Coronavirus 4

[Smash!]

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.

How are you doing btw?

[Penny]

Open letter to all republicans in office

In light of recent events, I urge you to get tested for covid. Why you ask? Because you have your head so far up Trump's ass!

 

Edited October 2, 2020 by Penny
spelling

[Audrey2]

I just hope that he has a bad enough case to worry Fox news and scare his base so they start wearing masks. I'm in a red area and I know there's a lot of complaining about having to wear masks and groups of people who still think this is all fake.

[Penny]

6 minutes ago, Audrey2 said:

I just hope that he has a bad enough case to worry Fox news and scare his base so they start wearing masks. I'm in a red area and I know there's a lot of complaining about having to wear masks and groups of people who still think this is all fake.

I hope so, but who knows. 

[RosyDaisy]

1 hour ago, Smash! said:

How are you doing btw?

I'm doing ok.  I still feel lethargic, but I'm getting better.  Thank you for asking.?

[JMarie]

CNN is reporting Trump will be at Walter Reed for several days

[Audrey2]

I have also read that kellyanne Conway has it too.

[Howl]

And now Kayleigh McEnany & Kayleigh's husband (MLB pitcher) & and Keyleigh's husband's cousin...who works in the White House press office. 

[clueliss]

I maybe should stop reading news right now - they keep trying to sprain my brain

 

[clueliss]

Soooooooooo

Yesterday two people were told to WFH the rest of the day at the office yesterday due to close contact of someone waiting on a test result.  Person X and I were both in the office on Monday.  I don't recall being near her to be on the official list. 

Today My Boss (sent home) says he'll be quarantined for 14 days.  (meaning X is positive)

By the way - our group knows who X is despite the trying to be private because there aren't that many of us - and everyone BUT X was in yesterday (including a rare appearance by Boss's Boss)

I chose to WFH - because paranoid (although it's not paranoia if it's real) and office neighbor was coughing off an on all afternoon (we work closely).

Got an IM to call HR - they're telling whole group to WFH until at least the 20th as a precaution (see note above about it's not paranoia if it's real). 

Now I, for safety sake, just cancelled/rescheduled tonight's Chiro appointment (and really don't want to say Hey, sorry but I exposed you to covid) and rescheduled out two weeks. 

I'm so not amused.  Because I know darned well that X was on vacation for two weeks and traveled while on vacay.  Here I am staying in my bubble and not going anywhere and limiting contact and these nit wits do this.  And oh, thanks employer - because returning folks to the office a month or two ago was SUCH a great idea. 

[Smash!]

Holy sh*** Saturday and Sunday combined we're at 4000 cases again ? Federal Council held a press conference today, said no one saw that coming. Except everyone who lives in reality. In my county contact tracing doesn't work anymore but still no word of a at least regional lockdown. I've read today that Switzerland is only slightly behind the UK. Let that sink in. And Fall just started.

[Cartmann99]

[fraurosena]

Haven't been here in ages, but just had to pop in to share this...

 

[CTRLZero]

@fraurosena - that was brilliant!  It should be running on a loop as a public service announcement on all the mainstream media, and especially Fox!  Don't be grouchy -- listen to Fauci, lol! 

[Ozlsn]

I loved the "case by case/test by test/don't forget you're not oppressed!/till we put this damn pandemic in the past!"

We have just relaxed restrictions, and can travel 25km from home instead of 5km, meet outside in groups of two from two households, and play golf/tennis/go to outdoor skateparks. The mask mandate is still here, and the amount of whinging astounds me. We've gone from 750 cases per day to under 5 and people are claiming that lock downs and masks don't work, "the WHO said so." No, morons, that is not what they actually said. Everyone on social media is apparently an infectious diseases and public health expert, although a surprising number still don't understand the term "asymptomatic infectious period". 

I am still 85km too far away to visit my parents (or for them to visit me!), but I can meet up with one sister and some friends at least. My other siblings are across closed borders, so virtual still for now. 

I don't want to hope but it would be nice if we could meet up for Christmas.

Edited October 18, 2020 by Ozlsn

[Smee]

You guys in Vic have done amazing @Ozlsn! To be back at under 5 cases a day the past few days, and a rolling 14-day average of 7.2 is incredible. I do still hope Aus in general can work towards total elimination, but keeping the numbers low enough for effective contact tracing would keep me happy. Up here in NSW we still have a couple of clusters, sometimes with daily numbers higher than Vic’s, but seem to be on top of the contact tracing. And, crucially, it’s still very easy to get a test, no referral needed or long wait or anything, so we can be reasonably confident the numbers are accurate. Each day that we’ve had 4 or 5 positive cases there’s been tens of thousands of negative test results too. 
 

A petty rant, and of course I will do the right thing and follow guidelines regardless, but the rules still say that we can’t have congregational singing at church. We have limited numbers, signing in at the door for contact tracing purposes, masks provided, seats placed 2m apart etc. It doesn’t matter so much for Sunday services, but the thought of not being allowed to sing carols on Christmas Eve makes me so sad. There hasn’t been a positive case in my region for months so I really hope that particular restriction eases by December. Especially given that they’re allowing thousands of spectators to yell at their teams at sporting events.

[Ozlsn]

3 hours ago, Smee said:

but the thought of not being allowed to sing carols on Christmas Eve makes me so sad.

I really hope we can have appropriately distanced Carols by Candlelight. Not that I watch or go to the big, commercial TV metro one - but I would like for my regional hometown's one to be able to go ahead, or even my suburb's smaller one.  

[clueliss]

My local health department shared an interesting graphic about how 2 cases acquired from out of county travel then infected a series of other people.  (if you click on the photo when you go to the tweet - the  whole long photo will show)

 

[Coconut Flan]

We finally start getting a little bit of good news:

https://www.axios.com/covid-death-rate-coronavirus-drop-12aee961-5fd5-438f-b4c4-f8f22f9fca0c.html

 

[47of74]

And thanks to the fucked up system we have here the health care system will feel the effects for years even after the pandemic ends.

Quote

Why it matters: The pre-pandemic health care system was already full of holes, many of which have been exposed and exacerbated over the past several months, and many Americans will be stuck with that system as they grapple with the long-term consequences of the pandemic.

The big picture: The pandemic has caused a crushing wave of mental health problems, exposed longstanding racial disparities, caused people to delay care for other conditions, and likely created new long-term health problems for many coronavirus survivors.

Between the lines: The pandemic has painfully exposed deep racial disparities within the health care system and beyond, which will only continue to hurt people of color.

Mental health services are often inaccessible and unaffordable — especially in the communities that have already faced the worst impacts of both the virus and the economic collapse.

And the Republicans want to take a flamethrower to the safety nets (the ACA, Social Security, etc).

[Coconut Flan]

And something else we can do to help.

https://scitechdaily.com/mouthwash-may-inactivate-human-coronaviruses-help-reduce-spread-of-covid-19/

[fundiefan]

I am really, really, really pissed right now. 

My sister & her boyfriend, who lives in Iowa, have gone back & forth, crossing state lines, as if nothing is happening. Last weekend, his daughter got married - in an indoor ball room - in Iowa. 

Today, both my sister & her boyfriend tested positive for COVID. He is pretty sick. She describes it as a "bad cold with a fever".

7 other people (that they know of)  from that wedding also have it.

I want to feel bad that they're sick, and I do, but it's kind of buried under the being pissed at them thing.

 

 

[Smash!]

22 hours ago, fundiefan said:

I want to feel bad that they're sick, and I do, but it's kind of buried under the being pissed at them thing.

I would feel the same way. They basically invited the virus to catch them ?

 

Holy hell. Switzerland has one of the highest cases in Europe and our government still downplays the warnings of their very own covid taskforce. Our test positivity rate is around 20%. The taskforce has been warning from this scenario since July but our government doesn't seem to care. This is actually the most shocking thing in this pandemic: The fucking swiss government doesn't protect us. Never in my life have I thought it would come to this. We are a wealthy country I was sure our officials would do what they're supposed to do: Protect the citizens of the country they're supposed to lead.
To be frank, I'm pretty scared. I work at a big university with tons of contact with students every day. I wear a FFP2 mask (equivalent to KN95?) but can't do home office as long as we're still open. And then Isabella Eckerle, Prof. at the Geneva Centre for Emerging Deseases tweets this 

 

  

 

 

Edited October 23, 2020 by Smash!

[47of74]

Fires were intentionally set at three Wal-Marts up in Ontario.  Authorities think it might have been the work of anti maskers. 

Edited October 23, 2020 by 47of74

[Ozlsn]

8 hours ago, Smash! said:

Our test positivity rate is around 20%.

Uh.. ok, that does not sound good. Who is getting tested at the moment - is it everyone who has been potentially exposed to a case, just people with symptoms, can people self-refer or do they have to be referred by a doctor? Depending on the testing cohort the numbers can change - here we have very low positive rates but we also test anyone who has symptoms, no matter how unlikely they are to have the virus, and also people in contact with known cases. Also anyone can turn up and get tested in drive through clinics.

Hand washing, masks and limiting contact as much as possible with people is all you can do unless your employer and/or the govt puts structures in place. Can you do your job with less face to face contact?