Chips&Dipo

It is also about not wanting to shut down the country again. If infection rates continue to go up, states will shut back down. The jobs that have been recovered will be lost again, those that are still without work will be without work for longer, and all that sacrifice earlier this year will be for nothing.

https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/patient-flow/covid-19-and-hospital-capacity-5-key-updates-out-of-florida-texas-california-and-arizona.html

We can certainly disagree on points and I am open to dialogue, but what you are mentioning has nothing to do with the current administration notifying the Hill that the US is pulling out of WHO nor the perceived decline in the US's influence and respect in the world with our Allies and potential allies.

We have been isolating and pushing away many of our real allies (Europe mainly, but Canada and parts of Asia as well) for the past four years in favor of more aggressive foreign policy (Chinese tariffs, threats to EU, pulling out of several international treaties). Some people see this as us not putting up with foreign influence, to at one end I understand, but I see it as us lessening our ability to influence international policy to the point where many of our traditional allies openly mock us and go out of their way to say they don't agree and won't be following our lead. WHO definitely dropped the ball and deserves criticism, but we should be using our power and money to fix the system - not create a GIGANTIC opening for other rich and powerful countries (China) to fill in a dictate international influence. We are seeing this exact same issue in other places in the world (Africa and South America) where our inaction and isolationist policies have created an opening for an authoritarian government (again, China) to come in and create influence. Foreign policy in the 21st century is not and cannot be the same as it was in the 20th. Bombing countries only works so much and it doesn't lead to long term peace and prosperity. Sorry for the soapbox. Also want to be clear, I am talking about governments, not people.

They interviewed someone from the Harvard Global Institute and basically said as much. They continuously update the map based on the numbers, which is why it is a useful tool (in my opinion).

https://globalepidemics.org/key-metrics-for-covid-suppression/ This came up on NPR this morning. Thought it would was a good tool. I don't understand why we didn't have something like this when we first started opening up (similar to terror alert after 9/11, which to me is way more difficult to pinpoint). *Note that it looks like the map has crashed, but hopefully is up soon. Here is a link to the NPR story which has a picture of the map.

I have said before, by my wife works in health care and is tested somewhat regularly. She tests negative. I believe that in Indiana they are going to start requiring regular testing at long term care facilities for residents and employees soon and that requirement will slowly make its way to other healthcare facilities too (though most are already testing pretty regularly at this point.)

I also have a lot of friends who are physicians and actually had dinner with three of them on Monday. Two of them are docs in Chicago and one in Indy. Here are some things that they said: 1. Socially distancing was and is the most effective way to prevent spread until we figure this thing out. They really harped on the fact we still don't know a lot about it, because it can be deadly for people (mostly people in high risk groups) in a number of ways. 2. Second spike is likely given the lax attitude people have been having and the protests. They are afraid that the genie will be hard to get back in the bottle when we get hit again. The two Chicago friends are especially nervous because they will be moving to New York next week for their new jobs. They are also really worried because if/when we get a second spike that means it will be COVID season, flu season (which also really stinks for medical folks), and likely another COVID. Side note - The Chicago friends were supposed to get married two weeks ago and I was to officiate. 3. Kids seem to be carriers. The Indy doctor works at Riley. She said that while she didn't treat any kids for COVID - she did have patients that ended up having it, not show symptoms, and it appears that they spread it to family members. That being said, they think schools need to open back up in some capacity with social distancing. The benefit of the social distancing is grossly outweighed by the poor education some students have received. I was told that this really shows the gap in socioecomic status for some kids and how it effects their education. Contribution from a teacher friend who was also there. We also touched on how some parts of the state and country don't have internet and you can't just say "e-learning!". Other points: Regarding Methodist - my neighbor is a Hospitalist at Methodist and she said that things are a LOT better, but she was telling us some horror stories back in April. She agrees that things should open back up, but also believes that this has been around since January (something I have been hearing a lot). Echos that a second spike is likely. From my perspective - I am an attorney for IU Health and things are starting to look more "normal" from a work perspective. Our COVID task force disbanded about three weeks ago and we will start allowing more visitation next week. That being said, we are anticipating a second wave and have really thought about how we will open back up. We are slowly allowing for more elective surgeries because we don't want to use all of our PPE and it looks like I will be working from home until further notice. Bonus from the Riley doctor - apparently kids have been eating more magnets lately? Surprisingly, that is extremely dangerous. For those with small kids - keep an eye out.

They had one Level 1 allegation. Kansas has FIVE Level 1 allegations.

We live in Hamilton County and my wife works with the elderly population. We are younger - so the likelihood of us catching it, not showing any symptoms, and her going into work and causing an outbreak is a lot higher. We are trying to engage with our local businesses and continue living, but are doing our best to be responsible given our situation. We are fine being in outdoor areas and have continued to get carry out from our favorite spots.

Went to an outdoor beer garden last week (still hesitant on eating inside of a restaurant). That was one of the finest beers I have ever had in my life.

I will be working from home for the time being. Was finally allowed back into the office to get my monitors and equipment to set up in my home office. Needless to say, the dual monitor setup is BACK!

I thought this was really touching. I think seeing how close our team is now (especially compared to past years), bodes well for the future. I am not trying to tailspin this topic to anything that can result in divisive bantering between folks.