Ellen Kamei wrote:
"experts is the next phase of responding to this unprecedented crisis."

People in crisis have such short memories, and the news media does little to put things into perspective.

The only thing "unprecedented" has been our chosen reaction to this pandemic. We may have done more harm to ourselves and our world by our reaction to the virus than the virus would have done by itself. Some measures may have been worth the cost, others less likly.

The current SARS-CoV2 virus may itself be "new", but a pandemic is not unprecedented in USA history. In fact, in just the past 102 years we have seen 3 major pandemic virus disasters in the USA.

1918 USA population approx. 100 million when the "Spanish Flu" (H1N1 bird flu) killed at least 675,000 in the USA alone. 0.675% of USA population died.

50 years and 100 million more people later.

1968 USA pop. approx. 200 million when the "Hong Kong Flu" (H3N2 bird flu) killed at least 100,000 in the USA alone. 0.05% of the USA population died.

52 years (delayed 2 years?) and 130 million more people later.

2020 USA population 330 million AND IF the SARS-CoV2 (Novel-Coronavirus) kills 200,000 in the USA alone, then 0.06% of USA population will have died.

People lose perspective in a crisis too.
Every year 500,000 people die from tobacco in the USA alone.
But, we don't stop the bulk of the USA economy to save 500k/yr lives.
We don't even shut-down the tobacco industry alone to save 500,000 lives per year.

And we didn't order the shutdown of our economy in 1918, nor 1968 to save lives then either. To be fair, and because most people wont remember, we were at war when those prior pandemics happened.

Instead, our reaction to this virus has put us at war with ourselves.
How long it will take us to recover from these self-inflicted wounds is anyone's guess.

> And we didn't order the shutdown of our economy in 1918

Read your history before posting. The Second Wave was disastrous.

> People lose perspective in a crisis too.

Yes. As evidence, you just compared an infectious disease with smoking. If I smoke out on the porch and then come into the room, I won't infect anyone.

> > People lose perspective in a crisis

Haven't seen the front page of the Times today, have you?

1%.

1% of 100,000 lives,while our impeached president golfs.

Perspective.

To and about "Creature Features" It is great to remind people that the current virus is just the latest. But you left out the one I saw last night that killed most humans leading to DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES. It included a manipulative evil ape that lied to gain the top spot. Now here is a little more reality. The current virus is not going away. It will keep spreading and disabling and killing and CREATURE FEATURES will keep putting it in "perspective" for everyone. And then another virus will appear and spread. Maybe like in Contagion - a movie in 2011. A quarter of humanity will die but Creature Features, if alive, will again put it all in perspective for us. Everyone dies - eventually. The important thing is to change nothing about how we live and work and invest and pay bills and prepare only for missiles from North Korea - or maybe not even missiles. Can't stop them anyway. But DON'T WORRY. BE HAPPY. And vote again for an evil, manipulative ape. Creatures Features will tell us who that is.

@home of perception

Your "perception" of what I wrote is faulty.

> And we didn't order the shutdown of our economy in 1918

"Read your history before posting. The Second Wave was disastrous."

While the Spanish Flu second wave was worse than the first wave, all 4 waves were "disastrous".
The time-frame from start to end was quite long.

Had the USA shut-down until that 4-wave "disaster" was over, the USA would have collapsed and the over-all death-toll would have been worse.

I would also point out that I was NOT addressing either the 1918 nor the 1968 pandemics themselves, but rather the difference in how we REACTED to those 2 pandemics.

I also was NOT addressing the fact that both pandemics were named by mistaken belief and were actually NOT from Spain/Hong Kong, why didn't you nit-pick that irrelevant point I was not addressing?

In all prior major USA epidemics, keeping the USA economy running was considered "essential" to make sure people could survive, just as much as medical professionals were. A healthy economy makes sure everything we need to fight the virus and keep people healthy will be available as quickly as possible.

> People lose perspective in a crisis too.

"As evidence, you just compared an infectious disease with smoking."

Again, NO, I was NOT comparing tobacco to the virus, I was comparing our REACTION to the 100% AVOIDABLE deaths of 500,000 Americans per year versus our REACTION to this virus.

Our chosen REACTION to the virus may or may not have saved overall lives in the long-haul, we cannot know now and probably will not know for years to come. Anyone who claims to know how various reactions would have changed the total USA virus-deaths is lying.

Our chosen REACTION to tobacco deaths is pitiful and we still shrug-off 500,000 American deaths each year from tobacco.

"If I smoke out on the porch and then come into the room, I won't infect anyone."

Not according to the CDC and other health professionals, ever heard of "Second-Hand-Smoking"?

What you absolutely do by smoking is cost everyone additional taxes and lower wages due to the costs of medical care and lost productivity due to tobacco.

@ Stable genius or was that vampire?

The point is to make sure the "cure" is not worse than the disease.
Becoming a vampire is a "cure" for death, but how many people would choose that cure?

The WHO & CDC are talking years of 60 day "rolling lock-downs" followed by 30 days of partial openings and then another 60 day lock-down.

"It is great to remind people that the current virus is just the latest."

My purpose exactly! Thanks!
And to remind people that the current governmental reaction is unique to this virus and thus will have consequences we have never seen before and don't have a clue how to handle.

"The current virus is not going away. It will keep spreading and disabling and killing"

Exactly to my very point! Thanks again!

This virus, like most others, is going to be around a long time.
That's exactly why we cannot "hide" from it. Shutting down the economy takes away vast resources and weakens our ability to fight it.

We cannot hide in our homes until the virus "disappears", or even until there are zero USA deaths from the virus. We must accept some level of risk to live in the real world.

We accept countless risks and still we live our lives knowing that any of those risks could kill us or those we care about at any moment.

"And then another virus will appear and spread."

Of course, but hopefully by then we will understand better how to properly react to the next pandemic short of shooting ourselves in our legs like we did this time.

"Everyone dies - eventually."

Of course, what matters is HOW you lived the life you had and what you left behind for the next generation.

"The important thing is to change nothing about how we live"

No, it's about understanding the risks and making reasonable choices about how to react to risks so the "cure" is not more deadly than the virus.

"And vote again for an evil, manipulative ape. Creatures Features will tell us who that is."

Nobody "voted" for the EVIL ape in the re-make movie you refer to.
It was the king ape' military general (the king' best friend) who asasinated the king ape to take power. The EVIL ape then used imprisonment, violence and murder to control the other apes.
Of course, the king ape was just wounded and came back to kill the general and recover his kingdom.

I can't stand Trump, if that's who you are talking about.
I voted for Bernie Sanders, both times, not a Democrat, but he's honest about that.
Gimme a Democrat to vote for and I will be happy to.
Heck, give me Bill Clinton again and I'll vote for him again!
(Bill can even have as many mistresses he likes, it's none of our business.)
At this point, I'd even vote for B. Obama.

Hey "Creature Features": The evil manipulative ape assumes power by the acquiescence of the masses. He is not killed by the former leader of the apes who does proceed to die. But you are against Trump, that's a start. As to this virus, it will keep spreading and killing. 6% of 1.7 million "confirmed cases" have ended with excruciating deaths. Have way more than 1.7 million Americans had the viruses and are now somewhat immune to it? I see no agreement among scientists reported. Is there going to be a vaccine, effective treatment or a cure or magical reversal right after the November 3 election IF ONLY DONALD TRUMP IS RETAINED. Even apes wouldn't be fooled by that. Not apes - but evidently many Republicans.

@ Stable Genius
"Hey "Creature Features": The evil manipulative ape assumes power by the acquiescence of the masses. He is not killed by the former leader of the apes who does proceed to die."

You must be thinking of a different movie.
The 2014 Dawn of the Planet of the apes plot is (excerpts from Wikipedia): "...Koba later returns to the armory and takes an assault rifle... Koba takes advantage of their celebration to covertly set fire to the apes' home. Koba then shoots Caesar, who falls into the underbrush below, and frames the humans for Caesar's apparent death in order to wage war. ...Koba throws Ash to his death and has any other ape who is loyal to Caesar imprisoned...Caesar reveals that it was Koba who shot him, not the humans, and confesses that apes can be as corrupt and violent as humans... Caesar confronts Koba at the top of the tower... Koba starts angrily shooting at the apes, but Caesar tackles him off a ledge. While clinging on a metal girder, Koba is disowned as an ape by Caesar and dropped to his death. "

What movie were you talking about?

@ Stable Genius
"But you are against Trump, that's a start."

I have always been a registered Democrat from a family line of Democrats.
I just don't see a Democrat to vote for recently.

I disliked Hillary even more than I still dislike Trump.
Biden is no better than either of them, but would totally tank whatever is left of our economy.

I hate the situation both parties have put us all in.

"As to this virus, it will keep spreading and killing."

As is the nature of viruses. That's NOT the problem!
Chosen, optional, avoidable, insane, inexcusable human interactions with animals are the root-cause of all of the pandemics we have seen in the past century (and probably for thousands of years before).

"6% of 1.7 million "confirmed cases" have ended with excruciating deaths."

FYI, 6% of 330 million is 19.8 million, not 100,000.

Ebola is much worse pain, but shorter death.

But that 6% number is pretty meaningless since we have no idea how many people in the USA or world have been/are infected.

The best guesses are now that up to 80% of people who actually get infected and can spread this virus have no fever or other noticeable symptoms. So, we have ZERO idea what the true mortality rate is, yet.

"Have way more than 1.7 million Americans had the viruses and are now somewhat immune to it?"

You better hope so, or your nightmare of people going about their normal lives in the old-normal way and lots of people dying each year of the virus will come true.

"Is there going to be a vaccine, effective treatment or a cure or magical reversal right after the November 3 election"

Zero chance of that date being meaningful to the virus or the researchers trying to produce a treatment/cure/vaccine.

"IF ONLY DONALD TRUMP IS RETAINED."

No clue what that means in the context. Please elaborate.

"Even apes wouldn't be fooled by that. Not apes - but evidently many Republicans."

Neither party, nor independents/libertarians/socialists nor people of any other political position are any more or less easily fooled.

Abe Lincoln was right.

"People lose perspective in a crisis too.
Every year 500,000 people die from tobacco in the USA alone."

but... "Again, NO, I was NOT comparing tobacco to the virus"

Uh-huh. Bloviating with multiple long posts, with several of them in a row usually means you're not sure of your point, as evidenced above.

Wow.

4 of the last 5 posts in a row, 1500+ words, and nary a clear point in sight. Plenty of conflicting points, though.

I wouldn't bother too much with Creature Features. They used to post here a lot as "Liberalguns" with long, unhinged rants about guns. I suppose they must have wised up that everyone tunes them out, so they went with a different name.

They pretend to be a "Democrat" or "liberal", but as you can see they spend all their time complaining about every Democrat since Carter. They'll vote for Trump again, and don't get them started on AOC...

Saving and resuming lives depend less on a vaccine or trillion-dollar government program, but a 50 cent mask and our own social behavior, yet many don't and won't. We could end this crisis now (50 cents can drop transmission by 50%-UWash). Source: Web Link Thank you Vice Mayor Kamei for her leadership on this issue.

@Josh Frill
"They pretend to be a "Democrat" or "liberal","

I hate Trump, but I hated Hillary and Gore more. Now with the economy messed up by COVID we cannot afford Biden. He will crash the economy.

I am angry that the DNC has not groomed even one descent actual Democrat for a run to the White House since Bill Clinton. I am pissed that the DNC keeps offering us incompetent and partisan law-makers to run instead of actual Democrat GOVERNORS who would actually make good Presidents.

I am angry that Colin Powell did not want to run for president. I would have loved the irony of the first Black President being a Republican Conservative. The Black community would have been torn apart trying to choose between voting Democrat like always, or voting for a Black President.

I was always totally pro-abortion on demand without any governmental hoops like waiting periods to jump through. Even for teen girls, some sort of manageable process to get an abortion without ever notifying their parents or the father of the fetus.

Always for full and equal rights for what used to be called "Gay Rights and gay marriage, adoption", now LGBTQNB and next year I assume they will add more letters. The Bill Clinton DOMA law was a deep embarrassment that never should have sold out the gays. Clinton's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" was a cowardly way to kick the issue down the road.

How many Republicans or Conservatives defended Bill Clinton over his private sex-life and objected strongly to the Clinton impeachment?

"but as you can see they spend all their time complaining about every Democrat since Carter."

No, I have complained about EVERY president regardless of party.
I also hated Reagan.
I voted for Carter both times, Mondale, and Hart then Bill Clinton both times. If not for the DNC picking Al Gore, I would have been happy to vote for Bill Bradley, but never for Al Gore nor Hillary Clinton.

I voted for Bernie Sanders in the primaries, I would have been fine with Bernie or anyone but Gore and Hillary.

Obama was OK by me, I had my disagreements with his policies and his abuse of the Executive Order process. Obama should have forced Congress to deal with the DACA issue lawfully rather than let Obama create a limbo in pergatory for these people. Congress should have written a workable law and passed it.

"They'll vote for Trump again, and don't get them started on AOC..."

I will hold my nose and vote Trump to save the damaged economy.

AOC I kind of like because she is more open about the Democrats plans for the future that most Democrats are too afraid to be honest about.
I'll take crazy but honest over a sane but practiced liar.
AOC just does not know when to keep a secret.

Unfortunately, the DNC has only offered me dishonest dangerous and practiced liars who will crash our economy. RNC has offered me Trump.

Neither option makes me happy.

Creature Features and the like

Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

Remember the Polio outbreak? (Web Link

“The fear and uncertainty surrounding the coronavirus pandemic may feel new to many of us. But it is strangely familiar to those who lived through the polio epidemic of the last century.

Like a horror movie, throughout the first half of the 20th century, the polio virus arrived each summer, striking without warning. No one knew how polio was transmitted or what caused it. There were wild theories that the virus spread from imported bananas or stray cats. There was no known cure or vaccine.

For the next four decades, swimming pools and movie theaters closed during polio season for fear of this invisible enemy. Parents stopped sending their children to playgrounds or birthday parties for fear they would “catch polio.”

In the outbreak of 1916, health workers in New York City would physically remove children from their homes or playgrounds if they suspected they might be infected. Kids, who seemed to be targeted by the disease, were taken from their families and isolated in sanitariums.

In 1952, the number of polio cases in the U.S. peaked at 57,879, resulting in 3,145 deaths. Those who survived this highly infectious disease could end up with some form of paralysis, forcing them to use crutches, wheelchairs or to be put into an iron lung, a large tank respirator that would pull air in and out of the lungs, allowing them to breathe.

Ultimately, poliomyelitis was conquered in 1955 by a vaccine developed by Jonas Salk and his team at the University of Pittsburgh.

In conjunction with the 50th anniversary celebration of the polio vaccine, I produced a documentary, “The Shot Felt ‘Round the World,” that told the stories of the many people who worked alongside Salk in the lab and participated in vaccine trials. As a filmmaker and senior lecturer at the University of Pittsburgh, I believe these stories provide hope in the fight to combat another unseen enemy, coronavirus.

Pulling Together as a Nation

Before a vaccine was available, polio caused more than 15,000 cases of paralysis a year in the U.S. It was the most feared disease of the 20th century. With the success of the polio vaccine, Jonas Salk, 39, became one of the most celebrated scientists in the world.”

Obviously those who wish to ignore the Polio outbreak are doing so because there was widespread shutdowns of cities all over the country. And this pandemic is so much more in common with Polio than the “Spanish Flu”

And just see the statistics, COVID 19 has infected and killed more than Polio did in the past. And I simply will not take into account the “proportion” of the population because with our modern medical knowledge, we simply completely failed to address the problem as a “species” world wide.

Of course it looks like we are on the path of getting shut down again because the cases are not shrinking.

In fact it is starting to get worse again.