rimrocker family update: One of my kids started a job as a contact tracer. Trained for three weeks and then they threw the protocols out and severely simplified them because there are too many cases to trace. Their job now is to identify those who need help most, like the COVID positive divorced mom with three young kids who has a must-show-up job. Mrs. rimrocker wrote the protocols for her workplace and only four people are allowed at any one time in what would normally be a 24-person office. They also have to be in separate areas. We didn’t let the youngest go to college this semester and won’t next. She’s spending her freshman year in her bedroom taking remote classes. The state where her school is has one of the highest case rates. I did another stint in a State Emergency Operations Center to give some folks a break. Was nervous the whole time and isolated in my home office for a couple of weeks when I got back. You have no idea how hard people are working for you and what BS they have to put up with. I don’t scare easily. I’ve worked a lot of tough incidents and buried firefighters. This thing—right now—scares me so much. I fear for my immediate family, my extended family, friends who are vulnerable, and friends who insist on being stupid. I fear for my community and state and nation. If there had been real federal coordination, we would not be here now. If there had been additional federal assistance, we would not be here now because at least some governors would have put in restrictions earlier. It did not have to be this way. The number of preventable deaths over the next few months will be incredible. The burnout rate among doctors, nurses, paramedics, public health workers, and other responders will be unfathomable. We are stocked up and planning to hunker down until at least March while limiting outside contact to one grocery visit per week if needed. Please take this seriously and do the right things for your safety and the safety of those around you.
I didn't realize that people were still irrationally afraid of COVID-19. If you're a senior citizen, the threat is real, but there's very little threat for anyone else. I thought by now most people would have learned that already. It's simply not a serious enough threat for people to stop living their lives and to destroy the economy over. Obviously the older you are, the more precautions you should take...or if you are in frequent close contact with old people...but the number of young people I've seen freaking out and staying locked up in their homes over this is absolutely ridiculous given the actual threat.
I think it's more that I don't typically associate with the kind of people prone to that kind of hysteria, so since I don't see it often, it's easy to forget that those kinds of people exist. That's why it's good to occasionally break out of echo chambers in order to check out what different people think.
Alarming news here. I think I may have spoken too soon that the virus hasn't mutated. The mean age of ICU patients has fallen to just 64 years. Half of the patients in ICU are 40-64 and half are over 65. The doctors are saying that in this wave they keep incubating younger and younger people.
And even if you don't get hit with severe symptoms initially, studies have shown a lot of long-term effects that also hit young people (heavily reduced lung function, heart issues, dizziness, Alzheimer, mental illnesses etc). People saying that "don't need to worry unless you're old" nonsense should either inform themselves about this disease or not spread their dumbass ideas online.
A close friend of mine, 35ish - no serious issues at any point. BUT. No taste or smell for 9 weeks now! It might seem trivial from a life-or-death standpoint, but... c'mon man. That's ****ing terrible. Lol.
People who are 54 and under make up a grand total of 8.2% of those who have died in the US with COVID-19. If you look at those 44 and under the percentage drops to 2.9%. If you are 44 or younger your chance of dying with COVID is almost 0, you don't even get up to a 1% chance of dying with COVID till you get into your 50's, in your 60's you are up to about 2.4%, and in your 70's it's up to 6%. Those 80 and over have about a 20% chance. That's simply the facts. Now sure, if you have advanced COPD or something of that nature, that changes things for you, but the average person under 50 has almost no chance of dying with COVID. Funny enough, from what I've seen, those who haven't had it are considerably more prone to irrational panic than those of us who have had it.
Because letting this thing rage uncontrolled and people being sick and out of work for a month or more with possible permanent health afflictions will not destroy the economy....This virus has been around for less than a year and scientists do not yet know the full scope of the possible long-term damage it may do to people, yet somehow people like you are already so fully aware that you can declare it to be a non-threat for the population at large?
Having had COVID-19, I'd much rather have it again than have the flu, the last time I had the flu it was considerably more serious. There's a real disconnect between reality and the fearmongering nonsense that gets parroted. Perhaps watch less TV. Hopefully you realize that your comparison of COVID-19 to HIV is so absurd it's not worth discussion.
Allowing it to run it's course would be far less harmful to the economy and the people as a whole than the authoritarian nonsense that has been enacted and that might be enacted in the future. Most of the businesses that have failed, would not have failed if they weren't prevented from being open and making money. Also, I find it weird that some people seem to hope that one day they'll discover some long term effects from COVID-19 in order to justify the ridiculous panic over it. There are possible lingering effects, just like with anything, but they are typically minor and temporary. I'm not saying that people who are at higher risk shouldn't take precautions, but the endorsement of shutdowns and the panic among those under 50 is laughable. It's nothing but ignorant hysteria.
