It puts the mask on its face or it gets the Lysol

4:25 a.m. on Friday April 03, 2020

This link is RAW and Its Is Gruesome, be warned.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvbEhBKUdTQ&t=9s

Hey there kids,

Way back in time oh I don't know maybe 50-60 years ago before any of you were born or thought of , the US was involved in a little dust up of a battle called "Vietnam". You may have heard the 25 year old  guy on the corner of the interstate who was begging for cash and holding a sign that said he was a Vietnam vet talking about it, but more likely it was 3 questions on Mrs. Johnson's social studies quiz in 5th grade that said "Vietnam was a : Pick the best answer on a pop quiz. You may even have a relative who served over there and who won't talk about it, however that's maybe how you even know the name.

At any rate one of the weird things that began during the reporting of that war was this strange obsession the news (or maybe the military)  had with body counts. That is what the youtube link in the beginning of this story is about. It's raw news footage from ABC News that's about 3 minutes long and BE WARNED Its is RAW and Its Is Gruesome War footage. News reporting from the field sort of looked just like this and you can see more just by typing Vietnam News reports into the youtube search bar. Every news broadcast had a body count segment buried in it somewhere and it became a key metric the US Military had for measuring success when it came to winning this war. If they were not directly talking about it, they were broadcasting dead bodies blown apart and shot up live and in color.

Mix 2 parts reporter with one part number cruncher and you get 

1. I am seeing the same thing using almost the same style of leads and the same intensity when it comes to reporting on this pandemic about the Covid-19 virus. I almost fell into the trap myself in my last 2 or 3 post where somewhere in it I talked about how many were reportedly infected  and how many deaths have happened.
   
   I've came to the conclusion however that not only is it not needed in order to write about it, factually its not necessary. Not one bit. Here's why. No one cares, until it hits close to home or it in your family. 50, 500, or 500 deaths really don't mean anything to anyone until its one of your family members or somebody you know. The point is CoronaVirus or COVID-19 reporting feels like combat reporting. It's some scary shit.
2. The problems surrounding the treatment of this disease are voluminous, and have a variety unlike almost any other. We have almost no experience on this planet at treating something like this. It hits us where we are weakest, where we are most unprepared and where it hurts the most. It turns out that blaming the politicians while fun and very popular is not real productive and is a complete waste of time.
   
   We are weakest in the areas that it attacks. That's what we need to think about. The number of ICU beds , the number of beds overall, The numbers of staff to treat it and the equipment needed to treat it are all areas where we have no experience, numbers or relevant background or ready made off the shelf plans that will lead the way in fixing the death spirals. No one can pull the emergency Pandemic play book of the shelf because quite frankly, there isn't one. We are making it up as we go.
   
   Gurneys of people sitting in Hallways are coming. Volunteer call ups are already needed, we can't train people fast enough to make a difference and all the Ramp up memos in the world will not fix a system that has no statewide or federal system wide capacity to fill it.
3. You will keep hearing this refrain for a long time into the future. - "We need to Flatten the curve", and what that means is that new case transmission numbers have to be attacked so we can get in front of this thing and have a snowball's chance in hell of fighting it effectively. The point is that every place, every state, every locality has a different curve that is molded together to make a National track on this plague.
   
   Iowa and New York will peak at very different times because of a lot of factors, however primarily it is because of when it began in each area.  What we actually need to do is recognize that and deploy resources on a rolling basis. We may need 10,000 ICU beds and Ventilators in LA this week, but 3 weeks from now those beds and that equipment will be needed in another place like Texas or somewhere else. The point is you seriously cannot expect 50 seperate states to be able to manage that.
   
   That's where we need a Federal response. I wonder how fast it will be recognized by people with the education and schooling and experience? So far I've seen nothing to indicate that that have even became aware of this. According to the task force, "..each state has to make their own decisions." In other words, "Good Luck Pal,you're on your own."
4. OH BY THE WAY? You remember that Federal stockpile of emergency goods like masks, gloves and ventilators and such? Well it turns out we misunderstood the purpose of that stockpile. They were gracious in sharing it with the states, but that stockpile was never intended for you, it was intended for us. It was never intended to be for the states to use, it was always intended to be for use by the Federal managers and the Federal agencies.
   
   At least that is something that has been discussed with and directly attributed to Jared Kushner, of what in the hell his job is anyway at the White House. He said (sic).."The Federal Stockpile wasn't for the states to use anyway, it was for US, it's our stockpile" (I am not 100% sure about the actual quote , therefore the sic notation). Thank god for the clarity provided by the experienced real estate magnate leading the charge. He made it so much more clear.
5. FACT: - Science does not care if you agree. Science does not care if you believe. Science does not care if you can memorize and quote the entire bible forwards and backwards. Science doesn't care if you are smart or are the stupidest Human being alive. Science doesn't care if you are confused, mad, a democrat or a republican or if you are even aware of how deadly this disease is. Science doesn't care if you live under a rock and have never talked to another human being in your life. If you do not take this virus seriously and do not take the precautions that are being broadcast everywhere you look, Science will KILL YOU. 

Whew I'm just a harbinger of good thoughts ain't I?
As Bugs Bunny once said "Aint I a stinker?"

Big Mike