Coronavirus has devastated Moscow. Now it's spreading across Russia's 11 time zones to ill-funded re

[yuiyoshida]

(CNN)Russia hit a grim Covid-19 milestone this week: According to Johns Hopkins University, the country now ranks second in the world for confirmed coronavirus cases.

The Russian capital has been hardest hit. Of Russia's total of 281,752 confirmed cases, over half -- 142,824 -- are in Moscow, the country's coronavirus headquarters said Sunday. But the virus is now spreading across Russia's regions, an enormous landmass that covers 11 time zones and includes some of the country's most remote and impoverished places.

(CNN)Russia hit a grim Covid-19 milestone this week: According to Johns Hopkins University, the country now ranks second in the world for confirmed coronavirus cases.

The Russian capital has been hardest hit. Of Russia's total of 281,752 confirmed cases, over half -- 142,824 -- are in Moscow, the country's coronavirus headquarters said Sunday. But the virus is now spreading across Russia's regions, an enormous landmass that covers 11 time zones and includes some of the country's most remote and impoverished places.

more
https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/17/europe/russia-coronavirus-time-zones-intl/index.html

[C_U_L8R]

1. It seems this virus has an appetite for authoritarian regimes.

[yuiyoshida]

2. Good, lets hope the virus takes out

Duarte, Putin, Kim Jong Il and Trump/Pence.

[tblue37]

23. And Bolsonaro in Brazil. nt

[LisaL]

3. Virus couldn't care less which regime the country has.

Large cities in Russia have high population density. A lot of people use public transportation. The weather is not hot. So basically ideal conditions for it to spread.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

22. South Korea has about 15 times the population density of the U.S.

[Igel]

29. Nice, but not very relevant.

That's comparing averages for the whole country. It's like saying average eye color is hazel if 50% are blue and 50% are brown.

Seoul's pop density is 42,000/sq mi, NYC's is 67,000/sq mi.

Hong Kong's worse. Pop density matters, but it's not the end-all of the discussion.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

34. Where do you get your figures?

According to this:
https://worldpopulationreview.com/world-cities/seoul-population/

Seoul has twice the population density of NYC.

[ALBliberal]

12. Ok I am sensing some nuance humor and am laughing thanks for that

[ananda]

16. Yup. Brazil is also moving up fast.

USA, Russia, Brazil, and the UK -- fastest growing rates.

And horrible governments.

[DENVERPOPS]

26. What about India...???????????

Oh, my. The zillions of people living elbow to elbow in poverty, no real healthcare of any kind for their lower classes.......

[Igel]

30. 1,600 tests/ 1 M population.

You don't test, you don't find what's there. (You test a lot, you find a lot of what's there.)

Not sure about reporting requirements--what's required for a COVID-related death?

If you die but aren't tested, are you obligatorily not COVID?

If you get drunk and die in a car crash, but tested positive, is that a COVID death?

We like to think we're modern. And we pitch a fit to find out that "modern" isn't state-of-the-art everything that we think is standard when it's damned weird in much of the world. A perception shift is in order among the WEIRDs, but it's an article of faith, almost absolutist in its fundamentalism, and won't shift.

We don't know the actual death toll from the Spanish flu. We won't ever actually know the COVID-19 death toll. (But at least we have a much less offensive name. COVID-19 and SARS-CoV-2.)

[tanyev]

4. Do the troll farms work in close quarters or do they all work from home?

[FarPoint]

7. Very interesting question...

Maybe things will be better for our election ..

[jrthin]

18. One can hope that Covid will keep Putin busy.

[DENVERPOPS]

27. Not a frikkin chance

The RepubliCONs, Trump, and his spawn, have all stepped up their game these past three to four days.
Putin is probably ignoring his own people, to spend all his psycopath time obsessed with destroying America.

[BannonsLiver]

15. Ask respondent 11

[kimbutgar]

5. I hope those Russian computer hackers are affected

Hopefully it will get so bad that Putin won’t have time to help his orange evil phat pfuk during the election.

And this might be the thing that takes down putin finally.

[BComplex]

8. Plus, I home Anonymous is looking out for a fair election.

[Brainfodder]

6. KARMA?

I suggest Death Count Donnie go visit his master baiter and stay awhile, like at least 6.5 months?

[Miigwech]

9. If you need help Russia, call trump, he alone can fix it

[Salviati]

10. That and the collapse of oil prices...

I would hope vlad will have his hands full with trouble at home, but we shouldn't count on it...

[VladmireTrumpkins]

11. Defense of Russia

I have a friends in Russia.. DONT BLAME THEM!! They have no choice ,,,they are enslaved by a hateful regime and they have no say in what goes on.. Blame Americans who are free..( so far) to decide on their leaders .. but they voted to reelect a man (Bush) who lied to get them in a war for false reasons.

Americans knew what Trump was and still voted for him...they are free to read what a liar he is and no one is preventing them from doing that..yet 40% are fine with him and him and all he stands for

So say what you want about Russians but dont look down on them ..not as long as such a large percent of Americans support this con man.,a failed cassino operator, self admitted sexual predator and racist naricissist and his party ignore lawful subpeonas and suppress witnesses and threaten to imprison dissenters.

[BannonsLiver]

13. ...

[BannonsLiver]

19. And just to refute this horseshit narrative

https://www.statista.com/statistics/896181/putin-approval-rating-russia/

https://www.npr.org/2019/12/30/792456768/how-vladimir-putin-has-continued-to-remain-popular-in-russia

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cnbc.com/amp/2020/05/06/coronavirus-russia-putins-popularity-rating-falls-to-historic-low.html

(A “historic low” of 60 percent approval)

Let’s drop the cock and bull story about a majority of poor oppressed Russians who hate Putin, m’kay? It’s nonsense.

Thanks.

[Igel]

31. You want Russian statistical stuff based on surveys,

you go to the Levada Center.

https://www.levada.ru/en/

Everything else is derivative and copied from them.

[BannonsLiver]

36. Yes. Same numbers.

Thanks.

[Hav]

25. That friend in Russia, is that your RL friend? Family? Maybe your neighbor?

In theory, Russians have a choice as well. There might have been election fraud in Russia but he still has more than enough support from the people. One reason that I heard is similar to the simple-minded thinking of the Maggats: He makes them feel strong. Under Putin, they think Russia is powerful again.

I'd agree that Putin's incompetent handling of this crisis, just like Trump's, leads to the deaths of innocent people and that's not something to laugh about. But don't try to argue that one country deserves to reap the consequences of their choice during an election while another country doesn't.
Trump also wasn't reelected so far. On the other side, Putin is a murderous thug who defrauds his country and whose critics get executed in broad daylight. And he still wins election after election. But sure, poor Russians have no choice.

[VladmireTrumpkins]

37. You think there are fair elections in Russia?

There is a lot of opposition to Putin in Russia,,but my point is that Americans are free to vote as they wish.. In Russia there are sham elections

and I will admit my survey and information comes from only three people.. one in Moscow and two in St Petersburg

[BannonsLiver]

14. Thoughts and prayers.

[mvd]

17. So number 1 and 2 are Trump and Putin's countries

No surprise as they are 2 of the worst “leaders”.

[Crunchy Frog]

20. And miraculously, almost no deaths!

[progressoid]

33. It's the vodka.

[Crunchy Frog]

35. So drinking disinfectant really does work!

[Brother Mythos]

21. I've been watching the spread of the Coronavirus on worldometer ...

for quite a while. Compared to most countries, the reported number of Russian deaths does not look anywhere near right to me. The reported number of deaths appears to be extremely low compared to the reported number of cases.

[Igel]

32. People don't know their data.

Understanding data is hard work.

Here's what to know about Russia: Resources go to what's important. Where are the important people, whose support really matters?

In the USSR, you wanted to be in a few cities. M., L., perhaps Kiev. Tula, Kazan', Voronezh, all second class. Then there were the 3rd and 4th class cities. You needed a residence permit to live or work in a city, and those for Moscow and Leningrad were hard to come by.

They were powerful. Had better food. Entertainment. Resources were spent on them. Reporters from the west were there, sure, but also they were the center of power and what was good for Moscow was good for the leaders.

It hasn't changed. If there are 1 million test kits in Russia, a disproportionate share will go to M and SP. Kamenetsk can have a 100% fatality rate and the folk in M wouldn't bat an eye.

Truth is also weird. Truth always has a government bias. If it doesn't, it doesn't count as truth. Some things get ignored, many things get spun, a few things get falsified. It's how it works when politics overrides a commitment to truth. You get truthiness, and you develop a keen nose for things that don't fit because those might be mistakes or they may be mistaken true facts that slip out.

[GaYellowDawg]

24. I wish it would infect and kill Putin and all his fucking trolls.

Would the world EVER be a better place for it.

[Tarc]

28. Thoughts & Prayers