Is it time for nation wide lockdown?

[Chapshnell]

That doesn't help us understand why Italy is so much worse.

Italy has an older population & the lack of equipment contributes. In addition, as Ive said many times you cant trust the China numbers.. Look at Europe as a whole & the USA for a good idea

[TimT]

That question goes both ways.
Everybody's acting as if there are no major ramifications to all the measures being taken or proposed.

On one side a lot of money lost. How much, I don’t know. On the other side, death. How many, I don’t know.

[Something Fishy]

Italy has way more inter-generational mixing than somewhere like Germany, which may help explain the difference in death rate. And which is also a scary thought as far as our community is concerned...

[avromie7]

On one side a lot of money lost. How much, I don’t know. On the other side, death. How many, I don’t know.

The effects are way more than "money lost". Comments like this display your ignorance.

[mmgfarb]

1) I'm not advocating we do nothing and hope it goes away on it's own
2) I still don't understand why Italy is the only country to have such a terrible breakdown of their healthcare system, why aren't there many other countries that look like that too.


While social distancing is certainly a good idea, IMO before we start with extreme measures like a nationwide lockdown we should look at what's working in other countries like SK and now Germany. I also believe we should focus more on increasing the capacity of our healthcare system, I heard this morning that Cuomo is requesting assistance from the Army Corps of Engineers & the military for this.

One of the big differences is that the citizens of SK took this very seriously, something that isn't happening here in the US.

[TimT]

The effects are way more than "money lost". Comments like this display your ignorance.

Money lost means jobs lost, careers gone, businesses shutting, economy crashing and on & on. Books can be filled up of the consequences. Now put all that on a scale & put people dying & on respirators on the other side.

[CountValentine]

The effects are way more than "money lost". Comments like this display your ignorance.

Easy there grasshopper. Those are two of the main issues.

[avromie7]

Money lost means jobs lost, careers gone, businesses shutting, economy crashing and on & on. Books can be filled up of the consequences. Now put all that on a scale & put people dying & on respirators on the other side.

I believe comments like this are based on fear and panic instead of reality. This sounds like a doomsday question.

[aygart]

I believe comments like this are based on fear and panic instead of reality. This sounds like a doomsday question.

So how about you put the different consequences against each other.

[TimT]

I believe comments like this are based on fear and panic instead of reality. This sounds like a doomsday question.

Are you saying there won’t old & sick people dying ?

[CountValentine]

I believe comments like this are based on fear and panic instead of reality. This sounds like a doomsday question.

It seems you are not paying attention to what's happening around the world. Italy is reality. The experts say we will be the next Italy if we don't do something. This piece meal approach doesn't feel right.

[whYME]

Are you saying there won’t old & sick people dying ?

Are you saying the consequences of all the shutdowns etc won't extend far beyond financial problems?

[TimT]

Are you saying the consequences of all the shutdowns etc won't extend far beyond financial problems?

Absolutely not. But economies can recover, however long it takes. Dead people can’t.

[moko]

This piece meal approach doesn't feel right.

that's one statement that anyone should be able to understand. Whether you are pro or anti quarantine

[whYME]

Absolutely not. But economies can recover, however long it takes. Dead people can’t.

This answer makes no sense. (at least to me)

Are you saying it is purely a financial question or it isn't?

[TimT]

This answer makes no sense. (at least to me)

Are you saying it is purely a financial question or it isn't?

There are many more factors. Whats the worst case scenario ?

[avromie7]

Must say it is because of the older population.

This would mean we're not headed down the same road, because our population is younger.

[yuneeq]

Just looking at the numbers, they have over 7k cases and 15 deaths. They may not be the best example because Germany is much bigger than Italy, but Switzerland has the most cases per capita after Italy, and their death rate is under 1%

Everyone here is trying to calculate a death rate for something that is in progress.
Germany and Switzerland - the context you are missing is the recovered rate. Less than 1% of cases completed so far. Means you are looking at a lot of new cases that are sick and it's wrong to calculate death rate based on someone sick for a few days. South Korea recovery rate is nearly 14%, and while their death rate is higher, it will likely end up lower than both Germany/Swiss. OTOH, this same metric also shows how concerning France is - 0.4% recovered, but already a 2.2% death rate. They are the next Italy...

[yuneeq]

I think this whole "Italy is extremely old and that's why they're all dying" idea is very overrated. Does Italy have 10x more old people than average? Perhaps they do, or perhaps they're a bit older than most countries. To throw out this reason for Italy's problems without some statistic basis for it, it seems too simplistic.