Lock-down fallout: more bikes & ebikes & Light EVs!?

[Over50]

Bottom Line... In the US, a bad flu year results in 61K deaths vs. 81K deaths projected this year due to Covid-19.

IHME | COVID-19 Projections

Explore forecasts of COVID-19 cases, deaths, and hospital resource use.

covid19.healthdata.org

Guess I don't see the basis for comparison. Covid-19 projections are based or given the extreme measures that are being taken currently. With no such actions, it is clear the Covid-19 deaths would far exceed 61 or 81K. Latest numbers I saw are R0 2 to 3 times and death rate multiple times that of seasonal flu.

 

[FlatSix911]

Guess I don't see the basis for comparison. Covid-19 projections are based or given the extreme measures that are being taken currently.
With no such actions, it is clear the Covid-19 deaths would far exceed 61 or 81K. Latest numbers I saw are R0 2 to 3 times and death rate multiple times that of seasonal flu.

Bingo... with the proactive measures we are taking with Covid-19 we will now be able to lower the death toll to approximate the seasonal flu numbers with immunizations.

Not a bad outcome, given the higher R0 numbers of Covid-19

 

[J.R.]

Something I found odd and misleading is that during this crisis in the US, every person that dies from anything, whether it's a heart attack or any illness, those people are being tested for coronavirus and if positive they are added to the coronavirus death toll. So if you smoke 2 packs of cigarettes a day, you're a hundred pounds overweight and you have pre existing heart disease, if you die from a heart attack and have coronavirus, you are added to the death toll. That has to add a lot to the count.

 

[Over50]

Something I found odd and misleading is that during this crisis in the US, every person that dies from anything, whether it's a heart attack or any illness, those people are being tested for coronavirus and if positive they are added to the coronavirus death toll. So if you smoke 2 packs of cigarettes a day, you're a hundred pounds overweight and you have pre existing heart disease, if you die from a heart attack and have coronavirus, you are added to the death toll. That has to add a lot to the count.

Yes true, just like when there is a storm, the weather catches the blame for deaths that clearly stem from human decision making "the storm's death toll increased by 1 after so and so ignored pleas to evacuate and then tried to drive through a flooded roadway".

 

[6zfshdb]

Yes true, just like when there is a storm, the weather catches the blame for deaths that clearly stem from human decision making "the storm's death toll increased by 1 after so and so ignored pleas to evacuate and then tried to drive through a flooded roadway".

While this is true, you have to ask, would these people still be alive if it weren't for the virus or the flood? It is often difficult to adjust these statistics based on underlying health conditions or someone's I.Q. for that matter.

 

[john peck]

With our aging population, many of us boomer geezers have one foot in the grave already, Large
numbers of smokers in that lot who have badly damaged lungs or liver issues from drink. Those
even older had even more smokers. What doesn't kill you only delays the inevitable. I can sympathize
with their suffering, but at some point the country must move on.

 

[Mr. Coffee]

One interesting thing I noticed today. Since I drove to town this am to make a big grocery haul I also fueled up my rig, and it seems in the last four weeks local gas prices collapsed from about $3.79 to $2.29. I do live in a remote area so usually fuel is overpriced but that still is a remarkable drop in price.

 

[john peck]

One interesting thing I noticed today. Since I drove to town this am to make a big grocery haul I also fueled up my rig, and it seems in the last four weeks local gas prices collapsed from about $3.79 to $2.29. I do live in a remote area so usually fuel is overpriced but that still is a remarkable drop in price.

I used a 1/4 of my front tank last month, but topped out anyway for grocer's discount, 30 cents a gal.. Gas is far
cheaper, but my mileage has gone to hell since you know who lifted quality restrictions.

 

[FlatSix911]

One interesting thing I noticed today. Since I drove to town this am to make a big grocery haul I also fueled up my rig, and it seems in the last four weeks local gas prices collapsed from about $3.79 to $2.29. I do live in a remote area so usually fuel is overpriced but that still is a remarkable drop in price.

Gas prices are still around $4 per gallon in California due to high taxes and our limited supply of special blend fuel for Cal regulations.

Fortunately, I have not purchased fuel for the last 5 years... EVs and EBikes only.

 

[J.R.]

Yes true, just like when there is a storm, the weather catches the blame for deaths that clearly stem from human decision making "the storm's death toll increased by 1 after so and so ignored pleas to evacuate and then tried to drive through a flooded roadway".

Given the level of panic, worry and cost a pandemic rises to a different level. We need to be as accurate as possible to make the best decisions. For example the NY Governor in a panic asking for tens of thousands of ventilators. He didn't get the 40k vents he wanted, he told the citizens tens of thousands of people would die. Now he admits those numbers will likely not come to fruition. True death toll is very important in combating this pandemic. The Chinese authorities in Wuhan just said a couple days ago that people dying of other causes, that tested positive for coronavirus are not included in their death toll. I don't know what Europe is doing.

 

[indianajo]

The Lock-Downs Should End : I live in America I was Born Free : They are Telling us this Next Week is going to be the Biggest Rise we've seen to-date based on all the Models : So Far The Models are off by a staggering 80% or more.
So lets give them 1 more week : If After Easter Sunday We still find teh Prediction Way Way Off . We should all go back to Work and let them Try to arrest us All. After All Who are these people to Shut us Down . When all The predictions are so way out in LEFT FIELD : Did You catch that ? LEFT Field
Not saying The virus isn't serious. It's just no where near as dangerous as we are being led to believe : Comply with Common Sense as we all are : Let's get back to work
AT LEAST in The Land Of the Free and the Home of the Brave

Glad to hear you healthy wish to take another whack at exterminating me. I've had pneumonia 25 or 30 times. My round faced Grandpa with too much head hair & no beard died of a bad cold in 1938. Us natives die at triple the US average rate of pneumonia, a public health proffessor told us at the Lewis & Clark 200th anniversery. He thought it was bad health care on the reservations. I've never lived on a reservation. With a death rate 1000% to 10000% higher than the flu, (which I've had maybe 100 times) this disease has my ethnic group name painted on the front bumper.
BTW, I ride a bike and still workout age 69, to increase my lung capacity for the inevitable serious pneumonia case. The upside, people with frequent infections are less likely to die of cancer. So far, so good.

 

[john peck]

Glad to hear you healthy wish to take another whack at exterminating me. I've had pneumonia 25 or 30 times. My round faced Grandpa with too much head hair & no beard died of a bad cold in 1938. Us natives die at triple the US average rate of pneumonia, a public health proffessor told us at the Lewis & Clark 200th anniversery. He thought it was bad health care on the reservations. I've never lived on a reservation. With a death rate 1000% to 10000% higher than the flu, (which I've had maybe 100 times) this disease has my ethnic group name painted on the front bumper.
BTW, I ride a bike and still workout age 69, to increase my lung capacity for the inevitable serious pneumonia case. The upside, people with frequent infections are 50% as likely to die of cancer. So far, so good.

Wow, that's a lot of pneumonia. I've had it 3 times while camped out in winter at high altitude. Once from aspergilliosis.(sp?)
a fungal infection, aka, farmers lung oft caused by moldy hay. If I were you, I'd hideout completely 'til it's gone.
I've had an interesting run, & not afraid to die, but in no hurry either. The Crow have a saying; "Death is more honorable
than old age, but most people want it."