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

[tinatark]

So on tonight's news a general plan to reopen the US, in stages, was announced. For states with hotspots, it will take longer to reopen. Up to the governors of each state to roll it out. We

There are MANY tests available. It was just announced, in my small town in Tennessee, people without the symptoms previously required can do drive in testing. In my county, 22 cases, 21 recovered and 1 still ill.

My community is within an 8 hour drive of 40% of the US population, home of the most visited National Park in the US - the Great Smoky Mountains - 12 million visitors last year. We expect when we reopen we will be slammed with tourists.

 

[Tekate]

Oh mind your own business. She's the one that called me disingenuous first, I find this stuff fun, personally I was surprised that you didn't call her out with her snarky remark that I responded to.

Oh my gosh are you argumentative. Calm down.

 

[1ofakind]

An Update From The USNS Comfort

The Navy hospital ship USNS Comfort has been docked in New York City for more than two weeks. WCBS 880's Steve Scott spoke with Capt. Patrick Amersbach, the commanding officer of the treatment facility aboard the hospital ship USNS Comfort, for an update.

wcbs880.radio.com

The article you posted backs up what I said...the Navy Hospital Ship Comfort was sent to NY and is taking CoVid patients, despite that not being the original intent/purpose. What are you still arguing about?

You haven't defended Trump? now YOU are being disingenuous.

Now it’s your turn to back up your claims. I’ll wait....

 

[voce]

So on tonight's news a general plan to reopen the US, in stages, was announced. For states with hotspots, it will take longer to reopen. Up to the governors of each state to roll it out. We

There are MANY tests available. It was just announced, in my small town in Tennessee, people without the symptoms previously required can do drive in testing. In my county, 22 cases, 21 recovered and 1 still ill.

My community is within an 8 hour drive of 40% of the US population, home of the most visited National Park in the US - the Great Smoky Mountains - 12 million visitors last year. We expect when we reopen we will be slammed with tourists.

I feel for you, but my hope is tourists wearing masks will become the norm.

Redirect Notice

 

[missy]

Finally (why it took so long I cannot understand) it is required to wear face masks when out in public in NY state and that includes joggers and anyone taking mass transit. Cover your face.

New York Orders Residents to Wear Masks in Public (Published 2020)

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said all New Yorkers must wear face coverings when social distancing is not possible, including on public transport, in stores and on crowded sidewalks.

www.nytimes.com

 

[arkieb1]

Are the number of cases per day of infections starting to slow down with the lockdowns and social distancing in NY?

 

[missy]

Are the number of cases per day of infections starting to slow down with the lockdowns and social distancing in NY?

Yes. But the numbers are still staggering and if it is business back as usual too soon without a solid plan we will relapse. We are still far from where we need to be.

 

[missy]

And @arkieb1 even the Governor's proclamation that all NYers must wear masks is wishy washy. I am getting frustrated with Governor Cuomo truth be told.

"The order will take effect on Friday and will apply to people who are unable to keep six feet away from others in public settings, such as on a bus or subway, on a crowded sidewalk or inside a grocery store."

Who makes that determination? Everyone who is out should wear a mask.


"
Mr. Cuomo said local governments would enforce the order, but he noted that riders without face coverings would not be ejected from public transit. The pandemic has devastated New York’s public transit system, with 59 workers having died of the virus and 2,269 testing positive for the infection.

The state would consider issuing civil penalties to people who fail to abide by the order, but not criminal penalties"

Why not? If you aren't wearing a mask you should be removed from transit. And issued a fine. Not consider issuing a fine. IMO.

 

[missy]

Interesting piece re the Greek government and how well they are handling Covid 19.

Bloomberg - Are you a robot?

"
Derided by European partners as a problem child during its decade-long financial crisis, Greece is setting an example for the world with a swift response to the coronavirus epidemic.



The country of about 11 million people reported 2,207 confirmed cases and 105 deaths as of Thursday, a fraction of the per-capita toll in Italy, Spain and France, which have almost 58,000 deaths combined. The situation in Greece is closer to Germany’s, another nation considered to have handled its virus response responsibly and effectively.




Greek leaders credit preparedness and a disciplined population. Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis asked officials for a virus response plan in January. He praised widespread compliance with lockdown measures in an address to the nation this week, saying the “slightest letup can lead to a painful regression.”




Early measures to protect Greece’s health-care system included setting up an infectious disease committee, controls at airports and ports, efforts to inform the population and close contacts with European and world health bodies, Health Minister Vassilis Kikilias said in a written statement to Bloomberg.

Mitsotakis (center) and Kikilias (right) visiting an Athens hospital on April 6.
Photographer: Panayotis Tzamaros/NurPhoto via Getty Images
“The gradual lifting of the measures will not be unconditional, but rather with conditions, so that we do not risk a second wave spreading,” Kikilias said.


Mitsotakis, whose approval rating has risen during the crisis, ordered the closing of schools and universities on March 10, only 13 days after Greece reported its first coronavirus case.


After Greece reported its first death on March 12, the government closed businesses such as cinemas, gyms, clubs, bars and restaurants within four days. A lockdown, including a ban on non-essential movement, followed a week later. While avoiding the rate of confirmed cases seen in Europe’s worst-hit countries, Greece also has fewer virus victims than several European Union countries with similar populations.

Mitsotakis ordered up a virus plan to be ready by the beginning of February, which was activated immediately after the first coronavirus case, Deputy Citizen Protection Minister Nikos Hardalias said by telephone. That brought the spread of the virus under control early on, he said.


A recent poll found that more than two-thirds of Greeks tune in to daily televised briefings by Hardalias, a former mayor of the Athens suburb of Virona, and Sotiris Tsiodras, a soft-spoken infectious diseases professor.

Hardalias implores citizens each time to observe restrictions and not to compromise the sacrifices they have made, reciting the phrase that has come to define the crisis in Greece: “Menoume spiti,” or “We stay at home.”

The next challenge will be to maintain that stance during the Orthodox Christian Easter holidays that start on Friday. For now, Greece’s lockdown is in force until April 27.

The government is working on a plan for returning the nation to normalcy, a shift that “will be gradual and long and won’t be automatic,” Stelios Petsas, a government spokesman, told reporters on Thursday. “Greeks realize that this Easter will be different.”

Snowball Effect
Hardalias said officials stuck to the procedures and protocols from the first case.


“We also have a very strong tracing system and a platform for monitoring all those who are in quarantine,” he said. At one point, about 29,000 people were being monitored.

What helped was to treat each coronavirus case as a small circle of the epidemic and trying to isolate it, so that those circles don’t “connect or intersect,” Hardalias said.

The alternative, he said, would have been “a snowball effect leading to an out-of-control situation.”


— With assistance by Zoe Schneeweiss"

 

[missy]

For those of you who asked here are the guidelines as we know them so far. Re Trump and his plans for opening up the USA.

https://int.nyt.com/data/documenthelper/6890-guidelines-pdf/124d0959e9a00d2779b0/optimized/full.pdf#page=1

 

[arkieb1]

@missy - thank you, another example of how tracking and tracing IS helping isolate and prevent more cases @kipari - another European country that managed to contain the spread by tracking and tracking, careful containment, and tough stay at home measures. Greece has a decent sized population of elderly just like Italy does.

Some states in the US that have way less infection numbers and overall deaths, could still do the same thing, track, trace, contain where possible, test a lot, have strict border control from outside states and so on and they would maintain much lower numbers. Do that until the numbers go down to a reasonable level and then open things back up within that particular state or area only....

The problem you have is there is immense pressure from Trump and big and small businesses ie the heart of America and many younger unemployed people, to allow people back to work to get the economy running again. If lockdowns end in some places, I don't see how it's going to end well for infection numbers and the overall death toll because this virus doesn't care jack about the economy it will simply continue spreading and killing people until a vaccine or cure can be manufactured.

 

[MaisOuiMadame]

I've seen that article about Greece @arkieb1 . It's great that it worked so well for them.

I'm carefully trying to see a pattern what works. Hot climate might start to look like it could help in addition to the above measures.





Germany is always cited (also in that article) as an example for good management of Covid. Having family in both countries, being German myself but living France I can say that measures in France were stricter faster, testing WAS better than in Germany (Germany is leading now). Both countries couldn't contain by track & trace, yet deaths in France are so much worse. Drives me bonkers not know exactly why and how.


In Greece the strict monitoring of the infected seems to have done the trick.

 

[soxfan]

Ladies and Gentlemen, your "President." I like to post his tweets because so many of his supporters say "Oh I don't follow twitter...."

What a POS.

 

[Matata]

LIBERATE US FROM TRUMP!

 

[Matata]

 

[Dancing Fire]

LIBERATE US FROM TRUMP!

Americans will get a chance to do so in Nov.

 

[AGBF]

LIBERATE US FROM TRUMP!

Americans will get a chance to do so in Nov.

Not the ones whose deaths were caused by Trump's mismanagement of this country's response to a pandemic, however.

 

[Dancing Fire]

Not the ones whose deaths were caused by Trump's mismanagement of this country's response to a pandemic, however.

Neither will the deaths caused by Obama during the Swine flu pandemic in 2009.

 

[Indylady]

Neither will the deaths caused by Obama during the Swine flu pandemic in 2009.

DF - c’mon.

 

[Dancing Fire]

DF - c’mon.

If Deb is crediting the deaths to Trump then she should also credit the deaths to Obama.

 

[smitcompton]

Hi,

This post is in response to tinatark. Tina, you gave me a good idea. You must not open your National Park to these tourists. It is important to open some businesses, but perhaps equally important to decide on what not to open up. So, no National Parks , monuments etc are to be opened.
Banks, comcast, and tech people are working from home. Those people laid off can collect unemployment benefits of 600.00 per week to tide them over. The small business plan that has run out of funds was meant to keep employees on the payroll and then those loans would be forgiven.
So. not everyone needs assistance. What has happened is there is chaos in implementing these programs ,even the $1200 each taxpayer is supposed to get to tide them over.

I think there is too much panic over closing and opening the world again. People are asked to participate in a self imposed quarantine, and within 2 weeks hangout is flooded with all sorts of threads about how bad things are. To me, you are putting yourselves into panic mode.

Hospitals, front line workers, PPe's bare the consequences of the defects of what has happened.
We probably should be grateful DT has turned these decisions over to the Govs. Smaller divisions may be easier to work with(states).

Most people have enough stuff. We need food, gas electric phone, Food delivery services have worked pretty well in my neck of the woods. I have actually offered to pay for food for another family should they need it. They have both kept their jobs, which I was surprised at.

Annett
Lets name businesses we think can open, some that should remain shut. Dry Cleaners -open
only i customer at a time.

 

[arkieb1]

@tinatark @smitcompton - in Australia our states not only had to shut down things like beaches and tourist attractions they had to have severe shut down restrictions on state borders because people with holiday cabins and houses were a real threat to some of these little communities and areas less impacted, people from larger denser populations wanted to go somewhere else..... In your case there will be people trying to get respite from places like New York for example, or want a break from being stuck indoors in cities.

Here they also had to restrict hotels, motels and holidays rentals, things like bed and breakfasts and AirBnbs and backpacker accommodation.

 

[mellowyellowgirl]

Err guys

Is this really happening???

‘Zombie hordes’ protests in virus backlash on US streets

Remarkable scenes have been caught on camera, as a “zombie” protester confronted healthcare workers quietly trying to enforce US lockdown measures.

www.news.com.au

 

[Garry H (Cut Nut)]

@tinatark @smitcompton - in Australia our states not only had to shut down things like beaches and tourist attractions they had to have severe shut down restrictions on state borders because people with holiday cabins and houses were a real threat to some of these little communities and areas less impacted, people from larger denser populations wanted to go somewhere else..... In your case there will be people trying to get respite from places like New York for example, or want a break from being stuck indoors in cities.

Here they also had to restrict hotels, motels and holidays rentals, things like bed and breakfasts and AirBnbs and backpacker accommodation.

In victoria now our 5 or 6 million population have almost no chance of bumping into the 129 diagnosed currently infected people who are quarantined.

 

[arkieb1]

In victoria now our 5 or 6 million population have almost no chance of bumping into the 129 diagnosed currently infected people who are quarantined.

True but that isn't a fair comparison to the US, we have shut those things down and are now containing the rate of infections. The point was that if smaller holiday places in the US reopen at this point in time and people go there from places like New York it isn't going to be anything like here.... all it will do is spread the virus to those places.

 

[MarionC]

Err guys

Is this really happening???

‘Zombie hordes’ protests in virus backlash on US streets

Remarkable scenes have been caught on camera, as a “zombie” protester confronted healthcare workers quietly trying to enforce US lockdown measures.

www.news.com.au

Yes, and Trump has twittered in support. Or else his twitter account and all news outlets are fake.

 

[Dancing Fire]

@arkieb1 @Dancing Fire IDK what else we can do at the moment. But watch in horror. How can we stop this country (and others perhaps) from reopening too soon with a sound safe plan.

But if we don't reopen soon there will be economic chaos which can cause more death than the virus itself.

@missy , Since you are retired you can stay in quarantine for as long as you like, but for most Americans they need to go back to work soon.

 

[arkieb1]

But if we don't reopen soon there will be economic chaos which can cause more death than the virus itself.

@missy , Since you are retired you can stay in quarantine for as long as you like, but for most Americans they need to go back to work soon.

Trump has stated he wants to reopen things next month despite his own medical advisors saying that's a bad idea. O.K DF, so you reopen everything again..... What do you think is going to happen?

Because I can predict it's going to be a massive s@#*show of epic proportions.... The virus will spread uncheck in any states that reopen everything. So that means you go with the "herd immunity" theory that as Darwin suggested many eons ago will mean the youngest and the fittest and healthiest survive, and old people, sick people and anyone else that happens to end up on the wrong end of statistical data dies....

You are over a certain age, are you totally cool if you or your wife get it and die because you wanted to save your economy?

 

[AGBF]

I am waiting to see what happens in South Dakota, Nebraska, and Iowa. All three are led by Republican governors who are absolutely adamant that they will not lock down any segment of their states' economies for the good of public health because everything is fine. Nebraska is re-opening a large outlet mall. South Dakota's governor refuses to slow any economic activity despite the region around The Smithfield Ham plant becoming the nation's largest "hot spot" for covid-19

Can Republican, pro-Trump bluster win against covid-19? If it does, we must employ it everywhere.

South Dakota...https://www.news9.com/story/42010429/south-dakota-governor-shuns-stayathome-order-as-coronavirus-cases-climb

The Nebraska outlets...https://www.retailcustomerexperience.com/news/nebraska-mall-getting-ready-to-reopen-in-wake-of-covid-19/

 

[missy]

Finally the Jersey shore is closing hotels and rental etc. Until the foreseeable future. At least in Asbury Park. Thank goodness. I think all resort towns should do this until the pandemic is over.

Just wondering what took them so long.