How Is Covid-19 Impacting Life in Your City?

[hauntedheadnc]

Having moved to South Carolina recently, I can report that it's not affecting life in Greenville in the slightest. Nobody seems to be taking it seriously. Restaurants and bars are full. Some events have been canceled, and others, like the ice skating rink downtown, have limited capacity, but for the most part it's like nothing is happening. About half of the people are wearing masks and the other half stare at them like they have a tit growing out of their head. Meanwhile, the news keeps talking about thousands of new cases around the state, including a recent weekend that clocked 8,000 new cases in SC alone -- and nobody can figure out why the cases keep going up. It's a total mystery. When the newspaper had an article about it, which basically stated that cases are skyrocketing and the state Department of Health and Environmental Concerns was flummoxed as to why, most of the comments the article received were sarcastic grenades agreeing that it sure was a puzzler, that one!

[homebucket]

Originally Posted by hauntedheadnc

Having moved to South Carolina recently, I can report that it's not affecting life in Greenville in the slightest. Nobody seems to be taking it seriously. Restaurants and bars are full. Some events have been canceled, and others, like the ice skating rink downtown, have limited capacity, but for the most part it's like nothing is happening. About half of the people are wearing masks and the other half stare at them like they have a tit growing out of their head. Meanwhile, the news keeps talking about thousands of new cases around the state, including a recent weekend that clocked 8,000 new cases in SC alone -- and nobody can figure out why the cases keep going up. It's a total mystery. When the newspaper had an article about it, which basically stated that cases are skyrocketing and the state Department of Health and Environmental Concerns was flummoxed as to why, most of the comments the article received were sarcastic grenades agreeing that it sure was a puzzler, that one!

I'm not familiar with Greenville. Is it a Trumpy area or is it full of social media inclined young people (Millennials and Zoomers)? These are the only two groups that I generally see not taking it seriously.

[hauntedheadnc]

Originally Posted by homebucket

I'm not familiar with Greenville. Is it a Trumpy area or is it full of social media inclined young people (Millennials and Zoomers)? These are the only two groups that I generally see not taking it seriously.

Both.

[homebucket]

Originally Posted by hauntedheadnc

Both.

That is unfortunate. The downtown area with the bridge and the river dam look pretty cool though!

[mrnyc]

Originally Posted by hauntedheadnc

Having moved to South Carolina recently, I can report that it's not affecting life in Greenville in the slightest. Nobody seems to be taking it seriously. Restaurants and bars are full. Some events have been canceled, and others, like the ice skating rink downtown, have limited capacity, but for the most part it's like nothing is happening. About half of the people are wearing masks and the other half stare at them like they have a tit growing out of their head. Meanwhile, the news keeps talking about thousands of new cases around the state, including a recent weekend that clocked 8,000 new cases in SC alone -- and nobody can figure out why the cases keep going up. It's a total mystery. When the newspaper had an article about it, which basically stated that cases are skyrocketing and the state Department of Health and Environmental Concerns was flummoxed as to why, most of the comments the article received were sarcastic grenades agreeing that it sure was a puzzler, that one!

this is so disheartening to hear. we are going to have this dam rona bug around forever. ugh. thx for reporting though.

[hauntedheadnc]

Originally Posted by mrnyc

this is so disheartening to hear. we are going to have this dam rona bug around forever. ugh. thx for reporting though.

One of the local hospital systems has been reduced to begging people to take it seriously:

In percentages and cases, the Upstate is leading a surge in coronavirus in South Carolina: 'This is not a joke. There is no agenda,' said the COVID-19 incident commander for Prisma Health-Upstate. 'We acutely need the public hear what we're saying right now.'

The percentage of positive COVID-19 tests has soared recently in four Upstate counties, indicating that the respiratory disease is spreading rapidly as South Carolina records some of its highest case counts.

From Dec. 1 to Dec. 5, 31.3% of the COVID-19 tests conducted in Pickens County came back positive, according to data from the state Department of Health and Environmental Control. The percent of positive tests during the same period was 26.1% in Anderson County, 25.3% in Greenville County and 24.9% in Spartanburg.

Throughout the state over the same timeframe, 21.2% of COVID-tests were positive, according to DHEC.

Experts say that a testing positivity rate exceeding 5% indicates that COVID-19 is not well controlled in a community.

The state set a record three-day high of nearly 8,000 cases over the weekend.

[edale]

Originally Posted by hauntedheadnc

Having moved to South Carolina recently, I can report that it's not affecting life in Greenville in the slightest. Nobody seems to be taking it seriously. Restaurants and bars are full. Some events have been canceled, and others, like the ice skating rink downtown, have limited capacity, but for the most part it's like nothing is happening. About half of the people are wearing masks and the other half stare at them like they have a tit growing out of their head. Meanwhile, the news keeps talking about thousands of new cases around the state, including a recent weekend that clocked 8,000 new cases in SC alone -- and nobody can figure out why the cases keep going up. It's a total mystery. When the newspaper had an article about it, which basically stated that cases are skyrocketing and the state Department of Health and Environmental Concerns was flummoxed as to why, most of the comments the article received were sarcastic grenades agreeing that it sure was a puzzler, that one!

I've been to Greenville, and was very impressed with the little downtown and the natural beauty of the area, but this type of shit is why I would never choose to move to a red state.

[hauntedheadnc]

Originally Posted by edale

I've been to Greenville, and was very impressed with the little downtown and the natural beauty of the area, but this type of shit is why I would never choose to move to a red state.

On the other hand, all you have to do to paralyze the entire metro and get a day off of work is get on the phone and breathe heavily about snow. It's a trade-off.

[homebucket]

Originally Posted by hauntedheadnc

On the other hand, all you have to do to paralyze the entire metro and get a day off of work is get on the phone and breathe heavily about snow. It's a trade-off.

It snows in the South?

[hauntedheadnc]

Originally Posted by homebucket

It snows in the South?

Yes, it does.

For what it's worth it snows more in Asheville, an hour north and a couple thousand feet higher in elevation, but Greenville does get a little bit every year.

[Daniel Coulson]

In my city (Eastern European) most of the restaurants and other entertainment businesses are limited in capacity and masks are mandatory in most of them. Overall the response to the epidemic was pretty good which is a surprise considering where I live.

[Steely Dan]

NO POLITICS/CULTURE WAR BULLSHIT.

take that crap to the CE toilet.

[Pedestrian]

‘People Need to Eat!’ Protesters Demand Mayor Breed Reopen Outdoor Dining in San Francisco
By Da LinDecember 13, 2020 at 7:48 pm

SAN FRANCISCO (KPIX) — Protesters gathered for a loud and noisy demonstration outside San Francisco mayor London Breed’s home on Sunday.

Demonstrators want the mayor to reopen outdoor dining. They chanted “Open SF now!” “The people need to eat!” and other slogans. Protesters said they’re fighting for the little guys like the cooks who can’t work from home and the low-wage servers who can’t pay their rents.

“The money is not enough. The money is not enough for a family of four — especially in San Francisco — when the rent is too high,” said Adrian Cruz, a restaurant server who has been on unemployment since March. He and many workers worried they’ll be homeless once unemployment runs out . . . .

About 40 to 50 people demonstrated in the rain. Some said this was their first protest on any issue . . . .

Danielle Rabkin, who owns CrossFit Golden Gate . . . . said the San Francisco health order is too restrictive and lacks contact-tracing data . . . .

Many protesters said they want a balanced approach that can keep people safe and allow small businesses to survive.

“We want Mayor Breed to open outdoor dining immediately,” said San Francisco resident Daniel Kotzin . . . .

Some neighbors screamed at the protesters, saying they need to wear masks. Others said it was disrespectful to protest at someone’s house . . . .

No one came out to address the protesters and there was no immediate response from the mayor.

https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/20...rotest-dining/

Another report said the leaders of this protest were an anti-vax group from Southern CA.

[austlar1]

Another NYT article lamenting the terrible state of commercial real estate in Midtown Manhattan. Concerns that the new spike will create even problems for landlords and tenants. Is conversion to housing for some buildings a path forward? https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/11/n...al-estate.html

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by austlar1

Another NYT article lamenting the terrible state of commercial real estate in Midtown Manhattan. Concerns that the new spike will create even problems for landlords and tenants. Is conversion to housing for some buildings a path forward? https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/11/n...al-estate.html

I'm a little leery of allowing industry to push through permanent policy changes during an emergency. This sounds a little too drastic since we don't really know what the market will look like in 6-12 months.

[Pedestrian]

[Pima, AZ] County Health Director tests positive for COVID-19; part of outbreak at the Health Department

Pima County Health Department Director Dr. Theresa Cullen tested positive for COVID-19 Dec. 15, part of an apparent outbreak in the department. The County is offering testing to all Health Department staff who work at the headquarters building . . . and moving them to alternative work locations or having them work from home while the affected floors are sanitized . . . .

County case investigators and contact tracers are working to track down the sources of the outbreak, however Garcia said a protest at the building Dec. 10 of several dozen people, some of whom entered the lobby to protest and had close contact with security staff and other building staff, may make that tracing effort extremely difficult. Few of the protestors were wearing masks. They were there to protest Health Department COVID-19 protection and enforcement actions. Garcia also noted that there was at least one covid positive health department employee reported a few days before the protest . . . .

County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry told the Board of Supervisors this week that more than 300 of the roughly 7,000 county employees have contracted COVID-19 since the outbreak began in February, with more than 60 of them, or about 20 percent, just in the past two weeks . . . .

According to County testing data, there are more than 8,000 people in Pima County who have tested positive for COVID-19 in the past 7 days, nearly 15,000 since Dec. 1 . . . .

https://content.govdelivery.com/acco...letins/2b164d0

The irony is overwhelming.

[sopas ej]

Our ICU capacity here in SoCal has dropped to 0%.

https://abc7.com/icu-capacity-southe...eaths/8850811/

[Pedestrian]

Originally Posted by sopas ej

Our ICU capacity here in SoCal has dropped to 0%.

https://abc7.com/icu-capacity-southe...eaths/8850811/

If it makes you feel better, Stockholm's ICUs are 100% overcapacity (that is, 2 patients who ought to be in an ICU bed for every existing bed) per this morning's WSJ.

[Pedestrian]

Originally Posted by yuriandrade

But people do get infected more than once.

I'll repeat what I posted in the other thread:

Let's look at the two vaccines the US has now agreed to authorize for emergency use. Both are about "95% effective". That means, about one in 20 people who gets them will still get COVID if exposed.

Most scientists are now saying they believe the vaccine-induced immunity is actually better (more effective) than natural immunity you would get from having the illness (because it's more specific to the virus's most important vulnerability, the spike protein).

That means likely more than 1 in 20 people who have had COVID will, if re-exposed, "get it again". But looking at it from a the half-full viewpoint, 19 people (or maybe slightly fewer) who've had it won't get it again even if they are exposed.

[JManc]

Doesn't natural immunity only last a few months or so?