The mail voting controversy is all about politics, so that’s probably all I’m allowed to say on the subject.
Where I am most people are less afraid of themselves dying and more afraid of lifelong consequences coupled with bringing the illness to their older relatives. Those in higher risk groups are still afraid of dying (older with health issues).
There are many questions of “what should I do” being pondered among them.
Agreed. We know it’s political so let’s leave it at that and just talk about what we see on the ground around the subject of voting. After all, we know that requiring in-person voting in Wisconsin lead to increased cases of COVID. Voting is on topic, IMO.
In Colorado, the deaths are mainly in the older population. When there were 150 deaths, 83 were in people over 80, and only 14 in people under 60. Now we’re at ~1100 deaths, and about half of those were in nursing homes. The death rate is still much higher among the elderly. Even the 6 deaths from the meat packing plant outbreak were in older workers (above 50 years old).
The numbers are sometimes misleading too. There was a man who died and his death was counted as a covid death because he did test positive. He also had a BAC over .500 and he died of alcohol poisoning. I understand that the medical staff needs to know who has coronovirus and who doesn’t so they can take protective measures, but this guy wasn’t a covid death.
To me it would depend upon why he was drinking so much - typical - or due to getting it?
We had a young lad end his life at school after a Type I Diabetes diagnosis. He didn’t want to live with the disease - stated reason. His death is counted as a suicide, but diabetes is what killed him IMO.
Otherwise, I agree that the numbers are misleading though I suspect far more have been undercounted than over - esp in the beginning - hopefully less so now.
I’m noticing a lot of issues with deliveries. We’ve recently started trying to order more online, to minimize time in the grocery store or target. Our grocery store discontinued curbside pickup when this whole thing started and the home delivery service is constantly booked solid. So, we’re ordering dry goods from Target or Amazon.
First off, both Target and Amazon split our orders into multiple shipments, I assume because their stock is in different locations. I’m fine with that, but what it means is one order of 10 items may be split into 3 shipments.
I’ll get a shipping notice saying the first box will be delivered Thursday, two days after ordering. Great! On Thursday, package doesn’t come, I check tracking and it’s in another state. New notice says it will be delivered Saturday. Saturday, tracking shows it’s on the truck. Still no delivery. Monday, all three packages show they’re on the truck. Two packages get delivered.
I’ve noticed this with USPS, UPS and FedEx. Seems like the shipping companies are becoming more and more stressed. Are others seeing the same?
I’m also ordering dry goods from Amazon, and yes, I’ve found they split deliveries up into multiple ones, instead of consolidating. However, I’ve noticed shipping times getting better and also have not had the experience of getting notified that a delivery was happening, and then not have it delivered until several days later. Deliveries are coming when they say they are, and are coming more quickly than a month ago.
Same here.
H ordered a new phone on Monday and it just arrived this morning. I’ve also had many deliveries arriving sooner than the date given when I placed the order.
I have had Amazon orders split up but the shipping and arrival info has either bdrn early or right on time.
Weekly grocery run done this morning. I alternate between going to a Walmart Neighborhood Market and small-sized Publix. This week was a Publix trip. Their tag line is, “Where shopping is a pleasure,” and it is definitely more pleasurable for me to shop there. Much higher percentage of mask-wearing. Overall, people just seem to have more awareness and behave more courteously in Publix.
STILL no wipes. No shower spray with bleach. I was not shopping for TP but noticed that they had no bulk packs at all. What they did have were a ton of individually wrapped rolls - like what you would see as a spare roll in a hotel. So, I wonder if those suppliers are being used as an alternative source.
I am seeing no meat shortages at all. That was very short-lived around here. Prices certainly seem higher, however. In fact, my total grocery bill just seems as though it has shot through the roof, and it is just the two of us. I do usually buy some “extras” of some sort each week to keep my pantry supplies up. Prices are definitely better at the Walmart Neighborhood Market, but there are certain items I can’t get there. It’s a balance between costs and whether or not the shopping experience is enjoyable.
I rarely have any other observations because I don’t go anywhere else. I do have three friends getting together at a home for a birthday gathering tomorrow. I was invited, but I am not going as I think they will claim it is too hot to sit outside. I’m just to ready to be in any inside spaces/homes.
Oh, our local pub did start back up on its weekly live trivia game this week. I really miss that, but no way, no how for now.
@twoinanddone I’ve heard Dr. Birx mention the difference between “dying OF C19” vs. “dying WITH C19”. So, I know people are aware of the problem and expect they’ll be sorting that out. Hopefully, they’ll have clear guidelines, as the controversy will be that people will have different opinions of which ones are OF vs WITH.
@Creekland Likewise, I know some states are going back to research deaths from earlier in the year to identify probable C19 deaths. Not sure whether all states are doing this, but should help to close that gap as well. The controversy on this one is that some states are reporting these prior deaths as a new death (current date) which makes it look like deaths are increasing. Other states are, more appropriately IMO, counting them on the actual date of death.
I’ve been having major issues with shipping. One thing I ordered 5/4, received an email it was delivered yesterday by UPS - nope, not here.
I ordered my kid new sneakers at around the same time and they still aren’t here.
Also, places I’ve been ordering from for a long time, like Chewy, I’ve stopped using because the ship times are so long.
While a sobering number, we have to remember, that many of those would have died anyway from something else. On average, 2 million elderly (65+) die every year. So, the real analysis is excess deaths. But I realize that’s a stat too far for journalists who tend to be math-challenged.
My observation…there are only 12 houses on my street. Everyday, USPS trucks, UPS trucks, FedEx trucks and Amazon trucks go down this street and multiple times. So some folks are getting orders delivered.
We haven’t ordered anything online since early February.
But would they have died from something else over the last few months?
We are not ordering much online. But the few orders we have placed — Amazon & Old Navy — have arrived quickly.
The graduation card we mailed in early May by USPS is MIA.
“Some” I agree with. I doubt it was “many.” Just because someone is in any sort of old folk’s home or up there in years doesn’t mean they are on death’s door.
My soon to be 92 year old FIL is taking high precautions to not get the virus. Why? He wants to live to be 100. Will he make it? No one knows, but if he catches Covid the odds are that he won’t due to significant heart issues already. Yet he enjoys his life and spends many days hunting and fishing. He’s hardly an invalid, but if he dies, he’ll be undoubtedly counted as one by those who feel his age puts him there.
Yes, many of them would have, @Leigh22. No one lives forever, and those over 80, in particular, have limited time left and are vulnerable to many things-flu, falls, prior health issues. Our doctors estimate that locally, half the victims would have died in 2020 regardless of covid.
Maybe not in March or April, but within the year. My friend’s FIL went into nursing care in Jan because he was very ill. He died in April and it is considered a coronavirus death. It is really unlikely he would have live through another 6 months.
Very sad, but if he’d gotten the flu or even a cold he may have died in April too.
USPS is very unreliable. I ordered some maternity clothes for my daughter because stores are closed and she is blooming out of her regular clothes so it was a necessary buy. The tracking showed a delivery date, but the package was not actually delivered until a week later.
I haven’t ordered anything else. If I wouldn’t put myself at risk to buy unnecessary things, then why would I put some Amazon warehouse worker at risk instead. There have been outbreaks at numerous Amazon distribution centers.
Now that stores will be open in a few days, I can shop for myself again if I really need anything. Which I don’t right now.
Am I the only one who knows nursing home patients who pray to get COVID and die? Not everyone is satisfied with such an existence but some have religious objections to other plans