At what point did you / will you take the coronavirus epidemic seriously?

[Lost Student]

I've attempted to make some jokes about missionaries being like that French Canadian gay flight steward who spread AIDS all over the world back in the late 70s, but there really was a super spreader up in Park City. Summit County has over 10% the number of cases as Los Angeles County does right now.

Blaine County (home of Sun Valley) is Idaho's version of Summit County. Blaine has about half of Idaho's cases right now.

Edit: Blaine has less than 2% of Idaho's population.

[swampfrog]

I think a lot of folks went to Park City to go skiing for spring break. They need to close down Summit County.

Blaine County (home of Sun Valley) is Idaho's version of Summit County. Blaine has about half of Idaho's cases right now.

Edit: Blaine has less than 2% of Idaho's population.

Europe has the same problem:

https://www.politico.eu/article/the-...the-continent/

[Uncle Ted]

Well, about time...

Summit County orders residents to stay at home until May 1

Amid ongoing efforts to contain the spread of a novel strain of coronavirus in Utah, Summit County officials ordered their residents to stay at home.

All residents are asked to stay home and cease all non-essential travel until at least May 1. The order goes into effect on Friday at 12:01 a.m., according to a county press release.

The order mandates that visitors to the county "leave as quickly as possible," the release states. Anyone planning a trip to the county is asked not to visit while the order remains in effect. That order includes secondary homeowners who are not county residents.
[...]

https://kutv.com/news/coronavirus/su...o-stay-at-home

LOL... Isn't half the homes in summit county secondary homes and pay like double the tax?

[Pelado]

Blaine County (home of Sun Valley) is Idaho's version of Summit County. Blaine has about half of Idaho's cases right now.

Edit: Blaine has less than 2% of Idaho's population.

Makes sense. Blaine County residents are most likely in the state to have been traveling internationally.

[UVACoug]

Maybe I'm just dumb, but why does the stimulus bill need to increase the amount of unemployment benefits? Both parties seem to be in favor of it, but disagree on the amount. The virus isn't increasing the cost of living, is it? I'm sure many think the level of unemployment benefits before the current crisis was inadequate, and they may or may not be right about that. I don't understand why this is such a crucial piece of the $2 Trillion stimulus bill though.

[myboynoah]

Maybe I'm just dumb, but why does the stimulus bill need to increase the amount of unemployment benefits? Both parties seem to be in favor of it, but disagree on the amount. The virus isn't increasing the cost of living, is it? I'm sure many think the level of unemployment benefits before the current crisis was inadequate, and they may or may not be right about that. I don't understand why this is such a crucial piece of the $2 Trillion stimulus bill though.

That's probably the best reason.

That said, by doing so, won't this make employers more willing to lay people off (thinking there is an adequate safety net) rather than keep them on the pay roll until the economy picks up again?

[CardiacCoug]

I think a lot of folks went to Park City to go skiing for spring break. They need to close down Summit County.

Edit: I have read that 12,000 missionaries are all coming back to Utah from everywhere in the world... But I am sure all of them are virus free.

Seriously — all that crowding in the restaurants and sharing lift chairs with Asians and Italians and New Yorkers in Deer Valley. I probably had it and don’t know it. Hope so!

[UVACoug]

That's probably the best reason.

That said, by doing so, won't this make employers more willing to lay people off (thinking there is an adequate safety net) rather than keep them on the pay roll until the economy picks up again?

Seems like it would to me. Bernie wants to increase benefits to 100% of pre-termination income, which would only exacerbate that effect. On the other side, apparently there are a handful of Republican Senators that are holding up the bill because the increased unemployment benefits are higher than the minimum wage (which will create an incentive for low wage earners to stay on unemployment rather than look for a job). I get their concern, but this is only a temporary increase as I understand it. Not worth holding up the entire bill over. Why any temporary increase in unemployment benefits is necessary, though, is still beyond me.

[UVACoug]

And now apparently you can get unemployment benefits by quitting your job:

Unemployed workers who wouldn’t typically qualify for state benefits would receive 50% of their state’s average benefits plus $600 a week, said Arindrajit Dube, an economics professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

This category includes self-employed workers (such as those in the gig economy), those seeking part-time work, workers who quit their job or can’t reach their place of work as a result of COVID-19, or don’t have sufficient work history to otherwise qualify for benefits.

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/25/coro...g-workers.html

[Northwestcoug]

The plush unemployment benefits end after 4 months, right? Who is going to leave an otherwise employed position in a recession, and risk not getting it back after the benefits end?

[wapiti]

The plush unemployment benefits end after 4 months, right? Who is going to leave an otherwise employed position in a recession, and risk not getting it back after the benefits end?

Many will do exactly that.

[smokymountainrain]

Take whatever the number of infected they are reporting and multiple it by 10x:

Embedded Tweet

At least.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[wapiti]

At least.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I think this might be true in areas with confirmed community spread. But I think there are a lot of areas that just don't have it yet. Take St. George for example. There are 5 cases in Washington County and all of them have been traced to travel. If there were community spread with the age of that population, certainly there would be symptomatic carriers and hospitalizations by now.

It's interesting how few cases there are off the Wasatch in Utah. None in Cache County, the Uintah Basin, or Moab. Hopefully all of these missionaries coming home doesn't change that.

[Northwestcoug]

Many will do exactly that.

Like who? What kind of jobs?

[myboynoah]

Whoa.

Hospitals consider universal do-not-resuscitate orders for coronavirus patients

Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago has been discussing a do-not-resuscitate policy for infected patients, regardless of the wishes of the patient or their family members — a wrenching decision to prioritize the lives of the many over the one.

. . . . . .

Officials at George Washington University Hospital in the District say they have had similar conversations, but for now will continue to resuscitate covid-19 patients using modified procedures, such as putting plastic sheeting over the patient to create a barrier. The University of Washington Medical Center in Seattle, one of the country’s major hot spots for infections, is dealing with the problem by severely limiting the number of responders to a contagious patient in cardiac or respiratory arrest.

Several large hospital systems — Atrium Health in the Carolinas, Geisinger in Pennsylvania and regional Kaiser Permanente networks — are looking at guidelines that would allow doctors to override the wishes of the coronavirus patient or family members on a case-by-case basis due to the risk to doctors and nurses, or a shortage of protective equipment, say ethicists and doctors involved in those conversations. But they would stop short of imposing a do-not-resuscitate order on every coronavirus patient. The companies declined to comment.