General response to COVID numbers in your area

[ImaginaryDay2]

PLEASE NOTE!
This thread is not intended to address whether COVID is myth/fact/the flu/based on manipulated numbers, etc. It's meant for discussion on stats for your area and the overall response to these stats. PLEASE read the OP to get a sense of what I'd like to discuss. Thank you.

So COVID numbers for our area (Fraser Health authority in B.C., Canada) have been on a steady rise in the last couple of weeks. There have been "outbreaks" (considered one or more cases) in several care homes, as well as a rise in the general public for the entire region. What I don't understand, though, is that despite these regional numbers, the stats are not broken down city by city. There are some "hot spots" reported, but nothing beyond this.

B.C.'s health minister has imposed several restrictions until the first week of December (such as limits on social gatherings other than immediate family, religious gatherings, rules/regulations for showing of rental units, workplace restrictions including meeting sizes, etc.). What has been the response where you are? Do you believe it's enough? Have you seen a change in numbers as a result of any restrictions?

 

[Lamb]

I haven't checked in the last month but over the summer I know we were stuck at 2 deaths in my small town of people who died "with" covid. We have had 3 suicides because of covid restrictions.

The lock downs have been detrimental to many and people are suffering because of them...and they aren't working. The virus is highly contagious and yet highly survivable by most people.

We were initially told 2 weeks to flatten the curve and that happened and the restrictions weren't lifted for a LONG TIME. We have a tyrant for a governor where I live who is keeping people unconstitutionally under his control. He's appealing a lawsuit that he lost and I'm hoping he loses the appeal.

People should take personal responsibility. If you're in a high risk group then do what you can to stay safe and with modern technology it's getting a lot easier. We'll have the vaccine soon enough which should help out those who are suffering from fear.

I myself refuse to fear. I will be cautious, but I refuse to be fearful of the virus. Being cautious means doing what I can do personally make myself safe. I've lived through 2 cancers and want to live the rest of my life without constantly worrying...but that doesn't mean I'll go skydiving any time soon

 

[tango]

Where I live we have a governor-turned-emperor who thinks he can make decisions based on "the data", not release the data and just assume people will fall into line. He breaks his own orders, his rules appear at random and show a total lack of common sense, and his primary purpose seems to be to flatten the economy.

We had a lockdown that started back in about April that we were told would be "for about two weeks". He still has yet to relinquish his vice-like grip on everything in sight. He refuses to listen to the legislative chambers but every once in a while acts like he's riding to the rescue with a proposal much like something passed to him from the legislature that he vetoed.

Now he seems to think he has the authority to tell people they have to wear masks in their own homes, but can't come up with any means to enforce it other than "voluntary compliance". If he'd presented it as a suggestion that would work but trying to impose it as a rule when it's abundantly clear he has no means to enforce it at all simply makes him look even more like a tyrant.

 

[ImaginaryDay2]

The "restrictions with voluntary compliance" is laughable. it's the same here. Government, businesses, Walmart, restaurants can "require" masks and ask that people "follow the arrows as marked on the floors", but compliance is voluntary. Then, when you're either seated or sufficiently far enough away from someone you can remove your mask. I really wish that those who "mandate" would make up their minds. I can't walk into Starbucks to order without a mask on - they're militant about this - but when I sit down it's all good.
I can't have a gathering with anyone outside my "bubble", but at work it seems that co-workers who are "contractors" are okay to wear cloth masks instead of medical grade as I'm required to do. And I happen to work in an office of (sometimes) 6-8 people at a time in a small space - not those I consider part of my "bubble"

 

[Lamb]

The "restrictions with voluntary compliance" is laughable. it's the same here. Government, businesses, Walmart, restaurants can "require" masks and ask that people "follow the arrows as marked on the floors", but compliance is voluntary. Then, when you're either seated or sufficiently far enough away from someone you can remove your mask. I really wish that those who "mandate" would make up their minds. I can't walk into Starbucks to order without a mask on - they're militant about this - but when I sit down it's all good.
I can't have a gathering with anyone outside my "bubble", but at work it seems that co-workers who are "contractors" are okay to wear cloth masks instead of medical grade as I'm required to do. And I happen to work in an office of (sometimes) 6-8 people at a time in a small space - not those I consider part of my "bubble"

Inconsistent mandates really do show that everyone is just guessing at what to do and the "science" is not leading them as much as they claim.

The focus on the people who are high risk should be more prominent in the news and in the press releases. Tell the people how they can protect themselves even more! Tell their caregivers what they can be doing and not doing. Should we have better masks being made by manufacturers that more protect us? Not all masks are created equal and tests have been shown that to be true, so why aren't they making masks that CAN protect us better and make those widespread?

 

[tango]

The "restrictions with voluntary compliance" is laughable. it's the same here. Government, businesses, Walmart, restaurants can "require" masks and ask that people "follow the arrows as marked on the floors", but compliance is voluntary. Then, when you're either seated or sufficiently far enough away from someone you can remove your mask. I really wish that those who "mandate" would make up their minds. I can't walk into Starbucks to order without a mask on - they're militant about this - but when I sit down it's all good.
I can't have a gathering with anyone outside my "bubble", but at work it seems that co-workers who are "contractors" are okay to wear cloth masks instead of medical grade as I'm required to do. And I happen to work in an office of (sometimes) 6-8 people at a time in a small space - not those I consider part of my "bubble"

Most of the "requiring masks" is posturing anyway. The guy on the door at Walmart making $7.25/hour isn't going to risk his safety and maybe even his life to tell the angry bodybuilder he has to put a cloth on his head. And even the places that notionally do require people to wear masks clearly don't enforce any consistency - many people don't cover their nose and I've seen several people "wearing a mask" that sits across the bottom of their chin not covering their mouth or their nose.

It seems to me that about all the mandates prove is that nobody really knows what they are talking about even though they all insist that they are "following the science". Apparently a 4-year-old is a huge risk or no risk at all, depending on what country they are in. Who knew the virus was geographically aware? But then apparently you can have a beer in a bar safely at 959pm but at 1001pm it becomes recklessly irresponsible and everybody has to go home. Depending on where you live, of course.

 

[tango]

Inconsistent mandates really do show that everyone is just guessing at what to do and the "science" is not leading them as much as they claim.

The focus on the people who are high risk should be more prominent in the news and in the press releases. Tell the people how they can protect themselves even more! Tell their caregivers what they can be doing and not doing. Should we have better masks being made by manufacturers that more protect us? Not all masks are created equal and tests have been shown that to be true, so why aren't they making masks that CAN protect us better and make those widespread?

What would make a lot more sense would be to learn something from when AIDS first appeared. Back in the days it was seen as a "gay plague" on the basis it was more or less exclusively confined to gay men at the time, initial health advice was little more than to tell gay men not to have sex any more. Yeah, good luck with that.

Over time it became clear that a blanket "no sex for you any more" wasn't a message anyone would listen to for any length of time, so a bit more nuance appeared. Different activities were given different levels of risk so that people could decide for themselves what they were comfortable dealing with.

Sadly with this virus about the only thing we're told is that the best course of action is to hide under the bed and cower in fear until the self-appointed rulers tell us we can come out again. The media has been crying wolf for months now. Is it really any wonder people are sick of it all and increasingly ignoring the endless whining?

Perhaps if we'd started to take a more nuanced approach months ago, looking at how best to protect the most vulnerable in society while letting everyone else know relative levels of risk and leaving people to make their own decisions we'd be in a better place. After all, despite the way some of the online howler monkeys seem to think, the lack of a government diktat to put a cloth on your head doesn't mean you're prohibited from doing it.

 

[Lamb]

Would all that has happened so far make people want to come up with a better plan for next time? It's easy to look now and say oh we should have done this or that...so now apply that to next time.

 

[tango]

Would all that has happened so far make people want to come up with a better plan for next time? It's easy to look now and say oh we should have done this or that...so now apply that to next time.

That would depend. If the intention is to manage the outbreak while also minimising disruption to our daily lives, maybe they will. But given the way everything shifts to suit the preferred narrative of the day it looks more and more as if the whole thing is about control, in which case I shudder to think what will happen when the next disease appears.