re: Here’s some evidence that certain reporters want more testing so that things look worse

quote:

---

I still think (and nate silver agrees with me) that you have to take into account how geographically large america is. You were never going to see our country get hit at the same time and recover at the same time

---

I agree in part. The country is too large to all get hit at once, but it is not a given that outbreaks will eventually happen everywhere. Said another way, there are things we could have done to control COVID after the NY/NJ debacle of March and April that would have limited the outbreaks that are occurring now in AZ, TX, FL, etc. Further, it is still not clear what the plans are to control the disease there or anywhere else.

quote:

---

When are we going to see the death rate rise?

---

About 5 days ago.

quote:

---

Positive cases are spiking because of the amount of tests taking place.

---

This is only partially true. Case positivity rates have gone up as well.

quote:

---

Should we deaths start to spike this week/month?

---

Gosh, I hope not.

quote:

---

Said another way, there are things we could have done to control COVID after the NY/NJ debacle of March and April that would have limited the outbreaks that are occurring now in AZ, TX, FL, etc.

---

What things?

I remember when people were furious we didn't have enough test kits. So now we have so many people getting tested, a small percentage testing positive and they're still furious. Then... there's the false positive tests and they're furious anyway. Forget being never-Trumpers, these people are never-happy either.

The thing I always looked at was the number of people being tested/testing positive and the death rate lowering. This isn't the blame of an individual - nobody can babysit the infected and force them to stay inside, yet some people will still never be happy.

quote:

---

I suppose there are a number of ways to skin this cat and pretty much every rich country in the world other than us has figured it out. So the most important thing is to have an actual strategy with an actual goal in mind which we still at this later date do not have.

---

The rest of the world meaning Europe and Asia?

Asian countries for the most part aren't reporting anything last I checked sans japan and South Korea.

Europe hasn't even opened up there economies yet, correct?

England just opened their pubs for the first time last week and the entire media made a shite show of it.

quote:

---

- re-opening based on a set of standards as opposed to political calculations

---

1. Where is the economy, education and health of our children, as well as health of society in a broad sense in your standards/calculations here?

How many unemployed do we need before we make the grown-up decision that, well, bad things sometimes happen and it's silly to think it's government's role (let alone within its capabilities) to make sure old/sick people don't die of a cold virus?

And about these standards, I agree we should take the politics out of them - so let's have the discussion about health outcomes of lockdowns, closed schools, sheltering in place, etc. and compare that to the effectiveness/efficiency of lockdowns.

2. Are we going to do this with every virus/flu that is stronger than normal? Because if we're talking standards, then these standards should be "standard" in non-presidential election years.

quote:

---

a heavy push toward voluntary universal masking. PSAs and encouragement to that end from all arm and orifices of power in society.

---

You could start with showing real evidence that masks work. Everyone advocating for them pretends it's out there "in plain sight" but it isn't. I'm not saying it doesn't exist, but I can say that I've asked at least 5 posters on this site for links to the science and they've not been able to come up with anything that's actually science.

And on masks, if they really were effective - why would we need any more mitigating measures (behind normal good hygiene?)

quote:

---

Do you believe we have handled this optimally as compared to the rest of the world given our resources?

---

I think we would have been far better off spending all our COVID dollars on isolating old folks and those with serious/compromising medical issues. That's it. No lockdowns. The virus is going to make its way through the population anyway, so if we focused on isolating/treating those at high risk - let it burn.

quote:

---

The rest of the world meaning Europe and Asia?

---

I mean the rich countries. There are a couple in Oceania that are doing perfectly fine.

quote:

---

Asian countries for the most part aren't reporting anything last I checked sans japan and South Korea.

---

Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong are making out pretty well. Anyhow, Japan and S. Korea count, right? How have they managed this whole ordeal? Might there be something or somethings they are doing that we might learn from? I'm just saying they're playing baseball in front of crowds in Taiwan but not here.

quote:

---

Europe hasn't even opened up there economies yet, correct?

---

Europe involves a lot of places that have varying degrees of openness. Put it this way, we can;t fly there now. Clearly, most of those countries are handling the disease better than we are.

quote:

---

England just opened their pubs for the first time last week and the entire media made a shite show of it.

---

Well because it's a bad idea. We don't have a monopoly on those...

quote:

---

journalists use the scary numbers the mass testing produces to push a narrative

---

Of course. That's what they do. It's all they do. It shouldn't surprise anyone anymore. They have no interest in hiding it.

quote:

---

Which countries right now economically speaking have businesses open?

---

As best I can tell, every country has business open, give or take a Cuba or N. Korea.

quote:

---

Outside of wearing masks what other measures are said European countries "that are handling it better" doing? While keeping their economies and businesses open.

---

I listed a few of them earlier in the thread.

quote:

---

We banned travel from Europe earlier this year and I doubt it's because we were handling it better.

---

We banned travel from Europe because our NY outbreak was sourced largely from people traveling in from Europe. Eventually, pretty much everywhere banned travel from pretty much everywhere else. The EU now allows international travel again, just not from the US specifically because we are managing so much worse.

Are you really of the belief that we're doing this well? Germany has about as many new cases per day as Iowa. Why can't that be us?

quote:

---

Or half the testing that Florida is doing, despite having 4x the population.

---

Let's try this again. Florida is doing 99,000 tests of the community and 11% are positive. Germany is doing 70,000 test per day of largely of people who are either symptomatic or people they have identified as having been exposed and yet of those 70,000 people 300 are positive (0.4%) Do you think if Germany started testing more asymptomatic people that rate would rise or fall?