Coronavirus

[the_geneticist]

I'm beginning to wonder if I missed the contest announcement for "stupidest way to wear a mask." Pushed down, dangling, on top of head, dangling down back, filled with chips? Classes start a week from today.

It's a snack pack!  Now we know what we can use our masks for once the pandemic is over.

[secundem_artem]

I'm beginning to wonder if I missed the contest announcement for "stupidest way to wear a mask." Pushed down, dangling, on top of head, dangling down back, filled with chips? Classes start a week from today.

I've seen a lot of people who are apparently preventing Covid of the chin.  Must be a new viral strain I was not aware of.

[Treehugger]

The little darlin's started moving into their dorm rooms yesterday after signing loud and long pledges to all the anti-covid stuff our Prez could think of.

Today, we sent a bunch of them home for a period of quarantine for unauthorized parties/gatherings.

You would think this is the first time our leadership has ever come across the species of Homo undergradicus

I know! The plans at my husband's university include stopping classes 5 minutes early so the students can clean/sanitize their desk and chair. Ok, they do realize that 80% of the students in my husband's department are 18 to 21 y. o. guys (STEM field with no so great M-F ratio) Have these guys ever actually cleaned anything in their entire lives?

[Mercudenton]

We are returning to campus classes which, although I'm dubious about, I see is necessary if our institution is not to sink. However, I just found out we're also holding community gatherings, starting with convocation, and it is mandatory. Our State is in a better place than some, but official limits are still 50 people for social gatherings (presumably there is an exception for education, otherwise we are breaking the law) Although there will be social distancing and masks, it will be 150+ in a  large hall for convocation. It just seems a bad idea and something that could be dropped or done online. Anyone else navigating this? Are you doing large gatherings on campus? If so, are administration giving opt-outs for faculty?

[Stockmann]

I'm sorry the higher-ups are acting like that, Mercudenton. The powers-that-be at my employer have been very good about keeping everything pretty much shut or onine, but then again we don't have dorms and covid is catastrophically bad locally. On a related note, I recently went to campus for red tape reasons, and the place seemed like something out of a postapocalyptic movie.

On a separate note, the apparent death rate has fallen globally, as well as in the US and in other individual countries. Does anyone have any idea why this is? More testing leading to more mild/asymptomatic cases being detected? Hospitals becoming better at keeping people alive? Milder strains of corona becoming dominant?

[Economizer]

Walked into a bar and started to put a mask on. I received a negative reaction from the closely seated bar patrons. It became clear to me that there are those that ignore the Covid 19 threat, choosing to tout that "their haunt and everybody in it does not "cotton" to mask wearing. I wonder if that is being espoused a in  lot of neighborhood "watering holes"?

[science.expat]

Walked into a bar and started to put a mask on. I received a negative reaction from the closely seated bar patrons. It became clear to me that there are those that ignore the Covid 19 threat, choosing to tout that "their haunt and everybody in it does not "cotton" to mask wearing. I wonder if that is being espoused a in  lot of neighborhood "watering holes"?

Why would you wear a mask in a bar? Unless you're working there, of course.

[Economizer]

OK, you're right. And, I was there on business. But it was just my reaction to the mood there.

[nebo113]

OK, you're right. And, I was there on business. But it was just my reaction to the mood there.

Business?  Inquiring minds want to know.....

[Bonnie]

Walked into a bar and started to put a mask on. I received a negative reaction from the closely seated bar patrons. It became clear to me that there are those that ignore the Covid 19 threat, choosing to tout that "their haunt and everybody in it does not "cotton" to mask wearing. I wonder if that is being espoused a in  lot of neighborhood "watering holes"?

Why would you wear a mask in a bar? Unless you're working there, of course.

Wear a mask when you walk in. Wear a mask when you order. Take your mask off to have your drink.

[downer]

Walked into a bar and started to put a mask on. I received a negative reaction from the closely seated bar patrons. It became clear to me that there are those that ignore the Covid 19 threat, choosing to tout that "their haunt and everybody in it does not "cotton" to mask wearing. I wonder if that is being espoused a in  lot of neighborhood "watering holes"?

Why would you wear a mask in a bar? Unless you're working there, of course.

Wear a mask when you walk in. Wear a mask when you order. Take your mask off to have your drink.

No restaurant or bar I've eaten at in the last month (about 4 I guess) has required that patrons wear a mask while ordering, and nobody was doing that. But only one was indoors.

[Bonnie]

Walked into a bar and started to put a mask on. I received a negative reaction from the closely seated bar patrons. It became clear to me that there are those that ignore the Covid 19 threat, choosing to tout that "their haunt and everybody in it does not "cotton" to mask wearing. I wonder if that is being espoused a in  lot of neighborhood "watering holes"?

Why would you wear a mask in a bar? Unless you're working there, of course.

Wear a mask when you walk in. Wear a mask when you order. Take your mask off to have your drink.

No restaurant or bar I've eaten at in the last month (about 4 I guess) has required that patrons wear a mask while ordering, and nobody was doing that. But only one was indoors.

Quite the opposite here. If you are not at your table, you are expected to have a mask on. That's pretty rigid indoors a bit less so outdoors but more mask wearing than not. When orders are taken at tables, folks tend to keep masks on until after they've placed their orders. Of course, that's at the places I choose to go to. I'm sure some establishments are less strict about the public health orders.

[apl68]

We finally have all of our staff healthy and back at work!  Our county's current active infection count is way down.

On the other hand, public schools are starting back today....

[zyzzx]

On a separate note, the apparent death rate has fallen globally, as well as in the US and in other individual countries. Does anyone have any idea why this is? More testing leading to more mild/asymptomatic cases being detected? Hospitals becoming better at keeping people alive? Milder strains of corona becoming dominant?

Back in the day (spring sometime), there was a pretty clear relationship between apparent death rate and what % of tests were positive (plotted for the top 50 countries or so, excluding the tiny ones), so I would expect that increased testing is part of it. Here they are now testing all contacts of cases, all returning travelers from risk regions, and anyone who wants to pay for it. The country managed really well in the spring, but still was not generally testing asymptomatic contacts or people with no contacts and mild non-specific symptoms (such people were quarantined, but not always tested).
Maybe also related to the young people partying (at least over here in Europe), and the case distribution going younger, but I guess it's hard to say if there are really more young people catching it, or just more young people getting tested.

It's interesting - the numbers in parts of Europe have increased a lot over the past weeks, some back near the spring peak, but the response is much more muted. I hope that this is because the health agencies have a better handle on things (i.e. that the actual cases are still much lower than in the spring and a much larger proportion are getting caught), and not just because of restriction fatigue. I guess we'll find out eventually...

[apl68]

Just learned that a church member of ours has died of COVID.  He had battled cancer for a number of years, had finally gotten cancer free, and had even been able to return to work.  The last news I'd had of him only a couple of weeks ago was good.

I did not know him very well, and had not seen him since before all this started.  He either hasn't been coming to church since we re-opened, or had been going to the second Sunday morning service.  I don't think he had even been doing that.  His job as a timber surveyor probably didn't involve a great deal of face-to-face contact with others, so I don't think he'll probably have a very wide contact net to trace.

This is the first member of our church family whom I'm aware of who has had COVID.  He's the fourth we've lost since all this started for whom we've been unable to have a proper funeral.