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There's a big mental health aspect with the virus. Job losses and/or stock market losses can make people despair. The Great Depression is evidence about an increase in suicides due to economic hardship.
Even without the financial issues, single and unattached people in quarantine are having social issues right now impacting their mental health. No sex, no opportunities to do in-person approaching, and massive time wasters on apps are what they are facing if they do not have a casual sex partner. Single and unattached people are one of the most vulnerable populations in this pandemic.
Married, attached people aren't having a fantastic time either, as family lawyers are seeing an increase in inquiries. Divorce takes a toll on mental health, a toll that likely can't be emphasized enough.
I think there's a need to be attuned to mental health in this. There's a need for awareness of one's own mental health and the mental health of family, significant others, and close friends.
Lockdown does cause financial hardship. Ask any bartender right now. DFW is not lacking for bartenders.
The United States is 4-5% of the world's population. If 5% of the world's population has over 25% of the world's cases, that's problematic.
Initially, the layoffs that got attention were the bartenders, waitstaff, and other service sectors. While their plights are important, it must not be forgotten that a sizable number of white collar professionals have gotten laid off in this. The example that you gave is pertinent to what's going on in the white collar world. It's a big deal when someone goes from a $110,000 annual salary to $0 employment salary. Unemployment payments from the government can't cover the shortfall.
Dude, whining about getting laid is not helping the argument against the lockdown. Sex is going to be the last thing on your mind if you are hooked up to a ventilator. Use your hand, use a toy, watch Pornhub. You will survive. I promise.
Dude, whining about getting laid is not helping the argument against the lockdown. Sex is going to be the last thing on your mind if you are hooked up to a ventilator. Use your hand, use a toy, watch Pornhub. You will survive. I promise.
Sex is a basic need on par with eating food and going to the bathroom. See Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. That sort of attitude is more commonly associated with individuals in frigid long term relationships.
Also, I've been arguing for an extended lockdown until June 1 so that there are not re-occurrences.
I have known people in my life who have had to get institutionalized in a mental health facility over not having sex for an extended period of time. If it weren't a big deal, people wouldn't be getting mental health help over it. Psychologists and psychiatrists talk about sex and relationships all the time.
Quote:
Originally Posted by DPatel304
The U.S. has over 25% of the world's known cases. TONS of people out there who have it and aren't being tested.
I'm highly skeptical of China's numbers and there is no way in hell we'll ever know the real number of cases in India either.
China's and India's numbers are questionable. I've seen some footage out of India that does not appear to be social distancing. Our local cases are not that numerous. The major hot zone is New York/New Jersey. Most of the rest of the nation, DFW included, is on lockdown because of New York/New Jersey.
The U.S. has over 25% of the world's known cases. TONS of people out there who have it and aren't being tested.
I'm highly skeptical of China's numbers and there is no way in hell we'll ever know the real number of cases in India either.
Not arguing just wanted to add some context.
We really should pay more attention to rates. The US is around 15th in death rate and likely won’t get close to similar rates in some European countries. If all deaths outside the US stopped today and a US number of 60,000 deaths was superimposed we’d rate at 9 or 10.
We are about #20 in known infection rate so that number is likely a fair bit low.
ETA - Dallas and NY may display the same relationship longer term.
Honestly, the whole world's numbers are not accurate at this point because there simply aren't enough tests, so I don't think we can really deduce anything from the fact that the US accounts for 25% of the cases worldwide.
Quote:
Originally Posted by RJ312
I've seen some footage out of India that does not appear to be social distancing.
That is a huge understatement.
India's standard of personal space and being clean/health is WAY below what we are used to here in the states and I'm talking about pre-COVID19 behavior. Unfortunatly that country is going to hit extremely hard, but we'll never know the actual numbers as they simply just don't have the infrastrture in place to accurately test and track something like this.
Sex is a basic need on par with eating food and going to the bathroom. See Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. That sort of attitude is more commonly associated with individuals in frigid long term relationships.
Also, I've been arguing for an extended lockdown until June 1 so that there are not re-occurrences.
There is no substitute for the real thing..
This is an older article, and long, but fascinating. The conclusion is that loneliness is deadly:
"Psychobiologists can now show that loneliness sends misleading hormonal signals, rejiggers the molecules on genes that govern behavior, and wrenches a slew of other systems out of whack. They have proved that long-lasting loneliness not only makes you sick; it can kill you. Emotional isolation is ranked as high a risk factor for mortality as smoking. A partial list of the physical diseases thought to be caused or exacerbated by loneliness would include Alzheimer’s, obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, neurodegenerative diseases, and even cancer—tumors can metastasize faster in lonely people.
(Snip)
“Real loneliness,” as she called it, is not what the philosopher Søren Kierkegaard characterized as the “shut-upness” and solitariness of the civilized. Nor is “real loneliness” the happy solitude of the productive artist or the passing irritation of being cooped up with the flu while all your friends go off on some adventure. It’s not being dissatisfied with your companion of the moment—your friend or lover or even spouse— unless you chronically find yourself in that situation, in which case you may in fact be a lonely person. Fromm-Reichmann even distinguished “real loneliness” from mourning, since the well-adjusted eventually get over that, and from depression, which may be a symptom of loneliness but is rarely the cause. Loneliness, she said—and this will surprise no one—is the want of intimacy.
This is an older article, and long, but fascinating. The conclusion is that loneliness is deadly:
"Psychobiologists can now show that loneliness sends misleading hormonal signals, rejiggers the molecules on genes that govern behavior, and wrenches a slew of other systems out of whack. They have proved that long-lasting loneliness not only makes you sick; it can kill you. Emotional isolation is ranked as high a risk factor for mortality as smoking. A partial list of the physical diseases thought to be caused or exacerbated by loneliness would include Alzheimer’s, obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, neurodegenerative diseases, and even cancer—tumors can metastasize faster in lonely people.
(Snip)
“Real loneliness,” as she called it, is not what the philosopher Søren Kierkegaard characterized as the “shut-upness” and solitariness of the civilized. Nor is “real loneliness” the happy solitude of the productive artist or the passing irritation of being cooped up with the flu while all your friends go off on some adventure. It’s not being dissatisfied with your companion of the moment—your friend or lover or even spouse— unless you chronically find yourself in that situation, in which case you may in fact be a lonely person. Fromm-Reichmann even distinguished “real loneliness” from mourning, since the well-adjusted eventually get over that, and from depression, which may be a symptom of loneliness but is rarely the cause. Loneliness, she said—and this will surprise no one—is the want of intimacy.
There are a lot of factors about DFW that would enhance levels of loneliness. DFW attracts a fairly rootless populace. Rootless people are people that tend to move frequently. A lot of people relocate to Dallas for a job at some point in their adult life with no real connections to the area. Those social contacts forged during the 0-18 years are quite relevant throughout adulthood. I've known of middle aged people who have been able to benefit in the present time based upon staying in the same location their entire lives. That's not a large percentage of the population here, but there are other metropolitan area that are less rooted than here. I would call Las Vegas the least rooted place among major metros, but the whole Sun Belt region is characterized by a certain transience among the populace.
Transience and rootlessness are a contributing factor to a lot of loneliness, the lack of some form of relational intimacy. The lack of both physical and emotional intimacy can cause the mental health problems illustrated.
Sex is a basic need on par with eating food and going to the bathroom. See Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. That sort of attitude is more commonly associated with individuals in frigid long term relationships.
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Sex absolutely is NOT a basic human need the same way food, air and water is. There is no entitlement sex, period. Unless it's with yourself, of course. I do not care what Maslow's hierarchy says or what psychologists say.
The people you know who were "institutionalized" because you claim they couldn't have sex, likely had other mental health issues going on.
Back to the coronavirus in DFW: Unfortunately, today looks to have been the worst day death-wise for both Texas and the country so far. Texas had 50 deaths, and the country as a whole had over 2,400. This is not too surprising considering the biggest individual case days for Texas were about a week ago (daily new cases around 1300), and nearly every state that has had daily new case figures over 1,000 has had a day like this. The good news is that I do think new daily cases have peaked, both in Texas and the US, so I'm hopeful that today was the worst day death-wise that we will see.
I do have concerns that we will have a very long and not-so-steep downslope, though. Italy peak in terms of new daily cases on March 21 (3.5 weeks ago!) and still hasn't peaked in terms of active cases. Flatting the curve is a great thing, but it does produce a longer (albeit lower) peak, hence it being described as "flat."
Side note: I do think it's interesting that the government projection showed a peak daily deaths estimate of around 2,500, and that was when they were projecting 100-250k deaths. We are already to 26k, and if we are going to have a long and slow downslope, I'm curious how they foresee keeping the figure to 60k.
Back to the coronavirus in DFW: Unfortunately, today looks to have been the worst day death-wise for both Texas and the country so far. Texas had 50 deaths, and the country as a whole had over 2,400. This is not too surprising considering the biggest individual case days for Texas were about a week ago (daily new cases around 1300), and nearly every state that has had daily new case figures over 1,000 has had a day like this. The good news is that I do think new daily cases have peaked, both in Texas and the US, so I'm hopeful that today was the worst day death-wise that we will see.
I do have concerns that we will have a very long and not-so-steep downslope, though. Italy peak in terms of new daily cases on March 21 (3.5 weeks ago!) and still hasn't peaked in terms of active cases. Flatting the curve is a great thing, but it does produce a longer (albeit lower) peak, hence it being described as "flat."
Side note: I do think it's interesting that the government projection showed a peak daily deaths estimate of around 2,500, and that was when they were projecting 100-250k deaths. We are already to 26k, and if we are going to have a long and slow downslope, I'm curious how they foresee keeping the figure to 60k.
Yet I keep reading that the worst is over here in the US? I know the New York governor said so about his state. California, Washington and Oregon are now talking about re opening their states. So who exactly is still in bad shape?
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