Coronavirus in the United States - news and thoughts

Because this is a country full of people who think a pandemic is something that only happens to 17th century peasants. It's never personally affected them in their lifetimes, therefore it doesn't really exist. You can extrapolate the rest from there.

 

Wow. I hope everything gets better for her.

 

President needs to declare covid19 a national disaster and declare a Stafford Act.

“Waivers cannot be invoked until and unless there is a Presidential Stafford Act declaration,” the agency noted, saying that it was “prepared to exercise that authority should it become available.”

 

Because they need to make some BS criteria because there are not enough test kits available.

 

I was just told I am remote only for the next two weeks.
I am lucky, my job isn’t impacted (in fact we will be busier) and I am essentially quarantined as much as I want to be.
But think of all the people whose hours are being cut, laid off, or 60+ year olds that have to go to work because they can’t afford not to etc.

 

Nah... I think it comes easy based on years of practice.

 

Update:

Not sure if it’s good or bad. Flu test came back negative, so that’s a win, but the doctor thinks she has viral bronchitis. So the question is which virus. After some finagling they secured a COVID-19 test for her. They then gave her the option: free test through the state but no results for two weeks, or $200 and a couple days through a private lab. I don’t see what good a free test does if you don’t get the results for two weeks... Needless to say we paid it.

 

I get that. But I don't see anyone really thinking or suggesting that the world is going to end, not on here at least. There is rational alarm that shouldn't be played down. I've written it a bunch on here, it's because we don't have any vaccines or antivirals yet so the levers to deal with this pandemic are limited. Life might go on but this is about trying to prevent loss of many individuals lives. Your attitude seems to me that none of this matters and that there isn't any alarm that should be had at all, which seems awfully misguided.

 

Best to her and you. That it would take two weeks for a free test is imo evvidence of how behind-the-eight ball we are in terms of testing, which was likely preventable.

 

I'm selfish, but if they wouldn’t give me a test I would honestly (no pun intended) lie, about it.

I was in Italy 6 months ago (last Oct).

Thankfully no symptoms in this family and tragic we have a poster with some.

 

Ding ding ding.

 

Actually you are being realistic in your thinking. My wife and I discussed this same thing last night because here in the Maldives there has already been an island where a reported case (not confirmed) turned into people trying to throw the person off of the island violently. Then there is the other factor of being shunned due to a rumour. The government proudly decided that anyone "presumptive" , and do know they have no test kits so "presumed" is the word, would mandatorily be sent to a remote island for 14 days without realizing that a mother cannot leave their children simply based on the societal norms in place here. It has been announced also that the populated islands would be shut down completely if even one case is announced. We also fear the vindictive people that would actually do a "Salem witch hunt" type thing against their enemies.
I am not afraid of getting the virus and for very justifiable reasons but I would not for our own safety announce it as this thing has been blown up to the point that there is going to be ignorance winning the "how stupid can people be" trophy. The longer this goes, the bigger the stories get, the bigger the issues that come from it.

 

As I have literally pleaded for people to use common sense versus drama in regards to this virus then I will explain why I hold my opinion so strong. This virus is actually a non factor in the overall lives of billions of the world and should be dealt with as a health issue but not in the dramatic sequences occurring now. You see, nobody wants to be seen as 'not caring" or not doing something so politicians etc. do too much and boast about doing too much which in turn brings on mass fear and some of you actually believing that they know something we don't.

Fact is we know what we need to know. The effects of the virus, who it affects the worst, why it affects the elderly the worst, who it doesn't affect and why you should not be freaking out about it and buying 100 rolls of toilet paper or buying every package of pasta for your selfish fear. Humans by and far have no stop button when it comes to fearing the worst of anything. One person gets hit by a car on a road, next day 15 protestors are demanding a million dollar crosswalk. Child comes home from daycare and says that Mrs. Smith locked her into a closet and did witchcraft every day and suddenly the entire USA has kids that have been viewing satanic rituals at daycare (fyi..for the younger folks on here, this actually happened in the 80's). No stop button and the implications can be very serious.

Shutting down sporting events, limiting flights, not allowing festivals (over 500 people?), shutting down schools (even though the young are not even touched by virus), amusement parks, restaurants closing and the list grows by the minute. You say its necessary as a fight against the spread and I say it's going to do more harm than the perceived precautions. Hoarding of food has already begun, Hoarding of cleaning supplies has already begun and soon shortages will enhance the effects. But, the major implications are going to rock this country and the world as businesses begin failing and the employees that were riding the employment high suddenly find themselves with no money to pay their Best Buy card or the car payments or the house payments or buy groceries. Then the government will have to step in and give a whopping $20.00 a week for assistance. What are people going to do? Starve? Live in a box or local church? Al of these shutdowns are going to trickle down as suppliers find themselves not supplying which in turn means layoffs which in turn means less money being spent. Yes it is neither selfish nor rude to suggest that economics and survival are joined together and unless people start looking at the facts and quit analyzing the numbers to the point that, "it is announced that 1 man in Louisville has been confirmed positive" and making it sound as if everyone will get it then things are going to get really bad for life in the US and around the world and recovery will not be fast. We will end up having created a separate reason for people needing to be hospitalized and even the number 1 reason for people dying from Covid, pneumonia, will now end up being a byproduct of being homeless or old without the ability to afford needed medicines.

Now, some of you will say that I am willing to sacrifice the elderly's lives for the economy and I say yes and no. The simple fact is that for most of these deaths the trigger could have been a cold, mold, diet as they have been living on the edge with their current health issues for whatever period of time. There is no argument that the trend is elderly with underlying conditions or anyone with immunity issues should take additional precautions. Anything could and anything has always been a factor in those with these issues and is not specific to this virus. The number of deaths shown does not take into account the actual health status of those with immune deficiencies nor the actual physical nature. All we get is a total of dead. So while everyone is trying to play God by avoiding life around them then I suggest that every virus has it's deaths and every virus spreads and every virus terminates for a while. We shouldn't be putting into place more issues by putting people out of work (yes they will blame the virus on their deaths too even though we created it) and we shouldn't have to make it necessary for people to demand or beg the government give back tax money so they can eat!

Americans and humans in general have NO STOP SIGNS only dramatic fears when given the opportunity and those of us looking at this realistically are called out as being uncaring or narcissistic as if we are the freaks for not buying 100 rolls of toilet paper. I am not a religion kind of guy but I do believe in God so I want to throw this out to people. Everyday, the mantra is to trust in God and know that he will protect so why now are people not doing such? Are you really on the edge of death because you went to the mall or a rock concert? NO! Folks these happenings have been going on and not one single one has created a mass infection! Think about it. Now waiting for the excuse of under reporting which I get but if they aren't being reported and life continues on then what is the big deal? How many of those elderly were dying already? How many were on the path to dying already? Common sense is very necessary now.

 

Based upon info from the CDC and CNN there were a total of 2146 cases in US+ with 49 deaths to date - 2.3% death rate down from the 3.2% as of mid-week. Excluding Washington state, total # of cases was 1578 with 12 deaths - 0.8%, down from 1.0% midweek.

It should be noted that the # of cases reported by the CNN is likely low as it is reporting 51 cases in Florida while floridahealth.gov is listing 64 cases in Florida. The # of deaths in Florida remains @ 2 while a third Floridian has died in California after returning from travel in Asia.


Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) in the U.S.

A state-by-state breakdown of US coronavirus cases - CNN

COVID-19 | Florida Department of Health