outbreak! (ebola, sars, coronavirus, etc)

but has there been a concurrent spike in hospitalization?

yeah I hope I'm wrong or there's some miracle coming soon but it really does look like things are going to get considerably worse in the following months. virtually everyone I work with who has kids is talking about how their school has at least one positive case. my son's kindergarten just had one yesterday. a friend's kid's school has 11 faculty members out. I don't think they're handling it that well. They quarantine some classes but if say, one of the kids has a sibling in another class, they won't quarantine that person.

My sister's kids started going back in person this week, two days per week. They've got a fairly robust plan in place, but I'm curious to see how it plays out in actuality. The part that has my sister worried is that it reads as if they are going to send a kid home every time they cough or sniffle and going to ask for a negative COVID test before they can come back. Which, on the face of it, seems reasonable, but I really don't see how that's not going to end up with empty classrooms anyway in the fall, in the Midwest, in an elementary school.

I'm just once again thankful that my son is still 100% remote and likely will stay that way until after the new year, at the earliest.

but has there been a concurrent spike in hospitalization?

― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, September 29, 2020 1:12 PM (twenty-six minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

i believe so in wisconsin but i can't find those numbers now.

the miami and nyc positivity spikes are very recent (literally the last couple of days), so not yet there.

wisconsin is definitely seeing a spike in hospitalizations

https://i.imgur.com/p2zcqnD.png

yeah Wisconsin is bad right now. my county has had like 20% of its total infections in the last week.

Florida will probably start going back the other way, right as we're finally moving the right direction.

yesterday I was at the supermarket and saw this lady standing there, on the phone, no mask at all (both our county and the store have mask requirements).

she started saying loudly "what are your symptoms? Ok, listen to me closely...the virus can only...."

at that point I turned tail and walked very fast in the other direction

I'm also baffled as to Lightfoot easing restrictions in restaurants and bars here at the same time we (again!) passed the threshold for what would trigger us to be added to our own quarantine travel restriction list.

a friend who teaches kindergarten is being shut down after just days of in-person class (started Monday, ending tomorrow) and going back to virtual, so at least Oregon has a clue. once we hit a certain pre-determined number, the schools stop with in-person class.

I basically told a friend from Bkln who decided (uninvited!) to come visit this weekend that he couldn't stay with us, and that a previously mentioned outdoor barbeque I'd planned (my birthday is this coming Sunday) wasn't happening because I decided to not be a host of an event where it could possibly spread. I think he is upset with me, but I'm also like...you didn't visit for the three years i've been here...and now want to visit at a time that is least appropriate? what's wrong with you?

that is how i feel about my upstairs/neighbor landlord, who decided to wait until the middle of a pandemic to do a 3+ month complete renovation on the floor above me, so that every day can include the living hell of living in a construction zone. like, given an option between what him renovating all around me during coronavirus, or him straight up punching me in the nose and breaking it, i would take the broken nose 100% of the time

our landlord chose this week to have a window company knocking on every door to come in and replace all the windows with energy efficient ones.

The windows in our apartment are in an absolute SHAMBLES but hell no you are not coming in here, see you next year for that shit.

Everyone else in the bldg is apparently fine with it.

spike in brooklyn is adjacent to my neighborhood and headed my way

same.

We've only relaxed one rule vs what we were doing four months ago, which is letting the dog play at the dog run while attempting to stay distant from all the other humans there. Might have to walk that one back soon.

But nonetheless after the summer I do feel my resolve weakened.

that is how i feel about my upstairs/neighbor landlord, who decided to wait until the middle of a pandemic to do a 3+ month complete renovation

what is it with these crazy fucking landlords

super cheap interest rates to make those capital improvements that will increase their property's value and allow higher rents in the future than if they didn't renovate.

my partner and i had to have a long conversation about how we two people in our mid-forties are going to have to move to a new apartment in the next twelve months because the guy who bought our building is just acting a fool, yay

This is good.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/sep/30/geneva-raises-minimum-wage-covid-poverty-switzerland

counted mask wearers vs non mask wearers on my 15 minute dog walk this morning just for fun

williamsburg, brooklyn

16 out of 48 individuals without masks (33.33%)

no clear demographic split other than older women of color wearing masks at 100% and pedestrian couples at almost 100%

(mask around neck counted as no mask obv)

(surprisingly, only 1 of the 16 was an instance of dicknose. other than that, ppl either had it on right or weren't bothering at all)

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/technology-54280457

BBC Click report "Train station tech helps passengers to socially distance". bloke explaining the system of cameras in the ceiling (at about 1:20 in video) has his mask below his nose.

which reminds me. was watching Space: 1999 the other day and they are even doing it badly in 'the future'...

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50401735181_eeaeb4c6a0.jpg

The way I see it, here are your mask wearer categories:

1) The Noble. They wear them correctly, and to help contain the virus. Nobody has to force them.

2) The Peer-Pressured. They wouldn't mask at all if nobody made them, and need frequent reminding.

3) The Dumb. They want to follow guidelines, but won't do the 3 minutes of reading the guidelines for appropriate mask-wearing. So they wear things that aren't masks at all, or wear them wrong (below nose). One person i knew actually thought it could only spread by mouth, which was his explanation for his below-nosing.

4) The Pedants. They know the sign on the door says they have to wear a mask. Maybe the sign doesn't specify that it has to be covering their face completely. So they intentionally wear it below their nose cos it's more comfortable and "the sign only said i had to have a mask on!"

5) The Chin-Straps. A group of people who should be killed.

6) The non-maskers. A group of people who should be killed.

We haven't exceeded 12 positives on any given day so, based on observation while out this past weekend, it seems like at least half of the people in my town have decided the pandemic is over and have given up on masks altogether. Ignoring the fact that a) we are directly adjacent to Chicago and b) we have a huge university where classes just started back two weeks ago. We're not living in some isolated biosphere, people.

xpost I count mask-around-neck as mask-wearing if people are outdoors and keeping a distance from each other, because I often see them pull the mask up when they pass people. But then I live in a residential neighborhood with lots of space.

Perhaps the most damning thing Trump said in the debate was that they were ready to vaccinate 200,000 people per day. At that rate it would take more than 4 years to vaccinate the population. So either he has a terrible plan or he has no idea what he's talking about.

— Timothy B. Lee (@binarybits) September 30, 2020

Jon, in my hood, when you're walking outside walking with a family member, it seems okay to have a mask at hand for close-quarter situations. As Lily Dale says.

On my local bike trail, I can see someone coming from a hundred yards/meters away. Is it endangering them if I wait to slip the mask on until we're closer, but not yet in breathing range?

Or is your position that as soon as I walk out the door I should be masked until I get home?

I saw a guy at the grocery store with a face shield instead of a face mask, but it was pulled up at such an angle that it was more of a really long visor and no part of his mouth or nose was actually obstructed. Disappointed that Sprouts didn't kick him out but oh well.

only 1 of the 16 was an instance of dicknose

whoever coined 'dicknose' deserves a medal

Is that an ILX original?

i dislike it because i always hear it in my head to the tune of "Tip Drill" aka "E.I." by Nelly.

i do see people do the thing where they pull it up when they are approaching someone else, but it's usually not until they and I are within like 10 feet of each other which seems a little late to me. idk.

in any case, none of today's hang-around-neckers were in this group, it just stayed around their neck when passing.

especially interesting to me is the het couple, one masked one not. no instances of that today but it's been fairly common. usually the dude unmasked.

usually the dude unmasked.

my experience, too

I'm that dude who pulls the mask up at 10-20 feet away.

First relevant use of the term DN on ILX seems to have been three weeks ago on the Rational/Irrational COVID-19 thread by Jaq. There are earlier unrelated posts though.

Anti-mask protest underway near my place now that Montreal is back in semi-lockdown. How I love hearing these fuckwits yell 'Libââârtéeeeee' at the top of their lungs.

from what i've been reading, you aren't that likely to become infected/sick if you merely walk by someone fast who is unmasked, unless they are infected AND happen to sneeze or cough heavily at or around the time you go by. You may not inhale enough of a viral load to actually become infected. nothing's 100%, but if you have one interaction with someone who walks by you unmasked for ten seconds, you're probably not going to get it even if they are infected. that said, because you never know how many people you're going to be around and for how long, I wear mine every time I leave the house anyway cos I like to reduce risk closer to zero, and that also means turning tail if I see someone unmasked coming over to me, nose-hairs dangling

xpost 25% will start coughing midway through.

from what i've been reading, you aren't that likely to become infected/sick if you merely walk by someone fast who is unmasked, unless they are infected AND happen to sneeze or cough heavily at or around the time you go by.

This is what I've read as well. When I'm out for a run, I keep a 2m distance and circumvent passersby as needed. Besides, house parties appear to be the #1 cause of infection here, by a significant margin.

btw u ded:

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2020/sep/30/neanderthal-genes-increase-risk-of-serious-covid-19-study-claims

this is amazing news,I will be a legend in the metal scene as an active dead rocker

i do see people do the thing where they pull it up when they are approaching someone else, but it's usually not until they and I are within like 10 feet of each other which seems a little late to me. idk.

Outdoors, 10 feet away from each... I have my doubts that this constitutes risky behavior.

totally negligible risk. it's kind of a dick move because it might make other people feel unsafe because you look like a person who doesn't take safety seriously. but just in an objective sense and assuming you give everyone a wide berth, you're not actually putting anyone in danger.

I had to be in a large medical facility Tuesday and sat glaring at the one douchey guy with his dicknose hanging out as he sat next to a properly masked pregnant person. Mask-policing nurse gave him hell eventually.
― Jaq, Thursday, September 3, 2020

Dicknose is definitely a national movement
― Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Thursday, September 3, 2020

Yup

Dicknose predates ilx

dick
nose
has
taken its toll
on me

Dicknose
Where my Rosemary grows

https://consequenceofsound.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/teen-wolf-stiles-feat-e1440350219913.png

Bus stop, wet day
She's there, I say
Please share my umbrella
Bus stops, bus goes
She stays, dicknose
Under my umbrella

There dick nose....
There dick nose again....