All Michigan closed for 3 weeks starting Monday.

Submitted by Special Agent Utah on March 12th, 2020 at 11:10 PM

Whitmer just announced it. 

These are interesting time we live in indeed. 

enlightenedbum

March 12th, 2020 at 11:12 PM ^

Most schools the last week was already spring break.  But not mine.  So I'm off for a month after tomorrow, but might call in anyway.  I've got what I think (and my pulmonologist agrees) is an asthma flare up.  But not sure there's any sense risking it.

remdog

March 13th, 2020 at 12:27 AM ^

The hysteria and panic continue.

Covid-19 has killed just over 3,000 in China over 3+ months. Reports indicate it has peaked there.

The 2018 flu epidemic killed 60,000 to 80,000 in the US over 3 months in a country 1/4 the size with better health care, better sanitation, a much lower population density and the flu vaccine.

 

 

the fume

March 13th, 2020 at 1:05 AM ^

Flu kills less than 0.1% of people infected, and infects 10-15% of the population on a bad year.

COVID-19 kills 1% (minimum) and isn't going away by itself, it could infect 2-3x more people than flu if unchecked. (There's obviously no latent immunity, and there's no evidence yet it'll go away in the summer).

You do the math.

1WhoStayed

March 13th, 2020 at 1:25 AM ^

How do you come up with 1% MINIMUM? The most encouraging numbers I saw were on a cruise ship where over 700 were confirmed infected and 6 died. The 6 deaths is a solid number, but even the 790 infected is questionable unless EVERYONE was tested (unlikely). Either way that’s less than 1% in a closed community with a higher number of older people.

Not trying to sell the “just the flu” agenda, but also not buying into the hysteria.

Unfortunately the actual numbers won’t ever be known because we’re not going to be able to test everyone.

It’s not ebola or even swine flu. It might be more the seasonal flu. Let’s wait and see.

I'mTheStig

March 13th, 2020 at 1:57 AM ^

How do you come up with 1% MINIMUM? 

They don't.

Because the figures being passed around are not an apples to apples comparison considering testing for flu is commonplace and not so much for COVID19. 

Once testing does become commonplace, the doom and gloom numbers for COVID19 will come way down as the number of negatives grows faster than the the positives or the survivors grow more than the number of deaths.

JDeanAuthor

March 14th, 2020 at 9:26 AM ^

And worse mathematicians have worked for the previous three administrations. Your point?

Got news for you, buddy: ALL  politicians, left and right, use numbers and stats to make themselves look better, even if they have to twist them.  This isn't just a "Trump" thing, and you should have your voting rights revoked if you think otherwise.

the fume

March 13th, 2020 at 1:58 AM ^

6 out of 700 is 1 death from 1%, and I'm pretty sure they everyone was tested before they could leave the ship. And I'm assuming they were all generally healthy if they were on a cruise, not in assisted living, etc.

The numbers right now are like 3%-4%, the 1% factors in that not everyone has been tested and that better care and more preventative measures will knock that rate down. Even if it's half that you're still talking hundreds of thousands of deaths just in the US, still magnitudes worse than a bad flu season. If it spreads in a hospital kiss that .5% rate good-bye.

remdog

March 13th, 2020 at 1:59 AM ^

Your assumptions (including the conjectured mortality rate) are not consistent with the numbers I listed above. The only fairly certain numbers (total deaths) suggest a bad flu season is many times more deadly.  Per capita, the 2018 US flu epidemic was about 100 times (!!)  as deadly as the coronavirus has been in China despite factors which would weigh against its greater lethality.

There are unknowns but the data says we are suffering from a media fueled mass hysteria exacerbated by those in power making irrational decisions.

I have expertise in medicine and math/numbers.   But this is just an exercise in simple logic.

 

pfholland

March 13th, 2020 at 1:06 PM ^

C'mon man, Italy didn't shut down the country for nothing. Italian physicians have written about how an insufficient number of ventilators means they have had to choose who gets a chance to live and who will almost certainly die. This is a real pandemic, and we need to be taking what steps we can to minimize its impact in the U.S., or we will see the same thing here.

carolina blue

March 13th, 2020 at 11:13 AM ^

Here’s one of if not the main issue trying to compare these numbers. We have a firm grasp and understanding of the flu, meaning we know how it spreads, who is vulnerable, and most importantly, how many get it each year. When you see mortality numbers on the flu, those numbers are not only those who were tested and found to be positive. They are a statistical estimate of the total number of infected based on what we know about how it behaves,which is to say we know a lot. Then we take the number we know were actually killed from the flu (that is an actual count) and take the calculation from there for death rate.

For COVID, we have extremely little understanding of how it works, how it spreads (all modes), how it manifests, how many may be infected carriers, or any of that.
 

The data is wholly incomparable to flu because of the lack of understanding. It’s new, so that’s to be expected. 

snarling wolverine

March 13th, 2020 at 1:32 PM ^

This is true.  We do not know the true mortality rate for COVID-19 and won't for a long time.  The current numbers are not based on complete data.

But the reason we should be concerned is because of what happened in Wuhan and what is now happening in northern Italy, and probably also Iran (but there isn't much news coverage).   All our "hysteria" is because we want to avoid repeating that here (and we're behind the 8-ball because the early growth of the virus in the US resembles Italy's early pattern).

KBLOW

March 13th, 2020 at 1:42 PM ^

This!^  So many are totally uninformed/misinformed about the extreme measures that China, Singapore, Taiwan, had to institute to merely slow down the spread...measures that the average MAGA-ite/Corona denier would refuse to comply with anyway. 

Booted Blue in PA

March 13th, 2020 at 9:55 AM ^

closing schools starting Monday.....  Covid-19 isnt' transferable on Friday the 13th?

 

I suspect the over reaction and ripple effect is going to cause much more damage than the virus.