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posted by Fnord666 on Tuesday March 17 2020, @11:52AM   Printer-friendly
from the sudden-impact dept.

A lot has already happened this year. SARS-CoV-2 (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2) which can cause COVID-19 (COronaVIrus Disease 2019) has been making headlines shortly after it was first reported. The first cases were reported to WHO (World Health Organization) on 2019-12-31. The virus spread. It began as an epidemic in China . The world watched apprehensively. Reports surfaced of cases in other countries and the the apprehension grew. For many folk, it turned to fear when it was upgraded to a pandemic: WHO Director-General's opening remarks at the media briefing on COVID-19 - 11 March 2020: "We have therefore made the assessment that COVID-19 can be characterized as a pandemic."

We have seen increasing efforts to stem the spread of the disease. Efforts have run the gamut. Closing of borders. Cancellation of sporting events. Conferences cancelled. Churches and other places of worship also closed. Schools closed. Panic buying of household goods and supplies. Supply chain disruptions affecting manufacturers. Restaurant, bars, and other such establishments closed. Work-from-home policies established and enacted.

The changes have been many, widespread, and continuing.

Reading about all the ways that "other people" have been affected is one thing. It seems different, somehow, when it hits closer to home and affects us directly. With many of our usual social activities curtailed or cancelled, it is easy to begin isolating and lose perspective. SoylentNews arose from a troubled period (the SlashCott) and a community has formed from that challenging period.

How have you been affected? Have you been infected? Had a family member or friend who was? Helped neighbors who are struggling? Hunkering down and isolating? (In a basement is optional.) Are you suddenly working from home and finding it challenging to manage your time? Still working on site, but now have a faster commute due to all the other people staying home? Catching up on watching TV shows? Reading more SoylentNews? How has your life changed?

From a somewhat different perspective, how have others helped you to cope... and how have you been able to help others? One of the potential impacts of social distancing is isolation and depression. I count myself fortunate, indeed, to have served this site for over 6 years and for all the people I have gotten to know, here. For those who may not be aware, SoylentNews has its own IRC (Internet Relay Chat) server. Feel free to drop in to #Soylent and just say "Hi!"

Social distancing is permanent when you're dead. So, practice good hygiene and stay safe.

Previously (oldest first):
China Battles Coronavirus Outbreak: All the Latest Updates
2019-nCoV Coronavirus Story Roundup
Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) Roundup
Coronavirus Roundup
Coronavirus Roundup (Feb. 17)
Roundup of Stories about the SARS-CoV-2 Coronavirus and COVID-19 Disease
COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2 - CoronaVirus) Roundup
CoronaVirus (SARS-CoV-2) Roundup 2020-03-12
Working from Home: Lessons Learned Over 20 Years


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  • (Score: 3, Informative) by Ethanol-fueled on Tuesday March 17 2020, @11:18PM (12 children)

    by Ethanol-fueled (2792) on Tuesday March 17 2020, @11:18PM (#972537) Homepage

    Trump gutted the CDC because Obama transformed it into an organization that was concerned with pandemics to an organization that was instead concerned with dumb bullshit like school bullying and trans rights. Perhaps it could be rebuilt after a good housecleaning, so to speak.

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  • (Score: 0, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 17 2020, @11:52PM (11 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 17 2020, @11:52PM (#972556)

    There's a special place in hell for people like you. There has been an epidemic of mass murder in the US and the CDC was the premier agency tasked with epidemiology. They've got some of the best.

    The fact that tools like you don't care, doesn't mean it wasn't the right thing to do. You and the GOP know perfectly well that the firearms and lack of regulations are the primary issues, which is why you oppose actually studying the problem. If guns weren't the problem, then what's the harm in studying it?

    What's more, if that were the issue, Trump could just appoint a head that would focus on the goal of studying diseases and epidemics, but he didn't do that. He cut funding. Tools like you are going to have even more blood on your hands as a result of this.

    • (Score: 1) by khallow on Wednesday March 18 2020, @01:40AM (9 children)

      by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday March 18 2020, @01:40AM (#972588) Journal

      There has been an epidemic of mass murder and the CDC was the premier agency tasked with epidemiology.

      What epidemic? Definitely warrants a funding cut there, particularly since the FBI is the premier agency for that particular epidemiology.

      • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 18 2020, @04:08AM (8 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 18 2020, @04:08AM (#972638)

        You people keep claiming it's a mental illness problem or really anything other than the guns problem. Which would make it something the CDC should be involved in. You can't have it both ways, either it's a mental health problem, in which case the CDC should investigate it, or it's a guns problem, in which case we should have better and more regulations.

        The CDC is a completely reasonable place to study the problem. The real problem you degenerates have is that you don't want any research to be done because you know full well that the problem is the guns and related gear, not that Americans are worse people than in other parts of the world.

        • (Score: 1) by khallow on Wednesday March 18 2020, @10:35AM (7 children)

          by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday March 18 2020, @10:35AM (#972694) Journal

          You people keep claiming it's a mental illness problem or really anything other than the guns problem.

          Well, yes. What's it to you?

          Which would make it something the CDC should be involved in.

          Why? Even if we were to grant the claim that is most medical, most mental illness doesn't come from an identifiable disease. Thus, that removes the pretext for involving the CDC.

          You can't have it both ways, either it's a mental health problem, in which case the CDC should investigate it, or it's a guns problem, in which case we should have better and more regulations.

          False dilemma. It's more a public policy problem. Most mass murder comes from the criminalization of recreational drugs.

          • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 18 2020, @02:23PM (5 children)

            by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 18 2020, @02:23PM (#972758)

            What it is is that you're a fucking hypocrite and people like you are why this continues to go on. You people claim, without any evidence, that this is not a guns thing, it's a mental health thing, but then refuse to allow any research that might uncover what's going on there. It's not just that you object to the CDC conducting the research, shitbags like you also refuse to allow any other government agency to investigate either and refuse to do anything that might help the situation.

            Despite the troll mods I've received, the reality is that shitheads like you are why this continues, other countries suffer from mental illness and stress, in some cases at higher rates, but no country has as many mass murders as we do in the US. Japan has years where they have a total of 11 deaths from firearms of all types. That includes, suicide, accident and murder. In the US, suicides alone number well into the tens of thousands. Even if you adjust for the relative sizes of the populations of both countries, the rates in the US are multiple orders of magnitude higher. But, no, we can't conduct any studies, even though we know that guns are a large part of the problem. Other countries have taken steps to curtail their mass murder problems and have had good results by restricting access.

            • (Score: 2, Funny) by khallow on Wednesday March 18 2020, @02:59PM (1 child)

              by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday March 18 2020, @02:59PM (#972768) Journal
              What's the CDC going to do here? Vaccinate us against guns?
              • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 18 2020, @04:50PM

                by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 18 2020, @04:50PM (#972812)

                Hey, sterilizing Republicans may be a good idea in the long run but is definitely not something I can get on board with. They are still human, no matter how much Fox tries to turn them into zombies.

            • (Score: 1) by khallow on Wednesday March 18 2020, @06:21PM (2 children)

              by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday March 18 2020, @06:21PM (#972859) Journal
              I notice also that you don't talk about guns, but rather things like demographics and mental illness. That indicates to me that we don't need studies from the CDC to determine that you need more clue.
              • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 18 2020, @09:28PM (1 child)

                by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 18 2020, @09:28PM (#972920)

                Learn to read. We know that the biggest difference between us and other developed countries is the guns and relative lack of regulation about who can own them. Japan has a total of 11 gun related fatalities in typical years. Most cities in the U.S. have more.

                But we can't conduct meaningful research to completely nail it down because of mouth breathers like you. If it's not the guns like morons like you think, then why not allow the research to be done?

                Not that that's why funding was cut, funding to all agencies was cut.

                • (Score: 1) by khallow on Wednesday March 18 2020, @11:27PM

                  by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday March 18 2020, @11:27PM (#972964) Journal

                  We know that the biggest difference between us and other developed countries is the guns

                  Perhaps you should learn to read what you wrote. As you said earlier, the biggest difference is a moderately higher death rate from firearm deaths, most which has absolutely nothing to do with the alleged "epidemic of mass murder" (which in turn doesn't make us safer during real emergencies like the present coronavirus genuine epidemic).

                  But we can't conduct meaningful research to completely nail it down because of mouth breathers like you. If it's not the guns like morons like you think, then why not allow the research to be done?

                  We conduct plenty of such meaningful research. You just choose to ignore it. Perhaps because that research doesn't confirm your biases.

                  Not that that's why funding was cut, funding to all agencies was cut.

                  Typical problem when too much is spent. And IMHO an indication that we have bigger problems than guns.

          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 21 2020, @08:08PM

            by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 21 2020, @08:08PM (#973912)

            Most mass murder comes from the criminalization of recreational drugs.

            Of all the stupid things khallow has said, this has to be the stupidest. Aurora? El Paso? Ideology, wacko right-wing nut-job racist ideology. That, and graduate school.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 18 2020, @01:43AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 18 2020, @01:43AM (#972591)

      lawl