citizens, and having voluntarily done our duty to allow government time to protect elderly and sickly people, have no reason to listen to them anymore. I consider it a matter of my public duty to go outside every day. Better to have people with robust immune systems get infected than have millions of people waiting, weakening, sitting around hoping things work out and "big daddy government" saves us. I refuse to live that way.

The little dictators making the rules don't follow them. See: J Trudeau, D Ford, A Scheer, Mayor L Lightfoot (in the US), Gov JB Pritzker, UK's N Ferguson. If this pandemic has taught me one thing is that there are many wannabe dictators who want to tell everyone else how they should live.

Even a majority of citizens could say they won't live that way, but the question really becomes whether or not they get caught. If they are caught not living by government mandates, they will be punished. The government does what it decides to do, and a citizen's only true right in Canada is to vote. That's it. That is the extent of rights in this democratic system. People can imagine all sorts of rights for themselves, but governments decide and some governments are not elected.

Just as one example, there are some who refuse to pay taxes. The question then becomes, will they get caught? There is always the concept of a vast, majority tax revolt, which has never happened so far and hasn't even been seriously threatened to my knowledge. Could there be a widespread revolt against lockdown rules? Yes, but it is that really a threat?

[Erik Malmsten]

I got that from a news report but a google search confirms this. If you have an underlying condition (diabetes, high blood pressure, immune issues) you can still die if under 20 though it is very unlikely.

Good links. And contributing to a weakening of the underlying condition is breathing pollution, whether from smoking tobacco or living next to a factory.

[Vlad Drkulec]

Tyrants eventually get removed, usually in a violent manner. I don't think we are anywhere near that point in Canada and maybe only in Michigan, New York, Virginia and California in the U.S.

[Tom O'Donnell]

No need to get violent. Lockdowns are already being undermined in at least a half-dozen states as people just ignore the officials. When thousands of people head off to a closed beach, for example, what can they do? Arrest everyone?
Canadians don't have the level of distrust/antipathy for authorities that Americans do, but give it time.

[Pargat Perrer]

No need to get violent. Lockdowns are already being undermined in at least a half-dozen states as people just ignore the officials. When thousands of people head off to a closed beach, for example, what can they do? Arrest everyone?
Canadians don't have the level of distrust/antipathy for authorities that Americans do, but give it time.

I am currently reading a very recent book, "The Middleman", by Olen Steinhauer, which imagines this very idea: No need to get violent, the mere threat of violence is enough. I think it might be this book, which I am about 2/3 of the way through in the middle of a pandemic, which is making me post in this thread.

There is a review of this book here:
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/07/b...middleman.html

The book is set in Trump's America. The President is Trump, and several recent racial and other news incidents are part of the story.

In answer to the question posed, that if thousands of people head off to a closed beach, what can they do? the answer isn't to arrest everyone, but to fine everyone. It might not be immediate pain, but the pain will come around. And if everyone decided not to pay? Well, there again you have your classic "tax revolt" idea which has never taken hold because after all, the authorities have ways of getting your money, from you as an individual, one way or another. And for some few people, arrest and jail time might be the endgame in the matter, but the thing is that everyone can't continue to act as a group even if their initial action is taken as a group. The authorities know how to bring it down to the individual level.

If governments continue to have lockdown orders and those orders continue to be flouted, eventually the rule of law must prevail. It's just a matter of time. This is true in China, and its true in America and everywhere else except maybe Antarctica. Remember the "Occupy Wall Street" group movement? There was big hope and fanfare, but it eventually went nowhere.

And since smartphones and tracing of people was mentioned in a previous post, it should be added that society worldwide has gifted the authorities with this technology with barely a second thought. It is truly incredible how ubiquitous it has become in under 20 years! At the start of the millennium there were cell phones but not smartphones. Now you can't be around people without seeing smartphones. These devices are great tools for things like flash mobs, but they are even greater tools for authorities to act against individuals, in the form of tracing, gathering data, and controlling even your finances. One has to be completely off the grid to be a renegade now. The temptation to remain on the grid is way too strong for most people.

[Lucas Davies]

SOME will be pleased while OTHERS will be mad that I've now seen 190/250 of the IMDB top 250. Stay mad, haters.

[Erik Malmsten]

SOME will be pleased while OTHERS will be mad that I've now seen 190/250 of the IMDB top 250. Stay mad, haters.

But have you seen all of the top 41 chess movies?

https://www.chessonly.com/chess-movies/

[Hans Jung]

Thanks Erik, you made my day! Not only the list but many of the movies as well! One small correction. 8. Schwarz und Weib should be Schwarz und Weiss. (the b in Weib is actually a scharfes S in German which is pronounced zz.)

[Hans Jung]

Lucas, I have only an extreme fondness for your posts and I want to wish you all the best.

[Aris Marghetis]

Lucas, I have only an extreme fondness for your posts and I want to wish you all the best.

Yes, they also make me smile. With a 10-year-old, it's tough to watch movies, so we're working through series like Modern Family. My goodness, that show makes me laugh out loud.