Empireapple, federal employees who conduct or manage research have very strict limitations on being able to own stock in substantially affected organizations, such as pharma, biotech, or even medical equipment companies or sector funds. No consulting, equity interest, stock options. Employees file disclosures to their ethics office at least yearly, and more frequently if they conduct clinical research. For public filers, they are even required to submit a monthly report indicating if they bought or sold any stock or had any other financial transactions with substantially affected organizations. At The level of an Institute Director, such as Dr. Fauci, these disclosures are publicly available and can be requested by request to the agency for which the filer works. So…if you really think this is a possibility with all of these ethics limitations in place, feel free to request his filing:
Hmm. I live in Michigan, and I see mask-wearers everywhere. Yesterday I went to a nursery (flowers, not babies), and every single person there wore a mask - all the shoppers and all the employees. No exceptions, even though this place was outside.
Kroger? Over 90% of the shoppers were masked last Friday.
Home Depot? My husband says he didn’t see anyone without a mask there yesterday.
I’m not doubting your data, @MomofWildChild . It’s just not my day-to-day experience, here in southeastern Michigan. I wonder if there’s a suburban/rural divide at work? Because we’ve been hard-hit here, and most people I know are aware of others who have been sick with COVID. It makes some of us very leery…
A plan to gradually and safely reopen the economy?
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/11/opinion/coronavirus-reopen.html
Many entities are supposedly looking at this plan closely.
@scout59 I’m in MA. We are very hard hit. Masks wearers vary by town. In more congested areas many are wearing masks even to walk. Masks in many stores. In neighborhoods barely seen ( except on much older people). Down from a few weeks ago when everyone was wearing one.
Today on the mostly deserted beach, I was pretty much the only one with a mask ( which I use mainly for parking). Despite rising numbers people are not following the rules anymore.
On another note, I would LOVE to know what those who are advocating for staying home many more months do for a living. I’m just guessing they are state employees or work for a large corporation and work from home already. We are entrepreneurs and work from home. Pretty set up but can’t imagine running our businesses with the economy closed forever. Hmm. Just so curious. Maybe tgey are teachers or retired.
Everyone I know wants to start opening up.
Meaning, go out in the sunlight and eat some kale?
Yes. When the Governor was perceived as over-stepping (which I think she did), these militant protest groups formed to object to the loss of their “freedoms.” The mask requirement got them going all over again. They groups claim they have a right to go anywhere without a mask and are targeting retailers and other businesses which enforce the requirement. I’m not sure why Maine is so riled up, especially in the rural areas.
Costco was its normal, controlled self today - people in masks, mostly social distancing, reasonable sanitary procedures in place.
Walmart - oh, no. Where to begin? I’ve only been to Walmart a few times since the SAH started and it’s been OK - not doing much to sterilize, but few people, no craziness. Today, though - OMG, I think the tourists are back. It was crowded and crazy. Few people wearing masks, no social distancing, people arguing over who was going the wrong way in the one way aisles, blech. I got in and out ASAP. The parking lot was filled with out of state plates - NY, NJ and MI mostly. Hopefully I just hit it during an anomaly and that’s not the new normal there, because it if is… oh, boy.
@MomofWildChild Maybe the Mainers aren’t thrilled about wearing masks because they have so few cases. And they are going to lose their tourists and miss the 30 sunny days they get each Summer.
I love Maine but I’d be pretty nervous if I needed 3 months to pay my bills for a year ( like those in tourism).
I’d like to know who you think is advocating staying home many more months. I see people here advocating meeting the Administration’s guidelines and then opening carefully.
These places attracting so many out of state visitors… are these people going back and forth from vacation homes or what? If not, where are they staying and eating? Does their entertainment consist of solely visiting open beaches and parks? So maybe a lot of people are satisfied with that (not judging), but having pretty limited options and having to
rely on takeout for every meal seems… not worth it. I get that people want to get out of their homes, and while I am in favor of opening up carefully, I honestly don’t see how driving one or two states over for extremely limited entertainment and eating options RiGHT NOW is attractive. Personally I would rather at least wait until some museums (or other venues where SD is possible) open. I can understand the need to check up on a vacation home, and I don’t begrudge anyone a safe change of scenery. However, all the visitors aren’t second homeowners… or are they?
Not everyone can make enough vitamin D, even if they get out in the sun. People with dark skin have particular difficulty. Many people live in areas with little sunshine and can’t get it from diet alone. For some people, supplements can make sense. A physician can evaluate a person’s status and determine If supplementation is indicated.
I don’t get the public outcry against masks requirements. We’re all required to wear clothes in public, and you hardly ever hear of protests about that.
No shirt, no shoes, no service…been around as long as I can remember.
Most I’ve seen is that Gates has funded Moderna to some degree and Fauci ‘knows which side of his bread is buttered’ when it comes to a big pharma solution to this.
So, no.
The distaste for comparisons of this to a rough flu year may turn out to be warranted, maybe not.
The IHME model has had Sweden (with a population of roughly 10MM) suffering a wildly swinging death rate for their reckless approach to the pandemic. Started saving screenshots, when I realized their model kept moving Sweden’s peak death rate day further and further into the future.
At one time, they had Sweden seeing 1,000 deaths/MM, then 1400/MM. Doubled down with the iteration prior to the last, with 1700/MM. Currently they project around 750/MM, with no big future peak.
Sweden feels they’re close to herd immunity in Stockholm and that deaths/MM is pretty darn close to either the Hong Kong or Asian flu deaths that the US suffered… back when we didn’t put a bullet in the back of our economy’s head to deal with it.
Seriously, this response is likely to impoverish our country.
I’m in SE MI also, most people wearing masks everywhere I’ve been and certainly the percentage of mask wearing has increased every week since this started.
My brother is in central southern MI, more rural. Talked to him today and he said at his usual grocery about 1/3 of the people are not wearing masks so he decided to drive to AA today and shop at Whole Foods. He was impressed with the difference, someone sterilizing carts at the entrance, handing out gloves and everyone wearing masks.
Also, I just had a video chat with a group of friends, one of whose S works in a grocery store. Apparently he was working when an altercation broke out between 2 customers because of distancing and one of the customers got punched in the nose and nose was probably broken. My friend’s S had to try to stanch the bleeding until the police and ambulance arrived. SMH
Michigan does seem to one of the special cases… maybe because the governor was a little too harsh to begin with…
… and seems the type that reaches for a bigger hammer, instead of considering optics?
For those interested in stats on underlying conditions, here’s some info on San Diego County:
However, they also noted that “Well over 50% of our population has at least one type of underlying medical condition," . And San Diego usually makes the lists of healthy cities.
US deaths for Hong Kong flu were less than 500/MM. Sweden is not near herd immunity right now, not nearly halfway there, and is already at 343/MM. They are not going to end up darn close to 500/MM unless they make some changes.
Posted as to the deaths/mm for both of them, a little while back, fang. Didn’t feel like looking the mortality up again for each, which is why I said…
… instead of, ‘both’.
Since you’ve fingered the less lethal one, I’m going to go out and a limb and say that I remember the number for the Asian flu to be around 647/MM, adjusted for the US population at the time.
Could be off a little but I think it will still round to 650 deaths/MM.
What’s the date of that Vanderbilt report @MomofWildChild? I’m just curious because the WH coronavirus task force had a report that put Nashville in the top ten for places where the disease is spiking. The WH report is dated May 7.