Coronavirus/Covid-19 Discussion Thread

[DRW50]

I don't normally post Trump tweets but I saw this one and my heart went to my throat. He's going to try to kill us all.

 

 

[Chris B]

I muted him on Twitter to avoid seeing things like that, but it does seem dire. The irony is that republicans in the senate seem to be the ones having to quarantine and seem to be in more danger because they simply aren't taking this seriously. I worry with the Senate that things will get worse for all of them due to the lack of pre cautions being taken. Then so many people are still taking this too lightly assuming they'll get government checks. I havent' been counting on that because we know how full of it these people are. As we can see by the bill they're trying to pass, it's likely most Americans won't get anything and the businesses will be the ones saved. If that happens I can't imagine how Americans will react.

[DRW50]

 

Bots on Twitter are setting them up to blame Pelosi and the Democrats. And many will. Dumbasses on the left went out of their way to make sure people would blame Pelosi and Democrats too. It's sad. The left is increasingly fond of Trump and will support him over Biden in many cases, while the right continues to worship him. The more deranged he gets the more this triggers a positive response in so many of the sick, depraved people in this country. 

 

I never thought we were getting a check. It's a setup for a blame game. And so many, many people fell for it, most of all the media. Look at this nonsense about the realignment of the parties and how the Republicans now want the government to help people. No basis in truth, but people will lap it up, because it makes them feel good.

 

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/03/23/coronavirus-rewiring-republican-democratic-parties-141298

[Huntress]

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has been put under quarantine:

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/03/22/world/angela-merkel-coronavirus-quarantine/index.html

 

The average age of infected people in Germany is 45, the average age of coronavirus victims in Germany is 82.
At least 2800 people have recovered from the virus so far.

 

Help across borders: Switzerland, Luxembourg and Germany have offered France to take in coronavirus patients:

https://www.reuters.com/article/health-coronavirus-germany-france/update-1-german-swiss-hospitals-to-treat-coronavirus-patients-from-eastern-france-idUSL8N2BF0J8

[DRW50]

This is the type of death fuel that is being endorsed by the White House. It's what Dominic Cummings and Boris Johnson tried their best to do in the UK. 

 

 

[Faulkner]

 

[xtr]

 

I can understand why people are upset about Trump's leadership and weary of decisions he wants to make that. That being said while I don't agree with Trump when it comes to a lot of things, but I do think that evaluating things after a couple weeks is actually a good idea. Though, I don't know what/how definitive decisions can be made at that time. I think that people need to take things a bit slower here, especially since there is still things we don' t know about the virus. I do feel like are trying to make long terms decisions and that those decisions could will have long term and devastating ramifications for people and the economy. Things that could end up being more damaging than even the impact of the virus.

 

Losing jobs creates it's own set of problems including health problems for people to include hurting people who suffer from depression, are suicidal, need to work to try and pay for medications to help deal with serious health conditions etc... I feel like these things are being overlooked in all of this hysteria over the virus. Heck even something that would seem not that big of a deal like closing down gyms hurts at risk people like the homeless. Many people who are working homeless got to places like gyms in LA and shower/shave. Now that the gyms are closed down, where they are supposed to go maintain personal hygiene.

 

I saw mention that some of the shelters there are inadequate and aren't equipped to help them. More people not being able to clean themselves will definitely help the spread of a virus. That could exacerbate the spread of a virus much more than people just going out to some place. But that's the type of stuff that a lot people aren't thinking about in all of this panic. I also wonder if we could see an increase in crime as people become more despondent as they are losing their jobs and not having any resources.

 

I do think that the ramifications of the panic over this virus could have an even worse impact than the virus itself. And at some point are going to have weigh the other issues that are resulting from all of the panic and shutting down things against the actual damage the virus is actual doing. And at some point, people are going to have to open back up the economy for most people. They are going to have to. Most people can not sit home long term (or even short term), and they still haven't come up with an agreement on the stimulus plan. And even if they do, unless it's monthly payments for a while, it;'s only going to do so much.

 

I think that some people on places like Twitter live in a fantasy world, where they think that a lot of people can just stay at home long term and it's not like that. I wonder how many of these people actually work or depend on working people to survive. I honestly don't get them or their line of thinking. I do see people pushing for long term shutdown and I don't think that's the direction we should go in.

 

We have to be realistic when it's all said and done about what can and can't be done. I do feel like things need to be evaluated periodically and that long term decisions shouldn't be made right now. It might have to start with at a point,  opening back up the economy for more people, but still encouraging/insisting they go home after work type of thing for a bit. (Unless they need to get stuff like groceries). I think they would have been better off doing that initially and encouraging the high risk people to stay at home. And people to be careful/protective of the high risk people. And do whatever can be done regarding things like trying to get more tests/create a vaccine.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 23, 2020 by xtr

[DRW50]

 

I think this is a complicated situation and I agree with those who say the current economic situation isn't sustainable. Unfortunately I don't see this as evaluating, I see it as tantruming because the stock market is his baby and he will do anything to try to not be known as the President who caused another depression. There's been no effort to give people money through the crisis, which even center-right countries like El Salvador seem to be proposing. What we will get here is people continuing to be broke, many of them not being paid for the time off, many of them forced back into work at a peak time of contagion. He won't implement these plans in a way that minimizes harm, because he doesn't know how and he doesn't care and he doesn't let anyone who does care have any say in decisions. 

 

He is willing to kill millions of people to get what he wants. 

Edited March 23, 2020 by DRW50

[DramatistDreamer]

 

Well, if these prison riots in Colombia are any indication as to how desperate people might react when they feel as though there are no safeguards, it won't bode well, especially in terms of law and order.

 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/bogota-prison-riot-over-coronavirus-kills-nearly-two-dozen/ar-BB11xWUq

[Faulkner]

 

[DramatistDreamer]

The NYT has this article with comments from scientists and other experts who have been involved in fighting other infectious diseases about how coronavirus can be stopped-- they all seem to agree that harsh measures are really the only successful way, which seems anathema to how most Americans function.

 

The Virus Can Be Stopped, but Only With Harsh Steps, Experts Say

[xtr]

 

 

The more you learn.... (And I wouldn't be surprised if more stuff comes that out that would contradict the less try and force as many people to stay at home idea that people are pushing).

 

Honestly, this makes more sense than trying to force most people to remain cooped up at home. Regardless of whether they have the virus, showing symptoms, or are even live/usually interact with higher risk people. 

 

I've always felt one of the first priorities should have been trying to shield/protect the higher risk people. But that doesn't mean to try and force as many people as possible including healthy people without symptoms to stay at home for longer periods of time. Healthy people should go to work and just be careful in regards to doing other things. (An exception being if they are in an area, where the virus is widespread.) Go to work/provide for yourself/your family (Including possibly the high risk people who can't work right now or at all), and don't do things like gathering in large groups for a while/riskier behavior for a bit until things calm down.

 

All of this forcing people out of work and to be cooped up, presents it's own set of problems..., problems that could also be dangerous and unhealthy people. Could you imagine being cooped up with a bunch of family members for several days especially in a small space, like an apartment, instead of being allowed a bit of break to go out and go to work. Especially if a family member already has it. I can see how people would get sick from that/spread sickness... It makes sense.

 

Let healthy people work and hold down the economy while we do our best to try and protect the higher risk people. Higher risk people are the ones that should be at home/safe guarded. We've already been implementing this at my job. Really high risk people are now working from home. My pregnant co-worker I believe is about to start working from home. And some of the higher risk, that want to come into the office (and would have to to fully do their jobs) we have taken measures to protect them. We've arranged to where they aren't going to be interacting face to face with clients, but can still interact with them via email, phone and can still do work for them.

 

We even changed the way we operate in the offices and have made physical changes, Toys from the waiting rooms are now gone, we offered discounts to encourage people to do drop off services, we've changed from using rolling chairs to straight back chairs, so clients are less likely to roll around and interact with people. We've limited it to two people (including children for appointments). As well as making sure we continue to wipe/santize/clean things. And we're a business that is actually deemed essential, yet we still are taking those extra steps to protect people, to include employees and clients. There's stuff you can do, to protect people, without shutting down businesses and taking away people's jobs. 

 

Heck, I would have rather governments as a whole allowed most people to work but issued some type of ordinance about how you are only allowed to work/do essentials things for a little bit. And say they would fine people, if they didn't follow that rule, instead of just shutting down businesses and taking away people's jobs. Now granted some people would have still said trying to fine people is extreme, but most people would take that over losing their jobs.

 

 

Edited March 23, 2020 by xtr

[DRW50]

 

I think China was literally sealing people up in their homes at various points. 

 

It's difficult for me to gauge their success because they lie so much. 

[DramatistDreamer]

The only problem with that strategy of setting aside centers for recuperation of mild and moderate symptoms possibly failing in a place like the U.S. is that you have places like Darien, CT that have rabid NIMBY-ism.  It's the reason why the U.S. has such a vicious cycle of homelessness.

[DRW50]

 

In an ideal world, the policies Newsom is making about rehousing the homeless would be used even after all this is over, but they won't.