Coronavirus

Texas ranks 49th in testing. Governor Greg Abbott says our state government is doing everything it can to help fight Covid-19 (except testing??), and reopening businesses in stages, using masks, and practicing social distancing will get us through the pandemic.

I'd like to believe him, even if he's a Republican. But I don't, and wouldn't even if he were a Democrat.

We'll-Work-Our-Way-Through-This-With-Business-As-Usual. From what I see we're not ready should (if?, when?) this approach fail.

Without testing for comparative data, how will we know if our efforts are effective? Where help is most needed?

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A bunch of random thoughts. No pretense of solutions.


Businesses ordered to remain open.

Workers forced to keep working.


Workers losing unemployment because their jobs are available again.

Workers saying proper safety measures aren't being taken and followed.

Companies protected from lawsuits.


People taking advantage of the situation.

Companies taking advantage of the situation.

Profiteering prosecution?
Under Trump?
Under Republican leadership?
Under Democratic leadership?


The number of lawsuits that could clog our courts for decades (asbestosis lawsuits started roughly in the mid 1980s, many are active in 2020).

The number of deserving plaintiffs who will get lost in the huge number of bandwagon plaintiffs.

The number of guilty companies that will be protected by the government and the courts.

The number of innocent or marginal involvement companies that will be unfairly punished.



The list could go on nearly infinitely.

 

Didn't they release a recording of Gov. Abbott admitting that the death rate would go up when the state reopened?
That it was never the plan to get zero deaths.
Somehow there was an acceptable death toll in order to get the state running again.
As long as you are putting on an appearance of an effort to protect the lower classes, if they die that's their bad luck.

 

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glad you are ok. atleast you are getting paid.
20% thats awesome

 

our numbers in ga are still on the increase. not as fast. but still on the rise.
the gov is urging everyone to get tested. they say we have 50 sites for testing.
out gov is a fucking idiot

 

This is gonna be a never ending nightmare.

South Korea, hailed for pandemic response, backtracks on reopening after COVID-19 cases jummp

Germany, on cusp of reopening, scrambles to contain fresh coronavirus outbreaks

 

^
Color me not surprised.

Around our area...

Sam's Club meat selection was minimal. Basically only the more expensive cuts of meat and fish were left. They also lowered the limit down from two to one per customer. Frozen food selection is slowly improving (some people literally don't know how to cook fresh food?).

Many small stores, and some major chains, haven't reopened despite our "caring" governor giving the OK (with 25% capacity). Hair & nail salons will soon reopen (public support for this is high, vanity rules!).

Liquid hand soap, hand sanitizer, and sanitizing wipes = good luck. My wife is getting ancy; I remind her we have enough soap bars to last a year.

We're going grocery shopping in a bit.

 

We went to the much nicer Kroger rather than the one close to us.

The meat department was very well stocked, which surprised me. TP & PT supply was low, but there. Same for pasta.

A lot of people shopping. Still seeing employees and customers without face coverings/masks.

 

This panic buying also happened here. You do wonder why - we have never closed supermarkets during this whole thing - we produce enough food per year to feed 3 times our population. But there is this herd mentality - once someone starts panic buying stuff, and people start to see emptying shelves, it is hard not to just get what you need. Toilet paper, meat, soap, hand sanitiser, paper towel etc. were really hard to get for a few weeks. Here it was the logistics of supplying what was in warehouses to the supermarkets that did not initially cope. A few weeks later and you would never know there were shortages of anything.

We are entering interesting times - the government has started easing restrictions on movement and gathering sizes. My children are going back to school one day a week this week, but with restrictions on how they are learning and what they can do in the playground. Cafes and restaurants can reopen with limited seating and they are foreshadowing a return to team sports soon.

We are fortunate as a country to have no land borders to worry about so our chances of a new wave of cases coming from outside is remote. Our biggest issue is going to be the fact we are going into our flu season - how do you know if you have a cold/flu or covid? They have setup a *lot* of testing facilities so anyone who wants to can get tested. Again, our relatively small population and nationalised health care makes that a lot easier to organise.

Hopefully we don't have any new major outbreaks and can return to something like normality soon, though travel (especially overseas) seems a really long way off.

 

The #1 reason is that people can limit the need to go to the grocery store multiple times if they buy a lot all at once. And when a lot of people have the same idea, the supply chain can't keep up.

 

general question...

Dr. Fauchi (??? mispelled) self quarantined due to being exposed to someone that tested positive. why did none of the other people?

i saw the headline that the government is considering another round of stimulus checks...

From my point of view, it seems like people are starting to relax. I dont think that is a good thing.

I saw where kroger (i think) is retracting their extra pay for their employees...