Indiana reports 78 more COVID deaths; Marion County tops 50K cases

13 thoughts on “Indiana reports 78 more COVID deaths; Marion County tops 50K cases”

1. I began to think about the current plan in this week’s Governor’s news conference regarding the pandemic. I have a couple of ideas.
   1. So the plan for Indiana is to make sure that healthcare workers get the vaccine so they can remain well enough to take care of the onslaught of new patients. Oh, I forgot, the State is running out of ICU beds (only about 20% left). I guess that we should just tell the new sick Covid-19 patients. “first come, first serve,” or “if you snooze, you lose.” I doubt if the Convention Center or the Colts want to give up any space for temporary hospital facilities. Of course, why should we plan ahead when the current plan is working so well.

   2. Remember back in the spring when there was a shut down ordered by the governor. He assured us that he would follow the numbers and the science on opening things up with his 5 stage plan. It appears that he has kept one of his promises. He is following the number but not the science. By all of the numbers (daily positive cases, hospital census, hospital admissions, deaths, positivity, etc., etc.) we are substantially worse shape, but no hint of changing course. What does the “State of Emergency” really mean? What does the “mask mandate” really? In very simple terms, NOTHING!! So we are on our own.

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   1. Phil, what does the Convention Center and “the Colts” have to do with anything? If a field hospital is necessary, there are many options other than the 2 shinest objects that popped into your head. What exactly do you want Holcomb to do? Be specific. Since you are a numbers and science! Guy, I know you are aware Michigan and IL, who have much more restrictions than IN, are having the same increases as we are. So again, what do you suggest?

2. So I guess the lockdowns masks and social distancing is working really well. Maybe we should do more of it, since it worked so well. While we are at it, let’s destroy the economy in the mean time

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3. I guess instead of being critical of our Governor, I should take the approach of Lou Holtz ( retired coach from Notre Dame) who could not say enough great things about our President Trump when he received his Metal of Freedom this week.

   So here goes with thoughts from a parallel universe which we should all embrace (Orange Kool Aid has been my go-to drink for several years now even though it has been gradually having a bitter after taste:

   Why should we worry? We are in great hands with a State government and public health team which is on top of the situation and has a plan that is working great. Personally, I am willing to sacrifice as many Hoosiers as possible so I can go anywhere I want and at time that I want. I look forward to a packed church with shoulder to shoulder attendance and just singing up a storm. I am going to hit as many crowed bars as I can until the wee hours of the morning. Masks!!! Are you kidding? Masks are for losers!! Let the good times roar. You can’t make me do anything. I just love this country!!!

   Now, I feel a whole better!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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4. Chuck: This ain’t rocket science. One only has took to look at other States and Countries where the pandemic has been been mitigated. There needs to be a coordinated effort to provide adequate resources (e.g. PPE, testing, care resources, etc. etc.) to the State. There is NO political will in Indiana for that to happen. Even all of the Cares Act funds in our State’s coffers have not been spent. Businesses which need to be shut down, need financial support to weather the storm. Unemployment monies need to be provides to our citizens need who need it, These are just a few items which need to bee addressed. However, the sentiment in our State is not there to care about the people are are really hurting. There has to be a ground swell of outrage to get the ball rolling.
   Hence:
   With the inaction by our leaders in Indiana to mitigate the Covid-19 pandemic, I ask the following questions:
   Why have the healthcare professions of our State not demanded action?
   Why have the medical professional organizations of our State not demanded action?
   Why have the universities, medical schools, “research” organizations (“Indiana CTSI, BioCrossroads, IBRI, etc.) of our State not demanded action?
   Why have the hospitals of our State which are running out of ICU beds, staff, PPE, etc., etc. not demanded action?
   Why have the insurance companies of our State not demanded action?
   Why have all the media organizations of our State not demanded action?
   Why have the citizens of our State not demanded action?
   How long will it take?
   How many lives will be lost?
   How many jobs will be lost?
   Will we be able to stop the train of inaction before it takes us over the cliff?
   If not, we have only our collective selves to blame!!!!!!!!!!!!

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   1. Which states? Which countries? Please provide specific and detailed information. Fauci has praised many states, which Chuck highlights by mentioning our neighbors, which are again experiencing spikes. Crickets from that fraud Fauci. Florida and GA seem to be doing as well or better than other places.

   2. Canada Eric. It’s only a few hours driving from Indianapolis.

   3. Canada is experiencing the same surge in cases. The charts looks the same, despite the restrictions and mandates.

   4. Phil, you can’t answer a simple question. Your rants are unhinged. Go sit in the basement with Wes. The adults are talking.

5. Let us start with the basics. Start with the score board: https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html. Then go down the list with the countries that have had the fewest cases. I will throw our a couple of names, Australia, New Zealand, Finland, Norway, Denmark, Japan, Ireland, Singapore, South Korea. Then do your homework. Find out why those countries have done some much better than the US where the pandemic is raging our of control in the US and getting worse (That means doing lots of reading and homework.) Also, go back and read about what happened during the SARS and MERS epidemics. Remember that those countries in southeast Asia and Australia/New Zealand were on the front line of those pandemics. Because of those experiences, there were prepared for this one!!! If one is still up for more history, one ought to read the following book: AMERICA’S FORGOTTEN PANDEMIC by Alfred W. Crosby. This describes in detail the 1918 influenza pandemic. I completely understand that it was a different times and a different virus. However, there are a lot of similarities to how we are handling the current pandemic. One would think that because we have so much medical knowledge and concrete solutions today, which was not true back in 1918, that we would let science and medical knowledge lead the way. However, like in 1918, the country is split where the politics have disrupted a path to mitigate the pandemic. Back in 1918, the politics seemed to be more legitimate, i.e. fight WWI, Now we have a government, both on the State and Federal level which has put an election first and putting science an an obstacle to “personal” freedoms. It is this parallel universe approach that has ensured that the raging pandemic in our country is just going to get worse. One has to spend time to learn history and to get a broad perspective from multiple informational sources to be able to sort out the mess in which we are living. Fox News and social media are is just not enough. In fact, the general public has lost it ability for deductive reasoning and analytic thinking.

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   1. Pulled from the headlines: BBC “Coronavirus: Japan’s mysteriously low virus death rate”: “Many paragons of Covid strategy, such as New Zealand and Vietnam, used tough measures including closing borders, tight lockdowns, large-scale testing and strict quarantines – but Japan did none of that.” Then this: “The Covid-19 pandemic is driving a spike in suicides in Japan”. And the headlines early in it that said Japan was doing it all wrong: “A little over a month ago, health experts were saying Japan risked becoming one of the world’s coronavirus “disaster zones”.” But now back to this: “Japan on ‘maximum alert’ as third wave brings record COVID cases
      Prime minister asks people to wear masks when conversing, even during meals”

      And this sounds wonderful: NBC “‘It just feels surreal’: Military posted at checkpoints as Australian state extends COVID-19 lockdown
      “It doesn’t feel like this is normal life at all,” one doctor said of Victoria’s lockdown measures.””

      And aren’t far fewer people dying from this than Spanish Flu, indicating that maybe things are better this go-around and the sky ain’t completely falling. None of those are from Fox News.

   2. Norway doesn’t recommend masks.

      Denmark only recently required them (October 29), yet the cases and deaths have increased since then.

      On the other end of the scale of deaths/million, Peru and Argentina have had what are considered the longest and harshest lockdowns (plus masks are required in Peru and Buenos Aires, not sure rest of Argentina).

      Australia, outside of Victoria, doesn’t require masks. Nor NZ, besides on public transport.

      So I ask again, what specific policies and in what states or countries “work”? To me, I see little to no correlation but lots of conjecture.

6. There is ALWAYS more to the stories than a few headlines. No plan is perfect. There will always be situations where the plan has some consequences, unfortunately. However, the obvious point is that with appropriate sacrifices and strictly measures in place, the number of people getting sick and the economy in general is much off for those countries as a whole. Nothing is perfect when it comes to a pandemic, i.e. new bug that is very infectious and there are no therapies to treat it. Go back to the score board. The countries, that I mentioned, are much better off than the US in handling the pandemic. There is no excuse for the lack of coordinate efforts on the State and Federal levels. More of our citizens have been suffering, both in terms of health, but also economically. Begin to read international news in more depth and on more of a regular basis and one will get the distinct feeling how the rest of the world views our handling of the pandemic. Regardless, Indiana has the financial resources to be able to mitigate the pandemic in a serious way AND support our citizens who have been severely impacted economically by the pandemic. In simple and basic terms, our State government just does not want to spend the money. It has not even used up all of its Cares Act funds money yet. This was allocated to specifically use for the pandemic. It is going to take a total change in approach before things are going to improve. I am not talking just the vaccine. Time will tell if the new administration on a Federal level will accelerate a positive change. Unfortunately, the current administration focused on the politics and not anything that resembles a serious science-based approach to the pandemic.

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