The Official Coronavirus Discussion

[culturejam]

All they have to do is not let people in.

Every store that is open in my state requires masks for entry. Grocery store, hardware store, liquor store, Wal-Mart...everything.

[matmosphere]

All they have to do is not let people in.

Every store that is open in my state requires masks for entry. Grocery store, hardware store, liquor store, Wal-Mart...everything.

Good for them, imo that's a really smart way to do it.

Are people making a big fuss about it? I saw a guy berate at the people at the local Trader Joe's because they only let a certain number of people in at a time. It was pretty terrible to watch. I think they ended up having to call the cops on the guy.

[culturejam]

Are people making a big fuss about it?

No, not at all. Masks have been required here by executive order (governor) since early April. It's just what you do now. Everybody has masks in their cars, ready to go. There is always the random mouth-breather idiot that says shit like "masks are tyranny!!!!11!", but it's not the norm.

Actually, you're likely to get socially shamed for NOT wearing a mask.

[somnif]

My state's governor originally forbade Cities/Counties from enacting mask ordinances. Thankfully he backtracked on that when we started topping 3k new cases a day (which has been everyday for more than a month now. Wheeee.)

My town is one of those with mask rules in place, and.... yeah I hear people LOUDLY complaining about it at times. Not super common, at least not the places I regularly shop, but it is really disheartening. Home depot was the worst of it so far, with some guy at the front door yelling at everyone who was walking by him. Ugh.

In similar news, Georgia's governor just enacted a similar thing today, cities and counties cannot force mask wearing rules. Is this really the time for this nonsense? 

[harryklippton]

Saw this sign the other day at the chainsaw dealer. I didn't go inside but my wife said none of the employees were wearing masks. Also passed a house on the way there that had a giant spray painted sign in its yard that said "it's not a mask, it's a muzzle" on one side and "Fauci is a sociopath" on the other.

[jimilee]

Yeah, it's all a hoax, there aren't really millions of people falling dying and the earth is flat......./rant


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[aion]

The troubling thing is that this is not the worst disease that could've happened. When we think of calamities, we often like to think of 'the big one' or near misses. Remember Hurricane Ivan? It was followed a year later by Katrina. This is not necessarily 'the big one'—we have to start to truly take this stuff seriously on local, federal, and global levels.

Also passed a house on the way there that had a giant spray painted sign in its yard that said "it's not a mask, it's a muzzle" on one side and "Fauci is a sociopath" on the other.

All this is making me realize the USA is utterly doomed if anything worse or more dire comes along. As benny_profane said earlier, COVID-19 isn't anywhere near as bad as a pandemic could be, not to mention there are other possible threats besides pandemics - and yet even still, we have so much of our population exhibiting reactive defiance against all forms of well-meaning advice. A few weeks ago we even had a Senator (and a doctor, no less!) who said "we shouldn't presume that a group of experts somehow knows what's best for everyone" - in the context of talking about schools reopening.

At this point I feel like we could still get united against a geopolitical threat, e.g. 9/11, but anything inhuman like a pandemic or climate change - especially something that requires swift action and we only get one chance - we're going to lose.

Pouring money into education should be our #1 priority once the dust settles from all the emergencies we're dealing with. It's the foundation of everything. We need debate, disagreement, pushback, challenging of norms - that's healthy and necessary for society. But if one side of the discourse is uneducated and proud of it (because education is liberal, schools brainwash people or whatever) then discourse is toxic and actively causes harm.

That's what we are seeing now with masks, which should be the most uncontroversial, Pascal's-Wager-esque thing ever but has somehow become a hill that people are willing to die on. Pun very much intended.

[matmosphere]

Look, in a lot of ways I agree with some of this stuff, but part of me sees this mask thing and other divisive issues right now and thinks that while there is a small amount of the population is very vocally against it, say 15%, Probably three times that number is very strongly for it. The other forty percent or whatever might lean one way or the other, And if there was some positive unifying force saying "wear mask, this shit is serious" they absolutely would. 

While that 15% used to be a larger group, they were always ashamed to speak up because they knew they were wrong. Twenty years of being able to chat online freely and anonymously has emboldened them to become very outspoken.

It bugs me because the US's flaws are front and center in this and I don't know what you'd think from the outside looking in.

[jimilee]

And now, the CDC will be bypassed and hospitals will report to a small government contracted firm? How the actual F#%k does this make sense???


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[aion]

Look, in a lot of ways I agree with some of this stuff, but part of me sees this mask thing and other divisive issues right now and thinks that while there is a small amount of the population is very vocally against it, say 15%, Probably three times that number is very strongly for it. The other forty percent or whatever might lean one way or the other, And if there was some positive unifying force saying "wear mask, this shit is serious" they absolutely would. 

While that 15% used to be a larger group, they were always ashamed to speak up because they knew they were wrong. Twenty years of being able to chat online freely and anonymously has emboldened them to become very outspoken.

It bugs me because the US's flaws are front and center in this and I don't know what you'd think from the outside looking in.

That is absolutely true, I think if we had a unified message from our leadership then it would make a huge difference in discourse. But the dissent among leaders is definitely making it worse and giving citizens social license to do & say things that would normally get them shunned. The same way racism has been on the rise, at least visibly - I don't think people aren't more racist today than they were five or ten years ago, they're just less shy about it now because there is more social license to be that way and they are less abberant.

[EBK]

And now, the CDC will be bypassed and hospitals will report to a small government contracted firm? How the actual F#%k does this make sense???

I really hope hiding unfavorable data wasn't the goal (such a plan would very likely backfire).  However, this move certainly hides data temporarily and could be used to somewhat manage the timing of its release.  It did make me think of the logic of slowing down testing to lower case numbers.  I'm guessing one of the side effects will be making correlation between test results and hospitalization  tougher to derive by the public.  We'll know more when we see how publicly available the new data is once the new system is up and running (the data is already gone from the CDC website).

[NorthCoast]

According to the Florida DOH, nearly one-third of children tested for COVID in Florida are positive.

Here's the Florida DOH data:

http://ww11.doh.state.fl.us/comm/_partners/covid19_report_archive/pediatric_report_latest.pdf

And an article:

https://www.sun-sentinel.com/coronavirus/fl-ne-pbc-health-director-covid-children-20200714-xcdall2tsrd4riim2nwokvmsxm-story.html

[jimilee]

And now, the CDC will be bypassed and hospitals will report to a small government contracted firm? How the actual F#%k does this make sense???

I really hope hiding unfavorable data wasn't the goal (such a plan would very likely backfire).  However, this move certainly hides data temporarily and could be used to somewhat manage the timing of its release.  It did make me think of the logic of slowing down testing to lower case numbers.  I'm guessing one of the side effects will be making correlation between test results and hospitalization  tougher to derive by the public.  We'll know more when we see how publicly available the new data is once the new system is up and running (the data is already gone from the CDC website).

Yeah, uh....it was said at a news conference that using Covid was not wanted an excuse not to return to school. I can't help but think it ties in. As a father of a school age daughter, it scares the hell out of me. I'd started waking up through your the night with mild panic attacks. Just enough to jolt me and make my heart race. This is just getting out of hand. Not recognizing actual science???

I tried to make that as neutral as possible.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[davent]

Mask problem solved, starting Monday, Walmart will require all customers to be masked. Walmart has created a new position, "health ambassadors" are to be trained to greet & remind customers to put on their mask. (Is this what Ivanka Trump was talking about?)

"Ambassadors will receive special training to help make the process as smooth as possible for customers,'' Walmart said, and "will work with those who show up at a store without a face covering to find a solution that works for everyone."

There, smooth sailing.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/15/business/walmart-requiring-masks.html

Last i heard, the city where i live in Ontario, Monday is suppose to be the start of mandatory masks in enclosed public spaces, if city council approves it but with all the knuckle draggers there, will this increase my re-election chances, not holding my breath. At least a lot of businesses already have the policy in place.

In further mask news in eastern Ontario yesterday,a mask refusal, confrontation at grocery store devolved into the 73 year old perp being shot and killed by police. Details sketchy at this point.

If i can't walk to where i need to go i take a bus so bought my mask in March for travel. Fogged up my glasses something awful so started using double sided garment tape along the top edge to seal it to my face, problem solved. Masks have beeen mandatory on public transit for awhile now but it's not enforced, just periodic prerecorded announcements saying mandatory face masks.
dave

[EBK]

I tried to make that as neutral as possible.

I'm doing my best at this too.  It gets harder when I want to talk about my anxiety to not say the things that trigger it.  That why I wrote what I did a little while ago (my anxiety is not the same as my political viewpoint).  My wife keeps trying to plan a mini vacation for this summer.  I keep telling her I'm too afraid to help plan such a thing at this point.