UNDlaw80

Didn't what? I don't care what they think or their process of formulating policy. Officials are judged on the policies they implement. Our economy is in the tank, unemployment is skyrocketing and Covid deaths are not going down. Are you happy about this? It's a complete and total failure.

You didn't counter my point at all. Just made more excuses for our failed approach. How other past presidents/governors would've handled it is immaterial, they aren't the ones making decisions at the moment.

Yes. Trump crapped the bed. But so also did tons of other elected officials, everywhere. Both Rep and Dem.

Wrong again. Our elected officials failed us. Fauci merely provides advice. It’s up to our elected leaders to weight the options presented before them and formulate policy based on what they think is right. If our leaders chose to go with good advice, or bad advice, that’s on them. No one else. The buck stops at the top.

In many places tests are rationed based on what people's symptoms are. I feel healthy as ever; which means I'd have a hell of a difficult time trying to get a test where I live. Then again, I could just as well be asymptomatic.

Like any competent country does, sheltering-in-place is augmented with mass testing, followed by quarantining those infected, followed by mass tracing, followed by mass anti-body testing. The point is to stay ahead of the Covid spread, after which you can formulate a step by step process to open based on readily available info and criteria being met. Unfortunately we don't even have mass testing available to citizens. Is this process intrusive? Without a doubt. Rightly or wrongly, this is the plan we chose by initiating the lock-down. But we half-a$$ed it. If you’re gonna do something, you go ‘all-in’. We didn’t. And here we are stuck in neutral.

You're missing the forest for the trees. This country’s lack of direction, preparation, execution and politicization of Covid is what's gonna kill healthcare systems. We locked-down but never implemented the next step. Had we not half-a$$ed our response most states could've opened-up long ago. Yzerman19 described it well - for political reasons we navigated the middle.

Not that I agree with it, but does your opinion also apply to those who are furloughed, or lost jobs? Working conditions are too dangerous for you?….yea life isn't fair. Quit protesting, find a different job. Laid off or furloughed?…….yea life isn't fair. Quit protesting and find a different job.

1. "America bashing". Good one, the standard go-to for someone out of their league. Don't be that guy. You ask about mask regulation? People can do what they want. But so too can store owners within their establishment. That said, my point was regarding the irony in opposing the wearing of masks in light of the countless rules and restrictions in American life we never question or give a second thought about. As such, is wearing a mask in a store really an inconvenience or infringement? Or is it something else. 2. Sheltering in place isn't meant to solve the problem. The purpose of sheltering is to buy time (flattening the curve) to implement a strategy to ensure a secure and safe return to daily life. Unfortunately our government squandered the time it bought (at the expense of the economy nonetheless) by never implementing the second half of the plan. Unlike other countries doing it right and currently opening, we have no mass testing, no mass tracing, no mass anti-body testing and no comprehensive plan moving forward. Instead we citizens were treated to our President and governors bickering like 6th graders and a daily press briefing that resembled amateur night at the Apollo. An altogether incompetent $hit$how. So here we sit with an economy in shambles, a death rate unlikely to diminish, a country deeply divided and no good choices ahead of us.

You can do what you want. I’m just wondering about the reasoning behind it. We have tons of stupid permanent regulations, yet mask-wearing is the hill to die on for "rights"? If a business requires patrons to wear masks, how is this different than requiring a shirt and shoes? Where's the outrage over that? Is it really that big of a deal? Me thinks, for many people, wearing (or not wearing) a mask has little to do with rights or health but rather showing solidarity to a political team. This holds true for both ends of the spectrum.

Economic and political freedom have nothing to do with what’s being discussed. The point was about everyday living restrictions…..which is where wearing a mask falls into. Romania can't compare whatsoever to the US for economic and political freedom, but day-to-day living is more relaxed (as it is for most of Europe). People tend to police themselves. We don’t do this, we have regulations and rules at every turn of the road.

My wife is Romanian, we visit there regularly. Returning home always illuminates how regulated American life is. A permit is required for this, no parking here, a license is needed for that, no boobies on TV, don't go over the limit, you need registration for that, city approval required for this, wanna start a business?...here's mounds of regulation for you, etc. etc. etc, And I haven't even started on privacy issues. In light of all this ridiculous and all-encompassing restrictive nonsense (that people rarely question), the notion of temporarily wearing a mask in the middle of a pandemic is what gets the "it's my right" crowd riled up in this country? Yea ok kids. Obviously, for many, not wearing a mask is a political statement above and beyond anything else.

Ughh. This means the entire US was basically infected via Europe, not China. That's an extra kick to the nuts.

Unfortunately Grand Forks isn't alone. 'Opening up' will bring a rash of extra-deaths around the country. The economy will continue to be in the crapper until the majority of citizens feel safe. We’ll have extremes on both sides; people who throw caution to the wind and others locked at home in the fetal position, but he majority will carry on with life, albeit very cautiously. Not a good recipe for consumer driven economy.

Good for you. Have a blast living in a suburb of the 2nd largest city in the United States I was responding to a post specifically about NY.

You're entitled to your opinion. Just don't walk into a NYC firehouse saying as such. I posted this before. Perhaps it will give you some insight into the magnitude of Covid in some places other than secure Grand Forks. https://www.propublica.org/article/dead-on-arrival-a-ny-fire-chiefs-covid-journal

You obviously have no idea what Franklin was talking about. it's not even his full quote. Hint: It was about taxation and security on the frontier. The choice to raise funds for defense against the French vs self-governance.

'Lockdowns' do work if implemented correctly. Lockdowns aren't meant to go on forever, or be a solution. They are implemented to buy time to formulate a solution. Unfortunately, we half-a$$ed the process. This country locked down... and, well, that it. We've done nothing with the time we bought. No mass testing, no mass tracing, no containment strategy and no congruent plan of action. ...and here we sit in a much worse situation than we could have been; both in terms of economics and death count.

Now you're moving the goalposts. You initially asked if "global life is more dangerous". Yes it is. Death rates (Covid and 'extra') are significantly higher than in recent years, and places that are hit hard are truly reeling. Big time. This does not mean Covid is some all-encompassing global black death-like killer. It's not. Again, it's easy to sit in Grand Forks, removed from the death of the situation, and spout off about "if people die they die".

Which makes it all the more crazy ND isn't opening up.

Easy to say that living in North Dakota.

We've been given no plan whatsoever (for anything) from the start. Our government’s lack of leadership, preparation and execution has been shameful. As a result we’re stuck with ‘all or nothing’ decisions with nothing in sight and no idea as to how this will end. As I watch all these European and Asian countries open up as their death rates fall after each's government and citizenry tackled the problem in unison, and we sit here in the US with a tattered economy, a continuing steady death rate and politicians and citizens at each other's throats, I cant help but think we're gonna be a very different country coming out of this than we were going in.

Tell that to the average person on the East Coast, good luck. Covid is a serious, serious problem; however it doesn’t affect this country proportionally. Some places it's inconsequential. Too many people are espousing a one-size-fits-all fix based on their own personal experience and, unfortunately, often their political affiliation (left and right). How this will all end, I have no clue.

Models are not predictions of the future, they merely describe a range of possibilities. The 40,000 figure was calculated late-March. What actually occurred was Scandinavia wasn’t hit as hard as other parts of Europe. Sweden’s low death rate (and lack of a spike) is a reflection of this…...as is Finland and Norway’s absurdly low numbers. Your argument is akin to comparing North Dakota (if it didn’t lock-down) to Massachusetts. Two completely different scenarios, with no common ground to make any meaningful assessment from. What we do have for valid comparisons are Finland and Norway. These are countries similar in proximity, geography, governments, demographics and even population density. Again, Sweden has a death rate, per capita, 6X higher than its neighbors who locked-down.

Ha! As if on cue, from CNN: Coronavirus, face masks and America's new fault line https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/04/politics/coronavirus-face-masks-new-fault-line-trnd/index.html This country is beyond broken.