American Joke: "15 DAYS TO SLOW THE SPREAD" - March 15, 2020

[NoSavingByTheBell]

What IDIOT thought 15 days OF NO MASK MANDATES would be enough to do ANYTHING AT ALL? This is how short Murricans attention spans are. This is how STUPID Murricans are: AS OF TODAY, USA LEADS THE WORLD WITH 4,000,000 (4 MILLION) infections and 140,000 COVID-19 DEATHS. Waddaya say, Pence?

THOSE 15 DAYS REALLY WORKED WELL, HUH?

[NoSavingByTheBell]

What an inspiring time! Americans all working together!!! Brawling over masks and social distancing!!! HOW INSPIRING!!! AND OH, IT ALL WORKED SO WELL!

[El Kabong]

It was 15 days to "flatten the curve" but go on, it's impressive how much of a clue you don't have

[NoSavingByTheBell]

It was 15 days to "flatten the curve" but go on, it's impressive how much of a clue you don't have

aaaaaand BOY!!!!! DID THEY FLATTEN THAT CURVE!!!!! BWAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHA Only thing flatter than the curve is your head, Lyle.

[El Kabong]

It was 15 days to "flatten the curve" but go on, it's impressive how much of a clue you don't have

aaaaaand BOY!!!!! DID THEY FLATTEN THAT CURVE!!!!! BWAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHA Only thing flatter than the curve is your head, Lyle.

Have you caught it yet? I'm waiting for you to.

[NoSavingByTheBell]

It was 15 days to "flatten the curve" but go on, it's impressive how much of a clue you don't have

aaaaaand BOY!!!!! DID THEY FLATTEN THAT CURVE!!!!! BWAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHA Only thing flatter than the curve is your head, Lyle.

Have you caught it yet? I'm waiting for you to.

No Im waiting for you to clinch at about 1 minute into the first round, then BAM.

[TIC]

It was 15 days to "flatten the curve" but go on, it's impressive how much of a clue you don't have

it was just to flatten the curve. then it's just a mask. then it'll be just a vaccine. then it's just a chip. this was all planned

[zoley]

It was 15 days to "flatten the curve" but go on, it's impressive how much of a clue you don't have

I think your not correct on that. The document Pence is showing in the thumbnail says "to slow the spread" not "flatten the curve".

[NoSavingByTheBell]

https://twitter.com/i/status/1284133602717040640

[NoSavingByTheBell]

So far, Congress has authorized $3.6 trillion in stimulus money to help offset the punishing cost of the lockdowns and business closures caused by the coronavirus pandemic. The various programs funneling all that money to businesses and consumers are far from perfect, but probably necessary.

It’s not enough, however, and Congress is now developing another massive round of stimulus spending that will probably top $1 trillion, and maybe double that. This is where the tragedy starts. Had the Trump administration and other U.S. policymakers gotten the virus response right the first time around, the virus would be under control and jobs would be coming back on their own. Instead, we’ve hit new record highs for daily infections for 41 days in a row—the worst performance of any developed country. The recession is now dragging on longer than it ever should have, and instead of a cautious return to near-normal, we’re becoming dependent on borrowed federal spending to keep the economy afloat.

The United States is lucky the Treasury can borrow boundless amounts of money at super-low rates. But this privilege also leads to profligacy and abysmal incompetence at many political levels. If the United States weren’t a rich country, it would have had to contain the virus the first time around, or face ruin. The ability to tap another trillion or two as needed in effect finances a bumbling crisis response that has allowed the coronavirus to ravage the U.S. economy.

[NoSavingByTheBell]

The Trump administration should have instituted tough nationwide policies to contain the virus—including mandatory mask wearing where infection rates cross a certain threshold—when Congress passed the first big stimulus bill, in late March. Trump should also have established the world’s most aggressive coronavirus testing program the very moment testing shortages became apparent, at the beginning of the crisis, instead of ducking responsibility and telling the states to handle it. And governors and mayors should have complied, instead of making their own patchwork policies that totally failed to account for people crossing borders and bringing the virus with them.

Trump and his critics argue that it’s easy to look back and argue for actions that nobody knew would be needed at the time. There’s some truth to that, Lyle. But it’s also true that many smart analysts were calling for actions that would have left the U.S. economy in much better shape by mid-summer had they gone into effect. The best example is the “Road Map to Reopening” plan Scott Gottlieb and several colleagues at the American Enterprise Institute published on March 29. Gottlieb was FDA Commissioner under Trump, and unlike many Trump appointees, he left the administration on good terms, in 2019. So Trump could have embraced Gottlieb’s 4-phase plan for establishing strict procedures for controlling the virus and re-opening gradually and methodically, without losing face. Nah.

Some states have essentially followed Gottlieb’s prescription, with predictably good results. New York was the epicenter of the outbreak in March and April, with the nation’s highest infection and death rates, by far. The governor imposed strict lockdown rules and a reopening schedule directly linked to falling infection and hospitalization rates. Masks became mandatory in most public places, with very little foolish opposition or complaining about a “hoax.” It worked. Infection rates in New York are now low, even as stores, restaurants and parks reopen.