Hoosier

I may not agree but on some level I can understand not wearing a mask in low populated areas/areas where the disease prevalence is basically non existent. The mask science seems pretty good as far as reducing transmission. Science has a way of coming to a conclusion only to later reach a different conclusion, so if the idea of masks resulting in lower transmission is wrong, then imo it's not that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things. If masks do reduce transmission, then we get the numbers down and don't have the stories about more cases dominating the news all the time.

The current rate of deaths (~600 per day on avg) isn't exactly great. It's only good compared to what it was. At least it has been consistently trending down, but it will be difficult to keep that going down further as long as we are putting up 30-40k plus cases per day. The new cases do seem to be skewing younger than before, but probably not to the extent that it seems. You practically had to be on your death bed to get a test back in March if you were young, especially if you didn't have contact with a known infected person.

I guess I don't understand why the mask thing has become a big deal. People act like it's some massive infringement. Yes, it's inconvenient and uncomfortable especially when worn for a long time, but I look at it as a temporary measure to try to get us through this period of time. I'll change my tune if the mask rules become a permanent thing, but for now, just going to deal with it.

I'm not a Trump fan but there was a missed opportunity with the masks. He should've marketed and sold Trump masks like maga hats. Whatever it takes. Wouldn't solve it entirely but it would help. If you're not wearing a mask these days, chances are you are a follower of the president.

Texas closing bars too.

Some of these states need to rein it in a bit. Almost 9,000 new cases in Florida. Sounds like the bars are going to be closing down there or only offering takeout/delivery when possible. Hopefully the states that are spiking bad right now can stabilize/decrease as we head into July.

Yeah, not enough is known at this point about how long those after effects can last. But it sounds like it's not pleasant if you are one of the people dealing with it for weeks/months.

Elkhart county has been having a decent amount of spread lately.

For the love of God, don't attend a family gathering if you have one of the symptoms of the virus, even if you think it's something else. https://www.wfaa.com/mobile/article/news/north-texas-family-shaken-after-18-relatives-test-positive-for-covid-19-following-surprise-birthday-party/287-ea8960ea-4c3c-40c1-b75e-f4437fe6f836

Warned cell west of here... we'll see if it makes it over eventually.

Lots of sun here.

Yeah, you don't really want it running rampant in the community even among younger people, because it becomes that much harder to keep it away from the more vulnerable folks.

Anybody who is asymptomatic can get tested? Like say you're a 20 year old college kid with no symptoms but you're just curious... even that person?

Indiana reported just over 10k test results today. I think that is the highest number of tests in a day, or at least one of the highest. Pretty good percentage on positive tests lately as well... not as good as some of the states in the northeast but consistently in the mid single digits or so. I read that the state is testing every nursing home employee this month (in part to get a better idea on asymptomatic carriers especially in higher risk jobs like that) so there are actually asymptomatic people being tested in addition to people who have symptoms.

Not a big supporter of JB I take it? I kind of wish we had some kind of mask requirement here, but we don't. Just strongly recommended, although some individual stores/businesses are making everyone wear a mask. Even without the requirement in many places, I am still seeing like 80 or 90% wearing them indoors. I wonder what mask compliance is like in other parts of IN. My guess is it's less.

Over 30k new cases reported in the US today... the highest number in about 6-7 weeks. Some of it is due to increased testing, but there is a real ongoing increase in transmission in a number of places especially in southern states.

Daily case numbers have trended down in Illinois, so I would expect the death numbers to improve in the coming weeks.

Good or bad, depending how you look at it. About half of the deaths in my county are from LTC facilities... 113 out of 231.

Interesting read. It does say there is no evidence of the mutation resulting in more serious disease.

Not sure but I tend to think not. The mutations haven't been all that significant up to this point.

The increase seems to be slowing there now, but we'll probably need some more time to be sure.

7 day rolling average of US deaths/day is currently about 750. Models drop the daily average down to about 600-650 before plateauing and then starting to rise again late summer into fall. I do think we are in a better place than when we started in terms of understanding this virus and how to try to treat it. Not rushing to intubate, remdesivir, and now this news out of the UK of a steroid drug having some positive effect, etc. Hopefully we can get the deaths lower than projected.

Tomorrow we go into the deep end of the pool here in Indiana. Bars, movie theaters and other stuff that has been closed can operate at 50%. Limit on crowd size goes up to 250, including events like weddings and parties.