Corona Virus #7

[IslandTractor]

Other than some poor judgment comments early on...there is very little that could have been done until fear hit the general public and legislators on both sides had the support of their constituents...It's easy to point fingers and make accusations but in reality there is very little that could have been done (without bipartisan support) before the SHTF...!

I agree that no significant actions could have been taken nationally until the public understood the severity of the risk. That is exactly why the early ill educated commentary from POTUS was so damaging. If he’d started telling the real story in press conferences beginning in late January, the country wouldn’t have had to wait until the SHTF to take serious action.

POTUS wasn’t the only one who failed (Deblasio comes to mind as well as Spring Break on the Beach governor of FL) but POTUS’s failure was epic.

 

[Pixguy]

delete

 

[newbury]

This site has projections down to the county level of when hospitals will be overwhelmed under various scenarios (social distancing, lockdown, etc): Covid Act Now

Site lacks data

We either weren't able to get data for Itawamba County, MS, or no cases have yet been confirmed.

They have been reporting 3 cases for many days.

 

[rswyan]

IMO The captain was fully aware of the implications and consequences his memo would have...there is more to the story whether it comes out is another matter...

Second guessing any failures of early responses is a two way street...if either side would have clamored for funds they would have been railed...There was only one elected leader that was sounding the alarm: Coronavirus Crisis & Tom Cotton: Senator Who Saw Pandemic Coming | National Review

An alternative take, with additional facts:

From distraction to disaster: How coronavirus crept up on Washington - POLITICO

Senator Cotton is certainly to be commended regardless.

Then there is this:

Whistleblower says HHS didn't give quarantine staff protective gear, training - POLITICO

Other than some poor judgment comments early on...there is very little that could have been done until fear hit the general public and legislators on both sides had the support of their constituents...It's easy to point fingers and make accusations but in reality there is very little that could have been done (without bipartisan support) before the SHTF...!

Disagree.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

Just my 2 cents and food-for-thought, not political.

I hear the drumbeat for a federal order of "shelter at home" growing louder. I do agree that all non-essential folks should stay at home and that cities, counties and states should issue these orders as necessary. However, I think this is psychologically much different than a federal order for such. I think if the government would issue such a mandate, I fear all **** will break loose and you'll see a complete economic and societal collapse because it will be perceived that "all is lost" and it's now every man for themselves. I think you'd be likely to see hording, looting and lawlessness on a level we haven't seen. Some of the European countries have issued such orders, but their societies are different from ours with the average person having a much greater reliance on their government in their day to day lives. I'm not sure Americans would act the same, especially as time grew under such orders.

I can see people getting feed up and all restraints failing since this is more likely to be a 6-18 month event as was the Spanish Flu. I think the more force used (like in China) will just lead to more force to riot. If people start leaving their homes carrying 3 loaded guns it will get dicey quickly. Hopefully the people and their guns stay at home.

On the upside locally it is farming time so people are going more and more because we can't afford to miss a harvest in 2020 because no food down the road may be worse than the virus. Unless people are dying like flies come April 15 people are going to be out and about in my part of the world some Hades or high water I expect. The delaying the virus spread would be over at that point.

Hopefully the hospitals have used this time to get prepared for many COVID-19 patients.

 

[pennwalk]

I'd like to see people thinking about how we get people back to work safely. My wife's engineering company has almost all been working from home but that sure doesn't work for all. Surely with the right safety equipment many more people could go back to work. We live in a complicated world but that doesn't mean we can't figure out how to solve problems.

Chris

 

[/pine]

...Disagree.

Hindsight is 20-20 and finger pointing etc. is expected...but regardless of everything that was said or should have been said would have fallen on deaf ears (the public) until the bodies started piling up so to speak...Nobody minus a few were taking it seriously and even if they would have taken it more seriously nothing of importance could have been done...
Declaring a national emergency before there is one is always a bad idea and once reality was setting in with the public the herd mentality had already commenced...

Do you finger pointers really think that if the earliest announcements contained worse case scenarios that the public would have calmly started stocking up on food and necessary products in a civil polite manner with no hording?...I don't think so...

Also when the earliest warnings were starting and prompted the admin to make an announcement even less was known about what was going on in china and exactly how bad they thought it could get...even today they are not getting factual data from china...

Because we live in a partisan world people are going to be misguided into thinking the fingers they are pointing are aimed correctly even when they are not...china bears the brunt of the blame whether people care to believe it or not...

 

[rekees4300]

Yesterday the Treasury Dept. updated their guidelines about those who normally do not file tax returns. Those folks will no longer be required to file a so-called "simple tax return" to qualify for the $1,200 stimulus payment. Now they need to do nothing since the IRS will get their information from other sources like Social Security Administration.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

I think we can think/act our way forward out of our current issues but not all are going to wait before doing crazy things that only harms the odds for all like burning 5G towers,etc.

Idiots ‘BURNING 5G masts’ after conspiracy that ‘radiation sparked coronavirus’ is spread by celebs – The Sun

 

[k0ua]

Well......

We was just running our yapps. didn't mean nothing by it...