Posts by stormybadger8

Jerry Robinson56 said:How exactly is a "ban," which isn't even a ban, but rather a controlled measure, considered idiocy?
You need to grasp that you are potentially a danger to others, yet you are acting as if you are the only one who matters. It’s like driving at 130 mph on a highway and claiming, "Well, I always drive like this," right before the crash...
Do you still fail to understand the objective here? It is about isolating the outbreaks.
I doubt such a rigorous form of quarantine would have been feasible today, given that there are high-level professional responsibilities requiring travel... naturally, there is a 14-day period upon return... but still.

Quarantine has nothing to do with those historical maritime republics in the way you are presenting it. Such practices were utilized in parts of Africa for centuries before the concept of modern order took hold, often involving the burning of the infected along with their entire village... The infected were not permitted to leave their huts, thus preventing them from spreading the contagion to others.
The historical examples serve only to demonstrate that isolation is the only reliable measure. We still know very little about this virus, and it is referenced as being among the most dangerous pathogens when it reaches an unprepared location.
At least, that is how it is being framed.

This merely highlights your lack of civility. A pass does not prevent the spread— where on earth did I write or even imply that it was a "cure"? .. you are trivializing my position through your own projections and words.
... a pass functions like a manifest on a shipping vessel... it ensures information is received, so they don't have to call stations for verification, and so on...
If one were to inquire about the coffee machine or the instant thermometer $17 — let's say, from a place like Walmart... you might struggle with the sensor whether you use the pass or not when the LCD fails to glow green 😁 .. I am merely jesting ..
In all seriousness, do try to be reasonable and accept that the deficiency lies within yourself rather than the system.
One need only observe the current state of affairs these days ...

If you want a policy to actually work, it needs a damn target. You can't just throw restrictions at everything and hope they stick. It has to be aimed at something specific, and honestly, in situations like this, the oversight needs to be incredibly tight. ☕
How can anyone not see this? The guy clearly hasn't a clue, and apparently, our brilliant Minister doesn't either.

That policy doesn't actually target anything. It’s based on "residency," which is a joke. On one hand, you’ve got Washington, D.C. with a million people, and on the other, you have tiny rural towns with maybe a hundred souls. It's meaningless.
And when it doesn't matter to anyone else either, then it's pretty obvious this "measure" isn't actually aimed at anything at all.
It literally makes zero sense. They left movement completely unrestricted in the biggest hotspots with the highest infection rates—even in Washington, D.C., where there are a million people just wandering around like nothing's happening.

Even more importantly, there’s zero way to actually enforce this "famous" measure. Controlling something like this is basically impossible unless we start begging the US government to lend us their entire police force, the military, and all their high-tech gear. Only then—and that's a huge if—would we maybe, just maybe, have enough boots on the ground to pull it off.
Drop the link to the map. I mean, you can't even tell how many there are in the photo unless you zoom in...


So, those green lines represent the municipal borders we're supposed to be watching. If they actually want this movement ban to work as a controlled measure, they’d better start by actually monitoring those boundaries and the movement itself first. 🙂
It’d be pretty interesting if someone actually sat down and crunched the numbers to figure out the physical distance here. We could even start a betting pool to see how many miles it really takes to cover it. What do you think—is it more or less than... 62 miles ?

Maybe if we actually imported enough military and police force from the US, we might stand a chance at controlling this measure...
Then we’ve got this other headache: that famous "golden ticket" issued by a massive, bloated mess of employers, task forces, doctors, and whatever else.
So, I guess we also have to keep an eye on them and their issuance if we want this to actually be some kind of controlled measure.

And then, just to top it all off, they’ll probably expect us to be out there on the ground manually verifying those permits too. Great.

You're talking about a policy that’s a complete joke. It’s literally impossible to enforce, let alone actually control. Total farce.
This isn't some "controlled measure." It’s pure, unadulterated chaos that nobody can actually manage, and all it’s achieved is a massive, pointless waste of money.
The effect was exactly the same as if Beroš had just calmly asked everyone to stay put. Honestly, his polite request probably would've kept people from moving even more than this whole "measure" nonsense did.

Jerry Robinson56 said:Turn off the engine and actually use your brain for once...
Travel restrictions have been an established concept since the days of the early American colonies.

Do you have a link?
It should be obvious to you that there is no alternative—it is either quarantine or nothing (and a quarantine offers a wide array of measures; it isn't necessarily "total").

Your inability to comprehend this only confirms the stupidity, though certainly not the kind you are implying... It is the classic affliction of intelligent people who fail to realize that others exist who are even more capable, and the unbearable arrogance of their own assumptions ...

Quite the opposite; I am referring to the sheer incompetence of the local residents who were unable to come to an agreement.
Perhaps you could actually step up and assist your local municipality once you identify the core issue. But then again, complaining from the sidelines is certainly the path of least resistance, isn't it?

It relies on conscience and moral awareness... a fact you seem to have grasped. But tell me, how would you handle those lacking a conscience? I would personally suggest rehab for the senseless, and perhaps some serious re-education for the unprincipled.
It is a far cry from a civilized society when people must be taught to value their responsibilities only upon their return...
What is your approach?
Though, I suspect many would remain dissatisfied with such solutions, wouldn't they?

P.S. Attempting to manufacture things with a 3D printer is a significantly greater folly... surely you haven't missed that?

Look, when I actually use my brain, I realize that those quarantine measures used to be a legit solution (at least at first, anyway). But this whole "stay at home" rule being applied to absolute morons is just pure stupidity...
If we had actually implemented a real 40-day quarantine for everyone entering the country like they did back then, we probably wouldn't even have this virus right now.

On the other hand, this current ban—with its million different loopholes—is sheer idiocy. Back in the day, you didn't have 700 different tiny counties inside the Republic, and you didn't have scammers handing out fake permits. You didn't get special passes after 15, 20, or 30 days, let alone on day one. You stayed in quarantine for the full 40 days, period. No exceptions because "it's Easter, so the virus doesn't matter for five days." 🙂

So, if you actually bother to think about it, you'll see why I don't buy the idea that these little paper permits are what's stopping the virus. It's obvious to me, even if it isn't to you...

Larry Walker24 said:

See? If we just had a map like this for every single municipality, everything would actually work.

We’d skip all the nonsense and the headache of those ridiculous permits, and the U.S. government would save at least $2-$3 billion a year.
That money could actually go toward building and fixing up schools, hospitals, and basic infrastructure. Life would be a whole lot better.

The only issue is that none of our politicians have the drive, the desire, or frankly, the guts to make it happen.
And let's be honest—we don't exactly have the backbone to sweep these parasites away once and for all either.

Jerry Robinson56 said:Not just accepted, but demonstrably effective.
Naturally, the execution is both problematic and traumatic.
Within your own family, you can maintain closeness both at home and out in public. However, I am certain you know several individuals who couldn't care less about such things, so any notion of altruistic behavior falls apart. I have trained myself to be a far greater fool than most, but there are truly malicious fools out there whom you simply cannot outmatch. In those cases, you merely adopt their vernacular, and within a heartbeat, everything is supposedly fine.

They are essentially trying to rationalize the idea that "everyone" is a threat to others. I encounter stupidity—and even deeper levels of idiocy—on almost a daily basis, and one need only look at the President and his peculiar ideas regarding giving shovels to professional soldiers.
What alternative are you proposing?

How does one find those ten specific idiots? Perhaps they are simply waiting to blend into the crowd... I completely agree with your stance that the delinquents always get away with it... perhaps even Alexander Thompson will accept that and reconsider his position regarding those who refuse to follow the spirit of the law rather than just the letter.
One cannot generalize, yet it is truly absurd that any gatherings outside of familial connections are being permitted... particularly religious ones.

It is a necessary evil; the alternative involves expensive, drawn-out inspections and endless hours spent waiting on the police. It’s an ugly reality, regardless of whether this is a global test run or simply the truth of our existence.

Way to go. Bravo. 🙂

Go ahead. Prove that banning travel between a small town of 2,000, a mid-sized suburb of 8,000, and a little town of 3,000 actually accomplished anything. I'm waiting.
They issued 12,000 permits across towns A, B, and C. Just great. 😵

And then there’s the local precinct. They flat-out refused to handle the measure because the towns they cover—Town A, Town B, and Town C—can't stop bickering long enough to agree on anything. Typical.
That's exactly what's happening in my town. It’s a total circus, honestly. 🤦

Talking nonsense about how they used those kinds of measures in China, Korea, or wherever else... please.
First off, they don't have 600 municipalities for a population of 3.5 million. And they definitely don't have ten cops on duty who are supposed to be monitoring forty different routes between Town A, Town B, and Town C. Give me a break.

Only a genius Secretary could dream up this kind of stupidity. Clearly, they haven't spent a single second dealing with how things actually work on the ground. Real life? Never heard of it.

Look, given how things actually look on the ground, calling this a "measure" is a joke. No sane person would even call it that. It isn't one.
At the end of the day, it’s basically just a glorified wish list—completely unrealistic and impossible to control.
In a perfect world, that measure would have done the exact same thing as "stay at home." But let’s be real—it actually backfired because it just pissed everyone off.
It’s basically the same thing, except this whole mess actually cost a fortune. Between developing the apps, server costs, toner, printers, security stamps, and all that nonsense for making passes... it was just a massive waste of money.
Of course. And let's not forget the massive pile of nerves belonging to everyone tasked with issuing, processing, and micromanaging those damn permits.
At the end of the day, it all just boils down to whether people actually have the decency to follow the #StayHome order or not. Pure willpower. That's it.

Jerry Robinson56 said:You’re acting like a monarch... I wasn't clear enough. If you sit down and write out the actual reasons why these movement restrictions bother you, you will realize the issue lies solely with yourself. However, the problem isn't you, or your personal health, but rather the health of others. It is obvious that one cannot lock everything down indefinitely, so they had to devise a way forward on short notice. Though, frankly, they could have handled all of this last year...

Recall how viruses "pass"... there is simply no alternative; this is the most efficient method. As for myself, I move through NYC quite normally. Just yesterday at a gas station, there were four of us within a few feet of each other, including some guys grabbing beers, and it was fine. Every shop or boutique operates normally; you stand in line and there is no fuss.
Call the local precinct and tell them what the problem is, or submit a suggestion to the task force. Feedback is the most vital component here, because these measures are applied generally.

There are no vehicles on the Hamptons roads😁 and once a week from Connecticut.

Trust me, it's definitely not me. I can go wherever I want, whenever I feel like it. I write my own damn permits and basically go wherever the hell I please...
Not to mention, I know how to use my rights, and I’ve been exercising them to the max since they were even established...
Another thing—I'm not an idiot; I'm not actually going out cruising for no reason, though I could. That would just be stupid...

Meanwhile, I see crowds of people all around me acting like they can't move. They stand there like total morons waiting in line outside City Hall—I see them constantly on my way to work...
And honestly, I haven't seen a bigger crowd, more elderly folks packed together, or a better chance to catch something anywhere else besides right in front of City Hall...

So yeah, that's how "smart" this decision really is. 🤦

Jerry Robinson56 said:https://www.nytimes.com/article/...example_tid=5674

With 1,160 infections and one fatality reported nationwide, the consensus remains clear: they didn't just flatten the curve; they absolutely crushed it.

Yesterday, the Washington Post ran a feature titled, "New Zealand didn't just flatten the curve. They crushed it." Their reporter, Anna Fifield—who hails from New Zealand but has spent the last two decades living abroad—noted that it took a mere ten days to prove that the New Zealand strategy of immediate quarantine was undeniably effective.

While this approach shows promise, its success depends entirely on sustained discipline. One might eventually grasp why restricting movement is an absolute necessity, given how little we truly understand about the broader complexities of this situation.
Furthermore, one cannot ignore the role that population density and physical proximity play in these dynamics.

Yeah, makes sense. We've got a similar vibe here, say, in Chicago,🙂 because in this context, Chicago and New Zealand basically function the same way...
The rest of the country isn't even in the same ballpark.

I mean, if you let everyone in downtown Chicago wander around wherever they want—which is about a quarter of the population—what do you actually achieve? You end up with a massive, shared quarantine for a million people.🤦

On top of that, you've got another 600,000 people with passes wandering everywhere, including heading into the city to mingle with that first million... so, same problem all over again.

And meanwhile, you're literally driving the other 2.4 million people insane by not letting them walk to a grocery store just 700 meters from their own front door...

coastaltiger72 said:I honestly can't wrap my head around why so many construction workers from Germany and Ireland decided to pack up and trek all the way over here to America and Canada. You have to wonder—what was the logic there? Why didn't they just stay put in the countries they were actually supposed to be working in?

It's easy to judge them for leaving...
But they probably left because—surprise, surprise—healthcare here is free, and they already have coverage back home.
Plus, they own property here while paying insane rent over there. Life is cheaper here, too. And if they’re on unpaid leave or just got laid off, coming back is the much cheaper option. Honestly, nothing to be shocked about...

People are who they are, and that's the least of our problems. Expecting an individual to sacrifice their family's well-being for the sake of the community is just plain stupid...
Even if it didn't hurt them personally, it's still not their job, and they aren't getting paid to worry about it...

The real question is why the government allowed these people to fly in without any oversight and move around spreading the virus, all while preaching about "self-isolation" and acting like everyone was actually staying home...

On top of that massive failure, the government is now basically screwing everyone else over and absolutely wrecking the economy...
I've got a feeling the entire economy hasn't taken this much of a hit since the old days; even the former America, Mexico, and the Secret Police working together during the war couldn't do this much damage if they really tried...

stormybadger8 said:So, who exactly is running the numbers over here?
Something is seriously off with this math...

According to this official site, there are only 5 cases in the surrounding County:

But then you look at the breakdown by County:

And suddenly, that same County has 63 cases. It was 62 yesterday, and before that, it was just 5 back on Saturday...
Honestly, I have zero clue where this discrepancy is coming from. 🤷

Is someone trying to hide what's actually happening in the County, or are they just counting everyone from the metro area under the big city because that's where their residency is listed? 🤔

Either way, I don't get how the numbers can be this different. 🤔

Looks like everyone's reading the forums now. Great.
All of a sudden, there isn't a single case left in Washington County—everyone's miraculously recovered. 👍

https://www.cdc.gov/counties/139
Guess the fight against the virus isn't happening on all fronts, including the internet. 🙏
Everyone's cured. 👍

But you better hurry up...
Because the old data is still sitting right there.
https://gdi-online.maps.arcgis.com/a...bfad8db4f64aec
That needs to be wiped too...

So, who exactly is running the numbers over here?
Something is seriously off with this math...

According to this official site, there are only 5 cases in the surrounding County:

But then you look at the breakdown by County:

And suddenly, that same County has 63 cases. It was 62 yesterday, and before that, it was just 5 back on Saturday...
Honestly, I have zero clue where this discrepancy is coming from. 🤷

Is someone trying to hide what's actually happening in the County, or are they just counting everyone from the metro area under the big city because that's where their residency is listed? 🤔

Either way, I don't get how the numbers can be this different. 🤔

Adam Collins4 said:By that logic, it's the same story in other countries too, since everyone's healthcare system is under massive strain for those exact same reasons...

Well, obviously...

The pharma industry uses the exact same playbook everywhere on the planet. The only difference here in the States is they can offload stuff on us that nobody else would touch. Honestly, they don't even have to try half the time because people around here are just waiting for any excuse to score a kickback...
Sure, it happens abroad too, just on a smaller scale compared to what their budgets can actually stomach...

Plus, look at the absolute panic in Italy compared to how chill things are in Germany...
Just imagine the meltdown we'd have if we had 63,000 cases like the Germans do. It wouldn't just be chaos; mortality rates would probably hit 50%... meanwhile, companies over there are still running business as usual, even in the hardest-hit regions...

And get this—the Germans have 63,000 cases and only 560 deaths, yet no panic.
On the flip side, the Italians have 97,000 cases and 10,700 deaths, and it's total mayhem.

Who do you think we act more like? The Germans or the Italians?

silverwalker27 said:In the Town of Brtonigla, over in Istria—where we actually lost someone to Covid—they are supposed to be processing pass requests between 8 AM and 12 PM.

?!?!

So, some local government employee just decided his workday should only last four hours? The entire country is at a standstill because of this—there are actual deaths happening right there in that town—and yet a local official decides he’s only working four hours a day?

To make matters worse, the application process changes every single day! If you look at that municipality's official website, it's a mess. Tuesday: here are the instructions. Wednesday: new rules—you can only apply via email. Thursday: more changes—now you can call them too. Half the town is still following Tuesday's rules. It's just total misinformation.

You're lucky you even 😁
Around here, they issue them from 10-11 and 2-3...so deal with it 😍
At least we have our own municipality, everyone gets their own 🎉

And no, he isn't the one to blame. We're the ones at fault for agreeing to this nonsense in the first place...
Some people even fought tooth and nail just to get their own local government, so here we are...

Adam Collins4 said:So, are their doctors hitting a breaking point because of the virus itself, or because of all these people who aren't actually dying from it, but from other underlying issues?

I’ll say it again: until someone can prove that a completely different illness caused this kind of chaos across various countries and healthcare systems, we can't just sit here and claim this is just like the flu...

What caused it was greed and theft baked right into the entire country, including the healthcare system itself...
That’s what happens when you have enough cash to buy insanely expensive equipment just to snag a 10-20% kickback, but then you can't cover payroll, so your medical staff starts jumping ship.
Then there's when you don't even have the basics like masks and sanitizer, or when you're dealing with hospitals that have a "new wing" built in 1962 and an old wing dating back to 1896...

And then, when something hits you suddenly—even just the flu—you’re in deep trouble. Imagine the mess when something like Covid shows up...
Honestly, we should probably call Covid "the disease of the healthcare system" or "the disease of society," because it perfectly strips everything down and exposes all the weak links...
But hey, it does a damn good job of highlighting the problems that usually stay hidden or get brushed under the rug...
It’s finally showing how incredibly senseless and idiotic these massive municipalities really are. I just hope we don't all collectively decide to forget about it and that something actually changes...

I’ve got a feeling we’re about to see just how massive this Washington, D.C. exodus actually was...
I don't know how much truth there is to it, but on my local news site (small town in Washington County), they reported yesterday that we suddenly have 62 infected cases in the county...😲


If that number is real, we’re looking at an explosion of cases thanks to Washington, D.C. and the totally unprofessional way the city officials, the FBI, and FEMA have been handling this...
I mean, Washington County sat at two cases for ages, then jumped to five which is still what shows up on the map, only to hit 62 crazy bastards in a single day.
And get this—it’s been exactly seven days since those people from D.C. fled to the surrounding counties. Who knows what happens when we hit the 15-day mark after the earthquake? God knows, the numbers will probably be huge...

The worst part is that our local healthcare facilities have always been a complete wreck; they basically existed just to write referrals for D.C....
Everything you needed to do, you obviously couldn't get done, and after running around aimlessly, they'd inevitably end up sending you to Dubrava or Rebro.
But here’s the real kicker, and the part that’s gonna sting: we probably won't get any sympathy in D.C., but back home, they'll sure as hell blame us for dying here.

If things are already this bad in Washington County, it scares the hell out of me to think about the absolute mess happening in the small towns and islands down in Florida or California where those D.C. folks definitely fled to...it's going to be an unprecedented disaster there.🤦

vividranger8 said:I’ll just stick to commenting on those folks you're calling "part of the system"... I mean, if some guy who's supposed to be in strict isolation suddenly pops up at a CVS, wouldn't you expect the cops to just haul him straight off to mandatory quarantine—like, toss him right into a Brooklyn jail or something? And then, once he's finally out, maybe a judge could slap him with a massive fine. If that actually happened to the first person, I bet everyone else would think twice before sneaking out for a stroll after their quarantine ends!

Not ready? Seriously? When things really kicked off in Italy, they were banning funerals and weddings—well, unless it was just immediate family, anyway. It shouldn't take some genius-level intellect for our crisis management teams to see what's happening across the European Union and just... I don't know, apply those same rules here immediately? But nope. Here, someone dies, 150 people show up to the funeral, the virus spreads everywhere, and *then*—only then—do they finally pass a rule...!?

Pretty much. Except here, the rules arrive 2 or 3 days after the funeral because apparently, everyone was too busy to notice...
so in the meantime, we hold another 50 funerals before the restrictions actually kick in,
and then another 3 days pass because the police can't enforce it since they aren't sure which department has jurisdiction or which PP it falls under,
and then some relative of a local politician dies, so even the police can't check that one because, hey, everyone had to be at the funeral...

Basically, it's pure chaos and a constant cycle of being way too late to the party. Prevention? Never heard of her.

Gregory Mitchell90 said:That one state has a huge company called Straža (some kind of manufacturing plant, I'm not entirely sure what). They employ half of Austria and half of the surrounding region, plus people from other countries too. Apparently, everyone who caught it worked there—at least that's what my folks told me. Whether that's actually true or not, I honestly don't know. Word is, they couldn't maintain social distancing there, and management refused to halt production, so now the employees are paying the price...

That’s gotta be the old Staklana Straža, or maybe it’s called Vetropack now? Pretty sure some foreign investors bought them out...
And specifically, it’s right on the border with Austria, in that small town near the Sutla river...
The story sounds totally plausible...

Why does this state surprise you?
It basically orbits New York City, maybe even more than the surrounding counties do. Every single company operating there focuses their business on NYC...
Tons of people work in NYC, tons of people drive goods into NYC for deliveries, and so on...
Just take one morning drive past Westgate and look at the massive line of traffic heading toward NYC...

I know a huge crowd of people where having "Krapina-based" on your official paperwork doesn't mean much at all...
Because folks from small towns like small town, small town, small town, small town, etc., probably head into NYC at least 100 times a year, while they might hit small town once or even zero times a year..

So, it’s not even a little bit surprising that things spread so fast in NYC...

[person]

quietfox384 said:But then what’s even the point of all these rules if we just let everyone travel wherever they please and spread the virus around?

Look, there’s zero point to this measure. At best, it's just a panicked, moronic reaction to the fact that the totally incompetent Government failed to implement any actual smart preventative steps to stop the spread in the first place.

Because you can't explain the logic behind this to any sane person:
So, they’re sending a massive chunk of potentially infected people into self-isolation. Sure, if they actually bother to follow the rules. But let's be real—they can still wander around shopping malls, head into hospitals for surgeries, and whatnot. And all this happens while the penalties for anyone caught breaking the rules are basically nonexistent or just a joke.
So, here's the deal: once you test positive for the virus, they just send you home to quarantine and try to heal yourself. Apparently, doctors think they can just treat you through a computer screen now. Brilliant. 🙂 And you're still giving them free rein to wander around New York City among a population of a million people. Just look at that whole elderly couple and the gas station incident.
So, here’s the plan: you let everyone roam free in New York City—a massive sprawl with about a million people who could all potentially catch something—and then, while you're at it, you open up huge retail hubs like Home Depot and Sheet Music Plus. You basically invite the whole crowd to rush in as fast as possible to grab construction supplies for repairs, just in case the government decides to lock everything down again tomorrow.
So then these guys are just gonna head out and try to fix roofs and chimneys themselves on buildings that are basically falling apart. We’re talking about structures where even a pro contractor wouldn't know where to start, let alone some random person who has zero clue what they're doing. But hey, sure, why not just climb up on a roof and wing it when you have no idea how anything works?🤦

So then you go and roll out all these rigid regulations, forcing someone living in some tiny, made-up town of 1,000 people—where the only shop is a pathetic little corner store that has absolutely nothing in stock—to drive all the way to the next town over with 10,000 people just to get anything done. Brilliant. 1.9 miles When you're just trying to buy basic groceries and everyday essentials...
So, how exactly are you planning to punish him? You’re talking about slapping him with four times the fine if he breaks that rule—the one where you forbid him from buying food from some guy strolling through a New York City mall, picking up shoes, and handing out free viruses to everyone in the building while he's at it.

I wish it was just about this incompetent Government. Honestly, looking at what they've pulled off so far, it feels like their actual goal is to run some massive experiment—and they’re trying to go in two completely opposite directions at once.
Option A: Infect every single person in New York City just to see how the virus behaves in such a massive crowd.
Option B: Just completely wreck the economy and agriculture everywhere outside of New York City. Drive people absolutely insane and then sit back to see how the mob behaves when things hit the fan.

Two massive things you need to know: never, under any circumstances, try to pull the same stunts the Government is pulling right now.
So you're basically just panic-fixing the fallout of some breakdown without even bothering to think about what actually caused it. You have zero clue why things went south, yet here you are, scrambling to patch up the mess.
You always need a solid diagnosis to find the actual root cause. You gotta kill the problem at the source first, then you can worry about dealing with the fallout.
Anything else is just a massive waste of time and money. Honestly, you usually end up making more damage trying to fix it than if you’d just left it alone.
Classic move. It’s like when a fuse blows at your place, so you "wisely" find some random scrap wire to patch it up—only to make it even thicker than the original.
So, first the spark stops flying everywhere, but then the thing actually starts heating up. Then you've got smoke leaking out from behind some wall or some gadget or whatever, and you’re just standing there looking like a total idiot wondering why you're calling the fire department instead of an electrician.

When it comes to preventative maintenance—trying to stop a breakdown before it actually happens—you obviously swap out the parts you already know are the weak links. It's basic experience.
You aren't going to gut an entire engine just because; that makes zero financial sense. But changing bearings, brushes, or just cleaning and greasing things at regular intervals? That's smart business.

Applying that logic here: it made total sense to close the borders, or at least tighten up entry and put everyone potentially infected into quarantine.
Letting people wander around freely and then panicking and trying to lock everything down after the damage is done is just nonsense.
At this point, it’s too late and the damage is already done—just like my engine example, only the scale here is massive. There's no firefighter coming to save us; the whole house is just going to burn down.

If you already know the water is up to your neck, why bother with "travel permits" at all?
Just declare a full quarantine and call it a day. Instead, we have a tiny quarantine of 1,000 people in a 2km² area, while there's a massive quarantine of 1,000,000 people spread over 1,000km².
And to make it even better, you're making exceptions and letting people drift back and forth between those two zones...
It's absolute madness. It won't have any effect, other than maybe giving you the feeling that you made a "wise" decision that might actually work.

Rebecca Peterson94 said:I just did a quick Google search, and honestly, nobody else is saying this except for that one Chief.

Not sure, but I'm pretty sure Božinović brought it up at a press conference. 🤔
That first one, where he mentioned the ban before it was even officially on the books.

Larry Williams5 said:This is by design.
The younger demographic in major metropolitan areas is essentially being tasked with building herd immunity on their own backs—or rather, through their own lungs—just look at New York City. Meanwhile, folks living in smaller towns and rural municipalities are actually quite lucky; they're effectively under a near-total home quarantine, especially the elderly, since the youth won't be bringing the infection into their immediate circles.

Take Sweden, for example. In their larger cities, it isn't common for grandparents to live under the same roof as their grandkids, so they didn't shut down daycare centers or elementary schools as a way to let the younger population catch the virus. In rural areas, there is a much higher risk of infecting the elderly, who pose a massive challenge to the healthcare system because there simply aren't enough ventilators to go around. Therefore, implementing much stricter restrictions on rural areas actually makes perfect sense.

Whatever helps you sleep at night...
In our smaller towns, even when families live together, they usually stay somewhat separate—like the seniors on the ground floor and the kids upstairs or in an outbuilding. Plus, most of the young people here have their own apartments or houses because they could actually afford it, at least the folks living near Washington, D.C...
Since the young professionals mostly work in Washington, D.C., they pull in decent salaries, and real estate prices out here are a fraction of what they are in the capital.

But on the flip side, in Washington, D.C. and other major metros where property prices are absolutely insane, you’ve got grandmas, grandpas, seniors, kids, and toddlers all crammed into some 600-square-foot apartment...
And there are tons of places like that. It doesn't matter if it's a tiny studio or a slightly larger place; everyone is still packed in tight, and the chances of them not passing the virus around are basically zero...

By your logic, everyone over 60 in Washington, D.C.—and probably most people in their 30s and 40s too—is just gonna drop dead within a few months.