Covid-19 miscellany

[TSwizzle]

Risk - Further spread of pandemic
Benefit - People get to eat outside at restaurant

The risk was never assessed, there is zero evidence that outdoor dining is a significant contributor to the spread of covid19. The benefit is businesses can safely operate and employ people so they don't end up destitute.

 

[southernhybrid]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/12/09/south-dakota-mitchell-covid-masks/?arc404=true

MITCHELL, S.D. — A cold wind whipped through the prairie as they laid Buck Timmins to rest.

Timmins, a longtime coach and referee, was not the first person in Mitchell, S.D., pop. 15,600, to die of the coronavirus. He was not even the first that week.

As the funeral director tucked blankets over the knees of Timmins’s wife, Nanci, Pastor Rhonda Wellsandt-Zell told the small group of masked mourners that just as there had been seasons in the coach’s life — basketball season, football season, volleyball season — Mitchell was now enduring a phase of its own.

The article is about a town in SD that ignored the CDC guidance in regards to COVID, until people started dying.

News of Buck Timmins’s death spread quickly through town just hours before the first vote.

Kevin McCardle, the city council president, heard the news in a text from a fellow referee and was shocked. He had not even known Timmins was sick. How could he be dead when McCardle had seen him filling up his tank at the gas station just a few days ago?

Timmins fell ill with the virus Oct. 24, his wife said. She was pretty sure he picked it up at one of the many games he went to, where people were casual about wearing masks.

“You may need a mask to get in the door, but once you were inside, you looked around and there were 300 people in the seats watching volleyball, pretty much going maskless,” she said. “Mitchell, South Dakota, is a small town. We trusted each other.”

Cases began to rise dramatically and so did deaths.

McCardle had a yellow legal pad under his arm with his daily tally of coronavirus cases in Davison County since March. The growth he had been so carefully recording had exploded in recent weeks, with 359 cases Oct. 1 to 1,912 that morning, a 433 percent increase. Locally, 10 people had died in less than seven weeks. South Dakota now has the largest increase in deaths per capita in the nation, according to Washington Post data from Dec. 8.

The positivity rate at two local testing sites — a key indicator of the virus’s hold on a community — was 33 percent at the beginning of November and would soar to 49 percent near the end of the month, according to Avera Queen of Peace Hospital in Mitchell.

Throughout the autumn, towns all over the Midwest in conservative states where Republican governors have avoided mask mandates have tried to pass their own restrictions, often prompting virulent community debate. The town of Huron, S.D., just up the road passed one, as did Washington, Mo. In Muskogee, Okla., the city council finally passed a mandate after several tries; one of its pro-mask members had even wheeled in a casket as a prop

During the public comment section in Mitchell, a handful of anti-maskers spoke, alleging that masks don’t work and that the measure was an overreach that would violate their civil rights. Local doctors and nurses overrun by covid-19 patients pleaded for help.

“Every single day, I come to work and have more and more positive covids,” said Diane Kenkel, a nurse practitioner who runs a small independent health clinic in town. “The stress on the hospital is very real. It’s really scary as a provider to come to work and have very ill people and know there might not be a hospital bed for you.”

So, they ran out of hospital beds and more people died at home. They instituted a mask mandate but it was hard to enforce.

After her last patient of the day, Kenkel, 62, had hung up her only blue protective gown, tucked the N95 mask that she has been using since March in a paper bag, sat down at her desk and took a sip of the cold coffee she had been trying to finish since morning. Her poodle, Junie B., a registered therapy dog, curled up in a sheepskin bed alongside her.

Kenkel was barely out of the shower that morning when one of her longtime patients — a young mother of four — texted to say her coronavirus symptoms had worsened and she was having trouble breathing. What should she do?

With symptoms that acute, Kenkel would have normally sent the woman to the hospital. But there were no beds available, so she had to arrange to send oxygen to the woman’s home. Avera — the hospital system that runs Queen of Peace — expanded its home health-care program to include covid-19 patients this summer and now 1,400 people across the system, some who would normally be treated in a hospital, are being treated at home.

Then there were the patients who didn’t even believe the coronavirus was real. That week, a patient in his 40s came in for a physical — he was high-risk and asthmatic — and his gaiter pushed down when she walked into the exam room. He said he couldn’t breathe in it and didn’t believe the whole pandemic thing anyway. People were dying from pneumonia because they were being forced to wear masks, he told her.

“The next thing you’re going to be calling me to come in and take the vaccine, and I’m telling you right now I’m not going to get it,” he told her.

It's hard to understand this level of ignorance and rebellion against very simple easy to follow rules that help protect oneself as well as one's fellow citizens. It shows a lack of respect and concern for the health care workers who are trying to treat victims of this virus. It's sad. Even with all the evidence and people dropping like flies, the deniers keep pretending that this virus isn't serious. There is a lot more information in the article, so I just posted a few. quotes to give you an idea of what is going on in this small town in SD, where people didn't want to believe that this virus would impact them so dramatically.

 

[TSwizzle]

Even with all the evidence and people dropping like flies,

Perhaps this will help you understand but I doubt it. People are not "dropping like flies", the vast, VAST majority of people who contract this virus recover unscathed. In fact, most people who have contracted this virus never knew they had it. If you are so scared or are vulnerable, stay home. The rest of us will get on as best we can.

 

[Ruth Harris]

Real life data for your consideration.

This is the county where I live in the middle of the “flyover” part of the US; it has a total population of less than 25,000.



You should know that around here, people don’t mask or social distance. Not even offices or schools are taking any precautions. We have two – TWO – businesses in the entire county who mandate social distancing and/or masking – and they are only doing that because they are under orders from their national chain headquarters. Every time I leave my house I am subjected to disparaging remarks and snide looks because I wear a mask. No one keeps their distance. I feel like I am taking my life in my own two hands to even go anywhere.

Over 7% of our county has tested positive for this. We are currently listed in risk category 1: Extreme Risk because the numbers just keep climbing.

Of particular note is the comparison of cases by age group and the death rate for each of those groups. It is pretty obvious that the over 65 group is being hit hard – they have an almost 9% death rate. And we are not talking about only people in care facilities in that group. There are several deaths that happened to very active healthy people over 65. I knew some of them, and they had no big health issues and were still working and vigorous people.

The flu does not cause this kind of death rate so don’t even bother trying to convince me they are equivalent.

Ruth

 

[GenesisNemesis]

Even with all the evidence and people dropping like flies,

Perhaps this will help you understand but I doubt it. People are not "dropping like flies", the vast, VAST majority of people who contract this virus recover unscathed. In fact, most people who have contracted this virus never knew they had it. If you are so scared or are vulnerable, stay home. The rest of us will get on as best we can.

The vast majority of people in the world aren't Americans. Therefore it would be OK if even all Americans died.

 

[ZiprHead]

Stephanie Ruhle (MSNBC) and her family, and Ellen DeGeneres have announced they have covid.

 

[ZiprHead]

New Hampshire's new House Speaker dies of Covid-19 a week after being sworn in

Newly elected New Hampshire Speaker of the House Richard "Dick" Hinch died of Covid-19 Wednesday, just a week after he was sworn in.

The 71-year-old Republican lawmaker’s death was announced by the Attorney General’s Office Thursday. Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Jennie V. Duval determined the cause of death was Covid-19 following an autopsy.

 

[GenesisNemesis]

New Hampshire's new House Speaker dies of Covid-19 a week after being sworn in

Newly elected New Hampshire Speaker of the House Richard "Dick" Hinch died of Covid-19 Wednesday, just a week after he was sworn in.

The 71-year-old Republican lawmaker’s death was announced by the Attorney General’s Office Thursday. Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Jennie V. Duval determined the cause of death was Covid-19 following an autopsy.

ThE dEmOcRaTs KiLlEd HiM!!!11

EvErYtHiNg Is A cOnSpIrAcY!!!111

 

[ZiprHead]

New Hampshire's new House Speaker dies of Covid-19 a week after being sworn in

Newly elected New Hampshire Speaker of the House Richard "Dick" Hinch died of Covid-19 Wednesday, just a week after he was sworn in.

The 71-year-old Republican lawmaker’s death was announced by the Attorney General’s Office Thursday. Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Jennie V. Duval determined the cause of death was Covid-19 following an autopsy.

ThE dEmOcRaTs KiLlEd HiM!!!11

EvErYtHiNg Is A cOnSpIrAcY!!!111

Much more likely is that, being a Republican, he didn't take the virus seriously.

 

[Trausti]

ThE dEmOcRaTs KiLlEd HiM!!!11

EvErYtHiNg Is A cOnSpIrAcY!!!111

Much more likely is that, being a Republican, he didn't take the virus seriously.

Just throwing this out, here. Maybe. May. Be. The reason the US has a higher Covid death rate than East Asia is that Americans are unhealthy and fat.

 

[GenesisNemesis]

ThE dEmOcRaTs KiLlEd HiM!!!11

EvErYtHiNg Is A cOnSpIrAcY!!!111

Much more likely is that, being a Republican, he didn't take the virus seriously.

Just throwing this out, here. Maybe. May. Be. The reason the US has a higher Covid death rate than East Asia is that Americans are unhealthy and fat.

Isn't that just 'Muricans exercising their FREEDUM?

 

[Angry Floof]

ThE dEmOcRaTs KiLlEd HiM!!!11

EvErYtHiNg Is A cOnSpIrAcY!!!111

Much more likely is that, being a Republican, he didn't take the virus seriously.

Just throwing this out, here. Maybe. May. Be. The reason the US has a higher Covid death rate than East Asia is that Americans are unhealthy and fat.

What? More people contract the virus because they're fat? Not because they took fewer precautions that are known to help protect against contracting the virus?

More people die of COVID the more people contract the virus. More people aren't dying of COVID because they're fat. It's because more people are contracting the virus in the US than almost anywhere. BECAUSE OUR CURRENT PRESIDENT AND ADMINSTRATION ARE IMBECILES.

 

[lpetrich]

Brian Schatz on Twitter: "Mitch McConnell is blocking bipartisan aid. Any characterization of this situation as “Congress at an impasse” is a lie. There is a bipartisan, bicameral agreement. The President even wants something. The problem is McConnell. He’s blocking the deal." / Twitter


Shoplifting has increased during pandemic, experts say - The Washington Post - "Retailers, police departments and loss prevention researchers are reporting an uptick in theft of necessities like food and hygiene products"
then
Jeff Stein on Twitter: "Tremendous increases in shoplifting food -- including bread, pasta, and baby formula -- amid an explosion in hunger in America

By @abhabhattarai @hannah_denham1 https://t.co/rNKIWmZ9Ep" / Twitter

Then
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "Remember when Republicans mocked me for warning about this, and I was called a “f— b—“ on the steps of the Capitol for discussing it?" / Twitter

 

[blastula]

Sigh, you call her a bitch one time and she never lets it go.

 

[Angry Floof]

Sigh, you call her a bitch one time and she never lets it go.

Yep, that's the mentality of Republican men in Congress. Drunken misogynistic frat boys with the maturity of baby spider monkeys..

 

[ZiprHead]

 

[TomC]

ThE dEmOcRaTs KiLlEd HiM!!!11

EvErYtHiNg Is A cOnSpIrAcY!!!111

Much more likely is that, being a Republican, he didn't take the virus seriously.

Just throwing this out, here. Maybe. May. Be. The reason the US has a higher Covid death rate than East Asia is that Americans are unhealthy and fat.

The American penchant for sugar, fat, red meat, and alcohol contributes to all kinds of bad health outcomes. But it's still clear that the main problem was the Trump administration response early on.

And I'm not just talking about the nonsense at the beginning of this year. As the likelihood of such a global pandemic became clear, the Bush administration started a top level group of epidemiology specialists to watch and plan for this sort of disaster. As the global village shrank, the likelihood of a virus spreading( literally at jet speed) was obvious to the medical community. Obama kept it going.

Trump got rid of it. Apparently because it smelled like Obama. But that's the real difference between the outcomes in countries that got hammered and countries that didn't. Taking the threat seriously before it happened.
Tom

 

[blastula]

We're about to find out if you can file a defamation suit against the virus.

Devin Nunes has tested positive.

 

[TSwizzle]

We're all in this together, LOL !

Last week, a Southern California restaurant owner went viral after sharing a video of her outdoor dining space being shut down by state and city officials while 50 feet away, a similar dining space for crews working on NBC Universal's “Good Girls” series was approved. In the eyes of many, the video highlighted how those with connections and power have been able to sidestep COVID-19-related restrictions, and a new report from The Intercept's Lee Fang highlights how Hollywood has been able to continue operations while the rest of the state enters a new shelter-in-place order tied to intensive care unit capacity. According to the report, some of the state's biggest studios have funneled tens of thousands of dollars into lobbying efforts in an attempt to receive more lax guidelines from the state. For example, Warner Brothers spent $22,500 on lobbyists contacting Gov. Gavin Newsom's office for “COVID/OUTREACH, TV/FILM PRODUCTION" and Netflix spent a whopping $70,725 per quarter on their lobbying efforts. The report notes that Netflix's increased lobbying spending includes increased fees to Axiom Advisors, a lobbying firm founded by Jason Kinney. If that names sounds familiar, Kinney was the individual who had his 50th birthday party that fateful night at The French Laundry. Earlier this week, ABC7 published a report on eight companies partially owned by Newsom receiving almost $3 million in Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans, which raised some eyebrows since one company received $918,720 despite only having 14 employees.

SFGate

 

[Artemus]

Devin Nunes says he's tested positive for COVID-19. I suppose it was inevitable.