You will be crucified for saying so

[coachallen]

our economy is NOT built to be shut down for months. On the other how many die if we open the country back up. It is was above my pay grade. I do know that if we keep the country shut down for 6 months or more it will be years to recovery economically. The good for my family is the wife is a nurse but the bad is the wife is a nurse. Three of her patients test positive for covid 19. Nervous times for sure. 14 day waiting period.

[TRCM]

one thing for sure...while it does suck as a small business owner to get your business shut down while others stay open....what has been deemed as essential and can stay open for the most part is a joke...like Mark said above - and even some others - like car washes, ice cream shops, liquor stores, golf courses, gun stores, etc.......


and this hoarding thing has made many places limit you to a lot less than normal....like 1 lb of hamburger per person, or 1 roll of paper towels - if you can find any - (and it is a tiny roll)...so now you have to go out much more than normal just to get food & supplies cuz you can't buy a bulk pack that would last for a week or two.


and the prices are jumping way up....I saw hamburger in a 16 oz pack for 4 bucks today......I use to get 5 lbs for 12.

[Rangerdawg]

That’s the thing I struggle with...we will flatten the curve but we are all gonna get and people are gonna die regardless....is that correct? It’s what I think but not sure....

[getfished]

It is frustrating. Valid points from both perspectives. If we as a country can forget about daily anxieties and focus on nipping this is in the bud by staying home among other precautions there will be massive amounts of people who will contract this AFTER we as a country get ramped up with supplies and the outcome healthwise will be better overall. If we insist on freedom to do whatever we want and just can't get the financial implications out of our mind many, many people will contract this BEFORE the medical community is equipped to handle. The basic premise is to shelter at home as number 1 priority until we get better prepared. This will minimize deaths. I for one believe our government will help address the financial side of things. There is not gonna be any dependable economic path as long as this virus has the upper hand. Right now it has the upper hand. I hope folks can see that. Have you considered what it would be like businesswise to try to function with this continuing to spread like a wildfire. No dependability. You would never know when and if you would lose employees and whether they would come back or not. I'm not a business man but one thing I know is businesses want dependable. They will take risks and invest but they want some semblance of dependable material factors such as workforce, delivery, and market. There is not rational argument to open up the country when the primary factors of dependability are absent from the business environment.

[Mark Perry]

Al gets it
exponential spread look it up and look at the numbers happening in front of ya.

To the OP, would you feel differently if you could choose between country getting going again and it taking your father and all
your grandmas and grandpas or staying away from other people for 2 months and your family lives?

Right now 18 people per 1 million are dying of COVID in the US. One of the lowest numbers in the world.
Many people take those projections and models as 100% accurate. Fauci himself says not to trust them 100% and come to any conclusions then turns around and says they are using the same models to make decisions. That is frustrating.

[BigSexyPhoenix]

Covid19
wasn't out making people sick in 2009. This isn’t the flu

You’re right, h1n1 makes COVID 19 look like a walk in the park.

[greenfshrmn]

I'm sure many of you have seen what is happening in countries such as Spain and Italy. I'm guessing you are so far removed from there that you haven't really come to terms about what it's all about. But there are so many dying each day, they are now struggling to find places to put the bodies. You are risking putting your own families in that situation if you do not take heed of the warnings and take appropriate action.

[bossbowman]

But does anyone think this response nationwide is not proportional to the statistical dangers of this virus? We are in pure hysteria mode as a country right now but if anyone steps back and rationally thinks about what life will be like economically after this passes it is going to be 100 times worse than the virus. When the numbers shake out I think we will find the actual percent chance of you dying from this will under .5%. Yet the chance of you falling on hard financial times is probably gonna 70-80%. We seem to be dictating policy based on the medical professions opinion alone. Easy for them to say consider they will draw paychecks through this. The caveat is certain areas of the country are probably pretty bad off right now but the other 98% of the country is dealing with little or nothing. So while I get that there is always the anecdotal evidence of a healthy 30-year-old dying or someone you love dying the numbers say you are likely to be just fine after dealing with a couple days of illness. Flame away but it’s just been bothering me after seeing several people I know getting fired this week

Its obvious its hitting the high population density areas worse. I have no idea how you figure out the balance in when to stop the lock down to minimize the lives lost an economic collapse would entail, at some point one outweighs the other.

[Boondock]

Devils advocate here...

is your family really living if they can't afford food, health care, transportation, or shelter ?

what will happen when the next round of the virus/cold comes around and they have none of those things ??

will the stress of being out on the streets kill them anyway ?


I fear there will be a lot of people like this when this is over....maybe even me...who knows. The government can not keep giving people money......

Very valid and scary
So many Americans live paycheck to paycheck. Sure credit cards are getting charged up in tons of families and will result in bankruptcy.
A lot of this is to not completely overload the hospital systems which have some of the lowest beds of any first world country.
When that happens people are going to die that could have lived. It’s already happening in NYC.

Nobody is going to win in this. Seeing this growth is just brutal and social distancing isn’t going to make it go flat.
Need a vaccine that half of Americans will refuse smh

[Mark Perry]

It is frustrating. Valid points from both perspectives. If we as a country can forget about daily anxieties and focus on nipping this is in the bud by staying home among other precautions there will be massive amounts of people who will contract this AFTER we as a country get ramped up with supplies and the outcome healthwise will be better overall. If we insist on freedom to do whatever we want and just can't get the financial implications out of our mind many, many people will contract this BEFORE the medical community is equipped to handle. The basic premise is to shelter at home as number 1 priority until we get better prepared. This will minimize deaths. I for one believe our government will help address the financial side of things. There is not gonna be any dependable economic path as long as this virus has the upper hand. Right now it has the upper hand. I hope folks can see that. Have you considered what it would be like businesswise to try to function with this continuing to spread like a wildfire. No dependability. You would never know when and if you would lose employees and whether they would come back or not. I'm not a business man but one thing I know is businesses want dependable. They will take risks and invest but they want some semblance of dependable material factors such as workforce, delivery, and market. There is not rational argument to open up the country when the primary factors of dependability are absent from the business environment.

There are some reports that 25% of the US population has already had it and recovered. I sure hope that number is accurate or even higher.

[BassinR83]

There is a video out there of Dr. Fauci being interviewed in 2009 about the h1n1 and he said that people should practice good hygiene because it’s not feasible to shut everything down for the entire flu season. I wonder what changed his mind 11 years later?

Death. Death changed his mind....

[Quillback]

There are some reports that 25% of the US population has already had it and recovered. I sure hope that number is accurate or even higher.

Really?

[Mark Perry]

I'm sure many of you have seen what is happening in countries such as Spain and Italy. I'm guessing you are so far removed from there that you haven't really come to terms about what it's all about. But there are so many dying each day, they are now struggling to find places to put the bodies. You are risking putting your own families in that situation if you do not take heed of the warnings and take appropriate action.

We are not Spain or Italy...this virus has affected every region it has hit differently. Even here its so dramatically different state to state and region to region. Right now the biggest driving force seems to be density. Also throw in the fact that Spain and Italy have more communal living, different age demographics, different levels of healthcare and availability, and many other factors and its just a guess to say we will end up like either.

[JerryT]

There are some reports that 25% of the US population has already had it and recovered. I sure hope that number is accurate or even higher.

I firmly believe that number is much higher

[nvpalletguy]

My concern is what the government/CDC is NOT telling us about this virus.

Does anyone really think these measures would be taken if it weren’t even more serious than what they are telling us in order to prevent panic.

I’ve wondered this same thing since the day our city shut down. A lot know the truth but won’t let it out it’s shameful.

[Quillback]

My concern is what the government/CDC is NOT telling us about this virus.

Does anyone really think these measures would be taken if it weren’t even more serious than what they are telling us in order to prevent panic.

Every night on the local news we get an update on the number of cases in Arkansas and the number of deaths, and on a national level, it is all the media talks about, it's no secret, what could be withheld?

[NitroZ7]

The bottom line is they don’t want hospitals overloaded and not being able to treat people properly. They just want to slow what is happening to give the healthcare system and suppliers and pharma a chance to catch up. When May or June comes they may loosen the restrictions if the healthcare facilities are in a position to be able to handle the next surge that will inevitably happen. This is just about controlling the surges.

[Quillback]

I firmly believe that number is much higher

Any evidence of this? Not to knock your belief, but that is what it is.

[Transom]

So how long are we staying locked up for .. until it’s gone that will most likely be never .. until it’s peaked ? How do we know it’s peaked with everyone is staying apart Is that number even going to be accurate ?

They covered that in the press briefings. Basically once the hotspots are extinguished and growth is curbed we will have basically a large amount of infrastructure and resources to find the people that are sick and can test those that have been around them and isolate those that are infected.

If it is like a house fire. We got to put out the fire but we got to watch it as it smolders and act to make sure that it does not catch on fire again.

[BassCatBrad]

The damage this virus has caused is amazing. You have the virus itself that is much more deadly then advertised. The 3% death rate came out of China.... China... who believes anything that comes out of that country. They kept this thing a secret and then downplayed it to the rest of the world. Now that more open countries like Italy, France, Spain and now the U.S. are fighting it the death rate is climbing. We haven't seen the worst of it yet here.

Then there is the anxiety and panic this has caused. I know I have not had a good night sleep in over 2 weeks. I also know when I actually have time to go grocery shopping after work or on the weekend there is not a damn thing on the shelves thanks to the panic.

Then there is the economic nightmare every country will have to endure. I know for one I may be losing my job in a week. There won't be any jobs available, so that means unemployment for months. Our economy is not going to return to normal overnight...not even close... I know my industry (motorcoaches) is very dependant on vacations, attractions such as theme parks and even the cruise ships, taking customers to and from the ports. Those industries are all going to suffer. No one in their right mind will pack a cruise ship or stand in a Walt Disney World line for 2 hours shoulder-to-shoulder waiting to get on a ride. Movie theaters will suffer as will sporting events.

We are in for a big down turn. Our society will recover over time, but will never be the same. 401K's will be 201K's. I pray I'm wrong but I don't think I am.