Poll of the Day > Mild flu season due to masks and social distancing but coronavirus is rampant.

(+) Yeah! (+)

Makes you wonder why the masks and social distancing are having a great impact on the amount of flu cases but dont seem to be stopping coronavirus cases

If that's as far as your thinking gets you, you really need help. Here, I'll get you started...

See how much milder the flu season has been? Multiply that to get a similar figure to the average flu season. NOW MULTIPLY THE COVID CASES/DEATHS BY THE SAME FACTOR. Just for 'fun', take into consideration that those figures don't factor in how many more deaths there would be on account of hospitals reaching 100% capacity and not being able to help the overflow.

There. That's how a person capable of coherent thought interprets that information.
I doubt that's a perfect parallel, but it gives a good enough idea of the situation.

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Simple - there are regions where masks are being used and regions where not - and so both statements are true at the same time.

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Shadowbird_RH posted...

If that's as far as your thinking gets you, you really need help. Here, I'll get you started...

See how much milder the flu season has been? Multiply that to get a similar figure to the average flu season. NOW MULTIPLY THE COVID CASES/DEATHS BY THE SAME FACTOR. Just for 'fun', take into consideration that those figures don't factor in how many more deaths there would be on account of hospitals reaching 100% capacity and not being able to help the overflow.

There. That's how a person capable of coherent thought interprets that information.
I doubt that's a perfect parallel, but it gives a good enough idea of the situation.

Maybe instead of angrily smashing the keyboard, take some time to write out your thoughts so they actually make sense. Im sure youre trying to make a good point, although somewhat foolish and shortsighted, but what you wrote out isnt very coherent. Please feel free to try again though.

It's pretty coherent.

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Think about how things would be if there were no measures being taken by people AND we had a regular flu season on top of it.

Wed probably be looking at least a million dead and RIP our entire healthcare system

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The hospitals being at capacity is media fear porn. A lot of hospitals operate at 110 to 120% capacity this time of year. If hospitals were never near capacity I wouldn't have to wait 3 hours whenever I've been to the emergency room

Being at capacity or over it is one thing, but its another thing entirely to have ICUs in an area all full. Its specialized care that requires more nurses and techs, and with covid some hospitals are dealing with patients coding left and right. Having even one patient code during your shift is a very stressful and challenging experience. It becomes unmanageable and its not like you can just produce more ICU nurses from thin air.

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MartianManchild posted...

Maybe instead of angrily smashing the keyboard, take some time to write out your thoughts so they actually make sense. Im sure youre trying to make a good point, although somewhat foolish and shortsighted, but what you wrote out isnt very coherent. Please feel free to try again though.

Current flu cases/deaths=(Typical flu cases/deaths without masks/distancing)*(Mask/distancing protective factor)
Current Covid cases/deaths=(Hypothetical Covid cases/deaths without masks/distancing)*(Mask/distancing protective factor)

A little algebra will let you combine that system of equations into the following:
(Typical flu)*(Current Covid)/(Current flu) = How bad Covid would be without measures

The factor by which masks and distancing have reduced the severity of the flu season can reasonably be presumed to be roughly equal to the factor by which they have reduced the severity of the Covid pandemic. In practice, it's not going to be so neatly linear, but that's a close enough approximation for communicating the point that Covid would be far worse if not for the measures that have been taken.

Furthermore, as witty as I'm sure you think that facebook post is, it grossly misrepresents both the situation and the CDC's position on the matter. The CDC has not said that nobody is wearing masks/distancing (at least, not outside of describing small-scale situations in which everyone present is observably not complying, which is obviously not what is being suggested in that post). What they have said is that compliance with recommendations isn't good enough to get Covid under control, which is true. The measures that are being taken are having an effect (both on Covid and on influenza, as an added bonus), but Covid continues to rampage out of control because those measures haven't been accepted to enough of an extent to stop it.

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OhhhJa posted...

The hospitals being at capacity is media fear porn. A lot of hospitals operate at 110 to 120% capacity this time of year. If hospitals were never near capacity I wouldn't have to wait 3 hours whenever I've been to the emergency room

There's a world of difference between being at outpatient capacity and being at ICU capacity. Being at outpatient capacity means a 3-hour wait for minor emergencies. We're all used to that. Being at ICU capacity means anyone who can't breathe without a ventilator suffocates to death in the back of an ambulance while a paramedic desperately performs CPR in a hopeless effort to keep them alive for a couple more minutes just in case an ICU bed opens up in that window. That's not a normal problem, and it's very bad.

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