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Wuhan Flu - Feb Week 3 News and Discussions

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  1. #461

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    I don't think rob86craig's post was very well written, but I interpret his point as that some point hard decisions are going to have to be made. I recall that game some people posted on Geoexpat regarding AI for auto steering cars, where they were trying to figure out the algorithms for deciding who should die in an inevitable car crash. That algorithm generating exercise also required people to make choices about whose lives were more valuable than others. It seems this virus is another car crash just waiting to happen.

    At the end of the day, Governments make these decisions every day, when they choose to fund drug A over drug B; divert money to help one group with one problem over another group with another problem.

    What should authorities do? At some point, the damage done to the world economy will kill more people than the virus. At some point hospitals will not be able to cope and will need to decide which patients get the limited beds/respiratory equipment. When will we start hearing stories from China about people starving to death in quarantine? I'm sure it's happening or will happen if things don't lighten up. When does that become worse than allowing the virus to spread and older / sicker people to die?

    Pretending that Governments are not going to have to make these decisions won't make them go away. Pretending we can 'save everyone' doesn't make it true.

    Be thankful the damn thing does not appear to infect kids.
    Cheeky Kiwi and Kowloon72 like this.

  2. #462

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    Quote Originally Posted by HK_Katherine:
    I don't think rob86craig's post was very well written, but I interpret his point as that some point hard decisions are going to have to be made. I recall that game some people posted on Geoexpat regarding AI for auto steering cars, where they were trying to figure out the algorithms for deciding who should die in an inevitable car crash. That algorithm generating exercise also required people to make choices about whose lives were more valuable than others. It seems this virus is another car crash just waiting to happen.

    At the end of the day, Governments make these decisions every day, when they choose to fund drug A over drug B; divert money to help one group with one problem over another group with another problem.

    What should authorities do? At some point, the damage done to the world economy will kill more people than the virus. At some point hospitals will not be able to cope and will need to decide which patients get the limited beds/respiratory equipment. When will we start hearing stories from China about people starving to death in quarantine? I'm sure it's happening or will happen if things don't lighten up. When does that become worse than allowing the virus to spread and older / sicker people to die?

    Pretending that Governments are not going to have to make these decisions won't make them go away. Pretending we can 'save everyone' doesn't make it true.

    Be thankful the damn thing does not appear to infect kids.
    Agree totally on the hard decisions and the governments will be blamed either way. The point the poster was making though was that older people (and type 2 diabetics) are of little value. I don't think that is how most of us view or viewed our parents.

  3. #463

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    I thought that the longer term point of trying to stamp it out early was so that it didn't become a yearly recurring thing that went around the world in mutating waves, like the flu? Might be a bit late for this, by the looks of it.


  4. #464

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    Quote Originally Posted by jgl:
    I thought that the longer term point of trying to stamp it out early was so that it didn't become a yearly recurring thing that went around the world in mutating waves, like the flu? Might be a bit late for this, by the looks of it.
    It was worth trying, worked with SARS.

  5. #465

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    Original Post Deleted
    "arsehole", "horrific people"

    Pull yourself together man. It's a different opinion that you read on the internet.
    tf19 likes this.

  6. #466

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    Quote Originally Posted by hullexile:
    Agree totally on the hard decisions and the governments will be blamed either way. The point the poster was making though was that older people (and type 2 diabetics) are of little value. I don't think that is how most of us view or viewed our parents.
    My point was that it shouldn't be taken as a given that the lives of elderly people and the chronically sick are more important than anyone else. At the moment, people with little chance of being seriously affected are making a huge sacrifice for those with the highest chance (who based on anecdotal experiences here in HK don't really seem to be affected at all in terms of lifestyle). It also appears that on a global scale containment might not be working as well as it seemed a week or so back.

    So when do we change path? 3 months? 3 years? Will we just not bother educating these children? Who'll adminster the diabetes meds if there are no doctors because no one was able to attend medical school as we spend years trying to contain a flu like virus?

    That year in the US when 10s of thousands died of the flu. Why didn't the close schools and factories to stop the spread?
    HK_Katherine likes this.

  7. #467

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    Quote Originally Posted by hullexile:
    You are an ignorant person aren't you?

    Diabetes 2 is common and not necessarily related to.lifestyle. I have never been obese in fact ran dozens of marathons. Type 2 diabetic probably triggered by stress initially.

    If you look at the figures you will see risk of death starts increasing at 50. How old are your parents? Don't you care if they die? What about your grandparents, expendable?

    You concentrate on the 80% with total avoidance of the 20%. Hope your loved ones are never part of the 20%.
    Don't I care if my parents die? As opposed to what alternative, immortality? You're being totally absurd. What's your objective. For everyone alive now to be protected forever?

    As for the diabetes, looked up the numbers on it not being caused by lifestyle. You were astonishingly unlucky, and that's obviously unfair as you ate a healthy diet and exercised well but still got it. You're in a tiny minority though as you well know.

  8. #468

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    Quote Originally Posted by rob86craig:
    Don't I care if my parents die? As opposed to what alternative, immortality? You're being totally absurd. What's your objective. For everyone alive now to be protected forever?

    As for the diabetes, looked up the numbers on it not being caused by lifestyle. You were astonishingly unlucky, and that's obviously unfair as you ate a healthy diet and exercised well but still got it. You're in a tiny minority though as you well know.
    You are not the brightest are you? The obvious plan, the one that countries are following, is to try and slow the spread to buy time. Time to develop treatments and a vaccine. It also tends to make the numbers more manageable. Your suggested approach is just global insanity. Why do you think everyone in authority disagrees with you? Are they all wrong or could it be you? Do you really think the USA could cope with tens of millions requiring ICU? How about a developing country? Or are poor people also expendable?

  9. #469