Dr. Fauci’s interview with the editor of JAMA yesterday was very informative. Towards the end there was the question of whether the large private hospitals (such as Columbia, Cornell, etc.) would get medical equipment before the public hospitals. Dr. Fauci paused and said there would need to be ethics committees to decide on that sort of thing.
So that led me to wonder if there are ethics committees regarding how states procure their own medical supplies, which is what they are currently doing. Is Governor Cuomo going to buy it all up? Will anything else be left for other states? He’s looking out for New Yorkers, after all. He said on the national news show on Sunday that something (sorry, some kind of testing kit or medical equipment) couldn’t be found at any price. And the German company said they refused to sell their product (sorry, again can’t remember; it’s something medical) to an any individual U.S. state. I bet I know which one tried to buy it! Just because NYC is the biggest hot spot in the U.S. shouldn’t mean they get ALL of the supply of things. Or does it? The distribution of supplies should be decided on a national level.
Regarding the blood donation centers being unsafe as was reported by some here, that is unacceptable. Last night the Red Cross said on the national news that the blood donation centers would be safe.
I am disgusted by the spring break students crowding the beaches in FL. While they may be thinking covid-19 is still “Boomer Doomer” and “Boomer Remover,” they are going to realize eventually that their generation (and the millennials) will be the ones to be permanently affected in ways they can’t even imagine if they don’t take this seriously.
And, last, why should every American get the relief check from the government? Do people who still have their paid government jobs (whether or not they can work them remotely) or really any job still need them? People on pensions and Social Security? Maybe the payout should be for people who lose their jobs and don’t get paid? These people may not be able to pay COBRA premiums. Yes, everyone needs these checks, but maybe there should be some prioritization done. Why not pump all that money into the unemployment fund?
If the public perceives it as a matter of their own life or death, I think they absolutely will.
That said, I most certainly cannot predict how this thing will play out. But we can look at countries farther along the curve than we are – Italy – to make an educated guess as to how things will go here.
Yes, NY should act more responsible and do shelter in place before hoarding national resources flexing their muscle. Manhattan had only one case last week that bloomed to 1000s and was still refusing to shut down schools, restaurants and bars. Now, they say they need all the resources.
They will, but not forever. If I googled it correctly Lombardy has been in lockdown for 10 days. What’s that going to look like after 30, 60, 90? I have no idea.
Do we have any idea when we should expect to see cases in Italy level off?
Considering how many folks don’t give a hoot about trying to isolate, the US won’t really be doing it until there are more deaths - enough for the masses to care. Trying to use wisdom and reasoning hasn’t worked. There seem to be two extremes - panic and who cares. The panic group at least doesn’t spread it, but the who cares group makes what we’ve tried to do pointless if the virus is spread wide in the population.
Couple that with the lack of testing to see where where folks really needed to be careful and I can see this going down in history books as a prime example of how not to handle pandemics.
Time will tell. It depends upon just how wide it is in the population (how much does the who cares group spread it). The (rough) death rates from severe cases and hospitalization rates are known at this point.
No. This is new. We can’t turn to the last page or fast forward to the last 10 minutes to see how it ends. The best we have are theories based upon knowledge (for some) and “what I want to believe” (for others).
“China cast Tuesday’s move as a matter of reciprocity: The Trump administration implemented new rules for Chinese state media operating in the United States, so China, its Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, would do the same.”
Regarding the earlier question about the 6-10 week period mentioned by Bill Gates, the first two thoughts that come to my mind: 1) a known timeline from China, and 2) testing ramp up of 4 weeks (CNN opinion piece suggests tenfold increase in two weeks, and a hundred fold increase in another two weeks) could delay progress for another 4 weeks.
I call BS on that. For one, the US didn’t kick them out. I suspect the Chinese doesn’t want the world to know what’s really going on. It will disrupt their storyline. They made their local reporters “disappear”. People, their families don’t know if they are killed or merely prisoned. Expelling is how they make foreign reporters to disappear. They would have found an excuse to kick them out if the US didn’t change the rules for Chinese media.
Not shutting down public schools was ridiculous and people were screaming for DeBlasio to make that call for far too long before he did. However, it hasn’t been business as usual in NYC since about March 1. Private schools basically all closed March 2 and many people have been working from home for at least a couple of weeks now. My family has basically been sheltering in place for almost 2 weeks already. Just by looking outside in my neighborhood, it has been extremely quiet for some time. Even a week and a half ago, buses were going by with only a handful of people inside. Maybe other neighborhoods have been different but I think busy bars and restaurants have been the exception for the last couple of weeks at least.
Anecdotally, I am seeing a lot of anti-Chinese sentiment in places where I wouldn’t expect. For instance, upper middle class ladies’ tennis teams around here are incensed (children are home from school and tennis has been canceled), and they are not being reserved about expressing their anger at China.
Memes on the internet reinforce this trend. One particularly funny one pictures a young boy holding his head with an exasperated look, and the caption is: “I can’t believe that even the end of the world is Made in China.”
Media is reinforcing this as well, at least some outlets, and obviously for political purposes there will be pressure t find a scapegoat.
As for Spain, friends in Madrid sent us a video of people standing on balconies shouting “malditos chinos!” over and over again to spontaneous applause from the few people still walking on the street.
My gut feel is that now is not the time for Chinese-Americans to be complaining about the relatively innocuous “China Virus” term, as there is plenty of precedent for naming flus and viruses based on geographic origins. Just my opinion, of course.
Especially considering the disturbing trend on this map, which shows a definite pattern of atypical illness on Florida’s coasts. https://healthweather.us/
I can’t imagine saying to my kid, “I know your school is shut down and your home community is on restrictions, but sure, have one last hurrah with thousands of other drunken college students. We’ll see you when you get back!”
My kids are adults, and I usually trust them to make their own choices, but I would have been on this so fast their heads would have been swimming.
@calmom - I heard about that thermometer on Maddow last night too. If the map is any real indication, Florida is in deep, deep, trouble! And that state is also not restricting gatherings the way most places are. The link is above in @Sue22’s post and @calmom’s post from a few pages back. (the thermometer takes your temperature and records it to an app. It also sends the data to the manufacturer so they can track what parts of the country may become flu hot spots. They gave away thousands of the thermometers a few years ago to school children so they have the whole US covered for data).
@mathmom - apparently Italy is world’s largest manufacturer of swabs, after China. So great that they were able to send them out with all that is going on.
I’m glad my circle of friends and acquaintances isn’t yours!
Haven’t seen a single nasty meme about China - just a couple of fun ones. No one I know IRL is angry at them and our Chinese restaurant (take out) was doing just fine when we picked up food last Friday.
My favorite recent meme was one saying something to the effect of:
“I’m beginning to think this virus was concocted by housecats who are thrilled their servants aren’t wandering as much,” and showed a very contented cat on a lap.
I suppose one can find out who the racists are in times of tribulation though. Perhaps I naturally have chosen my circle not to include them. (Birds of a feather flock together sort of thing.) Still, even at work (where I don’t choose the employees) I didn’t see it…