[BostonCard]

It was, and taken as such. Amazed at the lightning speed of the corrections, though. Almost as if a dog whistle went off somewhere. . .

I mean, it was low hanging fruit.

BC

[BostonCard]

It was, and taken as such. Amazed at the lightning speed of the corrections, though. Almost as if a dog whistle went off somewhere. . .

I mean, it was low hanging fruit.

BC

[82lsju]

a very high level outline of what indicators CA will use to re-open

https://www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/upload...-Order.pdf

[82lsju]

a very high level outline of what indicators CA will use to re-open

https://www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/upload...-Order.pdf

[cardcrimson]

a very high level outline of what indicators CA will use to re-open

https://www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/upload...-Order.pdf

Interesting. Maybe I'm a half full guy, but we're improving on most of those items. Testing the symptomatic/contact tracing, and checking the general public before they enter places seem to be the more difficult, and ACLU concerning, matters to resolve.

[cardcrimson]

a very high level outline of what indicators CA will use to re-open

https://www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/upload...-Order.pdf

Interesting. Maybe I'm a half full guy, but we're improving on most of those items. Testing the symptomatic/contact tracing, and checking the general public before they enter places seem to be the more difficult, and ACLU concerning, matters to resolve.

[BostonCard]

a very high level outline of what indicators CA will use to re-open

https://www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/upload...-Order.pdf

Interesting. Maybe I'm a half full guy, but we're improving on most of those items. Testing the symptomatic/contact tracing, and checking the general public before they enter places seem to be the more difficult, and ACLU concerning, matters to resolve.

I too have grown more optimistic.  My outlook has brightened considerably over the last week.  I can't cite any single piece of evidence that has made me more optimistic than before, but it's been an accumulation of little things that make me think that everything may turn out not as bad as the worst-case scenarios.

BC

[BostonCard]

a very high level outline of what indicators CA will use to re-open

https://www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/upload...-Order.pdf

Interesting. Maybe I'm a half full guy, but we're improving on most of those items. Testing the symptomatic/contact tracing, and checking the general public before they enter places seem to be the more difficult, and ACLU concerning, matters to resolve.

I too have grown more optimistic.  My outlook has brightened considerably over the last week.  I can't cite any single piece of evidence that has made me more optimistic than before, but it's been an accumulation of little things that make me think that everything may turn out not as bad as the worst-case scenarios.

BC

[dabigv13]

I will be more optimistic once we see cases and hospitalizations dropping. Right now we are in a steady state, and that's not too surprising as we are still early. But a steady state of close to full ICUs won't allow for relaxation.

I'm glad that California seems to have a good idea on next steps. But we still have very real supply issues on PPE and test swabs that don't look like they will be resolved for at least a month and likely longer.

[dabigv13]

I will be more optimistic once we see cases and hospitalizations dropping. Right now we are in a steady state, and that's not too surprising as we are still early. But a steady state of close to full ICUs won't allow for relaxation.

I'm glad that California seems to have a good idea on next steps. But we still have very real supply issues on PPE and test swabs that don't look like they will be resolved for at least a month and likely longer.

[magnus]

  I can't cite any single piece of evidence that has made me more optimistic than before, but it's been an accumulation of little things that make me think that everything may turn out not as bad as the worst-case scenarios.

BC

While many of us cite the worst case scenarios a lot (mainly to warn of what might happen if we didn't/don't take action), I didn't actually think we'd end up in a worst case scenario.  There are too many good people, institutions, etc in the US (and in the world) to allow a worst case scenario to happen, regardless of the people/institutions that are doing more harm than good.

[magnus]

  I can't cite any single piece of evidence that has made me more optimistic than before, but it's been an accumulation of little things that make me think that everything may turn out not as bad as the worst-case scenarios.

BC

While many of us cite the worst case scenarios a lot (mainly to warn of what might happen if we didn't/don't take action), I didn't actually think we'd end up in a worst case scenario.  There are too many good people, institutions, etc in the US (and in the world) to allow a worst case scenario to happen, regardless of the people/institutions that are doing more harm than good.

[Snorlax94]

I too have grown more optimistic.  My outlook has brightened considerably over the last week.  I can't cite any single piece of evidence that has made me more optimistic than before, but it's been an accumulation of little things that make me think that everything may turn out not as bad as the worst-case scenarios.

BC

I would say I’m a little more optimistic than I was a week ago.
[+] cases have flattened in many places in the US
[+] some states in the US have gotten their act together and are making progress on many fronts (ppe, testing), especially CA
[+] san mateo pho believes we’ve found only a small % of the cases, which, if true, means the cfr is much lower than we feared, and we may be able to achieve herd immunity faster and with fewer deaths than we feared
[+] made it a week without a major meltdown

[-] still no evidence I have heard that, outside of Mass, we are increasing the tracing and quarantine enforcement capabilities to needed levels in CA, USA
[-] Ro in the Bay Area still too high even in lockdown. Still many new cases daily even 4 weeks into the Lockdown, Stanford study shows 50% of young people self-report they aren’t complying. If people keep violating the SIP, the cases won’t reduce, and it will take longer, and people will get frustrated
[-] Still need at least another 10x in daily tests in CA, it’s been stuck at about 10k tests/day for a little while. For comparison, UW alone can process 3500/day
[-] As expected, less developed countries are starting to explode. The sham that is Russia is becoming exposed — they could be the next Italy. Every time this happens, it will fuel new outbreaks as foreign nationals flee hotspots and return home. Still no good plan in US I have seen for dealing with this — travel bans are too porous, too late, and poorly executed. The mad rush like people returning from Italy and standing in long lines in customs, with no followup quarantining or tracing, could end up making things much worse.

[Snorlax94]

I too have grown more optimistic.  My outlook has brightened considerably over the last week.  I can't cite any single piece of evidence that has made me more optimistic than before, but it's been an accumulation of little things that make me think that everything may turn out not as bad as the worst-case scenarios.

BC

I would say I’m a little more optimistic than I was a week ago.
[+] cases have flattened in many places in the US
[+] some states in the US have gotten their act together and are making progress on many fronts (ppe, testing), especially CA
[+] san mateo pho believes we’ve found only a small % of the cases, which, if true, means the cfr is much lower than we feared, and we may be able to achieve herd immunity faster and with fewer deaths than we feared
[+] made it a week without a major meltdown

[-] still no evidence I have heard that, outside of Mass, we are increasing the tracing and quarantine enforcement capabilities to needed levels in CA, USA
[-] Ro in the Bay Area still too high even in lockdown. Still many new cases daily even 4 weeks into the Lockdown, Stanford study shows 50% of young people self-report they aren’t complying. If people keep violating the SIP, the cases won’t reduce, and it will take longer, and people will get frustrated
[-] Still need at least another 10x in daily tests in CA, it’s been stuck at about 10k tests/day for a little while. For comparison, UW alone can process 3500/day
[-] As expected, less developed countries are starting to explode. The sham that is Russia is becoming exposed — they could be the next Italy. Every time this happens, it will fuel new outbreaks as foreign nationals flee hotspots and return home. Still no good plan in US I have seen for dealing with this — travel bans are too porous, too late, and poorly executed. The mad rush like people returning from Italy and standing in long lines in customs, with no followup quarantining or tracing, could end up making things much worse.

[g1313]

Of course you would know this better than me, but my read of the Santa Clara County dashboard (https://www.sccgov.org/sites/phd/Disease...board.aspx) is showing a steady state of about 1/3rd of ICU beds available. I realize this is with non-essential procedures deferred, and that's not enough to handle a surge, but how many would you ideally want to be open?

I will be more optimistic once we see cases and hospitalizations dropping. Right now we are in a steady state, and that's not too surprising as we are still early. But a steady state of close to full ICUs won't allow for relaxation.

I'm glad that California seems to have a good idea on next steps. But we still have very real supply issues on PPE and test swabs that don't look like they will be resolved for at least a month and likely longer.

[g1313]

Of course you would know this better than me, but my read of the Santa Clara County dashboard (https://www.sccgov.org/sites/phd/Disease...board.aspx) is showing a steady state of about 1/3rd of ICU beds available. I realize this is with non-essential procedures deferred, and that's not enough to handle a surge, but how many would you ideally want to be open?

I will be more optimistic once we see cases and hospitalizations dropping. Right now we are in a steady state, and that's not too surprising as we are still early. But a steady state of close to full ICUs won't allow for relaxation.

I'm glad that California seems to have a good idea on next steps. But we still have very real supply issues on PPE and test swabs that don't look like they will be resolved for at least a month and likely longer.

[Goose]

I would say I’m a little more optimistic than I was a week ago.

[+] cases have flattened in many places in the US

[+] some states in the US have gotten their act together and are making progress on many fronts (ppe, testing), especially CA

[+] san mateo pho believes we’ve found only a small % of the cases, which, if true, means the cfr is much lower than we feared, and we may be able to achieve herd immunity faster and with fewer deaths than we feared

[+] made it a week without a major meltdown



[-] still no evidence I have heard that, outside of Mass, we are increasing the tracing and quarantine enforcement capabilities to needed levels in CA, USA

You probably saw my post that San Mateo County Health says they will be ready to go. They are transferring people around in the Department to do so, but they say they will be ready. So maybe we aren't going to hear much about it if they can staff it in house. For sure restaurant inspectors will have less to do. I hope they aren't being overly optimistic.

[-] Ro in the Bay Area still too high even in lockdown. Still many new cases daily even 4 weeks into the Lockdown, Stanford study shows 50% of young people self-report they aren’t complying. If people keep violating the SIP, the cases won’t reduce, and it will take longer, and people will get frustrated

[-] Still need at least another 10x in daily tests in CA, it’s been stuck at about 10k tests/day for a little while. For comparison, UW alone can process 3500/day

Please take a look at http://depts.washington.edu/labmed/covid19/ On no day has UW accomplished 3500 tests. They have reached over 3000 once. The average is more like 1600 per day or so. It may well be they are capable 3500 a day and are just not being asked to do so. It is for sure true that early on in this epidemic UW claimed rates per day that in fact they could not (and did not) sustain. I don't know if testing capability in California is a problem for contact tracing. It may be as low as it is because of demand, not supply. The bar to getting a test is still pretty high. I am pretty sure that the Abbott Labs tests (or something similar) will need to be available to the county health workers to make timely contact tracing possible. Failing that, the 2 day wait (average) for results will be a problem, no matter how available the test may be.

[-] As expected, less developed countries are starting to explode. The sham that is Russia is becoming exposed — they could be the next Italy. Every time this happens, it will fuel new outbreaks as foreign nationals flee hotspots and return home. Still no good plan in US I have seen for dealing with this — travel bans are too porous, too late, and poorly executed. The mad rush like people returning from Italy and standing in long lines in customs, with no followup quarantining or tracing, could end up making things much worse.

[Goose]

I would say I’m a little more optimistic than I was a week ago.

[+] cases have flattened in many places in the US

[+] some states in the US have gotten their act together and are making progress on many fronts (ppe, testing), especially CA

[+] san mateo pho believes we’ve found only a small % of the cases, which, if true, means the cfr is much lower than we feared, and we may be able to achieve herd immunity faster and with fewer deaths than we feared

[+] made it a week without a major meltdown



[-] still no evidence I have heard that, outside of Mass, we are increasing the tracing and quarantine enforcement capabilities to needed levels in CA, USA

You probably saw my post that San Mateo County Health says they will be ready to go. They are transferring people around in the Department to do so, but they say they will be ready. So maybe we aren't going to hear much about it if they can staff it in house. For sure restaurant inspectors will have less to do. I hope they aren't being overly optimistic.

[-] Ro in the Bay Area still too high even in lockdown. Still many new cases daily even 4 weeks into the Lockdown, Stanford study shows 50% of young people self-report they aren’t complying. If people keep violating the SIP, the cases won’t reduce, and it will take longer, and people will get frustrated

[-] Still need at least another 10x in daily tests in CA, it’s been stuck at about 10k tests/day for a little while. For comparison, UW alone can process 3500/day

Please take a look at http://depts.washington.edu/labmed/covid19/ On no day has UW accomplished 3500 tests. They have reached over 3000 once. The average is more like 1600 per day or so. It may well be they are capable 3500 a day and are just not being asked to do so. It is for sure true that early on in this epidemic UW claimed rates per day that in fact they could not (and did not) sustain. I don't know if testing capability in California is a problem for contact tracing. It may be as low as it is because of demand, not supply. The bar to getting a test is still pretty high. I am pretty sure that the Abbott Labs tests (or something similar) will need to be available to the county health workers to make timely contact tracing possible. Failing that, the 2 day wait (average) for results will be a problem, no matter how available the test may be.

[-] As expected, less developed countries are starting to explode. The sham that is Russia is becoming exposed — they could be the next Italy. Every time this happens, it will fuel new outbreaks as foreign nationals flee hotspots and return home. Still no good plan in US I have seen for dealing with this — travel bans are too porous, too late, and poorly executed. The mad rush like people returning from Italy and standing in long lines in customs, with no followup quarantining or tracing, could end up making things much worse.

[dabigv13]

Of course you would know this better than me, but my read of the Santa Clara County dashboard (https://www.sccgov.org/sites/phd/Disease...board.aspx) is showing a steady state of about 1/3rd of ICU beds available. I realize this is with non-essential procedures deferred, and that's not enough to handle a surge, but how many would you ideally want to be open?

I'm surprised that there are significantly more noncovid patients in ICU than covid in SCC, but I have not really been looking at these numbers before. 

Where I am, the great majority are covid with only a few noncovid. I dont know if there is a percentage free you'd want to see. To have 1/3 free ICU beds would be a typical winter type of situation for us in the pre-covid era.

I've been saying you want pretty much zero community transmission before opening because that will buy you a couple weeks before exponential rise can swamp you. Trying to reopen while you still have fair numbera of incoming covid patients means significant community transmission and a much shorter ramp up time before catastrophe like Northern Italy or NYC if you relax.

Please take a look at http://depts.washington.edu/labmed/covid19/ On no day has UW accomplished 3500 tests. They have reached over 3000 once. The average is more like 1600 per day or so. It may well be they are capable 3500 a day and are just not being asked to do so. It is for sure true that early on in this epidemic UW claimed rates per day that in fact they could not (and did not) sustain. I don't know if testing capability in California is a problem for contact tracing. It may be as low as it is because of demand, not supply. The bar to getting a test is still pretty high. I am pretty sure that the Abbott Labs tests (or something similar) will need to be available to the county health workers to make timely contact tracing possible. Failing that, the 2 day wait (average) for results will be a problem, no matter how available the test may be.

I am guessing UW has processing capability that is much higher than they are actually doing because of limits on number of swabs. We have two Abbot machines in our hospital that should each be able to do about a hundred tests a day I think, but we can only run 20 max beteeen them because of swab limits at this time.

[dabigv13]

Of course you would know this better than me, but my read of the Santa Clara County dashboard (https://www.sccgov.org/sites/phd/Disease...board.aspx) is showing a steady state of about 1/3rd of ICU beds available. I realize this is with non-essential procedures deferred, and that's not enough to handle a surge, but how many would you ideally want to be open?

I'm surprised that there are significantly more noncovid patients in ICU than covid in SCC, but I have not really been looking at these numbers before. 

Where I am, the great majority are covid with only a few noncovid. I dont know if there is a percentage free you'd want to see. To have 1/3 free ICU beds would be a typical winter type of situation for us in the pre-covid era.

I've been saying you want pretty much zero community transmission before opening because that will buy you a couple weeks before exponential rise can swamp you. Trying to reopen while you still have fair numbera of incoming covid patients means significant community transmission and a much shorter ramp up time before catastrophe like Northern Italy or NYC if you relax.

Please take a look at http://depts.washington.edu/labmed/covid19/ On no day has UW accomplished 3500 tests. They have reached over 3000 once. The average is more like 1600 per day or so. It may well be they are capable 3500 a day and are just not being asked to do so. It is for sure true that early on in this epidemic UW claimed rates per day that in fact they could not (and did not) sustain. I don't know if testing capability in California is a problem for contact tracing. It may be as low as it is because of demand, not supply. The bar to getting a test is still pretty high. I am pretty sure that the Abbott Labs tests (or something similar) will need to be available to the county health workers to make timely contact tracing possible. Failing that, the 2 day wait (average) for results will be a problem, no matter how available the test may be.

I am guessing UW has processing capability that is much higher than they are actually doing because of limits on number of swabs. We have two Abbot machines in our hospital that should each be able to do about a hundred tests a day I think, but we can only run 20 max beteeen them because of swab limits at this time.

[magnus]

Yeah,  UW's processing capacity has been limited by referrals which in turn has been limited by swabs and still restrictive requirements for testing.  They are turning around test results same day (i think i read 6 hours).

[magnus]

Yeah,  UW's processing capacity has been limited by referrals which in turn has been limited by swabs and still restrictive requirements for testing.  They are turning around test results same day (i think i read 6 hours).

[BostonCard]

I mentioned that San Mateo county's drive through testing facility at the fairgrounds was essentially sitting idle because not enough people qualified for testing using the Google (Verily, actually) testing algorithm.  WHether that is on purpose to preserve swabs/reagents or because it hasn't relaxed criteria fast enough, I don't know.

BC

[BostonCard]

I mentioned that San Mateo county's drive through testing facility at the fairgrounds was essentially sitting idle because not enough people qualified for testing using the Google (Verily, actually) testing algorithm.  WHether that is on purpose to preserve swabs/reagents or because it hasn't relaxed criteria fast enough, I don't know.

BC

[Leftcoast]

Speaking of how to reopen, our President is picking a public fight with the state Governors over this because ... well, of course he is. 

The fight he's picking is nominally over who should make the call on relaxing each state's shelter-in-place rules but it's also about his personal power and the boundaries of federalism.  The discussion opens with the normal Trump coarseness, bombast, self-congratulations, and, of course, a TWEET. 

"Tell the Democrat Governors that “Mutiny On The Bounty” was one of my all time favorite movies. A good old fashioned mutiny every now and then is an exciting and invigorating thing to watch, especially when the mutineers need so much from the Captain. Too easy!" - Donald J. Trump on twitter

Setting aside the inevitable arguments, the Bounty reference is confusing.  While comparing himself to Captain Bligh makes a point, did President Trump actually SEE the movie?  If I remember correctly Bligh was not the hero and after driving the crew to mutiny it didn't turn out very well for the captain, did it? 

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/stat...8282576898

(Is anyone still watching the daily 2-hour briefings? I tried Monday but couldn't make it through and I predict Dr. Fauci will step aside soon. His "really draining" comment after his Monday partial apology/sword-fall suggests he's almost there.)

[Leftcoast]

Speaking of how to reopen, our President is picking a public fight with the state Governors over this because ... well, of course he is. 

The fight he's picking is nominally over who should make the call on relaxing each state's shelter-in-place rules but it's also about his personal power and the boundaries of federalism.  The discussion opens with the normal Trump coarseness, bombast, self-congratulations, and, of course, a TWEET. 

"Tell the Democrat Governors that “Mutiny On The Bounty” was one of my all time favorite movies. A good old fashioned mutiny every now and then is an exciting and invigorating thing to watch, especially when the mutineers need so much from the Captain. Too easy!" - Donald J. Trump on twitter

Setting aside the inevitable arguments, the Bounty reference is confusing.  While comparing himself to Captain Bligh makes a point, did President Trump actually SEE the movie?  If I remember correctly Bligh was not the hero and after driving the crew to mutiny it didn't turn out very well for the captain, did it? 

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/stat...8282576898

(Is anyone still watching the daily 2-hour briefings? I tried Monday but couldn't make it through and I predict Dr. Fauci will step aside soon. His "really draining" comment after his Monday partial apology/sword-fall suggests he's almost there.)

[OutsiderFan]

We have to be thankful the guy who takes no responsibility is so lazy and unread that he has no understanding of or appreciation for how the government he is ostensibly in charge of managing, works. If he really was intelligent and competent, he could have consolidated power in much scarier ways than he has to date.

The POTUS has zero influence over what the states do. If he ordered them to shut things down, he could lift restrictions. He didn't and he can't.

But the real stupidity of his misunderstanding of the situation is that he has no ability to force people to go to restaurants, bars, events, etc., even if he had the power to lift restrictions.  Most people aren't going into public places at least until there is mass testing and contact tracing. So, once again, it is all a big empty and meaningless show with the exclusive objective of conning people into thinking he is in charge after he said he takes no responsibility and continues not to do the responsible things.

It's the same reason he's insisting his signature somehow get on paper stimulus checks being printed and sent to people without direct deposit. Just trying to take credit for anything he thinks is positive. It's just utterly pathetic behavior that so diminishes the office he holds.

I avoid listening to the current POTUS as much as possible, but I saw a clip of him being asked what metrics he would use to determine if things should open up, and he pointed to his head and said "this right here, these are my metrics."  He should have bent over and pointed at his ass, because that's from where those metrics will come.

[OutsiderFan]

We have to be thankful the guy who takes no responsibility is so lazy and unread that he has no understanding of or appreciation for how the government he is ostensibly in charge of managing, works. If he really was intelligent and competent, he could have consolidated power in much scarier ways than he has to date.

The POTUS has zero influence over what the states do. If he ordered them to shut things down, he could lift restrictions. He didn't and he can't.

But the real stupidity of his misunderstanding of the situation is that he has no ability to force people to go to restaurants, bars, events, etc., even if he had the power to lift restrictions.  Most people aren't going into public places at least until there is mass testing and contact tracing. So, once again, it is all a big empty and meaningless show with the exclusive objective of conning people into thinking he is in charge after he said he takes no responsibility and continues not to do the responsible things.

It's the same reason he's insisting his signature somehow get on paper stimulus checks being printed and sent to people without direct deposit. Just trying to take credit for anything he thinks is positive. It's just utterly pathetic behavior that so diminishes the office he holds.

I avoid listening to the current POTUS as much as possible, but I saw a clip of him being asked what metrics he would use to determine if things should open up, and he pointed to his head and said "this right here, these are my metrics."  He should have bent over and pointed at his ass, because that's from where those metrics will come.

[2006alum]

Posted without comment:

[tweet]https://twitter.com/jbouie/status/1250395595069677568?s=20[/tweet]

[2006alum]

Posted without comment:

[tweet]https://twitter.com/jbouie/status/1250395595069677568?s=20[/tweet]

[OutsiderFan]

If the Republican Party wants to become irrelevant as a governing party, it should continue coming up with asinine ideas like this.

[OutsiderFan]

If the Republican Party wants to become irrelevant as a governing party, it should continue coming up with asinine ideas like this.

[2006alum]

Finally, something Mick and I will agree about:

[tweet]https://twitter.com/CNBC/status/1250428632972922883?s=20[/tweet]

DUH? What does Wall Street pay all these analysts for? You could just walk outside any Main Street and figure this out...

I will repeat: I find it nearly unfathomable that Congress has recessed for a month and there isn't even talk of a second wave of stimulus checks. Do congressmen and women really think unemployed people can live for months on $1200? One NY-area relative who had to shut down her self-employed business (and therefore is now unemployed) said she thinks it will be two months before she sees her first relief from unemployment based on the backlog of applications to be processed and the fact that she has to do a telephonic interview with a state official to confirm her (self)-employment. WTF is she supposed to do in the mean time?

[2006alum]

Finally, something Mick and I will agree about:

[tweet]https://twitter.com/CNBC/status/1250428632972922883?s=20[/tweet]

DUH? What does Wall Street pay all these analysts for? You could just walk outside any Main Street and figure this out...

I will repeat: I find it nearly unfathomable that Congress has recessed for a month and there isn't even talk of a second wave of stimulus checks. Do congressmen and women really think unemployed people can live for months on $1200? One NY-area relative who had to shut down her self-employed business (and therefore is now unemployed) said she thinks it will be two months before she sees her first relief from unemployment based on the backlog of applications to be processed and the fact that she has to do a telephonic interview with a state official to confirm her (self)-employment. WTF is she supposed to do in the mean time?

[burger]

\
I will repeat: I find it nearly unfathomable that Congress has recessed for a month and there isn't even talk of a second wave of stimulus checks. Do congressmen and women really think unemployed people can live for months on $1200? One NY-area relative who had to shut down her self-employed business (and therefore is now unemployed) said she thinks it will be two months before she sees her first relief from unemployment based on the backlog of applications to be processed and the fact that she has to do a telephonic interview with a state official to confirm her (self)-employment. WTF is she supposed to do in the mean time?

I said it a hundred times here: they should've just started sending checks to everyone every month and then clawed back the excess payments to the employed or rich by raising taxes a bit for the higher brackets.  But that was a non-starter for most congresspeople because: 1) Republicans wanted the payments to be as small and hard to get as possible (hence using the totally overwhelmed UI system), and 2) Democrats have a pathology about giving free money to rich people (see: the ACA's overly complicated subsidy program or the resistance to Bernie Sanders et al.'s free college plan).

[burger]

\
I will repeat: I find it nearly unfathomable that Congress has recessed for a month and there isn't even talk of a second wave of stimulus checks. Do congressmen and women really think unemployed people can live for months on $1200? One NY-area relative who had to shut down her self-employed business (and therefore is now unemployed) said she thinks it will be two months before she sees her first relief from unemployment based on the backlog of applications to be processed and the fact that she has to do a telephonic interview with a state official to confirm her (self)-employment. WTF is she supposed to do in the mean time?

I said it a hundred times here: they should've just started sending checks to everyone every month and then clawed back the excess payments to the employed or rich by raising taxes a bit for the higher brackets.  But that was a non-starter for most congresspeople because: 1) Republicans wanted the payments to be as small and hard to get as possible (hence using the totally overwhelmed UI system), and 2) Democrats have a pathology about giving free money to rich people (see: the ACA's overly complicated subsidy program or the resistance to Bernie Sanders et al.'s free college plan).

[2006alum]

One other thing I'd add, which I've probably harped on at length: I think a lot of people aren't going to go back to their normal ways even once the government legally allows them to. This poll seems to confirm that:

[tweet]https://twitter.com/thehill/status/1250420880187854850?s=20[/tweet]

Which strikes me as thinking we really need to get the testing, social contact tracing, and isolation procedures into place ASAP so that people can start to feel comfortable going back out in their communities. If they don't, and they can afford not to, it will be impossible to "re-open" the economy in the way people seem to be thinking we're just weeks away from.

[2006alum]

One other thing I'd add, which I've probably harped on at length: I think a lot of people aren't going to go back to their normal ways even once the government legally allows them to. This poll seems to confirm that:

[tweet]https://twitter.com/thehill/status/1250420880187854850?s=20[/tweet]

Which strikes me as thinking we really need to get the testing, social contact tracing, and isolation procedures into place ASAP so that people can start to feel comfortable going back out in their communities. If they don't, and they can afford not to, it will be impossible to "re-open" the economy in the way people seem to be thinking we're just weeks away from.

[Mick]

One other thing I'd add, which I've probably harped on at length: I think a lot of people aren't going to go back to their normal ways even once the government legally allows them to. 

Two things on which we agree, although I suspect there are many more.

This brings to mind Mark Twain's old adage about behavior modification: "If a cat sits on a hot stove, that cat won't sit on a hot stove again.  Nor will it sit on a cold stove."  

We'll have permanently learned to avoid stoves, so to speak.

[Mick]

One other thing I'd add, which I've probably harped on at length: I think a lot of people aren't going to go back to their normal ways even once the government legally allows them to. 

Two things on which we agree, although I suspect there are many more.

This brings to mind Mark Twain's old adage about behavior modification: "If a cat sits on a hot stove, that cat won't sit on a hot stove again.  Nor will it sit on a cold stove."  

We'll have permanently learned to avoid stoves, so to speak.