I think these two stories make a sad juxtaposition. The restrictions to reduce the spread of COVID-19 on businesses in Chicago are being tightened. From the Associated Press:
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Surging COVID-19 cases in Chicago prompted Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Tuesday to ban indoor dining and bar services and limit the number of people gathering in one place.
However, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot says she isn’t sure Pritzker’s new restrictions are targeting the right people and worries that they will adversely affect the city’s economy.
The rules taking effect Friday will force diners and bar patrons outdoors and shut down service at 11 p.m. in the nation’s third-largest city. No more than 25 people may gather at one time, or fewer if that number would exceed 25% of room capacity.
“We can’t ignore what is happening around us, because without action, this could look worse than anything we saw in the spring,†Pritzker said, referring to the start of the pandemic, when health care resources were pushed to the limit because of the overwhelming number of COVID-19 cases.
In the other story a pair of sisters on Chicago’s West Side stabbed a security guard 27 times when he asked them to wear facemasks and use hand sanitizer. From Fox:
After a Chicago security guard asked two shoppers to put on coronavirus masks in his store, they allegedly punched him, pulled his hair and stabbed him more than two dozen times.
The suspects, a pair of sisters, allegedly pounced on the 32-year-old victim at Snipes on the city’s west side Sunday, after he asked them to wear masks and use hand sanitizer.
Gov. Pritzker has had unchecked dictatorial power since February. I believe that a responsible press would ask him a question. Since your recent mandates are due to an increase in cases, what have you done wrong?
I think the world has gone mad.
I think the world has gone mad.
I hope not, but it is possible, I’m just a bit anxious about what might become an even scarier situation in a few days. No one is going to be happy either way.
Gov. Pritzker:
I’m sure we can all agree we’ve done the best we can, working to save lives against the deliberate mishandling by the Trump Administration, and specifically, Donald Trump.
(Enthusiastic applause)
If Europe is a leading indicator; lockdown 2.0 is on its way.
Eight of eleven regions of the state are now under restrictions. One more day like today, the Springfield region joins them; two more days like today the Champaign region joins as well. Large cities to rural counties, Republican terrain to Democratic, all have been weighed in the balances and found wanting.
‘Surging COVID-19 cases’
Are they really surging or is simply the increased testing making it appear so? Also in addition Flu cases have dropped completely off the map. The argument for this is that social distancing and masking are the cause of this dropoff. Masks didn’t help 100 years ago, and I think they did some social distancing then. Yes, there were no N95 masks available during the Spanish flu, but the fast majority of masks today are little more effective than anything then. Also there is the worrisome possibility that flu cases have been rolled into COVID-19, including financial incentives. I know in the UK they are doing this. I strongly suspect the same is going on here.
It is possible that the flu season hasn’t really taken off yet, in the North East we’ve had a really dry late summer and a dry warm fall until recently. CDC site says it is still low.
I think Covid is surging, Maine was doing quite well with numbers until the last few weeks, now it is everywhere and surpassing peak numbers from before.
If a mask gives me 30% better odds against getting covid, I’ll take the odds. Too many people got complacent way too soon.
I think that what the data tell us in Illinois is that the number of cases is increasing but either the cases are less severe or treatment is more effective or both. Neither the increase in deaths nor the increase in hospitalizations are proportional to the increase in cases.
Since the very beginning of the pandemic I have believed that the virus would be with us for the foreseeable future and, consequently, the number of new cases would wax and wane over time. I continue to believe, for example, that effective treatments are more important than a vaccine. Even an effective vaccine widely administered will not bring the number of new cases to zero. I believe the objective of policymakers should be to prevent the system from being overwhelmed not to reduce the number of cases as long as the system is not overwhelmed.