OT: The Avalounge: Mmm... Steamed Yams!

[Ceremony]

Had a read in the paper today of a 30 year old guy from Texas who didn't believe it was a real thing, went to a Covid Party (this is a thing) with someone who was confirmed as having it to see if it was real and if they'd be infected

I mean... where do you go with that

 

[henchman21]

The US leadership fails at not having a comprehensive and unified way to address the issue. Opening up vs not opening up isn't the root cause here. The root cause is inconsistent and inadequate leadership from either direction. Locking everything down and shutting everything down until a cure is found isn't an adequate plan. Neither is opening up and doing nothing. The extremes have been set and locked in when there is a reasonable way to approach this situation. When the datas comes in, both sides pick and choose the data they want to hear and push that agenda while ignoring other data. There are reasonable and safe ways to do a lot of things... and there are things we should certainly not be doing that we are. We understand far more than we did 4 months ago, yet we are putting very little of that to use.

 

[ndmd99]

The US leadership fails at not having a comprehensive and unified way to address the issue. Opening up vs not opening up isn't the root cause here. The root cause is inconsistent and inadequate leadership from either direction. Locking everything down and shutting everything down until a cure is found isn't an adequate plan. Neither is opening up and doing nothing. The extremes have been set and locked in when there is a reasonable way to approach this situation. When the datas comes in, both sides pick and choose the data they want to hear and push that agenda while ignoring other data. There are reasonable and safe ways to do a lot of things... and there are things we should certainly not be doing that we are. We understand far more than we did 4 months ago, yet we are putting very little of that to use.

I completely agree. It's sad because late March/early April seemed to be the closest both sides worked together to address a problem in years. But it has devolved back into the blame game and neither side will budge from the extremes to develop a reasonable plan forward.

 

[Pokecheque]

The US leadership fails at not having a comprehensive and unified way to address the issue. Opening up vs not opening up isn't the root cause here. The root cause is inconsistent and inadequate leadership from either direction. Locking everything down and shutting everything down until a cure is found isn't an adequate plan. Neither is opening up and doing nothing. The extremes have been set and locked in when there is a reasonable way to approach this situation. When the datas comes in, both sides pick and choose the data they want to hear and push that agenda while ignoring other data. There are reasonable and safe ways to do a lot of things... and there are things we should certainly not be doing that we are. We understand far more than we did 4 months ago, yet we are putting very little of that to use.

This isn't a "both sides" issue. We've already seen what happens when you lock everything down properly, make testing readily available, and mandate masks for everyone. New Zealand is reopening properly because they have competent leadership. We do not. No other country in the world has had a worse approach than the Federal government of the United States.

 

[henchman21]

This isn't a "both sides" issue. We've already seen what happens when you lock everything down properly, make testing readily available, and mandate masks for everyone. New Zealand is reopening properly because they have competent leadership. We do not. No other country in the world has had a worse approach than the Federal government of the United States.

Other countries have reopened in different ways. This isn’t a one size fits all situation where an isolated island nation is equivalent to the US. Testing, masks, proper protocols, capacity standards are necessary and the US needs to stand on that. But you can’t shut everything down for months on end with no plan to get out either. The mid mash of leadership has made a mess out of the US situation. It starts with our president who has made this whole situation worse.

 

[The Abusement Park]

This isn't a "both sides" issue. We've already seen what happens when you lock everything down properly, make testing readily available, and mandate masks for everyone. New Zealand is reopening properly because they have competent leadership. We do not. No other country in the world has had a worse approach than the Federal government of the United States.

Not that I don’t agree with you on how the US has handled this pandemic, but you can’t really compare us with a country like New Zealand

 

[Pierce Hawthorne]

This isn't a "both sides" issue. We've already seen what happens when you lock everything down properly, make testing readily available, and mandate masks for everyone. New Zealand is reopening properly because they have competent leadership. We do not. No other country in the world has had a worse approach than the Federal government of the United States.

Did you really just try and compare New Zealands situation to the States situation?

Come on... Could not be more different.

 

[Avsboy]

Did you really just try and compare New Zealands situation to the States situation?

Come on... Could not be more different.

Ok but South Korea, China and Japan are all similarly densely populated. Trump is actively pushing to open everything up way too early. If schools open it would be a disaster.

 

[The Abusement Park]

Ok but South Korea, China and Japan are all similarly densely populated. Trump is actively pushing to open everything up way too early. If schools open it would be a disaster.

Even then the country is 10x the size of them as well. Yes their leadership is infinitely better, but the difference between those countries are still vastly different.

 

[S E P H]

- China, the ****ing virus came from and they've been an epicentre of like the last five so of course they would be prepared.

- Korea was hit hard by the MERS/SARS epidemic and was the only country that actually prepared for C19.

- Japan is a bit iffy because proximity dictated that they should've been prepared, but President Abe decided not to do a shutdown. Still, they're one of the cleanest nations on Earth. Here is an interesting article: The puzzle of Japan's low virus death rate

Honestly nobody in the USA had to shutdown and for the long periods as we saw; if everyone had common respect for each other and wore a mask, got tested, and had better security measures for the most effected such as nursing homes then USA wouldn't have had this issue. Everyone failed from Trump's anti-mask attitude to State policies like New York's nursing home crisis to the individual citizen who doesn't give a damn. It doesn't help though that USA is filled with a lot of conspiracy nuts on both sides of the aisle.

 

[henchman21]

Ok but South Korea, China and Japan are all similarly densely populated. Trump is actively pushing to open everything up way too early. If schools open it would be a disaster.

The dig in on schools is one of things that doesn’t make sense. Kids don’t typically get very sick and they are not known to be major drivers of transmission. We have a lot of data to support that normalization.
"I’m an epidemiologist and a dad. Here’s why I think schools should reopen."

Yet you hear two sides... close it all down or the apocalypse is happening... or open up with no restrictions. Neither helps and neither is built on the data. The better (not perfect course) is in the middle. Give kids masks, put strict rules in place, pay for modifications to class rooms, pay for more school nurses to implement wellness checks and to identify cases.

 

[Avsboy]

@Seph you're basically right. But I think the Federal government has to take the lead here and set guidelines to shut things down, and Governors have to institute some enforcement mechanisms. Fines for being too close to each other, self-quarantine after all travel, and shutdowns of most non-essential businesses and government services. Just Trump leading the way would help a lot, he has to take this seriously.

 

[Avsboy]

The dig in on schools is one of things that doesn’t make sense. Kids don’t typically get very sick and they are not known to be major drivers of transmission. We have a lot of data to support that normalization.
"I’m an epidemiologist and a dad. Here’s why I think schools should reopen."

Yet you hear two sides... close it all down or the apocalypse is happening... or open up with no restrictions. Neither helps and neither is built on the data. The better (not perfect course) is in the middle. Give kids masks, put strict rules in place, pay for modifications to class rooms, pay for more school nurses to implement wellness checks and to identify cases.

Can they at least have social distancing hats?

 

[henchman21]

Can they at least have social distancing hats?

View attachment 353900

I’m all for everybody having that hat.

 

[McMetal]

The only reason Trump wants the schools open is because not having them open would be a visual and obvious reminder that the pandemic is not under control, and he needs people to believe that everything is normal in order to get re-elected. Same reason he doesn't like masks, they remind people that we still need them and that runs counter to his "Nothing to see here" narrative.

 

[dahrougem2]

I work in education (administrator for a University). It astounds me that roughly half-way through March we were sent home to work remotely and our University joined many others in transitioning to online, yet there's a renewed push to get all of us back in-person in August. I'm sure some won't agree with my opinion, and that's fine. I recognize that there really isn't an easy answer here. But our confirmed cases are spiking. We're already higher than what we believed was our peak back in April.

And I know that it's not easy on kids, I have a 7 year old stepdaughter and this hasn't been easy for her at all. She misses her friends, she misses her teacher, but I think the alternative--potentially catching a deadly virus and spreading it--is worse. I'm very uncomfortable going back into a profession where I could catch this thing and either die or have longterm side-effects.

That's pretty much all I have to say. I wish the US had better leadership in handling this. It saddens me that other countries were able to get a handle on this but we can't/couldn't because too many people believe this is a hoax or whatnot.

For me as a teacher, I don't want to have to teach online for the sake of the students. Those younger students especially from K-12 are missing out on so much if schooling is done online.

I think that universities and colleges should remain online because that's more individualized. Students are pretty much responsible for whatever they want to take in post-secondary and online learning has been done for years, so it can work. It can also work because they're all adults by this point.

The kids, though. I think they need to return. I think that families need kids to return, too. The toll it takes on families to have to stay home with their children can't be stated enough.

I know this virus is deadly, but I just don't know if keeping the children at home is the best option here. But I also don't want kids to potentially start catching this virus like crazy and god forbid have deaths take place because of it. Stuck between a rock and a hard place.

 

[Ceremony]

Did anyone ever get a hold of Bubba?

 

[Bonzai12]

For me as a teacher, I don't want to have to teach online for the sake of the students. Those younger students especially from K-12 are missing out on so much if schooling is done online.

I think that universities and colleges should remain online because that's more individualized. Students are pretty much responsible for whatever they want to take in post-secondary and online learning has been done for years, so it can work. It can also work because they're all adults by this point.

The kids, though. I think they need to return. I think that families need kids to return, too. The toll it takes on families to have to stay home with their children can't be stated enough.

I know this virus is deadly, but I just don't know if keeping the children at home is the best option here. But I also don't want kids to potentially start catching this virus like crazy and god forbid have deaths take place because of it. Stuck between a rock and a hard place.

really well put....

In poor areas of this country there are places where children do not have computers, internet, food, supportive parents....I know it's risky but for a lot of families they are going to fall even further behind if their children cannot get an education during these times.....That problem should have been fixed long ago but hasn't...

 

[JWK]

Taco Bell® is Revamping its Menu

Can 2020 get any worse?

 

[BrickNHL]

Taco Bell® is Revamping its Menu

Can 2020 get any worse?

Just go to Chipotle instead

 

[Avsboy]

John Lewis, civil rights leader who was beside King, just died

 

[ASmileyFace]

Did anyone ever get a hold of Bubba?

I don't think so.

@Bubba Thudd We miss ya.

 

[Foppberg]

Having America as our neighbour is pretty nerve wracking right now. Just in the past few weeks the cause of cases here in NS and PEI were from Americans coming here and not self isolating.

f***ing idiots. Haven't had any cases in almost a month until that. Months in PEI's case.

 

[Frenchy]

Did anyone ever get a hold of Bubba?

I don't think so.

@Bubba Thudd We miss ya.

I spoke to him in PM , not long b4 his last time online.
You know how life can be somethime , he's probably super busy.

 

[McMetal]

Having America as our neighbour is pretty nerve wracking right now. Just in the past few weeks the cause of cases here in NS and PEI were from Americans coming here and not self isolating.

f***ing idiots. Haven't had any cases in almost a month until that. Months in PEI's case.

It must be like being the apartment above a combination frat house, opium den, and brothel. It's so embarrassing right now, we're the Mr. Bean of the global community, except not funny.