Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/03/11/coronavirus-outbreak-is-a-pand.html
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The word can’t help but remind me of the boardgame Pandemic, something I liked where you work together to stop things like this. But the last time I looked at it, it occurred to me that the reason everyone starts in Atlanta was because the CDC was there, and it wasn’t really any more – not in anywhere close to the same form. Trump and his Republicans had demolished it.
Some day something bad will happen to humanity that isn’t simply the direct, entirely predictable consequence of rich people trying to make a few extra pennies at the expense of everyone else. But it is still not this day.
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What happens when they start calling the outbreak a pandemic? Does that unlock additional resources for the WHO?
And what makes something a pandemic? It’s my understanding that although the normal influenza viruses (virii?) kill a bunch of people, they don’t cross over into pandemic territory. Is that right?
For some real talk about this, listen to Michael Osterholm. He does a good job of explaining this virus and how it is probably going to get a lot worse before it gets better.
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no seriously, do not go to the store coughing and sneezing you asshats, it should be a crime (actually might be a crime to purposely sneeze or cough on someone)
I want to get 1000 stickers of this printed, business-card sized and slap them everywhere or hand them to people coughing
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A wild pandemic has appeared!
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Companion Sticker:
#Can’tStayHomeNoPaidSickLeave
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American exceptionalism FTL! (No, not faster than light. The other side of FTW.)
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To which I would add:
Some countries struggle with inept, corrupt leadership whose priority is to protect their reelection chances rather than respond to a public health crisis that is killing people every day.
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https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-health-worldbank-pandemic-idUSKBN20D2HI
The world bank sold bonds that are supposed to help fund pandemic relief, that are supposed to mature later this year. They delayed saying the magic word pandemic because that fucks that all up and a lot of people/organizations? are out of $$.
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Yep:
Trump is set to meet with Wall Street bankers as coronavirus hits financial markets
Hey, at least not out playing golf. (Today)
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Thanks for the links! I had never heard of pandemic bonds before. Letting people bet that there won’t be a pandemic is a neat idea.
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I wouldn’t be surprised if pranksters don’t start showing up at campaign events pretending like they are sick to try to disrupt or shut down the event. If COVID-19 isn’t under control by election day, you just know there are going to be people acting sick outside of polling stations.
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Epidemics are localized.
Pandemics are global.
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Word.
#WorkingFromHomeIsn’tAnOptionForEveryone
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Who says it’s a pandemic?
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I count myself lucky, even though when asked, my company was all ¯ \ _ (ツ) _ / ¯ saying “use your own judgment”. My judgment says this job can be done at any computer with an internet connection, so…
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Exactly WHO says it’s a pandemic (-;
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Meanwhile, there are no fucking tests available, and scarcely anyone has been tested. The administration has been trying to obfuscate this by mentioning the number of samples taken (which doesn’t mean they were all tested, and multiple samples are taken from each patient), but even those grand totals don’t even match the number of actual people tested every day in South Korea.
Apparently we’re about two weeks away from things getting really bad here, made worse by the fact we have no idea who is sick.
Then there’s the fact that Trump disclosed investments in 2016 that included a company whose product is a key part of the CDC tests, and there’s no evidence he ever divested, so it opens the question of whether Trump’s profiting from the disaster. And whether this might have something to do with the CDC declining to use the tests made available by the WHO. (Which would mean that the lack of tests was indirectly a result of the administration favoring one company to benefit Trump financially.)
That’s right.
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