Then I remembered we were warned by China December 31, 2019, didn’t do much about it before March 13 or so, so call it months.

Then I remember the outgoing Obama Administration warned the incoming administration about the danger of pandemics by January 2017 — including an instruction book on what was needed to prepare for one, so call it three years and three months or so wasted.

But when some brave soul finally convinced the boss that it wasn’t really a HOAX or FAKE NEWS or a DEEP STATE CONSPIRACY, some things were finally done. (Others still believe what they were told back then.)

David for unspilled milk

Actually, it wasn’t for nothing. Some hospitals were overloaded but the load didn’t keep doubling every couple of days. Some have had a chance to rest and rejoin the battle to save lives.

Yes, the government gave mixed messages and didn’t bother to prepare for precious weeks, but when they finally did, the lockdown gave them time to gather or have made the equipment we needed. Without that, healthcare workers would be in even worse shape.than they are.

It bought scientists time to study the disease and the virus that causes it. Time to see what successfully treated it (mostly nothing) and what was just snakeoil, worthless, even dangerous — pushed by ones who went by their gut, rather than trials. It gave them time to discover the ways the virus gets the body to let it in, how it gets the body to reproduce it, what it does to kill us, some known drugs which just might block it.

Scientists around the country and around the world are using that time to see how they can use those drugs to wipe it out in the infected, stop it from killing, stop it from infecting in the first place. Time to discover some steroids cut mortality rates by about a third — which either saved some 382 lives or could have saved 255 lives yesterday, depending on whether or not it was used (assuming the reported success rate was accurate). Many questions take time to answer so buying time gives more answers.

A hopeful article in Monday’s Pensacola News-Journal, page 6A tells about the existing drug Silmitasertib blocking a protein in the human cells the SARS CoV-2 HAS to have to reproduce “and eliminates the new coronavirus,” and another which cuts out a mechanism which currently kills over half who die.

Another article on Silmitasertib and other possibilities can be found at

https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-and-cancer-hijack-the-same-parts-in-human-cells-to-spread-and-our-team-identified-existing-cancer-drugs-that-could-fight-covid-19-139955

It ends with, “It is still too early to say whether any of these will work to treat COVID-19 in patients, but the more chances we have, the better.”

Get enough people from enough places working together to attack a problem and they will probably succeed — in time.
(By the way, this same research was already working in hopes of using the drugs to stop a bunch of cancers — some 9.6 million deaths worldwide in 2018.)

David for using what time we have

Yes, you are right that the Government will catch heat either way–doesn’t matter what the issue is or which party is running the show– but even you yourself state that people need to use common sense by wearing a mask when unable to social distance, wash hands, avoid large gatherings, etc. But here’s the thing: you’ve got approximately half the country hanging on every word the President says and he flat out refuses to wear a mask or admit that this is a serious issue. We don’t need another shut down and we need to keep people working, but we also need a concerted effort from the highest level of Government to persuade certain people to take this seriously. This administration and Ron DeSantis are only making things worse.

The people who aren’t masking, who aren’t distancing and who are refusing to take this seriously are only going to make things worse in the long run for the rest of us.

Mic drop.