Don’t Worry Be Happy

Well that seems to be that attitude of Republicans, while the rest of the world have been fighting CONVID 19 and closing events both large and small the Republicans think it is all hype.

New Yahoo News/YouGov poll shows Republicans largely dismiss threat of coronavirus
Yahoo News
By Andrew Romano
March 12, 2020

As the coronavirus spreads throughout the United States and authorities warn of mass disruptions to daily life, a new Yahoo News/YouGov poll shows that pluralities of Americans believe the threat has been exaggerated and that their peers have been overreacting to the actual risk posed by the disease — a result largely driven by skepticism among Republicans.

According to the survey, which was conducted on March 10 and 11 — before the NBA suspended its season and the president addressed the nation from the Oval Office Wednesday evening — only 16 percent of Americans said they are “very worried” about coronavirus. Another 41 percent said they are “somewhat worried,” while 43 percent said they are “not very worried” or “not worried at all.” Forty-four percent of Americans believe the threat is exaggerated; 38 percent said it’s not. And a larger percentage of respondents said that most Americans are “overreacting to the actual risks” (36 percent) than “behaving appropriately” (30 percent) or “underestimating the risks” (20 percent).

Overall, the poll found that Americans may not be adequately preparing for the upheavals of a coronavirus pandemic. The only behavior that a majority of respondents reported changing as a result of the virus was “washing their hands more frequently” (58 percent). Most Americans have not stopped shaking hands, purchased hand sanitizer, avoided crowded public places, worn a mask or stockpiled food and supplies. Of the 37 percent who had trips scheduled, 24 percent said they were continuing as planned; only 13 percent said they had canceled their travel.
[…]
Most Democrats echoed the authorities in saying that the U.S. death toll would top 1,000 fatalities (55 percent) and that no vaccine would be available this year (61 percent). Most Republicans said the opposite, with 66 percent predicting fewer than 1,000 fatalities and 57 percent saying a vaccine would arrive in 2020.

I like to to go by the idea that if you take precautions and it turns out that nothing happens then you end up no worst off. But if you don’t take precautions ad it turns out that something has happened then you are up the well known creek without a paddle.