Originally Posted by TED74

"A growth factor above 1 indicates an increase, whereas one which remains between 0 and 1 it is a sign of decline, with the quantity eventually becoming zero, whereas a growth factor constantly above 1 could signal exponential growth."

Growth factor is consistently above 1 for cases outside China. Seems worthy of serious attention. I'm not fearful but I'm glad the media doesn't have its collective head in the sand like some of our leaders with ulterior motives. Unfortunately, those same leaders have planted enough anti-information bias in people's heads that many reject these and other demonstrable facts at their own peril.

Anyway, I'm sure this will all just blow over. It's basically just more flu, I'm told?

Originally Posted by Myfingershurt

Do you honestly believe the media doesn’t have ulterior motives? Unbiased journalism hasn’t existed in decades.

Originally Posted by TED74

Do I think most journalists have ulterior motives? No, I do not. Bias? Absolutely.

Do I think corporate america (including corporations involved in news distribution) wants to maximize profits, just like every other capitalist organization? Absolutely.

I believe every person on the planet has bias, myself included. I don't think unbiased journalism has ever existed. I also think there are demonstrable facts that can be discerned in spite of the bias you may or may not detect from the information source.

Originally Posted by Phins2right

That's some 6th level spitballing there mesabah. CDC monitors = give us a call if you are not feeling well = NBD. There are other motives at play in CA, really beyond scope of this discussion.

It won't be long before the 24/7 news has people full of so much fear they are duct taping plastic to "seal" their windows and doors ala SARs circa 2003. This may cause some issues, but hopefully the press calms down and we get some real reporting done on this bug. For now, I'm thinking its full throttle on the hype. Maximum damage.

some info from near Emory:
Overall 2% mortality rate to those 70+ otherwise it is <0.3%. Italy has their attention.
higher risk of pneumonia if immunocompromised and those with other existing pulmonary conditions (think smokers, those habitually exposed to poor air quality etc)
so far responds well to antivirals
easy to kill outside the host i.e. not a persistent virus
surgical masks don't work; virus is .1-.2 microns in size. respirators of N-95 or better are more suitable as well as eyepro.
comminicablity is similar to other "flus"

More later, hopefully this helps allay some of the hype that the news is spewing. Seeing how SARS, MERS and our Ebola scare panned out, this is not going to be your black swan event as you hoped.

Originally Posted by Myfingershurt

I believe that just like in every business, the ulterior motive is money. Sensational journalism, whether by selling more ad space or more papers, makes money. If you want unbiased opinions about this topic, go read the WHO and CDC websites. Neither are making this out to be the apocalyptic event that most news outlets are. The media is creating a false sense of panic that is in turn destroying economies, if albeit for the short term, around the world. It’s irresponsible and foolish. Yes the virus could turn into a pandemic, but so what. The flu is a pandemic every year. As is the common cold. It doesn’t necessarily mean death and destruction. The most dangerous pandemic in our world is ignorance. And there will never be a vaccine for that. You just can’t fix stupid.

Originally Posted by Myfingershurt

. If you want unbiased opinions about this topic, go read the WHO and CDC websites. Neither are making this out to be the apocalyptic event that most news outlets are.

Originally Posted by Myfingershurt

I believe that just like in every business, the ulterior motive is money. Sensational journalism, whether by selling more ad space or more papers, makes money. If you want unbiased opinions about this topic, go read the WHO and CDC websites. Neither are making this out to be the apocalyptic event that most news outlets are. The media is creating a false sense of panic that is in turn destroying economies, if albeit for the short term, around the world. It’s irresponsible and foolish. Yes the virus could turn into a pandemic, but so what. The flu is a pandemic every year. As is the common cold. It doesn’t necessarily mean death and destruction. The most dangerous pandemic in our world is ignorance. And there will never be a vaccine for that. You just can’t fix stupid.

Originally Posted by profit

The current estimates are that death from Corona and COVID-19 illness is that its roughly 20x more deadly than a flu pandemic.

You're right about not fixing stupid.

Originally Posted by profit

The current estimates are that death from Corona and COVID-19 illness is that its roughly 20x more deadly than a flu pandemic.

You're right about not fixing stupid.

Originally Posted by FL370esq

So you are saying we are going to run out of new hires? (See thread title....perhaps this thread has slightly de-railed?)