Far lower level of trust in their government - therefore (in my opinion) less likely to adhere to social distancing.
No NHS.
A leader who is muddying the message endlessly.
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Main Coronavirus / Covid-19 Discussion Thread
- Thread starter GingerBeerMan
- Start date
Far lower level of trust in their government - therefore (in my opinion) less likely to adhere to social distancing.
No NHS.
A leader who is muddying the message endlessly.
Machiavelli
Well-known member
A lower trajectory of what?
They've had more confirmed cases than us (which, in itself, means next to nothing, because we're not comparing like-with-like
They've now had more deaths than us
They are yet to go into lockdown
Can't disagree with any of that, but those points aren't related to the graph Machiavelli cited as confirming his fears for the US.
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Fair point. Those are my fears for the US. I hope I’m wrong/overestimating those factors, of course.
Deaths per capita.
Because they've got 5 times our population.
We too hadn't gone into lockdown when our deaths per capita were as low as theirs. Graphs shouldn't use things like 'days since 10th death' for countries of vastly different sizes and populations, because it makes no sense. What if you looked at the EU as a whole and compared that with the US? The graph would look very different, and it would be a more sensible comparison with a country the size of the US.
pb21
Well-known member
- Apr 23, 2010
- 6,684
From that chart it looks like the rate in the US is significantly higher than other countries at the same point, plus I think it has yet to take hold in a lot of states.
Plus the other points people have mentioned.
Machiavelli
Well-known member
All of those points were motivating my fears for the US
Birdie Boy
Well-known member
- Jun 17, 2011
- 4,383
How does it work in the US with medical insurance? Get taken to hospital and asked if you have any, yes = they treat you, no = bye (hope you had a good life)?
Presumably, they will treat everyone and worry about the cost later. If that is the case, what would happen if the hospitals became overrun/close to capacity, would they turn away people depending on insurance?
I went there on holiday and forgot my meds, it cost $150 just to see a doctor in Walgreens plus the cost of the meds!
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Presumably, they will treat everyone and worry about the cost later. If that is the case, what would happen if the hospitals became overrun/close to capacity, would they turn away people depending on insurance?
I went there on holiday and forgot my meds, it cost $150 just to see a doctor in Walgreens plus the cost of the meds!
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Dr Bandler
Well-known member
My in-laws live in Russia and they are on lockdown. I believe they closed the border with China early on in the crisis. I think the populations of some countries have an easier time adapting to restrictions than us or the USA. In this instance it is probably an advantage.
Machiavelli
Well-known member
It's an interesting approach to consider deaths per capita, but you're blazing a trail on that front.
And, yes, Europe is currently the epicentre of the virus, and has been for a few weeks now. That will continue for more weeks too. But the policy response has been pretty drastic, not quite as drastic as Wuhan, but drastic nevertheless and the hope is that it will begin to pay off in the next few weeks. Yes, Europe -- or let me say it so you don't have to, the EU -- has its own policy issues, especially Schengen. But the US has a narcissist in charge, who is up for election later on this year. This narcissist is of the view that what his gut reaction is is more reliable than scientific knowledge on this issue. If you also factor in an extortionately expensive healthcare system that only caters for about 80% of the population, and the need for an holistic approach to stem the tide, and then chuck in a libertarian 'do what I want' mindset, my view is that it's not looking good.
Wrong-Direction
Well-known member
- Mar 10, 2013
- 13,630
We're not actually in lockdown remember
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Their curve actually appears to be getting steeper which, on a graph with a logarithmic scale, is very bad news
Motogull
Todd Warrior
- Sep 16, 2005
- 10,462
My mate in Madrid has just told me that of a staff of 270 where he works, 4 have lost a parent to this. He thinks he might have had it (over the last week or so) which wouldn't surprise me.
Watching the city coverage on Sky News, the most people out and about were in London. Paris 1 person, 2 tops.
Watching the city coverage on Sky News, the most people out and about were in London. Paris 1 person, 2 tops.
I disagree. Their line is lower than all practically all the European countries on that graph.
The points that aren't related to that graph? Well yeah, I agree with the other points.
As I said above, I don't disagree with you on those points. It's only what a couple of you were reading into the graph that I disagreed with. The graph doesn't show the problems you've mentioned. There's a good chance they'll face a lot of serious problems, but they haven't materialised yet.
Machiavelli
Well-known member
I've never claimed that the graph shows problems, but I suspect that you'll try to prove otherwise.
Machiavelli
Well-known member
Well, precisely, it's what it presages, not what it's currently demonstrating.
