# Coronavirus COVID-19 (2019-nCoV) Thread - 2020 Breaking News **URL:** \ **Category:** The Quarantine Zone\ **Tags:** covid-quarantine\ **Created:** [February 11, 2020, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758 "2020-02-11T01:16:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 260
**Author:** ![Heffalump\_and\_Roo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heffalump_and_roo/32/7691_2.png) [@Heffalump\_and\_Roo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heffalump_and_Roo)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2020, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/5204 "2020-10-31T00:41:56Z")
In the beginning of the pandemic, the benchmark for what the government should do as far as lockdowns was whether the hospitals were being overrun. But at this point, this news seems to not be getting much attention, or maybe I just haven’t been seeing it. [https://www.axios.com/coronavirus-surge-hospitals-overwhelmed-b0d089a0-87cc-4745-b128-8b0972c0ddf8.html](https://www.axios.com/coronavirus-surge-hospitals-overwhelmed-b0d089a0-87cc-4745-b128-8b0972c0ddf8.html) > [@](#): > > **The bottom line:** Pandemic fatigue, politicization of the virus and the upcoming holiday season all make it almost certain that the situation will get worse before it gets better. The consequences will be deadly. This is in Axios, so it has a political bent, but overwhelmed hospitals could lead to more patients dying regardless of the politics. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2020, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/5205 "2020-10-31T04:18:04Z")
45,921,698 total cases 1,193,909 dead 33,252,218 recovered In the US: 9,316,297 total cases 235,159 dead 6,024,512 recovered Yesterday’s numbers for comparison: > [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > 45,322,464 total cases > 1,186,243 dead > 32,994,673 recovered > > In the US: > > 9,212,767 total cases > 234,177 dead > 5,983,345 recovered Also as I said: the milestones are going to be coming a lot quicker now. For instance, today the US had its first 6-figure single day new case increase with 101,461 new cases. ---
**Author:** ![SayTwo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e56c9b/32.png) [@SayTwo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SayTwo)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2020, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/5206 "2020-10-31T04:28:28Z")
> [@Heffalump\_and\_Roo](#): > > This is in Axios, so it has a political bent, but overwhelmed hospitals could lead to more patients dying regardless of the politics. Given that we are now approaching a full year into this thing, and given that we apparently have no shortage of money, worldwide, to throw at this thing, is it really conscionable that a lack of hospital capacity would be what killed people? ---
**Author:** ![Heffalump\_and\_Roo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heffalump_and_roo/32/7691_2.png) [@Heffalump\_and\_Roo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heffalump_and_Roo)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2020, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/5207 "2020-10-31T04:46:29Z")
> [@SayTwo](#): > > is it really conscionable that a lack of hospital capacity would be what killed people? What’s the relevance of your question? ---
**Author:** ![SayTwo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e56c9b/32.png) [@SayTwo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SayTwo)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2020, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/5208 "2020-10-31T06:29:07Z")
You said overwhelmed hospitals could lead to more patients dying. I asked how we could allow ourselves to let hospitals to get overwhelmed by this stage, when we’ve had at least six months to fully see it coming. That’s not fatigue, that’s not politicization. That’s reckless negligence. And it’s no excuse. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2020, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/5209 "2020-10-31T06:58:14Z")
So instead of people simply wearing masks and not going to gyms and motorcycle rallies, you think we should have been building new temporary hospitals all over everywhere just in case? And you can predict exactly where they’re going to be needed? ---
**Author:** ![galen\_ubal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/galen_ubal/32/4440_2.png) [@galen\_ubal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/galen_ubal)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2020, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/5210 "2020-10-31T07:05:42Z")
Bear in mind, SayTwo’s … ideas seem calculated to cause maximum economic and public health damage. For his purposes, that idea is perfectly reasonable. ---
**Author:** ![SayTwo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e56c9b/32.png) [@SayTwo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SayTwo)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2020, 7:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/5211 "2020-10-31T07:46:34Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > So instead of people simply wearing masks and not going to gyms and motorcycle rallies, you think we should have been building new temporary hospitals all over everywhere just in case? And you can predict exactly where they’re going to be needed? I can’t tell you how painful it is to see, over and over and over again, such a considerable portion of the public believe that if we would just wear masks (and not go to gyms or rallies - or protests?) then the virus would magically go away. It’s like kids that believe in Santa Claus. Cute for a while, I guess, but at some point that kid needs to grow up. I saw an article yesterday, from some school of medicine, that tried to demonstrate an effect of masks in certain counties in Tennessee versus others, and it came to the same conclusion. But it also, in the same article, claimed that mask use is already over 80%. I know that it is closer to 100% in many places that are nowhere near stamping out the virus. I do not understand the willful blindness to the reality that is all around us. It’s painful to watch. The distortions these people are making to rational and scientific thought we will spend years if not decades trying to recover from. What I think, to answer your question, is that to put all our eggs in the basket of ‘saved by the masks!’, instead of maturely and soberly facing the reality that evidently we all _believe_ is coming, to hear the hysterical warnings from health officials all over, and ramp up health care capacity over the course of six months of seeing it coming, is nothing less than criminal, in _every_ jurisdiction. _That’s_ ‘exactly where it’s going to be needed’. And if any public health officials don’t believe that and believe that they can count on masks to do the jobs they are supposed to be doing, then they have abdicated every sacred responsibility they have, and they should be held accountable. To not have a plan for patients at this stage, November 2020 and with the relatively small proportion of beds needed for covid cases as compared to earlier in the year in many places and as compared to all other illnesses now, is unconscionable. Unconscionable. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2020, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/5212 "2020-10-31T07:58:50Z")
> [@galen\_ubal](#): > > Bear in mind, SayTwo’s … ideas seem calculated to cause maximum economic and public health damage. For his purposes, that idea is perfectly reasonable. Boy, you’re not kidding. ---
**Author:** ![galen\_ubal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/galen_ubal/32/4440_2.png) [@galen\_ubal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/galen_ubal)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2020, 8:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/5213 "2020-10-31T08:11:20Z")
In the meantime, I think we’re hijacking this thread - it should be about breaking news, after all. > [@galen\_ubal](#): > > Bear in mind, SayTwo’s … ideas seem calculated to cause maximum economic and public health damage. For his purposes, that idea is perfectly reasonable. > [@needscoffee](#): > > Boy, you’re not kidding. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2020, 8:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/5214 "2020-10-31T08:13:49Z")
We can move the conversation and no one even needs to start a pit thread . . . 'cause there’s already one going! ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2020, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/5215 "2020-10-31T11:41:51Z")
Who thought a year ago when we saw the horrible pictures out of Italy with “hospitalized” patients on the hallway floors, that we would eventually catch up to them? ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2020, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/5216 "2020-10-31T12:54:04Z")
> [@SayTwo](#): > > To not have a plan for patients at this stage, November 2020 and with the relatively small proportion of beds needed for covid cases as compared to earlier in the year in many places and as compared to all other illnesses now, is unconscionable. Unconscionable. To not have knocked this virus out yet because we refuse to wear masks because “freedom” or some other nonsense is unconscionable. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2020, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/5217 "2020-10-31T13:25:11Z")
> [@SayTwo](#): > > I can’t tell you how painful it is to see, over and over and over again, such a considerable portion of the public believe that if we would just wear masks (and not go to gyms or rallies - or protests?) then the virus would magically go away. Okay. I stopped reading at the word “magically.” 😠 No one is saying anything about magic. Bye-bye. ---
**Author:** ![SayTwo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e56c9b/32.png) [@SayTwo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SayTwo)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2020, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/5218 "2020-10-31T14:16:41Z")
> [@bobot](#): > > To not have knocked this virus out yet because we refuse to wear masks because “freedom” or some other nonsense is unconscionable. Well, when you have things like this: > To not have knocked this virus out yet because we refuse to wear masks because “freedom” or some other nonsense is unconscionable. Then you have people who apparently believe in magic. I don’t think there is any serious scientist alive who thinks that universal mask wearing is all it would take to eliminate the virus. But maybe by ‘knock it out’ he meant mitigate it a bit. Maybe by ‘refuse to wear masks’ he was giving just one example, out of many things he thinks it would take to knock it out. I can’t speak for him. But I sure hope so. Because otherwise that’s like believing in Santa Claus. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2020, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/5219 "2020-10-31T14:20:22Z")
> [@SayTwo](#): > > Then you have people who apparently believe in magic. I don’t think there is any serious scientist alive who thinks that universal mask wearing is all it would take to eliminate the virus. - Nobody ever fucking said that’s all it would take. it’s about reducing spread which has a multiplying effect in reducing new cases. ---
**Author:** ![SayTwo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e56c9b/32.png) [@SayTwo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SayTwo)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2020, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/5220 "2020-10-31T14:22:42Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > Nobody ever fucking said that’s all it would take. I should hope not! But I sure read it a lot on this board. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2020, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/5221 "2020-10-31T14:26:16Z")
> [@SayTwo](#): > > I should hope not! But I sure read it a lot on this board. - Let’s see a few posts. In context. ---
**Author:** ![SayTwo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e56c9b/32.png) [@SayTwo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SayTwo)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2020, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/5222 "2020-10-31T14:28:17Z")
Start with the one I just now mentioned. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2020, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/5223 "2020-10-31T14:30:41Z")
Which one? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758.md?page=259) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758.md?page=261)