The Virus Outbreak Thread

@rdibp  
Curb Your Enthusiasm intensifies

@rdibp
 
Florida has been determined to wipe out its elderly population since 2011.

@Zincy
 
Wouldn’t that crash their economy? As an outsider, my understanding is that Florida’s primary exports are weird shit and retirement homes.

@Ebalosus  
No one said that they were smart.

@Ebalosus
 
You have to continually kill off all the old fucks to make way for new old fucks.

@Ebalosus  
They also have Orlando, which is pretty much the amusement park capital of the United States of America, since a lot of the major amusement parks like Walt Disney World, Universal Studios Orlando, Sea World, etc. are in the Orlando area.

So from what I can tell by reading the news the whole hotel quarantine fiasco happened because the government hiring prioritised racial diversity over actual qualifications, so the unqualified guards did things like let people out to get coffee and give people food they were allergic to, turning things into a Fawlty Towers darkfic. Then a toddler infected with the virus went delusional from it and painted the walls with their shit, after which they were sent outside so the staff could clean up their mess, during which they infected several people leading to the second wave responsible for 90% of Australia’s cases and fatalities, and probably about 50% in a country located entirely in the Southern Hemisphere (Brazil crosses the Equator), at least, that’s my interpretation.

@Wiimeiser  
Ah, yes! One of the things in the world that makes you more racist when you try to appear to be less racist.
 
In all seriousness, though, I hate it when governments and corporations impose “diversity quotas,” especially during a pandemic when your qualifications (or lack thereof) mean the difference between life and death.

@Zincy
 
Holy shit! You’re right. It also lends credence to the idea that the virus was man-made, except it was made by the US…as a means to further enrich the retirement and funeral industries.
 
I’m kidding of course. I know a few people from Florida, and they’re really nice, so I hope that their parents and grandparents are doing alright.
 
@Wiimeiser
 
Reminds me of the quarantine shitshow here in NZ, where it seems to be luck-based more than anything else.

@Goku Black  
I can see why “affirmative action” or whatever they’re calling it these days exists but it doesn’t fix the root of the problem and there are other pressing issues right now.

Virginia, through concerted effort and sacrifice, has finally gotten below the 5% positivity mark. As of writing, we are at 4.7. We also have a relatively low hospitalization rate for our population size.
 
One of our worst areas is Accomack and Northampton (the little peninsula). Which shouldn’t come as a surprise, cause they’re all idiots. That’s the part of Virginia that has an island literally sinking into the ocean and whose fishing industry was devastated in the 90’s by pollution…who all vehemently deny that pollution is bad and that climate change is a thing.
 
So, fuck ’em.

@icey wicey 1517
 
Papa Nurgle would be so proud. (cough) Well, let’s wait and see what’s going to happen around Christmas. Feliz Coronavidad. :-/

I will never understand peoples’ inability to follow guidelines on wearing a mask in places like the store.

I’ll never understand why people think wearing a mask in a restaurant until you start eating is going to work. If the virus is present you’re fucked as soon as you take yours off so what’s the point?

@lonewolf  
I ate at a restaurant a few months ago and I’m fine.

I was importing stuff from Italy,one of the hardest hit countries,right when all this started. I have been sick a few times,but I don’t know if it was a strain if covid or not.

Some business news:
 
Tsunami of hotel closures is coming  
The Crowne Plaza in Addison, TX (HarmonyCon, Nightmare Nights) was one of the first victims.
 
Sports clubs in danger.
 
Churches donating to save other churches  
There’s still going to be a large amount of closures though.
 
Dallas events company Freeman extends furloughs during decimated convention industry.  
Resheduled LA Comic Con may not happen.  
Virus rules lock out customers at small business fair.  
I’m still convinced we’ve seen the end of cons and concerts. Topeka wants to have an air show next June in conjunction with the annual “Country Stampede” concert, but I doubt they’ll happen.
 
And Uber and Lyft have taken major hits during this, on top of all of the other closures that have happened.  
And I don’t think it’s going to end anytime soon. No I’m not getting my hopes up for a vaccine. There’s several other Corona type viruses that have been around a lot longer, and none have had an effective one made.

@lonewolf
 
Tbf, there’s a reason for that.
 
There has never (aside from MERS) been any impetus to develop a vaccine for most corona viruses. Sars-Covid is the first one to reach truly pandemic levels in modern history (the first Sars came close, but burned out), and has significantly more interest focused on it in terms of vaccine development.
 
 
Life will eventually bounce back to a semblance of normality. There will be some lasting changes, but this is hardly the first pandemic humanity has weathered.
 
I expect masks and relaxed social distancing will be a more normal sight for the next 4 or 5 years, but either through vaccination or attrition, covid will wane.

@Zincy  
You think it would’ve been less likely a global pandemic had China been more open about this goddamn god-forsaken virus?

@Goku Black
 
We’d of had more warning, but something like this was never going to stay put.

@Goku Black  
They had the power to stop it. Something like 95% of deaths could have been prevented by China had they not deliberately lied their asses off for months.

@MagpulPony
 
The problem is that their system perversely incentivises that, because they can’t criticise the central government, so shit rolls downhill to the provincial governors. If the provincial governors report good news, they’re rewarded, but if they report bad news, their position is jeopardised, thus they are incentivised to suppress bad news, like I don’t know…doctors at a local hospital reporting a new and potentially dangerous new virus infecting some of their patients.

@Ebalosus  
The high ups in the Chinese government were very well aware of all the details, they punished those that spoke out and tried to suppress it, and the world payed for it.

 
Arthur released a psa about wearing masks. It was really good,but I’m a bit distracted by how they’re still using the same stock music after all these years,and how much older Muffy occasionally sounds.