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All of those things are a result of the overreaction to the virus, not the actual virus itself. Things will be fine if they allow people to go back to work.
I agree. Open the economy. Let people go back to work. Trump is doing the right thing trying to get business open. Get the revenue flowing again. The infection and death rates will skyrocket, of course. The solution? Hospitals will have to fill to capacity and turn everybody else away to be looked after by their family. Can anybody see any other way around that fact? Are we going to jamb the halls of every hospital in America with thousands of gurneys and cots and work the healthcare workers into an early grave running around trying to treat all these thousands of patients and collapse the entire system? That's what some silly lady on this thread wants to do: open the hospitals to every derelict on skid row. Why? Because according to her "life is sacred". What a crock. Absolute idiocy.
Anyone who thinks it's (still) an overreaction must have a magic way of knowing that the spread and death rate in NYC was somehow not going to happen in Vegas, or Chicago, or Atlanta, or ...you get the picture. NY/NJ is a - for real - total disaster - akin to Italy, all by itself - because they locked down far too late to change anything.
But their situation (scaled proportionately for population size) did not happen anywhere else - why do think that is? Not just now - after the fact - but at the time - what did you see - for real - where (as President of These States) you were going to say:
"Ya know, New York is really, really bad - but the other places? Eh, not gonna happen. Let's keep it all open!"
You see how nutty that would have sounded right? The reaction we chose was simply to HAVE a reaction. Was it an OVER reaction? I don't know. But it's all we had - it's all we could try - it was literally our only choice. Our choices were DO THAT or DO NOTHING - and you're staring at New York - who did nothing - so we chose DO SOMETHING.
Right or wrong - if it played out again the same way - to choose NOTHING would be proven a huge error. If you think DOING NOTHING would have ended up with the same number of dead as we have right now - and not one single more - then please post a rational scientific data driven explanation.
Call me a pessimist. I call myself a realist who sees things as they really are, and we have to face reality: Coronavirus has got America by the throat and it's not going to let go. By a margin of 60% to 30%, Americans want to see America continue to be shut down while we wait for Corona to go away. But it's not going to go away. It doesn't behave like the ordinary flu. The latest alarming effect of this virus is that it brings on a Kawasaki Disease-like condition in children that can be fatal. This along with its ability to hide in asymptomatic people as they infect hundreds of others around them and the possible irreparable damage it does to the cardiovascular system of its victims, among other devastating anomalies.
Unemployment hit 14.7% U-3 level in April. At U-6 it was about 22.8%. Projections are for these numbers to get worse in May. June is anybody's guess but it doesn't look good. The moment we open up businesses in an attempt to kick-start the economy the number of Corona cases will spike and we'll have to shut everything down again. In an attempt to save every last life in America we are bankrupting the country.
Some economists are acknowledging it's not possible to protect every last person. A large number of people will have to die so that the economy can survive. A large number of people will have to be turned away at the hospitals or our healthcare system will collapse. On our current trajectory I personally see us in a state of collapse by the start of next year. Cuomo's stance that every life must be protected at the cost of jobs is insane. So is Newsome's. This is the reality we face in America going into 2021.
If Trump is reelected his inability feel compassion or empathy for anyone but himself can actually work in America's favor. He has the strength of will to allow people to die to save the economy and this is exactly what we need in a President right now to rescue us from the bleeding-heart liberals who are decimating our country.
"Life will never be the same after the pandemic passes, says public health journalist"
I don't think we need economists to acknowledge it's not possible to protect every last person. Even in ordinary times, we see people dying from the flu, from car accidents, from smoking, from food poisoning.
But your approval of a lack of empathy brings to mind someone like Hitler who thought it was fine to allow millions to die, figuring that it would benefit the country overall.
Why, that's the nicest compliment I've had all day. Thank you! If any conservative liked me, something would be very wrong.
I'm no dreamer either. My training as a scientist has made me more of a realist. There is no need to throw two million plus Americans to the wolves. Nor is there a need to turn our economy into ashes. We can take the middle road which means that some Americans will die - but in the hospital, not on the streets. The vast majority will contract the virus and recover. That's going to give a jump start to herd immunity. In a year to 18 months scientists will have developed a vaccine. The country will recover from its current financial woes - probably in 3 years or less. The next year or so will be difficult for us all, but Americans have been through worse. We are not a nation of quitters and there is no need to make human sacrifice a matter of national policy.
However, if you and your pals are so entertained by the idea of depriving medical care to the sick, it's a free country. I suggest you all offer yourselves up as guinea pigs for this great experiment of yours. Trump won't bother to thank you. That I can guarantee.
I don't think we need economists to acknowledge it's not possible to protect every last person. Even in ordinary times, we see people dying from the flu, from car accidents, from smoking, from food poisoning.
But your approval of a lack of empathy brings to mind someone like Hitler who thought it was fine to allow millions to die, figuring that it would benefit the country overall.
You mistake me. It's not that I don't have empathy for them. I do. Boatloads full. But this is a matter of idealism vs realism.
Idealism: "Save everybody and try to save the economy too. We can do it."
Realism: no we can't. If we do one we will sacrifice the other. If people are going to be rubbing shoulder in an open vibrant economy, guaranteed they are going to get exposed and many will develop COVID and die. If people stay home they won't get exposed and the virus will stop spreading, guaranteed but the economy, already in a tailspin, will crash and burn. Those are the only two realities. That's what that Pollyanna over one pg. 1 refuses to acknowledges. Well, she's living in a dreamworld. Let her dream.
I'd like to see 80% of our purchasing being done online. I'm already doing the majority of my buying on the Internet. Works just fine and I'm not exposing myself and others and clogging up the hospitals. But I realize services cannot operate like that so that part of the economy has to be opened. And people will get sick. And die. And I feel horrible as hell about it. But the alternative is for the country to collapse and we ALL go down. The hard truth: better 2 million than 350 million. Sacrifices will have to be made. If I am one of them, that's my fate. That's the reality of the situation we find ourselves in.
It is every man for himself right now. Don't rely on government to do squat for you in the long term. If you're lucky you'll get the $1200 check--if you're lucky. If you're unemployed, don't count on getting through the unemployment phone number. If anything, as the number of unemployed goes up it will get impossible. Those with no savings are toast. They will have to turn to crime to live. Eventually the National Guard will have to be deployed to maintain order. If government protective services like military, national guard and police start breaking down God help us, but He won't. The only thing between you and death will be your .44 Magnum.
I disagree with the general tenor of your post, but it does remind me of how the Ohio National Guard, 50 years ago, opened fire on peaceful demonstrators. Neil Young soon put out a song called "Ohio", with the opening lyrics:
"Tin soldiers and Nixon coming,
We're finally on our own.
This summer I hear the drumming
Four dead in Ohio".
We have been through this type of crisis before (the Spanish Flu and the Great Depression). While crime certainly went up, our society proved stronger.
So, it is not every man for himself. As Mr. Rogers once said: "look for the helpers. You would always find people who are helping".
We have seen many brave people helping in this crisis. I can do little, but I have bought a lot of hand sanitizers and leaving them out for delivery people.
Anyone who thinks it's (still) an overreaction must have a magic way of knowing that the spread and death rate in NYC was somehow not going to happen in Vegas, or Chicago, or Atlanta, or ...you get the picture. NY/NJ is a - for real - total disaster - akin to Italy, all by itself - because they locked down far too late to change anything.
.
NY is unlike any other city-a petri dish for viruses.
Absurd population density, absurd density on mass transit, plus more international visitors than any other city.
Much of Interior USA is on same day of their trajectory NY was just 2 weeks ago, and most of interior USA is not close to NY tragic results per capita.
I know shutdown-aholics hate ceding control, but the time to do so is near.
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