Please explain this to me

[Yppej]

I have filled out paperwork and helped people here get meals on wheels doing volunteer work. I have colleagues still working in the field. Social workers have their hands full so won’t steal resources from people much older than us.

Again, Meals on Wheels is expanding due to covid 19. This is not taking anything away from those who were already receiving services. Here is an article on it:

https://www.mealsonwheelsamerica.org...uring-pandemic

[frugal-one]

I would not make it mandatory for seniors to stay home. I would not fine them $300 the way people who practice their religion or who don't wear a mask are being fined. But I would strongly suggest it and I would set up delivery services to support it. I would as in Texas let them stay home and still collect unemployment insurance if called back to work. I would not crash the economy and take away other people"s rights if seniors choose to leave home. I believe in the right to die including assisted suicide. If seniors choose to recklessly risk exposure and die let them but don't turn our society upside down to protect them.

It is a good thing you have no clout.

[Yppej]

It is a good thing you have no clout.

In multiple news conference I have heard Donald Trump say even one death from covid is too much. So your approach of trying to save everyone no matter how high risk or the costs to everyone else is certainly not unique.

ETA Do you remember bubble boy, who couldn't risk bumping into hard surfaces or he would bleed to death? Maybe we should reconfigure our whole society because he would like to leave home. Maybe even in hot weather we should all walk around in thick uncomfortable quilted padding to protect him. We can't risk losing even one life, there is no cost/benefit analysis to be done.

[JaneV2.0]

No one's freedom of religion is being impinged upon--maybe freedom of assembly--but churches can hold virtual services and/or broadcast sermons. With luck, this is a temporary situation. One of those defiant pastors* met his maker a little sooner than he anticipated.

*https://kutv.com/news/coronavirus/de...of-coronavirus

[ApatheticNoMore]

In multiple news conference I have heard Donald Trump say even one death from covid is too much. So your approach of trying to save everyone no matter how high risk or the costs to everyone else is certainly not unique.

You really think this is Donald Trump's policy? Donald Trump says a lot of things, 99.5% of which have no correspondence with shared reality. Back in the real world this isn't his approach, and it strikes me as nearly impossible to argue it is.

[flowerseverywhere]

A simple cloth mask is in essence creating "virtual distance". The point isn't that it is a Level A Hazmat suit.

A simple cloth mask adds several feet to the effective distance between you and another. Which is huge if you do the math, given the cubic nature of 3 dimensional space. (There are some other useful considerations involving air exchange rates in enclosed spaces).

Wearing a mask in circumstances where you can't maintain 6+ feet of distance is A Good Thing generally.

exactly why I wear a mask when I am very infrequently am out with any possibility of contact. I walk at 6 am to avoid people. Besides the obvious greater difficulty of swapping spit, masks make it more difficult to touch your nose and mouth which is another good thing. Also, I avoid any closed spaces where people are which seem to make things more hazardous. I’m willing to forgo picking out my own pineapple for a few months if it puts me at lower risk to contaminate others and doesn’t add to the burden placed on medical workers. They have been the true heroes and sometimes victims in all of this.

[iris lilies]

exactly why I wear a mask when I am very infrequently am out with any possibility of contact. I walk at 6 am to avoid people. Besides the obvious greater difficulty of swapping spit, masks make it more difficult to touch your nose and mouth which is another good thing. Also, I avoid any closed spaces where people are which seem to make things more hazardous. I’m willing to forgo picking out my own pineapple for a few months if it puts me at lower risk to contaminate others and doesn’t add to the burden placed on medical workers. They have been the true heroes and sometimes victims in all of this.

this is pretty much what I do, although I’ve not been successful in using shopping services. DH does shopping. I also don’t walk early to avoid people I’m always meeting people on the sidewalk but honestly everyone steps aside and it seems to me that 6 feet more or less are maintained.


I did observe one guy running at me spit on the ground on the sidewalk and I thought to myself well yeah OK I should really be keeping my shoes outside. In the early weeks of thisI did start a program to keep my shoes outside in that truck stuff in the house but I gave up on that. I do periodically put my slides-on shoes in the dishwasher

[LDAHL]

I’m a little ashamed to admit it, but during my tenure as a civil servant, the “one death is too many” platitude/argument was something of a joke. A politician or citizen would resort to it whenever they lacked the evidence to prove a point. Not being responsible for allocating limited resources or setting priorities, it nevertheless makes you sound caring and foresighted.

I remember once that our Sheriff was making a pitch for (fairly expensive) horse patrols in our county parks. A board member asked him what the record of crime in the parks was. Rather than admit it was fairly minimal, we were treated to an extended rant of the even one would be too many variety.

The corollary was the “how many people have to die before you do something” gambit. It was often associated with what we called “grieving mother syndrome”. The basic format was high school kid gets drunk and kills self and others by crashing into a tree or rolling his car. The mother than decides the kid’s death was due to the road’s design rather than the dear departed’s blood alcohol content. Tearful phone calls, public hearings and letters to the editor ensue. In some cases a project is authorized that takes precedence over correcting a much more dangerous situation. It was common to ask questions like “how many people have to die before you change that light bulb? “

One refreshing aspect of military service was when you asked that question, they could provide you with an estimate.

[Yppej]

My mother has turned into a shopaholic. Since yesterday she has gone to at least 4 more stores. I tried to enlist my father in getting her to stay put but he said she has cabin fever and needs to get out. This mask thing has gotten people totally out of control. Before the mask mandate more people were staying home, now it is a free-for-all. The stores are more crowded than before including with many elderly. I guess it is a distraction from the anxiety of possibly dying to go places and do things.

[Teacher Terry]

As a former social worker programs have requirements. You have to FINANCIALLY QUALIFY. Locally we are short of drivers because most of the volunteers are retired. I am done explaining this to you.