How's life?

[MagicMike78]

Some areas of the US are seeing the number of cases dip while others are seeing an increased amount. The difference seems to be the states that are more aggressive on what they're reopening are the states where the cases are seeing an uptick. I won't be surprised to see the states with the uptick start reverting to earlier phases of reopening to try to get the curve back under control.

Dou you have any good link to follow the actual numbers of new infections per state in The US?

[WWolfe]

Here's the best one I've seen. It bases it on the last 7 days.

https://www.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#cases

[Morganator 2.0]

I feel like I should give a bit of a personalized update of sorts. A lot of you announced in this thread where you live, so I'll be able to give good/bad news based on your area.

19 states have been "Red zoned", which means that they have more than 100 new cases per 100 000 people. 10 of these states (and Washington) also had over 10% of the tests come back positive. Tennessee is one of the states with more than 100 new cases per 100 000 people. Stay safe WizardSpartan. WWolfe, you're in the clear for now. Maryland isn't on the list. If either of you happen to also have kids, see if homeschooling is an option this fall. No one should be going to school in-person.

In Canada, a new algorithm for Covid cases was put into place. Before, a case was only given an "outcome" if the person was either discharged from a hospital, or dead. Now if nothing is heard from the person between 14 and 28 days, it is assumed that the person recovered. As a result, Canada's active cases have dropped to less than 5000 with these new calculations.

It's not all good news for the white north. The "Alaska loophole" allows Americans to cross through Canada, on the condition that they are going to Alaska. However, a lot of Americans are instead staying in Vancouver or Calgary. Fortunately, Marshstepper78 is on the other side of the country.

Ireland is having a problem similar to the Alaska loophole. While most of Europe has banned American travelers, Ireland allows them in on the condition that they self-isolate for 14 days. Guess what's not happening? I don't know which part of the UK you're in CleanBelwas, but this is something to be aware of.

Japan (along with a few other countries) are about to hit their second wave. The number of daily new cases is steadily increasing, and has been for the past month or so. Luckily, despite Japan's high population density, they managed to keep the number of active cases really low the first time. Keep up the good work Slyvester12.

Meanwhile, Finland is putting everyone to shame, with less than 200 active cases. MustaKotka is straight crushing it. I don't actually have anything else to say about Finland, which is a good thing when we're talking about pandemics.

And now some good news for everyone. The Oxford vaccine was able to trigger an immune response in test subjects, with only slight side effects (light fever and other minor flu symptoms). The actual name of the vaccine is ChAdOx1 nCoV-19, but no one is ever going to say that out loud, so stick to Oxford vaccine. The next stage of the clinical trial will involve increasing the sample size, as well as getting participants from Brazil, South Africa, and the UK. There are also 137 total vaccines on trial, with three of them also in stage 3 of testing. If all goes well for the Oxford vaccine, it should be ready for mass production by the end of this year.

Oh, and unlike a lot of research articles, this one isn't behind a paywall. Here's the link if you're interested.

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)31604-4/fulltext

This is absolutely good news. Phenomenally good. This is how we beat the pandemic. Produce the vaccine in massive quantities, and get people immunized. Give the virus no avenue for it to spread.

Until then, wear a mask, wash your hands, stay home, and stay safe.

[Aetherium Slinky]

Thanks for the update! Nice to know how other people are doing - or rather - how their countries are doing

Meanwhile, Finland is putting everyone to shame, with less than 200 active cases.

I have no idea what we're doing right at the moment. I fear the second wave might change everything but for now life over here is very normal. About 5% of the people I see on the street wear masks and public transportation is operating normally. Only schools, universities and mass gatherings are not a thing. This might change in the autumn if everything stays as is.

[Slyvester12]

I hate to ruin Japan's good image, but the government here did everything they could to mess this up. They delayed every responsible action until public outcry started to build, then refused to do anything more than the minimum necessary. At my job, we were required to come to work at first. Then, weeks after people started working from home, the government let us work from home TWICE A WEEK. This in a small office packed with around 70 people from different cities. Finally, foreigners were allowed to work from home because the embassies were threatening to ship us all back if requested, and local governments were about to lose thousands of employees. That lasted for a little over a month, then schools reopened in full, but everyone was required to wear a mask, calling that satisfactory despite packing classrooms with 40+ kids and not sanitizing or enforcing mask use to any real extent.

The only reason Japan's numbers have been low is:

1. People here wear a mask when sick, pandemic or not. Telling everyone to wear a mask at all times was not that big of a deal. Around 5-10% of the population already refuse to go outside without a mask, and certain designer masks are popular among young people.

2. The government has quietly but VERY firmly suppressed testing and releasing numbers of positive cases. Japanese doctors are pretty willing to downplay symptoms normally so that corporate "salarymen" don't have excuses to skip work, and they applied the same level of medical nonchalance to the pandemic.

[WWolfe]

If either of you happen to also have kids, see if homeschooling is an option this fall. No one should be going to school in-person.

All they've done here so far is send out a couple surveys asking what the parents would like to see happen (regular school, online school, or two possible hybrid options- one where they would go every other day or or one where they would go every other week). They're also yet to release a school calendar for the coming year, which is usually out before the prior school year ends.

[WizardSpartan]

Tennessee is one of the states with more than 100 new cases per 100 000 people. Stay safe WizardSpartan. WWolfe, you're in the clear for now. Maryland isn't on the list. If either of you happen to also have kids, see if homeschooling is an option this fall. No one should be going to school in-person.

Yeah, we Tennesseans aren't exactly the brightest. The school system in my area isn't providing the best of options and our wonderful governor isn't willing to do anything except pander to Trump, so epic.

I'm fine for now, as I can sit at home and just not go out, but we will definitely have hard decisions to make when school starts up. Blegh.

All they've done here so far is send out a couple surveys asking what the parents would like to see happen (regular school, online school, or two possible hybrid options- one where they would go every other day or or one where they would go every other week). They're also yet to release a school calendar for the coming year, which is usually out before the prior school year ends.

Good luck with that lmao. I hope your system does a better job than mine (wouldn't take much tbh).

[Red_Wyrm]

If either of you happen to also have kids, see if homeschooling is an option this fall. No one should be going to school in-person.

I certainly hope my husband doesn't have kids. He is still in high school for crying out loud. And I would hope I'd know if I had any step kids.

How is your area, wherever that may be, doing Morgy?

[Aetherium Slinky]

How is your area, wherever that may be, doing Morgy?

Probably cannot disclose this information considering one of us could reverse engineer the city based on the numbers.

[Morganator 2.0]

You're absolutely right, so I'll just keep it vague.

The place where I live has handled the pandemic really well, but people are getting reckless. Restaurants have reopened, bars are having parties, and while most people are good at wearing masks in stores and private places, no one does it in public places (like parks). My local game store has fully opened up now and people from my playgroup are going. They're also sharing food while there, which is a stunningly bad idea. They don't seem to understand that just because some restrictions have been relaxed, does not mean the pandemic is over. This is just like how the second wave of Spanish flu started.

It's crazy to think that I've become so anti-social that I get mad at other people socializing.

Most of my friends know better though. My D&D group still has everyone not wanting to meet up (most of us are scientists in something) and most of my magic playgroup knows better than to go out. Even though one of them wanted us to do an in-person Fallen Empires draft, I managed to talk everyone into doing it over Cockatrice with minimal resistance.

[WWolfe]

My ex-wife came down to see the kids yesterday, last night she was called by her C.O. (she's in the military) and was told that Maryland had been added back to the list of restricted states by NY due to the cases spiking somewhat. So when she returns from leave she has to get tested and self-quarantine until she gets the results.

[WizardSpartan]

How is your area, wherever that may be, doing Morgy?

Probably cannot disclose this information considering one of us could reverse engineer the city based on the numbers.

You're absolutely right, so I'll just keep it vague.

The place where I live has handled the pandemic really well, but people are getting reckless. Restaurants have reopened, bars are having parties, and while most people are good at wearing masks in stores and private places, no one does it in public places (like parks). My local game store has fully opened up now and people from my playgroup are going. They're also sharing food while there, which is a stunningly bad idea. They don't seem to understand that just because some restrictions have been relaxed, does not mean the pandemic is over. This is just like how the second wave of Spanish flu started.

So Morg's city has restaurants, bars, parks, an LGS, and most importantly, there are people there. Also, he plays D&D.

That's all I need. Time to head to the dark web and work my way backwards until I have his exact location.

/s

I certainly hope my husband doesn't have kids. He is still in high school for crying out loud. And I would hope I'd know if I had any step kids.

Don't you worry, baby, whenever I discuss school in my area, I'm only talking about myself.

[Morganator 2.0]

So Morg's city has restaurants, bars, parks, an LGS, and most importantly, there are people there. Also, he plays D&D.

That's all I need. Time to head to the dark web and work my way backwards until I have his exact location.

/s

I get that you're making a joke, but I did some back-tracking on myself recently. Based on information I've given on this site alone, you could narrow down my location to about 5 different cities, and definitely figure out which country I'm in. I really should go back and edit those posts, but that seems like a lot of effort.

[Death_OnTwoLegz1]

omg it f***ing sucks aaaaaaa 

[WWolfe]

So how is everyone doing now?

I've started back to school and it's online due to the pandemic. My son started back to college today (his school moved back into the dorms this past weekend) and the school already has 11 people in quarantine and 1 case of Covid. Not sure how long they'll end up staying on campus if it continues like it's starting.

ETA- Also not feeling too confident in my younger kids doing online school this fall. Other states have been having major issues with their online blackboards and Zoom classrooms. Hell, our school system can't even get on the same page about when you can see your kids schedule online (they sent a letter out saying you can NOW but when you call the school because your login doesn't work they tell you it's actually not until Sept. 1st).