Please don't turn this board into Facebook or Twitter. There has to be some safe space from all of that, especially now. Go over there if you want to unload.
Bernie Bell,
With all due respect, arguably it was YOU in reply #28 back on 3/12 that took the thread in a political direction for the first time by an unwarranted reaction to Ulrich Mayring's post, which began with a statement that the Masters wouldn't be played, and ended with a statement that the reality of the situation might sink in when players tested positive. Of course, later that night, two NBA players who felt fine and were preparing to play a game that night tested positive; by the next afternoon, cancellations of athletic events were occurring all over the country, and by the weekend, The Masters had in fact been at least postponed, just as Ulrich had predicted.
I'd add two other things: First, the primary reason for the social distancing measures being taken is more about slowing the RATE of infection so that the healthcare system in the US doesn't get overwhelmed. There are 45,000 ICU beds in the US, and we're now slightly AHEAD of where Italy was two weeks ago in the growth rate of infections; Ulrich expressed that very concern. And second, the thread is (and was from the first!) about the relationship between golf and the virus, rather than GCA specifically. Not liking the direction of a discussion can be dealt with by simply not reading it, and there are plenty of threads that do NOT discuss the virus, including the reaction of elected officials to it and what they have or have not done to prepare for it and deal with it.
I'm assuming that you are a supporter of the president, which is fine. That he has done an about face in the last 48 hours, at least in terms of what he has said to the American public is completely undeniable, though. We'll never know what difference it might have made if he, among others like the Democratic mayor of NYC, had listened to the available science and been proactive earlier. But it's a valid question, and not at all OB for discussion on a golf board when it appears likely that within a few days we might arrive at a place where few, if any, of us are able to play golf for an extended period.
There is a multitude of smart people on this board, and I like reading their thoughts; when I don't, I tune them out. But there is nothing in THIS discussion that isn't appropriate to this board, assuming that there are going to always be non-architecture threads.