Mostly Apolitical Thread for Discussing/Venting our Rational/Irrational COVID-19 Fears and Experiences in 2020

"mostly" apolitical

It's pretty hard to completely divorce the pandemic from politics.

true that

There's no way any Governor anywhere is going to implement new shutdowns, let alone right before summer. It's just not going to happen, for a myriad of reasons.

Pierce County (containing the city of Tacoma, 40 minutes south of Seattle) went back into Phase 2 restrictions yesterday. (Here in King County, hospitalisations are up 50% in two weeks, and positive cases up 80% in two months, but they outpaced us.)

Huh, well there you go.

BREAKING NEWS: Poloncarz announces full return to @BuffaloBills stadium for in-person attendance at Bills games but ONLY if you have been FULLY VACCINATED. No Vaccine = No Entry.

— Sandra Tan (@SandraTanBN) April 13, 2021

In states where governors put data-driven restrictions in place, based on rates of positive tests, new cases and hospitalizations, they can let those restrictions happen automatically, without injecting themselves directly into the process. Not all governors can resist injecting themselves when they feel public resistance.

It's pretty hard to completely divorce the pandemic from politics.

Apparently so if it's US politics.

There's no way any Governor anywhere is going to implement new shutdowns, let alone right before summer. It's just not going to happen, for a myriad of reasons.

Pierce County (containing the city of Tacoma, 40 minutes south of Seattle) went back into Phase 2 restrictions yesterday. (Here in King County, hospitalisations are up 50% in two weeks, and positive cases up 80% in two months, but they outpaced us.)

Was this a statewide decision made by the governor, or a local decision? I can totally see local governments and municipalities coming to similar conclusions.

The governor announced the restrictions for Pierce and two other rural counties, under existing statewide metrics. 200 cases per 100,000 residents is the cutoff.

Pierce County's case rate was 268 per 100,000 people between March 20 and April 2, with a hospitalization rate of 6.4 between March 24 and March 30. Cowlitz' case rate was 332.1 and its hospitalization rate 11.8 over the same period. Whitman County saw a case rate of 416 and a hospitalization rate of 5.9.

“These metric trends are driven by the virus and we must continue to do everything we can to sharpen our focus and keep COVID-19 activity down. We are so close to the end of the tunnel here — we have made tremendous progress and we must keep our focus,” Inslee said. “It’s like a football game; we have done 95 yards on a 99 yard-drive. We can’t let up now. These are not punitive actions; they are to save lives and protect public health.”

(still wish he'd been the compromise "tall white WASP" choice that the primaries were pushed to)

so our stupid news had Floridians both rejoicing and freaking out on back to back days.

pretty obviously, the nasty 60-mph stormy weather fucked testing results on Sunday. only 24,169 test results were returned yesterday, whereas 111,942 were returned today.

so yesterday, a ridiculously low 1,572 cases were reported, lowest since October 12th. obvious bullshit, we are averaging 6000/day right now and while Mondays tend to report less, that's a pretty dramatic drop. Then today, 9,068 new cases were reported, and the news is freaking out about how that's the worst total since February 5th. When fairly obviously what happened is due to delays in test processing due to storms, a bunch of cases that should have been reported yesterday got bumped to today. The two day average of was 5,320, which is in line with the amount we're seeing here, especially on a Sunday/Monday.

our numbers are bad and nobody should be like OH SEE,WE'RE FINE AFTER ALL but how does our local news see us go from "lowest since 10/12" to "highest since 2/5" and not think to themselves "wow this sounds like bullshit"

The last like five years have seriously upended my notions of how stupid people can be, I don't think there's any rebottling that genie

I found this piece about treating blood clots both fascinating and reassuring.

Blood thinners are needed but not heparin. Platelet transfusions aggravate the clots, so they are out. There is an urgent need to damp down the immune system, so it does not produce the PF4 antibodies. Intravenous immunoglobulin, in short supply, has been authorised by the NHS for all these cases. With appropriate treatment and earlier diagnosis as people have become aware of the symptoms, lives are being saved.

Yesterday, I stopped at a gas station. While I was fueling up, I waltzed into the convenience store, bought a soda, and waltzed out. It wasn't until I was driving away that I realized that I was unmasked the whole time. Just totally fuckin' forgot. No one mentioned it to me. I think the clerk might have been giving me a weird look, but didn't say anything. It's a gas station - they often dispense weird looks there. I have forgotten my mask twice previously at the grocery store - both times once I realized I ran the fuck back out to the car to get my mask. This time I just totally forgot. Felt like shit about it, of course. Surprised that no one brought it up to me.

there's totally a gas station employee blowing up your spot on Facebook right now, sharing your pic and asking people to identify you for max public shaming

WHO WAS THAT UNMASKED MAN?

We went out to dinner last night for the first time in a year, basically. Originally the meal (with about 18 guests) was supposed to be outside, spaced. But the temp last night dropped into the 40s, maybe even cooler, which was too cold, and with the added threat of rain it was moved inside, still spaced, with the windows opened but the heat on. The temperature was kind of an ordeal, and about a third of the people there put on their coats before the owner (masked, like everyone working) came out and asked if it was ok if they closed the windows. Everyone seemed OK with it, but by the end of the night, while the owner made the rounds from table to table (unmasked, after asking; she was double vaxxed) it seemed like everyone there had had at least one shot already, if not both. Def. a bit weird, but pretty smooth evening, all things considered. Food kind of sucked, but that had nothing to do with covid.

Related: I saw an act I like announce some upcoming Chicago shows, so I looked into buying a ticket. There was the ticket price, plus I assume a few taxes and fees, and the audience was limited and spaced, so you more or less had to buy a pair of tickets to get a little two-top table. Masks required away from your table. But I noticed that in addition to the ticket price they were asking guests to spend an additional $40 a person on food and drink, which I totally understand, but which kept me from pulling the trigger. The tix themselves were $45 each, so that would have about around $100 for me and a friend, but then essentially close to another $100 on food and drink, which suddenly would have made it a $100 evening per person, which was ... I dunno, it felt a bit much. Plus the food there sucks, too. Still, I assume we will start to see similar additional fees as things re-open. Just as the dentist charges extra for PPE, I bet other places may start doing the same, or at least tacking on or incorporating other charges in the check, more than the couple of bucks I've seen added to take out bills.

We went out to dinner last night for the first time in a year, basically. Originally the meal (with about 18 guests) was supposed to be outside, spaced. But the temp last night dropped into the 40s, maybe even cooler, which was too cold, and with the added threat of rain it was moved inside, still spaced, with the windows opened but the heat on. The temperature was kind of an ordeal, and about a third of the people there put on their coats before the owner (masked, like everyone working) came out and asked if it was ok if they closed the windows. Everyone seemed OK with it, but by the end of the night, while the owner made the rounds from table to table (unmasked, after asking; she was double vaxxed) it seemed like everyone there had had at least one shot already, if not both. Def

I can see myself accepting this situation in Miami come July when the heat is brutal. I mean, that's what the jabs are for, right? If the windows are open, staff is masked, and maybe most of the other diners are jabbed too, it looks like minimal risk.

yeah, summer heat (and mosquitoes) are going to test even people who are totally on board with all the social distancing measures.

I hadn't even thought about additional fees being added to concert tickets, but I'm still anticipating that pent up demand is going to make it extremely difficult to get tickets for things for some time.

I know this isn't exactly an apples to apples comparison for most touring bands, but Dead & Company announced a destination weekend set of shows in Mexico in early 2022, as they've be doing for the past few years pre-COVID. As I understand it, the entire weekend (every ticket, every single package, every option) sold out in something like four minutes during one of the exclusive credit card pre-sales. Didn't even make it to the advertised general pre-sale, much less a public sale. Now, obviously, the world of rich Deadheads traveling for a destination weekend is it's own weird little ecosystem and can't be mapped on to every other touring artist, but I do think it speaks to how absolutely insane demand is going to be.

They're apparently cramming us back into our sardine can of an office on 6/1. No slow transition from a year of WFH, no staggering of WFH with in-office days to help maintain some social distance, just...absolutely everyone back at their desks all at once. And regardless of whether you've been vaccinated or not, which is the real kicker. I cannot stretch my arms out to my sides at my widdle workstation without hitting a coworker. There is no physical way to maintain distance with the way our shit is laid out (they mashed two floors worth of people into one a couple years back). The managers (who have their own offices, natch) insist that everything will be juuuuust fiiiiiine. I'd been so impressed with the out-of-character common sense measures they'd taken over the past year so it figures they'd so something real fucken dumb in the homestretch to completely undermine their actions.

i am having nightmares more or less every night about being surrounded by unmasked people and i've forgotten my mask. it's gonna be a transition.

That sounds annoying OL, I'm really surprised when I hear stories about workplaces throwing things open like that but, sadly, they are becoming more and more common. It doesn't make sense to me at all why places are so ready to just immediately launch back into business as usual, as if nothing as been learned over the last year. But.. capitalism, I suppose.

My stepdad's company demanded him back in the office full-time exactly two weeks after his second shot. They were pressuring him, daily, even before that, but he held firm due to some underlying health conditions.

That sucks, OL. Our return date has been pushed back to October, but I don't want to go back at all. In a meeting last week, the head of my department reported that "full-time telework will not be an option when we return." I wrote a long letter to our Covid-19 committee in HR outlining my thoughts on the matter and have encouraged others to do the same. I can't go back to the commute, I truly can't.

I asked my wife when she thought her office might go back to work, and she really had no idea, saying no one had even raised the subject. She was, however, pretty certain it would not be before October at the earliest.

It just makes no sense at all. AFAICT our business hasn't been impacted one iota by the sudden shift to WFH, so really all they're doing is a) increasing the odds of unvaccinated people getting sick and b) increasing the anxiety of anxiety-prone people (like moi) who will now be focused more on the travails of a two-hour commute on a packed train and an eight-hour stint in a packed office than on, y'know, my goddamn work.

I've been sick as hell of this place for years so, yeah, this might be the time to cut the commuting cord by whatever means necessary.

I have no idea when we will go back. I gather it'll be some time yet, since they *JUST* announced forming a committee to discuss what it will look like. I'm heartened that my direct supervisor has said that, regardless of the overall plans, he will encourage a more flexible schedule with some WFH days.

Given my role, I'm still going to have to spend time on campus, but it will be nice to not have to be there every single day in person.

Our fun continues on the homefront: Our other kid tested positive yesterday (after testing negative on Saturday). He's now isolated at his mom's house, while we have his brother isolated here. They both seem fine, fwiw. The older one, the second to be infected, did get his first dose of Pfizer, but literally just the day before his brother started showing symptoms, so obviously he hadn't had a lot of time to process the vaccine. My wife and I are still negative as of yesterday, we had our first doses about three weeks ago. But we were heavily exposed to our older son this week, because all three of us were clustered downstairs with his brother isolated upstairs. So we'll keep doing regular drive-thru tests — our one permissible outing from quarantine — and see what happens. Definitely taking the first dose for a serious test drive here.

I can't be the only one who feels that a shift that sudden is unnecessarily disruptive, if only on a psychological level. Like working from home was a big adjustment, but...we got to do the adjusting in the privacy of our own home. I haven't really been around very many people for a year, and now one day soon I'm going to very suddenly surrounded by ALL OF THE PEOPLE ALL OF THE TIME. That thought is making me clench up harder than I thought I could clench.

xposts

Sending good thoughts to you and your family tipsy.

I agree, it is unnecessarily disruptive and will probably do more harm than good.

They opened the office back up* on monday (this is London) when the non-essential shops reopened. and then closed them again yesterday because of the surge testing in south london so...

*optional, distanced, limited places

I might be teaching a course in the fall, which would be in-person, but would require the students to have been vaccinated. Otherwise, the line of work I picked up during the pandemic can be done from anywhere, really, so...

My university eliminates social distancing in classrooms but will keep masks starting in mid June for the second summer term, during which I'll be teaching. I'm slightly nervous but most students anecdotally have said they will or have gotten jabbed.

The university where I work will be doing the same (eliminating distancing, but keeping masks) but not until fall semester.

I am trying to change jobs over the next 3-6 months because I think once silicon valley offices have firm reopening dates (September? January?) the number of people willing to hire fully remotely is going to go waaaay down (maybe not quite pre-pandemic, but not far off), which is going to make getting hired remotely harder (and so average wages available to remote tech people will go down).

friend on Facebook just posted a video from the ICU...been in 6 days. he looked and sounded so bad, I hope he makes it. one of those super extrovert, energetic person normally....feel like I got the wind knocked out of me

oh jeez, ums, i'm so sorry. i'll add him to my healing vibes shrine/collage for what little it's worth.

re: all these employers dragging escaped souls back to hell bringing workers back to the office when they could be as or more productive from home, they are bad bastard people and it'd be cool if the workers could come together in an informal kind of way and discuss their shared goals and desires vis-a-vis employment and whether there might be some low-key perfectly reasonable way to approach management to, like, "bargain" in a sort of "collective" fashion aha ha just kidding... unless? 😳

the company i work for is selling their office space & we’re all remote for like, ever, now

The company I work for owns our building and so we're all gonna be chained to our desks for the rest of our working lives.

We are at our downstairs friends house right now (today we hit our two weeks after the second jab milestone; our friend just reached the same point) and I am feeling a strange euphoria... super emotional. My brain, my cognition, feels immediately nimbler just being here and sitting at her dining room table. My life experience prepared me unusually well for pandemic life but this has all, nonetheless, been absolutely fucking terrible for my mental health. Painfully obvious observations part 36.

The fire alarm just went off at my daughter's school, so she and her 13 classmates on Zoom have been stuck watching an empty room while the alarm rings, waiting for the 6 in-person kids to return.

My employer's contract with the FAA required us to work in an office within a mile or so of the FAA's DC offices. Before the pandemic working from home was available only under extraordinary circumstances. Our HR people had to negotiate for a couple of weeks, even as the Federal Government was starting to send its workers home, before we finally got clearance to WFH. I assume at some future date the FAA will insist that we return to the office part if not full time.

Oh fuck, I didn't think about that. My employer does a lot of work for the federal government as well. I could definitely see that presenting a problem, although in contrast we got our WFH orders before a lot of federal agencies did.

And another SF vaccination update. The city has now broken the 60% mark for people receiving at least one shot; for completed regimens it's almost at 40%. For 65-and-up, nearly 85% with one shot and 70% completed regimens. In terms of neighborhoods, Excelsior, Portola, Potrero Hill and Bayview-Hunter's Point still among the most vaccinated neighborhoods. All absolutely good signs: https://data.sfgov.org/stories/s/COVID-19-Vaccinations-Progress/7mye-zncy/

Meanwhile in Canada, Ontario specifically has increased police enforcement of people breaking the stay at home order while our hospitals collapse :/

wild how many places had distinctly, aggressively incompetent and corrupt leaders in place at this moment, who all quadrupled-down on their incompetence instead of going "I'll just focus on the corruption for a while and let someone else save a few lives" - Ford, Trump, Bolsonaro, Morrison, Johnson/Cummings/Hancock/Sunak

I just want to congratulate myself on having absorbed so many COVID takes that I now simultaneously feel like I am being shamefully overcautious and shamefully undercautious.

congratulations! you are now free to toss them all out and start afresh