SARS II: Respiratory Boogaloo

https://melmagazine.com/en-us/story/america-is-officially-in-fuck-it-mode

I agree with every criticism of Trump but the failing here is not just his, it's a failing of the entire governing philosophy of the Republican party for 40 years and their current insistence on applying their Grover Norquist vision of government.

The proper response to this was:
Prologue - have a robust program in place to prepare for this wholly predictable crisis including but not limited to national stockpiles of needed materials and robust inter-agency programs of research and response...on Republicans who've been defunding and short-changing this sort of thing since GWB took it seriously and tried to get prepared before the recession hit.
1. act early - this is on Trump
2. act efficiently - this is on the Republican gutting of the size and capability of federal government via budget cuts
3. impose social movement restrictions - hit or miss depending on the governor or other local official and how they view their role
4. WHILE restrictions are in place Congress budget as much spending as necessary to make sure people CAN stay home as long as necessary without unbearable hardship and without loss of small businesses (they know HOW to do this, they simply blanch at the cost) - this is mainly on the current GOP members of Congress and on Trump but also on cowardly "moderate" Dems who've convinced themselves that voters want, even now, what Republicans have been selling.
5. WHILE restrictions are in place develop a robust test/trace/isolate program so that when restrictions are eased the government has the ability to quickly isolate new infections - complete abdication of responsibility by the executive branch and no pressure from Republicans in DC that he might bend to because "it's not the Federal governments job", a toxic mix of small government bullshit and Trump's obsession with shifting blame.
6. phase out restrictions according to the best science in places where it makes sense.
also: while all this is going on model and endorse best practices such as mask wearing and physical distance which has a direct effect on public compliance - Again Trump utterly fails here and his Administration and most Republicans in DC follow his model.

So yes, Trump has been an utter failure, perhaps even a deliberate bad actor - but the entire GOP (for the last 40 years but particularly the last decade) is complicit.

Not all Republican governors are fucking up and catching shit for it.
All governors who are fucking up and catching shit for it happen* to be Republicans

But you are right about the vaccine, unless we go full UBI for maybe 18 months you can't really stay in full lockdown until there's a vaccine (which may never even come) - but you CAN do it until a robust test/trace/isolate plan is in place (other countries have literally successfully done this already) and then ease restrictions with the ability to isolate fresh outbreaks until such time as a theoretical vaccine is widespread.

Still, "ease restrictions" has to be done according to the science. Wear masks where appropriate, different standards for outdoor versus indoor activity, and so forth.
Not just "Fuck it, y'all do what you want"

ETA: in the post mortem analysis, it's likely we'll find Cuomo fucked up in significant ways early on too and has so far escaped much criticism for it. It's somewhat easier to accept early fuck ups as it is persistent fuck-ups tho.

Can't dispute this at all but I need a discussion of it that doesn't involve James-fucking-Woods

Binary thinking is usually not the answer when the potential solutions are not binary.

Hypothetical: it's not the location of the recovering patients in and of itself that would be the problem but whether you can, in that institution, set up a completely separate ecosystem where the same staff are not caring for both + and - residents and they have proper PPE and so forth and so on.

The history of meltdowns generally has been that we've asked medical professionals and staff to do extraordinary things without making extraordinary provisions to equip them to do so.

New Zealand, Taiwan, Vietnam, South Korea, Australia and others provide counter-examples.

Georgia has tripled its infection rate over the last week, Augusta's infection rate is 23 times as high as the national average.

Stop being a cowardly bitch.

James-fucking-Woods isn't hiding under your bed.

And there is zero reason to even bring his name up. He only posted the video. All the other stuff has nothing to do with him.

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/...-test-data-pennsylvania-georgia-texas/611935/

*screams into the void*

I am thinking if jesus could be wine he could also be bleach and chloroquine. Or maybe he is the COVID and that is how god is getting jesus into you. Perhaps they should not take the chance and make sure they get as much covid as possible. Think about it, the more you get the closer you come to meeting god. It is sort of like he is telling you to get some. You don't want to be mean to god and make him think you don't want to meet him.

I have a feeling this might be how jonestown started.

I get we are not wanting to insult people, but if your particular mental problem causes you to do something like that then that is what we have cages for. A person who would do that sort of thing as just something they would do needs to have constant supervision and physical restraint.

*Reads that story*

*Reads it again*

I don't know what to say the monkeys won't do. I am going to go smoke some cigarettes now, get a cup of coffee, and ponder how large I would have to drill a hole in my head to let that information leak out because it is truly fucking with me.

Watching that I was under the impression the guy was a staff member, especially when someone on the Twitter feed said he was a "student" in a "psychiatric hospital/school".

For the record, autism alone does not explain why someone would do this.

To be frank there's just no way to justify putting COVID patients in nursing homes.

With the best will in the world they aren't going to be able to prevent the virus migrating.

That's deliberate, it has to be.

A Republican governor who's gotten high marks for how he's handled things in his state.

There's a lot about DeWine I don't like, but he seems to have handled the outbreak fairly well in Ohio. And right now, that's the important thing.

Awesome! Airlines are begging for your business - Delta is ready when you are!

Georgia? Really sad because the CDC is headquartered in Atlanta! Steve needs to put a foot up their asses.

​

You're joking, right? In California, there have been massive protests at the state capitol to protest our governor's handling of this.

Why not?

Perhaps he should have framed his words better. Here let me rewrite it: "Yet the only people catching heat in the national media are the Republican governors."

Because Dr. Fauci said so and since you guys elevated him to the "must listen too and follow every word that comes out of his mouth" status we now have to open up everything to save the economy.

I wouldn't characterise it as "simple." That's the sort of mistakes Trump makes.

Nursing homes are where patients are discharged to when they require non-acute care. Infectious, non-acute care patients, would require isolation from the regular patients in a nursing home. I hope this how they were handled.

Nursing homes have nothing to do with age, although the nature of American facilities for the aging (they don't exist outside of the private sector) make nursing homes the de facto choice for our aging population that can't be cared for at home by family.

The need to discharge non-acute patients from hospitals would arise from a shortage of beds for critical care patients, and the needs of these being assessed against the non-acute patients. They have no where else to go, unless the patient can afford private skilled nursing care at their home, and this would have its own set of problems relating to exposing others to the virus in a non-healthcare environment.

It's a complex problem with many places that mistakes can be made.

Because people have to feed their families.

The US government seems to have bottomless pockets when it comes to supporting rich arseholes. But your family can't be fed for a few months?

You really have bought the propaganda.

What propaganda?