Data science and COVID-19

Off Topic
#42

Saturday I got gasoline for my truck for the Sam’s Club in Irving over at MacArthur Blvd. When I got out I use a paper towel to use keypad and hold pump handle (common touch surfaces). When done I got back in the truck and was filling out my logbook. During that time, less than the attendant came over with a spray bottle and wiped down the handle, keypad, etc.

I was impressed they are taking that action and that it was done before I even left the pump. Good to see some businesses are taking these kind of actions. Lots of small things add up.

Of course on the way home saw a station selling gas for 20 cents less … $1.25/gal!

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#43

On this you can select by state to look at the stats. Seems like Texas overall might not have any shortages of beds.

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#44

http://www.dallasgasprices.com/Irving/index.aspx

http://www.dallasgasprices.com/Grand_Prairie/index.aspx

http://www.fortworthgasprices.com/Arlington/index.aspx

#45

Now I feel really bad … $1.07
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#46

This podcast explains how people are wrongfully declared dead, even when they’re perfectly healthy and alive. It’s kind of scary to think about how easily this might occur. On a side note, I really love the Stuff You Should Know podcast, I learn so many interesting things from the hosts.

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#47

Like the infected tigers in the zoo… :frowning:

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#48

I wish GasBuddy gave us a way to enter a route and it shows the cheaper gas stations within N miles. I do not use their app; maybe it already does that.

#49

It’s been a while since I "used’ it. And by “used” it, I mean I was trying to look at dallasgasprices.com on my phone, and it dumped me into Gas Buddy instead, which only told me the price at the 2 closest gas stations. I don’t remember seeing anyplace that would let me look at my route, but I was already annoyed, so I could’ve missed something.

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#50

The people building those models seem to believe that it is better to err on the severe side. They have already had to “revise” when new testing data comes in.

The worst part is people, especially decision makers, focusing on confirmed case or death numbers instead of hospitalizations. The purpose of social distancing measures is not to reduce deaths, but to prevent our hospitals from being overwhelmed by the peak of cases. Hence the term “flattening the curve.”

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#51

Xgasprices.com is GasBuddy. It used to be broken up by state and now metropolitan areas.

#52

Yeah, I get the feeling that if they didn’t err on the severe side, people would blow them off more so they inflate it a bit. Though I feel like that creates a cycle of people not necessarily taking them as serious the next time.

I thought the IHME was focused on hospital beds, ICUs, and ventilators?

#53

It is. But someone just following the media would not know that.

#54

Use the map function - then just follow your route.

I also use this - set to Arlington, but I use it’s map often.
http://www.gaspricewatch.com/TX-texas/Arlington/gas-prices/page-1/2.htm

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#55

Yeah, but the web-based one lets me look at my full route, and the one on my phone was very limited.

#56

This was unexpected…

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-00973-x

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#57

“Health authorities are only seeing the tip of the iceberg.”

To use a snowclone, “that’s no iceberg…”

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#58

I’m going to be curious of the un-intended or unforeseen circumstances from offices & what not being shut down for extended times. Water stagnation I know is a concern, possibly even Sick Building Syndrome. A lot of people tend to forget about that kinda stuff.

Water stagnation can cause legionnaires disease.

I know the space isn’t at risk because the faucets/toilets are being flushed regularly to prevent it.

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#59

I never knew that you could track a viral outbreak by testing wastewater, until I was chatting in a chain about making cheap ventilators in the emerging 2nd & 3rd World outbreaks. A Water Operator from Columbia was talking about testing waste water for Covid-19 RNA, as a means of tracking the spread through the countryside in his Water District. This is a thing, now.

2 Likes
#60
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#61

Here is an update on COVID-19 statistics now that we can randomly sample for antibodies and have real data from the hottest of hot beds, NY. Please take the time to read the article before responding.

This is not some random opinion from the media or an uninformed government official: https://profiles.stanford.edu/scott-atlas

Summary:

  • Fact 1: The overwhelming majority of people do not have any significant risk of dying from COVID-19
  • Fact 2: Protecting older, at-risk people eliminates hospital overcrowding
  • Fact 3: Vital population immunity is prevented by total isolation policies, prolonging the problem
  • Fact 4: People are dying because other medical care is not getting done due to hypothetical projections
  • Fact 5: We have a clearly defined population at risk who can be protected with targeted measures

All the people claiming that healthy people are killing others by returning to society are misinformed and lack a basic understanding of immunology. We are prolonging the deaths in older, at risk, people because there are not enough healthy people with herd immunity to break the chain of infection. Unbroken chains are formed that cause the custodian in the retirement home to expose the most vulnerable in our population.

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