‘Desperate to Find Message That Will Work': Illinois' Top Health Official Delivers Passionate Plea

[Michelle53]

The IDPH doctor giving our daily Covid-19 briefings became very emotional yesterday, when announcing the rise in case numbers and deaths. 

For everyone who still thinks their personal liberty is being impacted by mask-wearing, for pities sake, take 5 seconds to consider what the medical professionals are going through, during all of this.

https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/desperate-to-find-message-that-will-work-illinois-top-health-o...

[Inna22]

@Michelle53 you made a post on a discussion board but you do not like the fact that we are discussing your post? What was the purpose of putting it on a hosting page? There is a Covid-19 section of this forum

[Michelle53]

@Inna22  The purpose of putting it on a hosting page is because it has relevance to the new mask-wearing requirements for hosts, which have generated a lot of discussion on this board.

[Anna9170]

@Michelle53  I live in Spain, in the Catalonia region. Here was the most monstrous lockdown, when even a child had no right to leave home during two months. Absolutely anti-human act. One person from the family could go once a day to a store or pharmacy. And to carry the necessary papers. It is also worth saying separately that of course we were wearing masks? And at the entrance to any store or institution there are liters of sanitizer .....
So Sweden is now at the end of the list on the problems in the second wave, and we are on one of the first places. Yeah, let's close everybody for a couple more years, ideally, so everybody will die during this time from economy to specific people. 😆
You're really right, it's better not to argue. But it really amazes me that people see the problem only in wearing a mask and washing their hands (I am for hygiene, of course). But it doesn't work like that. 

[Fred13]

You know you are both right. Michelle is saying, anything we can do to mitigate the situation, why not, it is the least we can do. You @Anna9170 is saying, in the process, let's not destroy other aspects of life that ultimately may prove more harmful than the problem; in essence, let's make sure that - the cure does not turn out to be worse than the problem. 

[Michelle53]

@Fred13    You are mischaracterizing what I said. I didn't say "anything we can do to mitigate the situation". I said there are a few simple things that everyone can do that will help alleviate much of the pain of this pandemic. 

There are a lot of activities one can do with basic protections.   And it's only temporary - until there is a vaccine, and people actually go out and get vaccinated. 

It's only going to drag out longer and worse if people won't even try to do the most basic of things to protect themselves and others. 

[Fred13]

That is exactly what I meant, just used different wording. 

[Michelle53]

@Anna9170  If you actually read what I wrote, I never said anything about closing for a couple more years. What I said was that if everybody did a few simple things, closing would not be necessary.

Sweden, by the way, is number 17 in the world for deaths per million people.  Their program was basically to let young people run free, and old people die for lack of treatment. I think they have changed their minds about that now, after all the deaths in the nursing homes. 

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/?utm_campaign=homeAdUOA?Si#countries

[Lisa723]

@Michelle53 thanks for trying.

[Michelle53]

@Lisa723  Yep. 

[Anna9170]

@Fred13  
The medicine is already many times more expensive than the problem, you are absolutely right. 😎
I will say once again that we had the strictest formal rules. And they do NOT work. Sooner or later people will have a civil revolution. I do not rule out that this is also part of the plan. 😉

[Fred13]

Yes, @Anna9170 .The discussion nowadays in many quarters is that those that thought you can control it (though delaying exposure via some isolation has merit in the beginning), are maybe now finding out is nearly impossible to do, because it does spread so easily. The economic shutdown  (in capitalist economic systems) is where things get very complicated and time will tell whether that was a big mistake or not because the real-world ramifications of that move they are still assessing. 

[Anna9170]

@Michelle53  I can read, even if I express my thoughts badly. Distance and masks, closure of borders. Should I spend a day to give you statistics on flu death? No, I will spend the day more usefully. Or about car accidents? It is unlikely that after that someone has banned the use of the car. I'm sorry, but this is a useless discussion. 😉

[Sarah977]

You don't need to spend a day giving anyone statistics of deaths from influenza. That information is readily available and depending on the source and methods used to determine the numbers, it ranges from 300,000 to 600,000 per year worldwide. COVID has now killed over 1,100,000 in 10 months. So by the end of 2020, it will have killed twice as many people as the very highest flu death estimates.

Car accidents, heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and whatever other death numbers you want to come up with are immaterial- those things aren't contagious.

And you're quite right, it is a useless conversation to have with those who want to downplay the seriousness of COVID by reading and believing only that which supports their point of view and bringing up irrelevant arguments.

@Anna9170

[Ann783]

@Michelle53  thank you for posting.  I was just discussing the Illinois physician's plea with someone today. It was emotional and difficult to watch. Unfortunately, physicians, nurses and other health care providers are  being threatened and slandered for stating public health facts - that masks work, that social distancing works and that we are not  over-counting COVID deaths for financial gain. All this, while we risk our lives to protect our patients. 

[Sarah977]

@Ann783  I've never been even a slightly violent person, but I'm getting to the point where I feel like slapping people when they say the medical pros are over-counting for financial gain, or that wearing a mask and distancing are a violation of their "rights".

I have this fantasy in which a section of every country where people refuse to comply with the health measures is designated as a "COVID Hoax State"- all the people who are COVID deniers, don't understand or trust science, and rage about their freedoms being taken away just because they're asked to put on a mask all have to go live there. They can be free to spew their breath all over others, engage in super spreader events, and the rest of the country closes their borders to the COVID Hoax State. There would be no medical care there for COVID patients, because as far as they're concerned, it doesn't exist or isn't any big deal. Once these people were removed from the rest of society, the virus would be able to be controlled and the number of infections would plummet until there were none. Which wouldn't take very long.