COVID-19, Part VIII - heading into flu season

[mth123]

People not having food on their table isn’t an inconvenience.

This is noble and I agree, but for the majority it's about being able to avoid being inconvenienced. Most people who don't want to follow any safety precautions do it because they don't want to wear a mask or want to able to go bar hopping. Those people could care less about the people starving in the poor part of town. They never cared about them before. In fact, most were in favor of passing laws to keep them down. I'm sure there are some on here that genuinely are concerned about the well being of some of the unemployed, but for most, it's just the rationalization they are using to do whatever they want at the expense of a large group of at risk people.

If you really are concerned about the well being of business in America, keeping the country, the entire country, as healthy as possible is the number one issue right now. These businesses all need to be open, but that doesn't mean that everyone should just throw caution to the wind and do whatever they want. Distance as much as possible, wear your mask and do what you can to reduce the spread. Reopening businesses and simply letting the majority do what ever they want are two different things and as long as it's spreading, the economy and business is going to suffer whether restrictions are lifted or not. If you are in a management capacity at a business, the last thing you want is for the workforce to start coming down with Covid. There are probably high risk people serving in key roles and absenteeism always erodes productivity.

Finally, a lot of those high risk people are people who also need to work and provide for their families. What are they supposed to do while everyone else goes back to normal? They go to a job where no one is being safe because the healthy want to go back to normal or they stay home with no pay and starve? If people are really concerned about the "at risk" population, then they need to do what they can to stop the spread. Sticking them in a corner somewhere to protect them, while the rest of the world goes about it's business, isn't protecting them, it's just keeping everyone else from being inconvenienced.

[Stray]

Lemme guess which camp you are in.

Guys! Guys! I know how we can solve the rona! Here's what we will do:

All of you just need to quarantine and that will allow me
to come and go as I please.

Thanks everyone!

If by all of you you mean those who are at a high risk of dying from Covid due to other health related issues, and by me you mean everyone else, then yup you nailed it.

[Bob Sheed]

If by all of you you mean those who are at a high risk of dying from Covid due to other health related issues, and by me you mean everyone else, then yup you nailed it.

Actually, if you, and only you, can just stay home and give up all the things you enjoy doing in public places, I think we can beat this thing! Thank you in advance for your sacrifice.

[Stray]

Actually, if you, and only you, can just stay home and give up all the things you enjoy doing in public places, I think we can beat this thing! Thank you in advance for your sacrifice.

The thing I enjoy is providing for my family, so no thanks.

[Bob Sheed]

The thing I enjoy is providing for my family, so no thanks.

Society has deemed you too high of a risk for you to continue providing for your family, so, sorry, not sorry.

Based on your previous posts concerning your extreme willingness to only shudder those who are at high risk, I'm sure you understand.

Thoughts and prayers, and thanks for your sacrifice. We can all get through this if you can just dig a little deeper.

[mth123]

The thing I enjoy is providing for my family, so no thanks.

So does wearing a mask and practicing safety stop you from being able to go to your job?

FYI, if people don't do that, it stops me, and millions of others, from being able to go to ours.

[Stray]

So does wearing a mask and practicing safety stop you from being able to go to your job?

FYI, if people don't do that, it stops me, and millions of others, from being able to go to ours.

We have to wear masks at work and we get our temps checked every morning.

And now that, at least in some places, we're several months into 14 days to flatten the curve, I don't know. Goalposts have been moving a lot.

[Coopdaddy67]

Some of you act like people have the choice of staying home and are just refusing to do so. In a lot of cases, they don't. They have families to provide for and other obligations to uphold. Life doesn't have a pause button.

Be smart, take precautions and wear a mask, but if you think you can control this virus, you're living in a fantasy world. The updated numbers today out of Europe are really bad. The fact that Germany is now off the rails isn't a good sign for the rest of Europe. With winter coming, it's going to be nasty.

To echo what kaldaniels posted earlier, a lot of older folks I know have given up the idea this could be controlled long ago and have accepted it. They'll take precautions and focus on themselves, but they don't want to live out their final years holed up in their houses. They aren't stupid. They see young people partying, protesting, etc. and know this isn't going away without some sort of medical breakthrough.

[BernieCarbo]

So does wearing a mask and practicing safety stop you from being able to go to your job?

FYI, if people don't do that, it stops me, and millions of others, from being able to go to ours.

Is there anyone here suggesting that we shouldn't wear masks or practice safety? In the plants I visit, mask wearing is 100% and temp checks are made daily, and two brand new masks are provided every morning. No homemade or cloth mass are acceptable.

Meanwhile, I went to Walmart yesterday to pickup some propane, and within five minutes I counted over 20 people without masks. I stopped at a Speedway yesterday in Dry Ridge, KY, and not even the employees were wearing masks. These retail operations have given up. If you really want to jump on someone, contact the respective governors and get places like this to comply, because these are places where no one present actually has a dog in the fight, as opposed to a restaurant owner who has his entire life savings on the line if he doesn't comply. He is not the problem, and the has admitted as much.

The self-righteous is off the chart. No is has even suggested that they "should just throw caution to the wind and do whatever they want".

[dougdirt]

Lotta personal questions here I can't answer for you friend. I live about 5 states away from you and I doubt much of what my state does has any effect on you. If you're not dating or seeing grandma, that's a you problem.

This is a heck of a post for someone who claims they actually do care about others.

[mth123]

We have to wear masks at work and we get our temps checked every morning.

And now that, at least in some places, we're several months into 14 days to flatten the curve, I don't know. Goalposts have been moving a lot.

But if you aren't wearing the mask in other places, and a lot of other people aren't, the virus will still spread and the people wearing their mask while at work won't be enough to stop the spread. There are a lot of people like me. Perfectly healthy for the most part and can probably live another 30 or 40 years, but I've had a Kidney damage and catching Covid might be a death sentence. Society needs to do what it can to stop the spread as much as it can so that those people can still participate. I'm lucky enough to work from home, but if we go back to "normal," I'll need to make a choice, take the risk of going back to the office or quitting my job. I work in a department of about 25 people and 7 of those people are in a similar situation. It's not just a few people in nursing homes no matter what the death stats say. The reason it's not worse is because of the restrictions in place. If we want things open and operating, we need to keep the spread as much under control as possible.

I personally think everything should be open, but precautions still need to be followed and enforced until this is over.

[dougdirt]

I'd also add, Doug, if you're sheltering yourself you're at no risk to your family. If they're sheltering as well you guys can get together and throw a shindig if you want.

So, to be certain I'm understanding you: Now it's not only those of us at risk that should quarantine for an undetermined period of time to not inconvenience you and those like you who "care" about us, but now our family and friends who actually do care about us should also do that so we can have something like a normal interaction? What's that put the number at now on your "should quarantine" list, like 100,000,000 people?

[mth123]

Is there anyone here suggesting that we shouldn't wear masks or practice safety? In the plants I visit, mask wearing is 100% and temp checks are made daily, and two brand new masks are provided every morning. No homemade or cloth mass are acceptable.

Meanwhile, I went to Walmart yesterday to pickup some propane, and within five minutes I counted over 20 people without masks. I stopped at a Speedway yesterday in Dry Ridge, KY, and not even the employees were wearing masks. These retail operations have given up. If you really want to jump on someone, contact the respective governors and get places like this to comply, because these are places where no one present actually has a dog in the fight, as opposed to a restaurant owner who has his entire life savings on the line if he doesn't comply. He is not the problem, and the has admitted as much.

The self-righteous is off the chart. No is has even suggested that they "should just throw caution to the wind and do whatever they want".

People are saying go back to normal. To me that means no masks, no distancing, full capacity and if you are high risk, stay home while we leave you behind. What I hear people advocating is basically go back to normal, but if you are high risk, sorry about your luck. That's certainly how I read it. How do you get anything else out of some of the posts on this page (or how some of our leaders behave for that matter)?

[Reds Freak]

Meanwhile, I went to Walmart yesterday to pickup some propane, and within five minutes I counted over 20 people without masks. I stopped at a Speedway yesterday in Dry Ridge, KY, and not even the employees were wearing masks. These retail operations have given up. If you really want to jump on someone, contact the respective governors and get places like this to comply, because these are places where no one present actually has a dog in the fight, as opposed to a restaurant owner who has his entire life savings on the line if he doesn't comply. He is not the problem, and the has admitted as much.

Isn't that what most are urging here, Bernie? For businesses and individuals alike to wear their mask and enforce their policies so we do what we can to avoid large gatherings. Again, I think we're all arguing for the same thing and wanting business and individuals to take responsibility.

I also gotta think Walmart is the last place where you're going to see mask adherence. This country's obsession with Walmart, especially in the small towns, signaled long ago that convenience and cheapness > local economy, manufacturing, and jobs.

[Strikes Out Looking]

I believe the problem is that many places are open without enforcing safe practices - so even if our friend above is practicing social distance at work by wearing a mask all day, lots of folks in his community are not and aren't being made to do so - therefore increasing the rate of the virus. It's not about what one individual does, its how the whole community treats it - if for instance, a group of bikers want to go to a rally and in doing so do not practice social distance (nor are made to practice sound practices) then it will effect more than just that group of bikers five states away because they do not, nor does anyone, live in a vacuum.

It shouldn't be that hard for everyone to wear masks and not congregate in large groups but it appears that it is that hard. What one community does or doesn't do affects many and makes it that much harder to get this under control.