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Post by bixaorellana on Jul 21, 2020 17:14:42 GMT
There are enough people on most city streets here to encourage me to keep my mask on, but I pull it down when riding a bike or walking on an empty street. What gets me is that so many people think that the masks are for keeping themselves safe whereas their utility is to keep the people you encounter safe. I think I read somewhere that masks are not a good idea when doing strenuous activity, which seems logical. Also, I'd think the velocity of the air streaming past you when bike riding would mean you're safe without a mask. A mask serves for some protection for oneself if others are not wearing masks. I was wearing just a shield to walk my dogs in the evening, but after Oaxaca had another spike I got nervous. Also, I was seeing more and more people without masks. Now I wear a mask for walks, hoping I can learn to tolerate it better.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jul 21, 2020 17:17:58 GMT
Thank you, Bixa. Probably the most bizarre moment of this for me was watching my cousin’s funeral service in a live stream. Well, I probably won’t be going to the coast after all. I waited too long to book the only condo I wanted and someone snapped it up. Oh, Htmb, that sounds not only bizarre, but a hefty reminder of how the virus affects everything we consider normal. Hope it's okay to say that I'm glad you didn't go. A close friend is flying to the US in a couple of days. She's been strict about keeping safe & says she's taking every precaution for the flight, but I wish she would wait.
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Post by htmb on Jul 21, 2020 17:36:47 GMT
Bixa, even if the funeral had been local (it was in South Carolina), I would have been prevented from going because of a limit on numbers when gathering. As far as I could tell, the only people in the church were two ministers, a pianist and vocalist, my cousin’s wife, two daughters, his sister and her son. There were also about six others I didn’t know. I felt so sad for my aunt and and her two other children. It was too risky for them to attend.
When one of my close, local friends died they had a visitation where mourners passed through the funeral home in a long, socially distanced line, one at a time, all wearing masks. Since I decided twenty-five years ago that I would no longer attend viewings, I didn’t go, but I can only imagine how strange it was.
Off the subject of funerals in the time of Covid, our state educators association filed a law suit requesting the State of Florida have a better plan in place before students and teachers are required to go back into classrooms. Our local parent/teacher group will be forming an automobile parade protest and driving down to the school board building, rallying in support of local leaders. Meanwhile, at everyRecent press conference our idiot governor has been booed, shamed, and heckled for the way his poor decisions have affected Floridians.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jul 21, 2020 18:49:36 GMT
mourners passed through the funeral home in a long, socially distanced line, one at a time, all wearing masks. Probably strange in another way, too. Usually wakes are not noisy, but there is a certainly a buzz of conversation, with people greeting others, commenting on the death, etc. I imagine the socially distanced visitation is almost silent. our state educators association filed a law suit requesting the State of Florida have a better plan in place before students and teachers are required to go back into classrooms. Our local parent/teacher group will be forming an automobile parade protest and driving down to the school board building, rallying in support of local leaders. Meanwhile, at everyRecent press conference our idiot governor has been booed, shamed, and heckled for the way his poor decisions have affected Floridians. Hooray for the voices of reason in your state! Who knows if logic will reach the governor, but at least he has been made uncomfortable.
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Post by tod2 on Jul 22, 2020 8:06:24 GMT
Forgive me, but I would've thought the majority of Americans would have decided on their own, perhaps with their doctor's advice should they have asked, to wear masks regardless of what that dimwit Trump had to say. I feel this way because here in Africa the majority follow instructions like sheep. They rely heavily on being told what to do, when and how. So, when our President was given the bad news by the scientific world and told if he did not act swiftly, millions of his voters would be dead. To stay in power the ruling party needs votes from people who believe in empty promises. We are so masked up that I have had to tell my gardener to please lower his mask when working on his own. You see, the does not know why he is wearing a mask, just that he was told it was the law if you were out of your house.
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Post by onlyMark on Jul 22, 2020 9:22:42 GMT
Tod, with my experience in Zambia and elsewhere there generally seems to be a culture of not questioning your elders/betters and thus the blindly following certain rules without understanding what they are there for or the reasoning. There is also often a belief that if a politician said something, then it must be true.
Also, as Mrs M experienced many, many times and I sometimes, there is the belief that if your elders/betters wish you to know something, they will tell you. You do not ask. If you need to know, you will be told. This came to Mrs M early on in our stay in the at the end of meetings when she would ask if there are any questions, there invariably would be none unless they were an expat - but then the tasks were done badly or in a confusing way because the person hadn't understood - the person would blame themselves for not understanding and not the boss for not explaining it properly and wouldn't ask a question to clarify something.
My pet hate was the police when they were dealing with traffic. They would make up an offence to get money from you and common sense would tell you there was nothing wrong with what you did or that there was no offence committed in any way - yet everyone just accepted it and never ever questioned the police for several reasons, but one being if the police said something, then it must be right. Time and time and time again I told someone that they hadn't done anything wrong but by then it was too late, the fine had been paid. You do not question the authority no matter how little you understand.
So I know what you mean.
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Post by tod2 on Jul 22, 2020 11:02:55 GMT
Mark, You have summarised the situation in Africa flawlessly. To demonstrate this even further, my husband went to our place of business this morning to fetch a worker and whilst there a staff member started spraying the chemical to counteract the Cover virus. Just as a matter of interest he asked the person what ratio chemical to water were they using. The answer was "we fill the bucket with water then we splash some chemical in it". He was flabbergasted and immediately reported this to my son. "Dad, they have been told how to mix and apply the chemical proportions", came his reply. The actual mix should have been 1 chem. to 10 water. So once again somebody did not understand and would not ask for a repeat demonstration for fear you would think them stupid, not the fact we speak two different languages.
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Post by casimira on Jul 22, 2020 12:48:51 GMT
Louisiana will remain at Phase II until August 8th and then re-evaluated. One by one businesses are announcing their shuttering down for good. Schools will not re-open next month for the time being. Mask mandate remains in place. Many friends of ours remain jobless and are relocating back to their place of origin to live with their parents. (lots of young people who cant afford rents and are threatened with eviction as landlords crackdown). Its pretty grim here.
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Post by htmb on Jul 22, 2020 14:05:53 GMT
Mark, You have summarised the situation in Africa flawlessly. To demonstrate this even further, my husband went to our place of business this morning to fetch a worker and whilst there a staff member started spraying the chemical to counteract the Cover virus. Just as a matter of interest he asked the person what ratio chemical to water were they using. The answer was "we fill the bucket with water then we splash some chemical in it". He was flabbergasted and immediately reported this to my son. "Dad, they have been told how to mix and apply the chemical proportions", came his reply. The actual mix should have been 1 chem. to 10 water. So once again somebody did not understand and would not ask for a repeat demonstration for fear you would think them stupid, not the fact we speak two different languages. Tod, I heard a report on the news this morning that they were conducting a trial of the Oxford covid vaccine in the Johannesburg area, but were having a difficult time finding participants since so many people have already been infected.
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Post by Kimby on Jul 22, 2020 14:43:12 GMT
I think I read somewhere that masks are not a good idea when doing strenuous activity, which seems logical. Also, I'd think the velocity of the air streaming past you when bike riding would mean you're safe without a mask. Don’t know about relative particle size of virus and beauty products, but when we bike on Sanibel’s 8’ wide bicycle paths, we get hit in the face with soap/shampoo/perfume scents 20-30’ AFTER we pass oncoming cyclists. If there’s virus particles in that scent stream, I imagine walkers on the path could be inhaling quite a few of them. I presume as cyclists we move out of range quickly enough to be at minimal risk.
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Post by Kimby on Jul 22, 2020 14:55:25 GMT
This morning my art appreciation group will be having a zoom meeting to discuss the upcoming season of monthly art programs and events we sponsor. For the past 5 or 6 years I’ve been the scheduler, lining up artists to give presentations or galleries or museums for us to tour, but this year, why bother?
Though our group is smallish, we do get around 40 attendees for most events, which tend to be indoors, and our membership is on the, shall we say “old” side. I’m one of the younger members at 66. Last year’s season was abruptly cancelled in mid March, with three programs yet to go.
So we have tough decisions to make.
Dam COVID! Dam inept response to COVID that has brought us to this place.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jul 22, 2020 15:15:11 GMT
In response to Kimby's noting that scents get through masks, re: bike riding -- Good point, Kimby. There is a laundry on my evening dog-walk route and I can usually smell the detergent and softener perfumes before I even reach the building. I've also noted perfumes when passing people and wondered what else is getting through my mask. WHO says The World Health Organization released guidance on June 16, 2020, that people shouldn't wear face masks while exercising because it could reduce the ability to breathe comfortably, noting that the most important factor in preventing disease spread is distancing yourself from others. www.cnet.com/health/should-you-exercise-with-a-face-mask-during-coronavirus/So how much distance? experts are recommending that while running you stay at least 13ft away from others. To minimize the risk as much as you can, put as much space between yourself and others as possible while biking.The same article: Taking deeper and harder breaths when exercising likely causes more viral shedding, especially if exercising outside where the wind can blow and dissipate the virus. Taking that into consideration, it is likely that due to increased viral shedding individuals that are exercising should probably be more than 6ft apart. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/may/08/coronavirus-face-mask-exercise-outsideIt would appear that in your situation of using a populated path, you would need a mask.
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Post by kerouac2 on Jul 22, 2020 15:19:01 GMT
I completely understand your frustration because even though things are better in most of Europe, things months ahead continue to be cancelled. The latest announced here was the Fête de l'Humanité, the big communist festival which is one of the biggest events of the year, held in mid-September. It makes me appreciate the fact that I returned to see it again last year, because who knows what the future has in store?
The rescheduled Tour de France is still on -- 29 August to 20 September (instead of 27 June to 19 July). But many people will have long completed their summer holidays so crowds along the route may be sparse.
And the French Open tennis event was rescheduled from 18 May > 7 June to 27 September > 11 October.
Obviously all of this can change at any moment. But only one change is possible. If something happens, they will be cancelled completely. I read the same thing about the Tokyo Olympics -- no further change of date is possible, so they will be cancelled if necessary.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jul 22, 2020 15:26:14 GMT
Louisiana will remain at Phase II until August 8th and then re-evaluated. One by one businesses are announcing their shuttering down for good. Schools will not re-open next month for the time being. Mask mandate remains in place. Many friends of ours remain jobless and are relocating back to their place of origin to live with their parents. (lots of young people who cant afford rents and are threatened with eviction as landlords crackdown). Its pretty grim here. You've probably summed up what's going on in many parts of the US. When I read about the weekly unemployment bonus expiring and that it may or may not be reinstated, the callousness of lawmakers just makes my blood boil. On top of all the other stress, people are wondering if they'll be able to pay bills and eat. And I imagine that some of the young people you know work in the casual economy, making them ineligible for unemployment anyway.
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Post by mich64 on Jul 23, 2020 3:31:30 GMT
Amen, Mich! You've seen the ridiculous and destructive effects in the US of people endangering other people in places like supermarkets because there is no mandate in place. I purchased a new mask yesterday, cloth that came with additional washable filters. It fits quite nicely, the others I have worn fog up my glasses but this one fits correctly under the rims. The positive case numbers in Canada are slowly going back up but many communities are instituting the mask mandate. We shall see in the coming weeks if it brings our numbers back downs. There seems to be a lot of support in the community, I have not read many negative comments. If the numbers remain stable for the next month, I can see schools opening. Although I think they will keep the colleges/universities on-line, only since they are in the age group that seems to be the most affected at the moment, keep them in their home communities and prevent the dorms from opening. Far from a perfect solution but probably the safest was to help contain this for now. Many people have returned to work, I only have one friend receiving the CERB ($2,000/mo. assistance). My niece is even now able to finish her hair stylists course, she did the theory and practice cutting at home during the shutdown but is now inside the school salon doing perms, colors and cuts. Unfortunately, some retail staff have lost positions as some businesses did not make it through the shutdown but there are many places finding it difficult to find enough staff. We have even had some new businesses open this week! My husband says one way you can tell things are returning to normal is by how many car accidents they are going to, during the shutdown, there were none as there were hardly any cars on the roads, lots of them now. A strange metric.
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Post by tod2 on Jul 23, 2020 9:00:18 GMT
Mich - I hope there was some instructions with the filters. The ones we sell cannot be washed by hand with detergent. One has to pour boiling water over the filter and let it dry. Don't know if yours may be a one use only then discard it?
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Jul 23, 2020 17:07:34 GMT
It really looks like we will be heading for a terrible winter...a perfect storm (according to the i newspaper) with a second wave of covid-19, winter flu, Brexit disruption (we've alienated everybody now) and flooding. Climate change...whether it's a natural phenomenon as some folk think, or as a result of global warming is undeniably 'a thing' and it seems to have resulted in long, wet winters here.
fun fun fun 😁
From tomorrow face coverings are compulsory in enclosed places like shops and banks. A lot of people have been wearing them for a while. Failure to do so could lead to £100 fine.
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Post by bjd on Jul 23, 2020 17:59:52 GMT
Masks became obligatory in closed public spaces on Monday here in France. I went to the supermarket yesterday and for the first time saw that everyone was wearing one, including me. I had resisted until now, not for political reasons -- it's just that I find them terribly uncomfortable, especially when it's warm .
Lots of tourists around here these days but hardly anyone with a mask on outside.
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Post by kerouac2 on Jul 23, 2020 18:35:35 GMT
Just like in the United States, a lot of people on vacation in France tend to think that it is also a vacation from masks.
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Post by questa on Jul 24, 2020 1:48:24 GMT
At the border on the main road between Melbourne and Adelaide where scores of Police and Army, dog squads and drones, are going over all the vehicles checking for people trying to enter South Australia illegally. ... Cop stops a sedan, driver gets out and they both walk to the back of the car, Cop nods and driver opens the boot (trunk). Inside the boot was a bloke curled up in near fetal position. Cop takes a deep breath looks at them and says, "Mate, you gotta be joking!"
(fine example of classic Aussie humour)
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Post by mickthecactus on Jul 24, 2020 7:43:20 GMT
It really looks like we will be heading for a terrible winter...a perfect storm (according to the i newspaper) with a second wave of covid-19, winter flu, Brexit disruption (we've alienated everybody now) and flooding. Climate change...whether it's a natural phenomenon as some folk think, or as a result of global warming is undeniably 'a thing' and it seems to have resulted in long, wet winters here. fun fun fun 😁 From tomorrow face coverings are compulsory in enclosed places like shops and banks. A lot of people have been wearing them for a while. Failure to do so could lead to £100 fine. Cheery, don't panic. It hasn't happened yet... Personally I am sick and tired of media headlines that this might happen, that may happen, this could happen etc. Just report on what has happened rather than frightening the life out of all of us!
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Post by kerouac2 on Jul 24, 2020 11:31:15 GMT
France has been up to just over 1000 new cases a day for the past two days. Not too bad considering the population but much higher than before the summer holiday season began. Just about every new cluster has been caused by wedding parties, family barbecues and other events at home. This would seem to indicate that the people crowding into bars and such are probably being a bit careful in spite of themselves while the families are probably all slobbering over each other with kisses.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jul 24, 2020 13:44:20 GMT
Personally I am sick and tired of media headlines that this might happen, that may happen, this could happen etc. Just report on what has happened rather than frightening the life out of all of us! I have to agree with you, Mick. Some of the articles are real news, but some of them are just fluffed up out of practically nothing. France has been up to just over 1000 new cases a day for the past two days. Not too bad considering the population but much higher than before the summer holiday season began. Just about every new cluster has been caused by wedding parties, family barbecues and other events at home. So inevitable! And re: your comment about slobbering -- all over social media are comments from people who just can't wait to hug grandma or whomever. Yeah, the minute some politician says it's okay, that means the virus has gone away and everything is safe.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jul 25, 2020 2:59:49 GMT
That's one of those songs -- & of course that particular interpretation -- that every time you hear it, you remember all over again how great it is.
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Jul 25, 2020 17:02:41 GMT
It has been quite muggy here today, very humid and warm despite being overcast and only about 24°C outside. I got very warm taking the dog out a couple of times, plus I worked in the GH trimming some leaves off the tomato plants to let the sun ripen the fruit..I had a paranoid half hour debating with myself over whether I was feeling feverish or not. Thank goodness I dont have a medical thermometer.
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Post by kerouac2 on Jul 25, 2020 17:18:23 GMT
I coughed about 4 times at the movies today. I was afraid they were going to come and throw me out.
Actually, I have a sort of fever almost every morning around 5 am. In fact it is what wakes me up for the day, especially if I am completely sweaty. But this has been going on for about 8 years, so at least I know it is not covid.
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Post by casimira on Jul 25, 2020 17:44:41 GMT
My body temperature stays at 99.1 all the time unless I am truly sick so, anything above that would be classified as a fever. No medical explanation for this has ever been given to me. It could be potentially problematic if I needed to go somewhere that required I have my temperature taken. Say the airport and other places.
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Post by kerouac2 on Jul 25, 2020 18:07:12 GMT
A lot of our perception of fever is apparently psychological. Back in the days of SARS, I had to walk past the temperature scanners in Bangkok and Hong Kong several times. Just seeing them would make me break out in a panic sweat, but nobody ever stopped me.
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Jul 26, 2020 11:18:55 GMT
A veritable army of volunteers swept through the area this morning, dropping off tests at every house. Then they came back half an hour later to collect them. I think that the whole of the city is being done. Sorry about the rubbish photos. In a way it was quite reassuring.
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Post by questa on Jul 26, 2020 12:52:18 GMT
Well, Melbourne is in a fine mess. From a small handful of pub goers and 'we must have our sport'idiots the city is in lockdown with ? 7 deaths today (I think I heard) and new patients in 3 figure numbers.. I have stopped watching TV news which is why I am vague on numbers. The border for most of the northern side is the Murray River with the marked boundary along the centre of the river. Some Victorians have tried to cross at night over the river and have a person to meet them. Air temp is below freezing so they must be desperate.
Re body temps. I also show as 36 C as my normal temp. I, too, wonder what would happen if I couldn't tell 'them'.
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