Corona Virus: It's a Marathon, Not a Sprint

[Smoove_B]

Some uplifting words from Ed Yong:

“A country that, 7 months into a pandemic, still cannot ensure that its healthcare workers have enough gowns and gloves and protective equipment is not going to be able to distribute a vaccine in an efficient way. It simply isn’t.”

[Paingod]

Some uplifting words from Ed Yong:

Damn you, you got me...

I was hoping for a glimmer of good news, not another bucket of ice water. I already couldn't feel most of my extremities from the last 3.5 years of buckets, and 2020 has just been an Olympic pool filled with ice.

[Kraken]

Tentatively, I don't plan to be first in line for an eventual vaccine because I have misgivings over the adequacy of rushed safety testing. Circumstances could change my mind.

[Formix]

I'm expecting my employer to require it, just like they do the Flu shot. I don't expect to have a choice, so I'm hoping for mutant powers if it all goes sideways

[Paingod]

Tentatively, I don't plan to be first in line for an eventual vaccine because I have misgivings over the adequacy of rushed safety testing. Circumstances could change my mind.

You may also not want to wait the 6-18 months it'll take to see if the microchip Bill Gates wants to inject into you stops working on its own or not...

I've wavered over wanting to sign up to test a vaccine as a healthy 40 year old and being worried about what it might do to my ability to be a father and husband. I worry that a vaccine isn't as effective as it normally might be if what they're saying about immunity lasting less than a year is true. I'm certainly not anti-vax, though. If vaccinating everyone every 6 months will eradicate the virus, let's do it.

[Smoove_B]

Too insane not to post. Ben Garrison. Dr. Fauci. The White House Deputy Chief of Staff. Twitter. This is America in 2020.

Unreal. White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Communications posted this on Facebook. New CBS News polling shows many voters in states hard hit by Covid surges blame President Trump for pushing to reopen too soon.

[LordMortis]

Ben Garrison.

Is Ben Garrison the one who cartoon blamed congresswomen for using their congresswomen wiles for luring innocent sailors America to their death? If so, then that is when I learned of him and decided I have no use for him.

[stessier]

Starting Monday, face coverings are required at work. This will be interesting - we had been relying upon social distancing to keep the workers safe. Face coverings were optional - I've been wearing a mask since we got back from furlough in June. The manufacturing we do makes breathing through them hard. I pick a lousy year to become a supervisor.

[Sudy]

Too insane not to post. Ben Garrison. Dr. Fauci. The White House Deputy Chief of Staff. Twitter. This is America in 2020.

No NFL Season!

[LordMortis]

Starting Monday, face coverings are required at work. This will be interesting - we had been relying upon social distancing to keep the workers safe. Face coverings were optional - I've been wearing a mask since we got back from furlough in June. The manufacturing we do makes breathing through them hard. I pick a lousy year to become a supervisor.

I like our policies. We taped off work areas to enforce 6' Plus. While isolated in a work are a mask is not required. If someone is going to break those planes then masks are required. If you are moving into shared spaces, masks are required. Having just moved to an open office form 2(3?4?) years ago, we put sneeze guards around all cubicles. Shared work or break spaces require both a mask and distancing enforced by staying in your marked zone. Courtesies that involve violation of social distancing, such as holding a door for someone, are strictly forbidden. We also converted all high touch areas into touchless sensor areas. Above and beyond that being in the office is limited to essential function.

[raydude]

Tentatively, I don't plan to be first in line for an eventual vaccine because I have misgivings over the adequacy of rushed safety testing. Circumstances could change my mind.

You may also not want to wait the 6-18 months it'll take to see if the microchip Bill Gates wants to inject into you stops working on its own or not...

My wife just told me about her best friend from high school voicing the concern about Bill Gates controlling us with microchips. Her friend is a great person except for her overwhelming reliance on Fox News and gullibility on quack products and conspiracy theories.

[malchior]

Between the Utah flash mobs, actual covid parties, and evil politicians I find it hopelessly impossible not to be angry right now. I was just talking to one my co-workers in Europe and we got to talking about it. He funny enough asked me a question that I had coincidentally asked my wife the other day.

Him: Why do you still have a nation? Your country is like 50 different countries fighting with each other.

Me: Well it's more like 6-8 fighting with each other but yes that's about right. And I wonder the same thing.

My operating assumption is the longer this pandemic goes on and the worse it runs, so increase the chances that this whole thing blows apart in some completely unpredictable way. The pandemic has exposed all the rot underneath and its extensive. We aren't a nation that operates for a common good anymore. What even crazier is that Galtung nailed this down in 2000. He got a little lucky with the pandemic but electing Trump was the death knell for the American experiment. We just haven't seen the outcome yet. And that just makes me furious because we're powerless as we watch this noble experiment flush down the drain.

[Holman]

Ben Garrison.

Is Ben Garrison the one who cartoon blamed congresswomen for using their congresswomen wiles for luring innocent sailors America to their death? If so, then that is when I learned of him and decided I have no use for him.

Ben Garrison is the cartoonist who was disinvited from a WH visit when the media shed light on some of his more brazenly anti-Semitic cartoons: e.g. hook-nosed caricatures of Jewish financiers, Soros, and the Rothschilds (deep cut there) controlling the Democratic Party and the media.

He's the guy who always draws Trump as a heroic muscle-man. It's really really weird stuff. Oh, and of course he's all-in on QAnon.

[Blackhawk]

Between the Utah flash mobs, actual covid parties, and evil politicians I find it hopefully impossible not to be angry right now.

I have been mad for weeks. Hell, I have been out-and-out enraged.

But the last few days, ever since my kids' school blew off my concerns about their reopening 'plan' that included open cafeterias and playground equipment, I feel different. A blend of heartbroken and resigned. I'm completely and totally powerless to do anything about the disaster that I'm forced to walk right into the middle of with my family. I've tried. Nothing works, and everybody around me is cheering about that.

Honestly, if I didn't have kids and grandkids that will inherit the world, I'd give up. I'd isolate myself and take comfort in the fact that in a few decades the world won't be my problem.

[Ralph-Wiggum]

Got an email from our director today. He reports that there have been numerous people at work that have tested positive for Covid over the last few months. However, as of yet, there has not been a single case of work-related transmission, presumably due to the requirements that were put in place pretty early on (distancing, wearing face coverings, not sharing equipment, etc). Of course, the building has as of yet not been allowed to have more than 25% capacity, so we'll see how well these measures work when we start opening up more. But, at the very least, it unsurprisingly shows that being stringent about following these requirements can really cut down on the likelihood of transmission.

[malchior]

Got an email from our director today. He reports that there have been numerous people at work that have tested positive for Covid over the last few months. However, as of yet, there has not been a single case of work-related transmission, presumably due to the requirements that were put in place pretty early on (distancing, wearing face coverings, not sharing equipment, etc). Of course, the building has as of yet not been allowed to have more than 25% capacity, so we'll see how well these measures work when we start opening up more. But, at the very least, it unsurprisingly shows that being stringent about following these requirements can really cut down on the likelihood of transmission.

That assumes they know of every case, every infection vector, or will acknowledge cases transmitted at work since everyone is scared to death of lawsuits.

[Alefroth]

Dr. Faucet played by Mitch McConnell?

[El Guapo]

The "Gates Foundation" being on the saucer is a nice touch, for a nonsensical conspiracy theory cartoon.

[Isgrimnur]

Ben Garrison.

Is Ben Garrison the one who cartoon blamed congresswomen for using their congresswomen wiles for luring innocent sailors America to their death? If so, then that is when I learned of him and decided I have no use for him.

Yes.

[gilraen]

Tentatively, I don't plan to be first in line for an eventual vaccine because I have misgivings over the adequacy of rushed safety testing. Circumstances could change my mind.

I feel the same way. After seeing the FDA release waves of tests that didn't work properly, I'm a bit apprehensive about letting them inject me with something that a Trump appointee signed over at the last minute to avoid getting fired.

[LordMortis]

I'm a bit apprehensive about letting them inject me with something that a Trump appointee signed over at the last minute to avoid getting fired.

+1 Trump has not just squandered away all of the good will between the US and other nations. He's squandered my faith in the federal government to act in a way that is not contrary to my best interests nor even the masses of citizens. His presidency is the self fulfilling prophesy of "I love my country but I fear my government" voting block. And as it turns out, when I move toward fearing my government, I have a hard time loving my country.

[gilraen]

Starting Monday, face coverings are required at work. This will be interesting - we had been relying upon social distancing to keep the workers safe. Face coverings were optional - I've been wearing a mask since we got back from furlough in June. The manufacturing we do makes breathing through them hard. I pick a lousy year to become a supervisor.

I like our policies. We taped off work areas to enforce 6' Plus. While isolated in a work are a mask is not required. If someone is going to break those planes then masks are required. If you are moving into shared spaces, masks are required. Having just moved to an open office form 2(3?4?) years ago, we put sneeze guards around all cubicles. Shared work or break spaces require both a mask and distancing enforced by staying in your marked zone. Courtesies that involve violation of social distancing, such as holding a door for someone, are strictly forbidden. We also converted all high touch areas into touchless sensor areas. Above and beyond that being in the office is limited to essential function.

I'm so happy that I don't have to go back to the office in my current job...likely ever. Our small company (<50 people) got acquired last November, almost half the people now have either been laid off or quit. Before we got sent home on March 13th, almost all of us were already working from home at least one day per week, so now with so few of us left, there's no point in going back to the office. (The parent company is in Toronto, with remote workers all over the place, there's certainly no way they can require or enforce us going back to the office - if anything, they'll probably try to get out of our office lease early to save money).

[msteelers]

Our local county here in FL finally issued a mandatory mask mandate. My wife and I have been waiting for this. I work from home, but she works for a vets office. They closed the building to customers, but everyone is still at work. And their work area is small. Social distancing is impossible between the coworkers. My (pregnant) wife has been the ONLY worker there to wear a mask all day, and she's been doing it since March. We knew that the only way her coworkers were going to start wearing masks at work would be if the government required it.

As soon as the order was passed by the county gov't, my wife started getting into it with her coworkers who started to complain. The Office Manager said that they didn't have to abide by the ordinance, because their building is closed to the public. But eventually the head Dr. passed around a memo stating they would follow the ordinance and require everyone to wear masks. The ordinance takes effect Wednesday morning at 8am. We'll see how many co-workers follow the rule, and what happens when some people decide not to wear masks at work. I'm pretty sure the Office Manager is going to defiantly not wear a mask, so that should be fun.

[Ralph-Wiggum]

Got an email from our director today. He reports that there have been numerous people at work that have tested positive for Covid over the last few months. However, as of yet, there has not been a single case of work-related transmission, presumably due to the requirements that were put in place pretty early on (distancing, wearing face coverings, not sharing equipment, etc). Of course, the building has as of yet not been allowed to have more than 25% capacity, so we'll see how well these measures work when we start opening up more. But, at the very least, it unsurprisingly shows that being stringent about following these requirements can really cut down on the likelihood of transmission.

That assumes they know of every case, every infection vector, or will acknowledge cases transmitted at work since everyone is scared to death of lawsuits.

This is true, but we've been pretty limited in the number of people we have contact with, so contact tracing at work is pretty easily done. But of course, what this really means is that no one who has tested positive at work had previously been in contact with anyone else who tested positive at work. I know that at least within my section, we've had two positive cases and so far (knock on wood) all the people who had been in contact with those positive individuals have tested negative.

[Smoove_B]

Of all places, I'm astounded that a veterinarian's office has push back on infectious disease control protocols. Then again, given the number of patient-care doctors and nurses that don't immunize themselves against influenza, maybe I shouldn't be so surprised.

I'm genuinely sorry to hear it regardless; the last thing a pregnant woman needs is *more* stress right now.

[LordMortis]

Then again, given the number of patient-care doctors and nurses that don't immunize themselves against influenza seem to be pushing back on mask wearing and social distancing in public spaces, maybe I shouldn't be so surprised.

What's (not so) funny is the few epidemiologists and virology experts I see and even fewer that I know (like 2) are 100% on social distancing, mask wearing, and evidence based decision making. I see doctors, nurses, politicians, and the people who cite them as saying "you don't know everything" while they themselves have exactly zero credentials and can at best only point to their generic best practices education on preventing disease spread, which is... what? Sterilize, filter, and isolate? Maybe?

[Isgrimnur]

I lived in a city that trained nurses and doctors. I've met people that have gone on to become nurses. Some of them I wouldn't have trusted to water a plastic plant.

[Smoove_B]

Well, this isn't a way to establish confidence:

Three teachers who shared a summer classroom at an Arizona school all contracted coronavirus last month, leaving one of them dead.

“Schools are not ready to open,” says Angela Skillings, one of the teachers diagnosed with Covid-19 after sharing the classroom.

To be fair, it is AZ and they were likely surging last month, but even still, not a good case for what's being pushed.

[Paingod]

Well, this isn't a way to establish confidence:

Three teachers who shared a summer classroom at an Arizona school all contracted coronavirus last month, leaving one of them dead.

NPR was interviewing her this morning and she said they showed up for a one day prep session, practiced social distancing, and tried to do everything right. It didn't work.

[pr0ner]

Ben Garrison.

Is Ben Garrison the one who cartoon blamed congresswomen for using their congresswomen wiles for luring innocent sailors America to their death? If so, then that is when I learned of him and decided I have no use for him.

Ben Garrison is the cartoonist who was disinvited from a WH visit when the media shed light on some of his more brazenly anti-Semitic cartoons: e.g. hook-nosed caricatures of Jewish financiers, Soros, and the Rothschilds (deep cut there) controlling the Democratic Party and the media.

He's the guy who always draws Trump as a heroic muscle-man. It's really really weird stuff. Oh, and of course he's all-in on QAnon.

This seems appropriate!

[Kraken]

Tentatively, I don't plan to be first in line for an eventual vaccine because I have misgivings over the adequacy of rushed safety testing. Circumstances could change my mind.

I feel the same way. After seeing the FDA release waves of tests that didn't work properly, I'm a bit apprehensive about letting them inject me with something that a Trump appointee signed over at the last minute to avoid getting fired.

Vaccine development and testing are being rushed like never before, as will production be. The stakes are so high that being first to market is hugely valuable, and this is overlooking the political dimension. I'll consider it safe if the first 100 million recipients don't grow flippers after a few months.

[Ralph-Wiggum]

Well, this isn't a way to establish confidence:

Three teachers who shared a summer classroom at an Arizona school all contracted coronavirus last month, leaving one of them dead.

NPR was interviewing her this morning and she said they showed up for a one day prep session, practiced social distancing, and tried to do everything right. It didn't work.

Is there any way to establish that she got it at the school?

[coopasonic]

Tentatively, I don't plan to be first in line for an eventual vaccine because I have misgivings over the adequacy of rushed safety testing. Circumstances could change my mind.

I feel the same way. After seeing the FDA release waves of tests that didn't work properly, I'm a bit apprehensive about letting them inject me with something that a Trump appointee signed over at the last minute to avoid getting fired.

Vaccine development and testing are being rushed like never before, as will production be. The stakes are so high that being first to market is hugely valuable, and this is overlooking the political dimension. I'll consider it safe if the first 100 million recipients don't grow flippers after a few months.

Consider the boon to the anti-vaxx community when it all goes sideways... and by boon I mean doom to America.

[Zaxxon]

Tentatively, I don't plan to be first in line for an eventual vaccine because I have misgivings over the adequacy of rushed safety testing. Circumstances could change my mind.

I feel the same way. After seeing the FDA release waves of tests that didn't work properly, I'm a bit apprehensive about letting them inject me with something that a Trump appointee signed over at the last minute to avoid getting fired.

Vaccine development and testing are being rushed like never before, as will production be. The stakes are so high that being first to market is hugely valuable, and this is overlooking the political dimension. I'll consider it safe if the first 100 million recipients don't grow flippers after a few months.

Consider the boon to the anti-vaxx community when it all goes sideways... and by boon I mean doom to America.

We're f....

Ahh, I just can't anymore.

[Paingod]

Well, this isn't a way to establish confidence:

Three teachers who shared a summer classroom at an Arizona school all contracted coronavirus last month, leaving one of them dead.

NPR was interviewing her this morning and she said they showed up for a one day prep session, practiced social distancing, and tried to do everything right. It didn't work.

Is there any way to establish that she got it at the school?

Aside from all three of them getting it at (I assume) roughly the same time? I suppose not. I'm sure they did contact tracing through and discovered that maybe the only link two of them had was being in the same room as the third?

[LawBeefaroni]

I lived in a city that trained nurses and doctors. I've met people that have gone on to become nurses. Some of them I wouldn't have trusted to water a plastic plant.

Ever see the smoking area outside an ER? Can't swing an IV bag without hitting a few nurses and/or EMTs.

[Isgrimnur]

CNN

The Texas Republican Party will hold its state convention online this week, after the party said it exhausted "all legal remedies" to host the convention in-person in downtown Houston.

The State Republican Executive Committee on Monday night voted to have the convention move to an online setting, hours after the Texas Supreme Court denied the party's appeal to still host the convention indoors at the George R. Brown Convention Center.

The decision ends a whirlwind few weeks during which the Texas GOP fought to have its convention in-person, despite an increase in coronavirus cases in the state and a contingency plan in place to hold the convention online.

[Isgrimnur]

[raydude]

Were Jon Francis and Ted Cruz there? If so one could hope that they get CoVID as collateral damage.

[LawBeefaroni]

Get out the 'VID.