Hoosier

I totally believe that some types of face coverings are better than others, and you have to know how to use them so you don't inadvertently infect yourself. It's harder to sell me on the idea that no type of face covering is ever effective. If that's the case, then there's no reason for hospital workers to ever wear masks. The info at your link looks a little long. Read part of it and may come back to it later. I will say that the guy complaining at the outset about censorship is not a good look, but that's beside the point.

Can you post the link to this? I want to find out more about this guy.

A quarter of today's new cases in Indiana are in Lake county, despite only having 7% of the state's population. Hopefully people are smart over the 4th of July weekend and have things outdoors to the greatest extent possible.

That had 30 days of 90+. Well above average but the 5 years listed in my post above all had over 40 days of 90+

I'd probably explode too. That forecast is about as awful as it gets.

Indiana governor announced there will be a pause on full reopening of bars and indoor dining until at least July 17. Indoor dining will remain at 75% and bars at 50% Good decision imo. You have to learn some things from other states, and at least these places are remaining open even though it's at reduced capacity.

Possibly 89'd at ORD.

88 today Need to see what happens in the coming days though.

I think this should really depend on the circumstances. If you're going to try to hold an outdoor event with a ton of people packed close together (ultimate example would be like an outdoor concert), then it would be wise to wear a mask.

Nasty number from Arizona today.

1988, 1955, 2012, 1953, 1983 Bonus stat. The year with the highest number of 90+ degree days without a 100+ degree day is 1959, which had 39 days aoa 90.

Plugging away to a warmer than avg summer.

I like this one better. Whoever this guy is looks like a real baller. Not even using an actual basketball and still didn't miss!

Wish I had the basketball gif

Good thing it is not November 20 or December 20 right now. That would be an absolute nightmare especially in the states that are spiking, as you'd be days away from people having family gatherings for the holidays and passing the virus on. Anyway, as far as the current situation, conventional wisdom seems to be that deaths will increase again to some extent in the coming weeks, but we can hope it is a smallish rise and not a large one. Nationwide it would be interesting to see how many people >65 are in the hospital now compared to a couple weeks ago or a month ago.

Flu deaths are virtually non existent at this time of year in the US. Maybe a dozen or two dozen per day or something? Meanwhile covid is still killing 500+ a day on average. It's not the same and never has been, but with any luck, it will be similar one day.

That is giving me fits on mobile. Maybe try again later.

I am not familiar with how those states share the hospital data... do they provide covid-only numbers or total numbers? If it's the latter, then it would make it more difficult to figure out the trends since hospitals can suspend elective procedures and what not.

Just checked and our bars in Indiana can operate at full capacity starting July 4. Hopefully we get through it better than the other states.

I agree in not putting all the hope in a vaccine. I mean, I think there will be one or multiple, but we have no idea how effective it will be. It would be nice to get one that is wildly successful but it would be wise to keep expectations in check. Look at what has been learned in the past several months. Not rushing to intubate people even if their oxygen levels are shockingly low, a couple preexisting drugs that reduce hospital stay/mortality to some extent, etc. Even among the people who have comorbidities/are older, they are in a better position to survive than they were several months ago. And in a few more months, perhaps they will be even more likely to survive than they would be right now, before any potential vaccine.

My sister is having a birthday party for her kids in a couple weeks (joint party because their birthdays are close). She doesn't really follow any of the guidelines. Definitely doesn't wear a mask. Normally there are like 40-50 people at the house and it's mostly indoors. There is a deck but most people don't go outside. Kinda uncomfortable about going as I haven't been in a house setting like that since this started. Would be nice to try to have it outdoors. She said she may end up cancelling if a lot of people don't want to come but not sure.

Masks aren't required at your airport? My aunt recently flew out of Midway and said that masks are required there (though she is a tad flaky so I'm not sure if she's right lol) and I know Michigan has been one of the stricter states in general.

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.