03-27-2020, 08:50 AM
(03-26-2020, 12:04 AM)Bob Butler 54 Wrote:(03-23-2020, 04:57 PM)TheNomad Wrote: On a rather salacious but trusted site, it was claimed 80% of "us" will eventually get the virus. We have really got to think about that. 80%? At that point, we must ask "what is the mortality rate"? Even if half that die, planet earth will never be the same. It would be an extinction level thing. If that happens, does any of this now really matter? Going to the Beyond after cowering in fear?
If all of us wind up eventually getting the virus and gaining immunity, we can go back to the old normal. A population drop of a few percent will not kill civilization. Unless the hospital system is overloaded, the percentage of infected people killed is only a few percent.
The problem is getting to that point without overloading our hospital system. That would be why we are pushing isolation as hard as we are. We are trying to slow down reaching the 80% to a level we can handle, trying to keep everyone infected getting first class medical care if they need it, and thus the mortality rate stays low.
Have we switched to me being the optimist while still looking the very real problems in the face?
Bob, you have the good fortune to live in the Boston area, with so many great medical facilities. Yes, I know they're stressed, but they're there. Pick up and move to New Orleans: definitely a different story. I live in exurbia, where the number of nearby cases is zero -- so far. At least there are nearby healthcare systems with some real capability, but go 100 miles west of here -- nothing!
It may be that geography and demographics will decide our fate. Sad.
Intelligence is not knowledge and knowledge is not wisdom, but they all play well together.