Let's slow down and step back to consider what is about to happen. Though there is a wide

[Atticus]

variety of methods and time tables, most states are currently beginning their version of "opening". Some are only allowing certain categories of businesses to open during reduced hours and with a dramatic reduction in the number of people allowed to enter a business at one time. Others are essentially eliminating all restrictions on personal conduct. "Do whatever you want": you don't have to wear a mask; you don't have to stay home; you don't have to avoid crowds.

I don't need to tell you what is going to happen over the next several weeks. You know. Everyone with the sense God gave a rubber duck knows what is about to happen.

The Corona virus cases and deaths are going to spike. Thousands of Americans are going to die unnecessarily. But, now, the deaths aren't going to be confined to the big cities. Now, the dead will have lived in our rural counties; our towns with names never mentioned on the evening news. They will be our neighbors down the street, the cashier at our grocery store, a teacher at our child's school.

Idiots will be refusing to wear masks in public and screaming insults at those who do. Idiots will be standing shoulder in crowds to chant praises to Trump and threats to any who dare criticize him. Idiots will take to the airwaves, social media and the streets to shout bumper sticker slogans in an effort to make it seem as though every "true American" agrees with Trump that this pandemic is "no big deal" and that he is doing a "wonderful job" of handling it.

I know better. You know better. EVERYONE without a MAGA tattoo knows better. So,---

Ignore anything originating with the Trump cult. Listen to your own common sense. This ain't over by a long shot. It is not safe out there yet. Stay home if you can. Wear a mask and maintain social distancing when you must go out. WASH YOUR HANDS every time you thnk of it.

Let's maintain our self-quarantine the way addicts and alcoholics maintain their sobriety: one day at a time.

[SoonerPride]

1. May the odds be ever in your favor

I have come to the conclusion that we are too selfish and too stupid as a society to be all in this together.

We know what to do and it is up to us to save ourselves. The government isn’t going to do it. Business isn’t going to do it.

And now I don’t think regardless of how bad it gets in any state or city that there is the political will to close down business again.

We’re on our own.

May the odds be ever in your favor.

[uponit7771]

2. AMEN!! Looks like the rate of down still has a multiplier to it

[Laelth]

3. I think you are fundamentally wrong.

People are still going to stay home, no matter what stay-at-home orders remain in place. Businesses are not going to reopen because they know that they won’t have enough patrons to justify reopening. If businesses can’t make money, they won’t reopen.

The American people are taking care of the spread of the novel Coronavirus. They’re staying home. Social distancing appears to be working.

Our economy, on the other hand, is toast.

-Laelth

[Atticus]

5. I can only tell you that, in my RED community, stores are open and they are packed. We have only

driven past, but parking lots are full and traffic is heavy. There is NO enforcement of any restrictions by local officials.Those who wear masks and expect others to are considered "weird libtard snowflakes".

[misanthrope]

21. Yep, same here

I expect the rise in cases to begin in a few weeks' time. The big question is whether they will be tested or not, in order to quell the stats.

[lindysalsagal]

29. You'll know, either way, when the deaths stack up.

And the hospitals leave people out in the parkinglot to die because they're overrun and no one took steps to be prepared.

[leighbythesea2]

27. The area where

My other house is, cases are triple the average of the state of Michigan. Grand rapids is 9th fastest growing rate in the country.
My husband is in that house, has been working--- as solor energy production is infrastructure. Located in Grand Rapids.
Very reduced staff. Distancing by 20 plus feet.
Almost no one showed up today.
So i will grant some people will choose to stay home.
Company may have to hire 5 temps.
That was vetoed.

But people are out.
We knew someone who drove to lansing to protest.
Theres still plenty of idiots. West michigan is red also.

[LisaL]

6. Opposite of what you are saying is already happening in states like Georgia.

[Newest Reality]

4. What if they gave an opening...

What if they gave an opening and nobody came?

We arleady have an idea of the "me" type of people that will rush out like lemmings and go over the cliff. They are toast and just future vectors and may contract the spike, so to speak, raising the death toll dramatically.

However, there are those of us that understand the real implications of this and the point and purpose of following the various guidelines. Will we be in a rush to get out to go to all the open venues? I think there will be enough skittishness about that a significant number of customers just won't show up for the opening. Crickets!

Then, there is the fact that there are millions of people who are on their last leg financially and are maybe facing both food insecurity and homelessness. That's another group that won't be out building up the economy for the vested interests because, no pay, no play. You can't go out and enjoy restaurants, movies, bowling, whatever if you are broke.

It seems that opening may not play out well for ANY reason, including the potential increase of infections and deaths from it.

[FreeState]

7. Andy Slavitt: 30 days of bliss

https://mobile.twitter.com/ASlavitt/status/1256736767199371264

COVID Update May 2: Welcome to 30 days of bliss. The type of bliss that often comes from ignorance. 1/

Many of the politicians in the country believe it would not be possible to keep strict social distancing rules in May.

They feel pressure from a small minority to make adjustments— get people haircuts, gather on beaches, go to church in person, visit malls. 2/

Elon Musk and others want a broader opening.

Some of those things done the right way may be safe. Some of them are not.

And many people will not just stop being careful just because they can. Many unsafe things are legal. In MN you can ride a motorcycle without a helmet but many people don’t. 3/

Not that there won’t be any economic opportunity to opening up, but for the economy to really move— we would need people to buy cars, get on planes, and start spending money.

That’s just not going to happen but let me get back to that. 4/

The blissful part of the 30 days is people won’t pay the price for May’s experiment until June.

But if people believe we are opening during a time when the curve is flat, they are wrong. 5/

But first the bliss. If you get infected today, with 5 infectious days without symptoms at minimum— 28 infectious days without symptoms for those who never show them— & without tests or contact tracing, you can infect many people before you know it, if you ever know it. 6/

If you get sick, and the people you infect get sick, if you get sicker, it’s another week or two before you are hospitalized, then more time before in the ICU and then weeks until people start to die. 7/

On Memorial Day, we could still be looking at what could appear to be positive data that doesn’t account for this lag. We might even view Memorial Day as an opportunity to celebrate together at beaches & BBQs. I know I would like that. 8/

[Newest Reality]

9. +1

[gab13by13]

12. Georgia, Florida, and Texas are going to explode by Memorial Day.

[bubbazero]

17. Thank you Atticus and Thank you FreeState

Ran numbers this am while waiting for elderly mom--extra long wait on Sun--If numbers run ANYTHING like typical outbreak in livestock, with restriction of contact lifted too soon, and considering the long incubation time of virus--we might see numbers actually GO DOWN by Memorial Day--but 2nd wave will be in "gestation" by that time. When 2nd wave comes up--will come slow thru June, but by August--LOOKOUT. I am not an expert at anything--period--but have had enough in livestock business (degree--post grad training--etc) to do basic math. THE NEED FOR TESTING IS PARAMOUNT--Testing will help CATCH the 2nd wave before it gets so bad--NO ONE could possible call it a hoax. Rough numbers show range of 400,000 to 1,200,000 for the month of Aug. alone, is possible if virus behaves in current fashion. Even if off by factor of 10--that's still 40,000 in Aug alone with kids headed back to school. Fell free to consider this all BULLSHIT as I put almost no faith in projections--i's jus' a dum rednek after all--but clearly the need for TESTING--BOTH DIAGNOSTIC AND HERD EXPOSURE LEVELS IS CRITICAL

[Blaukraut]

8. Those fools won't allow us to maintain our own quarantine

I fully expect an angry mob coming to my house and dragging me out into the street at some point. And I'm only half kidding. It's not about their freedom to them. It's about imposing their will on everyone else.

[gordianot]

10. I have maybe 10 years left in my case that would be a mistake.

I expect to be left alone.

[I_UndergroundPanther]

11. This☝️

[yonder]

30. "It's about imposing their will on everyone else."

That's exactly how they roll. Wherever they get their looney ideas, once accepted, they make sure everyone around them knows it is now their idea. Then they hector those they can to follow suit.

[cwydro]

35. Why would someone come to your house and drag you out?

I live in a red county, and that’s not something that would even occur to me?

Do you mean people you know? Complete strangers? What? Why would they come to your house?
Why would they drag you out? Drag you where?

[yaesu]

13. all is quiet on the western front, until it isn't. nt

[Grammy23]

14. My town in NW FL opened its beaches back up a couple of days ago.

Many people flocked down there. It takes roughly 25-30 minutes from my house to the place we like to go at the beach. We did not attempt to go nor did we even remotely entertain the thought. It takes enough planning just to get groceries purchased between the store pick up and quick runs to the store by my husband.

News reports said that while the beach appeared crowded, most people followed the rules of no groups bigger than 10 and maintained 6’ distance. Video seemed to verify this. The person interviewed said people were mostly polite and trying to follow the rules. So maybe there is hope. Folks around here really enjoy the beach and fishing, etc. so to get that privilege back was much appreciated. Time will tell if they continue to behave as requested. Some people drove here from nearby states like Georgia so it was not all locals.

[Hamlette]

15. cuomo is my president. I do what he says.

for now.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

16. Wish he was our nominee. Not that Joe isn't a great person

and insanely qualified, but at this point in history we need a razor sharp manager with a liberal heart of gold.

[tirebiter]

22. Cuomo waited too long to get serious

He’s good at pounding the table but he’s been playing catch up. The Pacific coast states have the best records. In California, Newsom has the largest state with the least homogeneous Population. The beaches were mellow this weekend despite calls to protest lockdown.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

24. What happened w Newsome? Remember years ago he was certain

to run for president. Then nothing.

[IronLionZion]

32. He had a sex scandal

which is fine for California but might not go over well in the rest of America

[cwydro]

36. Oh yea, can't imagine anyone running for president with sexual scandals in their background.

[IronLionZion]

43. Democrats have been forced out of office for less

We're not the GOP

[tirebiter]

41. He just started to establish a record as governer

Wasn’t aware he was on anybody’s short list. Then I wasn’t aware of any sex scandal, either. I know that Kimberley Guilfoyle used to be his main squeeze, but nothing beyond that. It matters not here in the Bear Republic.

[BigDemVoter]

18. As a healthcare worker, I wouldn't even consider going to a state that refused any kind of lockdown

to "help out" or "volunteer." You cannot fucking fix stupid, and these states aer going to be screaming for help. If they can't even listen to any goddamned advice from people who have SEEN what this fucking virus does, I am done. . . .

[Marrah_Goodman]

42. I am concerned about my daughter

She moves to Lynchburg, VA in ten days to be with her girlfriend. She is a CNA and will be working at a hospital there. I was just on their website and they actually allow 1-2 visitors per patient depending on the situation. Here in Southern New England no visitors are allowed. They are also about to start doing elective procedures again.

[hunter]

19. If you are going to die of this virus do it quietly at home without a fuss.

Because of Jesus! And bacon!

w

[NBachers]

20. We'll be in another full-blown disease crisis during the election season.

[JCMach1]

23. Precisely

[Sugarcoated]

26. Will this hurt crooked Don voters?

I'd take the risk if I had to wear a rigged hazmat getup and I'd think most anti Trump voters would, but here in PA we can vote by mail if we want to. Still waiting for my primary ballots, though.

[Joinfortmill]

25. I'm with you.

[Boomer]

28. I'm not leaving home

I'm not going to eat in restaurants, sit in a movie theater, book a plane flight or a sea cruise. Thanks to my company's policy flexibility and the nature of my job, I can work from home for years to come (assuming they stay in business, which they most likely will).

The local economy isn't getting me back, no matter what Trump and the GOP do or say.

[Initech]

31. No way in hell am I going anywhere without a vaccine.

[Oppaloopa]

34. Just heard a head of Merke state on CNN we will have a vaccine by the end of the year.

[cwydro]

38. Lol.

I heard we only had 15 cases which were going to plummet to zero in no time.

And the virus would disappear in April. Poof! Just like that.

[Initech]

40. Yeah I am not trusting anything that the government says right now.

CEOs, too. I will believe it when I see it.

[caraher]

33. There are now projections of what will happen

They aren't pretty.

State-by-state Reopenings: We update each US state’s reopening timeline according to The New York Times. To date, we are the only model referenced by the CDC that factors in individual state re-openings. Learn more about our social distancing assumptions here.
Current Projection for US (Updated Daily - Last Updated: May 4):

Current Total: 67,679 deaths | Projected Total: 161,321 deaths by Aug 4, 2020 (Range: 95-282k)
Currently Infected: 0.6% | Total Infected: 2.9%

[EndlessWire]

37. I agree. n/t

[SammyWinstonJack]

39. Two older women in front of Kroger today, neither wearing a mask,

standing face to face saying how the lord would protect them as they have faith and that's all anyone needs. Guess all those who have died or have had covid19 just needed to have faith.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

44. There will be a huge spike in cases, especially in those states or cities

that have just opened willy-nilly, and where few people are wearing masks.

Nurses and other health care workers are hugely burned out. A significant number of them have gotten sick. Fun Fact: if you're sleep deprived, your immune system doesn't work so well.

Where was I?

Oh, yes. A lot of idiots will refuse to recognize what's really going on, won't wear masks, won't social distance and will get sick. It's unfortunate that health care resources will be wasted on them.

Late summer, maybe even earlier, there will be an obvious need for an even greater and stricter shut down. As obvious as it will be, I won't begin to predict that it will happen as it will need to.

Oh, and we're not the only country that's going to have this happen.

[The Wizard]

45. They claim it's

their constitutional right to make others deathly ill or dead.