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California, Oregon and Washington announce western states pact

gov.ca.gov

51–60 of 319 posts

Re: California, Oregon and Washington announce western states pact

#51

This is great, and it's a big chunk of population, but I keep feeling like we could do better. For example, these three States could do a great job, but there's nothing stopping a bunch of the other States from bungling it (like, say, ignoring health experts and exempting certain groups from mass gathering restrictions). Then those States end up exporting infectious individuals into the States which are doing things…

Then again, that one group of states would become a Single Point of Failure.

If that centralized and coordinated leadership is incompetent and/or corrupt, there is no Plan B.

Re: California, Oregon and Washington announce western states pact

#52

Well, that was quick. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22828354 Today it is pandemic resolution. I fear that tomorrow, it might be economic ties, lockstep voting at the federal level, and National Guard drills, deployments, and contingency planning, where the West Coast slowly splits away from the rest of the country, with other states teaming up and following suit. This isn't the end, and it's the only appropria…

It's not going to happen, if nothing else, because CA is going to be grasping for federal budget bailouts later this year. Lockdown is going to crush state budgets.

Re: California, Oregon and Washington announce western states pact

#54
post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, he wanted to dodge responsibility for the unpleasant job of shutting things down. Now he wants to enjoy positive publicity for opening things back up.

He wanted to shut down travel from China in January, something he got reamed for politically by the media and the left. Damned if you do and all that.

He let who knows how many Americans back in from China without testing or quarantining them. Not much of a travel ban.

Re: California, Oregon and Washington announce western states pact

#55

Yes. I love this from an executive-action standpoint. They are _doing_ something about something, in the face of a lot of fearful messaging. And that gives the rest of us an even better "emotional/energy vector" which is based on a promise of government support and action in support of business. We are participants in the most creative and powerful world economy of all time. Regardless of geographical location, cultu…

Delusional take. The petrodollar system is collapsing. USD will not be the reserve currency for much longer.

So you have this information and see only downsides? I'm curious if this is a perception-only exercise for you, or if you are taking steps to execute on that perception in a way that helps you and others prepare and pivot as needed.

Or do you really see literally endless downside, and have thus decided to lock yourself out of actions you can take now to prepare for future upsides?

If so that would suck, because this could line up an epic self-fulfilling prophecy on a personal level. Still, a lot of people do that, and regret it later. They may get a few prophet points here and there, but that's it.

Now is the perfect time to take risks on a wide variety of factors, including those I mentioned above. But if you are only primed to foresee disaster, you probably can't do that. The comment seems to point at a low level of risk tolerance.

Re: California, Oregon and Washington announce western states pact

#56

As someone who lives in one of these states, I'm nonplussed at the announcement. It doesn't really seem to say anything concrete that I can tell. "We've agreed that we will use metrics...we are still deciding what these metrics will be." I thought the Stay Home, Stay Healthy order (in Washington state) wasn't unreasonable and wasn't just political babble, but I don't really know what to make of this piece. Anyone wan…

Three concrete takeaways that are new to me, as an Oregonian:

* Nursing homes, long-term care facilities, etc. will get some priority and focus.

* Socioeconomically-disadvantaged communities are taking indirect impacts from mitigation measures, and they will also get some priority and focus.

* We will not return to anything resembling normal until we have a way to efficiently test, track, and isolate at scale.

Re: California, Oregon and Washington announce western states pact

#58

This is great, and it's a big chunk of population, but I keep feeling like we could do better. For example, these three States could do a great job, but there's nothing stopping a bunch of the other States from bungling it (like, say, ignoring health experts and exempting certain groups from mass gathering restrictions). Then those States end up exporting infectious individuals into the States which are doing things…

> If only we had some sort of united group of all the States, where the response could be coordinated and centralized for maximum effectiveness. We do, however by design that body does not have authoritarian control over things like 'shelter at home' regulations.

https://www.cdc.gov/quarantine/aboutlawsregulationsquarantin...

> Under section 361 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S. Code § 264), the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services is authorized to take measures to prevent the entry and spread of communicable diseases from foreign countries into the United States and between states.

Nothing stops them from encouraging states, either. (We did this with speed limits, as an example. Want Federal highway funds? Play ball with the Feds.) Florida's Governor justified not issuing a stay-at-home order based on the White House not having asked him to.

https://www.tampabay.com/news/health/2020/03/31/ron-desantis...

Re: California, Oregon and Washington announce western states pact

#59

This is great, and it's a big chunk of population, but I keep feeling like we could do better. For example, these three States could do a great job, but there's nothing stopping a bunch of the other States from bungling it (like, say, ignoring health experts and exempting certain groups from mass gathering restrictions). Then those States end up exporting infectious individuals into the States which are doing things…

Not too dissimilar from the EU approach. There doesn't appear to be an EU-level coordination. The member states have open borders between them, I.e. the proverbial "peeing sections", and Italy's disastrous outbreak hasn't seemed to spread into Germany, Austria, Denmark, etc.

Centralization requires buy-in, and after at some point it becomes clear that sitting around waiting for other states to play ball can be equally disastrous.

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