Researchers find new coronavirus strain 'more contagious' (May 6th)

The purpose of the constitution is to protect the people from the government, but people need to be protected for lots of reasons, not just the government. If you're saying businesses can open and close on a dime, that means the customers and workers don't have enough say to protect themselves. How do you balance this?

 

They have all the say in the world. Workers can find other work and customers can find another business to deal with.

 

Do they? Prove that.

 

Balance? I would suggest that the balance comes in individual choices. A business owner can decide to open, and that's fine. An employee of that business can decide to go to work, take vacation or 'personal' time, or call in sick, or, quit that job altogether. Nobody can be forced to go to work!

A customer can decide whether he wants to go to that business and do whatever kind of business is needed/desired. Nobody can be forced to go to a store and do business there just because the store's owner decided to open it. That's the only 'balance' I'm aware of.

 

No, the idea of opening up the economy does not discard social distancing, just eliminating the lock down. You must not be paying attentions.

 

I think the 'lock-down' should be ended -- but -- we must use common sense approaches to preventing infections as much as possible or we will end up with a worse situation than the one we've already had. NONE of us wants that....

Think: there are approximately 33 different strains of this virus already throughout the world, and some are much worse than others. Do we go forward like rational, thinking adults, with logical precautions, or, do we just go hog-wild and spread more powerful virus variations all over the place?

Already there is acknowledgement that right here in the U. S. there is a "West Coast" and an "East Coast" virus strain, and the strain that has ravaged New York is worse. How long before it spreads throughout the whole country? We still have the ability to control these viral strains -- not totally eliminate them. But will we?

 

Yeah you can force somebody to go to work in the exact same way PF can force us to speak English on the form. It's about the agency.

 

The same is true for any business which operates legally in the United States. The business owner (or internet forum, etc.) can adopt a set of rules that customers, vendors, et al, must follow.

In the case of 'Bob's Widget Shop', Bob might make it a rule that if you go into his store, first you must put on a mask, or sign a form holding him harmless if you catch the COVID19 virus, or any one of a dozen other things. "No shoes, no shirt, no service"....

In the case of an internet forum, there may indeed be a rule that you must write in English (or, at least translate any foreign words into English, parenthetically). Thus, 'In allen menschlichen Angelegenheiten gibt es Regeln und Formen, oder es gibt Chaos und Wahnsinn.' (In all human affairs there are rules and forms, or there is chaos and madness.) The moderators here are pretty lenient about these things as long as you use fairly universally-understood phrases, and/or provide translations....

 

Right but that’s restating your position again in a different way. Why do people have that much agency?

 

Maybe because there will be a second wave regardless of when we open? Nature needs to run its course. Sounds harsh, but reality is often harsh.

If we feared every virus we could catch as a result of going outside, people would never go outside which leads to health problems in of itself. People have to stop being so fearful of something they cannot control. So researchers discover more viruses related to COVID-19, it’s not reason to destroy small businesses people have spent decades building.

 

At this point, what I'm suggesting is that we wear the masks, and, probably even more important, that we WEAR DISPOSABLE GLOVES, and, that we maintain a consistent standard for 'social-distancing' of around six feet. We should do that AND allow ALL businesses to reopen if they want to -- with the consistent standards for relatively safe distancing taped-out on the store's floor, and limited numbers of people allowed inside, along with plexiglass shields at checkouts for cashiers, etc.

If we do that for about three months, we'll have a very good idea of where we stand, and we'd better figure that out before next winter or we are likely to get hit with 'phase #2' of the virus while we're still lurching around in little more than ignorance about this disease. Hint: the U. S. military is already preparing for next year's appearance of a new variant of the virus!