[DianeM]

Originally Posted by Koapaka

And when you choose correctly, it works out. When you choose incorrectly, it is considered "thinning of the herd". How ANYONE that is retired, does not have to work for a living considers ANY thing as "REQUIRED" or "Essential" is beyond me. But ya know what, when it is all said and done, those idiots will be far less for those of us that took it seriously enough to deal with next "crisis dejour".

Well I consider doctors, nurses, truck drivers, farmers, and supermarket workers to be pretty essential. I also think food and medications are required. I don’t think those of us with those same beliefs are idiots.

[OrangeBlossomBaby]

Originally Posted by patfla06

I do not believe any one of us wish to continue to stay home.
We are all missing out on an active life and miss our family and friends.

Many of us in T.V. are higher risk due to our age and many of us have medical conditions that add to the risk.

So when life starts back up I would still be very cautious due to the higher risk.

A thousand times this - and multiply by the number of people in this country who will err on the side of caution.

There's a guy in Florida who is pretty smart - he's former military, former paramilitary, former mercenary, hunter, full-bearded redneck, self-sufficient for himself and his family - who has a pretty insightful take on this situation:

Let's talk about reopening the economy.... - YouTube

[OrangeBlossomBaby]

Originally Posted by Koapaka

And when you choose correctly, it works out. When you choose incorrectly, it is considered "thinning of the herd". How ANYONE that is retired, does not have to work for a living considers ANY thing as "REQUIRED" or "Essential" is beyond me. But ya know what, when it is all said and done, those idiots will be far less for those of us that took it seriously enough to deal with next "crisis dejour".

Being a caretaker for an invalid would make a retired person "essential."

Being someone who does the grocery shopping for the family is "essential."

Being someone who meets with the contractor to repair a roof broken when a tree branch fell through it would be "essential."

There are a myriad of things that retired people do, that is considered "essential" and necessary for them to do. Going to the hospital to have a chemo treatment, or to the dialysis center for a treatment, donating blood, making masks to donate to the essential WORKERS...

Do you really feel that retired people should just curl up and die, because they aren't earning a paycheck? Do you truly have that much contempt for the elderly?

[Koapaka]

Originally Posted by DianeM

Well I consider doctors, nurses, truck drivers, farmers, and supermarket workers to be pretty essential. I also think food and medications are required. I don’t think those of us with those same beliefs are idiots.

And your selective reading befuddles me...I said THOSE OF US RETIRED, WITHOUT NEED TO BE OUT THERE!!! I am trying hard to ensure those of us that HAVE NO BUSINESS exposing those that are SAVING us all as essential workers are PROTECTED to the MAXIMUM extent possible! REREAD my post! The NEED to be out there and the WANT to not be stuck at home are TWO COMPLETELY DIFFERENT ISSUES!

[OrangeBlossomBaby]

In the Villages it might be acceptable to sacrifice lives for the economy. But the Nation's economy will tank if the country is re-opened too soon. Why? Because running stores that are open for business is more expensive than running buildings with businesses that are closed. If people are too afraid to go shopping, because you opened while people are still dying and the number of diagnoses is increasing, these businesses will stand open - paying employees who are now forced to come to work because their employer is no longer getting financial relief from the government, and therefore they must re-open to empty aisles.

Small businesses will cease to exist. They won't be capable of covering the expense of being open, and no one willing to congregate and bring in the profits they had before the virus hit.

[LiverpoolWalrus]

Originally Posted by Koapaka

And when you choose correctly, it works out. When you choose incorrectly, it is considered "thinning of the herd".

Do you mean "herd immunity"?

[Koapaka]

Originally Posted by OrangeBlossomBaby

In the Villages it might be acceptable to sacrifice lives for the economy. But the Nation's economy will tank if the country is re-opened too soon. Why? Because running stores that are open for business is more expensive than running buildings with businesses that are closed. If people are too afraid to go shopping, because you opened while people are still dying and the number of diagnoses is increasing, these businesses will stand open - paying employees who are now forced to come to work because their employer is no longer getting financial relief from the government, and therefore they must re-open to empty aisles.

Small businesses will cease to exist. They won't be capable of covering the expense of being open, and no one willing to congregate and bring in the profits they had before the virus hit.

Oh, you can order DAILY and do what you can to support/help small businesses...but wanting to "be out and about because you don't like being cooped up at home" is selfish IMHO! You qualify for a "stimulus check" you do not need, DONATE IT! ORDER from a business that can use the work now to stay afloat! Just whining about being "locked up and not being able to do what you want"....BS!

[Koapaka]

Originally Posted by DianeM

Well I consider doctors, nurses, truck drivers, farmers, and supermarket workers to be pretty essential. I also think food and medications are required. I don’t think those of us with those same beliefs are idiots.

And they do NOT fit into the "retired with no need to go out" do they????

[Fredster]

Originally Posted by Koapaka

And when you choose correctly, it works out. When you choose incorrectly, it is considered "thinning of the herd". How ANYONE that is retired, does not have to work for a living considers ANY thing as "REQUIRED" or "Essential" is beyond me. But ya know what, when it is all said and done, those idiots will be far less for those of us that took it seriously enough to deal with next "crisis dejour".

Your knowledge seems very limited, for example I’m retired, don’t have to work for a living, but I had to have an INR test for the blood thinner I’m taking yesterday which is pretty essential. Plus I have to return next week for a retest. And I’m not the only one in need of ongoing medical tests.
It really bothers me when a shortsighted person makes idiotic statements!

[JimJohnson]

The plan is to cull the rolls of Medicare and Social Security.

[Two Bills]

Can we do roundabouts now?

[Kgcetm]

I agree with you. When the governors decide to "take charge" we're going to get too many opening dates and an increase in infections related to travel. I don't understand how New York, California, Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois, Indiana and Kentucky announced they will work toward reopening their states when their states continue to struggle with the basic issues of increasing infections, few hospital beds, exhausted care givers and insufficient supplies. While that's a good number of governors, I think all 50 need to agree on when and what the reopening of America is going to look like. I don't want to become infected because the governor of Michigan thinks it's safe to reopen and they are not. Certainly travel beyond your geographic are should be limited.

[TimeForChange]

Originally Posted by LiverpoolWalrus

I don't think it matters. As I see it, that man in the White House can't win (against the virus) either way - he either allows many more people to get sick and die or he destroys the economy and people's livelihoods. He's somehow managed to save face for three years, let's hope he finds a trick to get us out of this mess. But barring a cure or vaccine, I can't see what it would be.

To the others: So far it sounds like the consensus is reopen the country and sacrifice lives in a sort of cost/benefit analysis.

If saving face is having the lowest unemployment rate in fifty years, highest GDP, more minority's working than ever. Companies moving back to the US from other countries, trade embargo's fixed with Mexico, Canada, China, military rebuilt etc. then I like the way he is "saving face". Without an economy and people working we have no Country and he knows that just like if you don't have a border you have no country. This virus is a war and each day he is making gains on defeating it. He did not cause the virus but he is dealing with it and will win!

[ficoguy]

We're 30 days out from becoming a third world country with food shortages and riots. Patience is wearing thin. You can't keep extending the lockdown while our politicians freely travel back and forth from DC to their homes and estates. Keep the economy shut down and there won't be much of an economy to re-open. And then we will be standing in soup and breadlines waiting for our daily sustenance from - wait for it - THE GOVERNMENT!

[Klatu]

Given the widespread devastation to the economy which is inevitable in such a pandemic, I find the plan to gradually reopen the country encouraging.

States that are minimally infected (the Dakotas, Wyoming, Montana, etc.) or have a declining number of infections and hospitalizations can, at the direction of the governor, begin to move through Phase One of the plan. There are safeguards built in to each phase and while there will be people violating those here and there, they seem sound enough. Leaving the economy to decline and holding everyone back from reopening until the sickest hotspot has improved will build in a set of problems that could take decades to solve.

Interestingly, the group that is not heavily involved in getting back to "normal" quickly is the "most vulnerable." That's us, folks. We will not be out and about like the old days YET. And when we do move in that direction, there will be some big challenges such as,

The squares. How are you going to maintain social distancing with couples crowding to dance, line dancers, sitting together etc. I have observed that some folks seem to have a really, really hard time estimating what six feet is. They crowd together about four feet apart, no mask and talking for long periods of time.

The bars. Local bars are not huge. How is Cody's going to spread out seating without losing half their space and half their revenues? Ditto restaurants.

Stores. Similar to bars: they are not huge. Put someone in any of the clothing stores and they are going to be very close to other shoppers.

On a more positive note, when we are able to get antibody testing, we can see who is safe to move about and not be infected or infect others. Also, there will be a vaccine. At that point we will truly be at the new normal. Then we will just have to pray China doesn't share another of their little microbial gifts with us.