Coronavirus in the United States - news and thoughts

Beautiful basilica. I don't think the cathedral is 800 years old, however. Construction started in 1882. Construction on the Barcelona Cathedral, which is a separate church, started in 1298.

Barcelona Cathedral - Wikipedia

 

We were here over Christmas. Did Lisbon, Barcelona, then Madrid with wife and both boys.
Great trip.

 

Neighbor across the street tested positive yesterday. They think he got it from his daughter’s softball team.
Both parents carry a lot of extra weight, hoping they make out ok. He’s a good cat, just didn’t take it too seriously. He is in a pretty bad way, but not hospitalized yet, maybe he will luck out.

 

Shorter hike today to rest the knee, but it turned out to be harder than expected. Couple of rock scrambles, and most of the 850 feet in elevation change was in the last half mile to the summit. Tibbet Knob, which starts from the same parking lot as the one I did two weeks ago (Big Schloss), but goes in the other direction.

 

All those softball, baseball, soccer etc tournaments are going to kill a lot of people. Defenders..Kids don't get sick, asym don't spread. No harm no foul. All bs. Case you referenced is likely just 1 of 1000's

 

I thought Americans weren’t being let into Europe or is that just EU countries?

 

this was our trip from last year. as noted in the original, our trip to London, Scotland, Dublin got scrubbed this year

 

edit.. Sagrada Familia is only 138 years in the making. should know better than to post late night about things a year ago and relying on my memory.

more church pictures on page 1 top of this album.
Barcelona, Norway, Ireland Summer 2019

second day we did a bus tour of town, visited a "subdivision" done by Gaudi, saw multiple other Gaudi structures. Dude was uhmm, eccentric. I was more impressed by his engineering skills that his architecture skill. Working class background, got his architecture degree, got some "fancy" clothes and starting mingling with the more affluent of the Barcelona elite when it was in it's renaissance. Found a "patron" who commissioned a couple of buildings that were well received and off he went. Did a walking tour of and had dinner with our guide. Walking tours are one of our urban adventures everywhere we go. The whole Catalonia independence issue is still red hot there. It really gets the opposing sides fired up. US hasn't cornered the market on divisive politics

 

Keep us posted in the “share your experience” thread? Ann the best to him.

 

We visited Barcelona several years ago and loved the place. Wife came home with a Barca jersey in her name.
To me Gaudi was a bit on the cheesy side. Did visit the Park tho.
Did a drive by on La Sagrada, didn't go in. Probably should have, but long lines and I think every city in Spain has a famous church/cathedral/mosque, etc

They were having demonstrations iñ Catalunya Plaza when we were there. All peaceful as we walked right thru them.

 

One more from today.

 

The long term effects don’t scare me because, well, no one knows what they WILL be, IF any. Every single virus including the common cold could have long term effects. But since the news doesn’t run stories or print articles on each and every one of the long term effects of every American citizen no one is afraid or concerned About it.

this weekend the cdc came out with info on fatalities and those with preexisting conditions.

New CDC report shows 94% of COVID-19 deaths in US had contributing conditions | WFLA

regarding your comment that 180,000 don’t move me...numbers like that need to be put in context. Every day 7500 people die in the US. Do those deaths move you? Most of those aren’t Covid deaths. As of August 20th 39 children aged 1-15 died with Covid - in that same time period, 13,000 children aged 1-15 died of other causes. 57,000,000 children aged 1-15 are still doing okay. Are you moved by the other 13,000 deaths? I don’t hear anyone moved by those deaths. Why? Cause they aren’t thrown in our faces every day on tv.

putting numbers into context vs tossing what seems to be large numbers about...yeah, if the 2.8 million Americans who die every Year in the US Are not Shown on a chart on the tv news every day...they don’t seem to matter. But the 180,000 Covid deaths...those we should care more about and follow every day. Even though the average death of Covid is 82 and the average non Covid death is 78 with numerous studies noW estimating The years lost to Covid deaths are estimated to be far lower than the years lost to deaths attributed to Lockdowns.

While every death is tragic, Covid deaths don’t hit me harder than other deaths.

 

There are lot of people that have recovered that have long term organ failure problems. Invest in dialysis centers because kidney failure is one of the most prominent ones.

Do you acknowledge that there are preventable and unpreventable deaths? There is a difference. We should all do whatever possible to prevent deaths as much as possible. Seat belts, traffic rules, vaccines, medical screenings, helmets....face masks, social distancing...all help stop preventable deaths.

 

While the CDC report is interesting, most folks following this thread have figured as much for about 800 pages.

The interesting part to me was the list of comorbidities; virtually every person I know would "qualify" as having a comorbidity.

 

I agree with @G8trGr8t. If your numbers are correct, then COVID deaths (~1200) represent up to 16% of the daily deaths in the USA. As other countries have shown, many of those deaths are preventable through government and community action.

Covid deaths hit me harder than other deaths. I feel a mixture of sympathy, frustration and guilt for those that needlessly lost their lives due to our inaction. I will continue to try to inform and persuade those around me in hopes that we can move our leaders to prudent action. I refuse to acknowledge the deaths are a "it is what it is" result.

 

Teen and children hospitalizations, deaths from coronavirus increasing: report

While still a relatively small number, death and hospitalizations among teens and children are rising (I guess trump was wrong about kids being basically immune, surprise).
If this number continues to increase, what will be the next goal post move for the science deniers?
And, another surprise (sarcasm) from the article:

“When there’s a really high prevalence rate in the community and you open schools, there’s going to be a lot of transmission in schools.”

If people were serious about wanting schools to open, they should prob be bitching less about masks and social distancing.

 

Using 2019 stats would put COVID-19 as the 3rd leading cause of death in the US behind cancer and heart disease. You can be in a room full of people with cancer and/or heart issues, and would be at no risk of catching it. Can't say that about COVID-19, which is highly contagious.

To add more context, and 10,500 Americans died in drunk driving accidents last year. A tragic number, no doubt. But imagine there was a simple way to cut this number significantly that was an easy thing to do. We'd all encourage it, right? Now ask, what can we do to help prevent COVID-19 deaths? And why isn't everyone acting or encouraging these preventative measures?