Muh Muh Muh My Corona (virus)

Media has reported this very well, the plight of hospitals, the risk doctors face. There are testimonials all over. There have been impromptu thank-you sessions all over. The precise reason we're doing what we're doing, all over the country, is to not overwhelm the health care system.

But this is what Twitter does: It amplifies a single person's plight or sorrow or plea into some kind of universal truth. That is to say what's happened to that doctor, in her hospital, is not an awful thing. It is an awful thing. But we acknowledge and, simultaneously, acknowledge that the media is aware and active in reporting all this. It is.

One concern I have is that we're going to start revising death tolls based on imperfect counting one month ago while simultaneously doing what the Italians are doing, as this moment, are doing and just coding everything as COVID-19 if it's in the realm of possibility.

Except when it comes to China, where, apparently, the fascists made the disease disappear by magic.

We are at a point in our nation where some are conditioned to think the United States is bad at everything, worse than everyone at all those things, and the pandemic is an opportunity to "reset" the nation on a new, much more authoritarian course where, as one poster in this thread put it, we'll figure out very quickly who is of no use.

 

I understand everyone wanting everyone to wear masks (and gloves) for health-protection reasons, but I also know what Cosmo's saying here.

It is actually quite difficult to wear the masks, especially if you're actually working, or doing anything that takes any exertion at all. We've had masks and gloves handed out to us at work in recent weeks (kudos to our store for that), and many employees (including yours truly) are wearing them.

But we're all hating them, too. Except the cashiers, who can, pretty much, be standing in one place, not moving around too much, etc. Anybody who has to do any real exertion in them? Almost intolerable. And if you wear glasses? Even worse. And the gloves often hinder all the touch-screen stuff we have going on with our systems these days, and make your hands sweat like crazy. By the end of the day, you can't wait to take the PPE off. And, you do it.

It's why you'll see more shoppers (who are just walking around, leaning on the baskets, and browsing), wearing them, than you will our associates as the day goes on.

 

what a clusterfuck (cont.),

 

The aerosol droplets on the sidewalk can get on your shoes, and none of us take our shoes off before going in the house. Paranoid? Yeah... but paranoia is a very healthy state to live in right now. Germs don't care what you think. I agree that the risk at 6 am is about as low as you can ask for, but the bottom line is that taking the precautions seriously is about all you can control about a pandemic.

 

I'm seeing a pretty high percentage of store workers in masks. The public shopping, maybe 15-20%.

 

Honestly, so long as you give others a wide berth you don't need a mask. It's when you're in an area where keeping a wide berth is hard that wearing one becomes more important.

That said, wearing one any time you go out isn't useless nor a waste of effort.

 

Count me among those who isn't wearing a mask when I run. I'll wear one the next time I have to go to the grocery store, but I'm not wearing one when I run. The chances of me getting hit by a car or bit by a dog are about a gajillion times greater than me catching or passing along coronavirus. If I get it or give it, it won't be because of being out for morning exercise.
I don't live in a populated area. I can go for a 5K run and never even see another person, never mind being within a few feet of them.

 

Another problem we're seeing is certain communities refusing to even try social distancing. The Hasidic Jewish community New York City and in the suburbs is one example. I have seen pictures of large groups at religious services and private schools. One community actually had students lie down in their seats on the way to school, and put a sign that read "food bus" on the side to try to cover up what they were doing.

The County Executive for one county in the NYC suburbs has asked Gov. Andrew Cuomo for clearer direction and broader powers for police officers trying to stop people from meeting in large groups. Most of the Hasidic Jews are clustered in one town in his county and that town has over 60 percent of the confirmed cases. Cuomo claimed he hadn't heard of the issue, so this has become a bit of a political battle. To be fair, the county executive is a Republican. He is also retired from the NYPD.

I'm not even sure being Jewish will insulate me from looking bad in criticizing that religious community, but I don't much care. If you are still holding religious services with dozens of people, you are risking the lives of everyone around you. If you are still sending your children to their private schools, you are risking the lives of everyone around you. This hits very close to home because there is a large community like this near me and they shop at many of the same places my family uses.

I use Hasidic Jews as the example because it has been a topic around here, but they aren't the only groups of people refusing to act as responsible members of the larger community. The thing is, we really aren't having the conflict between religious freedom and public safety. They can still practice their faith without putting the rest of us in danger. They are choosing not to do so.

 

I went to the ER friday night suspecting i might have a DVT (blood clot) in my right leg. Had one previously in my left and felt the same. I was in amd out in 2.5 hours, including an ultrasound thst confirmed it. Last time, it was chest xray and overnight stay. This time, here's some drugs, now GTFO.

 

I saw an article where a pastor in Louisiana is not only still holding services but running seventeen buses to pick up his flock.