I went for a nice walk yesterday evening. I didn’t mean to time it so perfectly, but I completely missed Donald Trump’s coronavirus briefing on Monday. I knew what was going to happen anyway, because Vanity Fair had a good preview – their sources claimed that Trump is bored with his racist “China virus” bullsh-t and bored with trying to pretend like he’s a wartime president. He’s so bored, he wants to “reopen the economy.”
According to sources, Trump is increasingly frustrated with Fauci and governors who advocated for shutting down large swathes of the economy to stop COVID-19’s out-of-control spread. According to four Republicans briefed on internal West Wing conversations, Trump is fuming privately that Fauci advised him that the only way to blunt the pandemic was to bring the economy to a halt. “Trump is furious,” a former West Wing official said. “He’s been calling business leaders asking if he should just reopen the economy,” a Republican briefed on the conversations told me. “He’s hearing that you have to get the economy going,” another former West Wing official said.
So far, Trump has refrained from publicly lashing out at Fauci and New York governor Andrew Cuomo, whose lucid and empathetic press conferences are in contrast to Trump’s shambolic media theater. But late Sunday night, as Dallas became the latest city to compel its citizens to stay home, Trump tweeted: “WE CANNOT LET THE CURE BE WORSE THAN THE PROBLEM ITSELF. AT THE END OF THE 15 DAY PERIOD, WE WILL MAKE A DECISION AS TO WHICH WAY WE WANT TO GO!”
Weirdly, business leaders (??) seem to be telling Trump that he’s right to be more concerned about the economy than human life. Businesses want some kind of “end date” for how long people can work from home, self-isolate, social distance, etc. So that’s what Trump talked about in last night’s briefing:
President Trump, under growing pressure to rescue an economy in free fall, said Monday that he may soon loosen federal guidelines for social distancing and encourage shuttered businesses to reopen — defying public health experts, who have warned that doing so risks accelerating the spread of the novel coronavirus or even allowing it to rebound.
“America will again and soon be open for business — very soon,” Trump said at the daily White House news conference. “We cannot let the cure be worse than the problem itself.”
As he watches stock prices plummet and braces for an expected surge in unemployment, Trump has received urgent pleas from rattled business leaders, Republican lawmakers and conservative economists imploring him to remove some of the stringent social distancing guidelines that he put in place for a 15-day period ending March 30, according to several people with knowledge of the internal deliberations.
The consensus among experts — including infectious disease expert Anthony S. Fauci and other senior officials on Trump’s coronavirus task force — is that restaurants, bars, schools, offices and other gathering places should remain closed for many more weeks to mitigate the outbreak, the worst effects of which are yet to be felt in the United States. But Trump has been chafing against that notion and impatient to get American life back to normal.
Yeah, you don’t need me or the Washington Post or Vanity Fair to tell you that every medical expert, every doctor, every hospital administrator, every scientist wants MORE restrictions, more people isolating, more people self-quarantining. If Trump “reopens” the economy in the next month, thousands (perhaps millions) of people will needlessly die after being exposed. Hospitals will collapse. The American medical system will collapse. Trump cares more about corporations than people.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid.
“We cannot let the cure be worse than the problem itself.”
You know he didn’t think that up.
I think I read that hannity said it on trump TV. Er, I mean Faux, I mean Fox news
Steve Hilton said this on Fox Sunday night:
“Our ruling class and their TV mouthpieces whipping up fear over this virus, they can afford an indefinite shutdown. Working Americans can’t, they’ll be crushed by it. You know that famous phrase, ‘The cure is worse than the disease?’ That is exactly the territory we are hurting towards.”
There is a right way and a wrong way to ease up on quarantine. The right way involves intensive data collection and modeling to begin easing restrictions on the least vulnerable populations as the risk of infection declines.
THIS IDIOT ACTUALLY THINKS IT WILL GET HIM RE-ELECTED!! I honestly believe in his drug-addled Swiss cheese brain, he feels if he lets business “open” people will be grateful. Thing is, people will be dropping like flies, infecting millions of others as they go down.
Yesterday, I had a HUGE knot in my stomach all day; literally just swimming in anxiety. Sigh… I’m really scared he’s going to kill us all.
Apparently the Republicans only care about Pro Life after you are born. Once you are here, good luck!
They’ve never really cared about pro-life. They only really care about imposing their will on women. Domination fantasy. Soon as the baby is born, they could chuck it in the bin for all its worth (which is obvious since they never seem to want to support any welfare bills for the child they forced to be born).
BTW how many Republic pro-life senators still getting caught telling their mistresses to have abortions?
The biggest threat to America isn’t Covid-19, it’s Trump. He is evil, and every republican has to take the blame for this man being in office, and for all the needless deaths that he will cause.
Totally agree.
What’s going to happen to all the people who get laid off and become homeless? Poverty kills people. This is America. There is no social welfare system.
So yeah, I get the fear of the virus but I’m also afraid of what’s going to happen to my kids if I lose my house and can’t afford to feed them? The people who are asking to close down society for months at a time need a sustainable plan.
This whole, lets shut everything down for two weeks is bs. But shutting down for 2 months is also bs. We are not ITALY! The EU has a much, much better social welfare system. It’s like the world has gone INSANE. Does no one care how these unemployed families are going to pay their mortgages for MONTHS to come when we fall into am economic depression?
There are a lot people who won’t feel the economic effects for months. By then the stimulus plan is old news. The government is causing more problems. At this point we’re going to be overwhelmed by BOTH the virus AND a huge economic depression. It’s so stupid. They should have had a plan for the economy before they started shutting stuff down.
Sara – Gee whiz. You sound just like Donald Trump and his talking points. Everyone I know who has to work is terrified to be interacting with possible Corona-19 carriers.
Get informed.
Get smart.
Learn what’s going on and stop writing posts that cause anxiety for people.
I really, really, really hope he gets it before there’s a cure..
So do I. Not even ashamed to admit it.
gets it and suffers horribly.
you know, HYPOTHETICALLY.
Yes, of course!😏
Did you see him zoom away from Birx yesterday at the presser? I saw a clip (just CAN’T watch him hold his new rally). She mentioned she has a low fever, and that moldy tangerine FLEW away from her!
I have NEVER wished evil on another human being… but then, he’s NOT human. He IS evil, pure and simple.
Drumpf deserves whatever nasty, miserable Karma that is coming his way…and it can’t come soon enough.
And I hope it sinks his grifter children and every last one of his allies and enablers.
Vote…no matter what…VOTE. Vote for every candidate on every level. Clean out the Trumpublicans and the Koch scions.
Exactly!
No. I don’t want Trump glorified as a martyr. I don’t want him to get a state funeral. I don’t want him to miss the judicial system finally paying attention to his lifelong criminal activity.
And I don’t want him to infect others, which is what he will do if he gets the COVID-19 virus. If he isn’t doing so already.
Exactly – and that’s what will happen IF he were to contract the virus and die. Mike Pence would take over and that’s a frying pan to fire scenario that the whole world should dread. Once Trump’s out of office he’s going to have a host of criminal charges dumped on him the likes of which he’s never know and he won’t be able to wiggle out of them, nor will his grifting family.
Massachusetts is closed, effective noon today to April 7, at which point the Governor will re-evaluate. We don’t listen to the crazy orange man who refuses to give our hospitals PPE.
St. Louis is closed until Apr. 22. Let’s hope that local officials don’t listen to Trump. It’s all about the money.
Same. Listening to my Governor in Connecticut and ignoring the lunatic in the White House who doesn’t care if we all die.
Our hope is in the governors. Kansas governor Laura Kelly issued an edict closing K-12 school buildings last week before it was picked up widely. The KC metro (Kansas AND Missouri) counties are on a 30-day lock down. The Missouri governor is late to the game, but finally falling in step. The only thing the Orange one really needs to do is comfort, arrange supplies and federal aid, and sign emergency legislation. I don’t think he’s done any of that yet.
Very happy to see what Gov. Kelly is doing. Much of my family lives in Kansas, and they were very put off by her school closing order–until someone they know tested positive for Covid-19 this past Saturday. They’ve stopped questioning her decisions and expect a statewide stay at home order soon.
I live in KCMO and thank goodness Mayor Lucas did that and didn’t wait for the Governor. It semi started last week, with closures and curbsides. Tough, as it might be, it’s so necessary. I have a lot of family in healthcare and I’m listening to their guidance also.
For all of you with smarter governers, are the airports and other means of travel between states still open? It’s hard to gain control if people can travel in from heavily affected areas.
People can still travel from state to state. That’s what worries me. What good will it do a state to “shelter in place” if the next state over has no quarantine at all in place. that’s why it needs to be a nationwide effort. It’s going to get bad. I’m trying to stay positive but I’m so scared for us.
ETA: WHERE IS DR FAUCHI?
I canceled my travel plans for this weekend about 10 days ago. My employer said if you fly anywhere, you have to stay home for 14 days and I started to think yeah, no. Even driving didn’t sound smart. But I still have one co-worker who is planning to go to Hawaii anyway. I’ve been hoping they’d issue shelter in place and she’d have to cancel. It just doesn’t seem smart to shelter in place when people are still flying.
Fellow Masshole here. I really shouldn’t be shocked by anything that comes out of the orange garbage monster’s mouth. But somehow, he continues to shock me. Right now, the virus isn’t even CLOSE to the worst it will get. Everyone with actual medical/scientific knowledge is saying how we need shut downs to help keep the hospitals from being overwhelmed with cases. And here he is, saying we should ease up.
Like Lightpurple said, we don’t even have enough PPEs for the hospital staff currently, just wait until the shortage is also beds, ventilators and staff.
Yes, it is frustrating to sit back and watched the economy tank, but this is where we are at. People are already dying, it will only get worse and that is with quarantines. To ease up now? I can’t even imagine.
Totally OT: Do you guys really call yourselves Massholes?
I’m in Florida with an idiot governor who will reopen our state (and really not a lot is closed except schools, bars and restaurants) if Trump tells him. Some beaches are still open?!? I’m terrified. I have asthma and on an inhaler. Pollen right now is killing my lungs, if I get COVID, I know I’d die or be on a ventilator.
If DeSantis listens to Trump on March 30th (did you see Tiffanys tweet?), then my dog and I are out of FL. I’ll drive to CO to stay with family, where their governor is serious about this.
You’re right to leave. I’m in Florida, as well. They will just, realistically, slow down testing people, I feel. Problem solved!!!!! They’ve already put more restrictions in place on who can be tested in my county, and they’ve closed many local Health Districts, which a TON of people use for primary care/testing. They will just keep repeating the same talking points and hope that enough people don’t get so deathly sick that it will be an issue.
I mean, Ron DeSantis wouldn’t even close the beaches, and he just said that he won’t close down Florida. He’s a Trump fanboy++, and even hardcore Trump supporters are calling him out, that’s how timid he’s being right now. I really doubt he does anything, tbh, until people literally start dying in the streets.
@ H
Why not move pre-emptively?
Same. NJ is closing in on 3000 cases, and it’s jumping big every day. Our governor (who I think should be even more strict) is listening to the experts and ignoring the orange buffoon. He’s coordinating with NY, CT, and PA, and they’re all setting their own rules too.
lucy2, yep, Gov. Murphy is one of the best.
LightPurple —- I think the governors of our country are dealing with reality and have stopped looking for Trump to act as a president with any ability to lead or to provide any help at all. I mean he’s already on record that the unemployment figures either not be released or be tweaked to not look so bad. He lies about everything — he is all smoke and mirrors and the MEGAS are so into him it is frightening. I think Trump doesn’t care how many of us die as long as his personal finances (which are rumored to not be as vast or stable as he likes to portray) are stabilized. In my opinion, for Trump this is about his personal wealth and getting re-elected. I don’t think he gives a damn what the body count is as he believes his wealth will protect him and his family. Michael K at DListed had an excellent post regarding Madonna’s naked bathroom video about ‘the virus is the great equalizer and we’re all in the same boat’. Michael’s response to Madonna was —— we are not all in the same boat, we may all be in the same ocean —- but we are in different boats: some of us are in yachts, some of us in rowboats, some in leaky canoes or holding on to wreckage or life boats, and some of us are in the water beating off sharks —- but in no way are we in the same boat and in no way is this virus equalizing us! Michael K nailed it. All these rich assholes can stay on their luxury liners and shut the f**k up. Yesterday, Italy announced that 2,000 more people had died in just the last 24 hours bringing their death toll to over 6,000 and counting.
EB, I think you’re exactly right.
His NPD is also the reason why HE keeps himself center stage during these daily briefings. He can’t stand that he can’t do his usual rallies where MAGA folks fawn and cheer him. So instead he grabs the microphone and acts like he’s the star of The Apprentice – United States Disaster Edition, because it gets him an audience and attention.
Governor Andy is holding it down in KY- I am so proud that we actually have a decent and calm and rational person to look to right now. I am already 9/10 anxiety b/c of the Trump presser last night; if I didn’t know we have a governor who will do everything he can to help people, I would be in an uncontrollable spiral. I just hope the voices of science and reason are who lead us through this.
Andy Beshear rocks!
I am a former Kentucky girl!
I’m also in Massachusetts. Although I do not always agree with Gov. Baker, I’m proud of the way he is handling this.
My sister is in Massachusetts too. She said the same thing to me.
Illinois here, thankfully we have a sensible governor too.
Also Illinois and I’ve been grateful for our governor’s leadership in this
This man is a public health menace. If he follows through with this, can he be charged with endangering public health and criminal negligence? Dangerous bozo!
Unfortunately, we’ve learned that no matter what he is charged with he gets away with it.
I was wondering this too. I was wondering, If the POTUS knowingly endangered millions of Americans’ lives, and withheld health care assistance from him, can he be impeached and evacuated from office on a rush order?
Ugh, please no one yell at me. I can’t stand the guy and Im gleefully doing everything in my power to vote him and his criminals out of office….but….he has a point? We can’t keep this isolation going too long. What would be remaining if we reopened after 2-3 months in isolation? I think reopening after 15 days is much too soon, but someone needs to come up with a solid plan to allow a slow re-open that encompasses the public health crises, business, and allows us to get back to some sort of life.
What would remain open are the essentials – this pandemic is going to cause economic issues for sure, but we are talking about people’s lives on a global scale. The consequences of this will be felt for a long time. Easing up on isolation right now would cause a full on catastrophe we cannot even imagine.
There is absolutely someone in every government who is working out what each day of shutdown is costing the economy in money and recovery time. And someone who is going to decide the ‘optimum’ balance between cost and estimated deaths. And probably more than one someone whose job it is to make it seem like that wasn’t the deciding factor in re-opening for business.
Sadly, Jo73c, I agree with you. We peasants are always sacrificed to the needs of the few — the powerful few. We are cannon fodder on the front lines while they are all way behind the lines moralizing and preaching to us about how we need to be strong and accept that sacrifice is necessary. Trouble is they never sacrifice, they never loose. If anything, they are busy gaming the odds and winning.
This week is when the surgeon general said it starts to get really bad. 100 people are dying a day now and increasing. NY has 1 in 1000 people infected indicated it was spreading for weeks. A few weeks of stuck inside to slow this massive wave about to hit us is bearable it is getting ready to be ugly
There’s no plan that allows things to reopen while the virus is still running rampant, that doesn’t include the death of millions of people.
Sometimes shit goes to hell. It’s happened again and again throughout human history. Sometimes forces of nature ruin our economy and our way of life.
To reopen before this virus is under control would lead to an explosive number of cases, hospitals would collapse, you wouldn’t be able to get help for corona or any other emergency or illness. There would literally be almost no healthcare available to anyone.
Stay home and watch what happens over the next two weeks and beyond. I hope you stay healthy. But we are about to see a horrific tragedy of death and despair, it’s already starting. We will not be able to change this unless we isolate and starve the virus out. It’s already got an incredibly strong foothold. We can’t just go about our business. We will have to pick up the pieces after we starve this virus and then find a vaccine.
Here in Quebec our Premier (sort of the equivalent of a governor) ordered the entire province to shut down until April 13th…only essential services like groceries, pharmacies, gas stations, and the like are supposed to stay open. It’s definitely going to hit the economy hard but unfortunately the number of positive cases here has jumped a lot AND lots of people – oddly enough older people here where I live – weren’t respecting the social distancing rules.
It sucks, but at the end of the day you can’t replace a life that was lost. It’s short term pain for long term gain, in a way.
You do know that much of Canada has shut down? Yes, there will be a huge impact. But it will mean the health system can HOPEFULLY handle the pandemic, and much fewer lives lost because of stupidity.
The world does not begin and end with the US. Countries everywhere are having to regulate more and more. We are not allowed gatherings more than 5 people in Nova Scotia and we, so far, are not high up on the list of infected places. We have a decent amount of cases, but it’s NOWHERE near somewhere like NY or Florida, or anything like that. Parks are closed. Most people are working from home or on EI.
If the US does not make drastic changes NOW you can start saying goodbye to many of your friends, family, neighbors. Think of the economic impact if suddenly a good chunk of your workforce is dead.
Trump would love that, because unemployment numbers would go down.
Much of Canada is shut down and there’s about 1 million individuals that’ll need to request emergency Employment Insurance in April… yeah, it’s going to hurt the economy, taxes will have to increase once we get to the other side of this, we’ll have to inject massive amounts of public funds to build new infrastructures and give ppl jobs and so on… It’s still better than thousands of dead people and I’ll be happy to pay more taxes: bring them on!
That being said, seeing pictures of the beaches in BC this weekend pissed me off
Absolutely! Bring on the taxes if it means we get to stay somewhat afloat. Husband tried calling for EI today due to lack of work- it was just FLOODED with calls. And that’s not even related to the emergency stuff that opens in April. It’s wild. He actually couldn’t even apply online – the site kept timing out on him. So he’s going to just try to do it first thing in the morning tomorrow before most of Canada is up.
@Erinn,,.. In Portugal, gatherings of 2 people maximum,,,
In Bavaria (Germany) we are not allowed to be with anyone who does not belong to our household.
@Erinn… The CRA website has been crappy since the beginning of tax season, I know I’ve had a hard time login into my account in February! (on Mac, I can only access it on Safari but it’ll crash on Chrome) So I really don’t know how this will work out comes April. Or now. The system wasn’t built for a situation like this one. It worries me for those who need money ASAP.
Good luck to hubby getting a line! Being on the East Coast should give him an advantage in the morning
Erinn, my son tried for over 3 hours yesterday to complete the EI form online. He kept getting booted too. He finally tried so many times he was booted completely and told to go apply in person at the access center the next town over. I hope your husband has better luck I really do. Having to go out in public really sucks.
When you will have thousands of people sick who can’t go to work the economy would be better?
Exactly!!
So businesses will reopen and we’ll return to ‘normal’ all the while the virus is still running rampant?
What will happen is exactly what health official fear. It’ll spread uncontrollably and are the health care system will be overwhelmed. Which will not bode well for the economy. And worse, the loss of many lives.
My husband works for a major urban hospital system and it’s his job to be measuring this and running data to help the hospital prepare. He’s been freaking out for weeks, told me to start stocking extra food a couple months ago. But he also feels that in some ways it is more dangerous to let the economy fall because it opens us to real financial and social chaos in addition to the health crisis. The virus isn’t going away. There is no immunity after you’ve had it. It will keep circling the globe until there is a vaccine in a year or two.
No one can know what the right answer is. Trump’s an idiot and certainly doesn’t have the right answer but we also can’t afford for people to stay home for 18 months.
The thing is – it wouldn’t NEED to be 18 months of isolation if this had been handled properly from the start. If there had been ACTUAL meaningful shutdowns – why the f–k are people still allowed to be crammed on the beaches in FL!? – the risk to the economy wouldn’t be so severe. But the leader in chief and a lot of the states have bungled this SO HARD that of course it’s going to take longer, now. But that’s the price that’s going to be paid for incompetence and that’s terrifying.
It’s not only the old people dying. This morning in the daily mail there was a story about a 36 yo principal, a 49 yo x cop and a 50 yo all dead from the COVID 19 yesterday in NY. This virus is taking everyone. We should never value money over health. IMO, it’s better to be poor in good health than rich in poor health.
As Erinn says below “why the f–k are people still allowed to be crammed on the beaches in FL!?”
That is a HUGE issue. All those spring breakers, mingling for a week in close quarters, and then getting on planes and bringing the virus back to all the various places they live. And FL is an area that is being hit particularly hard. HOW THE HELL WAS THIS OK????
Maybe you can’t. I am not going to be cool with millions dying so the economy stays strong. Also, when people die, we can’t bury them (I currently cannot attend my own uncle’s funeral) and hospitals are overwhelmed, come back here and tell us well at least the economy is okay.
I just want to point out as this is devolving into a “the US is handling it wrong and other countries are handling it right” – the governors are handling this really well. California and NY are huge economies and the states have huge populations. Both of those governors have taken drastic steps to prevent/reduce the spread. I’m in Maryland and we are also taking drastic steps. Trump is a buffoon, but the US isn’t just sitting back and saying “oh well” as a general entity here.
As for why these measures took so long in general – twenty days ago people on THIS site were defending Prince William and insisting the coronavirus was overhyped and people just needed to wash their hands more. People were on the beach in Florida bc they bought the narrative that this was just like the flu and they would be fine and there was no need to quarantine since we don’t quarantine all winter for the flu. Again, people here also bought into that narrative.
That said, the idea that we should just “reopen” and see what happens is incredibly flawed and I’m hopeful that my governor, at least, wont let that happen here.
Becks, SOME governors are handling this really well. Not all of them. The ones you mentioned are doing a great job, though, I agree. But the numbers don’t lie. The US is one of the worst hit countries in the pandemic, and a good portion of that is because of improper handling from the top down. Nobody is blaming civilians for that – other than the ones who are putting people at risk.
People were on the beaches in Florida DESPITE weeks of things ramping up. If this happened during the end of February, that’s one thing. But this was in the last two weeks where states of emergencies had been declared in SO many places. There was no proper enforcement happening. There were talks of closing the beaches and nothing seemed to happen. That’s the government failing it’s people plain and simple.
And yes, some people defended William. Personally I remember being confused by that article because it made it seem like the guy he was talking to was the one who said the worst of it, but at the same time, I was living in a timeline where it was only predominantly BC being hit in my country (and I’m on the opposite coast) and our cases were vastly lower than that of the US even at that point. I had people sitting in my building hoarding supplies and wearing face masks for their non-customer facing jobs answering a stupid phone all day despite no cases being anywhere near us, and these people having not traveled whatsoever. THAT was what was ridiculous about it all to me – people that had zero chances of having picked up the virus immediately hitting the panic button and hoarding and in one coworkers case convincing themselves they’d magically contracted it despite going nowhere, and not being around anyone who’d traveled. They drove hysteria.
But when we’re seeing bozos who are in power like Paul Rand completely dropping the ball (infecting god knows how many people) and knowing that many other republican leaders calling it a hoax and a smear tactic from the democrats – despite this happening ALL over the world … well. It’s pretty disheartening.
Florida is a ticking time bomb waiting to happen. It won’t escape the numbers that California and New York and Washington State have. I am just peeved at the dumb Canadians who went there during March break. It was a serious issue before they left and they were selfish. Let’s hope they self isolate.
I’m in NYC. My husband has closed all of his businesses, and because he was in the process of opening a new restaurant, all new have until I get paid on 4/1, was what was in his pocket when he shuttered up. I agree that this is terrible, but it’s a price I’m willing to pay. Cuomo said yesterday that he is trying to. figure out a way to keep the economy moving, and I’ll tell you that I trust him a thousand times more than Trump and will do as he suggests. You are. right in that someone has to be thinking a bout this, but that person should not be Trump.
Cuomo is the leader we need right now. He has been fantastic.
My whole thing is – yes, we are all aware that the long term economic implications are a big deal. Nobody doesn’t think it has to be addressed. So that’s not really a point being made. The question is: how are you going to handle it in a way that doesn’t destroy unnecessary amounts of human life OR cause massive problems with cluster breakouts that will inevitably impact business also? (I’m sure your husband, as a restaurant owner, knows exactly what will happen to his restaurant the moment a breakout gets linked back to his chain.)
So are you going to do it the smart way and start looking at cluster control in a country this size, or are you going to be an complete sociopath and be like “lol guess people gonna die gotta accept it” and then make things significantly worse? Because my suspicion is that it’s going to be the latter.
My neighbor said the other day, “in times like these we see who the real leaders are”. Cuomo is definitely a good leader.
Best of luck to you and your husband and your businesses.
False notion. The U.S. is the richest country in the world. We could give a living wage to every adult for years to keep them spending money in a reduced economy with just essential businesses and supply chains operating. We have the money and can print money. Then, with routine testing and tracking protocols in place everywhere people could cycle in and out of workplaces when cleared of the disease.
I agree,
It’s not the economy v.s. Health.
The two are linked, if the economy completely collapses (which obviously won’t happen after 2 weeks of lcokdown, but some are saying this could last 18 months and that would be catastrophic) millions of people will also die. There will be no food, no jobs, people will be homeless and Healthcare would be non existent. Especially in the US.
So yeah, there comes a point where the cure is worse then the disease, and it’s important to be honest about that.
Difficult choices will have to be made, many people will die. But we want to minimize that, taking everything into account
China, Japan Asia all are more successful to flatting the curve because they took their pain early, by locking down and listening to the people in charge. Our president told us it was a HOAX NOTHING to worry about. In 3 months they have turned around, why can’t we.
So if you reopen early you have the worst of both worlds. Sending everyone back to work during a pandemic means you are going to triple the case rate. More people in the hospital. More people dying. Half of offices out sick. Companies having 2/3 of their staff out in sick leave for weeks or months.
So then you tank the economy AND spread a pandemic. It’s lose lose to do that.
Exactly. Short term pain now, long term benefit.
If everything opens before this is suppressed, we’re right back where we started.
This is so obvious that it pains me someone even had to say it (good job for saying it, Scal). What don’t people understand about the term “pandemic”? If we let the pandemic spread then the economy crashes out worse from all the workers and consumers being SICK and DEAD, get it????
Yeah, it needs a plan….which needed to happen TWO MONTHS AGO when this thing was first leaving China. Now they’re scrambling to fix a mess THEY made because they wanted to politicize it as a hoax for months. A plan isn’t “I’m bored and mad so let’s open this because it’s hurting my election chances.” He doesn’t get to have a point when we wouldn’t be in this mess if anyone had bothered to take it seriously from the start.
What’s going on in Italy is what’s going to happen here. The hospitals will be overrun. The spread will be worse for it. And then you’ll see a massive state vs federal rights battle go down as those overrun attempt to stem it while others let it rip through like wildfire, as people rack up tons of medical debt, and businesses are struggling to deal with the caseload of sick workers and the stigma attached when cluster infections appear at their location. This isn’t some “old people disease.” It’s putting young, healthy people in the hospital for weeks at a time. There is no such thing as a human toll that isn’t also an economic toll. God help us when it’s something even more dangerous than this.
And you see the thing is that here we in Europe actually have incredible public health system and social support systems. The whole US has less hospital beds per capita than Italy!!!! Yet we can barely cope here so how US will cope i can not even imagine.
I also always pyzzled annd shocked of how little Americans want/demand from their government. Gor me as European it is just shocking that people pit up with that. You guys paying taxes, you vote and you have no basic things. How come no one rebels, demand etc? Your healthcare non existent to public and no social security support. Yet we all hear out there how proud is to be American. Proud of what?
I worry if this will go bad in Us it will be disaster on a scale that no China or Europe ever had to cope with.
The estimate 30 days ago that approximately 96 million people in US would catch virus and about 2% of them (almost 2 million) would die. The US has fewer than 1 million (~9,300,000+) hospital beds. That was the stat 30 days ago, I’m sure the stats have changed drastically as we fail to flatten the curve by self-isolating. So, if approximately 100,000,000 million people get sick, that’s a lot of potential hospital admissions with fewer than 1 million existing hospital beds. This is already a nightmare. Trump reopening the economy right now is going to be a disaster. We need to hold on for at least another month-6 weeks and see if we can flatten that curve. If the national guard needs to be called out to police beaches and businesses like bars, etc., then so be it.
What a lot of people also don’t realize is that a lot of hospitals in the United States are also operating near full capacity ALL THE TIME. It’s a built in part of their economic model and how they survive here. We had a blizzard hit in the middle of February a few years back, and in less then 48 hours, we had people situated in the halls for beds. Forty eight hours. That’s it. And when your ICU beds fill up, your patient has to stay in the ER because there’s no comparable place to put them, which means it’s getting slammed with sickly patients who can’t go anywhere as new ones are coming in. It’s overwhelming in a matter of days. Some of that will be offset by cutting down on nonessential surgeries, but not so much as to not still be a problem.
It’s not that a lot of Americans demand so little, it’s that they’ve been inured to the system through years of propaganda that say this is the best way, the only way for it to work. And our infrastructure is massive, don’t get me wrong, that’s a major obstacle for us where nationalized health care is concerned. But literally everything we’re seeing here is what people have warned about for years lol.
What we really need are SERIOUS lockdowns across the country. No beach parties, no flying except for essential business, no “liquor stores are essential businesses” nonsense, etc. Shut EVERYTHING down, and enforce it. For a month, minimum. To me, the only way we stop this from being even more a health and economic catastrophe is by getting much more serious about these lockdowns so that we CAN healthily resume our regular lives in a few months. But not before that. We can’t send people back to work and school when we’re just now getting into the thick of this pandemic in the U.S.
I understand we don’t have a vaccine yet. I know it’s likely to come back next winter. We can deal with how to contain it again when that time comes. Right now we have to focus on what we can do to maybe salvage some of the summer for businesses and employees, which is demanding as many people stay home as possible.
The drugstore here has closed except for medications and unfortunately for the staff, local mail. Two senior men almost got arrested in the drug store because they were demanding to be sold lottery tickets. They thought it was their right as a Canadian to buy them.
Between being in a tanking economy and dying on a ventilator, I’ll take the tanking economy.
So agree Rose —- Unfortunately, ventilators are scarce so I doubt if you would have the luxury of dying so comfortably.
We could just as easily be arguing for a total suspension of mortgage/rent/student loan collection and ending evictions, though. A mass return to work isn’t the only way to save the economy, it’s just the one the GOP prefers because it maintains the status quo and keeps the majority of Americans in place as wage slaves.
The Black Death broke the grip of feudal land ownership in Europe and created the conditions that led to the first wave of middle class commerce, which in turn set up the conditions for…the Renaissance. Ask yourself what we might gain by letting the current system die.
@Algernon:
YES. The absolute last thing the republicans want is for people to ask those questions.
They do not care if we live or die – and they never have. It’s all about the benjamins.
I hope the governors can do enough to stem the tide.
Yes, exactly! The economy doesn’t have to suffer if you put a freeze on loan payments, rent, etc. All of the defaulting, however, would definitely be bad for the economy,
How do you “restart” the U.S. economy if New York and California (rightfully!) aren’t participating? It’s a fool’s errand. Let’s be safe and ensure MILLIONS of Americans don’t die.
CBS and NBC cut away for their evening news shows and ABC didn’t cover the MAGA rally at all.
Soon, they’ll all ignore him. Giving him air time is a health risk.
That is the way it should be. There is nothing meaningful that comes out of those briefings. Especially when Dr. Fauci is not there.
Good. As Tate said, nothing meaningful is put out unless Fauci is speaking.
and by denying 45 this opportunity for attention, in place of his rallies, might push his rage into coronary territory.
a girl can hope.
We can hope! I don’t know how he has made it this far. He isn’t exactly the picture of health
Apparently Trump is so bored that he is interfering with meetings in the White House about the COVID-19 situation. He is making it difficult to get things done in the meetings. The Toddler-in-Chief is so out of his depth.
I think they should just push him onto
Air Force One and let Mar-a-Lago deal with him. Or maybe get him a lot of Legos.
Good. We need to shut his BS down. Trump is a danger to this country. Dr Falusi gave an interview yesterday about how difficult it is get the facts out while standing on the same podium as Trump as he whips out his exaggerated lies and half truths at these MEGA rally press conferences. Of course the doc was much more diplomatic in his remarks but that was the jest of it.
Good, his crazy doesn’t need any additional oxygen.
Really? Oh thank goodness. Though that still means FOX showed it, I’m sure.
I saw his right wing friends Tweeting about this and the LT Governor of Texas gave a Fox interview saying oh Grandparents will be happy to DIE to save their grandchildren’s economy?!?!? The Fuck?!?!?! I pray this begins to make some Fox listeners wonder why they are watching networks that want to kill them. The Tweets say things like it is just 2.5% who will die a small loss. 2.5% is 9 million people they are advocating we not try to save. 9 MILLION. Do they think the economy is going to recover while the hospitals collapse and we replay Italy?!? I have never hated anyone As much as our selfish President who will let people die because he had to shut down his golf clubs.
And he also forgot that losing medical personel who have spent years on their training, to this virus, will not exactly do the US healthcare any favours! It will collapse! Replace these Republicans!!!
Please God from your mouth to the US electorate’s ears!
I gotta say I’ve been holding up okay, thank goodness, but when I saw that clip that was the first time I felt something close to anger and despair. First off, that piece of garbage said that KNOWING that if he rolled his privileged ass into a hospital, he would get a ventilator. So he’s offering a sacrifice he knows he will never make. Rather, his motivation was to put that idea in the heads of the mostly elderly viewers of Fox, that they had a duty to die. That to want to live was selfish. And the existence of that sort of manipulative evil in the midst of this crisis just infuriated and saddened me. And sure enough there are some old folks on Twitter saying they agreed.
And it also made me think of all the elderly friends and family that I love. I will stay inside as long as it takes so that their lives are protected.
Unbelievable Liz version 700 —— Soylant Green, anyone?
Wow MAGA really is a death cult.
Yes yes yes to your entire comment. You little people can go ahead and die cause MAGA. My one hope is a few people on Fox were like ummmm screw you?!? Maybe I will watch CNN a while but knowing they wanted to push that makes me rage filled as well. Truly the worst people telking 9 million people they don’t matter.
I’m the only grandparent mine have. Yes I would die for them if it was necessary. This dying is not necessary. Luckily I’m healthy even though I’m over 60 and am taking supe precautions with this. My son-in-law was sent to work at home because there were people sick at his office (not sure it was coronavirus or not). His family lives with me and he was told to go live with his brother who lives by himself and easier to keep distances until this was over. Not taking chances.
Right it isn’t necessary to die for the economy so Trump can open his clubs back up!
Fortunately governors can override Trump’s deranged proposition of ending isolation, no governor (except Texas) will side with Trump on this.
When will the cult of Trump realizes he doesn’t care about anyone? We are in such a mess and those of us stuck w ineffective state leadership that follows him are screwed. Florida is right there siding w Trump
“When will the cult of Trump realizes he doesn’t care about anyone?”
likely, NEVER. and if they ever do, they won’t care because he’s “owning the libs”…they don’t care about being poor or dying as long as the people they hate are poor or dying, too.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. he could shoot a supporter’s mother (or sister, or daughter) in front of them and they’d shrug and say “eh, the b*tch deserved it”.
Nope, my gubnah in AL will gladly follow wherever he stumbles.
Texas governor has been deferring to the local counties/cities for shelter in place. Which isn’t great but at least it’s something. Then you have judge in Galveston county who org said he didn’t know if he had authority to close beaches/shelter in place….
I’m in a blue city so I’m hoping the mayor and the county judge have some sense. Closed restaurant and bars last week. Won’t do us any goos if the red counties around us insist on business as usual.
I am in Austin and we are getting the Shelter in Place order today. I have to continue to come to the office as Title Companies are considered essential. I worry about infecting my family and as my fiance and I share custody of both of ex’s I just worry that we all exposed. Happy with the Mayor now, but wish that the State and Feds would get it together
Yeah, the TX governor (Abbott) is MAGA all the way. He’s too chickensh*t to make a statewide order to stay home, leaving it to local authorities to decide. But he DID have time to ban all surgical abortions as being “elective” surgeries. This without any warning, and if it’s not already difficult enough to access abortion care in TX. I am so furious I swear my head is going to explode at any minute.
Oh yeah and don’t forget the Lt. Governor (Patrick) basically said grandparents should be willing to die so their grandkids don’t suffer with a bad economy.
On a different note: I can’t give enough thanks to the CB writers and commenters. This site is such a welcome source of rational people.
You forgot Florida. DeSantis will side with Trump. He won’t even close the GD beaches.
Add Oklahoma too… You only need a handful of states to do this to screw everyone up
I watched Boris Johnson’s statement shutting down Great Britain yesterday and while I believe him to be a complete buffoon, I was struck by the stark difference to the monster in the White House: a direct, professional statement , delivered in complete, coherent sentences, giving a directive, the reasons therefor, the steps that were being taken, and the consequences, an expression of concern, love, and belief in a country and its people; all in just a few minutes. Leadership. We don’t have that. We have an orange menace, who is driving people to eat fish tank chemicals, while railing on about how the media didn’t thank him for not taking a salary. To paraphrase an old Simon & Garfunkel song: “Where have you gone, Joe Biden, our nation turns its lonely eyes to you.”
But BoJo changed his tune only a few days ago. Up until very recently, his plan was to let the country take the blow, have thousands die so that then everyone would be immune and the economy wouldn’t be hurt (which isn’t true)… He can try to look like Churchill now, but he’s about a month too late
So true – he was quite happy to follow the route of Dump and GOP and let the virus run ‘its course’ under the guise of protecting the NSH but really it was for businesses.
As bad as things are and will be in the states, I’m far more worried about what the next few weeks hold for the UK. Take care of yourselves British CB’ers.
He ONLY cares about his re-election chances – he DOES NOT CARE how many people have to suffer and die for it.
Exactly. He is only looking out for himself. This crazy orange buffoon will get us all killed.
He is a sociopath and does not care if millions die. He is no different than a serial killer except that he is too weak to actually kill someone himself. It is truly scary how so many Americans not only elected a monster but still support him. What is the difference between him and Kim Jong Un at this point? Not very much.
I agree – Trump knows the reason a lot of people/voters have put up with his heinous personality is because they have done well financially the past few years. I’ve heard it from several friends who voted for him – they don’t like him, but they like how their stocks have performed. They’ve held their noses while counting their money. If the stock market crashes and people’s investments go into a downward spiral, then he loses the one reason many people have continued to support his presidency.
My big issue is this, while I’m concerned our workplace may close there is still NO ONE stopping people from traveling. People’s livelihoods are being taken away, and yes for appropriate reasons, but we aren’t making it illegal to go on f$cking spring break! I’m very concerned those people will be spreading this to new states.
Not only to new states- Americans will keep reinfecting other countries that might have been getting it under control. We’re going to end up on the wrong end of everybody else’s travel bans, and then Emperor Babyfists will retaliate with tariffs because he thinks that’s a punishment on other countries, etc., vicious cycle. I feel like it’s no longer hyperbole to say he’s ruining the world.
I do not understand why travel hasn’t been restricted to essential workers only. WHY were spring breakers allowed to fly down south? Why were they then allowed to go on the beach? WTF?
They have spread it. Florida resident here. A friend came from the mid-west for beach vacation around March 8th. Guess what? She has Corona. She took it back to her state. Her and her parents are under quarantine. Now early in March no one was saying don’t travel domestically just social distance. She still got it. Not sure if it was the beach or on her trip back. Multiple that with all the moron spring breakers…next week will not be good for numbers.
I’m curious what Trump “re-opening America” means for our border shutdown. I really hope restrictions remain in place. It sends a clear message that people need to stay home. Our health care system in Toronto is already strained and cases are climbing.
I hope Trudeau keeps our border closed, no Americans should be stepping foot in Canada unless they are part of those essential services Trudeau outlined.
Foreigners get no subsidy when they seek treatment in my country but we have also stopped them from coming in because we needed to protect the medical community from being strained. Their focus now is to treat the locals and long term residents only.
They should also be tested.
I told my aunt, just because it’s on the news, don’t believe everything, esp anything that comes out of this trash’s mouth. Chloroquine a cure? No. And now this? He doesn’t care that people will die. What a dirtbag. @Jerusha, I hope karma comes knocking soon as well
A man died here in Arizona from taking the additive Chloroquine to “prevent” Corona because of what Trump said. His wife who also took it is still hospitalized. Trump probably feels validated now that his supporters are taking heed to what he is saying, never mind that it is literally killing them.
We’ll be a pariah nation. What country will open their borders to US if we are full of sick people (and we don’t even give a shit about it)
You bet. Today, our residents specifically coming from the US and the UK have to be bussed from the airport to designated hotels straight away. Previously they could go to their homes and not leave their homes. That’s how serious it is now.
Excuse me if this is too dark, but this reminds me of reading transcripts of Nazi leaders deciding the most efficient and economical way to transport Jewish people and others to the camps, while they were sipping tea in a lovely country estate house.
It’s utterly insane and it’s murder for money. Murder for profit in plain sight. All of this is murder. Not having prepared, when a pandemic was clearly coming right at us, is murder. Science denial in the face of pandemic is murder. Prioritizing the economy over MILLIONS of lives that will be lost is murder. Murder done over tea, sitting at a civilized table, while the lives of human beings is just a simple factor to be played with, a number to be crunched.
It is also killing by class. Trump knows the wealthy will get the best care and will be fine. It’s the general public that will pay the ultimate price.
If the virus kills the old and poor then the government won’t have to pay benefits to them. Only the Devil himself could’ve come up with a more evil plan.
It will also kill a large part of his base, the poor working classes who don’t have access to ANY medical care. GOP area also complicit in this, esp Moscow Mitch. They will use this to rip up the constitution and install themselves as an autocracy – it’s what Trump and GOP both want. To stay in power in definitely.
Yes to you, Pollyanna! Trump and his ilk like to bang on about the evil dark state they are fighting —- when they are the dark state! We are all acceptable losses as long as they stay rich and stay in control.
Oh man, this makes me sorry for my American friends. Some rambling questions…
Is this also because he thinks or has been advised that it’s largely affecting Democrat states? Doesn’t the age demographic of covid19 deaths lean towards GOP voters, being older? And won’t rural/Southern states struggle even more with health services when it hits?
Also, states themselves can decide or overrule, right?
State Governors could choose to ignore him, to some degree, if they wanted. It doesn’t come without certain repercussions, though, because if those same states ask for federal (national aid), they are then at the mercy of the same people they ignored. For example, if Trump states that social distancing is relaxed; the governors could say “yeah, no, we’re going to abide by CDC recommendations instead.”
The “effecting Democratic states” could be a thing, but it’s everywhere now. Importantly, it’s made it’s way to swing states, like Florida and Ohio, who can really go either way in general elections. So, whoever is advising him on this needs to stop. The older do tend to vote more conservative, and yeah – the GOP could end up losing some of its base to the virus.
Also, this will hit the southern US like a Mack truck. People in the south, which has a lot of rural areas, tend to be less healthy: more typically obese, on disability and with more complex health issues due to things like increased poverty levels. The healthcare systems in places there are usually overcrowded and underfunded anyway. It will run through places like Mississippi and Alabama like wildfire, and their health systems probably won’t be able to handle it. This is also Trumpland, so it’s an interesting strategy that Trump is playing Russian Roulette with a hardcore Republican stronghold like this. The ones alive may still vote for him, but the dead can’t vote at all.
He is insane. Reserves are there for a reason!
Our politicians are very proud of our open borders and it was a difficult call to close it. But they still tried! All short term visitors are disallowed to enter to avoid straining our health infrastructure. Latest development today is any citizen still trying to travel will no longer get subsidized treatment nor withdraw funds from their medical care accounts, if they are struck with Covid-19. This is a big deal and will likely stop my fellow citizens from travelling now. Returning long term pass holders will have to prepare for their return to our country to be delayed. It is that drastic and this is a huge deal to us because we did not expect our government to go to this extreme. Take this seriously US politicians!
Nothing weird about it. They care about profit, not people. Chinese experts who came to Italy were shocked that they did not end all economic and production activities not necessary for life, among other things. People had to go to work producing unnecessary stuff, use public transportation to get there, be in close proximity to others and then get back to their families. This is horrifying. Thousands of people will die for stupid reasons. I am surprised there are not even more strikes in Italy and that people are not enraged by this.
I think he is only concerned because he had to close his most lucrative hotels and, as usual, he is putting himself above everything and everyone. I also think he wants to get his hands on the economic relief fund so he can steal as much of it as possible for himself. He is a criminal not a leader
The filthy lucre is definitely one of his chief motives. Screw the poors! Money for me and mine is all the matters. It’s revolting and disgusting and 1,000 other horrible words!
I just went out for the first time in about ten days. Publix has started Senior Hours today. I guess I’m a senior-I’m 75-but I have no health issues and never have. I felt so sorry for the really old, the 80+ men and women. They looked frightened. I’ve always hated trump, even decades ago, but it’s magnified by what he’s done to our most vulnerable:
Here in Victoria BC, all retailers that are still open have seniors’ hours, usually between 8:00 and 10:00 in the morning, where ONLY seniors are allowed in so they can reduce the chances of being exposed. Hoping you stay well Jerusha!
Another senior
You stay well, also, Jaded.👋🏻
I saw this last night and it truly scared me. Just when I thought his germaphobia meant he actually had the sense to do what is right in this one instance. If people go back to life as normal and the outbreak inevitably worsens, it will prolong the period we all have to deal with this and he and every other Fox correspondent and big business lobbyist pushing for this will have blood on their hands. Thank goodness he’s not a complete oligarch and we still have states rights. Stay strong, state governors! For the good of the people!
Don’t believe he’s a germaphobe. Too many people on the podium standing close together, shaking hands – especially of the one who had a low grade fever. This is all about the bucks and him losing money of his own.
I also doubt he’s a germaphobe. Why would he routinely raw dog pron stars and randoms (BARF) if he’s scared of germs?
I know. This really, really scares me. I hope that our governors will have the sense and ability to keep deciding what is right for their states, not the president.
Trump and Melanomia were regular “sex club” attendees back in the 80’s and 90’s. He’s no germaphobe, he’s probably been exposed to every STD you can imagine.
I wonder if he’s not a germophobe but is actually a poisonophobe. He has been playing with the mob and the Russians for a long time and must owe them a lot of $$.
He said once that he likes to send people for fast food because it is unlikely to be poisoned, since it is prepared in general and then sold, nobody would know it was for him.
Folks thought he was being paranoid, but my bet is that he has a realistic fear of poisoning, it’s a very old Russian tradition, going back to the czars. He has a history of loan defaults and also hasn’t delivered the big prize for the Russian oligarchs and Putin: lifting sanctions.
Have people not seen the videos of coffins being moved by the army in Italy? Or sick people on the hallway floors in the hospitals in Spain? Don’t listen to this criminal. Isolate at home. We’re on our own.
Thank you for your comment. Totally agree with you.
They are using an ice rink in Spain as a make shift morgue. It’s awful and it’s going to happen here.
Money launderers like Putin, MBS and Semion Mogilivech need Trump’s and other shady “businesses” open to launder their ill gotten gains (human trafficking, drugs, other blood money). That’s why Trump wants his seven huge resorts, casinos, the hospitality industry, cruise industry and airlines moving again. The mobsters are losing too much money, and our lives are the forfeit.
You can also bet that’s why the first draft of the stimulus package included $500 bn that the American people would not be told about for six months (at which time, you can bet it’ll be like Trump’s taxes, and we’ll never know.). Trump said he would oversee it.
It’ll be money to bail out his own businesses and his friends’ businesses.
If they don’t waive mortgage payments for homeowners and landlords, NY will fall. I’m not exaggerating.
No one can pay their rent or mortgages and most landlords are not Trump and cannot afford to lose millions.
If they mean mortgage payments to the banks, Landlord may depend on rents for income, but they are off the hook to the bank.
As of right now they have not waived mortgage payments for landlords in NY.
I am watching it very closely because most of my buildings the rents barely cover the mortgage. My tenants are struggling and if I can help them I will. I will gladly pay all the other expenses and let my tenant skip rent is the mortgage payment is waived. I mean I would still have to pay it, it would extend my mortgage, but at least I could give some relief to my tenants. All I can do now is assure them we will do our best by them and not charge any late fees or evict them.
Supposedly mortgage bankers Associations are banding together to recommend a 12 month forbearance on mortgage payments. I’m assuming this would include commercial mortgages too. That would help a lot of landlords if they don’t collect enough rent to cover mortgage payments.
I have to say, there is a point here. Because unfortunately, a good chunk of our country can’t follow directions. Nobody is following the parameters of a quarantine. There were still weddings broken up this weekend. People are going to the super market every day and people are having friends over to make Tiktoks about quarantine. If nobody is going to follow the parameters, it is useless and we are tanking our economy for no reason. We have to make this time worth it, but nobody gets it.
I hope lives are ultimately saved but I am getting the sense we as a country will never get this under control the way we could have.
Too little, too late with no real support for the measures from the president down to state and local governments to citizens who are fine using hair dryers to combat germs.
This is due to a failure of leadership. We need better, stronger restrictions for traveling, what is defined as “essential,” etc. There are PLENTY of people who are following quarantine rules just fine (day 12 over here!), but if people are still allowed to get on a plane and vacation in Florida, some people sadly will. Therefore, that freedom should be revoked for the time being.
My friend in New York told me that despite the measures in place, people are still gathering in Central Park and taking the subway. It boggles the mind. I live in a state that hasn’t been too hard hit, and I feel so, so grateful, but worry for my dad in Florida.
There are essential workers who need to move around, and it is ok to go outside if you keep a distance and don’t touch anything.
However, I’m sure there are PLENTY of people who aren’t following the rules.
What a time of great uncertainty. I have no idea what the next six months is going to bring. We’re in uncharted territory
Pleased to read many others have state governors who consider blathering Drumpf has nothing to do with our states and how they operate. We not only have Gov Newsom but city after city supports self-confinement, and social distancing. Our issue is our tiny community and food supplies. We are 120 miles round trip to grocery stores. Several in the community are making food runs for others.
this mindset is so dangerous. and false really. if you open businesses too early and the spread catches like wildfire, hospitals and businesses will cease functioning effectively anyway due to illness and death and the impact of THAT will crash our economy! the smartest thing we can all do is put our selfishness aside and stay home until we are sure this virus is contained. we will rebuild this economy when people aren’t at risk. i know this is hard on people and i know people who have already lost jobs, nothing about this is easy. but if he opens doors too early, it will take on a life of its own, people will get sick, people will die and business will STILL be impacted because of it. everything will take so much longer to contain. it’s the dumbest thing he could do. this man doesn’t care about the American People at all.
Ohio under stay at home order. Thank God my governor is using the truly awesome Andrew Cuomo as an example and not that senile moron in the WH. And my governor is a Republican so Not all members of that party are stupid.
My Governor is also a Republican, and while I have never been super excited about him in the past, he was one of the first to close schools, and then promptly closed businesses. He’s taken it very seriously , and the whole state owes him a debt of gratitude because I’m very sure he took a lot of s— from voters for closing the schools when our infection rates were barely in the double digits. This was before a lot of republican voters took covid seriously, and they thought it was a Dem hoax. he probably slowed the outbreak spread by a few weeks. Imagine the nightmare infection rates if it had spread while the schools were open…
As for Texans: you have my prayers. I’m so sorry.
And for all of Congress: you could have booted this Nightmare from office months ago, and you failed!!! If he takes the country down with him, history will not be kind to our Congress
Of course business leaders think that lol. What do they care? They’re rich and will likely survive with top medical care. Half of them probably don’t even have to leave their mansions to deal with their investments anymore.
I mean, the governor of Texas offered to throw away the lives of the elderly (and the poor and immunocompromised and the crossinfected, but we aren’t talking about that) to start the economy. Like, they’re not even being surreptitious about it at this point. Not surprising, though, from the same state that used this crisis to ban medical abortion as “non-essential” during this time.
I’m just praying it’ll stay at the state level, and the ones that aren’t total idiots will control what they can. I have a feeling NYC is going to have to have some ugly realities about the measures they’ll have to take to contain this with their population density.
People like Trump and the Governor of Texas see it as thinning the herd. Survival of the richest and most powerful. The people who will die just don’t matter to them.
Unfortunately, you’re right. It’s the “elephant in the room” and the financial ruination, deaths, job losses and outright misery mean nothing to Trump and his ilk. What a sick, evil society the people in control have become.
If Trump tells people to resume their normal lives, thousands will die and millions will the sickened. How is that good for the economy and business? He is a moron. Fortunately, the governors of NY and California are not idiots. They are in charge of the largest part of the economy of the US. They won’t relax the restrictions. Drumpy doesn’t have a much power as he thinks. The governors of the states will have to save America.
For a man whose entire presidential campaign was based on his CEO leadership experience, he’s shown a profound lack of leadership ability. He’s back and forth and unable to make quick, data based decisions. Like, he hasn’t used the defence production act (sorry if I got the name wrong, Canadian here) even though he’s talked about it and been begged by governors or use it. What’s he waiting for? He waffles about bailing out people and then shifts to bailing out corporations (because he’s a terrible businessman and has been bailed out countless times himself). It’s like whoever has his ear and provides him with the most racist, dumbest idea gets to make policy – including randoms on Twitter.
Emily —- Trump stated exactly who he was in his book, The Art of the Deal. Nothing he has done as president steps away from the philosophy he expresses in that book. One of his famous beliefs —- stated in the book — is that it is a sound business principle to always lie, even when telling the truth will do you no harm. As he states in his book, if you always lie, then no one will know what’s a lie and what’s not a lie! This is one of his key philosophies of good business. He was and is a horrible businessman. That is why he has gone bankrupt so many times. He exaggerates his vast wealth and is usually over leveraged and on the financial brink. He continues to refuse to allow the American people to see his tax returns. No president has been allowed to refuse this in decades yet he gets away with it. His financial empire is a lot of smoke and mirrors. Yes he is very rich, but he is balanced on a razor’s edge.
Look at what’s happening in Hong Kong you idiot. It’s now going through a second wave of COVID-19 after everyone went back to work too soon. This is what’s going to happen worldwide if leaders don’t take this thing seriously. Trump will cause thousands upon thousands of deaths if he doesn’t STFU and listen to the health experts instead of that prick Mnuchin.
Jared “father bought his spot at Harvard” Kushner is whispering in his ear about keeping those bucks flowing.
And making bags of money while doing it.
I’m scared here in Portland, Oregon. Our state says we have 688 ventilators in total.
We also have lots of idiots here. As everywhere, but our Governor Kate Brown looks like a deer in the fucking headlights lately. I’ve been looking to New York Cuomo briefings for the most reliable government information.
Like, what the actual fuck, federal government?? Why hoard all the ventilators and then ‘reopen America’, if the health of the nation-
physically, financially what have you- is the primary goal? unless this is all about them dolla dolla bills y’all for our dear Leader.
Stay well celebitches. This may be our only sanctuary! #escapismcanbesmart
Portlander here too. She does look scared, but I think she’s been the best decisions she can. She instituted shelter at home for the whole state before Washington did. 688 ventilators scares the hell out of me though, as I am asthmatic and have crap lungs. It’s so frightening and depressing.
Just when I think I couldn’t loathe him more. I’m working so hard on staying emotionally healthy during all of this-but when I hear about this, my blood starts to boil.
I just hard a dark thought (in addition to all the regular dark thoughts these times bring about), which is that in five years’ time, Trump and his idiot followers will say COVID-19 was all a hoax to get the economy to tank in order to sink Trump’s chances at re-election.
Five years? They’ve been saying that for three months already!
I am a little confused about Trump ordering everybody back to work. It is the Governors of each state who decided to order a stay- in- place and they are the only ones who can lift that. I live in Illinois and if my Governor says to stay in place until the end of April then that is what everybody is going to do. I think the President can order the federal government back to work ,but state and local governments are controlled by the Governors. They also control their own national guards. Trump has no control over that. I am happy with Governor Pritzkers leadership and even our Mayor has taken on great leadership. I am not going to listen to Trump, but my Governor and Mayor.
Republicans are all for States’ Rights until they’re not.
I was told today that not only are my hours being cut, so is my pay. We need my income desperately. But I’d still rather be on lockdown than needlessly kill millions of people.
Oh gosh, I’m so sorry. This is exactly what a good president should be avoiding. NOBODY should be losing their income during a crisis like this. To all you American CBers who may be looking at tough times, I wish you well and hope you can all weather this horrible crisis.
This is a complete cluster F- that simply didn’t have to be this bad! When Tiffany tweets her CDC advice, huh? Go on out on the streets of DC honey! 8 days till business as usual? I thought you were in law school, not double majoring in medicine too! We Americans are screwed. And frankly, I doubt the world cares anymore. Trump is a mass murderer and I don’t blame Dr Fauci for bailing. I want to live a little longer. Is that so bad?
I’ am from Belgium. 10 days of lockdown already. It’s hard but we have friends and people around us who are now in hospitals and not well. My mother work in the hospital. It is so frightenning how everything has changed so fast. Stay at home, that president is crazy, you can see what happen here in Italy, Spain,…
Best of luck to you and hoping we can get this under control despite the best efforts of Trump to destroy everyone but the 1%.
News shouldn’t even be live-streaming the horse-sh!t that comes out of the POS. When he comes on TV, I turn it off.
I only watch long enough to see if he looks sicklier than he did the day before.🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻Without sound, of course.
Very proud of our proactive Gov here in CA. So far he is getting millions of PPE from dealing directly with manufacturers in China.
Also we got that gift from Elon Musk of Ventilators from Medtronic.
He has also closed some State Parking lots as some Californians are ignoring his order of social distancing. So far he is enforcing a soft order for police to regulate crowd control.
Feel somewhat comforted as I am living in a Blue State full of Congressmen and women in the House and Senate who are trying to protect Americans.
I am also walking every morning as usual in my local park which is so lovely with leaves coming out on the trees and lots of robins, blue jays and Mockingbirds.
I always feel very blessed that I never watch Trump. I have much better things to do that watch that lying Nazi.
Best wishes to everyone and please stay home
Here in Michigan. Trump and his GOP minions have been attacking our governor but she finally made the decision to order us home until April 13. I hope that will be long enough, people keep saying we need 21 days for the virus to run it’s course but who knows if that is true. I think the lock down in Wuhan was for at least 30 days right. Didn’t the government just lift it this week?
You really need 8-10 weeks of shutdown to get us over the hump.
It was a two month lockdown and extreme social distancing in Wuhan.
Remember when Republicans were shrieking “Death Panels, Death Panels” when Hillary was working on health care? Well, the Lt. Governor of Texas has stated that seniors would be willing to sacrifice themselves for the good of the economy!!!!!!! I don’t think so!
hahahahaha – I decline. More Netflix!
He basically wants to cull the population. He’s probably hoping the poor and minority groups will go first. I wonder what will happen to those who get sick without health insurance. He really doesn’t care if everyone dies as long as he keeps making money. The sad thing is his minions will still follow him off a cliff.
He wants the economy up and running before it goes into a recession. If the economy is in a recession, if we haven’t hit that point yet, he will have a much harder time winning the next election. So it comes down to making dollars vs peoples lives. He wasn’t prepared for this virus. He downplayed it for months. He said it was a democrat hoax. Its a bunch of crap. And this is coming from a republican.