We're All Doomed!™ (the Conquest, War, Famine, and Death Thread)

[Per]

As a great number of states have started to ease restrictions, the American and European trajectories start to diverge....



The Mediterranean countries, that are heavily dependent on tourism, are starting to open up for intra-European travel, but the EU has decided to not allow American visitors to enter the union for the time being.

Meanwhile Trump gives his own administration a ten out of ten on handling the corona virus.
But then he thought they did a great job in Puerto Rico too...

[Meds]

As a great number of states have started to ease restrictions, the American and European trajectories start to diverge....



The Mediterranean countries, that are heavily dependent on tourism, are starting to open up for intra-European travel, but the EU has decided to not allow American visitors to enter the union for the time being.

Meanwhile Trump gives his own administration a ten out of ten on handling the corona virus.
But then he thought they did a great job in Puerto Rico too...

The United States has tested 34 million people.

The EU has tested 29 million people.

The EU has 446 million people to the US 331 million.

The United States has tested 10% of it's population. With the exception of Spain, the top EU countries have texted 8%. Consider that France has only tested 2% of their population, and several other larger EU nations fall in similar categories. While a few of the smaller nations have higher numbers, overall the EU nations comprise a larger population that has tested less of their population, and the poorer nations are not being as accurately represented.

The disparity in number of cases is still undeniable, and it was a foregone conclusion that easing of restrictions would lead to an uptick in cases, but at some point that's just what has to happen. And frankly I don't believe much that comes from any American media source these days. Lol.

[Cousin Strawberry]

The fact that smoking grass is being linked to a higher resistance to transmission gives me pause to celebrate my prescience in the face of disaster.

I've been training for this my whole life lol

[Cornuck]

Even if other countries tested as much as the US, the total number of positives cases still wouldn't be close.

[Chef Boi RD]

[Per]

Even if other countries tested as much as the US, the total number of positives cases still wouldn't be close.

Exactly. Suppose the EU would test twice as many and as a result find twice as many cases (they wouldn’t, because testing isn’t random; a lot of those that are tested are tested because they show symptoms, and are thus more likely to get a positive result than the random people that would be added). That would bring the EU figure to roughly 8,000. Still slightly lower than 40,000.

[Mickey107]

-The structure in many US cities and their down-town cores was never going to be easy to establish social distancing over a long period.
Total fear of death worked modestly for a while. That was never going to keep.
I'm sure they talked about Marshal law. Hell, we probably did too, early on.

I'm sure Rats has seen this many times but if you've ever approached Phoenix from the west on interstate 10 and seen the homeless as you
skirt the bottom of the city, yikes. That is just one example.

The big eastern cities have huge unique downtown cultures, each one a little different but all are very close quarters.
You can't stop the street trade without drastic measures. They would be too drastic.
The spike don't surprise me but of course it makes me sad.

It wouldn't have mattered what political party was running the country.

[UWSaint]

The United States does not yet have a risk averse culture. The progressives are beating the “safety” drum hard with the hopes we will become that way, preferring collective security to personal liberty. But we are not quite there yet. I have to suppress chuckles at foreign criticism of the United States response to Covid and the opening up of the country. The measurement for the American ethos is not the fewest possible cases regardless of the cost to the economy and liberty. I dare say it shouldn’t be the sole measure for whether any nation is performing *well* or *poorly*.

[Per]

It wouldn't have mattered what political party was running the country.

You have a point. The US has a lot of structural problems that make fighting the virus complicated.

• People don’t trust the government

• Government is highly decentralized, so most decisions are taken at local levels, which makes it hard to harmonize measures taken and when rules vary from one state (or county) to another people will question them and become less likely to do as told

• The lack of public health insurance, more than 30 million Americans neither have health insurance nor the right to medicare or medicaid

• The privatized and fragmented healthcare system makes it nigh impossible to coordinate the medical response to the pandemic

• High levels of obesity and diabetes, which are risk factors

• Many of the working poor don’t even have a right to paid sick leave, which makes them prone to show up at work even if they have a fever and/or a cough

Yet a president who showed some leadership and encouraged people to follow the advice of the experts, leading by example, would certainly not have made matters worse...

[Strangelove]

The United States does not yet have a risk averse culture. The progressives are beating the “safety” drum hard with the hopes we will become that way, preferring collective security to personal liberty. But we are not quite there yet. I have to suppress chuckles at foreign criticism of the United States response to Covid and the opening up of the country. The measurement for the American ethos is not the fewest possible cases regardless of the cost to the economy and liberty. I dare say it shouldn’t be the sole measure for whether any nation is performing *well* or *poorly*.

As an honourary Canadian, I hope you are celebrating in some fashion today.

[UWSaint]

The United States does not yet have a risk averse culture. The progressives are beating the “safety” drum hard with the hopes we will become that way, preferring collective security to personal liberty. But we are not quite there yet. I have to suppress chuckles at foreign criticism of the United States response to Covid and the opening up of the country. The measurement for the American ethos is not the fewest possible cases regardless of the cost to the economy and liberty. I dare say it shouldn’t be the sole measure for whether any nation is performing *well* or *poorly*.

As an honourary Canadian, I hope you are celebrating in some fashion today.

You mean more than posting about policy on a hockey message board?

[rats19]

The United States does not yet have a risk averse culture. The progressives are beating the “safety” drum hard with the hopes we will become that way, preferring collective security to personal liberty. But we are not quite there yet. I have to suppress chuckles at foreign criticism of the United States response to Covid and the opening up of the country. The measurement for the American ethos is not the fewest possible cases regardless of the cost to the economy and liberty. I dare say it shouldn’t be the sole measure for whether any nation is performing *well* or *poorly*.

As an honourary Canadian, I hope you are celebrating in some fashion today.

You mean more than posting about policy on a hockey message board?

I’d like to hear more UW views on the pandemic
Where it started
How it was handled there
How it was handled here
How it is still being handled

Prognosis ?

[Strangelove]

The United States does not yet have a risk averse culture. The progressives are beating the “safety” drum hard with the hopes we will become that way, preferring collective security to personal liberty. But we are not quite there yet. I have to suppress chuckles at foreign criticism of the United States response to Covid and the opening up of the country. The measurement for the American ethos is not the fewest possible cases regardless of the cost to the economy and liberty. I dare say it shouldn’t be the sole measure for whether any nation is performing *well* or *poorly*.

As an honourary Canadian, I hope you are celebrating in some fashion today.

You mean more than posting about policy on a hockey message board?

Yeah, could you wear a Canadian flag pin?

And then explain what's up with that to everyone who asks?

And oh yeah, finish most of your sentences with "eh"...

[Per]

The United States does not yet have a risk averse culture. The progressives are beating the “safety” drum hard with the hopes we will become that way, preferring collective security to personal liberty. But we are not quite there yet. I have to suppress chuckles at foreign criticism of the United States response to Covid and the opening up of the country. The measurement for the American ethos is not the fewest possible cases regardless of the cost to the economy and liberty. I dare say it shouldn’t be the sole measure for whether any nation is performing *well* or *poorly*.

As an honourary Canadian, I hope you are celebrating in some fashion today.

You mean more than posting about policy on a hockey message board?

As Canadian as it gets, I'd say.
(although possibly missing an "eh?")

[2Fingers]

Is COVID19 sexist?

The reason I ask is that you are not supposed to touch your mouth or eyes yet when a guy has to pee he has to hold on to something, so.....