Coronavirus Thread

[ThomasP]

Minnesota report, June 29
cases 35,861, recovered 31,225, hospitalized 4,031, deaths 1,435, tested 592,955*
fatality rate 4%
mortality rate 251.8 per million
test rate 104 per thousand
*Minnesota's governor announced today that we now have the ability to process 20,000 test kits per day - a goal that was announced on 17 April - so it took us ~73 days (10+ weeks) to accomplish. However, due to a combination of logistics and lack of cooperation on the part of the herd, we are only averaging a bit over 10,000/day.

(see the notes in my post#1,837)

Although it is taking longer than was planned (also longer than I thought it would take) - and taking into account what I am forced to conclude has been/still is an attempt by the current President to prevent a rapid increase and widespread level of testing - Minnesota has not done too badly in this area.

 

[nuuumannn]

Don't come here unless you want to go into solitary for fourteen days.

What else is there to do in Vermont? Didn't people do that anyway?

but THAT is not unique to this crisis or this administration.

Yeah, true, but that doesn't justify what is happening in the USA right now. The USA government's response could have and should have been better than it is and there really is no excuse for some of the sh*tf*ckery that's going on in that administration at the moment. To claim that the USA always does stuff like this just doesn't cut it and doesn't give due justice to the victims of whats happening there right now.

 

[nuuumannn]

How did we ever become a superpower?

The same as in the music charts. Making it to Number One is easy if you have a sure fire hit. Keeping it there is the hard bit.

 

[nuuumannn]

D.C. is not the center of the problem, it is where the attention is focused; the real responsibility for how Ca, NY, and Tx deal with the Chinese Corona Virus rests primarily with the governors of the states, the administrators of the Counties, and the Mayors of the cities. Not only are they unable to do so (like how many of us have managed a population of 5000+ through a plague?) they are both hobbled by, and hobbling others, under the influence of Partisanship (not politics).

On top of this there is the anarchist insurrection calling itself BLM/Antifa/etc who are acting to tear down what is America and plant their flag on the top of the smoldering rubble more than to address and redress any particular problems.

To whatever extent this post seems Political to anybody, please don't. It's me looking at why this Wuhan Kung Flu might just throat-punch us.

I suppose thesee ongoings make us look bad to foreigners, to me it makes us look like a million junkies fighting tooth and nail over access to our favorite drug.

Buck stops at the door of the Whitehouse, mate. To blame the state governments and the Chinese is just hollow and not acknowledging that the US government has got its response so wrong.

 

[wuzak]

The same as in the music charts. Making it to Number One is easy if you have a sure fire hit. Keeping it there is the hard bit.

Wrote a 4 chord song?

 

[Zipper730]

Wearing a mask per see is not dangerous. But if you don't know how to operate them, chances are that you'll be the next centre of a micro outbreak.

So you'll get infected.

Frankly I think wearing a bandanna over my face seems more practical. I have glasses which cover my eyes, and I think the next time I go out, I'm putting on the mask whether or not I get outside the car.

 

[XBe02Drvr]

What else is there to do in Vermont?

Hiking, biking, swimming, sailing, kayaking, fishing, hunting, (we're being overrun by an exploding bear population), glider rides (you sit upstream of the pilot), what more could you ask? Oh BTW, the bar hopping and the nightlife are kinda dragging right now, but they never were that great anyway. And you can always find a demonstration to participate in, just bring your mask and a couple yardsticks.
After you get out of solitary, that is.

 

[XBe02Drvr]

if you're driving on some back road in Maine and a moose is standing in the middle of it, you don't stay the course.

I tried to sidle past a moose standing in the middle of the Kankamangus holding up traffic one moonless night, and got a whopping big bash in the roof of my car and a broken window for my trouble. Ah, the days of young and foolish!

 

[Snautzer01]

Hiking, biking, swimming, sailing, kayaking, fishing, hunting, (we're being overrun by an exploding bear population), glider rides (you sit upstream of the pilot), what more could you ask? Oh BTW, the bar hopping and the nightlife are kinda dragging right now, but they never were that great anyway. And you can always find a demonstration to participate in, just bring your mask and a couple yardsticks.
After you get out of solitary, that is.

Sounds like a good deal. Nature wise that is. But being allergic to bears and demonstrations i will have to pass.

 

[TheMadPenguin]

Buck stops at the door of the Whitehouse, mate. To blame the state governments and the Chinese is just hollow and not acknowledging that the US government has got its response so wrong.

Civics lesson: The US Constitution enumerates Federal powers; everything NOT enumerated to the Federal government remains a power/responsibility of the States.
So: find the part of the Constitution that makes face masks, congregations, business closures, "safe distancing", or disease management a Federal matter, and you have reason to say that the buck stops at 1600 Pennsylvania ave. Per my reading, the Federal powers applicable to this plague include closing the National boarders, terminating visitor visas, and loaning help when asked for by the States. The Buck has 51 mailing addresses at which it stops.

 

[buffnut453]

Civics lesson: The US Constitution enumerates Federal powers; everything NOT enumerated to the Federal government remains a power/responsibility of the States.
So: find the part of the Constitution that makes face masks, congregations, business closures, "safe distancing", or disease management a Federal matter, and you have reason to say that the buck stops at 1600 Pennsylvania ave. Per my reading, the Federal powers applicable to this plague include closing the National boarders, terminating visitor visas, and loaning help when asked for by the States. The Buck has 51 mailing addresses at which it stops.

Entirely agree that there isn't a single point of failure. I think it's also fair to say that there have been significant, and avoidable, failures at all levels of government. Unfortunately (as always) this dissolved into a debate over political leaning: the left are taking away freedoms and over-reaching while the right wants to focus solely on the economy regardless of the human cost (neither paradigm is accurate but we Americans like our binary choices).

IMHO, one of the biggest failures has been of leadership. Words and actions matter, even if the office doesn't have actual responsibility. Lack of unified, or at least somewhat consistent, messaging from 1600 Pennsylvania down through the Governors to local mayors has led to the situation where people are bristling against the mandatory wearing of masks because so many political leaders refuse to wear them.

It just frustrates (and frightens) me that we can't even come together to fight a global pandemic.

 

[TheMadPenguin]

Entirely agree that there isn't a single point of failure.
It just frustrates (and frightens) me that we can't even come together to fight a global pandemic.

This is not because of the pandemic, nor because of mixed signals, but because of a cultural change: the Greatest Generation followed by the Me Generation has now become the Ungovernable Generation. The Ungovernable Generation is a powder keg, the Pandemic is merely a spark.
I think I just tripped over the wire into Politics, so I'll stop here.

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

Ok guys, lets get this back on topic, less politics (me included).

I will say it one more time...

 

[nuuumannn]

The Buck has 51 mailing addresses at which it stops.

I don't buy it. The US government is called the US government. It governs the USA. The pandemic has hit your country and your leadership is failing your country's people. Blaming state government is a cop out. Such is a time when leadership from the top is paramount and your government is not providing it.

Leadership lesson: Every day of Lockdown and for the subsequent two months afterwards, our Prime Minister got up in front of our country and gave the latest information that health professionals had. Every day. Our country's leader, not the mayors and county councils, but OUR PRIME MINISTER. Lockdown was strict and nationwide. When self appointed experts began ranting about opening the borders and getting back to work, our Prime Minister resisted because the health professionals advised her not to.

That's leadership. From the very top. As a result, our government's efforts are being praised around the world for its handling of this virus. Can't say the same about the USA. Because of your government's mismanagement of this crisis, the USA is looked upon as how not to handle it. But, it's okay, right, it's everyone else's fault, not the President's.

 

[nuuumannn]

(we're being overrun by an exploding bear population),

Exploding Bears?! I thought their claws and brute strength was bad enough, and now they explode??!! (It was a joke at the state's expense, I will admit) It does sound pretty kewl.

 

[TheMadPenguin]

(we're being overrun by an exploding bear population)

Sounds horribly messy. Our bear population is a nuisance with trash can raids and such, but fortunately they aren't exploding.

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

Leadership lesson: The US government is called the US government. It governs the USA. The pandemic has hit your country and your leadership is failing your country's people. Blaming state government is a cop out. Such is a time when leadership from the top is paramount and your government is not providing it.

Every day of Lockdown and for the subsequent two months afterwards, our Prime Minister got up in front of our country and gave the latest information that health professionals had. Every day. Lockdown was strict and nationwide. To this day our government is warning about the resergence of this pandemic even though we got to a stage of complete absense of cases, but now numbers are reappearing, the government has agreed that borders must be kept closed and additional steps must be taken to prevent it from getting worse. Our country's leader, not the mayors and county councils, but OUR PRIME MINISTER.

That's leadership. From the very top. As a result, our government's efforts are being praised around the world for its handling of this virus. Can't say the same about the USA. Because of your government's mismanagement of this crisis, the USA is looked upon as how not to handle it. But, it's okay, right, it's everyone else's fault, not the President's.

While I agree with you 100%, we need to get away from the politics of this. I know it is hard, believe me I know it is tough, I am biting my tongue to keep from pointing out what should be obvious to even the most diehards. Believe me...

Let's just leave the politics though before it degenerates into other things.

 

[nuuumannn]

Yes, sorry Adler, I am trying not to make this about a particular party or point of view, but you are right.

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

Yes, sorry Adler, I am trying not to make this about a particular party or point of view, but you are right.

I hear you, and I agree with everything you said. It is just too difficult to keep from going into other areas we should not, and remain civil.

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

Well it's official. The EU is lifting restrictions on international travel...

Except the United States.

Will be evaluated every two weeks, but looks like I will not see my family this year, and they will not see their grandkids.

So terribly sad and pathetic what is going on here...