4 ms·

I'm amazed that it's spreading so fast in US. US is a huge place. Okay NY has a high population density so that makes sense, but outbreaks in Seattle et al. is

by pen2l 7y ago

I'm amazed that it's spreading so fast in US. US is a huge place. Okay NY has a high population density so that makes sense, but outbreaks in Seattle et al. is surprising me and I can't figure out why it's faster than other countries.

hnarn 7y ago
Some guesses why it would spread faster than say Scandinavia: - No public health care, people infect family caretakers. - No paid sick leave means people go to work sick and infect colleagues. - No strong government campaign to enforce working from home, washing hands etc. - No central initiative to track and isolate cases These are just guesses but I'm far from surprised the US is seeing explosive increases. There seems to be no crisis awareness and there's no strong public welfare.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
_ph_ 7y ago
I don't think the speed of spread is fundamentaly different between most countries. Unless strong measures like lock-downs are taken, we are talking about an exponential development. Based on that, the different speeds of spread would denote different sections on the time line. That means, different time spans between the first infections in a country and the time, systematic testing and countermeasures are taken. Based on that, one can conclude that e.g. Italy was one of the first European countries being hit by a spreading infection and it took too long till systematic testing began. Likewise, in the US there was too much time between the first cases and testing, which basically just began.
IgorPartola 7y ago
The US is a well off country and we have increasingly started moving all over it. I personally have family and friends on both coasts. I don't visit them much but I have many reasons to travel. Our travel is also extremely cheap. A friend of mine routinely drives from CT to NM and back. She has very limited income, yet is able to do that. Also, it doesn't help that our leadership has completely failed to act on this situation, and is continuing to mostly fail to do so. This virus should rightly be called the Trump virus in the US. Our president* not only failed to act, he did things that actively enabled COVID-19 to spread faster. In these kinds of circumstances it's no wonder it's spreading so fast.
- malandrew 7y ago
  > Also, it doesn't help that our leadership has completely failed to act on this situation If we're being honest here, we as Americans have failed to act. The Chinese, Japanese, Taiwanese, Koreans and Singaporeans all have no issues with all wearing facemasks in public for example. Go to any supermarket in America right now. Almost no one will be wearing masks. That's just one example of everyone doing their part. What every individual is doing in those countries contributes to their success in keeping things under control. If anything blaming leadership instead of each and every one of us acknowledging how we could do better is part of the problem. It's always easier to blame others than to take responsibility.
  - dba7dba 7y ago
    Honestly, I think US officials are NOT asking people to wear masks because they are afraid that it will cause supply to dry up, preventing medical staff from acquiring them. All nations that have had better result of slowing covid-19 are all in places where wearing face mask in public is the norm.
  - DangitBobby 7y ago
    I was told not to buy masks because healthcare providers needed them... We were getting clearly contradictory messaging (don't buy masks because it won't help you and also doctors need them) but for me the main takeaway was to leave the masks for those who really needed them.
    - malandrew 7y ago
      That may be the real reason, but telling people that it won't help them as the reason certainly did not help. Now the medical personal need a lot more masks than they would have if people had been more cautious and covered their face.
sanguy 7y ago
Canadian living in the US here. It is amazing (and absolutely terrifying) as to how belligerent Americans are to any sense of being told what to do. A good % of them will purposely do the opposite just to exercise their freedoms. So in a situation of lock-downs, shelter in places, and generally strong advice to socially distance you have: - Neighbor's continually inviting us to BBQ's and dinner parties - Bars are closed so people are having tailgate parties outside of the local liquor stores with friends - Nobody respecting 2m distancing at groceries, even with tape lines to indicate safe spacing - Assholes purposely coughing and as they do so muttering "corona" in public places treating it like a joke - Young people on tiktok and other social media doing things like spitting, licking, or coughing on others/foods. Unfortunately this is not selective in that those acting like idiots are not the only impacting themselves, but they are helping the spread and impacting others.
- Hokusai 7y ago
  > It is amazing (and absolutely terrifying) as to how belligerent Americans are to any sense of being told what to do. A good % of them will purposely do the opposite just to exercise their freedoms. "Small government" is part of many TV stations indoctrination. The idea that any government initiative, except for war, should not be taken seriously and should be defunded is hammered on the American public. So, there is no balance between what should be run for the good of the community and personal freedoms. > To be very honest it fully deserves what occurs as so many are poking this in the eye asking for her vengeance. Sadly many people are as much victims as executors. Many American citizens have learned to hate the common good and bring people to power with the same mindset. For me it is hard to think that people that never got a chance, that never got proper education, that is only following what other taught them is deserving of such suffering. I hope that the reality of this situation may help to break that cycle. I do not expect this overnight, but, it may come as a change in the long run.
- smkellat 7y ago
  What do you expect after three years of #Resistance, Russia-related conspiracies, the Mueller mess, and worse in this country? Frankly I am surprised that we have any shred of compliance anywhere at all. The state briefing here in Ohio today said we're expecting things to hit the multiples thousands per day in late April for diagnoses so this situation can still accelerate yet.
Hokusai 7y ago
> I'm amazed that it's spreading so fast in US. That speed is an attribute of exponential growth. It has happened in all countries. One day there is one death a couple of weeks latter a hundred, the lock down comes shortly after. In four months there are at least 500,000 infected from just one case. That is fast. > why it's faster than other countries. My guess is that it is not faster, it is just a lack of testing that was hiding the real numbers. Deaths have a more tragic impact that infections and are easier to count. The number of deaths is an indicator of the real number of infections the country had two weeks to three weeks ago. As, the number of currently infected will result in deaths two to three weeks from now. That is why a lock down of three weeks is the bare minimum amount to have any kind of impact, even that is not enough to really keep it under check.
thomk 7y ago
The virus lives for days on surfaces. Packages and mail can carry it. I'm guessing we are shipping the virus nonstop, worldwide. I'm surprised it isn't spreading faster.
stevenwoo 7y ago
Based on reports from different parts of USA, it’s been here since February and spreading and we just didn’t test patients/corpses until it was community spread. It’s still hard to get tested unless you are sick enough to be admitted to a hospital except in New York. Medical personnel in New Orleans think their outbreak started around Mardi Gras. Reports from airports had people only being screened minimally right up until they shutdown eu ingress. There was widespread (different states) proclamation that life should go on as normal and there are cases on both coasts where one international traveler spread it at a party and then gives it someone who goes to another party and exposes hundreds of people. It’s the same story as what happened in Northern Italy but all over the USA. https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-03-24/coronavirus-trump-national-golf-course-birthday-party https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-03-24/coronavi... https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/23/us/coronavirus-westport-connecticut-party-zero.html https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/23/us/coronavirus-westport-c... https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/mar/26/new-orleans-surviving-katrina-battles-covid-19-coronavirus https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/mar/26/new-orleans-... Just based on the news reports alone this seemed inevitable with the president calling it a hoax early on.
- selimthegrim 7y ago
  I live in New Orleans. All expectations are for the hospitals to hit capacity next week. And since this is majority service industry town no one really has any source of income beyond then either.
zer00eyz 7y ago
If you want to understand how this is spreading the way it is and why go look at the Westport cluster: 50 people attend a part, 20 of them come out positive.
justforyou 7y ago
Because a significant portion of the population and political establishment refuses to face the reality of the situation, and by doing so has created incredibly fertile conditions for spread of the virus.

by pen2l 7y ago

hnarn 7y ago

Some guesses why it would spread faster than say Scandinavia: - No public health care, people infect family caretakers. - No paid sick leave means people go to work sick and infect colleagues. - No strong government campaign to enforce working from home, washing hands etc. - No central initiative to track and isolate cases These are just guesses but I'm far from surprised the US is seeing explosive increases. There seems to be no crisis awareness and there's no strong public welfare.

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

_ph_ 7y ago

I don't think the speed of spread is fundamentaly different between most countries. Unless strong measures like lock-downs are taken, we are talking about an exponential development. Based on that, the different speeds of spread would denote different sections on the time line. That means, different time spans between the first infections in a country and the time, systematic testing and countermeasures are taken. Based on that, one can conclude that e.g. Italy was one of the first European countries being hit by a spreading infection and it took too long till systematic testing began. Likewise, in the US there was too much time between the first cases and testing, which basically just began.

IgorPartola 7y ago

The US is a well off country and we have increasingly started moving all over it. I personally have family and friends on both coasts. I don't visit them much but I have many reasons to travel. Our travel is also extremely cheap. A friend of mine routinely drives from CT to NM and back. She has very limited income, yet is able to do that. Also, it doesn't help that our leadership has completely failed to act on this situation, and is continuing to mostly fail to do so. This virus should rightly be called the Trump virus in the US. Our president* not only failed to act, he did things that actively enabled COVID-19 to spread faster. In these kinds of circumstances it's no wonder it's spreading so fast.

malandrew 7y ago
> Also, it doesn't help that our leadership has completely failed to act on this situation If we're being honest here, we as Americans have failed to act. The Chinese, Japanese, Taiwanese, Koreans and Singaporeans all have no issues with all wearing facemasks in public for example. Go to any supermarket in America right now. Almost no one will be wearing masks. That's just one example of everyone doing their part. What every individual is doing in those countries contributes to their success in keeping things under control. If anything blaming leadership instead of each and every one of us acknowledging how we could do better is part of the problem. It's always easier to blame others than to take responsibility.
- dba7dba 7y ago
  Honestly, I think US officials are NOT asking people to wear masks because they are afraid that it will cause supply to dry up, preventing medical staff from acquiring them. All nations that have had better result of slowing covid-19 are all in places where wearing face mask in public is the norm.
- DangitBobby 7y ago
  I was told not to buy masks because healthcare providers needed them... We were getting clearly contradictory messaging (don't buy masks because it won't help you and also doctors need them) but for me the main takeaway was to leave the masks for those who really needed them.
  - malandrew 7y ago
    That may be the real reason, but telling people that it won't help them as the reason certainly did not help. Now the medical personal need a lot more masks than they would have if people had been more cautious and covered their face.

sanguy 7y ago

Canadian living in the US here. It is amazing (and absolutely terrifying) as to how belligerent Americans are to any sense of being told what to do. A good % of them will purposely do the opposite just to exercise their freedoms. So in a situation of lock-downs, shelter in places, and generally strong advice to socially distance you have: - Neighbor's continually inviting us to BBQ's and dinner parties - Bars are closed so people are having tailgate parties outside of the local liquor stores with friends - Nobody respecting 2m distancing at groceries, even with tape lines to indicate safe spacing - Assholes purposely coughing and as they do so muttering "corona" in public places treating it like a joke - Young people on tiktok and other social media doing things like spitting, licking, or coughing on others/foods. Unfortunately this is not selective in that those acting like idiots are not the only impacting themselves, but they are helping the spread and impacting others.

Hokusai 7y ago
> It is amazing (and absolutely terrifying) as to how belligerent Americans are to any sense of being told what to do. A good % of them will purposely do the opposite just to exercise their freedoms. "Small government" is part of many TV stations indoctrination. The idea that any government initiative, except for war, should not be taken seriously and should be defunded is hammered on the American public. So, there is no balance between what should be run for the good of the community and personal freedoms. > To be very honest it fully deserves what occurs as so many are poking this in the eye asking for her vengeance. Sadly many people are as much victims as executors. Many American citizens have learned to hate the common good and bring people to power with the same mindset. For me it is hard to think that people that never got a chance, that never got proper education, that is only following what other taught them is deserving of such suffering. I hope that the reality of this situation may help to break that cycle. I do not expect this overnight, but, it may come as a change in the long run.
smkellat 7y ago
What do you expect after three years of #Resistance, Russia-related conspiracies, the Mueller mess, and worse in this country? Frankly I am surprised that we have any shred of compliance anywhere at all. The state briefing here in Ohio today said we're expecting things to hit the multiples thousands per day in late April for diagnoses so this situation can still accelerate yet.

Hokusai 7y ago

> I'm amazed that it's spreading so fast in US. That speed is an attribute of exponential growth. It has happened in all countries. One day there is one death a couple of weeks latter a hundred, the lock down comes shortly after. In four months there are at least 500,000 infected from just one case. That is fast. > why it's faster than other countries. My guess is that it is not faster, it is just a lack of testing that was hiding the real numbers. Deaths have a more tragic impact that infections and are easier to count. The number of deaths is an indicator of the real number of infections the country had two weeks to three weeks ago. As, the number of currently infected will result in deaths two to three weeks from now. That is why a lock down of three weeks is the bare minimum amount to have any kind of impact, even that is not enough to really keep it under check.

thomk 7y ago

The virus lives for days on surfaces. Packages and mail can carry it. I'm guessing we are shipping the virus nonstop, worldwide. I'm surprised it isn't spreading faster.

stevenwoo 7y ago

Based on reports from different parts of USA, it’s been here since February and spreading and we just didn’t test patients/corpses until it was community spread. It’s still hard to get tested unless you are sick enough to be admitted to a hospital except in New York. Medical personnel in New Orleans think their outbreak started around Mardi Gras. Reports from airports had people only being screened minimally right up until they shutdown eu ingress. There was widespread (different states) proclamation that life should go on as normal and there are cases on both coasts where one international traveler spread it at a party and then gives it someone who goes to another party and exposes hundreds of people. It’s the same story as what happened in Northern Italy but all over the USA. https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-03-24/coronavirus-trump-national-golf-course-birthday-party https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-03-24/coronavi... https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/23/us/coronavirus-westport-connecticut-party-zero.html https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/23/us/coronavirus-westport-c... https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/mar/26/new-orleans-surviving-katrina-battles-covid-19-coronavirus https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/mar/26/new-orleans-... Just based on the news reports alone this seemed inevitable with the president calling it a hoax early on.

selimthegrim 7y ago
I live in New Orleans. All expectations are for the hospitals to hit capacity next week. And since this is majority service industry town no one really has any source of income beyond then either.

zer00eyz 7y ago

If you want to understand how this is spreading the way it is and why go look at the Westport cluster: 50 people attend a part, 20 of them come out positive.

justforyou 7y ago

Because a significant portion of the population and political establishment refuses to face the reality of the situation, and by doing so has created incredibly fertile conditions for spread of the virus.