Day 250 of the Lockdown/Corona Virus
Nov. 23rd, 2020 08:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkatSigh.
I've decided to do a family Zoom chat on Thanksgiving. Not with my immediate family (they don't do Zoom), no with the extended one. The immediate family doesn't need Zoom nor care. They also aren't living by themselves in the middle of a pandemic in NYC.
We'll see how it goes. It's with my father's crazy-ass siblings and my cousins, of which I've many - so many, they decided to go the Zoom route over the FB chat route. We could have upwards of twenty people on this call.
Oh, also, they are scattered across the country-side. I've a group in PA, a group in Florida, a group in Texas, a group in Illinois, a group in California, and a group in Washington and Oregon (although I think the one in Oregon moved to Montana during the fires). That's just my father's side. Mother's side is scattered around Michigan, Iowa, Missouri, and Washington.
Mother is in South Carolina. They all voted for Biden, except for the idiot priest in Florida, that we all sort of tolerate.
Also doing a Zoom chat tomorrow with 500 and some people at crazy organization. It's a town hall meeting - god knows why it's happening. Considering the current situation - the news doesn't look good. (I'm skipping yet another Staff Meeting of Doom this week - taking the day off, ha! for a doctor's appointment - which I thought was at 10AM, but is actually at 11:40AM. My doctor likes to change the appointment times on me.)
New York vs. the Corona Virus
The Governor is trying to convince the pesky New Yorkers to stay home during Thanksgiving and not go gallivanting around the countryside to visit folks.
Acting as if there is no virus and just having a fine old time. With mixed results.
I know this because I keep getting emails from various meetup groups and organizations advertising all sorts of social functions. Most are, to be fair, online events, but there are quite a few that aren't - that make me wonder about these people. There was one that involved brunch and a walk around a museum with over ten strangers. And another, involved walking at night with five to ten strangers around Ditmas. And several involved taking a train, bus, or carpooling to parks to hike, with forty some people. Somehow, I don't see much social distancing happening on a hike with forty people? I don't have an issue with a group of friends, no more than five or ten getting together for a hike or an outdoor wedding. But you get higher than that - you are taking a huge risk. 20-40 people on a hike - is not a socially distanced hike. Not unless they are headed somewhere that no one else is hiking - which does not exist in New York State.
The Governor is terrified we'll end up where we were in March - with a 50% infection rate, 800-2,000 deaths a day, and bodies piling up. I don't blame him. I am too. This is why I'm stocked up for the next four months. Bought some lights. Bought Christmas decorations. And flirting with an aero planter, and mixers along with a sound bar. Not to mention free weights, and maybe a new humidifier.
He came on around noon and basically laid it out for folks. Staten Island has a problem - they are putting Staten Island on lockdown and opening up additional hospitals to handle the surge - there's a 9.6% infection rate on Staten Island.
Meanwhile in the US, 141,000-150,000 cases daily, with 1500-1700 deaths a day.
I know people don't want to look at the numbers, so this is behind a cut, but it's important to see them. I think. To acknowledge that this is real. It is happening. That these lives mattered.
Although I do kind of agree with the NY Times briefing on this point..
With Thanksgiving on the horizon, politicians and public health officials have warned against gatherings among family and friends, calling them a major driver of new coronavirus infections. And they are right that you should minimize your risk this week.
Data on infections, however, suggests that the biggest drivers of infections are not small gatherings, but rather the usual culprits: long-term care facilities, food processing plants, prisons, restaurants and bars.
So why have social gatherings become such a popular target for politicians? In part because they are the path of least resistance.
For some politicians, it’s easier to point to the individual actions of private citizens rather than enact the politically fraught public health rules that may actually make a difference, like closing businesses and mandating mask-wearing.
In some states, this disconnect is leading to draconian policies that aren’t backed by science. Vermont, for example, has prohibited neighbors from meeting for a socially distanced and masked walk, but is permitting them to dine indoors at restaurants before 10 p.m. Minnesota has barred people from different households from meeting indoors and outdoors, even though evidence has consistently shown outdoor events to be relatively safe.
My colleague Apoorva Mandavilli, who reported this story for The Times, said the takeaway should not be that celebrating Thanksgiving is safe this year.
“What the story is saying is that social gatherings are not the primary source of the spread,” Apoorva said. “But we can also do our part, and especially now that we’re in the situation where the virus is everywhere, really, staying home is the safest thing to do.”
Reporters: So, in regards to funding and infrastructure -- can't you just raise state taxes?
Cuomo: No, that would just cover $2 Billion worth.
Reporters: Is it just the Congestion pricing?
Cuomo: No, it's everything - the Federal Department of Transportation is the only agency that failed to approve Laguardia project, the Hudson Tunnel rehabilitation, the Congestion pricing, the 2nd Avenue Subway...the list goes on. Without federal funding, we're in trouble, all of us are. If you have 50 states declare bankruptcy, the entire country declares bankruptcy.
And we're going to need $6 billion to distribute the vaccine in each state.
The governor's briefing..
1. Total hospitalizations rose to 2,724. The positivity rate in the micro-cluster focus areas was 4.48 percent. Excluding these areas, it was 2.73 percent. Of the 191,489 tests reported yesterday, 5,906, or 3.08 percent, were positive. Sadly, we lost 33 New Yorkers to the virus. [Damn, the numbers are going up.]
2. New York announced new and modified COVID-19 micro-cluster zones. Part of Staten Island's Yellow Zone will become an Orange Zone. New Yellow Zones will be established in Upper Manhattan and Nassau and Suffolk Counties. New Orange Zones will also be established in Monroe County (in and around Rochester) and Onondaga County (in and around Syracuse). These changes go into effect this Wednesday, November 25, for businesses and Thursday, November 26, for schools.
3. We are opening an emergency facility in Staten Island to respond to the rising cases. There were 108 hospital admissions of Staten Island residents in the past seven days (11/16-11/22), up from 27 admissions a few weeks ago (10/26-11/1). At the request of local hospitals, we will be opening an emergency facility for COVID patients at the South Beach Psychiatric Center that will utilize up to 108 beds on two floors to handle overflow for COVID-19 hospitalizations.
4. To date, New York has conducted over 18 million COVID tests. Any New Yorker can get tested and you can find a testing site near you here. You can also call 1-888-364-3065 to make an appointment at a New York State-run testing location—most sites have available appointments at drive-thru or walk-in locations.
The World vs. COVID-19
This is from the NY Times Briefing on the virus, some of it is...well..
* Hong Kong’s government said it would give cash payments of about $650 to residents who tested positive for the coronavirus, a policy designed to encourage people to be tested.[I get that - I don't want to get tested unless I absolutely have to.]
* A $50 million marketing push is underway to persuade skeptical Americans to immunize themselves once coronavirus vaccines are ready.[Yeah, makes sense - I don't trust the frigging vaccines at the moment.]
* The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned that “all people” should avoid traveling on cruise ships worldwide “because the risk of COVID-19 on cruise ships is very high.” [Why would anyone in their right mind take a cruise right now?]
* Over 1 million travelers were screened at area airports, the highest since the pandemic began in March
Sigh. People. Sigh.
More travelers were screened at airport security checkpoints on Sunday than on any day since the pandemic took hold in March, a worrying sign that people flying to visit their families for Thanksgiving could increase the spread of the coronavirus.
A little more than one million people were screened by the Transportation Security Administration on Sunday, according to federal data published on Monday. That number is about half of what it was in 2019, but it represents a big increase from the spring, when less than a half a million people flew on any given day.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Dr. Anthony Fauci, the country’s top infectious disease expert, have been strongly discouraging holiday travel for fear that it would increase the number of new infections, which have surged in recent weeks as the weather turns colder and more people spend time indoors.
Airlines have said that flying is safe because of the precautions the industry has put in place, like high-end air filtration. They also point to the relatively few published cases of the coronavirus being spread during a flight. But the science on in-flight safety is far from settled, and travelers would still be at risk of contracting or spreading the virus at airports and once they are at their destination.
The increase in travel during the holidays has been encouraging for airlines. But it won’t be enough to offset the deep losses they have suffered during the pandemic. The nation’s largest airlines have collectively reported tens of billions of dollars in losses so far this year, and analysts expect demand to remain weak for a couple of years or more. The industry is hoping that the incoming Biden administration and Congress will give airlines more aid early next year.
I've decided to do a family Zoom chat on Thanksgiving. Not with my immediate family (they don't do Zoom), no with the extended one. The immediate family doesn't need Zoom nor care. They also aren't living by themselves in the middle of a pandemic in NYC.
We'll see how it goes. It's with my father's crazy-ass siblings and my cousins, of which I've many - so many, they decided to go the Zoom route over the FB chat route. We could have upwards of twenty people on this call.
Oh, also, they are scattered across the country-side. I've a group in PA, a group in Florida, a group in Texas, a group in Illinois, a group in California, and a group in Washington and Oregon (although I think the one in Oregon moved to Montana during the fires). That's just my father's side. Mother's side is scattered around Michigan, Iowa, Missouri, and Washington.
Mother is in South Carolina. They all voted for Biden, except for the idiot priest in Florida, that we all sort of tolerate.
Also doing a Zoom chat tomorrow with 500 and some people at crazy organization. It's a town hall meeting - god knows why it's happening. Considering the current situation - the news doesn't look good. (I'm skipping yet another Staff Meeting of Doom this week - taking the day off, ha! for a doctor's appointment - which I thought was at 10AM, but is actually at 11:40AM. My doctor likes to change the appointment times on me.)
New York vs. the Corona Virus
The Governor is trying to convince the pesky New Yorkers to stay home during Thanksgiving and not go gallivanting around the countryside to visit folks.
Acting as if there is no virus and just having a fine old time. With mixed results.
I know this because I keep getting emails from various meetup groups and organizations advertising all sorts of social functions. Most are, to be fair, online events, but there are quite a few that aren't - that make me wonder about these people. There was one that involved brunch and a walk around a museum with over ten strangers. And another, involved walking at night with five to ten strangers around Ditmas. And several involved taking a train, bus, or carpooling to parks to hike, with forty some people. Somehow, I don't see much social distancing happening on a hike with forty people? I don't have an issue with a group of friends, no more than five or ten getting together for a hike or an outdoor wedding. But you get higher than that - you are taking a huge risk. 20-40 people on a hike - is not a socially distanced hike. Not unless they are headed somewhere that no one else is hiking - which does not exist in New York State.
The Governor is terrified we'll end up where we were in March - with a 50% infection rate, 800-2,000 deaths a day, and bodies piling up. I don't blame him. I am too. This is why I'm stocked up for the next four months. Bought some lights. Bought Christmas decorations. And flirting with an aero planter, and mixers along with a sound bar. Not to mention free weights, and maybe a new humidifier.
He came on around noon and basically laid it out for folks. Staten Island has a problem - they are putting Staten Island on lockdown and opening up additional hospitals to handle the surge - there's a 9.6% infection rate on Staten Island.
Meanwhile in the US, 141,000-150,000 cases daily, with 1500-1700 deaths a day.
I know people don't want to look at the numbers, so this is behind a cut, but it's important to see them. I think. To acknowledge that this is real. It is happening. That these lives mattered.
Although I do kind of agree with the NY Times briefing on this point..
With Thanksgiving on the horizon, politicians and public health officials have warned against gatherings among family and friends, calling them a major driver of new coronavirus infections. And they are right that you should minimize your risk this week.
Data on infections, however, suggests that the biggest drivers of infections are not small gatherings, but rather the usual culprits: long-term care facilities, food processing plants, prisons, restaurants and bars.
So why have social gatherings become such a popular target for politicians? In part because they are the path of least resistance.
For some politicians, it’s easier to point to the individual actions of private citizens rather than enact the politically fraught public health rules that may actually make a difference, like closing businesses and mandating mask-wearing.
In some states, this disconnect is leading to draconian policies that aren’t backed by science. Vermont, for example, has prohibited neighbors from meeting for a socially distanced and masked walk, but is permitting them to dine indoors at restaurants before 10 p.m. Minnesota has barred people from different households from meeting indoors and outdoors, even though evidence has consistently shown outdoor events to be relatively safe.
My colleague Apoorva Mandavilli, who reported this story for The Times, said the takeaway should not be that celebrating Thanksgiving is safe this year.
“What the story is saying is that social gatherings are not the primary source of the spread,” Apoorva said. “But we can also do our part, and especially now that we’re in the situation where the virus is everywhere, really, staying home is the safest thing to do.”
Reporters: So, in regards to funding and infrastructure -- can't you just raise state taxes?
Cuomo: No, that would just cover $2 Billion worth.
Reporters: Is it just the Congestion pricing?
Cuomo: No, it's everything - the Federal Department of Transportation is the only agency that failed to approve Laguardia project, the Hudson Tunnel rehabilitation, the Congestion pricing, the 2nd Avenue Subway...the list goes on. Without federal funding, we're in trouble, all of us are. If you have 50 states declare bankruptcy, the entire country declares bankruptcy.
And we're going to need $6 billion to distribute the vaccine in each state.
The governor's briefing..
1. Total hospitalizations rose to 2,724. The positivity rate in the micro-cluster focus areas was 4.48 percent. Excluding these areas, it was 2.73 percent. Of the 191,489 tests reported yesterday, 5,906, or 3.08 percent, were positive. Sadly, we lost 33 New Yorkers to the virus. [Damn, the numbers are going up.]
2. New York announced new and modified COVID-19 micro-cluster zones. Part of Staten Island's Yellow Zone will become an Orange Zone. New Yellow Zones will be established in Upper Manhattan and Nassau and Suffolk Counties. New Orange Zones will also be established in Monroe County (in and around Rochester) and Onondaga County (in and around Syracuse). These changes go into effect this Wednesday, November 25, for businesses and Thursday, November 26, for schools.
3. We are opening an emergency facility in Staten Island to respond to the rising cases. There were 108 hospital admissions of Staten Island residents in the past seven days (11/16-11/22), up from 27 admissions a few weeks ago (10/26-11/1). At the request of local hospitals, we will be opening an emergency facility for COVID patients at the South Beach Psychiatric Center that will utilize up to 108 beds on two floors to handle overflow for COVID-19 hospitalizations.
4. To date, New York has conducted over 18 million COVID tests. Any New Yorker can get tested and you can find a testing site near you here. You can also call 1-888-364-3065 to make an appointment at a New York State-run testing location—most sites have available appointments at drive-thru or walk-in locations.
The World vs. COVID-19
This is from the NY Times Briefing on the virus, some of it is...well..
* Hong Kong’s government said it would give cash payments of about $650 to residents who tested positive for the coronavirus, a policy designed to encourage people to be tested.[I get that - I don't want to get tested unless I absolutely have to.]
* A $50 million marketing push is underway to persuade skeptical Americans to immunize themselves once coronavirus vaccines are ready.[Yeah, makes sense - I don't trust the frigging vaccines at the moment.]
* The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned that “all people” should avoid traveling on cruise ships worldwide “because the risk of COVID-19 on cruise ships is very high.” [Why would anyone in their right mind take a cruise right now?]
* Over 1 million travelers were screened at area airports, the highest since the pandemic began in March
Sigh. People. Sigh.
More travelers were screened at airport security checkpoints on Sunday than on any day since the pandemic took hold in March, a worrying sign that people flying to visit their families for Thanksgiving could increase the spread of the coronavirus.
A little more than one million people were screened by the Transportation Security Administration on Sunday, according to federal data published on Monday. That number is about half of what it was in 2019, but it represents a big increase from the spring, when less than a half a million people flew on any given day.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Dr. Anthony Fauci, the country’s top infectious disease expert, have been strongly discouraging holiday travel for fear that it would increase the number of new infections, which have surged in recent weeks as the weather turns colder and more people spend time indoors.
Airlines have said that flying is safe because of the precautions the industry has put in place, like high-end air filtration. They also point to the relatively few published cases of the coronavirus being spread during a flight. But the science on in-flight safety is far from settled, and travelers would still be at risk of contracting or spreading the virus at airports and once they are at their destination.
The increase in travel during the holidays has been encouraging for airlines. But it won’t be enough to offset the deep losses they have suffered during the pandemic. The nation’s largest airlines have collectively reported tens of billions of dollars in losses so far this year, and analysts expect demand to remain weak for a couple of years or more. The industry is hoping that the incoming Biden administration and Congress will give airlines more aid early next year.
no subject
Date: 2020-11-24 04:12 pm (UTC)Hopefully most people will sit this holiday season out and be safe.