Coronavirus thread

[Nephrology]

My goal is to beat the average and I think that I am best served by trying to protect myself on a higher level than most people.

The problem is that is PPE now scarce and being bid up to much higher than pre-crisis prices and actively bankrupting hospital systems. Right now, PPE in the USA is unfortunately a zero sum game. If healthcare providers are unable to keep themselves from getting sick, then there will be fewer over them to take care of you/your family when you need it. This is the tragedy of the commons at work.

Take reasonable personal precautions. If you have masks, wear them. Use disposable PPE judiciously. Don't buy $2k worth of N95s, please.

[RoyGBiv]

N95s will filter the air you breathe but are hard to wear for extended periods of time and somewhat wasted if you make a reasonable effort to keep yourself far from other people. If you have to be around a lot of other people and have N95s on hand, they're not an unreasonable precaution. Healthcare workers need these very badly because they are constantly exposed to the virus. If you have a supply for yourself, use them judiciously.

Exactly how I feel about it. Until the masses (and me) are tested, mask up if I have to be in public place.
I wear one to the grocery store (and the rare times I go anywhere else where I'm among people.. Pick/Drop packages, for example).

Wash hands.... Put on mask.... Do stuff... Wash hands.... take off mask... set in safe place (on top of the car in the garage has been handy)... Wash hands. Remove clothes in laundry room, put directly in washer. Wash hands in laundry room. Shower.

After 3 weeks of frequent hand washing, my hands are no longer chapped and red. Funny how the body adjusts.

[Maple Syrup Actual]

The problem is that is PPE now scarce and being bid up to much higher than pre-crisis prices and actively bankrupting hospital systems. Right now, PPE in the USA is unfortunately a zero sum game. If healthcare providers are unable to keep themselves from getting sick, then there will be fewer over them to take care of you/your family when you need it. This is the tragedy of the commons at work.

Obviously, but in terms of evaluating the advice that agencies like the WHO give, we simply have to remember that it may be intentionally deceptive, and that following it may objectively increase your risk of developing a fatal illness.

Some people are totally fine with this; I am on the fence. As long as I know that I have to treat their recommendations as potentially medically harmful, I'm okay with it. I'm just not going to pretend that's not what they are.

Naturally I understand that they see their goals in terms of larger picture and would cast the entire situation very differently. I don't have a problem with that; my concern is really more about how frequently I see it parrotted by random people who clearly have not thought it through, and who will just as vociferously bark whatever the advice pivots to without even having the self-reflection to recognize that they are now angrily insisting on something which directly conflicts with whatever their demands were a week ago.


*Not, not now

[vcdgrips]

Thread Drift


F*&K CTD

IIRC, in early NOV 2008, CTD produced and mailed out a catalog with price x on various mags and ammo. Immediately after the election of POTUS, they raise said prices online by 1.5x to 3x on many items. They refuse to honor the print catalog price. While that catalog may have been laid out well before the election when it was perhaps less obvious that Obama would likely win, by mailing time they absolutely knew that Obama was likely to win. Very Bait and Switchy to me.


Never is a long time word. I would never by from them EVEN if they had Colt 6920s at 699/Glock 19s at 299 and WWB at 120 @1k. SHIPPED.

Rant off.


Blessings to you and yours.

DB

[Jakus]

The problem is that is PPE now scarce and being bid up to much higher than pre-crisis prices and actively bankrupting hospital systems. Right now, PPE in the USA is unfortunately a zero sum game. If healthcare providers are unable to keep themselves from getting sick, then there will be fewer over them to take care of you/your family when you need it. This is the tragedy of the commons at work.

Take reasonable personal precautions. If you have masks, wear them. Use disposable PPE judiciously. Don't buy $2k worth of N95s, please.

Then it all boils down to whether or not the gambit of bullshitting the public on the efficacy of masks was worth it in the long term or short term. I would say they lose on that gambit in the long term due to a loss of trust, but if they bought enough time to shore up the supplies of PPE in the hands of healthcare workers it might have been worth it. I think that emergency inventories and production capacities and locations being what they are the powers that be started so far behind the curve that even the short term gambit likely didn’t help much, but I don’t really know how much a couple of week head start was worth in capital or human cost.

Why not give people an alternative? I can’t believe that there is a huge difference in the effectiveness of surgical masks and bandanas/scarves/etc given enough layers and maybe even wetting a layer. It wouldn't be as effective as an N95, but for the vast majority of people I don’t think you need it to be. A good solution that is readily available or owned by most people would give people something to do, help reduce panic buying, and leave the sterile PPE for the people that actually need it.

[Mark D]

Buddy is a flight instructor at Pensacola and is horrified that he’s still going to work and that all of his flight students are free roaming on liberty.

I saw that Parris Island stopped accepting recruits at boot camp this week.

This may well be true, but as soon as we get to the point of "We can't really tell everyone the truth about this because they'll panic and do stupid things" then everyone who's not part of the panicky-stupid group needs to filter all of the information they're getting through a lens of "we are being deliberately mislead in a manner that may be harmful to us".
.

A great summary. Weeks ago I watched local, state and federal officials say "we're keeping an eye on the situation, but everything is ok, just go about your business", and I knew enough about COVID-19 to realize they were either incompetent or lying. At that point I realized (again) that the government ain't gonna save me, and I'd better take charge of my own welfare.

ETA: I'm not anti government. Hell, I draw a state paycheck. But I don't trust .gov to properly manage a crisis without it getting f**ked up somehow.

[the Schwartz]

Then it all boils down to whether or not the gambit of bullshitting the public on the efficacy of masks was worth it in the long term or short term. I would say they lose on that gambit in the long term due to a loss of trust, but if they bought enough time to shore up the supplies of PPE in the hands of healthcare workers it might have been worth it. I think that emergency inventories and production capacities and locations being what they are the powers that be started so far behind the curve that even the short term gambit likely didn’t help much, but I don’t really know how much a couple of week head start was worth in capital or human cost.

Why not give people an alternative? I can’t believe that there is a huge difference in the effectiveness of surgical masks and bandanas/scarves/etc given enough layers and maybe even wetting a layer. It wouldn't be as effective as an N95, but for the vast majority of people I don’t think you need it to be. A good solution that is readily available or owned by most people would give people something to do, help reduce panic buying, and leave the sterile PPE for the people that actually need it.

This is exactly what I was getting at, Jakus. Having worked LE at all three levels of government, I've seen more in the way of assininity and corruption than I care to and have developed a distrust of a government—and any of its personnel—who would deceive me (intentionally or unintentionally and/or for their own personal gain) much as is the case with the current US Surgeon General.

If those of us who have masks (or suitable substitutes) wear them to mitigate—at least to some extent—transmission of the virus, where is the harm?

I do get what Neph is saying; the last thing that we need right now is everyone going out and buying stupid-crazy amounts of what (N95 respirators) that they likely do not need.

[the Schwartz]

I saw that Parris Island stopped accepting recruits at boot camp this week.



A great summary. Weeks ago I watched local, state and federal officials say "we're keeping an eye on the situation, but everything is ok, just go about your business", and I knew enough about COVID-19 to realize they were either incompetent or lying. At that point I realized (again) that the government ain't gonna save me, and I'd better take charge of my own welfare.

ETA: I'm not anti government. Hell, I draw a state paycheck. But I don't trust .gov to properly manage a crisis without it getting f**ked up somehow.

''The most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government and I'm here to help.'' —Ronald Reagan

There is a reason for that being the case.

[scjbash]

I read the CDC guidelines and these ain't them.

https://www.wsaz.com/content/news/Ho...569231011.html

Part of the letter states: Employees who test positive for COVID-19 and are asymptomatic will continue working and must mask. They will undergo two temperature checks per day during their shift for 14 days.

Brandy Skaggs is the infection preventionist for the hospital.

"So long as they are masked and then follow all other infection control guidelines, such as hand washing and that type of thing," Skaggs said.

They say that these guidelines come straight from the CDC guidelines for health care professionals and is subject to change.

[TQP]

Hate to break this to you but...

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/healthcare-facilities/hcp-return-work.html

The guidelines don't even call for temperature checks, the facility/system added those.