Coronavirus COVID-19 - Global Health Pandemic #63

[Lilibet]

My friends and I are doing "Friday night" at my garden. We started this a few weeks ago, more and more folks are just showing up. Lots of social distancing. We have a good time.

We have a social hour (or two) on Zoom Fridays at 5:00. BYOB, BYODinner. It’s fun. We’ve actually done more socially on Zoom than we ever did in person.

 

[jjenny]

Predictable, but for different reasons.

The lock up was unsustainable - economically and socially. Nobody that I hang out with thinks the virus is "done for." What we are "done with" is the idea that the only solution is to close up the world. Was heartened to see our Governor tweet about his meeting with business leaders. When a person would tweet "SHUT EVERYTHING DOWN," they would get half a dozen replies saying "WHY DON'T YOU JUST STAY HOME"

And yet Europe managed to flatten the curve while our curve is sky rocketing.

 

[tresir2012]

Good news.

Cuomo, de Blasio wrong to limit worship services, condone mass protests: federal judge

De Blasio had "simultaneous pro-protest/anti-religious gathering messages" when he "actively encouraged participation in protests and openly discouraged religious gatherings and threatened religious worshipers," Sharpe said in his federal order.
<snip>

He added, "This decision is an important step toward inhibiting the suddenly emerging trend of exercising absolute monarchy on [the] pretext of public health. What this kind of regime really meant in practice is freedom for me, but not for thee.”

Some common sense at last.

 

[MimosaMornings]

It's hard to adequately express the insane levels of guilt being put on people to attend church. I've felt it myself despite our church totally shutting down. We reopened, attended services and despite wearing masks were exposed to someone this Saturday. We aren't going back anytime soon. It just drove home how stupid it is to get sit in a room with someone else for who knows how long that could be diagnosed with COVID shortly after that.

But for many churches that have sacraments this is not something that can be replaced online. You can't participate in a liturgy or mass that way. You can't just sub communion. You can't receive absolution online.

But we are faced with people constantly deriding us for staying home at all and questioning our salvation. This is a real problem for so many people. They feel like it's a spiritual life or death choice and they have to choose to sacrifice their physical life for eternal life.

Just yesterday I was fielding articles on COVID and the AntiChrist. It wears people down. They question themselves.

Wow. I would go ballistic if I had people deriding me or my family for not physically going to a church.
I can’t imagine these people pressuring you to make such a choice. I am so sorry you are experiencing guilt, I look for church to lift me up not question my faith.
And now you have been exposed. I am so sorry. I will say a prayer for you this evening(My personal time in the garage after everyone has gone to bed and I can pray, cry or just have some quiet time)
Ours are not open for indoor services, the numbers are too high and zoom/outdoor are adequate for now.

 

[SoCalDavidS]

Breaking: It's Official, Americans Not Welcome In Europe

E.U. Plans to Bar Most U.S. Travelers When Bloc Reopens
Europe will allow outsiders to begin entering again on July 1, but the U.S. and Russia are among the nations considered too risky because they have not controlled the coronavirus outbreak.

The European Union will bar most travelers from the United States, Russia, and dozens of other countries considered too risky because they have not controlled the coronavirus outbreak, E.U. officials said Friday.

By contrast, travelers from more than a dozen countries that are not overwhelmed by the coronavirus will be welcomed when the bloc reopens after months of lockdown on July 1. The acceptable countries also include China — but only if China allows European Union travelers to visit as well, the officials said.

The list of safe countries was completed by E.U. senior diplomats in Brussels after tortuous negotiations on how to reopen the 27-member bloc to commerce and tourism under a common set of standards after months of lockdown.

The list was backed in principle by most E.U. ambassadors and does not require unanimous support, but still needs to be formalized in member states’ capitals as well as in the central European Union bureaucracy before taking effect July 1. Diplomats did not expect the list to change.

E.U. Plans to Bar Most U.S. Travelers When Bloc Reopens

 

[Reasonable & Just]

Breaking: It's Official, Americans Not Welcome In Europe

E.U. Plans to Bar Most U.S. Travelers When Bloc Reopens
Europe will allow outsiders to begin entering again on July 1, but the U.S. and Russia are among the nations considered too risky because they have not controlled the coronavirus outbreak.

The European Union will bar most travelers from the United States, Russia, and dozens of other countries considered too risky because they have not controlled the coronavirus outbreak, E.U. officials said Friday.

By contrast, travelers from more than a dozen countries that are not overwhelmed by the coronavirus will be welcomed when the bloc reopens after months of lockdown on July 1. The acceptable countries also include China — but only if China allows European Union travelers to visit as well, the officials said.

The list of safe countries was completed by E.U. senior diplomats in Brussels after tortuous negotiations on how to reopen the 27-member bloc to commerce and tourism under a common set of standards after months of lockdown.

The list was backed in principle by most E.U. ambassadors and does not require unanimous support, but still needs to be formalized in member states’ capitals as well as in the central European Union bureaucracy before taking effect July 1. Diplomats did not expect the list to change.

E.U. Plans to Bar Most U.S. Travelers When Bloc Reopens

The double-edged sword of the low expectations we have for ourselves and our leaders...take the easy way out, and watch your choices disappear. On the upside, I hope we all take some time to appreciate our beautiful nation and see that our public lands are worth protecting. I hope we get to know our fellow citizens and see them as worth protecting, too.

 

[ilovewings]

Baseball
Giants offer non-season ticket holders $99 cardboard cutout in stands (report)


According to ESPN, season-ticket holders for the San Francisco Giants will have an opportunity to have cardboard cutouts of themselves in the stands after the team announced its stands will be empty due to the coronavirus pandemic.

For fans who don’t own season tickets, the price of a cutout of themselves in the stands is $99.

That's a hoot!!!!

 

[Reasonable & Just]

There have only been two rallies I know of in the last week. We have had hundreds of state and worldwide unplanned protests and riots and statue destruction and civil disobedience with many injured police for at least two weeks at the beginning of June. The rallies were only two individual planned legal events no civil disobedience, injuries or arrests.

The people who started in March, April, and May ruined it for everyone thereafter...and were egged on by the rally master himself. It was by sheer privilege that they didn't get arrested for screaming (unmasked) in the faces of officers. And they weren't protesting the sadistic public murder of a fellow citizen, either.

 

[10ofRods]

Interesting case. Scary how many ways COVID-19 can affect the body... I imagine we will keep on learning about that over time. I'm very concerned about long-term impacts and disability in those who survive the disease.

Over on reddit, I've been following the CoronaVirusPositive people. One woman, aged 35, had a mild course of CoVid, but kept having ear problems. Went to doctor. They did bloodwork, blood sugar and potassium very very low. (Potassium isn't usually available in supplements in any great amount, as it can mess with humans).

So the first doctor asked a second doctor to come in. All were wearing masks, including patient. Second doctor asked if she'd had any signs of a stroke. She laughed and said, "If I weren't wearing my mask, you'd see I have facial twitches." So they ordered a CT and said she'd had a few small strokes and admitted her. She doesn't know yet whether it's CoVId (very likely) or something else (unlikely) but it seems CoVid (being pure RNA) can "turn on" genes that might not go haywire until at a much older age. She doesn't know yet if it was micro-clots and is terrified as she awaits more tests, including apparently a spinal tap. She's not currently contagious - she had been cleared.

 

[ilovewings]

So, Florida bans alcohol at all bars. Becha it will be like Prohibition - BYOB. Why even go to a bar?

i thik that is the point--'so people wont go to bars en masse!!!!

 

[beatrixpotter]

Wow. I would go ballistic if I had people deriding me or my family for not physically going to a church.
I can’t imagine these people pressuring you to make such a choice. I am so sorry you are experiencing guilt, I look for church to lift me up not question my faith.
And now you have been exposed. I am so sorry. I will say a prayer for you this evening(My personal time in the garage after everyone has gone to bed and I can pray, cry or just have some quiet time)
Ours are not open for indoor services, the numbers are too high and zoom/outdoor are adequate for now.

Thank you, Mimosa. Thankfully this is not the majority. But it is a VERY very vocal minority causing all kinds of dissension and drama for a lot of people.

 

[beatrixpotter]

Scary. There are studies confirming low potassium in covid patients. I already have a hypokalemia diagnosis and am very concerned over this. I spend literally all day tracking the time to take my potassium. Twitching like she experienced is also a sign of an electrolyte imbalance like with low potassium.

Over on reddit, I've been following the CoronaVirusPositive people. One woman, aged 35, had a mild course of CoVid, but kept having ear problems. Went to doctor. They did bloodwork, blood sugar and potassium very very low. (Potassium isn't usually available in supplements in any great amount, as it can mess with humans).

So the first doctor asked a second doctor to come in. All were wearing masks, including patient. Second doctor asked if she'd had any signs of a stroke. She laughed and said, "If I weren't wearing my mask, you'd see I have facial twitches." So they ordered a CT and said she'd had a few small strokes and admitted her. She doesn't know yet whether it's CoVId (very likely) or something else (unlikely) but it seems CoVid (being pure RNA) can "turn on" genes that might not go haywire until at a much older age. She doesn't know yet if it was micro-clots and is terrified as she awaits more tests, including apparently a spinal tap. She's not currently contagious - she had been cleared.

 

[SoCalDavidS]

That's a hoot!!!!

Seems like people should be saving their money instead of wasting it on some cardboard face nobody will ever see. I guess they'll let people keep them after the season? Of course, I still don't think we'll see a full season.

Here's something to ponder. Will these athletes, with Multi Million $$$ contracts.....who are willing to stay out of a lineup for weeks/months, to Completely rehabilitate an injury.....will they risk potentially permanently damaging their lungs, or even death to themselves or a family member, just to continue playing, if other players begin contracting the virus?

I can see one or more of the sports attempting to start.....but given the Total Cluster f&*k we're in, I can't see any of them making it to the finish.

Oh, and I think we probably could have made sports possible, we're just too screwed up and we didn't do and aren't doing what it would have taken.

 

[Lilibet]

The people who started in March, April, and May ruined it for everyone thereafter...and were egged on by the rally master himself. It was by sheer privilege that they didn't get arrested for screaming (unmasked) in the faces of officers. And they weren't protesting the sadistic public murder of a fellow citizen, either.

Some of us have been trying to get this point across for a couple of threads. It’s hopeless and is a pointless discussion at this point. Save your typing fingers.

 

[10ofRods]

It's hard to adequately express the insane levels of guilt being put on people to attend church. I've felt it myself despite our church totally shutting down. We reopened, attended services and despite wearing masks were exposed to someone this Saturday. We aren't going back anytime soon. It just drove home how stupid it is to get sit in a room with someone else for who knows how long that could be diagnosed with COVID shortly after that.

But for many churches that have sacraments this is not something that can be replaced online. You can't participate in a liturgy or mass that way. You can't just sub communion. You can't receive absolution online.

But we are faced with people constantly deriding us for staying home at all and questioning our salvation. This is a real problem for so many people. They feel like it's a spiritual life or death choice and they have to choose to sacrifice their physical life for eternal life.

Just yesterday I was fielding articles on COVID and the AntiChrist. It wears people down. They question themselves.

Priests can put on masks and visit people in their homes, which was routine during my childhood, before there were vaccines for many diseases that were also taking out the elderly. And during the 1968 flu pandemic.

Priests can also bless any liquid or bread-like thing from afar (and did so regularly during the Crusades). My point is, that people in war time and other crisis situations have in fact gotten sacraments from afar or via priestly visitation to a home.

It's very sad to me that people would construe the Christian God to be so punitive as to deny salvation to someone for missing a ceremony. It must put tremendous strain on people.

At any rate, a person should be able to interact with congregants if at least 80% are wearing masks, if they bring their hand sanitizer and/or wear gloves and if the people preparing communion are also masked and gloved. Churches can seat people ever other pew and every other seat. Everyone can wear masks except when actually taking communion. Indeed, during Medieval times and the plague, nuns did in fact administer sacraments in lieu of priests where none were available, and they wore face coverings (which is interesting).

I've been to masses all over Europe where the infirm and the immune-impaired elderly do not go up to actually drink the cup (which is shared in many places) and they bring their own bread, which the priests bless as part of the ceremony - no one has touched their food, they are safe. They all raise the bread/cracker to their lips during a part of the ceremony and they touch their fingers to their lips during the cup part of the ceremony. These traditions vary a great deal all around the world, even within one denomination. The things the priests say during the ceremonies vary as well. Some people have celiac disease, for example. Others cannot drink wine or juice.

It gets worked out.

 

[Trino]

It's hard to adequately express the insane levels of guilt being put on people to attend church. I've felt it myself despite our church totally shutting down. We reopened, attended services and despite wearing masks were exposed to someone this Saturday. We aren't going back anytime soon. It just drove home how stupid it is to get sit in a room with someone else for who knows how long that could be diagnosed with COVID shortly after that.

But for many churches that have sacraments this is not something that can be replaced online. You can't participate in a liturgy or mass that way. You can't just sub communion. You can't receive absolution online.

But we are faced with people constantly deriding us for staying home at all and questioning our salvation. This is a real problem for so many people. They feel like it's a spiritual life or death choice and they have to choose to sacrifice their physical life for eternal life.

Just yesterday I was fielding articles on COVID and the AntiChrist. It wears people down. They question themselves.

My cousin's church reopened. Social distancing during service. No singing. No choir. So socialization before or after service. Seems you could get the same message online, staying safe at home.

 

[CSIDreamer]

Scary. There are studies confirming low potassium in covid patients. I already have a hypokalemia diagnosis and am very concerned over this. I spend literally all day tracking the time to take my potassium. Twitching like she experienced is also a sign of an electrolyte imbalance like with low potassium.

You probably know but I drink low sodium V8 for the potassium.

 

[gitana1]

AFAIK there have been two rallies, one with 6,000 and one with 3,000 within the last week. There is no way those are responsible for the spike in cases seen in Texas, Califirnia and Arizona IMO. If there were rallies in early June, then I have not heard about them.

True. The big issue was the re-openings and people failing to follow basic guidelines.

 

[SoCalDavidS]

Some of us have been trying to get this point across for a couple of threads. It’s hopeless and is a pointless discussion at this point. Save your typing fingers.

Where is a banging head against wall emoji when you need one?

 

[MrX]

And yet Europe managed to flatten the curve while our curve is sky rocketing.

People keep saying that, but at what cost? They are still totally restricted. It's been proven everywhere that congregation and flat curves are incompatible. How can anyone look at pictures of packed clubs and beaches and think it will be possible to keep people locked up forever. Because it will have to be a literal lock up, as it will be like Prohibition.