I've noticed that CBers who write a lot of posts tend to be bullish about C19 is not a big deal. I wonder if we could dig deeper to see the real demographics of where each CBer lives and then see which posters live in which states or countries. My bet would be most of our more bullish (it's not as big a deal as the media states) live in western states where the virus hasn't hit as hard. I think where we live, who we know are personally affected, are a big deal in determining how seriously we take this disease. Also, are they small business owners? Are they in jobs affected the most by the shutdowns? Political status has to be taken into consideration, are they anti-Trump or Pro-Trump.

There are now reportedly 3 strains of this disease. From what I understand we're dealing with two in the US. The Italian and Iranian versions have been predominant in New York. The Wuhan "lighter" version may very well have come over earlier as some think in December before they shut off flights. Trump should have also shut down European flights a bit earlier, but how much heat would he have taken over that one?

The stay at home orders has slowed the spread. But at a terrible cost economically. Trump is in a no-win situation. If the American public does not take how this spreads more seriously (and in hard-hit areas they are - but not in Utah or Idaho) then going back to
work gradually, having enough PPE's to protect workers, is critical. The problem is in the areas where people don't take precautions to protect themselves and others this virus will just take off again and cause government to shut it down. Overwhelming the hospital system is not okay in any scenario even at putting the economy at risk. So again, the American public needs to buy into the measures Trump and governors will be rolling out soon to allow the economy to be opened back up.

The problem with opening up schools in May like the Florida governor is pushing is that even if most kids are relatively unharmed by the virus, even having minor symptoms will be brought back to the home and Mom and Dad may be hit pretty hard, thereby keeping them home from work, in some cases having to end up in the hospital. Again, it defeats the purpose of slowing it up if we're just going to clog the hospitals again. I don't think we're yet at the capacity in our health systems to rip the band-aid off yet and say, go for it, we can handle the surge if it happens again.

Finally, if there are really some drugs, like hydroxychloroquine that work for the most part, then for crying out loud lets mass produce it and get it out early so that this is a thing of the past. You start feeling sick, go get your 5-minute test, if you test positive run down to the pharmacy take your zinc and hydo for a week, all better. There is a way to get all the businesses back up and running, but until we come up with a vaccine, Americans NEED TO UNDERSTAND you will have to do some things we didn't have to do in the past. Quit being stubborn and just accept the fact we'll just deal with it for now. Eventually, it will be a bad dream if the vaccine reports are not bullyewt.