Coronavirus

"First you wanted him to wear pants to work. Then you wanted him to wash his hands after pooping and before touching the communal water fountain. Then you probably wanted him to be wearing pants AND washing his hands after pooping. Now you want him washing his hands after his favorite activity---picking up pennies from the sidewalk?! My god man, what will you want next?!"

Basic hygiene practices in a communal space are not some huge ask. The fact that a lot of people are disregarding the health/wellness of others just because they miss being in a packed bar or seeing a baseball game in person doesn't make bad behavior more okay. It's just a crappy commentary on how "me first" so many people are.

Especially right now with hospitals being overwhelmed with cases, taking any above-average risk is incredibly selfish.

A vaccinated person doesn't want another vaccinated person to go on a cruise. If you wanted to, I suppose you could argue that either one is selfish. Is it OK if he goes to the mall? How about the grocery store? Family dinner? I want to know where it ends.

He listens to s----ty music really loud in his office, so if he could use headphones that would be great.

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Well that I can understand!

Ive been double vaxxed. I just got my booster. But it hasn't occured to me to stop wearing my mask in public or stop doing my best to socially distance. Not because I have concerns for my own health. I barely worried about that before I was even vaxxed. But because I see it as the least I could do to limit the spread, and not overtax the health sector. Possibly important things to consider as being vaccinated does not limit infection or spread.


Now, do I think life still has to go on? Yes. Are some people overly concerned about the threat this poses to them personally. Sure. But call me crazy, things like wearing a mask, or occassioally getting tested,.have almost seemed like an insignificant burden for me to take on. And I'm a person who is generally annoyed by everything


Maybe I'm just becoming a real tough and manly dude in my middle age. About time!

Obviously the tricky part about "where it ends" is that everyone is coming up with their own standard for what being a responsible person is right now.

My personal opinion, listening as I am to the stress and trauma of my friends who work in the medical sphere (a surgeon in a small rural hospital, an EMT in NOLA, an ER doctor in a mid-sized town), is that in the midst of a surge, people should be doing what they can to minimize risk of infecting themselves and others.

I think that people are well within their rights to grouse a bit. I've been eating alone in my classroom for the last two years. I finally ventured back into the staff lounge because I have felt very isolated and lonely at work. Today AFTER we'd all eaten, one of my co-workers said that several girls he coaches probably have COVID and are getting tested today because they are symptomatic. "So I guess I'm a close contact, but what was I supposed to do, stay home?" *shrug* He is not vaccinated. And I'm annoyed!

Captain Terror is allowed to be annoyed. It's not like he's reporting his coworker to HR or something.

I suspect that some people are getting tested just for the sake of getting tested and that can't be helping things. Something I mentioned here before, my wife was side by side and face to face with people who later tested positive, and she wasn't advised to get tested. No symptoms? Well then business as usual. I think a lot of people are just resigned to the fact that there's nothing we can do to stop the spread, and the numbers seem to support that. Just get vaccinated and get the booster to protect yourself. Of course, I'm not advising anybody to take any extra precautions that makes them comfortable.

Okay I've changed my mind. Please contact HR so that this sociopath is removed from your office ASAP!

I understand, and my intent is not to put Captain Terror down.

But there ARE things we can do to stop the spread! Or at least slow it. Proper masking and distancing, for a start. Like, in theory everyone in my school is masked, but the reality is that both students and staff are not masking properly and frequently couple poor masking with standing too close. People who are supposed to be in quarantine (either because they are actually sick or are close contacts) openly and shamelessly do things like go to the store or the gym.

Also: https://abc17news.com/news/missouri/...t-study-finds/

Being vaccinated/boosted is a big deal because less severe cases mean fewer beds being taken up in the hospital. But since you can still catch/spread when vaccinated, reducing other peoples' exposure to you is just as much of a moral issue, from my point of view.

Anyway, I think we can all emphasize with the feeling that someone we are forced to share space with (family, co-worker, etc) is being inconsiderate. Even moreso when you're trying to keep your own loved ones safe and that other person is making that harder.

We are hitting record numbers even with everything that's been done so I see no evidence that anything is stopping the spread. As far as that link, it's an analysis of counties in Jefferson City, and said analysis is termed "misleading" and "taken out of context". That's not reassuring at all.

People doing preventative measures correctly would do a lot. There are protocols in place and a lot of people are simply disregarding them. This is just generally true. Part of the reason that we see surges of strep and other junk in our school is that parents don't want to stay home with their child, give them Tylenol to suppress a fever, and then conveniently don't answer the phone when the nurse calls them.

Also, the people saying the study is "misleading" and "taken out of context" are politicians who are just salty because they were hoping the study would show mask mandates weren't effective, the study seems to show that they are effective (I think the graph speaks for itself, frankly), and so they decided to hide the study until someone asked to see it under a FOIA request. This is the same governor who, when someone pointed out that their government websites were exposing the social security numbers of employees, threatened to prosecute that person for "hacking".

I don't know about the political stuff but you posted a link about counties in Jefferson City, which wouldn't tell me much even if there wasn't contradiction in the article. Saying using preventive measures correctly would do a lot, I ask what's a lot? I don't think we know Jack and that some of what we're doing might not be as important as some of us think it is.

I always say stick to the standards - and they are still proving to be the most effective preventative measures:

1. Wash your hands often, and every time you use the bathroom or after coughing or sneezing or touching anything that might be contaminated.
2. Practice personal hygiene: wash your face, eyes & mouth, clean your ears (hydrogen peroxide on a swab will kill germs in ear canals), brush & floss your teeth, use mouthwash with alcohol, shower, wash your clothes, etc. (maybe all a bit more frequently when something's going around).
3. Respect others personal space by keeping your distance. Avoid close contact & crowds.
4. If you have to cough or sneeze, cover your mouth, move away from others - go toward a window or outdoors if possible.
5. Drink lots of water throughout the day.
6. Spend as much time outdoors as possible and get as much direct sunlight as possible.
7. Eat right as healthy foods in appropriate amounts are nature's immune system boosters.
8. Supplement your diet with health-promoting herbs, teas, vitamins & minerals.
9. Keep indoors areas clean, sanitized and well-ventilated.
10. Exercise daily to improve your immune system, lungs and to keep your weight under control.

This large-scale study shows that promoting mask-wearing and even a moderate increase in mask-wearing reduces spread: https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-ne...-covid-19.html

And while the reduction rate might not seem huge (~11%), a lot of medical facilities are at capacity, and such a reduction could at least pull them back from the edge. That's not just good for COVID patients, it's good for people who are unlucky enough to have a medical emergency (especially someone who needs a respirator) during this surge.

I'd feel a bit different, honestly, if people had complied with advice to the best of their ability, and this is where we found ourselves. But the "YOU CAN'T TELL ME WHAT TO DO!!!" and "WHAT?! YOU DON'T WANT ME TO LIVE MY LIFE?!?!?!?!" whining started really early on, and such a depressing number of people have just basically continued to do what they want to do.

It makes me think of when they introduce new curriculum or protocols to our school. A lot of teachers don't like change, so they don't implement the new stuff with fidelity. Then when scores don't go up in their room, they're like "See?! Told you it wouldn't work!". Most of the people telling me that masking/distancing/vaccinating aren't working tell me that with their mask around their chin.

"About 7.6% of people in the intervention villages reported COVID-19 symptoms compared with about 8.6% of those in the control villages during the eight-week study period — a statistically significant difference that indicates a roughly 12% reduction in the risk of experiencing respiratory symptoms."

I'm probably missing something, but how is the difference between 7.6% and 8.6% equal 12%? There are a few things in the article that make me go hmmm, that doesn't tell me a whole lot. My big issue with the study is that it lasted for 8 weeks. What if it went 16 weeks or a year? What is the chance I catch covid tomorrow compared to the chance I catch it sometime in the next week, regardless of if I'm masked or not? I'm not saying masks are useless, but it wouldn't surprise me if the masks that most people use are minimally effective, and even if they reduced your chances of catching it, the odds that you do still catch it naturally go up over time.

You know what started even earlier? The do not wear a mask because they are useless crowd, except that crowd was the CDC. There hasn't been a whole lot of consistency at any point really.

Because the reduction between 8.6% and 7.6% is 1%. 1/8.6 = 11.6 which rounds to 12.


Right, but making more of an effort not to catch it during a surge helps you and the medical institutions that may need to care for you. The difference between 8.6% and 7.6% might seem small, but when you're talking about a lot of people, it is significant. For example, in my county it would be the difference between 7,600 cases and 8,600 cases.

Do you have a link to the CDC saying masks are useless? Because I felt that the messaging I was getting from the beginning was pretty consistent about masking being important.

Still only seeing a 1% difference but hey it's a long time since I've been to school. I can take your word for it.

It would be helpful if we knew about the surge in advance I would say. How did we get to talking about medical facilities anyway? Back to the surge, so you don't mind if we disregard masks before and after the surge as long as we wear them during the surge, ok got it. Even if I'm vaccinated? I only ask because I was sure that I heard somewhere that once I got the jab I wouldn't have to go back to the mask. Not that there's anything wrong with it.

I would say just Google it and use any link you like.

I drank a lot of water before my previous vaccine shots, and I had almost no side effects at all.

This is from the email that I received reminding me about my appointment for the booster shot:

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I can say in Canada there was definitely a bit of mixed messaging about masking in the very early months. Masks were being discouraged in the beginning as being not a particularly effective tool. That they may even make us feel too bold and reduce our willingness to socially distance. As a result, instead of masking, hand washing was the most consistently touted measure we were told to practice.



It later came out that this wasn't exactly the truth, and instead they had been mostly worried about pushing masks as an effective preventative measure due to what had just happened with toilet paper. They didn't want mask hording. Wanted to make sure those who would need them more (those working in hospitals) wouldn't have to deal with a shortage on top of all of the other mounting concerns.


Now, do I understand the concern they initially had about shortages? Of course, because I don't think there is any doubt at that time hording would have certainly been a possibility. But considering the last four years of huge swathes of the public doubting the opinions of experts and the media, it has definitely had the effect of giving those who don't want to believe in the masks effectiveness, reason to further reject what they are being told by any official outlets. While I don't think many people could have forseen all of the mask doubt that has happened in the last year (because who the **** should have ever thought wearing a mask to stop the spread of an air born disease should have ever been remotely controversial), anyone who had been paying attention to the trend of people be obnoxiously ridiculous in the things they believe or disbelieve may have had some concern of any kind of muddying the water on this issue.


And now, here we are. Still engaged in debates about whether masks help. During a pandemic. Of an airborn disease. Basically the world is ****ed (if we can't even find commonality in the sacrifice of putting a piece of cloth on our face when we go into a store, I can't wait to see what we won't do when we are in a situation with even higher stakes and we are actually expected to do something even more difficult than this)