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Originally Posted by LessinSF
I am. At least in California and San Francisco, the curve has been flattened. There are enough unused healthcare and hospital resources that they have resumed "non-essential" surgeries. Taken at face value that the lockdown orders were to prevent an overwhelming of the healthcare system, that concern is apparently now moot..
You should be right, but no. Most people I deal with seem to think that their home-stay, mask, and social distancing avoidance will make them free from exposure. People I normally consider smart are fighting me on the fact that it is endemic. If you haven't been exposed, you will be. To use a cliche, the cat is out of the bag. But, way fucking after the fact, we have political tools like our mayor (London Breed) ordering thhe wearing of face masks for no good reason.
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We have way more beds than we need in my state as well. But why take a chance with relaxing social distancing? The extremists (the unlettered sorts referenced in your second paragraph) will pounce on even the slightest cluster of cases to demand a resumption of lockdown. I think it’s deeply unwise to abandon social distancing quickly. It must be done incrementally, as exposures drive us closer to the 60-70% we need for herd immunity.
As to your second paragraph, I’ve struggled with how to address that illogic. My wife says I should not be as blunt as you and I have been here. But the counter to that is that to allow that delusional thinking to persist stymies efforts to develop a sensible solution. Every person thinking he can duck this thing until we get a vaccine is a problem. I disagree with you about the number of these people among us, but whatever it is, I definitely think that they all need to have the narrative in their head adjusted to reality. People need to wrap their psyches around the idea they are very likely to get it before this is under control.
24/7 news is the biggest problem here. It’s a miracle opportunity for them — endless doom porn. And it serves their interests to make it worse by scaring people as much as possible. The more fear, the longer it takes for the economy to resume, the more people stay shut-in and read more doom porn. And the media loves pushing the “economy vs. health concerns” false choice. It’s the new Red v. Blue they can serve their credulous audiences. 24/7 news has a captured market it can keep and grow by causing the economy to get worse. It’s a golden ticket for them.
