Atlanta — Georgia’s governor, who has opposed local mask mandates and even sued over one in Atlanta, has signed a new executive order that allows local governments to enact mask requirements to help fight the coronavirus pandemic
This is one reason why American deaths are at a higher rate than others. Without a national coherent approach to stopping the spread it was like having a peeing section in a public pool.
Anyone surprised at the numbers in the USA infected with Covid-19 or dead is not informed about what has been going on since the virus came to this country. No serious actions were taken by the federal government until too late to stop the spread. Experts are telling us that we could have saved a majority of the people who have died if federal action had been taken just a few weeks earlier than it was taken.
But the federal government actions taken were woefully inadequate. There was never a full border shutdown for travelers from China or anywhere else, and the partial restrictions on travelers from Europe didn’t start until many people had already come in on flights from Europe and spread the virus all over the eastern seaboard.
In addition, there was never a full shutdown of businesses and people gathering without social distancing and masking. Many people were mingling in homes and at outdoor events, going to churches en masse, and going to political rallies protesting the restrictions without masking and maintaining social distancing. Many people were going to work in crowded factories/meat packing plants/etc.
Testing has always been far less than necessary to know who is infected, and contact tracing has been only done on a limited basis in certain locations - not the national program needed to find out where the virus is and isolate those people who are infected. There was no national standardization of testing - so the states all do testing differently, making interpretation of the data and policy planning difficult. There are still many locations without adequate testing for all who need testing because they are sick.
We now are learning that data on infections and deaths are being suppressed by the federal and state governments for political reasons - making effective prevention and contact tracing even more impossible. Once a “recovery plan” was issued by the federal government, the highest officials in the country immediately began telling state governments to ignore it and relax their restrictions. And many states and local governments did that, and opened while the infection rates were still high and not declining. And federal officials were setting an example of not wearing masks and not social distancing - and the public followed their example.
There is no mystery about why so many have been infected and so many are dead in the USA.
I never said: that testing is a bad thing. I’m saying just the opposite. Testing is good for treatment, but it’s not always the best indication of actual facts when making comparisons, because it’s not complete and it differs from place to place, country to country. If you think I’m saying to people not to get tested then maybe you’ve had one to many 
I think it’s fair to say data is being manipulated both ways for political reasons. Suppressed in some areas and exaggerated in others.
Where I live (USA), no one wears masks pretty much and there are huge crowds of people everywhere I go. The gym has a sign that you have to wear a mask but everyone takes theirs off as soon as they scan their membership card. Restaurants make you wear one when you’re walking around (like you go take a squirt) but not when you’re sitting at your table. All the stores are open, people walking around in parks and kids playing in playgrounds. You’d never even know there was a virus based on how things are here
Bolding added by me.
Huh? Do you really believe medical personnel would submit false patient reports and disease statistics? Unethical and likely a felony—that they would take that risk for politics?
Over 1,000 doctors and other medical workers have died after contracting the disease while trying to help save patients. Do you realize how much time, money and education is required to make a doctor? That is a person who provides an essential service and resource in society that is not easily or quickly replaced.
i just hope to catch a big ol’ dose of whatever is needed to get that herd mentality so i won’t get too sick and die.
A rational thinker would look at where deaths were high vs where they were low. A rational thinker would realize that with a virus with a high r sub 0 value the limited travel restrictions put in place that late in the game were not enough to allow for containment. Some places did shutdowns. Some places were overwhelmed and others not so much.
Some countries actually have good leadership. A rational thinker would consider that several countries suffered far less than places like the US, Italy, UK, and Sweden. What did it take to achieve such a significant reduction in suffering? A rational thinker would understand that actions that need to be taken simply were not taken everywhere. Countries that took those actions had predictable and repeatable results. Places like the US that did not take those actions also have predictable and repeatable results.
We can argue the actual numbers all day. Mass graves and overwhelmed health care systems happened repeatedly all over the world. Countries that took the proper actions in a timely manner predictably and repeatedly did not see such a dramatic rise in death or have their healthcare systems overwhelmed.
Are you suggesting that it is the front line doctors and nurses who are the only ones who have access to that kind of data? To answer your question, as someone who has investigated a few crimes in my day, YES data is being manipulated by somebody. Likely many somebodies.
I can happily report that today when visiting a fairly large Farm Market the amount of people wearing masks was really impressive, would guess 70% including quite a few with Trump keep America great masks on.
Place was busy.
This same market 6 weeks ago was bad, like 30% masked.
So something changed, believe the messaging is getting through and people are realizing the life you save may be your own.
A lot less negativity also but that may be due to the absolutely beautiful weather, high 72 low humidity and nice breeze.
People were buying too, instead of just walking around feeding their faces.
Anyway looks like Big Ten Football is coming back because of those rapid tests that the NBA helped develop, it really a a game changer on all levels.
All for now, everyone stay safe and carry on!
Keith
I don’t know if this number is correct but I heard that every hospital will receive 13,000 for admitting a patient with corona. And they will get 3x13000 if they put a patient on a ventilator. So maybe that’s why there was so much demand for ventilators? I don’t know but there is no straight way to make 6 digits income running a health care facility?
Yes 99% Yes, they will do it all day long. You area right there are special people who go into medicine. I am not disagreeing with you.
I also think that you need to take into consideration that medical personnel is working in a for profit setting. Their boss only cares that the bills are paid. He or she will give you a choice, do what I tell you or go home . There is so much medical fraud going on.
There are so many Doctors on a Most Wanted Fugitive List. Why? because everyone is doing it and it is easy money. And chances you will get caught are very low.
I think your claim about “exaggerating” counts might be more believable to some of us if you could provide us with actual examples of government entities or hospitals (those who actually produce the figures used in epidemiological predictions) exaggerating the true count. I’m not saying it never happened, I’m just inviting you to support that claim by citing actual examples of it happening.
There is no evidence to support that rumor. The rumor was spread on social media after Scott Jensen, a Minnesota state legislator, discussed medicare payments to hospitals for treating Covid-19 patients on Fox News. But during the interview Jensen explained that, while Medicare had begun paying hospitals for treating Covid-19 patients, there are no payments to hospitals at all simply for classifying a patient as having the virus. And there are no financial incentives for classifying a death as due to Covid-19, when it was not.
In addition, Jensen admitted during the interview that there is no evidence that any hospitals or doctors had submitted fraudulent billing to Medicare claiming that a patient had Covid-19 when in fact they did not, and no evidence that any hospitals or doctors had treated any patients for Covid-19 when they knew the patient was not infected with the virus. To this day, I have not seen any such evidence, either.
I find it difficult to understand why people get their kicks promoting totally unsupported conspiracy theories impugning the character of people working in dangerous conditions or in thankless government jobs during an emergency, trying to help people and earn a living like anyone else. Promoting false information about serious subjects can hurt people, and in this pandemic it already has.
OK you might be right, but don’t the hospitals during pandemic get paid by county or city? Or is it just a loan? I think they reopened hospitals that were already permanently closed for a while. Something like that takes some serious money.
Well, it’s like Lenin said, it’s not who votes that determines elections, it’s who counts the votes, and, well, you know…
Vladimir or John?
STFU, Donny! V. I. Lenin! Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov…
NorthernHarrior
You just need to take human nature into account. There are a few things going on. Are you saying there is No evidence of Medicare fraud? Have you been to the hospital lately? I can’t remember the last hospital bill I’ve seen that didn’t have any errors.
I see Lightbringer brings up a good point about how the tests are counted. It’s not that the individuals are being told they are + when they’re - or the other way around. It’s how the the count is taken. We’ve seen the reports of not counting/reporting negatives in Florida.
History really does repeat itself. Kinda sorta like today with the “the election is rigged, unless I win” rhetoric.
It looks like pennzy has complete faith in the system. We will see in November, assuming we know who wins by then.