Fired Up FredBy Fred
Hold your horses! Calm down and use common sense, the coronavirus is not the Boogieman.
Hello everyone, Fired Up Fred is back! Did you miss me?
My grandson went off to college and didn’t fix my computer before he left, which left me yelling at the TV instead of writing to Edhat. My computer now fixed in time to calm your fears about the coronavirus.
Come on people just use common sense. Just remember all those things your Mom taught you! They still hold true. Wash your hands with soap and water. When using a public bathroom, if you have to sit on the toilet use that paper gasket and use a paper towel to turn off the water and open the door. For us in the older generation that are the most at risk, maybe refrain from shaking hands and you youngster’s refrain from all that hugging. Not sure what that’s all about. In my generation hugging was reserved for grandparents and married couples.
Anyway, don’t get your panties in a knot, this too will pass. This virus will run its course. This is not the plague! Common sense is not so common.
Even at my elderly age I braved going out of the house to go shopping, I needed a new shirt. So I was standing in a long line on Friday morning. These shoppers were not afraid they still wanted to spend their money on something other than toilet paper. Standing in line watching the clerks check out people I noticed the clerk wearing rubber gloves. I watched closely as he worked handling the clothing items, paper money, and coins, which is unusual these days. As he was going about his work, he wiped his nose on the back of his rubber glove 6 times with that one customer. He’s young so I don’t worry about him but I do worry about the lady that was over 55 that was his customer and then I was next. I was hoping I would get another clerk but no I got rubber glove guy. My strategy was to use a credit card, use my handkerchief to grab the bag and wash my shirt when I got home. Old guys like me have to be careful. Kids don’t have much to worry about because they don’t even have real money, just cards. So, word to my generation, use a card if you have it and use common sense.
Don’t get me started about Costco Gate. Ridiculous! Buying up all the toilet paper. I have more sympathy for the college students that can’t get a hot dog and a soda for $1.50 because they aren’t a member. You know they will just stand there and have someone else buy it for them just like the underage kids when they want beer.
I was at my doctor’s office last week and they told me someone stole a box of masks they had in their waiting room. Masks are not going to protect you. They are for sick people with symptoms so they don’t spread their airborne illness to you.
Look, your chances of getting this virus are rare but don’t put yourself at risk especially if you are elderly or have a medical condition. There you have it!
I’m Fired Up and my name is Fred!
Fred is a long time member of the Santa Barbara County who enjoys sharing his opinion on local issues.
How many people did the “normal flu” kill this year? Last year?
Influenza has already taken the lives of 10,000 Americans this season, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. At least 19 million have caught the flu, and an estimated 180,000 became so ill they landed in the hospital.
The CDC predicts that at least 12,000 Americans will die from the “normal flu” in any given year. As many as 61,000 people died in the 2017-2018 flu season, and 45 million were infected.
What “quarantine procedures are in place for those “normal years”? None.
How many people distanced themselves socially? Prob none.
And people still don’t wash their hands after using a public toilet, think they’re washing at home?
What does this stmt by Eminence Threat mean?, “system whereby only the wealthy can afford proper hygiene and health care. “
Are you saying people can’t afford soap or wash their hands regularly or not cough on people? Seriously! What’s wrong with people.
This isn’t political, but if you listen to CNN & HLN it surges feels like it.
Everyone stop listening to CNN & HLN creating a panic. Use common sense.
Yesterday in the store a man was coughing non stop, didn’t cover up or anything.
I walked out and left everything, I do this regularly.
The big question is why is this man in today’s panicked climate completely oblivious to “health standards”? Why does the kid wipe his nose and keep touching things you’re touching.
Are these the signs of panicked people taking extra care? No
Yet people will empty the shelves of items to help them after they get the flu.
I feel like it’s 1999 all over again, buy a shotgun and canned goods and be ready for widespread panicked and looting. Think that’s extreme?
So far no one is acting rational. Is this the Zombie apocalypse coming?
2:06, my interpretation was that seniors and people with illnesses can’t survive the damage caused by their immune system. Younger stronger people generally can, with some exceptions like the 34-yr old doctor in China who was said to be exhausted by overwork.
Your opinion is not shared by the stock market (people). It perceives that the coronavirus is worse than the boogieman and whether we like it or not, perception is reality! This will get worse before it gets better!
From the Seattle Times- private innovation and investment works, where Big Government does not:
…”Testing for the novel coronavirus in the Seattle area will get a huge boost in the coming weeks as a project funded by Bill Gates and his foundation begins offering home-testing kits that will allow people who fear they may be infected to swab their noses and send the samples back for analysis….”
Since you brought up the flu, it’s important to remember the mortality rate of Coronavirus is higher, at around 3.4%. If 45 million people get infected like the flu, that means close to 1.5 million people die. Most of those would be the elderly, who have a nearly 15% mortality rate.
I was on the front lines for the N1H1. Hellish virus , I nearly died. The woman I think I caught it from died in ICU three days after leaving the E D. I never want to experience anything like that again.
Welcome back. Glad you are getting space here for your common sense and well-earned wisdom.
The extent of the coronavirus threat has yet to be determined. But, really, if you think you’ll need tons of toilet paper and bottled water shouldn’t you be stocking up on everything you might possibly need for… well, no one knows how long?
The bigger epidemic is a lack of education and trust. When push comes to a little shoving, people are already being selfish and irrational, hoarding up what they see as survival necessities. But then again should we blame them? The state and federal responses are inadequate and medical staff are not prepared with test kits, ventilators, and isolation spaces needed to protect and treat vulnerable populations. Not enough people are hoping for the best and preparing for the worst.
Those with compromised health have as much as a 6% to 15% death rate. The rate everyone is talking about includes a lot of younger, healthier people which drags down the death rate. Those with with cancer, heart problems, asthma, hypertension or something else have substantially increased death rate. FROM THE ARTICLE:. “According to one study of 45,000 confirmed cases in China, fewer than 1.0% of healthy people who contracted the COVID-19 virus died from the disease. But that percentage was around 6.0% for people with cancer, hypertension or chronic respiratory disease, 7.3% for those with diabetes and 10.5% for those with cardiovascular disease. Patients who were 80 or older were also at increased risk, with 14.8% dying.”. — URL. — https://www.cancerhealth.com/article/who-is-most-susceptible-new-coronavirus
Fred and other older folks, I worry about the blase reactions I am seeing – you guys are THE at-risk group. The mortality rate is significantly higher for your demographic. I agree that people should continue living their lives (and for goodness sake, stop stockpiling,) but do consider not going out as often and consolidating your trips to necessary-only. Food trips are absolutely necessary, but you probably don’t really need a new shirt right now. Stay safe out there!
Gov Newsom just stated the federal response to COVID-19, has been very positive- the state got everything they asked for. So let’s stop making accusations that carry a political agenda and stick to what is known., along with what we are learning and have learned in the past when one of these “named” viruses shows up.
Probably not a good time to bring up the carbon foot print represented by toilet paper use, as well as the fact the first commercially produced toilet paper was in China, a few hundred years ago at the Emperors command .History of toilet habits and even today’s global variations is another good follow up topic. Pre-columbian groups on the North American continent apparently used leaves and clamshells. Not sure how either water or TP became such panic buying targets either. Maybe one of the local hoarders can explain their thinking.
Your drive to the store and back was way more dangerous.
PLEASE don’t get your public health information from a stranger on the Internet.
Wipe my backside with a clamshell? Yikes…now I am freaking out. /s
I heard in Home Improvement yesterday that people were stocking up on vegetable seedlings! Folks are readying for the long haul! As for water let’s hope that tomorrow’s rain helps fill Cachuma since hoarders have accumulated all those bottles.
If you have to quarantine yourself at home for 3 weeks or 4 weeks What do you need? Besides food, the top of the list for most people is toilet paper, Advil and nasal spray. When she start talking about food, what last for this period of time? A lot of canned and frozen goods.
When our farm workers get the virus they will be down and out right at the time vegetables need to be picked. I’m not surprised that people are worried about farm-to-table problems. Luckily, my mom has a lot of seeds and has the property to plant. The question is will she need her guns to scare people off from looting.
I remember they said we’d never get the H1N1 virus under control, only when pigs fly. But we did get it under control. Swine flu.
Agree. Anyone know if the visit of the Grand Princess, scheduled for 3/24, is still intended? Probably not, since the latest NYT update is, “A cruise ship on lockdown with cases of the coronavirus has docked in Oakland, Calif. Thousands of people on board will be quarantined.” Probably for 14 days. Interestingly, Israel has banned people from entering for 14 days. Is that the incubation period?
Excellent discussion of how this virus kills in the LA Times this morning. The immune system response has a huge effect. Kids are less affected because their immune system is not as developed: “The immune cells are like police officers or soldiers,” Yang said. “If you have a small infection — so a small number of criminals — they can come in and they can effectively clear out the problem people without much collateral damage.”___On the other hand, he said, “if you have a huge crowd of criminals all at once, and a huge crowd of soldiers all at once, then you have tons of collateral damage because it’s a big clash.”
BIGUGLYSTICK, I agree completely and I would go a step further. We take advantage of slave and child labor in China and many other countries to outsource the production of countless products. Not only does this harm the economic prospects of American workers, but it also requires lots of travel between the USA and countries like China. That is why Seattle (Amazon and Microsoft) and the SF bay area (Google and Apple) have been hit so hard and so fast by this virus. We need to reduce our dependence on countries like China, which produces the majority of our medical supplies and has threatened to cut off same. We also should not trade with countries who do not live up to our standards for human rights and environmental responsibility.
The infections in WA and SF have nothing at all to do with Amazon, Microsoft, Google, or Apple. The WA infection was centered around an eldercare facility, and the strain has been tentatively identified by geneticists as being connected to the Grand Princess strain.
Except for the one (MERS) that started in the Middle East. Or the H1N1 virus that started in Mexico. But I agree with your point about wet markets. And I am also against factory farming of animals because of the antibiotic resistance that is developed.
Why anyone would go on a cruise (even before Corona) is beyond me. They are nothing but floating Petri dishes.
The question is, what is it 80% of? If it’s 80% of those who have gone to a doctor or hospital because they think they might have the virus, then sure, there could be many more people that have the disease. But if it’s 80% of “the people who have Coronavirus”, then there is no “many more people that have the disease”. So where did “80%” come from and how was it measured? Answer: The number (actually 81%) originally came from this study: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2762130 , and it was the number of “mild” (that is, *not hospitalized*, which includes a lot more than what is commonly meant by “mild”) cases among 72,314 cases that were identified by either *testing* or by symptoms. Since widespread testing was done, there’s no reason to think that there were a lot of carriers who went undetected. That is not the case in places where very little testing has been done (like the USA), but the 80% figure isn’t based on such places.
You need to go read some posts from doctors in Italy. They are heartbreaking and include these very things: running out of ventilators and other equipment and watching people die with nothing to give them but a little oxygen.
H1N1 started in April of 2009 and there was a vaccine out by October. Apparently, this will not happen as quickly with the novel coronavirus.
Go read the heartbreaking posts by doctors in Italy. They have run out of things like ventilators and other equipment. They are reduced to watching people die, with maybe a little oxygen to ease their suffering. Then ask yourself how much equipment does our County have to battle this?
But is Gates manufacturing ventilators and other equipment needed once people are ill? They have run out in Italy.
Bill Gates has the money…. he should!
And Trump claims “We closed our borders, it’s never been done in history.”
It’s still never been done. He lies about absolutely everything, it’s insane.
Of course, now we have all these Trump conspiracy theorist idiots out there claiming there is no Coronavirus and it’s a manufactured crisis. I thought I couldn’t be any more amazed by the stupidity and ignorance of these conspiracy theory types, but they constantly find new ways to prove they are bottomless pits of groundless theories every single day.
There is a reason that most viruses like this one start in Asia, and no, it is NOT racist to say so. This heinous virus started from people eating things they should NOT be eating, and treating animals in horrible horrendous ways! Wet markets are still going on. The illegal trade continues. Make no mistake: the wildlife trade started this. It’s UGLY. When will people learn?
Well, yes, we CAN blame them. It’s selfish. The people hoarding supplies are keeping those much needed supplies out of the hands of many people with compromised immune systems, like those with cancer on chemotherapy who are too sick to drive.
This article is a good example of where NOT to get your information. I love that folksy tone of FUF it sits well in Louis L’amor kinda stuff. Which is to say, fiction.
So book yourself a cruise. Maybe take a tour of south China. I hear hotel rates are quite attractive there. And, you really only need to book a one way ticket. #reality