Jenksismyhero

So the data they speak about in the first 15 minutes - number of people tested, % of those people testing positive, and then deaths, all extrapolated out to the total population - is wrong based on what you've seen?

Lol, you considered it for less than 5 minutes. So typical. "Does not fit my narrative, immediately ignore."

Very long, but an interesting perspective here.

My secretary and her family all got it this weekend. Well, at least one confirmed this weekend, but they all had/have the same symptoms for the last couple weeks (gradually increasing in severity). Despite Trump's promise that anyone who wants a test can get one, only one of them could get tested because she was ultimately admitted to the hospital. The other two were not admitted, and the hospital staff explained that they could not waste a test on someone who was not admitted. One of them also went to the ER a week ago with the same symptoms, and instead of being tested, they were chastised for coming to the ER to begin with. Communication on this issue is really piss poor at basically every level it sounds like.

A lot of this economic disruption is short term though. Once businesses can operate again, most of those jobs will come back. Sure, not all will, not all businesses will re-open, and for those that do, it may take some time to get back to where they were before this. But the reason the economy is tanking is not because the fundamentals are bad. It's because the government literally told people to stop going to work.

But you won't see that on a personal level like after 9/11. Businesses may clean more, for example, but that's behind the scenes. Travel won't change for the average person (I can't see them implementing mandatory health checks for each flight...they aren't even doing that in the height of the pandemic). And yeah, hopefully the government takes this seriously and keeps a pandemic response/biological security team in place, but we had that just a few years ago and no one thought about it. On a personal, day to day level, this doesn't compare to the effects of 9/11 except for the disruption which I grant you will be months, not weeks.

A fluke terrorist attack that changed how we travel, how we conduct business, how we manage our security, etc. We created a whole new division of our government/military because of it. Our entire worldview changed because of it. You think we'll keep practicing social distancing after this? Buying more delivery/curbside food? You think sports leagues will close forever? The only change I see sticking is being more mindful of washing our hands. Maybe telecommuting will be more common (businesses have now been forced to try it and they'll likely see productivity doesn't drop at all). That's about it.

The economic impact is historical for sure, but similar to the great depression (assuming we get to that point). 675k people died in the US from the spanish flu so....this isn't even the worst pandemic for our country, let alone the worst crisis in general. And frankly the number of deaths doesn't make a crisis more or less "historical." 9/11 had 3k or less victims and to me, that was more of a crisis than this. It literally changed every aspect of our lives and still does. This coronavirus is going to be a short term, "boy that was a weird couple of months!" blip. As soon as this passes we'll go right back to how we were before (with hopefully a better procedure/practice for preventing the next one). Again, when you overstate the problem, people discount it. Why even talk in such extremes? It's a serious fucking problem. That's all that needs to be said.

This right here is why you have the hoax/conspiracy nuts. Young people (under 30) have a terrible understanding of history and how society today compares. So when you say crap like this, the Trump supporter who is 65-75 and has seen some worse shit (e.g., being forced to go to war vs. being forced to stay home and watch TV all day) immediately discounts it. This isn't the most dire crisis this country has faced. It probably doesn't even rank in the top 5. It's a serious, serious problem though and overstating it's seriousness is just as detrimental as understating it.

So what's the running theory on why the European countries have such a higher mortality rate than the US? Stronger strain of the virus?

Trump can talk all he wants about this but states have taken the lead and continue to do so. My guess is if the medical community is saying we're not ready by Easter, Cuomo, Pritzker, Newsom, etc. will extend the shelter-in-place orders.

That should absolutely be part of this stimulus. They were able to restrict Trump (and WH and Congressional staff/family) from getting this money, they should also exclude any company that has dodged federal laws/taxes in the last decade.

I don't believe for a second China has beat this or has it under control. There are probably thousands or tens of thousands of bodies buried somewhere. The country that lied about this to start is now telling us the truth on their numbers? No chance.

I agree!

At some point in the next couple weeks, we're going to have to have the conversation I brought up a week or two ago - whether these short term efforts are going to end up making things worse in the long term. 50% unemployment? Everyone on the government payroll? Economic shutdown until June? We're going to turn into a true nanny/socialist state with no hope of going back...