Regarding protesters, the vast majority are wearing masks and they are all outside. They also represent a very small fraction of the population of the U.S., a few thousand in each of the major cities.
The looters are even a smaller group of mostly young men who are scum taking advantage of this situation.
The rioting will be gone in a few days, or worse case maybe a few weeks, and has very little to do with comprehensive public policy rules around the best way to address this CV-19 pandemic over the coming year.
In contrast, there are millions of Americans that think this pandemic is not a big deal (seasonal flu) and will refuse to properly social distance, wear masks, etc because it’s their god given right not to wear one. This is the group that concerns me when it comes to spreading this virus not a few people outside wearing masks protesting the disproportionate abuse and killing of unarmed black men in this country. A real issue that has been going on for decades…
I feel like the “protesters” are incredibly selfish risking the lives of the community through exponential spread of the disease in the midst of a global pandemic. Perhaps not quite as selfish as people who want to go to church again, but still, pretty selfish.
Following the lead of a number of prominent posters on here, I think that we should withhold medical care from them, should they contract COVID.
I sent a Facebook message to the new owners of the variety store I visited yesterday and told them I couldn’t give them any more business for awhile since not a single other customer was wearing a mask. I told them I didn’t blame them but I wanted them to understand my position. They wrote back immediately and said they are going to put up bigger signs on the two entrance doors stating that masks are a requirement. They’re also going to be able to take payments by phone so they can bring orders out to cars. I’m glad, because I really do want to support them. It’s a couple with young kids who are going out on a limb starting out in business at this time.
This seems to be consistent with a video at a protest showing a disguised person (wearing much more than a COVID-19-recommended mask) in a protest area (but not with any other protesters) walking by a store and smashing store windows with a hammer, while an apparent protester was trying to get him to stop.
As you wrote, you can’t really know, but if the landlord has a mortgage to pay (as most of my friends who own commercial real estate do), I’m not sure it makes any difference if they can’t collect enough from tenants to cover their mortgages/expenses.
I’m seeing a lot of comments on social media tying COVID spread concerns to the rioters (and even the peaceful protesters). The rioters in our city sure seemed to embrace the masks as a disguise!
Many users left CC because of the multiple changes to the changes to the new interface and site configuration.
While others have may have left because of the subtle change in our culture nationally around the “t-20 or bust”, annual college “Hunger Games” and the accompanying debt burden in that pursuit.
Another group, seems to have left due to the change in atmosphere of CC, in part as a direct result of the acrimony threads like this foster - not the lack CC threads as an outlet for politics of the pandemic.
In reality, this thread is not really about broad updates and the latest information.
It can be seen as highly curated, a place for posters to spin information specifically culled from ideologically aligned news sources to drive an underlying objective. That agenda being undoubtably a political one beneath the veneer.
This approach doesn’t bother me at all. Free speech is a wonderful thing.
It more that some posters with views outside of the CC majority being met with a lack of respect and basic courtesy.
If CC’s goal is to gain users by promoting threads that demonstrate a fundamental shift in CC TOS around ideological debate, political activism and fostering a unwelcoming environment- this lightly moderated thread has been a great success.
This is a very highly educated, well informed group. It’s only natural that we (I) prefer to discuss topics more substantive than Instapots or designer handbags. For the most part, eventhough we disagree, the comments are respectful. I’d hate CC to be reduced to insipid topics.
I’m reading this as I eat my breakfast (West Coast, I sleep late). First I see an interesting post from you, @OneMoreToGo2021 , about why the growth of cases is not exponential, but better represented by a Gompertz function, which damps out.
And then I see this post. I’m wondering why you would say this, when you’ve already said you don’t believe the growth is exponential.
This segues to my response to the earlier post. I’ll watch more of Levitt’s videos later to see more of what he has to say, but in the mean time, I’ll comment that it seems like Levitt is modeling the growth of cases in the presence of whatever means we take to stop the growth. The virus starts out growing fast, then we notice, then we do something. The exponential growth is meant to model what would happen if we didn’t do anything in response to cases increasing.
I don’t see the contradiction. Once an outbreak is established, cases will increase exponentially if we don’t do anything. I don’t know anywhere on earth that didn’t do anything.
These Athletes Had the Coronavirus. Will They Ever Be the Same?
Von Miller of the Denver Broncos called the disease a “surreal” experience and said he struggled at first to work out. Other athletes have endured lingering lung and other health issues.
For all the disagreements, I believe this thread has indeed provided a lot of good information. Adults can disagree and the world doesn’t stop turning.
@OneMoreToGo2021 - I watched the video of Levitt describing how Covid is not spreading exponentially. Looking at the data that he has plotted from New Zealand, and noting that there were two distinct increases in disease spread, the early portion of each “surge” is exponential. The slope of the curve is increasing on a log scale. The slope then decreases (the curve flattens) when there are mitigating factors; in this case, a strict lockdown. I don’t see a problem with referring to the spread of Covid disease as exponential, as the data supports that and is consistent with what we know about the spread of infectious disease.
I think some people would prefer that the Cafe be just that. Not referring to anyone specifically, but occasionally that sentiment is expressed. Some posters have even come to the Cafe and professed annoyance that there even IS a cafe on a college website.
With regard to the post up thread about what one estimates their risk of death to be, for me I don’t have a number, but pretty low. I’m not concerned about dying if I catch Covid. I’m not even really worried about long term after affects. For the boys ditto. I do worry about dh. I can’t put a number on it as I don’t really know his risk (male, 50, previous heart attack, physically active) but it’s high enough that I am concerned about what would happen if he caught it. On the other hand I think in our area, despite the fact that he is an essential worker in an office setting, his risk of actually contracting it is fairly low for now (we’re still mostly under SAH orders) so it balances out. Instead what I am worried about is the symptoms if I catch it. I have low pain tolerance and don’t do well with illness. I don’t generally get sick very often beyond the occasional cold, but I really don’t want to catch this. Fortunately at present time I don’t think I have a high risk of doing so. That could change in the fall though if ds21 is back in school and dh is exposed to more people at work.
Observing: took 82 yo MIL to dollar store. Her first time out since early March. Wanted to make sure she could understand the new world of masks, social distancing ect…
Bad idea, lol the store was packed over capacity, line was 45 minutes to check out and people were lucky to be 3 feet apart at best. Thankfully everyone had masks on. Flimsy plastic shield in front of cashier.
I need a cold one after this?