Coronavirus Discussion

[purplehaze]

4 hours ago, Fuzzbucket said:

Such casual disregard for others.

 

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/may/21/trump-ford-factory-mask-michigan

After the state's Attorney General called him a petulant child (perfect description by the way!) for not wearing a mask, pictures have now emerged of him actually wearing a mask (with the presidential seal, no less) in the back area of the plant. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/may/22/pictures-show-donald-trump-wearing-mask-after-ford-factory-row  Not defending the man, because he apparently did not wear it in all areas where it should have been worn, and gave his reason for not wearing it as being that he didn’t want to give the press the pleasure of seeing it! What a jerk! Notice how it always has to be all about him?

Edited May 22, 2020 by purplehaze

[Confused Cat]

46 minutes ago, purplehaze said:

 and gave his reason for not wearing it as being that he didn’t want to give the press the pleasure of seeing it!

 

Huh. Why would it be negative for him to appear reasonable and responsible?

 

(Oh, is it the toxic masculinity thing perhaps? A "real man" has to look like he's too strong to be affected by a virus? Let's hope this mindset doesn't kill too many people.)

[Astreya]

@purplehaze

Maybe someone should have told him that it would boost his ratings to be seen prudently wearing a mask - I bet then he'd wear one 24/7...

[purplehaze]

1 hour ago, Confused Cat said:

Huh. Why would it be negative for him to appear reasonable and responsible?

I think it is probably just part of his battle with the press and it might make them look right and him wrong, since they have criticized him so strongly for not wearing one. Would look like he backed down and that would be a sign of weakness. That and the toxic masculinity thing, too.

@Astreya Sadly it is probably too late for that. See above. It wouldn't play well with his all-important "base" and if he loses them he loses everything.

Edited May 22, 2020 by purplehaze

[purpledragonclaw]

@purplehaze That's exactly why Trump didn't want the press to see him wearing a mask. "He didn't want to give the press the pleasure of seeing it." Sounds like me as a child when I refused to eat my vegetables when my parents wanted me to because I wanted to show them that I was in control! The toxic masculinity is also a big issue. 

 

If you want a pandemic response that makes Trump's response look good, Brazil's response to the pandemic has been horrifying. Yet another leader more concerned about the economy and jobs than the health of the populace.

 

In the meantime, please enjoy this video of a man at Costco in Las Vegas getting his groceries taken away because he refuses to wear a mask. The customer in question originally posted it on Instagram, but I don't think it got the response he was expecting, so he deleted it. Costco, give this employee a raise!

Edited May 22, 2020 by purpledragonclaw
typo

[Syiren]

29 minutes ago, purpledragonclaw said:

In the meantime, please enjoy this video of a man at Costco in Las Vegas getting his groceries taken away because he refuses to wear a mask. The customer in question originally posted it on Instagram, but I don't think it got the response he was expecting, so he deleted it. Costco, give this employee a raise!

 

That reminds me of another video I saw where a woman was stopped at the door, and tried to play the discrimination card because she refused to wear a mask. She even knew where the new policies were as she pointed them out in said video. The cart cleaner also needs a raise with his upbeat and cheerful, professional attitude. I'd definitely hire him. It also makes me want to shop at said store, if there was one near me.

 

 

 

on a side note. the masks I ordered over a month ago finally arrived in the mail today. Three washable, reusable masks for $7. not too bad. Glad I got them when I did. I can't even find the page on amazon anymore.

[Raikielia]

21 hours ago, Morphie said:

My mom paid $7000 for DC and we're not getting a single penny back. I go to a catholic school and apparently they're willing COVID-19 an "act of god" to say "Oh yeah, we're taking your money because god made coronavirus."

 

That's some serious bull.  Especially since people's jobs have been affected. That's no small amount of money and they should NOT be allowed to keep it.

 

3 hours ago, Confused Cat said:

Huh. Why would it be negative for him to appear reasonable and responsible?

 

Because he said he wouldn't wear one and people have always been telling him he should so if he starts now, then I'm sure he thinks it'll make him look bad for changing his mind/giving in.

 

58 minutes ago, purpledragonclaw said:

In the meantime, please enjoy this video of a man at Costco in Las Vegas getting his groceries taken away because he refuses to wear a mask. The customer in question originally posted it on Instagram, but I don't think it got the response he was expecting, so he deleted it. Costco, give this employee a raise!

 

I saw this the other day. I love the manager's reaction when the guy says he's filming it for his '3,000 followers'. xD

[Fuzzbucket]

here's another:

 

 

 

[Kith]

Alas, we now have what appears to be COVID-related arson. Thankfully nobody was in the building at the time, but still. This is not the proper way to handle things.

[ValidEmotions]

At the same time, Trump just declared places of worship as "essential". 🙄 So now either governors have to follow the heavy-handed slap and allow churches to have gatherings or face yet more backlash by keeping churches closed. 

Let me just express: religion is not "essential" to life. Even more so, a church isn't "essential". You can worship at home. Do so if you're so inclined to worship. Because, honestly, if a church is the only place you "practice" religion, then you're nothing more than hot air preaching values/virtue signaling and a hypocrite. 

Edited May 22, 2020 by ValidEmotions

[Astreya]

@ValidEmotions

If you look as so many "pious" persons in the US (from televangelists "Thou shalt have no other gods before me" - remember, the Christian God is not supposed to be money - to people who prefer to kill doctors who perform abortions - "Thou shalt not kill" should particularly go for those who claim to be Christian, won't you say?), I have the impression they don't have the slightest clue what the teachings of Christianity are really about. They just realised that the motto "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want." can be easily re-designed to put themselves into the leader position to make their sheeple  do whatever they want to do...

[Viperidae]

Well the world has gone crazy. The virus won't end if people keep gathering, and the virus is killing people, so why did Trump open the places of worships? Even if the it was safe to open things, open schools and businesses first, they are much more essential, because (correct me if I'm wrong because I'm not religious) can't you worship at home? Leaders aren't handling this well.

[Astreya]

People should heed the lessons from the 1918 influenza pandemic:

 

Quote

In the deeply pious Spanish city of Zamora, for example, the local bishop defied the health authorities by ordering a novena – evening prayers on nine consecutive days – in honour of Saint Rocco, the patron saint of plague and pestilence. This involved churchgoers lining up to kiss the saint’s relics, around the time that the outbreak peaked. Zamora went on to record the highest flu-related death rate of any city in Spain, and one of the highest in Europe.

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/11/closed-borders-and-black-weddings-what-the-1918-flu-teaches-us-about-coronavirus

[Morphie]

3 hours ago, Raikielia said:

 

That's some serious bull.  Especially since people's jobs have been affected. That's no small amount of money and they should NOT be allowed to keep it.

 

Yea, it really sucks. And my family is already struggling with 5 children counting myself still living with them (one has moved out)

Good thing I'm leaving this year. The school sucks. There's actually so many other scams they've done, but I'm not going into them because the thread isn't about it.
 

[Lagie]

Our churches get to kind of reopen this weekend.

I am in New Providence (on the right). I will not be venturing out to church this weekend.

[purpledragonclaw]

On 5/21/2020 at 10:20 AM, Raikielia said:

 

Even if they social distanced, if they weren't wearing masks and didn't stay in the same spot the whole time, then everybody were probably touching all the same things.

 

This is true, and it's something I hadn't considered. Even gloves would be ineffective at that point unless they're frequently changed. And services can last hours. 

 

On 5/21/2020 at 12:35 PM, Morphie said:

My mom paid $7000 for DC and we're not getting a single penny back. I go to a catholic school and apparently they're willing COVID-19 an "act of god" to say "Oh yeah, we're taking your money because god made coronavirus."

 

I hope your mother gets this money back. Keep fighting it, call/email daily, whatever it takes. Are they offering any sort of partial refund for this or are they straight up keeping it all? 

 

My co-worker is currently fighting with an airline to get her tickets refunded that she'd bought pre-coronavirus. The airline's claiming they're "non-refundable" despite planes being grounded. Didn't they get a multi-billion dollar bailout as part of the stimulus packages?? I figured they could afford to refund tickets at the very least.

 

I think this might be the first example I've seen of a social distancing dance party. This happened in Germany. While I'm glad to see them all wearing masks, I am concerned they're not staying completely in their designated circles. I think I'll keep dancing in the privacy of my home.

 

[Astreya]

It appears that some people's stupidity really knows no bounds:

Quote

In the last few weeks a spate of American stores have made headlines after putting up signs telling customers who wear masks they will be denied entry. On Thursday, Vice reported on a Kentucky convenience store that put up a sign reading: “NO Face Masks allowed in store. Lower your mask or go somewhere else. Stop listening to [Kentucky governor Andy] Beshear, he’s a dumbass.”

Another sign was posted by a Californian construction store earlier this month encouraging hugs but not masks.

Source:  https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/may/22/us-stores-against-face-masks

[Morphie]

5 hours ago, purpledragonclaw said:

 

I hope your mother gets this money back. Keep fighting it, call/email daily, whatever it takes. Are they offering any sort of partial refund for this or are they straight up keeping it all? 

 

My co-worker is currently fighting with an airline to get her tickets refunded that she'd bought pre-coronavirus. The airline's claiming they're "non-refundable" despite planes being grounded. Didn't they get a multi-billion dollar bailout as part of the stimulus packages?? I figured they could afford to refund tickets at the very least.

 

I think this might be the first example I've seen of a social distancing dance party. This happened in Germany. While I'm glad to see them all wearing masks, I am concerned they're not staying completely in their designated circles. I think I'll keep dancing in the privacy of my home.

 

Yea, They're keeping it all. And according to some classmates/friends, NOBODY is getting their money back.

I know for a fact out airline tickets have been refunded. The tours, too. I assume the buffets as well. The musical, the boat ride, where the hell did our money go???

The school I go to is connected to a church, and that's a whole other story on its own. They have 'renovated' the church. It's not bigger, just some things like the pews replaced, floor redone, and an extra room, but at the expense of- get this- according to their brochure...

9 million dollars. Really? I mean I get it's a lot, but there is NO WAY it costs THAT MUCH. My friends and I did some reasearch just to put that amount into perspective.

You can commission a home custom for you  for upwards of $200,000.

A ferrari for about $2 million on the high end.

I don't even want to calculate how much food, clothing, or other supplies they could give to the homeless.

 

So I have but one question,

where is our godforsaken money?

[Confused Cat]

Two links for those who understand German:

 

What we know about the virus by now:

https://www.republik.ch/2020/05/18/was-wissen-wir-eigentlich-unterdessen-ueber-das-corornavirus

 

Interview with Daniel Koch (Swiss government's Covid-19 expert):

https://www.tagblatt.ch/newsticker/schweiz/daniel-koch-warnt-vor-einer-zweiten-ansteckungswelle-im-winter-und-sagt-ab-welcher-fallzahl-erneut-einschraenkungen-zum-thema-werden-ld.1222775

 

The situation in Switzerland:

 

Many restrictions have been removed. Schools, stores and restaurants are open. Some are worried this is going too fast, others say the lockdown would not have been necessary.

The government's plan for keeping the infections low is now "contact tracing" = trying to quarantine anyone who might have been exposed to the virus, since there are so few cases (currently) that it should be possible again.

(That's what was done at the very beginning, when the first cases happened in Switzerland. Then there were too many infections and it wasn't feasible anymore. I'm wondering if the same will happen again. But maybe it works this time...? Because... of... reasons...? )

There's also an app being made that should help with this, but privacy laws (or something like that) don't allow it to be officially used yet. Of course it would be optional anyway - you can't force people to have a smartphone (yet). I think in this case allowing people to opt-in anyway would be reasonable, but it's also nice to know the pandemic did not just make such laws negligible.

 

Public gatherings of (I think) more than 5 people, such as demonstrations, are still not allowed. Of course we also have people who ignore that and protest everything - I even saw a photo of a sign mentioning Bill Gates, so I'm afraid we have that type of conspiracy theorists here, too.   As far as I've read, police usually politely tell those people to disperse, but will also report or even arrest individuals if necessary.

 

 

 

 

[Astreya]

@Confused Cat

Thanks for the links - both articles were really very interesting!

 

 

Daily update for Oberhausen, NRW, Germany:

 

As of today, Saturday, May 23, 10:00 GMT+2,  my home town (population 211 000) has 17 active cases, while 229 people have recovered. All in all there have been 255 people who suffered from Covid-19 since the beginning of the pandemic. The number of newly infected people per 100 000 citizens in the last 7 days is 0.9.

 

Currently 5 persons are treated in hospitals, no one of them in intensive care. 9 persons sadly died. 55 persons are currently quarantined. All in all there have been 9324 Covid-19 tests in Oberhausen so far.

 

Source: https://www.oberhausen.de/de/index/rathaus/verwaltung/umwelt-gesundheit-und-mobilitat/gesundheit/aktuelle_informationen/informationen_zum_coronavirus/aktuelle_meldungen.php

[purplehaze]

Trump "orders" churches to open. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/may/22/donald-trump-churches-mosques-synagogues-reopen

Quote

Donald Trump has declared churches, mosques and synagogues “essential services” and threatened to override governors who refuse to reopen them this weekend – a power he does not possess.

“Some governors have deemed liquor stores and abortion clinics as essential, but have left out churches and other houses of worship,” the president told reporters at the White House on Friday. “It’s not right. So I’m correcting this injustice and calling houses of worship essential.”

Trump added: “The governors need to do the right thing and allow these very important essential places of faith to open right now. For this weekend. If they don’t do it, I will override the governors. In America we need more prayer, not less.”

Excuse me, but I pray every day for this country and the world and I don't need to be in church to do it!

He is obviously playing to his evangelical base here. Many of them had already indicated that they would open in defiance of governors' orders.

I would love to be able to go back to worshiping with others in person, but will not do so until I feel it is safe. Fortunately my church is more interested in keeping its parishioners safe than in its "constitutional rights."

COVID-19 Statistics in Maryland

Number of confirmed cases : 45,495
Number of negative test results : 186,832
Number of confirmed deaths : 2,130
Number of probable deaths : 113
Currently hospitalized : 1,320
Acute care : 796
Intensive care : 524
Ever hospitalized : 7,825
Released from isolation : 3,283

+1071 confirmed cases and +31 deaths since yesterday's figures

 

 

Edited May 23, 2020 by purplehaze
typo

[Raikielia]

5 minutes ago, purplehaze said:

Some governors have deemed liquor stores and abortion clinics as essential,

 

Some people's ideas of essential are ridiculous. Churches and liquor stores are NOT essential. I do agree that abortion clinics are essential, though.

[olympe]

1 hour ago, Raikielia said:

 

Churches and liquor stores are NOT essential.

Tell that to an alcoholic. Or someone who's been told his whole life that church is the most important something in the world...

[Raikielia]

6 minutes ago, olympe said:

Tell that to an alcoholic. Or someone who's been told his whole life that church is the most important something in the world...

 

I would. They can order alcohol online and they can pray at home.

[Fuzzbucket]

With delivery times the way there are right now, that's not really an option for an alcoholic. Their booze is as essential to them as food, and they can't wait for it.