Look at Ray Ray Run

Yes, I have spent days in meetings the past week and it's crazy to see the consensus (but not everyone) on the side I am presenting. I am not naive enough to think I have the answer, surely, but I do believe people on this side of the aisle have substantiated their position statistically and I feel this is the right direction to head. Odds are, the President and the GOP will not get on board. The financial industry is turning quickly on this administration. The tides have turned; hopefully action is next.

The economy is not going to improve as long as things continue to progress. The economy has only gotten worse, not better. If you allow this to happen over 4 months, you're talking about a recession that takes years to recover from. If we all accept the bleeding today, up front, for the next few weeks the recovery can start sooner.

My guy, my company has lost 10 million dollars in 5 days! No one will be making a living if this extends out over months and businesses are impacted over that time. I would rather cease operations for a couple weeks to get things in line and then begin the recovery.

That's fair BMags, but sadly the way things are reported we have already downplayed the fatality percentages because it's "only effecting old people." As if old peoples lives don't mean as much to the average person. If my dad died - I don't have children yet - I would be absolutely destroyed and devastated.

This would be great in theory if American's actually listened and took it seriously. Sadly, everyone is still going to work. My wife still has class despite a father of a student testing positive. The entire thing is a clusterfuck. The problem is American's don't like to be told what to do, and they don't listen to things that the media deems serious because they're idiots.

Yeah, and as a society no one gives a damn about old people because we're fvcked up. "BuT iT WoN't EfFeCt Me!"

The population density in big cities in the USA is every bit as packed as Italy and China. The fact that the western part of the country has a low population density doesn't help slow the spread in population centers; which is where the majority of Americans live.

Fair enough; from most statistical models I've seen, a 2-3 week shutdown would be incredibly beneficial by reducing the public interactions by nearly 80%.

This 100% is not true. Italy is one of the only countries testing in mass; the USA has administered 5000 tests total. The US outbreak is likely really bad, but because the country is spread out a lot of communities don't see it first hand yet.

The key, as you know, is to flatten the curve. If you decrease the amount of people in public by 80%, you are flattening the curve enough to slow the spread and contain the overworking of hospitals. By taking some measures but not all, you aren't doing enough to flatten the curve but the economic impact is just as great if not greater.

If you slow the spread right now, significantly, over a three week period you have flattened the curve and spread out the cases over a long enough period of time for the healthcare system to manage it. The governement is better off shutting everything down for 2-3 weeks, taking the substantial financial loss that comes with that, and then reopening after the layoff to start the recovery sooner. By delaying action, all you're doing is spreading the losses out over a longer period of time and delaying the recovery.

While I agree with your thought Jack, the execution is much harder to force. When you close schools; who takes care of kids? Who can afford to stay home with their children and forgo work? When you close offices, who protects the businesses and their workers? Hospitality/Service is the fifth largest industry in the country; 15+ million people work directly in it, and another 30-50 million are directly effected by the industry results. There are 160 million people employed in the USA; you're talking about 30% of the population being hurt significantly by closures and etc. This could cost millions of people their job. At the end of the day, the government needs to come up with a stimulus plan of some sorts to give people some security to allow them to work from home or take off work in general. You can't just close everything without a plan to help those people; imo. That plans needs action; if we don't see a feasible plan shortly, the market will dip below where it was 4 years ago and that's a big problem. Company cash hoarding has already begun. Corporate America is not going to bail the USA out; it is driven by profits and not people.

Jerry going to be citing fear of acts of god during the next free agent period. lol

Also, spring training crowds would be significantly smaller.

Guy can't talk without spitting; they should have a 10 foot rule for Cooper to interview with people.

Lane, there's like 1,000,000 tests at most nation wide available for use. Citing a number because we didn't test people isn't exactly a great assessment. If 3 people reportedly have it, way more people actually have it. Not a single case in Chicago has not infected someone else.

I feel for you. I hope it works out. It is likely best to cut staff for now - sadly - and maintain the name and business yourself until everything returns to normal (it will eventually). It sucks for your team, but it allows you to maintain your livelihood and business that you worked hard to create. We had a great January/February and we gave back all the gains in 11 days in March. It's a tough pill to swallow. This could go on thru June as well, which would destroy many industries in the Chicago area without a substantial financial backing/cushion.

I have to work and I am going on vacation next week. I am going to continue to live my life, but I will do it with respect for others by maintaining my cleanliness and etc; as well as not invading peoples personal space. I'm going to Vegas/Arizona next week for 10 days. It's going to be interesting to see how empty it is.

You'll be alright! We just implemented a company wide spending freeze yesterday; which was one hell of a decision to make for us. Certainly the first time we've ever done it. When weighing the option of freezing spending, and bonus/raise season, or terminating lower level employees I can only hope more companies will make the same choice we made.

Yeah, I was joking about this but TV ratings should be fantastic. People will be indoors staying home. NCAA tournament and MLB ratings should be better than usual.

I will say this; it is going to harm small to medium businesses substantially. I am spending my day reading contracts and agreements trying to find loop holes or outs pertaining to acts of god because we're bleeding millions a day. A stimulus package would be helpful, but certainly not the one that has been proposed so far. Loan forgiveness for hardship purposes may help; paid time off for hourly employees is a must, but we'll never get that past so I'm not holding my breath. Small-medium business loan forgiveness for effected industries - which is everyone at this point - would be helpful. I also want to add that Italy is hurting because 23% of their GDP is tied to the service industry. America's economy revolves around the service industry/hospitality industry more than any major country in the world. The GDP growth this quarter is absolutely fucked, and the job of the government right now needs to be protecting societies most vulnerable (physically and economically) because this is just getting starter. The 8th biggest ECONOMY in the WORLD has just shut down entirely. As other countries follow suit, we're looking at one heck of a global recession.

I was referring to myself as the disabled mouse, but I see no reason why we both can't be special needs Fievels.

Even a blind squirrel finds a nut every once in a while, Tony.

Here's an easy answer for you Harry: Trust the Medical Professionals and Scientists. That's what they're here for. This isn't about politics or Trump - this is a global problem. When in doubt, trust the highly educated professionals.

America's propensity towards individualism and selfishness is on full display with this outbreak. When Japan told people to stay home, they listened. South Korea? Same thing. American's response is "who are you to tell me what to do?" You staying home is not about protecting you; the majority of us are not at risk. We are being asked to stay home to protect societies most vulnerable. Sometimes you have to make sacrifices personally for the greater good of all. This is one of those times. As MQR has already laid out, this is a resource issue. There are only 924,000 hospital beds in the USA. Of those 924,000, 66% of them are taken up year round for general issues like cancer and things. That leaves a little over 300,000 beds for other unforseen issues. Coronavirus has a hospitalization rate of about 10-15%; let's say 10% and error on the low side. The projection is for between 40-70% of the world population to contract he virus over the next year; lets, again, estimate on the low side and say 30% of American's get it this year. That's over 100,000,000 people; if 10% of those people need to be hospitalized, we're talking about 10,000,000+ people. We don't have the infrastructure, or the health care resources, to accommodate that. Which means? Hospitals will be forced to make tough decisions that costs people their lives (This is ALREADY happening in Italy FYI). By quarantining, you are not trying to "stop" the virus. You are trying to delay the spread of the virus in a way that allows doctors to keep up with the work load; which allows everyone an equal shot at survival if they're vulnerable. That's the point of bans on big public spaces, and while the rest of the world says "do whatever is best, we need to contain this," American's are fluttering about calling it the "flu" and downplaying the risk because it doesn't impose a risk to them personally. Furthermore, the USA has a healthcare system issue in general; many people can't even afford to go to the doctor, and even more can't afford to miss work for 2 weeks in the name of staying safe and healthy. This will lead people into the work place with illnesses, expediting the spread. There is no vaccine for this; the vulnerable have no way of protecting themselves. Instead of thinking about you and the personal problems/sacrifices you have to make - minor inconveniences in the grand scheme of things - think about the most vulnerable who have their lives at risk here. If the system is flooded, they can't receive proper treatment; if they can't receive proper treatment, they could die. This is not some small issue just because it doesn't effect you personally. This is a dangerous illness with no vaccine or cure. Show some compassion. I'll be sad when MLB plays games in empty stadiums - it will - but at the same time I understand it, and it's a sacrifice I'm absolutely willing to make for the better good of all.