Quote Originally Posted by Seamus Fermanagh View Post
Just listened to a few minutes of Mark Steyn subbing for Limbaugh today.

Apparently, the science around the recommended safe distances etc. is arbitrary and science has no ready answer for Covid-19 (Limited truth at best there. What distance is truly safe for COVID? Nobody is sure, but using the guidelines for flu seems as reasonable as any and not arbitrary as the host portrayed it).

The Limbaugh crowd -- now 80+% Trumpite -- seems to be embracing the FIDO plan for dealing with Covid. As in, we have eased hospitals systems through the worst of the first flare ups, the pipelines are starting to ramp up tests, equipment, etc., so stop government mandated safety and let individuals decide for themselves.

I am of mixed thoughts on this. I understand the economic strain is brutal, but ending restrictions entirely -- while it may not overwhelm the medical setup we've been extending for weeks now -- would still push the number of dead into the millions range within the year. I'm reluctant to embrace that casualty rate for obvious reasons.
Radio pundits have less than zero knowledge of science.

70-80% of the population supports a stringent pandemic response (though partisan hackery is surely chiseling away at the number). Most people will not make economic and personal decisions in line with what wealthy far-right degenerates imagine. You can't "open" an economy short of gunpoint. This is all a sick propaganda campaign to try to, by the time the 25% unemployment report comes out for April in early May, prime the Republican electorate to reject social relief measures in favor of chaos. Thankfully, even some of the most loathsome billionaires, such as Sheldon Adelson, understand that the economy can't and won't rebound anytime soon.