Voicelessness and Emotional Survival > Voicelessness and Emotional Survival Message Board
Coronavirus
Twoapenny:
--- Quote from: sKePTiKal on May 08, 2020, 10:22:58 AM ---And life is going on like normal around here; cases are low - we're a very rural state of course; neighbors separated by miles in some cases - per testing, the negative cases outnumber the positive (and I know 4 were NYS campers that brought it with them) - and the recovered cases outnumber the positives. There have been 50-51 deaths out of 1.8 million people.
Governor has a common-sense plan for getting people back to work - phased in, so that things can be halted or reversed if there is a sudden spike in illnesses/pos tests. Hospitals and clinics are back to operation for the full range of issues again. But he didn't turn the state into ghost-towns in the first place. Our farmers, orchardists, construction trades were all considered "essential" - and so are the places that supply them.
Across the mountain, it's more urban - but even so, I saw plenty of people not masked. Even store employees. There's a higher percentage of masks there to be seen - but since a mask obliterates half the facial cues for interaction and communication, people are really "over" feeling unnecessarily isolated & divided. It's very easy to misinterpret emotional information from just eyes above a mask.
Large urban areas are likely to be the last to finally get their caseloads down to a small, managable number. But that shouldn't prevent the people who AREN'T living in those areas to get back to production supplying the needs for those cities. And of course, as ever - people who want to continue to self-isolate, wear masks, maintain a bigger "personal space" - are always free to do so. There isn't the overarching public health concern about education, information or quarantine for healthy people instead of the smaller number of sick anymore. The state needs to withdraw back into it's regular boundaries and let individuals do as they like.
It's supposed to still be a free country, right?
--- End quote ---
I wish we lived where you did, Skep, miles between neighbours would be so much better than the cramped conditions so many have to live in. We're in a quieter part of the country where I am compared to somewhere like London, for example, but even here you're never far from anyone else and space is limited unless you're very wealthy and can buy a large plot (and that, of course makes no difference, when you go out because everyone else is out as well).
To be fair the masks are largely pointless in terms of protection; a medical friend explained it all to me and I can't remember the big words but basically masks need to be proper medical grade with appropriate filters in them to stop the germ particles entering the nose and mouth and they can also, apparently, get in through the eyes so you need eye cover to stop that problem (and visor type cover, sunglasses don't do the job!). My worry about the masks is that they'll lull people into a false sense of security and make them think they're safe when they're not. Additionally the healthy people versus sick people is a huge problem here, because of the healthy people passing it on to the sick people. There's very limited testing (so no useful figures to establish how many people have it) and no contact tracing set up so anyone a positive person has been in contact with could also have picked it up, they pass it on and so on. Our elderly, currently being applauded as it's VE Day (75 Years since we 'won the war') are currently dying in their beds in care homes without even anyone sitting by their side or sufficient pain relief because the morphine supplies are low and the care workers can't sit with them because of the risk of infection and the fact they're rushed off their feet looking after everyone else. People like my son have been told they won't get a ventilator because they're not worth saving; no-one's really able to make a decent profit out of him because he can't work so he has no value and isn't worth the time or effort. They've just announced that disabled people currently using ventilators as part of their disability need (not Covid related) won't be getting the filters they need for them because they're saving them for Covid patients. These people will die without that support; again, they're disabled so their profit margins don't make them worth saving.
I think what I'd have liked to seen - and some say it's easy with hindsight although many countries had a couple of months warning this was coming so could have got plans in place - would have been to ring fence staff to look after the needs of the elderly and already sick and disabled. So you've got those that need protecting being protected by teams who are all isolating and therefore reducing the risk of picking it up and passing it on. Then let all the other fit and health people go out and do as they please. They can all infect one another, get better quickly and then that herd immunity would have been in place and presumably would have kept everyone else safe as well. I prefer that approach to the 'throw them under the bus' approach that's happening here, although it hasn't surprised me as the last ten years have been horrifying here for anyone needing help so I knew as soon as I heard what was going on that we'd be left to fend for ourselves. xx
Hopalong:
Amber,
Treading gently I hope, but maybe it'll help us understand each other even though we see things through different lenses.
The thing about freedom, I believe, is that in a moral society individual freedoms are balanced with concern for the common good. That's why we require drivers' licenses, so 5-year-olds don't take off to drive to California to buy Lamborghinis. (Did you see that one? He was promptly rewarded for his "brave" behavior by being taken for a ride in a real Lamborghini. IOW, lauded on social media for acting "free" rather than scolded for endangering everyone on the highway.)
I think masks trigger similar yay-cowboy sentiments. My understanding about wearing cloth masks is that it's NOT as much to reduce one's own chances of getting the virus. It's part of our SOCIAL contract, because it prevents your breathing/spitty speech/cough/sneeze from infecting a vulnerable person near you. Because people without symptoms can be asymptomatic carriers for weeks without knowing it, you're just reducing the chances that you'll do harm. Possibly deadly.
I'm good with that. I'd rather live in a culture of civic responsibility and caring. No skin off my nose nor threads falling off my flag. I've been sickened by images of protesters howling humidly right into the faces of people (officers) who are trying to keep the peace or some (counter protesters) who want to peacefully point out a different perspective. Even coughing deliberately on them. It's hard to respect that.
Diff'rent strokes, but that's how I see it.
Hugs
Hops
Twoapenny:
Well we are bracing for the second wave here now. PM made a number of vague, confusing announcements on Sunday night that left some people thinking they could go back to work (or could force their employees into work) from Monday. Government then said they meant Wednesday and released a 60 page lockdown easement plan that focuses a lot on guidance that will be released 'later in the week'. The papers were full of pictures of people on crowded buses and trains.
The thing that frightens me the most is that a lot of people are taking and will take any relaxing of lockdown by the government as a sign it's safe now. And it isn't. We have the highest death toll in Europe and no idea how many people are walking around infected and not knowing it. They are reducing financial support for people who've not been able to go into work so many will be forced to go back, however unsafe it is. People are under the impression that cloth masks will keep them safe - they won't. We're in an holiday area and there have been reports of many people turning up overnight to visit their second homes or have a few days by the seaside now. No method in place to check the health status of any of them or meet their health care needs should they fall ill while they're here.
People are taking the fact that the NHS coped with the first wave as a good sign. But the only reason they coped was because they cancelled everything else - every operation, every routine appointment, chemotherapy, rehab, everything. They now have that massive backlog to work through and, with people flooding out the doors now, another wave of Covid patients to deal with, which will mean cancelling everything else again, and so it continues. There's a massive lack of understanding, brought about by the government and the media and I'm so scared for so many people who will genuinely think it's safe now and it isn't. I've told son we might well be in for a year and he took that pretty well. I haven't mentioned it might be even longer. I did manage to get my food delivery organised for Friday but we can only get one delivery a week so if it's short of anything we're going to be stuck again. We're just hiding inside until we see how bad this next wave is going to be.
Hopalong:
Yesterday I was getting blue about the isolation and uncertainty, and wound up searching out political parody songs on YouTube.
I think Randy Rainbow is keeping me sane. Or sane enough.
Local cases are climbing but this is not second wave, it's still first wave. We are a smallish Atlantic city and have been behind the national curve or the big urban situations like New York's. One thing that works well locally is a well-educated population for the most part, a good deal of community engagement, and a significant number of dedicated social justice organizations and efforts.
I hear you grieving for your whole country, Tupp. Maybe when it gets overwhelming though, you might want to reduce that big national picture from your focus and do something simple, like make cookies (biscuits) and leave a package of them on the doorsteps either side of you. Or figure out how to make a wee kitchen-compost container so you'll have rich dirt for things you'd like to plant.
Mainly, a news break. You are absolutely doing the best you can in this strange time, and you've done an amazing job of it.
I remember when I lived in a tiny one-room efficiency as a grad student, and had one African violet in a pot. I doted on that plant and it became extraordinary. I also adopted an injured cat I found in an alley. He'd been hit by a car and had spinal damage, so when he ate he "pecked" his food from the bowl like a chicken. But he was deeply sweet and lovely, and purred up a storm.
I'd listen to the Steve Miller Band..."if you can't be with the one you love, honey, love the one you're with." Oh those hippie days! I guess I just thought of that tune because "if I can't be in the world I'd love, I'll love the one I'm in." No matter what.
hugs
Hops
lighter:
I've fallen down the COVID 19 rabbit hole for a while. The part I'm trying to wrap my mind around is the blood clotting and why. I think its nothing to do with B+ blood types, which oldest dd and I have. I think it's the fact the virus moves through the easily infected lungs, enters the blood and infects the endothelial cells. The endothelium is the lining of our blood vessels. It directs important functions of the vascular system like clotting and swelling.
THIS, for me, is the most frightening aspect of the disease, along with the cytokine storm and inflammation that comes with.
Those with heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, and other health problems stressing the endothelium are at higher risk, which makes sense.
My feeling around this virus is we'll find a way to be proactive around it..... instead of waiting to see who can fight it off and who can't, which seems to be our main strategy. I understand we're gathering information so we can be responsive. I'm not complaining, just writing out the moving parts that worry me most.
The links below are the recent rabbit holes. Not asking for input or for anyone to read them. They're my notes. I'm not panicking. I want information to make sense of what's happening around me.
Lighter
https://www.webmd.com/lung/news/20200424/blood-clots-are-another-dangerous-covid-19-mystery
https://www.pharmacytimes.com/ajax/study-suggests-blood-type-a-associated-with-higher-risk-of-covid-19
https://www.statnews.com/2020/04/16/blood-clots-coronavirus-tpa/
https://www.news-medical.net/news/20200521/Excessive-blood-clotting-and-stroke-in-COVID-19-patients.aspx
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