Topic: Corona Virus Panic/Discussion Thread

@zupertramp Apologies for inadvertently giving you homework!

And, even though I'm a Brit, we've usually been on the same side, so I hope you'll accept a sincere "thank you for your service" from me (especially since it doesn't sound like you got as many this year).

@zupertramp Same day though! I wonder if Veterans Day is 11th November due to WW1’s armistice being that day too?

@RogerRoger Thanks. I actually spent most of my time in the military at a joint USN/RAF base in Cornwall so it seems appropriate. Though I think we thick-skulled Americans often brought the Brits there more grief than we were worth. I know I certainly did.

@nessisonett Yeah no totally, they're on the same day so in that regard yes the two days are kinda the same. It's just some do take offense over here mixing up the days or using them interchangeably. Thought I'd head off any accusations of disrespect.

@zupertramp Hey, we stiff-assed Brits are usually in need a good reality check anyway!

lol We hit 161.5K cases in one day yesterday. We're likely going to be at 200K cases a day before the month is out.

I guess we're going to find out how viable the "herd immunity" strategy is before the vaccine even lands, eh? And still the governor of my state is resisting mask mandates, saying he won't force compliance.

America has the political stability of a third-world nation at this point, between the COMPLETE lack of leadership on all levels of government to handle a crisis that other nations have effectively curbed and the head honcho doing his best impression of a tinpot dictator who is casting the integrity of our electoral system into doubt with baseless conspiracy theories that at least 20% of the country eats up without question. And we're supposed to be a "world leader?" Ridiculous.

@Ralizah Well you are a world leader. In case numbers and deaths.

@nessisonett It's about to get vastly worse. People don't understand exponential growth, for some reason.

They'll understand when every state in the union is having to dig mass graves to deal with all of the bodies we'll be seeing soon.

@Ralizah Think of it this way, the worse Trump handles the pandemic, the less supporters he’ll have in a few months. Eventually, nobody can call it a hoax because anybody that lacks common sense will have popped their clogs before the US turned into the wasteland from Mad Max.

@Ralizah I'm actually a little hopeful our institutions are strong enough to withstand Trump. My fear now is isolated pockets of violence when reality hits MAGA country square in the face on Jan 20th.

Aside from that all I can say is amen to your post.

The vast, nationwide crowds celebrating Biden's win did make me raise an eyebrow. I mean, I get that such enthusiasm can be infectious, but... ah, you've got the joke by now, so I'll stop typing.

@zupertramp I don't think Trump's attacks on our institutions, in and of themselves, will amount to anything. Judges are throwing out his spurious lawsuits left and right. Staying in at this point is most likely a ploy to extract as much money as possible from his credulous followers, as they've been bombarded with emails begging for donations to help with legal fees to fight the "rigged" election. Of course, in the fine print, you discover that somewhere in the range of 40% of these so-called "election defense fund" donations are actually being used to pay off campaign debt. Par for the course for the most cartoonishly corrupt president ever to sit in the oval office.

btw, thanks for your service. As a vet, maybe you'll get a kick out of this story about one of Trump's poll watchers, who thinks something is very 'odd' about how many military ballots were voting for Biden. It couldn't possibly have anything to do with the profound disrespect this president has shown for the men and women in our armed forces, of course.

https://www.businessinsider.com/military-veteran-vote-joe-bid...

@RogerRoger If we've discovered one thing about Americans this year, it's that, in the middle of the worst pandemic in a century, they'll find any excuse to go out in large numbers and stew in eachother's fumes. I live in a small town, and, during Halloween, the streets were literally lined with maskless people. It's nuts.

@nessisonett The only problem, for many, is if it doesn't hit them directly, they won't believe it. So basically we could see a million dead but because the vast majority still wouldn't know those people, anyone who didn't take it seriously probably still wouldn't.

Also this doesn't take into account our capacity for wholly untenable rationalizations. Like "Uncle Joe didn't die of Covid, the Clinton Foundation had him killed for speaking too much truth on Facebook." That kinda thing.

@zupertramp Yeah, I overheard a couple of guys on my bus saying that Covid was a hoax because they didn’t know anyone who have died of it. I’m fairly certain trying to explain the fallacy of that argument would have earned me a stabbing so I just ignored it. Neither of them wearing masks of course.

@nessisonett lol yeah like the way I don't actually personally know anyone who has died of cancer but like, what then, I should assume it's a hoax?

Also, I gotta mention, I've had Mario's voice looping in mind, paying respects to the fallen ever since you mentioned it. He won't stop lol.

@Ralizah I'm still astounded that the VFW demanded an apology after Trump downplayed brain injuriess as headaches but never got one and yet he still seemed to come out unscathed. (This after a long list of other instances of disrespect that would have buried other presidencies) So if it's true there was an increase in support for the Democratic candidate among the military rank and file, well, good for them.

@Ralizah I don't think we got many trick-or-treaters over here, if any (since I live in a second-storey apartment in a city centre, I never usually have to worry about my door getting knocked anyway, but I've heard from others from more suburban areas). It did make me wonder, especially because of the whole "kids are immune" fallacy, but it seems us Brits were more cautious than elsewhere.

@RogerRoger Yeah, we didn’t get any kids round our door either despite living in a cul-de-sac with quite a few families in an area not exactly known for its law and order. People seemed to listen.

Started chilling pretty bad last night around 8:00 & woke up this morning to a 101.6 fever, so I'm definitely going to be keeping an eye on my condition.

I haven't been coughing & don't have a stuffy nose, but I have a bit of a sinus headache, feel a bit fatigued (especially when I get up & start walking for a bit), and my tongue & lips feel ever so slightly numb.

@RR529 Get lots of rest, drink water, and try not to worry too much. If you have a pulse oximeter, be sure to use that occasionally. Vitamin D supplements might also help, if you have them.

Get well soon, and, if possible, keep us updated!