MathPlus's definitions

🦠₁₉ is winning and 🤥₄₅ is losing.

When the numbers of infections and deaths in the US are surging, while Donald J. Trump’s poll numbers are heading south, when it should be the other round if he was not obsessed with his re-election prospects and valued human lives.

When a corrupt and inept president, who puts profits and polls above principles and people, has a cavalier attitude vis-à-vis his diehard supporters, most of whom refuse to wear a mask and to practice social distancing at his political rallies, considering that he himself flirted with death after he tested positive for the coronavirus—it is no surprise that 🦠₁₉ is winning and 🤥₄₅ is losing.

by MathPlus October 17, 2020

Covid-1984

When corona skeptics, vaccine conspiracy theorists, and those opposed to mandatory vaccines and masks, who claim that any lockdown is causing "more harm than the virus,” stage public rallies to challenge the authorities for infringing their rights and controlling their lives—1984 is a novel by English novelist George Orwell, which examines how facts and truth are politically manipulated by dictators or rogue leaders.

Protesters in the UK are holding placards that says that “Covid-1984 is being used for political purposes and public control.”

by MathPlus October 14, 2020

Covid-👶

When some high-GDP countries whose low fertility rate is below their mortality rate are offering baby bonus cash gifts to their citizens who give birth during the coronavirus pandemic—the authorities don’t want the plague to prevent their nation from having “corona babies.”

Thanks to Covid-👶, Singaporean families could receive up to $35,000 as Baby Support Grant if they planned to add a new member to their family to help arrest the population decline.

by MathPlus October 11, 2020

T₀

Read as Trump’s naught or reproduction number. The total number of people Donald J. Trump had infected and is likely to infect in coming days and weeks, because he selfishly and vaingloriously refuses to protect others by wearing a face mask and to isolate himself, when he is still not corona-free and is contagious to others.

Based on media reports, the White House superspreader’s T₀ among his entourage has so far been no fewer than a dozen victims.

by MathPlus October 9, 2020

Logarithmic Instinct

When our primitive instinct makes us treat the comparison of large numbers as logarithmic rather than linear—for instance, we feel like the gap between a trillion and a billion is the same as that between a billion and a million, because both are a thousand times bigger, when the jump to a trillion is really much bigger.

When young children are asked which number is halfway between one and nine, their answers are three instead of five, as given by those with formal schooling. Is this a case of logarithmic instinct, where the middle is in relation to multiplication rather than addition: 1 × 3 = 3, 3 × 3 = 9?

by MathPlus October 8, 2020

Don’t be afraid of Covid.

Donald J. Trump’s frighteningly callous or cold-hearted message to Americans not to let the coronavirus control their lives, as if they could just utter a simple prayer for it to go away, for he is the living proof that he has triumphed over the virus thanks to 24/7 world-class medical care and “compassionate drugs,” which very few of them would get access to.

President Trump’s “Don’t be afraid of Covid.” tweet is not only offensive or repugnant to the families and friends of the 210,000-odd people who had died, and of the 7.5 millions who were infected, of Covid-19, but also irresponsible or ill-advised to those who are struggling to protect themselves and those around them.

by MathPlus October 5, 2020

Covid-🤥

When the coronavirus has had enough of the Liar- or Denier-in-Chief, who was given ample opportunity or warning to stop lying about the pandemic, and to start leading like a president in containing the crisis, prior to his infection.

Covid-19 couldn’t care less whether you are a president, prisoner, or priest; Covid-🤥 needed to give the president a wake-up call to prevent the country from witnessing a health apocalypse.

by MathPlus October 4, 2020