C-19 Chat Post – April 4 2020

103 Comments

This is the first of daily COVID-19 posts for the purpose of the discussion of the ongoing pandemic. The only rules for these posts are basically the same as the weather posts. While it’s inevitable that the actions of politicians will have to be part of the discussion, as they are charged with the job of getting us through this (federal, state, and local), please remember to choose your words wisely. It is ok to disagree with an action by an elected official, but don’t resort to name-calling and especially vulgarity because that won’t help anybody. As always, if you disagree with someone else commenting, a discussion is fine so long as it is kept civil. No shaming. No name calling. No threats of any kind. If you feel you can’t be civil with somebody, then refrain from communicating with them. It’s that simple. Aside of a few reminders, this will be the only time that I spell out those rules in grand detail. I trust that we can all follow them. This section was created to help you all discuss the situation. Your participation in it is strictly voluntary, and there will be a weather post available to chat weather if you do not wish to take part in the COVID-19 discussion. How long these posts will continue daily will be determined by the situation going forward, and will be something I will evaluate in the future. It will not be a permanent feature of the blog, but rather will be temporary until we don’t really need it. In the mean time, use it wisely and I hope it helps!

103 thoughts on “C-19 Chat Post – April 4 2020”

  1. I hope to be the first. Thanks TK!

    I very briefly saw a chart on tv this morning that showed covid levels of various nations with China leveling off nicely while US continues sky high, unfortunately. šŸ™

      1. Thanks JPD. I find it interesting that back on Feb. 12 it suddenly spiked up (relatively speaking) then just as quickly plummeted for quite awhile thereafter. Itā€™s no wonder most still ignored it very early on. Assuming I am reading the grap correctly.

  2. Thanks TK. Iā€™m hoping this will be a solution That brings whw family who understandably didnā€™t want to weed through covid talk back to whw and weather.

  3. Europe is peaking: Stabilizing trend in terms of new cases, but still many deaths. Keep in mind death is a lagging indicator. Many European nations have not been including nursing home deaths. France made the right decision to include them. Hence, the big increases in deaths 2 days ago and yesterday as cumulative nursing home deaths were added. When people say wrongly that Italy and others have over-reported deaths, sadly, the opposite is true. Under-reporting has been the norm.

    America is not yet peaking: Rising numbers of new cases, along with deaths. New areas of concern cropping up on a daily basis. The crisis is far from being under control.

    On a personal note, my son is sick. 102F, chills, body aches. He had influenza in January. I’m not a doctor, but based on his illness profile I’m guessing he has Covid-19; thankfully thus far a mild version, which is to be expected in a man in his 20s with no underlying physical health conditions. He and I live in close quarters. Obviously, he’s sequestered in his room. But, we share a bathroom. I expect I’ll get it as well. I’m not in a risk category, but am older than he. It is what it is. They say that ultimately between 40%-80% of the population (model differences explain the variance) will get the novel coronavirus at some point.

    1. YIKES! I am so sorry. Both of you take care. I agree with your assessment. Your son almost certainly has covid-19. Can he get tested?

      1. So sorry to hear that, Joshua. Just continue to follow the basic rules. No time to give up now. Hope your son recovers soon.

    4. Re sharing a bathroom – if he has a mask or scarf he should make sure to wear it when going to the bathroom. Additionally I would make certain there is some lag time between him using the bathroom and you using it. Wear a mask if you can when using it. Spray any surface or wipe down any surface with disinfectant before touching the surface. It’s a pain but just look at it as a new two week regiment and if you can prevent getting sick for as long as possible it’s all the better.

      I hope your son gets well soon. I’ll be thinking of you both.

  4. Well Iā€™ll try to wear my mask when I shop tonight as recommended by the CDC . The numbers are getting higher & higher . The city is setting up tents all over as this is really going to take off in a big time way . I suspect it will peak for weeks once itā€™s in full throttle . I see a lot of police now guarding banks – just crazy mind boggling stuff Every day . My opinion I do not think the Governor will order a shutdown when this gets going I just feel he wonā€™t but should .

    1. It needs to come from the White House IMO. A few states shuttering when too many are not just canā€™t get it done. Again….I implore people to call the president. He will listen to his base.

      1. Not sure if you caught it last night Vicki when the president was asked he said he is leaving it up to each Governor.

  6. Is anyone in this group still being required to physically report to work everyday? If yes, do you think itā€™s appropriate or is your employer being unreasonable?

    1. Are you being forced to go to work? If not essential, Iā€™d say it goes against our governors orders

      My son in law was laid off because he would. It go in. He has the capability of working from home. The owner travels by plans weekly and his son who works with my SIL was quite ill and still going to work.

      I suspect that is not only unreasonable but illegal for anyone to do. And theirs is a plumbing company which is in part essential but on a limited basis and for essential work only. Some plumbing is not essential.

    2. Since I work in Security, I am considered ā€œessentialā€. My hours may be reduced slightly at some point but should still maintain ā€œfull timeā€ pay. Better than total unemployment.

        1. No Vicki, no temperature checks so far. At the moment, I donā€™t believe there are any thermometers here on site anyway.

      2. Philip, are they cleaning your area between shifts? Better question, assuming your facility is essentially closed, why do they need a full security staff?

        1. Smarterchild…yes, each officer is now required to clean their desk areas at the beginning of their shift and wash hands every hour at the very least. There are plenty of cleaning materials at our disposal not to mention face masks. Thanks for asking.

    4. Our whole staff, save for one facilities person is working remotely.
      It is actually amazing what we have been able to pull off.
      We even have 2 persons answering the incoming calls to the office remotely.
      We set them up with remote receptionist consoles. We made a decision
      years ago to go with a cloud based phone system so we could do this
      in the event of some kind of crises.

      My son’s office is run by a real toad who is forcing everyone to come into
      the office. Because my son was sick, he is allowing him to work remotely
      for 2 more weeks. If he is forced to go back to the office, we told him to quit.
      We are hoping that our son’s boss can be reasoned with because my son can do all that he needs to do remotely. Oh btw, his boss flew to Miami last week.
      That’s a really good move.

      Our son lives downstairs and We are not collecting rent until this blows over and if loses his job we will continue not charging rent. ( He was getting the deal of the century anyway).

      This whole situation sucks, but there isn’t much we can do about it except to do our part to STOP the spread of this virus.

        2. Hopefully your sonā€™s boss doesnā€™t return anytime soon, if ever. Isnā€™t Florida the latest ā€œhotbedā€ for covid?

      2. On mass.gov, the stay at home advisory orders businesses who do not provide “essential Covid 19 services” to close.

        2. Tom thatā€™s just not happening . There is pages long of essential workers . I donā€™t get the alcohol thing . How is passing a bill that allows alcohol now for the restaurants important. Most places down here are booming with takeout but the adding booze again I donā€™t get it .

          1. I think this is for nonessential. That said, I absolutely get the alcohol thing. More revenue for the restaurants and heaven knows they need all they can get.

            Are you physically in the hospital or is most work hopefully outside?

      3. JPD. Eerily similar to what my SIL faced. Your are right to have him quit. Being laid off was the best choice for my SIL. No way he could go to the office and bring this thing here

    5. I still report to work. I work for the state (rmv specifically.) The building I work at is thankfully not one of the public facing branches. I guess somewhat reasonable – I only work every other day at the moment with a few people and we are all spaced out over 6 feet apart (and some of my coworkers are scheduled for the days I donā€™t go in.) So this past week I worked Mon Wed Fri. This approaching week I work Tue and Thu. They have an ample amount of nitrile gloves available throughout the building. They also have added more hand sanitizing stations. If they provided facemasks I would think itā€™s more reasonable. I thankfully have a small amount of masks of my own and just ordered a few with a spot for filter pouches from equalentrance.com (which will take about three weeks to get here but it’s still something.) But I feel bad for those that do not have any. People are also allowed to use their time if their section doesn’t have a heavy need for people (so unfortunately those sections where they answer phones needs people.)

        1. That is a bummer! Wish I could pull some strings but theyā€™ve shut down the testing programs behind the scenes to my understanding.

        2. Your son will be far more ā€œmatureā€ at 17 anyway. šŸ˜‰

          Heck, I was almost 19 before I got my driverā€™s license.

      2. As you know, so far COs do not have masks or didnt a bit ago. The Gov said some of the Kraft masks will go to them …I hope.

      1. Both doing OK, Thanks for asking. My son is actually through the quarantine point where he has no symptoms.

  9. A little update that Philip asked about a while back about town fire/paramedics doing tests . He is correct . They also will have Gillette / pats place be a testing area . Not announced yet . My son will be helping him n the tests on his off days

      1. He is all better . It took a while but once he could sleep and eat a bit more the illness went away quickly . Itā€™s just getting to that point . Thank you Vicki

  10. I was listening to the WBZ radio overnight news (I get up at 3:00 am on workdays) and their traffic updates always mentioned minor backups on many of the major area roads in and around Boston. Given the current crisis and all, being a weekend no less, not to mention Mayor Walsh squelching all city construction projects what could be causing traffic backups so very early? Prior to covid, I was hard pressed to hear any during a typical weekday so early, even with construction.

    Where are people suddenly going?

    1. I really think it’s combination of 3 things:
      1) Necessary shopping that couldn’t be done during the week.
      2) Searching for places to go that are not where everyone else is going to find (this is a stretch and not easy to do near a city).
      3) People literally just “out for a drive” to provide a change of scenery while remaining isolated.

        1. Sure. Gotta get in line at the stores, check out places when you know nobody’s there. Doesn’t everyone do this at 3AM? šŸ˜‰

          There are overnight shift changes and a lot of extra essential workers doing restocking, healthcare, etc. Also some of the essential construction projects are ongoing overnight so those result in lane closures and “back-ups”, which I believe always sound worse on the radio traffic than they tend to be – some of this from experience.

  11. If I heard on the radio correctly, it is now a $1,000 fine for being without a face mask in public in Laredo Texas.

    I still heard as of this morning that the President will not be wearing a mask nor requesting citizens to do so.

        1. This is not fact, it is an opinion.

          Carlson: 10 million unemployed Americans is ā€œa far bigger disaster than the virus itself, by any measureā€

          2. JPD, I agree. This is One individuals opinion based on not one source. And if we are going back to the start when we were told not to worry, Iā€™d look to where the buck stops

            All of that said. Everyone is running blind. The economy will recover. Folks do not it they die. Comparing economy to lives is politically motivated at best. Fauci has been the one voice of reason in this mess. Has he made errors….. Iā€™d like a list of those who have not please…

            My opinion is also that this is the start of justifying Fauci being fired. And if that happens God help us all

  13. Just a note: The idea for the separate posts for C-19 and the forecast page was not entirely mine. I’d thought of creating a separate page for C-19 like the “Contest” page and that was on the back burner of my brain during the busy week when it just so happened that Vicki suggested separate posts on the main page. So I went with that and I thank her for the suggestion. I hope it works out well for everyone because it gives you a choice of where you want to be without having to read through one or the other subject you may need a break from. Carry on…

    2. thanks TK. We all forge in together as a team and more important…a family

      And Mark gets credit too. I was thinking about him when the idea arrived in my head šŸ™‚

    2. Thank you. I canā€™t read and apologize but suspect I covered all after Mac passed. I have everything in writing and we sadly did a lot of family discussion with and because of Mac. It is definitely important. All of that said. Iā€™m even more sorry if I assumed incorrectly what this is. We know what Oscar says about assuming

  15. Italy’s numbers are in. Although #deaths for today are down some, the overall
    death rate is up to 12.3%. Staggering number!

    1. Ugh, indeed. And nearly 114,000 in New York state alone. And this are tested and cofirmed cases. How many others are out there. It has been suggested that
      it is 10 times that figure and my son read somewhere that the truer number is
      16 times. Taking the conservative number of 10, then that represents
      a count of 1,140,000 cases in NY alone. Frightening.

  17. Overall death rate in the US is now up to 2.7%, taking #deaths/#confirmed cases.
    Of course, the actual death rate for ALL cases is considerably lower, perhaps by
    a factor of 10 or 0.27 %

  18. Tomorrow night on CBS at 8:00, country music stars are hosting a special for our country. Even if you donā€™t like country music, to me the country songs and approach during other critical times have been highly helpful in bringing us together

      1. Agreed. Weā€™ve seen this before. The numbers will appear even more favorable tomorrow. Wait till Monday which unfortunately will paint a much more realistic picture.

  20. Thanks TK for setting up a separate spot for this talk.

    On the subject of traffic and people traveling, the rush hour periods have definitely been much quieter, but I havenā€™t noticed much of a down trend during the off hours. Thereā€™s plenty of people out and about. I was a little concerned that when I went through the Dunkin drive through to get a coffee today, there were probably about a dozen people congregated inside sitting at and around the tables. Thatā€™s really the first time Iā€™ve seen a blatant disregard for the guidelines like that, clearly in violation of all the orders in place.

    Regarding work, at the NWS, our shifts are divided between ā€œoperationalā€ and ā€œnon-operational.ā€ The former (~80% of our shifts for non-managers) are for all of our essential services: forecasts, warnings, and decision support. Those shifts are required to report, so Iā€™m still in my office most of the time. The latter are for things like training, research, and other projects. With a few exceptions, those are now telework shifts.

    As you could imagine, these mass testing sites require a lot of planning. That includes weather information. At my office, we are providing site specific briefings for nearly two dozen sites, which is extremely unprecedented in the history of our operations. Normally we may work one or two such events at a time.

    1. The DD’s and like places up around here have been very good about complying. They have removed tables from inside, and everybody knows by now that it’s either drive thru only or walk in, maintain distance, and carry out. I have made use of the drive through a few times since mid March, and from what I can see I’ve observed workers being very careful, using gloves. One of them even told me they have to change the gloves between each customer, which makes perfect sense.

      As long as we are all responsible, a few of these “normal” things can remain available. It’s the careless folks that threaten it. Probably the same people who are dropping rubber gloves in parking lots instead of throwing them away properly.

      1. Iā€™ve seen gloves on the ground in the streets, not just parking lots. Just typical litterbugs who will never change unfortunately.

        1. The glove littering is awful. It is everywhere. And someone has to pick up potentially contaminated gloves.

  21. I,love the cover of the NY Post thanking the pats for delivering masks to NY. And as a very very minuscule part, the truck is out of Sutton. The company donates VERY generously to our parade among other things.

  22. Thanks Coastal for posting the latest stats on cases.

    I see that females now outnumber males by a fairly large margin. Last time I looked it was closer with males only slightly outpacing females. The latter actually made sense since women are much more likely then men to seek medical attention for basic health, if anything else.

    I would like to see stats on race and income (separately) to start being recorded on these cases as well.

  23. Weekends have always been down on Monday they will be through the roof . This thing is just getting going . Very unfortunate situation down this way today in a local super market a man was seen coughing & spitting on produce than punching an employee in the face when confronted. Three civilians tackled the 65 year old man to the ground till the police cane & arrested him .

      1. Yup . Great job holding him down one of the tacklers was an off duty cop . Crazy stuff

      1. Iā€™m sure it will be on the news I wonā€™t name the business but it was in Kingston ma.

  24. My dad is the senior technical director of the central phlebotomy (blood and specimen and collection center) you all obviously know why I am nervous. At the moment he has been able to do most of his work here at home and only go in to inspect facilities before they are used, but they are not supplying all employees with those 95 masks, which could lead to many techs, transporters and other members of the healthcare system that does not get the protection they deserve, it’s not the physicians drawing the blood

  25. Because Iā€™ve been finding videos to unwind after digesting a lot of coronavirus news I keep finding stuff to share here. This was a performance by a funny juggler for ronald regan. It is so enjoyable – https://youtu.be/-Booteei-k0

    1. Dr. We think very much alike. I am doing the same before heading go sleep.

      Iā€™ll share one or two in a bit. Thank you for yours

          1. Your second link is the duck joke with buddy hackett that I shared yesterday. The first link though is one of my favorite bits from Carol Burnett. Thanks for sharing!

Comments are closed.