OK, more thougts on the virus.

[cooperhawk]

As usual mods, feel free to delete or modify if you feel the need. I won't be offended.

Listen up folks, the virus is NOT a death sentence. Over 98.4 per cent survive and some don't even know they've had it. When this all started it was vastly over stated about it's lethality. OK, a lot of folks have died and more will die of it. In fact I'm right in the midst of the most vulnerable group. Do I want it? Oh hell no, but our country, and indeed the world, simply cannot remain locked down like this. The President had no option but to shut things down from all the advice the medical folks were giving, but now we know a lot about this virus, and how to deal with it. We've shut down our country long enough. Here are some other things to consider. Studies made by our own government have shown the effects of stress, despair, depression, even loneliness, and they can be devastating. When people lose everything, they start reacting differently. They do drugs, alcohol, they fight, they commit child abuse, and they start dying. That's right, they die. Studies have shown that for instance, if a spouse dies, within two or three years the surviving spouse will often suffer a fatal or near fatal disease. I've seen this in my own family and if you think about, so have you. No, that's not always true, but more often than you'd think. So now let's take a good long look at this. People who lose their homes, vehicles, marriages, ect. will also die from the same stresses. Right now if you die from the Corona the govt pays the medical bill. Well guess what? Lots of folks who died of other causes are now deemed casualties of Corona. Well why not? The hospitals are going broke, they can no longer do elective surgeries, Doctors and Nurses are laid off, Clinics are closed, people have no money to pay, and no one seems to care anyway. The result is that the Corona death rate is skewed and inaccurate. At what point do we realize the the cure is often times much more devastating than the disease? Understand that I am not advocating that places hard hit like New York should go back to business as usual, but a lot of the country could certainly go back to work using all the precautions we have learned from this outbreak. Will more people die? Of course they will. They will anyway, either from the virus, or from the other unexpected consequences I have mentioned. It's time to roll up our sleeves and deal with this monster. Cooper out!

[fortyshooter]

Just buckle up and see where this road takes us. I can't do much more than try to avoid catching it but our Gov't leaders are at the ships wheel!

[Mistered]

but our Gov't leaders are at the ships wheel!

Lots of Gov't but dang few leaders.

[ChefDuane]

Just buckle up and see where this road takes us. I can't do much more than try to avoid catching it but our Gov't leaders are at the ships wheel!

Time to mutiny.

[markiver54]

Lately, there have been many thoughts and opinions about the virus.
This makes me wonder why my original thread on the Corona Virus got closed.

BTW, good post Coop!

[Mistered]

NOW on the flip side Governor Kristi Noem of S. Dakota can 'lead' me anywhere!

[Cowboy Gun Fan]

It's the "Invisible" enemy. It can be spreading like wildfire and no one knows it till it's too late. I know it's out there, but when you know someone on a personal level, it sure can hit home. But that said the big problem, as mentioned, is where or more when to draw the line. I'm lucky enough to be out of the loop. My work is minimally effected. When I do go out in public where I'm mingling with people, I'm wearing a mask. This has to be the hardest thing that we, in this time and age, have ever faced on a national level. It sure is kind of "dang if we do and dang if we don't". In time though, time itself will decide.

[fortyshooter]

Last night I got that irritated throat and thinking the worst immediately mixed up my warm water salt and vinegar solution and gargled.
Took a good dose of Vitamin C. Woke this morning and all was well again!

[GunnyGene]

Just buckle up and see where this road takes us. I can't do much more than try to avoid catching it but our Gov't leaders are at the ships wheel!

The disease itself is the least of your/our worries.

One of the unintended consequences of requiring people to wear a mask. Apparently the criminal element is taking advantage of it, and people are letting their guard down --- because only the good guys wear medical masks, right? WRONG! And of course, NYC's draconian gun laws ain't helping matters any.

Excerpt:

https://bearingarms.com/cam-e/2020/04/2 ... residents/

Police in New York City say a pair of armed robbers have been on a coronavirus crime spree over the past several weeks, targeting at least four individuals in brutal robberies that have left several victims with injuries.

Authorities believe the pair’s first robbery took place in mid-March, when a gas station in Queens was targeted. The clerk in the station was able to close a plexiglass window and the suspects fled without getting any cash or harming anyone. That changed in the second robbery police have connected to the suspects. On April 8th, the robbers targeted a woman at an ATM.

One of the suspects, wearing a “Star Wars” cap and blue surgical mask, pistol-whipped the 44-year-old victim as his partner — in a black mask — snatched her purse and fled with a cellphone, a debit card and $900 in cash, cops said. On the way out, the gunman punched a man rushing to help the victim.

Three days later, the bandits followed 83-year-old Joseph Greene into the elevator of his Brooklyn building just after 2 p.m. Both wore blue surgical masks and white gloves, with one knocking the octogenarian to the floor and putting a gun to his head as they made off with two money orders worth $150, his IDs and his Electronic Benefits Transfer card.

The New York Daily News reports that the pair’s violence escalated with an an attack on Guillermo Martinez, a 63-year old delivery driver who was on his early morning route delivering bread when he was targeted.

Martinez was ambushed while walking back to his parked van arounf 4:30 a.m. after delivering bread to a Bronx bodega, police said. One of the gunmen was waiting inside the gray 1997 Chevrolet van on E. 167th St. in Morrisania — and he ordered Martinez to get in with him. When Martinez refused, the robber pumped a bullet into Martinez and sped away in the van, police said.

The bullet tore through Martinez’s hand and ripped into his pancreas, sending him to Lincoln Hospital in serious condition.

While in the hospital, Martinez contracted the COVID-19 virus, and his family says they’ve been unable to see him or even talk to him over the phone in the days since his diagnosis.

None of the robbers’ victims were armed and able to protect themselves, thanks to New York City’s draconian gun laws that make it almost impossible for the average citizen to obtain a license to carry. Of course the armed robbers don’t seem too worried about violating the city’s laws against carrying without a license. If they are eventually caught, they’ll be facing far more serious charges, and if they aren’t arrested, well, they won’t be facing any charges at all.

New York City’s gun laws didn’t stop a single one of these attacks, but only prevented good people from being able to protect themselves when violent criminals targeted them.

Put a candle in the window. For all of us.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hiMN760vFUs

[Grunt67]

NOW on the flip side Governor Kristi Noem of S. Dakota can 'lead' me anywhere!

I'll second that, .

[leverjc]

I believe that the shutdown has done what it was supposed to do which is to slow the spread enough to not overload the hospitals. I trust my fellow citizens to do what is necessary to protect our selves. Yes there will be an occasional idiot but you can not totally protect yourself from them virus or not. "A government that does not trust its citizens is not to be trusted."

[RanchRoper]

Protect those at risk ie elderly and open everything back up while we still have the remnants of a North American economy left. Soon there won't be anything left to open up which unfortunately is what some want it seems.

[brm4450]

Just seems like there is always something coming, I can remember small pox shots, polio, swine flu, H1N1, just have bear down and get through this.

[GunnyGene]

Protect those at risk ie elderly and open everything back up while we still have the remnants of a North American economy left. Soon there won't be anything left to open up which unfortunately is what some want it seems.

The Hollow Men - T. S. Elliot. Excerpt:

Here we go round the prickly pear
Prickly pear prickly pear
Here we go round the prickly pear
At five o'clock in the morning.

Between the idea
And the reality
Between the motion
And the act
Falls the Shadow
For Thine is the Kingdom

Between the conception
And the creation
Between the emotion
And the response
Falls the Shadow
Life is very long

Between the desire
And the spasm
Between the potency
And the existence
Between the essence
And the descent
Falls the Shadow
For Thine is the Kingdom

For Thine is
Life is
For Thine is the

This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a whimper.

[Cowboy Gun Fan]

Just seems like there is always something coming, I can remember small pox shots, polio, swine flu, H1N1, just have bear down and get through this.

I agree, but we've never seen anything like this before. In our life time anyway. I remember the polio days. A friend of mine died from it. We were sharing a small bottle of Coke just 2 weeks before. I was just lucky. How many remember the Sugar Cubes? We had to take series of Cubes at the community center till we were fully vaccinated. It must have worked well, as it really dis-appeared. But as bad as it was, or could be, it was nothing like this. We carried on in life pretty much normal back then, unlike today.

[Ozarkwoodswalker]

I agree with the first post. It's time to get back at it. Stuff happens in this life, and sone of its bad. We just need to buck up and go on. The difference in the people lined up for soup kitchens in the thirties and those lined up for food banks now is those folks in the thirties were standing in wore out shoes and thin coats... today the miles long lines are people in big fancy cars. I'm not saying there are not people up against it cause they have lost their job....but the unemployment safety net now set up makes it a lot softer deal than the folks in the thirties dealt with. So let's not be crybabies, But let's stiffen our spine and show America still has what it takes to get through adversity.

[fortyshooter]

Just seems like there is always something coming, I can remember small pox shots, polio, swine flu, H1N1, just have bear down and get through this.

I agree, but we've never seen anything like this before. In our life time anyway. I remember the polio days. A friend of mine died from it. We were sharing a small bottle of Coke just 2 weeks before. I was just lucky. How many remember the Sugar Cubes? We had to take series of Cubes at the community center till we were fully vaccinated. It must have worked well, as it really dis-appeared. But as bad as it was, or could be, it was nothing like this. We carried on in life pretty much normal back then, unlike today.

Yep I do remember the sugar cube deal and waiting in line to get my dose!

[Vaquero]

NOW on the flip side Governor Kristi Noem of S. Dakota can 'lead' me anywhere!

I'll second that, .

I'm right there.

RP

[Grunt67]

NOW on the flip side Governor Kristi Noem of S. Dakota can 'lead' me anywhere!

I'll second that, .

I'm right there.

RP

[The Wiz]

To the people who aren't wearing masks. Why do you want to kill me? I am a vulnerable senior citizen. It is almost like premeditated murder. You know what the consequences could be for me and my wife but yet you still don't wear. Tell me again how your freedom equates to my death.