COVID-19/corona virus mega thread/prepping thread

[Ben]

Oregon is supposed to be doing mandatory masks, but Eastern Oregon looks to be ignoring it. I was at the Tractor Supply there today and employees were wearing masks, probably not to get in trouble with corporate, but nobody else was. Last time they had a "masks required" sign at the front door that they didn't enforce. This time they didn't even have that.

[Bogie]

But nothing less than PERFECT safety is expected...
 

[TommyGunn]

Most of the past year the country has been fully open and also had no community transmission of covid. Lockdown measures (which are not what you’re describing) have been temporary to address short term outbreaks and bring cases back down to , and have done so successfully.

   Sure.  If you say so.   Covid is still there,  as is evidenced by ..... .... "short term outbreaks."

I'd speculate if America was as sparsely populated as NZ and Oz then it would be as easy to do successful lockdowns as those two countries.

America locked down for months in 2020 and it cost trillions of dollars. 
The only thing Australia has trillions of is kangaroos.

[De Selby]

Comparing NZ to the USA, particularly with the open borders invasion of Covid positive illegals seems sort of silly.

Australia has been open? No proof of vaccination or any other proof of health?

Folks could just walk in?

Open as in businesses running, people having beers and travelling wherever. Quarantine at international borders is an important part of that. Lock downs to respond to outbreaks are also why life has been that way.

[Jim147]

Open as in businesses running, people having beers and travelling wherever. Quarantine at international borders is an important part of that. Lock downs to respond to outbreaks are also why life has been that way.

My part of Misery is supposed to be like the seventh hottest spot in Misery. We have not worn masks since the two weeks last year. Unless in a corporate mandated store. Our hospitals said today that the average of cases was two. WTF? We are a super speader hotspot?

We never closed down. The sheriff said they didn't have time to deal with mask mandates. We have only had thirty some deaths in the county from covid, since the start, and I don't know of any of them that were under 80.

Do you know what average lifespan is here?

[Bogie]

St. Louis City has had over 1,100 people hospitalized in the past two weeks. The average number in hospitals is a bit over 500.
 
I figure that a lot of folks are hearing "We're gonna keep you overnight, maybe a day or so, for observation."
 
And I figure that there's money in that.
 
I also figure that the nurses have been told to NOT make dance videos, or show pictures of empty wings...
 
Overall, in the City, we're looking at 0.173% mortality attributed to the 'Rona, with many of them well over age 70.
 
In contrast, we see 0.119% mortality during approximately the same time from murders - and while they are largely in one socioeconomic group, they can arbitrarily jump into "good" neighborhoods. Last year the closest body to my house was about 75 yards from my front door. I'm MUCH more worried about someone coming into my store with a mask on than without a mask...

https://www.stlouis-mo.gov/covid-19/data/index.cfm

https://www.slmpd.org/images/Homicide_Stats_for_Website.pdf

https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/two-people-shot-one-fatally-in-auto-parts-store-in-south-st-louis/article_a9c36230-2c9e-5901-b063-32176881da14.html

https://fox2now.com/news/missouri/man-charged-in-jennings-armed-robbery-police-chase/ (about 20 or so minutes away - over near Ferguson)

[dogmush]

St. Louis City has had over 1,100 people hospitalized in the past two weeks. The average number in hospitals is a bit over 500.
 
I figure that a lot of folks are hearing "We're gonna keep you overnight, maybe a day or so, for observation."
 
And I figure that there's money in that.

You sure seem to like posting a bunch of speculation with no data, evidence, or even rumor to back it up.

I can't speak to St. Louis hospitals, but here in Tampa none of that is true.  They only have enough rooms in COVID wards to admit patients that need acute care.  If you can, they are slapping remote blood O2 monitors on you and sending you home.  Tampa's largest hospital is now at 25% of it's total capacity on inpatient, acute COVID care.  It is a 1000 bed hospital, and there are 250 COVID patients stuffed into it's various converted infectious disease wards.  The hospital is hemorrhaging money because it has had to cancel all of the lucrative day surgeries and care due to lack of staffing.  It's also hemorrhaging cash into overtime and travel nurse/doctor pay.   The Emergency and Trauma departments are continuing on because people still get in car accidents.  But if you get badly hurt and need an ICU, you might be in trouble.  Transplant's in central FL have been slowed to only the absolutely needed ones getting done do to lack of staffing. Try and nurse your failing liver or heart along till Christmas or so.  They've also started pulling admin staff back to the bedside, again, because of staffing shortages.

So no, the hospitals aren't making it seem worse to try and scam money.  They are losing a ton of money because of what they have to do to keep the (predominantly unvaccinated) critical COVID patients alive.

I also texted Mrs. Mush just now to check, but her hospital has put out no new guidance on staff tic toks.  Also the COVID census is back under 250, because 8 people died overnight.

[Bogie]

Well, the first link was the City's covid brief of the day... 
 
I have to work this weekend. Like every weekend. I'm more worried about someone coming in the door shooting than I am about someone coming in sneezing.
 
This age distribution pic is about two weeks old. Hasn't changed a great deal.
 

[dogmush]

I was referring specifically to your repeated speculation about hospital administration practices. That's why I only quoted that section.

[Ben]

Regarding my earlier post about shortages at Costco and another "OMG supply run!" debacle, I saw none of that at the local Costco today. Plenty of everything, including TP, paper towels, water, and dog food. Tons of it.

If that article was accurate, it would be interesting to see a map of where it is going on. Other than Boise, Idaho is not in hysterics about covid or the delta variant right now, so I wouldn't expect a run on stuff. I was speaking to a former coworker yesterday, and CA, at least the Santa Barbara area, is still pretty hysterical, so maybe place like that are seeing runs on stuff.

[MillCreek]

We went to the Marysville Costco last night for my wife to pick up a new pair of glasses.  We also cruised the aisles, and there were no shortages apparent of anything.

[Bogie]

Well, the Harbor Freight, a dozen or so blocks from me, is almost out of the $0.99 10-packs of blue masks... I picked up three of them for my customers who insist that I give them a free mask as soon as they walk through the door. There aren't that many of them, and about 50% seem felonious... My favorite is the guy who asked for a free mask, and then promptly chinned it...
 
I'm wondering when we're going to have roaming ambulance teams, like in Wuhan, peeling bodies of the streets, and welding apartment buildings, and Walmart, closed...

[Ben]

This is a side effect of a covid outbreak that I never would have thought of:

Officials in Orlando are pushing residents to limit water use because of a rise in hospitalizations with COVID-19.

The issue stems from liquid oxygen, which is used to treat many of the critically ill COVID-19 patients.

The same type of oxygen is used by the Orlando Utilities Commission (OUC) to sanitize water so residents can drink it.

The commission is now urging residents to limit watering their lawns, washing their cars, and time in the shower.

The goal is to cut water usage in the city, Florida’s fourth-largest, by between 25 and 50 percent of what is normally used on a daily basis.

OUC typically pumps about 90 million gallons per day. The goal is not to exceed 50 million gallons per day, as long as liquid oxygen remains in short supply.

More at:

https://www.theepochtimes.com/orlando-officials-urge-residents-to-conserve-water-as-covid-19-hospitalizations-surge_3958941.html

[MechAg94]

I wonder if the water treatment has to use FDA certified liquid oxygen.  I am also curious how it is used for water treatment.

[Bogie]

We did a BBQ grill at work on a "science day" once. LOX rocks...

[Ben]

Seems like things in Australia aren't quite as peachy as portrayed.

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=australia+protests&atb=v252-1&ia=web

[gunsmith]

Seems like things in Australia aren't quite as peachy as portrayed.

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=australia+protests&atb=v252-1&ia=web

I just talked to a friend in Sydney, curfews and lockdowns - despite near universal vaxx and mask compliance. she's very angry

[De Selby]

Seems like things in Australia aren't quite as peachy as portrayed.

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=australia+protests&atb=v252-1&ia=web

Because some people are protesting lock downs? The current outbreak got to where it is because where it started, the authorities chose not to have a lockdown. Now a longer one is looming to get back to zero and some people are unhappy about that.

[De Selby]

I just talked to a friend in Sydney, curfews and lockdowns - despite near universal vaxx and mask compliance. she's very angry

No part of Australia is anywhere near universal vaccination, and Sydney’s failure to lock down early is why they have the all time high for daily cases in the pandemic.

[Ben]

Because some people are protesting lock downs? The current outbreak got to where it is because where it started, the authorities chose not to have a lockdown. Now a longer one is looming to get back to zero and some people are unhappy about that.

You will never have zero, just like we don't see zero cases of the flu or common cold.

From the CNBC article:

Only about a third of Australians aged 16 and above have been fully vaccinated, according to federal health ministry data released on Saturday.

In the US, where we are "handling it badly", 48% are fully vaccinated.

[De Selby]

You will never have zero, just like we don't see zero cases of the flu or common cold.

From the CNBC article:

In the US, where we are "handling it badly", 48% are fully vaccinated.

Except, for almost a year we have had mostly zero. No community cases of COVID was the norm in Australia until the most recent outbreak - what changed is that from March 2020 the response was lockdown when a case got through. This time Sydney didn’t do that until several weeks in.

Zero Covid is not only achievable, that’s how this part of the world including NZ has been living for most of the pandemic.

That’s reflected in the infection and death rates per 100,000. The difference is absolutely staggering comparing US figures to Aussie and NZ ones.

[gunsmith]

No part of Australia is anywhere near universal vaccination, and Sydney’s failure to lock down early is why they have the all time high for daily cases in the pandemic.

 

 "some people protesting" deselby.
 "some people did some things" ilhan omar.

"failure to lock down early" hahahhahhahhah - you know, if they kill everyone the virus goes away too hahahahahah
its endemic bro, the rona is here to stay.     learn to be healthy.

[Ben]

Except, for almost a year we have had mostly zero.

That's not zero. Call me when no covid outbreaks occur for 100 years. AFAIK, there were no cases of the flu around here all last week. Hurray! We have the flu licked!

There's nothing wrong with not having zero cases of a virus.

[De Selby]

 "some people protesting" deselby.
 "some people did some things" ilhan omar.

"failure to lock down early" hahahhahhahhah - you know, if they kill everyone the virus goes away too hahahahahah
its endemic bro, the rona is here to stay.     learn to be healthy.

That might be true there, but it doesn’t have to be so. Zero Covid cases is the norm here, and lock downs are the method that achieved it.

[De Selby]

That's not zero. Call me when no covid outbreaks occur for 100 years. AFAIK, there were no cases of the flu around here all last week. Hurray! We have the flu licked!

There's nothing wrong with not having zero cases of a virus.

Okay so having zero Covid transmission domestically, and all cases arriving from overseas is not zero Covid. That’s a bit silly for a standard - it’s like saying the US hasn’t eradicated malaria because it still exists in tropical countries and it hasn’t been 100 years since no cases in the US.

Having only Covid coming from overseas is a success in Covid management. That’s what our current lock downs will return us to.

The comparison to the USA, with hundreds of thousands dead and millions with lifelong complications speaks for itself. There’s no need to have that level of misery and strain on the public health system.