Today's trip to the post office was uneventful. With only two people ahead of me, there was little wait time, even with only two clerks working the windows. My clerk was rather friendly, which was a plus. Before the pandemic, most clerked tended to be indifferent or impersonal. I imagine any sort of social interaction right now is a welcome thing for most people.
For the heck of it, I check my county's COVID-19 map which has cases and deaths broken down by ZIP code. My city presently averages just under 5 deaths per 10000 people (0.05%) despite averaging just over 44 cases per 10k people (0.44%). Granted, not everyone has been tested, but the average person with a nose for numbers is rightfully going to wonder when locales with less than 1% of the population being infected and even less dying are going to start seeing restrictions lifted. The one factor I see against that right now is that communities around us have higher rates of cases and deaths. Their rates may have to improve first.
Interestingly, the ZIP codes on the perimeter of the country are reporting ten or less deaths -- sometimes zero -- and equally low numbers of cases since they're not part of the city/suburb system. Time will tell if those numbers stay that way or if it's only a matter of time before they catch up to everyone else.
Remember that anyone who tests positive is a "case" whether they show symptoms or not. No "recovery" necessary for most "cases".
As someone else pointed out in one of the COVID-19 threads, the lack of numbers of (or a way to track) those that had the virus but recovered makes it difficult to get a feel for how many cases have already been resolved with the person recovering and how many are currently sick with death still a possibility. That would probably be a more valuable metric than raw case and death numbers which make it easier to spread fear, uncertainty, and doubt. I guess I just answered my own self-musings.
Washington state is potentially preparing to isolate kids from their parents due to Coronavirus. The writer points out further down the thread the language on the forms does not appear to be new. So this could be nothing,or it could be a really big deal. I think California is proposing something similar. I can't see it going over very well.
Given Washington State is home to a number of people who were quick to protest children being separated from adults when detained for crossing the border illegally, one would expect these residents to protest the mere idea of their own children being isolated from them. However, these are the same people that will take any Democratic talking point to heart; in that respect, they might go along with it if their Democratic politicians sell them on isolating their children is somehow for the greater good.
Deaths by Race is almost dead on with % of local population. Is Berkeley so woke that the racism is beaten out of Corona-Chan when she goes there?
Shh, we can't throw a monkey-wrench
into the narrative that non-whites are getting COVID-19 at disproportionate rates than whites -- so much so that some states are forming committees to try to figure out why.
