Conoravirus ...

[BeauV]

We use soap, or more specifically detergent. I read up on why soap works and it’s because the SARS2-CoV-19 bug is covered in lipid (fat to us normal folks) and if you break down the lipid you kill the RNA inside it. Given that detergents, like Dawn dishwashing soap, dissolve fats a heck of a lot faster than Ivory or Dial soap, we have shifted to washing hands with Dawn.

But, most of the time I use my home made hand sanitizer. It’s a rubbermade 3” X 3” X 1” box with 1/4” of stove fuel alcohol in the bottom. There is a small rag in the box which is swimming in the alcohol. I pop it open and wipe off my hands or anything else that needs to be cleaned (cell phone, doornob, steering wheel, car door handle, etc..) and then drop the rag back in the box and close her up. I’ve got 2 gallons of stove fuel and have only used about 15% of one gallon since 4-March when this all started and we locked down. Seems to work great.

For things we don’t need to use right away, like canned goods and wine bottles. We don’t bother washing them, we just put them in the garage for a week and let the bugs die. It it’s urgent, I use the Stove Fuel wipe. So far, no bugs that we know of.

[Olaf Hart]

We dilute our liquid hand cleaners 50% with alcohol, the hand cleaners are detergent based, so in theory we catch the little buggers coming and going.

We have a pump pack in each car as well, so every time we contact something out of our possession we wash our hands.

Do t rinse the stuff off, so our skin sometimes looks a bit abused, but if we stay locked down we don’t use it much..

[BeauV]

One footnote to all this Lockdown. My lovely Admiral has pointed out that (so far) this is the first year since she's known me that I haven't had a cold or the flu. Normally, during a tyipical winter, I'll have two bouts of something that takes me down for three to five days. Then, sometime during the summer, I get a bug that puts me down for a few days. So, we got that going for us as an apparent side effect of lockdown and all this hygiene stuff.

[Benno von Humpback]

Hand washing is more effective than sanitizing. We only use sanitizer outside the house. If you start worrying to much about objects, you’ll go crazy.

[BeauV]

Hand washing is more effective than sanitizing. We only use sanitizer outside the house. If you start worrying to much about objects, you’ll go crazy.

Eric, thank you for this sort of thing. You are like the "voice of reason" which is so terribly hard to find these days. Again, thank you. B

[Olaf Hart]

Some bad news

http://whereisbrickhouse.com/2020/05/24/covid-19/

[Jamie]

Some bad news

http://whereisbrickhouse.com/2020/05/24/covid-19/

It's bad news. He spent a long time preparing his boat and was headed for the next great cape.

The loss is real.

[Olaf Hart]

True, I have had a few on line chats with Patrick and sent him some Dyneema strops and loops in the past, feels like I am going to lose an uncle...

[BeauV]

There are so many sad stories. It makes one ache.

Some good news, our navigator Lance has almost recovered. It has taken 6 weeks. I think if anyone tells me this is like the flu again they'll get a pop in the nose. I'm so sorry for all those who aren't making it or will be damaged for life.

[Ajax]

Scary. She said they were taking precautions but got it anyway. I wish I knew how they got it. Maryland may be in Phase I but we're still avoiding interpersonal contact wherever possible.

For the first time in a month, I made a quick trip to the local convenience store a mile down the road for a few things. Mask and hand washing. There were only 3 people in the store and everyone wore a mask, thank goodness. I was in and out in 5 minutes.

Maryland's rate of hospitalizations continues to drop and the death count is stable or slightly dropping but the number of daily new cases remains the same everyday, presumably due to the increase in testing. Just guessing but this seems to indicate that they have the nursing home infections under control.

[SemiSalt]

Here is Fairfield county, hospitalizations have been dropping steadily and a re down to about a quarter of the peak. However, the last two days have seen increases of 1 or 2.

On a brighter note, the cumulative number of deaths in Stamford has (inexplicably) decreased by one. There has been no word on who has been raised from the dead.

2020-05-25_0929.png

I've seen some instances where cases have become "unconfirmed", too. It's good to keep in mind that compliling data is difficult and errors do happen.

[Tim Ford]

Semi, everyone knows the next phase of this is the Zombie Apocalypse.

[Jamie]

I have trouble understanding what everyone crowded on the beaches or packed in a bar is thinking, because the most obvious answer is very troubling.

[kimbottles]

At first there wasn’t any rafting here at Blakely Harbor, now it appears people are getting too comfortable. Lots of close gatherings in one cockpit.

Our Bainbridge Island Harbor Master (Tami) is not happy about it. She is an unarmed member of the BI Police Dept, but enforcement is spotty because it requires getting the Police Boat out.

I guess to each their own....

[BeauV]

Kim,

A friend refers to this as "slow-motion suicide".

I would care a lot less if we citizens weren't underwriting truly MASSIVE spending on medical treatments for these clowns and also incurring equally MASSIVE damage to our economy attempting to keep idiots like this alive.

These twits are the definition of selfish.

B

[Benno von Humpback]

The clowns are going to be fine. Like HIV-AIDS, this will soon be a disease of the poor and brown.

[Steele]

Partially true, but add the elderly to the list of victims. We could be like Sweden and just kind of write off the senior citizens, but my dad is doing well at 85, and my wife has both parents and an uncle in an assisted living facility where they have been locked down without a single case, so I am not ready to give up on them yet. They just completed pcr testing for active infection and had one positive for a private overnight caregiver. His patient is not ill so they seem to be OK. I am not sure their luck will hold until there is more effective treatment or a vaccine since we are starting to open up a bit here. I am amazed at their tolerance of the lock down. They are still semi independent and often left for walks, meals, church etc. Perhaps it is the generation but there are no complaints or negative statements from any of them.

Beau, your wife's observation is a good one. The isolation, hand washing, masks, and closed schools has caused a dramatic drop in all respiratory illness in our clinic. The patients that do have respiratory symptoms are still being evaluated in a separate facility to protect everyone else. We typicaly get a cold or two a season, it just comes with the job. Since this all began no one on our health care team has been ill. I like the idea of continuing the respiratory clinic in the future even post covid. Having a dedicated space for respiratory illness where the providers use PPE for the whole clinic day may be here to stay.

[BeauV]

Steele, I believe that your folks with full-day PPE in a specialized clinic will be around until there is a vaccine that works. For us, we've decided that until there is a vaccine we will not be flying or joining in with any large groups. If this disease mutates away from its infectious and lethal self, then we might consider it. But I rather doubt we'll see that happen.

[Ajax]

The clowns are going to be fine. Like HIV-AIDS, this will soon be a disease of the poor and brown.

What makes you think a lot of these idiots on the beach aren't poor? The virus doesn't care about wealth, anyway. It'll get these fools too.

[Benno von Humpback]

Partially true, but add the elderly to the list of victims.

Yes, especially the ones in extended care, and that reflects not just their inherent vulnerability, but their exposure to workers from poor and underserved communities. In addition, nursing homes serving black and hispanic residents have been about twice more likely to be affected by COVID-19 than predominantly white ones, independent of quality measures or location. And let's remember 65% of nursing home residents are technically indigent because they're on Medicaid.

[Steele]

Steele, I believe that your folks with full-day PPE in a specialized clinic will be around until there is a vaccine that works. For us, we've decided that until there is a vaccine we will not be flying or joining in with any large groups. If this disease mutates away from its infectious and lethal self, then we might consider it. But I rather doubt we'll see that happen.

I agree that specialized clinics are here until the current epidemic is done, but I would argue keeping them running even after that makes sense. Colds, influenza, pneumonia are all spread in a similar way, so keeping up the islolation precausions makes sense. Some of this is enlightened self interest. Durring the cold and flu season I see a large number of coughing sneezing snotty patients. Most did not ware masks, and neither did I, so it is not surprise I got sick a few times a season.

I also will not be flying or heading to a movie theater any time soon. Just because the government says it's ok is not a reason to risk it. I am surprised that I miss little of these things anyway, although we love to travel and have alread canceld both our spring and fall trips.

[H B]

Hand washing is more effective than sanitizing. We only use sanitizer outside the house. If you start worrying to much about objects, you’ll go crazy.

Benno...yes..We've made it general practice to wash our hands every time we walk in the house from outside the property, basically, which is an entire 6,500 sq ft.
By soap, I mean generally dishwashing liquid...we have a pumper at all the sinks.. My 81 year old step father came by today so I could help him with a screw in his truck tire and it was going down. I get a random phone call from him which is unusual..."Shawn, I am on the bridge..you home? My tire is going down..I feel the truck riding funny..I think I got a screw in it." "Pete, I will meet you in 10 minutes...flip the switch on the air compressor in the shop, go to the utility sink, wash your hands and I will get my plug kit and we'll fix the tire, so you can get to the boat and fair the keel." He was more worried about getting to the boat, but as an SAE mechanic for 50 years, he recognized he needed to get his tire plugged. Anyway, we got all that fixed up and off he went, after we hung out on opposite sides of the truck bed for two hours and bullshitted....I haven't seen him in 10-12 weeks until today, although I do call him 2-3 times a week...he commented today that no one has been at his house besides him since Thanksgiving..so his only risk is when he ventures out.
edit - and plus one on all the gatherings with people..WTF??!?!. i don't get it...you have to be very careful how it say it, but I think this type of thing is Darwin's theory at work. To take a phrase from my 81-year old stepfather directly, "it is just God's way of culling the herd.".. (good thing we have a relatively private forum to share these comments!..please don't take them personally!)

[Benno von Humpback]

The clowns are going to be fine. Like HIV-AIDS, this will soon be a disease of the poor and brown.

What makes you think a lot of these idiots on the beach aren't poor? The virus doesn't care about wealth, anyway. It'll get these fools too.

Some may be, but I believe it’s a very small number. The problem, as I see it, is that politically tinged tut-tutting over these spectacles allows us to ignore the deep systemic problems, which were killing people before the pandemic and are a major determinant of who gets and dies from COVID-19. That’s exactly what the return to business as usual faction wants the country to do.

[Benno von Humpback]

Hand washing is more effective than sanitizing. We only use sanitizer outside the house. If you start worrying to much about objects, you’ll go crazy.

Benno...yes..We've made it general practice to wash our hands every time we walk in the house from outside the property, basically, which is an entire 6,500 sq ft.
By soap, I mean generally dishwashing liquid...we have a pumper at all the sinks.. My 81 year old step father came by today so I could help him with a screw in his truck tire and it was going down. I get a random phone call from him which is unusual..."Shawn, I am on the bridge..you home? My tire is going down..I feel the truck riding funny..I think I got a screw in it." "Pete, I will meet you in 10 minutes...flip the switch on the air compressor in the shop, go to the utility sink, wash your hands and I will get my plug kit and we'll fix the tire, so you can get to the boat and fair the keel." He was more worried about getting to the boat, but as an SAE mechanic for 50 years, he recognized he needed to get his tire plugged. Anyway, we got all that fixed up and off he went, after we hung out on opposite sides of the truck bed for two hours and bullshitted....I haven't seen him in 10-12 weeks until today, although I do call him 2-3 times a week...he commented today that no one has been at his house besides him since Thanksgiving..so his only risk is when he ventures out.
edit - and plus one on all the gatherings with people..WTF??!?!. i don't get it...you have to be very careful how it say it, but I think this type of thing is Darwin's theory at work. To take a phrase from my 81-year old stepfather directly, "it is just God's way of culling the herd.".. (good thing we have a relatively private forum to share these comments!..please don't take them personally!)

Good to be there for the step dad.

Everyone gets those feelings when they see dumb people having dumb fun, but that’s what people do. I just don’t like the wish for divine punishment that seems to creep into my thoughts every time I get pissed off. Also, as I keep saying, I don’t think those folks are the ones who are going to get the big punishment if there is one.

I ran into a couple of riding buddies at the end of my ride yesterday and we stood around BSing without masks. Then I rode one of them part way home. Probably wouldn’t have looked good in a photo on Twitter.

[Olaf Hart]

A large part of a doctors job is saving people from themselves...

I worked for nearly ten years in the poorest, most underprivileged community in Tasmania, many people had so many problems they really didn’t care about their health until something started to hurt.

We just had to adapt and accept their value systems, before we could change things.

Focussed on the children, to help them get out of the trap.

[Jamie]

The clowns are going to be fine. Like HIV-AIDS, this will soon be a disease of the poor and brown.

What makes you think a lot of these idiots on the beach aren't poor? The virus doesn't care about wealth, anyway. It'll get these fools too.

Some may be, but I believe it’s a very small number. The problem, as I see it, is that politically tinged tut-tutting over these spectacles allows us to ignore the deep systemic problems, which were killing people before the pandemic and are a major determinant of who gets and dies from COVID-19. That’s exactly what the return to business as usual faction wants the country to do.

You are referring to the “deaths of despair” , the uptick in mortality appearing in economically depressed communities? It would be hard to fix that one without a major realignment in the economy. We’re closer to the gilded age than we might guess.

[Benno von Humpback]

The clowns are going to be fine. Like HIV-AIDS, this will soon be a disease of the poor and brown.

What makes you think a lot of these idiots on the beach aren't poor? The virus doesn't care about wealth, anyway. It'll get these fools too.

Some may be, but I believe it’s a very small number. The problem, as I see it, is that politically tinged tut-tutting over these spectacles allows us to ignore the deep systemic problems, which were killing people before the pandemic and are a major determinant of who gets and dies from COVID-19. That’s exactly what the return to business as usual faction wants the country to do.

You ate referring to the “deaths of despair” , the uptick in mortality appearing in economically depressed communities? It would be hard to fix that one without a major realignment in the economy. We’re closer to the gilded age than we might guess.

That's a small part of it and something I tend to associate with white communities in places like Appalachia and parts of the Rust Belt, most of which, with the exception of Michigan, have been spared the worst of the pandemic, so far. Those folks are definitely at risk, but I had in mind Latinos, who are at increased social risk, due to crowded housing, lack of access to health care, and risky conditions of employment and, especially African Americans, who have the social risks and other enormous health burdens, as well. Blacks (and Native Americans) have greater rates of obesity, diabetes, vascular disease, dementia, etc. and have worse outcomes than the rest of the population in virtually every disease that's been studied. They have a shocking rate of "weathering" where they age faster, lose centromere length, and get all the diseases of old age earlier than other groups. For these reasons, blacks make up 30% of COVID-19 cases, despite the fact that they are 14% of the population, and the death rate among blacks is at least twice what it is for any other racial group.

I don't see a lot of black people in those pictures of Ocean City, Ventura, and Lake of the Ozarks.

[Jamie]

The clowns are going to be fine. Like HIV-AIDS, this will soon be a disease of the poor and brown.

What makes you think a lot of these idiots on the beach aren't poor? The virus doesn't care about wealth, anyway. It'll get these fools too.

Some may be, but I believe it’s a very small number. The problem, as I see it, is that politically tinged tut-tutting over these spectacles allows us to ignore the deep systemic problems, which were killing people before the pandemic and are a major determinant of who gets and dies from COVID-19. That’s exactly what the return to business as usual faction wants the country to do.

You ate referring to the “deaths of despair” , the uptick in mortality appearing in economically depressed communities? It would be hard to fix that one without a major realignment in the economy. We’re closer to the gilded age than we might guess.

That's a small part of it and something I tend to associate with white communities in places like Appalachia and parts of the Rust Belt, most of which, with the exception of Michigan, have been spared the worst of the pandemic, so far. Those folks are definitely at risk, but I had in mind Latinos, who are at increased social risk, due to crowded housing, lack of access to health care, and risky conditions of employment and, especially African Americans, who have the social risks and other enormous health burdens, as well. Blacks (and Native Americans) have greater rates of obesity, diabetes, vascular disease, dementia, etc. and have worse outcomes than the rest of the population in virtually every disease that's been studied. They have a shocking rate of "weathering" where they age faster, lose centromere length, and get all the diseases of old age earlier than other groups. For these reasons, blacks make up 30% of COVID-19 cases, despite the fact that they are 14% of the population, and the death rate among blacks is at least twice what it is for any other racial group.

I don't see a lot of black people in those pictures of Ocean City, Ventura, and Lake of the Ozarks.

I mention it because isn't it the first time that patterns that have traditionally (? typically? what's the right word here?) been in minority communities are now also appearing in white communities? COVID is exposing the McJobs nature of a larger than expected segment of the population and all of the insecurity that this brings.

That's why I mention The Guilded Age - technology was changing the economy and creating lots of wealth very unevenly. New immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe (and the Irish) were changing society. Reconstruction was being rolled back. The Third Great Awakening was in full swing. I there were 6 financial crises, roughly one every 10 years, one of which where the government had to borrow money from Jp Morgan. Does that rhyme at all? The big difference is that now there is no "West" to open up and land to give away.

[Benno von Humpback]

I mention it because isn't it the first time that patterns that have traditionally (? typically? what's the right word here?) been in minority communities are now also appearing in white communities? COVID is exposing the McJobs nature of a larger than expected segment of the population and all of the insecurity that this brings.

That's why I mention The Guilded Age - technology was changing the economy and creating lots of wealth very unevenly. New immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe (and the Irish) were changing society. Reconstruction was being rolled back. The Third Great Awakening was in full swing. I there were 6 financial crises, roughly one every 10 years, one of which where the government had to borrow money from Jp Morgan. Does that rhyme at all? The big difference is that now there is no "West" to open up and land to give away.

Ah. Good perspective. Yes, I also think we are back to the normal that was disrupted by a few decades of prosperity, good government, and political consensus during the 20th century.

[Jamie]

I mention it because isn't it the first time that patterns that have traditionally (? typically? what's the right word here?) been in minority communities are now also appearing in white communities? COVID is exposing the McJobs nature of a larger than expected segment of the population and all of the insecurity that this brings.

That's why I mention The Guilded Age - technology was changing the economy and creating lots of wealth very unevenly. New immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe (and the Irish) were changing society. Reconstruction was being rolled back. The Third Great Awakening was in full swing. I there were 6 financial crises, roughly one every 10 years, one of which where the government had to borrow money from Jp Morgan. Does that rhyme at all? The big difference is that now there is no "West" to open up and land to give away.

Ah. Good perspective. Yes, I also think we are back to the normal that was disrupted by a few decades of prosperity, good government, and political consensus during the 20th century.

The reality is this country is very different than what we were taught in school. The reason we have a Republic in the first place, despite the fines words and ideas, (which actually are very fine), is because the Confederation couldn't pay back its debts. Which were promptly privatized by a guy called James Swan and sold for a small profit now that the federal government could more effectively tax.

We are a nation of contradictions.

Well, that's my view and I'm stickin' to it until facts prove otherwise.