Great post. I’ve stopped posting here since things went crazy in Italy, as there is so much on Twitter coming directly from guys like Trevor Bedford and other specialists that it seems like the constant news feed from Twitter is easier to read. Also, since this became a political mess in the U.S., I have been quite enraged by Trump - I shouldn’t need to tell anybody who’s followed this thread since lat Jan/early Feb why. I glanced through the Rush Limbaugh thread and thought that those are simply the worst of FR - the ones with no brains and blind loyalty.
The Lombardy stats are terrifying, the situation in Iran is getting near apocolyptic, and Seattle is about to get a huge dose of it - with about 1/2 the city not even sure they should stay in or close schools. As a 20 yr Seattleite with many loved ones there, it’s honestly been hard to sleep just thinking about it.
Alaskans are largely complacent about it, secure in our “no cases yet!” stat - which will change any day now. Our chief medical officer Anne Zink seems pretty with it - and is not a “just the flu bro” gal at all - she actually said a couple of weeks ago to stock up on food/water/meds - even with that idiot Redfield was busy telling a hearing otherwise.
Our test criteria is still pretty stingy but I think they’re trying to widen it and test anything suspicious, which is good. But the Anchorage Daily news are the worst pushers of the just the flu mentality, stating in an article last week that this is LESS infectious than the flu, and not much deadlier. In another q&a article they said people should not be afraid to travel to Seattle, and that their risk was very low. That is, until is wasn’t...
So I think the overall mood here is very complacent - and a lot of people don’t read much news from the lower 48, some don’t even watch it on TV - so those folks only know what the Anchorage Daily News has told them, which isn’t much. They’ve not run any stories I can think of about Italy or Iran. This is the first week they even had a covid19 story “above the fold” - and that lasted maybe 2 days.
So I don’t know how things will play out when the virus begins showing itself here (it’s surely already here, the cases just aren’t severe enough to warrant ICU, so they haven’t discovered them). But with the Iditarod festivities from the weekend bringing visitors from “all over the globe” - our governor was proud of that - you can be sure if it wasn’t spreading before, it will be spreading soon. Plus all the spring breakers - which were also advised by Anchorage Daily News “no need to cancel your travel plans unless they are to Italy or China.”
Sad.
I hope all you FReepers are staying safe, #stayHome #workFromHome and #flattenTheCurve !!
Good post.
I agree with you about the quality of commentary available on twitter.
I am frankly astounded at some of what is being said here on FR. It is hard not to characterize it as stupidity or willful ignorance, at this point.
I’m under the impression Trump is trying to play more relaxed view to hopefully quell the public’s anxiety. However, in the mean time that message may be misunderstood and is being received as if he is unaware of reality or not in sync with other gov officials.
Thanks for the update.
Normalcy bias is hard to break—everywhere...