Topic: Corona Virus Panic/Discussion Thread

Police in London forced to break up anti-lockdown protesters becuase they "didn't observe social distancing rules".

No disrespect to the police but I mean, what were they expecting?

https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/01/politics/hope-hicks-positive-c...

Apparently Donald Trump has covid.

...that's all I'm going to say. Nothing I have to add on this matter is going to come from a good place.

@Kidfried That "debate" was the most depressing and humiliating spectacle I've ever witnessed. Terrifying to think a country as politically unstable as the U.S. is now has access to such a large military.

But yeah, it's fitting this diagnosis is made known merely two days after Trump mocked his opponent on live TV for wearing masks.

Australia’s coronavirus expert Dr Norman Swan states that due to the president's obesity and age, the risk of death is approximately between 7-18%.

Same here...I wonder if Pence will replace him, assuming Trump doesn't recover from COVID?

A pretty fascinating turn of events, for sure.

The optimistic side of me says that maybe this will be a good wake-up call for people who have been downplaying the reality of the virus and the persistence of it’s far reaching effects and get a little more support for control measures (masks, keeping businesses and gatherings in check, etc)

The pessimistic and conspiratorial side of me theorizes that maybe this is a fabrication engineered by his camp to detract from the overall poor reception of his performance in the debate. Surely not. But even if not a fictitious illness, a potentially worse outcome is it may serve as an escape goat in the event that he loses election, blaming his 14 d quarantine during this critical time in the final push toward Election Day a month from now. I could see a call from his supporters to invalidate results or even postpone the election, especially if he ends up in the hospital or with a protracted long illness. (Of course the absolution worst outcome is severe disability or death of anyone infected. No matter one’s leanings, no one wants that)

Furthermore, Biden has to be pretty nervous with the recent contact they had at the debate, despite being socially distanced, there was enough raised voices in that room that COVID particles could have filled that entire airspace to saturation. Biden is high risk for complications too based on his age, so that’s got to be concerning. Wouldn’t that be a disaster if both candidates got the virus. Wow. Truly unprecedented times we live in.

The year 2020 continues to be a complete and utter wreck.

@Th3solution He wouldn’t be the first world leader to fake it. Looking at Boris’ remarkable recovery/absolute lack of any lasting effects despite being the right weight and age for it to affect him 👀

@Th3solution That is my biggest concern that it fuels more of a victim thing for Trump or throws more doubt in the mix regarding the next election.

@Th3solution biggest concern for me is melania getting it. Throws into doubt social distancing as a method of coronavirus protection 😂

@R1spam lol!

My worry is he'll go completely unaffected by it which will further reinforce (to him and his supporters) that it's all much ado about nothing.

And I understand how insensitive that sounds but that's just the reality of the situation. If he gets it and lives, from then on, that'll be the only statistic that matters.

@Kidfried National polling has Trump underperforming way worse than he ever did with Clinton, and, despite the narrative the right likes to peddle, he only won the election because he narrowly clinched a few of the states he needed due to depressed voter turnout on the left. It's why Trump has been preparing for months to steal the election by crying about mail-in ballots, sabotaging the postal system, and heavily alluding to the supreme court he has shaped deciding the election when this chaos he has sewn makes results a bit murky. Many, many Republican senators are on-board with this open preparation for a coup as well.

@zupertramp I mean, it's a reasonable thing to expect, given covid denialism/downplaying covid works to his benefit, and there's precedent with the way Bolsonaro handled getting covid.

@Th3solution If he does, we'll know soon. I'm sure they re-tested him the instant this came out.

But yeah, I've been saying for months that they need to keep Biden in a bubble. The country is already at a boiling point, with open corruption from elected officials, extremist groups fighting in the streets, protests and riots still rocking major cities due to inaction on police abuses of power, and, frankly, upwards of 30%+ of people on both sides of the political spectrum condoning political violence if it helps their cause. Additionally, Trump is inciting right-wing groups to intimidate voters at polling places, Republican governors are engaging in voter suppression tactics (if you haven't, go read about what the Texas governor is doing), mail-in balloting is going to be a mess this year both due to intentional sabotage from the white house along with a massive surge from people not wanting to expose themselves at polling places, and you have the turmoil being caused by this new supreme court drama. Throw in both candidates being sick or dead, and... yeah.

This is a dangerous time for our nation.

https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/10/01/political-v...

I'm not a Trump fan, but as with anyone I hope he pulls through (and maybe, just maybe, takes it a bit more serious).

I will say, though I considered it and that in and of itself is disturbing, I don't think this is fake. The man loves his rallies. I don't see him hatching some kind of political machination that would derail his ability to hold those.

His ego is too big for it to be fake.

@Ralizah I think all we can do is hope that he gets better in general.

Everyone’s got actual sympathy here. I feel like a monster 😂

So, for anyone who hasn't been paying attention, the president was transported to Walter Reed hospital yesterday. Meanwhile, the cases in MAGA world continue to grow. Kellyanne Conway has it as well. And at least three more Republican senators.

@nessisonett funny, i don't. he's early 1930s Hitler and I'm supposed to feel bad he might not get the chance to go full dictator... I mean, I guess.

I should be clear: I'm not vindictive, I'm just utilitarian.

I don't believe in the death penalty for criminals. I want to see Trump in prison, not a grave.

Besides, while Trump absolutely has blood on his hands, he's more a reflection of how divorced from reality and far-right the Republican Party has swung in recent years than anything. If Trump dies, it's not like things are going back to normal. If anything, the right will become MORE paranoid, and stuff like QAnon will just morph to fit whatever the new narrative is.

And, at the end of the day, I don't think ANYTHING good comes of celebrating death.

So I do hope he makes it through this.