pandemic

[cellio]

Pennsylvania shut down "non-life-sustaining businesses" tonight. There's a link there with a detailed list of what's in and out -- some oddities (beer distributors are life-sustaining, apparently), but mostly what you'd expect.

And California extended the stay-at-home order already in force in San Francisco to the entire state tonight. Even so, their governor thinks half the state will be infected in the next eight weeks. I haven't heard any projections for PA, but cases here have been following the usual curve so far.

siderea posted a summary of the Imperial College report that might be spurring the government to take this more seriously. (The report is linked.) They ran simulations of a few response scenarios, ranging from "basically do nothing" to fuller responses. Even with stronger responses, it's looking grim. And it's (at the national level) self-inflicted; we saw what was happening elsewhere and dallied anyway.

Comments

[juan_gandhi]

Seems like, when things went serious, California, with Newsom, were relatively very smart and fast-moving, compared to DC swamp/ Pennsylvania looks totally idiotic, though.

[goljerp]

And New York State / City seems somewhere inbetween. It's not helping that our Governor doesn't like any plan he didn't think of (or that our Mayor keeps thinking of things, meaning the Gov. won't do 'em -- or else he resists doing sensible things, like closing the schools, until forced to).

Meanwhile, while testing is "ramping up", they're still saying it's just for people with obviously serious symptoms (or those exposed to a known case?). Which is all well and good, I suppose, but how does someone with mild symptoms who probably was on the subway with someone infected get tested?

Oh, well, be safe everyone!

[cellio]

News from NY has been confusing me; I didn't know the nature of the political wrangling between the mayor and governor. *Sigh*... let's hear it for personal agendas over community needs!

We need testing to be much more available than it is. I actually wonder if, at a certain point of severe symptoms, it'd be better to just *assume* that person has it (treatment's not going to change anyway) and instead test the people near that person.

[minoanmiss]

I actually wonder if, at a certain point of severe symptoms, it'd be better to just *assume* that person has it (treatment's not going to change anyway) and instead test the people near that person.

yes, this.