I'm listening to Dr. Michael Osterholm on the Meet The Press right now and he's painting a very bleak picture. He's saying he doesn't see this slowing down. It's not seasonal as it's still going on. He also thinks restarting sports is a bad idea.
it’s a hoax... ok, n/m it’s just going to vanish didn’t happen the heat will banish it didn’t happen next up: look, death is falling! Yea, wait for another month and see this is what a policy largely based on wishful and hopeful thinking looks like... refuses to do the hard and smart thing.
I was talking to my dad in HK and what HK has done is very impressive. They have had less than 10 deaths from COVID-19 out of a population of 7 million. He attributes their success to that HK borders are effectively closed and mask wearing when going outside of the home is universal.
I guess it helps to have a vast majority of citizens who believe in an objective reality. In other words, America has lost herd immunity to Medieval thinking.
Seeing on the news how Russia has removed many of it's strict measures and has been having military parades again with almost no one wearing masks. It's oddly reassuring that the US isn't the only place in denial about this..
Brazil is in a solid race, already overtaken Russia and can definitely beat the US. What do US, Russia, and Brazil have in common?
I know it isn't good for my health. I'm not the guy who slows down to look for mangled corpses in the freeway car wreck. But I just watched a video of Trump jock supporters in Tulsa, one young lady talking about the coronavirus as an "overwarmed flu". Still. And for her, who knows? If she caught it, that might be the extent of it. But trying to get people to realize that we're all in this together....that I could be a carrier and give it to you, and I might lose my sense of taste and smell for a week but YOU might be on a ventilator, and then die, but hey, tyranny, can't make me wear a mask, WHOO! freedom......... My wife and I went to get some food in a favorite restaurant on Saturday. We don't like to sit indoors if we can help it. The waitresses were openly mocking our masks (stage whispering and glancing), our wanting a table apart from others. You're right. We do sneer at you. Oh, irony. We hardly knew ye.
Those waitresses are incredibly naive and need customer service training. Shame on them. They should be disciplined or fired for openly mocking you and your wife for wearing masks during the middle of a pandemic. Personally, I’m not eating at a restaurant (indoors or outdoors) until we get a much better handle on this virus as a nation. I’ll happily order food and either have it delivered or come pick it up curbside for the time being. The reward just doesn’t outweigh the risk to me.
We hesitated when we entered. Not a lot of tables occupied but they weren't bothering to space apart the groups that entered, nor mark off tables and such. We almost got it to go and wish we had (when we usually sit in the truck and scarf it down). My wife was not hiding her irritation and on my part I just wanted her to choose: Stay or go; and if, Stay, wait for them to wipe down a table in the corner etc etc. After we were seated you could see them talking in the corner, not keeping their voices down, and glances / smirks toward my wife. The real problem is, she wouldn't let me say anything to them. Would not. And oooooooooooooh I was dying to tell them directly, Thank you for these months of great food, but we're out of here. They do have another location in The Woodlands. We swung past to check it out. Outdoor tables, everything wiped down, social distancing, cooks wear masks. Same menu. Manager very nice to my wife when she went in to get a menu. So we might head there when we're in that neck of the, uh, woods. This isn't an "I'm-better-than-thee-because" thing; but the dividing line between the educated and the uneducated comes into sharp relief. I hate the fact but I'm still pointing it out.
As was shown at Trump's tulsa rally, people who arent complete morons can be brave in the abstract or when putting other people at risk, but when it comes to their own health are much less hung ho. Pootie poot knows what's up.
How much could that machine cost, Michael? (32 teams, 1 in each locker room, NFL needs 64 of these alien detox machines)
I completely understand what you mean about the divide between the educated and uneducated concerning COVID-19. I run an open gym basketball ministry at my church in Katy, and when Trump announced social distancing protocols that included groups of no more than 10, I canceled the ministry indefinitely. Many of the people in the group are in their 20s, and they texted me back asking if only a few of them could come. I immediately told them no, and it hasn’t taken place since. It’s not just young people, though. My father is a well-educated, smart man, and, thankfully, him and my mother are taking all the necessary COVID-19 precautions, but we had a long argument this weekend about Lina Hidalgo’s latest mask order and her actions during the pandemic along with President Trump‘s. Suffice it to say, I will not be discussing COVID-19 policy or politics with him moving forward. Speaking of my father, like your wife, he will never say anything if things aren’t right at a restaurant. Whenever there has been a mistake with our order, bad service, etc, my mom or I will happily speak up, but my dad hates making a scene in public. Also, while the lack of respect for masks and social distancing at the location you and your wife visited frustrates me, it is refreshing to hear the other location in The Woodlands is practicing good safety protocols.
Hawaii is looking pretty good. Granted they are an island (so they're capable of enforcing a proper quarantine) but they average less than 7 cases a day with 0 deaths (the last death was in April). Also unlike other states, Hawaii actually brings testing to people. They have pop testing locations where they just test entire areas (like nursing homes, apartments, etc..) and as a result, they are near the top of the US in terms of per capita testing. To me this is the thing that is missing on the mainland. Even when testing is available, we've found that people without symptoms just don't get tested so you have to start bringing testing to people. Dense urban areas, workplaces filled with essential workers, etc.. all need mass testing. Hawaii's Lieutenant Governor is a doctor who specializes in rural medicine so he basically led the way on the whole thing. If Biden wins, I seriously hope that he considers rewarding him with a role in HHS or the CDC. Unfortunately, the governor refused to close the borders early on (while the LG asked for a travel ban) so they weren't able to eliminate Covid like New Zealand did. But Hawaii has done well overall.
Thanks for your post. Yes, I was itching, twitching, drooling spasmodically at the end of my wife's leash. But I kept my mouth shut. We simply left no tip and turned our backs on the place. It's funny. My 72 year old mother is a diabetic smoker (what a combination) who hates Trump but I have to remind her, "No, Mom, *******," when she tries to hug me goodbye: "Oh, that's so stupid," she says. My 75 year old father has loved Trump since the words "Obama" and "birth certificate" were paired together but he is Trump's opposite in social distancing and the rest. Dad doesn't want my wife and I to visit him at all, stay away. Still, he will never see how dangerous Trump is to the public health, and we steer around Trump like the reef that can otherwise sink our father-son relationship.
