These Coronavirus figures

Liamo said:
I don't know where you're getting this from
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Try https://www.usaspending.gov/ - a site that displays all US government spending numbers

Select the last few years, choose the CDC then display the spending commitments for 2015 through 2019.

Spending on the Centers for Disease Control rose from $5.7 billion in 2015 to $10.8 billion in 2019. I believe they even set up a special infectious disease program. Yes Trump wanted budget cuts in 2021 but as I understand it mostly to claw back spending to earlier levels.

The other key agency is the NIH (they do research and data gathering). Their spending has remained pretty static but has risen slowly since 2015.

I wouldn't argue with his latest budget proposals but they're dead in the water anyway now.

A couple of other points. No media in the US is unbiased - even FP (and they're behind a paywall - cut and paste would be appreciated). Most cable channels are rampantly anti-Trump. Others are rabidly pro-Trump. Literally everything in the US media needs to be taken with a pinch of salt unless it's clearly based on fact. Fortunately the US government is nothing if not transparent. Unfortunately the UK media across the board relies on Democrat party media.

Trump does not really control spending. No US President does. Spending is controlled by Congress. The President asks for what he needs, and Congress decides how much to spend. Trump asked for an initial $2.5 billion for Covid-19, Congress gave him over $8 billion (everyone gets to fund their personal wishes - hence the rampant corruption in US politics). So when Trump submitted his budget cuts it was for political reasons - he knew he couldn't get them past the House and wanted to demonstrate to his base he was trying to reduce costs in an election year.
 
br14 said:
You may want to run around with your arms in the air, but the truth is the virus will "go away" once it has done its worst - which could be anywhere from a few months to a year.
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That's possible but by no means certain. Of the other two coronaviruses that have caused the most concern in recent years, SARS "went away" but MERS didn't.

After a couple of peaks in numbers in 2014 and 2015, the numbers of MERS cases have remained pretty steady ever since. The good things about MERS are that it never spread very widely across the globe, has a relatively low rate of transmissibility and the fatality rate has dropped as doctors have become better at treating it but it shows that coronaviruses don't necessarily just "go away" after a while, all by themselves. The coronavirus that causes the common cold is another example of a coronavirus that doesn't just go away.

Some epidemiologists have discussed the possibility that Covid-19 could become a permanent part of the medical landscape, with seasonal peaks and troughs like the flu, though presumably with a lowered mortality rate as natural immunity to it develops.

I hope that this new coronavirus will be more like SARS than MERS in this respect but the truth is, we just don't know.
 
We used to have hundreds of the worlds finest scientists and researchers working together at the EU Medicines Agency, but of course we sent them packing a year ago.
 
With the virus effecting older people the most, I guess a large proportion of this site are going to be wiped out.
 
Regarding testing. Government says 29,000 have been tested. Everyone I have seen on TV or read about who are self isolating don't seem to have been tested. Just been told to stay at home. So who are they testing.
 
Liamo said:
That's possible but by no means certain. Of the other two coronaviruses that have caused the most concern in recent years, SARS "went away" but MERS didn't.

After a couple of peaks in numbers in 2014 and 2015, the numbers of MERS cases have remained pretty steady ever since. The good things about MERS are that it never spread very widely across the globe, has a relatively low rate of transmissibility and the fatality rate has dropped as doctors have become better at treating it but it shows that coronaviruses don't necessarily just "go away" after a while, all by themselves. The coronavirus that causes the common cold is another example of a coronavirus that doesn't just go away.

Some epidemiologists have discussed the possibility that Covid-19 could become a permanent part of the medical landscape, with seasonal peaks and troughs like the flu, though presumably with a lowered mortality rate as natural immunity to it develops.

I hope that this new coronavirus will be more like SARS than MERS in this respect but the truth is, we just don't know.
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I looked at the stats and was surprised at the high mortality rate of MERS. Also these types of viruses tend to struggle in the heat. As the name suggests this one doesn't. Luckily though it is not very contagious at all. I happen to think this current coronavirus will become part of the landscape. Can't see it burning out. It's quite contagious but not massively deadly. That should keep it alive in the human population for a very long time.
 
Correct I think smalltown - it’ll become part of colds an flu season, only not as bad as now when populations build up immunities to it to an extent


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