Coronavirus Outbreak

[MaxPC]

I think this thing is way over blown.
...
I agree with Trump saying this thing will cycle out soon with the weather.

The World Health Organization disagrees with you and Trump.

Jim, the WHO has a spotty record at best and at it’s worse, completely missed the boat in a number of cases. It’s another governmental agency trying to justify its funding and is not well respected in the scientific community.

I think this thing is way over blown.

There is no wars or anything terrible going on to grab headlines. I think the fact that this is top news, is an indication of how well everything actually is going. That, and how scared/fascinated people are of disease and uncertainty.

I agree with Trump saying this thing will cycle out soon with the weather.

I agree with your points here, RZehr. If it bleeds, it ledes. If this is the most bloody story out there then of course it will be hyped to sell news.

[Bootstrap]

Funny, that is what I thought the liberal media is doing. Never fail to take up the opportunity to create a crisis that they can blame Trump for. Some are even saying the virus should be renamed to "Trumpvirus". Can you imagine the fit people would have had, if Fox News came out and suggested that Ebola should have been named "Obamavirus".

Who is saying this?

New York Times.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/26/opin ... trump.html

OK, Gail Collins called it that in a New York Times opinion column. Opinion columns do not represent the views of the paper, and I don't think the New York Times has been using this term in other places. Can we agree that calling this "Trumpvirus" is over the top politicizing?

[Dan Z]

The WHO and Whitehouse both have a tricky job as they lead in crises like this. They each need to:

• 1) Accurately and empirically assess the threat.
  2) Be transparent about what they know and believe in order to gain trust and keep the populace informed.
  3) Raise enough concern that the threat is taken seriously.
  4) Don't cause unnecessary panic that might do more harm than good to economies and individuals.
  5) Recommend and coordinate a proactive, appropriate, and prudent response.
  6) Keep the politics and the spin out of this to the best of their ability.

I'll be looking to see how they do based on these criteria.

[Szdfan]

I think this thing is way over blown.
...
I agree with Trump saying this thing will cycle out soon with the weather.

The World Health Organization disagrees with you and Trump.

Jim, the WHO has a spotty record at best and at it’s worse, completely missed the boat in a number of cases. It’s another governmental agency trying to justify its funding and is not well respected in the scientific community.

In contrast to Donald Trump, scientist and respected infectious disease expert.

I was listening to an interview with a healthcare journalist who has covered multiple epidemics and pandemics. He pointed out that the 1918 influenza came in two waves. The first wave disappeared in the spring of 1918 once the weather warmed up. The second, deadlier wave occurred in the fall of 1918 and winter of 1919 once the temperatures came down and the virus spread again. Just because the temperature changes, doesn’t mean the virus goes away.

[Bootstrap]

Jim, the WHO has a spotty record at best and at it’s worse, completely missed the boat in a number of cases. It’s another governmental agency trying to justify its funding and is not well respected in the scientific community.

What scientific community are you thinking of? Where can I read their assessment of the World Health Organization?

Does the World Health Organization's assessment differ from the assessment by the CDC, NIH, etc. under the Trump Administration? If so, how? Does it differ from Johns Hopkins's assessment? If so, how?

[Josh]

I think this thing is way over blown.
...
I agree with Trump saying this thing will cycle out soon with the weather.

The World Health Organization disagrees with you and Trump.

THE WORLD HEALTH Organization on Friday raised its global risk assessment from the coronavirus from "high" to "very high." https://www.usnews.com/news/world-repor ... -very-high

A few weeks ago, the WHO and CDC said it was a low risk, and Trump repeated that.

Some people like myself were saying it was a big deal and couldn’t agree with the WHO and CDC saying the risk was low.

[RZehr]

I think this thing is way over blown.
...
I agree with Trump saying this thing will cycle out soon with the weather.

The World Health Organization disagrees with you and Trump.

THE WORLD HEALTH Organization on Friday raised its global risk assessment from the coronavirus from "high" to "very high." https://www.usnews.com/news/world-repor ... -very-high

That’s okay. These health organizations, if they are doing their job correctly, they should be the ones taking the strongest possible position against diseases. That’s their job. They need to warn people, and prudence would dictate that they convey the serious potential of these. They shouldn’t take the optimistic lackadaisical route, that would be irresponsible in the extreme. It’s the same with storm forecasters. They usually end up over estimating the danger and power of these storms, because they want people to know the threats be aware of the possibilities, and take action for safety. They aren’t trying to make a actual prediction, but rather possibilities. I’m making a prediction. I don’t disagree with their possibilities.
These organizations goal is not precise accuracy because the consequences of over vs under estimating are so different. Lose your job and people die if it’s bigger vs nothing if it’s smaller.
I wouldn’t want the WHO and the health industry to take my position. If they did, we would have a disaster.
My prediction of this being overblown is taking into account government and scientists and health organizations and heath workers taking this head on and throwing every effort at combating this. My prediction is really a prediction of confidence in them being successful. And the weather becoming warmer will help.

[MaxPC]

I think this thing is way over blown.
...
I agree with Trump saying this thing will cycle out soon with the weather.

The World Health Organization disagrees with you and Trump.

THE WORLD HEALTH Organization on Friday raised its global risk assessment from the coronavirus from "high" to "very high." https://www.usnews.com/news/world-repor ... -very-high

A few weeks ago, the WHO and CDC said it was a low risk, and Trump repeated that.

Some people like myself were saying it was a big deal and couldn’t agree with the WHO and CDC saying the risk was low.

Spot on. Exactly.

[temporal1]

Page 18

Winston Churchill famously said: “Never let a good crisis go to waste.” I see the Trump Administration is taking this message to heart:

Funny, that is what I thought the liberal media is doing.
Never fail to take up the opportunity to create a crisis that they can blame Trump for. Some are even saying the virus should be renamed to "Trumpvirus".
Can you imagine the fit people would have had, if Fox News came out and suggested that Ebola should have been named "Obamavirus".

Actually yes. That is EXACTLY what Trump himself did in 2014.
Trump tweeted furiously at Obama during the Ebola epidemic in the summer and fall of 2014 during run-up to the mid-term elections. Calling Obama "psycho" "arrogant" and "stupid" for his handling of the crisis, saying "there is seriously something wrong with his mental health" and he specifically tried to turn Ebola into a mid-term election issue in favor of Republican candidates.
After the November 2014 mid-term elections Trump promptly lost interest in the issue and never tweeted about it again. This was well covered at the time. Here's a wide variety of right wing, left wing, and centrist sources that covered Trump's Ebola tweets. Feel free to go read them all for yourself.
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2014 ... ravel-ban/
https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-c ... eak-2020-2
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nat ... /17815841/
https://www.vox.com/2020/2/26/21154253/ ... oronavirus
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/arch ... ts/595420/

As a reminder: in 2014, Trump was NOT a politician, i believe he was still a lifelong Democrat.
Career politicians ADORED him (his money).

Unlike MOST politicians we read about, he is not a career politician.
At his age, he never will be. He’s not using his role as Public Servant to enrich himself, as is SOP.

It’s common for complaints to refer to his life as tho he were in ELECTED office, like most of his biggest criticizers. But, unlike them, he was not defiling elected or appointed office, as they so frequently do.

i did not view your links.
i wasn’t paying attention to him then, or before he was elected. i did not expect him to be elected.
i recall the general Ebola controversies. Trump’s opinion was a citizen’s opinion. One of millions.
MD had at least one active thread on it. too bad we can’t revisit.

i think it’s valid to make an attempt to distinguish responsibilities of elected/appointed public office versus the private sector. Bill Clinton’s misdeeds while holding the highest office in the country magnifies the significance. he wasn’t just any guy lying and misbehaving.

Congress has plenty of rascals. they very effectively hide their sins. (that’s one of their discomforts with DJT. he knows their secrets.)

i see no attempt by politicians to compare “apples to apples” on this, there is a convenient reason for them to “paper over” it, as HK might say. they paper over, others follow their lead.

i didn’t twitter in 2014, don’t twitter now. i recommend abstaining.

[justme]

A few weeks ago, the WHO and CDC said it was a low risk, and Trump repeated that.

Some people like myself were saying it was a big deal and couldn’t agree with the WHO and CDC saying the risk was low.

what did you base your statement on, at that time?