Quoted from TRAMD:I have a buddy with a barcade in town that is doing great through the pandemic. In fact, it is in the basement of a restaurant that shut down so now he is buying the entire building and making it a two story barcade with new games upstairs and retro in the basement. He is getting a ton of games for cheap because of things shutting down everywhere. So in areas without stupid government restrictions (I live in South Dakota), it seems they can survive.
And Covid-19 is real but is FAR less severe than we were told (and are still being told if you listen to CNN, MSNBC and WaPo) and our overreaction to it that has killed the economy is one of the dumbest things we've done as a country in a long time. But I'm just a physician with a degree in physics that discusses this regularly with my physician father who has a degree in epidemiology and my PhD engineer sister who does research on porous materials and microorganisms, so what would I know?
I agree with you that the restrictions have hurt or destroyed many barcades and restaurants especially here in Arizona we’ve lost several, both small and large. I am also very glad to hear that from your perspective in South Dakota and as a physician in rehabilitation medicine that COVID-19 is “FAR less severe”. As a board-certified physician in emergency medicine, working at the busiest emergency department/level 1 trauma center for over 10 years it is a very different reality here. With much respect to you I strongly disagree in your statement and I believe as a physician you’re using your authority to mislead people.
In Phoenix and other cities around the country conditions deteriorated where we were being flooded with critically sick patients. Due to lack of PPE, appropriate staffing, lack of rooms and medications we were maxed out on the availability to provide adequate care. In my hospital we opened up several hospital floors in the adjacent Children’s Hospital and had several floors of intubated ICU patients. I personally had several night shifts where each night I ended up intubating several patients with severe hypoxia and COVID pneumonia. As a physician you likely know this procedure generates the highest amount of respiratory droplets with viral load and is most dangerous to staff. Myself, the respiratory therapist and nurses would do this with inadequate PPE to help save the lives of others. Unfortunately several of my colleagues have had Covid with a small number paying the ultimate price. We accepted transfers from outlying rural hospitals that were maxed beyond capacity. I have personally pronounced many people dead from this between the ages of 19 to 88, some of which have had no pre-existing conditions. This may be FAR less severe in your community but in many areas of this country it is severe .
I do believe the state of Arizona shut down too quickly in March and hence badly hurt the economy and peoples livelihoods with no benefit to the medical community. However I am extremely grateful that my community shut down in July, started wearing masks and social distancing and this significantly decreased the rate of transmission and allowed the staff at my hospital to catch up. We have been able to acquire PPE, ramp up staffing from out of state from areas less affected and are in a much better position to provide good care to those who need it. Here in Arizona we are we opening the economy as well as schools while simultaneously decreasing the number of COVID-19 that require hospitalization. I want to thank so many of you who are willing to sacrifice meeting in large groups and are willing to wear a mask and socially distance for the greater good. You are the ones who are helping win this fight.
In regards to your initial statements I ask that you be more reflective of downplaying this and trying to speak from a position of authority as a physician in rehabilitation medicine whose father is an epidemiologist.
