Coronavirus (general - personal, gov't response, etc. - not sports-specific)

[julio]

Texas has now issued a statewide mask order. And, after initially undercutting local authorities who wanted to have stricter rules (including masks), Abbott is also allowing all counties to limit gatherings at 10 if necessary. Bars have already been closed again.

Abbott is turning into a regular libtard!

Funny how reality has a habit of coming around and biting "conservatives" - hard.

I guess Abbott now goes on CD's list of wimpy Governors lacking courage. Who's left? DeSantis, I guess, although his administration is showing some signs of recognizing that reality exists. Kristi Noem? (Wait until after the Mt. Rushmore event; we'll see what fallouts there may be there, whether CV-19 spikes or wildfires, or both.)

[California_Dreamin]

zambonir and julio...I have no problem with what Abbott is doing and I said above that the states that are having problems should deal with them. I have a problem with governors like Murphy, who promise opening dates, allow everyone to prepare for openings, hire lots of people, spend lots of time advertising their openings...and then on a dime and for no good reason, decide to keep things locked down without any opening date..and all because there are breakouts elsewhere. What on earth does that have to do with New Jersey. And I have a problem with governors like Whitmer, who threaten to arrest people who simply want to earn a living but then has her husband try and get boating reservations because of who he is married to.

And I have a problem with governors like Newsom, who most Californians know has done almost nothing right in making decisions that affect his state. From the nursing homes debacle [he must have read Cuomo's playbook] to the San Quentin travesty, to punishing good hard working Californians while encouraging and allowing the riots and looting in Los Angeles and Santa Monica.And I have a problem with Pritzker, the multi-millionaire, who makes his Illinois constituency stay behind locked doors while flying his family to their 2nd home in Florida, and all the while saying that what he does with his family is no ones business.

And I have a problem with Ige, who has pretty much cancelled Hawaii's summer by not only keeping the islands closed but making tourists quarantine for 14 days when the likelihood is that they are only planning to visit for a week. And with a fatality rate so low that more people die in an episode of Magnum PI than have died in Hawaii from the virus.

And I have a problem with Lamont, who panders to Cuomo and Murphy instead of leading like a real governor should. Same with Sisolak in Nevada who likely calls Newsom every morning to ask how many teaspoons of sugar he should put in his coffee.

Abbott makes mistakes, we all do..but he leads and is not afraid to change direction when the direction needs changing. My issue has always been with this one size fits all approach and this sudden epiphany that governors now have the right to dictate our lives no matter what the data says. Logic tells me that the more we test, the more positive cases we will have. Logic also tells me that 1000's of people were too afraid to go to hospitals during the peak of the virus and are now going in for surgeries and procedures. While there they get tested, are deemed positive and their hospital stay is called a virus visit. I have several friends who are nurses and they tell me this all the time and in my heart of hearts I believe even if you disagree with me on almost everything your little voice is telling you that you know this is happening.

Logic tells me that since people are going back to work they have to get tested and find out they are positive, even though they are not sick. Logic tells me that when we opened up the country, of course the numbers were going to spike did anyone think they wouldn't? But peoples lives are being ruined by what has been transpiring for the past 3 months and I rest comfortably at night believing that someday, when the dust settles, the carnage from these lock downs will be obvious to even the most vociferous of lockdown defenders.

[zambonir]

You called it, julio!

@GregAbbott_TX is a TYRANT & must be removed from office. Liberty is under direct attack & cannot be ignored by Texans anymore. Action to replace this man must begin immediately. https://t.co/bKRsopipvA is coming soon. Get ready. #txlege #onward

— Jonathan Stickland ( @RepStickland ) July 2, 2020

(As conservative as Abbott is - he's to the right of Perry, who was to the right of Bush - he is indeed still to the left of the hardcore Tea Party/libertarian fringe, including the Lieutenant Governor who I'm sure will have something stupid to say before the day is out.)

[julio]

Can’t take much credit for stating the obvious!

[schillingfan]

CD, As far as I know, New Jersey is not rescaling anything to a large degree. Beaches and bars and restaurants will be open. My Jersey shore friend says there are lots of southern license plates floating around hr beach town. You did respond to my questions about Europe. In fact I’m not sure what your actual position on the virus is given what you are now saying about Abbot. Are you only saying hot spots should scale back, and mandatory masks should only be limited to hot spots? The virus isn’t so serious we shouldn’t worry. Or do you still maintain the concern about it will magically disappear on November 3?

[bkox]

And I have a problem with Pritzker, the multi-millionaire, who makes his Illinois constituency stay behind locked doors while flying his family to their 2nd home in Florida, and all the while saying that what he does with his family is no ones business.

Hey... lay off my governor. Pritzker has been awesome and Illinois has been leading in the good numbers. He helped prevent Chicago from becoming what NY city was. Oh and hes a billionaire thank you.

[California_Dreamin]

SF...I don't have a problem with scaling back if a situation gets hot, this was always the logical thing to do as the country opened up and an occasional hot spot would appear. In fact, this is what has been preached to us since the openings started and I understood this. Texas appears to be a hotspot right now so scaling back makes sense.

As for masks, I will wear one when I enter a private place that demands it [Walmart, barber shops, dental offices] but I do not agree with mandatory masks wherever you go and that is based on the fact that there has never been any scientific proof that they work, none. Last night I saw a Fauci video dated March 8 where he vociferously said masks weren't necessary except that it made people feel better. So let me get this straight...the guy has been in medicine for, lets say 50 years, and suddenly changes his mind on something like this in 3 months.

That would be like you and I loving Curt Schilling since he made his Phillie debut in 1992 and then in March waxing poetic about him again, knowing what we have known about his talents since '92, and then in May saying he stinks. Huh? What changed in 2 months?

As for the virus and worrying, no I am not going to worry about it, its here my friend and as badly as I wish it weren't, it is and there is no guarantee that it will go away anytime soon...and I am more worried about the damage the lockdowns are doing to the country. The damage being done to the average American is incalculable right now, but will eventually come out and its not going to be pretty. I subscribe to the "I don't the cure to be worse than the disease" belief and not because Trump said it but because I believe it.

As for Europe...not sure what you want me to say...but if you want my thoughts, I liked what Sweden did and that would have been my recommendation had I been asked...protect the elderly and let the healthy work, keep the kids in school and if you are sick, stay home. Wash your hands, don't sneeze on people and be smart. We are adults, SF, and I want to be treated like one.

And at the risk of having you tune me out again, and only because you asked, yes I think the virus disappears from the public eye after the election. I believe in an election year, everything is about politics and I don't see this any differently. And I know this is maddening to some here but thats what I believe and we will all know if this correct very soon...in about 4 months. Let's put it this way...I expect the Coronavirus thread on this site to be a thing of the past in December.

Look, I am sure I am making no friends here with this comment but youy

[California_Dreamin]

bkox...sorry my friend, you are correct of course. Not about what he has or hasn't done for his state but about his wealth. Billionaire it is!

[BostonRoss]

1. Hawaii - locked down, didn't get many cases, stays locked down
2. Texas - opened up, getting a ton of cases, locking down

I'd take #1 over #2. A few weeks of being able to go to bars is not worth having thousands of people getting sick.

[rpmcmurphy]

CD - as Ronald Reagan said, here you go again.

And I have a problem with governors like Newsom, who most Californians know has done almost nothing right in making decisions that affect his state.

The most recent California governor approval numbers (From The San Francisco Chronicle):

“California voters are pleased with job Newsom is doing, both in fighting the coronavirus and in handling the state’s economy. In a Public Policy Institute of California poll released last week, Newsom’s approval rating was at 65%, the highest it has been since he became governor, with 69% happy with how he has handled the coronavirus.”

Clearly “most Californians” don’t agree with you. Your political posts are colored by an extreme bias. You presume to speak for the majority of Californians, when clearly you speak for the right wing. Period.

You mention the following governors: Murphy, Whitmer, Pritzker, Ige, Newsom, Cuomo, Sisolak, Lamont:
All Democrats who receive your unalloyed ire.

Gov. Abbot: Republican who gets a pass.

You have valid points to make, CD, but they are undermined by an extreme bias and a thinly veiled contempt for any Democratic politician.

That is your right of course, but as they say: you are entitled to your own opinion, but not to your own facts.

[allentown]

From my perspective, DeSantis, Abbott, and the governor of GA, whose name escapes me, were the most political and least effective of the nation's governors in dealing with the pandemic. Why do I say this? Because they set very nonexistent safeguards in place AND barred mayors of urban areas with budding virus woes from enacting any more stringent standards than their own pablum. It doesn't seem that difficult to set a policy if you want to protect the public, rather than politically posture. Masking works. Social distancing works. We could have allowed outside dining outdoors at restaurants from the start, along with curbside pickup. All shops could have done curbside pickup from the start, or even allow a small number of masked customers inside at a time. Some areas, rural primarily, closed earlier than necessary, and now tried to reopen in the teeth of a Covid spike in their area. The whole effort should have been, and still should be, preventing the congregation, particularly indoors, of unmasked people in relatively close proximity or in larger numbers in indoor spaces where the ventilation system is unable to handle that many people's exhalations. There was indeed initially confusing guidance on masking, because masks weren't readily available. This is the same reason that the federal government's initial definition of 'people needing testing' was so extremely circumscribed: tests weren't available in the necessary numbers, not even close to the needed numbers. We need common sense aimed at preventing the spread of the virus, not political posturing on one or the other side of the extreme pendulum swing.

[zambonir]

Saying we shouldn't wear mask because they didn't think we should on March 8 is like saying we shouldn't worry about the virus because they didn't think we should on February 8. The protocols changed. If memory serves Fauci only said that because people were trying to buy medical masks that were needed for health care professionals. And also because the people he works for didn't want them at the time, and while he does sometimes contradict him (thank God) it was not yet clear what we were in for thne.

And it's still true that nothing short of a medical mask can protect you from getting the virus, but that's not why you're supposed to wear it.

Collectively, the more people who wear mask more frequently, will reduce - not stop - transmission. Doesn't mean that if you are wearing a mask and unknowingly have the virus and sneeze on someone who is also wearing mask that they won't get it, but it's less likely.

Even if masks only reduced transmission by 1% how do you justify 100,000,000 people not doing it? As it is, they say the number would be higher than 50%, if there was total compliance.

[schillingfan]

Thank you for clarifying, CD. You still think Covid19 is a political scare, that we shouldn’t regulate irresponsible people, when their actions harm others, and there are only hot spots, not a national crisis. You haven’t explained why you think Sweden’s route was best, when they had more deaths, but Why Europe is able to open responsibly and not the U.S.

[California_Dreamin]

You are welcome, SF...to clarify, not scare, my friend, strategy, a political strategy. Yes I do and if you feel this is not true then ask yourself why ALL the news about the virus is negative, all of it. No successes, no good news, never any optimism. Always gloom and doom. Its political, even if many in their belief that a pandemic should supersede all politics. I agree that it should, but sadly it doesn't. And if I am correct the virus will disappear from the news by December, even if it doesn't completely disappear from from the country. I never said we shouldn't take precautions, I have said that we should protect those in nursing or assisted living homes [and its worth noting my mom lives in one so I have a vested interest in this], honor social distancing, stay home if you are sick and do many of the things that being done at restaurants, bars and gyms now. All good and solid things.

I do not agree with lockdowns of healthy people, and there is an equal number of people [including doctors] who did not think the lockdown helped at all, and I am convinced that governors are not data driven regardless of what they say publicly. For instance the Covid19 data today indicated that out of 3141 counties in the USA at its peak of the pandemic 100 counties were reporting 5+ deaths a day. Today, the county is down to 28. The virus is waning but many governors will not acknowledge this and good solid Americans are being devastated by this.

Actually I did feel I answered your Sweden question. Basically they allowed the virus to run its course, protected the elderly and those with commodities, kept the schools opened, communicated openly and clearly with the public and kept businesses open. Yes, that is what I feel our country should have done.

As I have said several times, I am comfortable playing the long game here. I believe history will show that the damage done economically and to the mental health of our nation will far exceed the fatalities we have suffered, and there is no doubt the numbers are terrible. I am completely comfortable with my views on the politics of the virus and feel I will be vindicated come December.

If I am wrong, I am sure there will be more people on this site to remind me of my foolishness than the number of Phillies who suffered from poor performances during the 107 loss campaign in 1961.

One more thing, I truly appreciate the banter and back and forth, this site has so many intelligent people and I never take anything said against me personally.

[California_Dreamin]

Meant co-morbidities.

[andyb]

Most non-partisans would probably rate Newsom higher on handling the COVID crisis than Abbott. Abbott has been even more all over the place on the response than Newsom. This is not a partisan reaction either. Lots of Republican Governors (DeWine, Hogan) have gotten good overall marks in this thing like Cuomo. There is also no state that handled nursing homes well. The reality is most nursing homes are controlled privately with vastly underpaid staff. The nursing home calamity was probably going to happen no matter what because of that situation.

[Philsmania]

CD - as Ronald Reagan said, here you go again.

[Philsmania]

There is also no state that handled nursing homes well. The reality is most nursing homes are controlled privately with vastly underpaid staff. The nursing home calamity was probably going to happen no matter what because of that situation.

Yes. Conservatives are now using nursing homes to concoct conspiracy theories against all of the successful Democratic governors, essentially claiming that the Democratic governors used them as concentration camps for the infected.

[allentown]

A current international hullaballoo over our country buying up the entire remdesivir drug supply, with the claim that it isn't fair. I'm inclined to say that's as it should be if supply is scarce and drug prices to U.S. consumers is double or more the price in the rest of the developed world, such that we essential pay for all pharmaceutical research on new drugs, even by foreign companies, who also charge multiples in the u.S. as they do in their home country. If France, Germany, Britain, Canada, Japan, etc. want their share of the latest drug discovery at a time of shortage, they should pay prices that fund their share of drug research. We are subsidizing the entire world, such that many Americans can't afford the drugs they need. Now that is truly unfair. i favor a law that doesn't have our government set drug prices, but does require that we get the same price charged to other developed nations and that price increases for existing drugs be limited to inflation rate. The companies get to set their initial drug price, but if they sell to Germany for $1 per pill, then they must sell in America for $1 per pill. If they need $5/pill to make a go of it, including costs of R&D and drug approval process, then they must also charge $5 per pill across Europe, Japan, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, at a minimum.

[bkox]

California man who posted regret for attending party died a day later of...