Coronavirus 4

[closetcagebaby]

I’m really struggling reading all this Sturgis stuff. I’ve been back at work a few months now, in a customer service position where I’m in direct contact with people for a pretty non essential service (hair salon). I don’t have a choice about whether or not to work because I have bills to pay. My fiancé works at a grocery store which is obviously essential. It’s just so hard knowing my coworkers and I are risking our lives for hair which is patently absurd and yet so many people and our government don’t even care about how long this thing is going to last. It’s so frustrating. I hate this focus on getting everything open instead of doing the right thing. It makes me feel like I (and all the rest of the service industry) are basically expendable. 

[nokidsmom]

I don't usually follow things like bike rallies, but the Sturgis situation really caught my attention and that was before the rally, not just the logical consequences coming from it afterward.

It ticks me off beyond anything that people do not understand that there's a freaking pandemic going on and we all have to make sacrifices to get this thing behind us.   Some people just absolutely insist on living their best lives no matter what the consequences to everyone else.  

Mr. No has experienced a lot of pressure from his folks to visit them.  Since his sister has visited them they cannot understand why we will not.    We understand that the Covid situation is hard for them, as it is for everyone else, but getting to the point of bullying and shouting is not going to work.   

SIL  has been living her best life doing whatever including hanging out with her grandkids who just returned to school.  There are some serious risks here and even MIL's doctor has advised that maybe they should curtail SIL's visits.   Still does not stop them from pestering Mr. No  on how he's a bad son for not seeing them.   Because it's really not so bad (fake news!) and besides it's the ebil guvmint telling them to wear masks.

 

[Audrey2]

48 minutes ago, AmazonGrace said:

I can understand the town businesses wanting it but how the hell did any of the bikers think that it would be a good idea to attend right now?

It seems like a lot of the bikers are Trump supporters and FOX news watchers. They really think this Covid thing is overblown.

[47of74]

Fuck you Republicans 

Cause of your fucked up response we can’t have this either this year. 

[47of74]

Fuck

Quote

During Tuesday’s meeting the Dubuque Board of Supervisors voted down a county-wide face covering resolution by a vote of 2-1.

Another fairly similar face covering resolution was then discussed, but nothing was decided.

Of course the county residents are unprotected now with #CovidKim refusing to issue a mandate. 

[Ozlsn]

4 hours ago, nokidsmom said:

Some people just absolutely insist on living their best lives no matter what the consequences to everyone else

I've always thought "living your best life" meant "being the best person you could be", not "being a selfish arsehole". I hadn't realised so many people apparently interpret it as "doing whatever I want, and screw everyone else".

4 hours ago, Audrey2 said:

It seems like a lot of the bikers are Trump supporters and FOX news watchers. They really think this Covid thing is overblown.

Some of them are in for a surprise then.

[WiseGirl]

5 hours ago, nokidsmom said:

we all have to make sacrifices to get this thing behind us. 

This is what makes me sad. A large part of the U.S. population doesn't want to make sacrifices for the greater good and that is sad and in some ways terrifying. 

[RosyDaisy]

My husband and I have COVID-19.  We got the call from the doctors office not long ago.  Our symptoms are mild, and we should be ok.  We are quarantined in our house.  I really don't know what to say.  I'm in shock.

[WiseGirl]

Wishing you & your husband a speedy and uneventful recovery @RosyDaisy

[clueliss]

Yes - that's right - we're #6 right now on the NYT list of cities with rising covid cases (14 day per capita average) 

https://www.komu.com/news/columbia-ranked-6-in-greatest-number-of-new-cases

 

and the link to the NYT piece/list - but when I check right now we're 'down' to #8.  Also looking at the list - I can see multiple 'college towns' on the list.  Ames, Iowa; Manhattan, Kansas; Stillwater, Oklahoma, Iowa City, Iowa - just off the top of my head.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/04/23/upshot/five-ways-to-monitor-coronavirus-outbreak-us.html

[therulesofjinx]

I'm writing this from my desk at work (when I should obviously be working but...I've been here for just over 30 minutes and I already can't focus and need a distraction). The University I work at started allowing non-essential staff back 2 or 3 weeks ago with a lot of precautions in place. My office is rotating staff through (2-3 days in the office; 2-3 days remote) and no more than 3 staff members are allowed in at at time. Masks are to be worn in all common areas, but if you are alone at your desk you can take your mask off if you'd like (we all have glass dividers around our desks and we are well spread out). All meetings must still be held virtually. Classes started last week and it still feels like a ghost town around campus, which is really sad. Students had the option of staying home, and a lot of them chose to. There are still many students here, but their classes are mostly being held online so they're not wandering around campus. I was worried that the return of students would mean a spike in our numbers (my state is in a very good place numbers wise) but the University did a great job with testing and other protocols (all students had to test 5 days before arrival and then again upon arrival and then weekly for the first part of the semester. The administration will review and change testing as needed later this month). I don't mind being at work so much because a ton of people have elected to work remotely still and my building is really quiet but sometimes I wonder why I'm here....we were doing just fine being entirely remote and I don't need to be here for meetings, etc. This post really has no point other than....it was a somber start to the semester and things feel really, really weird- but at least students, staff, and faculty seem to be following all guidelines! I haven't seen anyone wandering a building maskless...

[ADoyle90815]

In California, LA County has basically cancelled big Halloween events. Trick or treating cancelled in LA County

As you can imagine, people on social media are having tantrums because their crotch goblins can't go trick or treating. There's absolutely nothing wrong with doing something as a family such as watching movies on Netflix and having homemade treats that are typically not given out to trick or treaters.

[clueliss]

I've already seen from dipwads In Missouri stupidity about 'if you can go to crowded Walmart, we can have Halloween' and I'm all - but I don't go to crowded Walmart - I use grocery pickup.  

[RosyDaisy]

And the bad news keeps coming.  My nephew and and my sister have COVID-19.  Right now they have no symptoms, and I hope it stays that way.  

[GreyhoundFan]

[Ozlsn]

5 hours ago, RosyDaisy said:

And the bad news keeps coming.  My nephew and and my sister have COVID-19.  Right now they have no symptoms, and I hope it stays that way.  

Best wishes to you and your family, and hope you have mild cases with no lasting effects except immunity. 

[Audrey2]

U.S. Deaths in WW!- 116,516

U.S. Deaths in Vietnam War- 58,220

Total deaths in 2 wars 174,736

Total US Covid deaths to date- 191, 000

Congratulations Donny Dumbass. You have killed more U.S. citizens on your watch than WW1 and Vietnam COMBINED!

[Dandruff]

1 hour ago, Audrey2 said:

Congratulations Donny Dumbass. You have killed more U.S. citizens on your watch than WW1 and Vietnam COMBINED!

But...but...he didn't want people to panic.  He was being considerate and why are people always so mean to him?

191,000 and counting sure aren't panicking now.

[thoughtful]

On 9/8/2020 at 1:36 PM, Audrey2 said:

It seems like a lot of the bikers are Trump supporters and FOX news watchers. They really think this Covid thing is overblown.

And there was crap going around for a while before the event, about how Governor Noem didn't close anything down, and SD had the lowest numbers in the whole country, which was, of course, false, but the right wing wanna-go-to-the-Walmarts-and-church-without-a-mask crew ate it up.

 Wonder if she's still their hero.

She is still being an asshole about it:

Quote

The governor of South Dakota on Wednesday disputed economists who say the motorcycle rally in Sturgis last month may have caused as many as 250,000 coronavirus infections, saying they just "made up some numbers and published them."

Quote

Noem insisted just 124 new cases in South Dakota have been connected to the Sturgis bash, which ran from Aug. 7 through Aug. 16.

“You know, other states are tracking cases, I think we have 11 other cases that have tracked, you know, people that have traveled to the Sturgis motorcycle bike rally but it's less than 300 cases,” Noem said.

 

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/250-000-covid-19-infections-sturgis-made-numbers-s-d-n1239657

[thoughtful]

On 9/8/2020 at 5:43 PM, Ozlsn said:

I've always thought "living your best life" meant "being the best person you could be", not "being a selfish arsehole". I hadn't realised so many people apparently interpret it as "doing whatever I want, and screw everyone else".

Even before I got to your comment, I was thinking "Maybe we need to start using another expression."

When I was a teen, my father sadly told me about a co-worker of his, who had a midlife crisis, dumped his wife, and was going off to live a whole new life (his life savings, a mistress, a boat? I only vaguely remember the details, but it definitely had that "fuck you all, I want some cool toys and fun" feel to it). He said the man had told him "Most men live lives of quiet desperation" as his excuse.

My father knew he'd heard that expression before, but didn't know where it was from. So, when I reacted with utter disgust that the man had used that particular (paraphrased) quote, I had to explain to Dad that he was using Thoreau in a very un-Thoreau-ish way. What he was doing was just what Thoreau was warning against.

13 hours ago, clueliss said:

I've already seen from dipwads In Missouri stupidity about 'if you can go to crowded Walmart, we can have Halloween' and I'm all - but I don't go to crowded Walmart - I use grocery pickup.  

Some people are really like 7-year-olds. They seem to think somebody is getting something, and they're missing out, or nobody is following the rules, so why should they? It's such a strange mindset, coming from adults. FOMO is not deadly.

They all need their grandmothers to ask them "And if everyone jumped off a bridge, would you do it too?" Grandma never needed to add that jumping off of the bridge is a stupid, dangerous thing to do.

And, as you pointed out, not-clueless @clueliss, some of them don't seem to realize how many people have changed their lives to stay safe and keep others safe. Not that it should matter how many others are doing it. If nobody else on the planet had the sense to stay safe, I would still do what I am doing now, to protect my mother and myself.

@RosyDaisy, I hope you and yours will have an easy time of it, and get well quickly and without lingering effects! 

Edited September 10, 2020 by thoughtful
riffle

[Ozlsn]

1 hour ago, thoughtful said:

Some people are really like 7-year-olds. They seem to think somebody is getting something, and they're missing out, or nobody is following the rules, so why should they? It's such a strange mindset, coming from adults. FOMO is not deadly.

I think they're more like 3-4 year olds - "don't wanna, can't make me, why not?"

[thoughtful]

5 hours ago, Ozlsn said:

I think they're more like 3-4 year olds - "don't wanna, can't make me, why not?"

That's probably true of a lot of them - still trapped in the stubborn stage.

 Some may be acting out adolescent "noble rebellion" , still busy defining their lives by rebelling against their parents and other authority figures well into adulthood.

I thought of age seven because, when teaching in a school setting, I've noticed a strong uptick in focus on fairness around that age. Younger kids sometimes were intense about fairness, but there seemed to be a natural stage when most kids became hyper-alert to who was getting what, who'd had a turn, etc., around ages six to seven.

For some, it manifested mostly as looking out for #1, for some, it was more about taking care of others, justice in general, or being the self-appointed monitor of the fairness level.

Since that's also an age when having intense BFF relationships is common, but new to a lot of kids, watching out to make sure a specific buddy wasn't cheated was huge for a lot of kids.

I learned, early on, to include assurances about fairness at the beginning of activities, knowing kids would be anxious about it. I did that with the younger and older kids, too, but mostly seemed to see a "OK, whatever" reaction from them.

 

Edited September 10, 2020 by thoughtful
riffle, better wording

[NotQuiteMotY]

19 hours ago, RosyDaisy said:

And the bad news keeps coming.  My nephew and and my sister have COVID-19.  Right now they have no symptoms, and I hope it stays that way.  

Oh, no. I hope your and family's symptoms are all mild or nothing, and for a quick recovery for you all.

9 hours ago, thoughtful said:

And there was crap going around for a while before the event, about how Governor Noem didn't close anything down, and SD had the lowest numbers in the whole country, which was, of course, false, but the right wing wanna-go-to-the-Walmarts-and-church-without-a-mask crew ate it up.

 Wonder if she's still their hero.

She is still being an asshole about it:

 

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/250-000-covid-19-infections-sturgis-made-numbers-s-d-n1239657

Hm, maybe the numbers are from tracking the people who got infected from people who got infected at the rally? 'Cause that's kind of how viruses work?

I am so tired of people being stupid and selfish, and the federal and so many state governments feeding into that mindset. Yes, I hate wearing a mask, too, and I'm so frustrated by not being able to do any of our normal activities, but dammit, I don't want to responsible for someone getting sick! What is wrong with people that they think it's fine?!?!

[Cartmann99]

[RosyDaisy]

Thank you, everyone for your kind words and thoughts.  It means a lot.  This virus is no joke.  It's worse than the flu.  I am having to take prescription cough medicine and use a nebulizer which makes me nervous and jumpy.  Because of that my psychiatrist has increased my Valium dosage temporarily.  My husband doesn't have it as bad as I do.  He said it's like he has a cold.  The OTC meds are working for him.  My sister has gotten sick, but she doesn't have it as bad.  Meanwhile, my nephew is still symptom free.

Two good things happened.  My dad found my flute and piccolo that I played in high school band.  I can't wait to try to play them again.  My neighbor brought a Mexican feast to us.  Enchiladas, tamales, chopped salad, and something she call tamarind water.  Oh dios mio delicioso!

To all those who think this virus is no big deal and conspiracy:  FUCK YOU!!!!