It is what it is.

Indy 500 announces No fans allowed now. Reverses course from 25% attendance.
There will be No Rose Parade Jan 1st.
Santa Claus warned to prepare for social distance Christmas. Considering front porch only deliveries this year, gifts wrapped in amazon boxes.

"Second grader tests positive for coronavirus after attending the first day of school in Georgia"

https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/05/us/second-grader-coronavirus-first-day-of-school/index.html

"..began in-person classes on Monday. But by Tuesday, a classroom was temporarily closed for deep cleaning and the teacher and 20 other students had been asked to quarantine for two weeks..."

Still working. Maryland has enacted new quarantine requirements. Long story short, if I pick up my Father in law 20 minutes from my house I have to quarantine for 2 weeks before returning to work. However, my wife can pick him up and bring him home with no issues.

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Do they have a “little black dress” dress code or something?

This should get interesting.

Sturgis.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/05/us/sturgis-motorcycle-rally-trnd/index.html

" But city manager Daniel Ainslie, who expects attendance to be lower this year than in previous ones, said the city council had already heard from thousands who were planning on making the trip and had little choice but to prepare for the crowds.

"As a city, there's nothing we could do, we're not able to put up roadblocks and say, 'You can't come in,'" he said. "And it was quite obvious that we were going to have a lot of people here, even if we didn't call it the rally. The issue is if we did not officially sanction it as a rally, then we would not be able to prepare for it."

" In an area where we have this many national parks and we rely that significantly on tourism, it's very hard to look at a virus that has a very low mortality rate -- and especially from people who don't have co-morbidities -- and state that we should destroy the entire economy, just to try to reduce the spread of a disease which everyone has said is going to ultimately spread to the community anyway," Ainslie said.

" There are people from other states coming here that have had massive breakouts in their cities and in their states and they're coming here and they're traveling here in RVs," the resident said. "You don't think they're going to bring it here to the state and get local residents infected?"

Amazon will gift wrap it for you for a couple bucks. I sent a grad gift for my nephew and my sister said it was nicely done.

Tip of the cap for finding a quarantine bright-side, no more digging around for excuses to avoid your in-laws!

JAMA released study still tracking 12% infection rate in hospital staff- everybody is masked. Granted, some staff not as professional as others- daily exposure to lots of covid. But,.. wow! So, any school district/ college opening is basically accepting this infection rate with increasing rates for decreasing ages? Why would anyone go off to college this fall?

Here's some positive news
https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/03/us/nhl-coronavirus-spt-trnd/index.html

Virginia is the first US state to release and promote use of a contact tracing phone application.
https://www.vdh.virginia.gov/covidwise/

Great. Now just get the entire NFL into a bubble for 3 months and Ill be happy.

They are happy?

I feel that all schools will end up closing before Halloween.
I hope not, but thats what the messed up brain is thinking.....

Here we go, on the road again
Like a band of Gypsies we go down the highway
We're the best of friends???
Insisting that the world keep turnin' our way
because everyone is an asshole
on the road again

Anybody else notice the increased average speed on the highways post shut down?
I begrudgingly try to keep up with the flow at 75 mph but since I refuse to drive any vehicle with more than 2 seats for the past 20 years (love my small sports cars) I am struggling to conform to the new 85-90 mph standard. Seems like everyone who passes me now gives me the same evil eye that I’m guilty of giving to the random ass whose not wearing a mask while inside any retail establishment.

Are people driving like maniacs cause of less law enforcement on the roads or is everybody now just stressed out in 2020?

The parallels with the old Clarke and Dawe comedy skits are quite disconcerting.

I think you are right.

Schools are just wishful thinking at this point.

Great videos razor , it's funny how a hitman has become an Australian icon but Melbourne crims have been doing it since Ned Kelly .

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Have a little faith. There are hundreds of businesses all over the US that have hundreds of people working under the same roof all day, and aside from a few instances at some factories, there have not been massive outbreaks. I work in a business that has nearly 100 people under one roof - we interact with dozens of customers from the regular public every single day. I've been at work the whole time. We've had no issues, even though there have been spouses of some of our employees that have tested positive.

It IS possible to stay clean and safe. Trust me, the kids understand - they don't want to be sheltered at home any longer.

We had a little girl not far from me walk out into a cornfield, down a bottle of pills, and kill herself. She was depressed from being stuck at home.

Locking up the kids at home isn't going to work.

Ive noticed this too. its very dangerous driving on freeways now. I would imagine people just want to get from a to b as they are stressed out and very impatient. Road rage is up alot as well. Additionally, some people have the idea that cops are less likely to make traffic stops due to covid which is probably true. Its not uncommon for me to be going 65 in a 55 and be passed by several going 80+ and this is in the city. many motorcycles ive seen going 100+

Victoria is now in stage 4 Lockdown .
You can only go out for exercise for one hour a day .
Only one person can go shopping within a 5 kilometre radius
You need a special permit to go to work .
If you do not have your permit on you , it's $1,600 plus in fines .
If your business gives you a false permit it's $100,000 fine .
If you have tested positive and you're not at home , checked by the police and army its a $5,000 , fine if you're not home a second time it's $10,000 .
My wife and I are very lucky , she can work from home and I work for an essential business making medical equipment .
Business that were too close are allowed to stay open because they supply us , for example the powder coaters were going to shut down but because we need them , they are allowed to stay open , same as the people who supply us with glue and staples .
Luckily I think we will survive this but many other businesses won't be able to survive 6 weeks of shutdown .
As bad as all of this is , most people are sad about missing the footy

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Your brain is fine We all know Schools are petri dishes. It will only be a matter of time before school districts that open will have to close. Kids get sick as easily as adults with Covid19. Its a logistical nightmare with busing, classroom, and lunchroom sizes while staying apart. Its pretty disruptive to send blocks or a whole school home after a teacher or kid tests positive. They have to quarantine everyone around them then disinfect all while trying to study and learn.

Despite their best efforts, the NFL will probably have to end the season early. The NBA and NHL has the best chance at finishing a season by bubbling up their players.

Its going to be a tough run of anything normal for all of us until 1st/2nd quarter of next year.

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Mississippi school (Corinth). One week open. 6 new positive cases. 116+ students and staff now in quarantine.

One. Week.

https://www.fox13memphis.com/news/local/more-students-faculty-an-ms-school-district-test-positive-covid-19/LNDW5O3FPBDPXOK4WV5OILSBVM/

I have a "love / hate" thing going on with the highways these days. A couple weeks ago I had to make a 1000 mile trip and had planned on sleeping in my van overnight because I knew I couldn't drive 980+ miles in a day and am not willing to risk staying in a motel with this Coronavirus mess going on. Anyway I made that trip and was actually back home the same day with an "average" driving speed of 62 MPH (and that time included making my delivery, lunch & dinner breaks, and rest breaks). No way in hell I could have made that trip that quickly if it wasn't for the changes because of the Coronavirus.

On the "flip side" when you are doing 75 & 80 MPH on the highways in the "slow lane" and having people passing you it does start to get a little scary especially considering how people drive these days. So I still prefer "safer speeds" but I doubt that will be changing anytime soon. Law Enforcement is like most of the rest of us and are trying to avoid as much unnecessary interaction with people as possible. So I think you really have to be doing something really bad these days before you will get pulled over for a traffic violation.

PLEASE do all you can to "stay safe" on the highways when you travel. Like everything else these days things have changed a lot because of Covid-19

I honestly wish I knew what the right answer is, but I think part of the problem is there is no right answer.

For the most part everyone is saying the same thing: "We want our kids and teachers to be safe, healthy, and receive proper education." But we all lead such different lives what works for family A doesn't work for family B. At this point all of us are just trying to minimize damage to our kids, be it emotional or physical.

From NBC News. While this is still uncommon, we dont know much at all.
There is concern on the brain after multiple infections related to different strains, long term affects of
the virus still growing inside children, and transmission info.

https://www.aol.com/article/news/2020/08/06/covid-19-may-have-lasting-effects-on-some-childrens-brains/24584380/

Im not sure how much will trickle down into the general pediatric knowledge, but I am keeping a close eye on it, with my son starting back at Pediatrics in Orlando Hospital from Vanderbilt.

The only way for school openings to work in places where there is significant viral spread is if the entire community bands together and starts to take this whole situation seriously. I find it unbelievably hypocritical when parents yell at the school boards and demand that their kids go back to the classrooms, and yet these same parents have no problem letting their kids hang out socially with large groups of other kids. Schools can have the best safety protocols in the world, but it's not going to matter if people aren't also being safe outside of school.

Yeah but how many of these kids would suicide in a cornfield without being at school?!?!?!

I’m more concerned about wingnuts than government covid screening and pandemic control efforts.

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/08/05/dr-fauci-says-his-daughters-need-security-as-family-continues-to-get-death-threats.html

My wife is losing friends, colleagues, and former mentors left and right, so Please Stop with the sick or just positive nonsense.

ONE was too many.

gueempose is correct, none of this really matters if the general public isn't committed to safe behavior OUTSIDE the school.

Care to provide a link to cornfield suicide story? Cause if it’s this one you shouldn’t be blaming It on sensible public policy; there’s zero evidence of that.

I agree any suicide is too many. That doesn’t mean you can just blame not being at school. Especially in the middle of the summer when there’s no school anyway.

Seems kind of low if people are using this to push a “go back to school” agenda. Her heartbreaking suicide note didn’t say anything about opening schools or the economy against good public policy and for the benefit of certain politicians.

“Mom, I just can’t do it. Bye.”

Is this the nonsense floating around Fox News these days? Despicable.

https://metro.co.uk/2020/07/10/girl-10-left-mother-heartbreaking-suicide-note-before-killing-field-12973406/

Yeah, let's not address mental health issues in a constructive and safe way. Instead, let's open the doors and pretend like everything is normal, and let other kids die, or take home COVID to infect and kill other people, so that the kids with the depression can be placated without mom and dad getting off their asses and parenting.

Any discussion of a public interest in preserving life for any child of any age by the right, under any situation from this point forward, is purely discredited, debunked, and untenable.

People worried about mental health issues aren't serious if their remedy is "open schools, return to work, let the virus run its course, etc".

Let's hear more about expanding free, publicly accessible mental health treatment, making robust mental health coverage mandatory in health insurance coverage with zero co-pays or deductibles, and encouraging people through college scholarships and decent pay to enter mental health related fields.

Then I will think you care about mental health. I hate that the young woman took her own life, but many do throughout the school year as well. Many because of pressure they face at school and they go unrecognized and untreated because virtually no resources are allocated to this problem in schools.

To who? How about the people who have to pay the bills to keep their sorry asses alive and get healthy again.

You hang out here. Your address is private. And if you have any pinball machines you keep them hidden.

Where do you live? Are you playing hermit out in the sticks somewhere and using a hand crank generator for power?

The only article Google shoots out is this one.

https://www.wsaw.com/2020/07/10/baraboo-mother-writes-i-am-lost-after-her-daughters-death/

" A statewide Amber Alert was issued after Kodie went missing Monday afternoon. Her body was found on Tuesday morning in a cornfield in Baraboo. Authorities say preliminary results from her autopsy indicate she committed suicide."

This is all I can find. It says nothing about her being depressed from being stuck at home. It does not say anything about a bottle of pills.

And this happened 30 days ago.

Please clarify.

Still waiting on that source regarding 1.3 million protesters in Germany.

The entire country should shut down until the roads become safer. One traffic fatality is one too many.

None of this would be necessary, if Leadership did 2 things.

Tons of Masks, and Tons of Words, and Pictures saying "Wear a mask, or we will need to institute Policies"
At this time, there are many that believe Statues and Buildings are more important than American Lives.
(and Ive lost the 12th person I know, too young, IMO)

Linking school closures to specific teen suicides (without a causal link) is pretty messed up.

That said, everyone agrees that school closures are somewhere between bad and terrible for kids. There's a serious cost to them both in terms of learning and social development. I have zero doubt that a sizable number of kids will suffer serious physical abuse as a result of shitty parenting they'd have been partially protected from while at school, and almost all kids will have some level of setbacks in learning and socializing. As usual, the poor and working class kids are first in line for this developmental nut-punch.

But what do you do about it? Send the kids back now, when our ability to contain and contact trace is a total fucking joke? Or, as gweem said more eloquently above, take care of our shit elsewhere by shutting down some of the feel-good reopenings (e.g. bars and indoor dining) that have put us where we are today, and get things under control so that we can hope to get schools open later this fall with at least some degree of safety for families and staff?

Of course we'll probably just settle for "it is what it is."

Back in April at the start of the shutdown, the only people on the roads were professional drivers and/or people getting to and from work. The de facto limit jumped to around 85 on the highways. And you know, it honestly felt safer because everyone was actually driving with intent, not lollygagging and fucking around with their phone while varying between 55 and 80 drifting between lanes. Alas, the morons have returned to the roads now but the speeds are still high...

A 10-year old gets relocated to a new area, schools closed 2 weeks later, and she's forced to stay home alone. She commits suicide, saying "I can't do it any more."

Go ahead and spin the death any way that fits your own narrative, I guess. I believe this:

Had she been in-school and making friends, this wouldn't have happened.

My own children (girls, aged 14 and 13) have both expressed their own feelings of severe depression the past 5 months. They're sad, and they miss their friends.

Yeah I thought this virus was supposed to make people sick not stupid......

It seems to be doing a good job at both.

Higher speeds in the slow lane doesn't so much bother me as much when you have something else to worry about and that's the people who feel the need to weave out of 3 lanes of traffic as if they are playing "tag" with every single car on the road. If we're all going a bit too fast and staying in our lane, that's still something to be concerned about but I've seen a lot of air bag deployments in the last few months than all my years of driving. Worst of all the vehicles are taking side damage and these are NOT in intersections.

As someone who traditionally drives 50,000 miles a year and gets paid by the hour I don't really care how upset the person behind me feels about my obeying the law in the right lane.

Be safe everyone.

Paulding County, Georgia. First week of school.

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You, as well as anybody else, can believe whatever you want. I believing you are reaching to make a conclusion to fit your thoughts. I could be wrong, of course, but that is what believing is all about.