DC Tom

You did, when you said that the tests for COVID can be developed the same as the flu. We have an entire industry for producing flu tests and vaccines, and for surveillance of the flu. We don't for coronavirus. You cannot go directly from the lab setting to mass production of a coronavirus test like you can a flu test, because the production infrastructure does not exist for coronavirus, but does for the flu. You cannot scale your lab work to mass production in two weeks. If you develop drugs, you should know that. Testing stages aside, what does it take to take a drug from laboratory samples to mass production?

Yeah, after weeks of people screaming "coronavirus isn't the flu," we'll just pretend it is the flu now, so you can be right. Whatever.

18 and 16 years old. One may last a good while longer - skin cancer, very slow growing. She's had it for years, but the only way to treat it now is with a leg amputation, and I'm not putting an 18 year old cat through that. Kidney failure may get her first. The other has a visceral mast cell tumor. She's in chemo (surprisingly inexpensive), but not doing well on it. I doubt she'll last the year. They're both senior. 16's a pretty good run for a cat. The 18 year old is a Manx, and that's a damned near miraculous run (Manxs are tailless, which is a spinal deformity. They usually don't make it past 10 years, because of spinal issues.)

Aviation Gin. Promised I'd try it, after Ryan Reynolds spoofed the Peloton commercial ('cause it was a really good spoof). And it's actually very good. Was discussing it at work, and someone said "Gin tastes like Christmas." To which I replied "Yes, but Aviation Gin tastes like Christmas when your twelve years old and there's a dirt bike under the tree."

H1N1 isn't a novel virus, and influenza surveillance efforts give a 6-12 month lead time for manufacture, by the same process they make tests for other flu viruses. The novel Coronavirus is a novel virus (pro tip: you can tell, because the microbiologists and epidemiologists call it "novel.") That means no warning, no lead time, and no preexisting industrial infrastructure on which to base test manufacture. But I'm sure I'm somehow wrong, and a million tests for anything and everything under the sun should just appear magically, as you seem to expect. Prius died six months ago. And good riddance.

They have cancer - they only have a few months left.

Everyone in the country has a preexisting medical condition of some kind. I all but expect to die from this bug. To be honest...I'm looking forward to it. I am sick of all this *****.

*****. I'm almost out of gin.

Why? Is the price too low?

We're social distancing, so we have to shout!!!!

For example: you're an idiot.

I was reading about that last night. This is very similar to Katrina, in that the federal government has tried to engage the state and local resources for preparation...but no one was interested because "it won't happen to us." Preparation requires a contextual shift of "it will happen to us." Federal officials tend to have that contextual shift early, because we provide so much support overseas (most CDC officials working this right now were involved directly, overseas, with SARS, MERS, and the 2014 Ebola epidemic.) State and local officials don't have that context - their view is much more parochial. Contrast to Superstorm Sandy, where we'd already had that context shift at state and local levels, from Katrina. And contrary to popular belief, the federal government cannot - does not have the equipment or the authority - to push aside, ignore, or supersede state and local responders. Particularly in matters of public health. It has never, ever, ever worked that way. The most recent example is the 2014 Ebola epidemic - the Americans who caught Ebola and became sick with it were treated with local resources; the epidemiology and public health actions (e.g. quarantine, contact tracing) were performed by state public health resources. The federal government - the CDC - provided advice, training, and laboratory support. Just like they're doing now.

Both of them, asshat. Total bull####. How do you enforce a nationwide lockdown or curfew? State, county, and city law enforcement are going to bother with that? And if they are...why not let the state, county, and local authorities, who know most about what's happening in their own regions, determine the needs themselves? People have gone from being terrified of fascism, to begging for it, in two goddamn weeks.

Wait...you mean they had the epidemiological and public health systems in place because this has happened to them before??????

Bob, if I know anyone with a disease caused by the coronavirus, will pot treat it? ***** off with your stoner bull####.