All things political. Coronavirus Edition. (18 Viewers)

[Maxp]

I fear we are really going to be in a bad place due to the obvious cuts to the federal agencies that deal with infectious disease, but also the negative effect the Affordable Care act has had on non urban hospitals. Our front line defenses are ineffectual and our ability to treat the populous is probably at an all time low. Factor in the cost of healthcare and I can see our system crashing. What do you think about the politics of this virus?

 

[Beach Friends]

100%.


Just see Joe’s pathetic post above asking me ‘which side of the aisle i stand on’... Trump apologists just have to try and divide people up into Team Red or Team Blue, no room whatsoever for any middle ground, or any type of thought beyond their own team.

I hate to even bother answering your question Joe, but if you have tp know- I’m a Moderate who supported both Ronald Reagan AND Bill Clinton... I know it’s probably hard for you to process that people like me exist, but we are out here, and we wont be labeled or put into some box just to adhere to your ability to comprehend.

Okay fine, but I noticed that it was only people on my "team" that called that crap out. Members of the other "team" want to downplay or defend the statements.

Having said that, it seems the divide is already there.

 

[bdb13]

Okay fine, but I noticed that it was only people on my "team" that called that crap out. Members of the other "team" want to downplay or defend the statements.

Having said that, it seems the divide is already there.

I don't consider myself part of the other team and have no problem calling out hateful shirt, but I don't think the two posts Joe quoted are close to that level.

 

[samiam5211]

I hope the virus doesn't kill anymore people.

Trump's incompetent handling of it has already caused it to spread more in the US than it should have. A widespread outbreak in the US will be Trump's fault, and he should be punished for it politically.

 

[efil4]

That is the Most truthful statement in the whole conversation... Had this virus happened during Obama's tenure, there would be people wanting the economy to collapse just to get Obama out... or if it was Hillary...

and for people to claim that me saying it is false makes it even worse.

It happened - H1N1

And you would be well served to listen to some of your Republican pundits during that time.

We had 2 posters make a tongue in cheek comment that didnt reflect what the majority here feel. You can take that and run with it, or realize that a vast majority dont pay any attention to it.

With that said, at this point, its abundantly clear where the issue lies.

You were told 2 weeks ago this is nothing more than the flu. And the flu kills more people annually than this. Andyou were told that the travel bans enacted would spare the US an epidemic. And you bought it.

Because what they didnt tell you is that a) the transmission/contagiousness of this virus is well beyond that of the flu b) being a "novel" ( new ) virus, your immune system has absolutely no immunology to this virus and c) we had more cases undetected in the US than admitted.

These are all points that you can ferret out yourself. You dont need the head of the CDC telling you this. Just some rudimentary investigation and learning about novel viruses. But you chose to listen to POTUS and his appointees. You chose to be ok with not knowing because ignorance is bliss.
Honestly, i get it. IF you dont know, then whats all the hub bub about?

But thats where real fear settles in. You were told for weeks we had low chance. We were enacting travel bans to protect you. This virus is nothing more than the flu. Then it was parroted as a Dem Hoax by POTUS at a rally. He said it will die off with hotter weather. IT will disappear eventually.

None of that was true. And now folks like you get to settle in with the realization that this virus is real, its here, and now time to really pay attention.

Better late than never i guess.

 

[Archies Ghost]

I hope the virus doesn't kill anymore people.

Trump's incompetent handling of it has already caused it to spread more in the US than it should have. A widespread outbreak in the US will be Trump's fault, and he should be punished for it politically.

So Trump's unprecedented imposition of a travel ban from China in January , criticized by Joe Biden as xenophobic and China as racist, and quarantine of US citizens returning from China is incompetence?

At the press conference with Trump on Saturday, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the highly respected head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, praised the “original decision that was made by the president … [that] prevented travel from China to the United States.

“If we had not done that, we would have had many, many more cases right here that we would have to be dealing with.”

There is truly nothing that we, the people, can unite behind. As long as it can be made to look bad for Trump, you are all for it.

 

[efil4]

Okay fine, but I noticed that it was only people on my "team" that called that crap out. Members of the other "team" want to downplay or defend the statements.

Having said that, it seems the divide is already there.

Or you can ignore it like most and have a fruitful discussion with the others on the subject.

As you know, my sister is in Florence Italy.

8 days ago i contacted her to advise. She, like so many others, wasnt all that concerned. That lax concern changed Sunday Feb 25. When Italy went from 14 cases to 124. Then schools started to close. Serie A matches cancelled. I begged her to get on a flight to Geneva ( we have relatives there ooutside Geneva ) - that day, 155 euros. THE NEXT DAY, SAME FLIGHT over 500 Euros. So she said ill stick this out here. Still cant be that bad.

Fast forward to this past weekend. Just yesterday 559 NEW cases and authorities wont say WHERE. Her school announced online classes only starting today. NOW its starting to sink in. The severity of measures taken, coupled with the unknowns settle in and fear begins to build.

I sent her a care package last Wed. Should arrive today of cleaning suppluies, masks ( as there are NONE to be had in Florence ) etc. So that may assuage some of her fears, but at this point, outside of a full on evac, she stuck. And her call to my wife last night was her being a bit scared now. Not an easy facetime. Her routine shot, no social interaction, in a foriegn land. Its not easy.

so just a reminder to those who think a simple 2 week lockdown will be a 2 week vacation. Its not. You arent sipping Mai Tais on a beach in Hawaii.

 

[efil4]

There is truly nothing that we, the people, can unite behind. As long as it can be made to look bad for Trump, you are all for it.

There is evidence that the "ban" did not stop it from arriving here. There is evidence that folks getting off planes in LAX, JFK, etc had no temperature testing, no origination questions.

Shoot, one poster on the EE had family member arrive in from Asia just a week ago, NO QUESTIONS ASKED.

But that is fruitless anyway. All that does is give the impression that something is being done.

What REALLY should have happened is the US CDC and other agencies been granted FULL autonomy, with funding to be made available in JANUARY for preparations to being in EARNEST. That didnt happen.

Now you have 124 health care workers on the West coast in quarantine from handling COVID 19 cases withoout proper PPE or Training.

Cats out the bad Archie. His presser last week should have been "everyhting is moving into high gear/bringing the full wieght of the federal govt ( ie funding ) to bear"

Instead we got numbers about flu and flu deaths, a print out from John Hopkins saying we are #1 and some other comment about him requeting 2.5 B and the Shumer wanted to give 8b and he scoffed at it. It did nothing to quell the fears of those that have done enough research to understand this aint the flu.

 

[samiam5211]

So Trump's unprecedented imposition of a travel ban from China in January , criticized by Joe Biden as xenophobic and China as racist, and quarantine of US citizens returning from China is incompetence?

Yes, the quarantine process was ran incompetently.

Banning travel is the only tool in Trump's shed, it doesn't solve everything.

Closing the Mexican border will be Trump just using the pandemic to achieve something he has wanted to do for some time.

 

[efil4]

So Trump's unprecedented imposition of a travel ban from China in January , criticized by Joe Biden as xenophobic and China as racist, and quarantine of US citizens returning from China is incompetence?



There is truly nothing that we, the people, can unite behind. As long as it can be made to look bad for Trump, you are all for it.

moments ago.

tell me Archie, what in this snippet makes you comfortable? The fact we are doing "very well" or "working with Colombia" ( which i have NO IDEA what that means other than possible link between coke and antiviral properties???)

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">President <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump?ref_src=twsrc^tfw">@realDonaldTrump</a> gives an update on the coronavirus: <a href="https://t.co/1rtDjXaUgn">pic.twitter.com/1rtDjXaUgn</a></p>&mdash; The White House (@WhiteHouse) <a href="">March 2, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

[efil4]

And Arch, im ready to unite.

Just dont try and sell me on uniting behind what i just posted above. That has no substance whatsoever and isnt even close to an "update" on COVID 19.

( and while that came out - NH just announced its first case )

 

[bdb13]

So Trump's unprecedented imposition of a travel ban from China in January , criticized by Joe Biden as xenophobic and China as racist, and quarantine of US citizens returning from China is incompetence?



There is truly nothing that we, the people, can unite behind. As long as it can be made to look bad for Trump, you are all for it.

I don't think it's unfair to say that, in totality, this doesn't appear to have been handled very well by the Trump administration.

Do you think that's unfair?

 

[wardorican]

Not sure if it was already posted...

 

[Archies Ghost]

I don't think it's unfair to say that, in totality, this doesn't appear to have been handled very well by the Trump administration.

Do you think that's unfair?

Viewed in the context where the response is judged against a set of unreasonable criteria, it is probably a fair statement.

Viewed in the context of other responses to infectious disease outbreaks and within the scope of what would be deemed as appropriate and legal actions to be taken based upon the threat, I would say it is unfair, especially the repeated attempts to twist responses to gotcha type questions into fodder for what can only be termed as consumers of all things Trump negative.

The virus itself can be spread by carriers who are asymptomatic so suggestions that we should have been taking the temperature of every airline passenger seem a bit silly. Even if we had, finding a symptomatic passenger would require quarantine of the entire crew and passenger list as well as taking the aircraft out of service until it could be properly sanitized. That sort of response would be properly deemed an over reaction to the threat.

I live in a place with a massive community from China and know of no cases in that community, which speaks to the effectiveness of Trump's initial response. It is likely that every case in the US will be traced to a US citizen returning from travel carrying the virus.

 

[JimEverett]

The CDC budget thing isn't true, I don't think.

Yeah - it keeps being repeated, but CDC funding has increased year-over-year for several years. At least every appropriation to CDC that Trump has signed has been an increase to the CDC budget.

 

[RobF]

The CDC budget thing: the Trump administration has tried to cut it, but their proposals to do so haven't got past Congress. (https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/trump-cut-cdc-budget/).

Having said that, it is true that CDC efforts to fight epidemics abroad were reduced, due to previously allocated funding running out and not being replaced. (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...t-efforts-to-prevent-global-disease-outbreak/). That's not technically a cut. But it's still the cessation of activity due to a lack of continued funding that looks somewhat short-sighted right now.

And in terms of losing expertise in key positions and not replacing them, that's also more true than not. (https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/trump-fire-pandemic-team/).

 

[GMRfellowtraveller]

The CDC budget thing isn't true, I don't think.

Sorry he ‘proposed’ cuts to CDC
And now I expect this to be the main attack line - that I said he slashed the budget when he only tried
Not that Trump’s leadership on this is as bad as the rest
But what’s most important is 2 guys said they would give up their 401ks to get trump out

 

[CajuninVA]

Anyone going to mention that if you spend years trying to undercut the effectiveness of nearly every government program that exist, you should be mad at the people who committed the sabotage, not the government. And don’t be surprised or indignant when you don’t get the desired outcome from the government program you have undercut.

When you are looking for someone to blame, look in the mirror. Shortsighted, selfish actions do have consequences.

 

[FullMonte]

And now, the CDC is reporting LESS information about this scare.