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

oops! no covid content in that one. anyway, Oregon's case rate rose sharply in March, plateaued in April and fell slowly in May. It doesn't feel like the virus has stopped circulating here, but has only been impeded in its steady march. I've only dispensed with masking up when outdoors - or at home.

my LIBRARY is now OPEN, want to bring them cookie baskets or something, covid's a little bitch, what

JiC where'd you go? we were at Lake Tomahawk this weekend. definitely noticed a lot less Trump signs than last time.

Wow, that's exactly where we were! The family has roots there (the grandpa even built one of the camp cabin). It was chilly most of the time, but we had a blast.

I've only dispensed with masking up when outdoors - or at home.

― What's It All About, Althea? (Aimless)

aimless btw i thought i saw you walking on a path by kruse way like a week ago, but all i have to go on are ancient wdyll's that i barely remember! anyways, hi!

covid sucks! (just making this thread-appropriate)

(Semi-related, he said the labor shortage is real and significant, and that those he's hired as everything from cooks to bartenders have been immediately using the job to bargain for better paying jobs for other places similarly desperate for employees, even when he offers higher pay or cash bonuses, but that's another story as well).

Good that people are advocating for themselves, imho.

considering cheap business owners are lobbying for the end of the $300 federal unemployment and have succeeded in doing so in several states, they can go fuck themselves

sensible moderate real estate guy larry hogan is ending it in MD july 3

god bless america

there's no such thing as a "labor shortage" you're just not paying enough

anyways, hi!

hi, clay. it's possible, I sometimes walk over that way on Saturdays when the office bldgs are vacated.

and yes, covid sucks!

stats are jacked up due to the number of states that didn't report on Memorial Day, but COVID hospitalizations are below 20,000 now, and the 7-day average is below 3,000 now. it's hard to tell until this week ends what case numbers are at, but seems pretty clear that the 7-day average is either already below 20,000 or will be soon (officially it is, but I feel like it's artificial due to abnormally low case counts due to holiday).

Infection rate 2.6% as of last week, down from 2.9% the week previous. Deaths probably below 400 soon (if not already - again, jacked data). NYT reporting no evidence of spike from last month's new CDC guidance, yet (though honestly, such a spike would be much more gradual than immediate as it's not the same as a state that is completely closed opening back up, so obviously too early to declare victory).

Vaccination data is also jacked due to Memorial Day but it seems to be slowing yet again, but we're at about 51% of the entire US population with one shot, 41% fully vaccinated.

there's yr quick hit stats, also Bryce Harper struck out 5 times

Numbers look incredible, which is promising and much appreciated good news. My state announced that all students must be back in person in the fall, so our district had to backtrack and withdraw the option for any virtual learning next school year.

On one hand, I do get it, we have to plan for schools to be back in person at some point, especially given the mental health issues a lot of kids are suffering by not being able to be around other kids and socialize.

But, at the same time, I do have some hesitancy about being this gung-ho and insistent that all kids must be back in person, especially when virtually every elementary school student in the country is still ineligible for the vaccine. And based on the timing reported thus far, it seems nearly certain that school will be back in session before emergency use is authorized for the next age group. I know the data and science both show that young kids are far less likely to suffer severe consequences from COVID, but it's uh, not zero (and I think the data would be cold comfort for the parents of the roughly 300 kids in America who have died from it). Not to mention recent reporting about kids in Brazil getting hit really hard right now.

it's really a difficult situation. every teacher I know hates the hybrid virtual/in-person model simply because it's so difficult to do at the same time, and I'm sure parents don't like it any better, but at the same token, I'm not sure pulling the plug on it entirely is the right move, either. especially since a lot can change between now and then.

I definitely know of a non-zero number of local teachers who died from COVID too. I didn't know them personally but they were friends of friends, and none were elderly.

Yeah, I can't imagine the strain on teachers trying to teach to both an in-person audience and a remote audience. Our son's teacher has been amazing and seems to hold everything together expertly, but I'm sure it takes a Herculean effort behind the scenes.

Neanderthal otm, though, it seems like if we have learned anything from the last 15 months or so, it's that we should not be making definitive, final plans one way or the other just yet.

(btw Neanderthal - my ilxmail is connected to an old account I don't often check, I only just saw your message last night and thanks, no worries at all!)

I feel like a worse teacher every week; hybrid is really taking a toll on me and the students.

Realized the other day that I've gone from having to prep 2-3 things per class (lesson plan, materials and maybe homework), to having to prep four things (lesson plan, full slide show of everything you're going to do/say, online resources, homework for asynchronous time), to having to prep five things (all of the above plus activities for the in-person students to do during asynchronous time.) Turns out five is too many for my brain to handle; I can't have all that and interesting lessons that use all the available tech in the best way, so I always feel like I'm failing at something.

FWIW, during the 2019-2020 period there were if I saw correctly a record 188 pediatric deaths from the flu, but that is still pretty small, and pediatric covid deaths were even lower than that over the same period. There have been between 250-300 pediatric deaths from covid to date, on the high end, but of course, all those numbers take into account all kids 0-17, half of whom can now be vaccinated, which lowers the risk even further. You're all right that things can change, but that will always be true.

Total national covid numbers look good, but I also heard something on the radio about covid testing being down. So it's possible the numbers are higher than they appear, though if serious (reported) illnesses are down it may not matter much.

There have been between 250-300 pediatric deaths from covid to date, on the high end, but of course, all those numbers take into account all kids 0-17, half of whom can now be vaccinated, which lowers the risk even further. You're all right that things can change, but that will always be true.

That's a little generous with "half", since it's only 12+. And again, I get it, numbers are trending in the right direction and hopefully we will be in a much better position by the end of the summer. And while it's certainly an unintentional side effect of how things are progressing, it's starting to feel a lot like, "welp, sorry kids under 12, the world is moving on whether you are at risk or not, deal with it".

Also, admittedly, I'm a little touchy about it because I'm sick of seeing shit on Twitter and (mostly) Reddit along the lines of, "if they aren't vaccinated yet, it's a personal choice and fuck 'em, let 'em die"

Testing looks quaint to many people, redolent of another time. A good friend genuinely asked, "why?" when I said last week I was getting tested despite my two jabs. I said, "It's one building away on campus and I want my evidence that my behavior isn't dangerous to me or others."

Our campus just announced that, starting in the fall, unvaccinated folks will have to test daily instead of twice a week, as they've been doing up to now. I assume this is the carrot to encourage some of the hesitant.

We can't do it. Thanks, DeSantis!

In exactly three weeks, I will teach my first fully face-to-face course since spring 2020. Masks recommended, not required.

Numbers look incredible

national covid numbers look good

Melbourne has just extended their lockdown to two weeks after the state's infection numbers rose by six to 60 total.

the entire country is only about 9% vaccinated, so that seems like a wise measure in that case.

what about the mice menace?

It’s closer to 2% fully vaccinated, but more importantly the feds have completely bungled vaccinating the aged care sector, where most of the deaths were last year. Coverage was promised by Easter but there are care homes that haven’t been visited by vaccination teams yet and staff have been left to twist in the wind. Disability care is in an even worse state.

A hearty fuck you to Scott Morrison and a bigger one to Josh Frydenberg for all the people struggling through lockdown with no wage support.

Well just after that I heard the message from the feds ‘we don’t want to provide financial support, because we don’t want to incentivise states to go into lock down’.

FUUUUUUCK YOOOOOUUU

the entire country is only about 9% vaccinated, so that seems like a wise measure in that case.

remember how the US took measures to stop new variants entering and spreading when the population was 2% vaccinated? good times

No, and we didn't lockdown properly in 2020 either. Nor did we take appropriate measures in any of the other phases.

But cases are almost to the point of exponential decay here now

It's still horrific! Just saying.

Why has Victoria/Melbourne been having all the covid problems?

was a thing on the uk news this morning about people flying in from 'red' countries who will now be disembarked at a different terminal and led straight to quarantine hotel afterwards. like only 15 months late.

was also a massive documentary on anti-vaxxers yesterday which i caught about 5 minutes of and it was painful to watch.

Why has Victoria/Melbourne been having all the covid problems?

80% of Australia's 910 covid deaths have been in aged care homes in Melbourne. 40% of Melbourne's aged-care deaths last year were in just 10 homes. There have been 174 separate outbreaks in aged care homes in the state of Victoria; in 146 of those, a staff member was the index case.

The government set a target of vaccinating aged care residents and workers ahead of any other class, and promised to have them fully vaccinated before April.

The federal Aged Care Minister has repeatedly insisted this week that he is "comfortable" with the amount of vaccinations achieved against this target, while also stating that he literally has no idea how many of them have been dispensed. The Health Department followed up yesterday, when people kept asking the minister and he declined to bother to find out, with an announcement that they estimated (via phoning some facilities that morning) 8.7% of staff have been vaccinated.

A Victorian aged care provider has revealed it offered to vaccinate all of its staff and residents across 24 nursing homes earlier this year but was turned down by the federal government.

A Mercy Health spokesperson said the provider approached the Commonwealth in February, saying it could inoculate its nursing home staff and residents in a six-week window if the federal government provided the vaccines.

The proposal included using clinical workers from Mercy Health's two hospitals to provide the COVID-19 vaccinations.

A Mercy Health spokesperson said the federal government rejected the offer

Florida's latest numbers show that for the second straight day after a holiday cases hover just below 2000 a day with positivity percentages continuing a downward trend. Today marks three weeks since the CDC recommended lifting indoor and outdoor restrictions for fully vaccinated people. Cautiously optimistic, but it looks like the surge even I feared after this decision hasn't happened.

boom, vaccines required for employees, wonder if any of the unions will grieve this.

Starting to see clerks in stores unmasked. Because I live in the liberal bubble this doesn't trouble me at all because I read it as "oh that's good they're vaccinated" not "who knows how much COVID is being spread here."

So am I. The majority of employees and customers still masked; it's still, like, 1 in 20 unmasked.

Haven't seen any unmasked employees yet, but starting to see a few more unmasked people in bigger stores. The smaller stores I frequent are still requiring masks, which is fine by me while we are still in this somewhat nebulous zone.

they announced our offices are going to reopen but will be optional and will require vaccination.

ours has been open but I feel like honestly the scarcity of seats in the building has our leaders not exactly WANTING everybody to come back. we have 6 floors, which used to all belong to our company, and they've sold the 4th, 6th, and part of the 2nd.

My wife goes back to the office for the first time next week, though just for three days, to meet a new team she's been working with for months but has never seen in person.

Heard a report on the local radio about the purported labor shortage in restaurants, and afaict (by way of the report) it *is* real. From the top down, executive chefs to dishwashers, many restaurants are down as much as 25% employees. Sure, those that are being hired can then leverage the demand for better pay and benefits, but it's not just a matter of money, and better pay etc. doesn't solve the underlying issue of folks not coming back to work, at least not yet, for a myriad of reasons. I think it's just a tough industry in general, and the pandemic gave folks a lot of time (and reasons) to consider other options.

and better pay etc. doesn't solve the underlying issue of folks not coming back to work,

I don't know, from people I know who left the industry since the pandemic, the shitty pay is usually cited as a very significant factor in that decision.

Employment in leisure and hospitality (l&h) grew by 292,000. Over the last two months, l&h has added 620,000 jobs, roughly three-quarters of the economy-wide jobs added over that period. Folks this is just not signaling a massive labor supply shortage. 5/

— Heidi Shierholz (@hshierholz) June 4, 2021

I'm just going by what my friend in the industry told me, and the piece on local NPR I just heard. All these places are hiring tons, because they've been dormant, they just aren't filing all their spots.

also no healthcare
unpredictable schedule
no vacation time
grueling work conditions
lots of harassment from colleagues and customers
i could go on but those were some other reasons people left the industry in addition to the dismal pay

horrible owners/bosses, who are now being interviewed for local news stories and blaming anything but themselves or the things on LL's list

NPR has been vaping for the Chamber of Commerce ghouls who got states to end enhanced UI, ignore anything they have to say on the issue.