I'm afraid the coronavirus is going to very bad in the USA

[MikeWaters]

1. We did not confine it at all. It has spread all across the country. It's not confined to Wuhan like China. Or to Northern Italy, as in Italy. Here in the USA we let it spread to every single major area. So we are going to get large outbreaks everywhere, first on the coasts, then in flyover country.

2. We have a lot of really sick people in the country. Lots of people with bad health. Lots of fat people. Diabetes. Hypertension. You name it.

3. We have a lot of vulnerable populations outside the sick. We have a large homeless population, prison population, slums etc.

4. We have a large cadre of persons who never or rarely access medical care and don't have insurance of any sort. For example, how many of the 20% of drivers in Dallas that don't have vehicular insurance actually have some kind of health insurance? There is a safety net system in Dallas that is de facto insurance, but still, you have a lot of people who will not intelligently utilize the healthcare system.

5. The utter and complete fiasco that is the lack of testing. This will be viewed as one of the greatest medical tragedies in American healthcare history.

6. The lack of PPE equipment. A lot of people are going to get sick because of this. We are talking about the healthcare workers that are interacting with confirmed or potential infected persons. None of the systems were prepared to have the level of equipment needed for such an emergency. What might have lasted for one month in regular circumstances now only lasts for 3 days. It's like we needed the healthcare system to act like paranoid preppers, but instead they saved money by using just-in-time inventory.

[MikeWaters]

It's been almost a month since I posted this. Has it been as bad as I thought, so far? Mixed bag I think. Some parts of the country are doing fine (relatively), and some are suffering greatly.

I think we should consider ourselves (Americans) lucky so far, given our utter lack of preparation, even though we were the last continent hit with the virus and had more time to prepare.

I live in an area that seems to have been relatively spared so far, just due to dumb luck. Of being in flyover country, and not having a lot of public transportation and the like.

But it's not over yet. We may have several cycles of this. And then hopefully our situation improves because some of the things previously missing have come into play (testing, PPE).

[Archaea]

Originally Posted by MikeWaters

It's been almost a month since I posted this. Has it been as bad as I thought, so far? Mixed bag I think. Some parts of the country are doing fine (relatively), and some are suffering greatly.

I think we should consider ourselves (Americans) lucky so far, given our utter lack of preparation, even though we were the last continent hit with the virus and had more time to prepare.

I live in an area that seems to have been relatively spared so far, just due to dumb luck. Of being in flyover country, and not having a lot of public transportation and the like.

But it's not over yet. We may have several cycles of this. And then hopefully our situation improves because some of the things previously missing have come into play (testing, PPE).

A lack of a central authority, or at least an effective one, is contributing to the problems we're experiencing.

I have been studying some of the other systems that have been more effective such as Singapore and Germany. Lots to learn. Our system needs an overhaul but won't get it.

[MikeWaters]

I just got a 3 day suspension from Jefe for saying "Some lessons are never learned."

[MikeWaters]

Now over 100,000 deaths per worldometers. Deaths 303 per million. With Sweden at 409 per million.

Wouldn't it be nice to have just as bad an economy but 33% more deaths. /sarcasm