Covid

[Grumpy old man]

The local news reported there are only 8 ICU beds available in East Tn , Even with the local restrictions ( Masks inside any business ) The restaurant parking lots are full , The local big box gas station clerks have their masks hanging below their chin , 90 % of the people aren't wearing them anywhere ? I filled my gas tank yesterday for the first time since JAN ! That's right I used 1 tank of gas this year ! We don't go to restaurants we eat at home there's nothing they have that I can't cook better here like Tn lobster . What's it like where you are ?

[Zippi]

Around here the big box stores seem to be doing a good job it's just the general public that still does not get it. I still see people walking into stores with no mask at all and there is a BIG sign on the door that says "Mask Required". I was just at the local Lowes and while I was checking out I was standing on the dots they have on the floor that are 6' apart but this lady behind me was right on my heels. I took a couple steps forward and she just did the same. I turned and ask her if she could please keep her distance and this is what I got. "Whatever" I stepped out of line and went to another.

[REDROCKER652002]

Here in California our Governor is just about to shut the whole state down again. Shelter in place is coming if the ICU bed availability drops below 15% I think. I get it, but he is going to completely ruin any chances of the small businesses coming back from this. Here, if you don't have a mask on you cannot go into any of the businesses, period. I get it, but if people would just do what they are told and wear a mask things would be so much better. The vaccine is coming, but it is still a ways off from getting to anybody outside of health care and at risk, so just follow the darn rules and suck it up for a bit longer.

[rpmerf]

MD here. I think we are doing better than most places, but still there has been a LARGE uptick since September. End of September / early October, we were seeing around 700 cases a day. We even had at least one day in early October with no Covid deaths (confirmed or suspected) for the first time since March. Since then it has been climbing like crazy. Past 24 hours: 3700 positive tests and 24 confirmed deaths.

https://coronavirus.maryland.gov/

Going out is pretty much like normal except that everyone is wearing a mask. We've really been avoiding going out aside from hiking, going to my parent's house, and necessary shopping (food, parts store, or home improvement store). Most stuff we just get online.

I've been to a restaurant maybe 5 times since March. All but one of those times was outside. I went inside a restaurant for the first time on Wednesday. My Aunt was accepted into Arlington, and some of us got together afterwards. I was really surprised to see a bar area that looked pretty packed. When you are sitting, you don't need to wear a mask. We stayed in the restaurant section far away from the bar area...

Back in January, me, my wife, daughter, and parents went to Disney World. We are pretty sure we caught Corona while we were there. We were so sick, we skipped our last park day ($200+ down the drain). My father got an antibody test, and it turned up negative. That was in June, and the tests are only accurate for 2-3 months from when you had the virus.

"Wear the damn mask!" - Governor Hogan

[truckster]

The numbers are one thing... my sister has been in the ICU with COVID for three weeks. We pray every day for her to be spared. Oh, and some of her children were anti-maskers until three weeks ago.

[old Rusty C10]

I have gone on with my daily life since the outbreak. I never wear a mask and im fine as is my family

[Grumpy old man]

Originally Posted by old Rusty C10

I have gone on with my daily life since the outbreak. I never wear a mask and im fine as is my family

I don't get it ? You're in a high risk group in one of the hotbed areas of the country and a mask that cost less than a dollar that could save your or someone elses life is too much trouble to wear ? heaven forbid Negative today , Positive tomorrow . Not trying to give you a hard time , I'm just trying to understand why ?

[LockDoc]

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70 deaths day before yesterday and 84 yesterday in the rural state of Iowa. Close friend and old car & truck nut died from it a couple of weeks ago. Wife and I have been wearing our masks since this stuff hit the fan. Not a big deal to wear them. Some people won't wear them just because they think someone is trying to tell them what to do.... Crazy mindset

LockDoc

[richard2717]

Originally Posted by old Rusty C10

I have gone on with my daily life since the outbreak. I never wear a mask and im fine as is my family

I agree and do the same. If covid don't get me something else will. No one gets out alive. I refuse to quit living for fear of dying. I get flack all the time over it but that is the great thing about this country, we can each have our own opinion whether anyone else likes it or not.

[Indian113]

My wife caught it while working in a Nursing Home and I in turn got it from her in July. I was sick for almost three weeks and my wife was sick for two weeks. I was scared to death because I am real high risk being a three time cancer survivor and just a tad over weight. Now she is a traveling Nurse and we are in Virginia Beach while she works in a Covid Unit. She is getting tested two times a week and being extra cautious with it. Here you have to wear a mask just to do anything and BELIEVE me I Do!

[Andy4639]

I have a mask and wear it if I have to but I very seldom do just for the fact that I don't see it. The flu & pneumonia has a higher death rate than this virus but we don't worry about it. I just don't go out looking for a excuse to go out but I don't hide in my house either. I live my life and we have had company in our house at the beach, we have our group of friends we eat with all the time. None of us have had it, are been sick. We know if one of us has a cold are something else we stay home.

My dad is 95 years old and I have only seen him 3 times 1 day at a time since March because he didn't want to take a chance and that is fine but I on the other hand will regret not seeing him if he passes away from anything. This virus is real and it's bad but so is cancer, 2nd hand smoke, flu, heck common cold can kill you if you don't t do anything to stop it and your condition is bad to begin with. I will not hide inside because of it. That being said I want get mad at some one who does because that's their right. I respect it as I do my dad. If you see me out and I don't have my mask on then respect my right as I do yours. I will stay at least 6' away from you unless you say it's OK to be closer. If all these things work then it should be no problem for anyone if we stay 6' a part. I don't even have to wear a mask because of my medical condition 'Asbestos' but I will if I have to.

[truckster]

Originally Posted by richard2717

I agree and do the same. If covid don't get me something else will. No one gets out alive. I refuse to quit living for fear of dying. I get flack all the time over it but that is the great thing about this country, we can each have our own opinion whether anyone else likes it or not.

I found out I could go on living while wearing a mask. I'm all about civil liberties, and I respect other people's right not to wear a mask, but I choose not to associate with them until this pandemic is over.

People say, "Everybody dies sometime." But when it's your family member dying way too young it's not so easy to be cavalier about it. I don't care too much about me, and I'm a really healthy guy anyway, but my sister is in intensive care and my wife is high risk. I care about them a whole lot.

[The Rocknrod]

I work at a data center in Iowa in construction and commissioning. Manpower has been trimmed way down, face masks are mandatory and we push the six foot rule pretty hard daily. There is constant cleaning and disinfecting going on here. I never go anywhere outside of work, home+work. My wife gets the shopping done and wears a mask etc. I'l be done the end of this month. But I will go to another site and work.

[FleetsidePaul]

I'm all for wearing masks. There's a lot of really ugly chicks up here. And if they cover those ugly faces with masks. I'm good with that.

[Low Elco]

I've been wearing a mask at work, there's a lot of us in a small space and 4 of us have had it now. I wear one when I got to stores, etc. I'm generally either at work or in the shop, and we takeout most anything anyway. Hasn't really slowed me down much at all. I think I had it in Dec (mysteriously on my a$$ for 3 days), wife had it (down on power and 102.8 for 2 days) in Feb, 18 year old (snotty nose and down power for 3 days) had it in Sept. A high school friend came thaaaaaat close to dying in March, and a good work friend of hispanic descent died 2 weeks ago. He was 47. Don't know what to say, I just keep rollin' along. Don't know what to think of this vaccine.

[rharris]

I wear the mask when required. It's not the business's fault how the governors react. WHAT HAPPENED TO LETTING THE IMMUNE SYSTEM DO IT'S JOB? This has got to be ridiculous. Too much government IMO. Not barking at anyone who has suffered in their own way from the virus, i'm just over seeing certain shops and business suffer while corporate America goes on about their day.

[LT7A]

Just from reading this thread I can see why we have such a problem still in our country. I'm in construction and I wear a hard hat whenever I'm on site even though the risk of getting hit in the head with something is very small. But I'm protected from that very small risk. And in addition to that I'm an example to everyone else who needs to protect themselves. We spend millions of dollars a year in the industry to try to save the thousand guys we lose every year. If a simple mask would save those guys, we would make every last construction worker wear one even if they cost $1,000 a piece. I cannot get my mind around the idea of resisting doing something so simple that if everyone did it, this thing would be over in 2 weeks.

[68panelman]

I think most of the issue is no one knows if the masks truly work. Even Tony fauci said in the beginning that they would not help,..and we still don't know if they do anything to protect us. We are told different facts everyday, different numbers, all deaths are covid related, but with underlying ailments, I also hear that the yearly death rate has not increased from previous years, figure that one out. Being lied to by the government has always been happening, but when a regular ole construction guy like myself can figure out whats happening and whats coming next for the last eight months, something terrible wrong is going on in our great nation besides a flu like virus.

[rharris]

Originally Posted by 68panelman

I think most of the issue is no one knows if the masks truly work. Even Tony fauci said in the beginning that they would not help,..and we still don't know if they do anything to protect us. We are told different facts everyday, different numbers, all deaths are covid related, but with underlying ailments, I also hear that the yearly death rate has not increased from previous years, figure that one out. Being lied to by the government has always been happening, but when a regular ole construction guy like myself can figure out whats happening and whats coming next for the last eight months, something terrible wrong is going on in our great nation besides a flu like virus.

x2. And people receive positive test results that never got tested (yes, it happened). How about this - young children don't have to wear masks because their immune system is much stronger and they are most likely to go on without skipping a beat. However, your mask protects the other person from yourself, not you from them (so they say). So, if a kid is immune, but carrying the virus which we wouldn't know because they don't have symptoms, how are we protected from them? Very strange scenario our government fed us. Again, i don't mean any disrespect to anyone - too many unknowns during a crazy time.

To answer Grumpy's question - cases are spiking here in PA. 50/50 on the masks. I do know one thing, Grumpy looks like a fine cook and quarantining in that kitchen would not be so bad.

[rharris]

Originally Posted by FleetsidePaul

I'm all for wearing masks. There's a lot of really ugly chicks up here. And if they cover those ugly faces with masks. I'm good with that.

A good point, but - I stopped at the furniture store the other day to look for a new bed set for my son. The owners daughter was there helping him. She looked like a decent looking lady, or did she? Couldn't see what was behind that mask.

[Dr Jekyll]

My wife and I do it with the masks on.... for safety.

[weq92f]

.
I wear the mask to make everyone else feel better. It comes off when appropriate ( not really, but again, it's a feelings thing ).

-klb

[Stocker]

Okay, I'll play. I guess my 2-cent opinions are worth about as much as the next person's.

There seems to be far too much non-medical conflicting information floating around, but COVID is not a hoax. I do think the media coverage has been over-played, and the reported mortality rates are less than accurate.

Cases are spiking here in my sparsely-populated county, same as many other parts of the country. We just surpassed 170 cases out of a population of roughly 12,000.

I'm considered high-risk because I am a senior with a compromised immune system. So I try to play it safe but still live as normally as possible. I go to the grocery store, post office, hardware stores, feed store, & get my haircut as needed. I avoid people as much as I can and wear a mask most of the time. My choice if I wear it or not. You'll see more people around here with a mask than without. I'm all for personal choice but would hate for the virus to spread if it can be prevented.

I also use hand sanitizer and wash often. And yet COVID continues to spread. As noted above, you get different stories all the time from the "experts". I'll continue to do what seems best for me. Hopefully most others will do what is best for them. I will say this, I have never played Russian roulette and I'm not about to start now. The price of landing on a loaded cylinder is a bit too steep.

[blazer2007]

It,s flu season so a mask doesn,t hurt. Here in central B.C. every store is mandatory to wear masks and if it keeps things open ,well fine by me. Masks are free at the door if you don,t have one.

[68bowtie]

Everyone's entitled to their opinions, including their opinion about your opinions. No big deal. I do however resent people in power from using it to their advantage, whether politically, financially, or to get news ratings.

We're due for a good dose of RELEVANT facts, but no one seems to be reporting on those. For example, show the people how covid compares to the flu (not compare as in saying it's the same, but compare as in show us how it's different) for us to decide for ourselves.

Show us overall fatality rates for PERSPECTIVE, for example 60,000 people die in the U.S. every week from all causes. With the exception of a 20% spike in April, and a 5% bump in August, the nation wide death rate has been pretty flat/normal all year. It doesn't mean those people don't matter, but I think that's a relevant fact to consider when deciding whether to destroy the nation's economy and small businesses, but the people with the microphones don't seem to care about that.

Show us some data (we should have around 9 months now) of whether we are immune after being tested positive, or how effective masks really are. Is anyone seeing this information?

California has been under some of the most strict lock downs, and my personal observation is nearly 100% of people I see in public buildings wear masks. And yet we are still seeing another uptick here, causing more mandates and lockdowns.