So... first, checking back into this thread I hope your parents are healthy and everybody else made it through ok, Micah. (Feel free to safe contact any updates if you prefer to discuss there.)
I just came here to say how annoyed I've been lately seeing how covid prevention strategies have been presented and implemented. It just seems like everywhere I turn there's some city rule or some media story or something that really seems to be missing the point.
I guess I can give some examples...
- Went to Lake Tahoe on vacation and they had picnic tables taped off in an outdoor eating area. Another day-use park was closed. They even had the area where people watch the salmon run closed (although this was supposedly half for covid and half for bears). Why? We should be encouraging people to leisure outside.
- Watched some nightly news shows while at my in-laws house and they were making a big deal about some behaviors that are probably low risk. People gathered at a Trump rally at the white house, many not wearing masks! Oh the horror!
The same news program talked in dire tones about a vaccine trial that was paused because a participant got sick. But that's not bad news at all, that's just normal typical procedure! Why freak people out? (There's a reason I stay away from TV news.) And through the whole program there was no talk about things that people should be worrying about the most - like indoor gatherings - or the less commonly known dangers like being indoors with poor ventilation for long periods of time even if you're socially distanced.
- So much sanitation everywhere. Like, did nobody get the memo that this coronavirus isn't transmitted very often through surfaces? Do we really need to bleach that often? Like, I'm fine with a quick spray of grocery carts but do we really need to sanitize every surface in a school every single night?
- That dumbass plexiglass divider at the VP debate. Seriously? Like droplets in the air can't move around a little divider?
I could go on and on... it's just that so much of this information has been known for months, and nobody seems to be getting it. Why did it take until a week or so ago for the CDC to update their recommendations to include aerosol transmission? Has the WHO done it at all? The CDC's recent updates have been "known" by scientists for months and months!
And what about testing? My wife had diarrhea one day and then a sore throat and headache the next day. Those symptoms in theory could have been from mild COVID-19. We figured she didn't have it because she hadn't done much high risk behavior (check out the
https://www.microcovid.org/) but we wanted to test to be sure because we had plans to see family for her birthday. She couldn't get a test! The local hospital (which does not have a ton of cases) said it's probably a viral infection and quarantine for 3 days or something. WTF? I know she probably didn't have it but we should have enough tests to let people with mild or no symptoms check. It's been 7 months since this blew up here.. why can't we just get a test?
I'm still going on and on, I know. But where are the air filters? Why aren't people mass producing them and sending them to schools and essential businesses? I know some places have them (my dentist said he did) so if they're common, why aren't we working to make sure restaurants or other high-risk businesses have access so maybe we could reduce restrictions further?
Where are the N95 valve-less masks? Our regular masks mostly prevent us from giving COVID-19 to other people, but people who work all day indoors could wear an N95 (some places have KN95s for $1 each) and get additional protection for themselves. How many months does it take to ramp up production? Will we get a vaccine before we get better masks widely available?
And we're starting on our third wave nationally... cases and hospitalizations are rising again. WHY?!? Gah it really does make me mad. I know there aren't perfect solutions but we should be doing way better than this.