outbreak! (ebola, sars, coronavirus, etc)

imagine when they see how big our military budget is, despite the fact that the US hasn't been invaded like ever

sad lol

imagine the measures we'd be taking if 25,000 americans had been killed over the last month by brown people

neat maps
https://www.inverse.com/science/data-reveal-air-pollution-levels-plummet-as-world-goes-on-lockdown

fucking McKinsey

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-usa-governors-excl/exclusive-new-york-taps-mckinsey-to-develop-trump-proof-economic-reopening-plan-idUSKCN21Y01V

“When it’s my time to go, God’s going to call me home,” Smith said. “I think that to live is inherently to take risks. I’m not concerned about this virus walking out into fast-moving traffic any more than I am about the flu.”

“We are not promised a pathogen-free impact injuries-free existence,” Smith said. “We do not have a constitutional right to not get a virus mown down by 18-wheeler trucks.”

do these people realize that Applebees is not gonna reopen because they chose to be dumbasses

They do not

The thing is, given any kind of easing of restrictions, some places will open, and impatient people will flock to those places, and pretty soon we'll all be right back on lockdown again.

'we need our mojo back'

Dr. Oz just made the argument that we should reopen schools because *only* 2-3% of kids will die.
pic.twitter.com/yKaHEybZqj

— Joshua Potash (@JoshuaPotash) April 16, 2020

Mr. Mojo Risible

tbf it's not the kids who are gonna die, not that it makes this any less dumb

"mmmm....appetizing!"

Some friends of mine that have mostly taken a smart approach to things until now are starting to argue for reopening the NYC economy soon and it's causing me some distress. They're not even people who have suffered any personal economic losses as a result yet (other than maybe in their 401ks). They are posting stuff like "NYC needs to start reopening businesses by May 1!" and "School not starting in September is out of the question!" Like, you might as well say "The hurricane will just have to tack east, end of story."

“It’s simply unsustainable”

I just keep thinking about that tweet about people who "want to speak to the manager of Coronavirus." Maybe it's too glib but it's very accurate.

I spoke to the coronavirus and it didn't give a shit, sorry

man alive, sounds like your friends are bored. so bored. it is the absolutely worst to be that bored.

such survivors.

I mean, the only nod I give the "It's simply unsustainable" crowd is that, considering we have virtually no safety nets in place and a ruling party that actively wants the poor to die off, they aren't wrong - it's not sustainable in terms of our country adequately taking care of the 22 million out of work people (so far!) for many months. That part isn't sustainable.

I think 'managing the discontent' is going to be an increasingly prominent problem that the government is going to have to deal with. in some cases it might mean making a slightly suboptimal public health decision because the discontent is going to come with its own costs.

xp I'm aware it's trite as fuck, but that line about "it is easier to imagine an end to the world than an end to capitalism" - it turns out that's pretty much on the money, yeah.

Boredom is a big factor, I'm itching to get out there and do stuff even though I realize it's not wise.

Also, can't discount the fact that over 20M people suddenly lost their jobs. That's a whole lot of pissed off people that probably want things sorted out sooner than later.

Wisconsin extends stay at home order until May 26, school year officially cancelled

Did cases blow up after election day?

Ohio to reopen, somehow, May 1st.

or begin to reopen I guess

Also, can't discount the fact that over 20M people suddenly lost their jobs. That's a whole lot of pissed off people that probably want things sorted out sooner than later.

― Mario Meatwagon (Moodles),Thursday, 16 April 2020 17:14 (two hours ago) link

People who have the disease "want things sorted out sooner than later" too, but sometimes things just don't work that way. There is no "let's reopen the economy and change our ideas about the acceptable level of death." Even if you wanted to accept that kind of grim calculation, it wouldn't work. The economy would not just go back to functioning normally.

i do not take any reopening announcements or dates seriously

except for the ones that are like "maaaybe 2022?!" agreed

more seriously, I think the idea that we'll cycle in and out of quarantines makes sense to me

yeah agreed, it's gonna be a slow and painful process

'reopening the economy' is complete propaganda. the government has the money to spend, they just don't want to give it to people who aren't corporations.

I'll believe in 'reopening the economy' when I see everyone who wants tested getting tested, with very low rates of false positives and false negatives, followed soon after by effective contact tracing.

like, the market has been rallying for weeks now based upon this optimism of a future where things are not that much different except stuff will be pricier and large companies were given millions/billions to get them to that future point. and normal people will let any kind of real change slip away because they want to go back to a normal that was pretty unsustainable anyway.

It's not just red hatters and greedy corporate overlords who want to end the quarantine. I know plenty of parents of young kids who are fucking tearing their hair out right now. I can't wait for this shit to end so I can play some music with friends and go to a restaurant.

But yeah, Aimless' approach seems reasonable.

I've heard that Cisco is planning to keep everyone WFH until there is a vaccine, but that was second-hand info.

i think "reopening the economy" will look a lot like how Sweden never "closed" their economy. their movie theater sales are at 1% compared to last year at this time, for example. like a lot of things trump stamps his name on, "reopening the economy" might be something that sounds legit and is enough to fool people who don't look into it

a popular brunch/breakfast spot a few blocks away hasn't technically closed - they're doing delivery and pick-up orders and have 6-ft social distancing lines going down the sidewalk around the corner. but walking by it, i haven't seen anyone there, ever, and the delivery car is always sitting out front in the same parking spot. trump can say that chicago is open for business, but i don't think it's going to make a difference for that shop

I know plenty of parents of young kids who are fucking tearing their hair out right now.

TBF, I think this was a major factor in one of my friends' seemingly losing her mind after weeks of very cogent analysis of the situation.

yeah, i was making no comment on that one because I don't like the idea of schools and teachers being used as childcare when that is unfortunately reality.

I'm tearing my hair out not because I can't care for my child but because he's badly missing the mental stimulation, socialising and physicality of being at school while I am also caring for a toddler. Not being able to go out runs against nearly everything you know as a parent about having fun with your kids.

I honestly don't know how I can keep going working from home and doing homeschooling at the same time

it's super fucking hard. there is no way to do a full day.

how old is/are your kid/s?

note: when I say childcare I didn't mean to imply anyone here specifically can't care for their children. But I probably did. Sorry.

Yeah it's ok, I didn't take it like that. There are lots of 'hilarious' memes about people suddenly having to spend time with their kids and its terrible, but this is not the actual problem.

i think there's some rationale for allowing certain non-essential businesses to open as long as they follow certain, rigorous protocols. a local bike shop here is still open (deemed essential) but only by appointment, and all transactions actually take place outside. a local liquor store was only allowing three customers at a time into its very large space, and even tho it is now closed by law i'm going to go ahead and say that the risk of transmission in that setting was quite low. social distancing, masks, hand-washing, no mass gatherings, etc, are clearly effective, and should continue, but as iatee suggested there's going to be a point where a slight relaxation will be needed in the absence of massive government support (which we all know is not coming). maintenance of strict quarantine measures will be politically and practically impossible, at least in the dumb ol USA

kinder they're 11 and 8, both boys. left on their own they beat the shit out of each other multiple times a day and cause all kinds of mayhem.

Senator Schatz (D-HI) on USA failure to provide testing over the short- and long-term:

On March 6 they promised 4 million tests by the end of that week. It is April 16, 41 days later, and Trump is announcing 3.5 million tests completed. And they are not even really ramping up. Last weeks number of tests was roughly the same as the week before.

— Brian Schatz (@brianschatz) April 16, 2020

the tests really were ramping up for the first several weeks. it's true that they've been pretty much even the last week or so, though.

brian schatz is solid. i used to read his column in the honolulu weekly and it was always on point. he also tweeted like a month ago that lack of testing should be the #1 story until it isn't, and i think he's probably right.