Agreed. Saw a story with last week's unemployment data that average wages increased but it was because the job losses were severe for lower income that the people still working had a higher average wage than prior months.

Hopefully some good news sometime soon ...

WHO sees promise in potential treatments to limit severity and length of coronavirus illness | TheHill

I assume light and disinfectants are in the top five.

I'm thinking of refinancing as soon as the rates go negative. Anyone else seeing the positives to this whole thing?

I doubt it drops much more. Banks still want to make money.

So now they are talking about a $3 trillian stimulus deal. Wouldn't it be easier to just sent every American $10k than work this all out?

I'm just about broke myself. Still waiting to see if I get approved for unemployment (Nevada has a complete clusterfuck due to something like 30% of Las Vegas being out of work - that's how hard it's hit here).

Waiting to hear back on interview results. On the bright side, my old employer is taking me on part-time (20-25 hours a week) for a month to help them get caught up on their content, so that will help me squeeze out another month.

Even if I get the job I interviewed for, summer survival is uncertain. Might need to sell off stocks and/or dip into retirement to stay afloat.

If it wasn't for the financial anxieties and the stress of all the idiots I argue with on Facebook, I'd actually be okay. Quarantine life in and of itself is not much different from the time before for me. Only difference is I'm not playing Magic anymore until this whole thing eventually comes to an end.

Stay off Facebook. If it is causing you more stress than happiness, get off for a month.

I ditched facebook in December. One of the best decisions ever.

My boss had to send out a warning/guidelines to employees because there was an incident with one of our hospital's staff assaulting one of the people at the entrances that makes sure everyone entering is wearing a mask. It didn't come from anyone in our department, but general harassment of the people at the entrances has been escalating the past few days and broke out into an apparent assault yesterday.

If this is a test of humanity we're failing miserably.

Wait.. people are getting mad about wearing masks into a HOSPITAL?

Yes

Starting last Monday all staff, patients, and visitors over the age of 2 are required to wear a mask. The exceptions are in your office and/or work area if 6 feet of social distancing can be maintained. You are required to wear one on entrance to the hospital and patients/visitors are given one at the door if they don't already have one. Apparently this is causing enough problems that it had to be addressed at the hospital leadership level.

I only go on about once a month, unless my wife tells me "so-and-so's dog died, go post on their thread" or something like that. I honestly don't miss it for the most part. I certainly don't miss political arguments and that kind of crap. (I get enough of that on FOFC, with more civility involved.)

There's a PhD biochemist who used to go to our church.

He's very level-headed, and has been posting various things on social media about COVID that he finds relevant.

Apparently, he says that this is unequivocally good news: A noncompeting pair of human neutralizing antibodies block COVID-19 virus binding to its receptor ACE2 | Science

I don't understand it at all, lacking a PhD in biochemistry myself. But if he is passing it on, then I am confident that there is some there there.

dola:

He is not saying anything like THIS IS THE CURE. Again, he is very level headed. But I guess this is a very good sign in terms of what we are trying to do with cures/vaccines.

It's far afield of me but I'll risk it, cause my brain immediately jumped to this when I saw your comment.

MY social media contacts rarely produce an issue with (whatever level I require of) civility.

Where things go sideways are what I call OPI: Other People's Idiots

That's 95% or more of where shit break downs. It's running into people that I had no interest / desire / intention of running into. And I have scant patience with rank strangers.

This. My goodness this.

I have a freind who is a die hard Trump guy. Even purchased a Trumpybear. He is capable of having a normal conversation and respect that we disagree. He is also a biker and gun nut and when his band of merry idiots gets involved its pointless. They don't even try. It is a steady stream of owning the libs, nothing more.

I just can't wrap my hand around this one. Maybe I can sort of see people getting a bit bent out of shape at stores, especially if they don't have a mask to offer you before you can get in. But at a hospital... where they are providing masks if you don't have it. Jeez louise….

Madison county in Illinois opened up against the orders of the Governor. This is a metro St Louis county. The Governor is pissed. State police may get involved, licenses threatened to be pulled, federal relief funds withheld, no protection against litigation, etc.

This one could get interesting.

This meme feels really appropriate these days.



SI

Texas not using safety measures and with 1000 new cases a day you say?



no. don't. stop.

Agree with this.

The mask thing has turned into some bizarre culture war. Whole thing is sad because we could probably open things up to some extent if people just kept distances and wore masks.

These surprisingly relevant vintage ads show how officials tried to convince people to wear masks after many refused during the 1918 flu pandemic:

https://www.businessinsider.com/peop...andemic-2020-5

I still think the government stuff is blown out of proportion. They can open up anything they want, people are not going. Here are some states that recently opened up. They're barely getting any business despite the outrage. Should also add that their business tanked before any government orders went into place.

Not trying to say the orders are bad, but this is a bottom up thing. Most people are going to play it safe till this thing is under control.

That's a very limited app worth of data, and not remotely representative of dining on the whole. Careful about drawing conclusions from non-random samples

Dined out (sit-down chain) Wednesday night, err "in", for the 2nd time since the re-opening here. Parking lot was about 80% full when we left, as people waited for the sadly limited tables.

That's roughly what the lot would look like on a lower population (college town) "summer" night at that time. Difference is that the available customers are stuck outside and that in turn discourages others.

And I go back to the biggest tell I've noticed locally: the rarity of anyone wearing masks in public. I'd say it's single digit percentages, and at least half of those are over 60. That, combined with a shockingly rapid return to normal amounts of traffic I've seen, is not a sign that large numbers are afraid of the big bad boogeyman anymore.

As I said before, I'm sure that's true where you are, but 80% and up are wearing masks in West Michigan, and here, in Seattle, in other places restaurant and other business dipped sharply before any stay-at-home went into place. And the thing is for the economy to recover it has to be a widespread thing; a few areas locally or regionally going back to normal won't cut it.

I keep hearing this, but also that we're all screwed because people are going out everywhere and not being responsible. Maybe 80% of this thread is people complaining about that.

I figure we're between those extremes somewhere. Obviously economic activity, especially that generated outside peoples' homes, is going to be way down for a long time regardless of what government does. But some tax revenue and a few businesses are going to be saved if a limited number of people at least have the option to participate in living and spending again. I don't think all these people crowding the beaches that everyone is freaking out about are going to draw the line at spending money for stuff when they're out.

Edit: Restaurants can open around me, with social distancing, starting this weekend. Most say they're going to wait a few weeks as they prepare to meet the regulations. A lot of them are putting out new patio areas on front, or in the parking lot. I'm not sure what kind of turnout they'll get, but I think it will be more than we'd think. One bar in the hipster part of town tried to do curbside drink orders that you'd take with you on your bike I guess, and people ended up lingering, and before you knew it, it was basically an outdoor bar. They shut that down after a day when the photos got out. But people are going to drift more and more towards normalcy and human connections, and continuously re-calculate heir own personal risk tolerance as this goes on. Even in a war zone, people are going to let down their guard and find a way to get a breath of fresh air once in a while. We wouldn't have evolved the way we did if we didn't have a little of that in us.

Arizona did another testing push over the last 7 days (since opening salons and restaurants). They did 27,430 tests and had 1,294 test positive. That 4.7% rate is the lowest the state has seen yet. I won't reiterate my feeling about making conclusions on low sample numbers - but people keep telling me that one of the important factors on re-opening things is a "slow down" in positive cases. Arizona has clearly been seeing that since April 24. Does that mean we should re-open casinos? Hell no. But, it is encouraging that things appear to be slowing down on all fronts (esp hospitals). Hopefully we don't try to run before walking and mess this good situation up.

It means Arizona should be starting Phase 1. Though... it seems they are speeding to Phase 3 with all possible rush...

Yeah, I'd be happy just trying salons and restaurants at a lower capacity for while. Instead, we are opening gyms and pools, bars and then casinos on Friday. I think the state had a plan of a more phase opening, but the republican governor got scared he'd have to start prosecuting all these bars/businesses that violate it. So, instead he just decided to open everything and say F*ck it. I actually haven't minded our governor through this whole process, but I do wish he had a little bit more of a backbone here. I guess we will find out in the next few weeks how costly this was.

This same guy just said that the decision to put Moncef Slaoui in charge of the vaccine effort is the best political news he has heard since this began.

Science may, yet again, save us from ourselves.

I made an appt to get my hair cut next Fri. They are scheduling appts with an hour inbetween, I assume to clean up/sanitize and happy they are taking that extra step.

And he has a history of iffy business deals and shady conflicts of interest because, of course, he does:
5 things to know about Moncef Slaoui, head of Operation Warp Speed
https://www.bizjournals.com/boston/n...-intellia.html

SI

We may have lucked into a guy shady enough to get Trump to like him but who also happens to be a good scientist.

My limited sample of 1 restaurant so far indicated that people here are ready to get back to the old days... That was also a lakefront bar/restaurant literally 50 feet over the border into South Carolina from Charlotte, so I assume even if 2% of people felt that way it'd be like moths to a flame, but no way I buy that graph showing restaurant attendance down ~85%. Across the board maybe since so many are still closed, but amongst the small number that are open? Not buying it.

The bigger sample size shows that it's a mixed bag on people's attitudes - How are Charlotte stores, customers staying safe from COVID? | Charlotte Observer - my experience from work where masks are required & social distancing allegedly enforced to the point of firings is that people in charge who need to get shit done will completely ignore it if it's impossible to work around, and even after like two weeks most people are just over it. Not sure if that'd be different if it was a deadlier (or more outwardly gruesome) virus, but I think most people don't change long term habits for diffuse threats.

Tbones (now Papa Doc') is a shit hole in the best of times

How much are you preparing to pay for this haircut?

What’s the most you ever lost on a hair cut

I want to remember to respond to this, but I'm busy waiting in line before throwing away any liquids and removing my belt and shoes before I get patted down by a stranger.

:D :lol:

LoL yep, pretty much. Good weather to be out by the water though, and unfortunately I don't own a boat yet :)
Those are government mandated (also lucky you getting the pat down!). If big businesses or the government want to mandate face masks people will wear facemasks. If you want people to voluntarily stay 6 feet apart & correctly wear masks good luck - I can't even go to the grocery store where there are big green circles 6 ft apart on the floor without people standing 2 ft behind me.

As I mentioned earlier in this thread, we had a staff member at the hospital I work at get into a physical altercation with one of the guards at the entrances over wearing a mask and harassment of those same guards has been so bad all staff were sent warnings.

I'm skeptical people would just willing wear a mask.

What about the mandatory mask regulations that have been ignored and protested against? Mask wearing isn't universal in large part to it somehow becoming a front in the culture wars.

Masks have been a rule here for almost a month and people just wear them. I’m sure they’re pissed about it, but whatever.

Yeah, here in NY everybody just suffers through the very minor inconvenience. All it would take to get the percentage way up is for Trump to aggressively advocate wearing them.

Funny thing is it's a key component in keeping everything open.

So there's like 4700 wal marts in this country. Are we so short on tests that we can't randomly sample 200 people a day willingly for a few weeks. Or if not 200 tests, at least 50? That's a million tests a day.

Nationally we average around 300k tests over the last week with a high of 388k. Short of a national push from the feds (which, hah), there's no way we'll approach a million per day anytime soon.

COVID-19 Charts

Whatever happened to all those Wal-Mart drive through testing sites? And the website that would connect people to a testing location?

This is the non-political thread, so I can't answer the question b/c I think that the real answer is political.

The issue appears to be dealing with the logistics of using all of our testing capacity (but also, we don't have enough capacity either to do a million tests a day I don't think. Could get a lot closer to that number though).