New Desperation Morale Blog Post

Robin Reeve

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I think this just shows the two camps of response to this virus

Some people are very frightened, and are still in hiding or taking precautions.

Some people are very over the quarantine, and are now, “ back to normal.”
You significantly categorize people along emotional states.
Which in itself removes us from the scientific evaluation level.
This crisis shows that some people - even among the highest placed in the political realm - have rejected science and promote "common sense" to overcome their ignorance and to reject whatever medical science could state.

I think that there are, on one hand, people who are cautious, because they take the advice of scientists seriously.
They wear masks when proximity could generate infection.
Among them all the doctors and nurses - and many other professionals - who are dealing with ill persons.
And of course people using buses, planes, trains, etc.
And people who, like me, would be neatly killed by the virus, because they have diabetes, hypertension, coronarian and heart problems...
Is that "fear" ?
No, it is being reasonably cautious.
It is not "hiding", as wearing a mask allows to be with other people rather than stay at home.

Among people who won't wear masks, you have diverse people.
You have reasonable people, who know that in open air, when in wide spaces, they can avoid wearing a mask, because it is useless.
That is taking science seriously too.
So, wearing a mask or not can be decided when one is informed by what scientific research has understood.

And you have people who have "decided" against scientific data, that they "feel it is ok" never to wear masks.
Who don't listen to doctors' advice, who think that this question is about "gut feeling", not about the scientific observation of a virus.
In a totally self centered way, they don't give a damn about the fact that they could be infected without symptoms and could be contagious : killing fragile people doesn't cross their mind (or they are in a Darwinian profile, where having the elderly and weak wiped out works for the profit of the Uebermenschen).
Some people "feel" that a given molecule will heal them or prevent the disease, even when no scientific verification can say if it has any useful effect.
"Common sense" is, in the domain of evaluating facts, nonsensical.
Quite like Flat Earth supporters who "believe" that our planet is flat, because their senses tell them that it cannot be spheroidal.
Typically, conspirationism (e.g. all scientists are part of a plot to lie to the world) thrives in such worldviews.

Last words : the masks are not dangerous at all.
Unless we believe that all the doctors, cops, bus drivers are dying or being deeply impacted in their health while they wear masks day after day.
So warning against wearing masks is placing people in harm's way.
 
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Whiskers1123

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Insulting political post
It's real simple. All the Liberal Hacks want the country to stay closed down hoping that it will hurt President Trumps re-election effort. It's been proven by insiders talking that half of the Deaths associated with the China Virus are fake. The people died of other things and the China Virus was used as the cause of death because they get paid for it. So if that's the case the Flu has killed more people then this did and the hole thing is a scam to try to destroy the economy and President Trump. I haven't see, met or known anyone that had or has it or died from it.
It's funny that we don't do this every year with all the Flu deaths which are like 60,000 a year. That's it. All you Liberal Hacks have at it!
 

Pitman

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And this, ladies and gentlemen, is why people die: because of wilful ignorance generated by self-blinding partisanship. The virus, however, does not distinguish based on party or ideology or candidate. And believing conspiracy theories and rumor and self-serving "common sense" over the medical and scientific consensus only results in more people getting sick and more people dying.

US Covid-19 deaths are accumulating at a pretty steady rate and currently stand at over 117,000. No amount of ideological wishing and puffing can bring those people back. But it can sure add to the total.
 

Michael Dorosh

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Bump to keep this issue in mind. Should not have ASLOK this year, alas.
Yeah, cuz there's practically nothing on the news 24/7 about this.

Maybe we need an awareness ribbon for ASL related disease:

13776
 

CTKnudsen

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I'm pretty disheartened by all those who just think it's a nothingburger. There's data that areas hard hit are seeing overall mortality at twice normal or more. Why would you run the risk, even if mortality is less than 2%? I don't want my family members or anybody to die unnecessarily from something that is controllable. If wearing a mask and following social distancing is what I gotta do to keep my loved ones safe, why wouldn't I do that? And since I have family members that are essential workers, I hope that others do it too, so that some person who thinks they're invulnerable doesn't come in and infect them. And I get that it's hard on the economy, but that's (theoretically) why we have governments, to get us through stuff like this.

Anyways, I guess we will just have to be satisfied with VASL tourneys until this runs it's course. It's not as fun, but c'est la vie. I'm not going to potentially put my family's (or others) lives at risk if I don't have to.
 

TopT

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I'm pretty disheartened by all those who just think it's a nothingburger. There's data that areas hard hit are seeing overall mortality at twice normal or more. Why would you run the risk, even if mortality is less than 2%? I don't want my family members or anybody to die unnecessarily from something that is controllable. If wearing a mask and following social distancing is what I gotta do to keep my loved ones safe, why wouldn't I do that? And since I have family members that are essential workers, I hope that others do it too, so that some person who thinks they're invulnerable doesn't come in and infect them. And I get that it's hard on the economy, but that's (theoretically) why we have governments, to get us through stuff like this.

Anyways, I guess we will just have to be satisfied with VASL tourneys until this runs it's course. It's not as fun, but c'est la vie. I'm not going to potentially put my family's (or others) lives at risk if I don't have to.
My exact thoughts. It doesn't help that I am pre-diabetic & have stage 3 CKD. I won't be attending any ASL events this year or for the near future.
 

Mister T

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  • Looking at either new cases or new deaths, data is on a decreasing trend in Ohio;
  • The trend occurs despite the fact that personal mobility is again on the increase due to de-confinement; all of this points to an improvement of the situation. The improvement needs confirmation; however looking at how things have evolved in Europe (borders are reopening with a few exceptions), we can be reasonably optimistic, at least until the cold season;
  • Ohio is only #36 or so in terms of cases per 1M among US States;
  • Within Ohio, Cuyahoga county is #2 in terms of the absolute number of cases but since it has a large population, the county ranks fairly low in terms again of relative frequency;
  • therefore while i would not bet my shirt on any event taking place in December, it is possible (not certain) that conditions are favorable for ASLOK. Therefore it is impossible to rule out the organisation of the event now. Anyway no one forces anyone to attend.
 

Pitman

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You are going to have to explain in words of one syllable to me how "it is possible that conditions are favorable" for an event that would bring people from around the US and beyond, put them together in the close confines of a small hotel meeting room, make them sit directly opposite individuals at triple point blank range for hours at a time while they breathe on each other and touch each other's game pieces, and keep them in that situation for more than a week.

I'm pretty sure the only way you could make things worse is if you added a Naked Twister mini or a French Kissing competition.
 

Sparafucil3

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You are going to have to explain in words of one syllable to me how "it is possible that conditions are favorable" for an event that would bring people from around the US and beyond, put them together in the close confines of a small hotel meeting room, make them sit directly opposite individuals at triple point blank range for hours at a time while they breathe on each other and touch each other's game pieces, and keep them in that situation for more than a week.

I'm pretty sure the only way you could make things worse is if you added a Naked Twister mini or a French Kissing competition.
Setting aside everything else, for me to come home this week for my daughter's wedding, I will be spending two weeks in quarantine before I am even allowed to spend time with my family. As it stands right now, coming back to Germany will require a further two weeks of quarantine. That's 4 weeks of quarantine for 1 week spent with my family. Were it anything other than her wedding, I would not go and I love my daughters more than anything. I don't care what the numbers say, the logistics and costs of two weeks in a hotel to quarantine and 4 weeks of paid time off on top of 1 week of ASL does not make ASLOk practical to me no matter how much I would love to attend. That's before we begin to even talk about how smart (or dumb) it is to get people together in the enclosed confines of a hotel room. Sadly, I will be passing on ASLOk unless the quarantine goes away. Even if that happens, I want to see a lot of improvement there in the US before I take my chances. I wish everyone the best of luck. -- jim
 

asloser

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Setting aside everything else, for me to come home this week for my daughter's wedding, I will be spending two weeks in quarantine before I am even allowed to spend time with my family. As it stands right now, coming back to Germany will require a further two weeks of quarantine. That's 4 weeks of quarantine for 1 week spent with my family. Were it anything other than her wedding, I would not go and I love my daughters more than anything. I don't care what the numbers say, the logistics and costs of two weeks in a hotel to quarantine and 4 weeks of paid time off on top of 1 week of ASL does not make ASLOk practical to me no matter how much I would love to attend. That's before we begin to even talk about how smart (or dumb) it is to get people together in the enclosed confines of a hotel room. Sadly, I will be passing on ASLOk unless the quarantine goes away. Even if that happens, I want to see a lot of improvement there in the US before I take my chances. I wish everyone the best of luck. -- jim
To me this sums up perfectly the way it is from European point of view. I am planning for ASLOK 2021.
 

phlegm027

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It’s like when I was a kid and somebody got the chicken pox or German Measles. Everybody went to that kids house to get the disease.

but it won’t be like that. ASLers are the most germophobic high risk people I can Think of.
i’
 

Mister T

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You are going to have to explain in words of one syllable to me how "it is possible that conditions are favorable" for an event that would bring people from around the US and beyond, put them together in the close confines of a small hotel meeting room, make them sit directly opposite individuals at triple point blank range for hours at a time while they breathe on each other and touch each other's game pieces, and keep them in that situation for more than a week.
You see, Sparafucil during his flight home...

...will stay during eight hours (more than the average ASL game)...
...in a confined space... (while the ASLOK ballroom is fairly large)...
...shoulder-to-shoulder... (much closer than during a game)...
...to a complete stranger (while only the most resilient people will attend ASLOK this year)...
...and he is going to do it now (not in late September)

Some people are really risk-taker, much more than me ;)

But it is their choice and it should be respected as long as they are abiding by the law/rules.
 

Robin Reeve

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People knew that it was better for a kid to
It’s like when I was a kid and somebody got the chicken pox or German Measles. Everybody went to that kids house to get the disease.
The reason was that we know that it is better to catch those diseases when a child than as a grown up.
The present virus is far more dangerous and the ASL crowd is mainly made of at risk categories.
Many are overweight and not young : this often is accompanied by diabetes, high blood pressure and possible cardio-coronarian fragilities (I got the yahtzee here, and my cardologist warned me about the great risk that I would run catching that bug)...
 

Mister T

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It all boils down to the fact that ASL live tournaments and meetings are optional leisure activities. No point in risking yourselves and family just for a game.
By the way, cats might catch COVID. While transmission to humans seems to be unlikely, since you want to be on the safe side, you know what to do ?:D
 

Sparafucil3

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You see, Sparafucil during his flight home...

...will stay during eight hours (more than the average ASL game)...
...in a confined space... (while the ASLOK ballroom is fairly large)...
...shoulder-to-shoulder... (much closer than during a game)...
...to a complete stranger (while only the most resilient people will attend ASLOK this year)...
...and he is going to do it now (not in late September)

Some people are really risk-taker, much more than me ;)

But it is their choice and it should be respected as long as they are abiding by the law/rules.
See, I will be in a row of two seats, sitting next to my wife with an aisle next to me creating space between me and strangers. I also splurged to sit up front, reducing the number of people around me and my wife. I am doing the best I can. I can't take the money with me so why not go in style? Were it not my daughter's wedding, I wouldn't be going. If you had a daughter, you would know what I mean. Besides, she is the one who decides which home I get put in when my mind turns to mush and I set in a chair blowing spit bubbles. It's really an investment in the future going home now ;) -- jim
 
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Actionjick

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See, I will be in a row of two seats, sitting next to my wife with an aisle next to me creating space between me and strangers. I also splurged to sit up front, reducing the number of people around me and my wife. I am doing the best I can. I can't take the money with me so why not go in style? Were it not my daughter's wedding, I wouldn't be going. If you had a daughter, you would know what I mean. Besides, she is the one who decided which home I get put in when my mind turns to mush and I set in a chair blowing spit bubbles. It's really an investment in the future going home now ;) -- jim
Forethought and planning, hallmarks of the human race! Make sure she finds you a facility with rocking chairs, good exercise for us old farts.
Hope you and your wife have a safe journey and enjoy the wedding!
 

TopT

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But it is their choice and it should be respected as long as they are abiding by the law/rules.
If they hold the event and people go, that is their choice. No problem from me.

However at the moment, is it the wisest choice...? I really wanted to attend this year but the way I roll dice, I can see boxcars way down the line. It is not even close to being a wise decision (for me). We (USA) are in the midst of another spike in cases, in about two dozen states, so who even knows what the future will bring.
 

von Marwitz

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It’s like when I was a kid and somebody got the chicken pox or German Measles. Everybody went to that kids house to get the disease.
We have to be careful here not to confuse chicken pox, measles, and rubella (='German measles').

Before there was a vaccine against chicken pox, indeed sometimes healthy kids were made to visit another kid which was infected with chicken pox with the intention to get the healthy kids infected. The reason for this was that infections with chicken pox were not serious for kids but could be serious if caught when grown up.

I am not sure, if there was a similar tactic for rubella and do not think this path was ever followed for measles. My aunt died of measles at the age of two, which she caught in an overcrowded bunker while the British and Americans area bombed civilian residential areas. Without a vaccine against measels, exposing kids to this disease can be very dangerous.

Anyway, with the advent of a vaccine against chicken pox, sending kids to another kid being infected with chicken pox made no sense any more. You remembering it tells us, however, something about your age. You have been a kid before or shortly after a vaccine against chicken pox became available.

Cheers,
von Marwitz
 
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