Good news from the CDC, and not unexpected: [Le Post]
Federal health officials said Tuesday that fully vaccinated Americans can go without masks outdoors when walking, jogging or biking outdoors, or dining with friends at outdoor restaurants.
The guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is the latest set of recommendations for people who are two weeks past their final shot, and for those who have not yet been inoculated. The guidelines address growing calls from infectious-disease and other public health experts to drop mask mandates for outdoors because breezes disperse airborne virus particles, distancing is easier, and humidity and sunlight render the coronavirus less viable.
For that reason, the guidance also says even unvaccinated individuals may go without masks when walking, jogging or biking outdoors with household members. However, officials caution that crowded outdoor settings still pose risks and urge everyone — both vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals — to wear masks when attending sporting events, live performances and parades.
Present company excepted, Americans are possibly the most spoiled, self-centered babies on the entire planet, so they need to see progress toward normal whenever possible or they’ll just give up and go YOLO, consequences be damned. This is a step forward, so hurray for that!
Open thread.
lowtechcyclist
Glad they’ve said that. Many of us have already sussed that out, but yeah, Americans need to see some personal advantage to getting vaxxed, so it’s good that the CDC is offering some.
Speaking of which, my wife’s and my 30th wedding anniversary falls exactly 2 weeks after she gets her second shot. And an outdoor restaurant was exactly what we had in mind. It’ll still be a good while before I feel comfortable dining indoors.
Oh, and first. Who will get the coveted second spot?
dmsilev
Sounds sensible to (decidedly not-an-expert) me. I guess one issue is how do you tell whether all the members of your small outdoors group are vaccinated? Ask everyone, sure, but depending on the group you might or might not fully trust the answers.
Clearly, we need scanners that can pick up the 5G signals from the nanoradios.
narya
I’ve been continuing to have a mask around my neck for my morning runs, which I’ll pull up when running past others, mostly to model the behavior, but this morning I discovered another benefit: when I run through a cloud of gnats/bugs, the mask keeps the bugs out of my mouth and nose. I did end up with 4-5 under my eyes (eww), but it was very nice to not be eating or breathing them.
VeniceRiley
This story though. https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/national-international/miami-school-says-it-wont-employ-vaccinated-teachers-citing-debunked-covid-myths/3021437/
Kelly
It’s been clear for months that outdoors transmission is low. Closures of parks, beaches and playgrounds was a mistake. I’ll be 2 weeks past 2nd Pfizer shot on Thursday. I’ll wear my mask to help support masks as a normal thing.
On that note I’m heading out into the spring sunshine :-)
sab
I am enjoying my mask during Spring pollen season. Brief respite next Fall, then mask up again for flu season. I own all these masks. Might as well use them. Also, they kept my face warm last winter.
rikyrah
Won’t be me.
I will be double-masked until September at the earliest.
Wayyyyy too many crazy people out here.
Xavier
@narya: I’ll be happy to lose the mask on bike rides (I’ve begun to refer to it as my snotcatcher). It interferes with hydration, and fogs the glasses, which are a must have because of sun and bugs in the eye.
lowtechcyclist
@dmsilev:
If I don’t feel I can trust them to tell the truth, I don’t expect I’d be wanting much of their company anyway.
Mary G
Great news, but I will still be masked anywhere people are, because the vaccine doesn’t have full efficiency due to the immunosuppressants I take. I’d dare anyone to call the cops on me, but I won’t have to, because I live in California, where the National Guard is packing up oxygen concentrators we no longer need and shipping them to India.
Will they be compatible with the electric plugs there? I haven’t gone anywhere far in years.
Xavier
@Kelly: What really annoying me was closure of campgrounds. Restrictions on spacing made sense, but I never saw closures as justified. On the other hand, I never trusted the 6 foot rule indoors, still don’t masked or not.
Baud
I thought you knew us better than that.
lowtechcyclist
Never did wear a mask on bike rides. I always take one along, in case I stop somewhere where I might run into people. But while riding? Couldn’t see the point, even a year ago when we still thought outdoor transmission might be a thing. The very fact of being on a fairly fast-moving metal object means I’m going to give pedestrians a wide berth (and vice versa, generally), and even at low speeds I’m going to be there and gone in a second.
CaseyL
Not sure where outdoor Farmer’s Markets fall in that spectrum, so I’ll continue to mask up when I go to one.
Sunday, a friend and I went to the Ballard Farmer’s Market and discovered, somewhat to our dismay, that the street we walked down to get to it didn’t have an official entrance to the Market area. Think: laid out like a street fair, with most of it taped off except for specific access points. We had no idea where to go to get in “officially,” and frankly didn’t want to roam around trying to find one. (My friend has bad feet and can’t walk far.)
So we entered via an Exit, where one of the Market workers stopped us. We were polite and apologetic, and simply said we weren’t sure where the nearest (or any) official entrances were. He let us stay in.
The reason they were tracking that, and monitoring exits/entrances, was to keep count of how many people were in the market area at any given time.
Despite our scofflawery, we support that kind of thing. I don’t know what impact the new CDC guidelines will have on masking at these markets, though the prudent course would be to continue masking.
PJ
While this is good news, until we reach herd immunity, vaccinated people still need to take precautions – I spoke with an acquaintance yesterday who got the J&J shot at the beginning of March and caught covid two weeks ago (well after the three weeks when full vaccination should have kicked in). He’s in quarantine now, and hasn’t had to go the hospital, but it’s kicking his ass.
Brachiator
There has been some noise about an MIT study that supposedly says that social distance does not matter as much as previously thought. This has been immediately seized up by the anti-mask morons to “prove” that scientists don’t know anything, even though the study suggests that masks should be worn where possible.
Forbes provided a good review of the MIT study and noted the following:
People have been good about using masks at my local grocery store. I still have not ventured out more since getting the vaccine, but I will probably lean towards wearing a mask much of the time.
Chief Oshkosh
@Kelly:
Nope. When the pandemic is done and dusted, a statement of success is: “Yeah, we did too much.” A statement of failure is: “Damn! We didn’t do enough…”
Kay
@Kelly:
I agree, but OTOH I think the perhaps overbroad closures sent a message to people that it was serious, so maybe increased compliance indoors.
But we can learn and change! It’s a process :)
So now we know two things we didn’t know- surface transmission isn’t an issue, instead invest in ventilation systems, and people can go w/out masks outside.
I personally think the jury is still out on how many kids get infected and if that poses a danger to them- the kid infection rates are bullshit in the US. No one was testing them. Open schools, by all means, but do so knowing there’s risk.
dmsilev
@CaseyL: Locally, farmers markets run on “grocery store rules”, which is to say that masks aren’t merely recommended, they’re required. The local health office has been pretty conservative about guidelines, so I’m going to guess that the mask mandate will stay in place for the markets for the immediate future (even though the local case rate is really low, roughly 1.5 cases/100k people/day).
Sure Lurkalot
@Xavier: Cycling is the one activity that I found particularly uncomfortable masked. So, I’ll be happy to eschew the mask then.
I went to a nature preserve on Sunday with lakes and abundant water fowl. Not crowded in any real sense and lots of fisher people. I’d say at least 50% of peeps were wearing masks despite how easy it was to social distance. I found this surprising as on my regular neighborhood routes, outdoor mask use is diminishing rapidly.
Regardless of the outdoor activity, I will still have a mask and hand sanitizer on my person because it’s a no brainer. I do think I will seriously consider mask wearing indoors during the winter cold and flu season. And outside sometimes too as it does keep the face warm, has others have mentioned.
L85NJGT
@Xavier:
I never understood why they closed outdoor restrooms, then put a couple of port-a-pottys next to them.
lowtechcyclist
@Kelly:
At first (March, April 2020) they honestly didn’t know. But they should have reacted more quickly to open up outdoor recreation once they knew, certainly by June.
However, I can understand the argument for tourist beach closures. If you open the beaches at Ocean City or Myrtle Beach, you’re going to have people wanting to stay in the hotels, and crowd into the bars and restaurants. The beach itself would have been safe, but not the other places the beachgoers would have spent their time.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@VeniceRiley:
I love how that bit of hypocrisy on the that school’s part was pointed out by a local news outlet
Also, that’s really wrong that a private school can force parents to sign a document forbidding them from criticizing the school
James E Powell
@Kelly:
Given what we are dealing with, I’m actually in favor of something being clear for months before we act on it.
Kay
I told my teenager all thru this that everyone was doing their best and we would all make mistakes.
Obviously not true that “everyone” was doing their best, but I think the general idea holds up :)
It’s new. People need to learn about it. That takes a little time.
Poe Larity
So we can all ascend to WV, stop masking and get paid for it?
planetjanet
@lowtechcyclist:
I always wear my mask while cycling. It keeps my throat moist so I don’t need to drink as much to keep from coughing. I also feel safer when I have to pass others or stop at a crossing.
Ruckus
I mask.
I am just past 2 months after second shot, so I should be good to go.
But.
I am in that group of old farts that have a number of comorbidities and if infected stand a high possibility of massive illness and/or dying.
The vaccine makes that far less likely but I’ve come to far to give up and take the full risk. Also as I understand it, it is possible to get exposed and carry Covid, while not getting sick, thereby exposing others.
I’m wearing a mask and plan to for some time.
Kay
We learned some other things- kids are much less of a giant pain the ass about simple public health measures than adults are, so we can all just stop claiming different and perhaps reflect on why they’re better people and more stoic and tougher than the supposed “adults” :)
sab
@L85NJGT: Nobody local wanted to clean them. Portopotties just ride away on their trucks and get hosed down elswhere.
Cheryl Rofer
Until they tattoo vaccine status on people’s foreheads, separate guidance for the vaccinated and unvaccinated is more likely to be harmful than helpful.
ET
I will be glad not to wear it on my very early morning walk when many aren’t around and my walk to work when I go back because there aren’t that many people around. But will still mask outside in the presence of lots of people and definitely double masking when in the grocery and places like that.
sab
@Ruckus: Covid ain’t the only disease out there.
Asians mask when sick out of simple good manners.
Here in Ohio I have seen people in the bank with grossly running colds cough and sneeze all over their documents, and then hand them to the teller without even an apology
ETA of course all preCovid
Kay
@VeniceRiley:
These parents though. Do they need a flashing neon sign that it’s a poorly run school? Teachers are the school. The plan is to have 100% brand new teachers? It’s almost May. Forget the “vaccination” part- this is a bad plan. The craziness is just sort of the icing on the cake on what was clearly a preexisting problem.
NotoriousJRT
The refusal to recognize our incredible good fortune WRT the availability of effective vaccines relative to our global neighbors is shameful, IMO. The incessant whining by those who feel following public health guidelines an onerous infringement on their freedumbs enrages me at times. If they only affected themselves I’d gladly watch them follow Herman Cain off the high cliffs of arrogance. Alas…
sab
@Kay: Possibly these parents are part of the problem. Unfortunate kids,
opiejeanne
Watching the Angels playing the Rangers in Arlington, TX, we noticed hardly any masks being worn in the stands. Is Texas so special they think they’re impervious to Covid-19?
Watching games played at every other stadium, we see masks on just about everyone.
Kay
I have grown to like the mask at work, which probably says bad things about me.
I think I always looked at the masks more as an accessory- I have a black one I’m genuinely fond of- frankly, I think it looks good.
Steeplejack
Bro’ Man is retiring this Friday—hanging up his ophthalmoscope after 30-plus years in harness—and his husband is throwing a surprise party for him at a pub in Arlington (VA). I knew a little about it, but when I got the evite on Sunday it dawned on me to wonder about social distancing and the number of people attending. I will be only 10 days past my second shot, but I’m not worried too much. I would like to know more about the estimated mix of vaccinated and non-vaxxed people. Guess I should give the BIL a call.
different-church-lady
Oh, I don’t know; I’m pretty self-centered…
gene108
Unless I’m just going out to check the Mail or take out the trash, I feel safer with a mask on for longer walks outside.
I’m not sure I’m going to stop even after COVID.
randy khan
I was interested to see that vaxxed people don’t need to social distance, which is interesting (and good), but also may be tricky if you’re with unvaccinated people who are supposed to social distance.
Another Scott
@Steeplejack: Congrats to Dr. Bro Man! I’m sure it will be a good time.
Stay safe.
Cheers,
Scott.
sab
@opiejeanne: Cleveland requires effective masks, and kicks you out if you don’t comply. Stadium by stadium it is the management not the fans setting the tone.
Another Scott
@VeniceRiley: Olbermann’s not having it.
(via DPRK_News)
Cheers,
Scott.
Ivan X
I’m in the middle of an argument with my brother because he feels that outdoor mask wearing is “COVID fashion” because infection is risk while outside is not borne out by data. He doesn’t seem to understand the concept of “better safe than sorry” or “social norms for the good of the whole” or “it’s not really very much longer until we reach a critical mass of vaccinated people, can we just overdo it for a little while more” or “cripes, it’s only been a month since there’s been any widespread vax availability,” or “scientific consensus.” Even though he considers himself to be a data-minded liberal. He also likes being smarter than everyone else, and loves contrarianism. Ah well, all in the family.
I’m glad the CDC made these recommendations because I’m happy for him to be proven right — I don’t like wearing masks outside either — but I was unprepared to follow his cherry-picked personal analysis.
gene108
@VeniceRiley:
From the link:
Nothing is ever 100% safe. What terrible stupid ownership and management of the school.
rikyrah
@Ruckus:
So, like me, you are a walking Underlying Condition for if you had caught COVID pre-vaccination, would have meant certain death.
And, vaccination has changed that to fighting chance.
I feel you.
and, it’s why I will be double-masked until September at the earliest.
sab
@Kay: Opening schools would have been a good way to teach good mask behavior, but would have killed a lot of older teachers in the process.
My local school district is finally open to in class teaching. Fun to see the happy kids scampering home. Nobody trudging. School is now a privilege.
I love my Board of Education. They kept school lunches open for the whole pandemic, with no means testing.
Soprano2
The infection rate in the U.S. is bullshit, period. It was way too hard to get a test here even in December. I personally know three people who most likely had Covid last summer but never got tested. How many people had asymptomatic cases and never knew it? Our office manager got pretty sick with her first Pfizer shot, and she never thought she had Covid. I think the rate of people having it is probably at least double the official rate, and probably even higher than that.
rikyrah
@Another Scott:
Looking for the lie.
rikyrah
@Ivan X:
Your brother is part of the reason why I’ll be double-masked until September at the earliest.
His entire thought process is a flashing neon sign to me.
sab
@Kay: My husband has a yellow one with a big happy dog tongue. Not appropriate for work, but makes me laugh, and disguises his crankiness when he goes out in the world.
different-church-lady
@dmsilev: Farmers markets are food. Food gets put into the mouth. Overly-cautious is a good thing.
I’m very weary of the mask wars. The poles are paranoids at one end, and assholes at the other, and everyone feels themselves pulled to one end of the magnet or the other, even though neither makes sense in all situations.
A couple of threads down someone displayed Greenwald’s latest trolling, where he says a “major problem” is people who are “terrified” to go outside without a mask. As noted, it’s hardly a problem at all. There are people who fit that description. But these people are also terrified by things like lettuce, or twine. And I’m almost as sick of those people as I am of the assholes who think their warped belief system based in self-superiority makes them think Typhoid Mary is a good look.
Now sure, the second group does a hell of a lot more damage than the first, but I’m tired of hearing them yammer ceaselessly about every mask violation they experienced in a single day, and I will not be allowing them to lock me in their little hypochondriac prison paradise forever.
We will transition out of masks-everywhere, but it will be a long, gradual process, and it’s probable we’ll keep masks in certain situations. But I don’t plan on indulging either end of the spectrum. If you want me to wear a mask while I consider purchasing your arugula, fine. If you want me to wear a mask just in case a jogger passes 30 feet from me then fuck off back to your bio-bubble.
Another Scott
The CDC guidelines are sensible, but too long to distill to a soundbite/tweet so are likely to cause at least some confusion. Maybe people will learn that soundbites/tweets are not helpful for complex information…
In other news:
Garland is picking up speed…
Cheers,
Scott.
SoupCatcher
I think of my mask like a seatbelt, or safety glasses. Before I turn the key on my truck, I put on my seatbelt. Before I turn on the power on a tool, I put on my safety glasses. Before I go out in public (defined by me as outside my vehicle or off the property we rent), I put on a mask. For me, it’s easier to not think about it, and just do it all the time. Or to put it another way, I feel that safety measures work best when they are universal.
I’ve heard lots of whining about OSHA regulations over the years from people who knew that it slowed them down and they could work faster, safer than those other people who the regulations were really for. And they were mostly right. Until they weren’t.
Betty Cracker
@Ivan X: I do feel for the people who have to make these guidance decisions because they have to weigh so many factors! “Better safe than sorry” vs. people will conclude its “COVID fashion” and say fuhgeddaboudit and possibly undermine other guidance. I reached the conclusion your brother did about outdoor masks a while back, but I understood the reluctance to update the guidance. Fortunately for me, I’m in a low-population area, so it wasn’t a pressing issue.
NoraLenderbee
On bike rides, we wear neck gaiters pulled up over or mouths and noses. They’re easy to pull up or down, and easier to breathe in than masks. We do carry masks in case we need to go indoors somewhere.
After shot #2, I’ll still mask up in general, but I’ll fret less (and my husband *definitely* will fret less). I look forward to going to the drugstore and buying shampoo in person.
sab
@Soprano2: A lot of my family younger family members are feeling much better since their vaccine. Placebo, or lots of undetected long-haul Covid? Lots of them dragging for the last year We’ll never know. I am just glad they feel better.
Frankensteinbeck
@Another Scott:
I read the school’s statement. It did not sound like MAGA bullshit to me. It sounded like quack medicine mark bullshit. “Toxins” type stuff. There are people who leap onto whatever sounds revolutionary, and that includes conspiracy theories about medicines being bad. These people are randomly very good and absolutely horrible on issues. The problem is, no amount of leaping early onto good things like pro-choice rights compensates for pushing friends to cure their cancer with homeopathy.
Cameron
@Kay: That weird omerta-type thing about not speaking ill of the school should have warned away any parents. Who the hell would send their kids to a place like that?
different-church-lady
@different-church-lady: PS to above: I am most certainly not going to judge anyone who chooses to wear a mask going forward.
bluehill
@gene108: That’s one disingenuous way to cover their political bias. I guess they have 100% proof that COVID isn’t contagious or lethal.
Steeplejack
@Another Scott:
Thanks, I’ll pass along the good wishes.
He has been on tenterhooks the last year, with his head in the lion’s mouth—seeing 20-30 patients a day all through the pandemic. He said he would be pissed if he ended up like Danny Glover in the cop movie where he gets killed a week before retirement. He did get vaccinated in December-January, and his husband got vaccinated a couple of months ago because he’s a teacher.
Kay
@sab:
Biden’s summer food program for kids is really generous. It makes me happy. I am so, so sick of all this nasty nickel and diming of them, turning whether they EAT or not into some test of their moral fiber.
He’s just feeding them. No fucking yammering about it.
We’re a country that spends 80 billion dollars a year on Homeland Security which seems to function as some kind of wingnut army recruitment center. If we can pay for that we can feed kids.
Frankensteinbeck
@sab:
Hope. It can effect radical physical health changes.
Baud
@Betty Cracker:
Agreed. The guidance makers will always err on the side of caution and be a little bit behind the data. The situation in India is a good example of what can happen if they jump the gun.
Another Scott
Speaking of wars (on the virus), Loomis at Wonkette: April 27, 1944:
(Shows a picture of the old guy being basket-carried out by a couple of GIs.)
Our history is so much richer than the cartoon version we (or at least I) was taught in school.
Cheers,
Scott.
Soprano2
Come sit by me a few feet away, I’m with you on this. When we don’t need to wear masks anymore I’ll quit wearing them. I’m not in the “I’ll still be wearing masks forever” contingent. I definitely understand the need for them, and I’ve been fully onboard with the necessary safety measures (although I decided awhile ago that a lot of the cleaning was probably unnecessary), but I personally feel no need to keep doing it once we don’t need to. I also think it’s up to everyone, once they’re vaccinated, to decide what their personal comfort level is as far as different activities are concerned. I don’t at all mind that some people feel indoor restaurants are unsafe even if they’re fully vaccinated, but don’t shake your finger at me if I go to one. This situation has definitely brought out some people’s inner “nanny”, for sure.
Served
I’m really working on training my brain to re-evaluate and recognize new risk levels going forward, accepting that some things I haven’t done in awhile may make me uncomfortable, but fitting it into the larger contemporary risk picture. It is tricky and awkward, but I think necessary work.
The societal risk tolerance is growing, and I don’t know what else to do besides take small intentional steps forward and hope that our society isn’t held hostage by childish holdouts.
different-church-lady
I think the thing that bugs me the most about the “COVID fashion” sneering is that it makes me want to scream, “You think I actually enjoy wearing this thing, you stupid fuck?”
Baud
@different-church-lady: I’ll probably stick to masks on public transportation and airplanes. I frequently got sick from plane trips even before Covid.
Betty Cracker
@different-church-lady: The thing about people being terrified of lettuce or twine made me laugh. :)
Baud
Remember, a good number of people who are blase about the risk of not wearing masks are totally terrified of the non-existence risks posed by trans people.
Hkedi [Kang T. Q.]
@SoupCatcher: There is a saying: “Every safety rule is written in blood”
Soprano2
That’s what they don’t get, most of us don’t want to wear them either!!! They seem to believe we all love wearing face masks. It’s stupid. Anyone who thinks I like wearing a face mask to sing, well you’ve never been a singer have you? It’s better than not singing, but not nearly as good as being without it.
Betty Cracker
@Baud: I work with a couple of people who live there and recently talked to them on the phone. The stories they tell are horrifying.
WaterGirl
@VeniceRiley: No sane person would want to work at a place like that. Yikes.
Cameron
@Baud: How can you say that? You have no idea what kind of microchips THOSE PEOPLE are carrying….
trollhattan
@Soprano2:
Because of ATMs one experience I have not availed myself of is walking into a bank, masked. I mean, isn’t that something everybody hasn’t wanted to do at least once in their lives?
“Alright everybody, this is a deposit. Don’t do anything foolish.”
PsiFighter37
Some dick of a reporter asked about wearing a mask given the new guidance. Stupid performative shits.
trollhattan
Yesterday, the Newsom recall cleared the signature hurdle to qualify for the fall ballot. Today in Newsom Fail, California’s 7-day running average of positive Covid tests is 0.94%. Texas: 6.59%, Florida: 8.97%. New cases for the same three states: 14k, 23k, 39k, respectively. How are the Abbott and DeSantis recall efforts coming along?
sab
@Soprano2: I went 15 years without having a cold . Then the year before Covid I had several. It was unpleasant. Source? I haven’t a clue. Co-workers with pre-schoolers in daycare? Ladies at Curves? I don’t know and I don’t care. I just want it to stop, and masks seem to help.
lowtechcyclist
@Another Scott:
The hostility level sure hasn’t changed much.
Personally, I think this country needs to make unions automatic in any workplace with more than X employees, and the only question for the workers is, what union will represent them. And management gets forbidden to influence them in that decision on company time.
Baud
@trollhattan: A waste of money, but I hope Newsom crushes the recall.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Kelly: Here in the urban hellhole, the outside mask mandate makes a lot of sense, there’s a lot of people even outdoors and they tend to congregate in groups without any distancing.
smith
@Kay: I meant to comment this morning in response to your issue about what the impact of all the dead people will be, but the thread petered before I got to it.
One interesting tidbit I found in rummaging through the CDC website is the fact that cumulative per capita deaths from covid are substantially higher in rural areas than they are in urban areas, even though the case numbers are about the same. Some of this is undoubtedly due to lack of health care access, but some I would posit as due to covid denialism.
My sister does contact tracing in a mostly rural Northern WI county, and she has seen a fair number of cases where the patient or their family resisted testing or seeking treatment until it was too late, due primarily to a reluctance to take the disease seriously.
The point is, on average people in rural areas are probably more likely to have direct experience with someone dying from covid than people in urban areas. It will be interesting to see if this alters political perceptions or response to R messaging about covid in rural-dominated states.
Mallard Filmore
@Cameron:
They have great word-of-mouth publicity.
jeffreyw
@gene108:
We know for 100% sure that not vaccinating isn’t safe. Covid has proved that.
Betty Cracker
@trollhattan: DeSantis is too busy massaging gel into his hair and humming “Hail to the Chief” to care, but I do worry about the coming hot weather and how that might affect the case rate down here when everyone runs inside, slams the windows and doors shut and turns on the AC. It’s a race between vaccine distribution and the sun…
sab
Went to BMV/DMV to get new car stickers. We are all extended until July and I am white, but spouse and I figured WTF. Access very restricted, so husband went back to the car. Stood in line six feet apattpr on the little footprintdps between two old friends who shrieked across me as if I didn’t exist. They were both there to get pictures to renew conceal carry permits. I cannot believe either one knows how to fire a gun.
They spent a lot of time shrieking across me about complaints of their recently moved neighbor, who they had just spent months ( years) tormenting. Do not move to Copley, Ohio.
Another Scott
New CDC mask guidance as a helpful graphic
Still pretty complicated.
(via nycsouthpaw)
Cheers,
Scott.
sab
@Baud: I always thought you were silly, but you see a lot.
Sayne
@Cheryl Rofer:
Exactly.
I’m fully vaccinated but I’m gonna keep wearing my mask outside for the foreseeable future. Too many liars and idiots out there.
trollhattan
@Baud:
Me too, but I remain concerned that in an off-offyear election cycle, low turnout with a high crazy fraction means anything can happen.
Newsom polls better than Gray Davis did.
sab
@trollhattan: Everyone polls better than Gray Davis did. What were his patents thinking when they named him? ( We don’t want our kid in CA politics.)
The Dangerman
@trollhattan:
Early on in the shutdown shitshow, the branch of my bank was closed. No big deal; I rarely need to go in person and there are other branches not far away…
…but accessing my Safety Deposit Box was a problem. They opened up the closed bank just for me. I was wearing a mask along with the employees.
Going into the vault area of a closed bank while wearing a mask is surreal.
Ramiah Ariya
Since a couple of people mentioned India, the situation where I live (city in southern Indian state) is pretty bad – there are not many beds available. But I hear that the govt hospitals do have beds, and private hospitals have either run out or are charging exorbitantly.
A young woman in my extended family died today of Covid. All her family ended up in hospital and then recovered except for her.
Just 6 weeks before, the case count here was low, and it appeared the end of the pandemic was in sight. The speed with which this thing spread has taken everyone by surprise – people have mentioned relaxation of lockdown, political rallies and religious gatherings as causes. But lockdown has been relaxed for at least 3, 4 months; states without political rallies (such as Maharashtra) have suffered more; and the current surge started before the Kumbh. To me it appears that some new variant (the double mutant they are all talking about) is the cause. There was not much difference in any govt policy between January, February, March and April – the sudden surge in mid-March and April defies an explanation.
The small business community here are begging the govt for no lockdown – they were hit really bad last year, and so the state govts are not able to bring back full lockdown. Millions of lives were ruined last year due to the lockdown, also causing a crisis for migrant workers.
Unless a full lockdown like April, May of last year is brought back, however, I am afraid we will breach 500,000 cases or more, and many, many more deaths. Really bad choices all the way for the state governments.
Bill Arnold
@Baud:
This. It’s been approximately even (50%) odds for me to get infected with some random virus (usually a rhinovirus cold) on round trip plane flights.
Focus should have been on regulations requiring indoor masks, including at-home gatherings above some threshold of non-household attendees, with teeth, like oh a 2 week house arrest for breaking the regulation, and large fines (or other penalties for the rich, or a fixed percentage of income :-) for breaking the house arrest. And on actually tying local regulations to actual measured levels of community spread, as opposed to wishful delusional thinking, especially disbelief in exponential spread.
And on manufacturing and mass-distributing good masks (e.g. N95s) to everyone. (Worldwide, but yes in the US.) I still see people pulling up bandanas, which at least prevents them from spraying plumes of particles/droplets forward (good!) but they are lousy for filtration.
Now we know. For the next pandemic, e.g. a nasty high-R0 influenza, or COVID-23, the world will have the hard-won tools proven through a bunch of (highly unethical) natural population-level experiments performed world-wide. Plus a lot of good mechanical studies have been done about how plumes spread, diffuse, dilute, are filtered, etc. A bunch of stale and ungrounded-by-good-science public health dogma has been destroyed by reality. (It’s been a joy to read the science; have read between 100 and 200 papers on COVID-19, and a lot of those on public health measures and policies; so much science has been done in past year and change.)
JoyceH
@sab:
You got me curious, so I Googled. Turns out his full name is Joseph Graham Davis, Jr. His mother nicknamed him Gray (for Graham?) when he was a child. Still, he could have changed what he answered to as a teen or adult – could have been a Joe!
trollhattan
A birder on a photography forum seems to have captured Larry Craig in the wild.
Larry Craig seems like two lifetimes ago.
sab
@JoyceH: I wish he had let us know when he was running for office. JFC.
Cameron
The hand-washing thing turned out not to have a whole lot to do with COVID, but, y’know what? I’m going to keep the habit of lots of serious hand-washing every day for the rest of my life. Because it’s a good habit. I’ll keep wearing the masks until Dr. Fauci tattoos “You Can Take It Off Now, Moron” on my forehead.
Another Scott
@sab: [rofl]
I’m picturing you being stuck in an episode of Lancelot Link, Secret Chimp.
:-(
Sorry.
Cheers,
Scott.
sab
@Ramiah Ariya: Thank you for commenting. We are so sorry for your pain and loss.
The Dangerman
I’m trying to think of the appropriate reply if a Tucker Fucker harasses me about wearing a mask. Fuck You seems too mild. A knee to the groin area seems a little too strong. I need a Goldilocks solution.
Cameron
@Another Scott: Wow! Totally forgot. Back in my 20’s, me and my bros used to drop a whole lot of acid and check out LL.
Betty Cracker
@Ramiah Ariya: So sorry for the loss of your family member. What an awful situation. Please stay safe.
sab
@Another Scott: Can’t quite see it, but maybe I lack imagination.
I wish I did see it. Me exciting boggles my mind.
rikyrah
@Kay:
clap clap clap clap clap
opiejeanne
@sab: I get that. There were more masks being in the stadium at the Astros park, but still not a lot and it’s insane: they have limited attendance but no one is checking to see if there are masks on faces in either Texas stadium. We already have had one series postponed. this month due to a Covid outbreak on the Minnesota Twins team.
Another Scott
@Ramiah Ariya: It’s horrible. I’m sorry.
Thanks for the report. It’s important that the world knows.
Best wishes,
Scott.
Betty Cracker
@The Dangerman: “Mind your own fucking business” seems about right. That’s really what it comes down to; it’s none of their goddamn business what you wear on your own face.
trollhattan
@Ramiah Ariya:
It’s awful there and I’m very sorry that your family is being personally affected so tragically. Best wishes for some effective leadership to ease the crisis.
rikyrah
@sab:
Look at our flu rate this year…practically non-existant.
sab
@rikyrah: Don’t want to presume, but I think of you as a kindred soul.
Amir Khalid
@Cheryl Rofer:
You probably didn’t intend to suggest it, but I’m all for tattooing vaccine status on people’s foreheads. Vaccine refuseniks should get the biggest and most obnoxious-looking tattoos, so that everyone else will know to keep away from them.
Another Scott
@Kay: +1.
But I think your DHS budget number is too high. The administration requested $49.8B for DHS for FY21.
Cheers,
Scott.
Steeplejack
@Cameron:
I was just noticing the other day that I have unconsciously maintained the habit of washing my hands as soon as I come home from being “outside,” even though “contact” transmission has dropped in importance. Probably a good habit to keep.
gbbalto
@Ramiah Ariya: So sorry for your loss – my condolences and hopes that you and the rest of your family will weather it.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@The Dangerman:
For Fucker Tucker, seems about right.
VeniceRiley
@Ramiah Ariya: I’m sorry for your family. And you’re right. No good choices. Hunker down if you can. I wonder if the variant has breached immunity among those that had covid previously? I hope the items coming put a dent into the crisis.
Cheryl Rofer
@Amir Khalid: Thanks. I needed a laugh.
Ken
Carry a spray bottle with a solution of COVID-19 virus. Spritz the face of each person who says they’re vaccinated.
— Number 837 in our continuing series of “Stupid and illegal ideas that nonetheless sound appealing”.
sab
@Steeplejack: Yes that is a good habit to keep. Minimal effort, good effects. I grew up in a medical family. I had no idea that other people did not do that.
Another Scott
(via Popehat)
Cheers,
Scott.
Another Scott
@sab: It’s kinda amazing how well it works.
Make sure you’re not eating, then click here to see a graphic illustration of the bread mold experiment (from December).
Cheers,
Scott.
Major Major Major Major
‘Bout time. I believe this has been New York’s policy for the entire pandemic, at least as far as mandates go. For good reason; it’s been fairly clear for almost a year now that outdoor spread is vanishingly rare, unless you’re engaged in close & ongoing social contact, e.g. a conversation or music festival. Closing parks and playgrounds and shaming beach-goers etc. has been really maddening, it’s just driven people indoors. I get being cautious, but the evidence has always pointed in the direction that being outside is quite safe.
As for incentives, we should just pay everybody who gets vaccinated from here out $500. There will always be a Trumpy rump but I don’t think they’ll be able to hold the line against that.
ETA I’m not super worried about separate guidance for the vaccinated in this specific case since the harm of an unvaccinated person massless outside is so low. (Source: it’s right there in the WaPo excerpt)
sab
@Another Scott: Gross. Me hmm. Spouse gag
I did tell you I grew up in a medical family?
Roger Moore
I’m extremely excited because LA county just passed the criteria to move into the least restrictive “minimal” tier of California’s COVID response for the first time. We need to stay at that level for two weeks in a row to actually change tiers, but it’s still great news. Our current number of daily positive tests is something like 1/30 or 1/40 of the December high, and daily deaths have fallen by almost as much.
opiejeanne
@Frankensteinbeck: Hope and relief. The weight of Covid loomed over every aspect of our lives for more than a year. Getting the vaccine lifted that particular weight from their (and our) shoulders.
Cameron
@Another Scott: Sorry, but it’s ‘hamberder,’ y’know. Hamberder.
sab
@Another Scott: I grow bread all the time. Often I fail. Hardly ever kill my family.
Sure Lurkalot
So it was last March that Carlson met with TFG to convince him to take COVID-19 seriously. Now he’s a talking health hazard. Which stance is the act? Who’s the producer?
I have never watched more than a minute of Fox and never Carlson but it does seem that he’s dialed up the offensive rhetoric significantly. There’s something behind the curtain.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Major Major Major Major:
We didn’t initially close off parks, hiking trails and beaches; we ended up doing it because folk were packing these places and our case rate was going up. On a hot day beaches tend to be wall to wall people here.
Major Major Major Major
I also wish we would stop obsessively sanitizing the NYC subway trains so we can have overnight service again. Surface transmission is even rarer than outdoor transmission, and while it’s nice to have clean trains there’s got to be a less intrusive way.
Roger Moore
@Chief Oshkosh:
This is the wrong attitude. The question is not whether we did too much or not enough, but whether we did the right things. If outdoor activity was safe, banning it was counterproductive because it made the other restrictions people were under less bearable. We should have been encouraging people to socialize in safer, outdoor settings so they would be less inclined to do it in their homes. Similarly, I think we should have offered space in public parks to organizations that were unable to keep activities indoors, like churches, gyms, and theater groups.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Sure Lurkalot:
As I said in last night’s thread, he’s running for President in 2024.
Another Scott
@sab: :-)
I still remember the really weird stuff that was growing on some leftover Green Giant frozen broccoli casserole thing when I was a kid.
Mold is good and important, in its proper place!!
Cheers,
Scott.
sab
rikyrah
@Ramiah Ariya:
Sorry for your loss ??
Please stay safe ??
Major Major Major Major
@?BillinGlendaleCA: in NY they preemptively closed playgrounds and IIRC beaches, even though we knew then what we know now, that
In April-June last year (and to a degree this is ongoing) most of the pictures of crowded outdoor scenes I saw in the news were deceptive telephoto shots, also too. On the ground here I never really saw a big crowd.
Another Scott
@Roger Moore: I think the concern with beaches and outdoor activities in parks and all the rest was the parking lots and restrooms and water fountains and pathways to get to the open areas. And things like this last Labor Day, where people were on the beach, but not spread out.
As usual, a nuanced description was needed while the press and the Teabaggers were demanding an OPEN UP NOW NOW NOW policy.
Cheers,
Scott.
Mary G
@sab: @JoyceH: He has the personality of a pet rock, so it’s very appropriate.
Newsom is miles better at politicking than Gray ever was. I am replacing ancient drains and redoing the bathroom and everyplace I look online and the tile store, drive thru fast food, and gas station I was physically at yesterday have big signs saying “We’re Hiring.”
The Big Dog and Carville turned out to have feet of clay, but their slogan was A+
“It’s the economy, stupid.”
I’m glad the Republicans got the petition qualified so they can waste a lot more of their donors’ money.
different-church-lady
@Roger Moore: But if it is only in retrospect that we now know outdoor space was safe, then we did do the right thing at the time.
I’m not going to beat people up for being cautious in the face of an unknown with deadly consequences.
I am going to object going forward to people who want to cling to irrational fretfulness in the face of knowns that say otherwise.
Uncle Cosmo
@trollhattan: OT1H you really can’t blame shop owners/staff (banks even moreso) for being leery of letting masked people in. It only takes one SOB pulling a gun…
OTOH there’s a simple fix for that: Nearly every shop has security cameras. Position one of them above the front door facing out with a red light beside it, a line on the pavement, and a sign reading
…aaand the security camera has a record of your mugly ug and the mask you’re wearing for future reference in case you’re feeling heisty.
It’s not rocket science – not even bottle-rocket science.
divF
@?BillinGlendaleCA: you have to forgive M^4 here. The experience of NorCal beaches would not ever suggest the word “crowded”. At most you get intermittent clumps of people huddling together to try to stay warm.
ETA: yes I know he’s in ny now but years in the Bay Area does leave an impression.
satby
Most of the country doesn’t have California’s outdoor activity friendly weather for most of the year. And a hella lot of Americans found a relatively simple thing like a mask was unbearable, now suggest they have a family holiday outside in either 24°F or +100°F weather. Nowhere in this country was as restrictive as most other countries got, and we had a death toll to prove it.
Major Major Major Major
@Roger Moore: you’d think we would have learned the lessons about harm reduction from “safer sex” messaging and safe injection sites and stuff. But I guess those are controversial too.
trollhattan
The state that gifts us Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul gave themselves a traffic roundabout. Locals seem enthusiastic.
Who wants to bet it’s funded by Mrs. Turtle?
Brachiator
@Ramiah Ariya:
Very sorry to hear of your loss.
And thank you very much for the insights into what is happening in parts of India.
Major Major Major Major
@satby: most of the country did have good weather from early pandemic through fall, though, and at any rate these are state level regulations.
Another Scott
@trollhattan: Hehe.
(Comments say that flagmen were directing the traffic that way.)
Cheers,
Scott.
Betty Cracker
@Uncle Cosmo:
JoyceH
The problem with beaches during a pandemic is that people, especially young people, don’t STAY on the beaches. After their beach fun, they jam into the bars. Having the beaches open made places like Florida an ‘attractive nuisance’ that lured in the spring breakers to bar hop and superspread.
sab
I don’t even want to be alive.
Everyone this is some sort of coy comment.
This is actually a straightfotward comment on my life.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Major Major Major Major: It’s been noted the places were AIDs hit the hardest have most enthusiasm for the precautions.
Matt McIrvin
People like Tucker Carlson seem to have immediately seized on the voices urging making wearing masks outdoors not-mandatory in order to urge making NOT wearing masks mandatory. Anything not forbidden is compulsory.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@gene108: Especially since being unvaccinated is clearly NOT 100% safe
Another Scott
@sab: I hope you’re doing Ok. Your comments could be worrying without more context.
Cheers,
Scott.
Ruckus
@sab:
I understand, but don’t forget that a lot of the places that are used to masking are significantly more crowded than most places in the US. Not all for sure, but most. I lived in old town Pasadena and Friday/Saturday evenings walking around was crowded, but not packed. Try a train in Japan, or a sidewalk in NYC and crowded often doesn’t come close to accurate.
Uncle Cosmo
@Betty Cracker: I must’ve tossed out that bon mot (FTR of my own devising, though I’ll admit the possibility of independent discovery) at least a dozen times on this blog since I’ve been here. Nice of a FPer to finally notice.
Use it liberally.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@The Dangerman: You can always just use a bat the beat Fucker Carlson like a pinata. You could also put spikes in the bat too, just saying. Maybe taser Carlson first. I mean it is Carlson, it’s not like we’re talking like a stray dog or anything important.
Betty Cracker
@sab: I can’t tell if you’re kidding or not, but I hope you’re okay. I’m an idiot who has no pertinent training whatsoever, but I do know from interacting with you over the years here at the Juice that you’re a good person, and you can always email me at bettycrackerfl — at sign — gmail.com if corresponding with a distracted ninny like myself would be of any use to you at all.
Major Major Major Major
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: it’s almost like the enthusiasm for precautions came from having a large gay population, rather than causing AIDS clusters!
Roger Moore
@trollhattan:
They’re not happening. The Newsom recall isn’t about too many people dying of COVID. To the extent it’s about COVID at all, it’s about COVID restrictions hurting businesses. Mostly, though, it’s about Republicans thinking they have a chance to replace the Democratic governor.
rikyrah
@sab:
I hope that you are ok. That statement is scaring me.
I have a lot of bitterness that’s related to COVID. And, because of that bitterness, I really don’t have a generous spirit of any kind when it comes to COVID clowns.
Ruckus
@rikyrah:
One never actually knows, but the likelihood is an overwhelming yes, a walking Covid time bomb. And there were a lot more of us a year ago, around a half a million more.
Cheryl Rofer
@sab: I don’t know how to take this comment in the context of all your other comments on this thread.
Here’s the National Suicide Hotline website or 800-273-8255
Get help if you weren’t making some sort of joke.
Major Major Major Major
@sab: you can call 1-800-273-TALK (8255) if things get dark and you need somebody to talk to.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@sab: We’re worried about you and holding you in the light.
Comrade Colette
I see you haven’t lived in France.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Roger Moore: Well it’s about COVID in so much the virus let them BS the judge into giving them more time that the law allowed.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Soprano2:
Nope. Ever heard of variants capable of evading the antibody response in vaccinated individuals?
Omnes Omnibus
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): So no one one takes masks off ever?
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@sab:
Hey, don’t talk like that! If you need someone to talk to, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: (800) 273-8255
We’re also here if you need somebody to talk to
Major Major Major Major
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): dude those are going to be around forever. The mRNA vaccines confer a remarkably high degree of personal immunity even in the face of the variants, at least the several we have natural experiments for. UK, NYC etc. And there will be boosters in the fall. At some point life must resume. I think we’re out of time for telling vaccinated people they still shouldn’t do anything.
Ruckus
I like all the we should have done this looking back, when what we knew was slim, especially about how fast we would get really effective vaccines, and how fast we could get them in arms. In any large public health system, caution is the very best option, not wild ass guessing, nor an absolute dipshit leader, when faced with the prospect of a massive, deadly disease with no known vaccine. The absolute worst action was that taken by the dipshit not in charge but in office.
Jeffro
Can we get a thread up about Kamala “she-devil” Harris making big bank off of mandatory book sales for immigrant kids’ welcome packets?
No? Why not? Wait…is it because it’s another one of those bullshit Fox stories, like Biden banning hamburgers and Dr. Seuss books being burned in the town square?
sigh
It sucks being a liberal and dealing with actual facts and stuff all the time. (pouty face)
Roger Moore
@different-church-lady:
I think it became clear pretty quickly that outdoor activities were at least massively safer than indoor ones. I remember during the initial lockdown seeing a group of people socializing out on their lawn, with each family separated by a good distance. Even if it wasn’t perfectly safe, we knew back then that it was massively safer to do that than to meet in our homes, and we should have been encouraging that kind of behavior as an alternative to private, indoor gatherings.
This gets back to one of my big points about COVID restrictions: compliance is everything. An imperfect rule that people obey is more effective than a perfect one they ignore. IOW, the goal of our rules shouldn’t have been perfect safety as long as everyone obeyed. It should have been reasonable safety with rules people could actually abide by. I’ve heard people say this is one reason outdoor restaurant opening were actually a good thing. Rather than being a new way for people to meet and spread the virus, they were a replacement for visiting each other’s homes.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Omnes Omnibus:
That’s not what I was saying though? It makes perfect sense to not bother with masks outdoors unless you’re in a large crowd with no spacing possible, for example
Benw
@sab: take care of yourself. You are valued here
Sister Golden Bear
@Baud: Truth. Thanks.
Mary G
@sab: Please call the hotline if you are considering hurting yourself: 800-273-8255
You are one of the most interesting commenters here, and we can’t spare you. Nor your family and pets.
Falling Diphthong
@Sure Lurkalot: It’s interesting how each hiking trail near me evolved its own local standards on masks–everyone masked; everyone with chin warmers we pull up when approaching; everyone with masks in pocket that we can apply should a prolonged encounter happen.
mrmoshpotato
@The Dangerman:
Both knees to the groin?
cain
So how do I tell if a person on the street without a mask is a vaccinated person or an anti-vaxx asshole?
Omnes Omnibus
@cain: Look for the tail.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Omnes Omnibus: Sounds like a tall tail.
Omnes Omnibus
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Not on you.
J R in WV
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
Is it just me, or would others here decline to spend $40K to send your kid to a school that forces you into a contract that precludes you from criticizing that school?
In my (old childless man) case that
requestrequirement would end any discussion of money passing from my accounts to the school’s accounts.Complaining about management is one of my most valued freedoms, and giving that up so that my kids won’t be taking advantage of public schools I’m already paying for, and can bitch about all I want, is just so not a deal~!!~
Also pretty sure a good lawyer would find that requirement not only ill-advised but probably illegal. Would enjoy taking them to court when they pissed me off and tried to keep me silent.
Old School
@Omnes Omnibus:
Discreetly, I’m assuming.
Omnes Omnibus
@Old School: One would hope.
J R in WV
@different-church-lady:
Terrified by…or twine…
Seriously?
You must be pulling my leg on twine~!~
Another Scott
That’s just crazy talk.
(via LOLGOP)
Cheers,
Scott.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
randy khan
@different-church-lady:
I am perfectly happy to accommodate the paranoids who want to keep wearing masks when it’s not necessary. They’re not hurting anyone. The other end of the spectrum is a different story.
My take is that I will follow the CDC guidance and whatever additional requirements the local authorities and stores impose, and of course will mask up if I’m around friends who find it makes them feel more secure, because I’m trying not to be a jerk. I won’t, though, feel any pressure to do more than that once I’m fully vaccinated.
J R in WV
And without reading ALL the comments, I want to make a really big point while the thread is still active.
All the information we’re learning right now about Sars-Covid-19 ONLY APPLIES TO SARS-COVID-19 — not to any new pandemic diseases, and not to new mutations of Sars-Covid-19 to which the old information does not apply~!!~
I can barely imagine the problems and trouble we will have telling the no-mask/no-vaccine assholes that there is a whole new set of requirements for a new disease. They will just claim none of the new data is real, it’s all a deep state fraud, and they aren’t going to wear masks, nor get vaccinated for the new disease, regardless of the new information from research into the brand-new disease!
WaterGirl
@Another Scott: We are probably close to 175 times as many deaths as Sept 11. And125,000 Benghazis. Upside-down world.
RSA
A friend pointed me to this insanity, which apparently is sincere.
https://amgreatness.com/2021/04/26/i-wont-take-the-vaccine-because-it-makes-liberals-mad/
Omnes Omnibus
That’s pretty much where I am. FWIW I just got back from a bike ride. I did not wear a mask, but I had one with me in case a situation arose where I might need it.
Soprano2
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Well, it’s my belief that Covid is here to stay, so we need to learn to live with it. For me that doesn’t mean masks forever and no concerts or travel or pretty much anything indoors ever again. People need to get vaccinated!
James E Powell
@RSA:
That’s the core of the enduring appeal of Trump & other right-wing crazies.
Steve in the ATL
@Omnes Omnibus: you forgot to add “Zing!”
Omnes Omnibus
@Steve in the ATL: Oops.
Roger Moore
@RSA:
It’s Cleek’s Law all over again. Everything is about owning the libs.
James E Powell
Anecdata point from the Los Angeles Unified School District.
Today was the first day for students to return to school for hybrid – some at school, some online – classes.
On this day, 1/2 of the 6th grade was able to return. Total students: 5. Five. Not kidding. 5.
J R in WV
@Amir Khalid:
Skull and Crossbones right between the eyes~!!!~
RSA
@James E Powell:
@Roger Moore:
Exactly. Since TFG, it seems more people are saying the quiet part out loud.
dmsilev
@RSA: “Liquifying my lungs to Own The Libs!”
You know, we spent the Obama years joking that he should have reduced the conservative population by making PSAs telling people not to drink bleach or run into traffic. Not a joke, apparently.
J R in WV
@Sure Lurkalot:
Payment in Rubles, don’t ya think? They all seem to be solely motivated by money~!!~
Ken
@J R in WV: “DNR” is traditional.
Cheryl Rofer
I have not seen any videos of anti-maskers harassing children, nor have I seen reports of child protective agencies being harassed.
Is it possible that the faithful are ignoring Tucker?
BruceFromOhio
Fixt.
@rikyrah:
This.
Martin
@Omnes Omnibus: That’s what I do as well.
This is pretty simple overall – the more mask wearing we do, the faster this will go away. I won’t stop wearing the mask until covid is no longer widespread in the US. I’m not worried about myself getting sick – never have worried about that. I don’t care what the odds are of me getting sick. Covid is still finding purchase around the US, therefore we’re still in this.
cwmoss
@Another Scott: A bar in my PDX neighborhood has a photo collage of Lance Link, Stray Cats, and a shot of a mid-20th century boxing match on the wall in one of the booths.
Martin
@J R in WV: Nah. He’s wanted a race war his whole life and he sees his moment. Putin wouldn’t mind that either, but Tucker would be there regardless.
BruceFromOhio
@J R in WV:
If it kills them, their friends, their offspring, I have no problem with this. Just fucking die already, assholes.
BruceFromOhio
@cain:
Wear a mask and ask them how they are doing. You’ll know in a moment or two.
mrmoshpotato
@Cheryl Rofer:
I’d like to think Fucker Carlson has gone too far into I’m An Asshole territory even for Rethuglican Trump trash, but it’s still too early to tell.
cckids
You’re very correct. At the grocery store where I have my part-time job, we had, at times, 28-35 people OUT with Covid. Never, ever were we warned, or offered testing. And trying to find a test was close to impossible, unless you had symptoms, even if you knew you’d been exposed.
We only knew people had it through gossip, though when they had to close the entire deli and bakery because too many employees were sick, that was just a bit of a clue. The store even required employees whose spouse was home with Covid to be at work.
It was, and is, just insane. As with most corporations, the public line they spouted came to a crashing halt when it hit reality.
hueyplong
@mrmoshpotato: Wow, assuming it’s possible to go too far for Republican trash? Wouldn’t risk any of my own money on that prop bet.
Soprano2
@cckids: In December when I was sick you had to either have symptoms or have been exposed to someone with symptoms to have a chance to get a test. Lots of people didn’t bother to even try. It was secretive here, too, because of HIPPA, but people usually knew. They only told you if you’d been directly exposed. I’m convinced at least 25% of the population has had Covid.
Ruckus
@SoupCatcher:
I’ve worked in machine shops for decades. Started as a kid of 12. I haven’t been 12 for a rather long time. We once had OSHA in the shop because we processed Beryllium Copper. Everyone in the shop had to wear a respirator with filter paper inserts that were processed to find out the respiratory intake over 8 hrs and they would have shut us down if it was too high. We passed with flying colors, because we understood the dangers and took the proper steps to mitigate them. My point is that laws like OSHA can save lives and can make modern work better and safer. I’ve worked for the last 8 yrs back in a machine shop and those OSHA laws are still there and still making life better for people.
Chief Oshkosh
@Roger Moore: so you knew all that in advance? Wow. What are you doing here? Get this man to the White House — stat! ;)
sab
@mrmoshpotato: Connie Schultz is on twitter. Maybe check her out. Folks harrassing children been up for several days now.
If you haven’t seen folks harrassing kids you have been purposely averting your eyes.
sab
@Cheryl Rofer: Check out Connie Schultz on twitter about anti-maskers harrassing children. Oddly, they mostly had foreign accents.