Idiots are hellbent on messing that up, though. I don't have a better solution or anything, but no matter what measures are in place, people will break them as if it was some holy or patriotic mission to defy knowledge and decency. Our best hope is the warm weather saving our sorry asses from worse healthcare outcomes and worse economic problems.

So...I am wearing it correctly. :clap:

I completely agree with this, and ultimately I don't see how anybody can argue against this.

The tricky part will be figuring out what that balance is.

Perhaps more difficult still, will be as agreeing what that balance should be as a nation. It seems that we've lost the ability to overlook our differences and find common ground. We don't even "agree to disagree" so much as just see the opposing view as simply wrong, if not completely crazy.

If anyone cares to respond to this, it really belongs in the Outbreak 2020 thread.

https://www.dgcoursereview.com/forum...d.php?t=136400

Your underwear, or your mask?

Agreed

Fortunately there are options besides “stay at home” and “let the virus run its course.”

The best option, and one that many smaller countries have done very effectively, is to use testing, tracing, and supported isolation to control and suppress the pandemic.

From what I have read, the damage to the economy from shutdowns is far greater than the cost of doing testing, tracing, and isolation properly.

Agreed. Currently, most testing is done for symptomatic patients. Asymptomatic people are not being tested, even though research shows that they are responsible for spreading > 50% of infections.

Shockingly, people with known exposures are not being tested unless symptomatic. I know a person who was in contact with someone who tested positive (< 6-feet apart for more than 10 minutes with no mask). The doctor refused write a note authorizing testing unless the person was showing symptoms.

This. Is. Madness.

So I will believe that we are taking this seriously when we have enough tests to identify new infections; enough people trained to do contact tracing; and support for people to stay home when they are sick. That is how other countries have broken the chain of new infections so that they can start opening their economies safely.

Believing that this pandemic will go away without putting in the hard work is indulging in magical thinking.

If we want our economy to function it can't be on the faith that numbers and risks are exaggerated. I am on the cusp of several hundred people coming back to the building I've been working in while new cases and deaths are on a 25 and 50% uptick. In the grand scheme of things we are only talking about 2500 people seriously ill and another 10000 or so asymptomatic in a city of over a million. But as my co-workers head back to fill the tight confines of our outdated building I'd feel better knowing we could rapidly trace actual infections rather than just saying stay home 14 days to the people we determine had contact with someone that becomes visibly Ill. Better would be mandatory rapid testing on every Friday to clear you for Monday.

Ess-dog I hope your employer is at least following the CDC guidance for businesses.

CDC Guidance for Businesses and Employers for COVID-19 (clicky)

I wonder whether group screening could be an option in a workplace like yours?

Coronavirus Test Shortages Trigger a New Strategy: Group Screening (clicky)

I posted this in one of the political threads, but it fits just as well here.

Damn I worry about you folks down there, I'm watching the numbers and this ****s scary. We are still relatively untouched where I am.. Only 2428 in BC, but Quebec is over 40000.. Seems like the cases double every month. Same thing here with unconfirmed but assumed cases.. The word is don't go to the doctor/ hospital unless you are in distress.. No testy, no county.

This is our long weekend and it scares the crap out of me, so many people I don't know. So many people that follow me into sheds and corner me as I'm trying to keep my distance... it's amazing a global city like Vancouver still hasn't exploded, it's weird being in a tourist town and totally despising them haha.

"Welcome, We're closed, just leave your money and f*** off, please!"