OT: COVID-19 thread #2

[coldfish]

I wonder how much of that improvement would last though, if this went on and on. It's novel now, and people try especially hard at it, but over the course of a few years, I wonder if it would be as effective.

In general, I am not for online home learning. In my state, anyone can be homeschooled and get K-12 online classes for free. I know people who have done it and there are some positives but missing out on the social and personal interaction is a bigger detriment.

I'm just noting that several significant flaws in our educational system were exposed due to this. One specifically: The idea that telling kids or teenagers to shut up, sit still and pay attention for 40 minutes or so as the teacher lectures about a topic isn't a good way to teach people. I suspect that 100 years from now, that method of teaching will be looked at like the stone age.

[Dresden]

I wonder how much of that improvement would last though, if this went on and on. It's novel now, and people try especially hard at it, but over the course of a few years, I wonder if it would be as effective.

In general, I am not for online home learning. In my state, anyone can be homeschooled and get K-12 online classes for free. I know people who have done it and there are some positives but missing out on the social and personal interaction is a bigger detriment.

I'm just noting that several significant flaws in our educational system were exposed due to this. One specifically: The idea that telling kids or teenagers to shut up, sit still and pay attention for 40 minutes or so as the teacher lectures about a topic isn't a good way to teach people. I suspect that 100 years from now, that method of teaching will be looked at like the stone age.

I agree with the part about lecturing being not ideal, esp. for pre-college students. I'm less hopeful that anything will be different 100 years from now. We've been with this system for hundreds of years already.

[dice]

apparently COVID-19 mutates less often than most viruses, which should make a vaccine both less difficult to come up with and more effective. however, unlike previous SARS viruses this one settles in the upper respiratory system (thus the "superspreader" phenomenon when people speak in loud voices/sing), which makes vaccines LESS effective because the antibodies don't last long. so herd immunity might not ever be a thing

also, unsurprisingly, only 20% of COVID-19 cases account for 80% of transmissions, presumably due to those not social distancing

[dice]

state of n. carolina, along with a few other states, has seen steady, virtually uninterrupted rise in COVID-19 cases since the beginning, though their rate is low. they have refused to guarantee that the scheduled republican national convention in late august (capacity 50,000) will be held w/o COVID-19 restrictions such as reduced capacity or face masks, so trump has decided to hold the convention elsewhere

[detlef_schrempf]

One exciting thing is that the NBA playoffs will have no huge breaks in between games of series. The last couple rounds always drag on. So annoying. I doubt we will see 2 day breaks and a 3 week finals this year but I guess never put anything past the schedulers

[Dresden]

state of n. carolina, along with a few other states, has seen steady, virtually uninterrupted rise in COVID-19 cases since the beginning, though their rate is low. they have refused to guarantee that the scheduled republican national convention in late august (capacity 50,000) will be held w/o COVID-19 restrictions such as reduced capacity or face masks, so trump has decided to hold the convention elsewhere

That doesn't seem like a very astute move politically, given that NC is a swing state. Having that many people together in one arena is just begging for a huge rise in cases.

[dice]

state of n. carolina, along with a few other states, has seen steady, virtually uninterrupted rise in COVID-19 cases since the beginning, though their rate is low. they have refused to guarantee that the scheduled republican national convention in late august (capacity 50,000) will be held w/o COVID-19 restrictions such as reduced capacity or face masks, so trump has decided to hold the convention elsewhere

That doesn't seem like a very astute move politically, given that NC is a swing state. Having that many people together in one arena is just begging for a huge rise in cases.

especially when a lot of them are screaming. spacious venue would mitigate some of it, but yeah, that ain't a good scenario

as for the politics of it, trump won n carolina by nearly 4 points last time. if that state is in play he's screwed. he'd be better of moving the convention to florida to shore up that state if convention location has any impact

[Dresden]

state of n. carolina, along with a few other states, has seen steady, virtually uninterrupted rise in COVID-19 cases since the beginning, though their rate is low. they have refused to guarantee that the scheduled republican national convention in late august (capacity 50,000) will be held w/o COVID-19 restrictions such as reduced capacity or face masks, so trump has decided to hold the convention elsewhere

That doesn't seem like a very astute move politically, given that NC is a swing state. Having that many people together in one arena is just begging for a huge rise in cases.

especially when a lot of them are screaming. spacious venue would mitigate some of it, but yeah, that ain't a good scenario

as for the politics of it, trump won n carolina by nearly 4 points last time. if that state is in play he's screwed. he'd be better of moving the convention to florida to shore up that state if convention location has any impact

Not to get too far off topic, but RealClear Politics has NC listed as a battleground state, and while there's not much recent polling there, what was done a month ago showed Biden with a 1 point lead.

Holding a political convention is not much different than having an NBA game with full capacity seating, indoors. It would be a disaster, and while if you come from out of state to attend something like that, it's your own damn fault, but all the local people who would be working at the convention center would have no choice but to go to work.

[AKfanatic]

Yeah I’ve told my mom to keep an eye on him and if it gets worse, contact the hospital. It’s a tough situation because id prefer she wasn’t around it, but odds are if he is positive, then i am, and she already is too.

Update: just got a call from my parents. They’ve been told my fathers test came back positive. So, at this point it’s pretty obvious what I’ll be told on my call. My mom needs tested tomorrow, though that also seems more of doing tests just to verify the obvious.

Good times.

Hey man...are you OK? I haven't been on the boards much but I haven't seen you post in quite a while. I tried to call you to see if your son wanted some work. Your number is not working and I've tried to call and text and I'm just a little concerned.

I know that your father and you both tested positive for the virus so let us know what's happening if you read this, please.

Appreciate the concern man. My phone number had to be changed, I’ll get that new one to you soon. I was in the hospital for the past week and had terrible connection issues so couldn’t really get online for more that a few minutes at a time. Had some weird heart things going on. Anytime I did anything physically, I’d immediately lose my breath and my heart beat would become erratic. At first I thought it was just lacking endurance after being ill and needing to slowly get strength back, but it wasn’t the same feeling I’d get after running or exerting myself before. The doctors have said they’ve seen others recovering with the same issues and it’d likely last months, recommended to basically be a lazy fool.

My father got out of the hospital finally, thankfully. He’s on the mend and looks to have beaten this, though like me, he still struggles with massive fatigue and weakness.


I truly appreciate everyone’s concern and well wishes for myself and my father. It meant a ton. Thank you Bulls fam.

[Dresden]

Update: just got a call from my parents. They’ve been told my fathers test came back positive. So, at this point it’s pretty obvious what I’ll be told on my call. My mom needs tested tomorrow, though that also seems more of doing tests just to verify the obvious.

Good times.

Hey man...are you OK? I haven't been on the boards much but I haven't seen you post in quite a while. I tried to call you to see if your son wanted some work. Your number is not working and I've tried to call and text and I'm just a little concerned.

I know that your father and you both tested positive for the virus so let us know what's happening if you read this, please.

Appreciate the concern man. My phone number had to be changed, I’ll get that new one to you soon. I was in the hospital for the past week and had terrible connection issues so couldn’t really get online for more that a few minutes at a time. Had some weird heart things going on. Anytime I did anything physically, I’d immediately lose my breath and my heart beat would become erratic. At first I thought it was just lacking endurance after being ill and needing to slowly get strength back, but it wasn’t the same feeling I’d get after running or exerting myself before. The doctors have said they’ve seen others recovering with the same issues and it’d likely last months, recommended to basically be a lazy fool.

My father got out of the hospital finally, thankfully. He’s on the mend and looks to have beaten this, though like me, he still struggles with massive fatigue and weakness.


I truly appreciate everyone’s concern and well wishes for myself and my father. It meant a ton. Thank you Bulls fam.

Good to hear from you! I'm glad you're both recovering. It sounds like it's been an ordeal. They say that the covid 19 does cause a lot of vascular problems, which can include the heart. Sounds like it all should go away with rest though. Hang in there.

[dice]

That doesn't seem like a very astute move politically, given that NC is a swing state. Having that many people together in one arena is just begging for a huge rise in cases.

especially when a lot of them are screaming. spacious venue would mitigate some of it, but yeah, that ain't a good scenario

as for the politics of it, trump won n carolina by nearly 4 points last time. if that state is in play he's screwed. he'd be better of moving the convention to florida to shore up that state if convention location has any impact

Not to get too far off topic, but RealClear Politics has NC listed as a battleground state, and while there's not much recent polling there, what was done a month ago showed Biden with a 1 point lead.

true, but the only reason it would matter is if biden somehow wins NC and loses a couple of the extremely tight states from 2016. which would be a weird occurrence. in other words, if he wins NC he will also almost certainly win WI, FL, PA and MI, making NC the cherry on top

Holding a political convention is not much different than having an NBA game with full capacity seating, indoors. It would be a disaster, and while if you come from out of state to attend something like that, it's your own damn fault, but all the local people who would be working at the convention center would have no choice but to go to work.

true. vendors in the concourse areas probably wouldn't be taking on undue risk, though. and i would assume that people working the floor would be doing so of their own volition given that it's a one-off gig. security professionals would be the ones at risk. hopefully they would get extra pay and/or not be punished for declining the assignment

[dougthonus]

I agree with the part about lecturing being not ideal, esp. for pre-college students. I'm less hopeful that anything will be different 100 years from now. We've been with this system for hundreds of years already.

I'd be shocked if you are able to recognize almost anything in 100 years and compare it to today. If you look at how much change has accelerated over the past 30 years, it's effectively nuts. Basically, 30 year ago the following things were not commonly used inside houses: Computers, the Internet, cell phones (not smart phones, but even basic cell phones), GPS.

The interesting thing is the rate of change is increasing as well. Life probably has had bigger changes from 2000 to 2020 than it did from 1900 to 2000. Even if rate of change doesn't accelerate but just stays at the current fast pace, the difference between now and 100 years from now will be extreme. Beyond that though, AI threatens to exponentially accelerate the rate of change exponentially if we hit a certain quality threshold with it.

I would be surprised if capitalism is a useful form distribution of wealth in 100 years as an example, because human labor (physical or intellectual) will likely no longer be a significant value.

[TheSuzerain]

Life probably has had bigger changes from 2000 to 2020 than it did from 1900 to 2000.

This seems absurd on its face.

[dougthonus]

Life probably has had bigger changes from 2000 to 2020 than it did from 1900 to 2000.

This seems absurd on its face.

I'm 44 and growing up there was effectively no internet, no cell phones, no GPS, no computers. Maybe the date ranges I put in are not exactly correct, and it's 1900 to 1990 vs 1990-2020, but it's insane how much life has changed. Even the computer age has basically come and gone for the cell phone age which is just an incredible transition.

[Dresden]

Things that weren't around in 1900, or at least widely available: automobiles, airplanes, telephones, television, electricity, refrigeration, plastics. That's much bigger than internet and cell phones, IMO.

[Ccwatercraft]

Wife made a mistake and ordered in store pickup (instead of curbside) at Target for some groceries today so I went and picked them up. Pretty crazy experience. I hadn't been out for 2 weeks so walking into a store with a mask on and seeing so many others with masks and gloves on was just surreal. I felt awful for the workers too, they had no real protection on for the most part.

Crazy stuff. I'll certainly remember that moment for the rest of my life.

Florida here, do you live in the city? if yes, maybe lay low if you are nervous, If not then go out a few more times and you'll get over it. By my 3rd visit back to the store it was business as usual from a customer perspective, I don't even think about it now I just go.

My spouse was considered essential and works in a high traffic area, so I hunkered down only for a couple weeks in early April then did split shifts at work for a bit, but now life is and has been 100% normal for some time, i'm back to eating lunches at restaurants, going to the grocery 5-6x a week, I've only put a mask on three times (haircut and flights to and from Texas).

This probably freaks people out, oh well.

At this point based on traffic congestion and how busy the stores are that the number of people peeking through the curtains from home is dwindling quickly. We've had a total of 2600 deaths in FL, 1.24 per 100K, which doesn't freak me out, most of them were very old, more than half were in miami/dade, and the normal death rate in the state is 974 per google.(2016)

The massive drop in unemployment validates that things are picking up as well, we were just talking at work earlier this week and somebody mentioned that they were puzzled how UI numbers keep going up when everyone around us has been back since May or is heading back to work now, I knew at least 15 people that were laid off in some fashion and now only 1 is still on UI. One massage therapist I know starts work officially today and said that once the news came out her phone was blowing up, prebooked 100% through July in less than 24 hours.

Meat shortage? At least round me that was 100% blown out of proportion, zero issues finding whatever I needed, but the media sure pushed that angle hard but I never saw a change except moderate price increases.

Travel/tourism is an interesting one, my neighborhood has several vacation rentals which were closed all of April, I know the homewatch/property manager and she said that once the were allowed to resume they booked every unit to 100% capacity through August already, dozens of units.

[_txchilibowl_]

Wife made a mistake and ordered in store pickup (instead of curbside) at Target for some groceries today so I went and picked them up. Pretty crazy experience. I hadn't been out for 2 weeks so walking into a store with a mask on and seeing so many others with masks and gloves on was just surreal. I felt awful for the workers too, they had no real protection on for the most part.

Crazy stuff. I'll certainly remember that moment for the rest of my life.

Florida here, do you live in the city? if yes, maybe lay low if you are nervous, If not then go out a few more times and you'll get over it. By my 3rd visit back to the store it was business as usual from a customer perspective, I don't even think about it now I just go.

My spouse was considered essential and works in a high traffic area, so I hunkered down only for a couple weeks in early April then did split shifts at work for a bit, but now life is and has been 100% normal for some time, i'm back to eating lunches at restaurants, going to the grocery 5-6x a week, I've only put a mask on three times (haircut and flights to and from Texas).

This probably freaks people out, oh well.

At this point based on traffic congestion and how busy the stores are that the number of people peeking through the curtains from home is dwindling quickly. We've had a total of 2600 deaths in FL, 1.24 per 100K, which doesn't freak me out, most of them were very old, more than half were in miami/dade, and the normal death rate in the state is 974 per google.(2016)

The massive drop in unemployment validates that things are picking up as well, we were just talking at work earlier this week and somebody mentioned that they were puzzled how UI numbers keep going up when everyone around us has been back since May or is heading back to work now, I knew at least 15 people that were laid off in some fashion and now only 1 is still on UI. One massage therapist I know starts work officially today and said that once the news came out her phone was blowing up, prebooked 100% through July in less than 24 hours.

Meat shortage? At least round me that was 100% blown out of proportion, zero issues finding whatever I needed, but the media sure pushed that angle hard but I never saw a change except moderate price increases.

Travel/tourism is an interesting one, my neighborhood has several vacation rentals which were closed all of April, I know the homewatch/property manager and she said that once the were allowed to resume they booked every unit to 100% capacity through August already, dozens of units.

Everything you just said, every number you cited, was done with pretty strict regulations and shut downs.

But I'm sure that now that you're back to going to the grocery store 5-6x a week (who does that under any circumstance?) and going wherever you please without a mask on that things will obviously stay the same. Except for you Grandma and Grandpa....you're just S.O.L.

I'm sorry but this kind of brazen attitude suggests that you've either never wanted to take this seriously (which I suspect) or you're just incredibly selfish and can't be bothered by having your life inconvenienced by a mask and 6ft barrier.

[dougthonus]

Things that weren't around in 1900, or at least widely available: automobiles, airplanes, telephones, television, electricity, refrigeration, plastics. That's much bigger than internet and cell phones, IMO.

Gets into an interesting debate for sure. Obviously electricity is the basis for which things are built, but it was commonly available in 1900. You're right that a lot of key inventions were put out in that area though, where automobiles became common and same with airplanes.

I think the software/internet revolution is bigger those things in terms of improving the capabilities of our world, but it's an interesting argument. It's kind of like comparing basketball players of different eras.

[coldfish]

Things that weren't around in 1900, or at least widely available: automobiles, airplanes, telephones, television, electricity, refrigeration, plastics. That's much bigger than internet and cell phones, IMO.

Gets into an interesting debate for sure. Obviously electricity is the basis for which things are built, but it was commonly available in 1900. You're right that a lot of key inventions were put out in that area though, where automobiles became common and same with airplanes.

I think the software/internet revolution is bigger those things in terms of improving the capabilities of our world, but it's an interesting argument. It's kind of like comparing basketball players of different eras.

IMO, 1900 is an arbitrary cut off line that doesn't really encapsulate the changes well.

From about 1860 to 1930 we went from a agricultural society with most things complete manual labor to a largely mechanical world. We spent the next 60 or so years just improving those machines. Around 1990 electronics started coming to the masses and we went from a mechanical world with a human controller to an electronic world.

I would say that the period from 1860 to 1930 was a bigger change than 1990 to now but we are still in the middle of the revolution. In about 30 years, human control of machines will be unnecessary.

[Ccwatercraft]

Wife made a mistake and ordered in store pickup (instead of curbside) at Target for some groceries today so I went and picked them up. Pretty crazy experience. I hadn't been out for 2 weeks so walking into a store with a mask on and seeing so many others with masks and gloves on was just surreal. I felt awful for the workers too, they had no real protection on for the most part.

Crazy stuff. I'll certainly remember that moment for the rest of my life.

Florida here, do you live in the city? if yes, maybe lay low if you are nervous, If not then go out a few more times and you'll get over it. By my 3rd visit back to the store it was business as usual from a customer perspective, I don't even think about it now I just go.

My spouse was considered essential and works in a high traffic area, so I hunkered down only for a couple weeks in early April then did split shifts at work for a bit, but now life is and has been 100% normal for some time, i'm back to eating lunches at restaurants, going to the grocery 5-6x a week, I've only put a mask on three times (haircut and flights to and from Texas).

This probably freaks people out, oh well.

At this point based on traffic congestion and how busy the stores are that the number of people peeking through the curtains from home is dwindling quickly. We've had a total of 2600 deaths in FL, 1.24 per 100K, which doesn't freak me out, most of them were very old, more than half were in miami/dade, and the normal death rate in the state is 974 per google.(2016)

The massive drop in unemployment validates that things are picking up as well, we were just talking at work earlier this week and somebody mentioned that they were puzzled how UI numbers keep going up when everyone around us has been back since May or is heading back to work now, I knew at least 15 people that were laid off in some fashion and now only 1 is still on UI. One massage therapist I know starts work officially today and said that once the news came out her phone was blowing up, prebooked 100% through July in less than 24 hours.

Meat shortage? At least round me that was 100% blown out of proportion, zero issues finding whatever I needed, but the media sure pushed that angle hard but I never saw a change except moderate price increases.

Travel/tourism is an interesting one, my neighborhood has several vacation rentals which were closed all of April, I know the homewatch/property manager and she said that once the were allowed to resume they booked every unit to 100% capacity through August already, dozens of units.

Everything you just said, every number you cited, was done with pretty strict regulations and shut downs.

But I'm sure that now that you're back to going to the grocery store 5-6x a week (who does that under any circumstance?) and going wherever you please without a mask on that things will obviously stay the same. Except for you Grandma and Grandpa....you're just S.O.L.

I'm sorry but this kind of brazen attitude suggests that you've either never wanted to take this seriously (which I suspect) or you're just incredibly selfish and can't be bothered by having your life inconvenienced by a mask and 6ft barrier.

Strict regulations? sorry gotta call BS on that, at best we did lockdown lite, from day 1 with incredibly packed grocery stores as everyone raided the toilet paper, walmart was packed, lowes and home depot full of people buying garden supplies to kill time during the first two weeks, it was impossible to avoid people unless you locked the door and pulled the shades. I was extra cautious in early April but if you have a spouse that Is exposed to 300+ people every day you realize quickly that sitting home chewing your nails isn't going to change the odds very much in your favor.

My grocery is about 1/2 mile from my home, I shop daily for whatever is for dinner.

sorry, but its is what it is... and literally my entire county (and the rest of the state from what I know of) is doing exactly the same thing, we are working, shopping, living just like normal with extra hand washing (certainly practicing social distancing much better than the looters)

I respect your right to stay home as much as you wish, I have no desire to drag you out into the world against your will, but since obviously you have concerns I also suggest not visiting Florida, we're open for business here.