Hysteria over Evidence — Covid 19

Very scary image.

As a business owner, tech professional, and white male with many years of luck in business, my opinion on virology must be heard. I am not a scientist, I didn’t do well in statistics, and most of my college career focused on mastering the keg stand. I didn’t even stay at a Holiday Inn last night. Notwithstanding the aforementioned, due to my privilege and self-importance, I must pontificate.

Shut up and listen because I speak loudly.

Below is a chart. If you look closely, you’ll notice that it is going up and to the right. Being a control freak in a state of panic, currently, self-isolating and panic buying, so dissecting this chart has become paramount. It provides me a sense of control in an otherwise out-of-control situation.

It has red in it. So you know it’s important. It also goes up which is scary.

If you pay close attention to the bell curve below, you’ll find that bell curves are on the rise. They seem to be the most popular graph style because they make complicated subjects seem simple. Bell curves have been used to push false information for decades, including the self-titled book that has been referenced by racists around the world to explain that white people are smarter than brown people. I read 3/4 of it back in the ’90s before finally getting bored and performing yet another keg stand… So I know of what I speak. Seriously though, data can be used to convey false information as easily as it can be used to convey the truth.

Bell curves are easy to read.

Next it is urgent that we discuss a time lapse diagram with arbitrarily added, subjective commentary to make a point. As a writer I’m confident that the number of data points will cause you to listen to me rather than evaluating the actual data.

So what do we do now?

1. Panic. Seriously. This is scary awful horrible stuff happening. People are losing loved ones and the economy is in a tailspin. Every single reputable expert says to stay home and watch Netflix. That’s how you can contribute no matter how smart you are.
2. Read actual news. Don’t get your information about a global pandemic from tech bros like me who have spent decades cultivating “Smart guy” images.
3. Read really boring websites like these below.

For those who may be pregnant: Royal College of Obstetricians & Gynecologists — https://www.rcog.org.uk

For everybody else: CDC — https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-nCoV/index.html

If you just need a neutral place to get unbiased news — https://apnews.com

Here are some really smart people who know what they are talking about because their lives have been dedicated to this topic:

Nicholas A. Christakis (@NAChristakis) | Twitter

Vincent Racaniello (@profvrr) | Twitter

ɪᴀɴ ᴍ ᴍᴀᴄᴋᴀʏ, ᴘʜᴅ 🦠🤧🧬🥼🦟 (@MackayIM) | Twitter

CIDRAP