Welcome home, fellow Gator.

The Gator Nation's oldest and most active insider community
Join today!

Coronavirus in the United States - news and thoughts

Discussion in 'Too Hot for Swamp Gas' started by GatorNorth, Feb 25, 2020.

  1. pkaib01

    pkaib01 GC Hall of Fame

    3,143
    647
    2,063
    Apr 3, 2007
    The Atlantic has just posted a must read on USA's failures with COVID-19. I think it's a testament to this thread that many of the observations have been discussed here. We should encourage our friends and families to read it.

    Normally, I try to quote a provocative paragraph or two to encourage clicks on an article. I won't here because for fear of minimizing the breathtaking scope of our errors.

    Untitled.jpg

    Linky:
    How the Pandemic Defeated America
     
    Last edited: Aug 3, 2020
    • Informative Informative x 4
    • Fistbump/Thanks! Fistbump/Thanks! x 1
    • Winner Winner x 1
  2. littlebluelw

    littlebluelw Premium Member

    6,294
    812
    2,068
    Apr 3, 2007
    I’ll read it, only because it hasn’t defeated me.
     
    • Like Like x 1
  3. littlebluelw

    littlebluelw Premium Member

    6,294
    812
    2,068
    Apr 3, 2007
    From the article:

    The Chinese government downplayed the possibility that SARS‑CoV‑2 was spreading among humans, and only confirmed as much on January 20, after millions had traveled around the country for the lunar new year. Doctors who tried to raise the alarm were censured and threatened. One, Li Wenliang, later died of COVID‑19. The World Health Organization initially parroted China’s line and did not declare a public-health emergency of international concern until January 30. By then, an estimated 10,000 people in 20 countries had been infected, and the virus was spreading fast.
     
  4. OklahomaGator

    OklahomaGator Jedi Administrator Moderator VIP Member

    120,323
    161,304
    116,973
    Apr 3, 2007
    Updated stats from world o meter as of 8 am EDT. On Mondays I update the testing numbers and the US did 5,665,858 tests last week. That means 17.74% of the population has been tested. The percent positive rate dropped from 8.5% last week to 7.7% this week. Total tests were over 59 million. There were 10 states with a decrease in active tests over the last 3 days. There were 11 states with 1-6 deaths and 4 states with 0 deaths over the last 3 days.

    aa 8-3-1.JPG
    aa 8-3-2.JPG
     
    • Informative Informative x 1
  5. pkaib01

    pkaib01 GC Hall of Fame

    3,143
    647
    2,063
    Apr 3, 2007
    "Travel bans make intuitive sense, because travel obviously enables the spread of a virus. But in practice, travel bans are woefully inefficient at restricting either travel or viruses. They prompt people to seek indirect routes via third-party countries, or to deliberately hide their symptoms. They are often porous: Trump’s included numerous exceptions, and allowed tens of thousands of people to enter from China. Ironically, they create travel: When Trump later announced a ban on flights from continental Europe, a surge of travelers packed America’s airports in a rush to beat the incoming restrictions. Travel bans may sometimes work for remote island nations, but in general they can only delay the spread of an epidemic—not stop it. And they can create a harmful false confidence, so countries “rely on bans to the exclusion of the things they actually need to do—testing, tracing, building up the health system,” says Thomas Bollyky, a global-health expert at the Council on Foreign Relations. “That sounds an awful lot like what happened in the U.S.”"
     
    • Informative Informative x 2
    • Agree Agree x 1
    • Winner Winner x 1
  6. OklahomaGator

    OklahomaGator Jedi Administrator Moderator VIP Member

    120,323
    161,304
    116,973
    Apr 3, 2007
    The death rate per reported case continues to drop.

    aa 8-3-3.JPG
     
    • Like Like x 2
  7. pkaib01

    pkaib01 GC Hall of Fame

    3,143
    647
    2,063
    Apr 3, 2007
    "The indoor spaces in which Americans spend 87 percent of their time became staging grounds for super-spreading events. One study showed that the odds of catching the virus from an infected person are roughly 19 times higher indoors than in open air. Shielded from the elements and among crowds clustered in prolonged proximity, the coronavirus ran rampant in the conference rooms of a Boston hotel, the cabins of the Diamond Princess cruise ship, and a church hall in Washington State where a choir practiced for just a few hours."
     
    • Winner Winner x 1
    • Informative Informative x 1
  8. pkaib01

    pkaib01 GC Hall of Fame

    3,143
    647
    2,063
    Apr 3, 2007
    I'm not sure what to make of you choosing the paragraph about China's culpability from an article itemizing many of the USA's failings. It really wasn't one of the takeaways I was expecting folks to have from the article.
     
    • Agree Agree x 2
  9. philnotfil

    philnotfil GC Hall of Fame

    16,795
    1,522
    1,718
    Apr 8, 2007
    If they don't track the numbers, there won't be any evidence that students are getting sick. Brilliant!

    Tennessee won't collect, release data on coronavirus cases in schools

     
    • Informative Informative x 4
  10. littlebluelw

    littlebluelw Premium Member

    6,294
    812
    2,068
    Apr 3, 2007
    Likewise
     
  11. exiledgator

    exiledgator Gruntled

    10,424
    1,615
    3,128
    Jan 5, 2010
    Maine
    New around here? ;)
     
    • Funny Funny x 4
    • Agree Agree x 1
    • Winner Winner x 1
  12. G8trGr8t

    G8trGr8t Premium Member

    28,041
    11,112
    3,443
    Aug 26, 2008
    Yes they are complicit. If we could build a coalition to punish them for it that would be great. Unfortunately we have alienated most, if not all, or our allies.

    At the same time, if we are dependent upon our enemies or even WHO to keep us informed of biological threats we have failed.

    Read this story. these two generals had less info and authority than POTUS but made hard and good decisions without having to rely on China or WHO

    'Protective bubbles': How 2 Army generals stopped the spread of coronavirus among their soldiers
     
    • Like Like x 3
    • Winner Winner x 1
    • Informative Informative x 1
  13. G8trGr8t

    G8trGr8t Premium Member

    28,041
    11,112
    3,443
    Aug 26, 2008
    and in the customs queues that followed in the int'l airports around the country when we told everybody to come home and made no preparations on how to handle them when they returned. Like DeSantis setting up checkpoints on the interstate and then having to remove them because they didn't anticipate the traffic delays they would cause..always tell my kids to "think it through". It seems to be a skill set lost on our leaders from both groups.
     
    • Agree Agree x 2
  14. 96Gatorcise

    96Gatorcise GC Hall of Fame

    14,592
    25,736
    3,363
    Aug 6, 2008
    Tampa
  15. oragator1

    oragator1 Premium Member

    20,615
    4,440
    3,488
    Apr 3, 2007
  16. LouisvilleGator

    LouisvilleGator GC Hall of Fame

    1,180
    189
    1,933
    Oct 16, 2012
    Looks like those nationwide new cases a fallin'.
     
  17. WESGATORS

    WESGATORS Moderator VIP Member

    21,910
    1,076
    1,808
    Apr 3, 2007
    From the link...

    This continues to be one of the most ridiculous aspects of the pandemic, in my opinion. Our fixation with ridiculous levels of "patient privacy" inhibits our ability to inform the public about the data that has been collected. There's a way to provide information without disrespectfully calling out any individual, but in our country, we have collectively chosen privacy over being better informed. We reap what we sow.

    Go GATORS!
    ,WESGATORS
     
    • Agree Agree x 4
  18. philnotfil

    philnotfil GC Hall of Fame

    16,795
    1,522
    1,718
    Apr 8, 2007
    The most annoying thing is that this is just an excuse. There is nothing in HIPAA that would prevent the reporting of cases. It would be a violation to include the patients name or personally identifying information, but no one is asking for that. We just want numbers. Two students at XYZ school, a teacher and a student at ABC school. Totally fine under HIPAA and useful information to dealing with the pandemic.

    All the junk about patient privacy is lies used to excuse bad behavior.
     
    • Winner Winner x 5
  19. WESGATORS

    WESGATORS Moderator VIP Member

    21,910
    1,076
    1,808
    Apr 3, 2007
    Logically, you are correct, but that is not how many administrators see the world. They often choose the path of perceived lower liability regardless of the utility of actually understanding what constitutes crossing the line. They are "safer;" they say they are "protecting our information for us," and all the while, we are less informed of things we should be better informed of.

    Go GATORS!
    ,WESGATORS
     
    • Agree Agree x 2
  20. OklahomaGator

    OklahomaGator Jedi Administrator Moderator VIP Member

    120,323
    161,304
    116,973
    Apr 3, 2007
    Bill Gates on back to school: Benefits in 'almost every location' outweigh costs for young children

    Bill Gates weighs in on schools reopening.

    • "
    • Billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates told CNBC it’s important for young students to return to school for in-person learning, despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
    • “I’m a big believer that for young children, the benefits in almost every location — particularly if you can protect the teachers well — the benefits outweigh the costs,” Gates said.
    • However, the Microsoft co-founder said the back-to-school decision is more complicated for older students."