While I was driving back from a semi-open-air farm stand, I saw what looked like an extended family gathering on somebody's front lawn (wide range of ages, from toddlers to elderly). Nobody was masked, and folks were talking at much less than six-feet distance.
It just made me sad. We've already had over 3500 people die in my state, and it's not a very big state, and our trends are not going down. The governor just mandated masks in all indoor spaces and outdoors where you can't maintain social distance.
I know it's hard not to able to see family in person and close up, and I'm sad that people have to choose between normal interactions that feed the soul and nurture family bonds, and social distancing. But if we don't start all taking this seriously, we are never going to get it under control. I want to get back to a real normal, not a fake normal where they lift restrictions but everybody with a grain of sense knows that's just going to create a new surge.
When Virginia's guidelines said no group gatherings over 10 people, my family said having a family dinner would be fine because it's 9 people. I tried to explain that I didn't care what the state guidelines were, there wasn't room for all 9 of us to sit and eat far enough apart indoors. I'm shocked by how much most people (Americans, at least) want to grasp onto any out-of-context detail that just makes everything ok. As someone who lives alone and is working from home, I know how the loneliness can weigh on you. I'm afraid I'm missing important time with my little nephews, and my parents. But we are making this so much worse than it needs to be by not just swallowing our medicine and getting it over with!
GaleHawkins-Oh No- and can't they see how we in the USA are sick and dying-- the Germans nor any other country -they do not need to "follow" us esp. in rebelling at health officials trying to keep us safe- no sir- not at all!!!!
Yes I am sorry to read of situation in Victoria - and NSW sounds on same projectory.
Hopefully nipped in bud better there
Safe states like SA and WA need to keep tight borders and careful control of any exempted entrants.
Things are almost normal here in SA and obviously we want to keep it that way.
So do I so you are welcome to have the men kicking balls instead of us lol. Ok joking now but jez they can stay home. Make their millions down south somewhere.
Yes I am sorry to read of situation in Victoria - and NSW sounds on same projectory.
Hopefully nipped in bud better there
Safe states like SA and WA need to keep tight borders and careful control of any exempted entrants.
Things are almost normal here in SA and obviously we want to keep it that way.
So do I so you are welcome to have the men kicking balls instead of us lol. Ok joking now but jez they can stay home. Make their millions down south somewhere.
Haha.
I'd love to get to an AFL match again, I usually go to a couple a year.
Won't be happening this year with limited crowd numbers - and my team isn't worth watching this year anyway.
We went out to breakfast at Perkins Friday morning. Everyone had masks on, servers and customers coming in. They wrote down our name and phone number before we were seated, for possible notification of a known Covid case being reported. They were set up with plenty of distance between diners. No utensils or condiments on the table. They came in individual containers along with our food. It appeared to be very clean in the restaurant. I was impressed. It appeared that they are doing things the right way. There’s always risk, but we felt happy with their effort.
The bars in Minneapolis have been ordered to not allow patrons to sit, or stand at the actual bar. Upticks of Covid, through contact tracing in Minneapolis, has traced back to bars in the city. I’m not convinced that will solve the problem, but may help a bit. People want normalcy, and it’s human nature to think, “it won’t happen to me”. It’s an unfortunate, selfish attitude. No one is immune. Love and consideration, for yourself, loved ones, family, friends, and incidental contacts needs to be paramount in trying to contain this until there’s a vaccine. Opening businesses and schools needs to be done in the safest possible manner, if done at all.
When Virginia's guidelines said no group gatherings over 10 people, my family said having a family dinner would be fine because it's 9 people. I tried to explain that I didn't care what the state guidelines were, there wasn't room for all 9 of us to sit and eat far enough apart indoors. I'm shocked by how much most people (Americans, at least) want to grasp onto any out-of-context detail that just makes everything ok. As someone who lives alone and is working from home, I know how the loneliness can weigh on you. I'm afraid I'm missing important time with my little nephews, and my parents. But we are making this so much worse than it needs to be by not just swallowing our medicine and getting it over with!
Exactly. And I'm afraid we're simply going to limp along until the day when everyone can get a vaccine, which IMO will be quite awhile.
That’s a very selective thing to focus on. Sweden has about one and a half times the population of Tennessee, and many times the number of deaths. The most significant quote from the article is the last paragraph, pointing out that they have more deaths per capita than, hmm, pretty much every other nation which did have a lockdown.
It makes sense that Sweden’s cases are dropping now, as their government belatedly freaks out and asks people to social distance, while the rest of Europe is rising as they open up.
When Virginia's guidelines said no group gatherings over 10 people, my family said having a family dinner would be fine because it's 9 people. I tried to explain that I didn't care what the state guidelines were, there wasn't room for all 9 of us to sit and eat far enough apart indoors. I'm shocked by how much most people (Americans, at least) want to grasp onto any out-of-context detail that just makes everything ok. As someone who lives alone and is working from home, I know how the loneliness can weigh on you. I'm afraid I'm missing important time with my little nephews, and my parents. But we are making this so much worse than it needs to be by not just swallowing our medicine and getting it over with!
Exactly. And I'm afraid we're simply going to limp along until the day when everyone can get a vaccine, which IMO will be quite awhile.
That is exactly what is going to happen. It will be a long, slow, agonizing burn.
And it didn't need to be this way.
When Virginia's guidelines said no group gatherings over 10 people, my family said having a family dinner would be fine because it's 9 people. I tried to explain that I didn't care what the state guidelines were, there wasn't room for all 9 of us to sit and eat far enough apart indoors. I'm shocked by how much most people (Americans, at least) want to grasp onto any out-of-context detail that just makes everything ok. As someone who lives alone and is working from home, I know how the loneliness can weigh on you. I'm afraid I'm missing important time with my little nephews, and my parents. But we are making this so much worse than it needs to be by not just swallowing our medicine and getting it over with!
Exactly. And I'm afraid we're simply going to limp along until the day when everyone can get a vaccine, which IMO will be quite awhile.
That is exactly what is going to happen. It will be a long, slow, agonizing burn.
And it didn't need to be this way.
Agreed.
As to a vaccine, it's going to take time, but there is an ethical argument made to support reducing the amount of time it takes.
It’s enough having to deal with Covid related issues. Unemployment benefits possibly expiring, schools opening, cases spiking, and health care costs skyrocketing in the US. Now there’s a tropical storm heading for Florida and the East coast, and a wild fire in Southern California. If there would have been national leadership from the very beginning, maybe things would have been better at this point.
@missysippy930 I'm not saying you are wrong, but would caution about being too overtly political here. Having said that, I would remind that the last U.S. President did a lot better with preventing ebola from becoming a pandemic despite the higher R0 value (i.e. spreads more easily) and higher mortality rate. That proves it is possible to have avoided all of this.
And my take on unemployment - spoiler to protect anyone that doesn't want to hear it.
Anyway, the $600/week extra unemployment already expired. The U.S. Congress passed an extension back in May, but the Senate didn't vote on it before the existing extra benefit expired on 7/31. There was something in the Senate bill that Sen. McConnell had as something he called a "red-line" that he was not willing to budge on and he didn't bring the Senate bill for a vote because democrats in Congress wouldn't agree to it. This was a provision that made it impossible for employees to sue employers if they catch it at work. Normally such a lawsuit would only be considered if the employer refused to implement reasonable measures to protect employees - but the normal circumstance isn't good enough. McConnell wants to be sure that even employers who don't do anything to protect their employees can't be held responsible in civil court. A second piece of that same provision allows employers to sue their employees if they take measures to demand the employer implement reasonable precautions. Since democrats in Congress said they wouldn't approve those measures, McConnell decided to not even have a vote on the Senate bill and went home for 2 weeks.
@missysippy930 I'm not saying you are wrong, but would caution about being too overtly political here. Having said that, I would remind that the last U.S. President did a lot better with preventing ebola from becoming a pandemic despite the higher R0 value (i.e. spreads more easily) and higher mortality rate. That proves it is possible to have avoided all of this.
And my take on unemployment - spoiler to protect anyone that doesn't want to hear it.
Anyway, the $600/week extra unemployment already expired. The U.S. Congress passed an extension back in May, but the Senate didn't vote on it before the existing extra benefit expired on 7/31. There was something in the Senate bill that Sen. McConnell had as something he called a "red-line" that he was not willing to budge on and he didn't bring the Senate bill for a vote because democrats in Congress wouldn't agree to it. This was a provision that made it impossible for employees to sue employers if they catch it at work. Normally such a lawsuit would only be considered if the employer refused to implement reasonable measures to protect employees - but the normal circumstance isn't good enough. McConnell wants to be sure that even employers who don't do anything to protect their employees can't be held responsible in civil court. A second piece of that same provision allows employers to sue their employees if they take measures to demand the employer implement reasonable precautions. Since democrats in Congress said they wouldn't approve those measures, McConnell decided to not even have a vote on the Senate bill and went home for 2 weeks.
Ebola is an entirely different beast, and would be easier to contain because it is not spread by asymptomatic/presymptomatic individuals. Even SARS in 2003 was easier to contain. We could have done a much better job controlling this, but completely stopping this would have been difficult.
My husband and I tried to go on an early walk this morning on a local trail.
The trail was PACKED with large groups of runners...all geared up in their marathon shirts, running in tightly packed groups of 10-12 people. A few wearing masks, but most not. All were talking loudly, laughing, obviously breathing heavily, right in each other's faces. There were people of all ages...some definitely old enough to be in a high-risk category.
After encountering about 6-7 of these groups, we abandoned our walk, doubled back and went home. We had our masks on, but the trail is narrow, without much room to move out of their way. The runners were also unwilling to interrupt their conversations and pass us single file so we could have more room.
There were a few other people we saw walking...an elderly couple decided to abandon the trail at the same time we did. The older gentleman said to his wife "This is not worth it."
All of the cancelled official races have led to people doing "virtual" marathons, which is obviously what that was this morning. What is the point of cancelling the race if people are just going to get together in big groups anyways?
This is why this virus is not going away.
I increasingly see signs that people here are just over this. I tried to go to my local farmer's market (in a local area with lots of small shops, restaurants, and a square) on Thursday evening. I'd been to the same area many times during this lockdown, including after stuff started reopening, and it wasn't bad, most were wearing masks and trying to social distance. On Thursday, other than those in line for the farmer's market (the line was why I didn't end up doing, but it was a pleasant walk there and back), as it was strictly enforcing masks, I was shocked by how few people had them. Even more irritating, there were tons of couples (or groups of people) with kids hanging out in the square with zero social distancing, basically blocking the sidewalks and drinking coffee and letting the kids run around as if it were a park. I get it, but it really seems no one cares anymore.
Grocery shopping this morning showed me 100% mask cooperation. State mandate went into affect yesterday so maybe most people will take note and do the right thing. I hope so.
I live in AZ now, but I'm a huge (and hopeless) Bengals fan. NFL fans are hoping the season gets played and if you pay any attention to the draft, Joe Burrow is now a Bengal, so fans are even more excited about Cincinnati.
I personally don't see an NFL season happening, as much as I'd like it to. They, like MLB and the NBA, are allowing players to "opt out" of the season. Here's the thing with football players. Be definition, O-linemen are obese. They have to be to be 300 plus pounds. It's part of the job.
I'd be curious how other football fans feel. Though I'd love to see my team play this year, I have no desire for anyone to die for my entertainment.
Every professional league and university athletic program is desperate for their seasons to start. Even if they can't host fans, they need the TV revenue. They are trying to preserve their profitability and their jobs, regardless of the risk to players and staff.
So, far, the NBA and NHL have been successful in restarting their seasons ONLY because they are keeping players and staff in a quarantined "bubble" in host/hub cities. No travel, no going home, no outside food, no families, no women.
MLB opted for allowing teams to play in their home ballparks, travel to other team's ballparks, stay at their own homes in their home cities. And now you see the Miami Marlins have a huge outbreak with at least 17 players testing positive. That was in the first week of play. This will happen to other baseball teams, and I will be very surprised if the MLB season plays through to its conclusion.
The NFL will be in the same boat, since they are also allowing teams to play in their home facilities. They may have a slight advantage over MLB, with travel only once a week and far fewer games.
I'm a sports fan, but I just don't see how any of this is going to work right now. As with many industries, shutting down is going to cost people their jobs, but at least they'll have their lives.
As an NHL fan, I give them a slight edge in making it work as not only are they in a bubble but the two bubbles are in Canada.
But as much as I will enjoy watching as many of any of these games as they can put out, I'm concerned by the sheer volume of testing supplies they are using for something that is just entertainment. Here in the US where there are still people waiting 7+ days for test results, it just doesn't seem responsible.
The Cardinals just announced two players have tested positive, so here we go again. The worst case scenario for MLB is they don't even manage to play the season and several players or staff members see their careers ruined or even lose their lives. Not that completing the season would be worth it either, but you know what I mean.
I keep waiting to hear the NFL cancel the season. Between the example baseball is setting, the fact you mentioned that there are obese football players, and the NFLs crappy history of taking care of their players long term, it just seems like a tragedy waiting to happen.
At this point, the actual tests are pretty abundant...as for getting results back, that's really more of a lab thing. Places like urgent care facilities and pharmacies, etc do not have the ability to test in house, so those are sent to private labs. In New Mexico we have a number of testing places that are run by the DOH and Presbyterian hospital and those results usually come back within a day because they can do everything in house.
Sports teams have the ability to do that lab work in house, so they really aren't taking away resources from the general public.
I live in AZ now, but I'm a huge (and hopeless) Bengals fan. NFL fans are hoping the season gets played and if you pay any attention to the draft, Joe Burrow is now a Bengal, so fans are even more excited about Cincinnati.
I personally don't see an NFL season happening, as much as I'd like it to. They, like MLB and the NBA, are allowing players to "opt out" of the season. Here's the thing with football players. Be definition, O-linemen are obese. They have to be to be 300 plus pounds. It's part of the job.
I'd be curious how other football fans feel. Though I'd love to see my team play this year, I have no desire for anyone to die for my entertainment.
Every professional league and university athletic program is desperate for their seasons to start. Even if they can't host fans, they need the TV revenue. They are trying to preserve their profitability and their jobs, regardless of the risk to players and staff.
So, far, the NBA and NHL have been successful in restarting their seasons ONLY because they are keeping players and staff in a quarantined "bubble" in host/hub cities. No travel, no going home, no outside food, no families, no women.
MLB opted for allowing teams to play in their home ballparks, travel to other team's ballparks, stay at their own homes in their home cities. And now you see the Miami Marlins have a huge outbreak with at least 17 players testing positive. That was in the first week of play. This will happen to other baseball teams, and I will be very surprised if the MLB season plays through to its conclusion.
The NFL will be in the same boat, since they are also allowing teams to play in their home facilities. They may have a slight advantage over MLB, with travel only once a week and far fewer games.
I'm a sports fan, but I just don't see how any of this is going to work right now. As with many industries, shutting down is going to cost people their jobs, but at least they'll have their lives.
As an NHL fan, I give them a slight edge in making it work as not only are they in a bubble but the two bubbles are in Canada.
But as much as I will enjoy watching as many of any of these games as they can put out, I'm concerned by the sheer volume of testing supplies they are using for something that is just entertainment. Here in the US where there are still people waiting 7+ days for test results, it just doesn't seem responsible.
The Cardinals just announced two players have tested positive, so here we go again. The worst case scenario for MLB is they don't even manage to play the season and several players or staff members see their careers ruined or even lose their lives. Not that completing the season would be worth it either, but you know what I mean.
I keep waiting to hear the NFL cancel the season. Between the example baseball is setting, the fact you mentioned that there are obese football players, and the NFLs crappy history of taking care of their players long term, it just seems like a tragedy waiting to happen.
At this point, the actual tests are pretty abundant...as for getting results back, that's really more of a lab thing. Places like urgent care facilities and pharmacies, etc do not have the ability to test in house, so those are sent to private labs. In New Mexico we have a number of testing places that are run by the DOH and Presbyterian hospital and those results usually come back within a day because they can do everything in house.
Sports teams have the ability to do that lab work in house, so they really aren't taking away resources from the general public.
If sports teams/leagues do have their own in-house labs and lab technicians, wouldn’t stopping all non-essential labwork* and reallocating those resources to covid testing be the most responsible thing to do? Probably good PR, too... From what I hear about the US situation, keeping any labs or technicians doing anything non-essential at this point sounds like taking resources away from the general public and common good, no matter who’s paying for it.
*stopping all labwork that isn’t essential to players’ healthcare - at this point any and all performance-related testing, non-essential check-ups etc should be secondary to covid testing and care, I suppose.
I live in AZ now, but I'm a huge (and hopeless) Bengals fan. NFL fans are hoping the season gets played and if you pay any attention to the draft, Joe Burrow is now a Bengal, so fans are even more excited about Cincinnati.
I personally don't see an NFL season happening, as much as I'd like it to. They, like MLB and the NBA, are allowing players to "opt out" of the season. Here's the thing with football players. Be definition, O-linemen are obese. They have to be to be 300 plus pounds. It's part of the job.
I'd be curious how other football fans feel. Though I'd love to see my team play this year, I have no desire for anyone to die for my entertainment.
Every professional league and university athletic program is desperate for their seasons to start. Even if they can't host fans, they need the TV revenue. They are trying to preserve their profitability and their jobs, regardless of the risk to players and staff.
So, far, the NBA and NHL have been successful in restarting their seasons ONLY because they are keeping players and staff in a quarantined "bubble" in host/hub cities. No travel, no going home, no outside food, no families, no women.
MLB opted for allowing teams to play in their home ballparks, travel to other team's ballparks, stay at their own homes in their home cities. And now you see the Miami Marlins have a huge outbreak with at least 17 players testing positive. That was in the first week of play. This will happen to other baseball teams, and I will be very surprised if the MLB season plays through to its conclusion.
The NFL will be in the same boat, since they are also allowing teams to play in their home facilities. They may have a slight advantage over MLB, with travel only once a week and far fewer games.
I'm a sports fan, but I just don't see how any of this is going to work right now. As with many industries, shutting down is going to cost people their jobs, but at least they'll have their lives.
As an NHL fan, I give them a slight edge in making it work as not only are they in a bubble but the two bubbles are in Canada.
But as much as I will enjoy watching as many of any of these games as they can put out, I'm concerned by the sheer volume of testing supplies they are using for something that is just entertainment. Here in the US where there are still people waiting 7+ days for test results, it just doesn't seem responsible.
The Cardinals just announced two players have tested positive, so here we go again. The worst case scenario for MLB is they don't even manage to play the season and several players or staff members see their careers ruined or even lose their lives. Not that completing the season would be worth it either, but you know what I mean.
I keep waiting to hear the NFL cancel the season. Between the example baseball is setting, the fact you mentioned that there are obese football players, and the NFLs crappy history of taking care of their players long term, it just seems like a tragedy waiting to happen.
At this point, the actual tests are pretty abundant...as for getting results back, that's really more of a lab thing. Places like urgent care facilities and pharmacies, etc do not have the ability to test in house, so those are sent to private labs. In New Mexico we have a number of testing places that are run by the DOH and Presbyterian hospital and those results usually come back within a day because they can do everything in house.
Sports teams have the ability to do that lab work in house, so they really aren't taking away resources from the general public.
If sports teams/leagues do have their own in-house labs and lab technicians, wouldn’t stopping all non-essential labwork* and reallocating those resources to covid testing be the most responsible thing to do? Probably good PR, too... From what I hear about the US situation, keeping any labs or technicians doing anything non-essential at this point sounds like taking resources away from the general public and common good, no matter who’s paying for it.
*stopping all labwork that isn’t essential to players’ healthcare - at this point any and all performance-related testing, non-essential check-ups etc should be secondary to covid testing and care, I suppose.
That’s the sort of thing governments do, when governments do things.
That’s a very selective thing to focus on. Sweden has about one and a half times the population of Tennessee, and many times the number of deaths. The most significant quote from the article is the last paragraph, pointing out that they have more deaths per capita than, hmm, pretty much every other nation which did have a lockdown.
It makes sense that Sweden’s cases are dropping now, as their government belatedly freaks out and asks people to social distance, while the rest of Europe is rising as they open up.
I think Sweden is interesting, and also not like the US in lots of important ways that make it incredibly possible that we would have had far worse results if we had done what they did, but I find the comparison of Sweden and IL interesting. (I think this is arguably more relevant than the comparison with TN, as it is unlikely that TN has peaked, and Sweden and IL likely have. On the other hand, Chicago got hit earlier than Sweden, so had less time to take precautions, and there are differences between the populations (such as areas of Chicago with serious poverty and other social problems, including distrust of authority and an apparent resistance to precautions based on a rumor that COVID was only a white problem, and those areas also happen to be the hardest hit areas).)
Sweden has a population of 10.3 million, and an overall density of 60/sq mile.
Its main big city, Stockholm, has a population (city center) of less than a million, with a density of about 11,000/sq mile. The metro area of Stockholm has a population of 1.37 m, with a density of 940/sq mile.
Illinois has a population of 12.67 million, with an overall density of 232/sq mile.
Its main big city, Chicago, has a population (city center) of 2.7 million, with an overall density of 11,850/sq mile. Getting stats for all of Chicago metro is complicated, as it is defined to go into IN and WI (and thus to be 9.5 million with a density of 1,300/sq mile), so I will use Cook County, which has a population of 5.15 million and density of 5,450/sq mile.
Thus, looking at those numbers alone (pop and density), plus coronavirus hitting Chicago earlier, and before people knew to social distance (and they have been encouraging social distancing in Sweden throughout, even though they didn't lock down), plus the added issues in Chicago re poverty and related matters, you would expect Illinois to do worse. To date, it has:
BUT, Illinois shut down (to some extent, enforced/respected more in Cook Co than elsewhere). Our stay at home order was one of the earliest and Chicago schools shut down before NYC, and Archdiocese of Chicago schools shut down before CPS. Sweden has not shut down schools.
Also, current deaths are extremely low (or even 0) in Sweden (perhaps similar to NYC metro where the shut down was way too late, deaths were worse than anywhere else in the US, but deaths are trending the same way). In Illinois, on the other hand, deaths have been more like 20 (and may well be picking up in the parts of the state outside of Chicago, although they remain too high in Chicago and Cook Co too).
So does this show Illinois was right and Sweden was wrong? I am not sure. And you can't forget the basic differences between the US and Sweden (Sweden was confident their health care system would be able to manage, Sweden likely has a healthier overall population).
Replies
It just made me sad. We've already had over 3500 people die in my state, and it's not a very big state, and our trends are not going down. The governor just mandated masks in all indoor spaces and outdoors where you can't maintain social distance.
I know it's hard not to able to see family in person and close up, and I'm sad that people have to choose between normal interactions that feed the soul and nurture family bonds, and social distancing. But if we don't start all taking this seriously, we are never going to get it under control. I want to get back to a real normal, not a fake normal where they lift restrictions but everybody with a grain of sense knows that's just going to create a new surge.
How did you break my link.
https://apnews.com/ef70c1af702b89c23e71fcd843e63293
Thousands protest in Berlin against coronavirus restrictions
By GEIR MOULSON
yesterday
Haha.
I'd love to get to an AFL match again, I usually go to a couple a year.
Won't be happening this year with limited crowd numbers - and my team isn't worth watching this year anyway.
The bars in Minneapolis have been ordered to not allow patrons to sit, or stand at the actual bar. Upticks of Covid, through contact tracing in Minneapolis, has traced back to bars in the city. I’m not convinced that will solve the problem, but may help a bit. People want normalcy, and it’s human nature to think, “it won’t happen to me”. It’s an unfortunate, selfish attitude. No one is immune. Love and consideration, for yourself, loved ones, family, friends, and incidental contacts needs to be paramount in trying to contain this until there’s a vaccine. Opening businesses and schools needs to be done in the safest possible manner, if done at all.
Exactly. And I'm afraid we're simply going to limp along until the day when everyone can get a vaccine, which IMO will be quite awhile.
https://g.co/kgs/rCM8qn
I see Sweden as a leading indicator for western nations.
I changed out the second link above to read:
https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus/country/sweden?country=~SWE://
It makes sense that Sweden’s cases are dropping now, as their government belatedly freaks out and asks people to social distance, while the rest of Europe is rising as they open up.
That is exactly what is going to happen. It will be a long, slow, agonizing burn.
And it didn't need to be this way.
Agreed.
As to a vaccine, it's going to take time, but there is an ethical argument made to support reducing the amount of time it takes.
* edited by a MFP moderator
And my take on unemployment - spoiler to protect anyone that doesn't want to hear it.
Ebola is an entirely different beast, and would be easier to contain because it is not spread by asymptomatic/presymptomatic individuals. Even SARS in 2003 was easier to contain. We could have done a much better job controlling this, but completely stopping this would have been difficult.
I increasingly see signs that people here are just over this. I tried to go to my local farmer's market (in a local area with lots of small shops, restaurants, and a square) on Thursday evening. I'd been to the same area many times during this lockdown, including after stuff started reopening, and it wasn't bad, most were wearing masks and trying to social distance. On Thursday, other than those in line for the farmer's market (the line was why I didn't end up doing, but it was a pleasant walk there and back), as it was strictly enforcing masks, I was shocked by how few people had them. Even more irritating, there were tons of couples (or groups of people) with kids hanging out in the square with zero social distancing, basically blocking the sidewalks and drinking coffee and letting the kids run around as if it were a park. I get it, but it really seems no one cares anymore.
At this point, the actual tests are pretty abundant...as for getting results back, that's really more of a lab thing. Places like urgent care facilities and pharmacies, etc do not have the ability to test in house, so those are sent to private labs. In New Mexico we have a number of testing places that are run by the DOH and Presbyterian hospital and those results usually come back within a day because they can do everything in house.
Sports teams have the ability to do that lab work in house, so they really aren't taking away resources from the general public.
If sports teams/leagues do have their own in-house labs and lab technicians, wouldn’t stopping all non-essential labwork* and reallocating those resources to covid testing be the most responsible thing to do? Probably good PR, too... From what I hear about the US situation, keeping any labs or technicians doing anything non-essential at this point sounds like taking resources away from the general public and common good, no matter who’s paying for it.
*stopping all labwork that isn’t essential to players’ healthcare - at this point any and all performance-related testing, non-essential check-ups etc should be secondary to covid testing and care, I suppose.
That’s the sort of thing governments do, when governments do things.
I think Sweden is interesting, and also not like the US in lots of important ways that make it incredibly possible that we would have had far worse results if we had done what they did, but I find the comparison of Sweden and IL interesting. (I think this is arguably more relevant than the comparison with TN, as it is unlikely that TN has peaked, and Sweden and IL likely have. On the other hand, Chicago got hit earlier than Sweden, so had less time to take precautions, and there are differences between the populations (such as areas of Chicago with serious poverty and other social problems, including distrust of authority and an apparent resistance to precautions based on a rumor that COVID was only a white problem, and those areas also happen to be the hardest hit areas).)
Sweden has a population of 10.3 million, and an overall density of 60/sq mile.
Its main big city, Stockholm, has a population (city center) of less than a million, with a density of about 11,000/sq mile. The metro area of Stockholm has a population of 1.37 m, with a density of 940/sq mile.
Illinois has a population of 12.67 million, with an overall density of 232/sq mile.
Its main big city, Chicago, has a population (city center) of 2.7 million, with an overall density of 11,850/sq mile. Getting stats for all of Chicago metro is complicated, as it is defined to go into IN and WI (and thus to be 9.5 million with a density of 1,300/sq mile), so I will use Cook County, which has a population of 5.15 million and density of 5,450/sq mile.
Thus, looking at those numbers alone (pop and density), plus coronavirus hitting Chicago earlier, and before people knew to social distance (and they have been encouraging social distancing in Sweden throughout, even though they didn't lock down), plus the added issues in Chicago re poverty and related matters, you would expect Illinois to do worse. To date, it has:
Sweden: 5,743 deaths [roughly, 56/million]. Illinois: 7,707 deaths (to date) [roughly, 60/million].
BUT, Illinois shut down (to some extent, enforced/respected more in Cook Co than elsewhere). Our stay at home order was one of the earliest and Chicago schools shut down before NYC, and Archdiocese of Chicago schools shut down before CPS. Sweden has not shut down schools.
Also, current deaths are extremely low (or even 0) in Sweden (perhaps similar to NYC metro where the shut down was way too late, deaths were worse than anywhere else in the US, but deaths are trending the same way). In Illinois, on the other hand, deaths have been more like 20 (and may well be picking up in the parts of the state outside of Chicago, although they remain too high in Chicago and Cook Co too).
So does this show Illinois was right and Sweden was wrong? I am not sure. And you can't forget the basic differences between the US and Sweden (Sweden was confident their health care system would be able to manage, Sweden likely has a healthier overall population).