What are your thoughts on how government is handling COVID-19

[Maria D]

I met one but did not know her well the other is someone my husband knew, I find it sad and disturbing people are committing suicide over lost jobs in Australia, this might become something that occurs in the US as more things are forced to shut down as well. The economic destruction and personal impact it will have on many is another aspect of this epidemic....

Social isolation and job loss are certainly triggers for people suffering from suicidal ideation. But (and here I'm not speaking as a professional, but as someone intimately familiar with a person who took his own life), those things in and of themselves will not drive an emotionally and mentally healthy person to suicide.

The answer cannot be to let people go on with business as usual, disease spread be damned, to save vulnerable people from suicide. Instead, the focus should be on helping everyone navigate this crisis safely, from both a physical and mental standpoint.

 

[soxfan]

Close your eyes- this guys is GOOD!

https://twitter.com/x/status/1242879985024741382

 

[AdaBeta27]

Close your eyes- this guys is GOOD!

 

[MarionC]

Close your eyes- this guys is GOOD!

https://twitter.com/x/status/1242879985024741382

Thanks a million times. He is wonderful.

 

[missy]

Close your eyes- this guys is GOOD!

https://twitter.com/x/status/1242879985024741382

OMG I don't want to hear his voice anymore. LOL

You are right. He is good.
Easter bunny and all.

 

[AGBF]

Oh my word, that was funny! It really, really took me by surprise. Thank you for posting that, soxfan. I guess I am not used to that level of irreverence since I am used to television and "The New York Times", but it is ever so warranted.

Close your eyes- this guys is GOOD!

https://twitter.com/x/status/1242879985024741382

 

[OoohShiny]

I recall seeing rent and mortgage freeze in England or something? I think all countries should follow suit as this is something that can't be helped and it's not the people's fault that they cannot work.

One can apply for a three-month mortgage holiday at this moment in time, but the interest on the balance of the account still accrues. The interest is either added to the outstanding balance (and, of course, interest added on the interest over time...) or is to be repaid over the next few payments.

The UK Govt seems to be doing quite a lot to keep business going and try to stop people losing their homes, even paying self-employed people (who will be cursing the fact they minimised their income on their tax returns when their assistance will be based on 80% of the income submitted ) but the hangover from this is going to take a long time to get sorted.

COVID-19: guidance and support

Find information on COVID-19, including guidance and support.

www.gov.uk

 

[JPie]

@soxfan that’s close, but he needs to butcher/slur his words more.

 

[soxfan]

 

[JPie]

SMH

https://twitter.com/x/status/1242777450662244352

 

[soxfan]

Finally! Someone doesn't back down to him. And he does what he does best, acts like a complete incompetent idiot.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1242946864745312257

 

[soxfan]

I have to say thank GOD for our state Governors (Save Desantis. OMG what a moron.) THEY are the ones running the country right now. We need to support our own states and the the states most heavily hit. Like Gov. Cuomo said today, they are a canary in the coal mine, we will all follow suit. Trump is basically 100% irrelevent right now. It's KILLING him. Hotels in NY are giving free rooms out to medical personnel. You think he's offered up any Trump properties? NOPE.

 

[arkieb1]

Social isolation and job loss are certainly triggers for people suffering from suicidal ideation. But (and here I'm not speaking as a professional, but as someone intimately familiar with a person who took his own life), those things in and of themselves will not drive an emotionally and mentally healthy person to suicide.

The answer cannot be to let people go on with business as usual, disease spread be damned, to save vulnerable people from suicide. Instead, the focus should be on helping everyone navigate this crisis safely, from both a physical and mental standpoint.

I totally agree with you, the point I was making wasn't that anyone should continue as business as usual, quite the reverse the only way to stop the virus once it is out of control is social isolation.... The point was that the virus has multiple effects, - the obvious impact on the health care system (people with the disease and those dying from it), there are economic impacts (as businesses are forced to shut down and people are out of work, and the global economy goes into recession) BUT there are hidden effects like the metal health and wellbeing of those (ie most of us) impacted by the virus.

I also agree with you most people will simply deal with it, but there will be a small % of people that do not.

 

[missy]

As late as March 11th he was encouraging NYers to go out, eat out and ignore Covid 19.

 

[redwood66]

My state is now under a 21 day stay at home order per the governor. Only essential services.

 

[arkieb1]

@missy - I guess some of these leaders in the US are completely unable to read statistical data or they think by ignoring it that the problem will magically go away. Or they are just morons....

All of the charts I've seen of the exponential curve of infection in the US show that the rate of infection is growing in the US at a faster and what will be much higher rate of infection than China and Italy. I'm sure politicians in the US must have this data, that you have a faster higher rate of infection than the two worst countries on record so far.....

You aren't testing enough people, you didn't track enough cases, that means that this thing is way out of control right across the US. The ONLY way to contain it now is a systematic and complete lockdown of everyone except essential workers.

 

[OboeGal]

Wrong wrong wrong.
Put oldies and at risk in quarantine isolation and protect them until there are treatments and a vaccine.
Ruining the economy = economic hardship beyond belief and mental health and suicide will cause more damage and result in more deaths and misery that from the virus.

NO.

1) Attempts have been made in epidemics past to isolate those vulnerable to the pathogen while others "go about normal life"; it never works. It's impossible to keep them protected enough; the pathogen always gets to them and decimates them. Epidemiologists know this; if there was any reason to think that approach could possibly work, don't you think they would be advocating for that?
2) Enough younger, ostensibly healthy, people are still ending up gravely ill in ICU, many on ventilators, many left with long-lasting and possibly permanent organ damage, and some even dying, that medical capabilities would still be overwhelmed, front-line medical workers would be sickened and killed at untenable rates, and there would be no capacity to treat heart attacks, strokes, cancer, traffic accidents, falls, violent crime injuries, etc.
3) For anything about that scenario to work, it is utterly dependent on two concepts: widespread fast testing to determine who is infected so that they and their contacts can be isolated, which we certainly aren't even remotely close to; and immunity after infection that lasts a significant enough period of time. We have no evidence at this time that there is any lasting immunity from this virus; there is not yet enough data.
4) The economy won't be permanently ruined; it will come back. It always does. Dead people can't be resuscitated. And remember that the "oldies and sickies" still are a reservoir of tremendous knowledge, skill, and wisdom, and are still a vital part of the economy.
5) There will be a great deal of economic hardship, certainly, but that hardship would be mitigated if all the people who aren't struggling to keep their roof over their head and food in their children's mouths helped their friends/family members/ neighbors/community members who are struggling get through this time. There is an enormous amount of wealth held by individuals and families in western societies; imagine what could be accomplished if, in addition to governments giving assistance, people set aside their greed? Imagine how many rent payments and grocery bills Jeff Bezos could cover, and still have more than he could ever spend in a lifetime. It's not necessary to needlessly sacrifice the lives of "oldies and sickies". The dilemma is not really "oldies' lives vs. young peoples' futures"; that is a narrative being sold to us by those who have enough to share, but simply aren't willing to, and want to distract us all from that.

 

[OboeGal]

I agree @chrono - it isn't their fault. I have taken the back seat at my job (minimal at-home hours) so that the young lady that works under me can have the hours she needs to survive. It's my way of helping, standing aside and allowing the more needy person to collect a paycheck. As for rents, this is a tough one, we own rental property and collect those rents to pay the mortgages and to use as income to survive. Again, we will take the backseat on this one as we can't evict a person because they lost their job. Very trying times. I pray for those who are ill and those who have lost their jobs and can't maintain the most basic of lives. God help us.

@Queenie60, you are the perfect example of what all of us who can need to do. You are setting the perfect example to those around you. I can't possibly commend you enough. Thank you.

 

[Queenie60]

@Queenie60, you are the perfect example of what all of us who can need to do. You are setting the perfect example to those around you. I can't possibly commend you enough. Thank you.

Thank you @OboeGal - we certainly have our differences however, we both have kind hearts and care about others around us. I pray for this virus to go away and I pray for those who will suffer for months to come. I wear my cross every day so that God knows that I am walking with him and trying to carry the less fortunate in my heart.

 

[Dancing Fire]

There is an enormous amount of wealth held by individuals and families in western societies; imagine what could be accomplished if, in addition to governments giving assistance, people set aside their greed? Imagine how many rent payments and grocery bills Jeff Bezos could cover, and still have more than he could ever spend in a lifetime.

I'd agree!. I told my daughters to retire b/c the billionaires in this country will support you and your kids for the rest of your lives.

 

[MaisOuiMadame]

Even homeschooling 5 kids I don't have much time for the internet...... If you've got a country to run during a pandemic and have time to watch TV and tweet about it, you're clearly not making it a priority!!!!!!

 

[MarionC]

The president wonders when life will return to normal.

Yep, sure sounds like fake news to me. How dare the press report that the president hopes life will return to normal sooner rather than later. Talk about an assault on his character...

 

[MakingTheGrade]

If I’m being generous I’d characterize Trumps statement about Easter as “wishful thinking”. But that’s not helpful right now, and will actively be harmful if it influences people to flout social distancing now or then.
Where is my Defense production act for PPE?! Nyc hospitals are out of N95s. Grrrr

 

[AGBF]

If I’m being generous I’d characterize Trumps statement about Easter as “wishful thinking”. But that’s not helpful right now, and will actively be harmful if it influences people to flout social distancing now or then.
Where is my Defense production act for PPE?! Nyc hospitals are out of N95s. Grrrr

"The New York Post" has a front page photo of nurses wearing garbage bags in lieu of surgical protective gowns. (I saw this on MSNBC this morning.)

I keep waiting for FDR to show up at The White House to get the factories running at top speed to save the nation. So far Herbert Hoover remains.

 

[OoohShiny]

Covid-19 no longer classed as a High Consequences Infectious Disease:

High consequence infectious diseases (HCID)

Guidance and information about high consequence infectious diseases and their management in England.

www.gov.uk

Status of COVID-19
As of 19 March 2020, COVID-19 is no longer considered to be a high consequence infectious diseases (HCID) in the UK.

The 4 nations public health HCID group made an interim recommendation in January 2020 to classify COVID-19 as an HCID. This was based on consideration of the UK HCID criteria about the virus and the disease with information available during the early stages of the outbreak. Now that more is known about COVID-19, the public health bodies in the UK have reviewed the most up to date information about COVID-19 against the UK HCID criteria. They have determined that several features have now changed; in particular, more information is available about mortality rates (low overall), and there is now greater clinical awareness and a specific and sensitive laboratory test, the availability of which continues to increase.

The Advisory Committee on Dangerous Pathogens (ACDP) is also of the opinion that COVID-19 should no longer be classified as an HCID.

The need to have a national, coordinated response remains, but this is being met by the government’s COVID-19 response.

Cases of COVID-19 are no longer managed by HCID treatment centres only. All healthcare workers managing possible and confirmed cases should follow the updated national infection and prevention (IPC) guidance for COVID-19, which supersedes all previous IPC guidance for COVID-19. This guidance includes instructions about different personal protective equipment (PPE) ensembles that are appropriate for different clinical scenarios.

(I presume that just means it doesn't hit the technical criteria, rather than being 'not bad'! lol)

 

[1ofakind]

“Today, no hospital, no nurse, no doctor can say legitimately say ‘I don’t have protective equipment’,” Cuomo said all hospitals in NY have enough PPE. They are working to increase the supply for the expected surge.
This was yesterdays press conference,

 

[AGBF]

“Today, no hospital, no nurse, no doctor can say legitimately say ‘I don’t have protective equipment’,” Cuomo said all hospitals in NY have enough PPE. They are working to increase the supply for the expected surge.
This was yesterdays press conference,

This must be the story referred to. It was published yesterday. I did not hear Governor Cuomo's press conference yesterday. How on earth could New York hospitals suddenly have "enough" of anything given the number of patients expected to come in each day even if they suddenly had enough yesterday afternoon just after these nurses had to put on garbage bags (which I doubt)?

Where are the ventilators?

Worker at NYC hospital where nurses wear trash bags as protection dies from coronavirus

The shortage of safety gear at one Manhattan hospital is so dire that desperate nurses have resorted to wearing trash bags — and some blame the situation for the coronavirus death of a beloved coll…

nypost.com

 

[Matata]

This man deserves heaps of praise. Highlights the faults of our govt and of our big business (those who are attempting to rework their manufacturing to produce needed PPE) and who are likely trying to figure out how to make the highest profits from the pandemic.

James Dyson designed a new ventilator in 10 days. He's making 15,000 for the pandemic fight

Dyson has received an order from the UK government for 10,000 ventilators to support efforts by the country's National Health Service to treat coronavirus patients.

www.cnn.com

 

[Tekate]

I'd agree!. I told my daughters to retire b/c the billionaires in this country will support you and your kids for the rest of your lives.

 

[redwood66]

That's so helpful.