Coronavirus

I'm sure it is me being cynical, but quite frankly I don't think the numbers really matter, at least at the scale they are now. The media can say it is catastrophic or they can say "its within the capabilities of the health care system" to put a positive spin on it.

If cases surge in populations out protesting right now I just don't see the media (other than fox news perhaps) wanting to bring that up.

As usual I tend to look outside the mainstream media to get info.

We're at record numbers, up by a pretty substantial amount, ~1150 or so new cases.

jason10mm wrote: I'm sure it is me being cynical, but quite frankly I don't think the numbers really matter, at least at the scale they are now. The media can say it is catastrophic or they can say "its within the capabilities of the health care system" to put a positive spin on it.

If cases surge in populations out protesting right now I just don't see the media (other than fox news perhaps) wanting to bring that up.

As usual I tend to look outside the mainstream media to get info.

I agree that the numbers don't really matter anymore, at least not to most Americans. The virus is an invisible threat, not something big and tangible that we can shoot, so it became boring. A nice big round number like 100,000 deaths got some attention, and when we eventually reach 150,000 and 200,000, that will get a little attention. Minnesota hit a milestone last week, with 1,000 deaths, but we were preoccupied with riots and didn't care anymore.

Normally I have little interest in non-mainstream media, because it invariably seems tainted by an obvious political perspective, either right or left. But last week, I was getting better news coverage about the Minneapolis riots from my Facebook feed, where friends and acquaintances were posting pictures and videos as things were happening.

One of the scary things about the pandemic was how the news of the deaths of hundreds, almost thousands of people each day simply were not considered relevant. People don't care that 30.000 people have died in my country. They care in so far they can use is a ping-pong ball in some kind of political discourse, but they don't care about the deaths or truly consider them noteworthy.

We had days in which hundreds of people died and it was good news, because it meant less people than usual were. Made me want to throw up.

I admit that the constant, disgusting state of media is one of the reasons I'm so driven towards journalistic ethics and try to do a very small part, even if it's just when I write about games. This stuff just isn't right.

Just a friendly reminder that this isn't over despite falling out of the news cycle. There will be a second wave (or in the USA an increase in pneumonia deaths) and various countries/states may lock down again. If there was any supplies you wished you had the first time get them asap.

My local CostCo is still out of tons of stuff. On the upside, we made it out for under $40, which has never happened before.

Arizona cases are spiking to their highest new cases per day for the last week. Yep, memorial day was about two weeks before the spike. No one is wearing masks. Governor continues to say everything is fine. I am supposed to regularly be in a room with 20-40 people at the beginning of August.

www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/...eopening/5332572002/

I don't know what needs to happen to make this real for people. I guess we just have to wait for every single person to directly know someone that dies or becomes grievously ill and have someone they trust tell them it could have been prevented with good mask and handwashing hygiene.

ubarose wrote: I still can't find hand sanitizer, liquid lysol. bleach or toilet paper. I was able to get paper towels, so yay for that.

Wow, up here in NH it’s been pretty normal for awhile now. Only thing is chicken is hit or miss.

I think yeast is pretty much the only product that's still nearly impossible to find up here in Saskatchewan. Well, that and a Nintendo Switch.

bfkiller wrote: I think yeast is pretty much the only product that's still nearly impossible to find up here in Saskatchewan. Well, that and a Nintendo Switch.

No better time to get into sourdough! You can create your own starter but it works much better to get an established one. I bet there is a club in your city that shares them.

I scored a brick of instant yeast off amazon. Flour is hit or miss here as well, at least the good King Arthur stuff.

If bacon runs out its gonna get ugly....

Costco in my neck of the woods has everything except antibacterial wipes.

Went to Sam's Club and Target yesterday. About 40-50% of the folks at Sam's were wearing masks, and maybe a few more at Target. I'm still wearing masks, trying to maintain social distance, etc. NFW am I going out for a sit-down dinner or go see a movie for a good long time though. As in 'come up with a vaccine' good long time.

jeb wrote: I don't know what needs to happen to make this real for people. I guess we just have to wait for every single person to directly know someone that dies or becomes grievously ill and have someone they trust tell them it could have been prevented with good mask and handwashing hygiene.

That's been my theory as well. Until it "hits close to home," many Americans will simply choose to stick their fingers in their ears, and pretend like everything is fine.

My local game store just recently reopened. I was reading their new store policies on their website, and they are strangely ... lackadaisical. It says to bring a mask, but you don't necessarily have to WEAR the mask unless you want to, or if other customers complain. That's a TERRIBLE approach, because it puts the onus on the customer to determine what's safe and proper. There needs to be store policy, stated clearly and unequivocally, enforced equally across the board, for every customer who walks in the door. The first time a customer complains about another customer, it's going to get ugly. Why would the owner want to deal with playing referee in that scenario?? Regretfully, I'll not be going to the store any time soon.