Shanghai Disneyland will close in effort to contain coronavirus

because it would be great to see the Buckeyes play some college football

Recently Ohio State sent out a mass email (to alums, students and ticket holders presumably) with #iwantaseason. Asking people to social distance and wear masks so there can be a college football season. Presumably high school football as well. Could apply to favorite TV shows. Look for incentives that appeal to different groups. Virus got a lot more attention when NBA and college basketball were halted and Tom Hanks and his wife got it.

And for college kids, I would make them make a pic of their bedroom at home as the background on their phone. With a caption which reads "You will live here in the Fall if you mess it up." May be where they end up living in any event though.

Lord Gonchar said:

The Role of Cognitive Dissonance in the Pandemic

My favorite line in this was "What level of risk am I prepared to tolerate?"

Since I am of the belief that all of us that have been going back and forth here since March are, at the core, smart, intelligent, and good people - this is the question we differ on. We all seem to have similar moral values and common sense approaches to dealing with the virus. But the level of risk we are willing to tolerate or expose ourselves to is all over the spectrum. At this point we all see the facts, read the statistics and understand the science. Posting scary charts and graphs won't get me to stop going out and engaging in society as responsibly as I can, nor will being optimistic and reassuring get others to feel comfortable reentering the world at this time.

BrettV said:

My favorite line in this was "What level of risk am I prepared to tolerate?"

Since I am of the belief that all of us that have been going back and forth here since March are, at the core, smart, intelligent, and good people - this is the question we differ on.

There is another one on which folks here (and elsewhere) differ: what are my obligations to those around me?

That was exactly my thinking. There's the personal risk side, and then there's the sense of civic duty side. Regardless of how comfortable you are with potentially exposing yourself to the virus, you have to understand that, depending on what you do, you could be Patient Zero in your own little branch that winds up infecting thousands of others.

That was a great article by The Atlantic. One area where I feel I'm constantly being hit with cognitive dissonance is when I try to practice social distancing but the people around me don't. A great example of this is my neighbor. He's a great guy and a wonderful neighbor, someone who's always ready to help and is easy to talk to, but he also doesn't seem to be taking the pandemic all that seriously. So when we come across each other outside, I will approach him and then stop with plenty of distance between us, but close enough that we can easily talk to each other. He will then slowly close the gap between us until he has breached the 6-foot bubble, and it drives me crazy because for me to step back just feels so awkward and even rude, yet I know it's what I should do to adhere to the guidelines. I want to keep myself and my neighbor safe, but more often than not I succumb to the social pressure and allow the conversation to continue at too close a distance. I then find myself justifying my actions with things like, "well, he's probably not infected," or "we didn't talk for that long, and we were outside, and I tried not to speak directly at him."

What's so frustrating is that because so much of this has become politicized, I believe people view wearing a mask and/or keeping your distance as a way of signaling your political allegiances and your level of fear or anxiety. It would be so nice if we could all agree that it's simply the right thing to do and so we are going to do it together without judgement, but alas that just ain't gonna happen. It's very disheartening.

Shades said:
What is the safest way possible to coexist with the virus? I suspect that there are quite a few personal opinions as to what is deemed safest.

I am not at all interested in personal opinions on that subject.

Brian Noble said:
There is another one on which folks here (and elsewhere) differ: what are my obligations to those around me?

This is my real issue, and the thing that endlessly frustrates me. It's one thing if you want to wrestle a honey badger, or smoke, or eat at Applebee's every single day. Those are all pretty bad decisions, but none of them affect me at all. Go to it. How you behave in a global pandemic, on the other hand, absolutely affects me and my family. All of the political nonsense and macho bull**** is infuriating.

So how do you define safest? Are you in full lock down with absolute minimal outside contact? That would be safer than just wearing a mask while picking up alcohol at a store.
The problem is that one person’s “safest” is another person’s overkill.

Wear a mask indoors and maintain distance from others as much as possible. Those two things would help immensely, and if we had unequivocal bipartisan support from our political leaders for those practices, as well as nationwide acceptance, we would be so much better off than we are now and we would still be able to enjoy some semblance of normal life.

Shades said:What is the safest way possible to coexist with the virus? I suspect that there are quite a few personal opinions as to what is deemed safest.

and then later said

The problem is that one person’s “safest” is another person’s overkill.

I agree and see what you were trying to ask here. I don't think you meant opinions like "masks cause lung infections" and "this virus is a hoax" and "'Merican Freedom". I think you meant personal opinions on things like whether or not going to Disney or Universal or Cedar Point with the proper precautions or going into a grocery store or restaurant with a mask on and maintaining distance is safe enough to be an acceptable risk. Some opinions (mine_ are that it absolutely is and for many is critical for mental wellbeing. Others have the opinion that it's blasphemous for Disney to have even considered reopening, much less actually doing in while in the midst of a pandemic.

Are you sure that all of the "stay home or else" people aren't really just the "wear a mask" people? I don't encounter the former, really anywhere.

Agreed. But will that by itself bring the cases to 0? No. At this point with things getting out of control, someone’s grandma is still going to die even though the person wore a mask while going to DQ to get a blizzard.

I’m specifically picking on the word safest. Is a surgical mask and 6’ separation the safest? No. But it is deemed safe enough, even though it will still lead to cases, hospitalization, and death. Fewer than doing nothing? Sure, and we should do that. But someone’s “safe” actions are still going to lead to a death. Even if that action is something as simple and seemingly harmless as going to the ice cream stand.

My point is that everyone has a little Miami Bro in them as we are all willing to take risks even though they are deemed small and acceptable by the individual, and even society as a whole. I just hope that we are being a little more responsible than being in a pool with 300 other people getting our mojo on.

Jeff said:

Are you sure that all of the "stay home or else" people aren't really just the "wear a mask" people? I don't encounter the former, really anywhere.

I consider myself a part of the "wear the mask" people. The former co worker that posted on social media today "f**k Disney for opening and f**k all of the a**holes who are going" and the comments on the Orlando Foodie Facebook group when someone asked what the best Sunday brunch still open was that included telling them they deserved to die for considering going to brunch I consider the "stay home or else" people.

Both extremes (Stay at Home or else and 'Merican Freedom) are frightening and a scary level of angry.

Agreed. They're the reason we can't have nice things.

Does anyone have any real sense of what happens medically to people who recover from Covid-19, statistically? I've seen all kinds of stuff on Facebook, of which I'm extremely skeptical, but it also can't just be the case that you're either dead or fine.

Well Chuck Woolery says....

While anecdotal, the stories from people I know seem to align with some of the articles that talk about a lot of long-term recovery. Some have had decreased lung function, another has had headaches ever since. It's a small pool of people, but none have been "fine" since they were sick. It doesn't seem like a lot of fun.

There is a lot of info out there beyond what anyone has heard from people they know who had the virus. A lot of it is preliminary at this point (long term effects are tough to know for something that no one had more than several months ago). A lot of room between fine and death. And in many ways virus is more of a challenge because of that. Certain illnesses present themselves in a much more narrow range and symptoms for other illnesses are more distinct.

https://covid.joinzoe.com/us

https://www.vox.com/2020/5/8/21251899/coronavirus-long-term-effects-symptoms

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2020/06/covid-19-coronav...hs/612679/

https://www.sltrib.com/news/2020/06/20/coronavirus-treatments/

https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/news/2020/looking-forward-understanding-l...s-covid-19

Thanks for that. Some intersting stuff in the Atlantic article.

Just read that Hong Kong Disney is closing again this week due to 41 new cases in Hong Kong.

Wow. Also a deep dive into the herd immunity idea which clarified a lot for me. Some good news (herd immunity could be as low as 20% in smarter places) and some bad news (if we’re dumb, it won’t be). Worth reading.

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2020/07/herd-immunity-co...us/614035/

This is timely, and sounds pretty terrible:

https://arstechnica.com/science/2020/07/two-months-after-infection-...s-persist/