That $600.00 will only last 4 months. MOST states that are having under 10 deaths a day need to open back up and start moving around. Still have the older and vulnerable people stay sheltered. We can't wait until there is zero new cases or zero deaths occurring. Have to move forward. It's not perfect but the depression we will be in will cause much more problems than the Coronavirus will for people under the age of 55.
Just think about what could happen once these cities start to run out of money, some already are. No money for police, emt, firefighters, etc. This isn't that far off from happening especially if FL is shut down most of the summer.
The idea is NOT to get to zero new cases. The idea is to increase capacity to handle the millions of cases that will happen when everyone is back at it. This is the CORRECT time to compare it to the flu. When the flu hits 45M and kills 45K of us over the course of a year, it doesn't ALSO shut down the entire healthcare system. Hospitals are not full of flu patients, nor are bodies being temporarily stored in store freezers and temporarily buried in unceremonious holes, despite those numbers. Every single person in society doesn't catch it, including the actual people trying to save your life. While the numbers are often shocking (I used numbers on the high side), it is manageable nonetheless. Obviously we could save thousands by distancing for the flu, too. But we accept those deaths, in the name of "normalcy." Having said that, I see practically no reassurance that the capacity is indeed being addressed. The only place I see certainty in the effort is NY, and they are being accused of hoarding and asking for too much. Uh, yeah, that IS THE WHOLE POINT. Stockpile all of the PPE, respirators, increase bed count, etc. so that when this explodes again in a month or two, your local system can handle it. I see no reason to believe that is happening outside of the places that are already facing the storm head on.
Most hospitals are too busy furloughing employees and just trying to keep the doors open, how are they going to address additional capacity right now that they will probably never need? Most the USA isn't NY and will never experience what they are. The majority at least in this state have more capacity now than they would have normally. My sister is an OR nurse in south FL and hasn't worked in over a month. Once they get back to normal operations, then that would be the time to make sure they are prepared for another flare up. I think this scare alone will help to curb the spread. Most people will be taking many more precautions than they have in the past.
And my BIL and his wife are travel nurses, and are working 80 hours. Stockpiling the PPE does not require the nurses to be there to unload the trucks and put the boxes "in the warehouse." And "more capacity" tells us virtually nothing. You'll need to be able to handle the capacity when you extrapolate out to the entire population what we have witnessed from a small part of it in the last couple of months. People in New York are not more susceptible to COVID, it just got there first. That same nightmare will happen everywhere once we are all back in Applebee's.
They are more susceptible as they live on top of each other and work on top of each other. Walk down a street in Manhattan, you see people crowded together like that anywhere in FL or most other states? It was a perfect storm for spreading there. I am going to be interested to see how many people move out of the city for good, especially once people continue to work from home.
I think that reality dictates that we will all be back spittleing all over each other within a month. My criticism is that while I do indeed see the distancing efforts, and the payoff, what I don't see is the other side of the coin, which is the effort to dramatically increase capacity so that we can go back, have millions upon millions infected in months, but be able to "handle" the caseload (and correspondingly, accept the deaths.) There was virtually no coordinated effort here. If the whole country had shut down, as it is NOW, together and early, AND the feds working with the states had amassed the proper resources, we could likely have already been back and the sicknesses could be "managed." So if it were ME, we would have all been sitting at home weeks ago, my bean counters would be giving me hourly updates on what the spreadsheet says is needed for each category, and once we got to "acceptable" levels in those categories, we'd have already been back. But of course that didn't happen, and I see no reason to believe that the vast majority of places have prepared for what is coming. There will be great SHOCK when in August we find out that hospitals can't handle the outbreak.
I have been going out and about weekly, Lowes has been slammed, Publix has been slammed, don't go to Wal Mart but I've heard they have been slammed as well. Our beaches are open, we have 86 cases over the span of a month. People are being more careful, making sure not to touch face, covering mouth when sneezing, coughing, standing further apart. Opening a restaurant with proper precautions isn't going to turn us into the next hot spot. Our hospitals are empty.
Yeah, walking down the street in Manhattan puts you almost as close to dozens of people as going to church in Wise County, Virginia on a Wednesday night. This is the "One Guy From China" concept, and I honestly don't see how someone who is desperate for it to be true will ever change their perspective, until they put their hand on the red burner to see if the stove is indeed on.
So why isn't Wise County Virginia a hot spot then? I don't think churches or places of mass gathering should be opening at this point.
Because the efforts put in place to protect Wise County, Virginia from existing hot spots is working?
And those efforts can continue while still re opening slowly. I just know what I see and I see people out and about in my community. Only places shut down for the most part are large office buildings and restaurants and retail stores. All of these can be re opened with precautions built in for social distancing. Have to start somewhere. I don't want them all opening now btw, I think we should wait another couple weeks to see where we are. I think we need to set a date, lets say 5/15 to give business time to make plans and unless we see a significant spike in cases folks can all prepare to re open, albeit slowly.
I just found out that some elderly friends of mine have passed away from COVID, a brother, and sister, both with underlying health conditions. The brother had heart issues and was a heavy smoker. The sister had Alzheimer's. The wife of the brother also has it and is in hospital and has Alzheimer's.
The way those groups are handled can be handled just like we are doing now FOR EVERYONE. Tough group is over 65 with young people... case by case? They do what HC workers do now who have families? 65 and older I see out and about more than any other groups to be honest. There are grocery delivery services available. Perhaps a new company starts doing more of that with workers who have been exposed and gotten well? I believe the people and business will flex and come up with ways to solve these problems. I don't think the baby with the bathwater mentality can go on and on for months and months.
