COVID-19, Part VIII - heading into flu season

[Kingspoint]

Just an FYI about essential workers in this area.

So, on top of the ongoing COVID-19 related health issues, mental and physical that they have had to deal with and will continue to deal with until deep into next year when effective vaccines hopefully become available to the masses, in Oregon they have had to deal with this hazardous smoke and fires and loss of homes and jobs, which also damages the lungs, respiratory system, causes headaches and stress.

For perspective, Seattle's air quality has been something that would be welcome in Oregon the last week. The Mariners' games were moved to San Francisco (because the smoke in the Bay Area has been half of what it has been up here throughout the State of Oregon the last ten days), and San Diego for this weekend. Currently, Seattle is in the "unhealthy" 150's. If only, Portland is in the 350's and that is an improvement over what it has been the last week in Oregon. 300 is the top of the scale for "hazardous", where nobody should be outside. It was in the 400's and 500's for most of the last 10 days throughout all of Western Oregon and on the Eastern side of the Cascades, too.

The essential workers have continued to go to work. County employees get to stay home, but not the essential workers like Pharmacists, for example. In fact, the Medical and Dental Clinics are even closed, but the County Pharmacies are open. (They left one Clinic open for half days)

So, all I'm saying is that many essential workers, firefighters, police officers, mail personnel (they drive around all day with their window open while they deliver the mail breathing in this toxic smoke), grocery store employees, busdrivers, pharmacists, etc. continue to sacrifice their health and well-being to deliver services necessary for others to survive.

They continue to die at an alarming number every single day.

Here's just a partial list:

https://www.medpagetoday.com/infecti.../covid19/85867

The tragedies from the disasters of 2020 know no end.

[Rojo]

I'm guessing we're not going to talk about Sweden --- ever again.

[RedTeamGo!]

I'm guessing we're not going to talk about Sweden --- ever again.

ABBA is a guilty pleasure of mine and Henrik Zetterberg is the most underrated hockey player I ever watched.

[westofyou]

ABBA is a guilty pleasure of mine and Henrik Zetterberg is the most underrated hockey player I ever watched.

The old goat and two kids line great

[Revering4Blue]

I'm guessing we're not going to talk about Sweden --- ever again.

The Saab Sonett III was one of the coolest - and one of the most affordable - sports cars of the '70s, and the first true sports car with front wheel drive.

Sent from my SM-T560NU using Tapatalk

[Rojo]

[Boston Red]

Looking at our numbers in Wichita, we had a pretty solid surge in August with the 14 day average positive test % reaching 14.1%, dipping a bit and then peaking again at 12.4% (with as many as 322 positive tests per day). Since then, the percentage has steadily declined to 5.9%, and we're seeing numbers more like 40, 20, 45, 21 and 33 positive tests on a daily basis. It's a great trend, and one that I'm not sure what we've done to "earn", because even though we have mask requirements for indoor spaces (other than my office) that people generally follow and people are being somewhat more cautious in who they're around and how close they get to those people, we seem to be more "business as usual" than other parts of the country. In person school started here about two weeks ago, and SO FAR we haven't seen a spike related to that (the opposite is true for now), but it will be interesting to see if we get a lagging spike in the next week or two from school kids being together (with limited capacity in schools, masks and social distancing measures). If not, it's a really good sign for us.

Also, for now it's 81 Covid deaths from a population of 516,000 in the county, so .15 deaths per thousand.

[kaldaniels]

A lot of questions about these vaccines.

Will they be effective? Will they be harmful?

I’d guess between all the studies we are at 100k people having tested them (different ones) and there’s no big life threatening risk it seems. (Not enough to stop a study...one got paused but resumed)

Now weigh that against the 1000s of people dying a day. When do you say the hell with it let people have them if they want?

I get “the process” and there are wisecracks to be made about possible side effects, but meanwhile we watch thousands die a day.

I’m not trying to stir things up but it makes me think.

[WrongVerb]

One of Sweden's stated reasons for going the "herd immunity" route is that their culture is one that doesn't have a lot of inter-personal interactions. They don't have a lot of places where they gather in groups. And they're relatively good about taking recommended precautions. None of that is true for the US. If we went that route, our rate of infection and number of deaths would be much greater than it is now.

[Kingspoint]

One of Sweden's stated reasons for going the "herd immunity" route is that their culture is one that doesn't have a lot of inter-personal interactions. They don't have a lot of places where they gather in groups. And they're relatively good about taking recommended precautions. None of that is true for the US. If we went that route, our rate of infection and number of deaths would be much greater than it is now.

And they are a homogenous nation...people think alike socially. They are an extremely tiny populous type. What works for them could only work with a population similar to them in social behavior, like Denmark, for example. Comparing them to the U.S. is like comparing them to....,well,...nothing else that has ever existed.

[Rojo]

One of Sweden's stated reasons for going the "herd immunity" route is that their culture is one that doesn't have a lot of inter-personal interactions. They don't have a lot of places where they gather in groups. And they're relatively good about taking recommended precautions. None of that is true for the US. If we went that route, our rate of infection and number of deaths would be much greater than it is now.

I've been reading this kind of thing about Sweden my whole life. We can't have nice things because we're fundamentally flawed in a way that Swedes aren't.

[Rojo]

[Rojo]

The most remarkable thing to me is the Antifa people who are full on Covid bull****.

I want them to explain to me what they think "fascism" entails.

Attachment 16537

[RiverRat13]

The most remarkable thing to me is the Antifa people who are full on Covid bull****.

Why would this surprise you? There were no better anti-fascists than the Stasi...

[Rojo]

https://www.theage.com.au/national/v...14-p55vm0.html

People suspected by health authorities of being likely to spread the virus if they are COVID-positive or a close contact of an infected person could be forcibly detained if the bill is passed.

The rules, confirmed to The Age by a state government spokesman, could be applied to conspiracy theorists who refuse to self-isolate or severely drug-affected or mentally impaired people who do not have the capacity to quarantine.