For example compare Maine and Oregon, the % concern levels are :
Maine:
Extremely 25%
Moderately 31%
Oregon
Extremely 24%
Moderately 34%
The mostly rural Republican Midwest states (not in a ‘corner’) have much lower rates of concern.
If you compare Rural to Urban then thats a whole different matter. If you compare Republican opinion to Democrat opinion then those are far apart too. Rural folks have less to worry about generally.
31 of 36 counties in Oregon are in state 2 of opening now.
Well then there’s Arkansas… I don’t think Arkansas needs commentary though, their residents’ cognitive problems are pretty well known… (Yes, I’ve traveled there. I’ve been to all the contiguous states.)
But yes, the few (only 8) states in the survey you linked that show “blue” (less concerned) are all barely over 50% in the less concerned side. “Not concerned” is a minority in all states. And aside from Arkansas, those states have all not been hit very hard, probably mostly because of less travel. The concern is pretty consistent across age demographics, too.
Rural has some social distancing built in which is helpful. Additionally less travel means less seeding/spreading during the federally-sponsored “do nothing in February, 15 cases will go to zero” phase when most of the early epidemic spread occurred.
Edit:
Fed Government response survey: Civiqs Civiqs
The fed government response skews where younger are less satisfied.
A lot of rural areas have little or no covid19 cases as well. We’ve got a 3 counties in Oregon that have no cases at all and another half dozen who only have a single case.
And as you say the social distancing is often more built in to the system when your closest neighbor is a 1/2 mile or more away…
You add it all up and I’d have a lot less worry in a rural county here.
In fact 31 of our counties are approved for the first step of reopening in OR and that seems reasonable to me considering.
My metro is actually doing pretty well so far (It was the first county in the state to enact any restrictions). This is despite the federal government “accidentally” releasing repatriated covid19 cases while they were still positive, releasing them all at a mall, and planning to release the rest of the repatriated recoveries at the mall. That plan only changed after the city declared a state of emergency that prohibited any of them from leaving the military base (although probably not enforceable) due to the prior incompetencies and some publicity.
Don’t know if we’re the largest city (7th largest city in US) with the lowest per capita case count, but we might be.
But the governor decided to overrule all the local areas for “reopening”. It’s not allowed to require anyone to wear a mask, employers to supply a single mask to each employee, or for any of the remaining statewide restrictions to actually be enforceable. The real question is where things will be in a month or two.
I am in the “old” category, and have been mostly staying home.
Even if a vaccine turns out to be an impossibility, hopefully medical scientists will, over time, learn how to treat the symptoms in a more successful manner. This has the potential to save lives and prevent organ damage. Flattening the curve would give more time for medical science to learn how to mitigate the symptoms. If hospitals are less overwhelmed, perhaps they could better conduct studies of the results of various treatments.
Coincidentally (? not really a surprise… it’s the approach we hear from the scientists and infectious disease experts, including the current US administration’s now-silenced task force) the containment approach has the least economic and human cost impacts in that scenario, too…
Use mitigation measures to keep new cases on a declining trend until the numbers are in single digits. Then conduct some random surveillance testing, test all who are symptomatic, contact trace and test/quarantine all contacts of any confirmed case. Massive targeted testing in an area if there’s an outbreak. Ongoing $$ cost, but relatively very low ongoing economic and social cost. Weird how it still all comes back to testing. Yes, it IS well past beating a dead horse now.
There’s several countries already using this approach right now, with ongoing success.
Not sure why you would think that… Why do you imagine I have a reason to give a pass?
Then again nowhere did I say “everyone” in Arkansas. If not clear, I was referring to the majority, and I was not referring to a majority political party either. Stereotypes can be true and it’s only “bad” if they’re false or if you’re applying the stereotype(s) to every individual in the group rather than to a statistical representation of part of the group.
So if you’re in Arkansas you could be in the minority that I wasn’t referring to.
People do need to travel more… (well… probably not RIGHT NOW, though.) Arkansas really is a special state. In many ways. There’s some nice scenery and some nice people, too.
Yes. You’re right. British Columbia. People there are some of the most left leaning in Canada.
From time to time I wonder in which direction the mental illness moved. Did it flow from BC south, or from WA and OR north? I dunno. But in Canada you have to go all the way over to Quebec to find people as wacky as those in BC. Bunch of European wannabees all of them.
Meanwhile Alberta, where decent Canadians live, is being destroyed.
Thanks. But bear in mind that back in February/March “flattening the curve” was fully justified by circumstances at that time. I liken it to a nationwide emergency situation where suspension of our treasured rights and liberties, on the most temporary basis possible, was unfortunately necessary.
It’s not at all the same situation now. There is no remaining justification for limiting the rights of any Americans. At the same time:
No American should be forced, or is being forced to (for example) get a haircut. Those Americans who believe they remain at significant risk, as I do, have and should have the option to remain at home or protect themselves from the virus in any way they deem appropriate.
However, those of us who continue to feel at risk do not have the right, and it should not be our privilege, to harm or even destroy the lives of Americans who see things differently. Neither should government, acting supposedly on our behalf, have that right.
In particular, where government is concerned, no single individual should be making controversial decisions to shut down this or that state. Regardless coronavirus having impacted our country, our system of checks and balances remains alive and well. If you doubt this, have a look at Wisconsin. That is how things should be happening everywhere.
