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

different brands of shittiness not mixing

what happened to her friend?

did she really get kicked out for sitting on a couch?

this 'editor' seems to have omitted a few crucial details

lol for real - an obvious gap in that story big enough to tag your name in 6ft letters across

also, i always love hearing needy posers deploy this affection, have heard it so many times from ny wannabes: I was just chilling on a rooftop with friends near a gallery somewhere

Wow, really, were you? Were you near a gallery somewhere? One of those hip, funky, boho galleries I've heard so much about? And you were near it?

likely was "shitting on a couch" and the proofreader corrected

I'm certain that Cat Marnell is terrible but I'm not sure why everyone else described in that story isn't equally terrible or worse.

― DJP, Wednesday, November 25, 2020 10:19 AM (two hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

ha i thought the quidditization was directed at the people she was writing about, not at her.

there’s room in this shitass world for all of them apparently

I couldn’t just walk past this Tweet, so here is some fun #dataviz

Scented candles: An unexpected victim of the COVID-19 pandemic 1/n https://t.co/xEmCTQn9sA pic.twitter.com/tVecEiX5Jc

— Kate Petrova (@kate_ptrv) November 27, 2020

That's also a great illustration of how the existence of the internet provides oceans more data for research than anyone could dream of pre-internet.

2020: a natural experiment

Couple of things I noticed. Driving around yesterday I actually came across a real police wiping down a bike parking station, which was encouraging. The other thing I've noticed, which was similarly encouraging, is that the handful of people I've noticed wearing a mask incorrectly seemed to be doing so inadvertently. I don't need to wear a mask 12 hours a day, let alone one hour, but I do notice that when I wear it for a prolonged period of time, especially when I need to talk to people, my jaw naturally pulls it down and I constantly need to adjust it up again. I imagine for anyone wearing it all day that must happen a lot, maybe enough that they don't even notice it. Anyway, that's my observation. Few people flat out flouting recommendations, more people making honest mistakes.

Just came back from a 2.5 mile walk on the trail through the local park, where I saw about 20 people, jogging, walking their dog or just out walking like me. The trail averages about 6 feet wide, so maintaining the recommended distance as you pass is nearly impossible.

Of the 20 or so people, I think four or five of them either wore a mask full time or put on their mask a good distance away when they spotted me, another five or so made empty gestures like putting on a mask or pulling their coat over their mouth, but only when they were practically on top of me, like ten feet away but closing fast. The remaining half didn't bother to mask or even make an empty gesture at it.

I used to walk that trail almost every day, but because of this stuff I now walk it maybe twice a month and instead opt for streets or the parking lots of empty office buildings, where I can genuinely distance myself.

My dad, for very similar reasons to yours, I would think, has been taking his 1.75 legs for a daily stretch around the local office block car park since it all began

I imagine for anyone wearing it all day that must happen a lot, maybe enough that they don't even notice it. Anyway, that's my observation. Few people flat out flouting recommendations, more people making honest mistakes.

If the mask is so tight that it's cutting off enough circulation that they've lost all sensation in their face, and cannot feel whether the mask is still covering their breathing holes, that's a more serious mistake.

I personally wear a mask both inside and outside of my face

Because of the pain inside

The Breathing Hole is my favorite oxygen bar

Just coming to vent because my friend in the hospital is in bad shape after a day of seeming a bit better, per her husband — she's back up to needing full oxygen support. (No ventilator yet, thankfully, but this is like almost a week since she went into the ICU.) And in the meantime I've had two complaints from subscribers (to the local journalism website that I run) about "too much COVID news." One of the complainants called it "the wuflu." AND today we have a record 437 new cases in our county and a record 129 people hospitalized with COVID. It's all so dispiriting.

Vent away.

"wu flu", get the fuck outta here.

so sorry to hear about your friend, hoping for the best.

Of the 20 or so people, I think four or five of them either wore a mask full time or put on their mask a good distance away when they spotted me, another five or so made empty gestures like putting on a mask or pulling their coat over their mouth, but only when they were practically on top of me, like ten feet away but closing fast. The remaining half didn't bother to mask or even make an empty gesture at it.

Almost exactly our experience hitting a trail over the holiday weekend, except I would say it was closer to 65% of the people we saw that didn't wear a mask and didn't even attempt to pretend. Frustrating.

Over the summer we got a division-wide email at work, one of those where you can tell it was clearly reacting to a complaint, that was like "just a reminder, it is NOT APPROPRIATE to use the term chinese virus, wuhan flu, etc in the workplace". Very dispiriting.

Struggling today. I'm back in hospital for my ongoing health issues and within two hours was told I was a close contact of a possible covid positive patient in the next bed. My ward is now isolated awaiting that patient's test.

All my scans, which I'm here to expedite, are delayed as a result.

Meanwhile my daughter was sent home today to isolate for 14 days as a contact of a positive school friend while my wife is attempting to start a new job this week and look after me at the same time as I'm not allowed to drive.

Everything fucking sucks.

Sorry for all the shit onimo

I'm sorry onimo, sending you good vibes.

Bad news, onimo. And Neil Lennon's still in a job.

Fuckin hell Tom the knife right between the shoulders there :)

My best to you, onimo, and you and your friend, tipsy

(xp) Soz, onimo

onimo, that's awful. hope for good news on all fronts.

hoping for good things onimo!

sorry to hear of such hard times, onimo and tipsy.

Thanks everyone.

I am amusing myself, as you do while listening to someone throw up at 5 am, by giving ratings to each of my fellow guests here.

They're not scoring well, though the biggest asshole is also the funniest e.g.

"what height are you sir?"
"well I was six foot three but that was before you bastards cut my leg off"
"..."

"does that hurt?"
"like a motherfucker, shall I do it to you?"

covid negative!

minor victory in an otherwise horribe time but I'll take it!

yeah I just got a negative test result back today.
so this is just a heavy cold like I thought.
Slightly typical for this time of year I think

Congrats on the negative results onimo and Stevolende!

"does that hurt?"
"like a motherfucker, shall I do it to you?"

Yeah, I would have a hard time not laughing out loud at this.

my uncle in law (a thing?) in south texas was just discharged from a 10 day stay in hospital with covid. sounds like he's all clear, but it also sounds terrible down there. his wife was tested a week ago and is still waiting for the results. absolute failed state stuff.

I am surprised there isn't more of this going around: https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/church-of-400-rabbits/index.html

All best, onimo. Sorry for the struggle. Glad for the test!

I had to return something to Amazon, which usually means heading to a drop off spot at the local Kohl's. The Amazon drop-off counter has always been right in the front of the store, right past the anti-theft detection, but they recently decided to move the Amazon kiosk all the way to the back of the store, so that now you have to pass through the entire first floor to get there. On the way out I told the customer service person that it was better where it used to be, and they half-seriously said (from behind their mask), "we want you to spend more time in the store!" And I said, "yeah, I get that, but I *don't* want to spend more time in the store, because there's a PANDEMIC." Seriously, I get it, but of all the times to juke the layout to keep people in longer ...

In other news, we've been very fortunate that only a couple of our goods friends have caught covid over the past many months. One couple knows exactly where they got it from (from his right wing Texas mom, who got it from her friend in Tennessee en route to visit). But the friend I talked to last night has no idea where he got it from and, more curiously, he has tested positive but his wife has tested negative. She hasn't been feeling well herself, so he figures she has it, too, but the test missed it. Regardless, now they are socially isolating from each other in the same house. Neither has more than mild symptoms, thankfully.

Anti-vaxx Twitter seems to be up in arms that there's a disclaimer that the effect of the Pfizer vaccine on fertility is unknown. Isn't that just a pretty standard disclaimer for new vaccines as I imagine would take years of study to determine any effect?

Yes it's a nothing story aiui they excluded pregnant people from the trial which is fair enough and therefore the data is limited.
Also most people at baby making age will be at the back of the vaccine priority queue in terms of covid risk.

Mom has fever and chills and body aches. This month is going fucking great for me so far.

sorry, table. wishing the best for you and your mom.

shit table, sorry

After months of virtual-only, my kid's school is going hybrid starting on Monday--against all guidelines--almost solely due to pressure from asshole parents. The principal held a virtual meeting yesterday, during which the news broke that one of the teachers had just tested positive, and he tried to avoid all the questions about it.

Thanks all. Turns out it's not Covid but a UTI. Which still sucks, but you know.

anyone gone to the pub yet? feels a bit mad tbh

Glad it's not the 'vid, table.

No, but I plan to get food from Chang’s Noodle tomorrow.

Anti-vaxx Twitter seems to be up in arms that there's a disclaimer that the effect of the Pfizer vaccine on fertility is unknown. Isn't that just a pretty standard disclaimer for new vaccines as I imagine would take years of study to determine any effect?

― groovypanda, Friday, December 4, 2020 5:26 AM (eight hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

Correct. Drugs and vaccines without disclaimers about things we don't know pretty much don't exist. If "we don't know" is a problem, these people should stop taking all drugs.

The same is true for these vaccines and pregnancy btw, and as a result there's some actual good faith debate about whether pregnant doctors/nurses should get the vaccine this month. See https://emilyoster.substack.com/p/vaccines for more. It sounds like pregnant doctors/nurses will end up receiving it, but they may end up recommending the general population of pregnant women wait until after delivery.

There are pregnancy disclaimers on the vast, vast majority of drugs (including vaccines afaict) because it's unethical to test on pregnant women in particular, unless the drug treats a condition related to pregnancy.

See https://www.drugs.com/pregnancy-categories.html for the US situation. There are five groups.

Group A is "we've tested on pregnant women and it's safe". Almost nothing is in this group. I think the only vaccine they routinely give pregnant women is here though (Tdap).

Group B is "we've tested this on pregnant animals and eh, no sign of any problems, but who knows. We haven't tested it on pregnant women." Most stuff is in this group, including stuff we all take, incl. pregnant women, all the time. common antibiotics and painkillers, etc.

Group C is "there were problems when we tested this on pregnant animals, but we haven't tested on pregnant women. we think it sometimes make sense to give this to pregnant women."

Group D and X are the only ones where there's actual evidence from systematic trials or long term data that the drug is bad for pregnant women or their fetus.