CCRC- Continuing Care Retirement Community.
AL- assisted living
RT? I wondered bout that because all I could come up with was respiratory Therapist.
The country club whose golf course our house backs up to has been “closed,” but golfers have been playing; they just had to walk the course rather than use golf carts.
It must have opened up yesterday, as now I’m seeing golfers in golf carts. However, they are clearly enforcing a one player per cart rule. I’m seeing a tad more social distancing between players, though certainly not all are practicing it.
The course looks beautiful. North Texas has completely greened up, flowers are blooming, it’s warm and sunny. The view outside my window is gorgeous this morning- the numerous trees are green and lush, ducks and turtles are congregating in the creek running adjacent to the course, birds are chirping happily. One could almost forget about the silent monster wreaking havoc in our country.
I know I am one of the very lucky ones. We are taking a hit on our commercial rental properties, but being able to stay home with no worries how to pay bills is a huge luxury. I know many people are more worried about how to make ends meet than they are about getting this virus. I totally understand the conflicting feelings about opening things up. Lockdown is not sustainable for most of the population.
I got an email from our city council representative. It reports a death yesterday of a young man in his 20s. No reference was made to whether or not he had any underlying medical issues. That made my stomach drop.
I concur with other posters asking people to please STOP going to the political.
Cases are going up in my state because testing has ramped up considerably over the past week. You still have to be showing symptoms or work in essential services to get a test. We always
knew there were more cases out there than the official numbers indicated, so this increase isn’t overly alarming. Hospitalizations going down, which they are in my area, and perhaps PPE availability might be a more meaningful indicator of our readiness to begin reopening.
What’s a BOH? I saw that abbreviation several pages back.
Board of Health?
Back of House - the kitchens and business offices of a restaurant, parts customers don’t see.
well I’m observing our third power outage in 6 weeks. Ugh. No storms or anything obvious this time. I am feeling better about our area (southern VA). We are up to about 50 cases total (city and county), but a few days ago we only had 10 in the hospital (4 in ICU). Down from 20. It probably helps that we are an hour from the nearest interstate, but then again that means we are low on the totem pole for receiving anything. I’m surprised that people have toilet paper, paper towels, etc. I haven’t seen those well stocked in weeks. Just a few random packages a couple of weeks ago and none since. I’ve given up on hand sanitizer or wipes. I haven’t seen or heard of anyone getting those since early March.
As far as compliance, our traffic appears normal. I’m not sure where everyone is going. You see more masks in Walmart than anywhere else. I’d estimate 1/3 in Walmart. Maybe 5-10% in other grocery stores/pharmacies. Very few wear masks outside, myself included. But on a 30 min walk on my street - the second most popular walking strip - we pass maybe 4-6 groups of people. The sidewalk is 10’ wide. And then one can walk in the bike lane on the other side of the parked cars if needed. When I run I don’t see anyone. Maybe one person a month. 4:30am is just not a popular time, go figure
I could not say what people thought about reopening because I’ve been mostly holed up with my family. I’m hoping work let’s me WFH until June 10th, however the city is opening public spaces next Saturday. So that may mean me as I work in City Hall. I think my boss would support me staying home but I think my bigger boss is not a fan. Don’t ask and maybe we can go unnoticed, right?
This is exactly why many folks are concerned about reopening. The US as a whole, including NY/NJ, etc, at 199/million deaths is already doing better than Sweden at 264/million, Italy, Spain, the UK, etc - places that either didn’t close (Sweden) or closed late after spread had started. Subtract our top states and we would be considerably lower.
The difference? Most of the US shut down before spread had occurred. Who didn’t? NY/NJ, etc. Yes, those places closed and it could have even been the same or an earlier date than a different place, but spread had already occurred there so as far as the virus was concerned it was later. Calendar dates mean nothing to the virus.
See what our hot spot areas did wrong (and Italy, Spain, the UK, etc) and learn from it. This certainly doesn’t mean everything has to be kept closed where there doesn’t seem to be much infection, but fixing what didn’t happen before with testing and enforced quarantine where needed could go a long way to prevent other hot spots. And if one notices an increase, stop a fix it before it gets bad.
It would go a long way toward success if all of our citizens/residents could get on board, but we already know that likely won’t happen (sigh). For far too many the whole thing is meaningless for one reason or another.
Hence, many of us will choose to watch rather than participate. We’ve no desire to be guinea pigs with a new virus if we can avoid it. Hopefully many will still do what they can to support the economy (I mentioned what we do in an earlier post), but again, who knows?
RT=reproduction number
I don’t think people are blaming NYC, but a combination of factors there, including human decisions, exacerbated the problem. Heavy reliance on public transportation, the lack of cleanliness of such transportation, extremely high density, and frankly appalling public health conditions in poor hospitals amid enormous wealth disparities. Closing a few days earlier might have helped, but the context there was ripe for any pandemic.
Back of House? I would never have figured that out.
In order for people to be on board with the restrictions, they have to make sense. They have to have logic and data behind them. I hate to bring up the beaches again, but there is zero data that walking or sitting on a beach is dangerous. The governor just singled out Orange County in a fit of pique after seeing telephoto lens photos of Newport Beach. Lifeguards and police who were actually at the beach said that people WERE distancing themselves and there was no problem.
Same with Michigan’s orders. She allowed people to buy lottery tickets but not garden seeds. She permitted canoeing but not motor boating. I think these things have since been rescinded after the illogic was apparent.
People don’t want to be treated like children.
“People don’t want to be treated like children.”
Then they need to not ACT like children. The Maine restaurant owner who opened yesterday in defiance of the Governor’s orders should have at least had the common sense to enforce distancing and mask wearing on his front porch. He didn’t. He shot himself in the foot as far as I’m concerned.
I usually volunteer at the food bank an hour away, just bc I knew them from way back before covid. Yesterday I called the local food bank to see if they needed help. The woman told me they don’t need any more volunteers at the moment. Good, I then asked if they needed help with food collection/donation. She started saying something like this “…oh you need food? You can’t just ask for food you have to show proof of income, fill out form, did you lose your job lately or you always needed support, blah blah blah…”
I told her no I wanted to donate food, she changed her tone and was much nicer. I know she was doing her job but the experience made me realized (even more) that it’s not easy for people to ask for help. Imagine someone who is vulnerable enough to ask for help, only to met with this kind of unfriendliness and condescendence, it can be so humiliating.
I posted my experience on the town FB page, to show that it’s not easy to ask for help and offered anyone in my town who need help with groceries and utility bills they could message me and I’ll keep it a secret.
Many people comment and gave suggestions of where I could help. That wasn’t the point bc I have enough organizations that I am already supporting. There is no shortage of whom to help. I just took this opportunities to reach out to more local folks who were too proud to ask for help. After 100 + comments and a day later, I got a few PMs. I don’t need to question their motive or their job status or their income level. If someone is vulnerable enough to reach out, they are desperate for help.
When I look at charts that show when the first case was reported, and when the state was shut down NY doesn’t look any worse than other states. I think the real problem is that people come to NY from all over the world and there’s a density and reliance on public transportation that other cities (including San Francisco and LA) just don’t have. I also believe that the virus was probably here much earlier than it was recognized. We still don’t know where the New Rochelle super-spreader picked up the virus from.
I totally agree that the restrictions often don’t seem to make any sense.
As an older citizen, with a DH also older and with risk factors, I am grateful for the pause that we had. DH’s company was One of very first to go to online work, and is holding out on getting back to work. That it is a risk management company, top heavy with older employees might also have something to do with this.
As restrictions are removed, we are going to have to be ever more careful until an effective vaccine is available We are going to test for the antibody in near future but I seriously doubt that DH or I have come in contact with this virus. I was in a place with very few people getting it, certainly no one seriously enough to suspect having it in the area. Those reported to test positive were out of area and came into contact that way. Yes, the people in that area are resentful of the restrictions as they have not felt the effect of this pandemic except in news and restrictions both in work and access to amenities. Already a poor area with education below standard, this year is going to be devastating to many of them, not because of getting COVID19.
I’m glad that we got ourselves into routines in our household that will reduce the chances of getting outside viruses. We’ve saved a lot of money too. I haven’t shopped much at all, not eaten out, and simplified meals. We’ve financially benefitted from this disaster, just by happen chance. As of now only one kid adversely affected financially, and we’ll be able to work things out to mutual benefit in that case. We’ll be giving more heavily to charity this year than usual and I know where I want to direct my money. Clearly, all of this hurt those most needy the most, both in death toll and financial devastation. I know too many hard working folks doing all of the right things who are going to be owing months of payments, currently deferred, and not be able to pay them.
I do not see how nursing homes are going to contain this pandemic. My friends who could, removed their loved ones from such homes and have gotten carefully vetted care at home options for them. For care places in big cities and with high Covid numbers, given that nursing home staff are often high risk means that the likelihood of spread is going to be high. I did not have my elderly loved ones in such places for that reason— that one was immune suppressed clinched that decision, and they outlived and were healthier than the peer group that entered nursing homes those years. There just is no way to reduce the spread of contagious conditions in large group living environments the way one can in small groups.
It doesn’t matter when the first case was reported. It matters when the virus was there - that may or may not have been reported. It’s been shown retroactively to have been in places a week or two - perhaps a month in a couple of places - before being officially reported at first.
Most people should not really be blaming considering this whole thing is new. I don’t believe anyone intentionally made a bad call at first. It was new. There were many people saying different things - theories at that point. Which one to go with? Different people chose different paths. In hindsight it’s far easier to make that call. The same holds true now actually, but now we do have some data to go on and should be using it.
We know the virus is an unpredictable little beast. It can infect two seemingly identical people and leave one dead, the other fine. We know it can infect the lungs, heart, brain, clotting systems, and I just read, kidneys. We know if it doesn’t kill, it leaves many maimed for at least some time. Permanently? Too soon to know. Why does it get into Person A’s heart and not Person B’s?
There are oodles more questions I could have used and a ton more for medical folks to try to understand and get on top of.
Regardless, most blame from the original past should stop. You can’t know what you didn’t know. No one can.
I still fully support blaming those who intentionally spread the thing - like the father who lied to get into the hospital to see his wife and newborn even though he knew he was ill or the man who went to a party in MA knowing he was sick, etc. (Both cases reported on the original thread.) Those are real undeniable blame. I’m not fond of those who have messed it up since, but won’t address that part further.
Science and reasoning for the future using data from the past (and present) should continue at warp speed.
We’re at a place now where people need to make decisions too (from high level govts to individuals). Time will tell us who’s right, who didn’t choose correctly, and who’s probably at fault for messing things up if cracks happen.
I’m content to wait and see what happens and fortunate that we can do so. In the meantime we’ll do our part to keep the economy going in ways that seem smart to us.
I think the real immunity tests will be in the meat processing plants. It seems like most of the employees of these plants have contacted the virus. I know they are putting into place better processes, but in a few weeks to a month, are there still outbreaks in these locations, or not.
Yes, blame. There were people (they admitted it to the newspaper) who flew back from their ski trip to Italy in the midst of the outbreak ‘feeling a little sick’. Those people should feel unbelievably guilty. Such behavior should be criminal.
I could not figure that one out either until someone actually spelled it out the other day.
A local garden center worked out a deal with Perdue Farms, who is headquartered here in MD, to sell cases of breast and thighs that had been prepackaged for restaurants and other large scale customers who were no longer ordering them. They announced a truckload would be for sale at their garden center this morning. It came out to $2.50/lb for antibiotic free chicken, a great price. Well, a day later, they decided to make people pre-order so it would be easier to manage. I was fortunate to see the announcement, which got posted late at night, and made my pre-order. Gates opened at 7am for a planned 8am start. I got there at 7:20 and was probably the 150th car. You could see them turning people away who hadn’t realized you needed to pre-order. They started early, around 7:30 and once they got the hang of it, it moved rather quickly, but it was initially disorganized with how they were moving the rows so probably at least 30 cars who came in behind me ended up getting their orders first. Took me over an hour, but I’ve got plenty of time these days! I got a 20 lb case of thighs and a 10lb case of breasts. My neighbors wanted 5 lbs of thighs and I’m giving my parents another 5lbs, plus my parents will get some of the breasts. We are already facing a shortage due to plant closures. Sadly the area where Perdue is located, which is obviously rather rural, had very few cases until it hit their plant. As of the other day, at least 45 workers tested positive.
It’s a beautiful day here after several days of rain and clouds. The Blue Angels will be flying overhead in about 30 minutes as they do their flyover salute to the Baltimore and Washington area health care workers. They have perfect weather. We will miss their show this year with the Naval Academy sadly cancelling Commissioning Week.
Most of the rest of the US isn’t a travel hub. Over 2 million people flew into the NYC metro area in Jan/Feb, and those are just the flights from Europe. Closing earlier wouldn’t have prevented the virus. It had already been pouring into our borders every day for 2 months.
The assumption that other states did something right and that New Yorkers are only dying because we did something wrong is insulting and ignores situational realities. By the time we knew COVID existed, the number of New Yorkers who had it was already in the 5 digits. According to researchers, more than 1/3 of all the cases in the US were in NYS. But you’re welcome to continue to congratulate yourselves for your good fortune assume it’s because of something you did. I hope that works out for you.