I think that we will find that places that have mass transit being used are much much riskier than those without and that humidity and maybe temps help. Places that are more humid, where people drive cars and don’t cram into buses, trains, and subways, and where people are not in buildings that have one shared heating or air conditioning system (which can transmit the virus), and there are fewer international travelers, where people live more spread out, etc, etc are fortunate because I think those things help keep numbers low. I think NYC is the opposite of all those things and it doesn’t mean they ‘did things wrong’ or that those who have lower spread ‘did things right’ or should pat themselves on the back for just having better natural conditions. I also do not feel impressed with the numbers and spread of any state in the country, esp when I take population density into consideration. No place has done a stellar job. Certainly Florida is not any type of shining example of what to do and copying what they did would have resulted in so many MORE deaths in the North East (Boston area, NYC, SW Connecticut), etc. I think we should be looking at places that did respond well to the virus and trying to duplicate what they did but that has to actually be places that did do things other places didn’t do in terms of slowing the spread.
Washington State appears to be one example and what they did that other places didn’t all do as well from what I understand is let scientists and experts in disease transmission take the lead and politicians follow. We have done the opposite of that on a national level and the results are tragic.
Our state has been preparing since December with surrounding state governors, something impressive to me. We are using data to drive decisions. I think or governor has done a great job. never impressed me much before this but I’m impressed now.
My humor for today, posted on my neighborhood Next Door:
WooHoo! It’s midnight, Georgians are FREE! ??
Wait! Except for those who are 65 and older! Damn!!
Ummm… Does anybody have a reference for someone who can make good fake IDs? Asking for an “old” friend. (I’d ask my kids, but, I am still in denial that my sweet, young children would have done something like that! Besides, I am afraid that they will say No and restrict me to my room!)
@TatinG ‘Same with Michigan’s orders. She allowed people to buy lottery tickets but not garden seeds. She permitted canoeing but not motor boating. I think these things have since been rescinded after the illogic was apparent.’
This isn’t actually true. First, over 40 states have kept lottery ticket sales going this entire time and somehow there isn’t criticism toward any of them but Michigan. Why do you think that is? Also, She did allow seeds. What she did was close off portions of super stores so people would do what they were supposed to do which was go get groceries and go home. people could by seeds from smaller stores. Studies show the bigger the store, the longer people spend in it and so closing off big portions of wal marts and letting people buy food supported people not strolling around with their families for fun in those stores. These types of stories that criticized the governor there were very selective in their reporting. You could say about 42 states allowed lottery tickets but did not allow such and such other thing. Sounds bad but it a BS claim unless you make it about all such states since most all of those about 42 states were banning at least something. they allowed lottery tickets but not haircuts!!
I think what is frustrating is how fast people react to these types of claims by all ends of the political spectrum (in my opinion more so on the right but certainly also on the left) without thinking about if the story is really fair or not. People want targets for anger and want to find fault with those targets and are ready to believe those targets did anything horrible.
I agree. If this were true, this would be all over FOX and every conservative outlet. No way would these sources pass up such an opportunity to at the very least make fun of Obama. The fact that it’s not speaks volumes.
If we blame china for inaction we have to blame the usa for even more inaction. We did less for longer and spread it far worse and now are a big danger to the rest of the world. We have spread it elsewhere and will spread it elsewhere in the future. The whole world is in much more danger because of the USA and our great spread of this disease. I have yet to hear those who want to blame china (which deserves blame) also blame our country for doing the very same things, only in many cases, doing them much more of those things than China did! At least China got the virus under control. We are so far from that it’s just horrific.
Massive testing for a country of our size requires fundamentally new technologies. Because development of such technologies can take years, requires capital, and VCs have little understanding of the underlying science, few of them are willing to invest. Instead, billions of $ are thrown into development of yet another app or a RE scheme. In addition, investment in diagnostics really soured after Theranos…
So, Bill and co, where were you all when investments in biotech were needed?
The high school senior class in my district out out a video telling everyone to stop worrying about what the are missing and instead to honor them by making a donation of blood. They have arranged for the Red Cross to hold a blood drive at our high school on May 27th.
There may be a graduation for my son after all that takes place outside. I am going to wait and see if it sounds safe and well-planned. I have mixed feelings about it. All other ideas like a parade etc all make me feel sad as they are not a replacement for what they are not doing.
Especially hard to get people to wear masks when literally everyone — CDC, NIH, every media outlet — at that time (mid March) was saying “DON’T wear masks. Masks don’t protect you. Save them for the healthcare workers.”
I think one big problem here is being doubt science too much and are not as well versed in science as the average Chinese person, for example. China is a totalitarian country and so can impose restrictions on their country in ways the USA can’t but they had a lot more buy in from the country as a united front and I think that comes from the average person having a much better idea of disease transmission and prevention as well as more of a feeling of wanting to protect others. Our whole, ‘masks won’t work’ is an example. Chinese interviewed about why they were wearing masks in January all said, “I don’t want to get anyone else sick.” If only we had that idea here and wore them from the start how much less of a problem would we have now.
I think that NYC was seeded with the virus long before it was known, for weeks, and so by the time stay home started it was far too late. Look at Western and Eastern CT. eastern CT shut down at the same time or just about as western ct. As a result, the peak is so small compared to western CT. That’s a matter of lower population density and almost no mass transit (only some buses and not many) but also the difference of a shutting down very early into things. It makes an enormous difference.
NYC certainly delayed shutting down schools far too long and I’m angry about the teachers and staff who died as a result who should not have had to die. They did not do the right thing there. They did delay. But once they shut down they took things very seriously and did a very good job overall (not perfect) in handling things compared to elsewhere. Had NYC handled things the way they were being handled in Florida, or elsewhere I think we would have many times the number of cases.
Graduations this year will look and feel different. I’m touched by the varied ways high schools, colleges and professional schools are honoring their grads. No…not the same as an in person graduation…but the sentiment is there.
We will do something special for our grad (professional school) when we can.
D20’s small private school sent all the advisors out today to deliver yard signs to each of the seniors. It was a nice touch, especially since the local public has signs for their graduates. It does, however, feel like an ad for the school. But it was nice to see D20’s advisor, with appropriate social distance of course.
@suteiki77 You are incorrect. The original Michigan order barred a lot of smaller stores from selling seeds and gardening supplies as well. I know this from personal work experience.
Also, I find your posts very political and while this thread is permitting more latitude, you are really testing the waters, in my opinion.
