How COVID-19 is affecting society

[Dancien]

So to preface this, there is a salon order who refused to comply with the Governor's orders. She opened twice and was shut down twice. The second time she ignored a judge. Judge said "Cool, enjoy 7 days in jail and a $7,000 fine"

Governor now backdates an executive order so barbie doesn't get locked up. Absolute bullshit.

 

[Aribeth Zelin]

What is the point of.... oh, right.

 

[Dancien]

Over 200k got raised for that self-righteous jackass. I bet not one penny goes to any of her employees.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

A new trend due to Coronavirus are "data donation/contact tracing apps" which should help to prevent the spread of the virus. In Germany first the idea was to do it in a centralized manner, but now all have switched over to decentralized so far.

In the UK on the other hand a centralized model is being favored by the government. A test version of it has been published to Apple's and Google's app stores.

In rare agreement both Google and Apple are warning to use this app due to privacy concerns and big abuse potential, but the GHCQ tells the exact opposite.

Apple, Google and hundreds of privacy advocates have raised concerns that this risks hackers or even the state itself being able to re-identify anonymised users, and thus learn details about their social circles.

But NHSX has consulted ethicists and GCHQ's National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) on the matter, and believes safeguards are in place to minimise the risk of this happening.

What else to expect from the country in Europe with most CCTV going on...

Coronavirus: UK contact-tracing app is ready for Isle of Wight downloads

Isle of Wight council staff and healthcare workers will be invited to start testing app on Tuesday.

www.bbc.com

UK contact-tracing app could fall foul of privacy law, government told

More protections needed before coronavirus app fully launched, says human rights committee

www.theguardian.com

 

[Cindy Claveau]

First, there's a conflict between a whole mythology of self-reliant individualism, in which problems are solved by creative entrepreneurs and the free market, vs the state, who in this case are restricting a whole range of freedoms and, preventing people from making a living, in the name of public health, and in this case they're trying to tell people what to wear.

Second, there's a related conflict between the idea of the individual being responsible for his or her own health and that their family and friends, and deciding what protective measures are and aren't necessary, and that of the state mandating that everyone must wear protective masks not only for their protection, but also to protect everyone else.

Ask yourself, how would Ayn Rand's fantasy objectivist supermen like Howard Roark have reacted to a pandemic, and what would he have done had some politician tried to tell him what he could and couldn't wear, and what sort of measures he should take to protect his health, or that of his customers, employees, or even people with whom he had no dealings whatsoever?

They used to worry, way back when, about the deleterious effects of sex, drugs, and rock and roll, on the younger generation, along with cultural marxism and video games.

As it turns out, it's all those teenage American boys jerking off as they read Atlas bloody Shrugged that we needed worry about -- see what they've grown into.

I realize the NYT is behind a paywall, so I'll distill this message down to the salient point:

Open States, Lots of Guns. America Is Paying a Heavy Price for Freedom.

This idea of freedom is also an excuse to serve one’s self before others and a shield to hide from responsibility. In the gun rights fight, that freedom manifests in firearms falling into unstable hands. During a pandemic, that freedom manifests in rejections of masks, despite evidence to suggest they protect both the wearers and the people around them. It manifests in a rejection of public health by those who don’t believe their actions affect others.
In this narrow worldview, freedom has a price, in the form of an “acceptable” number of human lives lost. It’s a price that will be calculated and then set by a select few. The rest of us merely pay it.

 

[Kalel]

starting to think guns are the only way to communicate to people these days... politeness doesn't seem to work anymore...

Customer shot a McDonald's employee after being told to leave due to coronavirus restrictions, police say

A woman has been arrested on suspicion of shooting a fast-food worker and injuring others after they told her to leave a McDonald's restaurant in Oklahoma City on Wednesday, police said.

www.cnn.com

 

[Rose Karuna]

3 employees, only 17 year old at McDonalds were shot at and wounded because they had the dining area closed for social distancing.

3 McDonald's workers hurt in customer attack over coronavirus limits, police say

Two were injured by gunfire and a third was hurt in a scuffle, police said. Two suspects have been arrested.

www.nbcnews.com

So two yahoos with guns go in and shoot at them. Seriously WTF?

And this one: Two men attempt to stop a jogger and when he runs from them, they murder him in cold blood.

Video appears to show Georgia man shot while jogging; lawyers call for arrests

Ahmaud Arbery, 25, was shot dead in February in Brunswick, Georgia, after two white men chased him, believing he was a burglar.

www.nbcnews.com

When I read things like this, I get the feeling that the wing nuts think it's open season on anyone who asks them to respect other people, even people who are not the same race that they are.

I think that their perception is that to respect others makes them "soft" someone who is perceived as needing help from others (news flash - we all need help from others).

I also think that they think racist darling Donald is going to protect them from prosecution when they do shit like this. They feel emboldened and then when they get arrested they blame the "system run by liberals". The fact that they violated the law is of no matter to them, they don't view the law as something that applies to them. The fact that they may kill someone or have killed someone does not matter to them because there are so many people that they don't recognize as being people. The economic unrest and COVID-19 restrictions have given them the excuse to start the "revolution" they've been praying for.

Honestly, I don't have words for what I'm seeing happen right now.

edited to say Kalel got to it first!

 

[Sid]

People who own guns are willing to use them. Each and everyone.
No matter what defensive reasons they have as an excuse for owning one or more.

Those fools defended their right to sit and eat at a McDonalds.

 

[Dancien]

I own guns. Several. Won't go into much of the details why other than on occasion I do go hunting. I even have a concealed permit. I never carry. The last thing I ever want to do is shoot another human being. People like the McDonalds shooters, however, make me reconsider carrying again.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Thank heavens our gun laws in the UK prevent widespread firearms ownership.

The Openreach telecoms infrastructure company reports almost 50 incidents during April in which their engineers were attacked by people who think 5G causes coronavirus:

Openreach mostly deals with the UK’s wired infrastructure, laying and upgrading fibre connections, but that hasn’t stopped the company’s engineers from being attacked over 5G. Some simply draw the wrong conclusions from seeing people in hi-vis vests working on telephone cabinets, but others make more specific allegations. One woman blockaded a van, accusing the engineer of driving a mobile 5G tower; in fact, the van had a storage rack on the roof.

In one week in early April, Michael was abused three separate times, he says, culminating in a physically threatening verbal tirade from a man who coated his face in spittle. Michael subsequently had to self-isolate for two weeks with Covid-19 symptoms.

5G conspiracy theories fuel attacks on telecoms workers

One Openreach engineer reports being forced to flee angry group since Covid-19 crisis

www.theguardian.com

 

[Pamela]

My husband and I are finding quarantine makes us sleepy during the day. An hour after waking up, I am sleepy. I assume it is the stress of the combo pandemic-trumpism, although objectively our situation does not inconvenience us much, much less threaten us.

 

[Free]

 

[Free]

Something something something privileged Silicon Valley goobers.

Google tells employees they can't expense food or other perks when working from home

After employees say they miss perks such as free food, Google launched a new policy clarifying they can't expense these perks while working from home, according to internal documents seen by CNBC.

www.cnbc.com

• Google told employees they cannot expense free food or repurpose unused budgets from things such as cancelled events on perks such as fitness.
• The company added that workers can’t use extra funds to donate to charities or fundraisers of their choice.
• Employees discuss missing the perks culture to which they’ve grown accustomed.

 

[Sid]

Mark Rutte, PM from the Netherlands:

The Dutch official stance on the use of home made mouth caps:
The use of non medical mouth caps is questionable.
Staying at 6 feet and especially staying home with even mild symptoms helps far better.

 

[Bartholomew Gallacher]

The Dutch official stance on the use of home made mouth caps:
The use of non medical mouth caps is questionable.
Staying at 6 feet and especially staying home with even mild symptoms helps far better.

What people are always forgetting about non medical masks:

1. it prevents much of your stuff flying around when you are coughing
2. the virus enters the body via your mouth. Wearing a mask really prevents you from putting your fingers in your mouth quite well.

 

[Sid]

Yes, but going out with (mild) symptoms while thinking 'I can go for a quick shopping because I wear a mask so I won't infect others' or not staying at 6 feet because of the mask, is far more dangerous.
Because of the Dutch governments stance (backer by our medical experts BTW) you hardly see people with masks on the streets and in the supermarkets.
It's a choice and so far the results of the package of measurements have good results. Not worse than countries who strongly believe in homemade mouth caps in Europe.
We start to open up our lock down Monday, step by step over a longer period.

 

[Plurabelle Laszlo]

Yes, but going out with symptoms but thinking 'I wear a mask so I won't infect others' or not staying at 6-6 feet because of the mask, is far more dangerous.

That is true, but so far I haven't heard anyone advising that. Masks are a useful addition to quarantine and social distancing, not a replacement.

 

[Shiloh Lyric]

Yes, but going out with (mild) symptoms while thinking 'I can go for a quick shopping because I wear a mask so I won't infect others' or not staying at 6-6 feet because of the mask, is far more dangerous.

Wearing a mask isn't an excuse to get close. But if both parties wear a mask, even without 6' between you, you greatly reduce the risks of transmission if one of the parties is a carrier. Whether your government requires you to wear one or not, it seems to make sense and also seems to cut down on both risk of transmission and viral load transfer if there is a transmission.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Yes, but going out with (mild) symptoms while thinking 'I can go for a quick shopping because I wear a mask so I won't infect others' or not staying at 6-6 feet because of the mask, is far more dangerous.

Yes, but for those two to ten days during which someone is shedding the virus but is as yet asymptomatic, whether or not they wear a mask can make a big difference to how many people they infect before they know they're ill.

 

[Sid]

That is true, but so far I haven't heard anyone advising that. Masks are a useful addition to quarantine and social distancing, not a replacement.

Edit: I misread, so I gave a wrong reaction here. I removed it.