The Great Toilet Paper Rush of 2020

[Dweller_Benthos]

I know a few people who are off w0#k like my niece, since she works in a restaurant, has been out since March. She was paid by her employer for the first few weeks I think, then got unemployment. She didn't mention having difficulty getting it, so I didn't question her on it. She's just bored out of her mind now, with nothing to do for three months. I don't know what's going on in Kentucky, but the conditions you describe don't surprise me, but I really shouldn't pre-judge what goes on in Kentucky.   

As for the testing bit, I was thinking more of the political reasons for not testing, and everything else was the same, again, for the sake of argument. So both regions, have similar population, similar infection rates, similar response, but one tests more than the other. Testing more would seem to infer that you're going to find more cases, maybe not, I don't know. So if someplace decides not to do a lot of testing, they find less cases, and say "Hey, we're doing great!" when they are really not, and all for political reasons.

And, if only things were decided on medical or scientific reasons and not political ones, but that won't happen.

[fragger]

I didn't think that the entire country could be suffering from a lack of access to welfare or aid. I'm glad your niece didn't have any probs, D_B. At least it doesn't sound like she did. Being on the other side of the globe as I am I can't know the whole situation nationwide in the US, but I do know there are people in a number of places who are having terrible trouble getting access to unemployment benefits.

On the home front, the situation in Victoria has gotten worse. There are now 75 new cases of COVID-19 there, all in Melbourne, and all community transmissions. Lockdowns have had to be re-imposed in hotspot suburbs and the NSW government did after all go ahead and impose a travel ban on Victorians wishing to enter this state.

I had a feeling there would be trouble down there. I remember seeing a video a few weeks ago when restrictions first began to be eased. On the very first day of reopening some businesses, there was a news clip of a Melbourne suburban shopping mall which showed crowds of people who seemed to think it was all over and they could go straight back to doing their usual things without social distancing or wearing masks or anything. They were hundreds of them, all on top of each other, and I thought, "Geez you lot, it's not over just like that, you know!" And as it turns out, that very mall is now in the middle of one of those infection hotspots. So I'm not entirely surprised that the virus has reared its head again there. People's capacity for bullheadedness astounds me sometimes.

I've driven down to Melbourne a few times over the years and each time I go, my belief is reaffirmed that Melbourne produces the worst drivers in the country - especially on the freeways, it's like Rollerball And if that represents any kind of cross-section of Melbournian mindsets, then as I said, a fresh outbreak down there doesn't surprise me much. There aren't really any genuinely bitter state rivalries here, but there is interstate piss-taking, like "I spent a fortnight in Melbourne one weekend" and that sort of thing. We in NSW have long thought that our southern neighbours hover at about 95% on the rationality meter.

[Art Blade]

many, too many, people act as if it was over only to find themselves in the centre of a hotspot sooner or later. Plain stupid and a danger to everyone else.

[Dweller_Benthos]

Sound like your Victoria is our Texas! I haven't seen what they are doing down there but they are topping the infection rates now, when here in New York they are still going down last I checked, but we are being very cautious since we were at the top of the list for so long (thanks to New York City mostly, but still). Shopping malls are still not open here as far as I know, they went to stage four yesterday but I haven't checked what that entails. Some restaurants are open for limited inside dining, masks are still required unless you're actually eating, and half the seating is off limits to keep diners apart. For the most part, I see 99.9% of people wearing masks.

[PZ]

I've been seeing some photos and videos in the news and it is amazing how many people are crowded in close, mostly not wearing masks in some of these situations.

[Art Blade]

you'll see more of that on the 4th of July.. Trump promised something along the lines of "the greatest fireworks mankind has ever seen" and 300,000 visitors who will likely be attending are not required to wear masks.

[Dweller_Benthos]

I'm going absolutely nowhere tomorrow, except out for lunch like I usually do, grab some groceries and head home back into the air conditioning as it's going to be hotter than it was today and that was pretty hot. Fireworks are nice but most years I don't bother.

[fragger]

Sound like your Victoria is our Texas!

More than you know, Dweller. Apparently there are about 10,000 Victorians who are refusing to get themselves tested, believing that the coronavirus is some sort of conspiracy.

It would appear that Texas doesn't have a monopoly on twits. What is it about southern states - in either hemisphere?

[Dweller_Benthos]

It's weird, looking at this map:

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2020/05/graphic-tracking-coronavirus-infections-us/?cmpid=org=ngp::mc=crm-email::src=ngp::cmp=editorial::add=SpecialEdition_20200703&rid=84FF72C85810141BD41E085A540877FB

(Scroll down a bit) The northern states are doing pretty OK, the southern ones not so much. Maybe the heat is getting to them down there? I don't know really. Once you get west of the Mississippi River though, it goes haywire, but that's west coast too, people there are almost as strange out that way as the southerners, sometimes more so.

[BinnZ]

Warm weather, certain temperament

[fragger]

Well, my state's government went and did it - closed the border to Victoria. They have had to start a new round of lockdowns in the Victorian capital of Melbourne, six weeks for starters. The number of cases has shot up down there so NSW has done what it had to do. There's talk of slapping any Victorians caught trying to sneak over the border with an on-the-spot $1,000 fine, on top of a two-week mandatory quarantine.

Never thought I'd ever see anything like border closures take place in this country. As far as I'm aware, it has never happened, until COVID-19 came along.

[BinnZ]

I understand that it is better to do these things now. Weird world we live in, really. Borders locked, people wearing face masks... I wouldn't have believed it if you told me last year