Good news! It turns out Kim Reynolds has given RAGBRAI a go as long as we sell a horse sometime during the week!!!

Great observation, this is funnier than the jokes in the “We All Need a Good Laugh” thread.

[quote quote=1317298]Good news! It turns out Kim Reynolds has given RAGBRAI a go as long as we sell a horse sometime during the week!!![/quote]

When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. When life gives you road apples, DON’T make cider!

As a media member and having done every day of RAGBRAI for 40 years, I think the chances of RAGBRAI happening this year is extremely slim. This is fundraising time for all host and pass through towns and unless this virus is down to zero by June 1st, which is extremely unlikely, RAGBRAI is close quarters and travel restrictions alone seem impossible to overcome. I believe that it is in the best interest of all, as hard as it is to say, to cancel the event now and to prepare for 2021.

RAGBRAI officials will let us know when they decide one way or the other. Speculation is useless. Like other viruses, this will never be completely gone. Like the various flu viruses that have 23,000+ US deaths this season so far and had 61,000 in the 2017-2018 season. But RAGBRAI went anyway.

Sorry but comparing seasonal flu to a Global Pandemic that has locked down most of the world is not a comparable example at all. I still believe that they will cancel or rather postpone the event to the same route next July similar to what has happened with the Olympics. This pandemic is totally unprecedented for anyone alive today and it’s effects so incredibly life changing and far reaching. It would take a miracle for RAGBRAI to go on this year.

I am glad to hear you didn’t speculate LOL.

The seasonal flu is world wide. Note the total number of deaths so far is far higher most years for the flu then CV so far. Unless you’re claiming a death from CV is somehow worse then one from the flu. You seem fixated on the word pandemic rather than death.

Speculate away but trying bring just a little bit correct. It makes the speculating less speculative.

Speculation is useless. RAGBRAI officials will decide.

If you all get a chance, watch the clip of Dr. Scott Gottlieb on Face the Nation this morning. Very sobering. Dr. Gottlieb is not an alarmist. Listen to what he says about group get-togethers. I doubt we’re going to see MLB, NBA, NHL, or any sports in front of spectators until we see a vaccine. This is not our usual endemic flu. This is a novel coronavirus. Novel means new to humans. A much higher degree of transmissibility than H1N1 with no effective treatment. Steve Hexom – everything you said is true.

Thank you Captain Obvious.

Unless we develop a vaccine before or in the first couple weeks after the peak, it will not help. The whole thing is that novel viruses spread through the population very quickly and everyone either gets the disease and becomes immune, or doesn’t get the disease because they have developed an immunity. After it peaks, there will be a few vulnerable pockets, usually isolated or nearly isolated areas, but infection should fall off quickly as it did in China, Korea, and Japan. They are back to near normal. If we don’t get a vaccine in the next month or so, it won’t have a dramatic effect until we get a new population of unexposed people.

[quote quote=1317364]It would take a miracle for RAGBRAI to go on this year.[/quote]

I believe in miracles.
And I am in denial. RAGBRAI will happen!

Here is a model that seems fairly accurate to me, although I haven’t dug too deeply into the details, nor am I smart enough to understand the mathematical equations behind it. Things are looking very grim for NY state right now, yet within a week, it will become much worse.
covidactnow.org/state/NY
We are facing 55-70+% cumulative infection rate, and 100-150K deaths. About two months of hospitals being well over capacity. Almost 20K still in hospital July 1.

Iowa has the potential for a very different outcome than NY
covidactnow.org/state/IA
Iowa is on track for hospitals being over capacity about June 1, and over double capacity, and rising by July.

Hopefully folks will do what they need to, in order to prevent things from getting out of control.