Miscellaneous And Off Topic Subjects

[lineygoblue]

...you know for $100 I know a guy that would put you to sleep...

I'll do it for $50

[THE_WIZARD_]

I'll do it for $50

How about $40 and the 6th best wings in Nebraska?

[Dr. Strangelove]

How about $40 and the 6th best wings in Nebraska?

You're better off just taking $30, liney

[lineygoblue]

How about $40 and the 6th best wings in Nebraska?

I'd do it for just the wings.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Not to bring the room down but these are depressing numbers. Hospitalizations at record highs both today and the 7-day average. Reported deaths topped 3,000 for the first time and the 7-day average is higher than April.

Some of the Midwest states that were so bad a month ago seem to finally be over the hump but cases in California and the Northeast are really starting to spike.

Incidentally there's starting to be a big gap in the total number of deaths between the three sites I look at. This is the most conservative of the 3, with about 280k US deaths total. The Johns Hopkins site is closer to 290k and Worldometer is at 297k almost.

[iam416]

In Ohio the median age of death is still 80 and we’re up to 83% of deaths above 60 (53% above 80). If kids or young people were dying like that it’d be a completely different situation. As it is, it’s more or less stuck in “this sucks” mode.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Trump called the Georgia AG and "warned" him not to rally others against the Texas lawsuit which seeks to deny the right to vote to every single person in the state of Georgia.

*******

Earlier in the day, Carr’s office called the lawsuit by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton “constitutionally, legally and factually wrong.” The complaint asks the justices to delay the Monday deadline for certification of presidential electors in Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

The two men spoke at the urging of Perdue, who along with Loeffler also received calls from Trump about Carr’s opposition to the lawsuit, according to three Republican officials, two of whom described Trump as “furious” in his call with Loeffler over the attorney general’s stance.

https://www.ajc.com/politics/trump-warns-georgia-ag-not-to-rally-other-republicans-against-texas-lawsuit/37ASZD4PJNENHOLVIXZHRXCIJI/

[Dr. Strangelove]

In Ohio the median age of death is still 80 and we’re up to 83% of deaths above 60 (53% above 80). If kids or young people were dying like that it’d be a completely different situation. As it is, it’s more or less stuck in “this sucks” mode.

Unfortunately we're in a really bad time of year to tell people to stay away from their elderly relatives. As much as I harp on it here, as long as I don't feel sick, I'll probably be near some old relatives around Christmas.

[AlabamAlum]

Paolo Rossi has died. Makes me feel old(er).

[iam416]

Unfortunately we're in a really bad time of year to tell people to stay away from their elderly relatives. As much as I harp on it here, as long as I don't feel sick, I'll probably be near some old relatives around Christmas.

My parents desperately want some sort of Christmas. My brother and sister are quarantining their families so they can go, but there’s zero way I can, so I won’t be seeing them. Falls into the “sucks” category, but they’re 70, and they’re in a risk area that can’t be dismissed (unlike for pretty much anyone under 50).

[THE_WIZARD_]

Have to protect those that need it Talent...sucks though...

[AlabamAlum]

My parents desperately want some sort of Christmas. My brother and sister are quarantining their families so they can go, but there’s zero way I can, so I won’t be seeing them. Falls into the “sucks” category, but they’re 70, and they’re in a risk area that can’t be dismissed (unlike for pretty much anyone under 50).

Get a swab a day or before?

[Jeff Buchanan]

One cannot help but be dismayed by the data. It paints a bleak picture. I'm willing to guarantee that in January, new case numbers and deaths will stabilize and decline nationally - they are already doing that regionally. Data geeks will parse the data to match the agendas of those writing about and reporting on the pandemic. You'll have to pay attention.

I spent some time yesterday revealing ways that the newest scary data on hospitalizations can't be reduced to a black and white matter where hospitals are either coping or they are overwhelmed. Context applies in this data as much as it does in new case numbers. It's up to you how you choose to digest and react to the data that is out there.

I've argued from the git go that you can congregate safely and that many of the rules imposed by local and state governments are silly and have no basis in the pertinent facts. The abundance of available testing right now has the potential of screening out COVID leakers. RAPID Antigen tests are widely available with results delivered in 15 minutes. After that, various mitigation approaches can be applied within a gathering to reduce the risk of exposure to near zero. It's called a layered, or "Swiss Cheese" approach. In that concept if you layer slices of Swiss cheese, ultimately you introduce enough layers so holes in each slice don't line up. The individual risk of being exposed is a cost off-set by the benefits of socialization. Of course, you assume that risk and have to determine if it is an acceptable one.

To me, PH authorities and county level officials need to be actively advising how you go about socializing safely instead of mandating mitigation measures, many of which simply don't have significant benefit and just piss people off. In that case, people unwisely start looking at ways to get around them. In that process, usually the folks are not undertaking reasonable precautions because ........ surprise they haven't been told about them. What they have had pounded into their brains is a load of scary data and that they should stay home.

As well, there's a balance between doing nothing to impede viral spread and locking everyone up. Almost universally, we've done a bad job of finding that balance instead overreacting, officially but also individually, in too many cases. We do appear, as I wrote yesterday, that there is a trend in the direction of balance that will seep into official approaches to the pandemic as vaccines are introduced and become widely available.

[iam416]

Get a swab a day or before?

I'd be fine with that, but there's enough folks in the gathering that insist on a 14-day quarantine that it wouldn't work.

[AlabamAlum]

I'd be fine with that, but there's enough folks in the gathering that insist on a 14-day quarantine that it wouldn't work.

They're not satisfied with a swab or two and demand a14dQ. Damn. Yeah, gonna have to Zoom mom and dad.Hate that for you.