Hi Ross,

as much as I usually appreciate your work, I just had to clean my table as my cup of tea had fallen out of my hand when reading your comment!

There is no quick and easy test in Germany. People have to wait days before they get an appointment to do a test, and then they have to wait for days until they get the results.

And there is no wisdom in our chancellor apart from being wise in knowing how to remain in control, yet her decisions may change into the exact opposite (see another example) depending on what media polls and journalists recommend to her. Usually she copies from others; in case of Corona she copied from Austria. As well, there is no contact tracking. It is only being discussed, so the actual death numbers have nothing to do with it.

After weeks of the usual Trump-bashing in German media and government for closing the US borders, Germany also closed its borders, and this only after virtually all the neighbours had closed their borders towards (or against) Germany.

The German government has forbidden all sales of masks to foreign countries only after they had sold all their masks to China - just one of quite a few examples of Merkels "wisdom". No, Ross, don't take Germany as a role model in this case.

I believe no politician worldwide has the ideal solution, as politicians usually don't know, and even the scientists also do have different opinions (as with "man-made" climate change), either because of their scientific results or by their ego and the will to have their 15 minutes of fame for presenting an unconventional solution in the media.

A Swiss professor who had also worked in Wuhan had presented a long comment in which he stated that in the last 17 years no vaccine ever had been developed against any corona-virus(sorry, only in German language), and that this virus can rapidly mutate. So I believe we have to be patient worldwide.

The difference in the death rate between Germany and, say, Italy, may be due to a rather bad health system in Italy and a good health system in Germany. The difference between the German and the US death rate may instead rather be a result of Germany having one of the highest medium age worldwide, whilst average US population is much younger, with much more "millenials" whose core competence sometimes, only sometimes seems to be accusing old white men for providing the best society mankind ever had, but not caring about contact limitations as long as they believe they are immune.

The Netherlands and Sweden did go this way not to care about older people and have few limitations if at all, and now their death rate is rather high despite their rather good health systems.

Stay healthy,

Mike

As an American who has lived in Germany and now lives in Italy, I can tell you the media is painting a picture in the US of a political agenda. You really need to look a multiple independent sources and fact based statistics and not the mainstream media. Personally I think it's a bit overblown, and doesn't consider the heavy air pollution, close contact with people outside the family unit, advanced age age band prevelance of zigaretten smoking in northern italy

Long time dweller here peeking in. I've been playing my civic role as a United States citizen self isolating or "social distancing".

As always... in reading this board... there's a sense higher minds hang out here. (I hope that reads as I mean it ; )

I do have a confession to make. After a little over a month of never leaving the property, I was in the mood for some Mountain Dew and decided to venture out yesterday. Traveling just a short couple miles down the road, I was struck by how traffic looked very normal if not excessive given the state's orders that are in place related to essential travel. In the early days of the pandemic (late Feb early March for us)
I recall how still and quiet it would be at the height of a day. No traffic noise, etc.

Yesterday, one would have never known there was a pandemic in progress here on the western side of the state of Michigan.
I retrieved a 12 pack of Mountain Dew... and returned home until further notice.

It does appear that this crisis is split up between those who are sitting okay, can wait out the pandemic etc.
And those who are not okay.

I think about those of us who also have children, grand children; their story and circumstances are likely as Mr. Mitchell suggests.

"...And the response from someone on indefinite furlough, watching the unemployment starting to run out, watching the back rent pile up, kids that should be in school going crazy, trying to find a food bank with food left to feed the family will be........." is VALID.

It's heart wrenching listening to some of the younger people who have found themselves in a life place they did not choose for themselves.
And it does not appear that throwing money at the problem will solve their situation.

That group is not reading a thread about railway preservation... or considering a trip to a museum.

Many reading this forum have been around the block a few times. Economic hardships are not our first rodeo.
The concept or "dream" the economy will just reignite after being blown out does not match with previous recessions.
People were out of work and drifting around during the last recession for several years.

It stands to reason... The World has Changed.

Can one fathom that Las Vegas is a ghost town in two years?

Well, who would have imagined the sprawling auto plants in Michigan would become expanded flats of
cracked, aging concrete foundations?

I agree that the mission and objective is TESTING.

Until I know or "trust" you don't have it... I'm not getting anywhere near you.

It's unfortunate the miserable leadership in place at the moment has no empathy or understanding of
preventive maintenance, troubleshooting or repair.

For the entire nation of the United States of America, The "B" in NBC defense was missing BIG TIME.
That's not the citizens' of this country's fault.

That's on the guy at the very top despite his claim of not being responsible.

The states are not responsible for NBC defense. Our Federal Government serves in that role.

N= Nuclear. We have that covered with weapons of mass destruction.

B= Biological. MAJOR FAILURE

C= Chemical. I don't own a gas mask, so I'd die if that happened.

So I'm going on this very public record as well in understanding and agreeing with Ross.
Until TESTING is mastered, life in the United States of America is changed.

What's going to happen next? My guess is... families will be forced to swallow pride and have
to move in with each other until better times ahead.

Novelty expenses will be curtailed. That sweatshirt with the broken zipper is going to get fixed, and not thrown away.

John

The numbers on how many people have been tested in each country are available to anyone who is willing to take the time and effort to look. Scroll down on the second column (TOTAL TESTS) from the right side of the page. The US has tested more people than any other country (that is reporting) at this time:

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/#countries

If you want something else interesting to look at, research how much investment China has in US Media. You may then see why the media has the agenda they are pushing.

I am asking the moderators to close and lock this discussion.

PC

Why?

This has been one of the most informative, civilized conversations in quite a while. Even though it does not bear direct on the physical nuts and bolts of preservation it has a direct bearing on the future of many preservation organizations. It also shows how important knowledge and accurate information are to decision making.

While some of the comments may have seemed a bit far afield and need to be translated back to layman's language the discussion adds to the understanding of what we're faced with. I'm grateful for the technical explanations I've seen in this and the ventilator thread even though I had to do some research to understand some of it.

If some of the assorted talking heads seem to be babbling or giving unresponsive answers, disputing them is fair game as long as the logic is not "That person is wrong because he's a Whig (or a Tory or a whatever)". Asking "What does that mean?" is certainly fair game and talking out discrepancies of fact is (or should be) the preferred way of coming to an understanding.

We're being civil on a topic (When might museums et cetera reopen?) which seems to have precipitated some significant animus elsewhere. Why not stay with a win?

GME

This thread has moved away from railroad preservation into a debate about testing and government ordered closures.

As a result I am locking this thread. A new discussion about how we will reopen or impacts on individual museums would be possible.

Randy, your always friendly moderator