Coronavirus

A collection of 76 posts

church attendance

Churches Defy Advice & Rules (& Science) to Gather Congregations

Churches in the US have long been a hotbed for adhering to the findings of science. The coronavirus has made no exception, as you no doubt will have heard. The most newsworthy case of the downright stupidity - no, that is being polite - downright criminal endangerment of life is

Coronavirus

The Cost or Value of Human Life

Coronavirus (CV) is talk of the town, affecting all of our lives. I have previously written about how the statistics are hugely important, but also somewhat unreliable. They are important because it is on these stats that public policy is based or informed. There are so many variables and unknowns

Coronavirus

Overestimating Death Rates: Comparing Fatality Rates of Coronavirus & the Flu

Fatality Rates Aren't Fixed: They Depend on What We Do Fundamentally, there is no such thing as "the" fatality rate for a virus. How likely people are to die from COVID-19 (just like many diseases) depends on whether they can get access to treatment.There is

Coronavirus

Coronavirus Chat with Andrew Hall: Philosophy, Politics & Health

Here is an interview chat I did with fellow Patheos Nonreligious blogger Andrew Hall. We touch on health, pandemics, politics (such as the Democratic primaries), psychology and philosophy in a genial chat. Let me know what you think: Check him out at his fellow Patheos blog: https://onlysky.media/ahall

consequentialism

Consequentialism and Coronavirus, Visually Speaking

For those who are a bit TL;DR for my recent piece, I have now set it to face time. If you fancy my dulcet tones, check this out. And while you're at it, please subscribe to my channel. I plan on doing a number of these over

Coronavirus

Teenager Dies from Covid-19 Due to Being Medically Uninsured (& Updates)

My opinion is that the US healthcare system is a crime. And this story doesn't particularly change my opinion: A Los Angeles boy who is believed to be the first teenager in the United States to die from complications due to Covid-19 was denied treatment at an urgent

consequentialism

Morality: Consequentialism and Coronavirus

We are living in times of moral dilemma. As I have so often stated before, politics is a subset of morality. When we talk about morality, we talk about oughts - normatively what we should, as individuals, do. Politics is this write large over societies and from a governmental perspective.

Coronavirus

Comparison: Flu vs Coronavirus

This is from Live Science and reflects figures from March 25th. I am posting this in answer to those such as See Noevo who, despite apparently having the ability to read, appear not to want to exercise that skill. Hope springs eternal. The point could be a decent one, and

Coronavirus

Bolsonaro, Brazil's Trump, Appears to Have Coronavirus

Twenty of a party travelling with Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil's Trump, have come down with Covid-19. Now, it appears, there is a cover-up of tests to show that Bolsonaro has the infection (as does the first lady). This is somewhat ironic since he has claimed the whole thing is

Coronavirus

Coronavirus Open Discussion

I have been asked to provide a space for my erudite and often superbly geeky (in a good and welcome way) readers to discuss stats and questions concerning coronavirus in order for other readers to answer the and learn by the interesting threads. In a day when the US has

Coronavirus

Society's Failsafes Are Paper Thin (On the EU, Zombies & Individualism)

I am trying to finish the sequel to my first fiction book, Survival of the Fittest: Metamorphosis (UK)*. The book is about a pandemic that rips through the world and so is particularly pertinent to today's news. The idea for my book was that the pandemic has such

Coronavirus

News, A Timeline of Lies & Virus Naming Provenance (Again)

This is Trump's timeline of lies that I would like to see his various supporters here...support: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ch7_t2Ri2Zg Still on the old naming controversy of "Chinese virus" etc., these quotes from 3lemenope are super: Names are purely contingent. Whatever

Coronavirus

2015: WHO issues best practices for naming new human infectious diseases

I want to put this argument to bed. I've had a lot of right-wing, libertariany commenters spouting absolute nonsense that I hardly think they believe themselves. I just don't think they're very nice. Anyway, the point that Republicans have just started calling it (as

Coronavirus

Thought for the Day: Bad Coronavirus Stats and Bad Thoughts

If you are anything like me, you are checking local and global coronavirus stats because...stats. And wanting to make sure that all of the many reactions, policies and activities of governments, institutions and organisations are warranted and in line with the data. Here is how my mind has worked.

Coronavirus

"The Chinese Virus" Revisited

This is the image I wanted to accompany this piece (but, copyright and all). I will try to get back to real philosophy soon (hey, this is politics, qua moral philosophy on a societal level), and hopefully even talk about God (well, his cultists believe he is, anyway). I wrote

Coronavirus

Coronavirus Overreaction?

In the UK, we have just had our schools shut down (to be repurposed as "babysitting" facilities for key works, looked-after children and those with EHCPs [Educational Health Care Plans]). In other words, without being too far from a lockdown, things have just got serious. As they have

Coronavirus

"Socialism Is Evil"; Yeah, Not a Good Time to Be a Libertarian...

Socialism is evil! Venezuela! Communism! CORONAVIRUS... Government, please bail us out! Please help us! Let's work together to make sure of this and of that... Let's nationalise private healthcare provision in the short term... Let's...Let's... I've heard assaults democratic

Coronavirus

Republicans Tried to Camouflage Abortion Regulation within Coronavirus Bill

Crafty beggars. And pretty disingenuous. This leaves a nasty taste in the mouth. Meant to post this some days back. This is from Vice: As lawmakers neared a deal on a coronavirus rescue package that would include paid sick leave and free virus testing, a few roadblocks emerged. Among them:

Coronavirus

Working for World Solidarity, Trump Seeks Exclusive Rights to Vaccine

Yes, it's that time of day again. There's so much I could talk about today, but this one gets top billing. Sorry to be a stuck record, but this takes the biscuit. It's at times like these, with a global crisis in the form

Coronavirus

Explaining the Quarantine Approach with Water

The UK has lagged behind many other countries in terms of what we are doing with a lockdown and with quarantine. Many reasons have been given by many people for this - I have previously favoured economic reasons. But this video perhaps gives the best explanation of this delay: https:

Coronavirus

Well Done God: Counting the Hits and Ignoring the Misses

There is a definite tendency to count the hits and ignore the misses when considering the actions of God. God is love and God is great and isn't God wonderful? Look at the mountains and look at the forests, look at the beautiful animals, the lambs and the

Coronavirus

The Media and Pandemics

I was having a discussion today about whether coronavirus has caused the media to take up scaremongering. My personal opinion is that the media are not scaremongering, they are just really excited. And excited people tend to over exaggerates and be, well, excitable. This is a journalist's or

Coronavirus

God and Coronavirus Revisited

“As a former presidential speechwriter, my careful rhetorical analysis is that he’s gonna get us all killed.” -David Litt, speech writer for Obama I am trying hard not to continually post about Trump, I really am. But he doesn't help himself. So, just quickly, before I get

Coronavirus

On "Chinese Coronavirus" and Unprofessional Press Conferences

We all know what coronavirus is, and most of us know what Covid-19 is. So I'm not really sure why certain people are now calling it "Chinese coronavirus". Apart from I do. Because these certain people are universally Republicans. "Chinese" is not an informative

Coronavirus

Speaking of Pandemics

What if the victims of Coronavirus were less than pitied flu-type patients? What if they were pretty horrific? I am just finishing writing the sequel to my first in the Survival of the Fittest series: Survival of the Fittest: Metamorphosis (UK). Please grab yourself a copy and see how the