Coronavirus (NO POLITICAL OR SOCIAL COMMENTARY PLEASE)

[Moe Szyslak]

Today, PA governor Tom Wolf announced that, effective May 08, 24 counties in the northwest and north-central part of the state will move into the "yellow phase" of re-opening:

[Show spoiler]

Here is a breakdown of PA's re-opening phases:

[Show spoiler]

Some other notes from the presser, which also included health secretary Rachel Levine...

-Wolf said they're looking at south-central and southwest portions of the state for the next set of counties that will potentially move into yellow. When asked, he did not provide a specific date for that evaluation. He's been careful not to make promises.

-Wolf cautioned that, shoulda a spike occur in a yellow area, the county could revert back to red. He was asked directly if there were any metrics for that. He said "the virus makes the timeline" and didn't offer much in the way of detail.

-Levine said 47% of hospital beds and 70% of ventilators in the state are available. Excellent!

-Levine broadly emphasized aggressive measures they're taking to increase testing and contact tracing, such as added personnel and use of retail pharmacies.

-Little League World Series held annually in Williamsport has been cancelled. Levine was asked if youth sports could begin to operate in yellow counties, and Levine responded firmly with, "No, we are not ready for organized team sports".

Overall, this is about what I expected. PA will re-open slowly.

[Moviefan1203]

I’m also in Pennsylvania. Eager to see how this plays out.

[The Great Owl]

I suppose that this is as good a place as any to post my book review...



The End of October by Lawrence Wright

I suppose that the idea of reading a newly-published fictional novel about a pandemic that ravages its way around the globe may seem somewhat perverse right now. In this case, however, the book in question, The End of October, by the Pulitzer Prize winning author, Lawrence Wright, justifies the morbid entertainment value thanks to tireless background research and a commitment to bestow the narrative with a convincing and uncannily premonitory air. We've got a hemorrhagic fever virus that wreaks havoc during the Mecca pilgrimages, we've got a President that places his Vice President in charge of the pandemic response team, we've got Russian cybersecurity plots to undermine U.S. solidarity during a time of crisis, and, most importantly, we've got social distancing protocols that initially prove effective, but falter during the second wave of the virus outbreaks.

Wright, who completed this novel before the advent of COVID-19, acknowledges the coincidence at hand, but also claims that past brushes with global tragedy, in the forms of SARS, MERS, and Ebola, provide the inspiration for what was intended to serve as a cautionary tale. The unrelentingly bleak result has its origins in Wright's reading of Cormac McCarthy's The Road and in his desire to explore a scenario that would have led to the events in that best-selling book.

The End of October is not a particularly impressive read as far as storytelling is concerned. In fact, I found that certain chapters are a slog to get through, because the proceedings are populated by cardboard lead characters and culture stereotypes. If you are looking for an unsettling pulp dime novel version of the real-life horrors that we are now experiencing on a day-to-day basis, however, then you could do worse. Despite its flaws, this book earns my enthusiastic recommendation.

[Batman1980]

https://twitter.com/lilyroro/status/...253268481?s=20

Whut

[MifuneFan]

Wow

[Naiera]

Originally Posted by R1978

I like this guy.

[Show spoiler]

I really hope you don't if you look into what he does and stands for just a little bit.

[AFFanAttic]

Originally Posted by Batman1980

https://twitter.com/lilyroro/status/...253268481?s=20

Whut

I think some of these people are holding protest signs? Like, let's go protest against the lockdown and our freedoms being taken away, but let's make a day of it and do it at the beach!

[AnamorphicWidescreen]

I give a big middle finger & also a big "%$#@ you!" to all the "powers that be" out there who are forcing people back to work in a physical office if they can instead easily work at home. Yes, I realize that a lot of people have jobs where they're unable to work at home. But, if you can work remotely - they should continue letting you do so, instead of opening up & forcing people to go back to an office with others where they could potentially spread the virus or catch the virus, etc.

If they continued letting people work at home who are able to, the risk of transmission would be much lower, etc. & this would benefit everyone.

[ctujackbauer]

Originally Posted by Batman1980

https://twitter.com/lilyroro/status/...253268481?s=20

Whut

It'll get worse before it gets better.

The police may have to bring out the flashbangs, smoke grenades and tear gas this weekend or next weekend.

[bruceames]

Beach is closed, so it just got better.

[IndyMLVC]

Originally Posted by bruceames

Beach is closed, so it just got better.

[Pondosinatra]

Having Birthday bevvies with the neighbours on our driveways.

We're mostly social distancing...but you can tell the longer this thing goes on the more people are getting tired of it, and distancing gets shorter and shorter.

The booze obviously doesn't help - but it's more than that. People just instinctively need to be close again.

No real point to this post - just an observation.

[Dubstar]

Originally Posted by Pondosinatra

Again...thinking Sweden's got it right.

2 more years of this BS.

But ya, as someone else posted, it's Beer O'Clock!

Cheers!

https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/30/healt...ars/index.html

well no, Sweden does not have "it" right:

SWEDEN'S CORONAVIRUS DEATH RATE NEARLY TWICE THAT OF U.S. AS TRUMP SAYS COUNTRY 'PAYING HEAVILY' FOR NOT HAVING LOCKDOWN

[AFFanAttic]

OH. The beach is supposed to be officially closed off. (I'm slow.) I thought people were just being generally defiant a-holes and I didn't realize they were being criminally defiant a-holes.

Yeah man what a bunch of um… I don't know the word.

[Batman1980]

Originally Posted by AFFanAttic

OH. The beach is supposed to be officially closed off. (I'm slow.) I thought people were just being generally defiant a-holes and I didn't realize they were being criminally defiant a-holes.

Yeah man what a bunch of um… I don't know the word.

[rdodolak]

Originally Posted by AFFanAttic

I think some of these people are holding protest signs? Like, let's go protest against the lockdown and our freedoms being taken away, but let's make a day of it and do it at the beach!

Yes, they are protesting. The CA Governor originally planned on closing all CA beaches, but after the backlash that began all across CA when word got out he backed off and decided to ONLY close off Orange County beaches while leaving all others open. The beaches on either side of Orange County are still open. The people of OC didn't take too kindly to that.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...rride-n1198331

[MifuneFan]

Imagine protesting because a beach is closed. Remember when protests were for actual causes.

[Eye Candy]

Originally Posted by Batman1980

I want a facehugger one.

I want a Bane themed one.

[Eye Candy]

[ctujackbauer]

Originally Posted by AFFanAttic

OH. The beach is supposed to be officially closed off. (I'm slow.) I thought people were just being generally defiant a-holes and I didn't realize they were being criminally defiant a-holes.

Yeah man what a bunch of um… I don't know the word.

Except they're not breaking the law.

They're near the beach, but actually on the street (PCH & Main) which is completely legal. This is just going to keep snowballing into bigger protests because there's too many people here who think they're aggreived.

Flashbangs by next weekend, guaranteed.