Well, Trump said "America first", after all. Though probably his followers had something different in mind with that...

The People claiming inflated numbers are obviously right wing nut jobs sucking on Trump's teets. There is absolutely no benefit in inflating numbers, but there sure are benefits for suppressing them.

Florida is the best example as there we know of definite attempts to suppress numbers to make the state look better. It's also subtle things at the local level where tests on dead people aren't happening at all because nothing outside of hospitals counts. Some counties just don't want to look bad or just don't want to put in the effort. And when you think about the horrible situation with completely unqualified coroners around the country, there are bound to be overlooked deaths, unintentional or otherwise.

So we know there were attempts to suppress them on purpose, we know some cases are suppressed by incompetence and we know some cases are suppressed by an insufficient counting policy.

Just have a look at the CDC's page for excess deaths. There are tens of thousands of unaccounted deaths.

Can't agree with you more that this whole pandemic is kept going by selfish people.

It feels like a giant prisoner's dilemma experiment. If everyone (the world) worked together this virus wouldn't have stood a chance. Yet it's too tempting to be the one to grab the 'pot' not realizing you only make it worse in the long run for everyone. From house parties to security guards sleeping with quarantined guests... Humanity has failed this 'test' miserably. We should be very grateful the IFR is 1% or less and hopefully no real damaging long term effects show up.

Even if we defeat the virus now, we still have to deal with importing more cases and people not quarantining for 2 weeks like they are supposed to. The irony is that all those teenagers and 20 somethings are only damaging their own future by making the economic fallout much worse than it could have been. Plus who knows what long term effects the prolonged school closures and haphazard home schooling will have.

Time to head out for groceries again, week 16 since shit hit the fan here.

The situation around COVID is very concerning. When it first became clear that the virus was spreading and becoming a pandemic, my personal thoughts were that the only way this can end is with a vaccine or by letting it run it's course. It's nice to be able to work from home while my wife collects unemployment checks that are worth double what she actually made while working, but that's only short-term. The long-term is what worries me.

The politics around this issue are shitty. If a politician spoke out with similar thoughts to the ones I expressed in my previous paragraph, they would lose supporters. People want to hear that things are going to get better if they stay at home and wear masks, but with how relaxed the restrictions are here (USA), it's only going to curb the spread; the virus isn't disappearing. So the question is, how long, and at what cost, do we keep pretending that staying home is fixing the problem. The goal posts keep moving.

The fact of the matter is that making the virus spread stop completely requires the compliance of just about every single person in our nation (or the world) to take it seriously, and that can't happen when people are at the point of wanting to relax restrictions.

So yeah, be a good citizen, stay at home, wear a mask, etc, etc, but just know that some asshat is offsetting everyone else' efforts by going to the grocery store during peak hours and wearing his mask under his nose, and then coughing on the cashier, who is only doing her job because she's "essential". Just like GameStop is essential.

Frist look into the economic fallout in Canada

https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/the-challenge-of-our-lifetime-federal-deficit-to-hit-343-billion-this-year-1.5015467

The federal deficit is projected to hit $343.2 billion this fiscal year, due in large part to massive economic aid and stimulus plans—that are on-par with Second World War level spending— The deficit projection released Wednesday is up dramatically from the latest pre-pandemic economic update in December 2019, which pegged the deficit at $28.1 billion in 2020-21.

Citing the “extraordinary borrowing” the federal government is currently engaged in, the government says the federal debt will exceed $1.2 trillion by the end of the fiscal year, up from $765 billion in the previous fiscal year. With unemployment rates set to remain high into next year, the government is also projecting a $71.1-billion decline in tax revenue, including a $40.8-billion loss in income taxes. 

“This spending level is on par with, but lower than the peak deficit (as a per cent of GDP) experienced by Canada during the Second World War. This is truly the challenge of our lifetime."

In total, the federal government has spent more than $231 billion in health and safety measures as well as on direct aid to Canadians and businesses over the course of the pandemic so far. Due to the COVID-19 spending, the federal government now projects its debt-to-GDP ratio will rise to 49.1 per cent in 2020-21. In the pre-pandemic December economic update, Canada’s debt-to-GDP ratio was at 30.9 per cent and was projected to remain on track to reduce incrementally over the next few years.


Yet they also see it as an opportunity to rebuild/reshape a better economy and thanks to the low interest rates not all is as bad as it seems

“Even after our historic investments, Canada will continue to hold its low-debt advantage. This, combined with historically low interest rates, gave us the balance sheet to deploy our fiscal firepower to support Canadians through this,” Morneau said, though noted that his and likely future governments will have to face up to the deficit.

Still looks pretty scary in pictures

Citing economists, in the snapshot the government says the overall economy is expected to contract by 6.8 per cent in 2020, which is its sharpest drop since the Great Depression, before rebounding by 5.5 per cent in 2021. Based on forecasts by more than a dozen private sector economists, the government is projecting an unemployment rate of 9.8 per cent in 2020 and 7.8 per cent in 2021.

All of this is contingent on how the ongoing health crisis is managed, the government notes throughout the snapshot, emphasizing the economy’s health is largely in the hands of Canadians’ efforts to stave off a second wave of the novel coronavirus.

https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/coronavirus/we-can-t-let-up-key-issues-to-address-before-second-wave-of-covid-19-1.5016754

Canadians must continue to adhere to public health measures, including physical distancing that has proven to help flatten the curve of coronavirus infections across the country. It could be a challenge with COVID-19 “fatigue” settling in as much of the country closes out its 17th week of widespread restrictions. “We can’t let up,” said Buchman. “We have to continue to be vigilant about the public health measures. If we’re not doing that we can suffer another lockdown and way more restrictions.”

To ensure public health measures are clear and feasible, the messaging from health authorities should be consistent, said Buchman. But this has been an issue since the pandemic began and it became clear that people were confused by guidance being issues, particularly as it related to face coverings. “It’s clearer lately with regards to mask wearing,” said Buchman, noting numerous jurisdictions that have started to enforce mandatory face coverings in indoor public spaces.


https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/canada-not-ready-for-second-wave-of-covid-19-senate-committee-says-1.5017314

A new report from a committee of senators says the country is ill-prepared to handle a second wave of COVID-19. The Senate's social affairs committee says the federal government needs to pay urgent attention to seniors in long-term care homes where outbreaks and deaths in the pandemic have been concentrated. There are also concerns in the report about the vulnerability of low-income seniors should there be a second wave of the novel coronavirus later this year.

Senators on the committee say the national emergency stockpile of personal protective gear like masks, gowns and gloves, wasn't managed well over the years, nor sufficiently stocked when the pandemic struck the country in March. Committee members add concerns that military members could be deployed without sufficient personal protective equipment because of "inconsistencies from international procurement."

Here in USA we have cart corrals in parking lots where you push it into and then eventually a worker comes and gathers them up and pushes them back to front of store.  There is no need to line up the carts in the corral. 

In fact I push my cart into corral the hardest I can push just to see it slam against the metal corral.  Cracks me up and doesn't even damage carts (believe me I try).  Hey least I'm better than just leaving it in parking lot outside corral where it can dent cars.

Shouldn't you have said sneezing on cashier because the last time I checked people cough out of their mouth not nose.

The store I go to has 'trained' people to bring the carts back by requiring a dollar (or token) to use the cart. They disabled that for Covid19 but people still bring the carts back. The returned carts go on the other side to be cleaned (I clean it myself before and after anyway, just to be sure and courtesy to the guy having to clean them). They use one extra employee to clean and return the carts to the pickup side while keeping count of people entering and leaving the store to regulate traffic. Pretty easy low cost solution.

Much better now, no left over produce and discarded fliers in the carts anymore.

Next to figure out what to make with this, new item in the supermarket. Stumped 4 cashiers :)

One of the worst parts about this whole pandemic is that wearing a mask as become political.....I mean WTF is wrong with these people... all around the wold people are wearing them courtesy to fellow man while in an other( just 1 ) its the devils work?....

Arizona and Florida and probably some other states look to be reaching testing capacity. In Arizona testing is down but positives are now peaking at 30%. In Florida testing is down but they reported a high of 18.4% positivity. Were also starting to see the death rate rise. Texas and Arizona had their peak deaths a few days ago. California came close to its peak the other day. Floriday has had its peak deaths today.