Sundancer

Agreed 100%. Being prepared for much of this would have taken so little $$ (in a federal budget) that we should ensure we're ready next time. - coordinated response plans - centralized decision and resource planning ("governors, go buy what you need from vendors" is not a great way to allocate resources. If there are 10 cases in Nebraska and 900 in New York, New York needs more resources) ... I hate federal government bloat but central planning in a time like this is why Rome appointed dictators and sometimes you need a government dictator to make decisions in crisis - backup supplies in adequate numbers (at least basic supplies...it would be hard to keep 100,000 ventilators on hand) - basic testing reagent ramp up plan in place so we can go from low numbers to high in a hurry I am sure others can think of things, but for sure this will have to take place when smarter people than me sit down to review this pandemic.

We have more patient 0 entry points than Italy I bet. So they have exponential growth in 1 region. We have exponential growth in many. We are sure to dwarf most other countries soon unless India gets on the board. If this hits India, look out.

He seems to be the straightest shooter. Definitely missing him and people notice his absence.

However we got here doesn't matter at the moment (it will for future planning and we can look forward to that day). We are here now, without adequate tests, not tracing down infected networks of people, simple supplies like masks, and more complicated supplies like ventilators. We just need to get through it somehow. Let's just be there for each other and especially medical workers.

We are a community right now. This is it. We will be angry, distraught, sad...but in the end, all we are is "we." We can sort out the politics in November. I am all in on supporting anyone trying to help: left, right politician, cashier, healthcare worker, police--you name it. My wife is a hospice social worker in a large regional medical system. She may be called to do lots more soon just because bodies are needed. They've been told to expect the call. We should all be ready to throw our backs in to help however works best according to our needs.

The blame game is not helpful right now. We need to solve this as best we can. We have what we have. Right now that's inadequate testing and hospitals getting bombarded. Our local hospital is re-using masks (unheard of) and asking for mask donations from the public. Even the most skeptical are coming around to this being a big deal.

Depends on what you're saying. If you want to be political or spread conspiracies, they are probably getting deleted because there's already a place for that. Hapless is trying to keep things in this thread apolitical with respect to Dem/Rep politics and conspiracy talk.

This is consistent with what the administration was saying yesterday. They can't test everyone who needs it, so they are focusing on elderly and health care workers with the tests they do have. It's a real problem. We can't return to any normalcy until we are only quarantining those who test positive, and we can't know who those people are without massive testing, which is not currently possible. I don't really care "why" at the moment. I am happy to play the blame game in November--right now I am just concerned that we remain without tests and without an ability to return to normalcy even once the cases peak in a few weeks in the big coastal cities (and a couple months in places like Buffalo).

Agreed. But other countries with aggressive testing and tracing cases are showing that works. It’s just not what the US is doing so our cases are not under control.

China new cases to 0 does not mean it is over. But it is good news. Very easy to start contagion again if all movement restrictions are lifted though. This will be our issue in the US in particular. Once we get on top of this, which will take longer, we will need to stay on top of it by staying in our communities, not exposing ourselves to many others, not just launching back to the old normal. It will need to be a slow climb back to protect the bubble from resurging. We need to get to the no new cases point first, then let experts guide the next steps and follow them. Unlike the responses that worked in China, the US communities are already starting to give up on tracing contacts citing spread via “normal activity,” which shows a lack of commitment to quarantine and tracing efforts (national database and contact mapping would seem so so easy for this...Facebook for Covid) compared to Korea, Singapore, Japan, and China. This is not good news. By not doing this, it may take longer to reach containment. As suspected by many, the west may lack the backbone to get on this in a way that makes the most difference early. Hapless: upstream my reference to you was just about the dire need for more testing Since you’ve been beating that drum so hard. Nothing more. On that topic of testing the admin’s primary strategy right now is distancing, not testing, due to continued lack of test availability to meet needs. Tough to read this knowing testing is a key to managing and resuming normalcy. Focusing the tests on elderly and healthcare workers is fine because we continue to literally have no choice but the low symptom folk may then carry and spread obliviously. No tracing, no testing is the opposite of Korea and Japan.

Kids get it. Most limited to no symptoms.

I would like to see statistical compilations in more detail by age that do not include China's numbers in a week. I see glimpses of these now but not tabled. Anyone who thinks they can draw conclusions from China's numbers, especially their decreasing cases and apply them elsewhere, may not have their thinking hat on straight. - We are not China and lockdowns there are not the same as in the west - China has a very loose relationship with the truth. 15000 to 15 patients does not ring true with what the rest of the world is experiencing.

That is literally what I was thinking. It's nothing--and those checks aren't being sent for a few weeks.

Agreed. That's nothing to the large number of people not getting checks. Almost literally $0. In 2008, people were not about to have $0 in the bank and mouths to feed. That is where we are now. So it's find to send out cash but we need to get back to work, very very soon.

People need to keep paying if they can. If they can't, the last thing anyone will do is evict. It's the reality of the situation that we need capital flowing through the system. If you don't pay the bank, the bank can't loan the restaurant that closed money. If the bank doesn't make that loan, the waiter living paycheck to paycheck who is still getting something gets $0. Imagine that times 100000 permutations of downstream effects. $$ has to keep moving.

Brava to her. She's a heroine.

That's an interesting approach. We have to keep the economy going. I have no solution to that but something like this has to happen where people get back to work. Shutting it all down is not actually a thing that can last. Picking up this idea as interesting: Apologies if this is tending to politics and not science but I'm trying to avoid the critiques of party and discuss alternatives to problems in the air.

Economically, it might be. The data from outside of China (where we have limited confidence) will tell how serious this is across wider populations. To get that data, we need...Hapless? Nothing would be better than if people could say in June that they told you so and this was never going to be a big deal but areas ahead of us in time are showing it's a big deal.

Trying times. All good of course, and yes this is a good thread for the most part. Well managed by Hapless. There's nothing more that any of us (left, right, center) would want right now than Trump tweeting in July that we always had this under control.

Or Cooper. But the point is a really good one. First round WRs are rarely impact players early especially at pick 22.

I told the PT poster to do what the CDC and the experts are saying, that is, social distance yourself when possible and suggested that he try to get advice remotely from the PT, which would clearly be the safest thing because, again, the CDC is recommending not putting others at risk through unnecessary interaction. And as for his mother's specific serious medical issue, call the doctor, which would I think be better than following the advice of what anyone would say to do here.

Please don't listen to this guy. ^^^^^^^^^^^ This isn't an H1N1 flu. It's much more contagious and requires much more treatment. If you don't believe me, see Italy. If you don't believe the real world example, go read the CDC materials, or find what the majority of health care professionals are saying. Spreading the disease is the problem with going out and being around groups of people. A PT appointment is where many of the most vulnerable people will be. If you carry it in, they will get it. If you don't, you may get it there due to so many touched surfaces and throughput of bodies. The idea behind distancing is to slow the spread so our hospitals don't get swamped. It's already too late but maybe we can get ahead of it a little. I am not hoarding. I'm not panicking. I'm not worried that I'll catch this and die. If I do, I do. But I'm trying to be sensible to my neighbors while I watch the economy. I assume at some point, we will all be released back into the wild so the economy doesn't completely crater and I hope we have cleared the worst of the bed-usage issues and lack of testing by then so we can resume some degree of normalcy. Call her doctor. They will give you better advice than you'll get on here.

The test tube stuff is less interesting than this sentence, for which I've seen other verification in other articles. Whatever it is, even if it could be kept in abeyance so people can be at home and don't need to be in the hospital, it would be a big find. I have no idea what the side effects are, how easy it is to manufacture, and of course the thing none of us know, it it works, but it's still promising. The good news from each nugget is that we know the best people are on this. Whether it's a cure or vaccine, the end will come. We just need to clear the immediate hurdle of not having the capacity to deal with the bodies heading to the hospital. The bed estimate numbers are beyond sobering. Come on tests!

It's called a dikfer.

No, he should not go. The end. They are closing wherever you are and if you seriously need the PT, they will help remotely as best they can.