[bmah]

Originally Posted by ULTIMEGA

Even worse is that - and this is just speculation - the economy is tanking because of the virus, and from what I've seen companies are struggling to keep up with demand. It's ridiculous. The pandemic has put people in a blind panic and most of them are too blind to see the kind of economical damage they're causing. The two week quarantine that was ordered doesn't help much either, because people who are used to going out every day - which is roughly 80% of the global population - are freaking out because they don't know what it's like to live in isolation from everyone else.

So the way I see it, the whole virus thing is one of those apocalyptic things that people get mixed up because the virus isn't as deadly as people are making it out to be. It only really effects those who have weak immune systems, like the elderly or those with an immunodeficiency problem that makes them susceptible to even the most basic of viruses. If people would learn to not be blinded by the media who controls them and instead break away from it and learn to educate themselves, none of these problems would even be a concept to most of us. Since people in general are stupid, they jump the gun and make assumptions based on what the media tells them instead of doing the research themselves and calling bullshit, which is 90% of the problem and people don't realize this.

The whole thing is just a clusterfuck of unnecessary drama. I know I sound pretty disgruntled about this, but given what's been going on the last few weeks and not seeing much progress in making things better, I feel I have a reason to be. I can't just beat around the bush and say everything is fine because we all know it's not fine, and it's only going to get worse. And no one knows when the situation will get resolved if it ever does get resolved at all. I just hope people start waking up soon and maybe, MAYBE things will get a little better.

Anyway, that's my ten cents on the whole thing. My two cents? I got no reason to let you know about that because at this point, fuck it.

What an upsetting post.

I'll start by saying that the world economy may not necessarily be tanking because of the coronavirus, but rather that the coronavirus was the last straw. There are a number of other factors that are tanking the economy such as political rabbling over commodities such as oil (e.g. Saudi Arabia vs Russia) and especially things like debt from banks. Yes, people are in a panic, and rightfully so. I frequently see people mixing up "appropriate ways to respond to a crisis" (i.e. calm vs panic) with "dismissing the seriousness of the situation altogether." While I agree that the best way of handling the crisis is not through outright panic, let's not dismiss people's well-founded anxieties about what is to become a very uncertain future.

I commonly see your argument on "the coronavirus affecting only the elderly and compromised folks" on Facebook communities, and this argument is always extremely shortsighted. This is not one of those cases where dumb/ignorant people can take their own risk while leaving others unaffected (e.g. people deciding to stay home during a hurricane and not evacuating). The coronavirus situation demands EVERYONE'S cooperation, because even if you personally won't die or even become sick from it, you're still a perfectly susceptible host to the virus and can transmit it to others. How do people not see the logic in this???

In addition, more recent studies showed that the coronavirus is increasingly affecting young adults as well, in some places in excess of 50% of the local demographics. The virus affecting only the elderly and the compromised is now old news.

Finally, why would you be more concerned about verification of facts brought on by the media than your own health and safety? This isn't a time to politicize things. There are other issues you can afford to be skeptical about, but one that revolves around your personal health shouldn't be treated with skepticism. Even if this coronavirus was some sort of "media brouhaha" (which it is not), there is no harm in believing the warnings if it's a matter of health and safety. There's another case to be made about verifying facts instead of believing the media, but I think right now this is an issue of people not getting their priorities straight (or it may also be plain arrogance).

You're not seeing things progress better because the situation will get worse before it gets better - it's going to take some time. And it'll take longer if skeptics resist doing their part in stopping the spread of the virus.