Hi Jaygill, not sure what you thought I was saying (from my point of view) - or the author of the article was saying, but the point is that the USA does not have enough respirators to treat the people who WILL need them if they don't flatten the curve, so many more people will die than need to. The pollies over there are trying to get money into people's bank accounts to alleviate the financial burden of not being paid (because they're not at work) and that seems to be progressing, although it seems like two steps forwards, one step back at times. Trump talking about getting people back to work by Easter (a couple of weeks away) is ridiculous and undermines all of the medical opinions and those of his own advisors. By contrast, here in Australia we have politicians on both sides urging people to stay at home if they can, and to practise social distancing as much as possible when they're out and about. That is responsible. That gives the hospitals the best chance of treating those who need it when they need it. The alternative is that the infection rate spikes up and above the point at which the hospitals can cope and then there aren't enough respirators for those who need them. Without assisted breathing, they will die. I heard someone on the news last night say something like this: The mortality rate (how many will die) is not ultimately up to the hospitals. It's up to us. The hospitals treat the fallen. It's up to us how many will fall. If we stay at home as much as possible and practise social distancing and wash our hands regularly (or use alcohol sanitiser) when we are out, it makes a big difference. This is evidence-based. During the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic there were two cities in the USA who had different reactions to it with very different results. St Louis kept its death toll down by implementing and enforcing social distancing and Philadelphia was much slower to respond, refusing to cancel a World War I Parade during which thousands of people would have been infected. However, even St Louis made the mistake of pulling back on their social distancing measures as the pandemic appeared to subside, resulting in a sharp uptick in flu deaths there, although they didn't get anywhere near Philadelphia's much higher death toll. Further details on all that can be read here: https://mcusercontent.com/fb916e952b091f8460a87fd27/files/9defa16d-f98f-4f2b-ae3f-af8df2da8ef3/200326_SHM.pdf The point is that social distancing works. It's not easy. But nor is watching a parent or grand-parent die because there isn't a ventilator available. And Donald Trump has been sending out the wrong message - that doctors are overreacting. They are not. That's what I'm saying.

In my reply to Jaygill (below?) I included a link, but it was the wrong one. Here's the right one: https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2020/3/24/21188121/coronavirus-covid-19-social-distancing-1918-spanish-flu

Yeah - I don't use social media. No Facebook or Twitter. Not on it, don't follow anyone on it - or use it at all. As you say, might be healthy to have a break from it. I can imagine it could get infuriating. Everyone's got an opinion, and/or they want to re-tweet someone else's.

Amazingly, his approval ratings have increased to their highest level since this whole mess started. It beggars belief..