outbreak! (ebola, sars, coronavirus, etc)

We've had a few acquaintances test positive in the last few weeks and each time are like OH SHIT HOW DID THEY GET SICK WHAT MIGHT WE BE DOING WRONG???

Then my wife sees recent pictures of one and her husband maskless at a crowded bar in wisconsin - where they traveled to on purpose just to do shit like go out to bars - and we realize that we are probably going to be safe but the whole country is entirely fucked.

I operate on a moving 6 foot rule. i imagine a huge pole coming out of someone else's chest that can impale me so if they move towards me, I back up, vice versa.

I don't really buy the idea that Trump was cruising to re-election before Covid but I do think had he actually done an ~~ok~~ job on it he probably would've won

I operate on a moving 6 foot rule. i imagine a huge pole coming out of someone else's chest that can impale me so if they move towards me, I back up, vice versa.

the problem, as i see it, is that if EVERYONE was mandated to use huge hula hoops that extended out 3 feet in every direction (6-ft in diameter, 3-ft radius), it would work, because everybody's hoops would collide, and each side would contribute 3 feet of their hoop to the total distance of 6 ft.

but in reality, some people claim they can't hula hoop with a 6 ft. radius hula hoop at all times, or even that they don't WANT to. and that means that the people with 3-ft radius hula hoops are going to collide with non-hula-hoopers, which puts the collision at 3 feet away, instead of ft. unsafe!

so we're led down this crazy path where those who choose to hula-hoop have to use an even larger, 6 ft radius / 12 ft diameter hoop, to make sure they're safe from those that refuse to hoop at all. a collision between two of these extra safe hoops would be 12 feet away from each hooper

The hooper
The hyper
Protected by Viper

feel like to a certain extent it wasn't taken seriously in the us until the sports leagues shut down in march. but now some states are allowing fans at events, baseball laughed off having a positive player on the field for its championship celebration, and the NBA wants to start up in five weeks despite the situation being as bad as ever

these half- or zero-measures by cuomo reinforce for people that it's not really that bad, sucks for you if you're a parent or a teacher but whatever. still no support for restaurants, or rent relief, or anything beyond $1200 six months ago. i don't know why cuomo has attained this sheen of respectability -- the main thing separating him from the governors of texas and florida is that he hasn't called the whole thing a hoax

'it's a dark time and we all have to make sacrifices. but not *we* we'

I do think had he actually done an ~~ok~~ job on it he probably would've won

honestly I think even just making the appearance of making an earnest effort would have been good enough

Neanderthal, that one spoke to me

Surely we'd be seeing the impacts of Halloween weekend right about now, was there that many parties and gatherings going on?

my sister and her brood are at present planning to drive here (NC) from New Mexico for Christmas and presumably stay with our 66 and 65 year-old parents. I just sent her a long Facebook message asking her to reconsider, or at the very damn least take some serious precautions in terms of who they are around on the way here and once they've arrived. I think she's still fairly rational but my brother-in-law's family and friends are lousy with Trumpers who I imagine ain't wearin' no face diapers like some damn libs.

Yeah, so many spread out cases in schools popping up, I blame Halloween for sure here in NY

We've had several isolated cases at local schools, each time with no evidence of spread within the school. Some were pre-halloween fwiw.

I don’t see how bars and restaurants closing at 10 is going to do anything

I feel very worn down by the school situation. K has two hours in (but behind barriers with no breaks or anything) and the rest remote, and she's really miserable. I've advocated for a return to fuller in person school but it's an EXTREMELY divisive issue in town and I feel like I've probably made enemies who think I want their kids teachers or grandparents to die or something. There's really very little evidence of schools being high risk but people are clinging to the idea that they are and I can kind of understand it (who the hell wants to be wrong about that?)

As someone who works in a school, it's low-level terrifying every day. It only takes a couple kids slobbering and sneezing and you get dozens of staff and students quarantining. At least we haven't yet seen outbreaks in classrooms here, but that's BECAUSE we're being so careful about it imo and forcing people to stay home at signs of infection.

In my locality children are definitely picking it up outside, and I'm seeing so many kids on the street just being too cavalier about this. But so are the adults with mask usage and everyday life (eating out in tents like fools)! Many people are STILL just way too relaxed, sad to say.

Yeah the restaurant tents are bizarre. All four walls covered ~ what’s the difference from being inside?

I don’t see how bars and restaurants closing at 10 is going to do anything

If other places around the Western world are anything to go by, it's a prelude to a second (semi-)lockdown.

xp:

Diners in those transparent tents would only be exposed to their dining party and servers(s). It reduces the chance of super spreader events where one person infects dozens.

It's not a great situation, and I'd like to see DIY HEPA filtration with 20in fans in them, but I'm also sympathetic to the restaurants/cafes teetering at the edge of insolvency.

I'm speaking here of the dining "bubbles" with one table. Not those where tables are packed together under plastic sheeting...

https://s.hdnux.com/photos/01/13/33/57/19774430/3/1200x0.jpg

Yeah not the individual bubbles, I’m referring to the larger tents where all the patrons are together

Yeah I’ve only seen a couple of those individual table bubbles, it’s far more likely to be the only large, enclosed tent which appears to do fuck all.

moderna's results coming in the next few days apparently:

https://www.ft.com/content/c6c6b704-964a-4df6-8330-8e3290ea65fa

Dr Fauci told the FT Live Global Pharmaceutical Summit on Wednesday that he was optimistic about a forthcoming update on the vaccine from biotech group Moderna and would “be surprised if we didn’t see a similar degree of efficacy” to the positive results released by Pfizer and BioNTech on Monday.

“We were told that literally in the next few days to a week they’ll be doing the same thing of looking at the data as the Pfizer people did a week ago,” he told the Financial Times event.

(this one can be stored/shipped at regular domestic freezer temperature IIUC)

oh that's good, I was just listening to a podcast about the cooling requirements of the Pfizer one -- crazy

seems about right - I'm not sure when the earliest of Moderna's phase 3 groups started, but my group has already had both injections, and then we had 8 vials of blood taken to measure our antibody response about a month ago.

hoping we have two viable vaccines.

Passenger tests positive for Covid-19 on first cruise ship to sail in Caribbean since the beginning of the pandemic https://t.co/RWQh3yeKVh

— Dr. Seema Yasmin (@DoctorYasmin) November 12, 2020

Cannot fathom going on a cruise right now.

i'm sure that was a fun trip

cruise ships are booking passengers again?! this world is crazier than I can grasp.

cruise ships booking passengers again, porn studios doing a2m again, just adding petri dish after petri dish

tbf cruise ships seem especially dangerous right now not just because they're cruise ships, but because the only people who would go on one are extremely reckless and more likely than the average person to already be infected when they step on the boat!

Also old

and they're all fucking

Missed my call from the vaccine testing people, I was on another call. Called them back but no answer. Hopefully they call back tomorrow.

Cannot fathom going on a cruise right now.

We went camping near Weymouth on the coast over the summer, and sitting idly in the sea nearby were ten or so empty cruise ships, with lights on and belching smoke. It was quite the metaphor.

Who the fuck would get on a cruise ship now? Jesus.

Ever since I was around 10, I've always had the romantic idea of a boat trip over to Europe but, at the same time, you could not pay me to ever get onboard a cruise ship. Did the cruise industry completely ruin the idea of boats as intercontinental travel without the part of them being the destination themselves?

I'm at the point where I wouldn't blink at a story of COVID deniers asking random strangers to spit directly into their open mouths.

before covid i was already resolved not to get on one. aside from not being something i would like, they had that poop ship and the legionnaire's outbreaks, etc.

asking random strangers to spit directly into their open mouths

Merely a matter of time. My covidiot FIL has been known to demand that passersby take off their face masks and stop observing the 2m rule.

Welp pic.twitter.com/plg4gPEuif

— Peter🌲Brannen (@PeterBrannen1) November 11, 2020

I saw that map a few times last night when I was half asleep and assumed it was fake but, nope. Jesus.

Although I will point out that, as of this morning, the map on their website is slightly different in that Louisiana is shown as the lighter red "trending poorly".

this surprised me to see all the states like that. these are the criteria:

14 Day Trend of COVID+
This is the last 14 days of COVID positive cases using a 7 day rolling average. This data is updated daily and comes from the COVID Tracking Project.

Dark red: If cases are increasing (>25% change) during the 14 day period
Red: If cases are increasing (between 5% - 25% change) during the 14 day period
Yellow: If cases are flat (less than 5% change) during the 14 day period
Green: If cases are decreasing (more than -5% change) during the 14 day period

Interesting

I continue to think the evidence for the Sturgis Motorcycle rally being one of the most disastrous public health events in decades is provisional but quite strong. https://t.co/GYfGE590h9

— Chris Hayes (@chrislhayes) November 11, 2020

For real, when we start (in my wildest dreams) locking up leaders and charging them with murder, Noem is in my top five.

Some anecdotal data: The husband of one of my wife's best friends met up with some friends this past Saturday for a "social distanced" afternoon backyard hang, it was much colder than normal/expected so they moved inside and he overstayed a few hours past when he planned on being home.. Everyone who attended now has tested positive for COVID.

I don't know the other people involved, but the husband is pretty sharp, well-educated, seemingly healthy habits, has a pretty cool job... now is isolating in a hotel for 2 weeks and the wife is absolutely livid.

Oops!

Admittedly that's one of the problems with "safe" social gatherings. We reluctantly had my aunt and uncle up from the city a few months ago. First, we had asked them to come when the weather was going to clear up and we could be outside, but they came early so we had to be inside. Then, in spite of promising to wear masks, they took their masks off. Then they stopped observing distancing. It's very hard to force your relatives, especially older ones, to behave a certain way in your home. I have decided not to see them again until this is over.

fucking idiots. i understand, have had the same problems with my parents having their friends over unmasked and me screaming at them

I am dreading the blowback I'm gonna get tonight or tomorrow for when I finally get the nerve up to tell my mom we aren't coming.

have a feeling you need to set some stronger boundaries lol

sorry, that was out of place. good luck