All things COVID-19

[FlameBlade]

[Stan]

[Phoebe]

First him saying American Carnage and then him saying I take no responsibility. But yeah, the massive empathy gap is one big thing in Biden's favor.

[Tahlvin]

Our son had his annual band camp this week. Normally it is in July, so they have a chance for the freshmen to learn marching before they have to march in a few local parades over the late summer, but since those parades have all been canceled, they moved it back. They didn't do full camp, just some small group instructions with individual sections. And his brass group had to play with homemade bell covers (for him it was just an old t-shirt tied over the bell with a shoestring). And from what it sounds like from the music teachers, there may not be much this year in terms of large concerts or classes or extra curriculars, which sucks but is understandable.

[Phoebe]

So when your loved ones get covid and you think it's a hoax promoted by the demon rats to hurt Trump, the important thing is not to let the harsh reality of this moment intrude upon any of your cherished, evidence-based beliefs. Instead, you should conclude that your loved one got covid because none of the distancing and masking and sanitizing practices are effective, and thus they can all be abandoned. Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuck these people, I am so f****** sick and tired of having my life ruled by these f****** morons that surround me.

[Phoebe]

Having a hard time grasping that people who believe crazy s*** about this virus are often in deadly earnest. But it's important to grasp that if you want to communicate with them. They really do believe that carbon dioxide cannot escape a mask, they really do believe that boosting your immune system with zinc and sunshine is the most important thing you can do right now. Shocking to realize how much medical misinformation in general, and vaccines suspicion in particular, is fueling the belief in such misinformation in this specific instance. A common refrain is that people are fine and not scared because they know how to take care of their immune system, and the only thing that threatens to destroy their health is mask wearing. They believe this so much that if they are forced to wear masks in a grocery store one day, and they happen to come down with covid because they have spent the last two weeks otherwise mingling with people without any distancing or masks, they will blame it on the mask.

Another really weird datum that fits into the whole conspiracy mindset: an incredible number of people have told me they're sure they had the virus in December, January, early February, whatever. They think this because they had a particularly bad cold or case of the flu, and this year there was something special and new to blame it on, rather than every other year when viruses circulate constantly. So then they're able to say things like, "The virus was here for a long time, because China bad, but numbers weren't going up and people weren't dying of it until the Dems got upset and wanted everybody tested. If we would stop all the testing then it would go back to being like it was before." I don't even know what to do with that. It's like this tremendous edifice of false belief is so intricate and intense that to remove each piece of lumber that constructed it seems impossible.

[poorpete]

New York is back to hospital levels not seen since March 15.

Optimist me: this is great, we did it!
Pessimist me: we're back to the original "this is way too high we need to shut things down" level.

[poorpete]

Talking NY as the US hits 200K deaths (a reminder to be very sad and very angry at this number)
6% of US lives here.
22% of the first 100K were from NY
2% of the next 100K were from NY

If every state went down the same rate as NY starting in late May, the US deaths would be at about 88,000 less. (I think I did that calculation right)

[Phoebe]

It's nice to read this after hearing what I usually hear about New York and COVID. I live surrounded by absolute, utter dumbasses and they are going to get innocent people killed. What does one do with this? I'm so done with it.

Common refrain among the Stupids that some right wing media seeded into the winds recently: New York forced all kinds of elderly COVID patients into nursing homes and that's why all the thousands died there. It's beyond what you imagine possible for sane adults.

[poorpete]

I mean, NYS did make a mistake there, for sure, it's was a bad mistake, and I'm fine with comeuppance for any malfeasance, but from what I can tell it was an early mistake when covid transmission was still confusing, hospitals were being overloaded, and was not at all why the numbers in the state were so high. It's wild that the lesson of the mistake (isolation is key as this spreads like a nightmare) is lost on those who bring it up, who also demand opening up visitors to nursing homes and and easing of lockdown rules.

In both cases, the state's success and failures, were a way to lead the rest of the states in their actions.

[Phoebe]

Exactly. The goal is to scour the reaction of any health officials or Democrats for any error that can be used to deflect attention from the COLOSSUS of failure at the top of this mountain of pointless death. People who were trying to do what they could under desperate conditions with limited information and resources, as that maniac babbled about not wanting to send ppe to Democrat governors. It's a horror show all the way down.