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Post by 3piggles on Mar 1, 2021 21:41:23 GMT
I wonder about some people. They had a child with them. If adults decide to put themselves at risk, that's one thing, but not if they have a child with them, or a child counting on them. What's wrong with these people? Had they been arrested because they breached lockdown, who would have taken care of the child, and would they have gotten the child back, once they got everything settled? Is putting a child in that position child endangerment? Anyway, I just want to whap them up side the head and ask what the frell they were thinking! Our delusional former president is still claiming he was robbed of the elected by people committing election fraud. He still claims all the charges against him are part of a democratic witch hunt to discredit all he accomplished, so the Dems can take credit for it. He has the ears of a whole segment of the population. They listen to him as if everything he says is the absolute truth. He's milking that for all it's worth, and still inciting his followers to take over the government. Oy! We just finished month #2 of 2021, and so far, he hasn't been silences, and there are still republican lawmakers who support him, as well as supporting Q Anon. I'm still waiting for this to get better. My ice cleats arrived, so I'll get to try them tomorrow morning
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Post by Bean on Mar 2, 2021 7:27:48 GMT
I think they were just given safety advice by the police and told they needed to go home. They're probably sitting at home feeling embarrassed and hoping no one knows it was them! Maybe there was an element of lockdown brain at play?
Hope the new ice cleats do a great job at keeping you upright.
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Post by 3piggles on Mar 2, 2021 20:48:40 GMT
The new ice cleats are great! I felt very stable, walking on the ice this morning I'm really glad we didn't have the level of lockdown you had, though I'm sure some people felt as if they did, all being home with each other, all the time. If anything, we did more constructive things, like exercising, during lockdown, than we'd ever done before. We still do it, even though we're back to swimming, again. I'm actually not walking outside, today. It's just too cold. Hoofing around in the house
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Post by Bean on Mar 3, 2021 7:10:35 GMT
I'd love to see a detailed statistical analysis of comparisons of how countries have dealt with it and how that's effected recovery/ death rates. I know our NHS was at breaking point so we needed to lockdown like we did. But in other countries with similar high rates that haven't been so stringent, have they seen lots more deaths from either covid or other conditions that haven't been treated while the medics fight covid? Of course there are differences in how countries record deaths, so we're not comparing like with like. I'd just be interested is all!
Too cold for you? Must have been pretty darn parky!
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Post by shades on Mar 3, 2021 14:27:34 GMT
I'd love to see a detailed statistical analysis of comparisons of how countries have dealt with it and how that's effected recovery/ death rates. I know our NHS was at breaking point so we needed to lockdown like we did. But in other countries with similar high rates that haven't been so stringent, have they seen lots more deaths from either covid or other conditions that haven't been treated while the medics fight covid? Of course there are differences in how countries record deaths, so we're not comparing like with like. I'd just be interested is all! Too cold for you? Must have been pretty darn parky! my go to websites for covid data www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/worldwide-graphs/ www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/covid-19-testing/ourworldindata.org/coronavirus-data
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Post by 3piggles on Mar 3, 2021 21:05:28 GMT
I was going to say I think the World Health Organization tracked the numbers, but I imagine there are lots of differences in approaches, just as over here, blacks and native Americans have received far less health care, and have suffered for more losses than white people. That's partially because they are in remote areas, as most Indian reservations are fairly remote, or because they work at the lowest level jobs, and have to go to work, even if they're sick or around someone who is. They don't have the luxury of working from home, or getting unemployment that will pay any bills, so they had to put themselves and their families, at risk. Same for whites in the lowest socioeconomic strata. One article I read, which seemed very racist, said blacks weren't getting the help they could get, because they don't trust white people, so won't go to the doctor or hospital. There are more than enough black medical people of all levels, who could go into the black neighborhoods and do testing, check for symptoms, or even get people admitted to the hospital. A lot of poor Americans won't go to the doctor or hospital, because they don't have insurance to pay for it Also, a lot of people who lost their jobs due to the pandemic, also lost their health insurance, and haven't been able to replace it. Marketplace health insurance is outrageously expensive, at the least, and for people who have lost their jobs, and are surviving on stimulus checks and unemployment, they can't pay their rent or utility bills, credit card bills, car payments, etc., and certainly can't afford ultra expensive health insurance, but still earn too much to qualify for subsidized insurance. I'm sure those populations in all countries tended to stay home when they were sick, and dying at home, never reporting any of it
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Post by Bean on Mar 4, 2021 8:56:31 GMT
I know the way countries have recorded deaths has varied (and as you say 3piggles, that in itself is a more formal process in some countries than others), especially in the early days when we didn't have loads of testing to prove something. Some countries listed it as covid if it was likely (because they knew it was in the community, the person had the right symptoms and the death was unexpected), others only if it had actually been verified. There's some interesting data which also looks at death rates that are over the norm for that country at that time of year, and the graphs for that show much bigger gaps in some countries than others - some countries with relatively low covid rates had a massive number of deaths above what would usually be expected.
The data that interests me most, but it would need to be standardised for it to mean anything, is stuff like the USA has a death rate (as of today's figures) of 1,600 but in the UK it's 1,817. We've had much stricter and more uniform measures to prevent it spreading. So it makes me wonder, is it how we're testing/ recording it, is it related to the health of the nation, does it reflect the composition of the population in terms of different groups being more vulnerable or even certain weather making the spread easier, and could it mean the levels of our our restrictions have been somewhat unnecessary if many countries that have been more relaxed have seen lower rates? So many variables!
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Post by 3piggles on Mar 4, 2021 19:49:37 GMT
I think you mentioned most, if not all of the variables, and it does make it hard to track exactly what the virus is doing, and where. Watching a news segment on a man from Maine who went to Antarctica just before the virus really hit, and has been there since, returning to Maine a few days ago. He said normally those on Antarctica are isolated, but they watched the coverage from a lot of places, and felt quite liberated, as they had no COVID-19 on Antarctica. They went about their days without masks or social distancing. When they left to return home, they were flown to Christ Church, NZ, where life was completely normal. He said no one was wearing a mask or social distancing, the shelves were full, and prices were normal. He then flew home to Maine, where gas and food prices are a minimum of 30% higher than normal, store shelves had large empty gaps, everyone was wearing masks and social distancing, restaurants and other gathering places were closed, and everyone was arguing about just how important it really was to take all these precautions(just as they are, here). He said the results of COVID-19 hitting the whole world at the same time have had exceptionally different results in different places. Within the US, states that reopened 100% had massive virus surges that closed them back down again. Colleges and Universities have been major sources of virus surges, not from on-campus activities, as those are restricted with lots of sanitation, but from off-campus activities the schools can't control. Now Spring Break is bringing college students from across the country to the beaches of Florida, where they're staying 10 people to a hotel room, drinking everything in site, partying with people they've never met, and probably will never see again, from all across the country. When the next set of huge spikes come, we'll know exactly what to blame, but it won't make any difference. Each state does what it wants, and if that means create COVID spikes, there's no way to stop them from doing it. If I'm not mistaken, when COVID-19 first started, NZ had a total lockdown, no exceptions, matters of life and death only. Apparently, it worked. Here in the states, our laws don't allow for such exceptional actions to be taken. If each state doesn't mandate exceptional actions, nothing can be done. Then we go to places like Africa, where record keeping can be spotty, at best, because so many places have rural populations spread out over vast areas, and the closest hospital or clinic could be 100 miles away. They can send people out to canvas the residents, but most of the residents don't trust government officials, so I doubt the results will be very valid. Russia is another example of a place where results aren't very valid. I remember when Russia had no prostitution or crime. Uh huh! Any COVID numbers coming out of Russia are the numbers Putin approved, and probably not at all valid. We can't even begin to really trace the progression of the virus, or the progress we've made, without a template for the reporting, authorized agencies only doing the reporting, and rules/regulations enforced nationally(here, at least), to know if our precautions are working. New Hampshire's numbers have been low all along, even though we only 1.4 million residents, so by percentage, we've stayed low, all because of our governor's gestapo-like tactics. The same tactics his own party legislators are trying to overthrow
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Post by Bean on Mar 5, 2021 8:50:55 GMT
I bet that chap had a surprise coming from Antarctica through New Zealand and then back to the US! It's definitely easier for smaller or less populated countries to control something like covid. If it hasn't got in and your borders are tight, job done. But our countries made so many bad decisions based on the economy or people's sense of entitlement, so hope of any potential advantage we had from being a small island was soon lost!
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Post by 3piggles on Mar 5, 2021 20:51:08 GMT
We really did. Between Trump and Bojo, it was almost impossible to save either country. I also think there's a mentality at work, but I thought Australia had more of the mentality we have, no one telling them what to do, but I must be wrong, as the government literally closed the borders, shut down the country, and stopped the virus. If you talk to Teebers, ask him if that's really true, or just what the rest of the world is seeing. I realize Australia and NZ aren't the same country, or even that close to each other, but I think they face the same logistics problems with border monitoring and getting enough food. At least the guy from Antarctica is finding it a whole lot warmer in Maine, even if it is still winter here
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Post by Bean on Mar 6, 2021 7:47:45 GMT
Teebers and I have discussed our countries' differing responses to covid and it's certainly true they came down a lot harder, and got a lot of criticism for it. From the start all arrivals had a compulsory and strict 2 week hotel quarantine. Aside from essential work travel, everyone had to stay within a small radius of their home for shopping/ exercise, and only one person from a household could visit the supermarket at a time. The police were on it, and constantly doling out fines to anyone not following the rules, even for things like two pensioners sitting at either side of a park bench to have a brief chat. But despite people finding it really tough, and it being really hard on the economy, they were out the other side a lot sooner than the rest of us. They still have the odd local lockdown when a positive case is identified, but in general life seems to have been largely back to normal for some time.
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Post by 3piggles on Mar 6, 2021 14:52:11 GMT
They took actions no one over here would ever obey. Restaurants and pubs had to be closed, because the owners would not enforce the social distancing rules, and if they tried, they could be physically attacked by someone refusing to wear a mask, but insisting on eating at the restaurant. No point in calling the police. Daughter said there were so many instances of people refusing to wear masks, the police couldn't and wouldn't keep up with it. Each business was expected to hire its own security, which most couldn't afford. Daughters business ran at full capacity throughout the pandemic, because they serve truckers moving goods across the country, so were allowed to stay open. While they were probably doing better business than normal, as they were one of the few places to buy prepared foods to take home, the company wouldn't spend the money on security, and told the managers not to enforce the mask mandate. So much for we're all in this together. Only some of us were. The rest were being trumpers, and refusing to do anything they didn't want to do. As I said, the Chichester Village Store actually posted a sign saying masks not required. Flagrant violation of the law, and they didn't care. They, and many other violators, got fined, which the state legislature is now overturning, so the businesses don't have to pay the fines. That totally undermines the law and the governor. I don't know if he has veto power over the legislation, or not. We have the right to figuratively shoot ourselves in the foot, if we want to, and no one can tell us anything Sigh
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