An interesting theory:

It was postulated to me that China ALLOWED the Covid-19 Coronavirus to escape it’s borders and deliberately  downplayed the seriousness of the outbreak in order that, while it;s economy would be seriously damaged by the disease and the social disruptions, if it should get into the world population and damage the rest of the world’s social structure and economies it would keep us ll on the same level.

Further, if the schedule was such that China would begin recovering first, then they would have a “Leg Up” on the rest of the world.

I’m not sure that I can buy that, but I did find it disturbing to think about….that people, even the Chinese leadership, might think in those terms.

I suppose it could be that I am naive. 

An old saying:

“Pigs get fat, Hogs get slaughtered”

The DNC types (and, lets face it some RNC types as well) tried to load up the bailout bill with a whole shitload of pork for their pet projects in order to advance their chosen philosophy…

and, had they chosen one or two items, it might be that they had gotten their wishes, and the fight to remove those items would not have been worth the fight or political capital….and they’d have likely gotten that funding for some of their pet projects.

As it was, they loaded so much Pork onto the Stimulus Bill, that it WAS worth the effort to get it removed…

And in doing so, the victory by Trump damaged their cause and their standing with the American People badly.
It backfired.

Observations:

I’ve been mostly staying at home this past few days.,

“Social Distancing” as it were, with a vengeance.
(I’m lucky that I don’t need to leave the house for anything important, so I haven’t been….)

Anyway, I needed some fresh milk, vegetables and some chips and some cheese and a few other incidentals, so I ventured out to the store.

Wow.
What a difference a week makes.

Firstly, the store wasn’t crowded. The shelves were not fully stocked, but, for the most part, there was  some of everything….although folks that work at the store that I am friendly with told me that they had been told that things were simply not in stock at the warehouse, so expect shortages soon…..

The folks that were at the store were friendly, but were practicing “Social Distancing” People were almost afraid to invade that magical 6 foot envelope. they talked, they just kept their distance,
For the folks that were unable to determine what 8 foot means, there were helpful signs placed more or less the correct distance apart to show people how far away they should stand from each other….lots of  well made very well designed (lots of the nuances I learned about in my advertising design classes long, long ago) signs like that. (More on that later).

Unlike before , people were tolerant and polite. everyone appears to be trying out the new rules. No one is sure exactly what they should do, but at least they are being polite about it.

There is now clear plexiglass (lexan) panels in front of the folks behind the counter, separating the customers from the cashiers…but the folks bagging the groceries have no such protection. Nice idea, but FAIL.

The Starbucks in the outlot of the grocery store had a line of cars wrapped all the way around it. IN fact, one and a half times around it. People , despite the current situation must really need that Carmel Latte Macchiato to survive. (or whatever the hell overpriced and expensive sounding drink they buy at a Starbucks). I would estimate that the wait time in the Drive-Up line exceeded 35 minutes.

For the most part, traffic was about a quarter to a third of “normal” on a Saturday.

A part of me….the part that thinks that Reynolds-Wrap is a fine material for a beanie….cannot help but wonder where those very well made and finely nuanced vinyl signs that were stuck all over the floor came from. Seriously, there were over a hundred and fifty of them in just the one store I went into…and it wasn’t a huge grocery store. (a normal sized midwest grocery store, probably originally built on the 80’s, may have been a Jewel-Osco or Kroger at one time long ago…..I realize that printers can move quickly, but it was almost odd the stickers….as if someone had them ready….and this whole  “Social Distancing” thing is a just an experiment in conditioning of the populace…(much like I sometimes wonder about the TSA). I seriously doubt the effectiveness of the magical 6 foot spacing…either people are sneezing and coughing and putting droplets of mucus out into the air, or they aren’t…and if they are, then we are breathing that, and 6 foot is not enough to keep us safe.

Anyway, that is the report from Northwest Indiana for Saturday, March 28, 2020. 

I woke up this morning

And it was a dreary, rainy morning.

And it kinda felt like this was the manifestation of the first chapter of a really badly written dystopian science fiction novella …

It was kinda weird.

But then I realized that, while it might be like that in New York, it wasn’t that bad here, where I live.

So I counted my blessings and went on living.

You should too, if you can.

Real numbers

And, a lesson on statistics.

While I believe that most of my readers CAN see things this way, and can understand statistics,  just in case, you should READ THIS. 

As we test for more cases, we find that the rate of death is remaining pretty stable. we find that the rate of people dying looks to be just a bit over 1%. Not that the death of 1% of the Coronavirus sufferers is not tragic…it is. But it isn’t the 10% that the WHO told us might happen.

And, having said that, Aesop has a great commentary on a previous post here as to why that number of people hitting the hospitals is overwhelming their ability to care for these people.

One statistic I DO NOT have, and would like to have, is the number of people with severe cases of Covid-19 that need a ventilator that recover. In other words, if you get bad enough that you need a ventilator, and are placed on a ventilator, what are your chances of recovery? 50%? 20%? 10%? I suspect that people that get sick enough to need  a ventilator may not recover no matter what care is given.  I hope I am incorrect. I simply don’t know, as there is, again, simply no data to be had. It would be a good bit of information to know though.

Things that we should ponder

SO since restaurants are closed, and people can only get food from them via delivery or take-out, in many locations the liquor rules that would “normally” prohibit the sale of alcoholic beverages under these circumstance have been “relaxed”. (and it is a pretty cool world where you can get a margarita DELIVERED to your door, innit?)

Now, if there was a good reason to prohibit the sale of alcohol in such circumstances 2 weeks ago, those same reasons should exist today….right?

Or, if the sale of alcohol is OK in these trying times, then why shouldn’t it be OK 6 weeks or two months from now when this coronavirus crisis has ebbed?

I mean, if we were restricting the sale of alcohol to on-premise consumption for some reason other than to keep the prohibitionist people happy enough that they would stay quiet and now they’ve been told to shut up, then is that a good reason to put those restrictions back when this is all over?

I’m thinking that this is but one example of rules and regulations…laws and ordinances that could be stricken from the books when things get more normal shaped.

Relaxing the rules on when truckers can drive, how long they are on duty? We were told that this was to make us safer on the roads. But have we sacrificed any safety by letting those drivers drive an extra hour or two just so that the shelves of the local supermarket can be stocked with cereal? With more Toilet Paper? With Frozen orange juice?

I could bring other examples to this, but at some point it becomes redundant.

And, again, if our government can still make the wheels turn and the busses run on time and the water flow and such with only “essential personnel” in place, then do we really need all those other people in those offices eating up tax dollars? Yes, those offices probably DO need a few more than those few working today, but do we really need to have the other 50-75 (or more) percent of the staff that is currently “Sheltering in Place” if they are able to accomplish their duties right now?

When this is all over, we should push for a closer look at ALL the laws that were relaxed for the “emergency” and see if we really need ’em. And we should seriously look at cutting staffing in local, county and state office, much less the Federal ones.

Mask shortage

SO why can’t the masks be sterilized in an autoclave?

Do hospitals still even have autoclaves anymore?

How about misting the masks with isopropyl? It is a pretty good sterilization agent (the active ingredient in that Hand Sanitizer people use instead of handwashing). It’s cheap and readily available. Easy to apply….  one could easily wet the surfaces with a mist using a simple airbrush. (might need ventilation as the fumes can be flammable) and let them dry for a few hours.

Of course, they could just stop using the masks ONCE for each time they enter and then leave the room….but yes, I know…”Protocol”. But that protocol assumes an unlimited supply of those masks. Now that supply is finite. so one would think they would change that “Protocol”.

Someone has a brain

Indianapolis 500 is rescheduled.

‘Cause having 235,000 people in (more or less) one place in the next few weeks is probably a REALLY bad idea.

Plus, let’s face it, having all those folks travel, be it by air or auto, then packed into motels restaurants and bars, then at the parking areas waiting on the shuttles, then in lines, then back to the motels, restaurants and bars, then the travel home…..It would be a mass infection event.

Prudent precaution there.

If only our Federal government had been that prudent in January…..

Question:

Yeah, I know, I ask a LOT of questions. Blame my parents.

Anyway….

So New York City claims 20,000 new infections of Coronavirus.

So far, it appears that the virus causes few symptoms in most people, at most 15-20% of them need ANY sort of care.

NY also claims that the “Hospitals are overwhelmed”.

Really? They can’t handle a load of 4000 coronavirus patients? Remember, they’ve already cancelled most elective surgery, and they have recalled as many retired health care folks as they can find….

The numbers just don’t add up. Around 7% of people need some sort of care when they get Covid-19 on average. If the group of people that get it is older than normal, that number can double. At most, 20% of them might need some sort of skilled care.

so 20% of 20,000 is….4000 people. Probably less than half that will really need some care from hospital staff.

Four thousand people MIGHT need a bed and some care. Might. likely (at a max) 5% will need intensive care. (1000 people). Maybe. If these numbers hit the high end of the statistics we already have seen and collected for this disease.

Even if it is four thousand…..You gonna tell me that NY can’t handle four thousand people?

Are their hospitals that poorly staffed? Are there that few hospitals per population?

Something doesn’t make sense.