Coronavirus - Hyperbola, Misdirection, or Something Else

The now infamous coronavirus (officially COVID-19) is here to stay and we're all in for a long haul. 




If you're susceptible to respiratory diseases, the Bayou Renaissance Man has a decent article on
respirators and breathing masks, but the long and short of it is that unless you're a U.S. Government
official with plenty of clout, or you're a billionaire, you're hosed.  The great unwashed, huddled masses, hoi polloi, common people, or just plain poor working stiffs, all of you are well and truly hosed.  No masks are available, but most of them don't work anyway.

Not that you or I could afford such a thing, but any mask that actually works isn't available for sale - they're all made in China, you see, and China has declared these things are a natural resource or something.  Meaning that the government owns all of 'em, and the Chinese government isn't sharing.

So what do we do?  Well, check out the link as it amuses you to do so, but I warn you that the author is not a medical doctor.  He does, however, have a good deal of experience surviving in a hostile, plague and pestilence infested environment (which is slang for a real shit-hole country) and he knows what it takes to walk out.  Check this story from Peter Grant:

Coronavirus, breathing masks, and respirators: the facts

Maybe a bit better yet, you can also check this video, which features a real medical doctor who knows what he's talking about.



So how bad is it, really?  If you believe Reuters, the smart money is betting against the shooter, so to speak.

China sees fall in coronavirus deaths, WHO urges caution

Chinese officials reported 1,886 new cases - the first time the daily figure has fallen below 2,000 since Jan. 30 - bringing the mainland China total to 72,436. A figure of 98 new deaths marked the first time the daily toll in China had fallen below 100 since Feb. 11, bringing the total to 1,868.

World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Chinese data “appears to show a decline in new cases” but any apparent trend “must be interpreted very cautiously”.

Outside China, there have been 827 cases of the disease, known as COVID-19, and five deaths, according to a Reuters count based on official statements. More than half of those cases have been on a cruise ship quarantined off Japan.

My own thought, such as it is, is that commercial media isn't thinking.  No surprise there, right?

Consider that the coronavirus originated in Wuhan, China, which, by the strangest coincidence
imaginable, is where a super double-top-secret publicity-sensitive military R and D facility is
located.  Well, surprise-surprise!  A new virus has unexpectedly sprung up out of nowhere, and it didn't originate in Africa.

China opened the show in a major fashion, which did not include an announcement that a brand new strain of the common cold has been discovered, but this one runs its course in three days - unless you're a bi-racial dwarf, in which case it's ten days.  No worries; it's harmless.

Nope.  China quarantined a bunch of places, including entire towns.  Then someone on a cruise ship came down with it, and the entire ship anchored offshore and was quarantined.

Consider the population of China is 1.386 billion (1,386,000,000,000), while the population of Wuhan is 11.08 million (11,080,000).  By comparison, the population of NYC is around ten million.  The number of people dead due to coronavirus is 1,873, which is 0.0169 percent - about two one-hundredths of one percent - of the population of Wuhan.  China itself probably loses more people to dog bites than to coronavirus, and yet the government is quarantining towns, parts of cities, and major tourist attractions such as Disney!!! and the Great Wall.

My question: Why is China over-reacting?

The standard answer is that Chinese officials are lying about the numbers.  Well, probably so.  But even if they are, and even if the real numbers are four of five times the number reported - so what?  The number of deaths and illnesses still isn't significant.

I have no good answer for this.  I suspect that the entire coronavirus epidemic and emergency is, perhaps, a misdirection.  A ruse to keep the rest of the world watching one way while the real action takes place somewhere else.

Or maybe this isn't just coronavirus.  Maybe something else got loose at the same time, and this something else is a black plague variant for which there is no cure, nor an effective vaccine.  Kind of far fetched, isn't it?

Any other ideas or facts, I'm willing to listen.