San Bernardino County COVID-19 cases by location

[tcaarabians]

Cheapskate:  If you think about it - we don't have to disprove a negative.  It's the positives that are killing us.

As of Jan. 2, 2021:

California has 5952 cases per 100k.
Utah has 8581 cases per 100k.
Idaho has 7787 cases per 100k

I'm not sure that demonstrates their 'anything goes' is working all that well.  Those numbers are as of today.  Idaho has fewer people than San Bernardino County and Utah has around .7 million more.  Their density is 19.8 & 35.8 people per sq mile and their rates are still higher than ours.

The closures save lives and kill businesses.  Folks were human over the holidays. After these long months of social distancing - they cut loose too much.  From my perspective, the closures are an attempt to balance hospital and ICU use.   As stark as it was - I loved "No Country for Old Men."    The problem is that people are not following the rule.  There must be another quote from that film that would make your point.  I do think that the closures help.  I don't think my opinion on the matter is more valid than yours.

[Joe Schmoe]

Fact is that all these tough guy anti-maskers aren't tough enough to wear one, and aren't tough enough to not hang out with people.  They break down and cave in.  It's looking more and more realistic that the vaccine in combination post-infection immunity will be the only way out.  All levels of government will need to get tough.  No vaccine? Then no interstate travel, no driver's license renewal, no admission to schools, and so on.  Fake "freedom" wierdos aren't going to come along quietly or voluntarily.

[Cheapskate]

KW -- Are you talking about restaurants in WW? I generally eat out in Phelan, and all the restaurants I frequented there are take out only or drive through, although I admit there might be shenanigans I am unaware of. Your experience in Stater Bros is different than mine, I see pretty good mask compliance there. Perhaps I am "part of the problem", I'll own that, but on the other hand I live alone and have been made to work from home so my social contact starting in March has been cut by over 90%. Furthermore, masks are worn in airports and distance is maintained except when actually on the plane, so I don't see the problem. (unless masks aren't nearly effective as we've been led to believe...)

tcarabians -- there endless ways that case and death statistics can be examined. Consider this one:

CA: 2,393,000 cases with 26,533 deaths. That means 98.89% survival, and 672 deaths per 1 million of population. Similar calculations show
ID: 98.98% survival, 810 deaths/1M
UT: 99.54% survival, 404 deaths/1M
County of San Bernardino: 99.29% survival, 657 deaths/1M

Like our county, UT and ID have a few population centers and many small towns separated by lots of space. Completely different approaches to schools and small businesses, yet very similar outcomes.

Joe -- I haven't seen a lot of "freedom weirdos". Like CA, businesses in UT and ID overwhelmingly require masks to enter and people comply at least as well as they do here (one restaurant in UT required us to use hand sanitizer and took our temperature). As for more restrictions, maybe President Biden will change air travel (if governors have the power, not one has chosen to do so) and maybe this vaccine will become mandatory for many things as it becomes more widely available. We'll all have to see what the future brings.

[tcaarabians]

Cheapskate:   I agree that statistics can be looked at from a variety of perspectives.  I can't count the times I've heard the almost 99 percent survival rate raised and usually in a way that dismisses the seriousness of this disease.  One percent of 330 million is a lot of deaths.  It's a lot of families that have lost a loved one.  It's what is happening in our hospitals now.  With luck and better logistics - the vaccine is going to make a difference.  It's going to save us and ultimately our economy.

I give greater weight to lives and families than I do to businesses.  None of us can hang our hat on one approach over another until all is said and done.  When all the deaths and hospitalizations can be tallied - then we can look at the cold numbers and say "I told you so."  Until then, I'm going to follow the science and support the best efforts of our health officials that order businesses closed or curtailed.  I will also support federal monies to help businesses stay afloat.  I'd really like to see better controls than Treasury has employed to date on those disbursements. Ditto CA unemployment benefits.

I hope I'm not so arrogant as to dismiss the real pain many are going through on the economic front.  If we're going to analyze outcomes of one approach over another - we're going to have to add in the costs for hospitalizations and the long term health impacts to many that are recovering.  We're just beginning to get a grasp of what those may be.

I see most in Stater's wearing masks.  There was a fellow at the meat counter a week past that wasn't wearing his mask.  I turned to him and said "Darlin' - you gotta put on your mask."  Maybe it's because I'm tall... maybe it's because I have a lot of gray hair .. he did it and didn't argue.   Until this is over or at least controlled - I'm going to keep doing that.. all friendly like with a smile.

[Joe Schmoe]

Joe -- I haven't seen a lot of "freedom weirdos".

I see them all the time.  They're all over the internet, they're all over the news, there are entire organizations dedicated to amplifying their toxic voices.  Even the internet itself serves the purpose of giving a megaphone to these weirdos.  They put on a mask only to go to the places that insist on masks, and then take it off and gather together in multi-household groups and spread it around.  You nailed the point about air travel.  The number of people on planes, and the fact that non-essential air travel hasn't been shut down is amazing.  I'm all for getting out, but do so in your own car, with your own household members, and keep a mask on when you're at your destination. 

[Ultimate Internet Access]

I see them all the time.  They're all over the internet, they're all over the news, there are entire organizations dedicated to amplifying their toxic voices.  Even the internet itself serves the purpose of giving a megaphone to these weirdos.  They put on a mask only to go to the places that insist on masks, and then take it off and gather together in multi-household groups and spread it around.  You nailed the point about air travel.  The number of people on planes, and the fact that non-essential air travel hasn't been shut down is amazing.  I'm all for getting out, but do so in your own car, with your own household members, and keep a mask on when you're at your destination.

Number one rule for handling a crisis: Tell the truth, bluntly.

If you don't - then you get what we got:
California and LA is the worst Covid outbreak in the world - probably not exactly true since communist Countries have a habit of lying about bad news, but certainly true for the United States.

No spread occurred from the Thanksgiving Holiday from air travel directly. - Banning it would do zero.
We do know that there are hardly any cases coming from outdoor restaurants - yet they are closed down. A NY study puts it at 3% banning it has done and will do zero.
We know that 74% of the cases are coming from households - this would include the non weirdo households and weirdo households
We know that 86% of the fatalities are in 65+ year olds and with underlying conditions.- Yet we are giving the vaccine that is in short supply to 25 year old health care workers first with some even already have had Covid.
Florida is not doing it this way for example, they are prioritizing the vaccine distribution based on who is vulnerable and working down the line - nice to see.

Regards,

--Wes






 

[Ultimate Internet Access]

I give greater weight to lives and families than I do to businesses.

I don't think of it as mutually exclusive. Businesses are families. They often support several generations of families in fact.
Things would be a lot different if politicians and teachers did not get paid during this pandemic.

Regards,

--Wes

[KW]

Teachers, seriously? They are doing everything they can to help our kids learn during the most stressful time imaginable. I've done remote kindergarten with my grandson. Many teachers had to learn new technology. They all had to revise lessons, change schedules, and are continuing to adapt to distance learning.

Why would you lump teachers with politicians? I'm trying not to get too involved in this discussion, but why be hurtful to teachers that are trying so hard? They miss their kids and classrooms just as much as the kids miss school.

[Joe Schmoe]

Number one rule for handling a crisis: Tell the truth, bluntly.

If you don't - then you get what we got:
California and LA is the worst Covid outbreak in the world - probably not exactly true since communist Countries have a habit of lying about bad news, but certainly true for the United States.

No spread occurred from the Thanksgiving Holiday from air travel directly. - Banning it would do zero.
We do know that there are hardly any cases coming from outdoor restaurants - yet they are closed down. A NY study puts it at 3% banning it has done and will do zero.
We know that 74% of the cases are coming from households - this would include the non weirdo households and weirdo households
We know that 86% of the fatalities are in 65+ year olds and with underlying conditions.- Yet we are giving the vaccine that is in short supply to 25 year old health care workers first with some even already have had Covid.
Florida is not doing it this way for example, they are prioritizing the vaccine distribution based on who is vulnerable and working down the line - nice to see.

Regards,

--Wes

And here we have 2020.  To say that no increased transmission occurred due to holiday travel...which inherently puts people in places where they weren't before, near people they weren't near before is, bluntly, absurd and contrary to all common sense.  RE: kooks (you can lump apathetics in here too) vs. non-kook households, given how the virus spreads, common sense tells us that the transmission rate will be higher among the anti-mask kooks...and at a higher rate to adjacent people they come in contact with.  RE: underlying conditions, what percentage of citizens have underlying conditions of any kind?  What is considered an underlying condition?  Both of those are rhetorical.  The real question is are we all aware of how easy it is to play games with statistics in the everybody-is-lying era?

In summary, I'm blissfully comfortable rejecting your carefully crafted response because, in the everyone-is-lying era, I'm far more trusting in my common sense views on the realities of how airborne viruses are transmitted.  I've skipped birthdays, thanksgiving, christmas and have visited my elderly mother only a handful of times and only when I had to.  And I'll keep it up until my family members have received both doses of the vaccine. 

PS.  Actually, there is one item I agree with - the vaccination of people who have already received repeated, trustworthy, positive COVID tests (the kind of tests that aren't possibly falsified in everybody-is-lying era).  Those folks, regardless of circumstances, should be lumped in with the general public.

[tcaarabians]

We're not the worst in California - but we're right up there.   Here's a great link to the Mayo Clinic's data compilation:

https://www.mayoclinic.org/coronavirus-covid-19/map

[tcaarabians]

Here's a link to the worldometer for Covid cases:

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

[Agape_is_love]

As we begin in 2021, we need to leave people alone to make their own decisions. We have seen a  rise in suicide and depression over a virus with a 99% survival rate. I stopped following or believing all these numbers a long time ago when I realized that our best interest was not a priority to our state officials. My family refused to let this be the new "normal" early on, and it has. been the best decision for our family. We visit our elderly family members weekly because they don't want to be isolated from others and need human contact. My family went back to in person church services in May with no mask or social distancing and have remained healthy the entire time. I look forward to the day when random folks stop giving us unsolicited advice on what we should or shouldn't do to stay healthy.  To each his own 

[KW]

Agape, I'm sincerely happy that you've all stayed healthy. And of course everyone will do their own thing, with many of those still not realizing that they can look healthy and may be infecting others who aren't so lucky. This is not advice to change, but I certainly hope your luck continues because the people you come into contact with may not be so lucky. And you may never know who those people are, how sick they got, or if they died. That's the main reason I'm careful, I don't want my actions to hurt someone else. I personally know two people who have passed from this, and others with lingering symptoms. I continue to wonder if folks who do their own thing will change their behavior if someone close to them gets sick. Although I did read about a restaurant owner who's father passed from Covid, and the son said his dad would be proud of him for staying open. Too bad the dad can't speak for himself anymore. Stay well.

[Nolena]

I have severe lung damage from my former career as a firefighter. I manage it as best I can, exercising to keep my remaining lung tissue healthy. I don't go into the post office, and only go to Jensen's on senior hour on Mondays, to maintain as much social distancing as I can. I always have a mask with me, and I am appreciative of others who mask up, so that I can stay alive and healthy. It's not fun for me to be this isolated, and I am not trying to impose my will on anyone else, but others, also, should not assume that others are so healthy that no care needs to be taken. My husband died of his firefighting-caused lung disease, even before the pandemic. We need to care for each other. Err on the side of caution.

[Ultimate Internet Access]

And here we have 2020.  To say that no increased transmission occurred due to holiday travel...which inherently puts people in places where they weren't before, near people they weren't near before is, bluntly, absurd and contrary to all common sense. 

I do agree with your statement, but to clarify, I meant that there weren't any cases, (I'm sure there were a few but nothing significant) from Air Travel itself, getting it while on the plane in other words. So banning air travel and leaving it up to just essential businesses will not work. Banning businesses just hasn't worked.

We in a free society should not sanction things that simply don't work or aren't working - No air travel for example, shutting down outdoor dining in every County in California. Well.. except the French Laundry of course.

I did travel on Thanksgiving and I think we all did the common sense things, getting tested before we went, keeping the family members to just that, 7 people. We flew right back.
Everyone got tested, we went and no one got it while we were there or since. Did we take a chance, yes. The risk was acceptable for everyone there - maybe we just got lucky, but I go by the numbers and try to reduce the risk.

I believe the mask and social distancing works. It did for us.

Regards,

--Wes

[Ultimate Internet Access]

I have severe lung damage from my former career as a firefighter. I manage it as best I can, exercising to keep my remaining lung tissue healthy. I don't go into the post office, and only go to Jensen's on senior hour on Mondays, to maintain as much social distancing as I can. I always have a mask with me, and I am appreciative of others who mask up, so that I can stay alive and healthy. It's not fun for me to be this isolated, and I am not trying to impose my will on anyone else, but others, also, should not assume that others are so healthy that no care needs to be taken. My husband died of his firefighting-caused lung disease, even before the pandemic. We need to care for each other. Err on the side of caution.

Yes.

You should get the vaccine now - you're the one that needs it. It is the smart thing for us to do.

Regards,

--Wes

[Ultimate Internet Access]

In summary, I'm blissfully comfortable rejecting your carefully crafted response because

I appreciate that actually as I am not the worlds greatest writer. It is incredibly easy to miscommunicate.

Regards,

--Wes

[tcaarabians]

Arrowhead is in the news this morning.  They're setting up in the parking lot and stretched about as far as they can stretch.   St. Mary's made the national news last week.  The case rate is escalating in our little Tri-Community.  Those are the numbers I'm going by.

[Nolena]

Yes.

You should get the vaccine now - you're the one that needs it. It is the smart thing for us to do.

Regards,

--Wes

No, first responders and medical personnel should get the vaccine first. I can stay home.

[Wrightwood]

January 6, 2021 Update
The County Update will publish once a week on Wednesdays, and also as needed, in order to share important news and resources in our battle against COVID-19 and to keep our economy running. We remain here for you. #SBCountyTogether

Daily Stats
214,813 Confirmed Cases         (up 0.7% from the previous day)
1,454 Deaths                               (up 0.3% from the previous day)                       
1,756,012 Tests                           (up 0.3% from the previous day)
 
Current Southern California ICU Capacity: 0% (Goal to lift State Stay-at-Home Order: 15%)

Note: These stats are included in emails from SB County
http://wp.sbcounty.gov/cao/countywire/