Article

2020-03-18 Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Iran holy man: ‘We are not followers of the World Health Organization. They are a bunch of infidels and Jews’

[TWITTER]

Watch: “We are not followers of the World Health Organization. They are a bunch of infidels and Jews,” a cleric shouts outside the Fatima Masumeh shrine in #Qom after Shia pilgrimage sites were closed to combat the spread of the #coronavirus in #Iran.https://t.co/cO8XWbK6KM pic.twitter.com/FE079sGOQi
— Al Arabiya English (@AlArabiya_Eng) March 17, 2020

Posted by Fred 2020-03-18 00:00|| E-Mail|| Front Page|| [11162 views ] Top
File under: Govt of Iran

#1 And don’t forget the WHO financer the ChicComs.

Posted by Alaska Paul 2020-03-18 00:31|| 2020-03-18 00:31|| Front Page Top

#2 Jews aren't infidels?
Or is it infidels can't be Jewish?
Very confusing.

Posted by Lex 2020-03-18 02:19|| 2020-03-18 02:19|| Front Page Top

#3 "We hate both kinds of music, country and western!"

Posted by Oscar Bluetooth4930 2020-03-18 02:59|| 2020-03-18 02:59|| Front Page Top

#4 They can still stand outside and lick the door knobs if its any comfort.

Posted by Thomogum Omereng5658 2020-03-18 04:50|| 2020-03-18 04:50|| Front Page Top

#5 and the fact that they're incompetent doesn't count?

Posted by Mercutio 2020-03-18 05:01|| 2020-03-18 05:01|| Front Page Top

#6 Iranian president rejects criticism of coronavirus response

Posted by Frank G 2020-03-18 06:18|| 2020-03-18 06:18|| Front Page Top

#7 die for Allan!

Posted by Bob Grorong1136 2020-03-18 07:29|| 2020-03-18 07:29|| Front Page Top

#8 The Iranian response to C19 gives the world an opportunity to observe the worst case scenario for the spread of the virus. We thank them and encourage them to continue.

Posted by Vespasian Ebboting9735 2020-03-18 07:50|| 2020-03-18 07:50|| Front Page Top

#9 TEHRAN — Iran reported its single biggest jump in deaths from the new coronavirus on Wednesday as another 147 people died, raising the country’s overall death toll to 1,135. The nearly 15% spike in deaths — amid a total of 17,361 confirmed cases in Iran — marks the biggest 24-hour rise in fatalities since officials first acknowledged cases of the virus in Iran in mid-February.

Vespasian suggests that this is the worst case scenario unfolding. OK, let's explore that worst case and see what it implies for us -- and ask ourselves whether our own leaders might just possibly be overreacting a teeny bit.

Let's assume that the one-day spike represents 1) accurate reporting and 2) not an anomaly and 3) a likely average daily death toll for the next 6 months. Note that this is unrealistic given that summer is approaching and with it, less air pollution and respiratory illness in heavily "inverted" mountain-ringed cities such as Tehran (Denver CO has the same problem) and less longevity for this virus in hot weather. No matter: assume 147 deaths per day on average for another 180 days: that gets you up to about 26,00 deaths plus the current tally of 1,135 = about 27,000 deaths in a country of 82 million.

More perspective: that's a little more than twice the number of people who die in traffic accidents in Iran every nine months. (Our friends at WHO helpfully report in annual traffic fatalities. WHO's 2016 traffic fatality report indicated that Iran lost 16,426 people to traffic accidents.)

But COVID fatalities, like those caused by the flu, are overwhelmingly concentrated in elderly people with ore-existing conditions. So the real impact of the worst-case COVID scenario on society is actually no worse than the impact of traffic fatalities.

Or a very bad flu season.

And this is your worst case. The US equivalent would be ~100,000 deaths.

Terrible, sure. But is it to be prevented at ANY cost? At the risk - or more like the certainty - of deliberately screwing our young people, yet AGAIN, by eliminating their chance at economic independence, at gaining a living and supporting a family, for a generation?

Really?

Is it worth destroying the livelihoods of the other 99.9 percent of the population because a few thousand unlucky elderly folks will die sooner than they otherwise would?

Does this make any f---ing sense?

Posted by Lex 2020-03-18 09:14|| 2020-03-18 09:14|| Front Page Top

#10 Makes sense only if you would do anything to un-elect Donald Trump. Tank the economy and election is most likely very close.

Posted by Alistaire Untervehr8459 2020-03-18 11:16|| 2020-03-18 11:16|| Front Page Top

#11 This sounds like the kind of moral calculus that a self-described "ethicist" and nutjob like Ezekiel Emmanuel would come up with.

Posted by Lex 2020-03-18 11:23|| 2020-03-18 11:23|| Front Page Top

#12 ^ This!

Posted by Whiskey Mike 2020-03-18 11:30|| 2020-03-18 11:30|| Front Page Top

#13 Keep licking the shrine doors then.

Posted by DarthVader 2020-03-18 12:08|| 2020-03-18 12:08|| Front Page Top

#14 Is it worth destroying the livelihoods of the other 99.9 percent of the population because a few thousand unlucky elderly folks will die sooner than they otherwise would?

Ask the old folks.

Posted by g(r)omgoru 2020-03-18 12:51|| 2020-03-18 12:51|| Front Page Top

#15 Is it worth destroying the livelihoods of the other 99.9 percent of the population

Fewer surly cashiers, waiters, grocery baggers, back office admins, mall rats and taxi drivers?
Yeah, I think so.

Posted by Skidmark 2020-03-18 13:06|| 2020-03-18 13:06|| Front Page Top

#16 Think only old people can die from coronavirus? Think again. Expert who led team assessing China's outbreak says NO ONE is safe from the killer virus

Posted by Skidmark 2020-03-18 13:09|| 2020-03-18 13:09|| Front Page Top

#17 Perhaps all the Jews at the WHO should put together a list of best practices for Muslims to follow to avoid getting infected by CV.

Posted by gorb 2020-03-18 15:03|| 2020-03-18 15:03|| Front Page Top

#18 #16 info coming out.

~~But COVID fatalities, like those caused by the flu, are overwhelmingly concentrated in elderly people with or-existing conditions~~

Posted by Woodrow 2020-03-18 17:39|| 2020-03-18 17:39|| Front Page Top

#19 Young folks may be more likely to survive but I suspect lung damage may shorten their lives and the quality thereof.

Posted by gorb 2020-03-18 17:53|| 2020-03-18 17:53|| Front Page Top