Monday 17 February 2020

Covid-19 virus update, 17 February

The long tail
From Worldometer
Yes, thanks all, we’re fine here in our Discovery Bay eyrie.  Life goes on as normal...

American cable channels last night asking “why do we get all these diseases out of China? Like SARS, MERS…”
Well, for a start MERS is the Middle East one, not Chinese. And the cables ignore or forget: AIDS and H1N1 both propagated by the United States and far more deadly than Covid-19. And ignore or forget UK’s Foot and Mouth and Mad Cow diseases.
China bashing pure and simple. Not that they don’t deserve it, but shouldn’t be driven by ignorance or malice. 
They also slam China for “lying" before the higher figures on 13 February. That is explained by WHO as being acceptance of diagnosis of the virus as opposed to only recording a case when it had been tested by a kit. They made the change when the kits became in short supply. This strikes me as plausible. We can’t know if that’s the truth or if there’s been lying. By simply asserting that China is “lying” without the evidence, these cable commenters are simply China-bashing. It’s the spirit of the day, I suppose. Orange Man Bad and China Bad…

Meantime, in non-viral news, the Philippines has cancelled a military pact with the US, which strikes me as bad news but is getting little coverage. [Trump doesn’t care]

ADDED
Click to enlarge and clarify