Article: Smokers more at risk for coronavirus

[CarolT]

That's pretty much EXACTLY what Carl V Phillips also wrote, i.e., the claims are extraordinary, whereas the evidence is not. But then, the same also applies to the claim that smokers are more at risk for the Coronavirus, and, actually, that was also my point.

The claim that smokers are more at risk is not extraordinary, they're simply baseless. There's nothing but speculation behind it.

 

[CarolT]

I don't think any claims are going to be substantiated, not until long after the dust has settled, especially since they are counting deaths as covid that haven't even been TESTED.

Deaths caused by COVID-19 that are not counted as such are more likely.
Social Media Posts Make Baseless Claim on COVID-19 Death Toll

 

[dripster]

The claim that smokers are more at risk is not extraordinary, they're simply baseless. There's nothing but speculation behind it.

Euphemisms can be used as means to be sarcastic.

 

[CarolT]

Euphemisms can be used as means to be sarcastic.

I don't get what you mean.

 

[dripster]

I don't get what you mean.

"the claims are extraordinary, whereas the evidence is not" is just an extremely euphemistic way of saying "it is simply baseless", and, extreme euphemisms are used to convey sarcastic humor sometimes, to make it a more powerful statement.

 

[bombastinator]

Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence, and the evidence so far is just preliminary. I prefer to let things settle down a bit first, rather than rush into proclaiming that smoking is protective, as if it's settled. (I don't like the taste of crow.)

Its been a serious problem lately. People expect 100% answers from single point studies which has never been even vaguely possible. It takes hundreds of studies to get over even 50% and then only sometimes. I blame marketers “study says” is almost always BS. Studies don’t “say”. Ever. studies sometimes imply. More often they’re inconclusive. Tens or hundreds of successfully implying studies can point to things. Marketers get in there to though to mess with studies and make them point in the direction that makes them the most money. Generally it’s a mess.

 

[Ipster]

Deaths caused by COVID-19 that are not counted as such are more likely.
Social Media Posts Make Baseless Claim on COVID-19 Death Toll

 

[Ipster]

Add to unreported deaths at home all over the world! A hodgepodge of all ages, premorbid health conditions, combination of some tested, most untested. Similar to 1918 pandemic, sadly we’ve already seen mass burials, so exact numbers will always be generalization of overall deaths worldwide in 2020-??
If MERS serves any indication of length of this, sorry to say it's here to stay. How we evolve protection is the focal issue.

 

[AttyPops]

Don't forget, if this doesn't mutate as fast as the seasonal flu, we can beat it. Think smallpox.

 

[Ipster]

Agree. Though, of course, conflation of vaping and smoking is deliberate, rather than of ignorance. This is the well-tested and proven technique of association used in both propaganda and information warfare. Another technique used often is the repetition of lies. The result, over time, is that the uninformed begin believing, “well, there must be some truth to this.” Only effective counter I know is calling out liars forcefully every time they lie so they become associated as such. In this game, if we do nothing, we will lose.

Additionally, Chinas reports in January 2020 regarding soaring death rate of males over 60years now circulate articles heavily tainted with ”As many as 62% of China’s men have been or are smokers”. What ever numbers/figures China has on smokers, none of its current, if any is reliable. Its immediately obvious to visitors from outside China how prevalent tobacco use is, yet as fewer nations allow public smoking, again: hard to know for certain. This is one more subject area of life, ANTZ can hitchhike aboard.

 

[stols001]

Deaths caused by COVID-19 that are not counted as such are more likely.
Social Media Posts Make Baseless Claim on COVID-19 Death Toll

I went to that website and did some fact checking of their funding. SO BLUE IT IS ALMOST BLACK.

Our Funding

Here you go honey, maybe check your sources and their funding instead of pulling them off FACEBOOK, which wants to own the world and curtail all freedom, GOD the fact that I HAD to DO THIS to make my POINT which is this is PROPAGANDA as it is funded by democrats so wil give ONLY one side, not BOTH or even a sense there is another side..

I give up. Maybe the dread COVID will get you just because you psychologically INVITE it by spreading FEAR and LIES.

I await a factual DEBUNK but you may need to actually follow links that are not face book directed OMG OMG OMG.

I'm trying not to attack the POSTER but for the love of GOD I wish people would start citing sources instead of opinion I realize it takes more work than opening your FB page which is why I do not HAVE ONE.

Do let me know when you find a donor large or small who is even an INDEPENDENT.

Anna

 

[stols001]

HERE are some good reasons you should not fear covid. I could have gone on but I think you will get my point. I take reasonable precautions but I KNOW I will not die from this and if I am wrong, at least I will not have spent time WORRYING about it non stop 24-7.

This seems pretty self evident to me but they are in the process of proving it.

Anxiety and physical illness - Harvard Health

Depression And Anxiety Linked To Higher Risk Of Other Major Health Conditions, Suggests New Study

I could have gone on for a very long time.

Anna

 

[GOMuniEsq]

Meh, back when I smoked I experienced a lingering lung infection once or twice a year. Since I switched to vaping I haven't had any. It's been eight years. I can't even remember the last time I was sick at all (knock on wood). So I'd say it's stupid to equate vaping to smoking, regardless of what your local government may have decreed.

And as an essential worker and a non-watcher of commercial news, my stress levels are lower, and my quality of life higher, than the panicking plebs hiding out in their basements who venture out only to needlessly hoard supplies. Life can be normal.

 

[dripster]

I went to that website and did some fact checking of their funding. SO BLUE IT IS ALMOST BLACK.

Our Funding

Here you go honey, maybe check your sources and their funding instead of pulling them off FACEBOOK, which wants to own the world and curtail all freedom, GOD the fact that I HAD to DO THIS to make my POINT which is this is PROPAGANDA as it is funded by democrats so wil give ONLY one side, not BOTH or even a SENSE there is another side..

I give up. Maybe the dread COVID will get you just because you psychologically INVITE it by spreading FEAR and LIES.

I await a factual DEBUNK but you may need to actually follow links that are not face book directed OMG OMG OMG.

I'm trying not to attack the POSTER but for the love of GOD I wish people would start citing sources instead of opinion I realize it takes more work than opening your FB page which is why I do not HAVE ONE.

Do let me know when you find a donor large or small who is even an INDEPENDENT.

Anna

I don't have FB either, but I do know that deaths from Covid-19 in residential care centers are being excluded from the statistics in places like New York. Whereas here in Belgium almost all deaths that look even just a little bit like they COULD be from Covid-19 are included, which part explains why the international press is making our country look like we're going for the gold prize right after Spain, as though this is a competition, and, another part of the explanation is because the media who look at those statistics websites are too stubborn stupid to subtract last year's mortality rate from these numbers, when in fact our country DOES report deaths positively CONFIRMED being from Covid-19 separately. The SUSPENSE. No, not the pandemic itself nor the suffering that goes on. The SUSPENSE means everything. Sweet chocolate vaping son of a father, man!

 

[Rossum]

I do know that deaths from Covid-19 in residential care centers are being excluded from the statistics in places like New York.

That's incorrect.

 

[dripster]

That's incorrect.

Actually it is 200% correct.

 

[dripster]

The elephant standing in the room,
Official Counts Understate the U.S. Coronavirus Death Toll

 

[AttyPops]

The elephant standing in the room,
Official Counts Understate the U.S. Coronavirus Death Toll

I agree.

Thing is? That's pretty much true for every country. China's numbers were WAY off.

Everyone has had a problem, or should I say multiple problems, with these stats.
There's even political reasons to sway them.
Then there's the physical reasons...like capacity of testing. Accuracy of testing. Comorbidity factors hiding things.

 

[dripster]

I agree.

Thing is? That's pretty much true for every country. China's numbers were WAY off.

Everyone has had a problem, or should I say multiple problems, with these stats.
There's even political reasons to sway them.
Then there's the physical reasons...like capacity of testing. Accuracy of testing. Comorbidity factors hiding things.

Thing is, at least in Belgium we acknowledge the problem by overstating our Covid-19 mortality rate, i.e. we also include almost all deaths that COULD be caused by Covid-19. But all that the anti-social media talks about right now, is this:
Mortality Analyses

 

[AttyPops]

Thing is, at least in Belgium we acknowledge the problem by overstating our Covid-19 mortality rate, i.e. we also include almost all deaths that COULD be caused by Covid-19. But all that the anti-social media talks about right now, is this:
Mortality Analyses

Yeah, it's nuts.

I'm glad you guys are taking a broadest-possible approach, at least in the short term.

And the calculated mortality rates? Wow. lol. Everyone is all over the place on that. lol. It's not a laughing matter in and of itself, but I can laugh at humans, because I am one. Anyway....

This site has an interesting section on calculation of mortality during an outbreak. Note that there ARE various ways of backing into the calculation without knowing the extent of the virus spread in the population...but it requires estimation at some point.
Coronavirus Mortality Rate (COVID-19) - Worldometer
See the part titled "How to calculate the mortality rate during an outbreak"
I thought it was pretty well done.