What was your COVID news for the day?

[statsman]

Watched some videos from youtube. People in Beijing started to go out to parks. Country side life from remote provinces basically return to normal. Many people in traditional markets shopping. All pharmacies, stores have a sign saying, they now have new shipment of masks, sanitizers, 70% alcohol. This is exactly 2 months since Wuhan sealed off the city on 1/23/20.

I hope that we can return to normal in US 2 months from the date 'state at home' order was issued around 3/16.

China shut down a few cities. The US has shut down most of the country. If the shutdown goes on for two months, it is going to get far uglier here than I ever imagined.

 

[fh2000]

China shut down a few cities. The US has shut down most of the country. If the shutdown goes for two months, it is going to get far uglier here than I ever imagined.

New York identified 7000 cases yesterday. Here in California, there was only 152 cases. I think once testing starts in California, our numbers will go dramatically up.

 

[skipro33]

We were unable to celebrate Thanksgiving last year when my grand daughter was at Stanford Children's Hospital for surgery to restore hearing to her ear. I set aside a Turkey in the freezer until we could all gather for that missed occasion. Yesterday was that day. My sons and grand children came together for one of the best and most memorable Thanksgivings we have ever had. The children put on a play; Little Mermaid. They made sets and designs of their own creation. We had the musical soundtrack from the movie on a CD and an old player. We had a campfire out back and by firelight, serenaded by frogs croaking and an owl hooting, we enjoyed the entertainment. It is also one grandson's birthday next Wednesday, so we celebrated that as well. We did a scavenger hunt while waiting for the turkey to finish. We live deep in the woods an several acres, so the list was taking advantage of that;
a bone, a feather, something recyclable, something edible, a flower that you know by name, a pine cone, a drawing of a wild live animal. What fun to hear these children with the squeals of delight as they foraged in the woods, finding all their treasures to collect. By 9pm all were bathed and off to bed.
This morning I was woke up with the tiniest of them staring at me with a wide grin, anxious to tell me that she cracked some eggs for French Toast. Ha! And now to spend time on line for Sunday Worship all gathered on the couch.
Taking this time of isolation to keep close to family and know what is really important.
Oh, I forgot to mention we are fostering a couple puppies from the shelter. What a hoot!

 

[Hermit]

I just got an e-mail from my credit union. They are open but strongly encouraging use of online and phone services and limiting numbers of customers at one time. They also have eliminated late fees on loans and most other fees like overdrawn, etc. through May. I commend them for their help to their community.

 

[51notout]

Governor of Ohio just announced a “stay at home order” for state of Ohio.

My family and I were doing that already and this is a welcome move IMO.

 

[Ready]

Another beautiful day in Southern California, and another day where everyone has decided to come down to the beach for the day. Not a parking spot in sight. People playing volleyball, frisbee, surfing, hanging out on the boardwalk. The entire boardwalk barely six feet wide so there is no way to keep six feet away from all of the other people.

But I think the problem we have in California is mixed messaging. The Governor tells everyone to stay at home. But then he says it’s okay to go outdoors for exercise. We don’t define what that means. So people do every kind of exercise possible, including team sports exercise. If we don’t want people playing volleyball why are the nets still up. If we don’t want people coming to the beach why are all the public bathrooms still open and still being serviced daily?

At some point we either have to define what limitations we are really placing on people’s outdoor activities or we have to stop broadcasting these videos of people heading to the beach like they are criminals. How can we blame them for coming if we keep all the amenities in place for them to be here?

 

[EastWest Gal]

A rant:

The CDC maintains a COVID page on its website. It is updated Monday-Friday at noon. Since it was last updated 2 days ago, the number of U.S. confirmed cases has doubled and the number of deaths reported has increased from 201 to 388. My source: Wikipedia. COVID-19 ignores the fact that the CDC only operates Monday-Friday. It's a good think Wikipedia and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania doesn't shut down on weekends.CDC is a Monday-Friday operation. COVID-19 doesn't shut down for the weekend. Neither does the PA Department of Health or the governor's office. We get a daily update every afternoon, 7 days per week.

 

[ivinsfan]

A rant:

The CDC maintains a COVID page on its website. It is updated Monday-Friday at noon. Since it was last updated 2 days ago, the number of U.S. confirmed cases has doubled and the number of deaths reported has increased from 201 to 388. My source: Wikipedia. COVID-19 ignores the fact that the CDC only operates Monday-Friday. It's a good think Wikipedia and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania doesn't shut down on weekends.CDC is a Monday-Friday operation. COVID-19 doesn't shut down for the weekend. Neither does the PA Department of Health or the governor's office. We get a daily update every afternoon, 7 days per week.

Frankly I haven't been too impressed with CDC during this entire COVID outbreak.

And let me add WHO to that list..who's official reaction seems be to you all need to hurry and do something...accompanied by hand wringing and the impression that we're all going to die.

 

[EastWest Gal]

Another beautiful day in Southern California, and another day where everyone has decided to come down to the beach for the day. Not a parking spot in sight. People playing volleyball, frisbee, surfing, hanging out on the boardwalk. The entire boardwalk barely six feet wide so there is no way to keep six feet away from all of the other people.

But I think the problem we have in California is mixed messaging. The Governor tells everyone to stay at home. But then he says it’s okay to go outdoors for exercise. We don’t define what that means. So people do every kind of exercise possible, including team sports exercise. If we don’t want people playing volleyball why are the nets still up. If we don’t want people coming to the beach why are all the public bathrooms still open and still being serviced daily?

At some point we either have to define what limitations we are really placing on people’s outdoor activities or we have to stop broadcasting these videos of people heading to the beach like they are criminals. How can we blame them for coming if we keep all the amenities in place for them to be here?

It is really hard to remove the main amenities on a beach: Sand, sun, and water.

The video below actually seems to suggest the opposite. It was taken Friday afternoon over the western portions of Los Angeles, over Santa Monica, the 405 freeway, and other areas. The only place that was crowded was the Costco parking lot. The 405 freeway is usually gridlocked on Friday afternoon. The Santa Monica Beach and Pier were empty.

https://abc7.com/society/socal-shutdown-aerial-tour-shows-near-empty-beaches-freeways/6033455/

 

[statsman]

Frankly I haven't been too impressed with CDC during this entire COVID outbreak.

And let me add WHO to that list..who's official reaction seems be to you all need to hurry and do something...accompanied by hand wringing and the impression that we're all going to die.

I have to agree. We're seeing a lot of finger-pointing at our current political leaders. But the reality seems to be much of this was decades in the making, and those health organizations whose job is to address these issues are in constant CYA mode.

 

[Katsmeow]

We were unable to celebrate Thanksgiving last year when my grand daughter was at Stanford Children's Hospital for surgery to restore hearing to her ear. I set aside a Turkey in the freezer until we could all gather for that missed occasion. Yesterday was that day. My sons and grand children came together for one of the best and most memorable Thanksgivings we have ever had. The children put on a play; Little Mermaid. They made sets and designs of their own creation. We had the musical soundtrack from the movie on a CD and an old player. We had a campfire out back and by firelight, serenaded by frogs croaking and an owl hooting, we enjoyed the entertainment. It is also one grandson's birthday next Wednesday, so we celebrated that as well. We did a scavenger hunt while waiting for the turkey to finish. We live deep in the woods an several acres, so the list was taking advantage of that;
a bone, a feather, something recyclable, something edible, a flower that you know by name, a pine cone, a drawing of a wild live animal. What fun to hear these children with the squeals of delight as they foraged in the woods, finding all their treasures to collect. By 9pm all were bathed and off to bed.
This morning I was woke up with the tiniest of them staring at me with a wide grin, anxious to tell me that she cracked some eggs for French Toast. Ha! And now to spend time on line for Sunday Worship all gathered on the couch.
Taking this time of isolation to keep close to family and know what is really important.
Oh, I forgot to mention we are fostering a couple puppies from the shelter. What a hoot!

What?!

 

[NW-Bound]

I have to agree. We're seeing a lot of finger-pointing at our current political leaders. But the reality seems to be much of this was decades in the making, and those health organizations whose job is to address these issues are in constant CYA mode.

+1

When you sit around for a decade or two waiting for a pandemic, you fall asleep at your desk.

You probably do not get any attention either. Tough to stir up trouble when there's nothing going on.

Then, WHAM. You are out of masks for your hospitals, and I suspect TP too.

 

[REWahoo]

An update from my first trip outside the house in the past 7 days:

Went to a Walmart Neighborhood Market to pick up an online order. Got half the 18 items we asked for.

The parking lot was completely full, something I don't recall seeing except during the holidays. No one I saw going in or out of the store wore a mask or gloves.

The roads were busier than I would have hoped to see, especially with the lousy weather - overcast, light rain and chilly. I estimate traffic was 3/4 normal volume, so not many people are staying home.

The only other open businesses we passed were convenience stores which were also busier than I was expecting.

I'm now less optimistic this "social distancing" strategy really has much of a chance to work. Too many people apparently either don't get it or don't care.

 

[NW-Bound]

I'm now less optimistic this "social distancing" strategy really has much of a chance to work. Too many people apparently either don't get it or don't care.

Hard to say that people do not care unless we know what is in their cupboard. When you are out of food, you don't think of social distancing.

EastWest Gal shared a video earlier, showing Southern Cal places were nearly empty, except for Costco parking lots.

Running low on TP can be a powerful motivator.

 

[REWahoo]

Hard to say that people do not care unless we know what is in their cupboard. When you are out of food, you don't think of social distancing.

EastWest Gal shared a video earlier, showing Southern Cal places were nearly empty, except for Costco parking lots.

Running low on TP can be a powerful motivator.

Although I can't be sure, I don't think many of the cars I saw on the road were looking for TP or bags of rice and beans. Very few of them turned into the grocery parking lot while we were waiting for our order to be loaded in the trunk.

 

[Pellice]

Got news today that my county is suspending recycling pickups. Not sure why that particular service would be affected, but back to those days of yesteryear when we just threw everything in the trash. And I'll stop being exercised by those malefactors who cram their forbidden cardboard into the dumpster.

 

[Gumby]

I'm now less optimistic this "social distancing" strategy really has much of a chance to work. Too many people apparently either don't get it or don't care.

One need only consult this thread for evidence.

 

[REWahoo]

One need only consult this thread for evidence.

+1

And the Gym and Covid-19 thread for confirmation.

 

[Fermion]

I am doing my part. We cancelled our weekly D&D game (which only had 5 or 6 of us including the DM) so now the only person I see is my wife. When I do go out to Wal-mart I treat everyone as if they are a zombie and maintain 10 feet.

If I do get sick, it means this thing is really really contagious or I had really really bad luck.

 

[Chuckanut]

Yesterday I visited a local park. It was busy but not crowded. Other than some mothers letting the kids play together in one area, most people used the 6 foot rule except when passing each other for a few seconds on a path.

Today I walked in my neighborhood. Others were out but I had no problem honoring the 20 foot rule.

There is an open house across the street from me. I haven’t seen one car in the driveway yet. Not a one.

Auto Traffic remains down.

Somebody must be paying attention to the advice to not cluster together.

 

[Another Reader]

Be careful where you get sick in AZ. We have only 1.9 beds per 1000 people, compared to 2.4 for the whole country. And I suspect the number in rural areas is even worse, because people usually go to Phoenix or Tucson for treatments of elective or serious chronic conditions. Rural area hospitals may not have all the specialists and equipment that large city hospitals do, hence have fewer beds.

And then, the lower number simply means that we are behind some other states by just a few days with this exponential growth. If you get here, you'd better get sick quick to get a room.

PS. By the way, another Web site shows the US at 2.8 beds per 1000 (not 2.4), while Italy is at 3.4.

If I picked it up here, I should be in line for a bed in the ICU before they are all occupied!

 

[cbo111]

Gas price here in Bradenton, FL are down to $1.69 at Costco. I'd like to take advantage, but gotta stay home. I cannot recall the last time gas was this cheap in the past 20+ years. Probably not a good economic indicator.

 

[NW-Bound]

Speaking of the gasoline price, I recall that it crashed in early 2016, and that it got as low as close to $1/gal.

I think the above price was right, because I also recall thinking to myself how absurd it was that gasoline was almost as cheap as bottled water, and I was not even talking about fancy mineral water like Perrier or Evian.

 

[REWahoo]

The Urban Dictionary says the pandemic has spawned a new word:

 

[Another Reader]

Trump activated the National Guard in New York, Washington and California. They will provide some supplies to hospitals and now FEMA will pick up the tab for some expenses.

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/22/tru...gton-state-to-fight-coronavirus-outbreak.html

In celebrity news, both Senator Rand Paul and Harvey Weinstein have tested positive for COVID-19.