How COVID-19 is affecting society

[Beebo Brink]

A new Chuck E. Cheese children’s ride but no one to ride it

 

[Pamela]

Just a reminder: four weeks and we could crush covid like the rest of the world. We just don’t want to.

We Can Eliminate Covid-19 If We Want To

We are always 4–6 weeks from being able to do what countries around the world have done

coronavirus.medium.com

 

[Isabeau]

Ten bucks left, no place to go: How the pandemic and a broken unemployment system are upending people’s lives - Washington Post

In the meantime, the end of July meant the end of the initial round of federal emergency pandemic assistance. Republicans and Democrats in Congress are deadlocked over the scope of a second wave of federal help. No matter what that future assistance looks like, for people like Vought, still waiting for benefits from the spring and living without a financial cushion, the damage has been done.

...

It can take years for people to crawl back out of poverty. It isn’t only deaths and lingering health issues people will be facing in the future (are facing now) after all this, whether or not Trump loses the election.

 

[Jolene Benoir]

Ten bucks left, no place to go: How the pandemic and a broken unemployment system are upending people’s lives - Washington Post



It can take years for people to crawl back out of poverty. It isn’t only deaths and lingering health issues people will be facing in the future (are facing now) after all this, whether or not Trump loses the election.

Yes, if we manage to remove Trump, it's going from being in a pan with boiling oil to one slightly more comfortable but still with the fire lit and oil burning at a lower level.

 

[Isabeau]

It’s so sad and shocking because some of it, a lot of it, could have been avoided. Certainly by a country as rich as the US.

Jesus, I even have difficulty using the word “sad” now. He’s even corrupted that word. I truly hope his death is a long and painful one.

 

[Jolene Benoir]

It’s so sad and shocking because some of it, a lot of it, could have been avoided. Certainly by a country as rich as the US.

Jesus, I even have difficulty using the word “sad” now. He’s even corrupted that word. I truly hope his death is a long and painful one.

Covid-19 seems appropriate. No messy business of assassination and yet he would suffer the fate that he inflicted deliberately upon at least a portion of the population.

 

[Free]

Nancy Pelosi says she has no confidence in Deborah Birx over handling of pandemic

Senior scientist on taskforce defends administration but warns that widespread infections mark a ‘new phase’ for US

www.theguardian.com

House speaker Nancy Pelosi escalated an attack on Dr Deborah Birx, a senior scientist on Donald Trump’s coronavirus taskforce, in television comments on Sunday as Birx defended the administration’s handling of the pandemic.

Pelosi, the top Democrat in Congress, was asked on ABC’s This Week whether she has confidence in Birx, a renowned public health expert who has frequently appeared alongside Trump in briefings on the virus.

“I think the president has been spreading disinformation about the virus and she is his appointee so, I don’t have confidence there, no,” Pelosi told ABC. However Pelosi praised another scientist on Trump’s task force, Dr Anthony Fauci.

 

[Katheryne Helendale]

Just a reminder: four weeks and we could crush covid like the rest of the world. We just don’t want to.

We Can Eliminate Covid-19 If We Want To

We are always 4–6 weeks from being able to do what countries around the world have done

coronavirus.medium.com

"Muh freedumbs! Murica!"

 

[Veritable Quandry]

Because Freedom.

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And fucking idiots.

 

[Aribeth Zelin]

Because Freedom.

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And fucking idiots.

My brother and his family lives up there.....

 

[Grandma Bates]

This is not quite the right place for this, but I am not sure what would be better.... This is story is a bit like alts in SL back in the good old days. BethAnn McLaughlin became famous in the STEM community when she helped found the MeTooSTEM organization. The group imploded after allegations that input from women of color was being sidelined. (more here.) She is back in the news because the person behind a twitter account by @Sciencing_Bi was reported to have passed away due to COVID-19. The person behind this account claimed to be part First Nations and worked at ASU. After closer inspection, nobody at her claimed home institution of ASU knows about any faculty members who have died recently. Now there are claims that BethAnn McLaughlin set this up as a shadow account a very long time ago and is trying to take advantage of the pandemic to let the account go.

More details here:

and here:


As for the odd remark about worms, @mbeisen, made a crude remark about the flatworm Caenorhabditis elegans on twitter. It ended up erupting in a big brouhaha about how STEM can be an unwelcome place, and that goes in another thread about how the unexpected keeps on rolling through 2020...

 

[Pamela]

I don’t know if the rest of society is being affected this way but I seem to be gaining a pound a week.

 

[Free]

I don’t know if the rest of society is being affected this way but I seem to be gaining a pound a week.

https://www.virtualverse.one/forums/threads/covid-19-social-distancing-survival-group.6820/

When we need to commiserate among ourselves.

 

[Pamela]

Looks like there is a rapidly growing number of very angry survivors, hopefully enough to dump Abbott in 2022.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

As for the odd remark about worms, @mbeisen, made a crude remark about the flatworm Caenorhabditis elegans on twitter. It ended up erupting in a big brouhaha about how STEM can be an unwelcome place, and that goes in another thread about how the unexpected keeps on rolling through 2020...

Worm Joke Causes Science Twitter Flame War Over Accusations of Sexism and Racism

A science editor joked on Twitter that the roundworm is overrated. Soon, his tweet was being attacked as a privileged microaggression.

www.thedailybeast.com

(Also posted here)

 

[Innula Zenovka]

How the Pandemic Defeated America

A virus has brought the world’s most powerful country to its knees.

www.theatlantic.com

Why the Pandemic Is So Bad in America - The Atlantic

Skip to content Popular Latest My Account Give a Gift How the Pandemic Defeated America A virus has brought the world’s most powerful country to its knees. Dina Litovsky / Redux Story by Ed Yong Septe...

www.evernote.com

 

[Sid]

What an eye opener.
The US is in a far worse state than I imagined.

 

[Rose Karuna]

Covid-19 seems appropriate. No messy business of assassination and yet he would suffer the fate that he inflicted deliberately upon at least a portion of the population.

Yep, I think that a month on a respirator before he bites the dust would be very appropriate. Also, they should keep him awake for it. He's responsible for so many deaths and I can't fathom that there are still some people who can't see that.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

What an eye opener.
The US is in a far worse state than I imagined.

Boris Johnson and his ministers have made a bad enough mess of things in the UK because they introduced lockdown belatedly and, since then, have frequently shown themselves to be incompetent.

The US response, however, has been in a completely different league.

 

[Rose Karuna]

Because Freedom.

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And fucking idiots.

This may surprise a few people but I used to own a Heritage Softtail and I was treasurer for the local HOG (Harley Owners Group) where we lived. (I've been riding bikes of one kind or another since I was a kid, the Softtail was my first Harley.) So one year we [several people from HOG] went to Sturgis together. My ex and I went on our bikes, from SoCal to Sturgis, through weather cold enough that I had to sit in a bathtub for two hours to warm up at the end of the day, my hands were literally blue even though I was wearing gloves. Sleet, rain and burning sun, we did the whole trip on our bikes along with five other people on bikes and a truck that one of the guy's wife drove in case one of the bikes broke down.

Sturgis was a let down for me. I thought I'd see several large groups riding east but what I saw was a bunch of elite (doctors, dentists, bankers, etc.) trailering their expensive bikes to show off at Sturgis. It was packed when we got there. We'd made our hotel reservations a year ahead. It was a once in a lifetime experience but honestly, the trip on our bikes was much more memorable than being at Sturgis actually was.

I suspect some people will wear masks and try to social distance. Everyday bikers probably will - I met a lot of awesome people who were bikers and not all of them were right wing nuts. With the exception of the "wanna be/elites" most were pretty damn nice, even the 1%er's. Some make the trip to Sturgis every year on their bikes, it's like a religion. I have some respect for that even though I wouldn't do it during a major virus outbreak.