~*Official #COVID-19 Thread of Doom*~ Revenge of Omicron Prime

[skillzdadirecta]

4 hours ago, Spawn_of_Apathy said:

Well I would hope you and Jose wouldn’t be so dumb, but that doesn’t mean everyone else isn’t. People were driving as far to go to churches that were refusing to abide by or given immunity from stay at home orders. And I’m sure people were driving as far or further to go protest stay at home orders at state capitols. 
 

and a 90 minute drive may be a bit much for a walk in the park, but if you plan on spending any significant amount of time, especially if coordinating with a group of people, 90 minutes is nothing. We do that just to go to a lake for a day, or half day. 

 

In most parts of the country a 90 minute drive isn't that much... in Jersey? That's a god damned road trip 

 

1 minute ago, Spork3245 said:

No, they’re all from South Jersey and thusly speak with polite southern charm.

 

 You and I know different folks from South Jersey apparently 

[Jason]

2 minutes ago, skillzdadirecta said:

 

In most parts of the country a 90 minute drive isn't that much... in Jersey? That's a god damned road trip 

 

If I drive 90 minutes from my parents' house in NJ I'm in Manhattan. 

 

2 hours to Kingston if I don't stop to pee. 

[Joe]

The NJ Twitter page is too good.

 

[Guest]

90 minutes is only 15 minutes longer than the longest no traffic drive you can make from one side of the Houston Metro to the other 

[skillzdadirecta]

Yeah I realized how skewed my perception of distance was when I moved to Los Angeles... it takes an hour to get ANYWHERE in LA. At LEAST an hour  I remember thinking once when it took me two hours to get from The Valley to the West Side "I could have driven to Philly by now If I was in Jersey" 

[CitizenVectron]

Man, it takes a minimum of 2 to 9 hours to drive between major cities in most of Canada. There's literally nothing but farmland and forest between most populated areas outside of either the GTA or greater Vancouver. The same is true of some of the US, of course, but I laugh when I hear people from Europe complain about having to take a train for 2 hours or something. If I want to spend the weekend in Calgary it's 8 hours each way! And people do it all the time!

[skillzdadirecta]

4 minutes ago, CitizenVectron said:

Man, it takes a minimum of 2 to 9 hours to drive between major cities in most of Canada. There's literally nothing but farmland and forest between most populated areas outside of either the GTA or greater Vancouver. The same is true of some of the US, of course, but I laugh when I hear people from Europe complain about having to take a train for 2 hours or something. If I want to spend the weekend in Calgary it's 8 hours each way! And people do it all the time!

 

Shit, I drive 9 hours South from Jersey and I'm in the Carolinas. 

[b_m_b_m_b_m]

50 minutes ago, Chris- said:

I’m not sure why left Twitter has been in tizzy over this? I read it as her making a statement of fact (W asked old presidents for help; Trump has not), not an endorsement of how well W handled it. 

You can criticize trump without invoking GWB and his administration specifically with regard to Katrina, a world class disaster that effectively ended his presidency and cemented his status as one of the worst presidents of all time which killed thousands of Americans due to incompetence. What they've done is whitewash Katrina, "oh look even gwb was trying to be a uniter" without even referencing the magnitude of his failures. This is a failure to remember history, and is the makings of whitewashing the trump administration that will happen the next time the gop manages to force through another incompetent and/or fascist

[Spawn_of_Apathy]

Traffic has to be pretty bad to take 90 minutes to get from any point in DFW to another. We have highways everywhere that go everywhere. And Like I said, the DFW metroplex is a larger area than the state of NJ (more square mileage). Though we are more compressed.
 

I tend to joke that in the DFW are you’re always at least 30 minutes from where you next want to be. Your work and home are 30 minutes away. Girlfriend lives 30 minutes away. The restaurant you want to eat at is 30 minutes away. Trying to go from Dallas to Fort Worth, well as long as you’re not doing during peak traffic, that’s 30 minutes. lol 

 

For is a road trip is going to Houston, Austin, and San Antonio. Where you’re looking at 3 or more hours. Even going 2 hours to Louisiana or Oklahoma to gamble at a casino is something people do after work on a Tuesday as an evening activity.  

[Jason]

17 minutes ago, skillzdadirecta said:

Yeah I realized how skewed my perception of distance was when I moved to Los Angeles... it takes an hour to get ANYWHERE in LA. At LEAST an hour  I remember thinking once when it took me two hours to get from The Valley to the West Side "I could have driven to Philly by now If I was in Jersey" 

 

Santa Monica to DTLA can easily take 1.5 hours during the day. Then around midnight it can easily take 15 minutes to get back.

 

One of my friends used to live in Park La Brea, which is kind of far from the freeway, and one time after crashing after partying it took me something like 17 minutes to get back to Santa Monica early on a Sunday morning.

[skillzdadirecta]

1 minute ago, Jason said:

 

Santa Monica to DTLA can easily take 1.5 hours during the day. Then around midnight it can easily take 15 minutes to get back.

I have a friend who lived not far from me and she used to work in Santa Monica. It used to take her anywhere from 40 minutes to an hour to drive FOUR MILES to go to work. Traffic in LA is ridiculous... and people wonder why I don't drive there.

[Guest]

12 minutes ago, Spawn_of_Apathy said:

Even going 2 hours to Louisiana or Oklahoma to gamble at a casino is something people do after work on a Tuesday as an evening activity.  

My buddy that owns the Galaxy Drive In down in Ennis has been really pissed that Choctaw and Winstar have been closed. He goes 3 times a week 

[PaladinSolo]

So Trump made up the 60k death projection, they model actually didn't change, lol.

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/05/03/birxs-fox-news-sunday-interview-lays-bare-discord-trumps-coronavirus-response/

 

Birx was asked about Trump’s projections in recent weeks that there would be between 50,000 and 60,000 deaths, which he later increased to 60,000 to 70,000. We are at over 66,000 deaths, with little sign in recent weeks of any significant downturn.

Birx told host Chris Wallace that “our projections have always been between 100,000 and 240,000 American lives lost, and that’s with full mitigation and us learning from each other of how to social distance.”

That contradicts what Trump said. The president hasn’t just offered a more optimistic tone on the death toll; on April 20, he suggested 50,000 to 60,000 deaths had actually replaced the previous 100,000-to-240,000 goal that he had said would constitute a successful response.

“We’re going toward 50, I’m hearing, or 60,000 people,” Trump said. “One is too many. I always say it: One is too many. But we’re going toward 50 or 60,000 people. That’s at the lower — as you know, the low number was supposed to be 100,000 people. We could end up at 50 to 60. Okay?”

[osxmatt]

4 minutes ago, PaladinSolo said:

So Trump made up the 60k death projection, they model actually didn't change, lol.

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/05/03/birxs-fox-news-sunday-interview-lays-bare-discord-trumps-coronavirus-response/

 

Birx was asked about Trump’s projections in recent weeks that there would be between 50,000 and 60,000 deaths, which he later increased to 60,000 to 70,000. We are at over 66,000 deaths, with little sign in recent weeks of any significant downturn.

Birx told host Chris Wallace that “our projections have always been between 100,000 and 240,000 American lives lost, and that’s with full mitigation and us learning from each other of how to social distance.”

That contradicts what Trump said. The president hasn’t just offered a more optimistic tone on the death toll; on April 20, he suggested 50,000 to 60,000 deaths had actually replaced the previous 100,000-to-240,000 goal that he had said would constitute a successful response.

“We’re going toward 50, I’m hearing, or 60,000 people,” Trump said. “One is too many. I always say it: One is too many. But we’re going toward 50 or 60,000 people. That’s at the lower — as you know, the low number was supposed to be 100,000 people. We could end up at 50 to 60. Okay?”

 

I'm the first to jump on something Trump says, but I was under the impression he was just repeating the IMHE model, which now projects 72.5k by August (lol).

[skillzdadirecta]

Just now, osxmatt said:

 

I'm the first to jump on something Trump says, but I was under the impression he was just repeating the IMHE model, which now projects 72.5k by August (lol).

 

He was... Trump didn't make that number up. The IMHE was the first to put that 60,000 death number out there and they did indeed revise it upwards. 

 

https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/491715-key-coronavirus-model-revised-downward-predicts-60k-deaths-in-us-by-august

 

Quote

A key forecasting model used by the White House has revised its prediction of COVID-19 deaths in the U.S., now estimating a peak of 60,415 by early August. 

The model created by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington had predicted a peak of 81,766 deaths in an update on Sunday. 

Public health experts, including Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, have previously estimated that as many as 100,000 to 200,000 Americans could die from the novel coronavirus. 

 

That article is from early April.

[b_m_b_m_b_m]

2 minutes ago, osxmatt said:

 

I'm the first to jump on something Trump says, but I was under the impression he was just repeating the IMHE model, which now projects 72.5k by August (lol).

Agusto de Mayo maybe

[PaladinSolo]

It appears that the task force isn't taking that model seriously then, and Trump is freewheeling and taking the most optimistic outlook on his own again.

[Spawn_of_Apathy]

8 minutes ago, PaladinSolo said:

It appears that the task force isn't taking that model seriously then, and Trump is freewheeling and taking the most optimistic outlook on his own again.

That‘s so very unlike Donald. 

[PaladinSolo]

Well i suppose getting fired for complaining about PPE isn't the worst outcome.

[skillzdadirecta]

2 minutes ago, PaladinSolo said:

Well i suppose getting fired for complaining about PPE isn't the worst outcome.

They're tossing Doctors out of fuckin' windows?!

[osxmatt]

It's also interesting that Dr. Birx said this morning that the White House models have "always been between 100k-240k."

[skillzdadirecta]

1 minute ago, osxmatt said:

It's also interesting that Dr. Birx said this morning that the White House models have "always been between 100k-240k."

She's a political hack but to their credit in that article I linked, it seems that Dr. Fauci and I assume her, have always estimated that 100 to 240k number.

[marioandsonic]

10 minutes ago, osxmatt said:

It's also interesting that Dr. Birx said this morning that the White House models have "always been between 100k-240k."

 

We were always at war with Eurasia.

[Joe]

 

RAC! RAC!

[SuperSpreader]

5 minutes ago, Jose said:

 

RAC! RAC!

Whoa is only there was a union to be a part of before this 

[Firewithin]

 

[marioandsonic]

1 minute ago, Firewithin said:

 

Literal thoughts and prayers 

[chakoo]

28 minutes ago, Jose said:

 

RAC! RAC!

Don't worry. I'm sure trump will send DoJ after them all for this!

[b_m_b_m_b_m]

Shame about the rest of their families BUT

 

[CitizenVectron]

Ottawa announces $240M for virtual health-care services during COVID-19 crisis

 

Quote

The federal government will put $240 million toward moving mental health and primary care services online in an effort to combat concerns over mental and physical wellbeing during the COVID-19 crisis, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Sunday.

 

The prime minister said a new mental health platform will provide strategies for managing stress with specific help for those from marginalized communities. Money will also be funnelled into providing virtual primary care for patients who don't need to visit a doctor's office.

 

Quote

The economic fallout from the pandemic has led to many Canadians worrying about their financial stability, and lack of social support due to prolonged isolation. Safety fears from frontline workers are further compounding mental health concerns across the country.

 

This is good news. Many regular appointments have moved to telehealth, including one I had this week. I had what I thought was an old age spot/sun spot that had changed, so I wanted to have it looked at. I emailed the doctor a picture and she called me, and we had a 15-minute appointment on the phone.

This move apparently will prioritize mental health services as well.

 

Quote

 

The prime minister also addressed a previously-announced top-up to the Canada Child Benefit that will see eligible families receiving an extra $300 per child as part of their regular May payment.

 

Also confirming that the CCB will be boosted again in May. For those unaware, everyone in Canada with a kid gets monthly money from the federal government (unless they make a lot of money), and they have boosted it for April and May (and I imagine for June, etc). This benefit has reduced poverty massively over the last ten years as it has been introduced and rolled out, so the temporary boost should help families a bit.

 

Quote

Government establishes procurement supply group

 

During today's noon briefing, Procurement Minister Anita Anand also provided an update on the status of Canada's procurement efforts.

 

Anand shared details on a new federal COVID-19 supply council, which will be tasked with finding solutions to keep Canada stocked with the necessary medical and protective equipment throughout the pandemic.

 

"Until we have effective treatments, or better yet a vaccine, we'll still need a reliable supply of everything from masks to ventilators," Trudeau said.

 

And it looks like the federal government has started a procurement council to help provincial health authorities find and purchase equipment/PPE.

[Kal-El814]

 

YOLO

[MarSolo]

 

Today I learned the Spanish Flu ended the First World War.

[Eggman76]

Is there a legit reason why everyone keeps saying social distancing instead of physical distancing when talking about the Covid pandemic?  

[chakoo]

1 minute ago, Eggman76 said:

Is there a legit reason why everyone keeps saying social distancing instead of physical distancing when talking about the Covid pandemic?  

The focus is on trying to keep people from standing around in groups outside socializing. If it was just called physical distancing then idiots would say it's fine to still hold gatherings as long as some space is kept between people.

[LazyPiranha]