I hired a team of shoppers to find out how businesses were opening in Dallas • Hacker News Board

Re: I hired a team of shoppers to find out how businesses were opening in Dallas

#11

Post by djsumdog » Mon, May 11, 2020, 2:12 PM UTC

davidw wrote: post #5

aphextron wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I think this is the most important metric as far as “re-opening the economy” goes but it seems to be largely ignored by politicians. Basically all metrics have been ignored. Two weeks ago it was all "We're going to do a phased reopening with checkpoints based on the data.". A few armed protests later and my state (NC) at least is going full YOLO reopening everything but bars, based on absolutely nothing but hopes an…

It is already a catastrophe, and it looks like it'll just keep getting worse, unless we get lucky somehow, which I'm not counting on. BTW, most all economists keep pointing the finger back at fixing the public health crisis to fix the economic problems, whatever their political stripes: https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2020/05/sa... But we have no coherent plans to do much about the public health cri…

..or, business could open with the precautions they're taking and .. nothing happens. We see the same fatality rates, grow a little, lower a little, but generally level off.

It sucks it's come to this, but all of the states with lock-downs are desperately looking at states easing restrictions to see if these shelter in place orders are really worth it. We've heard that many of the people in NYC getting infected now are getting infected at home.

I'm really hoping that Texas and Georgia, as they slowly open up, do not go over hospital capacities. We already know a number of people haven't gone to hospitals when they needed to; as many cut off access in preparation for a surge that never came. It's equally likely these states may not see a surge at all, even post re-opening.

Yes, a lot of people may still die, but this virus is in the environment. A lot of those people would die either now, or six months from now. I don't understand how people can think complete eradication is even possible. You can't limit people's social contact forever. We are not laptops that can be placed on standby for a year or gears in a machine that can be stopped and oiled.

Re: I hired a team of shoppers to find out how businesses were opening in Dallas

#12

Post by josefresco » Mon, May 11, 2020, 2:13 PM UTC

kube-system wrote: post #4

Wow, the comments on that blog are a dumpster fire.

To Mark's credit, he's down in the muck replying to their (batshit crazy) comments and throwing it right back in their faces.

Re: I hired a team of shoppers to find out how businesses were opening in Dallas

#13

Post by evmar » Mon, May 11, 2020, 2:14 PM UTC

kube-system wrote: post #4

Wow, the comments on that blog are a dumpster fire.

I know it's probably not "Russian bots", but...

Two of the comments post the same CDC 2017 list, and both come from twitter accounts with 0 posts (one is 100% retweets of anti-"liberal" content). I'm never sure how plausible it is for someone to have the time to sit on twitter all day just to RT these things and then jump onto rando blogs to leave long comments like these.

Re: I hired a team of shoppers to find out how businesses were opening in Dallas

#14

Post by timbigman » Mon, May 11, 2020, 2:14 PM UTC

Of everyone doing this, I think that he should have more sympathy for those struggling during this time. Don't hire people to find violations. Help out people that are starving

Re: I hired a team of shoppers to find out how businesses were opening in Dallas

#15

Post by mindslight » Mon, May 11, 2020, 2:16 PM UTC

claudeganon wrote: post #10

elliekelly wrote: post #2

> And bigger picture, I wanted to know if these are places that I would feel safe taking my family to. I think this is the most important metric as far as “re-opening the economy” goes but it seems to be largely ignored by politicians.

“Re-open the economy” talk has reached levels of collective delusion that I honestly find frightening. And it’s not a partisan issue either. We have the example of successful responses in places like South Korea and Taiwan, none of whose standard the US seems intent, or maybe even capable, of meeting. Instead, people in the US cling to phony performances of leadership by their various authoritarians, whether it be An…

Every substantive viewpoint I've seen on the subject comes back to cashflow. Our national propaganda is so strong, that rather than the middle class asking "why do I have to go to work every day just to pay rent to the bank?", they've internalized the system so thoroughly that they're actually protesting to get back on the treadmill.

Re: I hired a team of shoppers to find out how businesses were opening in Dallas

#16

Post by claudeganon » Mon, May 11, 2020, 2:17 PM UTC

djsumdog wrote: post #11

davidw wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is already a catastrophe, and it looks like it'll just keep getting worse, unless we get lucky somehow, which I'm not counting on. BTW, most all economists keep pointing the finger back at fixing the public health crisis to fix the economic problems, whatever their political stripes: https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2020/05/sa... But we have no coherent plans to do much about the public health cri…

..or, business could open with the precautions they're taking and .. nothing happens. We see the same fatality rates, grow a little, lower a little, but generally level off. It sucks it's come to this, but all of the states with lock-downs are desperately looking at states easing restrictions to see if these shelter in place orders are really worth it. We've heard that many of the people in NYC getting infected now a…

Why do people insist on unnecessary mass deaths when we have examples of how to effectively respond to this disease in countries like South Korea and Taiwan without them? Why do people lean into this falsely-premised fatalism instead of demanding what has been proven to work?

Re: I hired a team of shoppers to find out how businesses were opening in Dallas

#17

Post by Nbox9 » Mon, May 11, 2020, 2:19 PM UTC

djsumdog wrote: post #11

davidw wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is already a catastrophe, and it looks like it'll just keep getting worse, unless we get lucky somehow, which I'm not counting on. BTW, most all economists keep pointing the finger back at fixing the public health crisis to fix the economic problems, whatever their political stripes: https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2020/05/sa... But we have no coherent plans to do much about the public health cri…

..or, business could open with the precautions they're taking and .. nothing happens. We see the same fatality rates, grow a little, lower a little, but generally level off. It sucks it's come to this, but all of the states with lock-downs are desperately looking at states easing restrictions to see if these shelter in place orders are really worth it. We've heard that many of the people in NYC getting infected now a…

> I don't understand how people can think complete eradication is even possible.

Eradication, to the point that contract tracing is a viable containment method, has been achieved by other countries. It is completely possible.

Re: I hired a team of shoppers to find out how businesses were opening in Dallas

#18

Post by evanb » Mon, May 11, 2020, 2:19 PM UTC

kube-system wrote: post #4

Wow, the comments on that blog are a dumpster fire.

I installed the `Shut Up` Firefox extension and now only see comments on places where I actually, actively, want to see the conversation. It changed my experience of the internet.

Re: I hired a team of shoppers to find out how businesses were opening in Dallas

#19

Post by mark_l_watson » Mon, May 11, 2020, 2:20 PM UTC

I just sent the URI to a friend with a restaurant. I think Mark Cuban did a public service here, ignoring some of the horrible comments left on his blog.

Even though I am at risk (old age and damaged lungs from pulmonary embolisms), I am for reasoned reopening of our economy, but only if we do it with I would call “smart style”: adopt safety measures and make them mandated by law.

I wish more people would look at the covid-19 crisis as something that is serious but that we have to adapt to long term. If restaurants limit seating, use discardable menus, all employees wear masks, disinfect as appropriate, etc., etc. then we achieve Cuban’s feel safe to take the family criterion.

Re: I hired a team of shoppers to find out how businesses were opening in Dallas

#20

Post by hanniabu » Mon, May 11, 2020, 2:21 PM UTC

mindslight wrote: post #6

What the fuck is up with those comments? I mean the answer is obvious, but still. At that point, just shut them off. As for the actual topic, it's almost as if "closed" or "open" isn't the entirety of the subject? It seems like we could be dealing with some kind of underlying meatspace problem that needs to be addressed before things can go back to "normal". Who knew?! (/s) Months ago it was apparent that this virus…

> expendable employees are put through the meat grinder to keep the economy simulating

Fun fact, the last stimulus bill also had legislature in it that removes all liability from businesses so employees can't sue them for making them work in unsafe conditions pertaining to covid such as if they make a bunch of people work in room with close contact and no air circulation.