Do you need to vent about things COVID-19?

[Qie Niangao]

Sweden's gamble probably looks very different now than it did when they put the chips on the table.

In Sweden's favor, it now appears than many places that bet on strict mitigation are about to throw it all away, so they slaughtered their economies and are now about to slaughter their workforce, ending up with the worst possible outcome: both a comatose economy and a widely infected population. 

Incidentally, it's not so clear that folks who recover from the virus return to their health status quo ante. This virus seems to do a lot of stuff in addition to its respiratory effects -- perhaps especially for younger patients -- and we don't know if that disease process stops at "recovery" -- whatever that even means. So that's a potentially huge healthcare cost hanging over the indeterminate future.

That doesn't argue in favor of Sweden's approach, if the immune herd are still plagued by other symptoms, perhaps for the rest of their lives. That wouldn't be good for the economy.

And then there's all the iffyness about immunity. What if recovered virus hosts aren't so immune? What if, six months later, they're actually presensitized for the next wave of the disease, and end up even more vulnerable to cytokine storms or some other horror? I mean, sure: this is glass-half-empty, but we have no way of quantifying how pessimistic it is.

The economies that will suffer the least from this -- no question -- are the ones who successfully contained the virus, instead of mitigating it. Taiwan, for an obvious case; South Korea and New Zealand, too. Not so much Singapore now despite looking so good for a while. But given Taiwan's indisputable success (so far), we really shouldn't assume that China had infections anywhere approaching the numbers in the west. It may make folks feel better, but sorry: at some point, they contained it. Maybe there were twice as many victims, maybe ten times as many -- it's true, nobody can trust their statistics -- but nonetheless Wuhan is opening and the streets aren't piling up with corpses. Their economy is recovering while politicians in the southern United States are so cowardly as to sabotage their own recovery.

Chinese politicians must exercise immense restraint not to rail against US governors whose folly will hold back China's economic recovery.

[Fauve Aeon]

54 minutes ago, Qie Niangao said:

Or, for insurance purposes, is COVID-19 an act of god?

A couple of insurance companies are trying to float that in event cancellation cases, we’ll see how it lands. It stinks. 

[kiramanell]

4 hours ago, Gage Wirefly said:

Many in public seem to not be wearing masks because they don't take COVID-19 seriously , or maybe they believe they won't get sick. I don't know . It felt odd wearing a mask all of 2 minutes when I started wearing one out, but now it's nothing really, done without a thought. 

 

Many in public seem to not be wearing masks because... they don't have one. Or, as an SL friend from France reported, only a few weeks ago she got nearly lynched for wearing one, because the masks were meant for medical personnel and caregivers, so she was being asocial and selfish.

And now, few weeks later, governments are waking up, and realizing it doesn't suffice to let only a special group of people use PPE's, but that maybe, who'd had thunk it, the best way to prevent the disease from spreading, is not just to frantically protect your 'own' ppl (seen from the medical profession), but to simply not let the masses infect each other in the first place. Doh.

[Maryanne Solo]

I was sent a 51 page .pdf link inworld from the docdroid.net website which is an assortment of Covid19 conspiracy theories/rumors.
Usually we just laugh at these things but its reasonably interesting.
Its like the old Beatles/Klaatu conspiracy but times 1000.

Whoever assembled this document gathered an astounding amount of information and its a rollercoaster ride of if's but's & maybes.
Before you click the link ensure your virus protection *cough cough is fully up to date and top notch.
I downloaded it with no alerts or hijacker problems so its ok for me.
Check it out if you want!?
Here
I run Trend Micro AV with the very latest AV templates.
 

Edited April 25, 2020 by Maryanne Solo
AV details

[Kyrie Deka]

4 hours ago, kiramanell said:

Many in public seem to not be wearing masks because... they don't have one.

Today less than half of the folks I passed in public had masks on.  I saw children with adults out and both had on masks.  But saw as many more adults not wearing any and casually strolling within two feet of those that do, seemingly without a care in the world.  Four U.S. quarters buys you a cheap bandanna to wrap round your head, which bandanna passes for legal as a non-medical face mask.  Too, essential retails chains have maintained stock of bandannas and mask stand-ins consistently for months.  That an adult -- any adult -- is out in public and doesn't have a mask on and worn properly is perplexing.  So though we are perhaps being told by some they aren't wearing because they don't have a mask, truly they may not have one. But it's not because the world hasn't made masks available to them, on the cheap or free.  

Edited April 26, 2020 by Kyrie Deka

[Mollymews]

i found this from Bill Gates quite useful in getting a better understanding of what is being done research wise

https://www.gatesnotes.com/Health/Pandemic-Innovation

[Fauve Aeon]

13 hours ago, kiramanell said:

Many in public seem to not be wearing masks because... they don't have one.

If you have scissors and a t-shirt or a sock...

 

[kiramanell]

2 minutes ago, Fauve Aeon said:

If you have scissors and a t-shirt or a sock...

 

My point was, that there was a time -- not too long ago -- that wearing masks was simply not done. It was seen, more so in certain parts of Europe than others, as asocial, and selfish to wear one; as hoarding something that should not belong to you. Hence, ppl had no PPE, nor acquired those en masse. Only recently governents have started to change their policy on this, and now they feel everyone should wear them.

There are, of course, still not enough officially approved medical masks. But we've gotten to the point where a bandana already suffices, or even a cut-up T-shirt.  The efficacy of wearing things like that (in the absolute, in how many particles can still go thru) is still in question, but it certainly helps to not spray drops, and prevents you from touching your mouth, etc.

[Maryanne Solo]

I use a P3 rated respirator for using Crystalline SIlica investment material when casting jewellery items.
That is the bare minimum to protect a user FROM airborne microscopic particles as crystalline silica is JUST as deadly as asbestos.

Anything less will only protect others from your coughing or sneezing.

Please refer to your governments Department of Health online pages for clarification.
I bought my mum a P3 rated respirator too.
Be safe!

[Fauve Aeon]

I think the home-made masks are for just that, droplets and physical touching. Not virus prevention. I think it can help but I know some people don’t really think it does. Best refer to trusted experts for expert advice in all cases, agreed. My mask for hobby work is a P100 but good luck getting filters right now if you didn’t already have extras. 😑

[Lyssa Greymoon]

6 hours ago, Fauve Aeon said:

My mask for hobby work is a P100 but good luck getting filters right now if you didn’t already have extras. 😑

Good luck getting any kind of mask, as far as I can tell they sold out weeks ago and there aren’t any in the consumer supply chain, they’ve all been diverted to hospitals and first responders. Around here bandanas sold out instantly as soon as there was a hint of the CDC reversing itself on masks. The times I’ve been out a good percentage of people have been wearing something. I guess around half.

[Dano Seale]

2 hours ago, Lyssa Greymoon said:

Good luck getting any kind of mask, as far as I can tell they sold out weeks ago and there aren’t any in the consumer supply chain, they’ve all been diverted to hospitals and first responders.

Use a thong (non-Australian version). Many have a cotton gusset are are better than a bandana or the paper type masks. (probably better if they're new or well washed, depending on personal 'kink's'!)

[Qie Niangao]

We have a few N95 masks for construction - they block 95% of .3 micron particles, but they're far from medical equipment grade, and no chance they're still sterile if they ever were. I'm reluctant to wear them lest they appear to be suitable for front-line workers. We also have a few old "procedure masks" stocked from long before coronavirus, and we're using those instead even though they're much less protective of the wearer. That's kinda silly - those N95 masks will just sit on the shelf, preventing nobody from becoming a healthcare burden - but it avoids recrimination for a lapse of hero worship.

One thing that likely matters and doesn't get as much social policing: glasses. I don't wear prescription glasses but I have a pair of safety glasses for using power tools, and they even wrap around the face a bit - useful for protecting eyes from dust or, I assume, virus. Planning to wear those on the next essential outing. At the very least it' will keep my hands away from my face.

[animats]

Me, in RL. Doing yard work at home.

[Gage Wirefly]

On 4/25/2020 at 3:58 PM, kiramanell said:

 

Many in public seem to not be wearing masks because... they don't have one.

I have also considered that, definitely. They are not so easy to come by. I managed to get some cloth ones from Amazon.

[Coffee Pancake]

18 hours ago, Fauve Aeon said:

If you have scissors and a t-shirt or a sock...

This is literally the PPE a top 50 fortune 500 'big box' chain provided to retail staff. They keep sending letters out to staff and the media, but half the time it seems like an a cover to boast that they are destroying last years numbers (even beating black friday) and their so proud of their hero frontline staff. Corporate are all hiding away working from home & dreaming up exciting new opportunistic special offers to coax more people into already packed stores.

This is compounded by an almost perfect overlap between the stores key demographic and virus denier 'lets bring the entire family to the store to own the libs' / 'Christ is my vaccine' / 'This (totally non-essential) item is ESSENTIAL TO ME' nutters.

Staff are getting sick (especially people on checkout). Reporting and action tends to be spotty. Key staff are being bumped from store to store to meet local demand.

All relief offered to staff (which is pretty decent) who may be infected or have come into contact with someone known infected depends on being able to prove status via positive diagnosis & test results - which are either pure unobtanium or in the case of contact with a 3rd party, confidential medical information.

[Seicher Rae]

Clearly someone didn't get the briefing on how to wear a face mask...

[Lyssa Greymoon]

2 hours ago, Seicher Rae said:

Clearly someone didn't get the briefing on how to wear a face mask...

It's okay, he had a double shot of Clorox before he went.

Remember the good old days when thinking "potato" was spelled with an "e" made someone too stupid to be president?

Edited April 29, 2020 by Lyssa Greymoon

[Madelaine McMasters]

You can't kiss an ass while wearing a face mask, ya know.

[kali Wylder]

20 minutes ago, Seicher Rae said:

Clearly someone didn't get the briefing on how to wear a face mask...

shouldn't this go in the make us laugh thread?  It sure made me laugh. 

[Seicher Rae]

34 minutes ago, kali Wylder said:

shouldn't this go in the make us laugh thread?  It sure made me laugh. 

It was a toss up.  I went with the Belgian/"french" fry bit instead for the laugh thread.

[Beth Macbain]

40 minutes ago, Seicher Rae said:

It was a toss up.  I went with the Belgian/"french" fry bit instead for the laugh thread.

Yeah, this didn’t make me laugh. It infuriated me. What an arrogant evil SOB he is.

[Seicher Rae]

1 minute ago, Beth Macbain said:

Yeah, this didn’t make me laugh. It infuriated me. What an arrogant evil SOB he is.

What gets me are the people who think Pence would be a GOOD alternative to Trump. True, we probably wouldn't get all of the Tweets, but Pence in some ways is worse because he isn't flamboyantly awful like Trump, he's quietly beige while being really horrid.

[Ceka Cianci]

He must have wanted them to look him in the foot holder.

 

[Sassy Kenin]

Calling it now! ...Current president loses the 2020 Election!  Cov-19 used as a way to make tens of millions of Americans jobless & homeless for a disease that's killed less then the flu..brilliant move starve out your opponents. personally I'm fine with it, knowing it's all just a Feardemic to gain more power from sheepish Americans. both parties are just the same hands of the same monster.

no vaccinations will be forced on me...my body, my choice.

This is just my Covid-19 Vent .

 

Edited April 29, 2020 by Sassy Kenin