My bad. Meant to post it with this. A study came out that showed that once white people found out that Covid was hurting racial minorities disproportionately, they took it less seriously.

The Supreme Court was just an anecdote. The Chief Justice didn't view meatpackers as "regular people" because they were mostly minorities.

ScienceDirect

Basically, the conclusion was that for public health issues, don't mention that there is a racial disparity because that changes how people react.

So, we'll see whether we (all of us, collectively) have it in us to change our behavior, as the latest variant is clearly here. Numbers are shooting up again... remains to be seen about the "severity" but... I remain deeply skeptical that we have the ability to put the toothpaste back into the tube at this point.

“Barely a month after declaring the “all clear” and lifting indoor mask requirements, the Philadelphia Department of Public Health is once again issuing a warning…Over the past ten days, cases in Philadelphia have increased more than 50%” https://t.co/tnq4df3IPR

— Beatrice Adler-Bolton (@realLandsEnd) April 5, 2022

Warnings, again. Urging people to take precautions. Stuff like that.

But politicians read polls, and they don't dare do mask mandates or anything like that... it's deeply underwater, even with people who were on board through most of 2020 and 2021.

So, we'll do... close to nothing? Perhaps.

I think 2 years in, it's fair to point out all of the tools we have to fight the next variant. I'm not even sure it's so much about "not having it in us" as it is about accepting a risk for which we are adequately protected (or have been given a year to get protected). Unless a variant comes along that severely ramps up the hospitalizations and death rate, I'll decide whether to modify my behavior to wear masks indoors again, but this is the situation we spent 2 years trying to get to, right? Masking, vaccinations, boosters, natural immunity ... we are able to live with it. This feels like the point where collective action hands the baton to personal accountability, and your life is as valuable as you choose to treat it.

I guess so.

Maybe I was the naive one... thinking that maybe this would settle in when we got things settled down to, idano... 100 US deaths a day? Rather than an order of magnitude higher than that.

Under ideal circumstances - some of which are dependent on the virus, not us - that might have been reasonable. But given the way we've governed and personally acted, I suppose in some ways we're lucky to have gotten this far.

About 93% of those deaths are unvaccinated people. So that's about 30 deaths of vaccinated people a day out of the 475 or so per day currently. And that's before getting into whatever other ailments people in that group of 30 also have.

hadn't thought about those numbers quite that bluntly, I suppose... maybe that will help me resolve my inner conflict about all this

We're flying to England a week from today.

My daughters best friends mom tested positive for covid yesterday. Her daughter was here for 2 hours yesterday literally shoulder to shoulder with my daughter on her bed. The mom tested after she picked her up. The daughter tested negative.

Mom just called, daughter is now positive. Gonna test my daughter tomorrow but I have a very bad feeling.

Welcome to the new normal for the next year or so.

We are good!

Unless she develops symptoms we aren't testing her again

You'll have to test her within 24-48 hours of the flight (unless that has changed very recently).

I've got a trip planned. I decided to pay a little more for 1 alliance partner vs misc airlines for the convenience that, if I had to cancel because I tested positive, I can just call one number.

Nope.

Not anymore. We have to test when we come back but the UK has lifted all restrictions

Yay Lathum's family!!

Last post was 3/2, so about a month later.

> 12 is 74.1% up from 73.5%

At least one dose ...

> 12 is 86.7% up from 86.1%

So previous month's 3/2 run rate was about +.9%. This month's run rate is about .6%.

Slow as molasses.

I thought we were mostly out of it in Ontario (Canada). It's back again. They currently estimate that 5% of the population of the province has an active case, based on wastewater analysis. This is a direct result of the lifting of mask mandates, which I enjoyed for a few days at least. Based on the # of cases out there, I've got the mask back on.

Right or wrong, I'm not focused on cases but more on hospitalizations/deaths for the vaccinated & boosted. Yeah, I'm walking around pretty much everywhere without a mask on (except where mandated like at my dentist).

Haven't made it to the movies yet. But have told wife that I'll be going to see Top Gun 2.

The mask mandate at airports is next level stupid. I’m currently at Newark. Take away the massive amounts of people eating and drinking unmasked and you still have every third person either flat out not wearing one or wearing it below their nose or around their chins.

Not sure how I feel about this. I wouldn't mind if it stays on for another couple months but think I'm okay with this. I assume we are still requiring 24-48 hour testing for inbound international flights.

TSA won't enforce mask-wearing on planes, public transit after Florida court ruling voids mandate - MarketWatch

No mask for my flight home on Saturday. Hallelujah!

I just did a trip to San Diego masked. Bad timing. Although, it really wasn't that bad. I had one of those blue/white masks that are fairly loose. Curious if there will be an appeal, not for masking now but in case they want to re-implement it in the future. Hopefully this new status quo remains in place for my June/July trip to Hawaii.

Given the speed at which not only airlines rescinded but states are doing away on public transportation we aren’t going back. They know it’s wildly popular.

I won't. It was far, far beyond time to let it go.

Here comes variant B slicing through the airtravelers! yay!

Going to Mexico next month - will probably be extra careful the few days before, and on the flight there, because getting stuck in Mexico would be really inconvenient.

Edit: We've also invested in the at-home telehealth tests that are approved for people returning to the U.S. The small Mexico town we're going to has one approved COVID testing facility and they price it very high for tourists, so hopefully this works better.

If it's mild for those who have all of the vaccine protections, does it matter? It becomes as inconvenient as a cold.

I'll consider getting the second booster before we go to Hawaii just because it will be over 6 months since I had the first one and it should help some with waning immunity, but I'll take my chances against being one of the statistically microscopic number of people who are otherwise completely healthy, get a mild variant, and it blows up into something significant/deadly.

The point we're at right now is where all of the MUH FREEDOM! people tried to pretend we were at from summer 2020 through Delta. We were not. Unless we get a variant that drastically increases the severity for healthy, vaccinated people, I don't see why we would go back.

are you saying you won't wear a mask? I would obviously love your thoughts on it.

Have you flown recently?

I'll be doing the EMed one Friday. I will let you know how it goes. Hoping I don't get stuck in England, although could be worse as we are staying with my SIL so it wouldn't be a terrible inconvenience. The bitch would be if part of us are positive and part negative. Wife and I already agreed if on adult and either one or both kids are negative they take the kids home and leave the other behind.

Going to a nerd convention this weekend (Jordancon), and they are still requiring masks at all events. It is sort-of sucky, but at least the people there won't have to look at my ugly mug.

Sent from my SM-G996U using Tapatalk

Not a big fan of Jordan's writing (but like the TV adaptation). Reminds me that I need to attend DragonCon this year.

Read up on Guests.

Steve Jackson (GURPS) is a guest. I played DnD in college but also played TFT (The Fantasy Trip). I have to try dig up the books and get him to sign them!

No. Not in a plane, not in the airport, not on the buses from the parking lot.

Since I've been fully vaccinated, I haven't worn a mask anywhere for the most part, unless I was legally required to. I've flown numerous times, obviously worked, taken a cruise, ridden the train, eaten out, shopped, basically tried to live a normal life. The only issue with airports is the spread of the virus through connecting hubs to other countries. I think it's reasonable to keep those in place as long as people are transiting those places going to other places, that haven't had access to the vaccines, in order to limit that sort of spread. Otherwise, we're seeing dominant strains that are far less dangerous when coupled with vaccines and boosters.

I met Steve Jackson in 1989-90. He came to the hobby store I worked at as a guess. This would have been about the time Cyberpunk was coming out.

We all passed. It was super easy. You don't open the box until it is time to test. We did EMed. You download the Navica app. Through the Emed site you log in using the Navica credentials. They connect you through video with someone who walks you through and monitors the test. The hardest part was understanding them because they obviously aren't American. Get the results in 15 minutes. From there I logged in to my United account and was able to import the results.

Which Emed? The 6 pack? Do you have any left, I’ll buy a couple.

Yeah. The six pack. We have two left but are gonna save them because we can just use them if we need to test.

Does someone famous catching covid really warrant a headline anymore? Especially if there are no symptoms or complications?

Case in point here is Kamala Harris. I wish her all the luck that she doesn't have any problems with it but I just don't see how this is headline news anymore.

I'm also generally curious why was she tested?

I'm travelling in SE Asia right now. These folks take this very seriously. Masks everywhere even inside hotels, temperature checks (put your hand up against the machine), hand sanitizers everywhere etc.

I saw a older white guy with a respirator mask on, similar to Access denied

That's a little too much though.

Hope you're having a great trip!

Thanks, it's been great. Food is fantastic, everyone is helpful ... But is it oppressively hot and humid. If you think FL or TX is bad, haven't see anything yet. Thank God for quick dry synthetics.

Was in a mall 8 stories high that would compete with anything in US except Mall of America.

sad...after a month of performances, we had to cancel our final performance of Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum because a second person (a lead) caught covid.

and that was it

Boo.

We saw Girl from the North Country on Saturday and they had eight cast members out. They had to have Anthony Edwards(yes, from ER) perform one of the roles, mostly reading from a script.

Binax at-home video proctor Covid test with Navica app worked great on our way back from Mexico. Saved a bunch of money from what the hotel and local clinics charged.

There wasn't a way to upload result to Alaska Airline app, but quick check in front of check-in line took care of it.

We used that in England for my family of 4 and totally agree. It was super easy

Maryland is definitely in the predicted swell of reported cases, with everyone's working assumption that there are many more unreported cases, either asymptomatic, tested-at-home, or just kept private.

Thus far, we have not had the awful spike in hospital admissions, which in the moment is the most worrisome thing. So, I'm very thankful for that, indirectly suggesting that the latest variants are continuing the path toward being milder, at least in immediate effect.

Getting a handle on longer term symptoms is going to be a challenge. And gaining universal agreement on that will be close to impossible - given the overlap of prior treatment/understanding of ME/CFS and the current skepticism/misinformation about COVID... the overlap of the two will surely be just awful for those afflicted and/or deeply concerned.


So, re-anchoring back to my fear from a few weeks ago: yes the bars are totally back open and packed here. But the hospitals aren't packed, whew.

P
Smart to always have at least one Anthony Edwards on hand for situations like that.

My wife is going to Ireland next week so we bought eMed tests for her. Hopefully I get reimbursed from my carrier eventually. She also has Covid right now

Dola-
Glad you specified which Anthony Edwards. Was going to be annoyed if he was a rare athlete who could act in theatre.