(03-18-2020, 12:27 PM)Gabe Wrote: [ -> ]I've done my fair share of finger pointing. Trump and his news outlet are just as much to blame for the situation we're all in now as a result of downplaying the threat of the virus itself as the overreaction from the general public. Only time will tell as to how much damage it'll do to his reelection hopes.
But shifting gears - testing has ramped up, finally. I took my wife to get tested this morning. Expects to hear back within 3-5 days. Her symptoms were shortness of breath, coughing and chills, combined with a couple layers removed exposure to people who have already tested positive. Got approval via teledoc and Ascension.
I can't begin to tell you how terrified she is considering she's a recovering asthmatic. It's shaken me as well. I know I can shrug off flu-like symptoms and be alright in a couple of days, but she definitely can't.
Good luck to you both. Hopefully the test comes back a nothing-burger
(03-18-2020, 01:01 PM)Last42min Wrote: [ -> ]As for the virus itself, I am starting to believe either the numbers are severely under-reported or there are two strains of the virus. If the number of people being infected is severely under-reported, that is a very good thing. We could end up burning through this thing in a couple weeks. Something just doesn't pass the sniff test with regards to how quickly China recovered from this. There should reinfections starting to pop back up if the cases aren't far more widespread than previously believed. I really wish the US had proper testing to get some real numbers on this. We may never know until we do a random sample of antibodies in humans, but who knows when that will happen.
I've read lots of speculation lately that there are two strains. One of them, a much milder version, has theoretically more or less circled the globe without anyone noticing. There were lots of reports in the US of particularly bad flu cases, and the working idea is that those may have actually been the more aggressive but less potent strain. If that is the case, it would probably explain a few things.
I'm still more interested in international response to China's newest theory that the coronavirus causing COVID-19 came from snakes, which had likely been infected by bats known to carry SARS. The bats with SARS I buy. SARS tracing back to a bat colony in southern China has been confirmed numerous times. It's just highly suspect to me that this virus, which is in many ways SARS on steroids, just happened to turn up in a marketplace on the doorstep of one of the most advanced virology labs in the world. I continue to believe that COVID-19 was an effort to weaponize SARS that made its way out into the open somehow or another. I wouldn't go so far as to say that China poisoned its own people, but it's an incredible coincidence that the "Enterprise-D" version of SARS just happened to turn up at a busy marketplace right there.
(03-18-2020, 02:29 PM)jagibelieve Wrote: [ -> ] (03-18-2020, 11:04 AM)TJBender Wrote: [ -> ]That's wonderful, good for you, enjoy your drink, thanks for killing your grandmother when you bump into her at the supermarket and breath on the bag of oranges she's picking up.
The point of the restrictions isn't to keep healthy individuals like you and me safe. It's to keep us from passing the virus that we're probably already carrying along to people who wouldn't be able to carry it without symptoms. Do I like being cooped up in my home? No. Is it going to stop me from going out for a walk? No. Do I believe that being cooped up is serving any purpose? You know, I have to trust the judgment of those who know far more than I ever will (including direct advisers to the president and his lordship himself) who say that staying as isolated as possible is a necessary precaution right now. If you can't handle skipping restaurants for a couple weeks, [BLEEP] download Uber Eats. If you can't go a couple of weeks without stocking up on booze, see a counselor when this is all over. If you can't handle stepping to the side as a precaution and/or courtesy to others who are susceptible to the virus, stay inside your own home.
If spending a few seconds of my life waiting a couple of steps off the sidewalk for an elderly person to pass could potentially save their life, [BLEEP] yes I'll step off the sidewalk. [BLEEP] "natural selection". At some point, we're all human beings, we're all along for the same ride, and that dick-first machismo being projected by the "me first" crowd is as sad as it is dangerous.
You are missing the point of what I was trying to say.
First, all four of my grandparents are dead so there is no way that I could "kill" them by bumping into them at the supermarket, but ... whatever.
The point of the restrictions is that young people on spring break have been packing bars and pretty much ignoring the recommendation to stay away from large gatherings. The governor mandating that all night clubs and bars close is far too over-reaching. Perhaps asking them to restrict numbers of patrons at a time is a better idea. By closing down businesses for 30 days or more they are putting people out of work and hurting the owners (not to mention the supply chain these businesses use).
Regarding the purchase of alcohol, beer or wine I was referring to the mandate that the city of St. Augustine put out that restaurants that normally serve drinks would be prohibited from doing so. That has nothing to do with the virus and everything to do with "nanny government" controlling us.
The bottom line is closing bars and night clubs is pretty much a violation of our 1st amendment right (freedom to peacefully assemble). Telling restaurants that they can't serve a product that they normally serve is far too much government over-reach.
My "natural selection" comment was geared towards the idiots on spring break that still pack bars. If they want to make themselves sick let them.
First off, an apology. I'm slightly on edge right now with everyone in my immediate family except me in a high risk group, one of them refusing to admit that this is potentially a very big deal, and another clearly not understanding what the word "quarantine" means. So when I see things like large groups of families with their kids swinging around on park equipment, groups of people at a cramped bar for St. Patrick's Day and the [BLEEP] Tide Pod generation not understanding basic courtesies like, "If you're potentially carrying a deadly plague, don't walk 18 inches from the person that might die," I get a little bit heated. "Natural selection" is a defense I've heard from someone who proudly ranted about how they weren't going to follow any government guidelines that tell them how to live their life, and the disease is only killing people who should probably die anyway, so why should they change the way they live?
Yeah, enough.
Under normal circumstances, I'd say yes, closing down restaurants is pushing it Constitutionally, and the burden of making sure that the bar's crowd numbers less than the fire marshal's limit should fall to the owner. Under these circumstances, no. I don't think it's fair to foist that off of proprietors. For one, with the six-foot spacing guideline and limit of ten people per gathering, what's a restaurant owner going to do? Allow two families in and arrange each person at their own booth on the other side of the restaurant? Or, let's say the crowd of ten is nixed, who's going to set capacity rules and how? Will the state say, "Ok, you can have one person for every ten square feet of your building"? And would the owner then have to hire someone to stand outside and perform a count, like a bouncer but at TGI Friday's? That would be a logistical nightmare, and what happens if the owner doesn't have enough employees wanting to put themselves in that environment? Good luck replacing them right now--if you even dare fire an employee for refusing to report to work in a pandemic.
In an environment where things are changing by the day, almost by the hour at times, as much as it hurts my fingers to type this, government intervention is the right thing to do. This is a scenario we've never seen before, and given the likely outcome if we do nothing and allow it to overwhelm the medical system, I think certain specific, limited restrictions, like mandating take-out or delivery service only for bars and restaurants, are warranted. Apply that same government-mandated closure to something like a church and I'm less ok with that, because now the government is treading on the edge of a very slippery slope. To anyone who wants to sue the government for stripping their First Amendment rights by instructing restaurants to close during a pandemic...best of luck.
I'll defer to TrivialPursuit's response to the natural selection comment, because he's right. Natural selection only works like that if it kills the people who do the stupid thing. In this case, the people doing the stupid thing are probably fine, but their parents and grandparents might not be.
![[Image: Screen-Shot-2020-03-18-at-10-05-40-PM.png]](https://i.postimg.cc/XYRxZ5KS/Screen-Shot-2020-03-18-at-10-05-40-PM.png)