Politics Reporter
CNN
https://apple.news/AVg2viCFHQWG9XWU6P3SXfg
Caroline Kelly reports for CNN:
Republican Sen. Ron Johnson cast doubt on the severity of federally issued guidance aimed at staunching the spread of the novel coronavirus, urging people to consider the economic drawbacks of the recommendations as health officials plead with the American public to heed them.
“I’m not denying what a nasty disease COVID-19 can be, and how it’s obviously devastating to somewhere between 1 and 3.4 percent of the population,” Johnson, a Wisconsin Republican, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on Tuesday. “But that means 97 to 99 percent will get through this and develop immunities and will be able to move beyond this.”
“But we don’t shut down our economy because tens of thousands of people die on the highways. It’s a risk we accept so we can move about,” Johnson continued, in apparent reference to recent guidance issued at the federal and state levels for people to avoid large groups and stay away from bars, restaurants and other businesses to help blunt the spread of coronavirus. “We don’t shut down our economies because tens of thousands of people die from the common flu.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has urged Americans to practice social distancing, and the White House on Monday issued guidelines that all Americans avoid gathering in groups of more than 10, avoid non-essential travel and that urged older people to stay at home.
The recommendations — which come as the coronavirus continues to take hold in the US with at least 8,525 cases and 145 deaths as of Wednesday night — has caused some states and cities to implement drastic regulations on businesses. But the death toll from the virus, the nation’s top infectious disease expert has warned, depends on how seriously Americans commit to the actions necessary to curb the outbreak.
Johnson said that he was not discrediting those restrictions, but said they were disproportionate to the virus’ actual threat.
“I really don’t want to say that” efforts to contain the virus have gone too far, Johnson said. “It may be exactly what we need to do. But again, what I do want to do is put this all in perspective as we move forward here.”
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Read the rest of Caroline’s article at the above link.
Hey Ron, 1% of the U.S. population would only be 3.3 million. 3.4% would be around 11.2 million. But, who cares about little stats like that?
And, Ronnie, my man, here’s what experts say could happen in the U.S. if others do as you suggest and put short-term economic considerations over public health:
Between 160 million and 214 million people in the United States could be infected over the course of the epidemic, according to a projection that encompasses the range of the four scenarios. That could last months or even over a year, with infections concentrated in shorter periods, staggered across time in different communities, experts said. As many as 200,000 to 1.7 million people could die.
And, the calculations based on the C.D.C.’s scenarios suggested, 2.4 million to 21 million people in the United States could require hospitalization, potentially crushing the nation’s medical system, which has only about 925,000 staffed hospital beds. Fewer than a tenth of those are for people who are critically ill.
The assumptions fueling those scenarios are mitigated by the fact that cities, states, businesses and individuals are beginning to take steps to slow transmission, even if some are acting less aggressively than others. The C.D.C.-led effort is developing more sophisticated models showing how interventions might decrease the worst-case numbers, though their projections have not been made public.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/13/us/coronavirus-deaths-estimate.html?referringSource=articleShare
200,000 to 2.1 million dead! While those might be “little numbers“ to you, Ronnie, I’m guessing they will seem rather serious to the families of those who needlessly die! Could cause quite a stench if all of those bodies were piled up at your door! Perhaps taking an “economic hit” that is more or less inevitable in the time of worldwide pandemic anyway is better than running the risk of killing hundreds of thousands to millions, something that appears to have gone over Ronnie’s head.
Scary as the image might be, Johnson actually would be more at home with the young idiots partying down on Clearwater Beach. The thought of him as a legislator is positively terrifying.
Unfortunately, Wisconsin voters won’t be able to oust this fool they have inflicted on America until 2022. But, the rest of us could be saving our country and our lives if we get rid of Mitch and the GOP wrecking crew in November! That would consign Ron and others like him to the “back benches” where they could do less damage to our nation until the time comes when they can be voted out of office.
“Four Clowns” for you, Ronnie!🤡🤡🤡🤡
Vote ‘Em Out!
PWS
03-19-20
PW
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UPDATE FROM THE GUARDIAN: FAUCI RIPS JOHNSON FOR DANGEROUS STUPIDITY:
Dr Anthony Fauci criticized senator Ron Johnson for downplaying the threat of coronavirus and questioning the drastic government response to it.
“I’m not denying what a nasty disease COVID-19 can be, and how it’s obviously devastating to somewhere between 1 and 3.4 percent of the population,” Johnson saidearlier this week.
“But that means 97 to 99 percent will get through this and develop immunities and will be able to move beyond this. But we don’t shut down our economy because tens of thousands of people die on the highways.
Fauci said it was a “false equivalency to compare traffic accidents” to coronavirus and emphasized a drastic response was necessary when a new and dangerously contagious virus was uncovered.
Last Updated: 13:05 Friday, 20 March 2020
29m ago