Except that is precisely what we are going by preventing unnecessary contact and good hygiene. If the virus has nowhere to go, it eventually dies out. If patient zero (assuming there was only one) had gone home and isolated for a month, there would have been no spread.

What a great idea! As long as you're smart and take simple precautions I think you will be fine! Also gas is so cheap right now what better time? Just know that I'll be pretty envious, since I've been home since March.

"Made the decision" to work? Check your privilege.

I mean, if I really wanted to, I could quit working for a while and still support myself financially, but I recognize that doesn't apply for many people.

I have not read a single thing from the government or any sort of scientist saying that should be any sort of attainable goal we strive for (re having the virus die out). If your view point is the virus must die out before you can leave the house...then we must all live off the grid, grow our own food, forgo Amazon deliveries, close hospitals, etc. That is some crazy conspiracy stuff there.

No privilege....Delta is not making people work, they are giving people the opportunity to decide to work. All I am saying is you can't blame the passenger....

You are putting words in my mouth. I did not claim to strive for any of those things. I merely pointed out that, not giving the virus the opportunity to infect multiple other people, it will eventually die out.

What most governments around the world are saying is that the best way to mitigate this is to slow the spread now, in hopes of two of three things: 1) a vaccine, 2) widespread, easily accessible testing, and 3) a cure or palliatives to reduce the lung/oxygen flow part of the disease. You probably need two of three.

A vaccine is maybe 12 months away, although most are hedging out to 18 months minimum; a cure or palliatives could be a few months away if certain morons get out of the way and stop enticing people to straight inject themselves with disinfectant or create shortages of medicines for people who actually need them right now; and widespread, easily accessible testing should have been available a month ago, if the initial response hadn't been so thoroughly botched.

We need two of those three things before we can just throw open the doors.

Obviously COVID is not flu, because flu has an annual vaccine, its fatality rate now appears to be much lower than COVID, and it's easy to test for flu. When COVID is like this, then and only then can you say "COVID is like flu."

I am with you man...we should have taken the Obama method of wait and see and cross our fingers....worked pretty good back in 2009/2010!

Coming together is not happening in certain political cultures. This is the fifth giant crisis the US has faced in the past 100 years (the first four being the crash of 1929, World War II, the murder of President Kennedy, and 9/11). In each prior case the country came together and unified around common values and goals; in the current crisis the country is falling further apart and arguing over what's true and what's not. We are a changed people.

Whenever I hear the argument that more deaths are a fair price to pay for being able to go out to dinner again, I wonder which of the proponent's family members or friends they would be OK with sacrificing. "More deaths" is always put in abstract, distant terms. We see a steady flow of news stories about COVID-19 cynics / deniers who were pretty cavalier about "a few deaths" until they themselves caught it and died. Any ICU nurse will tell you the strutting, cock, imma-live-my-life individualist sings a little different tune as they die with a ventilator tube down their throat.

I know people in the airline business and they are terrified of coming to work. (They do not "choose to work"; they have groceries to buy and rent is due.) At each major carrier dozens of front-liners have contracted COVID-19 and some have died. The employees still out there are particularly terrified of members of the public determined to travel for kicks on cheap tickets because imma do what I want / freedom and liberty / a little extra death is fair payment for a sped-up reopening / etc.

For the love of God don't make things any riskier for them.

You don't get it. Having the luxury to choose whether or not to work *is* privilege. If the travel is essential, that's one thing, but taking discretionary trips is another.

Exactly.

Actually that's the whole point. The FA has to work. The TSA person has to work. The pilot has to work. They don't have a choice. There are people that do have a real need to travel and in order for that to happen all those people have to show up. In order to reduce their risk and allow needed travel to continue people who don't have a real need to fly need to stay home. That way those "essential employees" aren't exposed to as many people and are more likely to be able to continue showing up to work instead of spending their time in a hospital bed.

What it boils down to is whether someone is only concerned with their own risk or their impact on public health. This is a public health crisis and people focusing only on themselves instead of how their actions impact everyone else are just causing things to go on longer and be more shutdown than they would be otherwise. A lot more stores could remain open if people actually limited themselves to essential trips and wore masks when they did go out.

This is a very interesting thread. I can see both sides of the debate.

What is essential to me may not be essential to you...that is what makes life in America awesome. There are hundreds of countries that you can move to that will take that opportunity from you. They will tell you what is essential and what is not essential!

Next!

I think the one factor you may be overlooking is the simple fact that people in the small towns you will be passing through almost certainly do not want you or anyone else visiting. If you plan on sleeping in the car and limiting your dining options to drive-thru's and gas stations, you would probably be OK. But definitely do not expect anyone to welcome you into their town/restaurant/hotel. I completely sympathize with you, but I think a camping adventure in a very desolate place is about the only viable option at this point, assuming you can locate a place to camp.

https://time.com/5826918/hokkaido-coronavirus-lockdown/