Coronavirus 4

[Smash!]

I thought it was settled science for many months that aerosols could spread corona virus. 

Yep but lots of journalists and governments didn’t get the memo because it is so inconvenient - imagine 2m separation between people isn’t enough, hygiene is always helpful but won’t stop transmission.

[Coconut Flan]

49 minutes ago, Howl said:

I thought it was settled science for many months that aerosols could spread corona virus. 

Thus why I said finally.  WHO and the CDC have been months behind settled science.  Then yesterday afternoon the CDC backtracked.  Pressure from the usual source who refuses to face reality?  That isn't how this is supposed to work.

[Dandruff]

AFAIC, six feet doesn't even begin to be enough if someone's sick and "expressing".  I was somewhat germ-phobic before COVID-19, with good reasons, but now it's a different ball game.  It's amazing to me that masks aren't more fully mandated/enforced.  Selfish, ignorant fuckers are allowed to gamble with my life, and others'.  It's like a new form of genocide, while those with the power to help set positive change in motion have their heads comfortably shoved up their butts.

Rant over.  For now.

[EmmieJ]

I saw a friend today who I haven't seen since the initial pandemic shutdown in March.  Of course, we talked alot about how we're both dealing with Covid - social distancing, wearing masks, getting groceries delivered or picking up at the back of the store, etc.  A friend of her daughter - a woman in her early 30's - got Covid back in March.  She recovered but is suffering with severe aftermath.  She can barely walk a few feet without getting winded.  She is unable to work and had to move back home with her parents.  This is nearly 6 months after "recovering".  (I'm sure she has many other health issues related to the aftermath but that was the main one mentioned by my friend.)  

It's an extremely serious disease and even if you survive it initially, you could have lifelong after effects.  And Trump and the Republicans want to take away Obamacare and allow insurers to deny coverage based on pre-existing conditions?  

[47of74]

News media is getting well deserved blow back for another “feel good” story. 

Quote

An 89-year-old pizza delivery man recently went viral on TikTok, and he was subsequently surprised with a crowdfunded tip of $12,000 from his new fans. However, people online are upset that his story is being pegged as a “feel-good” one. 

Derlin Newey started working at Papa John’s Pizza 30 hours a week because could not afford his bills with Social Security alone. One of his frequent customers, Carlos Valdez, began posting videos of Newey delivering pizzas to his family’s home to TikTok, where they went viral. “Hello, are you looking for some pizza?” Newey says as he makes his deliveries in the videos.

Valdez told the outlet his followers expressed discontent to see the senior citizen still working, so the “TikTok community” came together to raise $12,000 for Newey and surprise him with it at his door.

 While some online are lauding the efforts of said TikTok community, they are saying Newey “shouldn’t have been in this position to begin with.”

Especially in a pandemic he shouldn’t have t  on do this. 

Edited September 25, 2020 by 47of74

[47of74]

Now desks are in short supply

Quote

First it was toilet paper. Disinfectant wipes. Beans. Coins. Computers. Now, desks are in short supply because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Millions of kids logging onto virtual school this fall has parents scrambling to find furniture for them. It’s a small indignity compared with the kids who don’t even have home internet or computers, but it’s a hassle for parents lucky enough to have the space and money to afford desks just the same.

At the same time, some people are realizing they'll be working from home for the long haul and require new furniture. To find desks, people are scouring stores near and far and even making their own.

Elizabeth Rossmiller, a teacher working from home for the first time, needed to upgrade from her temporary setup: an upside-down laundry basket on a nightstand.

I still had my setup from my previous WFH job so I was pretty well set.  I did get myself an extra monitor and eventually another desk so that I'd have more room for stuff in my office.

[Coconut Flan]

Chairs, especially child size, are tougher than desks.  

 

[clueliss]

So the paternal side of the family (my dad died back in 2016) is still planning on having family Thanksgiving (the Sunday before).  I just send the electronic decline.  Sorry guys but pass for me.  It's 4:30 in the afternoon.  I have a 2 hour drive there and back - after dark - and I have to work the next day.  That alone is a nope.  But I'm trying to more or less stay in my bubble and I don't really want to expose my 88 & 89 year old Aunt/Uncle to anything.  A member of their generation (aunt's sister in law) has already responded that she's going.  Okay.  Fine.  You do you, but dang I don't get that. 

[47of74]

Yeah not sure what we're doing yet for Thanksgiving this year.  Probably something small with the immediate family only.  If we don't go down to Des Moines probably just fry up a turkey here at home for dinner and maybe have one in the oven as well.  I'm getting hungry for turkey and dressing now just thinking about Thanksgiving.

Of course if Fuckopotomus is given his walking papers there will be a lot to be thankful for on Thansgiving Day. 

[Vivi_music]

Well, I have some updates from up north.

Just to mention that in the Canadian federal system, the provinces are in charge of healthcare and public health. Which means that the situations varies A LOT from province to province. Today in Quebec, the government has announced the most drastic restrictive measures since the first quarantine and lockdown of last spring. Two weeks ago, the government had issued a alert level system, and within those two weeks, the two major cities of the province have reached level 4. This is more than 60% of the entire province population now in ''red zones''.

Spoiler

Quebec is leading the other province in this second wave, with the highest numbers of daily cases. We were also the province with the most deaths back in spring... yay! ? (no wonder the rest of Canada doesn't like us).

Here are the restrictions announced today:

- Private gatherings: While at home, people will not be allowed to receive visitors, but there are exceptions. For example, an elderly person can be visited by a person who is caring for them in their home. Also, a person who lives alone can receive one visitor. People who need work done on their homes can have it done by one worker. For example, if a person needs plumbing done, the work will have to be done by one plumber. A babysitter is also allowed inside a home.

= Public venues like cinemas, theatres, libraries and museums: All will be closed for 28 days. The premier said his government is already working on ways to possibly compensate owners of businesses like cinemas and museums that will lose revenue from being closed for nearly a month. (I work in the museum field. I'm kind of stressed, not gonna lie).

- Restaurant dining rooms, bars, brasseries, taverns and casinos: All will be closed for 28 days. Restaurants will be able to offer services like delivery and takeout.

- Businesses: Some businesses that were closed during the spring are allowed to stay open including stores, boutiques, hotels, hairdressers, barbers, gyms and other fitness studios. Premier Legault said most businesses can remain open “if they respect public health rules.”

- Inter-regional travel: the Premier “strongly recommends” that people not travel to a different region within Quebec. When he was asked if police might be called in to prevent people from travelling from one region to another, as has been done in the past, Legault said he would not rule it out.

- Nursing homes and seniors’ residences: People who reside in nursing homes or similar residences can be visited by one caregiver at a time and a maximum of two per day.

- Outdoors: Social distancing of less than two metres is not allowed during outdoor gatherings and people participating in protest rallies will be required to wear masks (like BLM or.... worst, antimaskers ?)

- Public gatherings: Public gatherings are not allowed except for funerals. In churches or other places of worship, a maximum of 25 people are allowed to gather.

- Community organizations: They are allowed to remain open.

The government called this ''operation 28 days''. A lot of these sectors had reopened throughout the summer and now they have to close the valve again. They give the province 28 days to flatten the curve and try our best to respect the restrictive measures.

It seems the two critical sectors that need to be protected are schools and healthcare. Since the beginning of the school year in september, the government of Quebec has been adamant in keeping schools open. It ws mentionned that these measures are their to ensure kids can keep going to school. 

The second most critical sector is healthcare of course. Most of the big hopsitals of Montreal are all at over-capacity (apparently at 115%-120% capacity already). Most of it is not even Covid cases. It seems that this second wave has not contaminated the most vulnerable people (yet). Death numbers are really low for the moment, around 1 every other day. What seems to be the problem are all the patient that weren't treated back in spring. People who didn't have surgery, didn't get their cancer treatment, didn't get their biopsy, didn't go to their doctors to treat something. It's mainly these patients who are now overflowing the healthcare system. I really hope people are able to respect the restriction measures, if not for them but for all the possible collateral victims. Can you imagine one of your loved ones not being able to be treated for something that could have been non-life-threatening, but is now getting worse with time; simply because all the ressources in hospital are mobilized for Covid patients? In french we have an idiom that goes ''Stop looking at your own bellybutton'' which means, stop being so self-centered.

Anyways, I'm a bit depressed tonight. Not gonna lie. Museums are closing again, which I understand. I'm willing to do my part. But we really had so few visitors already. Our little museum wasn't THAT busy. I'd be immensely surprised if people got contaminated while visiting our exhbiti. We're usually at maximum 20 entries per day. Masks were mandatory of course. Alas, we really have no choice but to listen to the government and we will. But this one hits hard.

Edited September 29, 2020 by Vivi_music
Moving the image under spoiler

[Ozlsn]

@Vivi_music you have my full sympathy. We're (still) very slowly emerging from our second, very harsh lockdown - and had all the jokes and abuse (and sympathy too - and more of that than the rest) from the rest of the country.  And it sucks. Hang in there, it will pass - and hopefully you'll be able to contain it more quickly than we did. Having said that we've gone from 725 new cases on Aug 7th to 5 new cases yesterday, so it works. It's just tiring getting there.

[Vivi_music]

9 hours ago, Ozlsn said:

@Vivi_music you have my full sympathy. We're (still) very slowly emerging from our second, very harsh lockdown - and had all the jokes and abuse (and sympathy too - and more of that than the rest) from the rest of the country.  And it sucks. Hang in there, it will pass - and hopefully you'll be able to contain it more quickly than we did. Having said that we've gone from 725 new cases on Aug 7th to 5 new cases yesterday, so it works. It's just tiring getting there.

Our numbers seem similar. For the past week, it has varied between 700-900, which the government considers high risk numbers (for a 8.4 million population).

The deaths are still very low compared to what it was in April and May. There are practically none at the moment. Like I mentionned, maybe 1 or 2 every other day. Nothing compared to the peak of 1000 we had in April. Of course, the one person who passes now isn't less important than all the ones back in April. But it seems Covid cases are ''controlled'' in the hospitals at the moment. But the system is fragile. So I understand that restrictions and quarantine will work. The government actually gave 1 month to assess if these measures are gonna work. My only concern is that... after a month, if we reopen the faucet (so to speak), cases will rise again no?

Last spring, people were very much ready to do their part. But now that they have ''re-tasted'' a bit of freedom during the summer, the public opinion is less optimistic. We do have a fringe minority of conspiracy theorists and anti-maskers. They aren't numerous but they are LOUD! In the end, most people are willing to follow the rules still, but maybe a bit more reluctanctly then during the first wave. The mood at the moment seems more inclined to...complaining. People are gonna stay confined at home, but they are gonna be more vocal about not liking it. Maybe this is our ''latin'' roots that are making us a bit more prone to... whinging? We have French blood in us right, us French Canadians? And the French are GOOD at wanting to be heard.

[Alisamer]

18 hours ago, Vivi_music said:

Anyways, I'm a bit depressed tonight. Not gonna lie. Museums are closing again, which I understand. I'm willing to do my part. But we really had so few visitors already. Our little museum wasn't THAT busy. I'd be immensely surprised if people got contaminated while visiting our exhbiti. We're usually at maximum 20 entries per day. Masks were mandatory of course. Alas, we really have no choice but to listen to the government and we will. But this one hits hard.

That sucks. Our museums here have just opened back up, which is great for me - we do a lot of printing for the local museums. I don't understand why museums weren't some of the first things to open back up, it seems like that's the easiest place there could be to social distance (excepting the Louvre and other huge internationally famous and thus crowded museums, I suppose) and people would have loved having a safe place outside the house to just wander around for a couple hours. 

And here, my friends and I are planning to have a socially-distanced outdoor get together this coming Sunday! We haven't seen each other since the very beginning of March. I've been pretty excited about it.

Then the boss's daughter came in to work today, after going away to a wedding this weekend. She's sick, wearing a mask, and talking about getting a Covid test tomorrow afternoon. Yay.

If she's positive or her test isn't back yet, I'll be skipping the get-together with my friends. Two of them are immunosuppressed and a couple others are high risk or have husbands who are high risk. I'm not going to risk passing it along to them in any way.

[FiveAcres]

1 hour ago, Alisamer said:

If she's positive or her test isn't back yet, I'll be skipping the get-together with my friends. Two of them are immunosuppressed and a couple others are high risk or have husbands who are high risk. I'm not going to risk passing it along to them in any way.

Because you are a decent human being, willing to protect your friends even though you are disappointed. 

[WiseGirl]

Well, my nephew has COVID. Hope to Rufus he didn't expose his family or my parents to it...

[JMarie]

Not seeing a lot of coverage of Hope Hicks (covid positive and apparently symptomatic) on Fox News tonight....

[JMarie]

Trump and Melania both tested positive. Fox News is actually reporting on this.

[Exchange Atheist]

Finally. I hope he has a severe case. Sorry, I know I’m not supposed to wish bad things on people, but ... this is Trump and I have no empathy left for him. 

[hasunah]

So is he going to od on fishtank cleaner ?

[JMarie]

If both Trump and Pence test positive and are symptomatic, does they mean Nancy Pelosi will be in charge?

[RosyDaisy]

Karma's a bitch, Donnie boy!  You deserve it for all the evil shit you have said and done.  I don't feel sorry for you.  Nope, not at all.

I would see myself to the prayer closet, but I'm sick with COVID-19 as well and in quarantine.

[ADoyle90815]

I admit I first thought this was a way for him to get out of the debates, but he doesn't like to cancel his rallies, so this is not a hoax.

[JMarie]

If it’s 32 days before the election, and he has to quarantine for 14 days, that’ll bring him to 18 days before the election. 18 days isn’t a lot of time to be hitting all the battleground states, plus golf. If he’s even healthy and testing negative by that point.

Edited October 2, 2020 by JMarie
Math is hard at 4AM

[Ozlsn]

1 hour ago, JMarie said:

If it’s 32 days before the election, and he has to quarantine for 14 days, that’ll bring him to 18 days before the election. 18 days isn’t a lot of time to be hitting all the battleground states, plus golf. If he’s even healthy and testing negative by that point.

"Has to quarantine". He won't. Rules are for other people.

[RosyDaisy]

If her doesn't willingly go into quarantine, then somebody should drag his sorry ass there and make him stay for the recommended time.  We don't need him infecting others with the virus like he does with his hate.