Coronavirus. Over reaction or not?

[alfred russel]

It's not like we have whole cities being locked down at gunpoint. In this country.

Still more likely to be killed by a car.

You're much more likely to be killed by a car.

If you're over 70 though, I'm not so sure about that.  There are over 6.5 million Canadians 65 or older...

My father is 75 and has a serious heart condition (they've talked about him going on the transplant list, he struggles to walk up a flight of stairs).

At first he was planning to lock himself down when corona virus hit. But he had a change of heart and is planning on going to a baseball game this weekend and a rodeo next weekend, and generally just live life as he normally would, while taking simple precautions.

I considered telling him that is a bad idea, but is it? His life expectancy is probably ~5 years. If the virus is floating around for 6 months, that is 10% of his remaining life expectancy (and likely his healthiest 10%). Is that more or less than the percent chance of catching the virus and then perishing?

[merithyn]

It's not like we have whole cities being locked down at gunpoint. In this country.

Still more likely to be killed by a car.

You're much more likely to be killed by a car.

If you're over 70 though, I'm not so sure about that.  There are over 6.5 million Canadians 65 or older...

I friend of mine made a comment about this today:

More people die in auto accidents than playing Russian roulette.

If the conclusion you read from this is that Russian roulette is safer than driving into work in the morning, you might not be cut out for a career in epidemiology.

[crazy canuck]

I actually did the math yesterday. Even a healthy Spaniard between 30 and 34 will be far more likely to die from Coronavirus if it reaches enough population.

A healthy Spaniard is unlikely to get very sick, nevermind dying, from the virus.

[DGuller]

I actually did the math yesterday. Even a healthy Spaniard between 30 and 34 will be far more likely to die from Coronavirus if it reaches enough population.

A healthy Spaniard is unlikely to get very sick, nevermind dying, from the virus.

Neither are they likely to die from a car accident.

[Josephus]

Individuals are mostly over-reacting*.

Most people I know are definitely under-reacting. I can't even convince my mom to stay put.

yeah, both my parents are in their mid-80s, and they're totally ambivalent. I guess they feel they've lived thorugh shit like this many times.

[dps]

Seems like there should be some option in between the first 2.  But then again, poorly designed polls are a tradition here.