SirAndrew

Josh would have mentioned how awesome the fans are, but stated that he’s ready to play no matter what the circumstances are. I just can’t picture that quote coming from Josh in the same manner as Cousins. I love how Josh carries himself, and have never been a big fan of how Cousins carries himself.

I read the actual full quote, and although it adds context, it can still be interpreted as Cousins saying he doesn’t care if the fans are in the stadium. He’s absolutely entitled to his opinion. Those of us who view that quote as sounding a bit arrogant/self-absorbed are also entitled to an opinion. Personally, I want to see people back out living their life everywhere, including attending football games. If Cousins is happy to not get booed, that’s cool too.

I hate sounding all grumpy old man about random things players say, but Cousins did say “we don’t need all the smoke and fire”, which in my mind translates to game day with fans. He’s entitled to his opinion. It’s just ironic that he wouldn’t have a job without the “smoke and fire”. It sounds arrogant to me. He could have said something like “I just want to play, regardless of whether we can have fans”. That would have even upset some, but instead he talks about practice and OTA’s, and how you don’t need “fire and smoke to play the game”. Well, actually you do need the “fire and smoke” because without it, football wouldn’t exist.

Agree, I find it hard to believe anything very important is going to be announced at 11. What a joke.

He’s allowed to have his opinion, I just don’t understand or agree with it. If I’m a football player, I want fans in the stands just to show the world has returned to some sense of normalcy. It’s a downer going to work everyday only to be reminded the world isn’t normal right now. Cousins probably just gets paid enough to make none of that matter to him. There’s a reason he doesn’t seem to be well received by teammates.

Fair enough, I’m just thinking there won’t be enough produced to test every American as often as NFL players. I don’t see it medically necessary for insurance companies to cover that every week either (test is quite uncomfortable too, we’d need to come up with something faster and easier to administer, there’s many reports of not being swabbed correctly). However, my point is we need to protect our seniors, the disabled, cancer patients, maternity wards etc... far more than NFL football players. If people who work with those populations don’t know if they have the virus, the NFL won’t be able to go ahead with this without looking terrible. I’m not writing off the NFL season. I actually have a lot of faith in the season happening in some form. I just can’t envision a scenario where players are being tested on a regular basis. If the outbreak is still at that level, there won’t be a a season imo.

Many tests might be available, but unless the government foots the bill for every employer in the country, I don’t see many private organizations providing free tests for employees on a regular basis. The NFL has the cash to do it, and if they are one of the few who are able to do so, it still won’t look good.

Exactly, the optics of NFL players getting testing on a regular basis would be terrible. Many health care facilities are overrun with the virus, yet employees can’t get tested to protect the patients. If that doesn’t change, and tests aren’t abundant, there will be major pushback. I don’t see the testing nonsense working for the NFL.

That could be a nightmare scenario imo. If this virus is still circulating, a scenario where we test all players and personnel has the potential to go very poorly. I can envision hundreds of positive tests on asymptomatic players. The season would be a random crap shoot based on the amount of players who would miss two weeks.

Yeah, everyone will have had exposure to it by fall imo. So I’m not going get all doom and gloom about needing a vaccine to save us. We are vastly underestimating how many people will actually be positive for this before next fall. By positive I don’t mean a positive test, I just mean that they actually had the virus.

I think you misinterpreted what I was trying to say. I meant there is no sense in blaming specific individuals in the current administration, that is purely political. What we must do is address how the greatest country in earth ends up with a PPE shortage, and fix that problem. Americans have always fixed problems, we can’t allow partisan bickering to put people in harms way. Regardless of who is to blame, let’s stand up and fix the problem. We need actions, not rhetoric that sounds good.

I think any reasonable person knows the lack of PPE is bad, but I also think non-politically motivated people know there isn’t a specific person to be blame for the lack of PPE. It’s a failure that needs to be addressed by both parties, and we need to do better. Much of the issue has to do with the fact we need to fix our reliance on the supply chain from China. America needs to be able to supply itself with items in the time of crisis. If Europe wants to remain reliant on China, they can go for it .

Thank you for this, I’m not getting into the political aspect or trying to blame anyone, but it’s frustrating to hear random people continue to state there is no PPE shortage. People are so addicted to choosing a “side” these days, that they don’t live in reality. Masks are being used multiple days from boxes that say “do not reuse”. That shouldn’t happen, and hopefully it never happens again.

You’re definitely correct about Florida. It may be too early to tell. I’m just throwing out my random theory that I could see them doing a little better than some of northern states. Florida has an outdoor lifestyle, and nothing that compares to the density of NYC or Boston, I could see them faring a little better. People in NYC love getting out and socializing. That’s what draws so many to that city. Unfortunately, in the time of a pandemic that becomes a hurdle to overcome. NYC has millions of people attending functions on a daily basis, all jammed into crowded rooms indoors.

Does anyone actually believe China’s official number though? I know I don’t.

Florida’s numbers are low. I wonder how much that might have to do with fewer large groups congregating indoors. People move to Florida to be outdoors. As bad as a crowded beach is, the NY subway is far worse. Northerners spend so much time traveling outside of the home to engage in indoor activities. People in Florida had spent much of March outdoors. Aside from shopping, many large events are held outdoors in Florida.

No plan will work if a nation lies, but if we have enough hospital beds, ventilators, and proper American made PPE, we’d be in a better position. I’m not even placing blame on particular people outside of China, just saying what’s crucial for the future, even if we are deceived once again. That’s where the West failed. We aren’t set up to deal with the reality of pandemics. This might just be the tip of the iceberg for all we know. We need to mobilize preparation in health like you would with defense. Pandemic preparation is now part of our defense program in many ways. The military prepares for whatever comes their way, even when deceit is involved, that’s where we need to be with public health. We can’t depend on China or international organizations to save us.

That’s one of the failures of the Western world I’m taking about though. We all need to end our dependence on China. It’s a scary and very dangerous position to be in. It’s not the fault of you or I, but it is a failure due to many years of terrible policy by the Western world.

Absolutely, I just mean the Western world as a whole was/is not prepared for a pandemic. It’s a reality of the modern world, and the lack of preparation needs to change. China was very deceitful, and deserve much of the blame. However, we live in a bizzare time when the word of a communist/totalitarian state is taken at face value. China might have lied, but organizations like the WHO and other Western agencies need to do better at questioning information coming from China.

I’ve always been a non-partisan thinker, as I believe there is right and wrong regardless of party affiliation. Honestly, no one got this right. There are no hero’s in this story, except for the first responders and people working the front lines. China and then much of the Western world failed with an adequate response. No one was prepared, it’s as simple as that.

There are very valid economic reason to end the lockdown. The medical claims of that article are complete nonsense. Ending the lockdown right now likely causes more deaths and possibly overburdens the system. It needs to end at some point, but let’s not act as if we’ve solved the problem, and our actions haven’t reduced infections. It does need to end, I just hate to see it end too soon. Articles like that get many of the facts wrong imo.

The world’s best hope has always been internal strife within China that alters the CCP. Nothing else is likely to actually change the threat posed by China.

We’re definitely on the same page. Hopefully cases are reduced to the point where contact tracing can be helpful. I just think some people are confused, seemingly believing contact tracing is useful right now. With the possible exception of remote rural areas, there’s no use in contact tracing at this time. I can’t believe how many health departments are still wasting their time doing so.

What countries have made contact tracing work? In nations such as Italy, and the US it’s spun too out of control to do so. If you’re referring to nations such as South Korea and Singapore, you are correct. However, those nations are smaller in size without multiple waves of infections and patient zeros in hundreds of huge cities. They caught it early on when contact tracing was still viable. Contact tracing isn’t practical right now in the United States imo.

Distancing helps, I completely agree. I just believe it’s too prevalent for contact tracing to work. When we trace someone’s contacts, do we quarantine them all ? Quarantining every contact is impossible at this point. Also, who did the person testing positive get the virus from? Lastly, we have no idea how many are asymptotic, so trace all my contacts, but the asymptomatic person who gave me the virus is still passing it around. Contact tracing works with a very rare virus, or if you immediately catch it entering the country. Contact tracing is almost worthless when a virus has entered every community. Keep in mind, this is not an expert opinion, but just my belief based on what I’m seeing.