News Worldwide impact of the novel coronavirus (covid-19)

[Teasel]

 

[somerandomguy]

I hope the US medical system holds for you guys. Tough days ahead:(

Yeah, especially since we're now in the "Hey, my prescription worked, so now I don't have to take it anymore" phase apparently.

 

[lostforgottensoul]

Then you scroll down and hit the US stats, and it's a bit like someone accidentally hit the zero key too many times or something - cases utterly eclipsing anywhere else in the world.

Yeah and loads of people are still protesting (in groups of 20 to 50, super close to each other, without any masks or face coverings of any kind) to reopen to country and to do so faster.

It seems people are so densentized to death now that those numbers don't mean anything to them or scare them anymore.

 

[Mach123]

 

[scout86]

It seems people are so densentized to death now that those numbers don't mean anything to them or scare them anymore.

I'm not sure that's it. I think it's more likely that they either have convinced themselves that the whole thing is "fake", or they've convinced themselves that nothing's going to happen to THEM, so it doesn't matter.

I live in Minnesota. I can assure you that that protest was a small group of people and not typical of the state. Even the Trump voters I know get what an epidemic is and are taking it seriously. Maybe this is an advantage to living in a agricultural area. People have actually SEEN diseases go through and wipe out a herd. (Or they know someone who has.)

I hope, come Nov., we manage to liberate ourselves from the current administration. Meanwhile, the number of cases and deaths continue to go up here, but not at a crazy rate and not beyond the capacity of the health care system to handle. And, outdoor shooting ranges are open, because social distancing should be quite doable. Our constitutional rights seem to be quite intact.

 

[blackemerald1]

When I heard Trump say at a news conference today that 'America had done the best, out of the whole world aside from Germany in beating the virus' - it was a surreal moment.

I thought I will wake up from this nightmare soon surely and it won't be true, not any of it. Can I please have some of his drugs?

 

[lostforgottensoul]

When I heard Trump say at a news conference today that 'America had done the best, out of the whole world aside from Germany in beating the virus' - it was a surreal moment

It's an election year. Everything that is said at those press conferences are said with that in mind!

 

[Neverthesame]

I think it's people who are frustrated with not being able to work, watching their own government screw them out of aid packages because of silly tribalism.

The whole point of doing this lock-down of non-essential business was because the Chinese said it worked wonders for them. Welp, that turned out to be bullshit.
Yes, it's helped. No doubt about that, but it's not the quick and simple fix it was lauded to be.
Now you have whole industries suffering, businesses permanently closing, food banks close to turning people away.

You have people needing to get back to work. They're not stupid, they know it's a risk. So if they are going to deliberately put themselves in harms way to make a point, you might as well let them do it to make some money. (Yes. I know why that's bad, don't lecture me please.)

When you have world renowned organizations like the WHO suggesting stupid nonsense like prohibition. Or Politicians like Pelosi blocking aid bills then taking a holiday. What are people supposed to think?
She has a nice ice cream collection BTW.

Trump isn't better, but at least he makes it look like he's trying.

I don't think there's any really good way to handle this. But I know I personally have zero faith in my government to do anything but fine me $1200 for accidentally walking too close to some random on the sidewalk.
Up here in Alberta, a social distancing ticket is $1200 up to $500,000 for a third offence.
Paid for by who? EI?.... Complete lunacy.

Last time I went to the grocery store, I had a security guard without a mask on rush up 3 inches from my face, pointing a spray bottle of food production surface sanitizer at me. As if that would do anything.
It's what you use on countertops after you wash them with soap. We use the exact same stuff where I work, same company supplies it. It says right on the bottle not to use it on people. (Not dangerous, just useless)

The look of suprise on his face when I told him to get the hell away from me was priceless.
Went to a different grocery store. (Surprisingly not because I was kicked out, that was my choice.)

I really did like the one protest (can't remember where, sorry) where everyone stayed in their cars honking their horns, that was a much safer way of protesting.

 

[user27357]

I really did like the one protest (can't remember where, sorry) where everyone stayed in their cars honking their horns, that was a much safer way of protesting.

Not sure where you saw that but it sounds like the one in my state. Our capitol is closed, not in session, and the governor is elsewhere. They were drive-by protesting for the benefit of the groundskeepers and security staff. And some news cameras.

Seriously (this is probably not going to interest most people), there are counties here with 0 cases and where social distancing means not inviting the UPS guy in for coffee. The vast majority of our state's population is clustered in 4 counties and the rest of the state is sparsely populated, mostly republican, reliant on agriculture, and hates the Democrats that control the house and senate and our dem female governor and our US senators and representatives. They have a point when they say they are not being represented on any level, but they also have the advantage of having the taxes that are collected in the population centers by the state to fund roads and schools and a thousand other things they need but could never pay for if they were ever forced to rely on their own tax base. On a person to person level, they hate the liberal city dwellers. On a people to people level, they need the cities and the taxes and the tourism to get by. They are not under any mandatory stay at home orders and even if they were, how could you possibly enforce it? The only fear they have is that the economy will tank. They need labor for the early crops, they need tourists to keep their own restaurants and hotels from folding, they need a strong economy to keep the markets for their produce strong. Not wearing a mask as you drive by the capitol honking the horn is a way to let off some steam, taking home the virus.....not sure what that is.

 

[siniang]

Why False Claims About COVID-19 Refuse to Die - Issue 84: Outbreak - Nautilus

 

[Sideways]

The whole point of doing this lock-down of non-essential business was because the Chinese said it worked wonders for them. Welp, that turned out to be bullshit.

China is a long way from being the only example now, though. Comparisons between countries are difficult, but certainly large-scale closures and large fines for ignoring stay-at-home orders seems to have done the trick here. Our new virus numbers have completely flatlined.

You have people needing to get back to work. They're not stupid, they know it's a risk.

And this may be one of the key differences - the ability of government(s) to unify to take meaningful steps to support people who are suffering financially. I was gobsmacked that Congress actually fought over the US stimulus package, for example. Like, really? Is this the time for politics?

And if you have a large number of the public feeling like their government isn't going to back them financially, and help keep a roof over their head if the lockdowns cost them their job? Then yeah, it would be a very bitter pill to swallow, and not one that people with kids to feed can necessarily afford to take, no matter how much public health is at stake.

And it may be that element that's distinguishing the US and motivating protests there, where other places aren't protesting. Idk.

 

[scout86]

The whole point of doing this lock-down of non-essential business was because the Chinese said it worked wonders for them.

I'm not sure that's actually true. It's a pretty basic concept, when dealing with an epidemic, that if you keep the sick people away from the healthy people, you get less sick people. Because it's difficult to do this perfectly (at least with people) you're still going to get more sick people, but a lot slower than if you let everyone run loose.

I hope someday someone does a study on what methods worked best. Here, no one is getting fined for being out & about. They went after a few businesses early on, but they're telling people that "recreational driving" is actually ok. Go sightseeing, just stay in your car. This has not been at all heavy handed, at least it doesn't seem that way to me.

I was gobsmacked that Congress actually fought over the US stimulus package, for example. Like, really? Is this the time for politics?

I haven't paid as much attention to that as I probably should have, but that COULD have been a legitimate difference of opinion on the best way to handle things. The way I heard it, the Democrats were holding out trying to make sure more aid got to "real people", local governments, etc. I haven't fact checked that.

I WISH, once this is all over, our governments would sit down and think through "What do we need to make sure of in case of a disaster?". This happens to be the way I live my life. Granted, you don't deal with all problems the exact same way, but the same general points are usually relevant. It all goes back to the bottom levels of that hierarchy needs pyramid. Everyone is going to need food, shelter, health care, etc. How do we provide it? They could work this out in advance and avoid having to reinvent the computer software every time something something slightly different comes up.

Businesses that were serving a useful purpose and reasonably well managed should be able to come through to the other side of this, if they get adequate support during the crisis.

Maybe the ultimate lesson is that those of us who live in democracies need to do a better job of picking our leaders.