The Covid-19 situation

[Jazzy]

What is the Covid-19 situation like in your area?

 

[Lamb]

I live in the country and there aren't many cases here and the only deaths were from early on in March or April and I think it was 2 or 3 and that hasn't changed since then.

 

[tango]

In many ways it's a big bag of meh.

Everywhere you go there are signs saying masks are required for entry but most places aren't even making any attempt to enforce it. About half the people in any given store are covering their faces and half are not. Some people have clearly concluded that it's a storm in a teacup and a big non-event for most people while others are still hugely afraid. We often see people driving in a car by themselves with their face covered, for example. The people we know personally who are particularly cautious are almost exclusively older people with health issues so it's easy to see why they might be extra concerned. We also know older people with health issues who are living pretty much as normal - their view is that they won't live forever and they'd rather live the way they want to then spend the rest of their days hiding under the bed.

 

[NewCreation435]

overall there has been an increase in our state, but that is hardly surprising since restrictions have been lifted over the last two or three months

 

[tango]

overall there has been an increase in our state, but that is hardly surprising since restrictions have been lifted over the last two or three months

I find it remarkable that people seem surprised that case counts rise when lockdowns are ended. It's not as if the lockdown has achieved a whole lot - the whole point when they were introduced was to "flatten the curve" but then they were maintained for long enough to flatten the economy as well, and still it seems the time it was supposed to buy wasn't used for anything useful. So the short version seems to be that we've suffered huge social, mental and economic devastation and in return we've totally failed to defeat a virus.

And the powers that be wonder why people are growing sick of it all.

 

[Forgiven1]

After a high peak in August and September, our numbers are way down as well as hospitalizations. Have to wear masks where social distancing is not possible, so basically in any building. At our church, we can maintain social distancing so we leave it up to the individual.

 

[tango]

At our church, we can maintain social distancing so we leave it up to the individual.

In our area it's considered "best practise" to wear a mask in church until you are seated. Which makes precisely zero sense - when you're walking to your seat the chances are you're breathing through your nose and therefore not spraying particles any great distance. But then you take your seat, remove your mask, stand up and sing and spray droplets a great distance.

At our church maybe 50-60% of people wear masks until seated. A growing proportion are doing away with them.