https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/us/
Note the parabolic shape of “Active Cases in the United States” graph. The “Total Coronavirus Deaths in the United States”” graph is starting to follow in its footsteps. If unchecked by measures to stop the spread that include mandatory quarantines (that may include minimum security prisoner furloughs and the requisition of prisons to house quarantined individuals in an easy to monitor environment) and regulations re large gatherings, we may soon see hundreds of deaths per day. Just like Italy.
Two points. One - overreaction costs are mainly economic while underreaction costs are in lives lost. No one is going to starve to death from any economic contraction. The Green Revolution a century ago means that 1% of the population produces enough food to make the other 99% obese, with enough surplus to export to godforsaken places like China.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Revolution
Two - this is an election year. The elderly tend to vote for Trump. Leaving aside the purely humanitarian aspects of mass death and illness, we don’t want the elderly shunted off to an early grave or ICU’s so that Democratic ballot harvesters can turn them into Biden voters. We need to put Trump back in office for another term. To do that, we must get this pandemic under control, and soon, to keep elderly voters healthy. And if that means losing a few points of GDP in the next few quarters, so be it. We’ll get them all back once Trump is in for a second term.
It’s time to go back to personal responsibility.
If you are at high risk, stay home and take care of yourself.
Family and friends should be monitoring the elderly among us. What happened to those? Neighbors, churches, community organizations—that’s where we should be turning.
*Just economic* losses may mean nothing to you from your lofty perch. Explain that to the thousands of suddenly unemployed Americans who don’t earn enough to have that magic six months of savings.
WTAF are they supposed to do when despicable politicians grandstand off of Wuhan Flu and shut their places of employment down with zero notice?
Happy St Patty’s Day to the servers and bartenders who were relying on good tips to feed their kids and pay their rents.
What do you propose for the small business owners who won’t be able to afford to reopen?
The lives lost to Wuhan don’t come close to seasonal flu. Where was the hysteria over that?
The little tyrants in the dem party are practicing pure Putinism. He creates what is supposed to look like random violence to scare the population. Once they’re scared enough, he’s got them. People become compliant when they’re frightened. They start to believe their only safety will come from the government. They willing trade off their personal liberties.
FReepers should be smarter than this.
You have noticed that the numbers in China are dropping, right?
What portion of the increase in active cases is caused by widespread testing? UW, for example, is testing over a thousand people per day.