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I did. I was talking about NC (replying to a post above yours). We’re still hovering at 7-8% positive rate. What’s happening here is all the rural areas that had low to zero cases for a long time are now seeing cases. It’s not huge numbers, but they add up. Those places were relaxed about this for a long time. I bet Texas and Arizona are the same way. It’s finally moving away from the cities in significant numbers.

“Spikes” make good headlines but often mean nothing. NC has been consistently increasing their testing volume. They’ve also been going into vulnerable areas and testing people there proactively. Obviously, the number of cases will go up. Hospitalization numbers and percentage of positive tests are the thing to look at.

For sure. There are 40 million people without jobs, benefits are running out, many have yet to receive benefits, personal savings are empty, millions more are losing jobs every month, repos and foreclosures will start soon, etc Nearly every high school and college graduate is jobless right now with little hope to get a job in the next 12-24 months. Economic depression + distrust/misbehavior of authorities + pandemic is pretty much a perfect storm.

It sounds like Atlanta’s major is trying to slam the door on that.

The national guard will be locking down any place that hosts this thing. Very little commerce will happen. Hotels and restaurants may lose out, but they may also be avoiding damage and looting.

I don’t know if it will be a blow. Given the current climate with protests etc, Charlotte was probably looking at a huge mess in August. I think we dodged a bullet. Odds are they move the convention to SC or TX.

I was reading that stroke cases are down 40% nationwide. Docs believe people are ignoring symptoms to avoid hospitals. My friend was saying most of his ICU is Covid, which doesn’t make sense since it his Ward was almost always full from other types of patients before Covid. They’re all wondering where these other cases are (strokes, heart attacks, cancer surgery patients, etc). He thinks they are going to start seeing a wave of really sick (non Covid) patients soon. People who didn’t seek care or didn’t get the amount of medical attention needed because of the focus on Covid. https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/05/06/850454989/eerie-emptiness-of-ers-worries-doctors-where-are-the-heart-attacks-and-strokes

Spoke to my friend who’s an ICU nurse today. Lots of unintended health consequences caused by Covid and related lockdowns. >hospital census at 60% or less. Nurses being furloughed. >decreased surgery numbers to save hospital beds that were not needed. >worsened amputations because of people waiting for surgery. >Many surgical conditions worsened due to people waiting too long. He told me about a guy who died from sepsis because he cut his hand and was too afraid to see a doc because of Covid. Apparently, we need a big public health push telling people they can go to the hospital for other things. Dumb, but sounds like it’s needed.

It’s either weaker or it’s already killed off those most susceptible. If it is weaker, it’s not surprising. The same thing happened in previous flu pandemics. The weaker the symptoms, the more biologically successful the virus is.

USPS forgot to deliver it.

You guys will argue about anything.

My USPS guy today had a broken horn on his truck. It was blaring like a stolen car as he drove around the neighborhood. Good times.

People in NC can now get tested via a CVS drive through as of today.

Singapore has seen similar results. Masks are not a cure, but all evidence points to the fact that they help. Some studies show they help significantly. Show me a credible study that says they do absolutely nothing, and I’ll be with you. https://theconversation.com/masks-help-stop-the-spread-of-coronavirus-the-science-is-simple-and-im-one-of-100-experts-urging-governors-to-require-public-mask-wearing-138507

Not normal. Modified normals. Some restrictions still make sense. Look, Hong Kong has now gone 14 days without a single case of local transmission. This is a place with a much high population density than NYC. They did that without resorting to a full stay at home lockdown. If wearing masks (along with other reasonable measures) means no more lockdowns and saving the economy, isn’t it worth it? https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.usnews.com/news/cities/articles/2020-04-22/how-hong-kong-flattened-the-curve-without-total-lockdown%3fcontext=amp https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/05/asia/hong-kong-coronavirus-recovery-intl-hnk/index.html

Research on masks and Covid is starting to come in and it disagrees with you. In short, they’re finding that universal mask wearing is more effective than lockdowns. Hong Kong’s situation gives a lot of weight to that claim. https://www.vox.com/2020/5/18/21262273/coronavirus-hong-kong-masks-deaths-new-york https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cnbc.com/amp/2020/05/19/coronavirus-wearing-a-mask-can-reduce-transmission-by-75percent-new-study-claims.html https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.wsj.com/amp/articles/to-curb-the-coronavirus-hong-kong-shows-the-world-masks-work-11586338202

I’m doing the same. They are requiring masks, temp checks, waiting outside, etc. They are taking no chances.

To follow up on my own post, the nytimes had another article on this. Basically, they have no idea how many of these extra deaths are Covid and how many were other causes. They think most were Covid, but a good number were heart attacks or other issues. “It is too soon to know the precise causes of death for New Yorkers in this period. Although many of the deaths not currently attributed to coronavirus may represent an undercount of the outbreak’s direct toll, the broader effects of the pandemic might have also increased deaths indirectly. Throughout the city, emergency rooms have been overcrowded, ambulance response has been slowed, and many residents might have been reluctant to seek medical care because of fears of contracting the virus. Hospitals around the country have reported reductions in admission for heart attacks, one sign that some people may be dying at home from ailments they would survive during more normal times.” https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/04/27/upshot/coronavirus-deaths-new-york-city.html

This is excellent. The bottom line is NYC’s historical average weekly death rate. Red is this year.

Exactly, that’s my point. Even if someone believes that hospitals are over counting deaths, that number wouldn’t be enough to overcome the huge numbers of people who died at home.

They all think we are over-counting?

At the very least, the undercounting would cancel out any over counting. There were a LOT of cases in NYC where people died at home and were never tested because they didn’t make it to the hospital. Firefighters were reporting thousands of at home deaths. Some of those cases are now being counted as likely Covid deaths, but no one knows the true number. “Mayor Bill de Blasio acknowledged on Tuesday that the vast majority of deaths taking place at home were likely also due to COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, meaning the death toll could be as much as 70% higher than currently reported figures.”

I don’t think what happened in Georgia is as malicious as you are portraying. At least from the reporting I’ve read. Either way, they aren’t doing those things now and numbers aren’t spiking and hospitals are reporting falling case numbers. It could be a blip, but we’ll see.

Four weeks later and Georgia is still flat. If this holds, it will be good news. https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/26/us/georgia-coronavirus/index.html

I’m skeptical that will hold, but we’ll see. I did a little digging and realized my zip has had 34 cases total since Jan. The last reported case was weeks ago. I feel a lot better about being around my neighbors now.