Understanding the risks of COVID-19

When it comes to the novel coronavirus, COVID-19, I see a lot of misinformed people in the general public and on social media. Some cite other contagions, such as the flu and previous mass outbreaks, to downplay the risks that we as a whole are currently facing. Some are simply fed up of the constant coverage that they feel is unnecessarily alarmist. These are understandable sentiments but very short-sighted. COVID-19 is a big deal.

To be clear, there is a line between panic and preparation. Armageddon isn't coming. At the same time, dismissing the risks would be a huge mistake. To illustrate why, I'll go over three points of discussion:

1. The disease will be ubiquitous, but its spread may happen quickly or slowly
2. There will be many, many deaths, but they will be highly concentrated to specific demographics
3. Active involvement by the public can mitigate the impact

A Critique of the GPI Ranking System

The Global Poker Index, or GPI, is a leaderboard system that ranks the top live tournament poker players in the world according to their performance. CEO Alexander Dreyfus has stated that his goal with GPI is to define who the star players are in order to increase exposure, creative compelling narratives, and grow the industry as a whole. To this end, his efforts have already paid dividends. The rankings have not only been readily accepted in the culture and the poker media, but also in major mainstream outlets such as USA Today. However, the system as it stands today has flaws that threaten to undermine its credibility as comprehensive measure of tournament poker skill.

Recently, GPI has started to draw some criticism from players who say that the way it scores performance doesn't make sense. As a tournament player myself, I've shared this attitude, and I've done a bit of analysis on the issue.