Is it time to talk about coronavirus? (2 Viewers)

[DaveF]

Wow!

I don't know if that's good or bad for dealing with the coronavirus. I am certain it helps Amazon's takeover of America's shopping.

Because people aren't going to not buy a new TV or DVDs for the kids. They'll just order it from delivery since they can't buy it locally. That is, if they weren't already doing that before the pandemic.

 

[David Weicker]

I wonder how they would enforce it. Remove the items from the store? Force a checkout person to take items out of your cart/basket/hands?

 

[Malcolm R]

I wonder how they would enforce it. Remove the items from the store? Force a checkout person to take items out of your cart/basket/hands?

They're supposed to either remove non-essential items from shelves or block/close off certain areas/aisles.

I wonder if that would cause the big boxes to just close? That would send a bunch more people crowding into the supermarkets.

 

[Carlo_M]

This is not a political statement, but a factual one (or about to become factual, based on recent reporting). So the government and CDC are about to reverse their stance on people wearing masks. As in, wear them. That's not going to improve the public trust in messaging.

Meanwhile, Asia is saying "welcome America, to 2002".

 

[TravisR]

This is not a political statement, but a factual one (or about to become factual, based on recent reporting). So the government and CDC are about to reverse their stance on people wearing masks. As in, wear them. That's not going to improve the public trust in messaging.

Meanwhile, Asia is saying "welcome America, to 2002".

I guess I'm dead because I'm not wearing those goofy things. Beyond that, I'm not depriving doctors or nurses or cashiers or delivery people that come in contact with hundreds of people a day of a mask that they have far more need of.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

The guidance might have been flawed from the beginning but the need for them is also being somewhat misunderstood.

The virus appears to be much easier spread than scientists originally believed. Many more people are either completely asymptomatic carriers and/or have long contagious periods before falling ill. A normal medical mask is not fine enough to protect the wearer from receiving the virus. But a normal medical mask can be effective at preventing someone with the virus from spreading it.

So a lot more of us should be in masks and should have been from the start. But not to protect us from receiving the virus, but rather, to prevent us from unknowingly spreading it.

It was a bizarre messaging campaign from the CDC and WHO to say both that masks are useless and that they needed as many as they could get.

 

[Jeffrey D]

In Vermont, the governor has mandated that big box retailers restrict sales to essential items only, trying to cut down on the amount of shoppers in these stores. No more sales of electronics, clothing, beauty products, etc. Mostly just food, health, and home repairs, I guess. Not a huge impact, as we have only a handful of Walmarts, one Target, and one Costco, but I'm not sure how the retailers like it. It likely also means additional staff layoffs in these stores.

So the governor wants us to stay home, but I guess if your TV breaks down you're not allowed to buy another one, and you're not allowed to buy any DVD's to keep you or the kids entertained if you don't have streaming. If you need office supplies, a cable, or printer ink for work-from-home, you cannot buy that. If you need a new pair of sweatpants to be more comfortable working at home, you can't buy that. Or you at least have to order these things online and put more of the burden on warehouse workers and delivery folks.

That’s not a great idea, for the concerns you
mentioned (what to do if your TV craps out, for instance).

 

[Robert Crawford]

I guess I'm dead because I'm not wearing those goofy things. Beyond that, I'm not depriving doctors or nurses or cashiers or delivery people that come in contact with hundreds of people a day of a mask that they have far more need of.

Hell, good luck even finding such masks even if you wanted to wear one.

 

[Robert Crawford]

The guidance might have been flawed from the beginning but the need for them is also being somewhat misunderstood.

The virus appears to be much easier spread than scientists originally believed. Many more people are either completely asymptomatic carriers and/or have long contagious periods before falling ill. A normal medical mask is not fine enough to protect the wearer from receiving the virus. But a normal medical mask can be effective at preventing someone with the virus from spreading it.

So a lot more of us should be in masks and should have been from the start. But not to protect us from receiving the virus, but rather, to prevent us from unknowingly spreading it.

It was a bizarre messaging campaign from the CDC and WHO to say both that masks are useless and that they needed as many as they could get.

The reason for that mix messaging is because they knew they had a shortage of masks back then and it's still a problem now.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I get that, but there had to have been a better way to convey that message. When you see everyone in, for example, South Korea wearing a mask and also see that they’ve gotten their outbreak under control in record time, and then you have people here saying masks serve no purpose, I think it makes a bad situation worse because you’ve lost the public trust and you need that trust to combat this.

 

[Robert Crawford]

I get that, but there had to have been a better way to convey that message. When you see everyone in, for example, South Korea wearing a mask and also see that they’ve gotten their outbreak under control in record time, and then you have people here saying masks serve no purpose, I think it makes a bad situation worse because you’ve lost the public trust and you need that trust to combat this.

And, I get your comments! Our authorities didn't do a good job, it's as simple as that. No need to say anything more.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Hell, good luck even finding such masks even if you wanted to wear one.

Be aware of buying masks.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/01/business/n95-masks-counterfeits-supply-chain/index.html

 

[Patrick Sun]

No-win situation on the masks. Yay - full well know there were be a panic run on masks (people went out of their minds hoarding toilet paper), creating a shortage for the medical folks. Nay - leave people exposed when they might not need to be.

 

[Robert Crawford]

I see the Florida Governor has finally issued a "Stay at Home" order. Covid-19 is pretty bad in that state, but it's going to get much worse in the coming weeks.

 

[TravisR]

I see the Florida Governor has finally issued a "Stay at Home" order. Covid-19 pretty bad in that state, but it's going to get much worse in the coming weeks.

Yeah. Between their waiting so long and the elderly population, the amount of people that are going to die in Florida is going to be absolutely horrifying.

 

[Carlo_M]

I mean I knew from the initial guidance that it was flawed. Yes, normal non-N95 masks do not prevent transmission (i.e. the virus can penetrate the material when you breathe it in, if someone were to sneeze or cough on you). But with their next breath, the CDC and Surgeon General also said "if you are sick, it helps keep your droplets in your facemask vs. being blasted out up to 2m and going onto surfaces".

I immediately thought, wait, if asymptomatic people were transmitters (which again, very early on this was acknowledged) then having everyone wear masks reduces the amount of infected spray that could go on surfaces, which we all touch. It wouldn't eliminate the concern, but it sure as heck would provide a statistically meaningful reduction. That doesn't need a peer reviewed multi-year study (like the safety of drugs do) that's just common-freaking-sense.

Rather than mislead people, be up front and say "we're prioritizing healthcare workers for this equipment." Misleading people still didn't prevent the "run on the bank" which happened anyway. But now what you've got is a growing distrust from people who now don't know if they can trust the information coming out of official sources.

 

[Johnny Angell]

What is the latest scoop on when this will be over? Over in the Movie corona thread, it mentions some theaters think they can reopen in June. That seems way to early to me. I'll be shocked if the pandemic is over by December.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

What is the latest scoop on when this will be over? Over in the Movie corona thread, it mentions some theaters think they can reopen in June. That seems way to early to me. I'll be shocked if the pandemic is over by December.

Some are saying 18 months.

We are a year away from a true vaccine (according to 60 minutes news a week ago), that is unless one of the other trials comes to fruition.

The problem is, as I see it, this will never be over until everyone is vaccinated.

We will hit a peak in the upcoming weeks and then there will be a decline.

However, the virus will always be around. Someone will always have it.

So, they could eventually open up businesses and people will mingle, but there will always be the risk in doing so, the virus will continue to spread.

I guess what I am saying is, this just doesn't stop and go away. That is why some are saying 18 months (and that is a worst-case scenario).

 

[TJPC]

I get that, but there had to have been a better way to convey that message. When you see everyone in, for example, South Korea wearing a mask and also see that they’ve gotten their outbreak under control in record time, and then you have people here saying masks serve no purpose, I think it makes a bad situation worse because you’ve lost the public trust and you need that trust to combat this.

I don’t know about your area, but long before this new virus surfaced it was very common to see someone wearing a surgical mask on the street, and 99.99% of the time they were Asian.

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

Still a lot of unknowns.

For all we know, if this spreads fast enough, most everyone will have had it and recovered (and sadly not for some) in a few months and not really need that vaccine until the potential next wave a year from now if/when it mutates (again) or our naturally built-up immunity fades...

I don’t know about your area, but long before this new virus surfaced it was very common to see someone wearing a surgical mask on the street, and 99.99% of the time they were Asian.

No doubt so (as w/ most Chinese communities around the world)... though it definitely seems far less common amongst Chinese communities here in the USA... until this time of course...

_Man_