[IR + Misc.] Covid-19 Discussion and Birna's C-19 Photo-Collage

[Andrea B.]

What an excellent write-up from Bill !! Thank you for this. I really think you should freelance this to a magazine or newspaper. It is very useful information given our current climate heat-up.

 

It did not take long for me to figure out most of this as I've lived before in Arizona and California. But I must admit to not quite having managed the early rising in order to accomplish tasks indoors and outdoors before the heat rises too far.

 

This big ole rambling adobe house (Rasta wall construction) has "zones". I can keep the back rooms and the studio completely closed off with curtains closed to block the heat just like the suggestion above. Some of these rooms have stayed at 74°/23° even when it is 85-92°/29-22° outdoors. The bedroom, kitchen and family room have ceiling fans which keeps the air moving. Given the extremely low humidity here the house ireally is quite tolerable as long as one is not "batting around", as Mom used to say. And we have indeed managed to cool it down some in the late evening when the "high desert" temps drop down to the 60-70° range. (We really are a "high shrub savannah", but everyone is used to referring to "high desert".)

 

Now, mind you, an outdoors temperature of 85-95° is nothing to complain about (at least not too strongly) in New Mexico because of that low, low humidity, but at this altitude the sun is so intense. I've never been a hat wearer, but I have had to start wearing one!

 

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The US lurches from crisis to crisis and the cases of Covid-19 are on the rise in states which opened too soon. I'm so happy to be where I am!! But I feel so upset about all this. Well, who doesn't? It is good we have UVP to take our mind off other problems.

 

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Suppose 2% of the population carries C-19. If 25 people are in a room, the probability is 50-50 that one of them carries C-19.

(Fun with Probability Modeling)

(Note that this says nothing about the infection rate or your chances of catching C-19.)

(Nor am I sure what the actual percentage of the population is which carries C-19 with or without knowing they have it.)

[otoien]

Beware the second relapse.....

https://www.national...49FB2446972903A

 

So true. While it is happening many places the transition from almost no occurrences for a month after the first wave to a new larger second wave after partially opening up again is uncomfortably pronounced here in Alaska. It trickles in with summer travel and lots of seasonal workers, particularly in the fish industry. There is also a very strong shift towards cases in younger people. A reminder for those who have not seen the second wave yet. Luckily the number of death are relatively low and there is still capacity in the health system. (https://www.arcgis.c...df359f49b11f218)

[Stefano]

Well... the second wave is here. In Italy the number of new cases per day is growing rapidly. We are reaching the figures of the first wave, and hospitals are becoming full again. At this pace, we will be in trouble in a few weeks. Our Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte wants to avoid a second lockdown at all costs, since it will impact our economy quite heavily, as a lot of people would lose their jobs. A lot of restaurant owners and business owners who survived the first lockdown said they will not survive a second one. The problem is that a new lockdown may be necessary and unavoidable in the near future.

 

The only way to defeat the virus is a vaccine. As long as we will not have it, it will keep infecting and killing people.

[Cadmium]

Wear a mask. Wear one that seals to the face well. People with beards (like I have, or like I had), shave your face where the mask seals. Consider some goggles also, because the virus can enter via the eyes.

The masks I see people wearing don't seal to the face, they leak around the edges. I am old, so I figure if it gets me it will take me, so I suit up like a scuba diver when I go somewhere.

I live in a university town, I am right near the University of Oregon, and they have opened back up, fall term, huge influx of young students with all that young energy,

and in the last few weeks or more my area has shot up on the chart of infected cases and deaths.due to the influx of students.

My questions is, if they can teach children remotely, why can't they teach college age students remotely?

Well, of course they can, but the apartment buildings go broke if they don't have students paying to live here...

So it is about money, economy, but for me it is about lives, it is about MY life! What are lives worth?

I shop at the the grocery store that all the young students shop at. Everyone is required to wear some sort of face mask, but like I said, most face masks are nothing more than some required facial covering of cloth or medical surgical mask which are not intended really be fail safe.

It is like you say, Stefano, until there is a vaccine we will need to wear masks and be safe. Someday. Someday...

Stay safe.

[dabateman]

Definitely wear goggles and a tight mask.

Most masks protect others from you, not you from others. So be careful. Many don't wear them properly.

 

The advantage of wearing goggles is its a quick fit test. Breath out hard. If your gogles fog up, your not wearing your mask correctly or one that does nothing to protect you.

[Stefano]

My forecast was correct. Italy's 20 regions have been divided into four groups: red, orange, orange/green and green. My region (Lombardy) is red. Red regions are under an almost total lockdown, not like in March, but we have limitations about travels and movements (we have to stay in our cities, unless there is a valid reason to move outside), almost all non-essential activities are closed (restaurants, gyms, non-food supermarkets), and all students above first middle school year (about 11 years old) will have online lessons. I am fine, I have a cousin who discovered she has had Covid by "chance" and didn't even noticed, and no other close relative has had it to my knowledge. In the afternoons I hear a lot of ambulances, much more than usual. Again, it isn't as dramatic of a situation as it was in March, but kind of reminds it.

 

All I can do is doing my part and act responsibly. I must say that a lot of boys and girls around my age simply don't care. I heard this sentence a lot of times, "when you are young you feel invincible", and it is partially true. I am young, I am in good health, and if I get Covid, it probably won't harm me. If my 78 years old granddad gets it, you can imagine it won't end well. Yes, there have been some cases of very old people surviving it, including a 104 years old person (I don't remember the gender), but they are a minority, and I hope people understand this.

 

This mess will end, just be patient.

[Cadmium]

My masks are industrial, they fit extremely tightly. I have two types, one is a mouth/nose respirator, the other is a full face respirator.

I can or course wear the goggles with the mouth/nose style.

My masks are not paper, they have two canister style filters on the front. I use P100 filters, the absolute best for virus and particles.

Both masks are very easy to test for a leak, just by covering the front of the filters, you can not breath anything in or out.

But short of that, a paper mask with a nice foam seal is better than one that doesn't seal to the face well.

Everyone should always wear a mast around other people or in any indoor environment.

[Cadmium]

Here is what I wear. Both filter styles are P100, I prefer the full fabric style, a little bigger around but seem to breath slightly easier through those.

The larger filter shown on the full face mask is a combination chemical/vapor + P100 particle filter, I have various types of those also for paint/solvents, smoke, etc..

All you need for the virus is the P100 alone.

I also have a pair of UVEX goggles with foam seal, like ski-goggles, which can be worn above the 'half face mask' style respirator mask.

Uvex 9302045 (dark flip-up detaches for all visual use)

https://m.media-amaz...._AC_UY218_.jpg

 

 

[dabateman]

Yes wear a mask. More so now than ever. Numbers will climb.

 

There will be a new normal, it will never be like pre-COVID. Once everyone wakes up to that then it might get better.

 

I have a feeling this is just the first virus to wake us up.

[Andrea B.]

And so, here we are in a terrible Covid 2nd (3rd?) surge around the world. No matter which way a country or state or city chooses to handle this pandemic, people are going to die. If lockdowns are used, then many fewer people will die of Covid but some will die from economic despair (alcohol, suicide) at loss of job and money. If lockdowns are not used, then people will die of Covid. Take your pick, or not. There is no easy choice. This is what Pandemics do.

 

I personally prefer lockdown accompanied by financial support of those who are going to suffer economically during lockdowns. Unfortunately in my often morally stupid country, the financial support part is frequently missing or *very* limited. We have a large population here who does not vote for "safety nets". And these folks believe that wearing a mask infringes on their "personal freedom". Don't ask me why. I do not know why they think this way. The net result here in the US is food lines 5 miles long and a quarter of a million dead people. 250,000. How can anyone look at those numbers and remain unmoved?

 

My state of New Mexico has just sent out a Stay Home (aka "Shelter-in-Place") announcement to all phones, newspapers, TV and radio stations. We will be locked down again for two weeks. This was needed because our hospitals were beginning to show the strain and deaths were climbing. The strain was not from lack of hospital beds, but more due to lack of nurses/doctors to deal with the large number of Covid cases. New Mexico did very well earlier in the year, because we have a Governor who is not afraid to use her powers when needed. So I am hoping that we can again break the rise here.

 

We do finally have some HOPE now that the vaccine developments are prioving successful. But vaccination to achieve actual herd immunity will take time, a long time. We must try to stay patient (not my particular strength!!) and wear our masks and support our family and friends and each other while we wait.

 

Please, all of you all, wear your masks, hang in there, and have hope !!

 

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To correct a possible mis-assumption: Covid can kill younger people too, although there is a *much* lower death rate for younger folks. Recent stats for the US shows that 501 people between age under-1-year to age 24 died from Covid this year out of 231,197 total Covid deaths.

[Note: Those stats have not yet been updated for the current 250,000 Covid deaths.]

Reference: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/covid_weekly/index.htm

 

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Cadmium, wow, that is a great mask !! And your post reminded me that I have some clear UVEX glasses which I should probably be wearing when I have to go to the grocery store. They don't fit close, but are still more protective than nothing.

 

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On Liberty

John Stuart Mill

1859

 

Liberty or freedom means "doing as we like, subject such consequences as may follow, without impediment from our fellow creatures, as long as what we do does not harm them even though they should think our conduct foolish, perverse or wrong".

 

****

The bold part is what 50% of my fellow countrymen seem to have forgotten. Sheesh. Where's Karmic Justice when you need it?

^{Oh? Really?? She's in the hospital with Covid? I should have guessed. Oh well.}

^{Yes, I will go back to cameras and UV photography now.}

[Andrea B.]

I have a feeling this is just the first virus to wake us up.

 

Yep!

If anyone is interested in reading about emerging viruses, you might want to read The Coming Plague by Laurie Garret.

I read it when it came out in 1995. Excellent book, highly recommended.

LINKIE: https://www.amazon.com/Coming-Plague-Emerging-Diseases-Balance/dp/0140250913

 

[uVP has no affiliation with Amazon. The link is simply FYI.]

[Stefano]

Let's revive this topic for a moment. Things have changed for the better, most of my family is vaccinated, nobody had any out-of-the-ordinary reactions to the vaccine, and I hope I will attend university in presence next year. I really need people to work with, to help myself to study etc. I never met most of my mates. I even forgot to plant the sunflowers because of all that happened, I will have my driving exam in a week and I forgot how to start the car uphill (we drive mostly manuals here). I bet I'll burn the clutch sooner or later.

 

But this is not the main reason why I am writing here. Today my mum got a taste of how many ignorant and stupid people there are. Really, it's staggering and sad, just disappointing. Perhaps she was unlucky this evening?

 

She met some people with their dogs so that our dog can play with them. She told them she got vaccinated today (Pfizer), and man, what came out of this. I wasn't there, all I know is what she told me, but really those were (almost) all Covid deniers. One of them told her that this thing is all to make money, all for pharmaceutical companies's businesses, and although it is undeniable that yes, they are making money out of this, this is absolutely normal and always has been. There's nothing wrong with this. She told them one person she knows caught Covid badly, he is one of those who ended up in an ICU and seemed healthy (he used to be a smoker, but quit a long time ago). One of them basically argued that he caught Covid because he was intubated, not the other way around. For him, he was healthy, went to the hospital and because of that caught it. This reasoning doesn't make any sense.

 

But the worst came when a woman, who is a Red Cross volunteer, denied all the deaths we (and most of the world) had because of the pandemic. She said more people died (in Italy) in 2019 than in 2020. This is completely ridiculous. A Red Cross volunteer! My mum couldn't take it, it was too much. She said "Let's see! Let's search the data on the Internet [from verified sources of course, like ISTAT]". Not only there is a noticeable peak in 2020, but 2020 (here) is the year with the most deaths since WW2.

 

Those are the same people who smoke and believe smoking isn't as bad as they say, who are full of themselves, who believe they are above average while they are actually below and who vote certain people and parties (I won't get specific, but most will understand). The more I know people, the more I am just disappointed. There are many good people around, don't get me wrong, but a lot of them are like this. People don't verify the sources of their claims, and just lack common sense. What they say just doesn't make any logical sense. I am proud of being different. I am not perfect, I have many defects, I make mistakes, but I would never say that we had more deaths in 2019 than in 2020, that is a whole different level of denial.

 

I admire all the doctors and nurses who had to hear all sort of things, that Covid doesn't exist, that this is a giant hoax, that we need Nuremberg 2, while they had to save lives and do their job. Their patience must be immense.

 

Edit: fixed a couple of typos.

[colinbm]

It is a confusing world we live in, & our governments & media don't help.

[bvf]

As I've got older I've become more disillusioned about human qualities and values. But there's nothing new about this. I recently watched a TV documentary about that triumph of the British spirit - The Blitz. Turns out that crime was at an all time high, and there were plenty of people using the opportunities to settle scores and enrich themselves - like pulling rings off the fingers of hands reaching out of the rubble attached to people screaming to be saved.

 

To stop going nuts you have to keep reminding yourself that there are lots of wonderful people around achieving great things. That more people do good things than bad. That the Covid deniers are in the minority and the majority of people are trying to follow rapidly changing official guidance. That there are politicians driven by the desire to benefit their societies rather than their own personal wealth and ambitions. That there are media outlets trying to be objective. That most people are honest, care about the environment and their fellow humans, and are not racists.

[Andrea B.]

I always regard Europe as more sensible and enlightened than this goofy country I live in. So to hear that there is such complete and utter nonsense about Covid-19 and the pandemic being said in Italy makes me quite upset. Here I expect such silliness, but not there.

Huge sigh.

 

I wonder what these people will say should a disease like polio return to the world? Or should the plague get loose again?

 

We are not going to be able to attain herd immunity here in the US because so many will not take the vaccine. Now it looks like that will happen around the world, and we will have Covid-19 with us forever.

Double huge sigh.

[Andrea B.]

Selfishness, it is just pure selfishness. These people abdicate their responsibilities to their families, their communities, their countries and to the world.

[Stefano]

I always regard Europe as more sensible and enlightened than this goofy country I live in. So to hear that there is such complete and utter nonsense about Covid-19 and the pandemic being said in Italy makes me quite upset. Here I expect such silliness, but not there.

Huge sigh.

Perhaps we Italians are thought to be brighter then we really are. I'll note, most people here are reasonable, but I see too many who aren't.

 

I wonder what these people will say should a disease like polio return to the world? Or should the plague get loose again?

Probably that it's a conspiracy, an experiment to force us to do certain things we wouldn't normally do, and so on. One of those people my mum met said we are in the middle of an experimentation that will end in 2023. Who told you that? Your neighbour? Did you read this on Facebook, YouTube or whatever? (I'm not saying you can't trust those sources, but a dose of common sense is required).

 

I think some people just don't want to believe facts. It is easier for them to find alternative explanations then to believe the harsh truth. It hurts too much. Liliana Segre, a famous Italian Auschwitz survivor, said the same thing. Now, I feel the comparison is not fair, but it's the same concept.

[dabateman]

Just literally got my second shot. So now the government employee dedicate to track me has all the signal needed and read my mind hearing The Prisoner theme over and over again.

Just joking, there is not enough money or manpower for that and people buy smartphones for the government to track them. So much cheaper and Google or Apple just hands over the data.

[Andrea B.]

Or, you could just leave your smartphone at home when you go to the grocery store. Then the government will *never* learn exactly where you buy your Cheerios and toilet paper !!

[StephanN]

I always regard Europe as more sensible and enlightened than this goofy country I live in.

 

When I was younger, trends from the USA or England or whereever from took some years to arrive in the insignificant, tiny spot of Europe I live in, but I think that in the age of the internet everything travels much faster, news, trends, stupidity, conspiracy theories, etc. I've given up arguing with those relatives of mine who are strictly against vaccination (any and all, not just CoV), sigh.

 

Here's my official Corona-photo, an outdoor-cinema on a rooftop in the city centre where they've turned around 2/3 of the seats, as to ensure proper distancing. Unfortunately I was unable to take another step back and didn't bring my wide-angle, so the front row is cut off (Canon EOS 6D, 700nm, Canon EF-40mm f/2.8)

 

[Cadmium]

Stephan, Great photo.

I could ramble on about the virus and vaccine and the new vaccinated 'mask-less' anouncment here now... but I wont.

[Andrea B.]

Two Vaccination Pathways

• Catch the disease.
  If you do not die from the disease, then you will be "vaccinated" against its recurrence for some period of time. This is because your body has created anti-disease antibodies in the blood while fighting against the disease. Creating antibodies by catching certain diseases risks harmful disease side effects such as death or disabilities.
  

• Take a medical vaccination.
  The medical vaccination process creates anti-disease antibodies in the blood which protect against catching the disease for some period of time. The side effects of vaccinations are minor. Some allergic people must be monitored in the 30 minutes following the vaccination.
  

.

Yes, I understand this is oversimplified.

Yes, I get that some people fear vaccines.

 

Me, I am much more afraider (american slang) of the disease than I am of the vaccine.

 

You have friends or relatives who do not want a medical vaccination?

Help them to understand that a medical vaccination is simply a recreation of the body's natural vaccination process but without the risks of catching the actual disease.

 

I am not sure I should post this? I was hoping it would offer Stephan some way to reach his relatives who don't want to get a vaccination?

 

***************

 

Methinks that there is a natural limit to the number of anti-vaxxers in this world. That limit = 0. Heh, heh.......

[StephanN]

Thanks for the good intentions, but I'm afraid some people are beyond reason, with the last line of defense being "Let's wait until almost everybody got their jabs, then there'll be herd immunity, so I won't get the disease (grudgingly admitting that there is a disease). Let the others take the risks, and me reap the benefits", which unfortunately is an attitude very much on the rise. People wanting all the benefits of a modern, social (not socialist) state, and not willing to give anything in return.

 

Well, enough rambling, I got my first jab a couple of days ago, will get the second one in 6 weeks.

 

What do you think about my corona-photo (from the previous page)? I've reconsidered in the meantime, and think that this one here is going to be my corona-photo, as I feel it shows the thing with the seats more clearly:

 

[Stefano]

You have friends or relatives who do not want a medical vaccination?

Help them to understand that a medical vaccination is simply a recreation of the body's natural vaccination process but without the risks of catching the actual disease.

Depends on the person. Sadly, most of them are stubborn and will never change their minds. As long as the vaccine is not mandatory, I can understand this. What matters is that the "sensitive" people (elders, people with pre-existing diseases, etc.) are mostly covered. Not all elder people, for example, wanted to be vaccinated. AstraZeneca was refused by a good percentage.

 

It is a choice, and I can understand it, as long as you don't endanger anyone. Then it's not a choice anymore. It's an act of responsibly.

 

*I wonder how one can be sure not to put other people's health in danger by not getting vaccinated. Maybe it is possible, but to what extent?

[Stefano]

Stephan, I like the second one more, it feels more "abstract" (I don't know how to put this in words, there is less perspective) and is a bit creepier. Gives a lonely, cold feeling.