Upstate/Eastern New York

[TugHillMatt]

11 minutes ago, wolfie09 said:

This is exactly why I'm taking this serious lol

Everyone's body is different..

Among the deaths: a 34-year-old man in Rome with no existing health conditions (according to reports) who died after being hospitalized for 4 days in sub‐intensive care.

Wait, was that here in Rome, NY?

[dutch]

I believe Rome Italy, had traveled to barcelona ,

Among the deaths: a 34-year-old man in Rome with no existing health conditions (according to reports) who died after being hospitalized for 4 days in sub‐intensive care. He had developed a fever after returning from Barcelona, Spain [source]

 

[wolfie09]

Yeah Italy lol Forgot about Rome NY..

[wolfie09]

President Trump struck a new tone at Monday's coronavirus press briefing, suggesting that social distancing restrictions will be lifted "fairly soon" and that the U.S. has learned enough lessons to re-open the economy despite the ongoing pandemic: “I’m not looking at months, I can tell you that right now.”

 

Why it matters: Trump and some of his political and economic advisers are losing patience with public health experts who believe that easing restrictions and returning to normal life before "flattening the curve" could overwhelm the health system.

Reality check: We cannot both stop the spread of the coronavirus and reopen the economy.

• It's not even an either-or decision; the number of coronavirus cases in the U.S. will continue to skyrocket regardless, and lifting containment measures will add gasoline to that trend.
• At this point, lifting the guidelines will translate into a horrifying number of American deaths, all public health projections suggest.
• And as long as the virus spreads unchecked through the United States, the economy is unlikely to rebound.

[Syrmax]

2 minutes ago, wolfie09 said:

President Trump struck a new tone at Monday's coronavirus press briefing, suggesting that social distancing restrictions will be lifted "fairly soon" and that the U.S. has learned enough lessons to re-open the economy despite the ongoing pandemic: “I’m not looking at months, I can tell you that right now.”

I was telling a friend that you could see he wants to lift the restrictions ASAP.  He can almost taste it...but i don't think anyone in the health/medical industry would recommend that until we see data supporting such a move.  Areas of China were in lockdown for 6 weeks so i could see roughly similar duration in the worst affected areas.  We don't want to call it off too soon.  But OTOH we can't sit here like this indefinately.  Trump just doesn't inspire confidence that he'll make a rational decision although I think he would cave in when ALL his advisors tell him not to be a jagass.  

[wolfie09]

Nam, euro, icon did the best with this one for Oswego county imo..

Nws was probably using more gfs/Canadian which had a flip to rain by early afternoon..

[vortmax]

1 hour ago, Syrmax said:

I was telling a friend that you could see he wants to lift the restrictions ASAP.  He can almost taste it...but i don't think anyone in the health/medical industry would recommend that until we see data supporting such a move.  Areas of China were in lockdown for 6 weeks so i could see roughly similar duration in the worst affected areas.  We don't want to call it off too soon.  But OTOH we can't sit here like this indefinately.  Trump just doesn't inspire confidence that he'll make a rational decision although I think he would cave in when ALL his advisors tell him not to be a jagass.  

The small businesses in America can't handle a 6+ week lock down. That's the problem the POTUS is dealing with. The answer is this: they need to get everyone tested ASAP so they can smartly quarantine those that are sick and those in close contact, but let the rest start to get back to normal. Estimates are about 10 days from now we'll have everyone with symptoms tested, this will allow a new plan to smartly quarantine and understand the trends, hot spots, etc. and attack it on a more localized level. When people are allowed to start returning to normal, the fear will start to subside as well - and that's a good thing. And hopefully we've all learned a lesson in good sanitizing practices...

This isn't easy for anyone, especially those in Office making huge decisions, so be patient, encouraging, and unified so we can get through this and be stronger than before!

[Syrmax]

54 minutes ago, vortmax said:

The small businesses in America can't handle a 6+ week lock down. That's the problem the POTUS is dealing with. The answer is this: they need to get everyone tested ASAP so they can smartly quarantine those that are sick and those in close contact, but let the rest start to get back to normal. Estimates are about 10 days from now we'll have everyone with symptoms tested, this will allow a new plan to smartly quarantine and understand the trends, hot spots, etc. and attack it on a more localized level. When people are allowed to start returning to normal, the fear will start to subside as well - and that's a good thing. And hopefully we've all learned a lesson in good sanitizing practices...

This isn't easy for anyone, especially those in Office making huge decisions, so be patient, encouraging, and unified so we can get through this and be stronger than before!

I'm no leftie Bernie Bro but...this guy in the WH is not a good leader. I've worked for people like him.  It's a circus.  Cuomo is doing a decent job, as much as it pains me to say that.  I agree that some unity is needed.  Cuomo is acknowledging the need to get business restarted ASAP but by using public health metrics and a more vertical strategy once we know more. Which we will soon with testing expansion, which (without pointing fingers) we were ridiculously inept getting going.

[BuffaloWeather]

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/man-dies-after-ingesting-chloroquine-attempt-prevent-coronavirus-n1167166?fbclid=IwAR3BOwJkj0oVsRJVvTTxgQBqXco9aQJbjb4jvJJr7lnpvF3OLjQtHtRNhr0

[BuffaloWeather]

59 minutes ago, Syrmax said:

I'm no leftie Bernie Bro but...this guy in the WH is not a good leader. I've worked for people like him.  It's a circus.  Cuomo is doing a decent job, as much as it pains me to say that.  I agree that some unity is needed.  Cuomo is acknowledging the need to get business restarted ASAP but by using public health metrics and a more vertical strategy once we know more. Which we will soon with testing expansion, which (without pointing fingers) we were ridiculously inept getting going.

Cuomo is killing it. Doing a much better job than Trump is. He is letting the experts lead the way in each of their specific fields and in his news conference he is well versed in the optimal way to handle things in each industry.

[BuffaloWeather]

NZL went into a level 4 lockdown. Which pretty much assures I get all my money back for my trip. At least something good happened today.

[BuffaloWeather]

https://www.wgrz.com/article/news/health/coronavirus/2-buffalo-police-officers-test-positive-for-covid-19/71-a1e04c71-d7e1-42a6-90f8-1084b76a6aab?fbclid=IwAR1EE9Aixa1551W9aPtNmglI0pMH0YEeVW5rYv_Zc0sAmKYNnDMYciRr25I

[BuffaloWeather]

2 hours ago, Syrmax said:

I was telling a friend that you could see he wants to lift the restrictions ASAP.  He can almost taste it...but i don't think anyone in the health/medical industry would recommend that until we see data supporting such a move.  Areas of China were in lockdown for 6 weeks so i could see roughly similar duration in the worst affected areas.  We don't want to call it off too soon.  But OTOH we can't sit here like this indefinately.  Trump just doesn't inspire confidence that he'll make a rational decision although I think he would cave in when ALL his advisors tell him not to be a jagass.  

Chinas cases are spiking again.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/23/asia/hong-kong-coronavirus-quarantine-intl-hnk/index.html

[WNash]

2 hours ago, vortmax said:

The small businesses in America can't handle a 6+ week lock down. That's the problem the POTUS is dealing with. The answer is this: they need to get everyone tested ASAP so they can smartly quarantine those that are sick and those in close contact, but let the rest start to get back to normal. Estimates are about 10 days from now we'll have everyone with symptoms tested, this will allow a new plan to smartly quarantine and understand the trends, hot spots, etc. and attack it on a more localized level. When people are allowed to start returning to normal, the fear will start to subside as well - and that's a good thing. And hopefully we've all learned a lesson in good sanitizing practices...

This isn't easy for anyone, especially those in Office making huge decisions, so be patient, encouraging, and unified so we can get through this and be stronger than before!

In about 10 days, the infection rate will be an order of magnitude larger. Soon after, our medical infrastructure will be overwhelmed, and doctors and nurses will fall ill.

At that point, without a commitment to put basically unlimited resources into shoring up this crisis, we could very well be headed into a true catastrophe.

It’s almost certain that job losses will result in a huge increase in the uninsured. Without a significant slowing of the spread of this virus, the costs of health care delivery will far exceed the capacity of the system, and the fiscal stability of the entire health care system will be on the verge of collapse.

We have created an economy that relies on low cost labor, with low wages and minimal external support in the form of a social safety net. Aggregate consumer demand drives the economy, and we are facing a demand shock that is hard to see being resolved. The loss of liquidity at the top is seen by the people who run this country as more of a crisis then the collapse in aggregate consumer demand. The GOP “stimulus” bill was almost entirely dedicated loosening the credit market and salvaging equity than figuring out how to backstop a health care system that will soon be a fiscal basket case or doing anything meaningful about a death spiral and in consumer demand.

I hope I’m wrong. I hope that we can get back to normal soon. I just don’t see it. What appears to be happening is frankly an attempt to justify sacrificing people’s lives to prop up equity values. Maybe we need to think about suspending the market economy and make genuine material sacrifice in exchange for the well-being of society as a whole. 

 

 

[lakeeffectkid383]

1 minute ago, WNash said:

In about 10 days, the infection rate will be an order of magnitude larger. Soon after, our medical infrastructure will be overwhelmed, and doctors and nurses will fall ill.

At that point, without a commitment to put basically unlimited resources into shoring up this crisis, we could very well be headed into a true catastrophe.

It’s almost certain that job losses will result in a huge increase in the uninsured. Without a significant slowing of the spread of this virus, the costs of health care delivery will far exceed the capacity of the system, and the fiscal stability of the entire health care system will be on the verge of collapse.

We have created an economy that relies on low cost labor, with low wages and minimal external support in the form of a social safety net. Aggregate consumer demand drives the economy, and we are facing a demand shock that is hard see being resolved. The loss of liquidity at the top is seen by the people who run this country as more of a crisis then the collapse in aggregate consumer demand. The GOP “stimulus” bill was almost entirely dedicated loosening the credit market and salvaging equity than figuring out how to backstop a health care system that will soon be a fiscal basket case or doing anything meaningful about a death spiral and in consumer demand.

I hope I’m wrong. I hope that we can get back to normal soon. I just don’t see it. What appears to be happening is frankly an attempt to justify sacrificing people’s lives to prop up equity values. Maybe we need to think about suspending the market economy and making genuine material sacrifice in exchange for the well-being of society as a whole. 

 

 

Perfectly put. Thank you for your opinion. Two thumbs up. 

[WNash]

11 minutes ago, BuffaloWeather said:

Chinas cases are spiking again.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/23/asia/hong-kong-coronavirus-quarantine-intl-hnk/index.html

I’m not sure that Hong Kong will be representative of the PRC. They’re both “China” but may have a different set of priorities. There were definitely concerns that HK officials were rushing too quickly to return to normalcy.

[BuffaloWeather]

6 minutes ago, WNash said:

In about 10 days, the infection rate will be an order of magnitude larger. Soon after, our medical infrastructure will be overwhelmed, and doctors and nurses will fall ill.

At that point, without a commitment to put basically unlimited resources into shoring up this crisis, we could very well be headed into a true catastrophe.

It’s almost certain that job losses will result in a huge increase in the uninsured. Without a significant slowing of the spread of this virus, the costs of health care delivery will far exceed the capacity of the system, and the fiscal stability of the entire health care system will be on the verge of collapse.

We have created an economy that relies on low cost labor, with low wages and minimal external support in the form of a social safety net. Aggregate consumer demand drives the economy, and we are facing a demand shock that is hard see being resolved. The loss of liquidity at the top is seen by the people who run this country as more of a crisis then the collapse in aggregate consumer demand. The GOP “stimulus” bill was almost entirely dedicated loosening the credit market and salvaging equity than figuring out how to backstop a health care system that will soon be a fiscal basket case or doing anything meaningful about a death spiral and in consumer demand.

I hope I’m wrong. I hope that we can get back to normal soon. I just don’t see it. What appears to be happening is frankly an attempt to justify sacrificing people’s lives to prop up equity values. Maybe we need to think about suspending the market economy and making genuine material sacrifice in exchange for the well-being of society as a whole. 

 

 

I wish I could put my thoughts into words like you do.

Several retired nurses I know are being asked to come back into the workforce to help with the number of patients that are expected to come in the next few weeks. Cuomo is setting up portable mini hospitals across the state and getting as many healthcare professionals as he can to help manage them. They announced an order of 1 million masks that should be here in the next 14 days. I think he might be prepared enough to handle the number of expected patients incoming.

[BuffaloWeather]

Live Update

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

How many expected cases vs deaths are we expected at the end of this?

Tens of millions of cases with around a million deaths?

[WNash]

1 minute ago, WesterlyWx said:

Perfectly put. Thank you for your opinion. Two thumbs up. 

The frustrating thing is that the people who minimize COVID-19 infection as just being a superflu aren’t wrong. It’s bad, but it’s not the Black Death, highly infectious and with a 70% mortality rate. But our economy has very little tolerance for contingencies. Wages have failed to keep up with what’s seen as necessary to lead a moderately comfortable life, so personal debt has risen dramatically. The money that used to go to a broader wage base instead goes to the top. Unsurprisingly, this broad structural problem is dismissed as the personal failing of individuals... but the economy depends upon those individuals having the security and stability to keep spending money. 
 

If our economy is so fragile that what’s literally a superflu can bring our society to its knees, we are doing something very wrong.

[WNash]

7 minutes ago, BuffaloWeather said:

I wish I could put my thoughts into words like you do.

Several retired nurses I know are being asked to come back into the workforce to help with the number of patients that are expected to come in the next few weeks. Cuomo is setting up portable mini hospitals across the state and getting as many healthcare professionals as he can to help manage them. They announced an order of 1 million masks that should be here in the next 14 days. I think he might be prepared enough to handle the number of expected patients incoming.

My fingers are crossed. I hope we can get though this. But even if we make it through this without killing off a million or more people, we need to seriously rethinking what we have been doing, because it isn’t working the way we thought it did.

And I don’t mean to make this a blue vs red argument. Hardly any Democrats are prepared to fix what’s broken, because a few people at the top get to veto what we think of as politically achievable.

[Syrmax]

1 hour ago, BuffaloWeather said:

NZL went into a level 4 lockdown. Which pretty much assures I get all my money back for my trip. At least something good happened today.

I have refund requests in for my Italy trip and Orlando, flights and hotels. We shall see. I didn't have any travel insurance.  I may rethink that decision going forward. But the problem is having to read 29 page legal docs to figure out what's covered and what isn't. I'd think if travel is curtailed by government order and/or company decision, that if no service is provided they have to refund. As long as they're not insolvent. Which is another concern... 

[Syrmax]

57 minutes ago, WNash said:

The frustrating thing is that the people who minimize COVID-19 infection as just being a superflu aren’t wrong. It’s bad, but it’s not the Black Death, highly infectious and with a 70% mortality rate. But our economy has very little tolerance for contingencies. Wages have failed to keep up with what’s seen as necessary to lead a moderately comfortable life, so personal debt has risen dramatically. The money that used to go to a broader wage base instead goes to the top. Unsurprisingly, this broad structural problem is dismissed as the personal failing of individuals... but the economy depends upon those individuals having the security and stability to keep spending money. 
 

If our economy is so fragile that what’s literally a superflu can bring our society to its knees, we are doing something very wrong.

No disagreement here. The US has evolved into a consumer driven economy. I think something like 2/3rds of GDP is linked to consumer spending. Financial products/engineering probably a large chunk also.  Most modern economies though, can't withstand a sudden shutdown of aggregate demand w/o a lot of pain. This could be the "Big Reset" the Doomers have been barking about for a long time, though not for the reasons they imagined.  

[BuffaloWeather]

8 minutes ago, Syrmax said:

I have refund requests in for my Italy trip and Orlando, flights and hotels. We shall see. I didn't have any travel insurance.  I may rethink that decision going forward. But the problem is having to read 29 page legal docs to figure out what's covered and what isn't. I'd think if travel is curtailed by government order and/or company decision, that if no service is provided they have to refund. As long as they're not insolvent. Which is another concern... 

My campervan got refunded without me doing anything, also the money I paid for the VISA to NZL automatically got refunded. I'm still waiting on the Flights as they technically have not been canceled. The credit card gave me provisional credit. I plan to contact both United and Air NZL to see if I can get refunded again later this week. Before they only offered 1 yr of flight credit, but many things have changed, especially in NZL 4 week total ban on travel. If I can get the money refunded from the airlines, I can cancel the dispute with the credit card. If all else fails I'll go to NZL later this year. Good to cover both basis.

[Syrmax]

8 minutes ago, BuffaloWeather said:

My campervan got refunded without me doing anything, also the money I paid for the VISA to NZL automatically got refunded. I'm still waiting on the Flights as they technically have not been canceled. The credit card gave me provisional credit. I plan to contact both United and Air NZL to see if I can get refunded again later this week. Before they only offered 1 yr of flight credit, but many things have changed, especially in NZL 4 week total ban on travel. If I can get the money refunded from the airlines, I can cancel the dispute with the credit card. Good to cover both basis.

What I'm a bit concerned about is credit card refunds. I made the hotel reservations and paid on my card for our group of 4 and another person paid for the flights. We  all paid our shares to the person who made the reservation and paid. Was easier way to do it. Now, I may get a charge refund to my card but will end up with a surplus credit i don't need as I've paid the charges off already.  I guess I will have to dig into savings to reimburse others that paid me. I suppose i could maybe withdraw cash from the credit card but they are usually limited in amount and have high fees.  Aggravating.

[wolfie09]

Highest totals for kbgm cwa..

.Madison County...
   Oneida                 6.5   435 PM  3/23  Updated amount.
   Chittenango            6.4   700 PM  3/23  Trained Spotter
   Cazenovia              6.0   940 PM  3/23  Social Media

...Oneida County...
   Holland Patent         7.0   443 PM  3/23  Trained Spotter
   Barneveld              6.5   416 PM  3/23  Social Media
   1 S Point Rock         6.4   330 PM  3/23  Trained Spotter
   Clinton                6.3   525 PM  3/23  Trained Spotter
   Paris                  6.0   438 PM  3/23  Trained Spotter
   Whitesboro             5.8   441 PM  3/23  Updated. Event total.
   Deerfield              5.5   515 PM  3/23  Trained Spotter
   1 S Utica              5.0   450 PM  3/23  560 feet elevation
   Marcy                  3.3   600 PM  3/23  Trained Spotter

...Onondaga County...
   Clay                   8.0   930 PM  3/23  Social Media
   Cicero                 7.9   423 PM  3/23  Trained Spotter
   Liverpool              7.2   600 PM  3/23  Updated amount.
   Brewerton              6.6   546 PM  3/23  Social Media
   Syracuse Hancock arp   6.3   459 PM  3/23  ASOS
   Marcellus              6.0   400 PM  3/23  Trained Spotter
   2 E Manlius            6.0   349 PM  3/23  Social Media
   1 E Three Rivers       4.5   313 PM  3/23  CoCoRaHS
   1 SW Syracuse          3.9   600 PM  3/23  Trained Spotter
   Bayberry               3.8   235 PM  3/23  Still snowing
   Tully                  3.5   349 PM  3/23  Social Media
   North Syracuse         3.0   225 PM  3/23  Social Media
   Baldwinsville          3.0   221 PM  3/23  Social Media

[WNash]

1 hour ago, Syrmax said:

What I'm a bit concerned about is credit card refunds. I made the hotel reservations and paid on my card for our group of 4 and another person paid for the flights. We  all paid our shares to the person who made the reservation and paid. Was easier way to do it. Now, I may get a charge refund to my card but will end up with a surplus credit i don't need as I've paid the charges off already.  I guess I will have to dig into savings to reimburse others that paid me. I suppose i could maybe withdraw cash from the credit card but they are usually limited in amount and have high fees.  Aggravating.

How big is the credit? You can not only buy groceries, but also pay utility bills with that card so it offsets the cash you’ll have to take out.

[WNash]

1 hour ago, Syrmax said:

No disagreement here. The US has evolved into a consumer driven economy. I think something like 2/3rds of GDP is linked to consumer spending. Financial products/engineering probably a large chunk also.  Most modern economies though, can't withstand a sudden shutdown of aggregate demand w/o a lot of pain. This could be the "Big Reset" the Doomers have been barking about for a long time, though not for the reasons they imagined.  

I think there’s going to be quite the shakeup of our political system if this plays out at a scenario with just a median loss of life.

I’m originally from Tennessee. There is a lot of goodwill towards Trump for defending what are seen as traditional values — God, country, family. But when people lose loved ones as Trump rushes a return to normalcy because he sees  that unemployment and stock market indices — the metrics he has touted as his great achievements and proof that he deserves reelection — are terrible, they’re going to have a big rethink about what they’re getting out of this whole thing.

A million deaths within a few months is an outcome we could see pretty easily. Those deaths will mostly be grandparents and elderly parents, and they will be felt. But there will be many deaths of susceptible younger people, and even deaths of young people who just had bad luck. Some famous people are going to die. And many of the deaths will be awful — people dying at home because they couldn’t even get health care in the richest country in the world. This will touch everyone in a way that nothing has since WW2. But rather than sacrifice to save our family and friends, we will sacrifice our family and friends to pump up stock prices. 
 

This is not a victory that free market conservatives want. It will put the lie to so many of their claims that have been used to justify real austerity over the years. Are they going to condemn the dying as lazy leeches, like some conservatives I have heard very recently? We have been told that we can’t have universal health care because it infringes on choice and freedom, but what happens when we have no access to health care and all but the youngest, luckiest, and richest get triaged into dying at home? 

I desperately hope none of these bad scenarios happens. I have a 78 year old mother in Tennessee. I have hypertension— controlled, but still diagnosed, as does my wife, and we could both lose a few pounds. What’s scariest to me is that my two year old daughter, who was very premature and spent months in the NICU, has chronic lung disease from being on a ventilator for ten weeks. She has no cognitive deficits and is actually ahead of milestones, and is even catching up to  normal height and weight, but I am terrified of what this virus could do to her lungs. I have never liked Trump. His scorn of expertise and science, his lack of humility, and his constant search for enemies to bully and blame have been awful to see. But I really hoped that he would look at what we are facing and rise to the occasion. I was prepared to get behind him, as I would if we were going into a war for our survival. But he can’t see past himself, and I can only hope a higher power will spare us from what I fear is coming.

[rochesterdave]

2 hours ago, WNash said:

The frustrating thing is that the people who minimize COVID-19 infection as just being a superflu aren’t wrong. It’s bad, but it’s not the Black Death, highly infectious and with a 70% mortality rate. But our economy has very little tolerance for contingencies. Wages have failed to keep up with what’s seen as necessary to lead a moderately comfortable life, so personal debt has risen dramatically. The money that used to go to a broader wage base instead goes to the top. Unsurprisingly, this broad structural problem is dismissed as the personal failing of individuals... but the economy depends upon those individuals having the security and stability to keep spending money. 
 

If our economy is so fragile that what’s literally a superflu can bring our society to its knees, we are doing something very wrong.

Really well said. Now we need to strike out a balance between staying in lock down and tanking the economy versus how many deaths are worth that. We’ve Always unwittingly done that. We don’t shut down for each flu season even though we could and it WOULD save lives 

But we obviously aren’t there yet (as Trump wants). These are very nuanced decisions that should rest on stats and health officials. Instead, we have every moron, with a social media presence, giving their hyperbolic opinion. Including me. 
This conversation is similar to the one we need to have about end of life care. We spend something like 90% of our lifetime health expenses in the last 3 months. Buying time but eating up precious resources. A lot of it is driven by doctors covering their asses against liability. I’m an MRI tech and I spend lots of time scanning  terminal patients in their 90’s. Causing them great discomfort even when there’s no possible follow up. If their cancer has spread, validating it on MRI gets us nowhere,  they won’t survive surgery, they can’t tolerate radiation or chemo. The compassionate choice is to give them comfort care. Place them in a comfy recliner with pillows and blankets, pump them full of pain meds and let them enjoy their last months. 
Im rambling, but I see analogies here. I didn’t explain them well. Ultimately, the herd has to have some consideration. The individual is extremely important but they don’t trump every other thing. Even when it comes to life and death.

[Syrmax]

6 hours ago, WNash said:

How big is the credit? You can not only buy groceries, but also pay utility bills with that card so it offsets the cash you’ll have to take out.

Its complicated but...if I get all hotels refunded, I'd have to fork over around $2,000 to make my Italy travel partners whole.  IF Alitalia refunds ticket (vs future credit) it would drop to $1,500. Which they should as we were notified our flight into Rome is actually cancelled.  Not sure if Delta will refund the ticket cost to Orlando or give us future credit...

[Syrmax]

7 hours ago, WNash said:

I think there’s going to be quite the shakeup of our political system if this plays out at a scenario with just a median loss of life.

I’m originally from Tennessee. There is a lot of goodwill towards Trump for defending what are seen as traditional values — God, country, family. But when people lose loved ones as Trump rushes a return to normalcy because he sees  that unemployment and stock market indices — the metrics he has touted as his great achievements and proof that he deserves reelection — are terrible, they’re going to have a big rethink about what they’re getting out of this whole thing.

A million deaths within a few months is an outcome we could see pretty easily. Those deaths will mostly be grandparents and elderly parents, and they will be felt. But there will be many deaths of susceptible younger people, and even deaths of young people who just had bad luck. Some famous people are going to die. And many of the deaths will be awful — people dying at home because they couldn’t even get health care in the richest country in the world. This will touch everyone in a way that nothing has since WW2. But rather than sacrifice to save our family and friends, we will sacrifice our family and friends to pump up stock prices. 
 

This is not a victory that free market conservatives want. It will put the lie to so many of their claims that have been used to justify real austerity over the years. Are they going to condemn the dying as lazy leeches, like some conservatives I have heard very recently? We have been told that we can’t have universal health care because it infringes on choice and freedom, but what happens when we have no access to health care and all but the youngest, luckiest, and richest get triaged into dying at home? 

I desperately hope none of these bad scenarios happens. I have a 78 year old mother in Tennessee. I have hypertension— controlled, but still diagnosed, as does my wife, and we could both lose a few pounds. What’s scariest to me is that my two year old daughter, who was very premature and spent months in the NICU, has chronic lung disease from being on a ventilator for ten weeks. She has no cognitive deficits and is actually ahead of milestones, and is even catching up to  normal height and weight, but I am terrified of what this virus could do to her lungs. I have never liked Trump. His scorn of expertise and science, his lack of humility, and his constant search for enemies to bully and blame have been awful to see. But I really hoped that he would look at what we are facing and rise to the occasion. I was prepared to get behind him, as I would if we were going into a war for our survival. But he can’t see past himself, and I can only hope a higher power will spare us from what I fear is coming.

Well put and I hope nothing but the best for you and your family.  Sadly, both political parties, the media, etc., are playing the spin game with this.  I'm not a Never Trumper but pretty close. I thought Rusiagate was a farce and my suspicions were confirmed.  But, he's not a Unifier and that is what this crisis (which is an actual crisis unlike the hundreds of false crises that we read about) calls for.  More importantly, this crisis calls for steady, rational decision making and factual statements. Which is not Trump's strong suit.  He could really bollocks things up in a way that matters profoundly.