Government Response to Coronavirus 6: Dr. MyPillow and Demon Sperm

[47of74]

1 hour ago, Cartmann99 said:

@47of74, will you please keep us updated on how this shakes out in Guttenberg? I'm curious if City Council members are getting death threats and such for taking this action. Thanks!

@Cartmann99 Of course if any comes along in relation to this story I'll put it up here.  However Guttenberg is about 50 miles away from Dubuque so we don't get a whole lot of news of local goings on up there.  It's right about at the edge of the TH coverage area. 

[47of74]

Dubuque County finally stepped up to the fucking plate

Quote

Dubuque County supervisors today unanimously approved a countywide mandate for face coverings to be worn in public, as local COVID-19 cases continue to surge.

The vote by the supervisors followed a unanimous vote by the nine-member Dubuque County Board of Health on Monday night to again recommend that a mask mandate be established as a way of reducing the spread of the coronavirus. The mandate will go into effect on Wednesday, Nov. 18. 

The Board of Health previously recommended such a move, but the supervisors voted 2-1 in early September against instituting one. At that time, Jay Wickham was the only supervisor to vote in favor, with Dave Baker and Ann McDonough voting against it. 

The since-revised mandate requires people older than 3 to wear face coverings in interior public spaces and businesses; on public transportation or when using a private car service; and when outside if they are unable to maintain 6 feet of distance from others. Exceptions are included for those with breathing difficulty or under oxygen treatment, or those legally or medically required not to wear masks.

Course I have all the local BTs blocked on FB so I'm not seeing their comments now but I bet they're whining away now.  Fuck them, of course.

[Maggie Mae]

Our Governor (who would have been recalled by now, if not for the pandemic slowing down signature gathering. Stuck at 70% in phase two) sent out an emergency alert to a video on youtube of him talking behind a desk, urging people to "be vigilant" and "send employees home" but no statewide shutdown, no mask mandate, nothing but himself saying the same things he's said before, without any sort of enforcement behind it. At least we don't have to worry about tourists now that it's snowed. 

Useless. At least all of our "democratic led cities" (which, is just everything that qualifies as a "city." in a state that doesn't really use that sort of designation) have mask mandates and restrictions on non-essential businesses. 

[47of74]

2 hours ago, Maggie Mae said:

Our Governor (who would have been recalled by now, if not for the pandemic slowing down signature gathering. Stuck at 70% in phase two) sent out an emergency alert to a video on youtube of him talking behind a desk, urging people to "be vigilant" and "send employees home" but no statewide shutdown, no mask mandate, nothing but himself saying the same things he's said before, without any sort of enforcement behind it. At least we don't have to worry about tourists now that it's snowed. 

Useless. At least all of our "democratic led cities" (which, is just everything that qualifies as a "city." in a state that doesn't really use that sort of designation) have mask mandates and restrictions on non-essential businesses. 

The Idiots Out Running Around here in Iowa love our Branch Trumpvidian governor and her groupies in the Iowa legislature and every other level of government in the state.  So it's going to be 2022 until they are able to give her the walking papers but I doubt there's enough decent people in Iowa to do that.  I don't plan to be around Iowa by then in any event.  Iowa could turn bright, bright blue in 2022 with a new democratic governor and a democratic super-majority and I still wouldn't come back.

And of course our useless idiot of a governor here in Iowa has decided that she's not gonna even try while the pandemic burns across Iowa.

Quote

Governor Kim Reynolds announced the state will add more contact tracers and buy more tests for its controversial Test Iowa program as COVID-19 cases spike in the state.

The governor said the state will buy another 360,000 tests for around $3.4 million. Gov. Reynolds said the state has around 140,000 tests left and believes those tests will last until December 11.

Iowa State Auditor said the reporting chain has delays, takes pointless risks, and increases liabilities for taxpayers. Black Hawk County Sheriff Tony Thompson called the program a “publicity stunt" and an “enormous failure”. State lawmakers are also calling for an investigation into the no-bid contract for Test Iowa.

The White House Coronavirus Task Force in its latest report recommended Iowa increase it’s testing capacity so it could test people weekly in 95 different counties in the Red Zone.

I want out of this fucking state so bad.

Edited November 12, 2020 by 47of74

[Maggie Mae]

I guess we figured out the reason for the misuse of the emergency alert system.  

Our sole house "representative" has tested positive for what he calls the "beer virus." 

https://www.adn.com/politics/2020/11/12/alaska-rep-don-young-tests-positive-for-covid-19/

[Ozlsn]

2 hours ago, 47of74 said:

The governor said the state will buy another 360,000 tests for around $3.4 million. Gov. Reynolds said the state has around 140,000 tests left and believes those tests will last until December 11.

Ok. So Iowa presumably is planning to test and trace its way out?

400,000 tests in 29 days is just under 14,000 tests per day. Unless you are enforcing a lockdown that is quite possibly not going to be enough. At the point in August when we had 148 new cases per day, had a mask mandate and were very locked down (only essential workers at work on site, no travel further than 5km without a permit, 4 reasons to leave home, all school virtual)  we were doing ~13,000 tests per day. Now, 14 days into zero cases per day, we are doing over 14,000 tests per day.  Unless they enforce quarantine on all positive cases, and traced contacts no matter what their test results it is not enough to stop it - and to be honest without the entire lockdown I doubt it will work as people aren't traced effectively and/or don't come forward because it will impact their income. Which is part two - you need income support for people who cannot work from home, whether that is for a lockdown period or for quarantine.

Editing to add: 140,000 tests for 3.1ish million people is one test for every 7.75 people. If you assume you need at least 2 tests per case it's 15.5 people - and that is not enough to test contacts as well. Again, without either mandatory quarantine for cases and known contacts or lockdown I don't think it's enough given where the case numbers are.

Edited November 13, 2020 by Ozlsn

[47of74]

1 hour ago, Ozlsn said:

 Which is part two - you need income support for people who cannot work from home, whether that is for a lockdown period or for quarantine.

Yes, for lock downs there needs to be total income support for people who cannot work from home in such periods.  Not a token amount.  Not a one time payment that lasts all of about a week.  Without bullshit or making people jump through 500 hoops in order to qualify for that support.  It needs to be there without making Americans apply on buggy web sites put together by some fly by night operation - which is what #CovidKim would probably use.  I fear that we'll go into a lockdown and that people will not have the financial support they need to get through this, that a bunch of milquetoast Democrats will go along with Mitch McFuckstick and the GOP then make excuses as to why they couldn't deliver.

And I had better not see any elected official - R or D - insisting on sacrifices they themselves are not willing to make (Mayor Lightfoot I'm looking directly at you and your insistence on seeing your stylist during the earlier lock down then making excuses as to why you're exempt).  That angers me more than anything is that we have wealthy politicians always spouting off about the need for people to make sacrifices that they are not willing to make themselves.  And make it clear to any government employee or elected official looking to wipe their asses with the Constitution that they are being watched and will be held accountable.   Something I liked about how Gov. Walz up in Minnesota handled things was that he put in his order that it was not to be construed as permission to violate people's rights. 

[Ozlsn]

28 minutes ago, 47of74 said:

And I had better not see any elected official - R or D - insisting on sacrifices they themselves are not willing to make (Mayor Lightfoot I'm looking directly at you and your insistence on seeing your stylist during the earlier lock down then making excuses as to why you're exempt). 

There was a particularly vicious bullshit meme going around while we were in lockdown claiming that our Premier's family were in Queensland (which was not in lockdown).  It was so obviously politically motivated, and all it did was try and stir up anger in people who were already coping with the effects of lockdown. If any politican from either side had done that or gone to the hairdresser I think they would quite likely have killed their political career stone dead. (Also they and the hairdresser would have been fined about $1600 each).

Edited November 13, 2020 by Ozlsn

[47of74]

On 11/12/2020 at 10:48 PM, Ozlsn said:

There was a particularly vicious bullshit meme going around while we were in lockdown claiming that our Premier's family were in Queensland (which was not in lockdown).  It was so obviously politically motivated, and all it did was try and stir up anger in people who were already coping with the effects of lockdown. If any politican from either side had done that or gone to the hairdresser I think they would quite likely have killed their political career stone dead. (Also they and the hairdresser would have been fined about $1600 each).

That’s why if I was Governor and had to order lockdowns I’d sit my family down before any orders and say we’ll be under a fucking microscope and if you try any bullshit during this time in the hopes that you can get around  restrictions because you’re related to me fucking think again.  I’ll come down on you ten times harder And I wouldn’t take the cowards way out like Pritzker did at that press conference and answer questions head fucking on.

[Cartmann99]

DFL stands for Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party.

Spoiler

 

[Cartmann99]

Governor Noem has her sights set on a 2024 run, so she's doing what she can to appeal to the Trump supporting demographic:

Spoiler

 

 

Edited November 14, 2020 by Cartmann99

[47of74]

4 hours ago, Cartmann99 said:

Governor Noem has her sights set on a 2024 run, so she's doing what she can to appeal to the Trump supporting demographic:

  Hide contents

 

 

The Covid sisters #CovidKim and #CovidKristi are the two worst Governors in the nation.  The pandemic is burning out of control and these two could not possibly care less.  I'm convinced they're trying to out do each other to prove they're more Trumpian than the other. 

[47of74]

Gov Newsom of California has been asking residents to avoid gathering in groups. 

Quote

Last week, he broke his own rule.

Newsom on Friday said he shouldn’t have attended a birthday party. The gathering had a dozen people from more than three households. State guidelines limit gatherings to no more than three households.

At least he admitted he shouldn’t have gone and not gotten all huffy like other politicians have done.

As I said stuff like this really pisses me off.  You’re going to insist that people follow rules you don’t turn around and break them. He did the people taking the pandemic seriously no favors and gives the other side material that it’s not serious. 

[AmazonGrace]

Is this real?

 

[FiveAcres]

7 minutes ago, AmazonGrace said:

Is this real?

 

According to this local news station, yes:

 

https://www.ktsm.com/local/el-paso-news/inmates-help-move-bodies-as-they-pile-up-at-el-paso-medical-examiners-office/

 

[nokidsmom]

12 hours ago, 47of74 said:

The Covid sisters #CovidKim and #CovidKristi are the two worst Governors in the nation.  The pandemic is burning out of control and these two could not possibly care less.  I'm convinced they're trying to out do each other to prove they're more Trumpian than the other. 

@47of74, a few weeks ago, Mr. No and I had to make a necessary run to Iowa (Quad Cities area) and we were a bit nervous about it given no statewide mandate versus here in IL.   While at a IA rest stop, most folks were wearing masks including the rest area staff but there were a few folks without.   Our destination in Davenport was next to a chain restaurant and the parking lot was packed, didn't see masks on people.   Fortunately the business we were going to had a business wide mask mandate, sanitizer, and social distancing were in place.

Just traveling to Iowa through IL was interesting.   We stopped at a McD's for lunch, only drive through and limited lobby hours from 8AM to 2 PM.   The Culver's next door was pick up and drive through only.  No restroom access at either place so had to go to the truck stop for that and indoor dining was just closed again.   Masks required at truck stop but didn't stop 5 people from entering without them anyway.  Most people were masked though but still it galls me that some people still think they can stride in without.  I don't care if you are on the road driving through a patchwork of local Covid restrictions on your trip.   If you are in a state with a mask mandate, wear it.

IL is divided in to different regions for Covid so restrictions such as indoor dining, bars etc. can vary though now the whole darn state appears to be headed for another statewide lockdown. 

ETA: I know Pritzker has not been perfect but at least he shows genuine concern for his constituents.  I don't know like the likes of CovidKim can look herself in the mirror.

Edited November 15, 2020 by nokidsmom
Clarification

[WiseGirl]

 

[47of74]

10 minutes ago, nokidsmom said:

@47of74, a few weeks ago, Mr. No and I had to make a necessary run to Iowa (Quad Cities area) and we were a bit nervous about it given no statewide mandate versus here in IL.   While at a IA rest stop, most folks were wearing masks including the rest area staff but there were a few folks without.   Our destination in Davenport was next to a chain restaurant and the parking lot was packed, didn't see masks on people.   Fortunately the business we were going to had a business wide mask mandate, sanitizer, and social distancing were in place.

Just traveling to Iowa through IL was interesting.   We stopped at a McD's for lunch, only drive through and limited lobby hours from 8AM to 2 PM.   The Culver's next door was pick up and drive through only.  No restroom access at either place so had to go to the truck stop for that and indoor dining was just closed again.   Masks required at truck stop but didn't stop 5 people from entering without them anyway.  Most people were masked though but still it galls me that some people still think they can stride in without.  I don't care if you are on the road driving through a patchwork of local Covid restrictions on your trip.   If you are in a state with a mask mandate, wear it.

IL is divided in to different regions for Covid so restrictions such as indoor dining, bars etc. can vary though now the whole darn state appears to be headed for another statewide lockdown. 

Yeah the Culvers here in Iowa are just doing drive through as well.  I went down to Davenport yesterday for a Costco run to get some essentials before there's another lockdown.  I wanted to get another pack of toilet paper now instead of waiting for another run, so to speak, on toilet paper.

The Quad Cities finally has a high speed charger so I stopped there for an hour to recharge.    (The Bolt is under a recall now due to a couple battery fires so they're putting a temporary cap on the vehicles until they can do a long term fix so I needed that to get home and meanwhile I'm doing hilltop reserve until the local dealer can get me in).  I went over to the HomeGoods store cause I had to use the can and they're limiting the capacity of people in the store at once so I had to wait with an uncomfortably full bladder for several minutes until some people left.  Sat at the Holiday Inn bar waiting for the charge to finish - not too many people there and people were masked up there.  Picked up a Papa Murphy's at their Bettendorf store - nice thing about that one is that it was built with a drive in.

Also went over the new I-74 bridge yesterday - the westbound lanes were open and it sounds like they're going to shift eastbound on to the new westbound span until the eastbound span is done.  I remember people in the area talking about that way back in 2006.

 

[CTRLZero]

Governor Inslee is going to lock Washington state down tight for the holidays.  No indoor gathering, including restaurants.   Headed to even more miserable economic times. 

 Here’s a snippet from the Seattle Times article:

Quote

Set to last for four weeks, the new restrictions would limit retailers, such as grocery and convenience stores, as well as nail salons, to 25% of occupancy, according to those officials. Gyms, bowling alleys, museums, movie theaters and aquariums would be required to close, industry officials said.

 

[nokidsmom]

3 minutes ago, 47of74 said:

Also went over the new I-74 bridge yesterday - the westbound lanes were open and it sounds like they're going to shift eastbound on to the new westbound span until the eastbound span is done.  I remember people in the area talking about that way back in 2006.

We saw the detours for westbound I-74 while in Davenport, was wondering when that would open.  We came in on I-80 and exited onto I-74 but our destination was the first exit after I-80/1-74 interchange that so didn't have to worry about the detour really.

12 minutes ago, 47of74 said:

I went over to the HomeGoods store cause I had to use the can and they're limiting the capacity of people in the store at once so I had to wait with an uncomfortably full bladder for several minutes until some people left.

One thing about road traveling is that now you just can't stop anywhere for the restroom you gotta think about what places are accessible along your route.   In our case the routing in IL was pretty rural: local roads to I-39, to I-88 (which is toll road part of the way so not many exits) to I-80.  The truckstops or rest areas were pretty much the only place to get to a restroom. 

 

 

[Audrey2]

Yesterday morning I left around 6:30 a.m. to go shopping in a major metropolitan area about an hour and 15 minutes from my house. I live in a decent size town but we have neither Target nor Fred Meyer and I also wanted to see if my chances would be better in a larger metropolitan area with getting some of the items I was unable to get here. I left the metropolitan area around 10:00 after having hit all of the stores that I wanted to hit. People were wearing masks and seem to be social distancing but I didn't consider it a large amount of people in any of the stores. Fred Meyer even had toilet paper, but I had gotten a new huge roll pack last summer and that was on top of the leftover rolls I had from last January's pack. This morning I went out to my local Walmart and WinCo to pick up some cold items that I didn't take an ice chest for yesterday and WinCo was pretty busy for 8:00 on a Sunday morning. Walmart was out of toilet paper. I usually try to buy extra and stock up in November anyway, so I can really reduce trips to stores throughout the Christmas season, but this year knowing that my governor was going to be closing things down, it really pushed me to do my big shop.

[47of74]

44 minutes ago, CTRLZero said:

Governor Inslee is going to lock Washington state down tight for the holidays.  No indoor gathering, including restaurants.   Headed to even more miserable economic times.

And no financial help this time other for businesses or employees to weather the storm from the Federal government.  Inslee and every other Governor wanting to do lockdowns better figure out something fast to get people through this lockdown.  Sometimes Democratic elected officials seem to stupid to survive politically.  They think they can just do these things and everything will be magically fine - that people somehow won't get evicted and be homeless, have their vehicles repossessed and be left without reliable transportation, be left with mounds of debt and no way to declare bankruptcy, and unable to find good decent jobs.  These officials think businesses magically won't fail.  And they think that magically people won't blame them when everything goes to hell for them.  I think that's part of the reason why the elections didn't turn out quite as we hoped this year and they better be looking ahead to 2022 and the fucking over the party will take if they don't help people.  

I am not opposed to lockdowns if needed but officials need to goddamn fucking well help people weather the storm instead of locking down and providing no help to people.  Sean Hannity is going to call them names anyways so they need to give the reich wingers a real reason to despise them.

[Ozlsn]

5 hours ago, AmazonGrace said:

Is this real?

 

I sincerely hope they have been given appropriate training in the PPE, and think they should be being paid a crapload more. If one of them gets sick the whole jail is likely to. 

3 hours ago, 47of74 said:

Sometimes Democratic elected officials seem to stupid to survive politically

Do they have state funds to do income support? Because if so, they need to do that. They're getting nothing federally until after Jan 20th at the earliest, even working out a deal with Biden now to pay them back later would help. 

Four weeks is two virus cycles. It might reduce transmission sufficiently to let the hospitals not be over run, but probably not more than that. 

[47of74]

38 minutes ago, Ozlsn said:

I sincerely hope they have been given appropriate training in the PPE, and think they should be being paid a crapload more. If one of them gets sick the whole jail is likely to. 

Do they have state funds to do income support? Because if so, they need to do that. They're getting nothing federally until after Jan 20th at the earliest, even working out a deal with Biden now to pay them back later would help. 

Four weeks is two virus cycles. It might reduce transmission sufficiently to let the hospitals not be over run, but probably not more than that. 

I think jail / prison jobs should pay minimum wage at the least. Take away the slave labor incentives and you’ll see a bunch of Republicans suddenly big ass fans of alternative corrections. 

I think states cannot use the there’s no Federal funds as an excuse not to help people. If they want to lockdown they have to help their residents. Government entities can survive a rating downgrade. People cannot survive losing everything. If it means working out something with Biden they have to do that. No amount of virtue signaling in 2022 will help if people see the Democratic Party as the cause of their dire straits and see the party as a bunch of out of touch limousine liberals. I don’t want the Republicans ever getting within shitting distance of power again and I fear the Democrats could fuck this up so badly that people see a as return to Trumpism as their savior. 

[Ozlsn]

3 hours ago, 47of74 said:

think states cannot use the there’s no Federal funds as an excuse not to help people. If they want to lockdown they have to help their residents.

Agreed - I think if you have a lockdown mandate you need to ensure that everyone that can work remotely does so, that businesses that are essential are able to stay open safely (e.g. groceries, pharmacies), and that non-essential businesses and people working for them that can't stay open safely have income support for the period of lockdown. 

Also of course that essential workers who cannot work remotely are supported to have safe workplaces and PPE as required. 

We had all that - and we still had businesses close locally (a trophy shop, who would probably have been OK except of course all the sports stopped, a food place who I think were already struggling, my gym, dammit - a number of reasons including a dispute with the landlord) - but not as many would have closed otherwise.  The next 12 months will still be interesting - but the payments for people who need to stay home to quarantine are still in place, and that is one thing that has helped with people who are living on casual or business-related incomes maintain quarantine. 

Basically you have to make it as stress free as you can, because locking down is stressful anyway, and worrying about food and heating on top of that is a disincentive for people to comply.