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OK, the Corona Virus Isn't Going Away. Now What?


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pinkfloydcramer I see we agree more than we disagree on the alphabet soup.

 

I don't have cable and don't watch TV. I turned the cable off in the late 1980s, and took the antenna mast down in the early 1990s when I had the house repainted. The last two TV shows I watched, (and I had to go to my mother-in-laws to see them) were Johnny Carson's last Tonight Show and Jay Leno's first one.

 

We gigged on cruise ships from 1986 to 1989 and there was no TV on the ship. When we got off I turned the cable back on, but we were so used to doing things instead of watching TV that we realized in a couple of months we were paying money for something we weren't using.

 

All the news I get, I read on-line. This allows me to think, mull, cross check, and digest rather than be fed without the time to think if it seems right or not. I stay away from the hyper left or hyper right because the truth usually lies somewhere between the extremes. I'll read Atlantic for the left view and The Hill for the right but that's as far as I'll go, and I don't take any of them at face value. Anything out of the 3 center sections of that chart I feel are over a 50% chance I'm being lied to. Politifact and other media watchdogs verify that.

 

BTW, Leilani and I play in our living room mid-day. Since we choose to live without using the air conditioner, the house is open and the music drifts over the neighborhood.

 

I've repeatedly told my neighbors if they don't like it, or if we are rehearsing at a poor choice of time for them, call us and let us know. The neighbors all responded that they like to hear us rehearse and it's a pleasure to hear us.

 

We run the volume at about 85dba, and play songs to keep our chops up. Vocal muscles are the first to get out of shape followed by flute embouchure. Then sax lip and guitar fingers are next. In non-COVID years we have always taken a vacation. We come back a week or two early to get our chops back up.

 

We learn new songs, but practice them off mic and only put them on the PA to rehearse. That way the neighbors don't have to hear the song again and again and again.

 

We try to be kind and considerate to the other people living up here.

 

Setting up in the driveway is not going to happen. In Florida summer thunderstorms come without warning. From Mid-May to Mid-October is traditionally our rainy season, although with climate change it isn't as regular as it used to be. Sometimes it starts early or ends late. We don't take outdoor gigs that don't have covering for us any time of the year. There is too much to lose if mother nature want's to water her flowers.

 

I'm still hoping for an effective vaccine or treatment sooner rather than later. I miss gigging, the interaction with the audience, and the energy that is returned to us. I've done this since I was in Junior High School and it is how I identify myself. If the world after COVID doesn't include gigging, I'll find something else to do, but I'll miss it dearly.

 

I walk 3 to 4 miles a day for exercise (up and back my dead-end street) and it gives me time to think about lots of things. Today I was wondering if social distancing becomes the new normal, how it will effect things like gigging, live theater, concerts, sports arenas, restaurants schools, and so many other things. What I imagine is a less happy world.

 

Insights and incites by Notes

Bob "Notes" Norton

Owner, Norton Music http://www.nortonmusic.com

Style and Fake disks for Band-in-a-Box

The Sophisticats http://www.s-cats.com >^. .^< >^. .^<

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[quote=J. Dan

You're doing fine. I have my finger hovering over the delete button...but not for your posts, that's for sure. Keep doing what you're doing. .

 

Feel free to delete my comments, in fact I wish you would. The subject (my media outlet vs others') doesn't benefit from being rehashed, anyway. This thread is at its best when posters relate their experiences and how they are coping.

 

I agree, it got into the media tangent because many people are basing their decisions about what to do with their lives based on what they're hearing from the media. However I think we've all said what could be said, and it's time to get back to what we're going to do about our "new reality," such as it is.

 

I agree that these forums should be a politics-free zone. However, these events are so extraordinary, and impact us as musicians so much, I felt it was okay to have a thread where people could vent. Frankly, I think we've all learned something from the back-and-forth.

 

I truly believe everyone who has responded has done so sincerely, given the information they have. However, some have been more about asking the right questions than believing they have the answers, which is what I prefer.

 

FWIW, the Time-Life 60s music cruise for next March is already sold out. I know people who even before this went down, said they were never going to go on a cruise again either because of the poor safety record and pre-Covid-19 illnesses (like gastro-intestinal issues that sickened people), or the destruction cruises do to the environment. So for those who think things will bounce back, here's one example that enough people believe this is going to be all over in a year from now that they're already booking trips. Presumably they also believe that this whole experience has taught cruise lines they need to get their act together, but that may be wishful thinking.

 

So J. Dan - looks like there will probably be an 80s cruise waiting for you :)

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I gigged on cruise ships for 3 years. It was a good gig. I worked on Carnival and switched ships once a year to get a different run with different ports.

 

We had the run of the ship except for the casino and passenger cabins. Passengers were allowed in our cabins, it was a lawsuit avoidance. If they are in your cabin it implies consent. And the casino? We share the area of the ship with the casino personnel. If a crew member was honestly winning near a customer who is losing, the customer might think the games are rigged. Plus rigging is a real possibility although it wouldn't be easy.

 

If you go on a cruise to gamble, do it at the beginning of the cruise and not the end. The odds of the slots on winning are better at the start and paying it all back near the end.

 

We ate the same food as the passengers but in our own staff dining room with the musicians, dancers, casino people, hairdressers, and massage folks. It was like a happy family..

 

We were expected to dress appropriately for the area, and if facilities were limited we were expected to give up a bar stool, exercise machine, or whatever to a paying passenger.

 

I did a shorter stint years later with Celebrity and I didn't like the way they treated the staff. I jumped ship at the first opportunity.

 

But this is definitely off on a tangent.

 

In the 3 years I was on, there wasn't one sickness breakout. They kept the ships clean, food was handled safely, and the worst thing I saw was a few getting sea-sick on an unusually rough day. But it can happen if someone is contagious in any closed area.

 

I'm glad I wasn't on during COVID and I wouldn't go back until it gets under control one way or another.

 

But then I wouldn't go to an all-inclusive resort before they get a handle on COVID either.

 

But that's just me.

 

Insights and incites by Notes.

Bob "Notes" Norton

Owner, Norton Music http://www.nortonmusic.com

Style and Fake disks for Band-in-a-Box

The Sophisticats http://www.s-cats.com >^. .^< >^. .^<

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I agree, it got into the media tangent because many people are basing their decisions about what to do with their lives based on what they're hearing from the media. However I think we've all said what could be said, and it's time to get back to what we're going to do about our "new reality," such as it is.

 

The talking head media means nothing to me, The TV (and the government for that matter) talks at me, rarely to me. Most headlines I see are the equivalent of "Trump ran over my dog". Frankly I wonder how the vast majority of those people are capable of putting their underwear on with the front facing forward, assuming they do.

 

We weren't exactly sure what we might find when we rode over to Savanna, Ill today but if there were any closures or stay at home orders they sure didn't apply to bikers. The streets were lined up and down with bikes, bars were all open, booze was flowing, bands were rocking and nary a law enforcement official in sight. We had a fun time! I'm sure you won't see any news reports on that.

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Trump ran over my dog

 

Greg, I'm so sorry to hear that. I know you really cared about that little friend of yours. And after all these years, too...well, at least Fido is in a better place now.

 

I'm sure you won't see any news reports on that.

 

No, I have not - obviously, it's another media coverup. It's outrageous that someone can just run over a dog with impunity, and get away with it.

 

 

 

HEY! I'm learning to take things out of context!! Maybe I have a fabulous new career opportunity waiting for me!

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Trump ran over my dog

 

Greg, I'm so sorry to hear that. I know you really cared about that little friend of yours. And after all these years, too...well, at least Fido is in a better place now.

 

No, I have not - obviously, it's another media coverup. It's outrageous that someone can just run over a dog with impunity, and get away with it.

 

 

 

HEY! I'm learning to take things out of context!! Maybe I have a fabulous new career opportunity waiting for me!

 

I don't think he did it on purpose, I'm sure it was just an accident. I tried to train that dog not to chase cars but that dog wouldn't pay any more attention to me than I do to the media!

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I don't think he did it on purpose, I'm sure it was just an accident.

 

I see they got to you already, and are forcing you to retract what you said. So sad. How much did they pay you to recant?

 

Accident...or conspiracy? You decide!

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I don't think he did it on purpose, I'm sure it was just an accident.

 

I see they got to you already, and are forcing you to retract what you said. So sad. How much did they pay you to recant?

 

Accident...or conspiracy? You decide!

 

I cannot reveal my confidential and anonymous yet reliable sources.

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There's not enough information to know yet. The article compares two different stats and treats them as equal:

 

"antibodies study that showed that only 7.3% of people in Stockholm had developed antibodies against COVID-19 by late April"

 

"With 39.26 deaths per 100,000, Sweden's mortality rate is not only higher than that of the U.S. (29.87 deaths per 100,000) but also exponentially higher than those of its neighbors Norway (4.42 per 100,000) and Finland (5.56 per 100,000)"

 

Unless the antibody rate is the same in all 4 countries, comparing the fatality rate is misleading.

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All these articles about Sweden's approach is only telling half the story. The other half is protecting their economy. When people only focus on virus related numbers they ignore economy related numbers when compared to places in an economic lockdown. The question really is how many extra cases and deaths is acceptable in order to keep people working and the economy going?

 

I was going to post some pics from yesterday but it's literally everywhere, it's all over the news. Beaches and bars nationwide were packed yesterday, from California to Texas to the Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri to the Great Lakes to Florida to NY/NJ. Every story says the same thing, people used this holiday to completely ignore all the precautions. It's like School's Out, Let's Party!! I really did not expect this level of stupidity. Or, maybe it's not that stupid.

 

That's what we're going to find out and soon.

 

Bob

Hammond SK1, Mojo 61, Kurzweil PC3, Korg Pa3x, Roland FA06, Band in a Box, Real Band, Studio One, too much stuff...
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So...why are the reactions so strong? Well, two of them are eminently practical: people are afraid to die, and people are afraid to be plunged into poverty. But, we don't need a virus for those things to happen: we can be hit by a truck, and lose a job in a dying industry.

 

And why has what should be a scientific and social matter ended up being a political matter, which sides drawn up often based on politics? What makes matters worse is the conflicting information about everything. Everyone cherry picks they stat they want to use to support "their side," not put all the stats together to try to get a comprehensive overview of what's happening.

 

That's when I realized what this virus does is strike at two things that are incredibly fundamental, yet I haven't seen much about these factors.

 

1. The worst punishment you can dole out in prison is solitary confinement. People simply can't cope being alone all the time.

2. Mobility. Our ancestors had limited mobility. Many people were born, lived their lives, and died in the same town. Getting from point A to point B was time-consuming, often impossible, and fraught with danger. Mobility for all - automobiles, airplanes, motorcycles, interstate highways - has been a hard-fought battle for civilization as a whole.

 

I think those two reasons have a lot to do with why the reaction to the virus is so visceral.

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So...why are the reactions so strong? Well, two of them are eminently practical: people are afraid to die, and people are afraid to be plunged into poverty. But, we don't need a virus for those things to happen: we can be hit by a truck, and lose a job in a dying industry.

 

And why has what should be a scientific and social matter ended up being a political matter, which sides drawn up often based on politics? What makes matters worse is the conflicting information about everything. Everyone cherry picks they stat they want to use to support "their side," not put all the stats together to try to get a comprehensive overview of what's happening.

 

I try to check multiple news sources myself, because I just want information from the news, not validation of personal world view or belief system.

 

The gist that I've gotten from reports of Sweden's COVID planning is they thought they could get away with staying open because they have a relatively young population. I don't claim deep expertise in Swedish politics, but the decision to not close was probably from a different point of view from that of American anti-lockdown protesters.

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I don't claim deep expertise in Swedish politics, but the decision to not close was probably from a different point of view from that of American anti-lockdown protesters.

 

Definitely, although it's not so much expertise in politics as expertise in societal behavior. Sweden is a democratic socialist state, so there's a greater sense of being part of society as a whole. I believe Swedes also trust their government more, and are therefore more likely to believe that what they're told is best for all concerned.

 

I find it really concerning that according to the Carnegie Mellon institute, 45%-60% of the Twitter posts about opening up came from bots. I'd be equally upset if 60% of the opinions expressed about ANYTHING were from bots. I'm starting to think that social media, which was supposed to bring people together (well, to be fair, that's what it does here :) ) is tearing society apart.

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If I got my math right, Alabama has 5000 new cases in the past 14 days, and half of Montgomery County's total cases were from the same period. They reopened zoos, summer camps, movie theaters, and bowling alleys on May 22:

 

https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/05/26/862348495/mayor-of-montgomery-ala-we-have-not-won-the-battle-with-covid-19-yet?utm_medium=social&utm_term=nprnews&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=npr&fbclid=IwAR2pOs-bPwuFzqVGAcDBvbLHd749PKwkq9WPYSZd9Xx6L6vlY-bfxrocVr0

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I knew this week was going to be opening up so I had discussions about going into the office maybe next week and staying with my girlfriend in LA for 4 or 5 days like I've been regularly doing for three years. In order to do that the office wanted me to get a virus test so I just did that a few hours ago. Remember the old Johnny Carson joke, "May the bird of paradise fly up your nose"? Now I know what that feels like. The swab wasn't exactly painful but it sure was extremely uncomfortable and it was shoved way up in there for just that little bit longer than you would expect. I swear one more second I would have grabbed his hand and said get that effing thing out of my face!

 

What I still wasn't ready for was the traffic and people in the stores I needed to visit. This is in Temecula about 90 miles SE of LA, population just over 100,000. The traffic today was exactly what mid day traffic was when I moved here three years ago, meaning pretty heavy. Virus, what virus? This was not what Gov Newsom had in mind. This is not a orderly reopening, this is a jailbreak. One of my clients who lives in Santa Monica called me this morning. He said exactly the same thing. Last week he could go out for a walk down to Ocean overlooking the beach and back to his house. there would be some people out wearing masks, not a crowd, they were being respectful and all that. Yesterday? Double the traffic both car and foot, nobody's wearing masks any more, it's like somebody flipped a switch. Good grief, here I was thinking all the smart, young, liberal and wealthy West LA residents had it together, they knew what was going on unlike all the yahoos in the middle of the country (not my thinking, just paraphrasing what I've seen and heard during all this). Well, forget that.

 

I just told a friend I'm hopefully pessimistic. Yeah, I don't know what that means either.

 

Bob

Hammond SK1, Mojo 61, Kurzweil PC3, Korg Pa3x, Roland FA06, Band in a Box, Real Band, Studio One, too much stuff...
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Good grief, here I was thinking all the smart, young, liberal and wealthy West LA residents had it together, they knew what was going on unlike all the yahoos in the middle of the country (not my thinking, just paraphrasing what I've seen and heard during all this).

 

:facepalm:

 

first you said you were thinking, then you said you weren't thinking.

:nopity:
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Good grief, here I was thinking all the smart, young, liberal and wealthy West LA residents had it together, they knew what was going on unlike all the yahoos in the middle of the country (not my thinking, just paraphrasing what I've seen and heard during all this).

 

Bob

 

Hey, I resemble that remark but to be quite certain, am quite amused by it. Certainly by circumstances and my own choices I've interacted with people and society to the greatest extent possible all this time, however, it's not entirely just because I'm a wild and crazy guy. At this point, if anyone out there has a strong immune system, I sure do! So, in what's a pretty rare occurrence of issuing words of caution, some folks should certainly re-enter society a bit more gradually. Not only do they run the risk of C19 but their immune systems may also be compromised to some of the more common forms of viruses and bacteria.

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Just to be clear since I wrote that comment late last night, when I referred to yahoos and then put that qualifier in parentheses, I meant I do not think people in the middle of the country are yahoos but that's what a lot of the media thinks. Here's another very serious economic side of this:

 

https://thehill.com/policy/finance/499718-tenants-fear-mass-eviction-as-moratoria-expire

 

So much virus news every day we forget some things. The eviction moratorium is running out. If these people can't go back to work, what are they going to do? Another example of a tough choice, risk the virus or be homeless? Even if most are willing to risk the virus, this is saying 40% of jobs are not coming back soon anyway so there's going to be a lot of hardship regardless of how people feel about it.

 

Probably 70-80% of the bar and beach goers are under 30. Look at this very good stat page from Wisconsin. I'm using this one because I've been following that states numbers since it's now been two weeks since their Supreme Court opened all the bars up.

 

https://www.dhs.wisconsin.gov/covid-19/cases.htm

 

I don't care about total case numbers any more because look at the percentage of active cases vs the total. 37% All we're really concerned with are current active cases but do we hear that number anywhere in any new reports? The more important number is hospitalizations, ICU, and deaths. Look at these charts for people 20-29. Very minimal risk. To me if 10,000 new cases started popping up in Wisconsin what does that really mean? 9,600 of them don't need the hospital and of those that do 100 will need the ICU and a couple might die. That's a level of risk that most are willing to accept. That changes of course the higher the age group meaning people like me and a lot of others on this forum still have to be very careful. At my age a 44% chance of the hospital and then a further 11% chance of the ICU? Those numbers are not good. Again, I'm talking the big picture for the country, not for people in my age group.

 

I looked at the California website and it's nowhere near as clear and easy to understand as the Wisconsin site. And as far as cases it says CA now has 96,733 confirmed cases. No we don't. Wisconsin is probably close when they say 37% of cases are actually currently active. CA giving the total number is fine, it's a good number to know but they and every other state plus the feds should also give the number of current active cases as well. Of course that number would not be perfectly accurate but I think we can agree it's certainly less than half the overall total.

 

As scary as the reports are and what I just wrote about people doing all these risky things over Memorial Day, charts like these from Wisconsin helps to put it into better perspective.

 

Bob

Hammond SK1, Mojo 61, Kurzweil PC3, Korg Pa3x, Roland FA06, Band in a Box, Real Band, Studio One, too much stuff...
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why has what should be a scientific and social matter ended up being a political matter

I believe that happened just about the time governors and other elected officials began imposing strict, and often seemingly incoherent or baffling, rules and regulations many may have felt were not in their best interest or even the best interest of the public at large.

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Agreed, the "every man for himself" approach was probably not the best strategy. But to be fair, no one had ever dealt with this before. And the reality is that in the absence of data, you're better off being blamed for being too careful than not being careful enough.

 

Just think about how much more is known about the virus now than last December. A lot of what was assumed was right, a lot of what was assumed was wrong, and we're nowhere near knowing everything we need to know about it to deal with it effectively.

 

Meanwhile, I'm working on a presentation for "virtual Gearfest." People adapt.

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But to be fair, no one had ever dealt with this before.

 

Yes and I feel extremely fortunate that, in the grand scheme of things, the impact on me has been minimal so far, I haven't had a haircut in two months, need some dental work and I couldn't go to my favorite restaurants for a while, boohoo. Meanwhile people have died from something that didn't exist before last year while life savings, dreams, hopes and businesses have been decimated. I never foresaw living in such times as we're experiencing; it's fascinating, horrifying, confusing, maddening and emotionally draining all at the same time.

 

Is it to late to take a poll? I'd be curious to know how folks here might have handled things differently.

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The only

But to be fair, no one had ever dealt with this before.

 

Yes and I feel extremely fortunate that, in the grand scheme of things, the impact on me has been minimal so far, I haven't had a haircut in two months, need some dental work and I couldn't go to my favorite restaurants for a while, boohoo. Meanwhile people have died from something that didn't exist before last year while life savings, dreams, hopes and businesses have been decimated. I never foresaw living in such times as we're experiencing; it's fascinating, horrifying, confusing, maddening and emotionally draining all at the same time.

 

Is it to late to take a poll? I'd be curious to know how folks here might have handled things differently.

 

Here's what I would have done, even knowing what we knew at the time. If you dig deep enough, I think that you'll find this is fact-based and objective. I welcome any corrections.

 

Here's an

article comparing the South Korean and US responses from Healthline, which is a non-political publication about health issues. It's sobering to realize it was published on March 30 - less than two months ago! - when the death count in the US was 2,400 people. Interestingly, COVID-19 was identified in both countries on the same day. Currently, the US has 1.7 million active cases and over 100,000 deaths, South Korea has 11,265 active cases and 269 deaths (and there's every reason to believe their numbers are accurate). Granted, the US has 6.6 times more population, but even using a multiplier, that means 74,300 active cases and 1,775 deaths would be comparable for South Korea. (Using a population difference multiplier with Germany, which initially made some of the mistakes the US did but rectified them more rapidly, they have 42,000 active cases and 34,000 deaths - way more than South Korea, but way less than the US. Their number of new cases is currently in the hundreds, as opposed to the tens of thousands in the US, and their opening up is proceeding more rapidly, albeit cautiously.)

 

I believe the main difference may be that South Korea had to fight an outbreak of MERS in 2015, and the government's casual response was roundly criticized within the country. Although under 40 people died, South Korea realized it had dodged a bullet, and the government decided it better not be caught by surprise again. When COVID-19 came around, they knew what to do, and did it.

 

What I would have done differently was to immediately steal (I mean, be inspired by, LOL) the South Koreans because it was obvious they knew what they were doing. However, they had the advantage of being prepared, so they had the ability to ramp up testing and contact tracing rapidly, which was crucial to keeping the outbreak under control, and avoid the need for a lockdown. When there was a flareup, South Korea was able to stamp it out rapidly, again due to testing and contact tracing. The US has done neither sufficiently, which is why the situation continues to deteriorate, although more slowly in some places than others.

 

I would have also studied how the US responded to the Ebola outbreak in 2014. There was tremendous concern it would get out of control. One big advantage compared to COVID-19 was that it could not be transmitted through the air, which meant it was highly infectious under a more limited set of circumstances (although also more deadly). The administration at that time decided the best approach would be to stop it at the source so it couldn't spread beyond Africa, because it was felt that if it worked its way into the world population, the US would have significant collateral damage. The US did a massive aid effort that sent doctors, CDC people, scientists who knew how to dispose of dead bodies, etc. There was also a primitive form of contact tracing in place where people who had been diagnosed in the US, or were on their way to the US, were isolated immediately from any contact with any people other than health workers. They had adequate protective gear (not that much was needed, owing to the limited number of patients due to the rapid response).

 

Like South Korea, back in 2014 the US felt it had dodged a bullet and created a task force, based on direction from the National Security Council, on how to handle upcoming pandemics. The scientific/medical community assured the NSC that the Ebola issue was not unique, and pandemics would happen, as they have happened since the beginning of recorded history. However, now any pandemic could hitch a ride in airplanes, and take advantage of society's mobility. Contrary to some claims, the pandemic task force was not exactly eliminated in 2018, but it was folded into a larger structure that also was responsible for bioterrorism and other issues. Although saying the task force was eliminated isn't technically correct, several key people resigned because they felt its importance/effectiveness had been reduced, and there have been questions about the competence of those who replaced the people who had left.

 

The bottom line is I would have said that we've been warned, it's happening, we need to do something now, let's talk to South Korea because they know how to handle this stuff, and use their techniques. Because the government position was that COVID-19 was simply another type of flu, and that it would disappear on its own, the US lost valuable time in stemming the problem before it became so big that the only option was a lockdown, which South Korea was able to avoid. There is evidence the lockdown has been effective in preventing a worst-case scenario, but the economic collateral damage that has resulted from the delay has been devastating.

 

So, yes, bottom line is the US blew it. At this point, pointing fingers doesn't do any good. But the stupidest thing this country could do is not start preparations now in case there is a second wave. Most European countries are already doing so, and most scientists believe there is a good chance - not a certainty, but a very good chance - that a second wave will occur later this year.

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That's a very thoughtful and insightful response, thanks for sharing that!

 

Does anyone foresee any culpability placed on China? For example, I'd seen indications that our debt with them had already reached an unsustainable level long before this. Would we attempt to reduce or even cancel that debt as a punishment and could it lead to war?

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I think the main difference between S.Korea and the US response was that their government's first response was to protect their citizens. They acted immediately and effectively.

 

Our government's response was to protect themselves, telling us for 6 weeks there is nothing to worry about while they sold stocks in their portfolio that they knew would lose money in the recession.

 

New Zealand had a similar response to that of S.Korea and they have effectively shut the disease down. No new cases.

 

I know we are not to be political, but this is pretty important to why the Corona isn't going away anytime soon. Please don't reward them by electing them again.

 

Insights and incites by Notes.

Bob "Notes" Norton

Owner, Norton Music http://www.nortonmusic.com

Style and Fake disks for Band-in-a-Box

The Sophisticats http://www.s-cats.com >^. .^< >^. .^<

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I think the main difference between S.Korea and the US response was that their government's first response was to protect their citizens. They acted immediately and effectively.

 

Our government's response was to protect themselves, telling us for 6 weeks there is nothing to worry about while they sold stocks in their portfolio that they knew would lose money in the recession.

 

New Zealand had a similar response to that of S.Korea and they have effectively shut the disease down. No new cases.

 

I know we are not to be political, but this is pretty important to why the Corona isn't going away anytime soon. Please don't reward them by electing them again.

 

Insights and incites by Notes.

 

I was going to delete the last line, but want to comment on it.

 

The candidate's bases are unswervingly in favor of their candidates, so trying to change their opinions is pointless. All you can do is present them with data, and see if they change their opinions based on a new data set.

 

What we are lacking in this country is the ability for ALL people to be able to look at elected officials and make judgements about what is being done correctly, and what isn't. People want to see their political favorites as all good, or all bad. That simply isn't the case.

 

The people need to monitor the politicians and apply course corrections. For example, take the WHO. I think any objective person would agree that reforms are needed. Also, any objective person would dispute the claims about what the US pays, because the figure that's quoted in the media is almost always what the US is supposed to pay, not what it actually pays, which is considerably less.

 

In my ideal world, this would open up a discussion among all stakeholders in the WHO - which is basically the world - on what reforms are needed, how they can be accomplished, and the time frame in which they would occur. By immediately turning it into a partisan issue based around stoking anger against China (not that it's undeserved, but that's not the point), any possibility of having true, meaningful reforms made by the members became impossible. So, what's broken will probably not be fixed, the organization will fade into irrelevance, and the world will be worse off as a result.

 

It seems very, very few people in power are willing to say "okay, we had problems in the past, let's put those behind us and deal with making things right in the future." It's like married couples who keep finding fault with each other until they get divorced, instead of absolving each other of whatever happened in the past, and concentrating on what can be done moving forward.

 

This is an opinion: the problem with the Chinese and US response was hubris more than anything else. South Korea had been humbled by its previous experience. Both China and the US felt they were so powerful "it can't happen here." Both countries delayed because of a misplaced belief in their own invincibility. South Korea knew that in a fistfight with a virus, which has no political affiliation, the virus will beat you up.

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Thinking about re-opening your studio when things loosen up a bit? The Recording Academy (the Grammy folks) Producers & Engineers Ring just published a set of guidelines for your studio and your clients.

 

Great Googly Moogly !!!!!!!!

 

Nothing here that you haven't read or heard before, tailored to microphones, vocal booths, control rooms, and such. I suppose work will get done, but it's going to be harder to have fun.

 

You can read the PDF here.

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What we are lacking in this country is the ability for ALL people to be able to look at elected officials and make judgements about what is being done correctly, and what isn't. People want to see their political favorites as all good, or all bad. That simply isn't the case.

 

The people need to monitor the politicians and apply course corrections. For example, take the WHO. I think any objective person would agree that reforms are needed. Also, any objective person would dispute the claims about what the US pays, because the figure that's quoted in the media is almost always what the US is supposed to pay, not what it actually pays, which is considerably less.

 

In my ideal world, this would open up a discussion among all stakeholders in the WHO - which is basically the world - on what reforms are needed, how they can be accomplished, and the time frame in which they would occur. By immediately turning it into a partisan issue based around stoking anger against China (not that it's undeserved, but that's not the point), any possibility of having true, meaningful reforms made by the members became impossible. So, what's broken will probably not be fixed, the organization will fade into irrelevance, and the world will be worse off as a result.

 

It seems very, very few people in power are willing to say "okay, we had problems in the past, let's put those behind us and deal with making things right in the future." It's like married couples who keep finding fault with each other until they get divorced, instead of absolving each other of whatever happened in the past, and concentrating on what can be done moving forward.

I find it really frustrating that people are so willing to throw the baby out with the bathwater (in fact, I never hear anyone use that expression anymore). People insist that if the system is broken, it must be thrown out, instead of seeing if it can be fixed. And they don't have any suggestion to replace it, either. So in this case, because the WHO might have screwed up, we're going to lose it entirely? That's ridiculous. Between agendas of those who want to get rid of these systems or organizations, and the impatience and susceptibility of those who listen to those who want to get rid of these things, plus dumb human nature, we're constantly fighting for all or nothing instead of nuance and fixing things. It's really frustrating to watch.

 

(Please note the non-partisan stance of my reply. :) )

"I'm so crazy, I don't know this is impossible! Hoo hoo!" - Daffy Duck

 

"The good news is that once you start piano you never have to worry about getting laid again. More time to practice!" - MOI

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Too many countries put faith in WHO proclamations and it was later found out that they deliberately withheld important information. The fact is that WHO has a political agenda and answers to one country. You can say don't get political or don't get partisan but that doesn't solve the problem and in the future the same things will happen again.
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