COVID-19 Megathread 5: The Trumps catch COVID-19

[wbrocks67]

I'm sorry, but if there is no hope of a vaccine happening anytime soon by this time next year, I'm just not going to care about any "social distancing" or whatever.

I have a less than 0.1% chance of dying if I even contract this disease, why the hell should I have to waste nearly my entire 20s being afraid of this? And I'm certainly not alone in this either.

If people can't develop immunity, as there have been hints of since the beginning, this may end up fundamentally changing our society. Obviously things won't remain exactly as they are now forever, but there will be significant change from the old "normal."

There have been literally zero hints towards this.

Uh, how do you know you have less than 0.1% of a chance of dying if you contract it? What the what? There are very healthy people who died from this. Not to mention, it's not just about YOU. Stop being selfish. If you go out there and get it, and don't show any symptoms and are fine, you could still as easily give it to numerous other people, especially people who may not be able to fight it. What an awful thing for you to say. That's some privilege and complete selfishness right there.

[wbrocks67]

I'm sorry, but if there is no hope of a vaccine happening anytime soon by this time next year, I'm just not going to care about any "social distancing" or whatever.

I have a less than 0.1% chance of dying if I even contract this disease, why the hell should I have to waste nearly my entire 20s being afraid of this? And I'm certainly not alone in this either.

If people can't develop immunity, as there have been hints of since the beginning, this may end up fundamentally changing our society. Obviously things won't remain exactly as they are now forever, but there will be significant change from the old "normal."

There have been literally zero hints towards this.

Yeah, for every chicken Little who vows not to leave the house or touch anyone for years and years until a vaccine is found, there will be 10 of us who won't. If the media ends its insane fear mongering thatd help. I don't see corona news having the same money making power after 6 months of nothing else.

It's already dropping off rapidly. Spikes in news viewership at the beginning of the crisis have disappeared, and ratings for news channels are not much different than they were pre-crisis. Mainly because there's no news, really: "Coronavirus still happening" doesn't draw the viewers in.

This is blatantly false.

From 4/22:

Network Newscasts Keep Up Ratings Momentum During Pandemic
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/network-newscasts-keep-up-ratings-momentum-pandemic-1291263

[wbrocks67]

https://twitter.com/axios/status/1254791955755626496

[wbrocks67]

The WaPo scoop is damning. Trump decided to ignore the warning signs - we know have concrete proof of this - and in that, is now responsible for more lives lost.

[wbrocks67]

Coronavirus update: German infection rate ticks higher after reopening moves, offers lesson to U.S. governors

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/coronavirus-update-german-infection-rate-ticks-higher-after-reopening-moves-offers-lesson-to-us-governors-2020-04-28

[wbrocks67]

Doesn’t really matter if states open up, people won’t go back to normal behavior until they think things are safe. People don’t want to die on the alter of “the economy.”

https://twitter.com/politidope/status/1255521031793582080?s=21

Nearly every single poll that comes out shows about 3/4 of the public thinks we need to keep doing what we're doing. And yet, you have governors all over America trying to quickly reopen things back up. It makes no sense.

[wbrocks67]

https://mobile.twitter.com/CBSLA/status/1255699561399619584

Here come the fun police.

People have proven they can't be trusted to do the right thing. Newsom is right to shut it all down.

[wbrocks67]

It's amazing to me that cases and deaths each day are essentially going UP right now, and the best idea that the nation can come up with is to reopen.

[wbrocks67]

Mike DeWine was doing so good, and then he says today that making people wear masks 'went too far'. Ridiculous and a total slap in the face to the other many states who are doing it.

[wbrocks67]

It's amazing that people are still dying by the thousands each day and there's still 60, 70%+ of the American public who want to continue what we're doing, and Republicans are trying to make it out like everyone has the same mindset as those ridiculous protesters.

[wbrocks67]

Mike DeWine was doing so good, and then he says today that making people wear masks 'went too far'. Ridiculous and a total slap in the face to the other many states who are doing it.

Actually, I think DeWine made the right call here. Like I've said before, I supported the mask advisories which the CDC and Surgeon-General issued at the beginning of last month, as well as that issued here in Colorado. But mandating that individuals wear masks, with all of the legal penalties and the rest attached to it, does invite questions of constitutionality. This is to say nothing of the fact that such a mandate in my view would be a "one size fits all" kind of solution, given the varying conditions present among local jurisdictions, to say nothing of the health/mental state of varying individuals.

It's irresponsible. The CDC guidelines are to wear masks. It's not a lot to ask someone just to wear a mask in a restaurant or a store. Him saying that completely undermines the entire guidelines and everything that has come from health officials. I don't give a f**k whether he doesn't like the "government telling people what to do." This is a health crisis with thousands of people dying each day. People are just being selfish and ignorant - that's it. It's a ing mask.

[wbrocks67]

Mike DeWine was doing so good, and then he says today that making people wear masks 'went too far'. Ridiculous and a total slap in the face to the other many states who are doing it.

Actually, I think DeWine made the right call here. Like I've said before, I supported the mask advisories which the CDC and Surgeon-General issued at the beginning of last month, as well as that issued here in Colorado. But mandating that individuals wear masks, with all of the legal penalties and the rest attached to it, does invite questions of constitutionality. This is to say nothing of the fact that such a mandate in my view would be a "one size fits all" kind of solution, given the varying conditions present among local jurisdictions, to say nothing of the health/mental state of varying individuals.

It's irresponsible. The CDC guidelines are to wear masks. It's not a lot to ask someone just to wear a mask in a restaurant or a store. Him saying that completely undermines the entire guidelines and everything that has come from health officials. I don't give a f**k whether he doesn't like the "government telling people what to do." This is a health crisis with thousands of people dying each day. People are just being selfish and ignorant - that's it. It's a ing mask.

So you want to make mask-wearing mandatory? That's your opinion, and your entitled to it. It amazes me how something as simple as mask-wearing has become such a cultural and political flashpoint during this time.

It should be mandatory. Republicans are the ones making it a political issue, since they are also driving the protests. Again, health officials say masks should be used. That should be the *end* of that.

[wbrocks67]

So case and death rates are exceedingly going up, and the Trump admin (and many governors) reaction to that is - REOPEN! unbelievable.

[wbrocks67]

Where do they come up with this nonsense? It's obviously not going to reach 3,000 a day.

Why is that hard to imagine? There were numerous upon numerous days where it was 2,000-2,500, and I think we had one day where it was 2,700 or 2,800 in the last 2 weeks

[wbrocks67]

Let's continue to listen to those protesters.

https://twitter.com/washingtonpost/status/1257626866791448576

[wbrocks67]

Let's continue to listen to those protesters.

https://twitter.com/washingtonpost/status/1257626866791448576

It's not surprising to see this, but what will most Americans think once we hit 25% or even 30% unemployment, and the economy has completely crashed? When we have breadlines in every city, mass foreclosures across the country, mass bankruptcies, and millions of jobs permanently lost? At some point, people will have to make a choice between their financial well-being and their fears for their health, and that is an impossible choice for many.

It's a sad day when people pick the economy over their health or other peoples health.

[wbrocks67]

I mean, what the actual f**k

https://twitter.com/JoshuaPotash/status/1264978727416578048

[wbrocks67]

Things have been going great in PA. Just hope it continues. The Republicans want to impeach Tom Wolf over this, but ... shockingly... looks like.. gasp... he was doing the right thing in taking it slow!

https://twitter.com/CodyCarlsonNews/status/1273338397109731335

[wbrocks67]

I do not care that Covid-19 is spreading rapidly.

We. Must. Keep. The. Economy. Open.  At. Any. Cost.

The last lockdown resulted in no coherent plan to reopen the economy.

Why do people keep acting like this has to be extremes in one way or the other? We can keep the economy open (mostly) but still be safe with distancing, masks, etc.

The problem is that many states just flung the entire economy open like nothing happened and with no restrictions and THAT is the problem, because people can't be bothered to do the f**king bare minimum.

However, for you to say that you 'don't care' that it's spreading rapidly and thus killing more people is incredibly insane to me. Not only that, but speak for yourself. Some states did NOT have a coherent plan, but some, like PA where i live, HAVE had one. And that's why we've been able to mitigate cases actually pretty damn well up to this point.

[wbrocks67]

More people need to be talking about how far the deaths have dropped.  At this point, deaths are down nearly 90% from a couple months ago, despite case counts that are close to where they were then.  There could be a few theories, all with different implications:

1. It's because current outbreaks are concentrated in younger people, as older people are continuing to voluntarily socially distance even when it's no longer required.

2. New cases are actually down significantly, but we're testing more.

3. Deaths are a lagging indicator that will rise substantially soon.

4. The virus has mutated to become much less deadly.

#3 is getting less and less convincing by the day, as cases haven't risen that much nationally from a couple weeks ago, so, even if deaths rise somewhat, it doesn't tell much of the story.  #2 seems like it might have a little merit, but the national positive rate has only fallen from about 10% to 5-6%, so it's not the story for the whole drop in deaths.  I think the biggest factors are some combination of #1 and #4, but it's hard to give an exact degree.  If #4 is significant, that would obviously have massive implications going forward.

Cases have only started exploding in the past week or two, so it remains to be seen if deaths are a lagging indicator at this point. I would assume they are, but the jury is still out.

[wbrocks67]

Something a doctor said the other day resonated with me:

When a doctor or medical professional/dentist/whatever, wears gloves to do work on you, or they wear a mask (pre-covid) to not get germs on you when they are close, or wash their hands before they touch you... any of these standard safety precautions that are just NORMAL health protocols - none of these people say 'oh i'm not gonna do that because it's personal choice' and make it political. You just don't. Because it's what you're supposed to do because of HEALTH PROTOCOLS.

So what is the difference in wearing a mask? It's not political. It's not about "personal choice" or "personal freedom." It's a f**king health protocol for public safety to keep people from spreading a deadly virus. Like why is everyone so dense about this?

Leave it up to America to not want to do literally the EASIEST thing you could do to stop a deadly virus from spreading because "muh personal freedom"

[wbrocks67]

Leave it to the U.S. to literally not do the easiest thing we can do to fight the virus.

[wbrocks67]

God, some of the people in here are downright atrocious.

[wbrocks67]

Murphy announced on Morning Joe today that he's announcing an exec order later for NJ for mandated masks in public, much like PA. Good, but should've happened at least a week ago when PA announced

[wbrocks67]

I can't believe how Florida and DeSantis just gave up on managing the virus. It's nuts.

That Walmart/Home Depot comment about schools was bad. Even for DeSantis's standards.