Thursday, November 12, 2020

CoViD-19 California Surpasses 1 Million Cases | San Diego Sets New Case Record | Winter Surge Is Here | World Welcomes Joe | Stopping Infodemics |

Rhett Miller at Music Box (Taken 11.10.2019)

I've really been trying to trust San Diego's Health Department, but I find it wildly irresponsible that they didn't provide yesterday's stats until today, when we set a new record for daily cases and they identified 16 new community outbreaks yesterday alone. The holidays are coming up, which likely means testing sites won't be as widely available on certain days while we should be ramping up, and just a simple glance at the 'illness onset' chart is so staggering, you don't need to even look at the math to see that if we were purple for the week ending 10.31, then we're likely sticking there for the week ending 11.7 and this week, too. Of course, testing numbers and health equity could change this but I don't see that happening, not with the illness onset numbers as high as they are. 
I don't think I've been scared or a "coward" as someone called me on Twitter, but when there are things I can't control, I like to learn as much as possible as I can about them. My family hasn't been 100% locked down...we go shopping often, go to the Zoo and Safari Park frequently, hang out at my parents' backyard every once in awhile, have to use a laundromat since we don't have on-site laundry, and have done takeout more than earlier in the pandemic, though almost always from the same places (Jochi or Tacos El Panson.) Still, we do what we can to mitigate risk. We wear masks and goggles when indoors in public spaces, always wear masks outdoors, I'm like a mom with toddlers constantly making sure my family isn't touching surfaces unnecessarily like railings and crosswalks which can be done with an elbow, washing hands, and minimizing use of public bathrooms, which means we only go on adventures for a few hours max. But I'm still shocked that the messaging is so bad. A foodie Facebook group I'm in seems to have a major blindspot in never even mentioning aerosols in their endless arguments that people who don't feel safe should just stay home while they carry on with their social butterfly lifestyles. "Stay home if you're sick" is not specific enough advice when you could merely have a headache, fever, runny nose, or slight cough...symptoms most of us have worked through (I mean, sounds just like a hangover if we're being honest,) or sent our kids to school with. 
All this to say, it's gonna keep getting worse before it gets better. Chicago just gave a 30 day stay home advisory and the State is considering making it mandatory statewide. Several European countries have done the same. I don't think it will happen in San Diego or statewide in California, that's exactly why we have the tiered system, but when they determined that >7/100k was a dangerous number that we'd be climbing to 10, 11, 12, either. 

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