Coronavirus COVID-19 - Global Health Pandemic #76

[10ofRods]

Don’t anyone click on that list; it induces all manner of symptoms and a massive dollop of paranoia

And it's written backwards, from my point of view.

 

[10ofRods]

I am following the case of Covid for the 14 year old girl in Teton County, Montana. Because, they are still trying to figure out how this girl got exposed to Covid. She lives on a ranch, no one in her family has Covid, only one other case in the community, not related to her. Very interesting.

I suspect that at least one person in that family has gone outside the home and talked to at last one other person.

Really, there's probably someone who goes into town and is relatively social. Perhaps in businesses along the interstates. Truck stops, convenience stores, grocery stores. I doubt there's a lot of instacart up there.

"They" just don't want to search their memories or collect the data. At any rate, CoVid comes from another person - be great if someone could suddenly remember what happened in that family.

 

[10ofRods]

What seems absolutely morally reprehensible to me, is that the organizers of Sturgis, could have done the socially responsible thing, and chosen to not have the motorcycle gathering this year. As SO many other people have done, sacrificing financial gain, over doing the right thing.

Sturgis organizers get the blue loser raspberry prize. Greed over social responsibility.

Oddly, the local community was against it. Many business owners were in that group.

But somehow the City Council gave permission to the organizers.

It is said that nearly the entire annual cash flow of Sturgis happens during about 14-18 days near the rally (and then they have another rally for ATV's that's much less profitable).

Tourism is their economy. Many are self-employed - so no UI. The people who came were retirees and those nearing retirement, with a smatter of younger people who (IMO) were a likely group to be getting UI.

 

[mickey2942]

I suspect that at least one person in that family has gone outside the home and talked to at last one other person.

Really, there's probably someone who goes into town and is relatively social. Perhaps in businesses along the interstates. Truck stops, convenience stores, grocery stores. I doubt there's a lot of instacart up there.

"They" just don't want to search their memories or collect the data. At any rate, CoVid comes from another person - be great if someone could suddenly remember what happened in that family.

Well, they are getting tested, and are on quarantine for 14 days. All contacts of the positive case get tested, and on quarantine.

I don't know.

 

[Auntie Cipation]

What seems absolutely morally reprehensible to me, is that the organizers of Sturgis, could have done the socially responsible thing, and chosen to not have the motorcycle gathering this year. As SO many other people have done, sacrificing financial gain, over doing the right thing.

Sturgis organizers get the blue loser raspberry prize. Greed over social responsibility.

Absolutely.

Same thing could have happened with Burning Man. Usually around 80,000 people these days. But they opted for the sad-but-responsible choice to cancel the gathering this year. (they're apparently doing something virtual instead)

I sure won't do it lol.

Here's pandemic thinking. I've apparently sprained my wrist. No idea how, but it's crazy painful. Touch wrist. It's hot. Freak out. Feel forehead. Seriously?

Jmo

In early July I got the first Shingles vaccine shot. Read up on the side effects, knew to expect fever and body aches. Got fever and body aches, rational-brain knew it was side effects, but fear-brain decided it must be covid!

 

[Satchie]

I’ve just spotted on Worldometers that French Polynesia has had a huge case increase, from eradication to nearly 300 in the last couple of weeks (now at approx 1 case per 1000 people) What has happened there? I guess it only takes one asymptomatic or untested person to come ashore, and it all starts spreading again.

So sad this virus continues raising it’s ugly head, even on the world’s most beautiful islands

This interested me, so I looked it up.

They opened their border and lifted quarantine requirements in mid-July, inviting international tourists, just so long as people had tests within a few days of leaving their destination and arriving.

However, officials aren't blaming tourists, who did the proper mask wearing and social distancing, but instead people who came from France to live and work.

The spread began with a restaurant party celebrating a French holiday, that was attended by over 150 people crammed into a small space dancing and sharing drinks. Policemen, sports players are noted as having been infected, who then went on to infect others. Red Pepper Party: 11 additional cases of Covid-19

 

[KALI]

We got call today from our restaurant in California's leasing agent. They want us to sign a contract, specifying just how much money we are going to repay them per month due to short payment of rent due to Covid.
*We have been paying them as much as possible every month. *But, he did not know that. Anyway,
I told him that we cannot sign and commit to ANY contract, because we have no idea what's happening day to day.
We're still in lockdown here in So. California. We can only accommodate 25% of our normal patronage, yet our bills are the same as they were before. EVERYTHING costs the same as if we were operating at 100%.
We've been paying our business landlord every month about 60% of our normal rent. That's all we could do, without losing our utilities and roof over our heads.
The California Sales tax representatives are calling my husband daily at our restaurant asking for money as we didn't send them March's payment. Hubby just hangs up on them (love this man).
I know that California is over 50 billion in the red, but why us? We are a little Mom & Pop restaurant.
I need to call the California Sales Tax people on Monday. I'm not sure what I'm going to say...

Thanks for letting me vent here. Kali in Cali

 

[Sundog]

We got call today from our restaurant in California's leasing agent. They want us to sign a contract, specifying just how much money we are going to repay them per month due to short payment of rent due to Covid.
*We have been paying them as much as possible every month. *But, he did not know that. Anyway,
I told him that we cannot sign and commit to ANY contract, because we have no idea what's happening day to day.
We're still in lockdown here in So. California. We can only accommodate 25% of our normal patronage, yet our bills are the same as they were before. EVERYTHING costs the same as if we were operating at 100%.
We've been paying our business landlord every month about 60% of our normal rent. That's all we could do, without losing our utilities and roof over our heads.
The California Sales tax representatives are calling my husband daily at our restaurant asking for money as we didn't send them March's payment. Hubby just hangs up on them (love this man).
I know that California is over 50 billion in the red, but why us? We are a little Mom & Pop restaurant.
I need to call the California Sales Tax people on Monday. I'm not sure what I'm going to say...

Thanks for letting me vent here. Kali in Cali

Can you call your state representatives in their district offices and tell them what is going on? They may know about some state programs that are available to help small business owners? How about the restaurant association lobby, do they have any regional offices? They may know of attornies who can help pro bono?

 

[mickey2942]

@Auntie Cipation the SAME thing happened to me with the 2nd shingles shot. Fever spike, headache. I wondered about that. But my arm was red and hot where I got the shot. I decided it was a reaction to the shot.

 

[Clair Louise]

@Auntie Cipation the SAME thing happened to me with the 2nd shingles shot. Fever spike, headache. I wondered about that. But my arm was red and hot where I got the shot. I decided it was a reaction to the shot.

Did you have chickenpox as a child?

 

[SouthAussie]

We got call today from our restaurant in California's leasing agent. They want us to sign a contract, specifying just how much money we are going to repay them per month due to short payment of rent due to Covid.
*We have been paying them as much as possible every month. *But, he did not know that. Anyway,
I told him that we cannot sign and commit to ANY contract, because we have no idea what's happening day to day.
We're still in lockdown here in So. California. We can only accommodate 25% of our normal patronage, yet our bills are the same as they were before. EVERYTHING costs the same as if we were operating at 100%.
We've been paying our business landlord every month about 60% of our normal rent. That's all we could do, without losing our utilities and roof over our heads.
The California Sales tax representatives are calling my husband daily at our restaurant asking for money as we didn't send them March's payment. Hubby just hangs up on them (love this man).
I know that California is over 50 billion in the red, but why us? We are a little Mom & Pop restaurant.
I need to call the California Sales Tax people on Monday. I'm not sure what I'm going to say...

Thanks for letting me vent here. Kali in Cali

Any help here?
In Australia our accountants help in areas where we do not know where to start with assistance programs. But the programs themselves can actually help with applications as well.


California and the federal government are providing broad assistance to small businesses and employers impacted by COVID-19.

• Interest-free deferral of sales/use tax up to $50,000 for businesses with less than $5 million in taxable sales
• 90-day extension for businesses filing a return for less than $1 million in taxes
• $50 million in state funding for the Small Business Disaster Relief Loan Guarantee Program via IBank to provide potential capital for those who don’t qualify for federal funds
• Small Business Debt Relief for existing SBA borrowers
• Federal small business stimulus programs like PPP and EIDL
• Federal tax credits to small businesses for COVID-19 employee paid leave

Businesses and employers - Coronavirus COVID-19 Response

 

[MimosaMornings]

I am following the case of Covid for the 14 year old girl in Teton County, Montana. Because, they are still trying to figure out how this girl got exposed to Covid. She lives on a ranch, no one in her family has Covid, only one other case in the community, not related to her. Very interesting.

Wow, wonder how she was exposed.

 

[10ofRods]

Did you have chickenpox as a child?

Is it worse if you have had it? I did have it - and I have had shingles (at least, that was the diagnosis). Doctor wants me to get the shot next week (so that I can go ahead and get flu shots, etc).

It's clear that people who have had vaccines more frequently are handling CoVid better in general (not sure about my over 65 age group - but seems true for us as well). There's that new study showing that nations where the tuberculosis vaccine is given have less severe CoVid. Early on, there was a lot of talk about urging vaccines - so I'm supposed to go next week.

Ouch.

 

[doublestop]

Is it worse if you have had it? I did have it - and I have had shingles (at least, that was the diagnosis). Doctor wants me to get the shot next week (so that I can go ahead and get flu shots, etc).
Ouch.

Be prepared. I was miserable for a day after the first shingles shot, and two or three days after the followup one.

 

[Lilibet]

What seems absolutely morally reprehensible to me, is that the organizers of Sturgis, could have done the socially responsible thing, and chosen to not have the motorcycle gathering this year. As SO many other people have done, sacrificing financial gain, over doing the right thing.

Sturgis organizers get the blue loser raspberry prize. Greed over social responsibility.

I hear you @mickey2942, but here is some nuance. The City of Sturgis is the organizer, and not to make excuses, but I think the City was caught between a rock and a hard place. The rally-goers gather all over the Black Hills, in towns like Keystone and Custer, not just Sturgis. We happened to be visiting friends in Keystone at the beginning of a long trip in our RV in 2004 and it was packed. Motorcycles parked on the main drag just as you see in photos. En route from Oregon, we saw people headed to Sturgis for a couple of weeks before the rally began.

According to the link posted below, there was no support for canceling from Governor Noem...

"We've been back to normal for over three months here in South Dakota, so we know we can have these events, give people information, let people protect their health, but let them still enjoy their way of life, and events like the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally," she said. "We hope people come. Our economy benefits when people visit us."

Even if the City of Sturgis found a way to cancel the rally and block access, they would have come anyway. Having been there, I can say that the “outlaw biker” mentality is alive and well, even though many who attend are just bike enthusiasts who come for fun and camaraderie. They would not have stayed home, so the City had to prepare.

"There was really very little we could do to stop them from coming. It's not a gated event where we can just lock the doors and not allow people to come in," City Manager Daniel Ainslie told Insider. "Given all that, there was a realization that no matter what the city decided, there were going to be an awful lot of people that came to the rally."

Earlier this year, the city canceled all advertising for the event and urged concerned callers from states with high infection rates, or those who are part of a high-risk group, to consider skipping the rally this year, Ainslie said.

Personally, I’m not sure what more the City of Sturgis could have done besides the various precautions they took on site as mentioned in this article. They were not even allowed by Gov. Noem to mandate masks. Given the prevailing attitude both in government and among citizens that “no one is going to tell me what to do,” plus the Mt Rushmore rally July 3rd, the rally at Sturgis was inevitable. Sturgis and the other Black Hills communities were hung out to dry for the sake of the almighty dollar IMO. I hope the price they and the rest of the country pay is not death.
JMO

'It's literally impossible to stop': Sturgis, South Dakota, braces as hundreds of thousands of bikers arrived in the middle of a pandemic

ETA: I noticed someone mentioned that Burning Man was canceled as a comparison. But AKAIK Burning Man has one entrance and is out in the desert, not in a large area like the Black Hills that cannot be closed off.

Burning Man 2020 is online: How to visit the virtual playa and what to expect

 

[mickey2942]

Did you have chickenpox as a child?

I had chickenpox when I was 30! How crazy is that?! The kids didn't even catch it from me, because they had the vaccine!

 

[Clair Louise]

I had chickenpox when I was 30! How crazy is that?! The kids didn't even catch it from me, because they had the vaccine!

Oh dear, all those childhood diseases in adults are far more serious. I had a friend who caught chickenpox in her twenties and she had it everywhere, externally and internally. In her throat and in her bowel. She had a feeding tube in her chest. I thought that she was going to die.

 

[Auntie Cipation]

Did you have chickenpox as a child?

I'm not Mickey but yes, I had chickenpox as a child. Do not want shingles!

@Lilibet that was me that mentioned Burning Man. Yes, very different geography and travel issues. I had no idea Sturgis was so spread out. I really was just comparing the decisions to cancel/not cancel a large event. The playa is public land and no one would stop individuals from going there, but I think most participants respected the decision of the organization, even if they were disappointed. In contrast half the point of this year at Sturgis seemed to be aimed specifically at "flipping the bird" to the authorities trying to suppress the virus by reducing travel.

I really have no first-hand insight into either event, all this is just MOO...

 

[tmar]

Therapy dogs brought in to help struggling nurses

ABC NEWS
Therapy dogs brought in to help struggling nurses
6 hrs ago
A hospital in Bendigo has signed up some new staff to help lift the load on its nursing staff during the pandemic. Therapy dogs are boosting the spirits of exhausted frontline health workers.

 

[Lilibet]

I'm not Mickey but yes, I had chickenpox as a child. Do not want shingles!

@Lilibet that was me that mentioned Burning Man. Yes, very different geography and travel issues. I had no idea Sturgis was so spread out. I really was just comparing the decisions to cancel/not cancel a large event. The playa is public land and no one would stop individuals from going there, but I think most participants respected the decision of the organization, even if they were disappointed. In contrast half the point of this year at Sturgis seemed to be aimed specifically at "flipping the bird" to the authorities trying to suppress the virus by reducing travel.

I really have no first-hand insight into either event, all this is just MOO...

Thanks @Auntie Cipation. I was too lazy to go back to see who had posted about Burning Man. I agree that those determined to attend Sturgis were “flipping the bird” at any authorities who wanted them to stay home. It’s ironic (to me anyway) that Burning Man is more of a “counterculture” event, but folks were more cooperative. Of course, showing up on the desert without the infrastructure that is prepared each year by organizers would be foolhardy. Even with all that it’s hot and dirty from all reports. I’ve never been or wanted to go. But at least they will enjoy a virtual event in the comfort of their homes with no risk of catching Covid-19.