COVID-19/Coronavirus thread

[ron883]

1 hour ago, StrangeSox said:

 

 

Do you honestly believe the UK had zero coronavirus deaths yesterday?

[StrangeSox]

15 hours ago, Yearnin' for Yermin said:

Do you honestly believe the UK had zero coronavirus deaths yesterday?

Zero or near zero, sure. They've been in the low double-digits for a long time now. Either way, several orders of magnitude fewer than the US.

[StrangeSox]

Deliberately sabotaging the United States Postal Service during a pandemic when many people rely on it for supplies, including critical medical supplies and medications, in order to tilt an election in your favor seems like a pretty shitty and evil thing to do, imo.

[NWINFan]

22 minutes ago, StrangeSox said:

Deliberately sabotaging the United States Postal Service during a pandemic when many people rely on it for supplies, including critical medical supplies and medications, in order to tilt an election in your favor seems like a pretty shitty and evil thing to do, imo.

There isn't excuse for not funding the postal service. Like you stated people needed it for various and important reasons. Additionally, there is no evidence of any substantial fraud in mail-in voting.  Regardless of motivations, this is another action not thought through. Just like many other decisions regarding the pandemic.

[StrangeSox]

Oh, it seems to be very well thought through. Polling shows that people intending to vote in-person on election day favor trump nearly 2:1, while people intending to vote by mail favor Biden 2:1. If you destroy the mail service, it's going to make voting by mail pretty hard!

So, if your county has them, I'd bring your absentee ballot to a drop box. Unfortunately, we also have situations like in Ohio where the GOP Secretary of State is only allowing a single drop box per county, whether that county has over a 1M people or under 20k.

[bmags]

1 hour ago, StrangeSox said:

Zero or near zero, sure. They've been in the low double-digits for a long time now. Either way, several orders of magnitude fewer than the US.

I thought the conspiracy was officials overcounting deaths to make it look scary but I guess now we've moved on to other countries hiding deaths just to stick it to the US.

[caulfield12]

Some Mass. schools are pursuing hybrid schooling. The plan could be a public health disaster

As communities throughout the state scramble to craft back-to-school plans that prioritize public safety and academics, some officials have lauded hybrid schooling — which includes some variation of both in-school and at-home learning — as a solution that seems to strike an ideal middle ground between the remote-only and full-time camps. Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh substituted the more kid-friendly term “hopscotch” while proposing a two-days-in-school, three-days-at-home hybrid model during a Wednesday press conference. Call it hopscotch or hybrid or blended learning, but some infectious disease experts call it a potential public health disaster. Read the full story.

[StrangeSox]

45 minutes ago, bmags said:

I thought the conspiracy was officials overcounting deaths to make it look scary but I guess now we've moved on to other countries hiding deaths just to stick it to the US.

Heck, even if they are undercounting, the US definitely is as well. And we're still talking about 2-3 orders of magnitude difference!

 

[Iwritecode]

2 hours ago, StrangeSox said:

Deliberately sabotaging the United States Postal Service during a pandemic when many people rely on it for supplies, including critical medical supplies and medications, in order to tilt an election in your favor seems like a pretty shitty and evil thing to do, imo.

Simply sabotaging the United States Postal Service in order to tilt an election in your favor seems like a pretty shitty and evil thing to do, imo. 

Also how is that legal?

[Iwritecode]

29 minutes ago, caulfield12 said:

Some Mass. schools are pursuing hybrid schooling. The plan could be a public health disaster

As communities throughout the state scramble to craft back-to-school plans that prioritize public safety and academics, some officials have lauded hybrid schooling — which includes some variation of both in-school and at-home learning — as a solution that seems to strike an ideal middle ground between the remote-only and full-time camps. Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh substituted the more kid-friendly term “hopscotch” while proposing a two-days-in-school, three-days-at-home hybrid model during a Wednesday press conference. Call it hopscotch or hybrid or blended learning, but some infectious disease experts call it a potential public health disaster. Read the full story.

This is what a lot of schools were planning on doing. Now I'm hearing many of them pushing their start dates back into early or even mid September and going to fully online.

[he gone.]

We've been told in our office to not expect coming back until June 2021. 

I find it hard to think of a scenario where restaurants, downtown businesses, etc. survive 18 months (backdating) through Covid, through a winter of only take out/no outdoor dining, etc. 

 

I continue to say we're in like inning number 2 of a 9 inning ball game here. The real pain has not and will not start until the spigot of government funding is turned off. Everybody is a wounded duck right now. 

[bmags]

2 hours ago, caulfield12 said:

Some Mass. schools are pursuing hybrid schooling. The plan could be a public health disaster

As communities throughout the state scramble to craft back-to-school plans that prioritize public safety and academics, some officials have lauded hybrid schooling — which includes some variation of both in-school and at-home learning — as a solution that seems to strike an ideal middle ground between the remote-only and full-time camps. Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh substituted the more kid-friendly term “hopscotch” while proposing a two-days-in-school, three-days-at-home hybrid model during a Wednesday press conference. Call it hopscotch or hybrid or blended learning, but some infectious disease experts call it a potential public health disaster. Read the full story.

Massachusetts is down to 200 cases per day and in a region that is among the coolest in terms of spread. If any state could pull it off, Massachusetts has one of the best state gov'ts in the country.

[caulfield12]

1 hour ago, bmags said:

Massachusetts is down to 200 cases per day and in a region that is among the coolest in terms of spread. If any state could pull it off, Massachusetts has one of the best state gov'ts in the country.

Also the most top tier universities per capita at risk...

[greg775]

New Zealand trying to avert COVID crisis. It was doing so well. Now this. Damn this virus is ominous. I have opinions that i won't share. God help us all, though, even N.Z. now appears to have problems.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/13/asia/new-zealand-cases-coronavirus-intl-hnk/index.html

[southsider2k5]

Just now, greg775 said:

New Zealand trying to avert COVID crisis. It was doing so well. Now this. Damn this virus is ominous. I have opinions that i won't share. God help us all, though, even N.Z. now appears to have problems.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/13/asia/new-zealand-cases-coronavirus-intl-hnk/index.html

17 cases is a problem.  Man I wish our country took things this seriously.  We are getting more cases in a single school and still trying to force them back into school.

[StrangeSox]

5 hours ago, StrangeSox said:

Oh, it seems to be very well thought through. Polling shows that people intending to vote in-person on election day favor trump nearly 2:1, while people intending to vote by mail favor Biden 2:1. If you destroy the mail service, it's going to make voting by mail pretty hard!

So, if your county has them, I'd bring your absentee ballot to a drop box. Unfortunately, we also have situations like in Ohio where the GOP Secretary of State is only allowing a single drop box per county, whether that county has over a 1M people or under 20k.

Cutting hours, imposing work rules that make sorting less efficient, removing sorting machines. Mail is piling up and the USPS is being deliberately destroyed during a pandemic.

 

 

 

The House passed another relief bill back in May.

Edited August 13, 2020 by StrangeSox

[greg775]

The experts have spoken today ... the fall is going to be a disaster if Americans don't take action. Masks, distancing, washing, avoiding crowds (hmmm, sports world?). My question to you is do you believe them or not? I tend to believe them. Be safe, folks. This is life and death. I pray for health for all and enough food for all to get through the winter. And I pray people are accorded shelter and relief from monthly rent payments as we plod through corona. Also I pray the grocery stores maintain normal business with no shortages of food, terribly long lines thru the night, etc. Let's get thru this America! 

https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/511841-cdc-director-warns-of-worst-fall-in-history-if-people-dont-follow-covid#.XzVp05QprVk.twitter

Edited August 13, 2020 by greg775

[caulfield12]

Greg gets a TROPHY for quoting THEHILL.com.  Bringing out his A Game these days.

 

CNN)The first rule of politics has long been to never, ever compare anything to Nazi Germany. The murder of 6 million Jews defies comparison. The second rule of politics -- or maybe just an addendum to the first rule -- should be: Never compare anything to the mission that led to the death of Osama bin Laden.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (yes, him again) seemed to have missed that class in politician school.

Here's DeSantis speaking at an event of a school reopening on Wednesday night in Tallahassee:

"Martin County Superintendent Laurie Gaylord told me she viewed re-opening her schools as a mission akin to a Navy SEAL operation. Just as the SEALs surmounted obstacles to bring Osama bin Laden to justice, so too would the Martin County School system find a way to provide parents with a meaningful choice of in-person instruction or continued distance learning.

 

"All in, all the time."

Uh, no.

[greg775]

1 hour ago, caulfield12 said:

Greg gets a TROPHY for quoting THEHILL.com.  Bringing out his A Game these days.

 

CNN)The first rule of politics has long been to never, ever compare anything to Nazi Germany. The murder of 6 million Jews defies comparison. The second rule of politics -- or maybe just an addendum to the first rule -- should be: Never compare anything to the mission that led to the death of Osama bin Laden.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (yes, him again) seemed to have missed that class in politician school.

Here's DeSantis speaking at an event of a school reopening on Wednesday night in Tallahassee:

"Martin County Superintendent Laurie Gaylord told me she viewed re-opening her schools as a mission akin to a Navy SEAL operation. Just as the SEALs surmounted obstacles to bring Osama bin Laden to justice, so too would the Martin County School system find a way to provide parents with a meaningful choice of in-person instruction or continued distance learning.

 

"All in, all the time."

Uh, no.

CNN had the same story, but I try to boycott them personally.

[Dick Allen]

12 hours ago, greg775 said:

CNN had the same story, but I try to boycott them personally.

CNN has had some mess ups, but I get a kick out of CNN being considered "fake news" by followers of someone who deceives you every day.

[NWINFan]

17 hours ago, greg775 said:

The experts have spoken today ... the fall is going to be a disaster if Americans don't take action. Masks, distancing, washing, avoiding crowds (hmmm, sports world?). My question to you is do you believe them or not? I tend to believe them. Be safe, folks. This is life and death. I pray for health for all and enough food for all to get through the winter. And I pray people are accorded shelter and relief from monthly rent payments as we plod through corona. Also I pray the grocery stores maintain normal business with no shortages of food, terribly long lines thru the night, etc. Let's get thru this America! 

https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/511841-cdc-director-warns-of-worst-fall-in-history-if-people-dont-follow-covid#.XzVp05QprVk.twitter

The problem is many remain in denial even after over 160,000 deaths. The fears you list here are very real. We should be getting out ahead of these things. We are not.

Edited August 14, 2020 by NWINFan

[southsider2k5]

14 hours ago, greg775 said:

CNN had the same story, but I try to boycott them personally.

Drink that kool-aid. 

[StrangeSox]

Very good news if it can be confirmed.

 

 

[turnin' two]

19 hours ago, StrangeSox said:

Cutting hours, imposing work rules that make sorting less efficient, removing sorting machines. Mail is piling up and the USPS is being deliberately destroyed during a pandemic.

 

I'm curious if you read the article you posted.  

Quote

Marketing mail is down more than 15 percent through June of this year compared to last year. While this is a much steeper drop than recent years, it is continuing a decade-long trend of mail volume decline for everything but packages. In other words, DBCSs have less mail to sort than they ever have before and it’s far from clear how much of that mail is ever coming back. So it stands to reason the USPS might not need as many of them.

 

So basically, people are sending less mail.  So fewer machines are needed.  

 

And in terms of this impacting the election...

Quote

Some letter carriers and distribution facility employees told Motherboard election mail is often sorted by hand to ensure it gets handled promptly and properly, but this seems to vary by location.

That being said, this would only be a problem for voters who waited until the last minute to send back their ballots. If mail-in ballots are sent and returned over a period of weeks instead of days, it is unlikely, the postal workers said, to stress the machines even if some are taken away.

 

Doesn't really seem like a dire situation.

Edited August 14, 2020 by turnin' two

[StrangeSox]

Mail is piling up and deliveries are taking longer. This is intentional in order to stop mail voting. The President of the United States said so publicly yesterday.