[QUOTE=chesty;3103643]I’m pretty sure shutting down the economy because one side lost an election isn’t a normal method of fighting a virus (Didn’t do it with swine flu, Obama just stopped testing and reporting results) - but here we are[/QUOTE

there are a few other countries that are dealing with the same issues... no election in sight.....
Silly argument.

[QUOTE=SG1159;3103669]If you don’t think that Covid has been politicized, then you live under a rock.

Ah, but if I’ve removed just a tiny bit of your ignorance and - dare we all hope? - arrogance it is all worthwhile.

And if not, well, you said it yourself - one can’t fix stupid. Some people’s only real talent seem to be the capability to embarrass themselves with their own arrogance.

And yeah, plenty of pilots have been off off work because they’ve been unable to get medicals - at least temporarily - due to coronary disease, cancer, or car accidents, perhaps not a furlough in the strictest sense, but close enough. A number of flying careers (and even lives) have been terminated altogether that way, including, regrettably, the careers of a couple friends of mine.

You aren’t a real happy guy, are you?

Heart disease does not get anywhere near the media traction that COVID receives. We are the most obese country in all of the world with over half our adults being overweight. There is literally eons of data and proven studies on how to fix this, but I am not really aware of any measures that society has taken to combat obesity and coronary heart disease. Maybe you could enlighten me?

A couple of months ago I did see the fine citizens of fat-laden Atlanta burn down a Wendys. While that was a bit brash, I'll admit it was encouraging to see people taking such serious measures to fight obesity.

Victims? Dude, if your immune system is trash because you have little to no regard for your health then that is your problem, not everyone else's.

apples to apples...if your diet is garbage and you live a sedentary couch potato lifestyle, then you are more likely to have serious complications from COVID just like you are more likely to be a "victim" (I'll use that word since you like it) of heart disease. It's really not that complicated.

Negative on the “but close enough”. One is able to avail themselves of Disability Insurance, due to medical and or accident, that is, is if covered.

What you clearly are unable to grasp, or more likely unable to understand, is that cancer, heart disease and auto accidents don’t reduce flying demand thus creating the biggest downturn in this industry’s history. Not even Apples to Oranges. More like Apples to Zebras. How many times did you have to repeat your Debate 101 Class in school?

It's sad you actually believe this. Might wana brush up on some statistics classes.

The death rate is falling because we are testing more. In fact, in the end, the overall death rate for this virus will probably be pretty average as compared to other viruses. BUT, when you break down deaths into smaller sample sizes, for example groups of ages by say 0 to 10, 10 to 20 and so on.. you'll get a much more precise picture of how dangerous the virus is. We know by now that the death rate with Covid 19 increases as age increases. The death rate is substantially higher with older populations. This point/fact is extremely significant to the argument and if this virus and its media attention is worthy. The fact is, the attention and caution is whether you choose to believe it or not. When we hit 1 % of the US population infected, we had around 120K deaths. At 2% 240k, 3% 360k.. and so on.

• We are losing as many Americans every 2 days now that we lost on 9/11.
• In 6 months we are almost at 160k deaths.
• We are seeing exponential growth now..

This is in addition to the normal causes of death. We have ICU's all over the country reaching capacity.

Mask: They do work. They are not perfect but ANY augment against them is dripping in enough cognitive dissonance we could power a large city with it. Mask have been known to reduce the spread of bacterial and viral infection. We as a civilization have known this FACT for literally hundreds and hundreds of years. It's not a conspiracy to take down a President or take away anyone's liberties, its a mitigating tool and it works. Period.

[QUOTE=Mtnbikemike;3103691]i don’t remember saying it hasn’t been politicized....

I guess it’s just a total coincidence- our economy was shut down for purely political spite?

so- why did all those other countries shut theirs down?

[QUOTE=SG1159;3103852]There's no question that the terrible and anti-science response to Covid has been politicized. R's would do the same damn thing if the tables were turned.

But that fact is, the virus is not political. The recommendations by doctors and scientist have been pretty consistent. Countries, US States, local governments who have been friends of Trump over the past 4 years shut down too. GOP governors didn't shut down to screw up their economy to hurt Trump. They did so because they were told of the severity of this situation... and most of those who favor Trump opened right back up, without proper testing or other mitigating measures and now look at where we are.