https://covid19.healthdata.org/?fbclid=IwAR0sMhcrFHl9tRTDnMbpxYX-UGtzGLs_v1wzwHOnI6_xNZBvCJaxPDHecpg

This has really interesting info, broken out by each state. It's current as of yesterday. It's a big deal if they don't get a treatment that works, this wave runs through, and we still have 97% with no immunity for the next wave. My state peaks in about 4 weeks, we apparently have enough ICU beds and ventilators, but that's very dependent on the mantra of stay home and wash your hands.

Interesting side note - the hubby went grocery shopping this morning and said Walmart had a cart corral set up to apparently limit the number of people inside and the person manning the line was cleaning carts. He didn't have a to wait in line, but said only 8 clean carts were ready to go. He also got everything we needed which is a nice change and the store wasn't busy.

I heard a talking head on the radio this morning complaining that the "2 week of intense stay at home has not caused the flattening". someone called in and said "that's because the stay at home order is being ignored by too many people, until they take it serious, it will not flatten."

word...

Our governor has now issued a potential fine of $1,000 for not following the rule.

So I presume then that you would be willing to sign up for the human trial vaccine and then be intentionally exposed to the virus to see if the vaccine works, correct?

^^

You would be assuming incorrectly.

Please don't keep putting words in my mouth, I said overblown not insignificant.

You presume incorrectly, I fall into the high risk category so I wouldn't intentionally infect myself. But thanks for being so thoughtful.

I'm just not following what part you think is "overblown". If anything, the number of reported cases in this country is probably LOW by a factor of 5 or 10. Do you think the best-case scenario of 100,000 deaths is being "overblown"? Or the worst-case scenario of 2.2 million deaths is "overblown"? I'm asking seriously.....i just feel like we're way past the point of "overblown" even being a thing. Nothing personal, and i hope you stay healthy throughout this crisis.

Then help me understand with facts why you think this is overblown.

Part of my frustration with this whole situation is there are some many other areas where we could take action to improve the lives of so many but because of lobbying and other factors we haven't. For example smoking, according to the CDC:
Smoking leads to disease and disability and harms nearly every organ of the body.

More than 16 million Americans are living with a disease caused by smoking.
For every person who dies because of smoking, at least 30 people live with a serious smoking-related illness.
Smoking causes cancer, heart disease, stroke, lung diseases, diabetes, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), which includes emphysema and chronic bronchitis.
Smoking also increases risk for tuberculosis, certain eye diseases, and problems of the immune system, including rheumatoid arthritis.
Smoking is a known cause of erectile dysfunction in males.
Smoking is the leading cause of preventable death.

Worldwide, tobacco use causes more than 7 million deaths per year.2 If the pattern of smoking all over the globe doesn’t change, more than 8 million people a year will die from diseases related to tobacco use by 2030.3
Cigarette smoking is responsible for more than 480,000 deaths per year in the United States, including more than 41,000 deaths resulting from secondhand smoke exposure. This is about one in five deaths annually, or 1,300 deaths every day.1
On average, smokers die 10 years earlier than nonsmokers.4
If smoking continues at the current rate among U.S. youth, 5.6 million of today’s Americans younger than 18 years of age are expected to die prematurely from a smoking-related illness. This represents about one in every 13 Americans aged 17 years or younger who are alive today.1

Why don't we outlaw smoking? If we are worried about overwhelming our health care system why don't we make smoking illegal and severely punish those that don't comply? We have never seen such sweeping actions taken for things we deal with everyday.

I agree with you that the number of reported cases is very low. That means that many many more people have it and it is having almost no health impact on those individuals. Again, I don't want people to die from this but I do feel it is being given much more attention than it merits.

If you think this is overblown, I can only assume you do not have a family member that is working in healthcare. I have two daughters on the front line here in Upstate NY, one is an RN at a large state hospital. Believe me it is not overblown.[/quote]

You would be assuming incorrectly.[/quote]

Then help me understand with facts why you think this is overblown.
[/quote]

You assumed that I do not have a family member working in healthcare but I have a few. I have spoken to only one of them so I can't speak for the others but they said that while they do have some additional procedures in place, they are not seeing the sky falling as indicated by the media.

You have several times indicated "the media" is overblowing it. If so, then so is the President, Congress, the CDC, leaders of industry, etc. I mean....fair is fair. The media didn't shut down the economy. If i hear Dr. Fauci, President Trump, or Lester Holt talk about this pandemic, i get the same vibe--this is serious, this is currently bad, it probably will get worse--but we'll get through it. I really think they're on the same page.

Sure, I'm happy to concede that this whole thing is being overblown by more than the media. You still didn't address anything in my post about smoking....

Big difference. You choose to smoke, you choose to die. You choose to run around while you are infected - you kill other people whether you personally happen to be sick from it or not. But if you believe that we should just all go along with our business as usual and let Covid-19 run its natural course without attempted restriction and kill millions of people in the US versus hopefully a few 100 thousand, everyone is entitled to their own opinion.

You stated: On average, smokers die 10 years earlier than nonsmokers.

Which by the way is the result of years of smoking.

During the 1918 flu pandemic, in one year the average lifespan of a person in the US dropped 12 years.

You would be assuming incorrectly.[/quote]

Then help me understand with facts why you think this is overblown.
[/quote]

You assumed that I do not have a family member working in healthcare but I have a few. I have spoken to only one of them so I can't speak for the others but they said that while they do have some additional procedures in place, they are not seeing the sky falling as indicated by the media.[/quote]

Rock;
I respect your opinion and do not mean any disrespect. I am thankful that your family member in healthcare has not seen the sky falling, my daughter has not seen the sky falling either because her hospital has very strict protocols in place to protect the patients and staff. That still does not mitigate the fact that this virus is a killer.
Stay well

Because there is too much money to be made both by the corporations producing cigarettes and by the government taxing cigarettes.

That said, I still don't get how this is "overblown". Is the media overblowing the panic? Of course they are, because panic sells eyeballs and eyeballs equals revenue. But is the government overblowing things? I really don't think so at the point. Politicizing, maybe, but not necessarily overblowing the severity.

Worldwide Total Confirmed Cases
Updated 8 min ago
1,289,380

Active cases
948,418


Recovered cases
270,372

Fatal cases
70,590

Randy, I'm not saying its the same either, just that it is another way we can save countless lives and save on the burden of our healthcare infrastructure. True the individual who choses to smoke will self inflict the consequence but what about their children and others that are in proximity to their smoking are now suffering the consequences of their illness. Also, now the person has COPD and is in the hospital using a respirator that is not now available to a 36 year old otherwise health mother of 4 who now dies from COVID 19 because there is a shortage of respirators. Again, obviously can't compare apples to apples to COVID but would be much easier scourge to eradicate.

There is a virtual funeral being held in about 10 minutes would you like the details?

Also as I stated before it would depend on the location.

I am in a hot spot and we do not even have a stay at home order just a request, so not so overblown here. One would say under blown. And yes some people in my area are stupid.

In PA they gave a ticket to a driver alone in her car for violation of Stay at Home. Over blown.

smoking, obesity, alcoholism, cancer, etc doesn't kill you in 7-14 days, this potentially does, and your chances increase tremendously if you have underlying health issues. surely you can see the difference and that your responses are coming off a tad cavalier.

I have a coworker who lost both her mother and father yesterday to COVID, my heart is breaking for her loss. I can't imagine telling her that the media response is overblown...

and while her parents were practicing stay at home, they were letting the kids and grandkids come and visit, so likely a family member is responsible for their infection and death. I'd certainly hate to be the kid or grandkid carrying that burden.

Happy - prayers for your co-worker and her family and to everyone who has lost a loved one during this crisis. I also initially thought this was being overblown, but my mind was changed dramatically a few weeks ago. What is going on his horrible and as I sit at my desk while I work from home I can see the neighbor children playing together in the lot across the street. While my county has only two positive virus tests, Tennessee is now under the 'order'. My husband ran this morning (allowed and a solo sport) and said he saw more people out today than normal.

Calling some people scumbags is unfair to actual bags of scum.

Bags o' scum

some people just suck.

That right there is the underbelly of society, shame on anyone who does that.