Are you scared from the Corona-virus pandemic?
- Thread starter AdamElr
- Start date
Hi everyone, I'm Italian, and I live all the groups in limbo! On television you hear many considerations, often contrary to each other! By now the fear has become so familiar that I no longer think about it! I try to live peacefully day by day hoping that everything will return to normal! Now we are about to start Phase 2, and we will have to undergo a test (such as laboratory guinea pigs) to understand if going out of the house keeping the safety distances and wearing personal protective equipment, will lead us to the increase of the counts or not! so every day we have to adapt our life to everyone. So I hope everything goes as soon as possible.
sergioplucea
New member
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amsamglobal
New member
I'm not panicked. But the virus has mutated and now over 3 million people have it there will be lots of forms. I think we will get a vaccine like the flu virus, the most dangerous 3 strains that might develop every year.
We live in strange times. I never thought I'd see anything that felt even a bit like a zombie apocalypse. By see I mean live in, not watch on TV!
We live in strange times. I never thought I'd see anything that felt even a bit like a zombie apocalypse. By see I mean live in, not watch on TV!
Yozora
Moderator
So it looks like my state is set to reopen on Friday, kind of...haircut places will be by appointment only, and restaurant dining will be outside only, among other restrictions. Mask wearing is still being encouraged, and beaches probably won't open until September, but it's a start. Are places starting to reopen where you guys are?
Yozora said:
In South Africa shops are opening VERY SLOWLY in stages. No restaurants or hair parlours for now. Restaurants may do home deliveries through online orders, but not allowed to have sit-in customers. We're only allowed to exercise from 6:00 a.m. to 9 a.m. which is a bit silly as of course now you get a congregation of people at that time. For me I try to stay away from crowds as much as I practically can. Still no cigarettes or alcohol allowed - may not be sold, so you can imagine the black market trades to get hold of these. But most hurtful here in South Africa are the poor who are hungry and starving. Problem is there are so many good Samaritans who were helping them even before Covit 19 happened, and Government now during Covit disallowing soup kitchens because they say it causes congregation and saying Government will do it instead. Except our Government is very corrupt in many respects (lots of pilfering happening by Government staff and even the police supposedly looking after every one) and also VERY slow in making its arrangements (tomorrow is always another day), so food isn't getting to the people who need the food. Particularly in the large city centres.
All of the more educated people in South Africa as well as the poor are hoping for the lockdown to end sooner than later, as the benefits window has closed, and currently the lockdown in its own is causing misery, suffering and more deaths than Covit is causing. For example there are a large group of HIV and TB cases that are no longer tested and treated as before as all laboratory and medical focus is on Covit 19. The lockdown also blocks patients from spontaneously seeking medical attention and getting to the points of medical care because they live very far from medical assistance or getting there too late. Transport is very difficult and also risky to get and use. There are also other chronic diseases that aren't treated because people don't go to doctors. Doctors are not getting patients any longer, so are also not getting income and seem to be recruited by overseas countries for jobs. So what baffles the mind is the importation of 200 Cuban doctors who can hardly speak a word of English and has no insight as to the culture of the people. When local doctors are needing jobs. Even worse, a decision that was made by Government to release 19,000 prisoners into a society that is already hammered by big crime even before Covit 19 started.
I'm lucky as where I live it is a sparsely populated area vs city, so when I walk I don't get many people crossing my path and sometimes no one. The shops aren't as congregated as in big cities, and it is easy for shop owners to control line-ups as the smaller the shop, the greater the limitation of people allowed inside. The weather is also sunshine most of the time. Although it's getting chilly here as we're going into winter time. Which of course is also flu time - double reason to be cautious. Only big negative of course is one would have to get to the neighbouring city if one should get Covit and need more intensive treatment with life support. Not so sure how that will work, but in a very imperfect system here, it's very much a hit and miss situation.
Peter said:
I'd imagine these were people already in a bad state before they got locked down in desperate family situations where their outlook on life and the living was anything but positive. Life was not perfect before the lockdown but the lockdown made all of it bubble over. I guess the Floyd thing was like a match to a powder keg of dynamite. Anything similar would have provoked the same thing. People who have nothing to look forward to and have been locked down almost 2 months having to watch a total lack of leadership fighting with one another instead of looking out for them or providing some feeling of hope. I guess Sweden again has a thing or two to show for the decisions it took?
This whole situation has set back the power of the police force in the US big time and I guess this is going to result in lots of more crime. In a way I agree with Trump. The police should have acted swiftly, and if short in numbers backed up with Federal troops to sort it out right at the source. I guess with Floyd police were too scared to get in the same situation of being fired and charged with murder. They're basically asked to create law and order with their hands behind their backs.
Yozora
Moderator
@"Genesis" Oh gosh, that's awful! Sometimes it really feels like the world is ending when I read news about the virus. I went food shopping and got sick for a while afterwards... So many people not wearing masks still. I feel fine now but people here are starting to go to local events again, and the number of cases has started to rise because of that. The death rate is slowly going up too. People are going to protests and tearing down statues of slave owners, and I cringe a little seeing photos of the crowds of people so close together, ignoring social distancing completely.
I agree. The same thing is happening here in the US, and new cases of the virus are only going up... I don't understand why the anti-racism protests have spread to other countries, to be honest. I don't know if many other countries have similar rates of police brutality against racial minorities. I guess maybe they might have morphed into just anti-racism protests in other countries? While people have every right to be upset and to protest, I do wish the protesters would follow social distancing guidelines more.
Peter said:
I agree. The same thing is happening here in the US, and new cases of the virus are only going up... I don't understand why the anti-racism protests have spread to other countries, to be honest. I don't know if many other countries have similar rates of police brutality against racial minorities. I guess maybe they might have morphed into just anti-racism protests in other countries? While people have every right to be upset and to protest, I do wish the protesters would follow social distancing guidelines more.
I've seen similar reports on the news, but are those reports of the violence spreading from the US to other countries accurate? I'd say it's more a case of the rioting happening in parallel with the US and for the same reasons. Not because of the US. They were just emulating the US and paying homage of a kind. Take France for example. Also Sweden. I'm sure if one checked there have been plenty of rioting incidences long before Covid 19. Covid 19 has just made things worse as it has brought out the structural inequality of minorities from the point of view of easy access to medical care and ability to self-isolate and keep social distances. That made them into a target of being worst affected by Covid 19 - losing family and friends, not only health wise but losing jobs. They've always been angry, but maybe now they have nothing to lose any longer and are beyond frustrated and are completely disinterested to listen to reason.Yozora said:
Yozora
Moderator
Yeah, good points! I feel for the protesters, and know they have every right to protest, I just wish that the COVID19 cases & death statistics wouldn't keep rising here... I'm also kind of conflicted about the tearing down of statues too, to be honest. I didn't have an issue when it was just confederate generals, but when they started tearing down statues of Jefferson and Washington, two people who did lots of great things for the US, yet were also slave owners, I started wondering if any historical figure would pass today's modern day purity test...(For example, while I greatly admire Ben Franklin's commitment to knowledge & learning new things, I'm also keenly aware of how much of a hedonist he was, even visiting brothels while abroad in France, while his wife was back home taking care of his businesses and children) There are actually security guards posted around the statues of Jefferson in my city now, and while the continually rising virus cases and though deaths worry me much more than the fate of statues (although the crowds needed to tear down a statue will probably lead to even more virus infections), since I'm somewhat of a history buff who loves early US history, it does make me kind of have mixed feelings about things.Genesis said:
With people going to local events here more, I feel like people are just going to keep getting infected. Part of me longs to go to in-person events again, but I'm not sure if I can trust that people would follow social distancing guidelines, and indoor events are supposed to be more risky. The health experts here said that the virus might go away with warmer weather, but so far that hasn't been the case.
I hope things are getting better where you are!
Yozora said:
I feel the same. I don't have much empathy with mob rule at all and can't understand why the US Federal Government hasn't put a stop to it - the statues could have been peacefully removed after proper discussion - to remove it forcefully in mob rule style shows a weak hand on the US Government side to deal with civil unrest. The cost of the damage that was incurred must have run into millions of dollars. Neither do I like the way the US citizens are disrespecting the office of their President. Like it's OK to differ with Trump's points of view, but at some point there should be some dignity and respect expressed for the office of the President. It's turning the presidency into a laughing stock internationally.
Good news however seems to be the possibility of a vaccine developed that is in trial stage. If it is working OK that would be a tremendous boost for the prestige of the US. I think Covid 19 found the US completely unprepared public health wise to deal with the problem. Maybe the focus on Covid 19 will help to remedy some of the flaws in the US Public Health system.
Peter
Member
Things are going in the right direction in my country. Less people are dying, less people get admitted to intensive care, etc. but I can't help worrying a little about what will happen in the autumn/winter. Respiratory viruses usually peak in the winter and go down in the summer. I'm sure it's not the only explanation but I wouldn't be surprised if people will have to be reminded to step it up a little after the summer.
Yozora
Moderator
Yeah, I wish people would just air their complaints about potentially problematic statues during a town hall meeting or something, but no, they decide ripping the statues down is better for some reason. Though I admit that the phenomenon of people tearing down statues has died down here somewhat, since the practically non-stop hurricanes and thunderstorms here have left a ton of people, me included, dealing with frequent long power outages during sweltering Summer weather. I've never been so thankful for air conditioning as I am after a long power outage where I had to rely on cloth/paper folding fans like people did before the invention of electricity. I know air conditioning is making climate change worse, so I try to use it as sparingly as possible, but the act of both trying to keep my food from going bad and myself from getting heat stroke means I can't stop using it entirely.Genesis said:
To make matters worse, while the schools here are going to be all online for the rest of the year, the colleges (in other words, universities for those outside the US) are all going to be in-person, mainly because in-person classes and dorm rooms make colleges way more money. They probably plan to have the college students pay tuition for in-person classes and dorm rooms, and then when COVID-19 cases start to rise and more people die, the college campuses will shut down and everything will go online again...I know a lot of colleges have been badly affected by the pandemic and this is the only way they can pay their bills, but my gosh...The number of people infected and dead because of this pandemic keeps rising here and they still want to re-open colleges?
I'm starting to wonder if this will ever end. A lot of other countries seem to have gotten the virus somewhat under control, but not the US.
Hmm, maybe it's an American thing, but I've always thought having a lot of respect for the office of the President (or the leader of whichever country one lives in, in general), without the current President in charge doing anything to earn it, sometimes comes across as slightly sycophantic. I do think that even if people disagree with the President (or anyone, really), stooping to calling him names and such instead of explaining why they disagree with him is just lowering the level of discourse. It's the job of the people to keep their leaders accountable, but name calling doesn't help things. That said, Trump trying to dismantle the US Postal Service to prevent voting by mail does give me the urge to resort to name-calling, but I won't stoop to debasing my values in that way...
I'm kind of used to the US electing leaders who become a laughing stock though, to be honest. George W. Bush, Trump, etc. Would I like the world to look to the US President as a shining example of a good leader? Yes, but the opposite happens often enough that I'm not surprised by it anymore, unfortunately...
Anyways, how is everyone doing? Have things started to change pandemic-wise where you guys are?
@Yozora I hear you. What I also hear when I listen to news reports about what the President says, is total lack of objective reporting. Like all of the reports seem to be biased against him. Initially I thought it was only CNN, which is very obviously touting the Democratic line. But this weekend I saw that on BBC as well. Their news reporter referring to news that was announced via Trump as unproven. This was not during an interview or discussion. This was in a report by an BBC reporter from Washington. I picked up on that at other stations too. Like every one now climbing on the band wagon that whatever Trump says has to be seen as suspect. Yet when they report on what any one else says there isn't the additional paraphrase - unproven - mentioned.
Trump seems to have most of the media heavily biased against him personally, rather than the Republican Party or the office of the Presidency. They rarely also refer to Trump as President. Possibly Trump has brought this on himself with doing some of the broadcasts himself instead of letting the Whitehouse handle all of the press reports, but still, this has to be worrying for the US.
To be honest, for me Biden is one of the worst candidates that the Democrats have ever offered. From a South African point of view he lied during a report where he said that he had been briefly imprisoned with Mandela in the nineties. Biden has never been apprehended by the South African Government ever before - it was a bold-faced lie. He spoke to an audience in the US during a campaign and was called out for it. For me it shows he likes to speak to his audience trying to impress them even lying to do that, instead of speaking straight to the point and speaking the truth. I don't like to discriminate against age, and believe if a person is really good at any age, that they should be given a chance, but Biden comes across not always as very capable of what he is saying - faltering over his words. Trump's ability for concentrating is always razor sharp - particularly when he takes questions from reporters, although his facts aren't always on the number. But for me Trump is the lesser of two evils. One can criticize a lot about Trump, find many faults, but one attribute that stands out above everything else is his above average ability to negotiate tough deals with other countries all in favour of the United States. He's a master negotiator and can wear his opponents down - all in the interest and favour of the US. I'd imagine your very wealthy capitalists in the US would rather bet on Trump for getting the best deals for the US internationally than the Dems - or at least I hope so. Because ironically if the US is doing well economically then the rest of the world always seem to benefit from the US doing well.
Any way. Back to Covid I guess Trump hasn't come out very good in managing Covid, but I think the main reason for it is because of how the media treats him and attacks him. Trump screwed up badly with some of the things he said, like promoting a drug that wasn't properly investigated for treating Covid to the point of saying he was taking it, but the media seem to love to take anything he says apart - including lately as referring to "unproven". They may even be distorting some of the facts to his disadvantage because they seem to have this "hate Trump" agenda.
I really hate this mob rule that is going on in the US, but also over much of the rest of the world as well. For people to talk to hooligans I cannot understand, as vandalism I always thought was a criminal act. Strange that they should be able to get away with it.
Trump seems to have most of the media heavily biased against him personally, rather than the Republican Party or the office of the Presidency. They rarely also refer to Trump as President. Possibly Trump has brought this on himself with doing some of the broadcasts himself instead of letting the Whitehouse handle all of the press reports, but still, this has to be worrying for the US.
To be honest, for me Biden is one of the worst candidates that the Democrats have ever offered. From a South African point of view he lied during a report where he said that he had been briefly imprisoned with Mandela in the nineties. Biden has never been apprehended by the South African Government ever before - it was a bold-faced lie. He spoke to an audience in the US during a campaign and was called out for it. For me it shows he likes to speak to his audience trying to impress them even lying to do that, instead of speaking straight to the point and speaking the truth. I don't like to discriminate against age, and believe if a person is really good at any age, that they should be given a chance, but Biden comes across not always as very capable of what he is saying - faltering over his words. Trump's ability for concentrating is always razor sharp - particularly when he takes questions from reporters, although his facts aren't always on the number. But for me Trump is the lesser of two evils. One can criticize a lot about Trump, find many faults, but one attribute that stands out above everything else is his above average ability to negotiate tough deals with other countries all in favour of the United States. He's a master negotiator and can wear his opponents down - all in the interest and favour of the US. I'd imagine your very wealthy capitalists in the US would rather bet on Trump for getting the best deals for the US internationally than the Dems - or at least I hope so. Because ironically if the US is doing well economically then the rest of the world always seem to benefit from the US doing well.
Any way. Back to Covid I guess Trump hasn't come out very good in managing Covid, but I think the main reason for it is because of how the media treats him and attacks him. Trump screwed up badly with some of the things he said, like promoting a drug that wasn't properly investigated for treating Covid to the point of saying he was taking it, but the media seem to love to take anything he says apart - including lately as referring to "unproven". They may even be distorting some of the facts to his disadvantage because they seem to have this "hate Trump" agenda.
I really hate this mob rule that is going on in the US, but also over much of the rest of the world as well. For people to talk to hooligans I cannot understand, as vandalism I always thought was a criminal act. Strange that they should be able to get away with it.
Yozora
Moderator
@"Genesis" Yeah, I totally agree with you about Biden. He seems like he doesn't really show much enthusiasm for the job, plus all the videos of him getting handsy with female White House guests make me sick. It reflects badly on his character to treat women and girls like objects to be fondled against their will. I think Biden will end up giving the Dems a low turnout like Hillary did, because he doesn't make many people want to vote for him, aside from the fact that he's not Trump, which is such a low bar, since any politician could fill that role. I also agree Biden also seems like he could be suffering from some age-related condition mentally, though I really wish he wasn't. It seems like the Dems wanted Biden because he's another figure tied to the Obama administration, but he has none of the charisma Obama had. I don't even agree with everything Obama did (particularly drone warfare, writing a ton of executive orders, etc), but the guy could sure give a speech.
Also, yeah, US news feels really monolithic and biased sometimes. I liked Bernie Sanders when he was running, and it was hard to find a news source which wasn't constantly bashing him. Primary season really makes see how so much of US news has the exact same views on things, and they try to create a narrative where certain politicians are bad and certain other ones are good. I wish it was easier to find unbiased news here. I once asked a right-leaning friend if there was a right-leaning US news source similar to the left-leaning site theatlantic.com (in other words, well written and researched, non-sensationalistic articles about current events) to help me expose myself to more points of view and get out of my left-leaning news bubble sometimes. He linked me to foxnews.com, which is much too sensationalistic for my tastes, and doesn't seem particularly well written or in-depth...
I suppose the closest thing I've seen to what I wanted is the US edition of the Economist, but a lot of their articles seem to be behind a paywall.
It's interesting that you mention Trump negotiating tough deals...I've mostly just heard of him annoying foreign leaders and doing things like try to buy Greenland. The recent Axios interview with Trump also made me wonder if Trump cares that people are still dying from the pandemic. He seemed more interested in making himself look good. Perhaps the media slanted their coverage of the interview unfairly though. I wish Trump wasn't constantly bashing people on Twitter, and tried to act at least a little more presidential. He's burned too many bridges with women and minorities for me to consider voting for him, but Biden is also kind of a disappointment... Sometimes I wish that the US had tons of major political parties, like I've heard some European countries have. At least that way there would be more of a choice and I wouldn't feel pressured to vote for the "lesser of two evils" all the time... There are a couple smaller parties here, but they have no chance of winning and if someone votes for them it's kind of like wasting a vote.
Yeah, it turns out that a lot of the people in my area who tore down or beheaded statues here are getting charged with "injury to a public monument", so they're not getting off that easily. A lot of the remaining confederate general statues are being put to a vote as to whether or not to demolish them, so that's good.
Also, yeah, US news feels really monolithic and biased sometimes. I liked Bernie Sanders when he was running, and it was hard to find a news source which wasn't constantly bashing him. Primary season really makes see how so much of US news has the exact same views on things, and they try to create a narrative where certain politicians are bad and certain other ones are good. I wish it was easier to find unbiased news here. I once asked a right-leaning friend if there was a right-leaning US news source similar to the left-leaning site theatlantic.com (in other words, well written and researched, non-sensationalistic articles about current events) to help me expose myself to more points of view and get out of my left-leaning news bubble sometimes. He linked me to foxnews.com, which is much too sensationalistic for my tastes, and doesn't seem particularly well written or in-depth...
I suppose the closest thing I've seen to what I wanted is the US edition of the Economist, but a lot of their articles seem to be behind a paywall.
It's interesting that you mention Trump negotiating tough deals...I've mostly just heard of him annoying foreign leaders and doing things like try to buy Greenland. The recent Axios interview with Trump also made me wonder if Trump cares that people are still dying from the pandemic. He seemed more interested in making himself look good. Perhaps the media slanted their coverage of the interview unfairly though. I wish Trump wasn't constantly bashing people on Twitter, and tried to act at least a little more presidential. He's burned too many bridges with women and minorities for me to consider voting for him, but Biden is also kind of a disappointment... Sometimes I wish that the US had tons of major political parties, like I've heard some European countries have. At least that way there would be more of a choice and I wouldn't feel pressured to vote for the "lesser of two evils" all the time... There are a couple smaller parties here, but they have no chance of winning and if someone votes for them it's kind of like wasting a vote.
Yeah, it turns out that a lot of the people in my area who tore down or beheaded statues here are getting charged with "injury to a public monument", so they're not getting off that easily. A lot of the remaining confederate general statues are being put to a vote as to whether or not to demolish them, so that's good.