^That “all or nothing” kind of thinking is why we are closer to nothing.
How could we have done that? Millions of people from Europe, where the disease had already spread, poured into the metro NYC area between January and early March. We barely knew what covid was and thousands of people already had it, and we have no idea how many of them are asymptomatic carriers.
There are over 8 million people in NYC. To contain the virus we would have had to test all of them. Did WHO have 8 million tests in March? I don’t believe the total number of tests they’ve shipped in the last 4 months is anywhere near that number. Even if they did have 8 million tests (ignoring the fact that the US population is many times larger and 8 million would only cover 1 test for 1 NYC resident), why should they send them to us when we have the CDC to develop and distribute tests and the money to fund it?
WHO’s main mission is to help disadvantaged nations. They published testing protocols. It was our responsibility to create reliable tests, produce them in sufficient numbers, and distribute them in a timely manner to areas that needed them. We did none of those things. That’s why our numbers are as high as they are, not because we didn’t take test kits that may or may not have existed from low income countries who don’t have the means to produce their own.
Merely acknowledging, as many doctors do, that exposure to this virus is inevitable for the vast majority of us. This isn’t really shocking-we are all exposed to the common cold corona virus already, right? This is the new deadly version. It will be around for a while, until and if we find a vaccine. Plenty of people practice good hygiene and that can help, but one may get the old cold corona virus, or the new novel deadly corona virus, anyway.
This is a new virus, therefore it wasn’t surprising we didn’t know what to look for and come up with a cure. Just in the last few months, our doctors are better at treating corvid patients and there are less deaths. By shelter in we are giving the scientists more time to come up with cure(s) and vaccine. I expect to get infected at some point, but I am hoping if/when I do there will be better treatments of this virus.
@Leigh22
I live a couple of beach towns south of Belmar. My town has a very different approach to beach badge sales. Seasonal badges were sold on-line only through 5/15. Badges are being distributed by mail or drive thru pick-up depending upon when they were purchased. No additional badges (seasonal or daily) will be sold until 6/1 at the earliest, after the town has had an opportunity to evaluate the situation. The boardwalk will not be opened and entry to the beach is through limited points.
I think my town has done a good job of developing a plan that balances “normalcy” with safety. Time will tell. It may be good that the Memorial Day weekend is not supposed to be beach weather.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta wrote a good piece “If the United States were my patient” on CNN this morning:
https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/17/health/coronavirus-human-body-gupta-essay/index.html
What are you seeing in your own locations as things reopen as far as people’s behavior? I have been working from home but go back to the office tomorrow. I’m ready but definitely concerned because my husband is definitely highly vulnerable due to multiple health issues.
I went into the office yesterday to take some files back and get a few undisturbed hours in. It does not look like our area is taking the idea of continuing precautions at all seriously. On my way into town (I live about 10 miles out) there were tons of cars parked on the road side for an auction of some sort (estate sale I assume). No social distancing there and probably a couple of hundred people at least. I went to the grocery store for a few neccesities and was one of the very few wearing a mask. None of the employees were. Our casinos reopened and, from what I hear, are packed. The one restaurant I looked at as I passed was open but the parking lot maybe 2/3 full where normally it would be packed.
A spike seems inevitable. I’ll still take precautions but with so many people just refusing to it is worrying.
@garland
“We could have the will to engineer a response that does not engineer poverty. But we don’t, clearly. And that’s a shame. It stokes dissent to set up the false health/safety vs. economic well-being dichotomy, and loads of people are dining off of the result.”
I could not agree more with this assessment.
I also have a problem with the glib statement, “it’s time to open up” - where the grammar itself evades responsibility:
- Who has determined such a thing? Not the GOP, whose federal guidelines have not been met. Certainly not opposition politicians. And absolutely not the scientific community.
- What does that even mean? Things are, and have been, "open" for many purposes in this country. It's citizens' own judgment to stay away in most cases.
- Setting it up like, "come on kids; enough foolishness" is no more helpful than someone else saying, "it's time for people to understand exponential mathematics". And incidentally, I don't think that the existence of "two sides" to an issue indicates that both are equally valid.
- As @garland said, it's a set of economic choices that people are having such hard times in this country due to the pandemic-induced reduction in spending/commerce. We gave an enormous tax cut to the richest people and corporations in this country instead of increasing tax rates to more tenable levels. As a result, the only way to be humanitarian at this stage is to go into more national debt. But that isn't, and wasn't, the only way to manage money.
There also seems to be some of what the kids call “sea lioning” about data on mask-wearing and about progress on vaccines and medical treatment for COVID-19. I’m not a doctor, but I have seen from many sources that:
- There are more advances every day or every week in how to treat the virus to save lives and avoid mechanical ventilation
- Mask-wearing on a large-population level is dramatically effective for reducing virus transmission
- Vaccine progress has been astoundingly rapid and may indeed proceed to have a workable product or products within the next year or less
- Testing is getting cheaper, faster, more reliable, and more widely available.
All of these facts imply that every week of reduced contact gets us closer to addressing the pandemic.
I think New Zealand did a great job. Of course, being a tiny island in the middle of nowhere with a small homogeneous population that closed its borders helped. The problem will arise when New Zealand allows entry to others, which will eventually happen. Tourism is a necessary industry there, and asymptomatic tourists will cause another wave.
New Zealand is unlikely to allow entries of foreigners, other than Australians, this year. When it does allow entry and before vaccines are available, it will likely require “immunity passport” (i.e. people have to be tested within 48 hours or so before boarding their flights to New Zealand).
Here is what Iceland is doing irt opening up to visitors.
Sorry for the typo in my earlier post (I hate typing on phones). My friend’s brother is home, not gone!
I just texted her to see if he’s doing OK now. She replied, “No, I’m watching very carefully. He’s still on oxygen and VERY lethargic. I’m concerned.”
It would be interesting if countries/areas with the virus under strict control would form an inter-travel group. For example NZ, Australia, Singapore, South Korea, maybe even Hawaii.
Something like that seems like the safest way for international travel to resume. Sadly right now the US (minus Hawaii) is like that pale, feverish, sweaty, coughing guy at the back of the bus that nobody wants to sit near.
Fatigue with impressive hours of sleeping was one of the main symptoms H & I experienced when sick with C19.
Ex: nap in the morning, nap in the afternoon, and still sleeping 11-12 hours at night! We knew we were getting better when the need to nap stopped and we weren’t going to bed at 7 or 8 pm!
I hope your friend’s brother recovers quickly & without complications!
@midwest67, thanks for sharing. I know my friend is worried since he’s already been hospitalized twice now with COVID-19. He does have underlying health issues which complicate everything.
It’s already happening. Various “travel bubbles” have been created or are in the process of being created (New Zealand and Australia, China and South Korea, among some European countries, etc).
So there are such things as Beach Badges. Never knew that. Is that just NJ?
Illinois has them, for some towns that have beaches on Lake Michigan.
The first confirmed case in the US happened January 21st. Yet, Governor Cuomo inexplicably waited until March 22nd to issue a stay home order. NYC and New York state repeatedly ignored all the warnings about COVID-19. Since the virus originated from New York in most cases, our country would have been in a much better position had Governor Cuomo been less incompetent.
@emilybee My “no when to fold ‘em” comment referred NOT to you leaving your house (we wouldn’t want you to do that” but to maybe stop advancing your particular position which seemed to get more and more offensive to many.