Coronavirus (COVID-19) important

Looks like the Guardian is reporting the U.S. at 41,000 deaths. And it's likely that there are more deaths that could be attributed to our hospitals being at or beyond capacity in urban centers.

Thankfully it looks like things are slowing in places like New York, and California, where I am, has managed its shit pretty well.

Unfortunately, South Carolina is slated to "re-open" everything next week, and there are small, albeit very, very vocal protest groups in the U.S. trying to call for the immediate re-opening of all states.

After many years of sitting back and simply observing my fellow countrypersons, I can tell you that I predict that the U.S. is going to reach full herd-immunity. This means that likely we're going to see waves of outbreaks, and large numbers of people dying as hospitals keep reaching full capacity.

People in this country are, unfortunately, dumb. I wish I could say my country is being led by a responsible, informed, considerate leader, but nothing could be further from the truth.

The truth is that there was no plan. There was no response. Our leader has not responded. There was some orange-haired guy that thought he heard--somewhere--that hydroxychloroquine could possibly be effective in treating this thing, and without fully considering whether that was true he gambled that it was going to work and told people to munch away on pills.

It's very clear the economy of the United States is going to falter.

It's becoming unfortunately clear that the people who live in this country are going to help usher in a wave of deaths related to the coronavirus.

So things are going to get worse before they fully get better. It's only just started to get ugly.

I hope everyone out there is hanging in there. I don't want to be the harbinger of bad tidings, and honestly, above all else--I hope I am wrong.

But regardless of what happens, at the end of all this, there will be a light. The end of a tunnel always has light.

I feel with you, Poots. I've been following the US news closely for quite some time now, but this is beyond anything I could have possibly imagined. I don't want to get too political in here as I welcome everyone on the forum, but I will say this one thing anyway: The president of the United States of America is seriously mentally ill. I mean, there are currently thousands dying and Donald Trump is holding one unhinged "briefing"-turned-rally after another and is more concerned with the optics of his brand and ratings rather than the actual job he agreed to 3 years ago. The GOP is unwilling to take any action because they know they need him or at least know the political perils for themselves if they'd do something about it.
The most frustrating thing, as you point out, is that there are still people cheering and defending this bizarre behavior as if this was still just a political game of "my team vs. yours" rather than a matter of life and death - not realizing that they hurt themselves. Last week he undercut his newly announced re-opening policy in just one day when he called for liberation of various states. WTF? How can anyone defend such erratic demeanor? Seriously, during the last couple of these "covid-shows" I was about break my effing screen because facepalming apparently doesn't do it any longer.
It's truely unfathomable how far a society can sink in such a short period of time and it makes me even terrified of the thought that this might be happening again in my country, too (the writings are on the wall). The lunatics have taken over the asylum, facts have barely any impact or value anymore and appear to have been replaced by opinions and spin-stories.

Let's hope that the reasonable and sane voices in this dysfunct administration will prevail and help to overcome this crisis. It's really hard these days to remain optimistic... but I will. I will!