Covid-19: Coronavirus July 2020

Here's the page on the CDC's website that has info on how to wear a mask. You can also try your state/county's health department.

Unimportant said:

Slight derail here, but serious question: Is anyone in the US at the leadership level (not Trump, obv) providing credible information on how to correctly wear a mask? Earlier today I watched the live stream of my father's funeral. There were probably 50 attendees visible in the feed at the church, and fully half of them wore their masks around their chins for the entire mass. And pretty much all of them were in the age 70+ category. This is really troubling.

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I make stickies and no one reads the damn things.

Like this one.

The other mask version that annoys me are these legislators and their buddies wearing handkerchiefs they pull up and down. There has been sufficient data out there that these handkerchiefs are the least effective material to use.

The Ultimate Guide to Homemade Face Masks for Coronavirus

But the four worst-scoring materials were the wool scarf, polyester neck warmer, cotton bandana, and light scarf.

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You'd think they might actually look this information up.

Coronavirus scoffer and maskless Trump Tulsa rally attendee, Herman Cain, dies of coronavirus.

His final tweet before being hospitalized:

Masks will not be mandatory for the event, which will be attended by President Trump. PEOPLE ARE FED UP!

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His staff has kept up his racist, anti-science social media game in his absence.

I have sympathy for the hospital staff who had to care for him and hope he didn't infect too many other people while he was currying favor with Trump.

Back in March I bought my husband over-the-glasses goggles, and asked him to wear them at certain times (for example, when he does curbside pick-up in our Subaru, which has a hatch, not a trunk). He doesn't care much what people think of him, but I think he gets a little self-conscious, and won't wear them at work (where he was already exposed and where most people are still coming into the office and mostly all voted for Trump, so...). So I'm glad Dr. Fauci just said, "If you have goggles or an eye shield, you should use it."

When asked if we're going to get to a point where eye protection is recommended, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases responded, "It might, if you really want perfect protection of the mucosal surfaces."

"You have mucosa in the nose, mucosa in the mouth, but you also have mucosa in the eye," he continued. "Theoretically, you should protect all the mucosal surfaces. So if you have goggles or an eye shield you should use it."


He noted that goggles and eye or face shields are "not universally recommended" at this time, "but if you really want to be complete, you should probably use it if you can."

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This is horrifying (predictable, preventable, but horrifying):

Hundreds of Georgia campers infected with coronavirus at YMCA camp in just days, CDC report finds

A CDC report released Friday reveals that hundreds of campers at a north Georgia YMCA camp were infected with coronavirus in just days before the camp was shut down.

Channel 2 Action News has confirmed that the report documents COVID-19 cases at the YMCA’s Camp High Harbor on Lake Burton in Rabun County.


According to the report, of the 597 residents who attended the camp, 344 were tested and 260 tested positive for the virus. The camp was only open for four days before being shut down because of the virus, and officials followed all recommended safety protocols.


In total, the virus attacked 44% of the children, staff members and trainees who attended the camp.


The CDC said that what happened at High Harbor shows that earlier thinking that children might not be as susceptible to COVID-19 is wrong. According to the report, the age group with the most positive coronavirus tests was 6 - 10 years old.

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The article goes on to say that, "All campers and staff members had to test negative for the coronavirus before attending."

As information like this keeps coming out, you'd think the push to open schools would ease up. But...the GOP.

Gov. Abbott says local health officials can shut down schools only in limited circumstances

In a statement Friday, Gov. Greg Abbott said local health authorities can shut down schools if there’s evidence of an outbreak after students have already returned to campus — but cannot shut them down weeks before schools open.

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Texas governor Abbott is emerging as a serious challenger for the "Worst Gubernatorial Coronavirus Response" trophy. I'm sure Kemp and DeSantis will step up their game and remain frontrunners.

I knew that my niece and her husband, with their ten-month old, had gone from Texas to Florida (I know) to stay in a rental house with his parents. Ok, I though that was a little foolish, but I know as a high-risk person I tend to be overly cautious. I just saw some pictures. Sixteen adults and a baby, from, by my count, at least six different households, from different parts of the country. That doesn't seem smart to me, but maybe I'm too uptight about this.

MA governor Charlie Baker announced a new initiative aimed at getting residents to wear a mask: #MaskUpMA. I'm heartened that most responses have been positive, and amused that Baker's getting widely tweaked for not using #Masskachusetts (I get that he's urging an action, so his makes sense (my idea is mildly profane and thus off the table).

Roxxsmom said:

As if we needed more evidence this week that having a medical degree doesn't mean you are smart.

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Person. Woman. Man. Camera. TV.

-cb

The problem with getting a negative test result doesn't mean you don't have covid, it just means that you dont have the virus where they test you. Commonly that's up your nose, but it can still be elsewhere in the body. I was just reading how, uh, below the belt you can still be shedding covid for quite awhile after your respiratory issues go away. So take a bunch of kids out camping, who might not be doing the best job washing their hands after using the bathroom...that's one of the routes of transmission that isn't talked about a lot. Mostly because it's gross and people should be washing their hands after using the bathroom anyways, but that's not always the case.

Roxxsmom said:

They think it makes them look like cowboys. Yipee!

And from the what the ever-loving, holy, actual F*** department: 18 anesthesiologists from one of Florida's premier hospital systems diagnosed with Covid-19 after attending a party together.

https://www.miamiherald.com/news/co...gIuNAZPLdcTNIjmqzCHI63JFK28NIJS-pWg2wvY3Wb-LA

As if we needed more evidence this week that having a medical degree doesn't mean you are smart.

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That's horrid.

The anesthesiology department has nearly 100 total residents, including 45 junior residents.

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So that's ~20%.

lizmonster said:

You think enough people will eventually figure out what *rump is, and turn on him? God I hope so. Not sure what vague academic appeals to authority have to do with it, though.

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Here we are. Two weeks later.

McConnell signal to Republican Senate candidates: Distance from Trump if necessary
https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/31/politics/senate-mcconnell-trump-firewall/index.html

While this may give some senators the flexibility to draw a distinction between themselves and the President, it also forces them to walk a tightrope. Trump remains enormously popular with the Republican base, and any attempts to undercut him risks alienating those voters.
"These vulnerable senators can't afford to explicitly repudiate Trump," said one senior Republican on Capitol Hill. "They just need to show they are independent on issues important in their states."

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Like the rising death toll.

That could mean breaking with Trump on the administration's response to the coronavirus pandemic and the continued efforts by the President to paint an optimistic picture despite rising cases and deaths across parts of the country, especially in many Republican states in the South and Midwest.

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Follow the money.

Republican money may begin to also gravitate most heavily to the Senate side of the ledger. In June, GOP megadonors Sheldon and Miriam Adelson donated $25 million to McConnell's Senate Leadership Fund, giving the super PAC $97 million in the bank at the end of the second quarter. (During the same period, the Democratic counterpart to SLF, Senate Majority PAC, raised $30 million and by the end of June had $87 million in cash.)

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Does Trump even have the political wits to help the Senate GOP?

One senior Republican who spoke to CNN was more distraught about where Trump has put the party fewer than 100 days before the election. "Where can we play offense? Zero places," said this Republican. "Where is he playing defense? All the places he shouldn't have to worry about."

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Quick answer: Person. Woman. Man. Camera. TV.

-cb

I'm a few days late to this thread and I apologize 'cause I really wanted to share the info somewhere on AW and forgot. :\ Adult masks that gap on the sides have been an irritant and a concern to me for I am but little, dontcha know. This video by a dentist, Olivia Cui DDM, shows how to tighten the sides of medical masks to eliminate the gaps. I found that her simple trick can work well on the handmade masks I bought too 'cause knotting behind the ears can hurt after a while.

Axios' Jonathan Swan* interviews the Prez. It doesn't go well for Trump.

https://twitter.com/axios/status/1290497186489348096


*For Australians: Norman Swan's son.

Re the Axios interview, Trump is armed with some overly simple picture graphics someone must have given him to make him happy.

We're having a town hall meeting at The Day Job™ tomorrow and I'm thisclose ][ to losing my shit because they've hinted we're going to remain on work-at-home stance until the end of the year. Minnesota currently has a mask mandate but I'm still limited on public transportation. I honestly think I need to go back into therapy hardcore; every time I bring it up, I get the standard Facebook Woo: mindfulness! yoga! essential oils! take a walk! dance! garden! learn Sanskrit! bake sourdough bread! write! (as much as I want to, I can't write at the moment. I've tried getting fired up but that's as far as it goes. I'm mentally, emotionally, and spiritually clogged, and seeing very little progress.)

MaeZe said:

Re the Axios interview, Trump is armed with some overly simple picture graphics someone must have given him to make him happy.

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"Look. We're doing better than India."

It's somewhat comforting that the richest nation on the planet is doing better than a developing country.

-cb