Novel Coronavirus COVID-19

[Art_Critic]

Funny though if you look at world o meter as a reference we have been having 40k new cases a day and the death rate has been falling for a month now and hasn't ticked upward

Look at NY for example, they were having up to 1k deaths a day there and now down to 17 yesterday..

So maybe the economy should be opened since the risk of death has almost diminished, the key will be if the death toll keeps going down, if it does then all how wanted the economy frozen were wrong.

My state has been open for over a month with nothing but a lowering death toll...

 

 

 

Edited July 1, 2020 by Art_Critic

[Ellener]

On 6/29/2020 at 7:40 AM, clia said:

if it is truly the case that large outdoor gatherings don't contribute to coronavirus spread, provided everyone is wearing masks, then that is great news!  That would indicate that we can safely welcome spectators back to golf, baseball, and other outdoor sports, and have outdoor concerts, festivals, art fairs, farmer's markets, etc., with little to no risk of spread.

It seems to be an indoor transmitted infection. I'd go to somewhere if I could social distance in a crowd but I'd have to think about sharing bathroom and beverage facilities at events.

One of my friends is having a 4 July party, I don't think I'll go but if I do I'm going to stay outside and wear my mask. The others will raise an eyebrow, they are a bit 'if it was that bad the president would wear a mask/we'd all be sick/it's all hyped type thing' and I want to have fun if I'm going out not field rants. Maybe I'll go for half an hour, there's a nice place nearby my dog likes to run. 

 

[Ellener]

Here in Houston it seems like bars have been a major source of Covid, they've been closed down again. There are moves to sue the Governor's office by 30 business owners, people are frustrated. I think the majority are just going back to food/alcohol takeout and delivery, they are by me.

All businesses here are at risk of a $1000 fine if they don't require customers to wear face covering, so there's a big 'need a mask, just ask' campaign. 

 

[eleanorrigby]

19 California counties are shutting down indoor activities again in several different sectors and the extra unemployment is gone at the end of July. Scary times, many people are going to fall through the crevasses.

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-07-01/newsom-imposes-new-rollbacks-of-californias-coronavirus-reopening

[FMW]

My City isn't backtracking on the loosened restrictions, but for the first time it's now mandatory to wear masks inside or out when social distancing of 6 feet or more can't be maintained.  I was happy for the mandate, last week at my normal Walgreens store more than half the people there - including some employees - were NOT wearing masks.  That was a big change, the people of my City have been pretty compliant with the "suggestions" up until now, I don't know why some people suddenly thought it was ok to act like everything was back to normal now.  

I've enjoyed being able to go out and do my favorite thing and listen to live music again for the past month (with greatly reduced capacity, social distancing and masks when you're not at your own table) and I hope it can continue and not be ruined by the people who think none of that is necessary anymore.  

[BC1980]

We've halted our reopening due to surging cases and hospitalizations increasing. I can see us having to start cancelling elective procedures again. 

[Piddy]

We're up to over 10,000 cases a day here in Florida.  We seem to be more than an "ember" that needs to be put out.  🙄    The magical thinking doesn't seem to be working that well.  🥴

Edited July 3, 2020 by Piddy

[QuietRiot]

56 minutes ago, Piddy said:

We're up to over 10,000 cases a day here in Florida.  We seem to be more than an "ember" that needs to be put out.  🙄    The magical thinking doesn't seem to be working that well.  🥴

Yeah, saw an article that expressed how researches said how both Florida and AZ need to shut down...again. The further north you go of Orlando, the more redneck and retiree it gets with people thinking it's a hoax or don't believe in masks.

 I recall going into an Autozone, and saw every riff-raff behind the county that looked like the "People of Wal-Mart"...not one of them wearing a mask.

I have a mechanic I've been going to all my life, I may have to forgoe going to his place of business anymore for fear (well, not "fear"), but I bet I'll get ridiculed for wearing a mask.

Edited July 3, 2020 by a LoveShack.org Moderator
removed political part in non political area

[Piddy]

29 minutes ago, QuietRiot said:

Yeah, saw an article that expressed how researches said how both Florida and AZ need to shut down...again. The further north you go of Orlando, the more redneck and retiree it gets with people thinking it's a hoax or don't believe in masks.

 I recall going into an Autozone, and saw every riff-raff behind the county that looked like the "People of Wal-Mart"...not one of them wearing a mask.

I have a mechanic I've been going to all my life that's a Trump lover, I may have to forgoe going to his place of business anymore for fear (well, not "fear"), but I bet I'll get ridiculed for wearing a mask.

I've got a neighbor that's one of those hoax people.  

DeSantis hasn't mandated wearing masks.  He's leaving it up to the counties.  

We needed leadership from the top at a national level.  However, we've gotten no guidance or leqdership.

We're like 50 individual countries trying to battle this virus.  A catastrophic failed strategy so far.

 

[QuietRiot]

5 minutes ago, Piddy said:

I've got a neighbor that's one of those hoax people.  

DeSantis hasn't mandated wearing masks.  He's leaving it up to the counties.  

We needed leadership from the top at a national level.  However, we've gotten no guidance or leqdership.

We're like 50 individual countries trying to battle this virus.  A catastrophic failed strategy so far.

 

I'll do you one better...we have an attorney in the area that is drafting up lawsuits for pretty much every city/county that has mandated mask wearing. I wonder if he'll win?  You may have heard of this guy. He's citing how unconstitutional it is. 

[Happy Lemming]

I received a notice to server Jury Duty, yesterday.

My State is one where the Covid-19 cases are increasing by leaps and bounds.  I called the jury service rep and told her I'm not coming to the main court house (downtown) during a pandemic.  They asked if I was sick, I told them "No and I want to stay that way". 

For now, I was given a postponement, but was told I can only do that twice. If I don't appear on the third notice, I'll be fined and charged.

I'm really at a crossroads and don't know what to do, I've never shirked my Jury Duty responsibilities and have served every time they asked me.  I've also been very responsible about "Sheltering in Place" during this pandemic, but now it seems I'll be forced into a small room with others, unable to "social distance".

I'm thinking about writing my state/county representatives and asking them why they are running jury trials during a partial lock down and with an increase in Covid-19 cases/deaths.  It really doesn't make any sense.  During a pandemic, have bench trials (only) or plea-bargain with the offenders.

 

[FMW]

12 minutes ago, Happy Lemming said:

I'm thinking about writing my state/county representatives

You absolutely should - that's ridiculous. Many Courts are using Zoom or similar video conferencing platforms.    

[Happy Lemming]

3 minutes ago, FMW said:

 Many Courts are using Zoom or similar video conferencing platforms.    

Yes, the court rep stated they tried to use Zoom, but have been unsuccessful in getting it "up and running".  I really don't understand how it could be that difficult. 

If they get it running, I'll be glad to serve via Zoom.

[elaine567]

2 minutes ago, Happy Lemming said:

Yes, the court rep stated they tried to use Zoom, but have been unsuccessful in getting it "up and running".  I really don't understand how it could be that difficult. 

If they get it running, I'll be glad to serve via Zoom.

Every family young and old in the land is using Zoom or some like program to keep in contact with each other...
Maybe it is a security issue with the jury.

[Happy Lemming]

9 minutes ago, elaine567 said:

Maybe it is a security issue with the jury.

Then hire better IT people and get it fixed.  I'm sure there is a way to utilize Zoom or some other software (in conjunction with a firewall) to allow potential jurors to virtually serve.

We put a man on the moon, I'm sure we can create a firewall to protect the (Zoom) feed...

Spend the money and get it done!!

[FMW]

One issue that has arisen with similar proceedings is that you can't guarantee that someone is not in the room with someone and just staying away from the camera. 

At the very least they should be able to figure something out while bringing everyone into the Courthouse or other secured location and then just use separate rooms that allow appropriate distancing while joining everyone by video.  "Business as usual" is not appropriate.

[NuevoYorko]

59 minutes ago, Happy Lemming said:

I received a notice to server Jury Duty, yesterday.

My State is one where the Covid-19 cases are increasing by leaps and bounds.  I called the jury service rep and told her I'm not coming to the main court house (downtown) during a pandemic.  They asked if I was sick, I told them "No and I want to stay that way". 

For now, I was given a postponement, but was told I can only do that twice. If I don't appear on the third notice, I'll be fined and charged.

 

 

I'm in the same boat.  Already had my 2 postponements and now I'm summoned to go in 2 weeks.

[Happy Lemming]

7 hours ago, NuevoYorko said:

 Already had my 2 postponements and now I'm summoned to go in 2 weeks.

Are you going to go??  Has your jurisdiction attempted to use any of the virtual software meeting programs to do Jury Duty??

I have no idea what I'm going to do after my second postponement.

[Happy Lemming]

7 hours ago, FMW said:

At the very least they should be able to figure something out while bringing everyone into the Courthouse or other secured location and then just use separate rooms that allow appropriate distancing while joining everyone by video.  "Business as usual" is not appropriate.

I'd have no problem going to a secured location and being the only person in a room.  That is actually a great idea, but I doubt the court system will foot the bill for some monster large office building with a bunch of separate rooms.

You are correct... "Business as usual" is not the least bit appropriate during a pandemic of this size (with the numbers rising).

[nospam99]

Re: Zoom and other similar 'stuff' ....

35 year I/T pro here who still uses Windows 95 and Excel 95 to do my taxes.

For the last 20 years (maybe more), every 'new' release or version of software has included features to facilitate spying on the users. There have been threads here on LS where people were unpleasantly surprised to get targeted advertisements on their computers after such 'innocent' actions as saying a generic word for a product in the course of a cell phone conversation.

Any release of Zoom or something like it will have built-in operating systems and/or browser requirements and will require the downloading to the user's systems either a full client program or sufficient virtual machine code (almost always javascript to run inside the browser). If you don't meet the operating system or browser requirements, the program will direct you to upgrade. In some cases (I'm there) you would need to buy a new computer to support the upgrades. Generally there is no technical reason to require the upgrades and the down side is more spying. What happens is that the program developers only test and verify their function on recent releases. 'In the old days', many developers tested on several old releases. Now they only test on a minimum and code a test into the program so it does not run on untested releases. It might run without the test. But it's cheaper for the developers to simply block downlevel platforms.

All that said, the 'reason' something like Zoom can be found not practical for a purpose like remote jury duty, is that there is no way to ensure that every member of the jury has a computer with the 'right' set of operating system and application levels to let the software run. It's even possible that the user, either on their own volition (me) or based on 'expert' advice, has set security parameters (no scripting/no cookies or personal firewall which is very easy to do with iptables on Linux systems) that block the operation of the conferencing software at the client.

FWIW, conference calls work just fine but require the 'host' (a court in this case) to PAY their phone company to upgrade their phone system to support conferencing. The other thing that works on computers, even with 25 y/o operating systems, is Internet Relay Chat (IRC), a TCP/IP stack application. IRC would also COST the court to administer security in the IRC chatroom, a skill that is going the way of assembler coding and core dump analysis. A chatroom like the one LS uses also works but, again, probably requires a 'recent' operating system and browser.

Bottom line is that an entity that has a need for conferencing will usually take the 'cheap and easy' path. No surprise.

[Happy Lemming]

6 minutes ago, nospam99 said:

All that said, the 'reason' something like Zoom can be found not practical for a purpose like remote jury duty, is that there is no way to ensure that every member of the jury has a computer with the 'right' set of operating system and application levels to let the software run.

Personally, I'd be willing to upgrade a computer or even purchase a rebuilt one to run the court's software.  As far as loading the software and changing parameters, send out a .pdf (check list if you will) and we can adjust and test our computers prior to serving.

As far as others listening to the proceedings, the court is a public place where anyone can view a trial.  Yes there are rare occasions where the court room is closed due to a "high visibility" defendant, but those are rare instances.

I just think it would be worth a try. (especially with our numbers of Covid-19 cases rising substantially)

 

[nospam99]

Happy Lemming said ''I just think it would be worth a try.''

Then if you were the Clerk of the Court (or whatever the job title is of the person making the decision), it would be your decision to try it. You might want to discuss that idea with whoever it is making that decision in your jurisdiction. Where I live, it's pretty hard (effectively prohibitive) to navigate the bureaucratic maze to get to talk to such 'important' people.

BTW, one reason Zoom et al can be made to work WITHIN an organization is that the organization standardizes the hardware and software and (usually) provides compliant devices to the staff. Can a court provide, say, a Chromebook to every juror? Trust me, it's not 'fun' being the person responsible for distributing AND GETTING THOSE DEVICES BACK when the people they've been issued to are done using them.

Edited July 4, 2020 by nospam99

[Happy Lemming]

2 minutes ago, nospam99 said:

Then if you were the Clerk of the Court (or whatever the job title is of the person making the decision), it would be your decision to try it. You might want to discuss that idea with whoever it is making that decision in your jurisdiction. Where I live, it's pretty hard (effectively prohibitive) to navigate the bureaucratic maze to get to talk to such 'important' people.

I'm actually drafting an e-mail this morning to my state senator.  I emailed her in the past and she (or one of her staff) wrote me back.  She is actually a senator that tries to get things done and if she gets an issue "stuck in her craw" she doesn't let it go until it is resolved.  I'm hoping she can push to make it happen.

And again, I could be wasting my time.

[nospam99]

HL said ''And again, I could be wasting my time. ''

Go fight City Hall!

The oldest citation I found on a google search is 18 September 1914, The American Hebrew (New York, NY), “A Corner in Art” by Louis Lipsky, pg. 561, col. 2:

[Happy Lemming]

5 minutes ago, nospam99 said:

Go fight City Hall!

I'm not looking for a fight, just light a fire under their butts, spend a little money and get the software working.

Texas found a way to do jury trials by "Zoom" no reason why every other state can't follow their protocols and get it working.  I don't think its a National secret and I'd bet they'd share the information about how they got it to work.