How are you guys coping with the other C word?

Hi all,

I have a feeling that we are far from out of the woods yet.
If you are in one of the vulnerable groups then catching COVID-19 has a good chance of being the end, we have seen this from the way it has affected care homes, etc.
I suspect that because of the lockdown, the vast majority of the population has not been exposed to the virus.
We have 577 cases in my area which has 909,000 inhabitants, so I reckon most of the population has not been exposed including large numbers of people with underlying health problems that make them vulnerable.
As we move out of the isolation it is possible that if we do not put measures in place to maintain social distancing, etc the disease will come back to bite us in the rear end.
Flu is well understood and we know its limitations, COVID-19 is the exact opposite, it is a new kid on the block that is very unknown.

Best wishes,

Georges

Hi All,

I suspect that I and my wife will continue doing what we have been doing for the last eight weeks.
Shopping, walking, gardening, etc.
Things are going to reopen slowly and we will be at the back of the queue to go to restaurants or be in relatively crowded public spaces.
Peoples behaviour round here will take some time to change, a lot of people live in the countryside so they are pretty isolated anyway.
I have followed US politics more or less since Spiro Agnew got the chop for tax evasion and in my opinion it is not a pretty sight.
Without doubt it has deteriorated, with the problems now far outweighing the strengths of the system, how it can be changed to overcome these faults and return to some sort of normal service is a conundrum.

Best wishes,

Georges

Hi All,

What do they say, "Figures lie and liars figure"  or something like that.  All I know is I'm doing the Georges guidelines by wearing my mask and staying away from crowds.  It seems that this virus can take on many different faces from almost no symptoms to being put on a ventilator.  I don't want to be the one on the ventilator. Things are starting to open up here in Ohio so we will see if there are any large spikes in cases.  Looks like progress on treatment drugs and a later vacine will help as long as the virus does not mutate.  The politicians are having a field day with this along with the doom and gloom media.  It's really a shame if either political party uses this for political or economic gains. The government is letting some criminals out of jail so they either don't get the virus or to get treament which just adds another bad angle to the mix in my opinion. Everyone stay safe and wash your hands, wear your mask.

Dave 3+4

According to researchers, Sars-cov2 has over 150 mutations since leaving China in December 2019. In each mutation it got the ability for being more effective in infecting several types of cells. In other words, it can travel from organ to organ limiting the immune system’s capability in fighting the foreigner. As much longer as it spreads, more mutations will occur making it still more difficult in eliminating it.
Sars-cov2 could become a virus living among the human as the HIV.

Many try to figure out if his country has done well in regards to the means applied to counter the pandemic but one never gets there by simply comparing the numbers of death in each country. After all any one is subjected to contagious so that with the borders closed down, the number of the population becomes the target for comparison. In Portugal they count with 1,190 dead cases and 28,500 confirmed positive cases. Probably we could double these results to be closer to the real numbers. However, even if there were 2,000 deaths the percentage in regards to the total population of the country would get us 200 dead and 2,700 infected per 1,000,000 people.
This sets Portuguese health authorities system at the 10^th place, to control the pandemic. The number of deaths was small but the control wasn’t that efficient. And now they have announced the end of confinement, starting Monday, which surely will raise the number of contagious. Particularly at my area near the sea and beaches places the regulations were set without any particular means that would assure proper control. They calculated 10m2 of area per person using the beach and plan to install poles with red lights to inform the people that the beach is full. I expect to see many blind visitors to the beach this year. As we say, “The only thing worse than being blind is having sight but no vision”.

Best,

VG

Hi there,

The coronavirus is mutating but most of these mutations are copying errors.
They do not affect the behaviour of the virus making it more or less infective or deadly.
The difficult thing is keeping a sense of proportion when it seems that many in the media and politicians are either talking nonsense or distorting the truth for their own ends.
Coronavirus is bad but it is nothing in comparison with the Spanish Flu.
My wife and I are lucky insofar as we do not have to work os we can social distance to our hearts' content
The sun is out, off for another walk in the country this afternoon.

Best wishes,

Georges

Hi there,

I went to take a look at my favourite beach yesterday afternoon, it is a holiday weekend and very warm but it was covered.
Coronavirus seems to fallen off a cliff round here so it has become a case of out of sight out of mind.
The French are going to holiday in France this year, they do not have much choice really, so I suspect that they are going to party like 1999.
The good thing is it is not coronavirus weather, around 30 C in the late afternoon and very dry so the virus has not got good conditions for propagating.

Best wishes,

Georges

Here in the USA, unfortunately the pandemic has taken second place to the black live movement. That is what is on the news programs. 

Those protesting, without masks and enough social distancing,  can create seeds of future infecition. Various stores in my area have been looted to include drug stores. There is a CVS very close to where I live that has been looted. They also had a Covid19 testing center. This is the worst possible time for these protests.

I live in a senior community in California and go for walks. I notice that several of the seniors that I see do not wear masks, more than I previously noted.

I have a brother who lives in New Jersey; the county he lives in, is very close to New York City and has the most cases in New Jersey. It is an epicenter. He sees the same; lots of risky behaviors.

As many of you are aware, there is an emphasis on economic recovery in the united states, with much disregard for scientific evidence for social distancing . The white house task and other federal goverment agencies, have for the most part been silenced, and has not been publisizing the importance of safe practices to limit corona virus spread, and many here, really think that now the virus will not spread as before, and I see all kinds of risky behavior. 

As  long as I'm ranting, I want to mention something that will offend some who read this. I am upset with President Trump with regard to the the poor example that he presents to the people. I realize that he is not a doctor, but how can he refuse to wear a mask. (Wearing a mask helps to prevent spread to others) He was exposed to the disease, and still he does not wear a mask. He has no regard for the safety of others who come in his contact. He is not setting an example for others, and many emulate his behavior, thus spreading the disease. ......I think that he does not wear a mask, ( and vice president pence) because they want to present an image that it's okay for the average joe to go out to work and not be concerned about scientific studies that indicate safe practices......I really believe that there will be a lots of extra deaths here.