Coronavirus

Non-FoxNews link.
time.com/5875694/sturgis-motorcycle-rally-coronavirus/

Host Laura Ingraham noted that South Dakota has a death rate that is 11 times lower than New York State

As crazy as it sounds, South Dakota and New York have about the same number of deaths per day, in spite of their vast difference in population (about 1:20). Ms. Ingraham apparently hasn’t seen a newspaper since April. On a per-capita basis South Dakota is pretty rough.

SoDak doesn’t have any more to worry about from this event than any other state. They’ll all get infected and then leave to all corners of the States.

I'll very lightly disagree with you. These sparsely populated states have a real dr and hospital deficit. Texas observer and Tribune have amazing coverage of this. I lived in West Texas and the predicament of mostly rural West Texans is horrifying from a basic normal health care perspective. One of my best friends lives in ND and the only place with beds left is the capitol, Fargo.

Brutal erasure of Bismarck, the flyover town in a flyover state in flyover country!

My sister's family flew from MA to CA to visit with us. Face shields, lysol wipes on everything, they had to wash clothes when they got here, but it seems their protocols worked. We're almost two weeks post exposure to them and no symptoms (my wife is tested weekly, she's our "pool tester.")

It was great to have them here. Eleven people in the house, my grocery bills were outrageous. Cooking was a half-day affair, basically, but worth it. We hit the pool every day, the beach a couple of times, and just hung out and played games and had a dose of normalcy amongst others for ten days.

We have to maintain quarantine from our local isolation buddies for a little longer, and they have to quarantine for two weeks after their return, but still the gains in our mental health probably make up for all the trouble. Thank God no one got sick.

Is it overly dramatic that I evaluate potential activities by whether it is worth risking my life or even just my long-term health?

After cutting up the large tree branches brought down by June storms, I had a lot of excess firewood on hand, and my uncle offered to take it off my hands. He and his girlfriend came over on Saturday, and the three of us loaded up his truck, with all three of us wearing masks. Afterwards, they were planning to go to a good nearby restaurant called India Palace, and invited me to join them. I did a brief mental calculation: "Am I willing to die for Indian food? No." and declined their invitation.

I still go to work five to six days per week, but that's because my last two bouts of unemployment lasted a total of 16 months, and I'm not prepared to go through that kind of suffering again so soon. Nobody at our workplace deals with customers, and I only see maybe two job candidates per week, plus we all wear masks.

What's the consensus on alternatives to shaking hands and hugging friends? Are we bowing now? Amigo salute? Lame wave?

ChristopherMD wrote: What's the consensus on alternatives to shaking hands and hugging friends? Are we bowing now? Amigo salute? Lame wave?

Blow into your face mask.

I just got finished with paperwork and orientation for a new employee, and gave her a tour of the facility. Part of the orientation involved emphasizing the importance of handwashing and wearing a mask. Towards the end of the tour, I showed her the breakroom. It was 10:00, so the smokers were all outside. Of the six people sitting in the breakroom, five were not wearing masks, and they were all sitting near each other. It seems like many Americans have gotten bored with the pandemic, and have decided to pretend it isn't happening anymore.

On another forum, I saw a thread about the Buckeyes' football season being cancelled due to Covid. Here in Columbus that went about as well as you would expect. One writer said that a 3% mortality rate wasn't that big of a deal, and folks should just suck it up and go root for the Scarlet and Gray. JFC.

Shellhead wrote: I just got finished with paperwork and orientation for a new employee, and gave her a tour of the facility. Part of the orientation involved emphasizing the importance of handwashing and wearing a mask. Towards the end of the tour, I showed her the breakroom. It was 10:00, so the smokers were all outside. Of the six people sitting in the breakroom, five were not wearing masks, and they were all sitting near each other. It seems like many Americans have gotten bored with the pandemic, and have decided to pretend it isn't happening anymore.

That is absolutely the case as I watch my colleagues, students, and staff return to campus. It breaks my fucking heart. I can't believe we missed our opportunity to have buy in---to be fair, in a lot of places people gave up months in total lockdown which isn't nothing. We just didn't test and trace during that window so here we are.

Just floored that folks are watching all this play out and will still pull that lever for the GOP after this. There is absolutely no accountability whatsoever for this colossally failed response.

Noted by others, more countries accept North Korean passports for travel than USA passports. It's a top to bottom embarrassment, and we are just going to keep on plugging away collectively at doing FUCK ALL to stop or slow this virus and hold our leaders accountable for their dismal failures. I am at a loss to understand how the US just gave up to Russian trollbots so we could appoint more Heritage Foundation doofuses to the federal bench.

I think I need to be done with knowing things. It doesn't do me any good and it makes no difference in the world at all. This is some next level nihilism for me.

jeb wrote: Just floored that folks are watching all this play out and will still pull that lever for the GOP after this. There is absolutely no accountability whatsoever for this colossally failed response.

I talk to my Mom about once every two weeks and I try not to get too agitated - She is slowly waking up to the existence of the "Fox Bubble," so she's finally getting fed up with her politicians. But it won't change her vote. For her, there can be nothing more evil than a party that places the murdering babies for convenience on their policy plank. I use that terminology not to start a row over abortion, but to plainly state how evangelicals view this. So whatever "shenanigans" Trump may or may not have done (Mom, he did them all), it would be a moral failing for to cast her ballot for anyone evil enough to favor killing babies for convenience.