Is it bad there??

[frugal saver]

Do you live in a low population density area? I do, and my experience has been largely the same. I've known very few people to get infected (<10), and zero deaths I've even heard about in the area. People are still taking some precautions, which are almost certainly helping, but I think the fact that people here are simply not stacked on top of eachother helps alot in controlling the spread.

Our population is 2.2 million. According to the media website, we have 15,000 cases right now. But we have very few testing sites--they say that we don't have enough testing supplies--so I'm not sure how the numbers can climb so fast when it's so hard to get a test.

So I went to my local sites--Facebook neighborhood watch groups, NextDoor, and asked--how many people do you know that have it/had it? So far not a single person.

[disneysteve]

Our population is 2.2 million. According to the media website, we have 15,000 cases right now. But we have very few testing sites--they say that we don't have enough testing supplies--so I'm not sure how the numbers can climb so fast when it's so hard to get a test.

So I went to my local sites--Facebook neighborhood watch groups, NextDoor, and asked--how many people do you know that have it/had it? So far not a single person.

If testing has been rare in your area, it would make sense that you may not know anyone who has been diagnosed. Of course, that doesn't mean you don't know anyone who has had the disease.

Lack of a widespread national testing program has been a huge problem and is largely responsible for the problems we have seen. If we can't quickly identify infected individuals, it's impossible to effectively contact trace and quarantine the appropriate people. The US has failed miserably in this department. We've only tested a fraction of the number of people that we need to be testing to get things under control.

[frugal saver]

If testing has been rare in your area, it would make sense that you may not know anyone who has been diagnosed. Of course, that doesn't mean you don't know anyone who has had the disease.

Lack of a widespread national testing program has been a huge problem and is largely responsible for the problems we have seen. If we can't quickly identify infected individuals, it's impossible to effectively contact trace and quarantine the appropriate people. The US has failed miserably in this department. We've only tested a fraction of the number of people that we need to be testing to get things under control.

So people are being diagnosed with Covid without either symptoms or a test? That boggles the mind.

I'll rephrase my sentence that I don't know anyone, personally, or on my local websites, that's even been ill, even if it turned out to be a sinus infection. And yet the numbers climb daily. It's truly magical.

[disneysteve]

So people are being diagnosed with Covid without either symptoms or a test? That boggles the mind.

No. That's not what I'm saying. I'm saying that the actual number of cases is likely 10 times as high as the reported number because of lack of testing. The reported numbers are real. There are just a lot more cases that we don't know about.

[~bs]

No. That's not what I'm saying. I'm saying that the actual number of cases is likely 10 times as high as the reported number because of lack of testing. The reported numbers are real. There are just a lot more cases that we don't know about.

That is correct. It also means the death rate goes down by a factor of 10, and that A LOT of the population have already contracted it. 15-20% of the united states.

[~bs]

So people are being diagnosed with Covid without either symptoms or a test? That boggles the mind.

I'll rephrase my sentence that I don't know anyone, personally, or on my local websites, that's even been ill, even if it turned out to be a sinus infection. And yet the numbers climb daily. It's truly magical.

Just a personal anecdotal, but I also don't know anyone personally that has gotten the disease. I'm an executive of a company that has around 2000 employees. We've had a total of 4 confirmed cases since this all started. That corresponds to an infection rate of 0.2% and a potential death rate of 0.002%

[Fishindude77]

I'm not honestly sure what's going on here. Everything was re-shut down because of all the cases a while back, and everything is still closed.

I'm not a social butterfly, but I don't exactly live in a cave. Yet, of everyone I know (actual people, not some online name) no one at my job was declared positive for it. No one in my neighborhood, church, people I know locally, groups I belong to. Not one single person. I don't mean hospitalized or died, but just even diagnosed with it. Where are they?

They spent millions to convert the old basketball stadium to a hospital. They ended up closing it and said it had held a total of 9 patients. They spent a ton of money arranging for hotel rooms for homeless people that they said would be dying in the streets--the homeless coalition had been going around to all the homeless checking for illness--nobody got it.

The only deaths that have been reported have been people in nursing homes that already had a variety of other things going on--and could easily have died from the regular yearly flu.

And yet we're still shut down. No haircuts, outside dining only (it's 109 outside) no sports, no school, no shopping other than groceries, no church, no parties, no weddings, no funerals. Protesting is ok, of course.

I'm not disputing that this virus is somewhere. But it doesn't appear to be here, or affecting people here--other than the thousands that are in the process of being evicted from their apartments due to not being able to work. (Many are still waiting for their first unemployment check from March.)

Neil Kashkari (Fed President from I forget where) said today he's pushing for a 6 week or more "total lockdown." He said too many people were considered essential and wants pretty much everyone in their house. The interviewer pointed out that people have run out of money already and there's huge lines at food banks, but he said it was worth it (for people to starve?) because "the alternative would be much worse."

I get this weird feeling that we're being played.

These are my observations as well.
Still don't know anyone that's been sick from this. A friend in Missouri said his ex wife tested positive, but she has no issues.

I believe we are being played also. If Biden happens to win in November I predict this "pandemic" will suddenly disappear.

[disneysteve]

I believe we are being played also. If Biden happens to win in November I predict this "pandemic" will suddenly disappear.

So this is a grand GLOBAL conspiracy impacting virtually every country on the planet that has all been skillfully orchestrated by the Democratic party in order to defeat Trump?

Am I the only one that thinks that sounds bat**** crazy?

[disneysteve]

A LOT of the population have already contracted it. 15-20% of the united states.

Probably so. Of course, herd immunity requires 75-80% to be infected (or vaccinated) so we are nowhere near that point. We're going to be dealing with this for quite some time. Even if a vaccine does become available in early 2021, 40-50% surveyed say they won't get it. And keep in mind that the fastest a vaccine was ever developed was 4 years, so January is extremely optimistic, but the effort and money being put into this is significant so maybe they will have one ready in 4-6 months.

[QuarterMillionMan]

[kork13]

So this is a grand GLOBAL conspiracy impacting virtually every country on the planet that has all been skillfully orchestrated by the Democratic party in order to defeat Trump?

Am I the only one that thinks that sounds bat**** crazy?

Seriously. I'm not a big supporter of either Biden or Trump, but come on... The very idea of a global conspiracy to get an American president elected is patently ludicrous. Let's face it -- most of the world doesn't even like us enough to be interested in screwing with our politics.

That said, speaking objectively, the Democratic party (and it's ideologically-aligned media outlets) have definitely taken full advantage of crowing about the poor handling of all this, and creating mountains out of ant hills wherever possible.... At the same time, Republicans have made every effort to ignore facts and give Trump a pass on some shockingly abhorrent behavior & statements. But frankly that's all how American politics operates anyway, so it's really nothing shocking.

[~bs]

So this is a grand GLOBAL conspiracy impacting virtually every country on the planet that has all been skillfully orchestrated by the Democratic party in order to defeat Trump?

Am I the only one that thinks that sounds bat**** crazy?

I'm guessing he's saying the US numbers are manipulated. They're the highest country in the world.

Not sure if I buy into the manipulation, but it undoubtedly is flawed. The way that cases is counted and deaths are counted are both overinflated. For example, if someone catches covid, then gets run over by a car and dies, it's counted as a covid death. When you create statistics that include systematic flaws, it throws the entire dataset into doubt.

[~bs]

Probably so. Of course, herd immunity requires 75-80% to be infected (or vaccinated) so we are nowhere near that point. We're going to be dealing with this for quite some time. Even if a vaccine does become available in early 2021, 40-50% surveyed say they won't get it. And keep in mind that the fastest a vaccine was ever developed was 4 years, so January is extremely optimistic, but the effort and money being put into this is significant so maybe they will have one ready in 4-6 months.

Hmmm.... consider that many scientists believe that 40-60% of the population have natural resistance to the virus, and consider that 15-20% have had the virus already. Seems like we're a lot closer than people think. And explains why many areas like new york with huge initial caseloads are now settling down to a much much lower level. Herd immunity/resistance may already be getting closer to being achieved in certain localities.

[frugal saver]

So this is a grand GLOBAL conspiracy impacting virtually every country on the planet that has all been skillfully orchestrated by the Democratic party in order to defeat Trump?

Am I the only one that thinks that sounds bat**** crazy?

Not a conspiracy, global or otherwise. Covid is real--it's the way it's been shaped/presented that (some) people have a problem with.

Back in Feb/Mar of 2009 we had the H1N1, Swine Flu. Fauci said at that time (and I'm going by articles in our left-leaning daily newspaper at the time) that they really needed to shut down--schools, jobs, etc.--to get a handle on it, but "you can't just shut down the economy like that." So nothing much happened.

Then in May of 2009, our newspaper printed a story that the CDC had made the decision to no longer count cases/deaths of H1N1. They would be lumped in with whatever would fit--influenza, pneumonia, lung infection, whatever.

Now I see news stories that compare how much worse Covid is than H1N1. Well, yeah, if you stopped counting the cases, of course it's going to look worse.

I did know people who were ill with H1N1. I personally knew two people who died of it. But the media/government acted like it was no big thing. But Covid? Daily news stories that WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE. Every day. Multiple stories a day.

The difference between how the two were handled is obvious. The hypocrisy of how this one is being handled is obvious. Here, you cannot attend a church service, either inside or outside. Those who want to attend church are ridiculed and threatened. But you can pack 15,000 people into the street holding protest signs with no problem. The schools can't open to teach your children because it's way too dangerous. But the same school can open for "school camp" with the same kids and that's perfectly fine.

It's just too weird.

[disneysteve]

Covid is real--it's the way it's been shaped/presented that (some) people have a problem with..

I agree with that. The situation has been outrageously politicized. Politics has absolutely no place in a public health emergency, and yet here we are. I read that the Governor of Georgia issued an executive order today saying that local governments can't require masks on private property which is insane. I'm guessing that the business owners can still require them but without an overall law requiring them, leaving it to the individual businesses is a much bigger challenge. And there is that Sheriff in Florida who actually banned the wearing of masks in his department for both employees and visitors to the office. It's nuts the way this is being handled.