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U.S. will suspend all travel from Europe for 30 days

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Re: U.S. will suspend all travel from Europe for 30 days

#381

Post by rtkwe »

BryantD wrote: post #152

Important updates: a) This does not apply to US citizens or their family members[1]. b) This does not apply to cargo[2]. It appears that the President misspoke regarding point 2. [1] https://www.dhs.gov/news/2020/03/11/homeland-security-acting... . [2] https://twitter.com/AnaSwanson/status/1237921160500830208

a) is because as I understand it it's /very/ hard to legally refuse to readmit a US citizen. You can seize all their stuff at the border but besides arresting them for a crime you can't really keep them from coming home.

Re: U.S. will suspend all travel from Europe for 30 days

#382

Post by tdhoot »

unlinked_dll wrote: post #304
lordlic wrote: post #173

The payroll tax holiday idea is bonkers. The people most in need of help here are hourly or gig workers who are told to stay home from work or who get sick and can't work. Paying less taxes on nonexistent wages doesn't help. It seems like the administration is more interested in propping up the markets than actually addressing the health crisis and its human costs. Also, eliminating copays on coronavirus treatment is…

Also, do they mean SS and Medicare contributions in the payroll taxes, or just unemployment insurance? Like if we have a health crisis that disproportionately affects people who rely on Medicare/Medicaid and Social Security, taking away funding for it isn't bonkers. It's batshit insane! We should be doubling, tripling taxes in the short term on those that can pay it to make up the funding gap for testing, treatment,…

> It's batshit insane! We should be doubling, tripling taxes in the short term on those that can pay it to make up the funding gap for testing, treatment, and surge capacity

Taking money out of the economy by dramatically hiking taxes at this point seems _batshit insane_ to me. The government should be well equipped to absorb temporary shocks to revenue.

Re: U.S. will suspend all travel from Europe for 30 days

#383

Post by LeifCarrotson »

rtkwe wrote: post #381
BryantD wrote: post #152

Important updates: a) This does not apply to US citizens or their family members[1]. b) This does not apply to cargo[2]. It appears that the President misspoke regarding point 2. [1] https://www.dhs.gov/news/2020/03/11/homeland-security-acting... . [2] https://twitter.com/AnaSwanson/status/1237921160500830208

a) is because as I understand it it's /very/ hard to legally refuse to readmit a US citizen. You can seize all their stuff at the border but besides arresting them for a crime you can't really keep them from coming home.

As a US citizen currently on a business trip out of the country, that's really good to know!

Re: U.S. will suspend all travel from Europe for 30 days

#384

Post by dboreham »

yellowapple wrote: post #253
kortex wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There were just 2 cases detected at the gym down the street from me. I'm in a medium town of about 40k in upstate NY. Not podunk, but hardly bustling. I'm considering the USA fully seeded at this point.

I'm betting we've been seeded since even before Wuhan's quarantine started. My folks and I all got pretty thoroughly sick during a cruise in early January, and they're becoming increasingly convinced it was COVID (especially since my stepmom tested negative for any sort of flu, and this was well before there were reports of COVID outside of China so of course the doctors wouldn't think to test for it even if they hap…

Small sample size but: similar experience here (in the middle of the USA). One of my son's friend's mother was even hospitalized for "pneumonia" for a few days. This was the first time I heard of a fairly young fit person having pneumonia due to the flu.

Re: U.S. will suspend all travel from Europe for 30 days

#385

Post by MulliMulli »

maxerickson wrote: post #74
moosey wrote: post #58

I feel like there are some particular cultural attributes in the United States that make this useless at this point. The United States has a very individualistic attitude. Sure, we can pause travel from Europe, but the current administration is very anti-europe. Can we pause travel in the US? I strongly doubt that we can effectively given the strong anti-expertise attitudes as well. My guess is that the United States…

There are lots of individualists that will flout advice, but there's also lots of people that will isolate themselves in quite a paranoid fashion. I think there's more of the latter.

Just eat an apple a day...

Re: U.S. will suspend all travel from Europe for 30 days

#386

Post by rubicon33 »

brianpgordon wrote: post #145
rubicon33 wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because the virus can spread on surfaces I think. As well as food, and organic matter.

No. From the CDC: > It may be possible that a person can get COVID-19 by touching a surface or object that has the virus on it and then touching their own mouth, nose, or possibly their eyes, but this is not thought to be the main way the virus spreads. > In general, because of poor survivability of these coronaviruses on surfaces, there is likely very low risk of spread from food products or packaging that are shipp…

Yes.

very low risk != no risk.

Re: U.S. will suspend all travel from Europe for 30 days

#387

Post by throwaway7877 »

LeifCarrotson wrote: post #383
rtkwe wrote: post #381

Earlier quoted context omitted.

a) is because as I understand it it's /very/ hard to legally refuse to readmit a US citizen. You can seize all their stuff at the border but besides arresting them for a crime you can't really keep them from coming home.

As a US citizen currently on a business trip out of the country, that's really good to know!

You may still fave mandatory quarantine. Plan accordingly.

PS- Good luck!

Re: U.S. will suspend all travel from Europe for 30 days

#388

Post by bratawurst »

jmull wrote: post #91

(In the USA) Is this going to accomplish anything? The virus is already here and has been spreading out-of-control for quite a while now. The only reason the numbers are still so low here is the incredibly low number of tests being done.

No! This will do nothing. How are people on HN asking this? You all know math, right?!

The healthcare system is at risk of being overwhelmed by an exponential function. That means, to a first approximation, nothing matters except the last doubling.

Discussion questions: How does this policy, implemented now, affect the time span of the last doubling of COVID cases in the US? Does it do fuck all? Why, or why not?

Re: U.S. will suspend all travel from Europe for 30 days

#389

Post by dboreham »

brianpgordon wrote: post #145
rubicon33 wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because the virus can spread on surfaces I think. As well as food, and organic matter.

No. From the CDC: > It may be possible that a person can get COVID-19 by touching a surface or object that has the virus on it and then touching their own mouth, nose, or possibly their eyes, but this is not thought to be the main way the virus spreads. > In general, because of poor survivability of these coronaviruses on surfaces, there is likely very low risk of spread from food products or packaging that are shipp…

>but this is not thought to be the main way the virus spreads.

How does it spread then? Seems hard to believe all these people are being infected through hand shakes or being coughed on.

Re: U.S. will suspend all travel from Europe for 30 days

#390

Post by refurb »

KarlKemp wrote: post #204
refurb wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

but it won't limit the amount of infected people in the USA on its own I never said it would. By stopping flights, you're removing one potential source of new infections.

You're also eliminating one potential source of infected people leaving the country before symptoms show. Assuming prevalence is equal in the US and Europe, you gain exactly nothing. (Op already said as much. Your answer reminds me of my Grandmother: "I know God doesn't exist, but it can't hurt to go to church.")

The presumption is you have better tracking over your own citizens than people coming in.
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