Coronavirus May 2020 - Observations, information, discussion

Parent Cafe
3361

On the topic of other reasons for excess deaths,keep in mind that the death rate for other things is most likely down because of this: car accidents, for instance, are down. Quality of air is better so that’s good for those with breathing disorders.

The excess deaths are still so much higher than normal, despite those lowering conditions, that thinking that Covid is over-assumed, or that it’s caused a lot of “panic-related” deaths that inflate the statistics, seem unwarranted.

And as far as the tired “like a bad flu season” trope in a recent posst, first, a flu season is far longer than two months. I would like the covid count to stop rising as the months go by, but that’s unlikely.

And second, this “only 90,000” deaths is WITH all the SAH, social distancing, masks, sanitizing, closing things down. I can’t imagine what the numbers would be if we’d only had the precautions of a typical flu season – sneeze into you elbow would basically be it.

3362

Yes, Italy also had a sizeable number of its priests die. The average age of priests is high, and many minister the last rites to the ill, and comfort the possibly infected families, so infection is more likely.very sad.

3363

I generally like satire. However, “Karen” satire feeds the misogynistic “crazy complaining humorless woman” trope. Oafish, entitled behavior is not limited to any gender. Go ahead and think it’s ironic that I don’t think it’s funny.

3364

To my surprise and horror, my DH showed me that in MA, auto accidents increased in April 2020 vs April 2019. I had also assumed that of course there would be fewer!

3365

according to this site, MA crashes and fatalities are down in number, but the rate of injury/death per crash is up. https://mass.streetsblog.org/2020/04/06/pandemics-silver-lining-less-bloodshed-on-commonwealths-roads/

And overall, yes, the speeding out there is egregious (I know I’ve been passed on the highway by people who must be doing 90/100) so yeah, the decrease of crash deaths not as important as I would have thought.

3366

I will say that I’ve seen social distancing violations by all sorts of people and usually it is not intentional or with malice.

However, the majority of the “snitching” on Nextdoor and callling people out in public is definitely dominated by women in the “Karen” category.

My 16 year old will tell you that the biggest social distancing offenders are women my age (aka Karen’s) who walk in groups of two or more and take up the walking trails, no masks, refusing to move into single file or ( my personal favorite) splitting into two groups so you have to walk between them!

3367

Not surprising in the least.

“A nail salon in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, said an employee tested positive for COVID-19 — just days after it reopened.
“We have received a positive COVID-19 test from a staff member who was in the salon on May 5-7,” The Nailspot said in a May 13 Facebook post. “If you were in the salon on these days you could have been potentially exposed.”
Oklahoma allowed nail salons and other “personal contact” businesses to reopen on April 24.

The Nailspot opened its doors for the first time in weeks on May 5. Just over a week later, the beauty parlor in northeast Oklahoma is closing them again after an employee was infected with the coronavirus.”

https://www.msn.com/en-us/lifestyle/other/oklahoma-nail-salon-worker-contracted-the-coronavirus-shortly-after-the-business-reopened/ar-BB146BJU?ocid=msedgdhp&li=BBnb7Kz&ocid=NL_ENUS_D1_20200519_4_3

3368

One thing that has come out of this is that more people see how inherently flawed and uncertain public health statistics are.

How many people have died of COVID? How many were in nursing homes? How many had multiple conditions and would have died anyway? How many probably had it and weren’t tested? How many had it when they died but didn’t die because of it?

Those numbers will never be known with certainty, and the exact numbers don’t matter. We have to make public health decisions with the best data we can reasonably get, which will never be quite correct. We could spend gazillions more dollars getting better data without improving our decisions or helping public health.

3369

Way to leave us hanging, @MomofJandL!

:smiley:

3370

My avatar walked across my keyboard!

3371

Fatal auto accidents in LA are way up. The freeways were raceways during the height of the lockdown. A wide boulevard near me is now the Indy 500. I can hear the roar of the engines every day.

3372

Seems some states could start helping their budget by having a few more speed cameras!

Flu deaths are estimated each year. They add plenty of best guesses to those who tested positive. I wonder what comparable Covid numbers would be.

But I’m glad that this year Covid precautions have lowered flu cases (at least in the one area I know about via med school lad).

3373

What I’d really liked to have said to our minsiter, upon hearing services were reconvening, was, “You’ll be the one presiding over the funerals.”

3374

Flu cases are estimated too (not just deaths).

3375

https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/burden/past-seasons.html lists flu estimates for symptomatic illnesses, medical visits, hospitalizations, and deaths in each flu season.

Be careful when making comparisons to COVID-19.

3376

If you have family members or friends in nursing homes or assisted living facilities, you might want to share the following information with them or their guardians or financial agents:

“A number of troubling reports have emerged around the nation of nursing homes and assisted living facilities requiring or pressuring residents into signing-over their economic impact payment checks. These facilities have claimed that they were entitled to payments sent to residents who receive Medicaid. However, economic impact payments are tax credits that do not count as “resources” for federal benefits programs. Therefore, providers and their staff are not authorized, nor permitted to pressure residents, into surrendering economic impact payments. Doing so, could result in criminal, civil, or administrative sanctions."

3377

Unlike @Leigh22’s child, I find that most social distancing violators are people in their 20s and 30s. They’re the ones walking or jogging in pairs, not wearing masks, and not going single file to accommodate people coming in the other directions. Some don’t even make any effort to shift over.

I think we’re going to find social distancing violators in every age group.

3378

I agree that it’s all over in terms of age of those who are not social distancing. We live on a military base and everyone from little kids to middle aged people are congregating, hanging out, and generally flouting social distancing rules. There are kids in all of the closed playgrounds and parents defending it on social media saying why should they follow the closure rules if there is no consequence. At the grocery store I see older retired patrons ignoring personal space, and even though they’re not allowed in the building without masks, I’ll see them in small groups in the parking lot with their masks pulled off. Our area is still under sah orders because we are the worst hit in our state and people just don’t seem to care.

3379

AH, @fretfulmother , I had a non C19 medical appointment, the medical provider had a surgical mask, and a beard, the mask slipped off his nose repeatedly and he must have touched and adjusted two dozen times. Dude, figure it out. I think it’s more risk for him than for me , I had one appointment, he will be in small rooms all day, though obvi, his breathing out is the danger to me with my cloth mask.

I am not at all obsessive or freaked out about this, just mindful. I get colds too often and way worse, way longer than DH and others, I am cautious, like this, every winter, not masks, but often have a cloth scarf that I casually drape across, already used wipes, etc. I don’t want anyone else sharing their crud as I get it worse! But I did find myself annoyed, as in, he should be the shining example of how it is done as a medical professional.

The pharmacy tech was careful not to touch my store card or CC, definitely had procedures, but put the pill bottle in the bag with bare hands, passed it to the pharmacist, who opened the bag, took them out, reviewed the med, put it back in the back, and handed it to me, all with bare hands. Those two just shared any germs with each other and my pill bottle.

Perhaps they each sanitized for 20 seconds before serving me? I don’t know, I did not observe that happen. Again, it’s not so much that I was offended, I had gloves on so could strip them off (why gloves? Because it’s a 45 minute drive home and I want to touch my face, so why not gloves?) but more annoyed that there are all these funny little rules, yet no common sense.

3380

I worked another carry out shift last night. Soooo slow. 2 orders all evening!

The BOH crew continues to not wear masks.

I am still learning new habits. It’s automatic for me to take a couple steps closer to a car, for example, when the driver is talking to me across the passenger seat & thru the open passenger window.

I learned last week that each pick up is a little different. Some have the trunk popped open. Some want the bags placed in the back seat, some thru the open passenger window, some walk in to get the order.

We ask for a cc payment ahead of time & also ask if the caller would like us to add any gratuity. That always feels awkward, and some callers pause for what feels like a long time before answering.

I don’t see how this restaurant can make it. Of the two restaurants these people own, this one has always been the weak performer & it is certainly living up to its reputation in lack luster carry out sales.

Poop.