This is an interesting article on the high rate of deaths among minority health care workers in the UK. 27 of the 29 physicians who died of COVID in the UK were ethnic minorities. 2/3rds of health care workers who have died were ethnic minorities.
The hypotheses as to why focus on the high rate of diabetes, cardiovascular disease and hypertension among them. Added to that they treat a population more likely to get COVID because of ethnic minorities high rate of diabletes, cardiovascular disease and hypertension so they are more likely to be exposed.
Vitamin D deficiency was also hypothesized as a factor.
One would think income among doctors in the NHS would be in the same strata for all doctors.
I’m more concerned about transmission inside the bar or at private parties at the condos. Drinking and loud talking over music.
St. Louis County Health Dept. has asked those who were there to self-quarantine for 14 days. Not likely. Testing seems to be available here, though. Maybe if you were at the party you qualify.
Any idea how many places have closed? I’ve only heard of one in my area - and it’s not really anywhere close to us. I’d never heard of them prior to their making the news.
Now I’m wondering why cities are having a harder problem than our more rural area. Higher COL maybe? (Need higher amounts in to continue to make costs?)
My H and I really prefer vacationing in big cities rather than wilderness or resorts. Even beach vacations. We prefer something like South Beach with all of Miami easily available. Even west coast of Florida (Naples, etc) is too sleepy for us.
Ditto. We go walking every day the weather isn’t horrid (bad is ok, but not horrid). Our average is 8500-10000 steps for any given day. I love looking at the trees, hearing the birds, seeing nature, etc.
We’re not city lovers, but I’m glad millions are. Walking in a city is not something we enjoy.
@Creekland here is one reason for some city businesses that close.
The rents for retail space in a place like NYC, DC, Boston are far higher than rents for similarly sized places in less expensive real estate markets. Some of these city places can not make ends meet with 50% occupancy.
Add air pollution as a possible contributing factor to rates of deaths from COVID 19. Yet another reason to shun cities as a good place to live.
It doesn’t explain all, obviously. On PBS Newshour last night they did a segment on the high rate of COVID among the Navajo in New Mexico, where I would think air pollution is not much of an issue, but obesity and diabetes are. BTW, their newspaper is called the “Indian Country News”.
We have plenty of friends here in our suburb who say living in Chicago right now is a bummer. Can’t leave the house without a mask since sidewalks aren’t a place where you can stay six feet away. Spaces inside are typically smaller. Lakefront closed. Some have had their 20-something kids move home with them and just work from there. It’s just nicer here to sit out the storm. One doesn’t have to wear a mask to walk (with the dog or otherwise) and we actually can walk to our little town’s grocery store and to our town where Starbucks is open for take out and other bakeries and restaurants are open for curbside pick up. We can walk to our nearest forest preserve if you don’t mind walking .8 miles to get there. I think it’s less stressful here on a daily basis than being in the city and considering all of the fun stuff that the city offers isn’t happening, there’s no point in being there right now.
A theater chain declared bankruptcy right before the shutdown. Our only movie theater will not reopen. A local theater company would like to buy the building, we will see if that happens.
I heard that 2 chain restaurants (Big Boy and Ruby Tuesday) will not reopen. I’m sure there will be more.
I though Ruby Tuesday was in trouble before this. Our local one closed last year. It isn’t surprising that entities that were already on shaky footing are driven under by this.
I’m disappointed that California Governor Gavin Newsom has put out guidelines for places of worship to begin in-person services without the strictest possible restrictions. Venues are to open at 25% capacity*, but the other rules are mealy-mouthed. Attendees are not required to wear masks. Singing and group responses are “strongly” discouraged but not banned.
We already know that church services and similar events, even with social distancing, have been sites of superspreading. We know that indoor singing and group responses are dangerous, even with physical distancing. These superspreading events have happened repeatedly in churches. This is a mistake.
*Can you allow 25% of capacity in a church and still put people six feet on center in pews? Seems to me that you can’t. Also six feet is not enough, if there is singing.
^^^This is why I’ve always thought a square footage capacity rule for all buildings makes more sense. No discriminating between churches versus Costco. And therefore, no First Amendment violations. No government discrimination between “essential” and “non-essential” businesses.
We are leasing a building to a restaurant that is part of a large chain. As soon as COVID started, they without notice only sent in 30% of the rent. When we contacted them for an explanation, they said they would only be paying 30% for the foreseeable future and would let us know when or if they decided to do differently.
We are fortunate that we do not owe a mortgage on this property. I know other landlords who do, and this could be quite a hardship, depending. As it is, we still have to pay property taxes on this, and they are not cheap in Texas.
I, too, have taken too many road trips, but I don’t miss them one bit. I’ve had to sneak dogs into hotels a number of times because , it was that or sleep in the car with them, which I’ve also done. In two cases, not too long ago, I had made reservations upfront with the dogs for pet friendly rooms and was told they were all taken when I arrived, and that I could not bring the dogs into the room where they booked me!
With two relatively large dogs, sneaking them into anyplace is not something I ever want to do With a son that has pet dander allergies , I’m also aware of how inconsiderate it is to sneak a pet into a room that is not specifically set up for them. It’s often a case of balancing two suboptimal choices and going with the one less harmful.
Those of you who have talked to your area dentists, are they using a rapid test before seeing patients? My dentist doesn’t have tests. She is implementing a lot of precautions but not Covid testing. Do you know what is common? Are state had said that dentists would use rapid testing so this surprises me.