Stay Safe Everyone!

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Re: Stay Safe Everyone!

Post by jack »

Hello. My password wouldn't work for so long. Myself, wife and kids are fine. I hope all of you are okay. I've got some catching up to do.
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Re: Stay Safe Everyone!

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I currently have a friend who woke up with shortness of breath, so his work told him to get a test. We're now waiting on the result. I had contact with him in the last two weeks, so I'm really hoping that he comes back negative, not just for his sake, but also for my anxiety.
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Re: Stay Safe Everyone!

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My father just tested positive for Coronavirus. He lives in Arizona He is a 68 year old hospitalist who never takes a day off. He had no idea he was positive until this morning. He could've gotten it from work -- or from his girlfriend's niece who just traveled in from New Jersey. Either way, he has it. It appears to be a very mild case.

So... finger's crossed.
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Re: Stay Safe Everyone!

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My country remains completely unlockedown since beginning of May. New cases per day for the last several weeks is between 150 and 250 per day and 6 to 10 new deaths. More than 65% of total infected are now recovered. Masks are compulsory in all closed spaces. Only disco clubs remain closed. Borders are open with several countries. We are a population of 10 million. We have 49.000 positive cases since March 2nd. An official study released today says that around 330.000 people have been in contact with the disease and developed antibodies.

I’ve been going to the office since June 1st. Maximum is 40% of people at the same time. Usually we are 20% at the office each day. I can either work from home or go to the office. It’s up to me. If I choose to go to the office, which I prefer, I have to wear a mask whenever I have to get up either to go to the bathroom or to get a coffee. I resumed meetings with large clients. I work at consulting company.

Monday I start my three week summer vacation. I had booked a trip to the Seychelles islands with my wife which obviously we had to cancel so I booked two hotels in the south of my country with private beach for the holidays. We plan to eat out every day.

I have friends and relatives that have been infected and cured. Some tested positive and showed no symptoms whatsoever during the whole time that they were positive. I know three cases that were in intensive care for two days. I know two cases, aged 91 and 85, with no relation to each other, that died from complications after falling at home. Death cause in the death certificate was covid 19 although both had brain hemorrhage and did not they were infected.

I feel no fear nor anxiety whatsoever.
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Re: Stay Safe Everyone!

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23 July 2020. It is six months to the day since China locked down Wuhan and other cities in the Hubei province to stem the spread of COVID-19.

Offical number of cases worldwide per Wikipedia: 15,247,848 (probably really 150,000,000+)

Offical number of deaths world-wide per Wikipedia: 623,863 (probably overall 1,000,000 but when one ads in the number of people that will probably die in relation to all the new infections over the last 3 to 4 weeks we are looking at 1,500,000).

Pretty much everywhere on the planet continues to worsen.

As for myself. We have stopped eating out and don't intend to until such time as the virus in my state has been contained (i.e. NO community transmission regardless of it is traceable or not). Going to the cinema be determined on a day by day basis. We went to two new releases today and the cinema complex was dead so I can't see them staying open regardless of what direction the virus goes as it couldn't possibly be financially viable.
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Re: Stay Safe Everyone!

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Big Magilla wrote:
Precious Doll wrote:But the big sign I'm starting to get worried is the throbbing headaches that I had in the countdown to the pandemic in February & March have returned. Not with the severity but each day is getting worse and I'm not one for getting headaches.
More than likely the headaches are tension related. It's a wonder we all don't have them.

I just learned that the reason so many old people in my area don't wear masks unless they absolutely have to, is that many of them wear glasses and hearing aids. The glasses fog up and the hearing aids fall out when the mask is removed.

Some people are periodically pulling their mask down below their noses to stop their glasses from steaming. Obviously that's unsafe. The best way to keep your glasses from fogging up is tape the top of the mask to your face with surgical tape or band-aids so that the steam will exit the sides of the mask. I don't know what one could do about hearing aids. You can't very well tape them, that would defeat the purpose.

Churches are opening up around the Jersey Shore. Seats are kept apart at a safe distance. I'm told there is no kneeling in the local Catholic church. The only standing is during communion when those who wish to receive it have to stand to let the priest or designated lay person know to come to them. That may be safer than having people line up at the altar but I don't think it's all that safe. It would have been worse in the old days when the priest put the wafer on the parishioner's tongue, but for decades now the practice has been to place it in his or her outstretched hand. I don't know what they're doing to insure had to hand to mouth and on to the next person won't result in spreading.
I sort of figured tension headaches. The one I had when I was writing the earlier post has gone away thanks to a late dinner with a two bottles of red wine shared between three of us.

The fogging up of glasses is awful. I've only had to wear a mask once and that was for a minor medical appointment a couple of months ago that lasted all of 15 minutes. There are a couple of tips on the internet for stopping glasses from fogging up including dipping them in some kind of liquid to create a coat over the lenses but I don't like the sounds of that. If we get to the stage were we have to wear masks I'll deal with it then I suppose and if scarfs are considered acceptable that is probably what I will stick to - at least until summer comes along.

I'm seeing more people wearing masks than every before. But some of the older people appear to be wearing the same mask over and over again as the masks are filthy. I know there is a lot of debate about masks but if people aren't wearing them properly there is little point in wearing them. The debate over masks continues to rage in Australia. Whilst the State Government in Victoria have mandated them from Thursday onwards and with good reason given the number of new cases everyday the Federal Government maintains a do as you please attitude and I think some of it has to do with shortages of masks and PPT more than anything else.
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Re: Stay Safe Everyone!

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Precious Doll wrote:But the big sign I'm starting to get worried is the throbbing headaches that I had in the countdown to the pandemic in February & March have returned. Not with the severity but each day is getting worse and I'm not one for getting headaches.
More than likely the headaches are tension related. It's a wonder we all don't have them.

I just learned that the reason so many old people in my area don't wear masks unless they absolutely have to, is that many of them wear glasses and hearing aids. The glasses fog up and the hearing aids fall out when the mask is removed.

Some people are periodically pulling their mask down below their noses to stop their glasses from steaming. Obviously that's unsafe. The best way to keep your glasses from fogging up is tape the top of the mask to your face with surgical tape or band-aids so that the steam will exit the sides of the mask. I don't know what one could do about hearing aids. You can't very well tape them, that would defeat the purpose.

Churches are opening up around the Jersey Shore. Seats are kept apart at a safe distance. I'm told there is no kneeling in the local Catholic church. The only standing is during communion when those who wish to receive it have to stand to let the priest or designated lay person know to come to them. That may be safer than having people line up at the altar but I don't think it's all that safe. It would have been worse in the old days when the priest put the wafer on the parishioner's tongue, but for decades now the practice has been to place it in his or her outstretched hand. I don't know what they're doing to insure had to hand to mouth and on to the next person won't result in spreading.
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Re: Stay Safe Everyone!

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dws1982 wrote:A nursing home in my town has quietly had an outbreak that has resulted in positive cases in nearly 56 residents and over 20 staff. (The facility has 123 patients, so almost half have tested positive.) I said quietly because the local newspaper is not reporting on it at all for some reasons. Our county only has 10 ICU beds, which are almost certainly all full at this point. (Also, it's insane that a county of 100,000 people has so few ICU beds. Yes, we're right next to a larger county that has many more, but given that the hospital in that county owns our local hospital, they need to invest in a bigger ICU.)
There are more and more 'reports' of news not being reported in relation to pandemic outbreaks all over the place. If it is not reported it does not exist seems to be the twisted logic. Nursing home infections are dire with up to 50% of residents dying. The list of places to avoid is growing:

nursing homes
hospitals
place of work
restaurants
pubs/clubs
churches
funerals/weddings
public transport

basically any type of gathering.

The situation in Melbourne is dire with hundreds of new cases every day and no end in sight. Small numbers by international standards but one case is one too many. If the numbers don't come down soon they will need to go into Level 4 lockdown and that the virus is spreading beyond the city into the regional areas is also worrisome. I believe up to 40 nursing homes have been infected. Masks will become mandatory for anybody leaving their homes from Thursday.

Hardly surprisingly the virus has spread into my state primarily because the idiot premier (who I generally like but can be a bit pig headed at times) didn't shut the border with Victoria down soon enough. Though better late than never I suppose. So far the spread has been largely contained but if those community transmissions that can't be linked to a source take off we are fucked. Personally I'd lock Sydney and the South Coast down on Thursday for three weeks and a half weeks but I'll just have to wait and see what happens.

I've purchased heaps more pet food over the last few days so I don't end up with a revolt of shinny white teeth coming at me. I'm still going to the cinema and don't feel threatened by that because there is barely anybody attending. Eating out is starting to make me nervous though. But the big sign I'm starting to get worried is the throbbing headaches that I had in the countdown to the pandemic in February & March have returned. Not with the severity but each day is getting worse and I'm not one for getting headaches.
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Re: Stay Safe Everyone!

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A nursing home in my town has quietly had an outbreak that has resulted in positive cases in nearly 56 residents and over 20 staff. (The facility has 123 patients, so almost half have tested positive.) I said quietly because the local newspaper is not reporting on it at all for some reasons. Our county only has 10 ICU beds, which are almost certainly all full at this point. (Also, it's insane that a county of 100,000 people has so few ICU beds. Yes, we're right next to a larger county that has many more, but given that the hospital in that county owns our local hospital, they need to invest in a bigger ICU.)
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Re: Stay Safe Everyone!

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Big Magilla wrote:True, but there is already concern that some people and some countries may be priced out of the eventual vaccine if the patent holder charges exorbitant prices and governments or charitable institutions can't or won't pay to vaccinate the entire populace, it won't be eradicated.
Yeah, that's another issue. Lost of countries don't even have the capacity to produce a vaccine should one become available so they will automatically go to the back of the queue. Added to that in some wealthier countries there is no doubt that getting a vaccine won't be based on need (medical professionals, essential workers, vulnerable citizens, etc) but given first to those who can afford it.

I don't mean to sound like Dr. Doom but I don't think anybody on the planet really realises just what affects this virus is going to having on the future of the human race. All of our lives are going to dramatically change in ways I personally cannot even comprehend. I am extra gloomy because I'm just having a bad day and I'm fed up with everything.

Seeing reports of Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus 'breaking down into tears' over world leaders lack of response to COVID just makes me so fucking angry. He should resign as he is a hypocrite of the first order. He should have resigned a month or so again for helping to let the pandemic spread around the planet in January/February/March like he did. I'm no Trump supporter and I don't agree with him withdrawing funding from the WHO because they do lots of good work around the planet particularly in Africa, South East Asia and the Pacific Islands but Ghebreyesus failure to address the urgency of the pandemic in it's early stages is unforgivable. A smarter politician would have threaten to withdrawn support from the WHO unless Ghebreyesus resigns.

Ghebreyesus and the political elite of China have screwed us all :evil:
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Re: Stay Safe Everyone!

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True, but there is already concern that some people and some countries may be priced out of the eventual vaccine if the patent holder charges exorbitant prices and governments or charitable institutions can't or won't pay to vaccinate the entire populace, it won't be eradicated.
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Re: Stay Safe Everyone!

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Big Magilla wrote: Quite probably, but even worse than that failure we haven't learned from the initial shutdown. This shit show will continue until people wise up - not just Trump and his idiot followers but anyone who doesn't take necessary precautions until the virus is contained through vaccine, herd immunity or whatever other means may lie ahead.
Herd immunity will not work in the case of COVID-19 infections. Studies are already showing that people exposed to the virus in March who either displayed very mild symptoms or were asymptotic no longer have the antibodies. People with more severe cases are still showing antibodies but for how long remains to be seen. Given other coronavirus strains they may be looking at a couple of years immunity at the very most if they are lucky.

The only hopes are a vaccine or the virus weakens and becomes nothing worse than an annoying cold for even the most fragile of humans.
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Re: Stay Safe Everyone!

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FilmFan720 wrote:
Sabin wrote:
Mister Tee wrote
I'll repeat something I said at the beginning of this pandemic: if Hillary Clinton had been president, she'd have acted much earlier -- maybe January, certainly February -- and saved a significant number of the lives we've instead lost. But she'd be pilloried by the entire right-wing-o-sphere, and the economic downturn -- an unavoidable side effect of the shutdown -- would be laid at her feet and likely lead to her defeat in November. And a big selling point would be, she caused all this damage and not all that many people even died.
Yes, she'd save countless lives. And yes, she'd lose in a landslide.
Question, because this is something I don't hear people talking about anymore.

When this started, there was a lot of talk that because Trump had been disbanding the pandemic team, he also cut funding of our scientists overseas doing pandemic research and preparation. If we had Hillary, and those teams were in place in China helping to combat the virus, is there a chance that the outcome would have been greatly diluted from the start and we wouldn't have had to shut down globally?
Quite probably, but even worse than that failure we haven't learned from the initial shutdown. This shit show will continue until people wise up - not just Trump and his idiot followers but anyone who doesn't take necessary precautions until the virus is contained through vaccine, herd immunity or whatever other means may lie ahead.
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Re: Stay Safe Everyone!

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FilmFan720 wrote
Question, because this is something I don't hear people talking about anymore.

When this started, there was a lot of talk that because Trump had been disbanding the pandemic team, he also cut funding of our scientists overseas doing pandemic research and preparation. If we had Hillary, and those teams were in place in China helping to combat the virus, is there a chance that the outcome would have been greatly diluted from the start and we wouldn't have had to shut down globally?
I mean, really, sky's the limit to the amount of Yes's on that one.

Basically what you're asking is "What if instead of an irresponsible shit show that doesn't believe in fully-staffed responsible governance we had highly-trained, engaged, informed competent leadership?" If you apply that to almost every scenario, my answer would be "Yeah, it probably woulda gone better."
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Re: Stay Safe Everyone!

Post by FilmFan720 »

Sabin wrote:
Mister Tee wrote
I'll repeat something I said at the beginning of this pandemic: if Hillary Clinton had been president, she'd have acted much earlier -- maybe January, certainly February -- and saved a significant number of the lives we've instead lost. But she'd be pilloried by the entire right-wing-o-sphere, and the economic downturn -- an unavoidable side effect of the shutdown -- would be laid at her feet and likely lead to her defeat in November. And a big selling point would be, she caused all this damage and not all that many people even died.
Yes, she'd save countless lives. And yes, she'd lose in a landslide.
Question, because this is something I don't hear people talking about anymore.

When this started, there was a lot of talk that because Trump had been disbanding the pandemic team, he also cut funding of our scientists overseas doing pandemic research and preparation. If we had Hillary, and those teams were in place in China helping to combat the virus, is there a chance that the outcome would have been greatly diluted from the start and we wouldn't have had to shut down globally?
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