outbreak! (ebola, sars, coronavirus, etc)

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

Eh, she hasn't even invited anyone yet, but I'm anticipating that she might want to so I'm trying to head it off and be proactive. They've been really good and understanding so far, but she's always considered hosting Thanksgiving to be one of her favorite things and I'm worried she's going to really struggle with the loss even if she ultimately understands.

The other day I watched a Zoom funeral for someone I knew who died of COVID -- he was pretty old and unwell and already probably in his final hospital visit when he caught it, but all the same it was kind of startling that someone spoke at the funeral without a mask on -- like, everybody else was masked and this one person was like "THIS is the right moment to show I don't think it's that big of a deal and people are overreacting"

Went to my sister's house for a distanced outside fire-pit chat a few weeks ago. These are the only people I've IRL socialized with since March.

It started drizzling, and my kids went inside the house for a bit to get out of the rain while we wrapped up the socializing.

Two days later my daughter started feeling sick. You can, I suspect, imagine the terror.

She tested positive - for strep throat.

I've never been so relieved to get a positive result on a test for an infectious disease. But no, even the ostensibly safe hangs are off the menu again. And the good weather for outdoor meetups is likely gone.

to be fair to that map, i've felt like Florida has been in uncontrolled spread since June or July

we are assholes.

So more mealy-mouthed bullshit from Lightfoot, I guess? A 30-day stay at home "advisory", whatever that means. I just don't see how making it an "advisory" has any teeth at all.

I mean, I don't mean to harsh on Lori, she's done a pretty decent job all things considered. But "advisory" feels like it makes it all sound much more optional than it should be, given our numbers.

She tested positive - for strep throat.

Forgot to mention that this EXACT thing happened to us after my aunt and uncle's visit -- we also got her a COVID test (negative)

The only people we see indoors are my wife's parents, and I was actually hesitant about that (more for their own sake) but we are both careful and they insist on it.

I've had one friend over for patio beers a few times and we've had a couple outdoor playdates - our little kids can't really be kept at distance but we do so as parents.

Question: It seems like testing is readily available in NYC now--is it also in other places? Liiike, re Thanksgiving, are there...reasons not to get everyone tested and then isolate for a couple of days until you get results and then get together? We are considering this for my roommate/house-mates, who are semi- all podded together anyway. The testing is just out of extra caution.

that is our plan for seeing my wife's kids/grandkids for Thanksgiving, who are in our bubble anyway as we have seen them several times since March

I can't see any reason not to get test results before we head down there

my anecdotal COVID story:

president of my company has a pregnant wife & kid, she has a "mom pod" and they share a nanny. The nanny went to a "family gathering" maybe 2 weeks ago where there was a super spreader event, then gave it to boss' wife's friend, then boss' wife hugged her friend goodbye, now they both have it. total failures of basic precautions all around. thankfully neither of them seem super sick yet.

Idk, why risk it? There will be thanksgiving again next year.

yeah I bet we end up not going, given the progression we see

Testing without symptoms varies out here, also depends on which service you'd like to use:

1) my PPO health insurance provider: incredibly strict (2-3 more symptoms present)
2) the County: more strict (1 or more symptoms)
3) tech-driven testing (eg Project Baseline® by Google™): less strict (no symptoms), but then they want to connect your google account(s) & mobile # with your virus samples/biometrics... maybe even your DNA? haven't really researched this option tbqh lol