Coronavirus in the United States - news and thoughts

That’s awesome. Always good to shock the body with a new routine.

 

Canada is much less densely populated than the U.S. for the most part.

A comparison of major metropolitan areas from both countries would be more illuminating IMO.

I don't doubt the assertions wrt preparedness, competence and leadership, though. All seem likely true.

 

We did not participate in the Global Leadership Summit Monday where world leaders and organizations committed billions to develop a vaccine. The world must really respect us. So much leadership.
Global Leaders Pledge €7.4B At E.U.-Led COVID-19 Summit; U.S. Abstains From Meeting, Donating; U.N. SG Says 5x More Funding Likely Needed

 

This. Information, truth versus false claims and national leadership matter. In a crises, it can mean health or sickness or life and death. The numbers don’t lie.

 

Twas' a week before Christmas,
and all through the house.
Not a creature was stirring,
cept' the coronavirus mouse.

 

Well if an MD says you don't have it then I can understand states not issuing them. If your Dr thought you needed one, you would have access to one I assume?

Again, back to my broken leg analogy. The ER could not hold everyone who claimed to have a broken leg if every person in town just decided to go get Xrays without the actual symptoms of a broken leg. An MD might say, "no need for Xrays, you don't seem to have a broken leg, just a sprain". I understand we don't have 360 Million tests sitting out there, but we don't have a shortage for those who need them either. Perhaps some very isolated (hotspot) examples exist, but I just am not seeing and hearing it anymore.

 

Screw Canada. As I keep saying, they were supposed to get hockey going again. I was sure when the NHL paused they would have a cure. I counted on them.
#GoBolts

 

Meanwhile, the nation is quitting stay at home measured as the growth rate of the virus increases in rural area and outside of California and the northeast states that shut down. Right wing driven policies and opposed to sound health based policies will determine the outcome of this virus and any economic recovery. Meanwhile, Trump blocks Fauci and others from testifying before the House. They Instructed CDC and HHS to refuse invitations to testify. Controlling the message in a time when people need truth, not political spin. How sickening.

 

I read an opinion piece on CNN yesterday that was about opening up too soon, that we should wait until there are only 4 or 5 new cases daily and yet I wanted to reach through my monitor and tell her it could take 18 months before that happens. I think people just aren't seeing the whole picture here. I do. I can see a year down the road if we continued to stay at home. It's ugly; far worse than it is now.

Widespread testing = hundreds of millions, maybe even billions of tests. No nation satisfies this requirement. Not South Korea, not Germany, no one. The best any nation has in widespread testing is the UAE, who has done about enough tests to test 10% of their population. Israel and Denmark are the largest countries with the highest % of testing - 4.9%. That's 95% of their population that hasn't been tested. South Korea? About 1.25% of their population has been tested. You see the number of tests the USA needs to be considered widespread would equal all of the tests administered worldwide multiplied by 10. We don't have the capacity to develop that many tests nor have the infrastructure to process that many tests. The US can only process about 50,000 tests per day or 350,000 per week. Even if Trump ordered every McDonalds to start processing tests (converting them into a testing site with real people BTW), the FDA wouldn't allow it. The FDA will say it'll take 6 to 18 months for them to approve any and all new facilities. So would that mean Trump uses an executive order to shut down the FDA for the interim? That's a whole other issue we could debate. But Trump isn't the issue here - the government machine is the issue.

She goes on to say we need better tracking. Like smart apps that track you and who you come into contact with. Like that is going to work in the US. If you think face masks are causing a few to go to arms imagine what contact tracing would lead the country into. If I were Chinese and Russian hackers. I'd love this because my goal would be to hack that network and screw around with people. Some who are infected show all clear and those who are healthy turn them red. Really mess with the whole country. A hacker's wet dream.

Then you have to deal with the fallout of being closed all this time. The longer we are sheltering in place, the worse it will get:

1) Civil War - those who want to re-open the country now vs those that want to stay home
2) Social unrest - nearly 100% unemployment; nearly all businesses closed for good - fighting for survival at this point. Supply chain completely severed; runs on grocery stores and essential goods - 10 to 25% of the population dying from 1 and 2 alone

This is worst-case. I'm not painting a Mad Max ending here but for those of you that haven't gone out much, think about the places you go for lunch before the Pandemic - things you did with the family on the weekends. Normal stuff. Some of that is gone now. I've been keeping track via Google Maps API of what businesses have already closed downtown Birmingham and it's an eye-opener. Even if Alabama decides to end the stay-at-home order tomorrow, we already lost nearly a quarter of all restaurants and shops downtown. Lucy's is the one I'll miss - she had a small coffee shop with tons of atmosphere. Everybody who worked downtown knew her and frequently went there multiple times a day. The food made Starbucks look like a convenience store food hop. She even beat a Starbucks opening up next to her. 27 years. Survived the Great Recession and helped local owners to survive. But not this. One small business, one unique story. Gone.

Each week we are closed, scratch another 5% of small businesses. It's possible when they re-open downtown, I might have to bring my lunch in and even more creepy, it'll feel like I'm in the Omega Man or I am Legend. Hardly nothing will remain open. My wife says people will fill the void but who has the assets after this. People who are unemployed are eating into those assets. I myself had to take a 5% cut in pay for the remainder of the year and UAB stopped their matching of the 401Ks - which start seeing people stop funding their 401ks pretty soon. I'm stopping mine until when and if they resume. For now, I'll put the extra cash into an emergency fund for the possibility that down the road UAB has to furlough everyone and shut down the hospital and campus.

 

Not if someone like Vax is sick and can’t get one. He could get a flu test.

 

A lot of doctor's have a litmus test that symptom's have to be severe enough to justify giving out limited coronavirus tests. We experienced this first hand. So I would not make that assumption.

You can blindly defend Trump's baseless claims or you can trust state Governers and the medical/science community. That is your choice.

 

Depressingly consistent in that 5.8% range

 

When you get to 65 and go on Medicare your supplemental insurance if you decide to buy any will most likely include silver sneakers. That’s what I have. Last I checked about 14 thousand gyms in the US accept it. It’s free with your insurance. All you have to do is sign up.

Just another thing to hate us baby boomers for. Lol

Please don’t take this as me wishing you were old. Lol

 

Stepfather got a scare in Ga. and practically had to demand a test; oh, and it took 6 days to get the results... someone can unknowingly infect countless folks in 6 days.

 

I mean, technically Canada is less densely populated than the US, but really, hardly anyone lives in those other places. 90% of their population is within 100 miles of the US border (and most of the rest of that is in Calgary and Edmonton). Most of Canada is empty space. Incredibly beautiful empty space, but mostly empty space.

I agree that the real comparison would be of the major metropolitan areas.

 

I used to go to the gym with a friend who made fun of the big upper body guys with skinny calves.

He would ask the guys he got to know if they were from Texas. When they answered no and asked why,,,,
He would say,,, I figured you were from Texas because someone done wrestled your calves.

 

This may be the most unaware statement posted in a while. I base zero...zip...nada...opinion of what Trump says. All I know is I am in a state that the Governor warned of no tests and overrun hospitals, and neither was ever a problem. Not even close. We are not alone.

Again, I ask, where can you not get a needed test on April 6th, 2020 outside of maybe a very small number of hotspot type areas? I contend that much like those who keep bringing up the admins failures two months ago (valid btw), we are living in the past on this idea that people cant get tested.

We are well beyond that in most places. Again, lets be honest about the good and the bad.

 

That was then, this is now. My little sister couldn't get a test a few weeks ago. But if she needed one now she would be able to without a problem.

We have been improving our capacity to test, and this is a good thing.