SomeguyfromTakomaPark

You really should start a flu thread.

History Professor: And tragically class, over 58,000 Americans died in the Vietnam war. Student: *raises hand* History Professor: Yes, you in the back, go ahead... Student: That’s no big deal because 60,000 people died of flu last year.

And the majority of those have been in the last 3 weeks...

This is not at all relevant to the current discussion. Maybe you should start a flu thread.

I dunno, it would have to slow down really fast to not past 60,000.

It seems like we’re gonna blow past the IHME projection of 60,000 deaths by August, heck at this rate we’ll be there by the end of April.

Jersey with 379, highest one day total yet.

Absolutely, it seems like if the virus can manage to get into your lungs it doesn't really matter how old you are, it's going to beat you up pretty badly.

I mean, *knocks on wood*, as a reasonably healthy guy in my mid 30s the chances are low this would be bad for me personally, but so many people I know are older and/or have health conditions.

Just got a message that an employee at my sons daycare died of covid yesterday. Was a very nice guy and not that old, probably only in his late 50s or early 60s. What a terrible virus.

Yep....and we’re always left waiting for it to trickle down, only ever seems to trickle up to them.

New hospital/ICU data shows we clearly are still on the upswing here in Maryland.

Wow +68 deaths today in Maryland

Virginia with it's largest one day case count increase today, not sure what the daily testing numbers are like though.

lol dude what are you talking about

Hey the covid thread wasn’t a disaster today

I think it’s a matter of how diligently businesses and individuals social distance. If people just go about their business like they used to I imagine this fails. If people take hygiene seriously and wear masks and separate maybe it will work.

We are in uncharted waters with a novel virus, there will be a lot of trial and error. Hopefully they take the social distancing seriously in the businesses they open.

Absolutely

And mass hasn’t reported yet for some reason...

I think one of the biggest challenges is fitness centers. By now a lot of people saw that study where one asymptomatic person sitting by an AC vent in a Hong Kong restaurant infected 10 other people downwind of the vent, many of which were well beyond 6 feet. Fitness centers seem ripe for this kind of spread with the fans, the AC pumping, and people panting as they work out. I wonder if people will work out in masks, that would certainly help.

I’ve noticed something that is bugging me about the framing of the economic consequences vs public health debate by the people arguing against lockdowns. People who are arguing that the economic consequences are worse than the direct covid deaths are comparing the current state of the economy to the pre pandemic economy. That pre pandemic economy would’ve been wiped away with or without lockdowns. What they should be comparing the current economy with is what the state of the economy would be without lockdowns. Without lockdowns the epidemic would be even more widespread, deaths would be way higher, hospital systems would be overwhelmed. There is an argument to made that the state of the economy with lockdowns is much better than it would’ve been without a lockdown. Either way, comparing the current economy to the pre pandemic economy and saying we shouldn’t have done a lockdown doesn’t make any sense IMO, since that economy would’ve been gone either way.

This is absolutely NOT political oppression. Political oppression has to be persecution of a particular group for a political purpose. This does not meet either of those criteria. It is a public health emergency.

I think you’re right that everyone wants to end the lockdowns ASAP but I also think most people are smart enough to know this is not political oppression and those protests are utterly moronic. By the middle of May most places will hopefully be well on their way to undoing the restrictions anyway.