A good friend of mine has gotten the maker of a helmet-style non-invasive ventilator (essentially, a helmet respirator) to start upping production. He found funding for this company. The helmet-style respirator has shown promise in keeping people from needing intubation and a ventilator.
I’m very happy that my friend has done this, but I don’t understand why individuals have to do this. I’d rather see a coordinated government response. What if my friend hadn’t done it? Then excess manufacturing capacity would have gone to waste.
Testing and contact tracing would identify asymptomatic and mildly symptomatic virus carriers, who wouldn’t otherwise be isolated. Isolation means more than lockdown, which isn’t really enforced. At the minimum, these people are still infecting their family members.
@homerdog. You don’t need to test everyone. For statistical reasons it could be helpful IE : more people from Highland Park test positive and no one from Oak Park does. Then you know you need more resources in Highland Park.
But at this point it’s like everyone has it. Stay home as much as possible. If feeling sick stay in your room and away from people. Even eat by yourself. Wash hands and don’t touch your face is the mantra. Wipe down used surface areas and door handles. Pray… ?.
If starting to feel worse and having more severe stomach or Respiratory issues then call your doctor.
Also if you test everyone you can find people who are asymptomatic that were tested positive and have a newer understanding of the virus. Things like that.
Manufacturing at that small level is very helpful.
But to have massive manufacturing output you need critical capacity manpower and onsite engineering and tooling
It’s not like you can sign an order and say everyone start making x. It’s like switching from tractors to tanks.
It’s really hard to turn a line around and have the scale to pull it off.
The automakers are already doing this and 3m and other major suppliers of masks are i full gear. That’s the coordination that’s happening and in real time.
I do think using the war powers to have fabric (known as textile) manufacturers forced to make masks. Another problem is most of textiles are now made overseas. It’s another issue. I hope they announce this or partnerships.
Any person that is being tested for CV and not self quarantined should be arrested or heavily fined in some way. No excuse for him to be out in public waiting for results. Just no moral excuse.
Increasing testing in such a large country seems impossible. The point would be to get ahead of it. You can’t take every town in America with or without cases and test everyone. They would start where there are cases but that would still be playing catch up, no?
I just don’t get how we can get ahead of this now except maybe in states where it hasn’t reared its head that much yet and those states aren’t the priority now. I feel like we are stuck with “stay at home” for the foreseeable future.
Just need to say that the people aged 70+in our circle are being just as irresponsible as the spring breakers they are showing on the news. They are continuing to have dinner parties, going to shows, and not doing anything to socially distance. IMO, they are being totally reckless and irresponsible. The states needs to all issues shelter in place orders. People just aren’t making the right decisions on their own.
It can be done. For example, China increased its production of face masks 12-fold after the outbreak. Foxconn, the maker of iPhones and other electronics, and GM Shanghai were all making face masks.
This will just disincentivize people to get tested, which is what you do not want.
Controlling human beings is a tricky proposition under the best of conditions. It will not be possible to do in the United States for very long under these. The culture is too diverse, the bonds between people too diffuse to engender the sort of “we are all in this together” spirit. Sure, for a little while, but just as after 9/11, the divisions will manifest very quickly. Fortunately, even the worst case projections I have seen for the virus are survivable for the society as a whole.
Harvey Weinstein looks like the poster child for unhealthy. If that guy survives or has limited symptoms, expect a lot of skepticism from the public about how dangerous the virus is. Numbers are growing quickly, and the trajectory is alarming, but in absolute terms are very low for a country of this size.
Absolutely. But consider the political affiliation of the most dense parts of the United States, the cities, which if NYC is an indication are likely to fare the worst on a relative basis. As well, at least so far there appears to be a strong coastal impact from the virus. We may well regret the stoking of partisan division over the past 20 years (at least).