Wuhan Coronavirus: Megathread - Got too big

[Gustav Schuchardt]

A few things.

Hoover Institute at Stanford University had a good virtual briefing about the situation with China. Pushback about the causes of the pandemic, implications for supply chain / trade, influence at the UN, and more. Worth watching.

Michael Auslin And Lanhee Chen: COVID-19, China And The Political Fallout

Recorded April 2, 2020, 11AM PST Hoover Institution Fellows Michael Auslin and Lanhee Chen provide a briefing on the COVID-19 pandemic, China, and the Politi...

www.youtube.com

Second, Palantir now has a deal with the CDC to provide coronavirus tracking. This will be the defense against the tail end of the virus and Wave 2, should it hit. They're selling a customized version of Palantir Foundry that will track test lab results, emergency room statuses, bed capacity and ventilator statuses.

Now, that's what they tell you. Palantir Foundry tracks a lot of other data, it's mostly used by financial groups looking to combat cyberfraud. One of its nicknames is Eye of Sauron, it can immediately locate the invisible. All of the data is supposed to be anonymized, the reality is it will probably consist of a lot of PII. Watch for some language to be slipped into Federal legislation shielding them from HIPAA violations.

https://archive.li/REjUS

Honestly, there are very few surface level details available describing the tech / diplomatic efforts to fight this plague. Hoping these are not blips and represent what the US will be doing going forward to conquer Covid, and glad we're not hearing that Google is in the mix.

Interesting video. Archived.

 

[EmuWarsVeteran]

So. On the news. Vox loosing braincells again. They claim they'll only support anything the government does if it includes the dimission of the entire executive and concession of power to them and the PP. Yeah either total unilateral surrender or they'll do nothing. Welp. Sorry to tell you fucking idiots but your votes aren't needed you're an inmense minority. We won't sell democracy to cracies. They also claim they won't support temporary universal income, claiming it is lunacy, and instead they propose every worker that can't work due be given income paid for by the government in a temporary manner... I don't think they know what temporary universal income is. Honestly. I shouldn't be this annoyed with them. But thing is, I feel like Ballsdeep69 in SAOAbridged, THEY WERE ALMOST THERE. FOR A SECOND THEY WERE ALMOST SANE. THEY WERE ALMOST SANE!!!!

The PP is being just as bullshitty but at least asking for more reasonable shit, mostly backdoor deals and decentralization. Which makes Vox's lunacy look like a gayop to make them look reasonable. Sadly their current moron in chief, casado, is fucking slimy as fuck, budy can't look trustworthy even when he's telling the truth, so it ain't working. Seriously sometimes I wonder if he believes what he says and was just born with those mannerisms. If so, poor guy. But I doubt it. It seems like always the left will pact with the catalonians and basques so we'll decentralize some minor shit and that'll unstuck everything. Pity, the right had a chance to prove they could work in times of need. They fucked it up like always. Seems we will still be stuck with a stupid right wing, unless the catalonians and basque can unite to create a new right, which is not likely. And would probably be corrupt as fuck. Either way this is the basic level of bollocks and it doesn't even really matter. They bark a lot but they have no bite anymore.

On international news, the WHO and UN are SUCKING OUR COCK. And I don't like that one second. I don't know what they want but I know damned well they want something. Thankfuly the right wing will be obtrussive with that too and both Podemos and the independentists too, so even if Sanchez wanted to sell us he won't be able to do it. It'd have to be him and casado vs everyone. And the PP and PSOE have based their entire existance on looking like they hate each other so their backdoor deals go unchecked, if they go public with this it'd kill them both.

We'll see how this evolves but for now, the planet holds, the yellowskin WAAAAAAGH!!! Is relenting, and the guard's getting ready to push back hard.

EDIT: so kek time! Seems what got the right to get pissy like this, is that Sanchez wants to revise the Pactos de la Moncloa. Now. There are 2 of those. One is the one that gave us freedom of expression, press, and really shittily freedom of information. The other was economy. I check the grapevine and also clarification on what Iglesias said and it seems Podemos has been pressing sanchez for more transparency and economical changes (mostly renationalization and aid for the lower classes amd PYMEs in times of crisis alongside an anti-tax-fraud law to keep the big biz from being assholes like they are right now) and finally Sanchez ceded. That said. Sanchez has basically said nothing and the PSOE has no idea if he really ceded or he's just going full retard.

Ciudadanos has to be the funniest response, claiming they'll only pact if the government doesn't act unilaterally. Eh, yeah fucktards, pacts can't be done unilaterally and the government doesn't have full majority, you said nothing. The response I like the most comes from the PNV which has just straight up proclaimed "We don't know what to answer because no one has actually told us what is even being proposed to begin with!" Which, yeah, thanks northern friends for being the ones to clearly state what's going wrong without any political bullshit. Oi sanchez! The fuck are you even trying?! I swear this is so spanish. "We will do sweeping changes to the economy by revising these laws! What changes? What we can agree to. What is being proposed? Yes."

 

[AltisticRight]

Guangzhou nigggers infecting people with the virus, 7 fell victim.
One is the same person who bit a nurse.
(all alleged)

Guangdong niggger hotspot might see Coronachan China 2.0.
Of course, this is weibo and the shit it some kind of chat screenshot, so it could be fake.

I've seen how actual infected lungs look like. Both by Corona and by much worse shit. That's not corona. It's Tuberculosis. And it's not smoking. It's cavitation.

Thanks for letting us know. Weibo at fake news hour again, 24 hours a day.

 

[Stoneheart]

Taking into account the thorough mishandling of corona residues, if this was transmitted by surface as much as non germans claim the entire fucking hospital would be plagued as fuck. What they said of it being more agressive on respiratory spread is much more reasonable now. But then it must stay in the air for a LOT more than prior models claim. Like a LOT.

It doesnt has to stay in the air for to long. Its like the common cold, it doesnt stays long in the air. people get in small rooms together and get infected.

 

[Gustav Schuchardt]

That Hoover institution video mentioned people in Wuhan trying to crowdsource an accurate death toll by getting people to report in with numbers of cremations

Wuhan Residents Dismiss Official Coronavirus Death Toll: ‘The Incinerators Have Been Working Around the Clock’ | National Review

Wuhan residents are increasingly skeptical of the official coronavirus death count of 2,500, with most people believing the actual number is at least 40,000.

web.archive.org

Wuhan residents are increasingly skeptical of the Chinese Communist Party’s reported coronavirus death count of approximately 2,500 deaths in the city to date, with most people believing the actual number is at least 40,000.

“Maybe the authorities are gradually releasing the real figures, intentionally or unintentionally, so that people will gradually come to accept the reality,” a Wuhan resident, who gave only his surname Mao, told Radio Free Asia.

RFA article, estimates from 42,000 to 46,800 deaths. Most people in Wuhan think deaths are in excess of 40,000. The official estimate is 2,500. So the British government's estimate that the real Chinese death toll was '20x' the official one seems plausible.

Estimates Show Wuhan Death Toll Far Higher Than Official Figure

Based on cremation figures, Wuhan residents estimate more than 40,000 have died, compared with an official toll of 2,535.

web.archive.org

Seven funeral homes currently serve Wuhan -- a huge conurbation of three cities: Hankou, Wuchang and Hanyang.

Social media users have been doing some basic math to figure out their daily capacity, while the news website Caixin.com reported that 5,000 urns had been delivered by a supplier to the Hankou Funeral Home in one day alone -- double the official number of deaths.

Some social media posts have estimated that all seven funeral homes in Wuhan are handing out 3,500 urns every day in total.

Funeral homes have informed families that they will try to complete cremations before the traditional grave-tending festival of Qing Ming on April 5, which would indicate a 12-day process beginning on March 23.

Such an estimate would mean that 42,000 urns would be given out during that time.

Various calculations

Another popular estimate is based on the cremation capacity of the funeral homes, which run a total of 84 furnaces with a capacity over 24 hours of 1,560 urns city-wide, assuming that one cremation takes one hour.

This calculation results in an estimated 46,800 deaths.

A resident of Hubei province, of which Wuhan is the capital, said most people there now believe that more than 40,000 people died in the city before and during the lockdown.

"Maybe the authorities are gradually releasing the real figures, intentionally or unintentionally, so that people will gradually come to accept the reality," the resident, who gave only his surname Mao, said.

Meanwhile, Taiwanese people are still being charming

Taiwan CECC head shows how to disinfect mask ... | Taiwan News

archived 6 Apr 2020 13:17:37 UTC

archive.vn

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan's Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) head on Sunday (April 5) demonstrated how to disinfect a used mask with a rice cooker.

As surgical face masks are still in short supply despite a massive ramp-up in production, Health minister and CECC head Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) during a press conference on Sunday, demonstrated how to use a rice cooker to disinfect a mask for reuse. During a light-hearted presentation, Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Director-General Wu Shou-mei (吳秀梅) talked Chen through the simple steps of using a rice cooker to dry heat a mask to kill bacteria and viruses after use.

In the video, Wu directs Chen to place the metal rack at the bottom of the cooker. However, Chen accidentally places it in the bottom of the metal pot, prompting her to joke "the minister has never cooked rice before."

Can you imagine someone saying that to a minister in China? Hell, I can't imagine it happening in the UK or the US. One of the things that separates the Taiwanese from the Chinese is that the Taiwanese are free to mock people in power when those people make a mistake. This, of course, is a powerful social pressure on people in power to not make mistakes. In China, if you have power and someone mocks or criticizes you, you can get them shipped off to a black jail with no judicial process.

 

[jje100010001]

Got news for you. The captain's Navy career is over. A carrier isn't just a warship, it's a national strategic asset. These carriers are few in number and in high demand. Everyone from this guy's immediate one- or two-star boss clear up to the Chief of Naval Operations needed to respond to his earlier non-public requests for assistance. They fucked up. Needed to do something as soon as the initial request for assistance came out. But for whatever reason, the carrier didn't get the assistance needed. So the captain did what a captain is supposed to do, and do whatever it takes to get his ship taken care of.

By releasing this public appeal, the captain has committed THE crime in the military - making the Navy look bad. Doesn't matter if the captain was 100% correct in assessing the problem and his people's needs, when you go outside of channels to the news media to state your plight you have made the Navy look bad. And the Navy neither forgives nor forgets such actions.

My prediction - the carrier's captain will eventually get what he needs. If he is smart he may as well just put in his retirement papers. Otherwise, he will be quietly relieved of command in a few months, when this stuff blows over. His relief will rate a couple sentences in the Stars and Stripes, or Navy Times.

Not saying what will happen to the captain is right, but that's the way the game is played. The captain knows that, too. Chances are he'll end up working for the Navy as a civilian after retiring, or working for one of the many contractors the Navy uses.

This guy is going to be Mueller 2.0 for the next few weeks. When are we gonna see the prayer candles?

This is a older post, but I would like to suggest the environment is on California's side as well. SoCal is a desert area, so a dry, hot area would not be conducive to a virus spreading.

Geography, density, age of infrastructure.

NYC is dirty, dense, poor (in NYCHA areas), and a place where it's near-impossible to practice effective social distancing (think of the subways & the size of the apartments)- a perfect disease incubator.

Toss onto that the generally damp winter weather and it gets worse for anyone with respiratory issues.

 

[mindlessobserver]

Forbes coming in with more China lies. Its so progressive and tolerant of the American media to become propaganda mouthpieces for the communist party.

China Thought It Had Beaten Coronavirus, But New And Asymptomatic Cases Are Cropping Up

Most new cases are imported, local health authorities say, and while China appears to be past its peak of coronavirus infections, it faces a new challenge in tackling cases among people who do not show any COVID-19 symptoms.

www.forbes.com

China Thought It Had Beaten Coronavirus, But New And Asymptomatic Cas…

archived 6 Apr 2020 13:31:44 UTC

archive.is

*edit*
Actually, reading the bio of the author it now makes perfect sense. She also looks foreword to hearing from us...

 

[Ponderous Pillock]

Can you imagine someone saying that to a minister in China? Hell, I can't imagine it happening in the UK or the US. One of the things that separates the Taiwanese from the Chinese is that the Taiwanese are free to mock people in power when those people make a mistake. This, of course, is a powerful social pressure on people in power to not make mistakes. In China, if you have power and someone mocks or criticizes you, you can get them shipped off to a black jail with no judicial process.

I could see it happening if it was BoJo.

The problem with a lot of our media is they don't try and crack wise. Or you get cringe inducing moments like Alan Duncan on Have I Got News For You.

It's why they get floored so easily by someone like BoJo who, on paper should be satan incarnate. Instead he's the posh ruffian that everyone loves because he cracks jokes, looks a mess but is the best damn team captain one could ask for.

 

[Gustav Schuchardt]

I could see it happening if it was BoJo.

The problem with a lot of our media is they don't try and crack wise. Or you get cringe inducing moments like Alan Duncan on Have I Got News For You.

The media will do it, but the problem is they don't know what the hell they're talking about and like you say this makes it ineffective. In this case, the Chinese head of the FDA mocked the head of the Central Epidemic Command Center in a joint press conference. It was friendly banter and not about anything important but I think it sends a signal that her views were taken seriously. In Japan, China or South Korea it would be pretty striking that a young woman could do this to an older man and get away with it but in Taiwan, it's the norm. And I think having that norm is very much to Taiwan's advantage. It reminds me of this prophetic article on the Wuhan BSL lab from 23 January 2017

Inside the Chinese lab poised to study world's most dangerous pathoge…

archived 6 Apr 2020 00:40:20 UTC

archive.vn

https://web.archive.org/web/2020030...tudy-world-s-most-dangerous-pathogens-1.21487

But worries surround the Chinese lab, too. The SARS virus has escaped from high-level containment facilities in Beijing multiple times, notes Richard Ebright, a molecular biologist at Rutgers University in Piscataway, New Jersey. Tim Trevan, founder of CHROME Biosafety and Biosecurity Consulting in Damascus, Maryland, says that an open culture is important to keeping BSL-4 labs safe, and he questions how easy this will be in China, where society emphasizes hierarchy. “Diversity of viewpoint, flat structures where everyone feels free to speak up and openness of information are important,” he says.

Ironically the media would make this sort of thing much less likely to happen in the US or UK where if a politician is contradicted in public by an expert, the media will demand that politician resign or be sacked. So politicians probably read the riot act to experts about the importance of collective responsibility and keeping disagreements in private. E.g. look at how they tried to claim Fauci was disagreeing with Trump. If Matt Hancock or Boris said something and was contradicted by a medical expert they'd claim it showed he was incompetent. The UK has a culture of banter, just like Taiwan does but politicians are under a lot more pressure to not be contradicted by experts there.

 

[heathercho]

Japan is finally declaring an emergency. Which I'm sure makes their masters very happy.

Abe says he'll declare emergency, but won't lock down Japan's cities …

archived 6 Apr 2020 13:07:43 UTC

archive.vn

Koike is gearing up to shut down Tokyo for 6 weeks. Something she's been hanging out for, for a while.

Also :

https://archive.vn/B8rMM

As someone said, there's no need to lock down those states, they don't have the cases to warrant it. But hey, this isn't a political game right? This is only about the virus. Right?

https://archive.vn/J6RZx

Matt Walsh‏Verified account @MattWalshBlog
@MattWalshBlog

Wyoming has a population of 577,000 spread out over 90,000 square miles and zero coronavirus deaths but the media is mad that they haven't gone into a full lockdown. Stupidity doesn't begin to describe this.

Why lock them down?

Coronavirus: Hospitals Across Nation Lay Off Tens Of Thousands Of Hea…

archived 6 Apr 2020 13:41:58 UTC

archive.vn

Why would so many private doctors and nurses need to be laid off? Why not use them somehow? I thought there was a need?

 

[Ndnd]

Can you imagine someone saying that to a minister in China? Hell, I can't imagine it happening in the UK or the US. One of the things that separates the Taiwanese from the Chinese is that the Taiwanese are free to mock people in power when those people make a mistake. This, of course, is a powerful social pressure on people in power to not make mistakes. In China, if you have power and someone mocks or criticizes you, you can get them shipped off to a black jail with no judicial process.

Taiwanese president Tsai Ing-Wen is ballsy as fuck and I really hope Taiwan gets recognition as a sovereign nation after this is all said and done (even if it’s done to spite China). She’s been a total boss throughout this ordeal, and I wish more world leaders would emulate her.
I’m probably being overly but she gives me some sliver of hope that there are leaders who have the courage to defy the will of Beijing and do the right thing for their people.

 

[Cat Menagerie]

Iranian official calls Chinese stats a bitter joke.

Iranian Health Official Calls Chinese Coronavirus Stats a ‘Bitter Joke’

Iranian health ministry spokesman Kianush Jahanpur on Sunday criticized Chinese government statistics on the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak, appearing to blame those statistics for other countries' slow response to the emerging pandemic."It seems statistics from China [were] a bitter joke, because

news.yahoo.com

Iranian Health Official Calls Chinese Coronavirus Stats a ‘Bitter Jok…

archived 6 Apr 2020 12:58:47 UTC

archive.li

 

[Gustav Schuchardt]

Taiwanese president Tsai Ing-Wen is ballsy as fuck and I really hope Taiwan gets recognition as a sovereign nation after this is all said and done (even if it’s done to spite China). She’s been a total boss throughout this ordeal, and I wish more world leaders would emulate her.

We still haven't had definitive answer to the question Who would win? A batshit insane, expansionist dictatorship with nuclear weapons and too many men or a lesbian catlady with 180 F-16s. My money's on the catlady tbh.

 

[Cosmos]

This is such a dumb post.

That man doesn't represent all men and doctors, that woman doesn't represent all women or nurses. They're two unique people with their own thoughts and feelings on the matter. They're both working to save lives, that’s what’s important. Also, apparently the doctor was interviewed for an article and the nurse’s post was just a venting post on social media, so of course they’d say different things.

Also, the woman has a very valid point: signing up to be a nurse or doctor doesn’t mean signing up to be a sacrificial lamb. You can get sick, yes, but most of the time you should have some measure of protection against infectious patients. All our healthcare workers should be protected by PPE. Especially nurses, they have far more contact with patients and more risk of getting sick.

I have a personal stake in this because my 8-months-pregnant sister-in-law is a nurse (thankfully she works in the newborn ICU and not with infectious patients). My family worries about her a lot.

 

[Bully_Hunter_69]

I keep seeing people on Reddit offering to sell masks and begging for people to PM them, whether it's within my greater city's subreddit or my state's subreddit. I always bring up "b-but what about we're in this together? I'm unemployed!!!!!!!!!" and it gets blasted into oblivion with downvotes.

I may be unemployed, but that doesn't mean the income flow has stopped (I AM NOT A DRUG DEALER). I just think it's funny to make feel people sleazy about advertising their etsy shops. I'm very anti-mask as a security-minded person and as someone who thinks that more capitalist measures are going to pop up (buy hand sanitizer, gloves, masks, ozone generators, vaccine, treatment, cures, therapy, my wallet is not wide open for capitalist-chan), not that anyone cared or asked, but I also have the fortune of being able to avoid people.

Plus, masks seem like they defeat the purpose of social distancing. Either we stay 6 feet apart and don't need masks, don't stay 6 feet apart and need the masks, or we need both - if we need both, then you need to expand the fucking scope of these orders because that is a colossal red flag. If that's the case, half of Target and Walmart should be shut down and the kids I hear playing on the block should be locked inside. The National Guard should be calling your number when it's your turn to enter and shop. But nobody wants to hear that because that would drive the paranoia and mania to unprecedented levels. I'm kind of down with that.

 

[Gustav Schuchardt]

Plus, masks seem like they defeat the purpose of social distancing. Either we stay 6 feet apart and don't need masks, don't stay 6 feet apart and need the masks, or we need both - if we need both, then you need to expand the fucking scope of these orders because that is a colossal red flag.

Microdroplets can hang around in the air. Sure social distancing is a good idea, but social distancing and a mask when you're around strangers is a better one. I got one of those reusable masks you can get when you're spray painting and wear it when I go shopping. Is it perfect? Hell no, but it's better than nothing.

 

[DidYouJustSayThat]

View attachment 1217510

This is such a dumb post.

That man doesn't represent all men and doctors, that woman doesn't represent all women or nurses. They're two unique people with their own thoughts and feelings on the matter. They're both working to save lives, that’s what’s important. Also, apparently the doctor was interviewed for an article and the nurse’s post was just a venting post on social media, so of course they’d say different things.

Also, the woman has a very valid point: signing up to be a nurse or doctor doesn’t mean signing up to be a sacrificial lamb. You can get sick, yes, but most of the time you should have some measure of protection against infectious patients. All our healthcare workers should be protected by PPE. Especially nurses, they have far more contact with patients and more risk of getting sick.

I have a personal stake in this because my 8-months-pregnant sister-in-law is a nurse (thankfully she works in the newborn ICU and not with infectious patients). My family worries about her a lot.

I'm sorry cupcake - you want to keep your right to vote, you must also be ready to serve and die for your country like men. Freedom is not free. Just draft the bitches, when they quit and assign them as army nurses; court martial anyone, who deserts. Everybody will be happy - females paying what they owe for their free vote privilege - clear conscience from finally paying their debt. Men happy. Women happy. Feminists ecstatic. Finally real equality.
Restart the white feather campaign of old, with roles reversed - reuse the WWII posters - men, do your duty and shame the cowardly women into serving the country.

#DraftOurNurses #OurScrubsOurChoice

 

[Ponderous Pillock]

Iranian official calls Chinese stats a bitter joke.

Iranian Health Official Calls Chinese Coronavirus Stats a ‘Bitter Joke’

Iranian health ministry spokesman Kianush Jahanpur on Sunday criticized Chinese government statistics on the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak, appearing to blame those statistics for other countries' slow response to the emerging pandemic."It seems statistics from China [were] a bitter joke, because

news.yahoo.com

Iranian Health Official Calls Chinese Coronavirus Stats a ‘Bitter Jok…

archived 6 Apr 2020 12:58:47 UTC

archive.li

Considering the Chinks are one of the few states who still deal with Iran on nearly any level, that's fucking hilarious to see them just going "Naw, fuck the slant eyed lying cunts."

 

[AmpleApricots]

It's very easy to sew a mask. The ones that have a small metal wire for the nose are a little bit more difficult but still easy. I used some fancy silvercoated copper wire I have lying around from electronics stuff but you can get away with using these little wires you can close plastic bags with. Everyone can do this. I made a few myself over the weekend before last weekend, they are like surgical masks you see in old TV shows like MASH. I took the skill of sewing from compulsory service in the (west)german army but today you have youtube which frankly, probably makes it a lot easier to learn. The design I got from the website of one of the cities around here. I do also have a sewing machine but if you don't want to go into mass production and go for simpler masks you don't need one. I'm flabbergastered how supplying a population with simple cloth masks is this huge logistical problem. Eveyone can make them. Have them made by some of your jail population, you do like locking up people, right?

 

[Bully_Hunter_69]

Microdroplets can hang around in the air. Sure social distancing is a good idea, but social distancing and a mask when you're around strangers is a better one. I got one of those reusable masks you can get when you're spray painting and wear it when I go shopping. Is it perfect? Hell no, but it's better than nothing.

that seems like it would contribute to herd immunity because if you can get the teeniest tiniest dose and get your body in the know and start producing antibodies. I don't see a problem with that, isn't being exposed to a microdroplet basically the same thing as a control dose?