COVID-19 III: No Politics For Thee

[Dave James]

Just when you're convinced we've bottomed out, you see this.  CNN and other reputable news outlets are reporting that college students in Alabama are holding COVID parties.  Money is put into a pot and the first person who contracts the virus gets the payout.  

Jesus take the wheel...these people couldn't be trusted with a glue stick.

[Matthew]

*Sigh* When you're young, you think you're indestructible, and anything "shocking" is funny. 

[Brad]

I came across this story this morning from the LA Times, which speaks for itself, Californians are losing their fear of the coronavirus, setting the stage for disaster

In the story (and I have heard this elsewhere), people are saying why can’t we do so and so if you let people protest. It’s hard to disagree with that argument. It does smack of a double standard. Yes, I understand the argument that the protests were a matter of public concern, etc. but many don’t see it that way.

Welcome to America. 

[David Ayers]

On 29/06/2020 at 0:53 AM, JSngry said:

An inspiring sight!

[ghost of miles]

Paul Krugman in the NY Times a couple of days ago:

>>at this point Arizona, with seven million people, is reporting around as many new cases each day as the whole E.U., with 446 million people.<<

Gee, America sure is great again! 

Re the George Floyd protests, I’ve seen several articles about cities where large protests took place and yet no spikes seem to have occurred. Speculation that this may be because the protests were held outside and the vast majority of protesters were masked. This was certainly the case at the early-June protest here in Bloomington, which I’d say I witnessed rather than attended, as I took pains to keep six feet distant or more at all times. Protest was estimated at 5-7000 people, and almost every single person I saw was masked. (As was I.) And Monroe County has seen only the slightest of upticks in the weeks since (which could also be attributed to our limited reopening). 

Marion County (Indianapolis) just instituted a mandatory mask policy beginning next week, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see Monroe County follow suit. What drives me crazy is that the same people pushing for full-steam-ahead reopening are almost always the same folks hollering against masks and social distancing. WTF?!

Edited July 4, 2020 by ghost of miles

[catesta]

On 7/4/2020 at 1:18 PM, ghost of miles said:

Paul Krugman in the NY Times a couple of days ago:

>>at this point Arizona, with seven million people, is reporting around as many new cases each day as the whole E.U., with 446 million people.<<

Gee, America sure is great again! 

Re the George Floyd protests, I’ve seen several articles about cities where large protests took place and yet no spikes seem to have occurred. Speculation that this may be because the protests were held outside and the vast majority of protesters were masked. This was certainly the case at the early-June protest here in Bloomington, which I’d say I witnessed rather than attended, as I took pains to keep six feet distant or more at all times. Protest was estimated at 5-7000 people, and almost every single person I saw was masked. (As was I.) And Monroe County has seen only the slightest of upticks in the weeks since (which could also be attributed to our limited reopening). 

Marion County (Indianapolis) just instituted a mandatory mask policy beginning next week, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see Monroe County follow suit. What drives me crazy is that the same people pushing for full-steam-ahead reopening are almost always the same folks hollering against masks and social distancing. WTF?!

Yeah, I read similar things about the protests including the ridiculous statements from the National Bureau of Economic Research.

Plenty were and are not wearing masks or have them pulled down to their chins.  Besides, masks are not the magic pill. What about not being able to wash hands and touching each other? What does the science say about the level of protection when the mask is covered in perspiration?

It is amazing that somehow these large gatherings have managed to be the exception for transmission possibilities.

Edited July 6, 2020 by catesta

[sonnymax]

37 minutes ago, bresna said:

The people ignoring stories like this are dopes.

Better to look like a dope than to be one. 

 

[ejp626]

An interesting development to be sure...

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jul/07/jair-bolsonaro-coronavirus-positive-test-brazil-president

The Brazilian president, Jair Bolsonaro, has announced live on television he has tested positive for coronavirus.

“It came back positive,” a mask-wearing Bolsonaro told a hand-picked group of reporters on Tuesday lunchtime outside his official residence.

“There’s no reason for fear. That’s life,” the president added.

[JSngry]

CLOWNSHOW WORLD LEADERS OF THE WORLD TAKE NOTE!

Nobody can take you seriously about this unless you die, and die a real death, not a faked one so you can come back from the dead. If you pull all sorts of wacko stunts to "prove" what a badass you "are", then when you say that you get sick with the Coco, for all we know, this is all just all a show for you to come out the other side stronger and more STRONGER than ever, right? Who dares defy THE MAN WHO PROVED STRONGER THAN DEATH?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

World gone wrong.

 

[Matthew]

1 hour ago, JSngry said:

CLOWNSHOW WORLD LEADERS OF THE WORLD TAKE NOTE!

Nobody can take you seriously about this unless you die, and die a real death, not a faked one so you can come back from the dead. If you pull all sorts of wacko stunts to "prove" what a badass you "are", then when you say that you get sick with the Coco, for all we know, this is all just all a show for you to come out the other side stronger and more STRONGER than ever, right? Who dares defy THE MAN WHO PROVED STRONGER THAN DEATH?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

World gone wrong.

 

Boris Johnson is a badass now?

[JSngry]

Hey, that hair speaks for itself.

[mjazzg]

19 hours ago, Matthew said:

Boris Johnson is a badass now?

He's nothing of the sort. A survivor due to the excellent care of the NHS that his party has spent years undermining. A narcissist of the first degree and a lying racist with it. None of that's political just a matter of record.

[BillF]

47 minutes ago, mjazzg said:

He's nothing of the sort. A survivor due to the excellent care of the NHS that his party has spent years undermining. A narcissist of the first degree and a lying racist with it. None of that's political just a matter of record.

[sidewinder]

Can we leave the politics out please - it is getting tiresome.

Thank you.

[mjazzg]

Not nearly as tiresome as still having  days where 150+ people are dying in this country

[ghost of miles]

From today's NY Times (it's from their Covid update stream, so I can't link directly to one specific piece)--we set another record for newly-reported cases in a single day yesterday with almost 60,000.  Oh, and the death toll is starting to climb again, too:

The growth in cases in the United States has continued to accelerate at alarming rates, even as other early hot spots curbed the spread of the virus.

Italy set its single-day record for new cases on March 21 with 6,557, but it now reports fewer than 200 a day. Spain, which was averaging 8,000 new cases a day during its peak in April, now averages a little over 400 a day. And Britain, which was averaging 5,500 new cases a day in mid-April, now averages 537.

In the United States, on the other hand, the outbreak is getting worse. Officials had hoped that the virus had reached its peak in the country in the spring, when it set a single-day record of 36,738 new cases on April 24. New cases did initially begin to decline after that, but continued to average more than 20,000 a day. And as states have eased restrictions and allowed more businesses to reopen, new cases have exploded in recent weeks.

The contrast between the United States and the early European hot spots was underscored when, as hospitals across the American South and West were being flooded with virus patients, a hospital in the hard-hit province of Bergamo, Italy, which was once the center of the global outbreak, reported that its intensive care unit had no Covid-19 cases for the first time in 137 days.

Edited July 10, 2020 by ghost of miles

[JSngry]

[Brad]

Dr. Michael Osterholm, the director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, and who is frequently interviewed on TV, has said that the disease won’t level off until it has infected about 50-60% of the US population. That’s a scary thought. He has consistently counseled that we are only in the early stages of the pandemic; he likens to being only in the 2nd inning. 

[ejp626]

I realize this is only a single school board in Alberta, and things are handled a bit looser in the States, but based on the advice of experts, "music classes will not have in-person singing, cheering or shouting. Students enrolled in band will not be able to play wind instruments."  So that pretty much completely wipes out symphonic band and choir, leaving only string ensembles.  I realize this may only impact a couple of years in these kids' lives (though it might stretch to 3+ years when all is said and done), but it does seem like an important chain is being snapped and Gen Z may end up not having much, if any, musical training.  A depressing thought to start a dreary weekend...

[JSngry]

 

https://www.axios.com/coronavirus-losing-war-b36632fb-33b0-4cb0-84b2-14000841d89c.html?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter_axiosam&stream=top

[medjuck]

[Dan Gould]

1 hour ago, medjuck said:

I trust this is not posted in a spirit of "just rewards".

https://www.cleveland19.com/2020/07/10/year-old-port-clinton-war-vet-dies-covid-complications-fourth-july/

“Rick is getting slaughtered online right now for his decision that he made not to wear a mask and that’s not right,” Conley said. “We should still be compassionate whether we agree with someone’s beliefs or not. Someone has passed away and we should have some compassion towards that.”

Rose’s family said he tested positive for COVID-19 on July 1 and died just three days later. Rose’s family said he had no known pre-existing health conditions.

 

That is an incredible trajectory, to be diagnosed on the 1st and dead on the 4th.

 

Edit to add it looks like it may have been a packed pool/bar location that he was infected. Hard to imagine anyone wearing a mask at a location like that and this is more on young people believing they are indestructible.

 

https://heavy.com/news/2020/07/richard-rose-covid-19-coronavirus/

Edited July 11, 2020 by Dan Gould

[medjuck]

47 minutes ago, Dan Gould said:

I trust this is not posted in a spirit of "just rewards". 

https://www.cleveland19.com/2020/07/10/year-old-port-clinton-war-vet-dies-covid-complications-fourth-july/“We should still be compassionate whether we agree with someone’s beliefs or not. Someone has passed away and we should have some compassion towards that.”

 

 

What about compassion for the people who died because of his beliefs? How many people do you think he might have infected before he was tested? What if he was sick when he went to the party?   Read his posts. He spent a lot of time mocking others-- especially Black people.   Do you feel compassion for suicide bombers?

Edited July 11, 2020 by medjuck

[Dan Gould]

26 minutes ago, medjuck said:

What about compassion for the people who died because of his beliefs? How many people do you think he might have infected before he was tested? What if he was sick when he went to the party?   Read his posts. He spent a lot of time mocking others-- especially Black people.   Do you feel compassion for suicide bombers?

There's no evidence to suggest he is the source of any outbreak from that location.

Don't care what else he said. And have no interest in anything else you ever say.

[Brad]

2 hours ago, medjuck said:

What about compassion for the people who died because of his beliefs? How many people do you think he might have infected before he was tested? What if he was sick when he went to the party?   Read his posts. He spent a lot of time mocking others-- especially Black people.   Do you feel compassion for suicide bombers?

America, where your rights matter more than anyone else’s. 

It's a shame when anyone dies from this but it’s also a shame when people can’t work together for the common good. 

Edited July 11, 2020 by Brad