And anti-scientific bullshit like this, where the physical world is required to bend to political ideology, is exactly why I quit economics.
I’d also like to note that it’s an optimistic estimate in several ways. It uses a very low fatality rate and assumes no strain on the availability of medical treatment.
Given that front-line caregivers are falling faster than the general population, it’s safe as well to assume that as the epidemic progresses our capacity to treat new patients is likely to decrease, as we can’t train healthcare workers fast enough to keep up with the rate we’re losing them.
So the guy who doesn’t believe in germs is lecturing on herd immunity.
This asshole is a Koch brothers stalking whore who tries to transmute his Army service into expertise about the needs of veterans and assists their effort to destroy the Department of Veterans’ Affairs. He’s pure evil on legs. Nothing he says is of value, as shown in the clip.
Not to mention the countless multiples of that who will become crippled to varying degrees by how the illness ravages the bodies of many victims.
I won’t lose any sleep when they cry about being forced to take it. I’m for minimizing harm. I can only placate the ignorant for so long before I have to draw the line and drag them into the present kicking and screaming.
And even if long-lasting herd immunity is possible, I don’t think “herd immunity” means what a lot of people think it means. If the herd immunity threshold is 60%, as many have estimated for COVID-19, that does not mean you can get the 60 healthiest percent of your population sick and be done. Herd immunity works within personal networks, not general populations. To oversimplify, if fewer than 60% of the people you personally interact with are immune, herd immunity will not protect you even if 60% of the overall population is immune. This is why measles flareups and the like tend to be localized.
Now think of Grandma and other vulnerable populations. Their personal networks are dense with other vulnerable people because their friends are elderly and/or sick, they spend a lot of time in nursing homes or hospitals, etc. You have to get 60% of them sick, too, if you want to achieve herd immunity for everybody.
In short, every “healthy” individual on the planet could contract the virus and true herd immunity would still not be achieved. For that, we need either a vaccine or for “unhealthy”/at-risk people to contract the disease too. Oh, and for long-lasting immunity to be a real thing, which is not yet established for COVID-19.
Followed by talking heads on Fox News complaining about rising health insurance premiums taking precious dollars out of their pockets to care for the Coronavirus Cripples who should have self-quarantined to avoid getting sick in the first place, and hell, they probably went out at got themselves sick on purpose in a misguided attempt to achieve herd immunity and ruin the economy and keep Trump from being re-elected and it’s disgusting and un-American that we have to support these freeloaders with our tax-funded wheelchairs and physical therapy and blender meals.
so trump is about to end the ACA the same way he tampers with everything else in government so you know it’s going to happen and he won’t suffer the slightest repercussion for it
but it’s sure going to be interesting when half the population comes down with lifelong health problems as a side effect from “just the flu” which is already being hinted at in academic papers
because covid19 will be a pre-existing condition and it won’t be covered and we’ll never get congress to sacrifice themselves again to pass a bill like that, the battle was insane
kinda terrified of the next four years, way more than the past few
Much like the Bible, the likelihood of a person having actually read the US Constitution is inversely proportional with their purported zeal for it.
I didn’t need to look further than his own book displayed on his own bookshelf behind him.
What a great idea! Let’s all do that with Ebola as well. Starting with this jackass.
The discussion wasn’t about what it should be; it was about what it would be. You’re right about what it should be.
As someone living in a country that shares a border with you and is succeeding in turning the tide but still relies on you for trade and produce… fuck your fucking death cult, and fuck you all for not reining it in.
I am disappointed in you, and I’m angry with you, and seriously, America: get your shit together. None of this “I voted for the other guy” or “don’t look at me, I’m a blue stater” - YOU ARE ALL RESPONSIBLE. FIX YOUR SHIT.
Canada has had enough!
I bet he has horrible b.o.
Remember John Oliver’s words, probably the most illuminating sentence in the history of television: “They only pretend to believe this stuff on television for money.” All these my-dick-is-to-big-for-disease assholes are malignant liars and hypocrites.
Looks like the kind of guy for whom showering is not high on his priority list either.
To really own the libs, he should probably go and lick all the doorknobs he can find.
All North Americans in white-settler nation states, none of whom chose which one to be born in?
I see the U.S. and Canada are also neighbors on the per capita mortality list
The only major country in between is Switzerland
We don’t even know if a) Being infected grants you immunity and b) if a vaccine is possible.
Bit early to be running out and jamming the hospitals