Corona Virus Now Spreading

Jem

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W Willowy - I know you tested negative, but have you recovered OK? I know testing isn't 100% accurate so I was just wondering how you were feeling...I hope all is good!
 

Lari

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Are there kid-friendly "how to wear a mask" videos on Youtube for English speakers I wonder? Are American kids as obsessed with youtube as Korean kids are? haha
I don't know if there are kid friendly mask videos, but pretty sure my students were obsessed with youtube!
 

Willowy

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W Willowy - I know you tested negative, but have you recovered OK? I know testing isn't 100% accurate so I was just wondering how you were feeling...I hope all is good!
I feel ok I guess. Still a lingering cough but it's improving. I also had some stomach symptoms for a couple days, so now I really am wondering if it was a false negative. I heard several people in the town I work in have tested positive in the last week or so, so if anyone else in the office gets it I won't know if I spread it or someone else did.
 

Xraystyle

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I saw on Reddit that schools here are still recruiting teachers from the states.
I have a feeling this will cause lots of problems.
They have to take the test before coming and be in quarantine for 2 weeks, but even one future teacher turning out positive for the virus would put the whole program in danger. Not to mention that school would be royally *** because who can find a native English speaker on that short of notice? Like wow, even if they start coming in this week or next, there's a month for them to go through arrival quarantine (2 weeks) and then hospital quarantine if they're positive before having to go through training and start teaching the new semester at the beginning of September! Yikes!

All of our teachers who were up for renewal have decided to stay, but one is being fired, so we only need to hire one person and we've been exclusively looking at people already in Korea. I think everyone is mostly of the mindset to stay put. Those who wanted to leave left back in March (we had one teacher pull a "midnight run" as it's called and go back to Florida without telling anyone one weekend in April I think). But yeah, mostly we're happy to have universal health insurance and our care costs covered should we test positive.

The numbers testing positive after coming in from abroad are double that of local infections. People are getting pretty upset about it and saying they should close the borders. Most of the cases are coming from the "Stans" countries--which are mostly migrant workers being brought in for the harvest. Closing the borders would mean produce prices would skyrocket. Although I would LOVE to see some kind of youth employment scheme to have unemployed young people doing service on farms--subsidized and overseen by the government to make sure they aren't abused of course...

the other big importer is the US military...
 

Leomc123

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The problem is when they say they are closing the borders to a country, we all think that they mean that there are no flights coming into their countries, that isn't true, there are still people flying in and out of everyone's country bring the virus in and virus out. The other major issue is when people land at an airport, in some countries some airports are not checking, testing or screening for any virus even when these flights are internal flights, like here in Australia, they closed VIC border and allowed people to fly into NSW when they landed at Sydney airport people who were infected walked out of the airport because they were not screened or tested.

Before June excluding the good old Ruby Princess stuff up, the majority of the cases in NSW were caused by overseas travellers, businessmen, citizens, international students either returning or coming into NSW. They were quickly quarantined on returning for two weeks and our infection rate/cases were very low. The biggest mistake Australia did was lifting the restrictions in all states for pubs to open, shopping centres to open and business etc. The citizens carried on like the virus does not exist, went clubbing, beaches went to places where mass gathering is possible. I have been to a shopping mall that has max capacity of 11000 people a day or more, on the day when they lifted the shopping restrictions, I can tell you only 1 per cent was wearing a mask the rest 99 per cent didn't.

Also in VIC, they had a family of 11 members who knew they tested positive for the virus but chose to go out into the public anyways, they didn't care if they infected anyone. Then stupidly NSW opened the borders and allowed VIC to enter NSW. And now 3 weeks later you see a sudden increase in infections in VIC and NSW infections are increasing as well. Now in NSW 13 people infected at same pub out of the 40 people infected there have missing links, they don't know where they got the infection from, because the virus strain is not the same as the other 27 people.

My point is that bringing more people from another country isn't going to help the country control the virus when the system in place that is created by health authorities isn't being followed either by the health authorities themselves, the airports, the person who is infected or asymptomatic or security. Even quarantine with security is a sham, VIC had security guards having sex with the quarantine patients who came from overseas who were infected. God knows how many more similar cases are going on around the world as well, these people sit in quarantine testing negative and then walk out testing positive.
 
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Willowy

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I know outdoor transmission is less likely, but when people are crammed that closely together it seems inevitable.

The number of tests for this whole state is only around 10% of the population :/. And I know some people have had multiple tests. So they're really going to have to step that up, I think.
 
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denice

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They had disinfecting wipes today, that was the last thing I needed to get a little stash together in case things get bad here again and there is no disinfectant to be found anywhere. It's funny for awhile there was no spray but wipes. I was concentrating on the spray and I got that then they had spray but no wipes. Now they have wipes and no spray. I have both and some spray cleaner disinfectant in my stash. I bought 2 quart bottles of hand sanitizer awhile back. I didn't really mean to get that much but that was the first thing I saw when it became available here after this whole thing started. That hand sanitizer will last me a good long while.
 

Leomc123

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buy 90 proof alcohol from the alcohol shop for hand sanitizer, or buy Isopropyl alcohol from the hardware store, or the sprays you buy to clean your computer equipment, they also sell isopropyl alcohol at the car mechanics .
 

Talien

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buy 90 proof alcohol from the alcohol shop for hand sanitizer, or buy Isopropyl alcohol from the hardware store, or the sprays you buy to clean your computer equipment, they also sell isopropyl alcohol at the car mechanics .
I wouldn't actually recommend that, alcohol dissolves the natural oils on the skin and dries it out.
 

Jem

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It's been just over a week now that masks are mandatory (in indoor places) in my city and surrounding district (I think it's pretty well province wide at this point). I went grocery shopping and to a couple other places for the first time since the mandate, and was pleasantly surprised that basically everybody was wearing a mask. I only saw (noticed) 2 people not wearing one, and one person with it under her nose. Not too shabby if you ask me! Nobody seemed peeved and people were respectful over all...Big difference from two weeks ago where only about 25% wore masks in indoor places....myself included tbh (except for at work and I always kept my distance). Now keep in mind that we have not had a confirmed case reported since June 22nd, and zero active cases, so some people don't see the need for them, and of course, most don't like them...but they still do their due diligence. I've always known that overall, we're a pretty laid back community and will follow directives (we'll just complain about it ;) and no we're not "sheep" 🐑🚫), but it's just nice to see people be "a community" and respect "the greater good". I know it's not quite as laid back in town compared to my area, but it just makes me appreciate my community even more.
I still don't know what my boss decided or what happened with the "anti-mask rights activist" :rolleyes3: at my work yet...but I'm going to ask her about it tomorrow....
 

WillowMarie

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Just received an e-mail from Petsmart they will be requiring masks starting tomorrow, installing plexi shields (only at high traffic registers though...??? Come on! It cannot be that expensive to install more! Unless they will be keeping the other ones closed and never using them) for cashiers, and not holding any in store events.

They also included "If you are uncomfortable wearing a mask or want to limit your interactions, our easy Curbside Pickup option is available for online or phone orders."
 

Tobermory

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I had been wondering if there was a way to determine the impact of COVID-19 deaths on immediate family. How many people are affected by one death and how does it move out from there to friends and acquaintances? My question was partially answered by an article in today’s paper.

Researchers at Penn State University estimated that “on average...every death from COVID-19 will leave approximately nine bereaved“ in the U.S. They were trying to determine the potential health issues linked to grief at the loss of a family member as well as the social impact of health crises.

As of today in the U.S., we have more than 140,000 reported deaths. If we use the researchers’ multiplier, that’s more than 1.25 million grieving immediate family members. And, of course, it’s many more bereaved than that when you expand the circle of those affected to include close friends and extended family. The loss is simply incalculable.

Tracking the reach of COVID-19 kin loss with a bereavement multiplier applied to the United States
 

Leomc123

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I wouldn't actually recommend that, alcohol dissolves the natural oils on the skin and dries it out.
You can add aloe vera gel into the mix, but i mean use the alcohol as the last resort that is if you dont have any hand sanitizer at all. Spiritus Alcohol has been used medically and all alcohol and hand sanitizers can irritate the skin.
 

Talien

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Well in my country and state, they have decided its a great idea for 4000 people to start protesting again for BLM when our infections are increasing we have now 40 suburbs with cases on infections spreading and the numbers are increasing by the day. In the news, it stated that most people in VIC who were infected in the 9 towers did go to the protest in VIC. If the court allows this protest to happen then more people will get sick.
Yeah.....THAT makes no sense. Protests (and sometimes riots) in major cities all over but that's all good. In the US Governors and Mayors even go out and take part in the protests, then turn around and say things like "gatherings of more than x number of people are a misdemeanor with a (insert dollar amount) fine" but do nothing about the riots that are destroying property and directly killing people.
 

Jem

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We just got a new confirmed case yesterday, after not having any since June 22. With no "active cases" since July 4th. An "under 19" who traveled...they did not specify where. The article also stated that we have 7 hospitalized cases that are awaiting results...so I guess we'll see in the next few days if we get any more confirmed cases reported.
We had a client who called and cancelled her appointment because her husband was ill, he is supposedly going to go get tested today. He is also a business owner and as a precaution has shut down his business for the next 14 days and they are going to self isolate for the 14 days regardless of test results.
And one of my clients called and cancelled her appointment yesterday because she is sick. She believes it's just a cold, but did not want to take any chances by coming in, not that she would be able to come in anyway as she would not have passed screening.

I'm just glad that our clients are being honest about their health and symptoms...I just hope everyone is...as you never really know.
 

denice

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Young people are driving the surge that we are having here in the U.S. In time older people will also be sick, young people who are sick now have exposed older relatives and neighbors, that is given. This stuff has such a long incubation period that the older people aren't yet sick with it.
 

Leomc123

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here we have two 30 year olds in icu, now. And a friend of mine said a office worker went into office being really sick then was told by boss to go and get tested, there were many people working and he didn't wear mask or hand sanitizer, they will have to wait 48 hours to know if he is infected 😐
 

KittyFriday

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Yeah, cases are still surging here. We have three cases in the hospital and three under investigation as of yesterday so I'm interested to see what the numbers look like today. It's young people in their 20s that are getting it, which isn't surprising as we are a college town and bars have opened, but also apparently all in the hospital right now are young and in their 20s and they are quite serious cases. So so much for the "let's let the young and healthy go out and build up their immunity" theory.
 
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