The irresponsibility of our media.

That's definitely a sobering take found above.

Coming from a small province north of the border, out impact has been far less here. We have about 60 total cases with 0 deaths so far. For those not familiar, NB is similar in size to Vermont.

Keep safe out there folks and I wish everyone the best.

 

Yeah well thats because one makes sense and one doesn’t but whatever, you do you.

 

Or just observant

 

Now how did you come to that conclusion from what I said

 

It’s my opinion but definitely not the only one that matters.

As for the media, it’s their job to report the news. To quote the great K, “the person is smart, people are dumb panicky animals and you know it.”

Should the media not have been reporting what has been happening in other countries? The media didn’t make idiots go and clean out the shelves of toilet paper. The over reaction here is by the individual person but the measures being put in place to deal with it, aren’t IMO. Thats what I meant by being observant, I am able to look to other places who have been hit with this first and how they dealt with it. Even the President has said that the death toll would be 2 million without the measures being enacted. And has already been pointed out, the health systems are being overwhelmed, that doesn’t happen with the flu, it’s not an apples to apples comparison.

 

So, explain your statement that “financial destruction was not necessary.” Are you saying that we should just let this blow through the country unmitigated by leaving everything open for business, endure whatever level of deaths occur as a result, and chalk it up as an economic win - just because the majority of people turn out OK? Keep the country open, and thin the herd? Let the elderly die before their time to boost the economy? Let the people with medical conditions die before their time to boost the economy? Is that what you’re saying?

 

I’ve heard all the reports about the thousands that have had it with little effects, all the thousands that recovered, all of that stuff. I’m informed about it from A-Z. The media has a whole day to fill, of course you are going to hear about the death toll over and over but I also heard all the rest. Amazingly, I didn’t go buy enough toilet paper to fill up a storage unit.

You can blame the media, I choose to blame the intelligence level of the people who panic buy.

 

The part that isn’t getting through to Stone is that hospitals aren’t capable of handling the amount of patients coming in. Which is why the social distancing is necessary which of course is going to tank the economy. Unfortunately people are stupid and you see the images of people ignoring the mandate which will make this take much longer than it needs too.

 

If ya don't like it, turn it off.

 

Don’t you know that media hype is why the NYC area is adding thousands of temporary hospital beds? Don’t you know that the images from inside NYC hospitals of patients’ beds lining both sides of hallways are actually featuring news media hired actors? Don’t you know that media hype is why legislators held their noses and voted for a $2 trillion economic life support package? Don’t you know that media hype is why the president backtracked on his Easter aspiration and kept distancing guidelines through April? And don’t you know that the president was just acting a couple of hours ago when he said that some of his close friends are in the hospital with COVID 19, including one that’s in a coma? It’s all just a media game, right?

That’s not to say that I trust everything the media says. I do think that a lot of the new media outlets exaggerate and try to steer public opinion. In fact, I think it happens nearly all the time. This isn’t one of those times though. I have a view into the reality on the front lines through my wife and other people I know, and there’s a universal sense of “holy “ among the people dealing with this. They’ve never seen anything like it.

Oh BTW, I have symptoms (thankfully mild so far) and known exposure, and just got tested today.

 

It’s a good attempt to reduce the tension and fear, but there are inconsistencies in it that are concerning. First, he says that transmission occurs through prolonged contact with someone who is infected. However, he also points out that you should carry hand sanitizer (which you can’t get around here unless you already have some) and wash sanitize your hands after touching things like door handles (which would have been touched by people that you have zero contact with, never mind prolonged contact). The fact is that surfaces can contain enough virus to infect someone for days (it’s been proven in labs). You can catch the disease from someone you never met, and never had contact with. He also talks about wearing a mask and isolating if you have a fever, but he also said that people can transmit the disease a couple of days before they become symptomatic (which is true). In fact, many people never develop a fever or noticeable symptoms listed for COVID 19 at all, but have a high enough viral load to infect others (I know this through direct experience). My wife works in medical research at a medical school, so I’m getting the most up to date knowledge on COVID 19 on a daily basis. That doctor’s take is a good way to say “don’t panic, just be vigilant.” However, in an apparent effort to calm the masses it downplays the transmissibility a bit too much. There’s GREAT info in there about how to minimize your chance of infection, but it’s too dismissive of the risk.

Simple question - if people weren’t afraid of this virus, do you think most of them would take the steps necessary to be safe, and more importantly to behave in a way that doesn’t endanger others? I don’t. My mom and stepdad are an example. They live in a tight knit neighborhood in Florida, and as recently as a week ago they and their friends were having large gatherings, drinking together, eating together, touching the same bottles and serving utensils, etc. If only one of them had picked this up from the outside and attended that party as an asymptotic carrier, this thing will blow through that community of vulnerable (mostly over 70) people like wildfire. It keeps me up at night, and will until we get to 14 days after that last big party. They get it now, and are behaving with more respect for what the disease can do to them. They still get together, but they gather outside, and everyone brings their own lawn chairs and coolers, and they stay 6’ away and shoot the breeze from a distance.

With respect to having people work: in most cases people working are in pretty close quarters with each other. In many cities they commute in very close proximity to each other. Ever ride a New York City subway during rush hour? If you have, then you know that on a typical subway commute you’ll have at least 5 people whose faces are within 6’ of yours for the entire ride, and who are all touching the same surfaces repeatedly. When people go out to restaurants, they will be in close proximity to many people for extended periods of time, and again will touch the same surfaces. Same goes for movies and sporting events. Same goes for the security lines at airports. If this country operated “business as usual,” the spread would be like what’s been seen in Italy. There’s going to have to be a bit of economic pain in the short term to get this thing under control. When there is a second wave later in the year, we will hopefully be prepared with more testing and the ability to quickly contact trace and diagnose infected individuals so that the country can remain business as usual. We’re not there now, and anything that can be done to slow the spread needs to be done. The course of action being followed much of the country is correct, and it will pay off in the long run. The loss of wealth that has occurred will never be fully recovered, but it would be a crapload worse if the country did nothing and simply let this thing take one or two million people. If you think there’s panic now, just imagine what it would be when sick people cant even get into hospitals for Covid or non-Covid emergencies, and if bodies were piling up to the point where people couldn’t have proper burials for their deceased loved ones. Is the media pushing hard? Yes. The thing is, there are a lot of people out there with thick skulls, and the only way to reach them is to shock them. That’s just reality.

 

Stone, the only one referencing the apocalypse is you. I haven’t seen any media doing that. I have seen the media stress the importance of staying home and social distancing which is the CDC’s stance. There’s too many people that think they know better and you see that by people throwing Covid parties and young kids on spring break ignoring it all or worse, being defiant and making the rest of us pay the price by dragging this thing out. My income has dried up, believe me, I want it over as soon as possible.

 

1. Until there is good data on how far this has spread, it's premature to have differing restrictions. The data is sparse, and it's inconsistent. Testing is still very limited, and accuracy is different depending upon who is doing it. The current time from testing to result is so long that it pretty much ensures that test results are useless for tracking spread in a time frame even close to real-time in order to make informed decisions. I was told 2-6 days for my results, and I got my test yesterday, so who knows when I'll hear back? I know someone else who was told 3-5 days. I know someone who got a positive result 11 days after being tested. The data is not there to support any conclusion other than that it's spreading all over the country. Unfortunately our national policy only a few weeks ago was to wish COVID-19 away... "like magic." Now the people of the US are paying the price.
2. Your statement "if people don't want to use common sense, that's on them" is a crock. It may be "on them," but it affects other people, and could kill them. I sure as hell don't want my health to depend on the intelligence and common sense of most of the people out there. I generally take a very adverse view towards government intervention, but it has it's place, and ensuring the public health and safety is an appropriate place.

 

Idiots!!!!