Coronavirus prep

T1DCarnivoreRunner · June 2020

In Memphis this morning, at 3 different stores, there was 1 other person wearing a mask... an employee at the last place. I thought Memphis required masks, but apparently it isn't getting enforced.

lynn_glenmont · June 2020

T1DCarnivoreRunner wrote: »

paperpudding wrote: »

Here the contact tracers ask who you have been in close contact with for at least 15 minutes. I guess because you don't know the names of everyone you passed at Walmart.

Or you have a phone app that can be used for tracing who you have been in close contact with for more than15 minutes.

Of course that wont work totally even if you had a willing population - there are people who dont have mobile phones or who don't take them everywhere - but that is the idea: if you test positive, it traces people like someone stuck in a supermarket queue or a Dr's waiting room etc who you did not know.

We are now at zero cases in South Australia and opening things up again - you can go to weddings/funerals/social or sporting clubs with social distancing restrictions - and the co ordinaters of the event need to keep lists of names and phone numbers and arrival/leaving time of attendees.
Which is easy enough to do

The functionality was added to phones in the US (Android and iPhone), but not enabled because waiting on the government to come up with the other piece.

If you have an Android phone, go under Settings, then GOOGLE settings and it's there.. If you have an IPhone, go to settings, privacy then health.

Thanks. I found it. Apparently it won't work anyway if you don't leave Bluetooth enabled all the time, which is a bad security practice.

T1DCarnivoreRunner · June 2020

lynn_glenmont wrote: »

T1DCarnivoreRunner wrote: »

paperpudding wrote: »

Here the contact tracers ask who you have been in close contact with for at least 15 minutes. I guess because you don't know the names of everyone you passed at Walmart.

Or you have a phone app that can be used for tracing who you have been in close contact with for more than15 minutes.

Of course that wont work totally even if you had a willing population - there are people who dont have mobile phones or who don't take them everywhere - but that is the idea: if you test positive, it traces people like someone stuck in a supermarket queue or a Dr's waiting room etc who you did not know.

We are now at zero cases in South Australia and opening things up again - you can go to weddings/funerals/social or sporting clubs with social distancing restrictions - and the co ordinaters of the event need to keep lists of names and phone numbers and arrival/leaving time of attendees.
Which is easy enough to do

The functionality was added to phones in the US (Android and iPhone), but not enabled because waiting on the government to come up with the other piece.

If you have an Android phone, go under Settings, then GOOGLE settings and it's there.. If you have an IPhone, go to settings, privacy then health.

Thanks. I found it. Apparently it won't work anyway if you don't leave Bluetooth enabled all the time, which is a bad security practice.

I have my bluetooth connected all the time, but it's always connected to something - headphones, car, watch, etc. At a minimum, I'm seeing phone alerts on my watch.

lynn_glenmont · June 2020

T1DCarnivoreRunner wrote: »

lynn_glenmont wrote: »

T1DCarnivoreRunner wrote: »

paperpudding wrote: »

Here the contact tracers ask who you have been in close contact with for at least 15 minutes. I guess because you don't know the names of everyone you passed at Walmart.

Or you have a phone app that can be used for tracing who you have been in close contact with for more than15 minutes.

Of course that wont work totally even if you had a willing population - there are people who dont have mobile phones or who don't take them everywhere - but that is the idea: if you test positive, it traces people like someone stuck in a supermarket queue or a Dr's waiting room etc who you did not know.

We are now at zero cases in South Australia and opening things up again - you can go to weddings/funerals/social or sporting clubs with social distancing restrictions - and the co ordinaters of the event need to keep lists of names and phone numbers and arrival/leaving time of attendees.
Which is easy enough to do

The functionality was added to phones in the US (Android and iPhone), but not enabled because waiting on the government to come up with the other piece.

If you have an Android phone, go under Settings, then GOOGLE settings and it's there.. If you have an IPhone, go to settings, privacy then health.

Thanks. I found it. Apparently it won't work anyway if you don't leave Bluetooth enabled all the time, which is a bad security practice.

I have my bluetooth connected all the time, but it's always connected to something - headphones, car, watch, etc. At a minimum, I'm seeing phone alerts on my watch.

That's reasonable if you're actually using it for something. Right now I have no devices I want to connect my phone to. I try to remember to turn off Wi-Fi connectivity on my phone when I leave the house. I'm definitely not going to leave Bluetooth on all the time. I pretty much live my life with the assumption that anybody, including me, could be infected, so I wear a mask in public and try to maintain at least six feet of distance.

rheddmobile · June 2020

T1DCarnivoreRunner wrote: »

In Memphis this morning, at 3 different stores, there was 1 other person wearing a mask... an employee at the last place. I thought Memphis required masks, but apparently it isn't getting enforced.

My understanding is that the city council has passed it but now the mayor has to sign it. And the ordinance doesn’t provide for enforcement. They were talking three warnings, then community service or a $50 fine.

T1DCarnivoreRunner · June 2020

rheddmobile wrote: »

T1DCarnivoreRunner wrote: »

In Memphis this morning, at 3 different stores, there was 1 other person wearing a mask... an employee at the last place. I thought Memphis required masks, but apparently it isn't getting enforced.

My understanding is that the city council has passed it but now the mayor has to sign it. And the ordinance doesn’t provide for enforcement. They were talking three warnings, then community service or a $50 fine.

Oh, I see. Warnings and a fine / community service is still enforcement. I realize they consider it a civil penalty rather than a criminal citation, but that's outside the point. I just think that more people will do it if they might have to pay a fine for refusing.

GaleHawkins · June 2020

There is a reason people wear masks very well in some of Asia and that is because they help reduce the spread of viruses. The USA is torn by its pass so I think concerns about getting COVID-19 have just dropped off of the radar while are mainly concerned about either removing or protecting some monument(s). Self preservation does not seem to be a concern of the masses. Never saw so many adults trying to make other adults to their will or else.

corinasue1143 · June 2020

I just went to Lowe’s where I think every single person I saw had on a mask. Didn’t find what I wanted so I went to Lowe’s 10 miles away. I was the only shopper there with a mask. One employee had hers around her neck and one had hers sitting on her chin, just barely below her mouth. What’s up with people?

paperpudding · June 2020

T1DCarnivoreRunner wrote: »

paperpudding wrote: »

T1DCarnivoreRunner wrote: »

paperpudding wrote: »

Here the contact tracers ask who you have been in close contact with for at least 15 minutes. I guess because you don't know the names of everyone you passed at Walmart.

Or you have a phone app that can be used for tracing who you have been in close contact with for more than15 minutes.

Of course that wont work totally even if you had a willing population - there are people who dont have mobile phones or who don't take them everywhere - but that is the idea: if you test positive, it traces people like someone stuck in a supermarket queue or a Dr's waiting room etc who you did not know.

We are now at zero cases in South Australia and opening things up again - you can go to weddings/funerals/social or sporting clubs with social distancing restrictions - and the co ordinaters of the event need to keep lists of names and phone numbers and arrival/leaving time of attendees.
Which is easy enough to do

The functionality was added to phones in the US (Android and iPhone), but not enabled because waiting on the government to come up with the other piece.

If you have an Android phone, go under Settings, then GOOGLE settings and it's there.. If you have an IPhone, go to settings, privacy then health.

I'm not sure what you mean by "waiting for the government to come up with the other piece"

In Australia (and Singapore and a few other countries, I believe) the government has set up an app - called Covidsafe and is strongly encouraging people to download it.

JustSomeEm wrote: »

T1DCarnivoreRunner wrote: »

paperpudding wrote: »

Here the contact tracers ask who you have been in close contact with for at least 15 minutes. I guess because you don't know the names of everyone you passed at Walmart.

Or you have a phone app that can be used for tracing who you have been in close contact with for more than15 minutes.

Of course that wont work totally even if you had a willing population - there are people who dont have mobile phones or who don't take them everywhere - but that is the idea: if you test positive, it traces people like someone stuck in a supermarket queue or a Dr's waiting room etc who you did not know.

We are now at zero cases in South Australia and opening things up again - you can go to weddings/funerals/social or sporting clubs with social distancing restrictions - and the co ordinaters of the event need to keep lists of names and phone numbers and arrival/leaving time of attendees.
Which is easy enough to do

The functionality was added to phones in the US (Android and iPhone), but not enabled because waiting on the government to come up with the other piece.

If you have an Android phone, go under Settings, then GOOGLE settings and it's there.. If you have an IPhone, go to settings, privacy then health.

Huh. Thanks for this. I didn't realize they had already put this on our phones. I wonder when it will go active?

I mean the government needs to come up with an app to work with this.

Here's some documentation about it... https://covid19-static.cdn-apple.com/applications/covid19/current/static/contact-tracing/pdf/ExposureNotification-FAQv1.1.pdf

See Page 3 (bold added to emphasize important points):

To power this solution in the first phase, both companies will release application programming
interfaces (APIs) that allow contact tracing apps from public health authorities to work across
Android and iOS devices, while maintaining user privacy. These apps from public health
authorities will be available for users to download via their respective app stores. Once the app
is launched, the user will then need to consent to the terms and conditions before the program
is active. The companies plan to make these APIs available in May.

If a match is detected the user will be notified, and if the user has not already
downloaded an official public health authority app they will be prompted to download an official
app and advised on next steps. Only public health authorities will have access to this
technology and their apps must meet specific criteria around privacy, security, and data control.

As of yet, there is no "official public health authority app" - at least not that I'm aware of - to be downloaded from the app stores.

yes thats what I meant before - it only really works on a population scale if many people do it and that wont happen even if there is an app but people dont really know about or it has no government co ordination

Quite different to here where there is an app Covidsafe and everybody has been strongly encouraged to down load it by government promotion.

Some people cant or won't do it - but nobody is unaware of it.

spiriteagle99 · June 2020

We've been camping for the past 5 days so I got behind in reading this thread. Just two comments:
1) our grocery stores tried to do the arrows on the ground. So many people ignored them or had problems with them, they removed them after a couple of weeks. I was happy because I always end up doing a lot of backtracking.

2) Our county moved to the 'green phase' on Friday - not quite back to normal, but at least there's some opening of restaurants, gyms, etc. When I went to the store this afternoon, I realized I had left my mask in the camper at home. So I drove back home, grabbed the mask and went back to our local grocery, about 2.5 miles from home. When I walked in, I realized the signs were gone, there was nobody cleaning the shopping carts, and few people were wearing masks. I asked the produce manager if masks were no longer required. He said that since the County was now in green phase, it was up to individual stores and/or customers. His store didn't require them, so none of the employees were wearing masks. The only people wearing masks were a few of us older shoppers. It felt very odd after 2 months of seeing them required in every business. As I walked down the aisle in the store, wearing my mask, I started to cough (probably allergies). I'm sure that the other shoppers were happy I was masked.

My husband and I argue about masks. He considers them useless at best, and an unnecessary imposition by people who just want to control others. I think it's an easy way to improve the odds of not spreading the disease. It may not be very effective, but it's better than nothing.

T1DCarnivoreRunner · June 2020

spiriteagle99 wrote: »

We've been camping for the past 5 days so I got behind in reading this thread. Just two comments:
1) our grocery stores tried to do the arrows on the ground. So many people ignored them or had problems with them, they removed them after a couple of weeks. I was happy because I always end up doing a lot of backtracking.

2) Our county moved to the 'green phase' on Friday - not quite back to normal, but at least there's some opening of restaurants, gyms, etc. When I went to the store this afternoon, I realized I had left my mask in the camper at home. So I drove back home, grabbed the mask and went back to our local grocery, about 2.5 miles from home. When I walked in, I realized the signs were gone, there was nobody cleaning the shopping carts, and few people were wearing masks. I asked the produce manager if masks were no longer required. He said that since the County was now in green phase, it was up to individual stores and/or customers. His store didn't require them, so none of the employees were wearing masks. The only people wearing masks were a few of us older shoppers. It felt very odd after 2 months of seeing them required in every business. As I walked down the aisle in the store, wearing my mask, I started to cough (probably allergies). I'm sure that the other shoppers were happy I was masked.

My husband and I argue about masks. He considers them useless at best, and an unnecessary imposition by people who just want to control others. I think it's an easy way to improve the odds of not spreading the disease. It may not be very effective, but it's better than nothing.

Unfortunately, many people think this way or they just plain don't want to. The way I see it, the personal inconvenience is incredibly small and the potential benefit is much bigger (even if more benefit for others than for me). Some people believe the inconvenience far outweighs the benefits. That would be fine except that mask usage works much better if everyone does it.

SummerSkier · June 2020

Here in Tx it looks like we are just getting started to get our butts kicked. Time to hunker down even more. We were rolling along at 50 or less cases per day for months. Then memorial day things started to open in earnest. 2 weeks later cases per day started doubling. They missed the data for a day so I was hoping the spike for Friday was 2 days worth of data but it looks like not. Yesterday almost 400 new cases. It looks to be on an exponential growth rate. And even if some amount of it was increased testing, it is still scary as heck.

I feel bad for Tulsa also.

MikePfirrman · June 2020

Went to dinner last night, finally the smoke had died down a bit (can't complain as they were doing backburning to protect homes/subdivisions). Went to a place we hadn't been to in a while. Has a great patio dining area. Though it was 93 (cool for Tucson this time of year) and the misters weren't on, at least it was shaded.

You have to go through the restaurant to get to the patio and they were requiring masks to make it to the patio. No one complained. It was nice and refreshing to see. Thought the bar area was open, they were making groups sit at least six feet apart and the bartender had a mask. An example of doing about as well as you can and no one complaining.

The fire nearly doubled in size but most of the risks to homes/subdivisions has lightened somewhat. I have a feeling that this will go on until we get rain later in the month or early next month but the worst should be past my house. We had to wear masks yesterday to take our dogs on a short walk. They whined until we took them (they know it's a Saturday when I don't work in my office and start whining right away for their long walk, which we abbreviated with all the smoke). The reason it was so smoky was also somewhat good. No winds. Huge when they are battling fires. Because there was no wind, it was just sitting in the valley below. Luckily we live on a ridge so it wasn't too terrible on my street relative to the rest of the area.

GaleHawkins · June 2020

corinasue1143 wrote: »

I just went to Lowe’s where I think every single person I saw had on a mask. Didn’t find what I wanted so I went to Lowe’s 10 miles away. I was the only shopper there with a mask. One employee had hers around her neck and one had hers sitting on her chin, just barely below her mouth. What’s up with people?

It was similarly around here but since the mid 90's F temps struck last week mask usage is low to no usage. To answer your question I think mask usage motivation is like any health concerns. People know smoking, unsafe sex, obesity, etc carries known health risks but we still do such things as a group.

The news media has become bored with COVID-19. The general population do not know anyone with COVID-19 and never watched the news out of NYC. The reality is more people have suffered financially from COVID-19 than health wise.

Before 7 am this Sunday morning one local greasy spoon diner had several pick up trucks in the parking lot in a light rain. This was just older guys and some wives wanting to socialize and drink coffee for the most part. It was not construction crews on the way to job site because the trucks were not pulling trailers like usual.

Keep in mind this forum does not represent the mindset of the general population at least in the USA. Once we have starred Death in the eyes we tend to move being emotional driven and more towards being driven by science and healthy logic. Bill Gates has gone on record saying we could see a worse pandemic by 2030 and that discourages some from seeing much hope. I am not sure a repeat of the 2020 Pandemic 10 years down the road will find most of the populations more prepared than we were six months ago.

corinasue1143 · June 2020

About Trump, Tulsa, and corona.
On June 19th, Tulsa county had reported 2070 corona cases since the pandemic started. Tulsa town spills out into other counties, but we report by county, and Tulsa town is mainly in Tulsa county. 721 of those cases were reported within the last 2 weeks, so an average of 51.5 people per day. 125 of those were reported on June 19th, 136 more were reported on June 20.

6 people who came to Tulsa early to set up for the Trump rally tested positive for corona.

How many Trump people took the virus home with them, and how many Tulsa people caught it from Trump people.

Pictures show many people without masks and very little social distancing.

Why shut down so many businesses to keep people from coming into direct contact with each other, then get together a group
Of several thousand people in one building, sitting next to each other?

Social distancing or not? If so, why? If not, why shut down business? Please help me understand.

Theoldguy1 · June 2020

Our state has directed no reusable grocey bags and all the stores have large signs reflecting this guidance. Going through the store a couple had their entire cart filled with stuff in reusable bags..

Hopefully cashier tells them sorry can't check out.

T1DCarnivoreRunner · June 2020

corinasue1143 wrote: »

About Trump, Tulsa, and corona.
On June 19th, Tulsa county had reported 2070 corona cases since the pandemic started. Tulsa town spills out into other counties, but we report by county, and Tulsa town is mainly in Tulsa county. 721 of those cases were reported within the last 2 weeks, so an average of 51.5 people per day. 125 of those were reported on June 19th, 136 more were reported on June 20.

6 people who came to Tulsa early to set up for the Trump rally tested positive for corona.

How many Trump people took the virus home with them, and how many Tulsa people caught it from Trump people.

Pictures show many people without masks and very little social distancing.

Why shut down so many businesses to keep people from coming into direct contact with each other, then get together a group
Of several thousand people in one building, sitting next to each other?

Social distancing or not? If so, why? If not, why shut down business? Please help me understand.

I say the same thing about a lot of gathering I'm seeing. Wearing masks helps, but it isn't 100%. All my races were cancelled or re-scheduled... that helps, but it needs to be everything. We did 2 months of a few things getting closed, called it a "shutdown" and then went on with "re-opening" a lot of things that were never really closed anyway. It's a half-way approach with some benefits to slow the spread, but not even close to enough to stop the virus. When I expressed this point months ago, many reminded me that the point never was to stop the spread. It was to slow the spread / flatten the curve to give the healthcare system sufficient time to prepare. Except our healthcare system is no better prepared than it was in Feb. and Mar. In fact, we see Florida has just about run out of ICU beds and they are seeing more new cases each day than the prior day. So flattening the curve failed and we really should have instead gone further to actually try to stop the spread.

Theoldguy1 · June 2020

corinasue1143 wrote: »

About Trump, Tulsa, and corona.
On June 19th, Tulsa county had reported 2070 corona cases since the pandemic started. Tulsa town spills out into other counties, but we report by county, and Tulsa town is mainly in Tulsa county. 721 of those cases were reported within the last 2 weeks, so an average of 51.5 people per day. 125 of those were reported on June 19th, 136 more were reported on June 20.

6 people who came to Tulsa early to set up for the Trump rally tested positive for corona.

How many Trump people took the virus home with them, and how many Tulsa people caught it from Trump people.

Pictures show many people without masks and very little social distancing.

Why shut down so many businesses to keep people from coming into direct contact with each other, then get together a group
Of several thousand people in one building, sitting next to each other?

Social distancing or not? If so, why? If not, why shut down business? Please help me understand.

I'm in IL and our governor has put in place some of the most restrictive policies in the US. Yet the governor, mayor of Chicago and one of our US senators were pictured leading a parade with several thousand participants for Juneteenth (one of many celebrations in the city). Saw many pictures where masks and social distancing weren't going on.

The virus doesn't really care what you political affiliation or reason is.

kimny72 · June 2020

T1DCarnivoreRunner wrote: »

corinasue1143 wrote: »

About Trump, Tulsa, and corona.
On June 19th, Tulsa county had reported 2070 corona cases since the pandemic started. Tulsa town spills out into other counties, but we report by county, and Tulsa town is mainly in Tulsa county. 721 of those cases were reported within the last 2 weeks, so an average of 51.5 people per day. 125 of those were reported on June 19th, 136 more were reported on June 20.

6 people who came to Tulsa early to set up for the Trump rally tested positive for corona.

How many Trump people took the virus home with them, and how many Tulsa people caught it from Trump people.

Pictures show many people without masks and very little social distancing.

Why shut down so many businesses to keep people from coming into direct contact with each other, then get together a group
Of several thousand people in one building, sitting next to each other?

Social distancing or not? If so, why? If not, why shut down business? Please help me understand.

When I expressed this point months ago, many reminded me that the point never was to stop the spread. It was to slow the spread / flatten the curve to give the healthcare system sufficient time to prepare. Except our healthcare system is no better prepared than it was in Feb. and Mar.

This to me is the crux of the issue. The point of flattening the curve is to take pressure off the healthcare system AND to buy time to set up policies and procedures to deal better with the outbreak. Here in the US we did the first part and not the second. So other than some tennuous medical advances, FL TX and AZ are no better prepared for their first wave than NY was for theirs. And we have no strategy for how to handle a second wave in states that have successfully beaten back the first wave.

We should've been developing national protocols for data collection, treatment, contact tracing, triggers for future local shutdowns, strict guidelines for nursing homes, medical pandemic committees, etc and instead we're still arguing about whether Walmart can force you to wear a mask inside their stores. It's tragic.

Many of the people I know who were being careful are starting to lose their patience, mostly because they feel like theyre getting mixed messages and they don't personally know anyone whose gotten sick. Unfortunately this is another case where not knowing how to vet sources leaves smart people thinking there is no consensus, and there's no one trusted figure standing up and getting everyone rowing in the same direction.

lynn_glenmont · June 2020

Theoldguy1 wrote: »

Our state has directed no reusable grocey bags and all the stores have large signs reflecting this guidance. Going through the store a couple had their entire cart filled with stuff in reusable bags..

Hopefully cashier tells them sorry can't check out.

From a practical standpoint I don't see how that would help anything if the goods were already in the reusable bags (I'm assuming this is a store with scanners that customers use, since they had already put the food their bags -- I've never seen anybody packing the stuff into their bags if they're going to have to take them out to be rung up.)

Tramsferring the goods to disposable bags just forces the store staff to handle them, increasing the risk of transferring germs. And if you're suggesting the customers be told to empty their bags and not buy them at all, how does that help anything? Not everything is packaged in a way that it could be disinfected to be resold, so the store would have to toss it, forcing the store to lose inventory and increase prices to make up for it. And for what could be disinfected, that also increases the store's costs (disinfecting solutions and staff time), so prices go up there as well for no practical benefit.

There's no government mandate on reusable bags in my area, and stores are taking different approaches. Some say no reusable bags, others don't. I can't see the practical benefit of banning them, since the stores are disinfecting the carts between customers anyway.

I use reusable bags where I'm allowed, for improved general food safety, since I have insulated reusable bags. No point of surviving COVID if I've died of food poisoning because my food is at room temperature (and summer heat) too long. Where they don't allow reusable bags, I usually just wheel the cart with the unbagged groceries out to the lot and put them into the reusable bags that I keep in my car.

But yesterday I shopped at a Whole Foods in an urbanized retail area where I had to park in a garage in the next block so I had to use the paper bags they require customers to use instead of reusable bags for now. I lost about five dollars worth of cut fruit when I got home and lifted the paper bags out of the car, splitting open the plastic container of fruit and spilling it on the street.

Coronavirus prep

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