Be free to move about and be part of the problem instead of part of the solution.
Missing data, no known treatment, no vaccine, extremely high rate of transmission …I think we must be serious about this, sir.
https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/coronaviruse/situation-reports/20200330-sitrep-70-covid-19.pdf?sfvrsn=7e0fe3f8_4
Matt, this is a war. A war to save lives.
To put this in an aviation perspective, the way I see this as being handled is as if after the first events of 9/11 happened, only the airspace in the northeast was shut down. Then as other planes crashed, airspace in that area got shut down. And then each individual airspace made its own rules about what flying was allowed, and when operations go back to normal. Imagine what people (and pilots’) reactions would have been if that was the case; I’m pretty sure it’d be much like what we’re seeing now. And the longer this mixed and inconsistent messaging continues, the harder it will be to get things under control, and the less likely people are going to do the right thing. Which is exactly what we’re seeing with the inconsistent stay-at-home orders: people ignoring the orders. And that’s why people are talking about lifting them because they “aren’t doing any good”. That’s true, but only because people are ignoring them.
So where does that leave flight training? Not in a very good position, is my view, because there’s no clear guidance about what should be done. Not that it matters in my local area, because most pilots have stopped flying, even by themselves, so there’s no one to instruct to begin with.
I just hope that we don’t find a lot of flight schools out of business at the end of this, because it took so much longer to resolve than it should have.
I think you are exaggerating the numbers. The 1918 Spanish flu caused 500,000 to 600,000 American deaths. And many if not most of those deaths were not directly from the flu itself but secondary infections of pneumonia. Don’t forget there were no antibiotics then, so pneumonia had no cure. And the present fatality rate is nothing like 2%. You are using the % deaths as among those already diagnosed. But who are they? Mostly those already critically ill, and this come to the attention of the epidemic statisticians. That heavily biases the %death upwards. The actual infected population is certainly much larger. That includes those with mild or no symptoms. That makes the denominator of deaths/infected a far lower number.
The fragility of GA is something this measure (shutting down flight instruction ignores). GA has been teetering on collapse even before this. FBOs struggle, and routinely fail or change hands. Municipalities struggle to fund community airports. Flight schools fail frequently. Major aviation manufacturers and parts suppliers fail or merge (Mooney, Mattituck, etc.). The pilot population has collapsed in the last 30 years. If flight schools fail, that will be a bigger problem. The municipal funding for airports will be under severe pressure after this, because of huge tax shortfalls during this massive economy shutdown. What I am saying is that there may be no GA to return to, if we insist on shutting down the last little thing.
Well, if nothing else, COVID-19 has proven the pilot community is certainly not a monolithic opinion bloc.
“The problem” is not the Bill of Rights (1st Amendment) nor is the solution tyranny. Elected officials cannot unilaterally suspend the Constitution because of flu season. This is a dangerous lawless thing to jail people for exercising their personal rights to decide what is safe and what is not.
Mark F: You need to brush up on your reading and comprehension skills, pal. Bruce B. did not share his wife’s opinion about anything - he simply stated his wife’s occupation and related some of what she was facing in her work environment.
I, for one, want to thank her for the sacrifice she (along with many other doctors, nurses and health care workers) is making - working on the front lines caring for those who are ill and doing so at considerable risk to their own lives.
You, on the other hand, and your “I don’t care” comment, speaks volumes.
Much like these so-called “pastors” who have flouted state authority and common sense and have encouraged their flock to gather in large groups in the face of overwhelming epidemiological data that such groups will increase the spread of the virus, you apparently feel that your right to assemble trumps any need to protect the larger community in which you exist.
Sure, you are free to assemble if you wish - but does that mean you should?? We as citizens also enjoy freedom of speech - does that mean that we should all be allowed to yell “fire” in a crowded auditorium?
So go ahead and assemble - wrap yourself up in the Constitution. And I wish you well in living with the knowledge that you may be contributing to the deaths of other people.
You cannot toss the Constitution, that is irresponsible and dangerous. You cannot have a society based on lawlessness.
Mark F.
I am sure glad I am not the only one who has figured that out. It is one thing to issue “ guidelines” to follow to try to help the situation. It is quite another to do or try to do what most state governors are doing with threats to persons exercising their legal Constitutional rights. No, I do not have the right to yell “fire” in a crowded theatre. But restricting 1st amendment right to freedom of religion or assembly, or speech, closing or restricting access to arms for protecting yourself or your family according to the 2nd amendment, restricting access to abortion clinics (protected by Supreme Court ruling), and restricting travel between the states( prohibited by 14th amendment after the civil war) would pretty much trash what is left of the Constitution. There are no allowances for that in the Constitution except for Congress’s power to declare war(something Congress has not done or has been unwilling to do in 80 years).
My company has taken measures to minimize any exposure to the virus. Our scheduling department is following “essential “ trip rules set up by the state. I have flown several trips since. If a flight school feels it needs to stop flight instruction due to the virus situation that’s fine. It is quite another thing for the government to mandate that especially nation wide. Not all of the regions need to do that. None of those governors have yet talked about government compensation for loss of business or property. The recently passed federal spending bill comes with a lot of conditions that in some cases could be challenged in court.
The real scary part of all the restrictions is whether or when the restrictions will go away. Since there are still a lot of restrictions to GA that were enacted in response to 9/11 that were not eliminated it makes me wonder.
Sorry for the long rant. I am willing to to my part to minimize the viral spread, but not at the cost of my Constitutional rights and my freedom. After all without that what good is the rule of constitutional law?
In the U.S.A., wars are fought to gain freedom, or, to preserve freedom. Lives in the U.S.A. have always been lost in the name of freedom. You don’t go to war to save lives, you go to war to save freedom. Lives are worth nothing if you don’t have freedom. At this point in time, it appears we are choosing life over freedom.
I’m glad I experienced real freedom in my life time. I feel sorry for those who never will.
“I just hope that we don’t find a lot of flight schools out of business at the end of this, because it took so much longer to resolve than it should have.”
Gary:
Is there a fast(er) solution? Please share. As I write this, we’re (allegedly) sending aircraft carriers back to port.
“As of today, 3/30/20, no US health care system is overwhelmed…”
I guess that depends upon your definition of “overwhelmed.”
In talking to doctors and nurses in NYC you get a different picture. I have friends working there. Currently they’re using refrigerated trailers parked on nearby streets as temporary morgues to handle all of the dead. Doctors are given one N95 mask and being told, “make it last a week.” A tent field hospital is being set up in Central Park to handle the overflow. Patients are being lined up in hallways because the rooms and ICUs are full.
And the peak is yet to come.
‘In the U.S.A., wars are fought to gain freedom, or, to preserve freedom.’
Wars are always power struggles over values, not freedom. Freedom is always limited to or expanded on by the values of the group in power. One group’s freedom is another group’s slavery. True freedom is the ability to adapt to the ever- changing consciousness of values and amend laws if necessary to the changes. There is no tension felt by anyone or any group with true freedom.
Covid-19 is giving the world an opportunity to re-examine its values in many areas of freedom, social awareness, and social responsibility as in the right to publicly assemble during a pandemic mentioned by some here. Time will reveal if the world is ready to look toward true freedom or not.
Hopefully with the same understanding that this is not a hoax.
I am sorry Andrew, but also your “so-called pastors” and “state authority” comments, speak volumes. Was it irresponsible for them to assemble yes…but that’s a different question than Mark’s point. And…wrapping ourselves in the Constitution is what makes us the United States of America…not North Korea.
Brilliant. You’re exactly right.
“Time will reveal if the world is ready to look toward true freedom or not” and “re-examine its values in many areas of freedom, social awareness, and social responsibility as in the right to publicly assemble…”. So what’s your definition of true freedom? Spoon fed by the Great State? I am simply stunned.
Raf: Ridiculous. 10’s of thousands die from the flu each year in the U.S. alone, 500,000 throughout the world. Where’s the annual shutdown for flu season? 50,000 die in cars, millions kill themselves and others with drugs and alcohol. Where’s the shutdown on liquor stores and the ever-growing government sanctioned dope shops? Where’s the shutdown on roads because of drunk and loaded drivers? Where’s the shutdown on politicians that provide taxpayer-funded needles and look sideways as cracked-out druggies take dumps on city sidewalks? This is not a war on saving lives. This is a war on our Constitutional Republic.