Coronavirus

Just got back from the my wife's once every 2 to 3 year family gatherings - Big houses in a resort community - Lots of room for distancing, meals were done out in open air patios, etc - All but 2 members vaccinated ( THe younger 20ish brothers) I wasn't excited about going, but with the 21 year old leaving for college the same weekend there was no way I was going to tell my wife no.

Anyhoo, one of the youngers lost his sense of smell the day after returning from the trip, got tested,and tested positive. So my wife, myself (both vaccinated) and the 5 year old will be quarantined until we can test on Monday. I'm glad I work for myself and can do everything from home or a closed office. Most of the rest of her family is in a spot where they have PTO for days and its not a financial hardship.

Strangely, the family member that is an RN (vaccinated) does not have the option of quarantine and instead has been asked to continue working in the ICU, as long as her daily tests come up negative. I'm sure this has to do with the fact that she works in the county hospital that is getting crushed and made national news for having a COVID patient die in the waiting room in the E.R because they were so backed up. They have since deployed the National Guard and set up a field hospital.

This is our second round of quarantine this year. I'm not burned out or frustrated by it. I'm sort of resigned that this is probably going to be the sort of thing that we are going to have do deal with periodically for a couple of years.

Talked about the date tonight and she pushed for a different location. Turns out that she is just as worried about crime in Minneapolis as the pandemic. So we're going to a place in an upper middle class neighborhood that has a smaller patio and will only take reservations for inside the building. There are a few other restaurants within a block, so maybe we can just show up and see which one has the shortest wait. There is a lake two blocks away, so take-out might be the way to go. They follow indoor seating guidelines established by the CDC, but that is less important than how their HVAC system works. With the wrong kind of system, the HVAC can readily spread the virus from table to table even if there are six foot gaps between tables.

Everybody was skeptical when Russia announced their successful clinical trials for their Sputnik V vaccine in August 2020. And their Covid stats always looked suspicious, with 1/10th the mortality rate that other countries were experiencing. And now it looks like Sputnik V might worthless:

www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/putin-dozen...ilsignout&li=BBnb7Kz

Not a good look when the virus is running rampant through the top leadership of your country. In addition, the World Health Organization has suspended approval for Sputnik V after a factory failed an inspection:

www.themoscowtimes.com/2021/09/15/who-su...ring-breaches-a75058

Shellhead wrote: Everybody was skeptical when Russia announced their successful clinical trials for their Sputnik V vaccine in August 2020. And their Covid stats always looked suspicious, with 1/10th the mortality rate that other countries were experiencing. And now it looks like Sputnik V might worthless:

www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/putin-dozen...ilsignout&li=BBnb7Kz

Not a good look when the virus is running rampant through the top leadership of your country. In addition, the World Health Organization has suspended approval for Sputnik V after a factory failed an inspection:

www.themoscowtimes.com/2021/09/15/who-su...ring-breaches-a75058

I'm shocked, shocked, to find that gambling is going on in here!

Gencon today

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Yeah, I've been reading a thread on it for the last couple of days. There was lax mask usage on the Vendor Day yesterday (including staff), and when the one woman complained they said, we aren't going to enforce it until the Con actually starts. Because viruses only spread during business hours. So that crowd is due to be enforced today.

Ah_Pook wrote: Gencon today

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Factor in the usual lack of fanboy hygiene at GenCon and that is one giant petri dish of potential virus. I know somebody who is working at GenCon this year who has a an autoimmune disease, and now I am worried about them.

Sagrilarus wrote: Yeah, I've been reading a thread on it for the last couple of days. There was lax mask usage on the Vendor Day yesterday (including staff), and when the one woman complained they said, we aren't going to enforce it until the Con actually starts. Because viruses only spread during business hours. So that crowd is due to be enforced today.

A big problem with the pandemic response is that a lot of people decide what they want to do first, and then hand-wave away inconvenient facts that might block what they want.

Shellhead wrote: A big problem with the pandemic response is that a lot of people decide what they want to do first, and then hand-wave away inconvenient facts that might block what they want.

Exactly. If it was a guy with a shotgun, who, frankly would kill less people, everyone on that floor would be in a panic to bug out of there. But since you can't see it, can't feel it, you can repress your good judgement because it interferes with what you want to do. "I need my complimentary tote bag."

I grew up in Indianapolis, so a fair amount of my Facebook feed comes from friends still living there. Even before GenCon, Indy was experiencing a significant surge in Covid. Politically, there are a lot of Trump supporters there, so there is high resistance to masking, social distancing, and vaccinating. Here is their state dashboard for Covid data:

www.coronavirus.in.gov/2393.htm

Last time I drove through Indiana there was a billboard that said, "If you're not Christian you're going to hell". I thought that summarized the state pretty well.

Indiana was okay when I was growing up there, but has gotten worse as the Republican Party has gone off the deep end. Even when I lived there, there was a lot of handwringing in certain circles about The Brain Drain. Indiana has a surprising number of quality universities, and a large majority of the graduates leave Indiana as soon as they graduate.

Those of us from the Great Lakes all know that Indiana is our Alabama.