Perhaps the BEST B1G Forum anywhere, here at College Football Fan Site, CFB51!!!

Do you really think that the world's leaders want to have their economies crash? Don't you think that the intense scrutiny on Sweden is in the hopes that their model actually provides a POSITIVE example for how we can start to reopen?

Literally if this wasn't serious, any country which remained fully open in a "let 'er rip" manner would have huge advantages over their peers as far as economic performance over the next few months... Yet nobody is doing so.

Again, the easiest explanation for why the world's governments have taken such strong steps is that they actually believe this virus is that dangerous.

If you want to reopen now, given the fact that even our own POTUS' administration created clear guidelines for the conditions necessary and the phases of reopening to do so safely, and those conditions haven't been met, you have to believe one of two things:

• The virus isn't as serious as stated, and all of the world's epidemiologists who believed these significant controls were necessary to prevent enormous loss of life are wrong.
• That enormous loss of life isn't a big deal and people should just suck it up and deal with it so we don't have any economic slowdown.

I'm not saying there aren't financial incentives to call cases COVID-19 vs something else--at least in the US. But do you think those incentives are so incredible, and the moral fiber of the nation's coroners so weak, that this is a major problem? I.e. that we now have 60K deaths in this country attributed to COVID-19, but that the real number is FAR lower, i.e. 15K or 30K? Because unless the effect is massive, it doesn't change anything about the argument.

I do agree there are financial incentives to remain on unemployment. For many of the poorest workers, they're actually earning more on unemployment than they were earning from their jobs. For many others, they're earning an income close enough to what they were earning to justify trying to stay home instead of going back to work. And if we reopen the economy, obviously we need to phase out the special federal unemployment benefits to force those people to return to their old jobs or look for new ones. But what does that statement have to do with the argument of whether it's
SAFE to reopen the economy?

It isn't the same everywhere, it isn't the case that nothing has worked. What is the case is that social distancing has saved lives, and that places that implemented it earlier are doing better than places that didn't. And places that didn't implement it early, but were early victims of the virus, like Italy, have paid brutal consequences which have shut their economies down every bit as much as ours.

The medical and scientific community seem nearly unanimous in how to approach this. Of course there are dissenters--there are in everything, including the scientific community--but the rage against what that community seems to believe is sound science is stunning. Political interest groups that have no background in medicine and science are working very hard to overrule the medical community's judgement on a medical issue. That is deeply concerning, but not as concerning as the willingness of our population to sign up to support those political groups.

the Oceanaires here in the midwest are one of our best options for very good seafood

I hope those strips were 2 lbs a piece

You know what would be bad? Bad would be if this topic made it to 2000 pages.

God, I hope it doesn't.

as far as financial motivation- I am merely pointing out the obvious- and agreeing with what many here have said- it is very challenging to trust the data. $13000 reimbursement to a hospital is not the same as a COVID use of a ventilator which pays $39000. 
as for those making more on unemployment- I simply point that out because it is a reasonable assumption they are not the ones protesting.  which means those protesting are likely in grave danger financially- and do not deserve to be treated with such arrogance and disdain by the media, and talking heads- as if their point of view is outrageous.  Their point of view- which seems to be that the restrictions are too severe in some locations and/or they need to unwind them faster- is very reasonable.

I really don't get all of the conspiracy stuff.

Do I think China lied about their numbers?  Sure I do.  That's pretty well documented.

Do I think that China's lack of safety regulations probably played a part in this virus transmitting to humans?  Looks like it.

Do I think the US was woefully unprepared for a pandemic as far as economic, medical, and public response?  Absolutely.  But so were a lot of other countries.  Learn from it and move on.

Do I think that China tanked the worlds economy and their own for... reasons? - No, and I have seen zero evidence that supports this weird theory.

Do I think this virus "escaped from a lab?" No, that's ridiculous nonsense and a quick Google search will bring up quite a few peer reviewed scientific articles on why that isn't the case.

Do I think that somehow this virus was started in China to bring down Donald Trump? No, that's horse patooey. 

Pandemics have happened before, and they will happen again.  Sometimes sh!t happens.  That's it.  There is no WHY.  It just happened.