COVID-19 could affect more races this year.

[Just_a_fan]

It's a great way to effect several upcoming elections around the world.

Now that the social media ploys have been exposed, perhaps this is the right wing's next ploy to win elections...

[Zynerji]

It's a great way to effect several upcoming elections around the world.

Now that the social media ploys have been exposed, perhaps this is the right wing's next ploy to win elections...

I don't even think they have sides anymore... Left vs. Right... I think it is now Them vs Us.

But that's OT for here...

[Just_a_fan]

It's a great way to effect several upcoming elections around the world.

Now that the social media ploys have been exposed, perhaps this is the right wing's next ploy to win elections...

I don't even think they have sides anymore... Left vs. Right... I think it is now Them vs Us.

It was always Them vs Us. They gave Us the vote to keep Us pacified, but the reality is that They carry on regardless. One only has to watch Them that claim to want to change everything ("drain the swamp", "free the people", whatever the claim) suddenly become that which they campaigned against.

Sadly, too many buy the rhetoric and They get to keep going.

The real issue is when Them and Us is used to stoke hatred and fear of people in other countries or in minority groups. Has happened through the centuries and continues to this day. Wars result. Or at least hate crimes against the "Us".

Humans are really rubbish sometimes.

And I've gone OT which is also rubbish!

[Wynters]

This is my source, don’t shout at me. The Guardian is a very respected broadsheet newspaper so if you feel it is wrong because your ‘on the front line dealing with it’ then you should probably tell them

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/no-worse-flu- ... 14554.html?

The Guardian stopped being a respected source years ago. It turned into clickbait central when their funding shrank down to consisting primarily of advertising revenue (just before Rusbridger left). Now they are barely any better than the red tops, have barely any staff any rely on recycling social media click-bait and provoking an emotional response in their readers purely to increase engagement (clicks). In an article today, headlined "The worst-case scenario for coronavirus is likely" the actual quote (contained in the article) said "The worst-case scenario is looking increasingly likely." Over the last few days, they've run an a series or articles, the headlines of which have been deliberately overblowing the content e.g. 'Yes, it is worse than the flu: busting the coronavirus myths' the actual quote being "If borne out by further testing, this could mean that current estimates of a roughly 1% fatality rate are accurate. This would make Covid-19 about 10 times more deadly than seasonal flu, which is estimated to kill between 290,000 and 650,000 people a year globally." which not only ignores the key conditionals but also uses large numbers of deaths without any meaningful context for the uneducated (such as infection rates).

As the person whom the 'worst case' article is built around put it "The problem is bad information. As my students often remind me, news tends to be behind paywalls, while fake news is free." Guess what 'The Guardian' is?

[hollus]

The first MotoGP race, in Bahrain, planned for next weekend, has been cancelled. Apparently the second, in Malaysia, is dubious.

[FrukostScones]

F1 should errect a quarantine zone in and around Paul Ricard and race there 22 races.
22 layouts shoul be easily possible.

[turbof1]

F1 should errect a quarantine zone in and around Paul Ricard and race there 22 races.
22 layouts shoul be easily possible.

By the time we arrive at Paul Ricard the virus will have died out.

[Zynerji]

I think they should do a Sim racing championship if the season gets canceled.

[hollus]

Personally, I think this is flu 2.0. Not that having two flus around is good.
But as said above, once every country has it, it won’t make sense to block any travel, same way we don’t try to block the flu.
But in the mean time, no one knows how contagious it really is, or how deadly (or not) it really is, because we don’t know how many people have it.
So far, detected cases have closely followed performed tests, and obviously one won’t find the virus without testing for it. Plus the current standard, testing positive in a RT-PCR reaction, is not, AFAIK, how flu is diagnosed, so this will continue to be a big unknown for a while yet. The flu also does not have a zero immunity field in which to spread. We are dealing with unknown unknowns, unfortunately.

[Zynerji]

I just wish the markets would calm... I'm down $336k last week.....

[fritticaldi]

Now that the Qatar MotoGP race is cancelled it is widely expected that the F1 Bahrein GP which is close geographically to Qatar to be dropped as well. I predict the 2020 F1 season will begin in Europe at the Dutch GP in Zandvoort .

[Phil]

Sorry, that is just wrong. The fatality rate for influenza A is between 1 and 2% each year. If you include the other strains of flu then that skews the figure.

Influenza A a fatality of 1% to 2% a year? I find that very hard to believe - from what i have seen and read it’s 10 to 20 times lower. How did you arrive at that figure anyway?

[Juzh]

Sorry, that is just wrong. The fatality rate for influenza A is between 1 and 2% each year. If you include the other strains of flu then that skews the figure.

Influenza A a fatality of 1% to 2% a year? I find that very hard to believe - from what i have seen and read it’s 10 to 20 times lower. How did you arrive at that figure anyway?

googling for 5 seconds i get this:
https://www.livescience.com/new-coronav ... h-flu.html

In the study published Feb. 18 in the China CDC Weekly, researchers found a death rate from COVID-19 to be around 2.3% in mainland China. That's much higher than the death rate linked to flu, which is typically around 0.1% in the U.S., according to The New York Times.

Even so, the death rate for COVID-19 varied by location and an individual’s age, among other factors. For instance, in Hubei Province, the epicenter of the outbreak, the death rate reached 2.9%; in other provinces of China, that rate was just 0.4%. In addition, older adults have been hit the hardest. The death rate soars to 14.8% in those 80 and older; among those ages 70 to 79, the COVID-19 death rate in China seems to be about 8%; it’s 3.6% for those ages 60 to 69; 1.3% for 50 to 59; 0.4% for the age group 40 to 49; and just 0.2% for people ages 10 to 39. Nobody 9 and under has died of this coronavirus to date.

so 0.1% seems to be the norm, unless we're missing something major

[turbof1]

What I have been told is that the coronavirus, like any other virus really, will mutate to keep bypassing immune systems and to stay contaminant. However, as a by-result, viruses become less deadly over time due to the mutation.

In time it will get the same lethality ratio as Influenza. Also, the high pollution in some Chinese cities is claimed to have contributed heavily to either spreading the disease and/or to weaken immune systems making people more susceptible to it.

[LM10]

What I have been told is that the coronavirus, like any other virus really, will mutate to keep bypassing immune systems and to stay contaminant. However, as a by-result, viruses become less deadly over time due to the mutation.

In time it will get the same lethality ratio as Influenza. Also, the high pollution in some Chinese cities is claimed to have contributed heavily to either spreading the disease and/or to weaken immune systems making people more susceptible to it.

On a side note, these are the NASA images showing how the air pollution in China has decreased after the outbreak.