All things COVID-19

[Stan]

re: beef, I can't believe Trump invoked an emergency over that instead of health supplies.

If covid 19 spreads that easy in meat processing plants, how many other, less lethal things have been spreading all along. How many of these are bacterial that could affect the meat? It seems the standards for conditions are pitifully low.

On more upbeat note, today's public service announcement was brought to you by a college roommate with an MPH.

[bralbovsky]

Please can you attach his name or initials to it? I would love to share this. Widely

[Stan]

oh, he just forwarded it - don't know the source.

[Tahlvin]

Shared that with my elderly parents. They got a chuckle out of it!

[DMDarcs]

With Trump, I always assume that there's a personal financial factor to his decisions. Trump used to own steaks. I don't know if he still does or not, but even if he doesn't, it's something that he has done business with, so I think he's more disposed to think of that. I don't think he's ever done business in face masks, so I don't think it's something that weighs as heavily on his mind.

Please keep in mind that this is absolute speculation and probably not based in any type of fact.

[Stan]

[Phoebe]

The law of their entire life is grift; they cannot think outside the grift box for one minute. So yes, any decision is going to be based on that. I gather that in the case of the drug it was some of his friends who stood to win, and you know how it goes with your friends when you're all grifters together.

I share the astonishment that the defense production act is not being used to provide personal protective equipment or other necessaries, but meat packing plants yes. The problems we're seeing are a big wake up call to the risks of mass production and concentrated ownership in our entire meat, pork, and poultry industries. The burden of all this will be born by the workers on the line and the producers; the companies that run the processing will be the beneficiaries of government orders and largesse. As it is now so it ever will be, until we start insisting on localizing. You will not regret buying direct from a local producer and they need us now because they have a prior long-term investment in their supply, and if they go under that will just make the big producers bigger.

[Phoebe]

I don't understand how people are coming up with these interpretations, when they admit they have no knowledge about the most important factors in accurately interpreting the data.

What if people were still learning about the situation early on, so decided to stay home until they understood it better, and then figured out how they could start making trips back out into the world while following safe distancing guidelines?

What if the weather was worse in early April and then got nicer, so people started going out to places where they could be out of the home but away from other people?

What if it took some time for restaurants and grocery stores and other businesses to set up arrangements for curbside pickups and such? So initially there wasn't much going out, but now people more regularly go to pick things up in a safe way from these businesses?

????

There's so much uncertainty, I don't see how we draw conclusions about whether people are following the advice based on the location of their phone. It would also be interesting to look at different ages, because initially my children were happy to sit around the house after they didn't go back to school, but now they more regularly take walks around and so forth. But they're not near other people!

[Stan]

Yea, I wouldn't make too much of it yet. Does walking around the block get far enough away to count leaving the house. We did that and never came within 50' of anyone. Could be a weather thing. People are still moving less than initially and, like you said, most are probably more careful. It's easier to go out if stores have distancing procedures in place.

People are also going to have to leave their houses more often as they run out things.

[Phoebe]

The fact that states and feds are fighting over ppe and outbidding one another and hiding stashes of it Blows My Mind. Bush was damaged by a few weeks of fumbling responses to Katrina. Putting aside the obvious with Puerto Rico, why are people having to sew masks and garments that aren't as effective, yet their health care providers need them because better than nothing?! It's a disgrace. We are gripped with dysfunction. The bright side is that local human beings are still smart and functioning and are solving this stuff themselves in the areas they can touch. It's inspiring. My friend has made maybe hundreds of masks for people. How many lives has she saved, I wonder? Think of it!

[Stan]

Lack of leadership at the top. Worse, Trump is making things worse by encouraging states to compete against each other because that's what narcissists do. And what kind of fucking president encourages rebellion in states? Calling the Flu Klux Klan good people?

[Phoebe]

Weird how nobody else is ever a very fine person or good people, but the far-right loonies are always commended by him as good people. It's like people cannot quite believe we have a white nationalist as a President, even when he makes his views quite plain in both word and deed.

[Eliahad]

Guys! It came from a lab! And it was a conspiracy by the Chinese Communist Party. A guy who doesn't cite sources and also a YouTube ad trying to get me to buy their magazine told me!

[poorpete]

A reminder of the fleating reassurances I mentioned. "We're not New York" is now "we're not New York".

(via the NYTimes)

[Tahlvin]

And now by their own administration's estimates, the daily death count could rise as high as 3,000 per day if social distancing is relaxed.

[Mike]

The issue is testing and tracking and preparing. We need to be organized and have a solid plan. The administration steadfastly refuses to do any of these things and acts like doing so is impossible. Therefore, the options are to open up and let people die or keep the entire nation on lockdown for 14 months until a vaccine is widely available. With the miserable lack of support for ordinary Americans, the nation won't tolerate staying shut down forever.

By refusing to take action, the administration has made this course inevitable. It just leaves me feeling sad and helpless.

[Stan]

Three Russian doctors fell out of windows in recent weeks. Two died. It sounds like all 3 were being critical of how things were going.

[Tahlvin]

Par for the course for Putin.

Man, I really need a hair cut! My head is starting to sweat so much during my morning workout/run because there's so much hair right now! Unfortunately, the trimmer we had from years ago to do home haircuts no longer works. I've ordered a new one from Amazon, but they're currently in high demand and on back order, so it will be a couple more weeks until they get here. And to make matters extra interesting, I'm due to renew my drivers license! The DMV is currently limiting their services and are not doing routine license renewals at this time, so they'll automatically extend my renewal date by 60 days. But depending on when things open back up, I may be faced with getting my license photo taken with either really long hair, or a home buzz cut. Really nice, considering that will probably be my ID photo for the next 10 years or so.

[Phoebe]

[Phoebe]