So was reopening the economy worth it?

Not when trump keeps denying its existence. He reminds me of the Sandy Hook and 9/11 disbelievers.

For perspective, Missouri has 6.137 million residents (2019) and to date, 1119 have died due to Covid. Mostly urban areas.

For those 1119 people and familes, I’m not sure it would be worth it, but shutting down a $16.5 billion dollar a year tourist industry plus local businesses failing would seem to point that opening was the best financial decision.

Sure we’ll get over it, one way or another. The scandal is around how many we will sacrifice needlessly before we get there. @KNOWITALL I’m trying to think of what sort of death wish would propel me to risk a trip to Vegas or Branson under current conditions. And as the numbers climb, the foolishness in such decisions grows ever more apparent. Meanwhile our interminable fool is threatening to force the schools open at gunpoint.

@stanleybmanly Well for me it’s easy, just stay home and if you have to go out, wear a mask. But we had protests three weekends in a row last month over the rebel flag store in Branson, protests in St Louis and other areas, too.

As far as school, my husband works for the school and what we keep hearing are all the parents are wanting their kids ‘babysitters’ so parents can go back to work and a normal schedule. Also that children are getting a sub par education from parents, some having to do homework in McDonalds parking lots (free wifi) on their parents iPhones. Our school loans out the laptops, so it’s not as big of an issue, but in metro areas it does seem to be a bigger issue.
(I have no kids so no dog in that particular fight. But my friend cried to me about trying to keep two kids focused on school work, and she was home-schooled herself. She feels very inadequate.)

Is the surge because places have re-opened or because we’re testing more…? I mean, some places that are now seeing surges, like Florida, never really had much of a “shut down” to begin with.

@Demosthenes I never understood that remark from anyone. Testing more doesn’t create more cases, the cases are already there.

Exactly^^ @chyna then measures can be used to make sure they don’t infect others and maybe just maybe get ahead of this curve that has turned into a mountain.

Just for some fun with numbers. Jeff Bezo’s net worth is 180 billion. Knowitall seems to think 1119 dead is a totes fair trade for 1/10th of his net worth.

That is until someone she knows dies. Because that’s how Republicans roll.

@johnpowell Apparently many Dem state leaders agree with me. But good try!

@Demosthenes Wisconsin is actually doing fewer tests than they did when this all started but each day this past week we’ve been breaking the previous day’s total of confirmed cases.

So much for an expected little up tick .

@chyna The claim isn’t that testing is creating cases. The claim is that the number of cases isn’t actually increasing at the rate it appears to be. To use another example: autism diagnoses have been rising for years. Is that because something in modern life is causing more people to have autism? Or is it because we are testing for it more effectively than in the past?

We have to keep the supply chain from breaking down and critical infrastructure operational. More testing may make the numbers look higher because those numbers are now known. Unless everyone gets tested you can guarantee the numbers are always higher than the official tally. If we close off the economy the devastation probably will be worse than the virus alone. We just have to play it smart, take precautions and do this strategically. This is not rocket science but most places are still getting it so wrong. After the“reopen” here restaurants and bars were packed, nobody wore masks and everyone acted normally for the most part. All it would have taken is a carryout only and mandatory mask mandate. No surprise the numbers are going up. Only now are people heeding the warnings. It’s directly the fault of our officials not acting fast enough or taking things seriously here locally. I have no idea how bad if will get when school returns this fall. Most schools in the area are planning on returning in-person which I feel is a huge mistake. Some areas have purchased hundreds of chromebooks and plan to go virtual which is not ideal but the best solution. Schools are petri dishes and will spread this like wildfire.

@Demosthenes While I agree that we are learning more about autism and are more able to correctly diagnose it; the difference between covid and autism is that they are tracking positivity rates. The percentage of tests that are coming back positive. You don’t tend to have asymptomatic people going in to take the ADOS.

@Demosthenes Wisconsin just hit another daily record that was almost double from the previous. Here’s a statement: “DHS Secretary-designee Andrea Palm stated during a Tuesday news conference that the recent levels are caused by “significant community spread” and not the result of more testing. She also noted that the percentage of total tests that are coming back positive has been trending up in recent weeks.”