Coronavirus COVID-19 (2019-nCoV) Thread - 2020 Breaking News

A local not-so-high-end chain is doing the same starting tomorrow, plus not allowing more than two members of the same family into the store at a time.

Spain is easing up the restrictions fifteen days after they were imposed.

Spain has suffered 17,000 deaths in this crisis, On 12 April it suffered 603 deaths.

It could and does, but again, healthcare costs aren’t batshit insane like in the US. Most medications are heavily subsidized, lab work and radiology is relatively cheap.
Not to say that its the NHS or anything, but I have noticed that American experience give you guys a warped view of the matter,

It seems the President has retweeted a tweet calling for Dr Fauci to be fired.

I called it a week ago. Good grief; was it just a week ago? It seems like forever.

Wonder when the actual firing is going to occur - it does seem inevitable.

It will, of course, be immediately followed by Trump launching ad hominem attacks against the good doctor and calls to immediately do something completely stupid and contrary to actual medical recommendations.

If we lived in a just universe Trump would catch this thing and spend miserable weeks coughing and gasping in an underfunded, understaffed, under equipped hospital with gurneys carrying the dead resulting from his inaction and poor decisions going past his door day and night, preferably after some odd and ridiculous scenario in which he loses his security escort and ID so no one believes the blustering old man is actually the President, poor thing, obviously heading into senility and delusions, [southern accent]* aw…bless his heart*…[/southern accent] so he can directly experience how the other half lives (or doesn’t).

But never gonna happen.

You do realize he is getting re-elected right?

China has announced just over 200 new cases over the last couple of days. Does anybody know what accounts for these? Are these new cases in the general population or are they perhaps repatriated citizens?

From the BBC:

If it were any other President I’d agree with you, but Trump is fucking up so bad (& he’s lost the economy) Biden has a better than 50/50 chance of being elected.

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Yes, but most Americans don’t have Kaiser. I haven’t gotten a good answer from my health insurance about the costs of treating covid-19 as opposed to testing, which they cover 100%

Wait. All of our nurses, doctors, EMTs, etc., they are all fully stocked with masks? No shortages, anywhere? If the local hospital in Boondock County is not fully stocked, who the bleeding fuck decided that grocery stores get them?

Because grocery workers are in contact with and take money from a whole lot more people than doctors and nurses.

You approve? Not sure I do, convince me.

Grocery workers are the ones insuring we have necessities like food and hygiene supplies. For all of us. Medical personnel are vital but they help a small percentage of the population.

dupe

L.A. and the grocery stores that require masks are not requiring medical-grade masks. A bandanna or tshirt tied around your mouth and nose is fine.

You should not assume these are medical-grade masks.

I was just informed that my employer (the commonwealth of VA) is going to be issuing masks to all us folks who dare to come into the office or have to work out in the field. I hope no one would deny us this safety measure because OMG THINK OF THE DOCTORS AND NURSES!!! Um, if y’all want us to keep protecting your environment, then you need to protect us too. We aren’t taking anything away from doctors and nurses, thankyouverymuch.

Perhaps if this young woman had been given PPE by her employer, she’d be alive right now

Yes

No

Speaking as a grocery peon who’s employer is now supplying masks…

What we get is NOT the “medical-grade” type things that medical workers need and should be getting. We don’t get N95 masks. What we’re getting supplied is only slightly better than homemade, and for some very well made homemade masks maybe not quite as good.

We get them because, as an example, on a typical day at the cash register I can interact with hundreds of people of unknown viral status, and often I have to interact closer than 6 feet to do my job.

My store alone currently has nearly a dozen people in quarantine right now with symptoms awaiting the results of their covid-19 tests. Three that I know of are on a long-term Leave of Absence for medical reasons. Two have been taken to the ER directly from work due to chest pains - not actual heart attacks but acute stress reactions requiring them to take a short leave of absence based on medical need.

Regionally, we’ve had a least two grocery store workers die from covid-19 (tested and confirmed), and a competitor’s store a mere 5 miles from mine has been shut down for several days due to several workers developing symptoms then testing positive, so they have to test everyone at the store as well as “deep cleaning” the place before they can re-open. A lot of their customers are - surprise! - now coming to my store. Including, possibly, customer(s) who unwittingly infected the staff at that other store. We just don’t know.

Grocery store workers are NOT magically immune to this virus. Although we do not face risks as great as doctors and nurses in hospitals with people critically ill from this virus. We really are risking our health to do our jobs, and some of us have already died. Why shouldn’t we also get some form of PPE along with sneezeguards, gloves, sanitation supplies, extra store cleanings, and all the rest?

Or maybe just to hell with us, right? It’s not like we’re doing anything important, we should just go home and stay there, right? But if we do that, good luck getting your toilet paper. Because that’s the reality here: grocery store workers aren’t staying at home, they’re risking themselves coming to work so you can buy whatever stuff you need and/or want.

Also - when - not if but when - we get sick with this thing we, like most other people, will be shedding virus for up to a week before we show symptoms, which means YOU are also at risk from US. If we wear a mask we’re spewing less virus around, which is safer for you.

THAT’s why we should get at least some basic masks. If you can’t accept that grocery store employees have just as much right to protect themselves from the virus as other “essential workers” then let us have masks to protect YOURSELF.