33250  was under the impression that the views had changed.  If a virus can mutate and evolve then it should be considered to be alive. I lean towards not.  They're more chemical parasites.  Your definition is too wide.  You can write a computer program introducing random mutations to an initial st...

A-L-E-X wrote:

Qr Bbpost  Is there some legitimacy to the idea that the Chinese importing poached animals from Africa caused this?

Many blame the live animal markets in China.  Maybe, but the facts are obscured by much activism to ban such markets for other reasons than diseases.

I personally feel this virus was created on purpose to disrupt the world economy. Its just too suspicious to me. Yes, it's both technically and politically implausible. In the longer run, at large scale, the economical outcome may well go into positive territory.  The situation forces corporations ...

33232 Why is this being called SARS 2? The virus SARS-CoV gave the disease SARS in the early 2000's.  Now the virus SARS-CoV-2 gives the disease COVID-19.  I guess it could just as well have been named SARS 2.  SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 are related viruses, but I don't know in what exact way.  SARS i...

33225 If about 50% of cases are nearly asymptomatic and not known, then measures to slow the spread by identifying and quarantining infected by symptoms are dramatically less effective (see for example the simulation with communities at 50% quarantine at 8:35 -- it's only barely better than if no a...

Pretty interesting.  Testing in Iceland, however, indicates that as many as 50% of those infected have no or hardly any symptoms.  If the models had been run in such a configuration, I wonder how the results would change.  And one thing these simulations miss is the mortality distribution across the...

As mentioned before, it may be worth looking at Norway and Sweden which have chosen different strategies.  Norway chose "the hammer" shutting down just about everything, whilst Sweden chose to keep most things running focusing on isolating the vulnerable.  Sweden in blue and Norway in pink...

33137 The virus does not have some intrinsic transmission coefficient or mortality rate. Both depend on how we respond to it. This is important.  When all this is over, the mortality will say less about the virus itself than it will tell how well we are able to protect the vulnerable.  Complete loc...

33142 The economy doesn't matter at this point. Remember that there is a percentage of the population that is alive thanks to a well economically developed society, and we can't allow that to change.  We need to be pragmatic.  We want to avoid triage in healthcare, and trade that for temporary tria...

33134 This can be a very nasty virus. "Can" is also an important word. If treated, mortality does seem fairly low, and I wouldn't be surprised if it approaches that of flu when all the numbers are in.  If the healthcare system is overwhelmed, however, there can be little doubt now that it...

A random photo taken exactly 5 years ago while getting ready for the total eclipse.  I've seen three total eclipses in my life, and this was the best by far.



The video that I made.

1600 infected in Norway, 6 dead.  Average age of the fatalities: 89 years.  An Italian study reports that the median age for the fatalities in Italy is 79.5 for men and 83.7 for women.  

A-L-E-X wrote:

Qr Bbpost give everyone $1,000 to stimulate the economy after this horror ends. A $1 trillion stimulus package

From where?  Tax increases?  Borrow from China?  Banknote printing?

Interestingly, Norway went for a near complete lockdown, whereas Sweden has chosen a different path with limited restrictions, schools etc remain open, not unlike the UK.  Who gets it right? In Norway the national health authorities did not recommend closing schools and borders.  It was more a polit...

A-L-E-X wrote:

Qr Bbpost The drawback though (like we see with dolphins, which are highly evolved), is no evolution of hands or an opposable thumb, which seems to be critical in making and using tools.

Octopuses have highly usable "limbs".  And some are pretty intelligent as well.