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Comment by RobertRoberts | Hacker News Reader

How is no one is worried about viruses in moving water vs a puddle? (I've learned a lot about survival over decades, you can't tell me this is new information)

Just like the panic around COVID-19. China, who has more infections and more deaths than anywhere else combined, is already calming down. Yet the rest of the world is just starting in full panic mode.

Some people (medical leaders and scientists, not nut cases) are 100% convinced we should panic. This is not rational.

We have _scientific_ proof that COVID-19 is not a big deal. Yet here we are.

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> We have _scientific_ proof that COVID-19 is not a big deal.

Are you one of those people who think Y2K was hyped up too?

China is calming down because of a tremendous amount of hard work, and some draconian restrictions on personal freedoms. The virus didn't just die down by itself. We shouldn't panic. But we should also not be calling it nothing.

On a meta-level, this is why societies don't value prevention. And why firefighters who pull people out of wrecked cars are considered heroes, but Nils Bohlin, the inventor of the 3-point seatbelt, usually is not (I think they're both heroes, in different ways). Because we have people who deny there may problem in the future, and then after it's prevented through the application of a ton of someone else's effort and ingenuity say "So it didn't turn out all that bad after all. See? I told you."

> ...one of those people...

Ad hominem

Proof question: How many rats do you need to test to determine with a high rate of accuracy a disease's CFR?

It was a simple question. And you didn't answer the rest of my post. Are you asserting that China would've had the same outcome if they had done nothing?

We already know how bad it can get. It's be tested and proven under lab-like conditions.

If you want to panic and spread irrational noise, go ahead. There's no point arguing with people that don't want to discuss the science side of things.

> If you want to panic

Can you please explain where I said that? I'm pretty sure I said "We shouldn't panic" (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22559590).

I'll say it again. We shouldn't panic. It is counterproductive. But so is passiveness, inaction, and complacency (such as saying "it's not a big deal" as you did). Facing up to a problem, and dealing with it calmly and resolutely isn't panicking.

> There's no point arguing with people that don't want to discuss the science side of things

I'm not certain what "science" you're talking about here. What "lab-like" conditions? Are you saying containment efforts are unnecessary or unhelpful? I seriously have no idea.

Argue with doctors, data and non-panic induced social media. Bring ur lazy sideways anti-science arguing elsewhere.

One example of many, go argue with them.

https://imgur.com/gallery/mAOTOI8

Seriously, what have I said that was "anti-science"? I'm in full, 100% agreement with the link you posted. "Don't overcrowd hospitals, watch for the symptoms, self-isolate, call doctors before going in, flatten the curve etc." Those are the exact measures that need to be taken.

What I was disputing was your original statement "COVID-19 isn't a big deal." If large portions of the population have to take all these measures to keep this thing under control, it seems like a pretty big deal to me.

At this point I feel like you're just trolling. You aren't responding to anything I've said at all.

Tell this data it's wrong:

https://imgur.com/gallery/FETiDTV

Anti-hysteria from a _doctor_, argue with him:

https://imgur.com/gallery/XN9pvQM

(no point in actually discussing anything with you)

> (no point in actually discussing anything with you)

I feel the same way. Not one thing I've said contradicts anything you've posted. Definitely a troll. Or you took offense at the first thing I said and are determined to ignore literally everything else I wrote.

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