Nobody has to be a medical expert to have not seen this coming. We reopened too quick, unlike the smarter countries in the world. They chose to do it their way, all for money over health.
The fed gov hasn’t done jack in regard to planning ahead and the admin has made things worse from day 1. Some local gov and ISDs will have plans and do these precautions. For the rest of us, it’s a world of two bad choice, if you are lucky enough to have the choice from your gov and with your financial or work circumstances. Houston school open up in about 1m. I will be surprised if we are much better than we are today and I also haven’t seen any plan - they should be out in about 2 weeks) - so personally I prefer to delay any in person school at this time.
“The reason other countries haven’t experienced a second wave is because they aren’t trying to unseat a President in November.” A post I’ve seen going around on Facebook. It boggles my mind.
Many Americans are idiots. According to an article published by the American Association for the Advancement of Science on June 30, only 50% of Americans plan to take a COVID-19 vaccine once it is readily available. These fools would be dumbfounded to learn that vaccines are the very reason people hardly get polio or smallpox anymore.
Houston Mayor and our County Judge have been pleading with our governor to allow them to enforce a stay at home order. Currently, our governor stripped that authority away through executive action. Local officials are powerless in Texas to put orders in place and can only plead with the residents to abide by their request. I'm still going to work, and plan to continue working in addition to buying essentials when I need them but I am limiting my exposure as much as possible. I guess I could take vacation, but honestly, I don't believe working is a huge risk since I am not face to face with people at all hours of the day. I get the whole issue with recirculated air and aerosols, but I guess it's a manageable risk.
It amazes me how stupid these Republicans are. Do they think they are invincible to getting the virus?
Do they have the authority to start digging open graves in cemeteries and open a field hospital "just in case" ? From experience nothing works better than that to make people follow guidelines. Here nothing put more the fear of god in most people than when it was "leaked" that there is a hiring of gravediggers anyone who lost their job should apply.
Our County Judge had one of our arenas retrofitted to be able to serve as an overflow for COVID patients. It hasn't been activated yet, but I have no doubt that we may see it come into action in the next couple of weeks. The Houston Medical Center was previously on Phase 2 of ICU capacity and that was a week + ago. My guess is that they are likely in phase 3 so overflow may have to be used. The judge did spend $60M back in April to have another temporary facility put in place, but that thankfully was not used. As far as mass graves, I am sure the authority is there, but politicians here are not going to use a tactic like that. That's just not how things work in the US. Even then, people here would not be convinced. I'm arguing with people on Facebook about numbers. Someone tried to argue with me how this virus only has a .01% mortality rate. I showed him the numbers and he just laughed and kept on his rant. I mean, if they won't believe facts, I don't know how else to get the message across. Then you have the fools that do get infected, don't have a severe case (meaning ventilation or hospitalization) and then they sing praises how it's all bullshit and look how they recovered (completely ignoring that they could have long term effects).
I wish, @malakas. The problem is Trump and every Republican representative knows they are going down with the sinking ship this November or whenever his or her seat is up for reelection, and they are more interested in saving their own asses than saving lives of Americans. The only reason Trump wore a mask in Miami is because his campaign advisors got wind his polling numbers suck and that wearing a mask would help them. (Newsflash to Trump and his administration: It’s too little, too late and won’t significantly help his polling numbers). Two weeks ago, Trump said he supports wearing a mask and the following weekend hosted a rally in South Dakota where nobody had to wear a mask or social distance. Trump and his enablers still don’t care about the 137,000 American lives lost or their families; the families that have a loved one fighting the virus now; the families that will lose a loved one from this in the future because everyone is being forced to “just deal with it.” Look no further than Trump’s Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos, passing the buck yesterday when asked about safely reopening schools this fall. She said it’s up to local schools and school districts to develop their own systems, recommended schools across America revert back to a normal pre-pandemic schedule featuring five days of in-person classes and only adjust if they experience an outbreak, and said she doesn’t have direct knowledge of a safe reopening plan for schools because she’s not a public health expert. What exactly is the Secretary of Education doing if she is not working side by side with the CDC and other public health experts to create a safe reopening plan for public schools across America? It should be her number one priority right now, but clearly it’s not, and she doesn’t care about the health and safety of students, teachers, paraprofessionals, school administrators and the family members they might infect with the virus. America’s political system is in major need of repair. Candidates care more about winning elections than serving their constituents; campaigns are usually won by those with the biggest budgets and the most monetary support from corporations and big lobbyist groups; other than the debates, candidates spend more time mudslinging each other than really letting people know their true policy initiatives. It’s disgusting and upsetting. Our government is supposed to work for the people, but it really doesn’t. It works for big business and corporations as well as stroking the ego of those elected to office.
Just to give some perspective that some may have missed : There are now developing situations in multiple european countries who closed early but opened sooner, of barely controllable wide spread, rise in cases and hospitalisations. Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia (the worst by far), Albania. Some alarms in Portugal, Finland and Spain too. They put very early harsh lockdowns but were unable to continue mass testing, track and contact tracing. They relaxed mass mask wearing. And the problem is that people have much more limited patience than before and because few died in the first wave they think they are impervious to the disease or that is a hoax. Perfect ground to make the second wave come sooner than expected and be much deadlier than before. Everyone learns as we go along but here are already examples of unsuccessful "reopenings".
Of those 27% never maskers, I wonder if they would they change their minds if they were given free masks with confederate flag, swastika, ss, nazi eagle, kkk, maga, or trump written on it..
