How many people will be ruined before lockdowns end?

NYDaughterInLaw, I can understand your point of view.

You must remember the last "recovery" (worst recovery in US History) was guided by an anti-business, anti-ownership, anti-worker, pro-regulation mind set. The slow recovery was not a fundamental weakness in our economy, but rather the "drain" or burden government regulations extracted. That's why the economy took off so fast when Trump started rolling back the extra federal burdens.

Your viewpoint is also driven by your expensive state government. NYS is far richer than TN; however, NYS is not as financially sound. Because the NYS revenue stream is driven by income taxes, the state government is much larger (500-1500%) per cap than states without income taxes and any employment hit immediately causes revenue reductions. NYS was already in revenue trouble because it has been shedding high wage earners to lower taxation states; now the sudden lost of revenue as spending continued and even increased has created a big problem. NYS is looking for increasing revenue and not cutting costs much yet. TN has a balanced state budget, no state income tax, no state debt for operational expenditures, and a cash on hand contingency fund for rainy days. The first thing TN state government did when CV hit was shutdown visitation to all LTC facilities. The second was the state legislature authorized the governor to shut down all discretionary spending/projects and move money and people into departments impacted by CV. The third was to get the schools closed and hospitals shutting down elective procedures. So far TN projects we can survive CV revenue impacts by delaying some state projects and using 10-25% of the contingency fund since our revenue is mainly sales tax based and people spending unemployment checks are still paying some sales tax. The state unemployment fund has enough money thru Dec at the current record pay out level. The state continues to have problems/delays processing unemployment claims that require hands on review; the automatically processed claims go through in 2-3 days.

NYS residents and business owners are also experiencing more state interference in "restarting" the economy. TN businesses are open with social distancing guidelines for everything except large entertainment venues and those can open Jun 1 while our daily testing numbers go up and our confirmed cases and deaths go down.  In my area, the local small businesses are surviving better than the national chains, a lot of people are working 32 hours instead of 40+ but most people are working some or drawing unemployment. Every restaurant now has carry out (even ones who didn't pre-CV) and a lot of people are now accustomed to carry out. Our Healthcare systems (who had to furlough people when elective procedures were shut down) are bringing employees back and plan to be at full capacity by June 30. While some businesses are down several others are hiring additional employees (delivery is big and will mostly likely remain high demand as families prefer their seniors avoid crowds). The state parks have opened but announced none of the pools in the parks will be opening this summer, so we are expecting a higher number of drownings as people with swim or wade in streams, rivers, and lakes. Only one of our local cities is opening an outdoor pool, but several indoor pools will open Jun 1. Our food banks were hit hard during late March and early April, but have returned to near normal need levels as the unemployment checks got going. When NYS allows more businesses to restart, I believe you will see your local economies spring back faster than you can believe right now. Traffic on our streets was dead a month ago; today it's 80-90% of normal. NYS is risking getting more businesses across the tipping point where they will not be able to reopen by trying to micro-manage everything. There are hard times and difficult choices ahead in both our states, but we can make it through to better days!

California is really starting to open up now. Retail stores, shopping malls, hair salons, nail salon as, barbershops and restaurants in most counties can open (but with social distancing). My county isn’t on the list yet because apparently they must ask dictator Newsom for permission. They voted today to ask for permission to move foreword and it’s expected to be granted and they will immediately amend the county order. It’s wonderful news but for many small businesses, it’s too late. The damage is done.

We’re seeing family again. Zero regrets. Saw my in-laws on Mother’s Day, and again on Sunday for my nephews birthday. Zero regrets. Life is too short. Tomorrow isn’t promised. We are all luckily to be young & healthy so there is no reason for us to stop living. Staying at home isn’t living. In a few weeks the kids & I will go up to my parents house across state lines. My parents are high risk and they stayed home for the first 2 months and now they are over it. Life must go on and with their health problems, they could each go at any time so it makes absolutely no sense for them to live in isolation and not see their daughter and grandchildren. Both have survived health crisis this year that many do not survive. So....life is going on for us and it’s what’s best for US.

And of course the media.....making a big deal people dared to go outside over Memorial Day weekend. It’s been 80 degrees the last 3 days. Lots of people headed to the coast with their masks on and enjoyed the beautiful weather. And it’s all over the local news. It’s pitiful. They are evening saying it was all TOURISTS! HAHAHAHA! Lies lies lies! They want us to think that this horrible tourist invasion is going to lead to a massive surge in positive cases and we will be forced to SIP even longer. Hahahahaha jokes on them because the governor and the county are moving forward to phase 3!

Bureau of Labor Statistics data, around 1 in 5 new small business fail in their first year, and about 1 in 2 of small businesses fail in their fifth year.

If one goes back into history we will find....

W. T. Grant and Woolworth were the downfall of many a small Mom & Pop business.

Sears, Montgomery Ward, and JC Penney were the downfall of W.T. Grant and Woolworth.

Walmart, Sams Club, BJ's, K-Mart, Caldor were the downfall of many a grocery store and smaller stores.

Then comes Amazon which was the downfall of Sears, J C Penney, K-Mart, Toys R Us, HH Gregg, Linens 'n Things, Sports Authority, Borders Books, Gymboree, Dress Barn, Payless shoes, The Gap, Lord & Taylor, and many others.... [sigh]

The C-19 virus is nudging closing of stores/restaurants a bit quicker.

What does this bs have to do with care of elderly? Take your rant elsewhere. Every complaint you have is due to the complete incompetence of the "Hoaxer". Other countries are seeing the end of the tunnel, we can't even see the tunnel. Time to vote Trump and all his wealth making buddies out. They really don't care about you, or me.

If y'all really want to go off topic, read about how Sears Roebuck allowed people of color in the South to buy quality goods at a fair price. Stopped one small part of Jim Crow.

Progress has its costs and benefits.

And if anyone wants to challenge the death toll in NYC, please show up here and take a look. I understand that the middle of the country is not as affected. We are.

I sincerely hope that opening up parts of the country works out. It will be a great engine to restart the economy. My kids (20s and 30 year olds) are suffering.

Just trying not to kill imumo-compromised grandpa and 91 yo great grandma.

I thought Aging Care had a policy against political postings.

TN, had a 59 yo friend die of a stroke here in nyc. It was coded explicitly as non-covid. I dont know about elsewhere. One of my kids has now lost 3 HS friends (all 38, all POC) to COVID.

DH and I got NYC antibody testing yesterday. We haven't been ill but were in Italy, Israel, Egypt, Jordan, Oman, UAE and Amsterdam during February and early March. Everyplace we left exploded with COVID right after we left; it seems as though we have probably been exposed. Will know in a few days.

Barb, I hope you test antibody positive and have immunity going forward; it would certainly make your lives easier.

In my opinion NYC got hit so hard and fast by CV because it is a major international business and travel hub. More infected people entered NYC and then came into contact with hundreds of people before we really knew how contagious CV would be. The great Metro system probably contributed to making the spread worse. NYC and NYS are not the only major cities or states who had pandemic plans but had not maintained the stockpiles of supplies their own plans required. Before CV hit, those "missing" stockpiles were not considered a "big deal" by either media or residents. With 20-20 rear view vision, now this is a major failure by all current office holders as society starts playing the blame game. Have our political leaders made bad mistakes handling CV? Yes, they have. But they have also made a lot of good decisions and spending a lot of time on the blame game while we are still under fire seems foolish to me. Acknowledge the mistake, learn from it, and move forward. I can not believe Cuono sent CV positive residents back to LTC because he wanted to kill off elders or even didn't care. I believe he somehow didn't appreciate the impact of his directive would be at the time. He was apparently focused on defending the hospitals, made a mistake and thousands died because of it. We all have to live with the results and maybe we can learn something for the next pandemic. Maybe feeling "burned" by not recognizing the CV risk earlier is one of the reasons Cuono is delaying reopening because he is just so fearful of getting it wrong again.

I also believe as soon as our President was briefed on the possible casualties from CV, he followed every recommendation and did everything in his power to save lives. Everyone was all over Trump for his early travel bands, yet other world leaders followed his example days and weeks later. Without those travel bans, what happened in NYC could have been repeated in every major city with an international airport. Trump and the federal agencies, including the CDC and NIH, have also made mistakes but overall they have accomplished the most important part of the mission. No one in an American hospital has been denied a ventilator because one was not available.

As bad as things are right now, it could have been so much worse and I am thankful for all the things that went right and all the first line workers who made it happen. The media keeps banging on all the things that went wrong and invites us to be angry and depressed, to demonize the leaders who have made obvious mistakes. I chose to focus on all the things that went right and be peaceful and optimistic. I may be very wrong, but at least my days will be brighter until my "wrongness" is proven.

Barb,
A couple traveling on a cruise ship in January and had to be quarantined when the ship was quarantined in Japan. The wife never got it.
Even though exposed, and near to people with the virus.

Apparently you can be exposed and come up with antibodies without having been demonstrably " sick".

I will let you know what the test results are when we get them. And yes, it was an amazing trip. Flew to Rome and spent several days there, boarded an NCL ship which stopped at the Middle Eastern ports. Then flew from Abu Dhabi to Amsterdam and had a lovely 8 hour layover. Couldn't visit my niece who lives there because a colleague has just returned from a skiing vacation in the Italian Alps and hugged everyone upon return. Automatic quarantine for the colleagues and him.

Today's stock market summary from the Wall Street Journal:
"Stocks Climb as Optimism Builds
The Dow Jones Industrial Average surged on optimism that economic activity is gathering steam and authorities may offer more stimulus to bolster the recovery..."

I realize untold numbers of people have suffered profound financial losses. In 38 years of business my husband (and business partner) and I have weathered recessions, 911, the mortgage crisis and now this. All the businesses that have recently gone under were already "sick" before the lockdown. It just hastened things. I am personally very confident of a recovery and there will be new, different opportunities to be had.

Now it's the coronovirus Pandemic, vs Peaceful protests and looters, just as our cities were trying to get more places to open..Curfew time is 6:00 pm. And if you look like you are standing in a crowd that's protesting, you too can be arrested!
Fun times all around. I wish I could post the sunset tonight. Gorgeous. i just wish everyone could just step outside and notice a beautiful piece of nature, and take all it in for what it's worth. I thought the sunset was beautful from my spot, but my friend took it outside her home. No filter, just pure beauty.

I heard you should carry with your actual copper pennies, since copper kills the virus.

FIL's indy living is still not letting in family. It's getting to be absurd. He can't even get a haircut.

Speaking of haircuts, barbershops and salons have suffered dramatically, and while I agree that many businesses were already "sick" before the pandemic, most barbershops and salons do a brisk business and have a loyal clientele. People in this line of work including owners are not filthy rich. They are hardworking people, and this shutdown is going to set them back so much that most may never regain what they lost. It's heartbreaking.

Thought I would share an interesting read "Continued Isolation Will Kill More Elderly: Is endless quarantine really the best we can do for our loved ones?"
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/continued-isolation-will-kill-more-elderly/

One sentence I found particularly powerful: "...Endless isolation is inhumane and deadly. It is a method of torture. A punishment inflicted upon the most depraved. It dehumanizes and is the essence of monstrosity..."

I hope anyone who reads the article will comment here.

Interesting article. So, if social isolation is so terrible for seniors, why do so many of them want to remain isolated in their too-big-for-them-anymore homes?

Why do they resist moving into care centers? How is someone so terribly socially isolated if they have staff that dispenses meds, delivers meals, even if at a distance?

Those studies that are cited were done on seniors LIVING IN THEIR OWN HOMES.

I haven't checked, but I'd be curious to see if the funding for those studies came from the AL industry. Might be instructive.

Geaton, there are still NHs that are h3ll holes and prove every fear that seniors have of being placed.

It takes research and maybe a move to find a good facility.

I know from personal experience that you can find one that has good reviews and is clean, offers loads of activities and yet they are just warehouses for seniors, no actual care and it is all minimal everything from food to therapies to medication distribution.

So finding the best facility takes someone that cares about the senior and is willing to truly advocate for them.

From the article: "wherever possible, we should depopulate these facilities by helping families provide in-home care. The cost of elder care is extraordinary and is a burden too great for most households which, despite their love and desire, lack the time, knowledge, and skill. We should support in-home care directly with a generous subsidy that covers the lion’s share of costs and, through paid family leave, give families the flexibility to be home when sickness demands it. "

Here we go again. Punt it back to the families, which usually means a daughter (or sometime daughter-in-law) shoulders the burden. "Helping families provide in-home care"? That almost always means too little help.

Yup. Taking care of a demented incontinent elder with mobility issues in your home while trying to raise teenagers...just a walk in the park.

The American Conservative is one of those publications that thinks that things were just great on the 1950s. When women stayed home.

It reminds of the Mental Health Act of 1963. That shut down the me tal institutions ( which were terrible places). These were supposed to be replaced by Community Mental Health clinics (those ever got funded). Which is why you have schizophrenics living on the streets not taking their meds. And sometimes hearing voices telling them to do terrible things.

Your society gets what it PAYS for.

I'm very cranky today. In case you can't tell.

Back in March, I heard the President said something to the effect "anyone who wants a test, can get a test". Just curious where were these tests in March that he was talking about? I remember at a news conference where it was mentioned that Walmart, CVS, Walgreen, Ride-Aide, and Target would be setting up testing sites in their parking lot. Four months later, zero, in my area [Wash DC burbs].

The first week in June, our county health service was able to bring to the people a drive-thru testing site. There were so many cars, that cars were being turned away hours before the testing ended. The county is trying to schedule another test. That is how desperate people are for testing.... [sigh].