# Coronavirus COVID-19 (2019-nCoV) Thread - 2020 Breaking News **URL:** \ **Category:** The Quarantine Zone\ **Tags:** covid-quarantine\ **Created:** [February 11, 2020, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758 "2020-02-11T01:16:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 274
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2020, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/5484 "2020-11-14T15:28:31Z")
News about the coronavirus goes in this thread. News about politicians goes in other threads. ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2020, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/5485 "2020-11-14T17:22:29Z")
> [@MandaJo](#): > > I’ve said since March the missing component is a massive PR campaign. We’ve done this, with AIDS and Drunk Driving and smoking. There’s a playbook. We know how to shift perceptions… And it would be easy with masks and social distancing because it’s just attitude. We aren’t asking people to give up nearly as much as when you ask them to stop driving after a few beers or to wear a condom. > > This could have been done. Could be done. But their was a political decision to avoid the appearance that this was too big of a deal. Yep. And, instead, a lot of the messaging slack has been taken up by random people on the Internet, who are NOT trained public health communicators and are _terrible_ at framing messages in ways that don’t come across as scolding or us-vs.-them tribalism. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2020, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/5486 "2020-11-14T18:56:25Z")
Who needs Death Panels when you have a daughter? > [@](#): > > The pandemic hasn’t stopped Mary Gerteisen, of Eagle, Nebraska, from visiting her 96-year-old father on weekends to watch football. Gerteisen said she understands the risks, given her father’s age and vulnerability, but she also weighed the fact that he’s in the early stages of dementia and often believes family members have abandoned him. > > “There are times when I think that I do need to take the pandemic more seriously,” she said. “But I want to see my dad, and I don’t know much longer I have with him. I would love for him to live to 100-some years old, but if he comes down with (the virus), he’s lived a good, long life.” 🙀 That sure seems to be a pretty nakedly selfish and entitled thing to say, IMO. > **[Surging virus cases get a shrug in many Midwestern towns](https://apnews.com/article/iowa-south-dakota-coronavirus-pandemic-nebraska-north-dakota-bf7197b284401dea8b779cfa764dfab2?traffic_source=Connatix)** > > ELMWOOD, Neb. (AP) — Danny Rice has a good sense of how dangerous the coronavirus can be. What puzzles him are the people who have curtailed so much of their lives to avoid being infected by the virus. ---
**Author:** ![Ziberian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/919ad9/32.png) [@Ziberian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ziberian)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2020, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/5487 "2020-11-14T19:46:15Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > Who needs Death Panels when you have a daughter? > > > [@](#): > > > > The pandemic hasn’t stopped Mary Gerteisen, of Eagle, Nebraska, from visiting her 96-year-old father on weekends to watch football. Gerteisen said she understands the risks, given her father’s age and vulnerability, but she also weighed the fact that he’s in the early stages of dementia and often believes family members have abandoned him. > > > > > “There are times when I think that I do need to take the pandemic more seriously,” she said. “But I want to see my dad, and I don’t know much longer I have with him. I would love for him to live to 100-some years old, but if he comes down with (the virus), he’s lived a good, long life.” > > 🙀 > > That sure seems to be a pretty nakedly selfish and entitled thing to say, IMO. The way she framed it does seem selfish, but there’s a good chance her father agrees with her, and he should get the deciding vote. At 96, with dementia, her father doesn’t have long left and chances are good he’d rather spend time with his daughter than live a little longer. This has been a dilemma for grown children caring for elderly parents long before COVID. Do you force them to live a very safe, dull, and in this case, lonely, existence, or let them live as they please knowing they may die as a result. For one thing, you may not be able to stop them, for another, why do you (their child) get to make this decision for them. Just because they’ve become frail, physically or mentally, do they lose the right to make their own decisions? As their child, are you looking at their best interests, or your need to keep them around? Elderly people are a lot more comfortable with dying than most of us. Especially when it comes to giving up certain aspects of their lives to live longer. A very individual question with no easy answers. ---
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2020, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/5488 "2020-11-14T19:52:26Z")
I agree. It’s arguably just as selfish to insist parents hang onto life, because you don’t want to lose them, instead of letting them make the call themselves. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2020, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/5489 "2020-11-14T20:05:13Z")
> [@MandaJo](#): > > I’ve said since March the missing component is a massive PR campaign. We’ve done this, with AIDS and Drunk Driving and smoking. PR campaigns are harder these days. Back when these other campaigns - other than smoking that is on-going - were at their heights, people watched a lot of TV. These days, if I don’t feel like watching TV shows with ads, I can avoid them by watching the shows on Netflix, Amazon, and Hulu, all ad free. I can pay to get an ad-free version of Spotify too, and Amazon will let me listen to hundreds of thousands of songs ad-free as part of Prime. And if I don’t feel like seeing ads online, there are blockers to choose from by the dozen. Pretty much the only thing I can’t avoid is ads showing up in my mailbox. ---
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2020, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/5490 "2020-11-14T20:07:33Z")
Obviously, it would be done through different media. But people still watch media. A coherent strategy could have done a lot to educate people, to set the narrative. ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Hedonia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ann_hedonia/32/319_2.png) [@Ann\_Hedonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Hedonia)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2020, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/5491 "2020-11-14T20:09:59Z")
My mother died in a nursing home in mid-August. She had advanced Parkinsons. We tried to do virtual visits and visits through the window but it didn’t work well, in order to get through to her you had to be able to hold her hand and whisper in her ear. She was in extreme physical discomfort and unable to adjust her body position without assistance. She had paranoid hallucinations and screamed in terror during most of her waking hours. The nursing home was a good one, but it didn’t matter. The one she “thought” she was in was a snake pit, she thought everyone was out to hurt her. No matter how many times she was told, she didn’t understand why weren’t coming to see her anymore. She thought we decided we didn’t love her anymore and had abandoned her. She did not want to suffer like this, we had discussed it. I cursed the fact that we did not have an assisted suicide option available. When she died, I grieved but I also felt a deep sense of relief. I had to respect the law and rules of the nursing home in order to protect other patients and staff. But if I had been given to option to visit regularly, I would’ve done it without hesitation, even though it increased her risk of illness. ---
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2020, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/5492 "2020-11-14T21:26:44Z")
I’m so sorry to hear that. The silent horror of so many dying alone is one of the worst parts of this pandemic. I’ve no idea what the right thing to do is, or was. ---
**Author:** ![Biffster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biffster/32/339_2.png) [@Biffster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffster)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2020, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/5493 "2020-11-14T22:11:57Z")
> [@robby](#): > > I basically barricade myself in my office all day, and wear a mask. Just curious: why would you wear a mask if you’re by yourself all day? ---
**Author:** ![Biffster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biffster/32/339_2.png) [@Biffster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffster)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2020, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/5494 "2020-11-14T22:19:44Z")
> [@Biotop](#): > > I wonder how much Halloween and the election have influenced the latest surge? > > I work in grocery and the store was full of people all day Thursday through Tuesday that weekend. People were masked as required, but they were shopping in large groups with obvious party purchases going down. > > My feeling is most people are guarded among strangers, but way too lax among family and friends. Same thing happens at the school where I work. The students are good at wearing masks in the halls, but off come the masks as soon as they walk out the doors. ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2020, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/5495 "2020-11-14T23:03:41Z")
> [@Biffster](#): > > > [@robby](#): > > > > I basically barricade myself in my office all day, and wear a mask. > > Just curious: why would you wear a mask if you’re by yourself all day? Sorry, it looks like I didn’t finish my thought. That should be: “I basically barricade myself in my office all day, and wear a mask if I have to leave for any reason.” To expand on this, I wear a mask if I have to leave my office for whatever reason (like to use the restroom). I don’t wear a mask if I’m alone in my office (though I do worry about the ventilation system). I also got a HEPA air purifier sized for a large room that I run all day because the windows in my office don’t open. ---
**Author:** ![Biffster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biffster/32/339_2.png) [@Biffster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffster)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2020, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/5496 "2020-11-14T23:05:01Z")
[quote=“robby, post:5495, topic:847758, full:true”] > [@Biffster](#): > > > [@robby](#): > > > > > I basically barricade myself in my office all day, and wear a mask. > > > [/quote] > > > > > > Just curious: why would you wear a mask if you’re by yourself all day? > > Sorry, it looks like I didn’t finish my thought. That should be: > > “I basically barricade myself in my office all day, and wear a mask if I have to leave for any reason.” > > To expand on this, I wear a mask if I have to leave my office for whatever reason (like to use the restroom). I don’t wear a mask if I’m alone in my office (though I do worry about the ventilation system). I also got a HEPA air purifier sized for a large room that I run all day because the windows in my office don’t open. Well that makes sense. ---
**Author:** ![Ziberian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/919ad9/32.png) [@Ziberian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ziberian)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2020, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/5497 "2020-11-14T23:11:39Z")
A heartbreaking ordeal, for you and your mother. And a reminder that COVID is not the worst thing we can face. I hope that the next lockdowns will find us with some solutions to this particular problem, but can’t imagine what they might be. ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2020, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/5498 "2020-11-15T00:12:58Z")
> [@MandaJo](#): > > I agree. It’s arguably just as selfish to insist parents hang onto life, because you don’t want to lose them, instead of letting them make the call themselves. Yeah. For a lot of very old people, like my grandmother during the last few years of her life, visits from family and friends are _literally the only pleasure left to them_ – the only thing they feel is worth staying alive _for_. I don’t see anything particularly selfish in the daughter’s choices _or_ in the way she framed them. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2020, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/5499 "2020-11-15T00:15:03Z")
I would agree with that. If contact with his daughter is the only thing left in the dad’s life that gives him pleasure, why take that away from him unless absolutely required by health regs? ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2020, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/5500 "2020-11-15T00:47:14Z")
> [@MandaJo](#): > > I agree. It’s arguably just as selfish to insist parents hang onto life, because you don’t want to lose them, instead of letting them make the call themselves. Sure, assuming he then stays home and doesn’t go out and infect others. But, if he does go out, then it’s no longer just about him. Same if he’s in a nursing home, unfortunately—it puts the other residents at risk, so it’s no longer his decision. @Snowboarder_Bo’s article includes not only people like these two, who can definitely be non-selfish, but also old people going out shopping without wearing a mask and avoiding social distancing, Those people are making it unsafe for anyone else to shop. This idea that people decide their own risk while ignoring their risk to others was exactly why going on Spring Break was such a bad thing. It was one of the earliest superspreader events, with so many initial outbreaks being traced back to certain beaches in Florida. But this woman and her father? It just sounds like they decided to form a bubble. And there’s nothing wrong with that–as long as they otherwise follow social distancing guidelines, and they’re both aware of the risks. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2020, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/5501 "2020-11-15T01:08:13Z")
> **[U.S. Adds 184,000 Coronavirus Cases In 1 Day, With No End In Sight](https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/11/14/934973850/u-s-adds-184-000-coronavirus-cases-in-one-day-with-no-end-in-sight)** > > The country set another record for daily infections. America is the world leader in COVID-19 fatalities. President-elect Joe Biden expressed alarm and urged the Trump administration to take action. > The U.S. added more than 184,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases on Friday, **the fourth day in a row that the country has set a record for daily infections,** according to [data](https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/data/new-cases) from the Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center. > > It has been about four weeks since the U.S. overtook India to see the most daily cases of any country in the world. While India’s case numbers spiked in September, they have largely been on a downward path since then. But cases in the U.S. continue to surge. For the first time, the country’s seven-day moving average of new cases has surpassed 150,000. > > America is also the world leader in coronavirus fatalities, with over 244,000 COVID-19 related deaths. More than 1,400 people [died](https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/data/cumulative-cases) from the virus in the U.S. on Friday — the most deaths that day of any country. > … My bold. ---
**Author:** ![Heffalump\_and\_Roo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heffalump_and_roo/32/7691_2.png) [@Heffalump\_and\_Roo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heffalump_and_Roo)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2020, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/5502 "2020-11-15T01:20:28Z")
More holiday projections. According to a survey out of Ohio State University Wexnar Medical Center, 2 out of 5 people will attend a large holiday gathering. A third will not be asking guests to wear masks. [http://osuwmc.multimedia-newsroom.com/index.php/2020/11/12/survey-nearly-2-in-5-americans-will-likely-attend-large-holiday-gatherings/](http://osuwmc.multimedia-newsroom.com/index.php/2020/11/12/survey-nearly-2-in-5-americans-will-likely-attend-large-holiday-gatherings/) > [@](#): > > Nearly two in five report they will likely attend a gathering with more than 10 people and a third will not ask guests to wear masks. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2020, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758/5503 "2020-11-15T05:18:36Z")
54,328,752 total cases 1,318,278 dead 37,871,087 recovered In the US: 11,226,038 total cases 251,256 dead 6,891,015 recovered Yesterday’s numbers for comparison: > [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > 53,746,944 total cases > 1,309,408 dead > 37,523,973 recovered > > In the US: > > 11,064,364 total cases > 249,975 dead > 6,789,146 recovered [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758.md?page=273) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2020-breaking-news/847758.md?page=275)