This post was deleted from Nextdoor–someone took a screen shot and sent it to Circling the News.
Yesterday on Nextdoor, one person had posted that there was going to Peaceful Demonstration to Open California today (May 1) at noon.
I was most amazed and upset by one woman’s comment that basically said that if you don’t listen to the governor and you leave your house, you will get sick and die and you deserve it.
I returned to Nextdoor today to copy the quote verbatim, but the post, including information about the demonstration were gone. I contacted one of the names I remembered and asked about it.
“Nextdoor removed the post,” the person wrote. “It’s unfortunate when social media restricts healthy conversations and debates about current events impacting our neighborhood. Sometimes I feel like we’re living in a communist regime, where only ‘state approved narratives’ are permitted. What’s happening in our social media is a terrible assault on free speech.”
Circling the News agrees that people should be allowed peaceful dissent, and this includes the right to question authorities. In addition to a woman basically warning everybody that they risk death by going to the protest, I was upset by the lack of knowledge of the virus by people who were engaging on Nextdoor.
TIME TO TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE:
When our kids take tests, we try to help them study by making sure they know the facts so they can answer simple questions. Below is a quiz for parents based on CDC and L.A. County Department of Health statistics. Take the 10-question quiz and see if you pass. This is not an open book test.
The test is based on facts as of April 30, when the CDC reported 34,521 deaths from Covid-19 and the L.A. Country reported 1033.
- How many kids under the age of 15 have died from Covid-19 in in the United States as of April 30?
- 245
- 68
- 9
- 185
- In Los Angeles how many deaths have there been in kids under the age of 11?
- 39
- 0
- 98
- 121
- How many people between the ages of 15 and 44 have died in the United States?
- 5670
- 190
- 2,500
- 949
- How many people between the ages of 18 to 40 have died in L.A. County?
- 34
- 124
- 564
- 78.
- How many people over the age of 65 have died in the United States from Covid-19?
- 27, 440
- 12,899
- 45,000
- 22,345
- How many people over the age of 65 have died from coronavirus in L.A. County?
- 78
- 642
- 542
- 813
- What are the percentage of those dead in L.A. County that were in nursing homes?
- 40 percent
- 20 percent
- 60 percent
- it doesn’t matter because the disease is equally deadly to everyone.
- Of those whose deaths were attributed to Covid-19, how many of those people had underlying health conditions?
- almost no one
- 92 percent
- 60 percent
- underlying health conditions don’t have anything to do with virus deaths.
- When was the first case of Covid-19 diagnosed in California?
- End of January
- February 26
- March 4
- Just before Mayor Garcetti closed L.A. on March 19.
- The leading cause of death in the United States this year will be:
- Covid-19
- Heart disease
- Diabetes
- Suicide
KEY: 1. C. 2. B, 3. D, 4. A, 5. A, 6. A, 7. A, 8. B, 9. A. 10. B.—Heart disease is annually responsible for 647,457 deaths; as of May 1, total Covid-19 is 62,406. The annual suicide rate is 47,173 deaths and the deaths attributed to diabetes are 79,535. (https://www.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/)
The following table was taken from the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health:
As always, there are those pesky facts that get in the way of feelings and emotions. Thank you for presenting FACTS. It is easier for me to form my feelings and emotions when I know the facts. And I only got two wrong. That was fun.
Per the CDC website today, 62,000 people have died, not 37,000.
you said 34m actually
Good test!
Andy,
That’s why I attached the screen shot from the CDC website–I was able to find all sorts of different figures–and wanted people to see where I took the figures from–
The other problem with the CDC website–it doesn’t list underlying causes, which L.A. County has routinely noted.
Sue
First, the statistics being shown are not necessarily even close to accurate – from what I’ve heard from interviews with doctors, and the media, “Under-counting deaths in this particular epidemic is happening all over,” said Dr. Daniel Lopez-Acuna, an epidemiologist and former top World Health Organization official, who spent 30 years at the organization. “It’s almost inevitable.” (https://abcnews.go.com/Health/accurate-us-coronavirus-death-count-experts-off-tens/story?id=70385359)
So, the numbers are most likely underreported. Also, the problem with using these statistics is you have no statistics for what the numbers would have been had there been no stay-at-home order or social distancing/mask order. Only then could you really see how effective these orders have been. Of course it would have been incredibly irresponsible to just allow us all to act like this was a “regular” flu and then have it spread rapidly to the point where the hospitals couldn’t handle all the patients, etc. Death rates would certainly have increased rapidly.
I agree with Dr. Fauci in that opening too soon will just mean we’ll be doing this all over again. “White House coronavirus task force member Dr. Anthony Fauci urged caution Thursday as states begin to reopen from coronavirus shutdowns, warning against “tempting a rebound” in infections by returning too soon. Fauci, appearing on NBC’s “Today” show, suggested that governors only begin to reopen their economies if they see a 14-day decline in new cases.” I guess we’ll see what happens in those states who are choosing to ignore his advice, but unfortunately, we’ll all be paying the price. IF everyone would just social distance and wear a mask around others, we could do this a lot faster!
Valerie,
Thanks for your thoughtful comments. I think we can’t overlook the Swedish model (I have relatives in Sweden). I also think its important to note that the virus tends to affect older residents–that there is an almost complete absence of death in people under 18. It seems that the focus should be on protecting older people, those in nursing homes and those who have underlying conditions.
Sue
Sue, it is unfortunate that the posting was removed, because it was a good, albeit overheated, debate. But unless the person you contacted was the originator, you can’t assume the 215+ posts thread was removed by Nextdoor’s PC police. The date of the planned protests had arrived and the originator may have decided to delete the thread because of the vitriol.
You can find data to support almost any argument and to a large degree that occurred on the now removed thread. But the data in your article is useful because it highlights an issue that the discussion on the thread was finally getting around to: the people who have the least to fear from COVID-19 in terms of mortality, i.e., those under age 45, probably are impacted most by the economic shutdowns, and vice-versa. That is, those over 55, particularly those who are no longer in the work force, have much higher mortality rates, but can probably withstand (and maybe even benefit from) the economic disruption.
So if you are a 45 year old with no unlying health condition whose business is shut down or who has been furloughed from a job and you are stuck in your house with bored teenagers, the “risk – reward” considerations may weigh very heavily towards re-opening the economy. Your risk may be a 10-30 day stay in the hospital, but not death. But that 10-30 day stay means one less bed for a high-risk senior who may need it to avoid death. Yes, the graphic that led off the thread says hospitals are currently half empty, but will that continue to be the case if there is a halt to the current “safe at home” restrictions? That is the rub, and somebody has to make that judgment call. Who should it be?
Regarding Nextdoor posts in general, the hateful vitriol that gets heaped upon anyone not toeing the line on the wear a mask or you are selfish a-hole (and most COVID-related issues) is simply astonishing, in the saddest possible way. Oh, the humanity…
Harris,
I did contact the person who posted it, who told me it was removed by Nextdoor.
Sue
Hi, Sue!
Thanks – I think the biggest problem as well is so much is unknown about this virus. Also, just saw this opinion piece on the Swedish model on Bloomberg online – not sure it would have worked in the US since we’re SO much larger than Sweden and don’t have socialized medicine, but I guess we’ll know more down the road: https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2020-05-01/covid-19-sweden-hasn-t-cracked-the-coronavirus-code
Valerie
Actually the post that was removed from Next Door had some false information it. Like that ALL the beaches were going to be closed. Commenters informed the poster that that wasn’t true. I guess she didn’t care.
I don’t know why the post was taken down. It was causing a huge uncivil fight. And it did have mistakes in the heading. But I don’t think she or you can assume it was censorship.
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/covid_weekly/index.htm
As of May 1st the number of deaths has been lowered to 37,308 and NOTE: this includes as stated deaths caused by pneumonia, and influenza reported to the NCHS. (Looks like the CDC got called out for previously exaggerating the numbers.)