Everything Cancelled!!! Literally!!

[Confessional]

If you live in an area where response at the local, county, and state level has been faster and more effective than the federal response, you can clearly see non-partisan leadership, and identify the subsequent lack-there-of. I had a long talk with my parents in Florida yesterday and what's (not yet) happening there is shocking given what we know about Covid-19. It's going to be a difficult ride to peak.

Otherwise, there really are some spectacular stories and info that journalists are bringing too us (counter to the 24/7 talking heads), particularly first hand accounts from Vietnam, Singapore, Taiwan, Spain, etc. We can learn much by paying attention to those in the throws of this.

[thunderbolt]

When one publicly states concern over keeping the numbers lower by not allowing a ship with covid 19 infected Americans on board to dock, you know where priorities lie for that person.

[Werewolf]

You might want to do some research before you blindly trust a local media source …

See Sinclair Broadcast Group

Well, yes, there's that. Good point.

What I was trying to say is try stick to hard news and avoid commentary. If people just only turned off talk radio it would be a great start in slowing the flow of disinformation.

[Mikey]

……….. Support your local news and papers........

You might want to do some research before you blindly trust a local media source …

See Sinclair Broadcast Group

Just saying ….

[Werewolf]

Regardless, I encourage folks to also go to the CDC site for facts and useful, practical guidelines about this disease.

Yes, excellent advice. I'd also like to add please turn off talk radio and night time talking heads on cable TV. Don't get your info from social media. Disinformation can literally kill us right now. Support your local news and papers. Listen to your state and local governments. We are all in this together.

[YoungOnce]

I’m sure that just about everybody on this board can remember back in the days before cable television and 24 hour news cycles.

In the evenings, there was a half hour of local news and then a half hour of national news on the three networks, and then, that was all the news until the next day. There was very little time for editorializing and commentary; pretty much, you got the facts of the story and that was that.

Now, with endless opinion and commentary seeping into our minds like The Blob in that little cafe, it’s very hard to avoid it. And it’s human nature to choose sides. I know though that everyone on here can remember when people’s politics weren’t the deal-breaker that they are now.

[PNGwynne]

And honestly, if one likes the president, is there anything he does that displeases his supporters? At any rate, the aggregate of his behaviors and opinions is well-documented. This thread will probably end badly, when it gets axed we can each go back to Fox News or Huffington Post.

Regardless, I encourage folks to also go to the CDC site for facts and useful, practical guidelines about this disease.

Politics aside, we need to work together to overcome this and adapt to the cultural and economic changes that will follow.

[YoungOnce]

You can't win but hopefully the two evils keep each other at least in check

I think just about everybody can agree with the general idea of that.

[Mikey]

For the most part Republican's are usually bad at disasters

It usually comes down to their excessive penny-pinching and not caring about poor people whatsoever

Democrats are kind of the opposite -- They'd throw billions at a town struck by a harsh wind and a snowflake

You can't win but hopefully the two evils keep each other at least in check

[YoungOnce]

A few weeks back when Trump shut down travel from China, he was derided for that decision as being racist. Honestly, if you don’t like Trump, is there any way he could have handled this that would have pleased his detractors?

I think this thread could quickly devolve into a political war, when no one is going to persuade the other side.

[MegoSteve]

I really don’t think our last couple of Presidents would be doing anything different, but that’s jmo.

That is just flatly wrong. We should have been ready for this in January, not mid-March. I don't want to get too political here, but Trump let John Bolton disband the National Security Council's global health security team last year, which certainly would have been a valuable tool to have in fighting a pandemic, don't you think?

His slow response has absolutely nothing to do with him wanting to listen to his health advisors; it's more like he was dragged kicking and screaming into action. (I've read that it took a TV political commentator, not a health advisor, to convince him to finally take this seriously.)

And no one is foaming at the mouth for him to make a mistake, because his mistakes literally kill people.

I am very sorry about your mother, and you have my respect for being a good son and taking care of her, but you need to take this very seriously. Especially if you live in Boston. I am not trying to make you panic, but please read news from multiple sources, not just one. This isn't just the flu, like some opinion-based news outlets have been trying to push for the past two months.

The first coronavirus patient in my state just died from it. He was 55 years old, which is frighteningly close to the target age of this message board. His sister died on Friday, and four other of their family members are in critical condition in hospitals.

https://www.nj.com/coronavirus/2020/03/its-inconceivable-5-family-members-in-critical-condition-from-covid-19-after-relative-dies.html

[TrekStar]

I'm not trying make this sound like the end of the world by simply telling you this, but yes, you can present a danger to your mother. You clearly love her and respect her. Taking care of an Alzheimer patient is very difficult and taking this on is the sign of a loving, caring son. But yes, you can carry the virus without knowing. And yes, if she contracted the virus, it could be very serious. Again, I hope relaying these facts I'm not causing a panic, but they are important. And I believe having the information is important even if the information sucks.

I definitely hear what your saying, and believe me I am taking the necessary precautions, like hand washing and sanitizer etc.

I can’t keep my distance because I’m taking care of her, but refraining from giving her a hug that hurts and believe me she picks up on these things and probably wonders why I stopped? but I do tell her she’s loved and she says the same, so that in itself helps.

[Werewolf]

Trump and his surrogates and Fox news have been down playing the severity of the virus since January until recently. We need to be honest and realistic. Covid-19 is not a hoax, the common cold or the flu. It is real and very serious. We are in this for the long haul and need to change how we do things.

[Wee67]

I am a caregiver taking care of my mother who is 83 and has Alzheimer’s and for cryin out loud I’m afraid to kiss her forehead and give her a hug because I am listening to all the media hype about the elderly getting this virus and I may have it and not know it and unknowingly give it to her and it can kill her?

I'm not trying make this sound like the end of the world by simply telling you this, but yes, you can present a danger to your mother. You clearly love her and respect her. Taking care of an Alzheimer patient is very difficult and taking this on is the sign of a loving, caring son. But yes, you can carry the virus without knowing. And yes, if she contracted the virus, it could be very serious. Again, I hope relaying these facts I'm not causing a panic, but they are important. And I believe having the information is important even if the information sucks.

[TrekStar]

The President’s slow response because I guess he wants to make sure he gets the facts straight from his health people, before he addresses the public, that plus the fact the media and his opponents are foaming at the mouth for him to make a mistake in all this, I really don’t think our last couple of Presidents would be doing anything different, but that’s jmo.