Coronavirus

A little info....

My wife had her annual mammogram yesterday, outpatient at Memorial Hermann Hospital Southeast (MH is a large healthcare organization, it operates numerous hospitals and clinics in & around Houston). We were met at the door, and they gave us disposable medical masks (we were wearing homemade cloth masks), and we were asked the basic Covid-19 exposure /risk questions. We were then given a squirt of handsanitizer, and had our temps taken. The seating in the waiting area was arranged for social distancing.

Two odd things: A sign recommended avoiding/minimizing contact with common surfaces, but they had magazines in the holders (not a good idea IMO). And there was no hand sanitizer in the waiting area; the wall mounted dispensers so common in hospitals had been removed. I'm guessing even hospitals are rationing hand sanitizer to the public.



On the way home we stopped by the nice Kroger grocery store (not the lame one near our house) while we were in the area. Two guys (possibly not Kroger employees) were loading various bread products on the shelves, one guy had his mask tucked in under his chin, the other one didn't have a mask at all. Noteworthy: Our mandatory mask order went into effect the same day, 06-22-20. The maskless guy was working hard, and breathing all over the trays he was carrying. I did something I rarely do, I found two managers and complained. I don't know just how seriously they took me, but they did go speak to the delivery guys, and both of them left the area. They left a rolling rack nearly full of full trays. I didn't walk back to that part of the store later to see if they had returned.

Businesses need to take mask wearing seriously. It's not the end-all solution, far from it, but every reduction helps.

 

I'm not sure where the China numbers should be, but I will say that my friend was over there in January and got locked down. When small farmers were told by the government to block the back roads and they did, I could see them eliminating the virus by stopping any new people from coming into contact with it.

 

saw that florida and texas basiclly shut the bars and night clubs down.

my best friend is scheduled to go on vac first week in july to florida. they are going to daytona. hes hell bent on taking a vacation, we have had many disagreements on it over the last few weeks. its him (49), his wife (48), his daughter (20) his other daughter (15), his mother in law (65ish?) his father in law (68ish?) his nephew (25 or so) and his nephews girlfriend (25 or so). that is their age in ( ). i see they keep closing the beaches in south florida. its just beyond me. but its his choice and he knows how i feel. and he knows i would not be going.

i dont understand people. do they not realize how serious this is?

 

YOU ARE CORRECT

 

I know and i hate it

 

I wish the experts would come out and say what they are finding out about large groups outdoors. There are plenty of examples now of beachgoers, pool parties, and protests. I want them to say that the risk is very, very small if you stay away from other people by a few feet when at the beach during the daytime. It is the bathroom situation that they need to worry about the most. Going inside hotels is a little risky too.

New study finds few cases of outdoor transmission of coronavirus in China

What We Know About Your Chances of Catching the Virus Outdoors

 

And three months into this, the leaders should be informing people what is safe to do and where the risky spots are based on what data they are seeing.

 

Our dear leader isn't looking at any data.
It doesn't fit his narrative.

--- Double Post Merged, Jun 28, 2020, Original Post Date: Jun 28, 2020 ---

I'm pretty conservative when it comes to my own health and my family's health.
We are doing a lot of hiking and biking.
And if we lived near a beach I would not hesitate to go, so long as it wasn't packed shoulder to shoulder with people.
(Even pre-Covid I wouldn't go if it was like that.....I dont like being around that many people!).

 

I'm watching Face The Nation, waiting for part 2 of the Mike Pence interview.

In part 1 John Dickerson did a good job of attempting to make Pence actually answer his questions regarding how the Trump administration has handled the Covid-19 pandemic.

But Pence is one cool & slick asshole. He kept repeating the same bullshit we've been hearing for five months. No matter how hard Dickerson tried for a direct answer, Pence kept slithering around to the same answers:

The speed & thoroughness of the Trump administration's response to Covid-19 was unprecedented. Dickerson pointed out the pandemic should not have reached that point, and would not have with proper leadership.

The individual states should be responsible for what actions the respective state needs to take. That includes finding the balance between reopening and containment. Dickerson pointed out the virus doesn't stop at state boundaries.

And of course Pence hammered the the Covid-19 "whipping boy," the 18-35 demographic that ignores social distancing. Dickerson pointed out the numbers attributed to the 18-35 crowd correlates to re-opening.

Pence had no answer for why Trump doesn't issue an order to, or at least strongly suggest, wear masks. He just danced around the issue.

 

How could I overlook the huge suggestion, repeated by Pence, that "we" could have a Covid-19 vaccine by the end of the year? With no real details.

Which is very conveniently after the 2020 election.

A suggestion, not a direct promise. The promise will most likely come as the election gets closer.

 

I fully expect that one of the big pharma executives or even his supporters at the FDA will announce that the vaccine works in October. It might be a complete lie, but it won't be popular to challenge that. It might not be available, and nobody will be able to question the results until after Nov 4th, but being able to claim victory over the virus is the only way that he has a chance.