Fear and Loathing, a Rat Flu Odyssey

[mall walker]

It is a weird dynamic that people would be against something so simple as wearing a mask. I'm just surprised those dumb ass MAGAs will miss out on the perfect opportunity to bedazzle a new fashion accessory made of denim.

It is weird, I never interact with those people on a regular basis, but then I remember a couple years back when they were taking pictures of themselves laying in dumpsters to "own the libs"

[wooley12]

FWIW, .

Masks are the new dumb culture wars. Wearing a mask in public makes a lot sense but social pressure means wearing masks at feed stores makes you look crazy and not wearing one at Whole Foods does too.

Maybe they need different masks in feed stores. Put a gross of these in a feed store and I'd bet they'd sell out.

[The AD]

It is a weird dynamic that people would be against something so simple as wearing a mask. I'm just surprised those dumb ass MAGAs will miss out on the perfect opportunity to bedazzle a new fashion accessory made of denim.

Funny thing is we've been led to believe that teenagers are most susceptible to peer pressure and that it diminishes with age such that you get to a certain age and don't really care what other people think. Seems like this is pretty much bullshit.

[papapoopski]

stopped behind Walmart for 5 minutes

Can we circle back on this comment? I have questions.

Nothing good happens behind a walmart

[hutash]

Given two populations one much larger than the other but otherwise the same in density, demographics, behavior and protective measures a pandemic will spread from a single source at the same rate through both until herd immunity is reached. While the infection is spreading, at any given point in time the number infected will be the same. However, herd immunity will be reached sooner in the smaller population while the number infected is still growing in the larger, so that once herd immunity is reached the larger population will have a larger number of people ultimately infected.

What if you add up all the countries in Europe. 1,500,000 cases in roughly 500 million population. So Europe as a whole isn't doing any better than the US. The factor that would seem to explain it all is the number of independent sources of infection--the number of infected people arriving from China (presumably) into various parts of the US and Europe. If one infected person landed in SF, Seattle, Chicago, Detroit and NYC on day one, and one infected person landed in London, Milan, Madrid, Berlin, and Paris on day 1 the number of infections at day 1 + X should be the same in Europe and the US all other factors being equal, but lower in each individual country in Europe.

Exactly, since there is no single source of infection, or one bacteria on a plate. The larger the population the greater the (potential) numbers of sources, hence sneezing on a petri dish. The difference comes from how it was handled from day one. Good public health reduces R0 and therefore the number of cases per capita declines showing a good response. Cases per capita show response better then total number of cases because it allows comparisons across different sized populations. A million cases in a population of a million is a tad different then a million cases in a population of a billion.

As for how this was handled, I still say Italy did a poor job compared to SK, judging by the numbers. Obviously it is not as simple as one number can show and there are a myriad of factors to consider about over all response. It is just that everybody is focused on that one graph, which I don't think is a very helpful one. I fully agree the federal US response has been a complete joke, and would be much, much worse if there weren't a couple of adults in the situation room, but many of the state responses have been reasonably good, which makes the over all US response tolerable.

[east or bust]

Funny thing is we've been led to believe that teenagers are most susceptible to peer pressure and that it diminishes with age such that you get to a certain age and don't really care what other people think. Seems like this is pretty much bullshit.

Disagree. Peer pressure is still prevalent with teens, among their peers. Key word, peers. Simple, people 30-60 years their age aren’t viewed as their peers.

[Buster Highmen]

Disagree. Peer pressure is still prevalent with teens, among their peers. Key word, peers. Simple, people 30-60 years their age aren’t viewed as their peers.

So much to work with here.

[char_]

From Sacramento demonstration
Attachment 327114

Surprised the cops didn't show up in N95s and/or riot masks.

[MultiVerse]

Maybe everyone ends up at the same place anyway but this is what the U.S. looks like vs the World as of May 1st:

[Ted Striker]

Around my town lots of folks continue to live life as they always have and they look at the rest of us like we're crazy.

I used to think they we're the crazy ones after all there's a killer virus circulating but lately, the more I see the same people at businesses I frequent (one feed store in particular) living life as always with no masks or social distancing the more doubt creeps in.

A simple credo for life in Washington: if Tim Eyman thinks something is a good idea, it's not.

[char_]

I will say that this is actually pretty rational behavior in a country with essentially no social safety net. People are losing jobs, houses, can't pay rent, etc. The risk of getting COVID and being sick for a few weeks probably looks good in comparison to living on the street with no job.

Many peoples options are extremely limited in this situation.

[The AD]

Disagree. Peer pressure is still prevalent with teens, among their peers. Key word, peers. Simple, people 30-60 years their age aren’t viewed as their peers.

Um, not sure you got the point I was trying to make...

[mcski]

Can we circle back on this comment? I have questions.

Nothing good happens behind a walmart

Can GPS penetrate a dumpster lid?

[nwslider]

The discussion I've seen of the contact tracing in the media seems to imply that GPS in addition to Bluetooth would be used to determines one's location and proximity to others.

I could see it becoming required to enter certain businesses or buildings. Like the app generates a random QR code that is scanned on entry. Kind of like how places scan people's temp but now your phone is scanned instead. Seems better than having to get close enough to scan someone's temp.

Would people opt in to the contact tracing app if it were a condition of entry to place like Walmart, Safeway, or an office building?

[happytimefunbox]

[east or bust]

Um, not sure you got the point I was trying to make...

Definitely not, been up for 29 hours.

Taking my mulligan.

[mall walker]

I will say that this is actually pretty rational behavior in a country with essentially no social safety net. People are losing jobs, houses, can't pay rent, etc. The risk of getting COVID and being sick for a few weeks probably looks good in comparison to living on the street with no job.

Many peoples options are extremely limited in this situation.

My wife runs a nonprofit that does financial counseling, debt managment, basically helping lower income people try to survive financially. She told me something like 60% of the country has less than $500 in the bank. What do you suppose the overlap is between the newly laid off folks due to COVID and that 60%?

This COVID thing is like the example you'd make up if you were trying to illustrate to a child why a social safety net was a good idea.

[Lone Star]

Blue lives don't matter anymore

Funny how that works, eh? Imagine what those skinheads would do if the cops tried to UCDavis them.

[bodywhomper]

The FOMO skiing (or not skiing) a high consequence line analogy is too simple... unless you include the successful group that skied the line are gathering their things at the bottom of the line, and one triggers a big slide from below (trigger point) of the line just skied, the slide takes out most (but not all of the group), some ride it out fine, some are mildly injured, some injured and permanently disabled, some die, and the slide takes out a group of bystanders further down the slope with similar results as the skiing party.

Those people that we see around town hanging out and doing their thing, if the virus is lurking around, they may be showing symptoms in 1-3 weeks from now, they may be fine and still doing their thing, or they may be asymptomatic and still doing their thing.

I see the slow roll of reopening things in a rational way (eg California), as a partial stall tactic to getting ducks in a row with more testing locations and establishing contract tracing procedures, being slow to open to be responsive to population that get impatient and start doing stupid things (like group sex after visiting an illicit bar), being slow to open to see how the testing and contract tracing systems work and not overwhelm hospitals, and allowing for an adjustment in society to the new norm, like being comfortable around on the streets in greater #s but wearing masks.

I hope that makes sense. I suck at writing on my phone.

[Lone Star]

brevity is the soul of wit. I think KQ got that I was smellin what she was cookin.

[KQ]

Thanks everyone for the responses. I was going to try multi-quote but so many of you chimed in with such great stuff that I can't get it all in or at least my sinus headache won't let me focus enough to do it right.

Yes - FOMO is something and that was a very good ski analogy.

Yes - I think of all the deaths in Europe and the east coast and what gets me the most are the descriptions of feeling like you're drowning. Ugh... ugh.. ugh... sends shivers down my spine.

Yeah, maybe it won't kill me but I sure as hell don't want to get that sick for that long. And here's another thing - what of the cost? Some of these people who recover come out of the hospital after 11 weeks. 11 weeks! My 1.5 days in the hospital for diverticulitis last year was 40K. I just can't imagine what 11 weeks of intensive care costs. Even with insurance people are going to be bankrupt. Why isn't the news covering this? Maybe it would make some of the people who refuse to SAH or wear masks think twice.

And speaking of masks - I read an article that Mike DeWine governor of Ohio was the smartest politician in the country because he backed down from making masks mandatory in public when people pushed back. Really? Who's the adult here? What is so inconvenient about wearing a mask when you are around others? It's not 24/7 when your at home, in bed, in the car etc. etc. Just put it on. DKNY, Tommy Hilfiger and TNF need to get on making designer masks that people can coordinate with their outfits. Why I bet if Kim Kardashian started making them they would take off like wildfire.

[KQ]

From Sacramento demonstration

are you sure? Why aren't any of the police wearing PPE?

[XXX-er]

I duno where people in my town are getting masks but you can't buy them, otoh its not a busy place so pretty easy to distance ... distance & wash hands

otoh we got toilet paper

[Lvovsky]

Attachment 327094


Attachment 327093

Yep. Navajo nation is hit hard. Gallup is smack in the middle.

[KQ]

I duno where people in my town are getting masks but you can't buy them, otoh its not a busy place so pretty easy to distance ... distance & wash hands

You might look on FB. Most areas have community pages. You could also check with the Chamber and web pages of your local News stations.

Around here the local quilting and sewing shops are making them for sale (we have a shop called "Sew & Vac" where you can buy them. Their stores in other cities are also making them). I got mine from a friend who is a quilter.

You can also buy some on Amazon.