outbreak! (ebola, sars, coronavirus, etc)

*grits teeth* texas

Wow.

Read this obituary for David Nagy. They (rightfully) went there. pic.twitter.com/WU2x9qL3oc

— 💙 Koko 🥁 💙 (@Kokomothegreat) August 3, 2020

I wish there were more of these.

uk has had below the average number of deaths for this time of year for a while now, they were saying on the news. i'm guessing this is because a lot of the people that would be dying around now are already dead.

BREAKING: NYC’s health commissioner resigned after clashing with Mayor de Blasio over his handling of the coronavirus outbreak.https://t.co/nHuxFzJfoX

— Cliff Levy (@cliffordlevy) August 4, 2020

Finally got a big study on nicotine replacement therapy/past smoking and Covid19.

smoking’s bad for you

Huge if true

I'm used to bristling at "They hate America!" but honestly I'm gettin there

This is the first day of school in Paulding County, Georgia. pic.twitter.com/fzdidaAABM

— 🇯🇲Black🇭🇹Aziz🇳🇬aNANsi🇹🇹 (@Freeyourmindkid) August 4, 2020

beside the point, but why are kids starting school on august 4?

In the American calendar it's April

i think some school districts wanted to move their calendars up to buy them time in the case of shutdowns, its dumb bc they should be shut down rn

I feel like my son's school will handle this better, but seeing stuff like this is pretty stressful.

one of my friends has heart issues and other regular health issues and has to go back to school. very worried for her.

a few of them had the VID already, guess we're about to find out how long-term antibodies work.

today was a really gloomy day for news and wondering what's going to be left after this is 'over'. if it's ever 'over'.

yeah, if

that thought process is such a dank rabbit hole but.....

I mean obv at some point we will be through this but this whole thing has impaired my ability to imagine life eveb a year or two from now

even

me too. i have to frequently stop myself from pondering it too much.

Economic collapse, serfdom, food riots

http://thumbnails.cbsig.net/CBS_Production_Entertainment_VMS/2013/04/06/24962627854/CBS_STAR_TREK_DS9_457_IMAGE_1368459_640x360.jpg

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/coronavirus-georgia-second-grader-covid-19-positive-test/

obviously the students got it before school started, but who knows how many people they spread it to.

so one day into class, you're now into a 2 week quarantine. how did that help your in person learning at all?

MARCH COMMERCIAL: during these uncertain times, we’re thinking of you and your family

AUGUST COMMERCIAL: look you might as well catch it at burger king

— Ben Rosen (@ben_rosen) August 5, 2020

refusing to require a mask (like in Georgia) is a particularly bad idea with high schoolers. it's a bad idea in general, to rely on every individual to make the obvious and correct choice to wear a mark. but it's really bad with students because they're even more susceptible to peer pressure and the perception of being cool than anyone else. if it's cool to not wear a mask, no one's going to wear a mask

I'm not sure I agree with that. If you make it a rule, and specify harsh enough consequences, students will do it. There are already dress codes - which of course are sometimes broken, but the consequences are usually mild, and the transgressions can be subjective. But nobody comes into school wearing a motorcycle helmet in class. If they do, they get told off and sent to the principal's office if they won't take it off.

Oh duh - that's what you're saying :)

The problem is that some non-trivial percentage of the kids' parents are probably mask truthers and telling their kids that they shouldn't wear them.

Well they can get with the fucking program.

these parents should be used as windshield wipers on sport utility vehicles

the old problem with democracy: relying on people to come to the obvious conclusion doesn't work

Public castration is a good idea

-Propagandhi

Lmao

Can anyone explain to me why (1) at this late date, it can STILL take 7-10 days for a covid result (2) what the fuck is even the point of a COVID test that takes 7-10 days to come back and (3) why is there no consistency from place to place in terms of how long the test takes?

I wish I could explain that, I think the only explanation I can give is... because, America. But I don't mean that to be flip and dismissive of your concerns.

"the free market" seems like another plausible explanation

But I think that while everyone saw the cracks in their particular area, few people saw all the pieces--or weighted them correctly. Which is why we had pre-pandemic indices that assessed the US as the most prepared of all nations. 3/

(From March: https://t.co/woc4dxfi9r) pic.twitter.com/rMUFLhD9hp

— Ed Yong (@edyong209) August 6, 2020

Could the various testing sites just be overwhelmed? It's a different test, but when my wife got her antibody test a month or so ago it took only a couple of days max to get the result. That same test from the same clinic apparently now takes a couple of weeks. Then again, my daughter got an antibody test a couple of weeks ago during her annual checkup, and she got her result back in just a couple of days as well, so I don't know.

I mean, it seems that way, but it also seems like there is this ever-shifting of who is and isn't overwhelmed, like I'll follow message board or facebook discussions about testing locally and one person will say "I got the test at [urgent care center] three weeks ago and results came in a day" and then someone else will say "I was there two days ago and they told me two weeks." It just becomes impossible to even know where to get quick results. It's almost as though we could benefit from some kind of, like, coordination or something.

https://media.vanityfair.com/photos/5f2300a9ad09aa418d20422d/master/w_2560%2Cc_limit/jared-kushner-covid-testing-problems.png

iirc There are two types of tests, the brain swab and a faster one. The brain swab they have to send to a lab, right? Maybe that accounts for the discrepancy, it depends which test you are given and where?

I've taken tests at different facilities.

the local convention center, the first time it took them 4 days to get me a result, the second time, it took two. and it was the nasal swab!

the other locations......good god. First time took 5 days, ok fine. last time, almost two weeks went by, and I couldn't find any record of my test online, and I kept forgetting to call, so I forgot about it.

I get a call last week telling me they have my results, which...at the time, I was confused, as the only test I'd taken recently was two days earlier, far too soon (I thought) to have them. so she asks me for my DOB, and then asks me the date of the test, saying that i have to get it right per their security.

I was like "I've taken multiple tests in the last month, and none in the last few weeks, and many of the different locations use the same people to make the outbound calls, so I am REALLY not sure.". But I wound up guessing it....it was a test from two weeks prior!

and....I went online, and found the test, and apparently they had been sitting on the result for the last week, and just hadn't updated the site or called me.

an hour later, someone called me from the same place to give me the results. the next Monday, they called twice to give me the same results. same on Tuesday. Same on Wednesday. same on today. . I haven't been able to answer as I've been leading class from like 8:30 - 6:00 ET, meaning htey're closed when I finish, but tomorrow, since I don't have one, I'm going to tell them "you've called to tell me this ten times already!"

also amused that the website where we can look up our COVID results asks for the date of the test, but the "year" field lets you choose years prior to 2019 going all the way back to 1900.

"yeah, the good ole COVID test of 1977"

I got the brain tickle at a cvs and it’s two weeks now. My girlfriend got her results in three days (not from a CVS but from a County Government health clinic).

from now on I'm only doing the gov't, state-run one at the convention center. it's mega fast and convenient.

also who do I see about relearning geometry after the last test

hmmm, how can we take a take a state where no one lives, and the ones that do live far apart from each other, and create a self-inflicted covid19 crisis?

i know!

The federal government criticized Maryland for what it called a “failure” to implement mandatory inspections related to the pandemic at its 227 nursing homes, where nearly 5,000 residents have tested positive for the virus and 1,133 have died.

In a letter to Gov. Larry Hogan (R), the Trump administration said all but three states in the country had met the federal deadline of sending inspectors to check for infection-control violations at all licensed skilled nursing facilities by July 1.

Not only did Maryland miss the deadline, the letter said, it “ranks last and far behind the other States” having inspected only 55 percent of its nursing homes by the end of July.

Read more here.

By Rebecca Tan
5:29 p.m.
‘We cannot stop people’: 250,000 are expected at a South Dakota motorcycle rally
Heavy traffic on legendary Main Street in Sturgis, S.D., on Aug. 2, 2019. The area, which has seen an uptick in coronavirus infections in recent weeks, is bracing to host hundreds of thousands of bikers for the 80th edition of the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. More than 250,000 people are expected to attend the Aug. 7-16 event. (Jim Holland/Rapid City Journal via AP)
Heavy traffic on legendary Main Street in Sturgis, S.D., on Aug. 2, 2019. The area, which has seen an uptick in coronavirus infections in recent weeks, is bracing to host hundreds of thousands of bikers for the 80th edition of the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. More than 250,000 people are expected to attend the Aug. 7-16 event. (Jim Holland/Rapid City Journal via AP)
Coronavirus deaths have risen. Health officials are still warning against even small gatherings. States with relatively low spread are ordering visitors from hotspots to self-quarantine.

But come Friday, about 250,000 people from around the country are still expected to start descending on a roughly 7,000-person community in South Dakota for one of the biggest motorcycle rallies in the world, a tradition so deeply rooted that Sturgis calls itself “the City of Riders.”

The mayor of Sturgis says there’s not much to do but encourage “personal responsibility,” set up sanitation stations and give out masks — though face coverings won’t be required.

“We cannot stop people from coming,” Mayor Mark Carstensen said Thursday on CNN.

Worried residents, however, say officials should have canceled the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in a state where Republican Gov. Kristi L. Noem resisted stay-at-home orders and mask rules. A city survey found that more than 60 percent of Sturgis residents wanted the event postponed, the Associated Press reported.

“This is a huge, foolish mistake,” Sturgis resident Linda Chaplin chastised city counselors last month, according to the AP. “The government of Sturgis needs to care most for its citizens.”

“My grandma is absolutely terrified because she has diabetes and is in her 80s and has lupus,” another resident told CNN. “If she gets it, it’s a death sentence.”

But the 10-day event in South Dakota’s Black Hills is hugely important to the local economy, bringing in $1.3 million in city and state tax revenue alone last year, according to the Argus Leader. Officials decided that the event would go on.

copy and paste grade: D-

sorry. this is the part i meant to highlight:

Coronavirus deaths have risen. Health officials are still warning against even small gatherings. States with relatively low spread are ordering visitors from hotspots to self-quarantine.

But come Friday, about 250,000 people from around the country are still expected to start descending on a roughly 7,000-person community in South Dakota for one of the biggest motorcycle rallies in the world, a tradition so deeply rooted that Sturgis calls itself “the City of Riders.”

The mayor of Sturgis says there’s not much to do but encourage “personal responsibility,” set up sanitation stations and give out masks — though face coverings won’t be required.

“We cannot stop people from coming,” Mayor Mark Carstensen said Thursday on CNN.

Worried residents, however, say officials should have canceled the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in a state where Republican Gov. Kristi L. Noem resisted stay-at-home orders and mask rules. A city survey found that more than 60 percent of Sturgis residents wanted the event postponed, the Associated Press reported.

“This is a huge, foolish mistake,” Sturgis resident Linda Chaplin chastised city counselors last month, according to the AP. “The government of Sturgis needs to care most for its citizens.”

“My grandma is absolutely terrified because she has diabetes and is in her 80s and has lupus,” another resident told CNN. “If she gets it, it’s a death sentence.”

But the 10-day event in South Dakota’s Black Hills is hugely important to the local economy, bringing in $1.3 million in city and state tax revenue alone last year, according to the Argus Leader. Officials decided that the event would go on.

baal must be appeased