RE: X5 Unrelated, but Good Information in Times of Need - Page 63

Maruzo · #1 07-03-2020, 04:50 PM

It's been 30 days since my last post. The positive cases went from 20,000 daily average to 52,000 this week.

The cases were holding steady at 20,000+ in the month of May, that's due to efforts of containment via stay at home orders, social distancing, mask wearing, etc.

If we had kept up the containment efforts for another month, the number would have gone down drastically.

Instead we went the opposite way. Once the restrictions were lifted, all hell broke loose. We're now suffering the results of the carelessness and disregard for safety protocol.

We have lost control of the pandemic, again. And this time the infected nymbers is much worse than the previous height.

America has failed in its fight to stop this pandemic.

Expect economic disater to follow soon.

crystalworks · #2 07-03-2020, 05:48 PM

If mask wearing had always been required, bars and restaurants kept closed, and large gatherings stayed restricted... we could have had all regular retail businesses open the entire time. Buuuuuut nooooooo... people are people, selfish until it affects them personally. I have family that acts this way and then gets mad when we don't want to visit with the kids. Luckily my parents are taking this seriously so we can at least go visit them.

Really, it was Memorial Day, the protests, and bars/restaurants opening all happening at the same time that triggered this huge spike. It was predicted, and it's happening.

I'm telling you, just want my couple of acres outside town and then all these morons, my family included, can have at it.

Maruzo · #3 07-03-2020, 06:03 PM

What would have happened if Trump decided to maintain the stay at home orders for another month?

We would have to pay more unemployment and businesses would continue to suffer. But we would have a much more manageable situation, instead of the full blown crisis. That would translate to savings in financial costs in the long run, and a stronger economy to follow.

But now, this pandemic is seemingly more and more getting out of hand.

I kept looking at how China is suppressing the virus anyway possible, and looking inward only to find how every one here is using any means possible to dodge and avoid doing what needs to be done to contain it.

I'm convinced that we did ourselves in.

It's not an unbeatable crisis, yet we've lost in a most spectacular fashion.

Countries with much less resources and technology, and much higher population density, has come out of this crisis in much better shape than us.

The ego, pride, ignorance, and social bias that Americans have, plus an imbecile leader, has done its job and made us the laughing stock of the world.

crystalworks · #4 07-03-2020, 08:50 PM

I think you are looking through a biased lens as well though. Trump can not mandate stay at home. Or anything else. Governor's can. This is NOT Trump's fault. He didn't help for sure. But first and foremost, this is the American public's fault. Governors could have helped the situation but when it comes down to brass tacks, the public is to blame. If we aren't intelligent enough to govern our own health we deserve what we get.

And I don't want ANYTHING China is doing to become policy here in America. If that happens, the republic has failed.

crystalworks · #5 07-03-2020, 09:30 PM

I shouldn't say anything I suppose. Contact tracing and face masks are acceptable policy I would think. But China's social score policy and oppression is ridiculous. I am relieved bars are closed again and we have mandatory face coverings in Texas now. San Antonio was pro active about it before the governor finally realized he screwed up.

Other comparisons are very difficult simply due to all the different variables involved. Different tourism, land mass, population densities, demographics, etc. I've never subscribed to the "if we'd just been like, x" train of thought because of that. X being a chosen country of comparison.

But I stand by my belief that personal responsibility trumps (no pun intended) anything gov't should force us to do. Hopefully the ones not following guidelines are the ones who are affected most. Darwin awards can be handed out later. All we can do is protect ourselves.

Maruzo · #6 07-03-2020, 09:42 PM

I agree with you. At the end of the day we're all responsible for our own health and safety.

But there's the problem. People in general don't know what's good for them.

And the cultural and societal tendencies of America makes it that much harder for our people to realize what's good for them.

You can have 75% of the population agreeing that the guidelines are really important and much be followed to a tee.

Yet there's nothing you can say or do that can change the minds of the remaining 25% of the population to follow the guidelines.

Logically, that means America is doomed to fail this fight against Covid.

Or any other similar type of viruses that is sure to come in the future. Given the drastically increasing global population density and the scarcity of resources.

It's funny, we survived the threat of nuclear weapons and the cold war, only to be defeated by the smallest of an adversary, an insignificant strain of molecular proteins.

The elephant who ignored the mouse on its feet.

crystalworks · #7 07-04-2020, 10:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Maruzo

Logically, that means America is doomed to fail this fight against Covid.

Or any other similar type of viruses that is sure to come in the future. Given the drastically increasing global population density and the scarcity of resources.

It's funny, we survived the threat of nuclear weapons and the cold war, only to be defeated by the smallest of an adversary, an insignificant strain of molecular proteins.

The elephant who ignored the mouse on its feet.

As EOD posted, we aren't doing terribly when it comes right down to it. The numbers could be better of course if everyone followed guidelines, but that's not a realistic expectation in a free society.

I just hope that the ones being cavalier are the ones being affected the greatest. On the bright side, maybe the US population's IQ point average will go up a few ticks after the smoke clears.

People die all the time for all sorts of reasons and when we hit 250,000 deaths it will still be only .08% of the total population. That will probably take over a year from the time this started so we are not losing huge swathes of the population. Here are the CDC's 2017 stats for leading causes of death for context:

Heart disease: 647,457
Cancer: 599,108
Accidents (unintentional injuries): 169,936
Chronic lower respiratory diseases: 160,201
Stroke (cerebrovascular diseases): 146,383
Alzheimer’s disease: 121,404
Diabetes: 83,564
Influenza and pneumonia: 55,672
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome, and nephrosis: 50,633
Intentional self-harm (suicide): 47,173

All of those together are less than 1% (0.63%) of the total population. US society is in greater peril of failing from many other causes before covid-19. Poor parenting and education being chief among them in my book.

Maruzo · #8 07-04-2020, 11:45 AM

We can definitely do better. And we must. Americans are susceptible to the influence of media hype. The greater the number of positive cases, the more perceived damage it becomes in the eyes of the public.

People starts to panic, businesses continue to close, many more for good, financial ruin, then social unrest and protests followed by rioting and looting.

This pandemic has caused much more financial harm than physical harm.

We will come out of this weaker financially than many countries.

That concerns me. An America with a perceived weakness will bring out the hyenas of the world. Everyone will want a piece of us.

Not the right time for protectionism and nationalism. IMHO.

This is the time when we need the support and our allies. Join efforts to fight this disease. So we are not perceived as the loner who went at it selfishly without regards to the wellbeing of the world.

Maruzo · #9 07-04-2020, 12:01 PM

Got this from a friend in Texas:

zonefive · #10 07-17-2020, 06:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Maruzo

I agree with you. At the end of the day we're all responsible for our own health and safety.

But there's the problem. People in general don't know what's good for them.

And the cultural and societal tendencies of America makes it that much harder for our people to realize what's good for them.

You can have 75% of the population agreeing that the guidelines are really important and much be followed to a tee.

Yet there's nothing you can say or do that can change the minds of the remaining 25% of the population to follow the guidelines.

Logically, that means America is doomed to fail this fight against Covid.

Or any other similar type of viruses that is sure to come in the future. Given the drastically increasing global population density and the scarcity of resources.

It's funny, we survived the threat of nuclear weapons and the cold war, only to be defeated by the smallest of an adversary, an insignificant strain of molecular proteins.

The elephant who ignored the mouse on its feet.

"There's the problem." No -- Not a problem. People are responsible. YOU have the problem.

Don't worry about other people. Worry about yourself.

What constitutes "success" against a virus that will infiltrate/expose an entire population in time, one way or another? You haven't said. Because you don't know.

We haven't been defeated by the coronavirus. The damage we have suffered has been due to our reaction to the virus.