Public health restrictions

[Nick1911]

As we all know, the US has been putting public health actions in place recently.  States have been mandating restaurants, theaters, gyms and other places of congregation close. 

Do you think current, mandatory, public health restrictions being put in place in the US are reasonable considering what we know of COVID19 currently?

[MillCreek]

Based on my work in healthcare, I am in the 'should have done this sooner' camp.

[DittoHead]

Until testing is caught up, it's necessary.

[230RN]

Yes, appropriate, since population per cubic foot of air is a significant transmission factor.

It may have been done sooner, but healrh care officials  needed to be sure they were not jumping the gun on such drastic countermeasures and subject to later criticism on that account, so you can't blame them for the human (as opposed to scientific) delay.

Terry, 230RN

[Unisaw]

I'm with MillCreek -- sooner would have been better -- but I suspect compliance would have been a big problem initially.

[Jamisjockey]

Based on my work in healthcare, I am in the 'should have done this sooner' camp.

Based on his work in healthcare, much of it should have been done sooner.

Cities and travel are my biggest gripe.  So many big cities jerked around making decisions and now they've got major clusters.  And the unmitigated travel to and from world hotspots, and hotspots in the US....shame on Uncle Sam.

My biggest gripe has been the dropped ball on availability of testing.  Italy is about to probably hit their peak of cases.  We're on a 10 day curve behind them, if we make smart decisions.

[AZRedhawk44]

I'm not much for any centralized authoritating or originated violence.

Candid and urgent calls for voluntary self-quarantine are fine.  Get info out and inform best ways to protect self and others.  Then let people make their own mistakes.

Police and NG blockades are just going to raise hackles all over, though.

[RoadKingLarry]

With as much bitching about it as there was I think if they had done it sooner the outcry and push back would have been enough to.cause problems

[Hawkmoon]

My biggest gripe has been the dropped ball on availability of testing.

Absolutely.

I read today that the administration learned we didn't have enough test kits from the media. That sounds terrible for Trump, but ... he's not a doctor, and he doesn't personally run the CDC. It smells to me like someone (probably plural) at the CDC knew they didn't have enough testing capacity and they were all too chicken to tell the boss.

[RoadKingLarry]

How much of our lack of testing availability is do precursors and components being made in China?

[230RN]

AZRedhawk44:

I'm not much for any centralized authoritating or originated violence.

Candid and urgent calls for voluntary self-quarantine are fine.  Get info out and inform best ways to protect self and others.  Then let people make their own mistakes.

I dislike being authoritated, too, but your "mistake" may kill me as well as you.

[Northwoods]

Missing the option to blame fistful.

[makattak]

I picked premature because we are enforcing these restrictions in places prematurely.

In Seattle, NY, LA, etc... it is perfectly appropriate. In sparsely populated areas with 0 cases within 2-3 hours (or more!) we are acting hastily.

We need the decisions made more locally than a governor shutting down the whole state because Chicago is in danger, for example.

[RocketMan]

The public health restrictions have been an overreaction on the part of government at all levels. When this whole beer virus thing is over, we will find that the number of people that died as a result of COVID-19 will be a fraction of those that die from the flu during a normal flu season.  And the total number of COVID-19 infections will also be a small fraction of the number of flu cases reported in a typical season.
But at least we will have a ruined national (and possibly world) economy to show for it.

[AJ Dual]

I feel sympathetic to the government for once. Public perception of the response is a guaranteed no-win situation.

Clamp down with all quarantine and social distancing measures, and the infected rate and death rate are low, they overreacted.

Do the minimum, tell at-risk people to stay home, cancel a few of the largest public events and do nothing else, and the infection rate and deaths are substantially higher than a flu season, it was incompetence and an under-reaction.

And getting a clear picture of the data to say which is/was appropriate has been a complete *expletive deleted*it-show. The number of infected, vs. the number confirmed through actual testing, different nations with different criteria, and China outright lying has everyone chasing their tails debating the actual risk.

[brimic]

I'll admit, this whole scenario has made me swing from libertarian/minarchist right to jackboot. I'd like to think that people would make rational choices that are for their own and society's good, but I've been proven wrong. Stupid people will kill us all, if not reigned in.

[MechAg94]

AZRedhawk44:

I dislike being authoritated, too, but your "mistake" may kill me as well as you.

So pull your guns out and force him to do what you want.  That is what you are advocating govt do. 

[MechAg94]

As long as this really is just temporary, I can live with it.  If they expect to maintain this for long, then I have to ask what sort of country we want to have. 

[BlueStarLizzard]

I think things have been done too much too late.

The idea was to slow it down and give our medical infrastructure a little breathing room and the time they needed to prep for Corvid 19 patients, have room to deal with both Corvid 19 and their normal run of patients, and getting the testing sorted and ready to roll.

Instead the Stoopids are trying to shut down the world thinking they can shut down the virus. They waited too long for it too be effective, the testing isn't available like it needs to be and all they're going to accomplish is to tank the economy. 

It seems like most of our officials are just running around in circles screaming "Look! Look! I'm doing something!" every time they push another form of lock down, but none them are actually doing something constructive.

[Ron]

I went with appropriate even though sooner would have been better.

Unfortunately government is heavily influenced by consensus and often gets analysis paralysis.

Add in political concerns and ...

[Jamisjockey]

I went with appropriate even though sooner would have been better.

Unfortunately government is heavily influenced by consensus and often gets analysis paralysis.

Add in political concerns and ...

Literally what I was telling my wife about why the FAA has been super slow to take common sense measures to ensure continuity of service.

[Jim147]

I feel it needs to be appropriate for the local situation. Take Kansas as an example. The governor closed all schools for the rest of the year. The western towns well off I-70 may never see a case within 150 miles or more. Now kc metro and a few others it is totally ok with me to close the schools to help stop the spread.  But what if this is under control in a week? Not saying it will be but now what?

Yes even 80 miles from a major metro my daughter is out until at least 04-06. That is in MO.