Here's something new...

I can't say I agree with everything in there... but he says that they have been doing "studies".

At least he differentiates between virus and disease.

If some of it is correct, then we're doing it all wrong. Seems to be saying they have shown that people contracting cv19 remain "infected", indefinitely?

What are your other top tech solutions? Love that one!

Talk to the hand shows indifference to your post , if it was blocked , I wouldn't have seen it .

Why would I block your posts they give me a good laugh

Excuse me for being happy we've gone from over 20,000 cases down to 0 for a least 8 days .
I did notice your other posts have been blocked , oops , should I say unpublished

Love your suggestions! As I was thinking through it myself, I was getting stuck on the thought that I’d still want the federal response to be things that would genuinely be useful (ie a national mask mandate at this point would just cause more friction than actually help), and let the states flex restrictions as needed. I think your ideas are perfect that way!

I don’t think a mask mandate would do any good and now is probably too late for many to change their ways but some leadership at the top would helped several months back, IMO.

I wonder if Dr. Fauci will get fired?

This is going to be a long winter. No family gatherings. At least last year it was after them.

I agree with all of these ideas.

In addition I’d like to see a nationwide advertising campaign to inform the public about coronavirus (making sure to distinguish here between the virus and the disease ), how it is mainly transmitted and why it is important to mitigate the spread. Other topics for ads could include why masks work and why it is important to wear one.

I think the window for “getting back to pre-COVID normal” has closed. The prior administrations lack of appropriate response has allowed the virus to spread widely and it has taken hold in the population. The amount of quarantine that would be needed to bring it back to February levels would be disastrous to the economy and the psyche of the American people. Like it or not, we have proven that we as a nation don’t have the balls to man up and do what’s right. So, we move forward with what we have. That means a well funded response force which can mobilize to hot zones, test widely and quarantine the infected. Targeted lockdowns may be needed in extreme hotspots. We ride it out that way until a vaccine is ready.

I would like to think a President who doesn’t directly undermine his own administration’s efforts would be a good start but unfortunately about 30% of the population will continue to believe the misinformation long after Inauguration Day.

Had to take an after hours call today for work. The good news, the ER at the hospital I went to was almost empty, the bad news their ICU is full.

That's in deer country too so hopefully they don't see many "I feel out of the deer stand" or worse, "he thought I was a deer" cases as that season just started.

I think we are past due for a mask mandate in many areas. Many of the targeted prevention strategies have to be dialed in to the location, but I wouldn't leave the criteria for implementation up to the locality. Our governor (TN) has left mask mandating up to the counties and that seems to be a mistake. As example - If rural counties ignore masks and other preventative measures, but their sick people have to be treated in the adjacent metro county hospitals, then the metro county pays the price for their poor decisions, but have no say in the matter.

From a national top down strategy, I would probably provide the states with CDC guidelines to enforce and carrots/sticks to induce them to comply. Probably would tie levels of lockdown to measurable goals (like a defcon system) - positive tests under xx%, adequate testing per 100k people, hospital staffing capacity, etc.

There are lots of ways to do this in a way that keeps the economy as open as possible while protecting people. Improving people's mask IQ and mask adherence is probably the quickest/fastest/cheapest bang for the buck. Pulling in reasonable people from both sides of the political spectrum to give a united message on this is a hurdle we shouldn't have to clear, but that's where it probably has to start.

Biden is already moving on this!

"Joe Biden plans Monday to name a 12-member task force to combat and contain the spread of the coronavirus, sources tell Axios.

Why it matters: By announcing a COVID task force even before unveiling his senior White House staff or a single cabinet appointment, Biden is signaling that addressing the coronavirus will be the immediate priority for his transition, and then his potential administration.

While Biden still hasn't declared victory in Tuesday's election, his team is already planning to govern, and he and his advisers want to reassure the country they can address a health crisis that's getting worse, not better. The picture: The task force will be led by three co-chairs: former Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner David Kessler and Dr. Marcella Nunez-Smith from Yale University.

Some members of the group have been advising Biden throughout the campaign, both the public policy challenges, as well as adopting health protocols for the campaign itself to prevent the spread of the virus in Biden's inner circle. On Friday night, Biden claimed voters have "given us a mandate for action on COVID, the economy, climate change, systemic racism." The backdrop: As of 8 am, the United States had suffered 236,099 deaths from COVID-19, according to the Axios Coronavirus Dashboard."

What needs to happen is massive manufacturing kick on N95 masks, not those flimsy surgical ones. Provide them FREE to everyone, and remind them that they can be reused if cleaned properly (we use UV on ours; there are other options) or if you put them on a multi-day-gap "cycle" where you alternate between several of them and don't reuse the same one every day unless you sterilize it. Give a strong encouragement to wear them, like businesses here saying don't enter without one, but don't make it law, you'll just alienate people. A billion masks would still be way cheaper than what's happened so far or a than future lockdown. Especially if we make them here in the USA - - Jobs!

From what I've seen, the biggest problem seems to be people who have those less-effective flimsy cloth masks with them but frequently don't have them on all the way or at all, or just kind of semi-flip them up when they get close to someone. People "gathering" and presuming that their friends and or relatives are all "safe," thus letting them be sloppy about mask use, runs a close second.

Speaking of gatherings, Biden needs to get his own house in order, too. The Biden street rallies the last two days have not been sufficiently masked and nowhere near socially distanced. The media's not helping, either - - the same CNN that complained about similar Trump rallies has totally ignored the super-spreading risk of the Biden supporters. That's completely irresponsible. Dumbass crowds are dumbass crowds no matter who's in them.

Indeed. The virus will be endemic in Europe and the US - the window has closed several months ago. Last figure I heard was 60,000 positive tests in one day in France: scale to US population, this would mean 300,000/day.
The goal of the current lockdown is not to get rid of the virus, just to limit its rate of spreading so that ICU beds are not saturated.

Well, if we could start convincing people to wear surgical masks properly, that would be a good start.
In here, it's really bad and it's not even a political issue.

Yes we did some agonizing on it and called off Thanksgiving at OBX. My parents were going to fly in from Florida but they decided against it.

I will be going to my sister's to hang out with the family in Maryland. I think the plan is to all get tests shortly beforehand. They have a new dog. Exciting!

I'd love to see my parents again but will remain patient.

9 days of 0 cases 0 deaths .
We currently have 4 active cases in Victoria .
At midnight the 25 kilometre restriction will be lifted and Cinemas can open up with a maximum of 20 people , yay

Re: proper mask usage

I haven’t watched any sports since this whole thing started, but caught the last 2 minutes and OT of the Notre Dame Clemson game.

Whenever they panned the sidelines or stands, I literally winced. When the fans rushed the field it was stomach churning.

My faith in humanity took a big hit.

Almost has me agreeing with O-din.

Absolutely agree on your mask manufacturing point.

But CNN, especially Jake Tapper, pressed back hard on on the victory rallies yesterday over and over, bemoaning the lack of social distancing despite the very high percentage of mask wearing.

Texas hit 1 million cases. Just wow.
Considering its just 4 months till TPF getting worried about pinball events in 2021.
Im probably going to cancel my Hotel reservation this week.

Friday night on the news here they were trying to sound worried about firearm deer opener here in MN with social distancing? Really? Of all the events happening they are worried about groups of one to three just sitting around outside? It’s likely they are from the same household too. They should be a lot more worried about people at the gas pumps or grocery stores.

Looks like the virus must be gone at South Bend. It’s a little later then expected since the election already happened. I can’t wait to celebrate in Minnesota too.

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My brother and I had no plans to go next year because there is little chance this will be over by then. I wish they'd put it off a year. I'm not sure they can withstand canceling 2 shows back to back financially. I would hate to see TPF go under.

My local paper is talking how the our 3 hospitals have filled up ICU. No more room at the inn.

The city council has no cajones to make any decisions and has adopted the attitude of “ I guess that is the way it is”.

No more Home Depot or Lowe’s for now. I’m out for groceries and the rest of the I’m staying in.

Nice to have a leader who will take this seriously and not just try to attack it by Tweeting at it, threatening it with lawsuits or calling it names.

I haven't seen my parents in person since March, it's the longest time in my entire life and pretty weird. But they are in their 80s and none of my siblings want to risk their health.

They shouldn't lose much money not doing a show if they haven't shelled out for the venue and hotels already. I help put on the Northwest Show, we were able to move our deposits on everything until next year and only lost a few thousand. I'm not sure how it will work if we can't do it again in 2021, but there is a state restriction on events currently that won't go away until there is a widely distributed vaccine. I think a vaccine is the only hope for pinball shows in 2021.

Literally insane the super spreader activity over the weekend. With thousands packing major city streets coast to coast and around the world with no social distancing and many going dicknose or no masks at all. A dark winter indeed.

Lol , from watching the TV over here , you wouldn't even know you had a pandemic .
After 10 days of 0 cases we're not even allowed to be in groups of more than 10 .

A very encouraging announcement by Pfizer today. They say an early peek at its vaccine data suggests the shots may be 90% effective at preventing COVID-19, indicating the company is on track later this month to file an emergency use application with U.S. regulators.

https://apnews.com/article/virus-outbreak-4f4ae2e3bad122d17742be22a2240ae8

Very very good news.

Now for the wet blanket:

their vaccine is a logistics nightmare.

But back to excitement

Sounds to me like you are just sad you missed out on the fun! Lots of people having a great time last weekend, under fairly rare circumstances. A few times a year you gotta expect it, especially when extraordinary things happen.

I was at one of these events and virtually everybody was wearing a mask. Hanging out there for 30 minutes didn’t seem particularly dangerous. When you’ve been living with this for 9 months I think you are qualified to make decisions and risk / benefit analysis.

I do appreciate the concern and, yes, generally crowds should be avoided. But these are rare circumstances.

We are all learning to live with this. Just like it increases your risk making daily pandemic trips to McDonald’s, sometimes you just have to get that fillet o fish. There’s a difference between taking a very occasional risk while outdoors and protecting yourself and others with mask use, and just pretending the pandemic isn’t happening and being Florida. We are all working on that balance.

Sorry not sure if the mods would like a sense of humor here or not so I took it down. But it was a great laugh.

I see VERY few maskless faces or nose-maskers here in this photo I took in Times Square on Saturday. Thousands of people and almost all of them are wearing masks, and doing it properly.

When you give people actual information based on fact - not happy talk based on lies - and provide strong leadership, people are bound to “behave” better and that’s what you see here.

Compare it to other rallies where people are basically encouraged NOT to wear masks, and it’s basically night and day. Like I said, some of us are learning to live it with it, rather than ignore it and pretend It doesn’t exist. I’m happy with the balance I’ve found, and I’m glad my state and local leaders have been up front with us about everything through this entire thing, so we are able to make educated decisions.

I love this picture! Shows nothing political just lots of happy, happy people, as the sun sets and a new dawn approaches!
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Gathering in an open area where you can maintain a distance that you are comfortable with and leave when you want to leave doesn't seem like a huge risk to me. But many were def disregarding common sense precautions.

Riding a bus into an hour plus long event with shoulder to shoulder seating, people yelling, some defiantly not wearing masks, and bussed back out with a bunch of strangers from who knows where. I wouldn't get on a bus or plane right now, but that's me.

Cramming into the middle of the field when you beat Clemson and hugging everyone in sight. I hate Clemson as much as anyone (Roll Tide Roll!) but I'm not even going to that game at my age during a pandemic- student? yeah, 18 yo dumbass RTR would have been there for sure..I'd prob just now be waking up.

People in each scenario seem to be comfortable with the amount of risk they believe to have assumed. Age and health related differences mean that some people at the same event had differing risk. Prob all 3 violated some sort of state or local ordinances and various degrees of common sense.

Wow. That's something. I went to look for a celebration in Minneapolis, I heard there was a gathering near the 3rd precinct that was burned down. By the time I got there it had made its way elsewhere. I walked along Lake Street, and found these deer just chilling in a cemetery. There was a fence between us, but they seemed so unbothered by being near people. We hung out for a few minutes, enjoying the peace, until I moved on.

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My family always properly wears a mask when we leave the house. Social distance, wash hands, yadda yadda. We have Covid right now. Not sure there is a simple solution. The upside is none of us seem to have suffered the worst symptoms.

Looked like a nice day. But what about that all important social distancing?

I just happened to take some random snapshots of the news Saturday night. These are only a couple. Some of the more blatant ones came out a little blurry. Looks like a lot of safe fun for sure. Top one is the same city you live in.

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I personally have not participated in any of the celebrations because my partner has CF and is high risk, but from talking to my friends that did, they said about everyone was wearing a mask and following the same type of safety protocols they'd see shopping at Costco (wearing a mask, trying to stay social distanced at you pass or approach someone). They are outside and they are wearing masks, but yeah, keeping a little more distance between each other would be ideal. I think there is a major difference between how members of the two political parties gather in these outside celebrations and protests, one group really expects masks and social distancing and the other eschews it.

Watching all those people out in the streets celebrating definitely made me cringe a bit, but I'm conflicted because it's exactly the sort of thing the rest of the world needs to see from us right now.

Scenes like this were coming in from all over the country. Seems as it got darker, many more of the masks came off. I don't know why you would think this is what the rest of the world needs to see from us right now. It's as bad or worse than many of the early protests in the size and scale of no social distancing and half ass mask or no wearing them at all with public health not a priority.

Sad we have to wait a couple months to see the new plan to contain it. Hope it's much better than this one.

Trump campaign election night party appears to be another super spreader event. So far, getting close to a dozen positive cases coming out of that event.

Meadows was first admitted positive case but they weren’t exactly forthcoming about it. So right now I am going by the laws of elementary school, he smelt it so he dealt it.

It's not "all important," it's important. And I already addressed it. We showed up, saw that almost everybody was wearing a mask, saw that it WASN'T that packed in tight, and made an educated decision that we were willing to - for about the 2nd time in 9 months - risk gathering in a large group on a rare, momentous occasion for a short while.

Wearing masks in this situation is "all important," and that's what we and everybody else did. Distancing is also important, and we basically did the best we could there. Again, special circumstances, and we were comfortable with them.

The Clemson thing? Yeah that looked like a clusterfuck. Kids being kids. If you are gonna allow 12,000 college students to go to a huge football game like this, this is always a possiblity. Not gonna endorse their celebration but it goes in the "shit happens" category. College Kids are gonna be college kids and if the grownups allow 12,000 of them to get together shit like this is gonna happen.

like I said, we are doing the best we can to live with this pandemic. It's clearly not going away, and as some people are so fond of saying, "we can't just live our lives in fear and quiver terrified in our basements."

Their definition of "living our lives" means completely ignoring the pandemic. Mine is a lot different than that. After 9 months living through the pandemic, and indeed living through the initial epicenter of the crisis, I think I can make educated judgements on how to live my life yet still try to do it safely.

Nice to hear you are learning to live with it. Many others are not. In fact many are getting very sick and dying from it.

Where I live, they have deemed it unsafe for the public to attend outside or any sporting events or go to amusement parks or what have you. There is no control over mass gatherings in the street though. They much be much safer.

It may not be so bad considering half the population of the US isn't going to willingly take it.

There should be commercials showing health workers dropping with exhaustion and long haulers suffering with permanent brain damage.

This is your brain.

This is your brain on covid.

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