Stanford prof: Coronavirus may be
less deadly than we think — and too mild
to justify these aggressive countermeasures
Hot Air,
by
Allahpundit
Original Article
Posted By: Pluperfect,
3/18/2020 4:14:40 AM
I offer this not to encourage complacency, of which there’s already been far too much, but as a purgative after feeding you a horse-sized dose of hopelessness this morning. John Ioannidis is a respected epidemiologist at Stanford. His specialty is “metascience,” i.e. calling BS on shoddy medical research. The point of this new piece isn’t to declare that the data on coronavirus is shoddy; the point is to declare that we just don’t have enough of it yet to feel confident about how dangerous the disease is. And that matters a lot when you’re implementing policies with massive social repercussions like shutting down the global economy and passing trillion-dollar stimuluses.
Reply 1 - Posted by:
Rama41 3/18/2020 5:21:47 AM (No. 349598)
And on the other hand, it may not.
2 people like this.
Reply 2 - Posted by:
anonymous 3/18/2020 5:29:45 AM (No. 349601)
Keep in mind that much of the Corona virus data comes from China, one of the most sinister and dishonest regimes on earth. Why would I want to believe them? It's not beyond the bounds of possibility that China has used falsehood to scare the West into shutting down half its economies. The West has become so germ-phobic, it's easily scared.
15 people like this.
Reply 3 - Posted by:
hershey 3/18/2020 5:34:52 AM (No. 349603)
Finally a voice of reason among all the 'end of the world' lame stream media coverage...they are just hyping it up to try and bring down The Donald, like Russia, Mueller, and all the rest of their tripe...
17 people like this.
Reply 4 - Posted by:
franq 3/18/2020 6:03:08 AM (No. 349616)
If not the most contagious, certainly the most divisive.
6 people like this.
Reply 5 - Posted by:
IowaDad 3/18/2020 6:25:19 AM (No. 349633)
Would be tragic he he were wrong, stupid, inflammatory, self-aggrandizing weasel of a fake scientist. Especially if all whom he love prove him wrong by dying after three weeks on a ventilator at his expense
2 people like this.
Reply 6 - Posted by:
DCGIRL 3/18/2020 6:35:41 AM (No. 349644)
What #3 said!!!! This is hype beyond anything I ever saw. If you choose to stay inside away from everyone, knock your socks off and do it. I have a life to live and I plan to do it. Just practice good hygiene and wash your hands a lot.
13 people like this.
Reply 7 - Posted by:
jeffkinnh 3/18/2020 6:40:24 AM (No. 349649)
There is certainly a major difference in the current virus and most others. For the more severe ones, we have vaccines and proven antivirals that can be used to reduce occurrence and severity. The current case is like going for a ride in a car with no brakes. It may or may not crash but the best protection is to avoid getting into it and staying away from it. The mere fact that it is not completely understood makes it dangerous.
The irony may be that if the strong measures taken are effective and reduce the impact of the virus, the argument may be raised that the virus wasn't that big a threat to begin with. Because speed limits save lives and reduce accidents, the argument can be made that the low incidents of crashes suggests the speed limits are not needed in the first place. The article points to Italy as an excellent counter example. THAT might happen HERE and it is REALLY bad. Aggressive steps are needed to prevent it. People may argue against it but even the experts don't understand this disease well enough to predict its full behavior. An abundance of caution is justified beyond whatever numbers and speculations exist at the moment.
7 people like this.
Reply 8 - Posted by:
MMC 3/18/2020 8:18:53 AM (No. 349713)
We had a wedding in early January- a relative came from UK- got really really sick.. during the short visit.. symptoms: sore throat, fever and cough.. we were all exposed to her- and non of the family got sick.. we suspect it nave been this new strain- but not diagnosed.. relative recovered without hospitalization
8 people like this.
Reply 9 - Posted by:
Clinger 3/18/2020 8:32:51 AM (No. 349723)
The problem is not it's leathality but rather its speed. Even with a garden variety flu level of harm, compressing that harm in a tight window overloads the capacity to care for the very sick.
That said, ponder this notion: Big government is deciding for us that we'd rather lose our jobs, houses everything in order to not catch a flu like virus. They have saddled us with crushing debt and are deciding for us that we can all go home and pay later even though we can't possibly pay the price of previous commitments made by our alleged representatives.
There's no doubt our elderly will be served by these measures. I only have one family member left in the generation ahead of me, I know how she thinks I know how my parents thought and I know how my grandfather before them thought and as I prepare to become the eldest living family member, I sure as hell know how I think, my wife and sister as well. Not a single one of us wouldn't face this with courage and take what ever consequences came of it in order to preserve the American dream for our children and grandchildren. We have gone to war as young people with everything to lose to preserver that dream and they didn't do so to see it destroyed in the twilight of their lives to avoid a very bad virus.
13 people like this.
Reply 10 - Posted by:
anniebc 3/18/2020 8:42:21 AM (No. 349737)
You don't say, professor?
1 person likes this.
Reply 11 - Posted by:
Doc1 3/18/2020 9:05:23 AM (No. 349769)
That's what I've been saying. Deaths from the flu in the United States this year is 10,000 so far. Not a mention about this. This isolation for the coronavirus will cut down on flu deaths. That's good.
4 people like this.
Reply 12 - Posted by:
Strike3 3/18/2020 9:27:23 AM (No. 349784)
We country rubes without benefit of a professorship feel the same way. Stay home unless absolutely necessary, especially if you are in the at-risk group, and it will eventually go away. This bug needs people to spread.
2 people like this.
Reply 13 - Posted by:
udanja99 3/18/2020 9:29:14 AM (No. 349786)
I notice that the worm seems to be turning this morning - less hype, leftist journalists praising PDT, more positive information coming out. Maybe the media has gotten the word that their panic inducing reporting is hurting the demonrats. They always overplay their hands. PDT’s handling of this situation will float him into another 4 years in office on a lovely breeze.
BTW, to all of you who gave your good wishes to me yesterday on the impending birth of our grandson, he arrived at 12:11 this morning. His name is Elijah and he and mom are doing great! Thank you for your support!
8 people like this.
Reply 14 - Posted by:
Chuzzles 3/18/2020 9:54:55 AM (No. 349832)
Well of course it is. But liberals are so desperate to find a cudgel to use on Trump they don't really care.
2 people like this.
Reply 15 - Posted by:
curious1 3/18/2020 10:08:52 AM (No. 349851)
Congratulations to you and your family, #14.
2 people like this.
Reply 16 - Posted by:
kono 3/18/2020 10:29:49 PM (No. 350466)
What's the over/under for how long Professor Ioannidis will still be "Stanford professor"? This statement of his seems like a career-limiting remark, because it seems to agree with Trump's initial position, and the Left can't abide anybody non-anti-Trump any more than it can abide an anthropogenic climate change skeptic.
0 people like this.
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