Coronavirus 3

[GreyhoundFan]

Yeah, agreed...

 

[clueliss]

Map of Kansas counties that opted out of the governor’s mask order.  Red is opted out, blue is mask order.

I screen capped that from the KC Star piece.

Spoiler

 

 

[Ozlsn]

1 hour ago, clueliss said:

Map of Kansas counties that opted out of the governor’s mask order.  Red is opted out, blue is mask order.

I screen capped that from the KC Star piece.

  Hide contents

 

 

Yeah people don't want to be forced, but they also aren't complying voluntarily.  Seriously here, what do you do?

[Coconut Flan]

37 minutes ago, Ozlsn said:

Yeah people don't want to be forced, but they also aren't complying voluntarily.  Seriously here, what do you do?

It sounds like it's guilt time. 

[Ozlsn]

Thus article has a map of US current cases and deaths from coronavirus.

It's interactive so you can zoom in, switch between cases and deaths deaths etc. I've  kept up to date with the stories out of the US but the map still shocked me.

Scientists warn of a potential post-covid wave of neurological damage.

Thus is the first time I've seen an article link the encephalitis epidemic of the 1920s and 30s to the 1918 influenza pandemic. Interesting.

Edited July 9, 2020 by Ozlsn

[CTRLZero]

Happy to report 100% compliance with masks when we made our run to WinCo grocery store here in Washington state.  Signs all over basically saying "no entry without a mask."  People still being good about social distancing.  (It's funny how all along the no-mask group has generally maintained social distance in the stores here.)  Still no hand sanitizer, but everything else looked pretty well stocked.  It was nice not to feel quite as stressed entering a large grocery store.  Now, back to staying at home for a long while.  ?

[47of74]

Fuck

Quote

If Big Ten football teams are able to play this fall, competition will be limited to other Big Ten teams.

The conference announced this afternoon that all of its fall sports programs will move to Big Ten-only schedules for 2020.

Details will be announced at a later date, but in football that will mean for the first time in 43 years there will be no Iowa-Iowa State football game.

The Hawkeyes were scheduled to host the Cyclones at Kinnick Stadium on Sept. 12, one week after opening the season with a game against Northern Iowa that will now also be canceled.

They have to do what they have to do but if it wasn't for the fucked up responses of Fuckmuppet von Horse Fucker und #BunkerBitch none of this would be fucking necessary. 

[GreyhoundFan]

Typical Faux -- do as we say, not as we do:

 

[clueliss]

Chronic Fatigue 

 

[SassyPants]

3 hours ago, 47of74 said:

Fuck

They have to do what they have to do but if it wasn't for the fucked up responses of Fuckmuppet von Horse Fucker und #BunkerBitch none of this would be fucking necessary. 

My nephew is a college Sr on a full ride athletic (football) scholarship at a university  on the East coast. Last Saturday he returned to school in advance of this week’s practice schedule- keeping my fingers crossed that they might play sometime this season.

[clueliss]

Bill Nye did a video to demonstrate masks

 

[Cartmann99]

Judge refuses to order Houston to allow Texas GOP convention

Quote

HOUSTON (AP) — A state judge on Thursday declined to reverse Houston’s decision to cancel the Texas Republican convention’s in-person events because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Judge Larry Weiman rejected the state GOP’s request for a temporary restraining order, one day after Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said next week’s gathering could not proceed at the downtown convention center. Turner, a Democrat, has denied any political motives in the cancellation and said it was a matter of public safety.

After a contentious two-hour hearing, Weiman said he was concerned about Houston hospitals reporting they have exceeded their regular intensive-care capacity, as coronavirus cases and deaths have surged in the state. The arrival next week of as many as 6,000 delegates from across Texas could worsen the situation, he noted.

Attorneys for state Republicans indicated they plan to file an appeal.

The judge’s decision Thursday came as the state reported more than 100 deaths in a single day for the first time, making this the deadliest week of the pandemic in what has rapidly become one of America’s virus hot zones. Houston in particular has become a hot spot, with major hospitals exceeding their base capacity due to an influx of COVID-19 patients.

The Texas Medical Association withdrew its sponsorship of the state GOP convention and asked organizers to cancel in-person gatherings.

But state Republican chair James Dickey insisted that organizers can hold the event safely. Before Turner canceled the convention, Dickey said the party had planned to institute daily temperature scans, provide masks, and install hand sanitizer stations.

The group’s lawsuit filed earlier Thursday accused Turner of discriminating against the convention due to an “ideological viewpoint.” A second lawsuit filed by a group of Republicans accused Turner of bowing to “COVID-19 hysteria.”

Both lawsuits accuse Turner of imposing tougher standards on the convention than he did on a June 2 protest following the death of George Floyd, a Houston native. Tens of thousands of people, including Turner, attended the protest.

The state party’s lawsuit included photos of packed crowds at the protest. One of the Republicans who filed the second lawsuit was Steve Hotze, a conservative power broker who, according to The Texas Tribune, left Gov. Greg Abbott’s chief of staff a voicemail after the protest calling on the governor to have National Guard ready to “shoot to kill.”

“I want to make sure that he has National Guard down here and they have the order to shoot to kill if any of these ... people start rioting like they have in Dallas, start tearing down businesses. ... That’s the only way you restore order. Kill ’em. Thank you,” Hotze said.

Speaking Wednesday, Turner said he directed city lawyers to terminate the contract because he believed the event could not be held safely.

“No one wanted to step in and be the heavy and to say no, and then run the risk of being accused of being political,” Turner said. “But if after all of that, you still refuse to recognize the public health danger to everyone involved, then I am still the mayor.”

 

[Kayleigh83]

I feel absurdly lucky, maybe a better word is fortunate, to be living in an area where infection rates have been quite low. Even for our particular province compared to the rest of our country (I’m in BC, in Canada). I think a big part of that has been down to our provincial health officer who has been absolutely fantastic on her communication and encouragement of people to do the right thing when it comes to flattening the curve. There has been a lessening of social distance vigilance that I’ve seen in people that I find a bit concerning, because the risk is not totally gone. But our overall case rates are still very low.

If anything my concern of a second wave comes from Americans who are effectively sneaking into our country. Right now Americans are not allowed to cross the border unless they are driving straight to Alaska and need to be for some good reason, and at the border they are asked whether this is the case. Yet Americans are still being caught sightseeing at public parks all over BC and Alberta. As far as I’m concerned people like that should be promptly escorted back to the border and banned from ever entering Canada again. You lied to a border crossing agent about why you were entering our country, you should never be allowed in again. Our risk of infection from people that careless goes up every time one of these jerkoffs peruses through a grocery store here.

https://nationalpost.com/news/provinces-and-the-police-are-cracking-down-on-cross-border-travellers-who-break-the-covid-19-rules

Edited July 10, 2020 by Kayleigh83
Edited to add a link to an article discussing the issue I was talking about

[thoughtful]

15 hours ago, Ozlsn said:

Scientists warn of a potential post-covid wave of neurological damage.

Thus is the first time I've seen an article link the encephalitis epidemic of the 1920s and 30s to the 1918 influenza pandemic. Interesting.

This interested me, since my grandfather had encephalitis lethargica (not to be confused with other forms of encephalitis), possibly acquired while helping medics and removing dead bodies from WWI battlefields.

He was gradually, inexorably destroyed by the chronic stage, and lived until the mid-1960s. It shaped the lives of the whole family. So I've read everything I could get my hands on about it, and I've been thinking about it a lot since Covid-19 started. We can't walk around in doom and gloom all the time, but, even in our modern world, we need to remember that something can come along (a virus, an orange asshole who somehow gets elected president) that knocks us all for a loop.

As far as I know, EL is still a mystery - an illness that came, devastated thousands (possible many more than were ever diagnosed), then went away. The theory that encephalitis lethargica was connected to the flu pandemic comes and goes, but I don't think a solid connection has ever been made.

That article doesn't quite connect them - just says one came after the other:

Quote

“Whether we will see an epidemic on a large scale of brain damage linked to the pandemic – perhaps similar to the encephalitis lethargica outbreak in the 1920s and 1930s after the 1918 influenza pandemic – remains to be seen,” said Michael Zandi, from UCL’s Institute of Neurology, who co-led the study.

I dearly hope that Covid-19 does not prove to have such lasting, horrible neurological effects.

[Ozlsn]

How Victoria, Australia, went from zero daily cases to 288 in one month and one day.

Yeah, it was that quick.

Spoiler

One month and one day ago was the last time Victoria recorded zero fresh coronavirus cases in a 24-hour period.

On June 9, the state's Premier Daniel Andrews declared it "a very good result", but warned the situation could change rapidly.

It did.

Today Victoria recorded 288 new coronavirus cases, the worst daily increase of any state or territory since the pandemic began, breezing past the previous record of 212 cases in NSW in late March.

This is exhausting, and we are all beginning to wonder if 6 weeks will be long enough to get it back under control. Certainly people deciding to ignore regulations and have a birthday party won't help - enjoy your combined $26,000 in fines, arseholes. Plus the cost of the KFC of course.

[Smee]

What we’re seeing in Victoria is basically what we saw all over the world a few months ago - a few cases arriving from overseas and leading to exponential growth in the community until the country became a hotspot in its own right. It’s difficult for Australians to accept, emotionally, because we already went through a lockdown that seemed to all but eradicate covid-19. But really, that first lockdown prevented a mostly-overseas wave from taking hold in the community. What we’re seeing now is more like the “first wave” of community transmission that other countries have had, not a “second wave” from reopening. We can also expect it to get worse given the incubation period and the fact that it’s winter here now  However, we have information we didn’t have in March, we’ve seen what works and doesn’t work in other countries and we have already figured out some of the infrastructure we need to lock down again. It’s a miserable, exhausting prospect, and the hardest part now is going to be convincing people not to give up on it. 
 

I also fully expect a spike in cases in NSW from people crossing the border to flee lockdown ? Knowing our Premier she won’t take a NZ approach of shutting down hard when community transmission starts, she’ll wait til we’re over 100 cases a day and it’s too late.

[Ozlsn]

4 minutes ago, Smee said:

I also fully expect a spike in cases in NSW from people crossing the border to flee lockdown

To be honest all you need is someone who travelled up to a family celebration a fortnight ago, went out for lunch, caught up with some friends at the pub and went home again. Because that is pretty close to what we started out with - no need for people fleeing lockdown. Having said that it amazes me that people still have their heads in the sand so badly - one of my friends was whinging that her LGA shouldn't be included in the lockdown because "We have no cases here". Her husband works at one of the hospitals in a hard hit area - does she think he's the only one travelling to work? (Not to mention she spent the last lock down whinging that they should reopen the schools, or not close them at all, because kids couldn't get sick. I've muted her before I break lockdown and drive over and strangle her.)

[Smee]

I have a close friend who has spent the past couple of years doing 6 months in Germany with her partner then 6 months in Australia, where her family are and where she has been studying. When the pandemic hit, she was in Germany, living with her partner on a rural property in the mountains, and so she cancelled her trip home while things settled. 4 weeks ago, she and her partner split up, and she’s spent the time since then figuring out how to get home with quarantine regulations, limited flights, clogged phone lines, being a long way physically from the embassy, and with a passport that needed renewing. She finally had the passport stuff sorted and was just trying to get through to book something for a date in the next few weeks. In light of what’s happening in Melbourne, today our Prime Minister announced the number of returning Australians accepted in to be cut in half and a move to charge people for the mandatory hotel quarantine. My friend messaged an hour ago to say flights home tripled in price overnight and there’s only business class seats left.

[Ozlsn]

1 minute ago, Smee said:

In light of what’s happening in Melbourne, today our Prime Minister announced the number of returning Australians accepted in to be cut in half and a move to charge people for the mandatory hotel quarantine

I still feel this is a bullshit excuse. They sent the first flights to Christmas Island to quarantine. There are quite a number of options for quarantining in cities outside Melbourne, and spreading out arriving international quarantine cases. Yes, there is a risk with repatriation, but essentially stranding citizens who cannot afford to return because of the pandemic driven changes really annoys me. One of my friends is a travel agent, and she is incredibly stressed and still trying to find options for people. The government has options, they just don't want to use them.

[Smee]

6 minutes ago, Ozlsn said:

I still feel this is a bullshit excuse. They sent the first flights to Christmas Island to quarantine. There are quite a number of options for quarantining in cities outside Melbourne, and spreading out arriving international quarantine cases. Yes, there is a risk with repatriation, but essentially stranding citizens who cannot afford to return because of the pandemic driven changes really annoys me. One of my friends is a travel agent, and she is incredibly stressed and still trying to find options for people. The government has options, they just don't want to use them.

It’s also dumb given that Melbourne’s cases are all community transmission now and the bigger threat is going to be Australians who continue their daily business assuming they don’t have it. The strict, security-guard enforced hotel quarantines rather than home-quarantine with random checks was a measure designed to stop it from spreading into the community and that horse has bolted. My friend would be going to Sydney not Melbourne anyway, and was fully prepared (mentally) for hotel quarantine, but now she’s stuck on a remote property with her ex-girlfriend, no job and no support networks

On a lighter note...

[Ozlsn]

I still maintain that the guard(s) knew damn well that that wasn't what they were supposed to be doing, even under the "other duties as directed" clause in the contract. Yeah the companies were extremely lax in the amount of training given, but even so - they knew. 

(Also some of the hysteria being expressed about this by members of the party who hired a security company with a beach shack business address and no previous experience for a multimillion dollar contract is a bit... hypocritical. Seriously I do not believe they would have done any better if they were in charge here.)

[SassyPants]

21 hours ago, GreyhoundFan said:

Typical Faux -- do as we say, not as we do:

 

A child’s hurdle is not the same height as an adult’s hurdle. Damn it, why do so many have so little common sense?  A child needs to figure out if you don’t do your homework, you get in trouble at school and at home, and that schoolwork can often times be harder for you. A child does not need to know that being exposed to large numbers of people in a confined area can to lead to catching a virus that can kill you. No, idiot, they do not.

3 minutes ago, SassyPants said:

A child’s hurdle is not the same height as an adult’s hurdle. Damn it, why do so many have so little common sense?  A child needs to figure out if you don’t do your homework, you get in trouble at school and at home, and that schoolwork can often times be harder for you. A child does not need to know that being exposed to large numbers of people in a confined area can to lead to catching a virus that can kill you. No, idiot, they do not.

Sorry, quoting myself after listening...and why don’t the farmers selling their food only to kids who eat in schools (who are these special snowflakes?) have to figure out a way to overcome that hurdle? Such BS.

[Ali]

1 hour ago, SassyPants said:

A child’s hurdle is not the same height as an adult’s hurdle. Damn it, why do so many have so little common sense?  A child needs to figure out if you don’t do your homework, you get in trouble at school and at home, and that schoolwork can often times be harder for you. A child does not need to know that being exposed to large numbers of people in a confined area can to lead to catching a virus that can kill you. No, idiot, they do not.

I don't want my daughter to have a classmate or teacher die from Covid 19. That is not a hurdle I would hurdle any child should have to tackle. I don't want my daughter to lose a parent, sibling, or other relative to Covid 19. I don't want to lose my daughter to Covid 19.

I know I cannot keep her in a bubble and she is going to face hurdles. I would rather it be normal trials children face and not losing multiple people she knows to a pandemic.

[Dandruff]

The number of cases in my area (DC metro) is starting to climb again.  Our peak was April/May.  Things improved with the stay-at-home order, delayed Phase 1 opening, and the requirement for masks in many - but, unfortunately, not all - indoor public spaces, and the number of new cases had gone way down.  Per the data from the last week or so, we now have more people testing positive given approximately the same rate of testing.  Still a much better situation than before but moving in the wrong direction.  Lots of people still aren't wearing masks outdoors and I've seen more than a few supermarket employees, and the occasional shopper, not wearing them properly indoors.  No real enforcement that I know of.  People who just don't give af are allowed to put lives at risk.  So disgusting.

At this point I pretty much know which of my stores/locations are enforcing the rules and which aren't, so I should be relatively safe shopping unless I need to visit a different store.  Still ordering some things from Amazon but they don't have everything and some of the prices are really out there.  Expecting some mail order meds soon.  I've been able to avoid pharmacy counters since this all began.

Hope the powers-that-be take action sooner vs. later to try to avoid another major outbreak but I'm not feeling especially confident.

[Ozlsn]

1 hour ago, Dandruff said:

Lots of people still aren't wearing masks outdoors and I've seen more than a few supermarket employees, and the occasional shopper, not wearing them properly indoors.  No real enforcement that I know of.  People who just don't give af are allowed to put lives at risk.  So disgusting.

Some of it is that it is very hard to change culture against a threat that is invisible, and hard to perceive. It feels like things are getting better so people are relaxing... and unfortunately that's not helpful.

On masks we've just had an official recommendation that they be worn in public, so it will be interesting to see how much the rate goes up (or doesn't).  It was made mid-yesterday (I heard about it after I finished work and saw the news), and at the moment in my area it's probably about 25% of people wearing them. Higher or lower in different suburbs apparently, CBD is apparently quite high.