COVID in Texas

More cases here than any other state yesterday, 6,177. Hospitals in several metro areas are filling up.

My company is now refusing to let anyone fly in out of Texas without a mandatory quarantine.

Tri-state area around NY put a mandatory quarantine order in place for travelers from Texas and 7 other red states. (Not that anybody here wants to go there anyway). I find it slightly amusing they conveniently ignored blue California who until yesterday had been leading the country in most daily cases.

Hopefully the new mask mandates around the state will start to pull the numbers down soon. Otherwise we can expect to see the list of places we can't travel without a mandatory quarantine continue to grow.

So I guess the warmer weather of summer didn't kill it off. Those in a rush to open things up are going to pay a longer and more painful price.

If you're scared, stay home.

Some evidence the warm weather was helping, but now it's gotten so warm it's forcing people back inside, which is helping drive cases.

We all knew warmer weather wasn't going to help contain the spread.
Cases in Australia were rapidly accelerating in the middle of their hottest time of year (March/April)

Positive cases have exploded at my hospital.

It's uncomfortable to admit we're dealing with a pandemic. It's so much simpler and more comfortable to say it's all a hoax, it's a conspiracy.

Fine. You caught us. Hop is so damn ugly that the entire world conspired to make him cover his face.

says the person with a secure job and no financial ties to a small business.


The hospitals have had their time to ramp up, another shut down will just finish off the economy and fulfill your dream of a liberal utopia

This ^^^. Quit cowering with fear and acting like the chinese with your little masky.

Not having money to deal with issues never helps anyone, state and cities need tax revenue, people need their insurance, shutting down was stupid. It has to work itself out. We have to March forward as a society, get people back to work. It is what it is.

I don't mind the mask, if I am asked to wear one I will gladly with no angst.

I also don't mind the people that want to wear them , I get it.....its protection from a chinese virus who wouldn't want that.


Not shots fired Bobster , not at all.....most of can only dream to achieve your level of badassery

Bell county just put a mandatory mask in public in place, to be enforced by police and a fine of up to $1000.
Very likely it becomes mandatory across most of the state.
What will the OT tough guys do?

^^^
Primary Abbott.

Yep, I am of the opinion he needs to go.

Three weeks of huge Democrat supported protests and the numbers go up...whoda thunk it.

The protests are killing people.

Unless you are protesting, then it is ok to not wear a mask. If approached by LE, simply shout out "no justice, no peace" and set fire to something.

Abbott is just doing everything possible to keep the state open for business. If cases get out of hand and more travel restrictions are put on us by other states that's going have a major impact on the economy. Wearing a mask doesn't hurt the economy. He's trying to protect our state financially.

I don't have a problem wearing a mask for three reasons:

1. Humility: I don't think I have COVID, but I don't factually know that. I've read enough to know some folks are asymptomatic yet still able to spread the virus. It makes sense that a face covering would minimize viral spread were I to sneeze or cough out in public.

2. Kindness: I have no clue what the people I happen to be near might be battling with. I'm 38 and healthy as an ox. I have zero fear of the virus. The person next to me could have cancer, maybe caring for an elderly parent, or have a child at home with an immune disease. Just the basic golden rule here.

3. Community: I want my community to stay open. I want businesses to do as well as they can during this extremely tough time. More and more scientist are agreeing that masks do help slow the spread. Slowing the spread buys doctors more time to get better at treating the virus and gives businesses a better chance of staying open. https://www.foxnews.com/health/us-coronavirus-deaths-projected-reach-180000-october

It's very scary.

Numbers say you're more likely to get murdered in St. Louis, East St. Louis, or Gary Indiana than you are to die if you catch this virus.

Protect the at risk group, and that includes them doing their part as well to be safe, and get on with it. At least we don't have leadership directing wuflu positive patients back into nursing homes.

Yes, the deniers and the protesters that weren't wearing masks and being careful haven't helped our situation.
We need to move forward by wearing masks, safer distancing, sterilizing hands and surfaces.
Texans are a motivated group of problem solvers and can do this.

Agree, we all have a duty to help protect and improve the health of our family, coworkers, friends, and neighbors.

How does this blow anyone's mind? The pandemic has been on the loose for 6 months. Daily case numbers are reported at both the country and state level. 30 days in a month. 50 states. 3141 counties in the US. So quick math here... 6*30*50 =9000. 6*30*3141=565,380 565,380 + 9000 = 574,380. So states and counties have reported daily case numbers over 1/2 million times so far combined. Most of those case numbers have been between 1-999. You are surprised that you can google any three digit number and find an article on it related to COVID cases? It's not a conspiracy, it's math.

Did you also know that if 23 people are in the same room there is a 50/50 chance 2 of them share the exact same birthday? (month and day). Math. It's cool.

Isn't that for businesses only like the other mask mandates in the state?

Yep, effective 6/29/20. Mandatory for business's, strongly recommended for public. fine only applies to business's.
https://www.bellcountytx.com/COVID19/Directive%20_7_Rev.pdf

Hey Mr. Pick, do you call people out in public? Or is this just an outlet for you?

Abbot just ordered No Elective Surgeries.

My wife went to school to become a surgical tech, graduating in May '19. We had our daughter in April '19, so she didn't go looking for a job immediately after graduating and passing her state test so she could stay home with the baby. Fast forward to February/March of this year and she's ready to start looking around. Lined up a few interviews at local hospitals and bang Rona shuts down elective surgeries. We're blessed that she doesn't "have" to work at the moment, but I do know she's ready and this will likely frustrate her a little bit.

Thanks for posting the article.

My wife works for THR in Fort Worth. They just opened a second floor dedicated to Covid. The number of cases they are treating has doubled.

Looks like for now it covers 4 counties.

Wawi, can we come to your restaurant without a mask on?

Can you put this into a spreadsheet and plot this as a scatter plot?

Today you can. Tomorrow we will sell you a mask for $1 if you dont have one. The stupid thing is there is no guidance. Obviously you arent gonna eat and drink with it on. Until otherwise directed by our dear government, I'm gonna require on entry, exit and when not seated at table, ie bathroom trips etc.

You left out the Democratic mecca of Chicago.

Actually the deer urine goes on wicks 75 yards from your stand. Just for the record.

Actually, I will likely be furloughed this fiscal year and will lose several thousand dollars of salary. The point was being macho and not wearing a mask (whininess posing as rugged individualism) and the rush to open things up will protract the whole situation and lengthen the economic hardship. Pennywise and pound foolish.

Beaumont instituted masks inside any businesses (unsure how that works with eateries) . I went to Academy to get my 3 boxes of ammo and they were disallowing some people inside for lack of masks. Once in there I saw half a dozen people not wearing masks though.

One of the rare times you have made sense without being too boorish ... you added some boorishness but managed to get your thought across in a more civil manner.

Your thoughts on this?

https://nypost.com/2020/06/23/orego...04E2PNDRa8ky0Y3VF9Lho8kVKPo93gMYPVxYQkdw

I saw that yesterday. Nothing screams criminal like a surgical mask. SMH.

I may be wrong and I'd prefer to be, but I don't believe we can economically sustain this I personally feel that there is no choice that doesn't end in hardship..........

The answer I wish I had is what road leads to the least damage ?

What if you've already had it? Does that break the main spring of the mask gestapo?

I hope we find that out sooner than later but I doubt it

It's pretty stupid. Is Abbott a fearful sheeple?

That is still being researched. Some people may develop immunity after having Covid, but it looks like some people don't. It may depend on how large a viral load you had, but no one is certain yet. I'm sure they'll figure it out eventually.

I think we are onto the right path now. At least the only one that makes sense given our current reality.

1. The most vulnerable need to protect themselves by staying home. The sick, old, and compromised.
2. Everyone else needs to do everything possible, while still living their lives, to limit and slow the spread. Social distance. Wash hands. Wear a mask. Stay home if you are sick. Don't be stupid/reckless. Don't spread mentalities that encourages recklessness.

Limiting and slowing the spread buys us time. We've already gotten vastly better at treating the virus. We've got at least two different medications that have been proven to help. Remdesivir and a steroid. They've also got much better approaches in the hospitals that are helping. Your odds of dying of the virus if you catch it are dropping every day. Lastly buying times gives scientist time to come up with a vaccine. Lots of people won't get it. That's fine. Between recovered immunity and those willing to get vaccinated, we'll have enough folks for herd immunity.

If we skip anything in item 2 we will make it worse on everyone.

If this disease follows a similar course as the Spanish flu, we're in for a two year ride.

The reality of this bug is that it probably won't stop until everyone has gotten it, or until some genius invents a vaccine. Masks might reduce your risk of catching it, but the odds are probably close to 100% that you WILL get exposed at some point. The good news is that it's not particularly dangerous to most people. The bad news is that it's bang-a-rang on older folks or those with other medical problems.

It seems like the choices are, let the disease run its course relatively quickly and suffer the loss of life quickly, or let it drag on and on and suffer the loss of life slowly, along with the economic destruction. Maybe the economic destruction is worth buying time against that bright boy or girl in the lab who might invent a cure.

I talked last week to an RN that had spent a month working in NY City. They had multiple re-infections and readmissions to that hospital. I don't think you'll get a claer answer to that question though for a long while.

This virus is an interesting creature that really has no set footprint. Very confounding !

The people who maintain their right to not wear a mask or distance when in a group are just making it worse and they don't care.

Whether you have that right or not isn't the question. Its what happens because of your right to refuse to help slow the spread that increases numbers. Thats what they are going by.

People who don't like the Dallas judge and were happy when the hair dresser won didn't know then, nor did I, that the easing of the mandates imposed by the governor and the way he did it would allow for the pandemic to grow like it has.
As the economy shrinks, just think of that. You may be right if you believe that the more people who get it will shorten the pandemic but the people who make decisions, even the ones who want to open too, are not going to allow it to go crazy.

The only way to keep the economy going AND Covid in check is to slow the spread. Its that simple. How or if you agree with that is IMO the problem. People just ignore it as if it will go away or that numbers can increase dramatically and they won't start shutting things down again.

In addition looks like the first Cowboy football game against Pittsburg has been cancelled. Can it be: No mask, No football?

We have to slow the spread as much as possible.
If ICUs are filled with COVID patient's, young healthy people involved in motor vehicle collisions/other trauma, pregnancy complications, etc will all suffer. Preventing this sort of scenario is critically important.

WAWI flushing public toilet article.
https://aip.scitation.org/doi/10.1063/5.0013318

When you quarantined, did you officially test positive?

Maybe close the lid before you flush? Think that might help?

Going by some numbers I've seen.
Covid-19 far more deadly than the flu.
U.S.A. Flu cases Last year 36 million cases with 34,200 deaths.
U.S.A. In 6 months of covid-19 2.3million cases with 121,000 Deaths.
With far fewer cases covid-19 has killed 4 times as many Americans as last year's flu even with strict stay at home orders.

With all due respect, I don’t agree. We can’t stop it. We can slow it. I believe that’s the worst option. Rip the band aid off, and get it over with. It’s just kicking the can down the road, while we screw up the economy, and lives.

Is the Lid airtight?
Why don't you look under there and see while flushing.

Yep - I think it is my duty to protect those around me from getting something I might have - just like when I don't go to work with a fever. Unfortunately, most people in Texas must not think that way. Plus, it will probably kill my summer plans to Alaska because there are so many people being tested here now that the results are slow and I can't get cleared to freely travel in Alaska.

The only way to keep the economy going is to slow it.

Be a realist for a change. Do you really think they are going to let the virus go if it keeps mulitiplying?
If nothing else this is an election year. No way the public will support a large number of deaths, accelerating through the fall.


If you look at the worst pandemic in recent history, the Spanish Flu, the first wave was relatively mild in the spring. It did not show since the number of flu deaths were only slightly higher than with the regular flu. Nobody did anything to slow it down.
Then the second wave in the fall hit and it was horrendous. In one month alone 195k people died in the US.
Nobody thinks that it will do the same thing as the Spanish Flu but they are predicting the numbers will go up this fall.

We've seen the governor say they will take more action if the cases accelerate. The feds will be forced to do the same.
Ignoring it is just making it more likely that they will take action to control it.

Can farts be covid carriers?
Yes you read that right.
https://m.timesofindia.com/life-sty...rcher-claims-so/articleshow/75291485.cms

Texas used to have restrictions on people traveling here from some of the worst states. Now the table has turned and the states gaining control are putting restrictions on people traveling from Texas.

uh no.

Just thought about something, if you're flushing your own product, then just who are you endangering? Now.... if someone leaves a surprise in the bowl and you have to flush it before you do your business, then that's another story. Flush and run may be the only option.

BE CAREFUL when you run, the floors may be wet, don't slip.

If you hear the toilet flushing and a person coming out of the restroom do you go in not knowing if the lid was up or down?

Well, despite all of the shrieking going on, we do all realize that Texas is one of the few states that lumps positive antibody test results in with live virus test results to come up with total "cases", right? So, if you were exposed to the virus 2-6 months ago, never showed symptoms and your body checked the virus in place you will still test positive for antibodies if you take the antibody test, while you would test negative if you took the live virus test which indicates current infection. Nonetheless, you would be considered a new case. I don't understand what value past exposure numbers have in measuring the current spread of the disease or its actual impact on those who are infected, but your state, with the blessings of the CDC, chooses to lump them all together which makes the numbers larger than they actually are.

https://www.livescience.com/cdc-combined-covid-19-diagnostic-and-antibody-tests.html

It's the ICU numbers that are the most important; and right now, they are not good.

Here in my county those numbers aren’t included in active cases.

Just put your little masky on and get in the bread line with the others. Several thousand dollars of salary? How on earth will you survive?

Cuomo just keeps on trying to stir the pot. After all his missteps and all that NY went through he wants to take shots at other states. States that sent him healthcare workers and supplies to help out when they were in dire straits. Gonna be interesting to see his tone change if NY seens another spike. One thing will be clear, it will never be his fault though. He makes that clear in his daily 2 hour "I love me some " COVID press conferences.

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/25/new...litics-with-this-virus-and-you-lost.html

Cuomo is just doing to us what we did to them.

Gov Abbott just said we would not take the next step at this time.
He's worried about the numbers.
https://www.npr.org/sections/corona...on-further-reopening-amid-covid-19-surge


Still not make sense? If you want the economy to stay open, the numbers can't accelerate. What side of the pendulum do you swing?

Yup....it's a tit-for-tat thing. Payback for when we did it. Don't plan on visiting the East Coast anytime in the next 10 years anyway. Zero impact on me.

so how many protesters will be arrested for no mask?

after all, they won't arrest them for looting and burning.

They caused the rise in cases. Democrats supported the protesters thus Democrats caused the rise in cases and killed people

I have made my stance known. I have been on the side to leave the economy open since Day 1 and stand by that.

Here’s another point I want to make. I hear folks say things like they haven’t eaten out in a long time. Or, they haven’t gone to a movie in a while, etc. we can live with all those things. But, for just a moment, please realize that someone is not making money when we don’t go. That doesn’t necessarily affect me, or you, right now. But, it’s all intertwined. Less spending cripples the economy. We will all feel it at some point, to some degree or another.

Try not to let the restaurants, and movie theater, and snow cone stands, and bars go under. It’s better to have more folks spending money. They buy gas, and groceries, and cell phones, and lawn mowers and insurance, etc. it’s all tied together.

Protest lockdowns and masks during COVID = why do you want to kill old people?

Protest about racist police during COVID = here are six city blocks all to yourself...do whatever you want....throw a block party

He said shrieking

I feel for you so much you have no idea.
Living through past recessions that put some jobs at standstiils.

Good luck trying to keep the doors open.

Geez, some of you. Wear a mask and try being respectful to others. No one is "winning" during this crapola. This isn't going away soon and if it did something will probably replace it. Enjoy life as much as you can and carry on.

My body my choice.

And they will pretend they didn't see that.

but their choices won't kill anyone
yeah, no!

Scags, Had symptoms starting on Wed afternoon, by that night I was sick. Stayed off work Thursday. Friday morning (Good Friday) I called the local hotline and made an appointment, then drove an hour south to the nearest drive through check station. I quarantined from that Thursday. I stayed on one end of my house and the fam on the other and went nowhere other than the check station. No visitors. I was too danged sick to go anywhere.

This.

The positives mean little but hospitalizations and ICU admits have a finite number before the fan blades start slinging feces.

If this ramps back up again we will be in a big trouble. Our economy is limping along now as it is. And the extended unemployment from the Feds runs out in July. That is gonna hurt a lot of people. No I don't buy the argument that people are lazy getting this money...for many it is all that is keeping them afloat. And if the economy craters again it is gonna get real bad. I was gonna consider retirement later this year but I'm going to put it on hold. Having health insurance and a steady paycheck are more important right now than being to sleep in and fish when I want. We were going to buy a place down in Florida but that's on hold as well. Since the cases spiked there we are postponing that trip as well.

I'm hoping this does not spiral out of control because this country is fragmented enough now and this could be the straw that breaks the camels back. I sure hope I'm wrong.....

I’m glad to see you taking a pro-choice stance.

Welcome to the light.

I'll be fine. But thanks for the encouragement.

If anybody could diagnose themselves, you can

I was a little worried when you talked about it because it’s your nature to downplay things

God bless, you’re well now