COVID-19 Progress Report

[Mustang]

Two full weeks of the COVID-19 Prevention.

Two weeks of those of us who do not have this virus, cloistering ourselves in our homes, protecting ourselves from others of ourselves who do not have this virus.

 

Two weeks that our kids could have been going to school, could have played the State Basketball Tournaments, played the NCAA Tournament, wouldn't have lost thousands and thousands in the stock market, and could be out supporting local businesses by dining in their establishments and there would still be toilet paper on the grocery store shelves. We could have two weeks of high school and college baseball under our belts.

 

Northern Kentucky now has 19 confirmed cases of the virus. 19

 

Is this the result of our diligent measures to prevent the disease? No, there were no or few cases of the virus in the area when this prevention decree went into effect.

 

In the old days we went to work, interacted, and our kids went to school and played sports. In other words we continued to live our normal lives until the absence rates reached a level in our schools where it was no longer practical or wise to continue, and our schools were shut down for a week until the virus peaked and left us to resume life.

 

Assuming 280 high schools in the Commonwealth, with 1,000 students per school, a 30% absence rate would equate to 84,000 cases of a virus - in high schools alone.

Again, assuming there are 20 High Schools in Northern Kentucky (we have an above average number of high schools), my guess is that it would take another two weeks before our case level would reach 6,000 cases which would THEN close our schools. We would have at least another 2 weeks of livable life before the Flu became a crisis focal point. That's the way it used to be - We survived.

 

Let's pretend that we could go back prior to these two weeks, or maybe even now, and conduct an emergency election voting on to have continued to live in the status quo, and go on with life as we knew it, OR to implement all of the emergency procedures which we are now living with. I think I know how the election would have come out.

 

In 2009 Northern Kentucky and possibly the nation was swept by the Swine Flu. It was in the middle of a football season. Absences soared, and our schools closed. Our football roster dwindled from 35 to the teens, and we were unable to play a game vs Elizabethtown on September 18th. Due to our depleted roster, (and maybe because we would have gotten our behinds kicked) that game was not played. We were scheduled to play Ludlow on the following Friday, the 25th. That game was rescheduled to Monday, the 28th, and drew one of the biggest crowds to pack Rigney Stadium. The flu passed and life went on.

 

OK, tell me how naive and ignorant I am - It's open season, BUT in your hearts you know I'm right..

[MJAlltheWay24]

My heart says you are not right.

[sportsfan41]

After seeing what has happened in some cases where entire families are infected after gatherings or high numbers at church services etc, I think it would've been much worse. I for one would've been at those games or out watching somewhere. Instead I've barely left my house since March 13th. I've been to Kroger once, Remke twice and in the office very briefly twice. That's almost all I've done for two weeks.

 

The only thing I'm really missing in all of this is the gym. Aside from that, I've got plenty of tv to watch, bourbon to drink, friends to call etc. It sucks and it's going to have a lasting impact but all in all I think this is what needed to be done. Could you imagine the panic in KY, if there were thousands of new cases every day and not enough hospital beds to treat people that needed to be hospitalized?

[PepRock01]

Sigh

[TEDFROMVILLAHILLS]

With MJ and all the others on this my friend.

[TheDeuce]

Imagine being THAT selfish.

[Mustang]

You are not listening to what I'm saying.

For the past two weeks there has been NO THREAT in our area.

We have all lost two weeks of our former normal life that we will not get back.

Dollars in our pockets that we will not get back, lost classroom hours that we will not get back, and experiences with our kids that we will not get back.

 

We have been protecting ourselves from ourselves, who are not threats.

Until it is brought into our communities and begins to spread, then action to contain its spread might need to be taken. For the past two weeks there has been no threat here.

 

Northern Kentucky has 19 known cases. In the big scheme of things that number is zero. As the thing escalates through various segments of our country it needs to be dealt with on a localized, not national basis.

 

I agree that it may infect us to the point where the home isolation steps may become necessary, but until then, all that would have been necessary to this point is the self-distancing and hand sanitization steps.

 

We have just lost two weeks of our lives because someone yelled Fire! before the building caught fire.

 

This is merely a statement of fact. How is it being selfish???

[gametime]

I know two people in NKY that have tested positive and one more that was in contact with another positive that is now locked down for two weeks. One is a close relative and the other two are one degree of separation at any given moment if we were living our normal lives. Coming within 6 feet of any of the three would put my wife at risk as we are dealing with her cancer coming back. Same for my dad who has respiratory issues and is in his 60s.

 

This mentality that it hasn't hit NKY hard so it doesn't exist is ignorance and it is ignorance that is placing the people I love the most in very real danger. Carry on though. As long as it doesn't impact you so far, it doesn't exist.

[The Scribe]

Honestly, I think this is what western Kentucky had from Thanksgiving to Christmas. People flooded the doctor's office and took flu tests only for them to come back negative. People hacked and coughed a felt bad for a month and a little into January when some schools closed due to low attendance. Maybe that's why there are fewer cases in WKY than the rest of the state. It's run its course through the house and left. From what I've read, most of the cases in WKY involve people who traveled and returned or older people with underlying conditions.

 

Cases are up because testing has increased and people now know what the fever and cough are. They didn't know in December because there was no testing.

 

I'm just shocked that we didn't have a vaccine for this. It makes me question the millions of dollars used on studies to measure the amount of methane gas produced with farts or whether you can catch the flu by licking doorknobs.

 

This whole pandemic proves we as Americans aren't remotely close to being prepared for the insurgence of a contagious virus.

[MJAlltheWay24]

Proactive vs. Reactive. OH and KY are getting massive amounts of praise for the Governor, State, and Citizens being so proactive and it will save lives. How many? I don't know. Could be thousands or hundreds, could be 50. No matter what, it's worth it. The strain that would be put on our hospitals would be a real problem if we were being reactive.

 

Now that the MLB and MLS seasons have started, I'm literally losing losing thousands of dollars by the week in supplemental income. But that's a small sacrifice to pay to keep our communities safe and keep those numbers low.

 

This is a great example of how two different types of people can look at the exact same data and draw two completely different conclusions.

[TheDeuce]

For the past two weeks there has been NO THREAT in our area.

 

There is no point in reading past the second sentence in that post. This level of ignorance is exactly why these lock downs are in place, and should continue to be for the foreseeable future.

[PepRock01]

Honestly, I think this is what western Kentucky had from Thanksgiving to Christmas. People flooded the doctor's office and took flu tests only for them to come back negative. People hacked and coughed a felt bad for a month and a little into January when some schools closed due to low attendance. Maybe that's why there are fewer cases in WKY than the rest of the state. It's run its course through the house and left. From what I've read, most of the cases in WKY involve people who traveled and returned or older people with underlying conditions.

 

Cases are up because testing has increased and people now know what the fever and cough are. They didn't know in December because there was no testing.

 

I'm just shocked that we didn't have a vaccine for this. It makes me question the millions of dollars used on studies to measure the amount of methane gas produced with farts or whether you can catch the flu by licking doorknobs.

 

This whole pandemic proves we as Americans aren't remotely close to being prepared for the insurgence of a contagious virus.

 

No vaccine because this strain of the virus didn't make the jump from animal to human until last November. Then it was just a mystery illness until it was identified, then work can start on a vaccine but that takes time and trials.

[TheDeuce]

This is a great example of how two different types of people can look at the exact same data and draw two completely different conclusions.

 

I would say this is a great example of how two different people look at the same data and one ignores it.

[Beechwoodfan]

Mustang, no one was a bigger doubter than I was about this whole thing. You have some good points and until recently, I would have agreed with you.

 

The comparison to the swine flu is flawed. I do not remember anything, in 40 plus years of nursing that drained our hospital resources and used up virtually every ventilator that hospitals have like the CV has.

 

Yes, here in KY we are basically protecting healthy people from healthy people. Think about how many travel plans were cancelled which would have undoubtedly brought the CV to KY. That being said, who knows for sure if isolating ourselves will work? We have to come out eventually and who is to say we won’t have a major wave at that point?

 

No country is on the other side of this yet, though China seems to be getting there. We don’t know anything for sure.

[TheDeuce]

Yes, here in KY we are basically protecting healthy people from healthy people.

 

No we're not. We're protecting healthy people from sick people who may not know they are sick.