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Originally Posted by Major
I'm sorry, but what happens in Italy has little or no bearing on what happens in the U.S.
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Makes zero sense. How a disease spreads and its death rate doesn’t change by crossing borders into a different country. Recall that this is a virus. You can’t cure it with antibiotics, all you can do is try to manage its symptoms and thereby only save some with medical treatment.
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Originally Posted by Major
Regardless, with socialized medicine, which certain segments of our country are clamoring for, deciding on who to treat or not treat is part of the deal. That is why a free-market health care system is superior.
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Good to know that our free-market health care system is going to save us, particularly when we have the same shortage of ventilators that Italy is facing. You state your concern for the wait staff and hourly employees, but many of those folks don’t have insurance in our free-market system. Are the hospitals supposed to turn them away so they can be the ones dying on the streets instead of getting some help in a hospital? The only difference between free-market and socialist health care systems in a pandemic is that the most vulnerable in a free-market system are the ones that will be turned away.
The entire point of “flattening the curve” is so less people are turned away and, hopefully, less people get sick. The lack of capacity of the health care system does not depend on whether it is a free-market or socialist medical system.
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Originally Posted by Major
My guess is that you don't own a small business. You wouldn't understand the frustration of having your business being destroyed and witnessing your employees suffering. As we speak, a good portion of our population is wondering how it will pay bills, feed families, and keep their homes. The economic price paid by this overreaction will be tremendous. And small businesses, especially restaurants, are wondering when and if they will ever reopen. Their lives matter too.
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All lives matter. That is the whole point. And thanks for jumping to conclusions, but I have a professional services firm that is being devastated financially here. At the end of the day, we have to make decisions about putting the health of the country, collectively, ahead of business and even individuals. It will be hard, but we’ll get through it. Yes, some bills will go unpaid and there will be struggle, but the goal is that we don’t have millions dead.
How many people in NH need to die before you think it is justified to close restaurants, etc.? 100? 1,000? 10,000? Don’t forget, by the time you have a 100 deaths, you’ve already given 1,000 more an irreversible death sentence.
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Originally Posted by Major
To date, the H1N1 crisis was far worse. (The present Chinese coronavirus could end up being worse, we just don't know.) How did we handle that? We didn't have reports from this country or that stating that the sky is falling. We didn't have the media or social media stirring us into a panic. We dealt with it by being responsible and taking metered steps in preventing its spread.
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Since you have determined this country’s government—both sides of the aisle—are being irresponsible and overreacting, perhaps you can provide us with your credentials on epidemiology that anyone should take your advice over the head of the NIH or the CDC?