Coronavirus and homemade tools

**Jon** · Mar 23, 2020, 01:27 PM

China's covid death numbers are looking increasingly untrustworthy. Italy's reported death toll is almost double China's reported death toll, and Italy has 5% of China's population. This disparity is too large to be explained by Italy's older population, cultural kiss-on-the-cheek rituals, population density, or anything else. Spain is in trouble too; hospitals and morgues are at or over capacity. France is close behind.

WHO (World Health Organization) criticism is mainstreaming, in particular: their initial downplaying and later backpedaling of human-to-human covid transmission, their unusual praise of China's response to the virus, and their acceptance of a $20 million donation from China. If China wants to make donations, they should donate needed healthcare supplies, not feed money to an organization whose global health messaging now conveniently favors them.

The New England Journal of Medicine today set out guidelines for triaging of medical resources. If you are over 60, and/or have preexisting conditions, your care will be de-prioritized, and your cohort's death rate will rise.

The US stock market has lost 1/3 of its value. Talk of a worldwide depression is reasonable. National Guard deployments are increasing, certainly to secure food distribution, and probably to enforce lockdown measures. Amazon Prime shipment times are 1 month for some items; many "in stock" item orders are being cancelled. Household decontamination rooms are increasing. Ammunition, especially in popular calibers, is widely unavailable.

Let's look at homemade masks. "Masks are useless for most people" is now a widely-acknowledged falsehood.