There’s a 99% chance you shouldn’t listen to who-dey. I’m telling you.

Ok, but who is telling you?

Years ahead of you.

7C7BA45C-F109-4EF7-B37E-E832AB2E0FB3 (resized).jpeg

Get enough of doom and gloom on mainstream news!! Don't need it on a pinball site!!

https://www.foxnews.com/health/face-masks-coronavirus-zoom-calls

I understand wearing a mask, but home alone just for a zoom meeting, sorry thats ridiculous. As wearing a mask mowing the lawn, and one person driving a car with all windows down with masky on. Ha!

Probably the last thing most people are thinking about is winter, but it brings new challenges of greatly increased transmission when everyone is indoors.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/winter-covid-19-indoors-transmission-1.5681175

I took a few regular COVID tests Over the past few weeks and an antibody test today - mostly due to travel. Should be interesting to see the results! Life is pretty normal in MA. People are respectful and wear masks. Everyone understands social distancing. I suppose we are settled in up here. Lots of Zoom meetings, but in person meetings in small groups are happening. In my group, things that are political can be discussed and people actually listen to the other side, which is refreshing. My office usually has 30 people in it. We are down to about 4 right now. Our winter decorations are still up. We are happy that we can keep everyone employed and our staff is enjoying working from home. I can see us downsizing our 6,000 sqft office after all of this. I feel horrible for my children. My Wife and I put them back into childcare and realized that it wasn’t for us. We now have a full time Nanny. We were lucky to find her. We haven’t been able to be with our friends much, but have been getting together with family. 14 of us (Family members) went away to the beach for the week. The kids loved playing with each other. I never thought that I would be so happy to see The kids interacting. Our school system is doing the remote and hybrid options for schooling. We are moving forward with the hybrid option. Who knows what is right or not, but I am glad the school system gave parents options. I am concerned about the fall. Once cold weather comes up here it is going to be a mess. I am thinking worse before it gets better come fall. Most of the people That I speak with are concerned about long term complications from COVID as well as a rushed vaccine. I have known people who have died from COVID and people who have recovered. All and all, I am at peace with this. It was very stressful in the beginning, but hopefully this time next year things will be better. That’s my experience so far! Hope all of you pinheads are staying safe and keeping mentally fit! I keep reminding myself to stay positive. Way to easy to be negative.

I mean, I GET what they are trying to do there but....swing and a miss.

Okay now can someone explain this. My partner works in Aged Care and she by law has to wear a mask and Shield. The residents do not wear a mask and do not have to by law. So how come we have to wear a mask on the street?

Just a guess but it's right there in your question - they are residents of the aged care centre. In other words, they are in their home. You have to wear a mask on the street because you are leaving your place of residence.

Because of some moron in charge. I won’t wear one outside cause it’s nonsense to do that.

Common Sense

This above and maybe a significant number of them have breathing difficulties that would be adversely affected by the masks?

Also masks primarily protect other people from you, so by forcing your partner to wear one they are prioritizing protecting the elderly from your partner.

Is there a more standup guy than Faucci?

I hope I'm that badass when I'm 80!

Fauci dismisses Tucker Carlson's criticism but says it may inspire threats from 'crazies'
https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/512144-fauci-dismisses-tucker-carlsons-criticism-but-says-it-may-inspire-threats

Edgers went on to list some of the criticism from Carlson, who has called Fauci a "fraud" and a "chief buffoon of the professional class."

"Does it bother you? On a humane level, do you feel threatened or concerned when you see that kind of thing floating out there?" Edgers asked Fauci.

"I'm not concerned about what he says," Fauci said. "It's a little bit - I think you could say that when he does that, it triggers some of the crazies in society to start threatening me, actually threatening, which actually happens.

"I mean, who would have [guessed] when I was in medical school doing things to save people's lives, I'd have to be going around with a security detail?" he continued. "That's really ridiculous."

Hard to argue against a belief or a feeling.

Not trying to play tricks on you, seriously, but could you ball park where your common sense says we actually are? I am curious how divergent our views are.

Serious answer - there ARE biohazard bins

I love how when the speaker, any speaker, cannot run an argument, goes for the lowest common denominator, and resorts to name calling.

" chief buffoon of the professional class." That really says a lot (about the speaker) and tells nothing of value to the listener.

Chief Buffoon of the professional class? WTF is that supposed to mean?

We have had a lot of that action the last 3-4 years.

How much action? Oh, many times. Many times.

I think there are at least a couple of reasons no one is insisting on hazardous waste containers for all masks and gloves. Firstly, the odds of masks and gloves themselves exhaling any of the potential virus trapped from previously respirated human exhaust seems unlikely. Secondly, as far as I am aware, no one in a position of influence has suggested ingesting, snorting, or licking used PPE, and if I were to clean up someone's leftover gear, I would wash my hands, sort of like if I touched a used syringe, condom, toilet paper, Kleenex, or any other obvious potential source of contamination. Incredibly, I've been following this protocol since well before the pandemic!

All the people I know have been wearing the same mask for months and never wash it.

I just think that this isn't as serious as alot of people thinks it is and I personally believe that this is being hyped up more than it needs to be for political purposes. That does not mean that i do not think it is serious because i do or else i wouldnt protect myself as much as i do, but im not so scared that i wont get out of my house because of it either. I do stay at home more that i used to and i do curbside pick up for my groceries but if i need to run into a store i will and i still go to work everyday too of course.

As far as the numbers go i just do not believe the numbers are accurate, and that is nothing more than a gut feeling. I have heard so many crazy stories about deaths being labeled covid 19 that isn't true, some of them even from people that are in my circle of friends and it just makes me not believe the numbers. I 100% believe that there is a lot that we dont know about this and i also believe that we are being fed a bunch of lies by our government and the media. I am sure that you probably do not agree with me and thats ok. It doesn’t make me think you are an idiot and it shouldn’t make anyone think that i am one either. The reality is though that you stand a very small chance of catching this and a extremely small chance of dying from it. A huge percentage of the deaths have been in the nursing homes and not out in the general public. Yes any deaths suck but my point is, your chances of dying from this are almost zero if you are a healthy person. If you aren't healthy then i would say by all means protect yourself big time and be smart! All i can say is wear your mask, stay away from people as much as possible, wash your hands, and go on about your life as best you can. Living like this SUCKS and i hope one day this will be a thing of the past.

Bottom line is there’s something fishy going on here folks and none of us know the real truth.

Really for months?! We just got a recommendation on wearing masks in public transportation and other places where the safe distance cant be secured. Very strict instructions on removing and throwing away the one time mask, and washing the reusable mask.

Pretty much. I work in Kansas and masks became required there around the beginning of July. We don't have to wear them in the office, but we go out into the common area of the building like the bathrooms or elevators they are required. Any other time they're just in our cars or on our desks. Same dirty cloth masks every day.

Boy, where have I heard that before.

He's right, just not the way he thinks he is. The numbers are higher than the official numbers.

No idea?

Its definitely a good idea to change your mask occasionally if they are throwaways or to wash the cloth ones even if you rarely use them.

Yep. Overall deaths are up substantially from 2019, and only part of that is accounted for by official Covid deaths. Which means either something else is killing people this year at a higher rate but no one’s figured out what/why, or there are a good number of Covid deaths that aren’t being coded as such.

It’s almost certain that some non-Covid deaths have been miscoded as Covid, mistakes are inevitable when you’re looking at a dataset this large. But it’s a failure of logic to take a few anecdotal reports and extrapolate that the number of Covid deaths is significantly inflated. There’s just no science to back that “feeling” up.

If nothing else, they start to stink after a while. Throw them in the washer or handwash in the sink now and again.

So you know the real truth? Don't just leave us hanging Please enlighten all of us. Do you think 170,000 people dead is a political hoax? To what end? Hit us with some FACTS.

What you "think" is happening does not make it reality or factual. You've been trying to downplay the pandemic and pump the BS into this thread from the beginning. You may have lost ALL credibility with posting the Hydroxychloroquine Voodoo Doctor. There is something fishy here alright...

There's a worldwide conspiracy between reporters, doctors and scientists to commit medical billing fraud, because your buddy says so?

The VAST majority of reporters, doctors and scientists all believe that the numbers are under-reported, but hey... WHAT DO THEY KNOW?!

https://lmgtfy.com/?q=covid-19+deaths+underreported

Good for you for taking your health seriously though. Hope to see you on the other side of this.

The virus doesn’t live very long on porous material like paper or cloth. In many situations it would be safe to dispose of a mask in a normal waste bin.

Aged care residents are one of the highest risks in terms of people dying from the virus. Almost always when there is a cluster outbreak in an aged care facility it is due to a visitor or staff member bringing the virus in from the outside. Making staff wear PPE reduces the risk of an outbreak within the rest home. This is a lesson learned over several months now in many countries. In Australia I assume the government subsidise a lot of aged care facilities which are privately run for profit. Making it a law prevents any perverse cost cutting.
You can’t correlate this with wearing masks in the street. The residents are in their home. It’s difficult to get a dementia patient to wear a mask etc. The two situations are so different.

In both these cases, we learn as we go. The situation we have today may change in the future as we learn how best to live with this virus.

Don't know what to get your lady for that special occasion?

Nothing says "I love you" better than a ....

jewelry_06102020_47884-768w (resized).jpg

You do realise that a significant part of the population is not healthy? In the USA, roughly 40% of people are obese, 20% severely obese. Also a lot of elderly people have some kind of ailment. It's these people who are at risk.

Covid-restrictions apply because as a society you wish to take care for those who do actually have a fragile health. Your parents, uncles, aunts, and probably yourself in 10-20-30 years time.

It does not really matter that it's not lethal for healthy people. You still act as a transmitter of the disease to non-healthy people and I hope you care enough for their lives to prevent that.

Maybe try and talk to friends who work in a hospital. Back in April we (over here in the Netherlands) came very, very close to refusing people access to intensive care hospital units because of lack of beds and lack of staff. The working pressure was intense. Of course Covid-19 statistics may have some inaccuracy, but because you can't see through the walls of a hospital, it doesn't mean it's not there.

Here is where you've gone all wrong mate, these days the good oil is found in Uncommon sense. Common sense is not "common" anymore. What is Common is being oblivious.

I don't follow along with the common, obliviousness, myself. Basic D.R. is lost on the G.P. these days.

Brains have a hard time holding strongly conflicting ideas at the same time. If my brain believes we have done everything perfectly, timely, and heroically in regards to a pandemic that isn't that bad, but my brain is also confronted with conflicting ideas/information of 160k deaths, hot spots, super spreading events, hospitals overflowing in areas, lack of PPE, over 600 frontline healthcare workers dead of Covid, healthy people dying, other countries w/ fewer deaths per capita, etc - well, then that has to be resolved otherwise my brain has problems.

If my brain doesn't want to believe the pandemic is a really bad problem, then I will be willing to believe (or disbelieve) almost anything to resolve the internal conflict. Thoughts that would help to resolve this cognitive dissonance:

- It's really not that bad - most deaths happened to already sick or weak people in nursing homes
- everyone will get this virus, there is nothing we can really do
- It's not as bad as x, y, or z
- The death numbers are inflated
- The media has overblown it
- It's not our fault
- Mask wearing and social distancing might be discouraged or disparaged
- Entertaining alternative experts or conspiracy theories

When confronted with conflicting evidence, people have a tendency to dig in and fortify their positions. So, why do I bother posting in this thread? I don't know what it takes to move people one way or the other. My hope is the undecided will look at the evidence and take this as seriously as it deserves to be taken.

Just got the covid text from work a few minutes ago. One of the employees has tested positive for covid. This person was exposed to someone that had it and hasn't been back to work since. Their test just came back positive today. Not someone that worked with me so very little chance of contact with them anyhow.
Starting tomorrow we are now having mandatory temp checks for all employees before punching in.

Is it their home though or a place of business these places get kick backs from the government and charge people to live in the facility. It is wackadoo. I also thought it was to contain the spread.

Update:

“In Cherokee County, where students returned to school last week, there are now at least 110 confirmed coronavirus cases, resulting in over 1,600 students and staff in quarantine.”

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/ncna1236866

Good news! Saliva based test. 99% accurate. Open sourced. Uses common materials. Rapid test.

Oh, and it is dirt cheap.

https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/coronavirus-covid-19-update-fda-issues-emergency-use-authorization-yale-school-public-health

In other news also got an email (today) from our school district about kids having Covid parties with a girl that has tested positive.
There were as many as 15 kids that exposed themselves to this person at the party. These are highschool kids where my daughter goes to school at. Rumor has it that the kids are trying to force the school to stay closed by having a bunch of kids get it.
There were also two other incidents last few weeks. One party from band members which now some has tested positive and another indoor party by the football players with several now testing positive. We now have all these positives and school hasn't even opened up.

Kids are really stupid today compared to previous generations. So much bad parenting in today's world.

I find this very interesting. I will not go the Vaccine route.

100%. What have here is bunch of second hand data sheet nonsense. Are you collecting the data? Nope I’m getting off it a damn website. No wait see the Timmy graph it’s gotta be true! Pfft...

its called a retirement Home, Your partner could spread Covid from you to the residents, its the outside world coming into the aged care spreading Covid.

Also most aged care DO NOT get funding, the private ones don't they are self funded by charging the residents

so stop complaining and do as the government laws say

A good example of the decision makers "getting religion"; So to speak.

Kids getting together and doing stupid things has been around a long time. Being aware of it through social media and video availability? Kind of new.

I wonder where some of those kids got the audacious idea that Covid was no big deal? I know it wasn’t from the spreadsheet science nerds.

According to my late Grandfather this same phrase is uttered by every generation, and is never more or less true. Kids have always been and will always be the same amount of stupid, and parents will always be the same amount of inexperienced and ‘bad’.