PlagueWatch 2020-23 - Coronavirus

[devildeac]

Attachment 10820

Ahhh, another defenestrator!!

[fisheyes]

Ahhh, another defenestrator!!

LOL
You must spread some comments...yada yada yada...

[OldPhiKap]

Ahhh, another defenestrator!!

LOL
You must spread some comments...yada yada yada...

Yeah, me too unfortunately. Really made me chuckle.

[bundabergdevil]

Went to my local Lowe's today and was pleasantly surprised, particularly after reading the experiences of some on this thread at similar such establishments, to see everyone wearing a mask, even in the outside section. I guess I'm technically still in a 'red phase' stay-at-home county so thems the rules but still felt good to see everyone behaving.

[CameronDuke]

This is not going to go over well. I hear people grousing about it already, and it hasn't even happened yet.

Governor Northam didn't do himself any favors by going to check out how the beach opening was going without wearing a mask (which I think is ok, he was outdoors) but also not maintaining social distancing. He was photographed in close proximity to people, and now everybody is up in arms about "do I as say, not as I do," and the like. Ralph used to work at my hospital, and I worked with him for years. He is actually a very nice guy. But he should have been more careful; he should know that he would be in the spotlight. If I were in his shoes, I might even have put on a mask even at the beach, not because it was necessary but because I would've known that people were gunning for me, just waiting for me to make a mistake of any kind. I would've kept people AT LEAST six feet from me, and I would not have been shaking any hands or making any physical contact.

Yeah, I too think our governor is a nice enough man. He actually seems quite pleasant to me most of the time. I respect his career achievements, too. He was a combat medic in the Army and was a pediatric neurologist before that. The mask wearing mandate has been met with support and disdain here. I think we will see more people following the mandate rather than disobeying it however.

I read the Virginia Association of Chiefs of Police had some heartburn with it. Essentially, they say that the private businesses the mandate applies to not only have to comply with the mandate, but they have to enforce them. This means there is likely going to be many customers who will refuse to wear the mask inside businesses, will be confronted by business owners or employees inside the business, and told they need to wear a mask. This is likely going to lead to some confrontations and there simply aren’t enough police to be stationed at all businesses or that can be called to police these confrontations. If a police officer had to forcibly remove a customer from a business for continuing to refuse to wear a mask, this creates a “close-contact” encounter which requires the officer to self-quarantine for 2 weeks due to police policies and procedures.

Things will get interesting when the mandate starts Friday but I am simply going to comply and wear a mask inside stores the few times I do need to venture out. I hope others do the same.

[rsvman]

He was a pediatric neurologist after his service, and perhaps during, not before. He and I belonged to the same practice group. He even took care of one of my sons once. He was a very compassionate and excellent doctor, that I know for a fact. I worked with him for about fifteen years.

[CameronDuke]

He was a pediatric neurologist after his service, and perhaps during, not before. He and I belonged to the same practice group. He even took care of one of my sons once. He was a very compassionate and excellent doctor, that I know for a fact. I worked with him for about fifteen years.

Ok, thank you for pointing that out. I am glad to hear the good things about him. I am hoping the people that don’t agree with every decision he is making right now cut him some slack and give him a break during these unprecedented times. It is a tough position to be in making decisions for the safety of all citizens. I will defer to his judgment on most of the issues given his knowledge of the medical field.

[devildeac]

Yeah, me too unfortunately. Really made me chuckle.

Youze two make me smile.

[mpj96]

NC's biggest problem is that we actually shutdown too soon. The pandemic never got bad enough in the area to put the fear of COVID-19 into everyone. As a result, a lot of folks don't believe it can get bad in NC.

Agree. It's a little like trying to prepare a young basketball team for a rematch after blowing out a rival team. You can tell the players all you want that it is going to be tougher than they think but some things have to be lived to be understood.

[sparv]

I wonder if there are others out there who is looking at numbers and feeling optimistic? I may be too much of a Pollyanna, but all the numbers here in Texas seem to be trending in the right direction. On Monday, there were 440 new cases reported (the lowest number since March 30), with 3 new deaths (the lowest since March 27). My zip code has had a total of 23 cases, and the county has had fewer than 3000 cases total. Even if the more recent numbers are a result of a holiday weekend lag in reporting, the trend is that numbers are holding steady or decreasing in spite of opening up.

Back at the end of April, the mayor of Austin presented the course of action recommended by a UT professor to minimize death, which was a 555-day lockdown, which would have shut everything down until September 2021. The models presented at that time predicted 6500+ deaths in the Austin area if restrictions were lifted. We are currently at 88 deaths in Travis County. I recognize that things could always get worse, but for now, I am feeling optimistic.

Our family has been pretty risk averse, but in the next week, I am taking my daughter to the dentist, taking her for medical testing which will last 4-5 hours over 2 days, going to my ENT (who I normally see every 2-4 weeks but haven't seen since February). We will wear masks and take all precautions we can, but it seems like a much less scary proposition than it did last month.

[MChambers]

Surprisingly to me, only 49% of Americans say they'd get vaccinated, assuming a vaccine is available. http://www.apnorc.org/projects/Pages...9-Vaccine.aspx

[WillJ]

Ahhh, another defenestrator!!

Must be from Prague

[Bostondevil]

Surprisingly to me, only 49% of Americans say they'd get vaccinated, assuming a vaccine is available. http://www.apnorc.org/projects/Pages...9-Vaccine.aspx

Doesn't surprise me, that's about how many get the flu vaccine every year.

[MChambers]

Doesn't surprise me, that's about how many get the flu vaccine every year.

You're right, of course, but this thing is more deadly than the flu and has gotten a lot of news coverage, to say the least. I was hoping for more. Call me an optimist.

[MChambers]

Good story from Smithsonian Magazine about immune responses to the novel coronavirus and how complicated the situation it is.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/scien...ted-180974970/

[YmoBeThere]

I wonder if there are others out there who is looking at numbers and feeling optimistic? I may be too much of a Pollyanna, but all the numbers here in Texas seem to be trending in the right direction. On Monday, there were 440 new cases reported (the lowest number since March 30), with 3 new deaths (the lowest since March 27). My zip code has had a total of 23 cases, and the county has had fewer than 3000 cases total. Even if the more recent numbers are a result of a holiday weekend lag in reporting, the trend is that numbers are holding steady or decreasing in spite of opening up.

Back at the end of April, the mayor of Austin presented the course of action recommended by a UT professor to minimize death, which was a 555-day lockdown, which would have shut everything down until September 2021. The models presented at that time predicted 6500+ deaths in the Austin area if restrictions were lifted. We are currently at 88 deaths in Travis County. I recognize that things could always get worse, but for now, I am feeling optimistic.

I too am trying to remain optimistic. I'm an hour and a half south of you and our numbers are even better. You point out a couple things to note:

1) Socioeconomics plays a big factor in who is getting the disease. They only present ranges of cases here in SA, but my zip code hasn't had a new case in over 10 days and we are somewhere between 21-40 cases. We are a reasonably affluent area in SA. The hard hit areas around here are mostly inside the 410 beltway. The demographics of my area and those are different. The more affluent and rural Kendall County, where many of my coworkers live, have had a total of 24 cases among their 47,000 residents.

2) The virus doesn't recognize zip code and other boundaries. Where the person lives who is working as the hygienist is more indicative of their exposure.

3) Travis County did have it's highest case count day yesterday. https://www.kxan.com/kxan-live/news-notes-record-jump-in-covid-19-cases-in-travis-county-other-stories-to-know-in-less-than-5-minutes/
Reasonable cautions remain warranted.

[OldPhiKap]

Ahhh, another defenestrator!!

Must be from Prague

Gotta love DBR.

[sagegrouse]

I wonder if there are others out there who is looking at numbers and feeling optimistic? I may be too much of a Pollyanna, but all the numbers here in Texas seem to be trending in the right direction. On Monday, there were 440 new cases reported (the lowest number since March 30), with 3 new deaths (the lowest since March 27). My zip code has had a total of 23 cases, and the county has had fewer than 3000 cases total. Even if the more recent numbers are a result of a holiday weekend lag in reporting, the trend is that numbers are holding steady or decreasing in spite of opening up.

Back at the end of April, the mayor of Austin presented the course of action recommended by a UT professor to minimize death, which was a 555-day lockdown, which would have shut everything down until September 2021. The models presented at that time predicted 6500+ deaths in the Austin area if restrictions were lifted. We are currently at 88 deaths in Travis County. I recognize that things could always get worse, but for now, I am feeling optimistic.

Our family has been pretty risk averse, but in the next week, I am taking my daughter to the dentist, taking her for medical testing which will last 4-5 hours over 2 days, going to my ENT (who I normally see every 2-4 weeks but haven't seen since February). We will wear masks and take all precautions we can, but it seems like a much less scary proposition than it did last month.

Yes, I am optimistic that the trends at a national level are quite positive -- actually, it's more of a retreat from being "absolutely horrific."

With one caveat to be discussed below, the seven-day average number of deaths is 1,015, less than one-half the peak of 2,208 on April 21. The decline in number of new cases has been more modest -- 22 thousand for the past seven days is 30 percent below the peak seven-day average on April 8.

The caveat, of course, is that we just had a three-day weekend and reports have been lower on those days. We'll learn something today.

My armchair analysis (actually, an Aeron chair at my desk), is that -- at last -- we are doing a better job of taking care of older Americans, especially in assisted-living centers or nursing homes. I mean, we were really clueless earlier -- and we didn't have the test kits. We also have a lot more tests available, and that will naturally turn up more people who are infected with the novel coronavirus. That may explain why the new case numbers are declining less than other measures.

Yes, I see the dopes running around in high-density settings and that behavior will lead to new cases and worse. I tend to think the nationwide trends, as in every other country, will look a lot smoother than the new peaks we see from individual locations. In other words, the huge peaks of NY and NJ will not recur elsewhere -- or at nowhere near the same numbers. I expect our overall numbers to decline -- guessing at 500-700 deaths per day by mid-June. But even those numbers represent a lot of misery for our people.

[Bostondevil]

You're right, of course, but this thing is more deadly than the flu and has gotten a lot of news coverage, to say the least. I was hoping for more. Call me an optimist.

It will take employers requiring it.

[OldPhiKap]

It will take employers requiring it.

And/or establishments requiring it of their patrons.

No shirt, no shoes, no mask, no service. . . .