How is the USA doing in this pandemic?

[Michie]

Well, I'm not sure about that opening statement... But New York City, at least, didn't actually respond very fast in the beginning and that's partly why it became the epicenter. Chicago is also a very dense city, yet is has had maybe 20,000 cases so far. My state had maybe ten cases and we were already shutting down schools in neighboring counties where there were no cases. New York, on the other hand, still had schools open even while 1,000 people were in quarantine. In addition, there were confirmed cases in Seattle, California and Chicago at least a week before the first case in New York was announced so New York wasn't the guinea pig. It was because of New York's ego that it spread into neighboring states. We had to shut down our border with New York because New Yorkers continued traveling through our state even when cases were skyrocketing exponentially there (admittedly some ex-pat New Yorkers also continue to try to go back and visit family so they're part of the problem).

Currently New York has had 223,691 confirmed cases so far and Pennsylvania has had 28,314 even though they share a long border and have a city of 1.5 million only 95 miles from NYC (and New Jersey bordering it, too) Not to say their response has been perfect, either, but there are seven times fewer cases and 1,143 cases per 100,000 people versus 221.

So it's good to be positive and great if the numbers have plateaued. And the innovation is exciting to see. But I just don't see New York as the hero... It's as bad as what China is doing - trying to make money of the problem they created by selling us KN95 face masks (which may not even be up to health standards). Cuomo could have done worse, but he is far from a hero as far as I can tell.

I feel like there is propaganda machine supporting Cuomo right now. He's probably hoping to run for president next election.

Last I saw, his brother asked him about running for President and Cuomo said no.

 

[Messerve]

Last I saw, his brother asked him about running for President and Cuomo said no.

Yeah but Warren said the same... I think even Trump said that at one point.

 

[Michie]

Yeah but Warren said the same... I think even Trump said that at one point.

They all tend to do that but I highly doubt Cuomo will take up the mantle. His brother looked genuinely disappointed.

 

[Messerve]

They all tend to do that but I highly doubt Cuomo will take up the mantle. His brother looked genuinely disappointed.

Then he won't be able to let his brother down! See, there's already family pressure.

 

[Halbhh]

Well, I'm not sure about that opening statement... But New York City, at least, didn't actually respond very fast in the beginning and that's partly why it became the epicenter. Chicago is also a very dense city, yet is has had maybe 20,000 cases so far. My state had maybe ten cases and we were already shutting down schools in neighboring counties where there were no cases. New York, on the other hand, still had schools open even while 1,000 people were in quarantine. In addition, there were confirmed cases in Seattle, California and Chicago at least a week before the first case in New York was announced so New York wasn't the guinea pig. It was because of New York's ego that it spread into neighboring states. We had to shut down our border with New York because New Yorkers continued traveling through our state even when cases were skyrocketing exponentially there (admittedly some ex-pat New Yorkers also continue to try to go back and visit family so they're part of the problem).

Currently New York has had 223,691 confirmed cases so far and Pennsylvania has had 28,314 even though they share a long border and have a city of 1.5 million only 95 miles from NYC (and New Jersey bordering it, too) Not to say their response has been perfect, either, but there are seven times fewer cases and 1,143 cases per 100,000 people versus 221.

So it's good to be positive and great if the numbers have plateaued. And the innovation is exciting to see. But I just don't see New York as the hero... It's as bad as what China is doing - trying to make money of the problem they created by selling us KN95 face masks (which may not even be up to health standards). Cuomo could have done worse, but he is far from a hero as far as I can tell.

I feel like there is propaganda machine supporting Cuomo right now. He's probably hoping to run for president next election.

New research indicates that the coronavirus began to circulate in the New York area by mid-February, weeks before the first confirmed case, and that travelers brought in the virus mainly from Europe, not Asia.
Most New York Coronavirus Cases Came From Europe, Genomes Show

The federal govenment is the level we all rely on to get early warning and steps to prevent global pandemics from hitting us here in the U.S.

We've learned that repeatedly various groups/individuals tried to warn on the federal level, from November 2019, and more in January, and Feburary 2020.\

During January through August of 2019, the federal government did an excercise to simulate a viral outbreak in China coming to the U.S.....

Want links from a variety of independent sources?

I'll put one of the interesting ones below...

 

[Halbhh]

WASHINGTON — The outbreak of the respiratory virus began in China and was quickly spread around the world by air travelers, who ran high fevers. In the United States, it was first detected in Chicago, and 47 days later, the World Health Organization declared a pandemic. By then it was too late: 110 million Americans were expected to become ill, leading to 7.7 million hospitalized and 586,000 dead.

That scenario, code-named “Crimson Contagion” and imagining an influenza pandemic, was simulated by the Trump administration’s Department of Health and Human Services in a series of exercises that ran from last January to August.

The simulation’s sobering results — contained in a draft report dated October 2019 that has not previously been reported — drove home just how underfunded, underprepared and uncoordinated the federal government would be for a life-or-death battle with a virus for which no treatment existed.

The draft report, marked “not to be disclosed,” laid out in stark detail repeated cases of “confusion” in the exercise. Federal agencies jockeyed over who was in charge. State officials and hospitals struggled to figure out what kind of equipment was stockpiled or available. Cities and states went their own ways on school closings.
...
In 2016, the Obama administration produced a comprehensive report on the lessons learned by the government from battling Ebola. In January 2017, outgoing Obama administration officials ran an extensive exercise on responding to a pandemic for incoming senior officials of the Trump administration.

Before Virus Outbreak, a Cascade of Warnings Went Unheeded

So, guess who dropped the ball the worst.... (not New York, as suggested above)

Yes. It's you know who. He wanted to protect his "great" economy.

We are paying a huge cost for his choices.

 

[Michie]

Is there any good news? Please refrain from blaming anyone. Thank you.

.

 

[Halbhh]

We definitely need to put the blame where it properly belongs. Each time I see someone lie or propagate lies or propaganda, etc., about who is to blame, I will state the true facts.

Each time, and if not here on CF, then on many other sites. Is that clear?

 

[Michie]

We definitely need to put the blame where it properly belongs. Each time I see someone lie about who is to blame, I will state the true facts.

This thread is about good news during this time and not placing blame. There are a million other threads where you can point fingers.

 

[Halbhh]

I did put the good news about the U.S. situation with the virus above. Hope you saw it!

 

[Michie]

I wore a mask to the store for the first time the other day. Miserable... I used a bandana folded over twice and it kept sliding off the end of my nose. I probably touched my face more just fixing my mask. In addition to that, I realized you can't wear glasses with them because your breath fogs up the lenses. I can wear a real mask, but I'm super self-conscious so I was looking for something a little more subtle. Oh, well.

I have enjoyed seeing how people have improvised and some changes have been kind of fun. I mean, never in my wildest dreams would i have thought I could basically dress as a bandit to go buy groceries and not get arrested!! It's been fun to see communities pull together and find ways to stay connected (probably more connected than before, ironically). This is such a unique time in history - kind of a throwback to old days in some respects but at the same time using the newest technology.

Yet, underneath the novelty of it all there are occasional reminders that things are not all good. On my way to the store I passed a vehicle that had "Emergency Oxygen" on the side. Not sure where they were going, but it is a sobering thing.

Did you pair it with sunglasses?

 

[Scott Husted]

Crazy a 1/4 of a million babies have been aborted in America since January due to unwanted pregnacies and no one says a word ...

Last years world total tops forty million ...

 

[Need answers]

So America seems to be doing well. Thanks for the replies folks.

 

[Michie]

So america seems to be doing well. Thanks for the replies folks.

Just a little antsy.

 

[Halbhh]

So America seems to be doing well. Thanks for the replies folks.

Yes, we are doing better so far than even the optimistic projections! Those projections were made on the assumption we'd not do social distancing very well and such, and we've beaten those assumptions. It's a good progress, and looks like we are going to have saved a lot of lives (even later after the undercount of Covid 19 deaths is corrected and the current count is revised upward, it will still be that we did relatively well compared to numbers like 1 million dead or 500,000).

 

[KarateCowboy]

WASHINGTON — The outbreak of the respiratory virus began in China and was quickly spread around the world by air travelers, who ran high fevers. In the United States, it was first detected in Chicago, and 47 days later, the World Health Organization declared a pandemic. By then it was too late: 110 million Americans were expected to become ill, leading to 7.7 million hospitalized and 586,000 dead.

That scenario, code-named “Crimson Contagion” and imagining an influenza pandemic, was simulated by the Trump administration’s Department of Health and Human Services in a series of exercises that ran from last January to August.

The simulation’s sobering results — contained in a draft report dated October 2019 that has not previously been reported — drove home just how underfunded, underprepared and uncoordinated the federal government would be for a life-or-death battle with a virus for which no treatment existed.

The draft report, marked “not to be disclosed,” laid out in stark detail repeated cases of “confusion” in the exercise. Federal agencies jockeyed over who was in charge. State officials and hospitals struggled to figure out what kind of equipment was stockpiled or available. Cities and states went their own ways on school closings.
...
In 2016, the Obama administration produced a comprehensive report on the lessons learned by the government from battling Ebola. In January 2017, outgoing Obama administration officials ran an extensive exercise on responding to a pandemic for incoming senior officials of the Trump administration.

Before Virus Outbreak, a Cascade of Warnings Went Unheeded

So, guess who dropped the ball the worst.... (not New York, as suggested above)

Yes. It's you know who. He wanted to protect his "great" economy.

We are paying a huge cost for his choices.

Can we stop linking to the racist NY Times?

 

[Halbhh]

Can we stop linking to the racist NY Times?

No, not really, since the NYTimes has the largest group of fact news reporters in the U.S.

What are they racist about though? I enjoy a chance to write a letter to the editor to correct them, when it matters.

 

[Messerve]

I did put the good news about the U.S. situation with the virus above. Hope you saw it!

Oh yeah I saw it! Sorry, I wasn't trying to turn it negative. The way it was worded at the beginning just felt kind of overdone, like the artificial praise for a foreign dictator.

 

[Messerve]

Did you pair it with sunglasses?

I should have, but I had to go without glasses. Thankfully my vision isn't too terrible, but I did have some trouble reading prices, especially because if I leaned over too much my mask would fall off. Haha

 

[Michie]

Here is an uplifting story some of you may enjoy.

Meet the Mask-Makers Who Sew With ‘Prayer in Motion’ in the Pandemic