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An accurate analysis of the 2020 national election results would conclude that a huge portion of the American people do not support Democrat's leadership across the country trigger happy response in in shutting down their communities in response to the Covid 19 pandemic; one has to go back to 1998 the Geroge H.W. Bush election where the American people did not give the incoming President control of the U.S. Senate so he could get big stuff done and it is because the Democrat Party makes these policy decisions that does not incorporate wisdom, Democrats scare people! Democrats like to go around waving their banner about follow the science in stopping the spread of the Covid 19 virus but this slogan decision making process on policy doesn't fully calculate the non-health human cost in shutting down the economy to fight this virus spread. The Mayor of Philadelphia, James Kenney, with his heavy handed Covid 19 restrictions he intends to implement today is a glaring example of this lack of wisdom. These restrictions include a ban on indoor dining at restaurants a shutting down of fitness gyms, a ban on large social gatherings (weddings, baptisms, et. al.), ban on office work unless at-home work not possible, etc..
The prior Covid 19 restrictions has inflicted a terrible, terrible human costs on an abundance of Philadelphians. Many storied Philadelphia restaurants and bars have permanently shut down because of these restrictions as well as numerous other valuable small businesses. Make no mistake about it these new extremely onerous restrictions that at least run thru January 1 of 2021 will cause another large wave of small business permanent shutterings in Philadelphia. Remember it is not like Philadelphia has many other industries, like semiconductor or energy, to create jobs for their people; historically Philadelphia's restaurants and bars are a big draw on people visiting the City and people deciding to reside in the City. The City's gyms and other small businesses are another major draw for people deciding to reside in the City, Philadelphia officials unnecessarily causing the closure of these businesses puts the City on a downward spiral, loss of residents causes a loss of more businesses and taxes and business activity which causes a loss of more residents and visitors and the cycle keeps going!
What Philadelphia needs now is a mayor like former Mayor Ed Rendell who wasn't a wimp about taking criticism, that charted a growth path for the City and was at the forefront of fighting like hell to make it happen; instead what does Philadelphia got it has a Mayor like Jimmy Carter who laments his circumstances and is drowning in fear and paralysis! Maybe Mayor Kenney can get his Union buddies to wall off the center courtyard of City Hall and we can build a White House Rose garden for him there and he can stay there until the pandemic passes and whine and becry his unfair circumstances; we can really make the Mayor's role model's history come to life for him we could have the City's Health department have two trucks with loud speaker systems go around the City proclaiming City officials want to rescue you from the pandemic so make sure you maintain social distance and wash your hands frequently and then we could crash the trucks on Broad Street right in front of the School District headquarters we don't have to fear a lot of District staff being hurt because they are involved in the District's responsible "on-line" learning effort! I don't think Mayor James Kenney has anything to fear here in regards to his jeopardizing his hope to get a job in the Biden administration the plan to provide an ostentatious example of following the science and thereby being a good Democrat is right on track actually I think he should send his resume to the Biden team immediately I think he would be a perfect fit for the job of Director of Distribution of Food Stamps heaven knows after his turning large swaths of Philly's economy into rubble there will be a high demand for SNAP benefits amongst Philadelphians!
This is the way a courageous, optimally wise leader looks at this challenge. Yes, the virus is spreading at an extremely high rate and Philadelphians will see record breaking hospitalizations and death rates over this. Let us keep perspective about this, 1997 people in Philadelphia have died from Covid 19 (as of Nov. 19, 2020) and the population of the City is over 1.5 million people. Further, fifty-four percent of the fatalities from this virus were from people seventy-five years of age and older and "ninety" percent
of the fatalities are from the age group of fifty-five and older; therefore, most Philadelphians are not in real danger of dying from this virus! So the question such a leader should be asking him or herself is should that leader wreck the City's economy and wreck it's future in taking steps to fight this epidemic and I believe optimal prudence says no there isn't the case to justify such steps. How about the issue of the City's hospitalization resources being overwhelmed and people dying needlessly because of lack of medical care; this is a fictitious argument. Medical care for Covid 19 patients has progressed dramatically in the nine months since the country first saw this virus. Doctors on this disease have really honed their protocols they really understand how to assess patients clinically when they come into the hospital with the disease and what therapeutics and medical treatments to provide patients to help them recover and save their lives. Granted the spread of the virus could cause a dramatic increase in hospital beds to treat the sick but as what was done in New York City earlier in the year can be done in Philadelphia; large building like the Well Fargo Center and the Convention Center could be converted into hospitals and non-ICU doctors could be recruited and quickly trained to staff these new hospitals and give the sick patients the standard of care for their disease.
I am not saying City officials should not take some steps on restrictions to stop the spread of this virus the moderate response seen in many communities seems responsible to me that being closing bars and restaurants at 10 pm daily seems prudent at that time people tend to let down their guard and may not wear their mask or social distance; but the City's current policy initiative on Covid 19 restrictions is total overkill! I know what Mayor James Kenney deserves for his contribution to the City when he leaves office we can give him a real big silver medal for his dedication to following the science and as a prize for receiving the medal we can give him a book with lots of pictures and glossy pages and each page of the book can contain a photograph of a business that was permanently shuttered after November 20 because of the Mayor's restrictions and the number of employees who lost their job because of the closure and a description of the value of the business to the City, so the Mayor will have a long term reminder of his legacy as Mayor of Philadelphia!
Kenney is a limp hotdog. We're all aware. What can we do about it? He won re-election through the standard city political machine that has been ongoing for before most of us were born. And even so, what Republicans are doing a really good job of balancing public health and the economy? We're all open to suggestions.
Not a big Kenney fan but I will say that it's easy for all of us to be arm chair quarterbacks. As Dr. Fauci once said, the virus is in control all everyone else is doing is trying to deal with it the best way possible.
I agree with @ilovephilly79, this entire year is a gigantic cluster you know what,
Instead of having long periods of closing like this, I think there should be some back and forth. Like have certain things closed some days of the week but then open on other days. i.e. Have alternating months of closing indoor dining Fri- Sun and having restrictions in place otherwise.
This way, people can still make money, but we're still trying to limit capacity in small doses rather than too much at once. Too much all in a row I think hurts too many people economically, and I think the small doses approach would be feasible enough and provides more of an economic cushion that people can accept. I also think that every little bit here and there can help.
Especially since we've already waited a long time back in March. Trying to do it again so soon is a strain.
Location: The place where the road & the sky collide
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Quote:
Originally Posted by JimfromPennsyl
An accurate analysis of the 2020 national election results would conclude that a huge portion of the American people do not support Democrat's leadership across the country trigger happy response in in shutting down their communities in response to the Covid 19 pandemic; one has to go back to 1998 the Geroge H.W. Bush election where the American people did not give the incoming President control of the U.S. Senate so he could get big stuff done and it is because the Democrat Party makes these policy decisions that does not incorporate wisdom, Democrats scare people! Democrats like to go around waving their banner about follow the science in stopping the spread of the Covid 19 virus but this slogan decision making process on policy doesn't fully calculate the non-health human cost in shutting down the economy to fight this virus spread. The Mayor of Philadelphia, James Kenney, with his heavy handed Covid 19 restrictions he intends to implement today is a glaring example of this lack of wisdom. These restrictions include a ban on indoor dining at restaurants a shutting down of fitness gyms, a ban on large social gatherings (weddings, baptisms, et. al.), ban on office work unless at-home work not possible, etc..
The prior Covid 19 restrictions has inflicted a terrible, terrible human costs on an abundance of Philadelphians. Many storied Philadelphia restaurants and bars have permanently shut down because of these restrictions as well as numerous other valuable small businesses. Make no mistake about it these new extremely onerous restrictions that at least run thru January 1 of 2021 will cause another large wave of small business permanent shutterings in Philadelphia. Remember it is not like Philadelphia has many other industries, like semiconductor or energy, to create jobs for their people; historically Philadelphia's restaurants and bars are a big draw on people visiting the City and people deciding to reside in the City. The City's gyms and other small businesses are another major draw for people deciding to reside in the City, Philadelphia officials unnecessarily causing the closure of these businesses puts the City on a downward spiral, loss of residents causes a loss of more businesses and taxes and business activity which causes a loss of more residents and visitors and the cycle keeps going!
What Philadelphia needs now is a mayor like former Mayor Ed Rendell who wasn't a wimp about taking criticism, that charted a growth path for the City and was at the forefront of fighting like hell to make it happen; instead what does Philadelphia got it has a Mayor like Jimmy Carter who laments his circumstances and is drowning in fear and paralysis! Maybe Mayor Kenney can get his Union buddies to wall off the center courtyard of City Hall and we can build a White House Rose garden for him there and he can stay there until the pandemic passes and whine and becry his unfair circumstances; we can really make the Mayor's role model's history come to life for him we could have the City's Health department have two trucks with loud speaker systems go around the City proclaiming City officials want to rescue you from the pandemic so make sure you maintain social distance and wash your hands frequently and then we could crash the trucks on Broad Street right in front of the School District headquarters we don't have to fear a lot of District staff being hurt because they are involved in the District's responsible "on-line" learning effort! I don't think Mayor James Kenney has anything to fear here in regards to his jeopardizing his hope to get a job in the Biden administration the plan to provide an ostentatious example of following the science and thereby being a good Democrat is right on track actually I think he should send his resume to the Biden team immediately I think he would be a perfect fit for the job of Director of Distribution of Food Stamps heaven knows after his turning large swaths of Philly's economy into rubble there will be a high demand for SNAP benefits amongst Philadelphians!
This is the way a courageous, optimally wise leader looks at this challenge. Yes, the virus is spreading at an extremely high rate and Philadelphians will see record breaking hospitalizations and death rates over this. Let us keep perspective about this, 1997 people in Philadelphia have died from Covid 19 (as of Nov. 19, 2020) and the population of the City is over 1.5 million people. Further, fifty-four percent of the fatalities from this virus were from people seventy-five years of age and older and "ninety" percent
of the fatalities are from the age group of fifty-five and older; therefore, most Philadelphians are not in real danger of dying from this virus! So the question such a leader should be asking him or herself is should that leader wreck the City's economy and wreck it's future in taking steps to fight this epidemic and I believe optimal prudence says no there isn't the case to justify such steps. How about the issue of the City's hospitalization resources being overwhelmed and people dying needlessly because of lack of medical care; this is a fictitious argument. Medical care for Covid 19 patients has progressed dramatically in the nine months since the country first saw this virus. Doctors on this disease have really honed their protocols they really understand how to assess patients clinically when they come into the hospital with the disease and what therapeutics and medical treatments to provide patients to help them recover and save their lives. Granted the spread of the virus could cause a dramatic increase in hospital beds to treat the sick but as what was done in New York City earlier in the year can be done in Philadelphia; large building like the Well Fargo Center and the Convention Center could be converted into hospitals and non-ICU doctors could be recruited and quickly trained to staff these new hospitals and give the sick patients the standard of care for their disease.
I am not saying City officials should not take some steps on restrictions to stop the spread of this virus the moderate response seen in many communities seems responsible to me that being closing bars and restaurants at 10 pm daily seems prudent at that time people tend to let down their guard and may not wear their mask or social distance; but the City's current policy initiative on Covid 19 restrictions is total overkill! I know what Mayor James Kenney deserves for his contribution to the City when he leaves office we can give him a real big silver medal for his dedication to following the science and as a prize for receiving the medal we can give him a book with lots of pictures and glossy pages and each page of the book can contain a photograph of a business that was permanently shuttered after November 20 because of the Mayor's restrictions and the number of employees who lost their job because of the closure and a description of the value of the business to the City, so the Mayor will have a long term reminder of his legacy as Mayor of Philadelphia!
'98 was not a presidential election year. 2000 was W vs Gore. I stopped reading at that point. HW was prior to Clinton, not after.
I did plow through all that, and boy, was it heavy lifting. But even if JimfromPennsyl got some of his facts wrong, I've generally been disappointed by Jim Kenney's performance as Mayor, and I tend to lean left of center. (You would think I'd be delighted over all his virtue signaling. That's the worst aspect of his administration.) This new round of restrictions is no exception. Yes, we need to do something to flatten the curve again and keep the hospitals from overflowing (don't forget, our hospitals also handle people coming from places without the facilities needed to handle COVID-19 patients elsewhere in the state too, though it's not as bad here as it is in many states to our west because most of our smaller cities do have such facilities, easing the burden on the big-city hospitals). But it seems to me that these restrictions weren't really thought through.
I understand the desire to reduce inter-household transmission of the virus, but the blanket ban on gatherings of unrelated people in public and private places is IMO unenforceable. And what will it do for the well-being of our older shut-in citizens who have not contracted the disease? Companionship and visitors also help strengthen the body's defenses.
And without more pandemic assistance — and as of now, more assistance is not forthcoming — we will indeed lose more restaurants and bars, and more than we did the first time around. And the ones that survive won't magically spring back to pre-virus levels once we all get vaccinated, which won't happen for several months at the earliest anyway.
OTOH, I really don't have alternative ideas I can present that I would be confident would slow the spread. Does anyone else know how to thread the needle of slowing the spread without further wrecking the economy?
OTOH, I really don't have alternative ideas I can present that I would be confident would slow the spread. Does anyone else know how to thread the needle of slowing the spread without further wrecking the economy?
I do like what chessimprov suggested in his post, which would be akin to what is happening in many schools that have a hybrid model. Certain establishments can be open on certain days while others cannot. Why not give it a shot? At this point, anything is worth a try!
'98 was not a presidential election year. 2000 was W vs Gore. I stopped reading at that point. HW was prior to Clinton, not after.
I think he meant 1988 but mis-typed it as 1998. But it's true that when HW Bush was President for four years, that the Democrats controlled the Senate. I was too young then and didn't know the political environment but perhaps the OP is trying to say that while Biden will be President that Republicans will control the Senate. I believe Democrats will win back the Senate after GA runoff, or in the next midterms, giving at least two years where Biden will have a Democratic Senate.
Not a big Kenney fan but I will say that it's easy for all of us to be arm chair quarterbacks. As Dr. Fauci once said, the virus is in control all everyone else is doing is trying to deal with it the best way possible.
I agree with @ilovephilly79, this entire year is a gigantic cluster you know what,
That is exactly right, and people's mind-set should no longer be "learn to live with it". The fact that vaccines are on the way changes everything. As Dr Fauci says; "The cavalry is on it's way".
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