Coronavirus (Covid-19)

[Dan]

Been kinda chillin' for the most part, which is not unusual since I'm generally a cave troll by nature.

My mom did have to come by earlier than expected (family issues) and I picked her up on Friday night. Thing is she's coming from Hawaii and Hawaiian Airlines is only going to a limited number of locations. San Diego is not one of them, so I had to drive up to LA just to pick up my mom. Was quite the venture knowing that restrooms would be closed off at places so I had to park so I could use the bathroom when picking her up. An experience to see LAX not as busy as before.

[ShyViolet]

I miss Starbucks!

The last remaining open one in town is at the grocery store (takeout only), which is a nice incentive to going out to restore provisions. That's one advantage to Starbucks trying to infiltrate every public place they can get a foothold into.

(I don't actually drink coffee, as I have enough trouble with the caffeine in a bottle of Coke Zero, but I like coffee as a minor flavoring to chocolate, pumpkin, caramel, gingerbread and whipped cream...)

There are four different ones here, all of which are closed. One is actually inside a Target and even though that STORE is open, the Starbucks is not.

You can order from these places on UberEats but it’s just not the same (and pretty pricey as well). And yeah, there’s something special about that coffee flavor, as it enhances all types of tastes.

[Ben]

Well here the dumb government have mixed their message and caused confusion here, apparently relaxing their "stay at home" instructions with a "stay alert" slogan that means nothing, other than for the morons that were already breaking the restrictions to now think they have the freedom to do that.

Cars are increased this morning, more people are out, but most sensible people are questioning the logic, ignoring the message, and staying home anyway, allowing the idiots to go out and surge towards a second spike.

Scotland, Wales and North Ireland have actually *rejected* the government's plan, and are telling their residents to stay home, with the lockdown rules as before.

For me, last week was when the UK government lost its already too-loose grip on this pandemic...

[ShyViolet]

How’s everyone been doing? .

[EricJ]

You can order from these places on UberEats but it’s just not the same (and pretty pricey as well).

DoorDash and UberEats have been throwing so many "Enjoy the lockdown!" promotional offers at me, it's been weakening my resistance. (Considering I'm a good longrange-planning cook, and rarely have anything delivered except a Domino's pizza every other month.)
One of our local restaurants has a very good takeout/delivery service of their own, chooses not to use the new upstarts, and broadcast flat-out "Don't believe the hype!" warnings about using the opportunistic competition, on their website: https://www.filosgreek.com/menu.html

Last Friday, had a bit of a scare, as it was 6pm, I had to go out and get the mail, and discovered something had caught in the door and I couldn't budge it open; it had to be pulled open from the other side. It was a long holiday weekend, everyone I knew was out, no chance of calling maintenance till Tuesday, and no other exit to get outside.
How did I solve the problem? Simple: I ordered a gyro salad and baklava from downtown, and told them, "That's okay, make it Contactless--Just open the door and leave the delivery inside."
So, who says food-delivery is useless after all?

[Randall]

Always order direct from the restaurant, I say. Those delivery services take most of the profit away from those small businesses.

I've been back at work 3 weeks now, and it's going fine. I've gotten used to being in a mask and gown all day, and clients have been fine about the new rules. I get home a little earlier than I used to (as work is only 50-75% as busy as before), and have a new routine when I get home, of dumping clothes into the washer and having a shower right away. I cycle to work each day, and the weather's been mostly nice. Not too many people out, so it's easy to do distancing.

Stores, golf courses, and some personal services did open in town last week, with restrictions and lots of new rules, so we'll be watching our COVID numbers closely. Overall, we still have very few cases around here.

I'm also editing a book right now (a comic book history project for Yoe Books), which is fun.

[Ben]

Well, the UK and our government is in meltdown, which is hugely fascinating, amusing, and hideous to watch. BoJo The Clown's top advisor has been caught breaking the lockdown TWICE, plus additional visits elsewhere...and he is seen as instrumental in MAKING THESE RULES UP! But BoJo The Clown is defending him (because he’s even more useless without him) even after two other top government people had to go when they were found breaking the rules. This guy EVEN HAD COVID-19 WHEN HE TRAVELLED HALFWAY UP ENGLAND!!! His position is untenable but today BoJo The Clown sided with him, making it clear it is one rule for us and another for them. The country - including BoJo The Clown supporters - is not happy tonight as it totally undermines the message they are trying to get us to keep to. A big mess - potentially the most catastrophic reaction to this situation in the whole world given our relative small size - just got much more ridiculous.

[Randall]

Not sure anyone else would be interested in this, but it's a neat interactive set of data comparing Canada to 9 other countries (including the UK, USA, China, South Korea, Spain, Italy). Fascinating to see the differences. And those differences are even more stark when you realize that the graphs are on a logarithmic scale. Obviously, there are many factors at play, including the amount of testing, how numbers are counted and reported, and various geographical and population factors. (Canada benefits from low population density, though we were also quick to shut down in most places.) However, the USA is practically off the scale compared to other countries.
https://newsinteractives.cbc.ca/coronaviruscurve/

This one is just for Canada:
https://newsinteractives.cbc.ca/coronavirustracker/

BTW, Ben, how's Brexit going? (Just kidding. I've read the latest already.)

[EricJ]

The country - including BoJo The Clown supporters -

Thanks, that's catchy--
We don't have a Trump-style nickname for Boris over here yet, we're still making the "Underdog" jokes about his hairdo.

[Ben]

Oh we have BoJo The Clown and now Dominant Cummings, his aide under fire.

And Trump has been Resident Chump in my book for ages.

[EricJ]

And Trump has been Resident Chump in my book for ages.

I just call him Nutsy, as that not only sums up the problem, but also wishfully conjures up the image of what happened to that pound dog in "Lady & the Tramp".

(Joe Biden, trying to "play along" with Twitter follies, has taken to calling him "President Tweety", and...Joe, we love ya, but please don't try to tell jokes.)

[ShyViolet]

Well, the UK and our government is in meltdown, which is hugely fascinating, amusing, and hideous to watch. BoJo The Clown's top advisor has been caught breaking the lockdown TWICE, plus additional visits elsewhere...and he is seen as instrumental in MAKING THESE RULES UP! But BoJo The Clown is defending him (because he’s even more useless without him) even after two other top government people had to go when they were found breaking the rules. This guy EVEN HAD COVID-19 WHEN HE TRAVELLED HALFWAY UP ENGLAND!!! His position is untenable but today BoJo The Clown sided with him, making it clear it is one rule for us and another for them. The country - including BoJo The Clown supporters - is not happy tonight as it totally undermines the message they are trying to get us to keep to. A big mess - potentially the most catastrophic reaction to this situation in the whole world given our relative small size - just got much more ridiculous.

That’s awful Ben! . I’m really sorry things are so difficult there. In a way it’s a little better where I am, since my area has been relatively unaffected (in comparison to New York City). But it still sucks right now...it feels like every single day you either hear things will gradually be getting back to normal soon....and then the next day, either the opposite or simply that no one really knows. I hate it when things keep changing, how do we even know what to believe any more?? (Still wearing masks/social distancing here, and aside from a few local businesses re-opening, all the “rules” (both official and unofficial) are exactly the same!!

[Ben]

Well no one is listening to our Prime Minister anymore...his approval rating plummeted by 20 points today. The whole thing is a complete joke. And tonight the second wave that I have been anticipating has been publicly acknowledged as being "very probable" now, given that we were late to go into lockdown and are coming out of it too quickly. When you think that we are about the size of one US state, our numbers are absolutely terribly appalling at almost two-thirds of the entire US currently. So screwed here.

[Randall]

Meanwhile, in Saskatchewan, with an area 5x as large as England, but with only a million people... Our active numbers are dropping nicely. We obviously benefit from low, low population density. No new cases in the whole province today, and only about 80 still active (with just a few left in my city). The vast majority of our cases are in the isolated far north, due to an outbreak at a mining camp.

But as well as we are doing, it is worrying... because too many numbskulls think that it is "all over," or that the danger is "overblown." We may be a victim of our own success to date. We could be ripe for a resurgence if we are not careful.

[Daniel]

Yep, watching clips from those get-togethers over Memorial Day and even before of people not social distancing and the like, I'm fulling expecting a second wave. Be a shame with some places finally starting to open back up to turnaround and go full lockdown again... bloody virus just won't let up!