Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

A last alliance of elves and men. also pet photos.

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.

Being the leader of the world means to be the leader of peace.

In my day, never was longer.

When I decide to be condescending, you won’t have to dream up a fantasy about it.

Schmidt just says fuck it, opens a tea shop.

Conservatism: there are some people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

When someone says they “love freedom”, rest assured they don’t mean yours.

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

Just because you believe it, that doesn’t make it true.

This fight is for everything.

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Do not shrug your shoulders and accept the normalization of untruths.

When your entire life is steeped in white supremacy, equality feels like discrimination.

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

Hot air and ill-informed banter

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

It’s the corruption, stupid.

You are here: Home / Healthcare / COVID-19 Coronavirus / COVID-19 Coronavirus Update – Wednesday/Thursday, April 22/23

COVID-19 Coronavirus Update – Wednesday/Thursday, April 22/23

by | 78 Comments

This post is in: ,

Warning: LOUD (couldn’t find a level fix)

(h/t Amir Khalid)

After some very flattering comments last night, I feel like I should stress: I’m not a reporter, I’m an aggregator, only as good as my sources. I was lucky to start searching for links before the firehose of information (disinformation / misinformation) became overwhelming, so I have a bunch of smart twitter people whose judgement I trust, but please do let me know when I’ve gone wrong!



Long (meaty!) twitter thread, backstopping a highly recommended article:

The Financial Times doesn’t paywall this article, which is well worth reading for the reasoning behind the stats:

“We report, you decide die”…

Reader Interactions

78Comments

  1. 1.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    I read an article today that was trying to make that the new normal is going to be a world where there are virtual hotel check ins, no minibar, no coffee stations, no room service, box meals in fridges to be eaten in solitude, an indefinite closure of bars and restaurants.

    Repeat after me – electronic communication, social media. Zoom meeting IS NO FUCKING SUBSTITUTE FOR HUMAN INTERACTION, NO MATTRR HOW MUCH THE TECH FUCKHEADS SAY IT IS. Therapy by zoom would be a bust with me.

    Plus, I don’t give a fuck about cute kids doing uplifting memes, I don’t want to pretend that House Party is a legit substitute, and I don’t know that a contactless world is worth being in.

  2. 2.

    Jimmm

    I meant to delurk and chime in last night, but I’ll second the positive comments from everyone else:  this thread is either the last thing I read before bed or the first thing I read in the morning (depending on the day), and I’m mightily grateful for your aggregation efforts.

  3. 3.

    Amir Khalid

    Malaysia’s worldometer numbers. 71 new cases, total 5,603; two deaths, total 95; 90 recovered patients, total 3,542 or 63% of total cases. Case fatality rate holding steady at 2.61%. Health Ministry DG Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah reports the state of Perlis, at the western end of the Thai border, has had no cases in two weeks, which meets the criterion for a green zone. (Right now, you need a police permit to cross a state border.)

  4. 4.

    Anne Laurie

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: DON’T PANIC.  (It’s bad for your immune system, for one thing.)

    We *will* get through this, and life will go on.  Some things will change permanently, but human interaction will not end.  Although by the time this particular epidemic ends, some of what we now think of as ‘normal’ will have been effectively forgotten… the moral value of a firm, manly handgrip, for instance, will probably not survive outside of primitive feats-of-strength acting-out, like adolescents chest-bumping or shoulder-thumping each other.

    We’ll adapt.  (So, probably, will the virus.)  That’s our superpower, as a species:  We always adapt.

  5. 5.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @Anne Laurie: 

    I’m not doing well at this. The loss I’m feeling is huge, and can’t imagine another few weeks of it, much less months or years.

  6. 6.

    Amir Khalid

    May I add, for some reason it makes me happy to see my name bolded at the top of a Balloon Juice post.

  7. 7.

    Amir Khalid

    I am surprised to read in reports that in some countries the mildly symptomatic are asked to self-quarantine at home. Per Dr Noor Hisham, the policy in Malaysia is that if you test positive, you get the ambulance ride straight to hospital for isolation and treatment.

  9. 9.

    Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism

    I mentioned this last night, but for the morning crew:

    I was talking to someone yesterday who is certain that his ex-wife and her two sisters were sick with COVID-19 in early February after a trip to the Grammys in California. They’ve been wondering if there were recent travelers from China at the Staples Center for the awards, or maybe they shared the flight back with a recent traveler.

    They dismissed it as a weird flu at the time. All had the same symptoms: shortness of breath, fever, and profound fatigue.

  10. 10.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @Amir Khalid:

    Thanks, but the notion of trying to do those sorts of interactions (and I know I need them) via Skype or zoom literally makes me cringe and will make things worse. I need to be physically present.

  12. 12.

    There go two miscreants

    Adding my thanks for these posts. First thing I go to in the morning.

  14. 14.

    Anne Laurie

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: As a fellow Adult Familial-Disfunction PTSD survivor, I can relate — which I realize is not helpful.

    One thing that seems to help some people (including me) is getting involved in a new ‘hobby’ that can serve as a distraction.  Witness the whole bread-baking / sourdough craze, for instance.  I’ve always had a habit of ‘disconnecting’ from unavoidable stressors (bad jobs, illness, cross-country moves) by finding a New Thing I can obsess over… a collectable, an activity (like dog obedience) that can be researched endlessly, even if I can’t actually buy anything or go out to learn a new skill right this minute.

    From what you’ve shared here, I know you already have a lot of ‘outside interests’; is there something you’ve thought about in passing before, that might be The Thing to distract your juddering brain in this moment?  Stamp collecting?  (Lots of subcategories there.)  Genealogy, maybe of some family other than your own?  Seed-starting, whether ‘practical’ or something like heirloom greens or rare succulents?  Making your own… artifact, or potentially useful household appliance?

  17. 17.

    terben

    Australian Department of Health bulletin
    As at 3:00pm on 23 April 2020, there have been 6,661 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Australia. There have been 12 new cases since 3:00pm yesterday.
    Of the 6,661 confirmed cases in Australia, 75 have died and 5,045 have been reported as recovered from COVID-19. More than 466,000 tests have been conducted across Australia.
    From these data, it can be seen than there are 1.43% positive results from testing and the CFR is 1.13%

  20. 20.

    WaterGirl

    @raven: I always enjoy your back-and-forth with Ozark when you are working on a project.

    Which glue should I use, how would you handle the bevel on this, what kind of this should I use for that.  My dad would have loved you guys.

  21. 21.

    Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: Are you an extrovert, by chance? One of those people who recharges by being around people?

    I ask because you’re sounding like the inverse of my experience, the fatigue and almost-panic that I feel when I’ve been in a crowd for too long.

  23. 23.

    New Deal democrat

    @Anne Laurie: “Crush the curve” is going to fail in the US, not because of any medical shortcoming, but because Trump constantly reverts to his original “let it wash over” notion, and assisted by his cult, sabotages attempts to implement the necessary regimen.

    That means at least 9 more months of waxing and waning “bend the curve” instead, with new daily infections and deaths more or less where they are now.

    Meaning millions will have to stay at home throughout this period; or, as I’ve increasingly been realizing, We are all ‘kids in cages’ now.

  25. 25.

    Jay Noble

    Can’t remember where I read it today (my 3pm to 5 or 6am days) but was from a med professional who got Covid but didn’t get tested or bother even to get tested until the “shortness of breath” hit them. It was almost too late. And thinking back, the line from the ERs, Docs and hospitals has consistently been “Don’t go anywhere unless you are short of breath and then go to the ER.” And from the sounds of it, at that point they are in deep doo-doo already and it sounds like that may be accounting for many of the deaths and especially the “died at home” victims. Has anyone seen anything putting this together and rattling cages for earlier and more testing??

  26. 26.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: Skype or zoom literally makes me cringe and will make things worse. I need to be physically present.

    I’m the same, I can barely tolerate phone calls*, those things drive me up the wall. Fortunately, I’m an introvert.

    * which are now interminable, NOLA son’s calls can last an hour, but he needs to talk things thru so I try to listen

  27. 27.

    WaterGirl

    @raven: I think this is harder on some people than others.  Some people have spouses and kids, some just a spouse, some like me live alone, but I have my 4 furry guys, and some people live alone with no pets.

    I think the last one would be the hardest by far, but I think how each of us is ‘built’ also plays a big role.

    My niece lives alone, no pets, and is a very social person.  She has no one to touch, no one to snuggle with, and that can be really difficult, and even harder to sustain over time.

    But she feels a huge responsibility not to put anyone else at risk, so she’s hanging in there, but I know the some people are struggling with this more than others.

    But yeah, there are things we can all do to mitigate the stress.

    Challenging times, to say the least

    edit: Long comment, I didn’t mean to write a book about this, especially in reply to you because your comments are often short.

  28. 28.

    pb503

    Thank you for your reports; you’re my daily go-to for information.  The Eric Lipton Twitter thread was fascinating.  I’m struck that the social distancing concept was initially supported by a high school student’s science project – Laura Glass, New Mexico.   It reminded me that there are so many people who ask so many questions and then go out & look for an answer.  It feeds my hope for the future of humans.  (Now if only we get the same intense search for solutions to climate change.)

  30. 30.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @terben: Here in Misery our positive tests have been running at 20% for the past few days. There is a lot of noise in the data tho so I can’t say what is really going on.

  31. 31.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: Are there any major chores that you can undertake to refocus your mind?

    I’m going through boxes of stuff I’ve accumulated and also doing some redecorating/rearranging of my place.  Nothing that involves having to drop any money at Lowe’s.

    My bicycle also needs a tune up, so that’s on the list too.

  32. 32.

    Jay Noble

    @WaterGirl: I’m a lone guy by happenstance and get a little stir crazy now and then and just have to go cruise main for awhile (OK Boomer!). But boy howdy when this gets lifted, its mani/pedi/massage, restaurant with a book and shopping for me!

  33. 33.

    WaterGirl

    Anne Laurie, I have long thought of you as a reporter with a beat, so when someone referred to you as a reporter yesterday, I was nodding my head.

  35. 35.

    JAFD

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: I feel your pain. I’m about as much an introvert as you can find, have lotsa food and books and hobby stuf in my apartment, but still feel ‘I’m going stir-crazy’ occasionally.
    You’ve got a bloody right to be angry and frustrated. It Ain’t Your Fault that your life has been upended, the world’s in a mess, and the President* is an ignorant arrogant stupid asshole. Sometimes maybe just find a place where you can SCREAM AT THE TOP OF YOUR LUNGS for ten minutes. Then have good stiff drink.
    As I’ve said, remember the time the coach saw the demonstration of The Robot Quarterback …
    and said “This, too, shall pass”
    We care about you.

    PS – Happy Shakespeare’s Birthday, everyone !

  36. 36.

    mrmoshpotato

    Retweeted by SUEtheTRex:

    The world is a vast hellscape right now, but remember, the mandarin word for “penguin” literally translates to “business goose”— Doth (@DothTheDoth) April 22, 2020

  37. 37.

    raven

    @WaterGirl: My sis is in that boat. After 5 years of looking after her two nephews she is stuck at home alone. She shattered her elbow right before she was coming to my retirement gig and has real trouble doing anything around the house. I feel so helpless but she does have her kids fairly nearby.

  39. 39.

    Sab

    @WaterGirl: My husband has a coffee klatch that went zoom last week. Mostly they went to his parochial school graduating in 1969. A new participant was a classmate somewhere in upstate NY. She is all alone with no family nearby. She is finding this difficult.

    I am in my hometown with husband’s family all around. I am enjoying the quiet. My husband misses his kids. They talk every day, but they used to be here. We always had kids here, his kids, other’s kids. Now, nobody.

  40. 40.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @Anne Laurie:

    Oh, I could do some home repairs and upgrades (which I despise, mainly because I hate this house and am coming to the resignation that I’m going to spend the rest of my life paying to make repairs, upgrades and living in a place I hate in an exurban community I hate with a daily commute I hate). I’m racking my brain for an amusement, or hobby, but literally everything I like to do is forbidden to me for the indefinite future. I mean, I hate the “open it up” protesters because what they’re doing is dishonest and deliberately harmful, but at the same time the combination of Federal malignant mismanagement, the huge levels of financial uncertainty presented in that response send my personal anxiety sky high – and hearing sunny, hopeful people say “do life virtually” winds up angering me like a kazoo at a funeral.

  41. 41.

    raven

    @WaterGirl: As the gov opens things up? Not likely, people call the cops but they are not going to put a bunch of white kids in the clink.

  43. 43.

    Bruce K

    Latest from Greece is that the lockdown originally due to end on April 27 will be extended to May 4, and in the meantime, the government is going to prepare a plan to reopen the country in stages, presumably based on disease numbers rather than hard deadlines.

    Source: Kathimerini (https://www.ekathimerini.com/251945/article/ekathimerini/news/greece-extends-lockdown-until-may-4)

    Also in Kathimerini, a center-right-leaning newspaper, a view from outside of the current American problem. Complimentary of Dr. Fauci, very critical of Mr. Trump. (I refuse to use “President” adjacent to his name until I can add “former”.)

    https://www.ekathimerini.com/251886/opinion/ekathimerini/comment/the-two-americas-face-off-again

    For what little it’s worth.

  45. 45.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @mrmoshpotato:

    We had started redoing a bedroom before this dropped. I put the kabosh on the whole thing over the use of the sander to knock down the spackle – that sander spews a shit-ton of dust that gets all through a dust mask and I haven’t wanted that to mask actual symptoms (I still do a few hours a week at my office on a couple of days to get mail, prepare a few documents, use the postage machine). I don’t interact much, but I keep getting screamed at for doing it.

  46. 46.

    WaterGirl

    @raven: I think nearly every day now about how hard it was being on my own when I broke my ankle two years ago – without this going on.

    That makes me aware of how hard this must be for so many people.  Every day, people are having babies, breaking their ankles, getting chemo.  Losing a beloved pet.  Stuck in a bad relationship, possibly with an abusive spouse, and stuck at home.

    Stress isn’t additive, it’s exponential.

  49. 49.

    David C

    Careful curation is an important task. :-)

    RE: NYT article about social distancing – 14 years ago Richard Hatchett was my boss and we were preparing medical responses for the possibility of a nuclear explosion in a crowded city, where “shelter-n’place” was an important component to managing living in a fall-out field. The in the spring of 2009 when H1N1 hit he was summoned to the White House to prepare for the fall hit of the influenza. they, along with BARDA, managed to get a completely new vaccine out by November.

  50. 50.

    Brachiator

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:

    Repeat after me – electronic communication, social media. Zoom meeting IS NO FUCKING SUBSTITUTE FOR HUMAN INTERACTION, NO MATTRR HOW MUCH THE TECH FUCKHEADS SAY IT IS. Therapy by zoom would be a bust with me.

    People adapt. It’s like finding a community with people that you have rarely, if ever met in real life. Oh, you know, like Balloon Juice.

    Also, for me, I love to be spared unnecessary interaction with people. Co-workers and I would stop at the bank to get cash on the way to lunch, in the early days of ATMs. Some of the crew did not like or trust the machine and would insist on going inside to get cash, even if there were a line. I would love, love, love being able to get money out of the machine, and not have to endure a moment of chit chat with a teller.  I just wanted my money in a simple, focused transaction.

    Also, I find that I can be sociable, but I value my alone time. There are times when I would rather someone send me an email or text message than come by for a visit.

    When I get my full hermit on, my motto is “It’s good to see you. It is even better to see you leave.”

    As always, your mileage may vary.

  51. 51.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @mrmoshpotato:

    It was a child’s bedroom – the kid put up about a thousand different things with nails, and a bunch of installed shelves had to come out – the walls were beat to shit and there was a LOT of spackle needed. Now it needs sanding, sadly, and I’ll be coughing up dust and suffering red eyes for days after.

  53. 53.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @mrmoshpotato:I ask because why not just rip down the ceiling plaster?

    If the aim is to avoid dust, tearing down a plaster ceiling is the last thing one wants to do. The best thing is to just drywall over it. Of course than one has to tape it and…

    Sand it, which puts dust in the air. One can avoid sanding by blowing popcorn on it, but that shit is ugly as hell.

  54. 54.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: Not sure what you used but you can try sponging it, It takes some learning but one can get satisfactory results that way, depending on what you find satisfactory. For minor things in out of the way corners it is perfectly acceptable to me, but I am a little too anal about finishes for a whole wall done that way

    To repeat, it takes some learning, and I never got as good at it as I thought I should be. I think it would be worth it to try a few patches and see how you do anyway. You might find the results acceptable to you.

  56. 56.

    Brachiator

    A little something that had me wondering.

    I find Michael Harriot of The Root to be a provocative and consistently interesting pundit. But maybe sometimes unreliable. Recently he noted the following about the pandemic in Vermont.

    Even in Vermont, the whitest state in the union, the percentage of black people infected with COVID-19 is 10 times the black population percentage.

    I cannot find where this is supported. One story noted 779 total cases, and of these 12 included black people, and 10 included Asian Americans.  The percentage for black people would be 1.54 percent, and the percentage for Asians would be 1.28 percent. The black population of Vermont is 1.29 percent, and the Asian percentage is 1.69 percent.

    Harriot’s larger point, that in many places in the US, the pandemic has disproportionately hit black Americans and Hispanic Americans.   But still, when some numbers appear to be wrong, it causes at the least an unnecessary distraction.

    ETA: This musing brought to you in part by lockdown insomnia.

  57. 57.

    Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: OK, then you know as well as I do that it’s not just a preference. It’s a physical need. You’re in a famine situation, and you need a little sustenance to keep going.

    These are not necessarily smart things to advise, but you’re only going to feel crazier the longer you isolate.

    Get a mask and some gloves, and go shopping. Go to a big box grocery, grab a cart, push it around for a while. There will be people in there who can’t wait for the next delivery slot to get something. Just seeing that there are other humans still alive and functioning will scratch some of that itch.

    Pick out a friendly restaurant and order takeout, but don’t get it delivered. Go pick it up. We spend a little time every week chatting with the people who are still working at the restaurants we were regulars at in the before time.

    If you know a personal trainer or tai chi instructor, contact him and ask if he can put together a small class outdoors. I know a guy who is doing classes of two or three people in a nearby park, plenty of room to spread out, but enough human contact to help a bit.

    It’s not as satisfying as being able to sit in a crowded restaurant and just feel the humanity swirl around you, it will never substitute for the “move through the crowd and chat up everyone within range” that extroverts I know thrive on, but you’re not really looking for substitutes. You’re just looking to survive until we can somewhere closer to normal.

  58. 58.

    Anne Laurie

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: I’m told that’s why wallpaper used to be so popular in places, like New England, with lots of older homes — with patterned paper, especially, you don’t notice the spackle flaws.

    Of course wallpaper has its own set of madness-inducing problems, but you could probably burn some angry energy just looking for the right pattern…

  59. 59.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @raven: Cool. It’s to be expected that there might be a gap or 2. Doing it with a good table saw makes it whole lot easier.

    The door under the tool box, I never did anything like that because all too often I was sliding 2x4s and/or sheets of plywood underneath it. Used to drive me nuts digging stuff out from under it. My present truck has a 6′ bed, which I hate because now it doesn’t matter what I throw into the bed, I have to leave the tailgate down and strap everything in no matter what.

  60. 60.

    raven

    @OzarkHillbilly: I had a door a while back and made it of 1/4′ and it was pretty flimsy. I have a 6″ piece of the 3/4 that I ripped so I think I’ll use that. I’m also thinking about some kind of flap because the old one would get jammed and really hard to open. It is a good place for my floor jack and jack stands. People seem to like the short beds bu I like my 8 footer.

  61. 61.

    Brachiator

    @terben:

    Australian Department of Health bulletin
    As at 3:00pm on 23 April 2020, there have been 6,661 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Australia.

    It is interesting to see that Australia has been taking steps to try to protect the indigenous population.

    Lajamanu is on the edge of the Tanami Desert in Australia’s Northern Territory. Located 11 hours drive south of the region’s capital, Darwin, it is home to the indigenous Warlpiri people and is one of the country’s most remote communities.
    Now COVID-19 is adding to its isolation: the only road into the town has been closed, effectively sealing the community of 600 people off from the rest of the world.
    “The government sent health workers to Lajamanu to explain about the virus, and we have a good doctor in the community who has been here for a couple of years now,” said Steve Jampijinpa Patrick, a Warlpiri elder. “But people are still quite scared of it, and entry to the community is now closed so no one can come in or out.”

  62. 62.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @raven:People seem to like the short beds bu I like my 8 footer.

    It comes in handy but I would give up the back seat in a NY second for an 8′ bed.

  63. 63.

    RSA

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: I’m sorry.

    I sometimes re-read an article I came across a few years ago with advice on being happy. Things one can do, paraphrased:

    (1) When you’re feeling down, ask, “What am I grateful for?”
    (2) Label negative feelings.
    (3) Make a decision.

    The fourth is, unfortunately, “Touch people.” But still, the first three do me good.

    https://www.theladders.com/career-advice/neuroscience-reveals-4-rituals-that-will-make-you-happy

  64. 64.

    mali muso

    My brother married and settled in Vietnam.  Feeling jealous of him and his family as it looks like their government managed an A+ response and are close to starting to re-open things.  Meanwhile back here in the so-called “greatest nation on earth”, we are locked in with no testing and no plan.  le sigh

    I worry about the impact of all this seclusion on my three year old.  She talks daily about how she wishes she could go back to school and see her friends.  In the past week or so, she has resisted going outside for our walks (when the weather permits) because she wants to “stay in our nice cozy house”.  The sociological research opportunities for the next generation of scholars will be endless.

  65. 65.

    Brachiator

    @mali muso:

    In the past week or so, she has resisted going outside for our walks (when the weather permits) because she wants to “stay in our nice cozy house”. The sociological research opportunities for the next generation of scholars will be endless.

    I am not a psychologist, would not even pretend to be, but I wonder if you might tuck away the idea and look for tips about re-introducing children to the world when we get past this stuff.

  66. 66.

    Kay (not the front-pager)

    Re: the Santa Clara death on Feb. 6 pushing community spread back a full month, I was sure this was the case. On March 9 I emailed Josh Marshall the following, in part:

    One of the questions that’s been haunting me in regard to the whole coronavirus issue is how long it’s been fulminating in the US, how many cases there really are, where they are, and who has been affected. You know, the same questions everyone has. Without testing, there’s not really a way to get a handle on it.We have to look for dogs that don’t bark. So I was thinking that some enterprising reporter, maybe a TPM reporter, could look at pneumonia hospitalizations and deaths in January and February, especially in Seattle, but also in surrounding areas in Washington and Oregon, and in California. It would be interesting to see if there was an increase, especially if there was a ramping up of cases toward the end of February.

    I never heard back, and as far as I can tell, Talking Points Memo never followed up, but it still seems like an important story. I hope someone decides to investigate. I thought it would be a good story for a smaller outlet like TPM since it a lot of the research could be done through records search. But the Sacramento Bee has a good investigative reporting staff too. Maybe it could get them another reporting award.

  68. 68.

    terben

    @Brachiator: In my home state, South Australia, the indigenous managers of the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands, in SA’s northwest, shut off their communities to the outside world in the first week in March. More broadly, our state borders are shut to travellers and returning residents have to self-isolate for 14 days.

  69. 69.

    catclub

    I see Angela Merkel resisted the urge to say “This is not the beginning of the end [of the pandemic], but it is the end of the beginning”

     

    ….  while wielding a large cigar.

  70. 70.

    Fair Economist

    @Jay Noble:I am seeing, just now (which is inexcusably late) a push to earlier treatment, based on the realization that people can have dangerously low blood oxygen levels while not feeling anything particularly awful – significant fatigue, but not much else. The reason is that CO2 diffuses pretty well through fluids while oxygen doesn’t, so the lungs can get rid of CO2 even in advanced disease, and it’s high CO2 levels that make you feel breathless. By then you can already have organ damage from extended hypoxia. It’s like altitude sickness from climbing Everest without oxygen.

    So yeah, “stay at home until you feel really sick” is pretty dangerous. One thing backing it up is that most places are finding about half of deaths occur at home; this suggests a lot of people are getting dangerously ill without even realizing it.

  71. 71.

    Cheryl from Maryland

    @Amir Khalid: I agree with you.  The mildly symptomatic can infect their families.  If not the hospital, then have hotels/dormitories/etc. for the mildly symptomatic to clear the disease.  Otherwise people’s homes, apartment buildings, etc. become hot spots.  And for those who live alone or whose caretakers aren’t close to professional medical standards (and who is?) a mild case can go downhill so fast that the patient is a lost cause upon arriving at the hospital.  Again, dormitories, where health professionals monitor the mildly ill for signs of becoming seriously ill and can intervene, would be ideal.  Of course, in the US, probably very few of the mildly symptomatic are tested.  And the US is nowhere near close to the ideal during this pandemic.  OT, thank you for your daily updates on what’s happening in Malaysia.

  72. 72.

    Another Scott

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: Years ago, I tried using a sander with a shop vac and a water bucket to catch drywall dust.  It didn’t work well at all, and it was noisy and hard to use. It was horrible.

    I know money is tight, but Festool vacuums and the corresponding sander are amazing. (I have a different, larger, model.) The suction is adjustable, it’s quiet, it is amazing at capturing the dust. Spendy, but it really does exactly what it’s supposed to do.

    Just saying, you’ve got options. ;-)

    Hang in there. You’re an important part of the community here, and people at home need you, also too.

    Good luck!

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  74. 74.

    cckids

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: Hello, I’m so late to the thread, but I’m feeling you here. I’m very lucky  to still be working, one job from home and the part-time one at the grocery store; but the split personality of my current life is getting to me, and I feel like I’m going under the waves. Working full-time from home is slower, and I feel like I should be working any time I sit and rest.

    I can at least get out and walk around the neighborhood, but I really want to see my daughter, and she seems to need some time as well. Facetime and Zoom also make me crazy and anxious. I’m not ok, but I feel like I have to be.

    Hoping that you find some outlet if at all possible.

  75. 75.

    Jay

    @Another Scott:

    the Hilti version of the Festool Sander can be rented at a lot of Tool Rental places.

    I always use “dust free” drywall mud as the last coat/patch coat. ( it contains “weights” in the compound so that the dust falls, rather than floats).

    I use a Bosch 8” orbital sander, 180 grit, (pads have holes in them that feed through to the vacume/dust bag) with a vacume attachment. The vacume hose leads to a 5 gallon bucket holding a HEPA  filter bag, to which a Rigid shop vac with a HEPA filter is attached to provide the suction.

    Done right, this set up leaves no more of a dust issue in a closed room, than normally occures in a occupied house every week.

    Clients are not fans of having their homes filled with drywall dust during renovations, which is why the Trades have come up with a bunch of techniques and use products/strategies to minimize the dust/dirt issues. We do things like zipper door with air barriers, floor coverings, electrostatic filtering, tyveck suits and booties, etc.

    So yes Virginia, you can do drywall with virtually no dust mess.

  78. 78.

    J R in WV

     

    Regarding sheetrock, hanging, finishing, etc.

    Have an old friend who is called “Dr Mudd” by his coworkers in the building trades. He hangs sheetrock, and finishes it slowly, slowly.

    But when he’s done, you can just paint it, he’s done. Uses sponges as the joint compound hardens slowly. Trowels over and over, very finicky about seating the tape into the mud, smoothing the edges. Never needs to add more mud, just sponges the high points down into the background level.

    Later on, working on the little house in AZ, I hired a carpenter to hang doors and do finish work, including a little sheetrock — the differences between Rick’s work and Matt’s work, Dr Mudd, was night and day. Rick kept opening a new bucket of mud and putting it on the wall, over and over. Matt did it once, slowly, and done.

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