No, I do not agree. The focus is not strictly personal.
A pet peeve of mine is when “comfortable abode” people bring up the plight of the workers who NEED to work while at the same time not supporting said workers financially., either personally from their own pockets or through supporting government assistance.
I’m the one who volunteered to start this experimental thread so that the CC community could share and discuss information. But it seems to be devolving into a handful of posters denouncing behaviors and policies, and defending their positions. Obviously nobody is changing their opinion based on others’ opinions at this point. So if this is what the thread has become, it serves no useful purpose. I really wish some posters could take their arguments to PM and stop calling each other out publicly.
I know that my husband and I will choose to stay bubbled and that we will not see our cautious son for a very long time. No parents left to worry about, and like some others we are in a fortunate position. There is nothing I can do about what’s happening elsewhere, or what others choose to do. All we can do is protect ourselves and track the verifiable medical and public health information to make informed decisions. And voice my personal opinions at the ballot box. Or rather at the mail in ballot!
I am not terrified for myself. I am terrified for my immunocompromised husband, yes, but also for all the healthcare workers out there who are putting themselves on the line every day as well as all the other people who HAVE to be out there, working to help us. It’s very selfish of everyone else NOT to stay home as much as possible. Obviously we can’t eliminate transmission but if we do our part we can minimize it.
@momzilla2D thank you for the links! I could read the Washington Post article, which confirmed my belief that flying is much more dangerous. It was quite long, and I just skimmed it quickly, but basically there have been studies of people getting infected with SARS COVID1 and influenza on planes. If no one else flying has COVID, we’d be great! But if someone is infected, they’ve found that if you are sitting within 2 rows of them it is very likely you’d get infected, because the droplets would get to you before the air filtration system could filter the air. With the influenza study, one person infected 38 others, and in the SARS case one person infected 22. There’s a lot more there, but it definitely isn’t encouraging about the safety of flying.
Those studies of people getting infected on a plane…do you know whether the people were wearing masks? I think if I were flying today, I’d break out the N95 mask, not just the “face covering” cloth kind.
The doctors I know are flying now. They take precautions, wear masks, and wash their hands. If it were my mom, @katliamom , I would respect whatever she wants to do. And maybe even try to splurge with miles or cash for an upgrade to first class. At 86, she may be fragile but she sounds fully competent to make this decision.
That’s a tough one because with a road trip of 1000 miles, they’re probably going to have to touch many restrooms on the way and possibly even stay at a hotel, all of which also pose risk.
On an airplane the recirculated air isn’t what should be worrisome - it’s filtered to hospital level cleanliness. In fact, many experts say the best way to ward off floating germs is to point your individual air jet so it blows down on you, which makes a shield of that filtered air and hopefully blows away anything your neighbors have sneezed into the air. Instead of the filtered air being the risk on planes, it’s the touchpoints (bathrooms, anything you touch in the airport or on the plane) and whatever your neighbors within a few rows sneezes/coughs/breathes on you. So if you could find a fairly empty flight and sanitize any surfaces you’ll touch, I think that might actually be less risk than a 1000 mile drive if the drive requires multiple pit stops and a hotel stay.
But either poses risk. Tough choice.
@suzyQ7 , just had FaceTime with our Copenhagen daughter, and she said even though the R number went up to 0.9 after the schools opened, it has dropped back to 0.7. It was 0.6 when they began opening up. Also, movie theaters will open June 8.
She said Denmark has a good handle on the virus because they’ve ramped up testing.
It is a fact that people posted that the lives of the older people, vulnerable, etc were collectively less important than the economy as a whole here at CC. No one has posted that we think everyone should stay home until there is a vaccine. There are those who have posted that only a tiny percent of the total population have died and their desire to sight see mid-pandemic trumped concern for that %, even if in total it amounts of a lot of people. That doesn’t mean that all people who are concerned with the economy are not also concerned with people’s lives or vice versa. I’m very concerned with both.
I think what the pandemic can do this fall and winter is very serious in terms of both health and the economy. We know what works to control pandemics, can see it around the globe in terms of what countries did and didn’t do.
I see good in people who have other visions of how to get through this. I do hear some mean-spiritedness in some posts here sometimes. I think some is intentional and some not.
I don’t think the people who posted that the lives of older people, people with “only a year or two to live” and those who have various health issues are not as important as the economy were posting in a mean spirited way (at least not most of the time), but I also don’t think they were clued into how those posts could sound or feel to others.
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Seems many here with a variety of opinions could take this advice.
Are you curious about my opinions or those of others here who don’t think the way you do? We who think differently from you should respect and be curious about you but are you doing the same to others? Do you see the good in people who disagree with you?
I’m afraid we are going to have fatalities that make those that have happened so far seem like nothing when the 2nd and future waves are done and that we could have economic collapse as a result of not doing what needs to be done to control the virus and prepare for these coming waves.
If I had to fly I would wear the best mask I could (n95 or surgical) and I would get an seat by the window. I’d try to board near the very end, wipe down the air vent and turn it on full blast since that air only is flowing to that one particular plane seat. I’d have hand sanitizer handy, disinfectant wipes to wipe down the arms and other things I would touch, etc. I would not eat or drink on the plane.
My friend flew at the peak of the pandemic in China and Japan from China through Japan to the USA and back a couple times and did these things and didn’t get sick. She was also on planes full of people wearing good masks, and that probably helped.
Oh yes, her opinion counts the most. And she is very competent. As for first class – yes. I would totally consider it… but doing it in secret. Surprise her when she gets on board. Otherwise I’d have to hear all kinds of lectures about “wasting your money on nothing!” Moms. 
As I posted earlier, I read a lot here about people I disagree with, and learn from it. I try not to accuse them of magical thinking or not caring whether I die.
A small bakery near me re-opened this weekend, so I went. It is small. Not many square feet. The other female customer wore a mask, as I did. Two men came in, neither had a mask. I kept backing away from the first guy, and made a point of taking the widest possible path around the one that came in as I was leaving.
But the communication from elected leaders and task force leaders and spokespeople about masks has been abysmal. Few people understand the point of mask wearing, which will reduce compliance. A PSA campaign is needed.
Social distance, wear a mask, wash your hands, don’t touch your face. It needs to continue until the vaccine is widely distributed, maybe longer.
Understanding the educational background of the individual with the title of LA County Director of Public Health explains a lot of what is going on there. I worry about residents there, this is just awful.
I don’t know where you live… in my neighborhood, the smaller local merchants agreed to put “masks required” signs on their doors. Customers who don’t comply are politely asked to leave and come back with a mask. Because 98% of people you see around town are wearing masks, and all the merchants demand them – and the mayor/governor are always seen wearing masks – it’s pretty hard to claim you didn’t know it’s a requirement.
Yikes. Just talked to my neighbor (outside, social distancing, everything… because you know, she and I are “terrified.” Whatever.)
Anyway - her 30-year-old daughter is a psychologist in Seattle. She had COVID In the middle of March - never hospitalized but flat on her back for 2 weeks. She still has a lot of trouble breathing. Her doctor doesn’t know if her lungs will ever be the same. Her mom is really worried, of course.
Am I the only one who hears these stories? I have another neighbor who died of COVID. Obviously these kind of experiences and stories color one’s perspective. I know they’ve colored mine!
And I lost my job because of COVID. So I do see all sides.
Is a PhD required to be a “real” scientist?
Are you qualified to make this assessment?
Alabama reopened at the beginning of last week. There are still social distancing requirements and new procedures in place, but most things around here have reopened.
I took my daughter to the orthodontist Tuesday, she was supposed to start the process to get braces in March but the state had shut down, she goes back the 26th to get braces. My youngest son has an appointment Monday, it has been at least 2 months since his braces/wires have been adjusted. They are wearing masks and gloves and requiring patients/parents to wear masks, only allowing 1 parent with them, and having you sit in your car until they come get you. Instead of a room full of patients there is only one person in there at a time. They also had my daughter rinse with peroxide after we entered.
I have a haircut appointment next week, my stylist told me to wear a mask and stay in the vehicle until she comes to get me. I’m not sure what else they are doing but the chairs are probably at least 6 feet apart. My stylist is in her 70’s so I hope they have adequate protection.
We are having church in the morning, no Sunday school or children’s church, just morning service. Sunday night and Wednesday night will continue to be Facebook only for now to allow time for cleaning and for things to sit between times. Doors will be propped open, portable handsanitizer stations coming in, offering plates on stands and not passed, no choir, and every other row taped off. People are asked to sit together by household with proper distance between groups. Anyone not comfortable coming is free to continue watching at home until they feel safe.
I have been making weekly trips to a bigger town about 50 minutes away to grocery shop. Many items that we use are not available in my town and the prices have been high at my local grocery stores. I have been going to Aldi and Publix and to Target a couple of times. I carry my lysol wipes and wipe my hands, keys, etc. down when I get back to the vehicle. My mother has gone grocery shopping a couple of times but wore a mask, gloves, and sprayed everything down with lysol. My dad has gone multiple times and I don’t think he has used anything.
I have been trying not to take the kids with me unless necessary but when they are with their father he takes them everywhere including Wal-Mart. It concerns me but I have no control over it. My oldest son left this morning going to the beach with some friends, I don’t approve but he is 19 and I can’t control what he does.
Report from Wisconsin:
Number of new cases announced today: 514.
This morning, my computer would not start (it has been having problems for several months). I do not have a smartphone. Fortunately, I was able to find the phone number for the local Best Buy and call and make an appointment to go inside the store. I did so this afternoon and bought a new computer. All staff members were masked; most (of the not many) customers on site were, too.
I drove home. I set up the new computer. I learned via Facebook and CaringBridge that my neighbor, age 55, who had pancreatic cancer, died last night, at home, with his family at his side.
Later, I was chatting with another neighbor and found out that one of her children is pregnant and due in a few months and that another neighbor, originally from Brazil, has not been able to return to the United States since going to Brazil in January.
I’m sorry about your job @scout59… so much suffering. And no, you’re not the only one hearing terrible COVID stories.
My in-laws’ friend died – and a couple days later her daughter, in her early 60s, did too, both of COVID. A middle-aged man two blocks away from me died. I also know two people in their 40s who were very, very sick, like, can’t-get-out-of-bed-for-2-weeks sick, and then needing another week to get stronger.
Imagine all these tens of thousands of people with damaged lungs losing their future pre-existing condition insurance coverage should Obamacare be overturned. Another staggering economic wrinkle of this pandemic.