quote:

Originally posted by esdunbar:
While I think this whole thing is ridiculous and we should just get back to our lives, the only good thing about these mask mandates is they are evidence that people generally seem to agree another shutdown of our economy is not the way to go.

I'd rather them be screaming about masks than destroying our economy.

I agree. Our hospitalizations here were heading towards maxing out. Record number of deaths last week. Gov. Abbot hit the mask button, and the news states (local Fox news affiliate, who can you trust these days?) as well as the local medical experts they are putting on, that it's working and we are beginning to see a leveling. Jury is out completely, I don't trust anything. But say this works and our deaths and hospitalizations go down. WTF didn't they just do this from the get go, and never lock anything down? I'll believe it when I see it. But everyone required to mask up, and this POS virus goes away, then I'm calling incompetency at every level, federal, state, and local because a bunch of people lost their jobs, billions lost, and nothing but stress when day 1 you could have done this and not shut anything down sans the bars and in-person dining.

quote:

Originally posted by Balzé Halzé:

Sorry, I'm not up to speed on every single members location. Which state is this?

Indiana

^^^ Thank you.

You know, there really is no sense to any of it. At the very height of this virus, they said don't wear masks. Fauci said people should not be walking around with masks on; they actually do more harm than good he said. And now, as the mortality rate of this thing has nose dived, the mask mandates continue to spread throughout the country and at an ever increasing rate.

I should've known better, but I didn't think there was any chance that we would still be doing all of this into August. So depressing.

This madness will continue through November and then suddenly disappear, I'm sure of it

quote:

Originally posted by bigdeal:

The good folks at Cecil's Texas BBQ will welcome me with open arms for a take out order. And their BBQ is miles better than Bubbalou's run of the mill BBQ.

I looked at Cecil's website, I'll have to try it next time I'm downtown, looks good!

I agree about Bubbalou's being really mediocre, every time I go there I ask myself why. I had to meet with somebody re selling our business, he was on a tight schedule and needed to meet and eat someplace near the intersection of 17-92 and S.R. 436. Uncle Jones is closed on Monday and Tuesday (we were meeting on Tuesday), neither of us could think of other anyplace in the vicinity, Chick-Fil-A in Fern Park is take-out only right now because virus.

Mike Rowe posted an interesting take on this on his Facebook page. I'm not on Facebook so I'm posting it below:

Mike. In a recent post, you said you’ve been to Tennessee and Georgia, giving speeches and filming for your new show. Before that, you were on the road shooting for Dirty Jobs. Is it really so important to film a television show in the midst of pandemic? Is it responsible of you to encourage this kind of behavior when infection rates are spiking? Don’t you watch the news? More and more cases every day – aren’t you concerned? Darlene Gabon


Hi Darlene

Of course, I’m concerned. I’m just not petrified.

On March 15th, the day after my part of the country was locked down, I posted a link to an interview with Dr. Michael Osterholm. I’m posting it again, because I believe you and everyone else in the country would benefit from listening carefully to what he has to say. https://bit.ly/2WLOM6o

Dr. Osterholm is the Director of Infectious Disease Research and Policy. This is the same epidemiologist who ten years ago, predicted a coronavirus would come from China and turn our country upside down. In his book “Deadliest Enemies,” he described the utterly irresponsible way in which the media would report on the situation, the completely opportunistic and shamelessly political way our leaders would likely react, and the unprecedented chaos and confusion that would arise from all the mixed messages from the medical community. His resume is unexampled, https://bit.ly/3jvzQTW, and his analysis of the situation is the most logical and persuasive of any I’d heard so far. He’s also the only expert I know of who hasn’t walked back his numbers, reconsidered his position, or moved the goalposts with regard to what we must do, what we can do, and what he expects to happen next. I say all of this because Dr. Osterholm also predicted that we could easily see 100 million COVID cases in this country, with a very strong possibility of 480,000 fatalities – even if we successfully “flattened the curve.”

It took me a few weeks to accept this scenario, because 480,000 fatalities is a frightening number, and lot of other experts were saying lots of conflicting things. But eventually, I came to the conclusion that Dr. Osterholm was probably correct, and quickly navigated the four stages of grief that usually precede acceptance – denial, anger, bargaining, and depression. By late April, I had come to accept Dr. Osterholm’s predictions as a matter of fact. Since then, I’ve had three full months to come to terms with the fact that, a) I am probably going to get COVID-19 at some point, b), I am almost certainly going to survive it, and c), I might very well give it to someone else.

I hope that doesn’t sound blasé, or glib, or fatalistic, or selfish. Four-hundred eighty thousand deaths is an obvious tragedy, and I’m deeply sympathetic to all who have been impacted thus far. I’m also very concerned for my parents, and everyone else in a high risk category. But when Dr. Osterholm says that COVID can be slowed, but not stopped, I believe him. When he says a vaccine will not necessarily hasten herd immunity, I believe him. And when he says that “flattening the curve” and eliminating the virus have nothing to do with each other, I believe him.

Thus, for the last three months, I’ve been operating from the assumption that this is a year-round virus that’s eventually going to infect 100,000 million people and kill roughly 1/2 of one percent of those infected. I’ve gotten used to those numbers in much the same way I’ve gotten used to the fact that 40,000 people will likely die on the highways this year. That’s why I’m not panicked or surprised by tens of thousands of daily COVID cases; I’ve been expecting them. Unfortunately, many others have not. Every day, millions of people watch the same breathless coverage by the same breathless journalists, who seem determined to do all they can to foster uncertainty. And so, millions of people are still paralyzed by fear, because they haven’t been given a chance to digest the truth, (or, what I believe to be the truth.) Fact is, we can accept almost anything, if we’re given the facts, and enough time to get our heads around them. But if we don’t have an understanding of what’s really happening, we simply can’t get passed denial and bargaining, where so many seem to be stuck, understandably so.

Imagine for a moment you had no idea how many people would die in car accidents this year. Now, imagine that every single accident – over six million a year in the US alone – were reported on the same way that every new COVID case is reported today. Imagine every day you were told in hysterical tones, that another 16,000 accidents had occurred, resulting in another 90 deaths per day. What would that do to your willingness to drive? Six million accidents is a lot of accidents, and 40,000 annual fatalities is a lot of death – especially if you don’t know how high that number could get. But we DO know the dangers of driving, and we’ve accepted those numbers. Consequently, we’re able to make a grown-up decision about whether or not we want to assume the associated risk of operating a motor vehicle.

Again, don’t misunderstand. I’m not ignoring COVID, and I’m not pretending the risks at hand aren’t real. I don’t want to get this disease and give it to someone else, any more than I want to be in a car wreck and hurt someone else. So, I take precautions. I get tested often. If I can’t distance, I wear a mask – especially around higher risk people. I also wear a seatbelt, obey the speed limits, and check my mirrors before changing lanes. I’m aware that we’d all be a lot safer if we kept our cars in the garage. I’m also aware we’d be a lot safer if we all kept ourselves in the house. But that’s not why cars, or people, exist.

Anyway Darlene, that’s a long way of saying that I have accepted Dr. Osterholm’s numbers, and now, after three months of acceptance, I’ve made a decision on how I wish to live my life. Sooner or later, you will too. We all will.

Mike

Unpopular opinion around these parts, but here is another published, peer-reviewed study showing the effectiveness of masks against COVID-19. I know people will still refuse to wear them, but the simple fact is they work, and the data bears this out, according to this study. Have at it.

https://www.pnas.org/content/1...rHwPyyqUbYgjSyuOou0M

I don't care how many reports come out that say a mask works. There STILL is so much conflicting data on this issue. I am NOT gonna go running for the hills and putting a mask on my face like some mamby pamby every time a flu bug comes around. You DO know that's the end goal, here, right? Right? This is how the Left wants to ENSLAVE you for the Rest. Of. Your. Life. Sorry, but I have to say it one more time...

"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety." - Benjamin Franklin

quote:

Originally posted by TAllen01:
Unpopular opinion around these parts, but here is another published, peer-reviewed study showing the effectiveness of masks against COVID-19. I know people will still refuse to wear them, but the simple fact is they work, and the data bears this out, according to this study. Have at it.

https://www.pnas.org/content/1...rHwPyyqUbYgjSyuOou0M

And yet with polls show 80% Of Americans are wearing them daily and infections keep increasing.

quote:

Originally posted by TAllen01:
but the simple fact is they work

If this were true, the Wu Flu would never have gotten out of China, where millions of people wear masks all day, every day!

Why is it that almost every study prior to 2020 said that masks don't really work against viral spread, and every recent study says that they do?

It's a cot damn mystery, is what it is. A gen-u-ine puzzler.

quote:

Originally posted by TAllen01:
but the simple fact is they work

OK...in that regard, then, here's another brain-twister of "things that make you go hmmmmmmm"...If face masks work, why was it necessary to release THOUSANDS of criminals back into the general populace? Couldn't the warden have just distributed face masks to the inmates instead? Or are the inmates now running the prison? I just gotta say it...some of y'all REALLY need to turn off the news, social media, conversations with Leftards...whatever it is that's allowing common sense to leak outta your skulls.

And one last time...

2009/2010 H1N1 "Swine Flu" swept through this country with an average infection of GREATER THAN 165,500 cases PER DAY. Why were there no calls for face masks, business shutdowns, concerns of overrunning the health care system, etc., etc.?

Start asking yourselves (those in panic mode) these underlying questions, and you may start to see the skepticism from the "rest of us"...

quote:

Originally posted by TAllen01:
Unpopular opinion around these parts, but here is another published, peer-reviewed study showing the effectiveness of masks against COVID-19. I know people will still refuse to wear them, but the simple fact is they work, and the data bears this out, according to this study. Have at it.

https://www.pnas.org/content/1...rHwPyyqUbYgjSyuOou0M

That's a stastical analysis not a scientific peer reviewed study. Many of the conclusions in that analysis, aerosol transmission of the virus outside of certain medical procedures for example, have not been proven in any scientific study according to the WHO. In fact, as of July 9th, the WHO has said there are only prepublished scientific studies and none of them show aerosol transmission of SARS-COV-2 except in certain medical procedures. Link

quote:

Originally posted by DaveL:
Mike Rowe posted an interesting take on this on his Facebook page. I'm not on Facebook so I'm posting it below:

.....

Mike

This is where I'm at. It's going to suck, we aren't getting ride of it, but we can't hide forever from it.

I'll be the outlier here, as much as I hate wearing a mask, I'll do it for others. I despise them, but I have to wear them for work a lot anyways. I've never died from doing it in the past when they were to protect me, I'll do my part to save others, even if it's marginally effective.

Mask shame me all you want, but if I'm in public I wear one (for others, not me). When I see my grandfather, I wear one. Where required I wear one.

On a side note, just traveled to NC, no one was wearing one. It was a relief not to deal with it.

quote:

Originally posted by Skins2881:
I'll be the outlier here, as much as I hate wearing a mask, I'll do it for others. I despise them, but I have to wear them for work a lot anyways. I've never died from doing it in the past when they were to protect me, I'll do my part to save others, even if it's marginally effective....

...On a side note, just traveled to NC, no one was wearing one. It was a relief not to deal with it.

Wait, so you don't want to save people in NC...?

<confused, but not really>

Today I ventured out to the grocery store to perform the mundane task of sustaining my existence. I found a parking spot that offered a vantage point to observe my fellow shoppers. All of whom were wearing their masks. Here is what I saw:
Quite a few people wore masks with their noses exposed.
Several people wore plastic face shields with no masks under them.
Many people arrived in the lot wearing masks in their cars. While alone.
Mom was masked, but the kid was not.
No one was gloved.
Few if any wiped down the handles of their grocery carts.
But what was most interesting was what happened as the grocery getters were exiting the store with their carts. Some removed their masks immediately upon clearing the doors and some waited until they reached their cars. It was warm today, so it appeared my fellow shoppers were sweaty under the masks. As they removed their masks, they often wiped their faces, adjusted their hair and hats or put on sunglasses. I did not see one of them use hand sanitizer before they did these things or put their kids (with their faces very close to the unmasked kid) into car seats.
Based on mere observation, it seems to me that masked or not, no one really did much to stem the spread of germs at all.
Taking your toddler into the store unmasked apparently created a some sort of magic germ free bubble that protects him from the spread of disease. The same bubble that forms when you take your mask off after you are seated in a restaurant.
I dont think we are doing very much at all to "stop the spread". Masks or not.

I really get a kick out of masksplaining--it's virtue signaling either way.

quote:

Originally posted by TAllen01:
the simple fact is they work, and the data bears this out, according to this study.

If it's a fact, then why do you qualify it with, "according to this study?"

It's an opinion. Do you understand the difference?

quote:

Originally posted by TAllen01:
Have at it.

Trolling, pure and simple.

Well, I became a casualty tonight of the mask craziness. Ordered curbside pickup from a local restaurant (so I don't have to deal with any of this mask BS), and was shorted a 'straw' for my drink. No one around to ask for a straw, so ventured into the dining room to get one. Remember, we're talking about a 'straw'. Manager came dashing out of the back essentially yelling "you must get out". Not "Can I help you with something", but rather "Get out". I asked for the missing straw, retreated outside to wait for its delivery, and then posed the following question to the almost deranged manager when he handed me the straw. "How is my walking into the dining room to obtain a straw and then immediately leaving, somehow more dangerous or inappropriate than the dozen or so people sitting in the dining room, none of which were wearing masks, that will be there for the next half hour eating?" His answer, please leave the premises, and don't come back if you have issue(s) with our policies. Something tells me that won't be a problem for me in the future. And no, I left the conversation right there instead of unloading on this guy about his complete lack of customer service skills.

Email to his corporate will be penned and sent tomorrow when I have time thanking them for a wonderful dining experience. And we're right back to my initial contention about this whole thing....People have lost their goddamn minds, while common sense and civility are out the window.