miamizsun wrote:

I'm with you. We shut have shut EVERYTHING down completely for a month. No bills, no rent, no mortgages, no paychecks. Your license plate ends in 0 or 1, you can drive up to the store on Monday to get your food box after you make your gas stop. 2-3=Tuesday ect.  Workers are 1st in line for vaccines/treatement. Everyone else isolates. We would still have had problems, but this could have been done in March/April/May/June(maybe) of last year and we would have gotten through it and been done by now. 

Trump would probably still be president, maybe even getting a little praise for brave decisive action.  We would be on to his 5th impeachment, this one over his selling MAGA swag from the trunk of the presidential limousine.

 rhahl wrote:

i think it's fairly normal to have thoughts like this
on a somewhat serious note:
what i would encourage or suggest is to set up a news feed that focuses on solutions
or what is being done to solve the problem
maybe look at the biotech companies/industries and look at the tools they're using
it's not quite magic, but it is mind boggling 
the bottle necks have been largely political
in perspective, production and distribution have been really good
messaging, including the media have been (at times) not so good

peace

 ScottFromWyoming wrote:

i've always had trouble with distance, say two meters versus three meters

good thing i wasn't in charge because society could have shut down

 ScottFromWyoming wrote:

What color bucket?  Have you considered a pail instead. I'm not a fan of containers, how about we sponge it out?  I heard that dryness is a big government plot to control us all, I'd rather be soaked to the knees.  Hey, I found some aquarium gravel, let's just make a pile of this in the bottom of the boat and we can stand on it (well not those stupid 'bailers', f them).

 miamizsun wrote:
File under: No Shit Sherlock.

6 feet was better than 3 feet, which was the practical distance people might have adopted had they just been asked to not stand too close to one another. It became clear by about April 2020 that 20 feet was not going to protect anyone in an indoor dining setting but sticking with at least 6 feet would still be better than saying "we're all screwed so stand where you want."

It's incredible how many people want rigor when the boat is taking on water. Grab a bucket and bail, Sport, we'll buy some time.

More people died in Alabama during 2020 than were born as Covid-19 deaths continue rising in the US

 kurtster wrote: 

because science!

 ScottFromWyoming wrote:
40% vaccination rate in the state...

 haresfur wrote:
Unless there would have been a will to come up early with (draconian, tyrannical!) mandates, big fines, etc. That wasn't going to fly federally, or in states. Masks are communism too!

And it's only a flu!

 rhahl wrote:
I agree that the unenforceable carrot of letting vaccinated people go without masks was a failure. But the lack of compliance with mask mandates isn't something they could have controlled. Improving ventilation would be a multi-decade project that business interests would fight tooth and nail. No the post trump debacle is a combination of a much more transmissive variant and lack of courage/will in the population.

 ScottFromWyoming wrote: 
Of course I get it. It just seems obvious that that fact will not save the Democrats from being swept out of office, due to their mishandling of the Covid crisis, just like Trump was. We always have the right to "Throw the bums out!" and give the other bums a turn.

 ScottFromWyoming wrote: 
Thanks for that.  This does merit some thoughtful discussion.

I'll get back some more on this when I am not so agitated as I am right now.

 kurtster wrote:

That was the parameter set out by rhahl below, based on 1850 deaths per day, IIRC

This graph represents a death rate of about 650,000/yr and climbing. If you think our vaccine-only plan is going to turn this around, I have some carbon offset credits to sell you.

And he still doesn't get how the vaccine-only plan is working wonders—for the people who get vaccinated. Masks and ventilation and distancing were best practices when we didn't have a vaccine but the unvaxxed didn't play well with those rules either and were literally howling that they'd wait for the vaccine rather than wear a face-diaper in public, then when the vaccine came available years before they thought they'd have to cash in that chit, they just segue'd into this anti-vax stance. 

 kurtster wrote:

I get what you're asking and it's not strictly science and medicine; I think there's a lot of variables involved, such as: The people getting sick now have to eat crow before they seek treatment. By then it's too late for more of them. 

We've all heard about the microchips in the vaccine and ha ha wink wink but I ran into a person in the wild today who truly believes she did research and learned about that for reals. If she gets sick, she'll die before she lets the doctors treat her for covid because they're all in on it.

 haresfur wrote: 
"Vaccine-only" was not the only possible plan (masks, social distancing, improving ventilation systems. etc.). It has failed. The administration cannot admit that it has failed, or change the policy, because that would explain so clearly who screwed up. I think Biden was lured into this trap but it is possible that he simply wouldn't have it any other way.

 HarleyRider wrote:

TL;DR: It's not China's fault trump fucked up the US response to covid and the rest of the world would have been borked if China didn't share as much info on the virus as they did once they started admitting this was going to turn into a global pandemic. Gave the rest of the world a head start on developing tests and vaccines. Not to say that there weren't screw ups in China early on but by the time it got to the US everyone knew what they were dealing with and then still screwed up.

But feel free to discuss away. So far I haven't seen credible proof that there was any malicious intent by China. 

 HarleyRider wrote: 
Discussion of China's role in this is not allowed here.

Do so at your own risk.  You will be vilified as sure as God makes little green apples ...

The extremely transmissible Delta variant of the coronavirus, which overtook all other variants in the United States just a few months ago, now represents more than 99 percent of cases tracked in the country, according to the data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The variant caused caseloads to surge in Britain and India this spring and summer, and in both countries outbreaks resurfaced after cases had seemed to be on the decline. The Delta variant has been fueling outbreaks in the United States throughout the summer, its contagiousness taking advantage of the number of people who have resist Covid vaccinations.

The data on Delta’s prevalence, contained in the C.D.C.’s latest biweekly report of virus sequencing, shows it climbing from just over a quarter of cases in mid-June to near total dominance in September.

“It’s not unexpected, because it’s more transmissible, but it is also a strong reminder that we need to have continuous vigilance,” said Dr. Saskia Popescu, an epidemiologist and assistant professor at George Mason University.