eyephone said:
Kenkoko said:
Mety said:
Kenkoko said:
Last night EMS in New York took 6406 medical 911 calls, the highest volume ever, surpassing 9/11/01.
Our infrastructure is about to be put to the test like never before. Let's hope they hold the line.
So what could be a possible solution? We can point out millions things that are wrong in this country, but we need to have a better solution to change. You said we should learn from Taiwan and S. Korea. What should we learn from them to battle this virus more efficiently?
The easy answer is we should have learned from S Korea and Taiwan to test, suppress and contain early when it was still possible. We are the richest and most advanced country in the history of the world. We can afford to mass test everyone months ago, Just like we could afford this this 2 trillion bailout.
If you are asking what we should do from here on out, I%u2019m afraid the answers will be controversial and convoluted. We are in a lose lose situation. The trade-off between economic vitality and human life is stark.
I would do an emergency 4 months of UBI stimulus like Canada, institute a 3 months shelter in place (because I don%u2019t believe we are capable of a lockdown China style)
I know this will probably trigger a lot of conservatives, the individual freedom loving crowd, and the socialism bad crowd. But without it, we are faced with whether to sacrifice grandparents for economic vitality. If we can break out of the mold of thinking economic value and human value are the same thing, we can do both. We are still the world%u2019s reserve currency and at such low cost to borrow, we can afford to.
Things that should be done: Tests, protective gear, social distancing, infrared technology, quarantine tracking (by cell phone, if that is too expensive have the quarantine people where an ankle bracelet), thermometers check before entering buildings such as hospitals, courts, business, etc.. (civil liberty issue? But I hear daycares/preschools are doing it now)
I do not understand the richest country in the world is so unprepared for this. Also, no action is being done to get more ventilators or medical equipment.
We need to get on the right track. Smell the coffee and wake up. Turn up the energy.
I agree but the problem is, and what I and others have said, US is a much different country/culture/government than others where those kind of measures will work. It's not just about being the richest, there are many other variables that money has difficulty overcoming.
Let's just take citizen tracking for example. Will you give up your privacy so that the government can track your location? Where your neighbors can pull up a city website and see that your home has 2 Covid positive cases? I don't even know how effective cell phone tracking is as you can leave the devices at home while you go out, people can just buy a burner, etc. We don't have the bandwidth to put an ankle tracker on the kind of numbers we are looking at (and that type of effort would be better put towards ventilators/masks).
To that subject, how do we speed up production of ventilators in days with the proper oversight so that these devices will function as necessary and not cause more issues?
Kenokoko's UBI proposal is interesting but is it feasible? How do you determine the amount for 4 months of stimulus? Will it be income capped like the current bill? What is an appropriate amount for basic needs like food/shelter/living needs? And if everyone is sheltered in, who will produce/deliver the basic necessities that everyone will need?
Let's use the Yang $1000/mo:
For 4 months that's $4k per person times 330m people... that's a staggering 1.32 Trillion dollars... what is the economic impact of printing that kind of money?
**Edit: Bad math. Trillion not quadrillion. See later post, real number for the UBI plan could be higher or lower.**
To be fair, I can't analyze other people's solutions without providing any of my own. To me, flattening the curve is probably the best way to slow the spread and reduce the impact on medical resources. Most of this has already been said but:
1. Heavily enforce social distancing and separation rules.
2. Allow businesses to re-open as long as they adhere to #1's guidelines. If any of you have been to any retail stores or restaurants, they have done things like using online methods to pay to minimize transfer contact between people.
3. Determine what businesses can operate under a "socially distant" model and allow them to operate just like essential businesses.
4. Increase testing and give certification to people who are either immune or have recovered so that they can work in businesses that require close contact. The criticism here is are these tests possible (I've heard there are experimental anti-bodies tests) and how do you make them widespread.
5. Ramp up production on PPE gear that's easy to manufacture and make it a requirement for usage outside of your home during a certain "social distancing" period of time. I can see resistance to this like groups who may have some religious/cultural/anti-vax reasons.
I'm just worried this is the new normal. We haven't been able to beat the flu and every year, despite flu shots, tons of people die annually and now with something like Covid, what's going to prevent future strains from evolving that are worse?
We need to step up medicine/science/technology to get ahead of these viruses so they can create vaccines, cures and treatments to reduce fatalities.
It's funny, because ever since the Internet came into prominence, we've been telling people to put down their devices and socialize... and now everyone has to go back to their screens to maintain their health.
And then there is the other aspect qwerty and others talk about, how does this sheltering affect our mental health, economy and society? Will I never be able to play a pick-up game of basketball unless we are all wearing hazmat suits or everyone has a certification bracelet saying they have been vaxxed or are immune to the Covid-20 or Covid-21 virus? NBA2k20 is not as satisfying as draining a 3 in Homer's face (where has that guy been?).
Edit: Typo on Yang's name
