Corona Virus: It's a Marathon, Not a Sprint

[Alefroth]

This happened in my hometown today.


https://twitter.com/cbs12/status/127662 ... 47904?s=21

I’m not sure what’s worse. The guy or the people in the audience supporting him.

He's acting like a mad dog, and probably should be muzzled. How did it every come to this?!?

I keep asking myself how is this the last straw for these people?

[Kraken]

I keep asking myself how is this the last straw for these people?

Maybe they sense that they're losing -- not politically, yet, but in the court of public opinion. Or maybe it's just plain old tribal rage.

[Defiant]

https://twitter.com/dremilyportermd/sta ... 9715835905

[Octavious]

I'm curious to see if Trump shows up in public at all this week. He cancelled his trip to Jersey and skipped the pandemic briefing. We all know he will just hide if he catches it.

[Smoove_B]

I thought he cancelled the NJ trip because of the rain we're having today - can't be out golfing while American is burning if there's rain all day. I'm still convinced being a moron is protective against the virus.

[malchior]

I thought he cancelled the NJ trip because of the rain we're having today - can't be out golfing while American is burning if there's rain all day. I'm still convinced being a moron is protective against the virus.

Hopefully for folks like this. It sounds she drops the word 'Democratic' in there. I don't think she means a fan of Democracy.

https://twitter.com/RexChapman/status/1 ... 8730323968

[Smoove_B]

I feel very mixed about these things of late. On the one hand, part of my soul enjoys seeing people getting called on their BS. However, in a practical sense I fear there's going to be violence at some point because shaming someone in public and in a public way is going to trip circuit breakers for some individuals.

Really (for me) the issue is the store. It's not that I want to push this on to them, but they need to be enforcing it - checking when people come in and monitoring customers as they roam through the store. No mask, no entry or if you had it coming in and it disappears, you're given a warning and then ejected. No yelling, no scene - give them the Roadhouse Dalton out the door. For a large, corporate store like Trader Joe's, this shouldn't be an issue. Ejecting a customer? Not a problem. Where I know it's going to be a bigger problem is the smaller mom and pop retail places - individuals that don't want to kick out customers because it really might affect their small business (immediately and as that person gets on social media and tells all their garbage friends about how this independent store hates freedom).

Of course that assume you live in a town or state where these masks have been required. If we're going to rely completely on people to do the right thing, well...

[LawBeefaroni]

They're required here but I occasionally see someone without one in a required zone. They seem to be walking around with a chip on their shoulder just begging for someone to say something. I ignore them, they WANT to be asked to spew their bullshit.

I do think stores need to enforce better but they aren't really equipped to bounce assholes.

[Smoove_B]

NJ currently has mixed requirements for use. For example, they're required indoors when visiting a business, but only recommended outdoors or required outdoors when social distancing can't be maintained. From a policy communication standpoint, I think it would have just been easier to say "Wear them at all times when you're around other people", but I'm not on that committee.

The reason I bring it up is that yesterday NJ released their K-12 school opening plans. For the last few months we've been repeatedly reminded that wearing masks indoors is super important. Surprisingly, the NJ K-12 school plan indicates teachers and staff must wear masks but K-12 student are only recommended to have them on. Again, mixed message. IMHO the plan should be masks for everyone and if you don't agree or your child is incapable you have the option of remote learning. Where I struggle with this is I know there are going to be be kids (particularly younger ones) where trying to keep them in a mask all day is going to be nearly impossible. And once an unknown number of kids is seen without masks, more are just going to take theirs off. I totally get that kids need structure (I love structure) and socialization (I hate socialization) to thrive. I don't know how we provide that in a way that doesn't potentially introduce risk. There was an article in the Boston Globe yesterday or the day before (I think) about society at large needing to make a choice. Do we want bars and restaurants open now or schools open in the Fall? I think there's some merit to that line of thinking as we're clearly risking future activities by what's being permitted right now.

Regardless, it's a no-win situation all around and I am quite concerned about school staff. After reading the plan/requirements yesterday I honestly don't know how I'd advise a K-12 school to proceed. It seems insurmountable.

[Holman]

I keep asking myself how is this the last straw for these people?

They've spent thirty years being indoctrinated into an anti-government, anti-science, anti-intellectual, anti-elite, anti-mainstream ideology.

Now the elite intellectual scientists are using government and mainstream channels to tell them they have to do something mildly uncomfortable.

Even if it were something somehow *less* uncomfortable, they would rage about it.

[malchior]

@Smoove_B - we just had my MIL over outside by the pool. She works for one of the school systems in Middlesex County. She is telling us that the rules are too complex, It seems to be a mix of common sense stuff and stuff that people don't understand. It seems the complexity comes from flexibility for all of this home rule shit. And each district has to figure out how to allocate resources for new tasks that never existed before stretching people thin. And on top they are facing budget cuts due to the loss of state funding. It's a real mess.

For example, the temperature protocols for school sports doesn't allow the coaches to take the readings. Why? She is saying it is because everyone knows the coaches can't be trusted not to pass kids they need so they have to find some '3rd party'. This school only has a few 12 month employees to cover the summer and they are either management, coaches, or generally unit secretaries. So the assistant principal dubbed one secretary as 'school sports temperature taker'. Ok, great. Then there are the kids who get dropped off by a bus at school. Let's say one fails the temperature check. You now have to quarantine them somewhere until someone comes to get them. Does the school bus driver get quarantined? Do the other kids on the bus? Unknown. They don't know how they are going to separate kids on buses and classrooms yet. It's a mad scramble right now. There are a zillion of these issues and it just seems like it is going to be pretty hopeless to succeed here like you said. It feels like everyone is being set up to fail.

Edit: Also I'm not even sure if the stuff above is even accurate. Are they misinterpreting requirements? Who knows. It's a free for all.

[Blackhawk]

Really (for me) the issue is the store. It's not that I want to push this on to them, but they need to be enforcing it - checking when people come in and monitoring customers as they roam through the store. No mask, no entry or if you had it coming in and it disappears, you're given a warning and then ejected.

To be fair, that seems to be exactly what was happening in that video.

[Smoove_B]

It just seems like it is going to be pretty hopeless to succeed here like you said

Yup. There's absolutely going to be various levels of compliance/application/interpretation based on the 584 school districts we have in NJ. So yeah, 584 different plans for how to address K-12 schooling using a guidance document from the state. How the state is going to read through and approve 584 different plans, I have no idea, but I guess that's easier than writing a single plan that all districts must adopt. I want to jump in and help the school where my daughter just graduated. I want to jump in an offer my help to the high school she's about to attend. I'm telling you as someone with (some) knowledge on this topic and with basic training on infection control and disease spread, I have absolutely no idea how to offer anything helpful to a school district.

If there's outsiders that want to read up, please do enjoy.

[Smoove_B]

To be fair, that seems to be exactly what was happening in that video.

Huh. I had to look again - I didn't realize that two of those women were staff, but I see their uniform shirts now and the ID hanging on their belts. I guess I'd want to make sure workers involved in compliance are wearing something a bit more...noticeable. I think the other woman that was carrying a basket made me assume it was a group of customers that confronted the non-masked woman originally.

[Smoove_B]

Edit: Also I'm not even sure if the stuff above is even accurate. Are they misinterpreting requirements? Who knows. It's a free for all.

From the plan:

Districts must also work with school nurses and local health officials to create contact tracing plans, to keep track of who may have been exposed to positive cases.

School districts should contact their local health departments today (or Monday now, I guess) and ask to see the contact tracing plan. Like, do this immediately. They might be surprised to learn it doesn't exist, at least, not as I've seen. And I know this because I just finished training Thursday on the system that is allegedly being launched next week. And yet, schools are being told to create/be part of one? GTFO.

But wait a second, you say. I thought before the state opened up, we were going to have a robust contact tracing system in place? Yeah, so did I. Welcome to July.

[Blackhawk]

Indiana just has school 'advice' and leave it up to the individual districts to decide what policies to implement. And while I live in a relatively mild virus county, the kids go to school in a minor hotspot.

Oh, and choir is still a thing. And band. Who wants to sit downwind of the bugler?

[stessier]

South Carolina hospitals are at 70.2% with 622 Covid patients (out of 10,000 beds in the system). When I started paying attention on June 1, we were at 72.9% with 420 Covid patients. So it looks like we are kicking out the normal sick people to make room for the new sick people.

Today, 1599 cases and 19.6% positive rate from 8, 170 tests. Hospitals state wide are at 73% capacity with 980 Covid patients. The county next door is at 97.4% capacity in their hospital but they say that is misleading because they are in phase one staffing. If they need it, they go to phase two and call in more people to staff more beds. This, to me, seems to be missing the larger point.

[Brian]

Just got the news that one of the doctors at the veterinary clinic my wife works at has tested positive for Covid.
They are shutting the clinic down for two weeks.

Wife was given the option of using two weeks worth of PTO or the company (Banfield Pet Hospital) will pay for her to be tested and then, if clear, she can return to work at a different clinic until hers reopens.
She will be getting tested on Monday or possibly Tuesday so we've got about a week before knowing for sure.

This on top of my losing my job about a week and a half ago.

[YellowKing]

Just anecdotally, NC's mandatory mask requirement seems to have made a HUGE difference.

I went to the mall today and saw maybe 4 or 5 people without a mask. Wal-mart, which I had previously stated was 20% max compliance I saw maybe 2 or 3. For both places it was certainly 95%+ compliance. And those without a mask seemed to be at least social distancing.

I was pretty impressed. I honestly thought I'd see more people defying "Cooper's illegal law."

[Smoove_B]

Justice Department issues warning over the fake mask exempt cards:

At least some versions of the card appear to bear an official looking Justice Department insignia. In its alert, the department disavowed any role in the card's creation or dispersal, saying, "These postings were not issued by the Department and are not endorsed by the Department."

The department also said not to rely on information included on the card and instead to visit the Americans with Disabilities Act website.

It's unclear how many cards are in circulation, but it appears to have been spread via a Facebook page belonging to a group calling itself the Freedom to Breathe Agency.

I hope these make it into a museum some day, because no one will believe they existed otherwise.

[Smoove_B]

More public health stories - how the virus spread from an East Lansing bar to the Grosse Pointes:

All it took was one packed bar. An infected patron. And a wild party afterward.

This is the toxic combination that has led to a new wave of COVID-19 cases in the Grosse Pointe community, where at least 30 new cases in recent days have been tied to an outbreak at a popular East Lansing bar almost 100 miles away.

Harper's Restaurant & Brew Pub saw shoulder-to-shoulder crowds after reopening earlier this month, including some college students from the affluent Grosse Pointes who unknowingly got infected and brought the virus back home. According to multiple families who are now in quarantine, one of those students who visited Harper's came into contact with a friend who held a huge house party in Grosse Pointe Woods, where dozens of friends partied without masks and social distancing, they said.

What's next?

As of late Friday, the number of COVID-19 cases linked to Harper's brew pub had increased to 76, according to Ingham County health officials.

Fallout from the college bar, meanwhile, continues to be felt in the Grosse Pointes, which saw 23 new COVID-cases Friday. That's 30 percent of all the new cases seen that day in Wayne County, which saw 76 total new cases. Grosse Pointe Park saw the most infections.

"Twelve new cases were diagnosed just today, which is the biggest jump in one day, as far as I know, since this started," Grosse Pointe Park Councilwoman Aimee Fluitt wrote late Friday on Facebook.

[pr0ner]

I thought he cancelled the NJ trip because of the rain we're having today - can't be out golfing while American is burning if there's rain all day. I'm still convinced being a moron is protective against the virus.

He went golfing at his club in Virginia instead.

[Smoove_B]

I thought he cancelled the NJ trip because of the rain we're having today - can't be out golfing while American is burning if there's rain all day. I'm still convinced being a moron is protective against the virus.

He went golfing at his club in Virginia instead.

After Tweeting this yesterday:

I was going to go to Bedminster, New Jersey, this weekend, but wanted to stay in Washington, D.C. to make sure LAW & ORDER is enforced. The arsonists, anarchists, looters, and agitators have been largely stopped...

I guess LAW and ORDER was maintained enough that he could go golfing this morning.

[Skinypupy]

https://mobile.twitter.com/BrentTerhune ... 0859677700

[Zaxxon]

American Airlines will resume booking full flights this week. What could possibly go wrong?

[LawBeefaroni]

https://mobile.twitter.com/BrentTerhune ... 0859677700

He hits most of the important points.

[Ralph-Wiggum]

https://twitter.com/richardhine/status/ ... 53218?s=21

Spoiler:

BREAKING: #60Minutes investigation reveals Trump knowingly allowed flawed #COVID19 antibody tests to circulate, leading to inaccurate data about virus spread, creating data to support re-openings, and potentially causing thousands more preventable deaths.

It’s pretty sad how unsurprised I am by this.

[Dave Allen]

I get most of my news from this forum so there some gaps in my understanding of covid-19. Is there a reason for anyone who has tested positive and quarantined and tested then negative to wear a mask? Also, I get the impression that healthy kids don't die from this, so why don't we infect them so they will be in the clear to start school? I guess this must sound crazy.

[Isgrimnur]

How many kids are immunocompromised? How many of their parents and grandparents are they going to carry it home to and spread it to?

[LordMortis]

I get most of my news from this forum so there some gaps in my understanding of covid-19. Is there a reason for anyone who has tested positive and quarantined and tested then negative to wear a mask? Also, I get the impression that healthy kids don't die from this, so why don't we infect them so they will be in the clear to start school? I guess this must sound crazy.

From my understanding the they don't understand the antibodies well enough to tell you won't get re-infected and less than 1% of health kids die, would you intentionally infect your child is there was a 1 in 5000 chance they die?

[Ralph-Wiggum]

Ig and Mortis covered it: some children have serious complications and even die due to Covid. Plus, since we don’t yet know how long any immunity lasts, infecting kids on the hope that they’ll remain immune is taking a huge risk for possibly no lasting benefit. Same goes with wearing masks: since we don’t know enough about immunity, it is possible that people can come down with Covid even if they’ve already recovered from a previous episode.

[Kraken]

Aye, there are many unanswered questions about natural immunity. Among them: Do antibodies prevent the virus from riding along in an immune host, or merely protect the host from becoming ill?

[Smoove_B]

Also, I get the impression that healthy kids don't die from this

What I would generally say is that this is the first time this virus has been in the human body and as it rips around the globe it's doing different things to different people - both in the short term and the long term.

“We thought this was only a respiratory virus. Turns out, it goes after the pancreas. It goes after the heart. It goes after the liver, the brain, the kidney and other organs. We didn’t appreciate that in the beginning,” said Dr. Eric Topol, a cardiologist and director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute in La Jolla, California.

In addition to respiratory distress, patients with COVID-19 can experience blood clotting disorders that can lead to strokes, and extreme inflammation that attacks multiple organ systems. The virus can also cause neurological complications that range from headache, dizziness and loss of taste or smell to seizures and confusion.

...

Studies are just getting underway to understand the long-term effects of infection, Jay Butler, deputy director of infectious diseases at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told reporters in a telephone briefing on Thursday.

“We hear anecdotal reports of people who have persistent fatigue, shortness of breath,” Butler said. “How long that will last is hard to say.”

While coronavirus symptoms typically resolve in two or three weeks, an estimated 1 in 10 experience prolonged symptoms, Dr. Helen Salisbury of the University of Oxford wrote in the British Medical Journal on Tuesday.

In short, we're all part of giant experiment right now and intentionally exposing anyone to this virus is a non-starter. The "it doesn't kill children" is an excuse used by the anti-vaccination lunatics as to why they won't protect their children from diseases. It's true - kids in America are very unlikely to die from the measles. But they can be made deaf or blind or suffer a lifetime of chronic neurological problems because they had (and recovered) from the disease.

[LawBeefaroni]

I get most of my news from this forum so there some gaps in my understanding of covid-19. Is there a reason for anyone who has tested positive and quarantined and tested then negative to wear a mask? Also, I get the impression that healthy kids don't die from this, so why don't we infect them so they will be in the clear to start school? I guess this must sound crazy.

If all this were correct, it would still be an issue to intentionally infect a bunch of kids and send them off into to the world as vectors. Even if they were unkillable, which they aren't, they would be bringing the 'VID to the home and anywhere else they go. And kids suck at wearing masks.

[Formix]

We now have our first positive case of a staff member at the medical facility where I work. This is despite being a trained medical professional who always (reportedly) followed correct PPE procedures. I can't decide if this will make the folks I work with who are skeptical of the whole COVID hysteria more likely to take it seriously, or less. Because if they followed procedures and still got it, what good does the following of procedures do?

[Unagi]

reduce your odds?


It's like that building that had sprinklers and fire alarms installed, but still someone died in the fire... No one throws up their arms and says there is no point to Fire Alarms, because it clearly didn't help that guy...

I'd really like to think 'medical professionals' have the ability to grasp that.

[Skinypupy]

This idea that if a preventative measure isn’t 100% effective 100% of the time then it should be immediately be dismissed is so insane to me.

Especially since it’s coming from some of - what I thought - were the smartest and most rational people I know.

[Blackhawk]

See also: condoms. Just because one broke one time doesn't mean they don't work.

[Smoove_B]

https://twitter.com/ddiamond/status/1277021828721115138

TONY FAUCI has been blocked from some media appearances, amid White House concern that interviewers are trying to turn him on the president,

He's not good at "staying on message". Classic.

[RunningMn9]

Staying on political messaging is always what I look for during my pandemics.