Walsh Hall

Completely agree. This moron's tweet string comes to the conclusion that kids going back to school will, "close schools forever." From what I can see, not one statement is based in scientific fact/evidence.

Given the health issues with that demographic (as noted above), and many more folks who would be deemed "at risk," it does make some sense to take a more aggressive approach in those communities than others. Also factor in the cultural status of the elders in that community, and many more multi-generational households. The "island of safety" quote is pure hyperbole, but it does make sense that the reservations would be an area that could be hit harder than, say, Bismarck based strictly on the percent of the population that is "at risk."

No doubt on the media. In this situation I don’t see how there can be such a large divergence in opinion if we strictly looked at the actual numbers. Every statement in Ira’s post have been proven to be 100% statistically accurate. If this were an academic exercise and 10 people were given nothin but the actual statistics there is no way they would propose shutting down the economy and place the current restriction across 95% of the country.

The post above was from March 6th. What needed to be done was known at that time by anyone with decent critical thinking skills. Unfortunately the second sentence above was not followed. Instead of not getting information from the media and politicians and not panicking, the media has been listened to and caused a colossal panic.

I took a few minutes and reviewed the CDC weekly summary (43 pages), https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/covid-data/pdf/covidview-05-08-2020.pdf, and several Midwestern state's data. My takeaway is that if you are under 60, and are healthy, the chances of death are as close to zero as you can get. Even just using the confirmed numbers, and not the presumed active cases, the risk of complications is tiny. You might be asymptomatic or you may have an awful flu, but you'll almost certainly be fine. If you have, in this order of importance: hypertension, obesity, cardiovascular disease, or lung disease, the outcome after contraction is not particularly rosy. If you are elderly and have those conditions you do not want to contract COVID. If you are 95, obese with hypertension and CD, you aren't gonna make it. More than most health issues, the "at risk" group in this case is VERY clearly defined. If you are at risk and want to live your life and assume the risks, have at it. If not, shelter those folks in place and take all reasonable steps to protect them. There is zero reason for healthy folks under 60 to be sheltering in place.

And if the "reporter" isn't up to asking an actual question with any relevance to the current situation, or that could possibly lead to any information which is at all helpful in writing an article about the actual news, why are they there in the first place? "Why do you see global testing as a competition?" - Seriously? That's a mainstream journalist's question for the President?

Prior to Trump, the administrations for the last 30 years were complete wusses in dealing with China. Everyone knew (both Rs and Ds) that China was a problem, and that the trade deals were absolute crap, but nobody had the guts to do anything about it. Love him or hate him, Trump was the first to actually stand up to China and try to change that relationship. As Yzerman said earlier, China has to be laughing their butt off at our reaction to this. If China stopped/banned travel from Wuhan to other parts of China, but allowed tens of thousands of folks from Wuhan to travel internationally that's a problem.

While I completely disagree with any of these cancellations, I can at least see, given the hysteria, planning, travel, teams from all over the place, many teams wouldn't go or couldn't go... that those tournaments would be cancelled. Cancelling local events is absolutely nuts. Sign a fricking waiver and gets go.

I understand that for all the vendors, etc. it's preferable to not cancel the event the week before the gates open, but this is absolutely crazy. An outdoor event... in July... in ND. I wouldn't have been in attendance, but with more and more events being cancelled that give us something to look forward to, and give us hope, the bleaker this is feeling. I couldn't care less about the State Fair, but that was a punch in the gut for some reason. If all public events are still cancelled through the time that snow flies in late 2020 us Northern folks are going to be going crazy.

I believe you are correct that the narrow context of the quote was a tax issue. That said the quote, which could and likely would have easily been, was not limited to that tiny area of civil liberty.

Unfortunately that's life. Flu, stroke, cancer, dementia. Everyone can't be saved. I think the steps being taken in that regard are pretty darn good. There isn't a great answer to protection of folks who are already higher compromised from a health perspective.

That's a lagging indicator, and if the folks were under 90 and healthy it would be a bit more concerning when restarting the economy. Further evidence of the population most at risk and the population which needs the most reasonable protection.

The number of positive tests is pretty much irrelevant on its own without context. The percentage of positive tests is much more important and statistically relevant. If you do 100x the tests of the prior day of course the total positives will be higher. The numbers the last week have been very encouraging in ND.

In North Dakota, from Covid, the total such minor children stands at 0 (unless the 100+ year old had a minor child.) I'll take the unemployment, alcohol abuse, stress, domestic situations/violence, foreclosure... as the greater concern in that equation.

Just read an article on a 29 woman who passed away with/from Covid. Seemed like an absolutely wonderful person. She was beyond morbidly obese, HBP and likely diabetic. May she rest in peace, but at some point we also have to take responsibility for our decisions. In the end, her death will be used to show that this is killing young people...

Add in demographics and elderly population/care facilities. 13 of 35 long term care facilities are in Cass. I don't have the numbers, but the retirement communities have to be at least that percentage, probably more. Just makes sense to have those facilities are located with adequate medical and other services available.

I saw a pretty telling graph this morning on CNBC. The question was, "What is more important, my families health, or wealth? February 1, 2020 94% Health - 6% wealth April 3, 2020 82% Health - 18% wealth May 3, 2020 66% Health - 34% wealth

I hate this “zero tolerance” approach to life. Taking this approach takes out the need to handle things on a case by case basis and actually use some critical thinking skills. if I’m out walking my dog I don’t need a mask. If I’m at a location and I can socially distance a mask isn’t needed and does absolutely nothing. Watch the Cuomo clip on this where he’s advocating using masks, and he is at the desk, adequately distanced from other people, and not wearing a mask. You must also be one of those people that have always worn a mask in the past because you care about people so much...

You are aware that flu shots aren't always effective and sometimes they miss strains. So you didn't wear a mask in the past... shocking.

It's their private establishment and their rules. Of course I'd abide by their wishes.

I'm fully aware of being asymptomatic, hence the taking reasonable precautions. I also assume you are also aware of being asymptomatic and hence have always worn a mask from October to April., unless of course you are a selfish hypocrite.

I'm not wearing a mask. If I feel at all ill I'm not going out. While out I practice social distancing and take all precautions to be courteous. It's funny how I don't recall people wearing masks before from October to April each year. Have you ever been to a nursing home before Old Fella? If you have, and you weren't wearing a mask, you are completely irresponsible and you may have given someone the flu and killed them.

I understand that there's basically a 100% chance that my kids will get it (if they haven't already). Isn't that a given? If the goal is to stop any child from getting any virus at all cost we are truly screwed.

Isn't New York's situation much more "special" than North Dakota's? What area with a population density and demographic profile similar to ND has been disproportionately hard hit? With the positive cases to date, and the medical results of those positive folks, what leads you to believe ND will turn into NY? All the testing in the world is not going to eliminate the virus. We're still likely to get it at some point in the next 8 months. In ND we haven't flattened the curve, we've crushed it. Any North Dakotan that gets the virus will get the best medical care we can provide. Nobody is going to be shipped to the Fargodome. Protect the vulnerable, be smart and let's get back to work

Hard to say. NYC is obviously a very different situation that almost anyway else in the world. My back of the napkin math indicates a fatality rate of around .5% if the percentages above are accurate. That's around 3 times higher than the typical flu. No doubt a very nasty bug. Still seems to indicate to me that the folks who are vulnerable should be sheltered in place, other folks carry on while exercising caution and with reasonable precautions.