How COVID-19 is affecting society

[Soen Eber]

I'm thinking of buying this: BROAD Electrical Airpro Purifying Respirator with Two Reusable Masks *NEW PACK* | eBay

It's a HEPA respirator mask on eBay with a replaceable HEPA filter with a rechargeable fan battery. I suspect it's only good for an hour or so and will break eventually, but it's the only one I could find that's affordable ($67). My plan would be use it when shopping. Also, the hose looks compatible with my CPAP and if it is, I could use it to extend my CPAP filters which only last 2 or 3 days (because I constantly run the window fan to get outdoor air, not wanting to get recirculated air from the apartment building).

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Here in the UK, where things are certainly not good in comparison with the rest of Europe but certainly far better than they are in the US, the government wants schools to reopen in September.

Because of this, my cleaner, Iwona, and her husband are driving Iwona's mother all the way back to Poland next week, and then driving all the way back a couple of weeks later -- normally they've have flown but they don't want to risk mum on a plane right now.

She'd been living with them for the last couple of years, partly because her health isn't great, so they've felt safer with her here, and partly to help them with the youngest child, who must be rising two, but now that the older girl will be starting back at school, they think -- rightly, to my mind -- that it's simply not safe for the little girl and her grandmother to live under the same roof.

 

[Sid]

I will not return for my voluntary job at my school, as long as there is that Covid-19 thingy, whatever will be the case after summer vacations end.

 

[Free]

That last sentence should read "Every elected official who supports opening schools should be forced to send their kids to those schools. "

 

[Sid]

That last sentence should read "Every elected official who supports opening schools should be forced to send their kids to those schools. "

And personally attend all their lessons as an assistant in the classroom.

Those Republicans have no clue about how far they're out of touch with reality, right?

 

[Shiloh Lyric]

And personally attend all their lessons as an assistant in the classroom.

Those Republicans have no clue about how far they're out of touch with reality, right?

Not a single clue. None.

To the extent that the ONLY reason many Republicans signed the CARES Act on the part which provided, among other things, an additional $600/week to people receiving unemployment benefits, is because "they didn't realize" that the $600/week was much more, ALONE, than most people in the US are paid at their jobs. THAT'S how out of touch they are. They've refused to raise the Federal minimum wage above $7.25/hour for the last 20 years, but "didn't realize" that most of us aren't even making $31,000/year in gross income at our jobs.

So...yeah, not a clue.

 

[Sid]

Sounds like one of our mega star soccer players from the past, who seriously said on a talkshow that he thought that a jobless mother with a child got around 100,000 a year on social security.

 

[Aribeth Zelin]

Not a single clue. None.

To the extent that the ONLY reason many Republicans signed the CARES Act on the part which provided, among other things, an additional $600/week to people receiving unemployment benefits, is because "they didn't realize" that the $600/week was much more, ALONE, than most people in the US are paid at their jobs. THAT'S how out of touch they are. They've refused to raise the Federal minimum wage above $7.25/hour for the last 20 years, but "didn't realize" that most of us aren't even making $31,000/year in gross income at our jobs.

So...yeah, not a clue.

Except Scott comes from a poor, blue collar background, IIRC. So he's just an evil sob.

 

[Free]

 

[Free]

AP-NORC poll: Very few Americans back full school reopening

A new poll finds very few Americans think schools should return to normal operations this fall, even as President Donald Trump pushes for a full reopening.

www.ksat.com

Only about 1 in 10 Americans think daycare centers, preschools or K-12 schools should open this fall without restrictions, according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs. Most think mask requirements and other safety measures are necessary to restart in-person instruction, and roughly 3 in 10 say that teaching kids in classrooms shouldn’t happen at all.

The findings are a sharp contrast to the picture that President Donald Trump paints as he pressures schools to reopen. The Republican president claims to have wide support for a full reopening, arguing that Democrats oppose it for political reasons.

So apparently, about 9 out of 10 Americans are Democrats.

 

[Romana]

Regarding who gets it first, I was told by my primary doctor today that, as with the H1N1 vaccine, it will be given to the most vulnerable first. I was told this includes me.
If Biden wins, this should be handled correctly. If not.....

 

[Roxanne Blue]

Like Betsy DeVos, Rick Scott is so utterly disconnected from ordinary human lives as to be a living parody of 18th Century aristocracy. The disaster that is the Florida Unemployment system (cheapest and shortest benefits in the country) which still has not paid all claims from March was not his "fault". It works exactly as intended to deny and discourage every applicant, as a matter of course.

Our current governor combines Scott's banality of evil with brainpower second only to the "stable genius" whose ass he must kiss before making every wrong decision Trump suggests. Lovely being the testing grounds for the explosion of cases in Flori-duh.

 

[Roxanne Blue]

Regarding who gets it first, I was told by my primary doctor today that, as with the H1N1 vaccine, it will be given to the most vulnerable first. I was told this includes me.
If Biden wins, this should be handled correctly. If not.....

Given how easily sports franchises and others by-passed having to wait in line for testing to being able to cut private testing regimes for multiple daily testing with same-day results while most of the country has to sit for hours in their cars to get a test result a week old, I'm confident that Trump's private-sector solution will find a way to cut into the head of the line for themselves and their families.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

 

[Beebo Brink]

Our corporate office announced the financial results of our 2nd quarter for 2020, and what struck me most is how the pandemic is driving income-inequality to new heights because certain segments of the white-collar/business/tech class are humming along without taking much of a ding.

We made record profits for this quarter, compared to past years. We're still growing like gang-busters, because the risk consulting and IT technology divisions were in great demand, enough to make up for the drop in other consulting work for clients. Costs were reduced due to significantly reduced travel and everyone working from home. This transferred utilities/power consumption over to the individual employee rather than the company, but honestly, they pay us pretty well and no one is going to be hurting from that slightly increased expense, which is offset by the lack of commuting expenses. And most importantly of all, we're all safely tucked at home with our excellent medical benefits and generous CTO, just in case anyone does catch the virus.

Meanwhile the rest of the country is truly fucked. This kind of divide is deeply corrosive on so many levels.

 

[Noodles]

The push to open Schools is just a thinly veiled plot to push people to send their kids to heavily religious home school programs.

#TinFoilHat

 

[Free]

Big wheel keep on turning....

 

[Argent Stonecutter]

And the death rate is starting to ramp up again, le sigh.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Trump’s Son Will Not Return to School—Despite Dad’s Wishes

St. Andrew’s Episcopal School will not fully reopen in September, the elite private school has told parents.

www.thedailybeast.com

 

[Beebo Brink]

At least someone is doing it right.

In Baltimore, a struggling, black-owned nursing home keeps covid-19 at bay

To outsiders, it may seem as if the 100-year-old facility has kept the virus at bay only by the grace of God, said the Rev. Derrick DeWitt, who serves as its director. But there have been other, man-wrought blessings, too: a relatively small population of 29 residents, a strong history of infection control, a dedicated staff and — this has been key — the cynicism that comes with residing in an underserved community.

“We’re used to being the last to get help if and when it comes,” said DeWitt, 53, who grew up nearby and serves as pastor of a Baptist church in the same neighborhood. “We knew that when the virus came we had to take care of ourselves, because no one else would.”