Guess you can’t fix stupid.
Perhaps it is a trait of baby boomers to expect everything to be within their control. Prior generations lived through greater adversity and did not expect to be able to control everything. My grandmother lost a sister, and my husband’s grandmother lost 4 children in the pandemics of the early 20th century. My father’s brother died in a childhood baseball accident. They then lived through the Depression and the War. They knew many things were outside their control and learned to adapt.
I have mostly stayed out of this discussion, except to report on what I’m seeing where I am. That said, I do feel the need to respond to the statement that “…even 250,000 deaths would be less than 0.08% of the US population” with a tie in to what I’m seeing where I live.
There have been about 9k deaths so far in NJ, or roughly .001% of the population of the state. Everyone that I know personally, knows by one degree of separation or less, at least one person who has passed from COVID-19 (I personally know 4). It has been emotionally devastating.
The above statement comes across as very cavalier about things…and sure stings for those of us who are in the midst of this.
Most of us look at the past, including among our relatives, and are glad we have the various advances we have now making many tragedies something almost totally relegated to history.
ETA: My grandparents had an outhouse until my mom was in her elementary years. I’m not the least bit wistful that we could return to that era.
There’s a reason her generation very willingly lined us all up at school to get vaccines too.
@OneMoreToGo2021 I’m happy you have not been personally struck by covid-19, and apparently neither has your community. Not everyone is so fortunate. Many of us live in areas that are seeing very high hospitalizations and deaths. For us, the best thing to do is avoid the areas of contagion, which is most anywhere right now where I live.
Your situation seems entirely different from mine. I am glad you never got too worried. I’m also not terribly worried. Just being cautious and staying home. Hoping my state gets this thing under control soon.
I’m sorry your brother is having such a hard time with anxiety. I hope he is finding support among compassionate loved ones.
One’s view of the remaining innings of a baseball game are greatly affected by where one is seated. In a private box, with heating, A/C, catered food service, large selection of adult beverages, a big screen TV, plush seating and a balcony…or in the metal bleachers with no back rest. Now add a bit of rain or cold. To some the second inning is just indicative of a longer comfortable stay. To those in the bleachers it’s misery.
The mask requirements in San Francisco forbid N95 respirators! Huh, yup. Those, while making the wearer much, much safer than a T-shirt, bandana or other cloth mask have been deemed to be a danger to others. So if you are wearing mask “with a external vent the size of a quarter” you can be barred from entering. So, the ‘fix’ is to cover the valve with tape.
Took a long walk in one of the many, somewhat hidden and less known, neighborhood parks. It’s impossible to socially distance on this particular narrow trail. The party responsible for it’s management and maintenance (not the city of SF) had turned the trail network into a one way loop, and forbidden bicycles. People did the best they could - which amounted to turning sideways and facing away from others when passing. This was aggressive aerobic hike, including about 350 stairs, people were breathing hard. At that exertion it’s hard to wear a mask and most had some sort of face covering somewhere near their face which some then pulled up and down when seeing others.
What became clear to me after 8 hours in a major city is that this is NOTHING like my day to day life in a rural area. It drove home that in no way does it make sense to treat areas, even ones separated by less than 75 miles, in the same manner.
Walking on a city block to a local grocery store is vastly different than driving to the my grocery store. Just walking in a hidden and under used botanical oasis in SF is not even in the same universe as the walk I take with doggie in my town. The density is just so, so different.
I know this has been an assumption for a few weeks now, but appears likely to be the case.
“The Los Alamos team, assisted by scientists at Duke University and the University of Sheffield in England, identified 14 mutations. Those mutations occurred among the nearly 30,000 base pairs of RNA that other scientists say make up the coronavirus’s genome. The report authors focused on a mutation called D614G, which is responsible for the change in the virus’ spikes.
“The story is worrying, as we see a mutated form of the virus very rapidly emerging, and over the month of March becoming the dominant pandemic form,” study leader Bette Korber, a computational biologist at Los Alamos, wrote on her Facebook page. “When viruses with this mutation enter a population, they rapidly begin to take over the local epidemic, thus they are more transmissible.”
https://news.yahoo.com/mutant-coronavirus-emerged-even-more-110046843.html
The point, @Creekland, is that tragedies are not relegated to history. New ones will arise even when old ones have been conquered. Our generation, and those after us, are not immune to the vagaries of pandemics, depressions or wars, even if we felt that we were.
@Creekland my DAD didn’t have electricity in his house until he was nine! He was born at home and they put him in the oven to keep him warm, no joking. Our generation has no concept of how hard it was. My husband’s great aunt said the greatest invention of the 20th century was asphalt paving. 
My favorite covid-19 tracking site has changed their charts. Massachusetts still not looking good, especially deaths.
https://covid19.healthdata.org/united-states-of-america/massachusetts
Given that so far, Florida has had 7 deaths per 100,000 residents vs. New Jersey’s 89 deaths per 100,000 residents (2nd highest in the US, second only to NY) that’s a very interesting take on things.
People are afraid. They’re not making decisions based on logic or data, but fear.
In our area, the ones ignoring social distancing orders and mask wearing are definitely under the age of 30. The weekend in Philly was just a madhouse of younger people crowding parks and trails.
But I don’t believe any age demographic has the market on stupid behavior - depends where you are.
@emilybee Are the mutations causing the virus to be more or less dangerous? More or less transmissible. I think most people will automatically jump to the conclusion that ‘mutation’ means bad. But can’t it also mean it’s mutating to become LESS virulent and problematic?
.From the CDC web site regarding making one’s own disinfectant solution:
Does that mean that the solution I make with bleach and water is only good for 24 hours, or does it mean that the treated surface will be able to kill microorganisms for 24 hours??? Common sense says the latter, but it’s a little ambiguous to me.
If it’s the former, then you wouldn’t want to make very much at a time.
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prevent-getting-sick/disinfecting-your-home.html
I would think the latter. We put bleach tablets in our well that are good for a long time, according to the local experts.
According to the study leader at Los Alamos - which I quoted - the mutated virus is more transmissible.
If you have an argument why this is likely not true (or anything else in the study) go to her FaceBook page and question her.
Every single one of these could be non-existent (wars) or better (depressions/pandemics) if more humans were smarter or more empathetic.
Humans will still die, that doesn’t change, but losing folks before their time doesn’t have to happen aside from accidental deaths (true accidents vs drunk/texting driving types of accidents) or the very beginning of a pandemic.
It’s also not an all or nothing deal. What I do makes a difference around me.
Seems like the COVID-19 situation is analogous to a fire…
The stay-mostly-at-home orders seem to be like having enough firefighters around to keep the fire under control, but not put it out. Relaxing them due to economic fatigue would be like sending tired firefighters away to rest, but not having other rested ones to replace them, allowing the fire to get out of control. At that point, the stay-most-at-home orders may be put in place again, like bringing back the rested firefighters to control the fire, but not having enough to put it out. Meanwhile, physicians are desperately trying to improve ways of healing people who get burned.
Can you explain what the light red bubble around the line on each graph means on that site? I think it means that things could range in that higher or lower area. Is that correct?
I’m reading that the fatality rate is going to go way up and we are in super bad shape now. Is that true? What happened to the cases going down to zero by June and us having a nearly virus free summer? Has that changed? Does anyone have good info?
My grandmother always said the greatest invention was indoor plumbing, esp with hot water and a bathroom. They raised 6 kids with one bathroom and no shower - just a tub. Today people are surprised we raised 3 kids with one bathroom! That said, I’ll freely admit two bathrooms would be nice. Someday we might add one in this house.