I'm not against hand washing. I have to wear a mask in PA to get into stores. I made magic masks. I will not be distanced from family. And yes you are being brainwashed.

It is pretty normal for me.

Each state is different on what is open. My county in PA , no restaurant, gyms, bars, and 25 or less gatherings. Lol Most people, some business and the police, DAs , sheriff depts, and local governments are not following the POS governors orders.

I found March and the first couple of weeks in April hard to stay home more, but then I got used to it and enjoy being home. Everything is open with no restrictions here but I won't be going. Cases going up, rare to see someone wearing a mask, very little social distancing etc.

I found container potting soil at WalMart, (MiracleGro) and curbside pickup to boot! Now the plants will have a nice comfy home in the containers.

"I made magic masks" ~ functionthenlook

What's a 'magic mask'?

I just haven't seen what all the fuss is about. I love being at home. After a day of work we are tired and happy to be home. "Essential" stores i.e. grocery, hard ware have been open and easily accessible the entire time. Having Mass virtually is strange but I can't say I miss the dressing for etc. keeping the focus on God and not the rest of what seeing and being seen entails is a positive thing. I am LOVING the variety of presiders one can experience virtually!! I feel for the lives it is messing with, graduations, major vacations,weddings...but living simpler IMHO is a good lesson and one needed by many. I am praying couples move forward with their vows and let the PARTY go. It's a good time to be conscious of what's truly important. I LOVE the sounds of children playing in our neighborhood!! It is sooo good they are home and learning to be families. I think the positives are meaningful ones and one's our society needed.

I am getting used to living in the country but spend lots of my internet time checking what's going on back home in Manhattan. I am looking forward to going back, but also scared to see the city that I love with the bleak overlay of covid. I literally cried watching people singing New York, New York together on their fire escapes. I miss my peeps. But I can now sleep in this isolated house, so far from any neighbors. I'm starting to like the bird songs and frog croaks and chipmunk clicks. Truth be told, at night, the animal life up here is as loud as the street noise back home. The other night I got up at 4 AM and just sat outside quietly, listening in the dark and then watching the sunrise and various animals starting their days. We have a beaver, or maybe a muskrat, that swims in the pond, a geese couple who announce their "workday" when they arrive around 8 and leave around 4. And I was so still that a hummingbird came within a couple of feet before noticing me.

I love watching Governor Cuomo's daily briefings and find his calm, intelligent leadership very comforting. Today's was especially good, and I recommend checking it out even if you don't live in this state. I am scared but hopeful, and feel like I am part of a huge change and a new age in human culture.

The only thing(s) I have noticed that are different are peoples general behavior. Hoarding, nasty attitudes, etc. And the whole face mask thing. I don't generally wear one out, but if the store i wanna shop in says i have to,I will. Its THEIR store. The doctors offices and clinics i had to go to for some testing required me to wear a mask, so I did. Its THEIR business. Its an adjustment but no big deal to me. I liken it to my employers dress code or other policies. They are different than some other places i have worked, but i work here now so it is what it is. Same thing with whats going on now in the world. It is what it is. You can fight it kicking and screaming like a child avoiding bedtime but its easier to just comply until it blows over.

In general, i like to keep my distance, way more than 6 feet, from strangers unless its unavoidable in actual normal life, as i value my personal space, and I have always enjoyed staying at home rather than going to find a mosh pit somewhere. I very rarely get sick in normal life.........I don't consider myself a germaphobe but i do think that a lot if not most people are pretty gross, as evidenced by the whole hand washing campaign. WHY are adults having to be taught how to properly wash their hands? And why is it such a big deal that you are asked to do it? It is why i would not want to join a gym, eat at a pot luck, and generally do not like staying at hotels or other peoples homes. Ick.

I hope everyone who enjoys being out with other people or entertaining at home will get to resume doing so safely before too much longer. Luckily, thanks to modern technology, people are still able to connect in a way that is meaningful, even if not as satisfying as being in their physical presence. I watched my eldest nieces high school graduation tonight on live stream. I found it somewhat sad, everyone masked and gloved and 6 feet apart, but was happy to still be a part of it.

I am home alone all the time. Normal? No way. Sometimes I don't speak word all day.

Never watched so much TV. Things to do but not always motivated to do them. I never was terribly "social" but enjoyed the casual encounters with other residents and the visiting at the evening meals in the dining room, as well as concerts and various other activities. But--I SHALL SURVIVE--.

"This is normal for a communist country, not the home of the free and the BRAVE."

China is a Communist country.

Let's see, according to the data from the CDC and the WHO, that is available as of 5/26, China has 82,993 confirmed cases, 4,634 deaths, and 78,280 recovered. They have a population of 1,439,323,776.

The U.S. has 1,715,789 confirmed cases, 100,163 deaths, and 360,824 recovered. The population of the U.S is 331,002,651. (source: https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/population-by-country/)

I realize we can't know for 100% certainty that there is accuracy in reporting. But, China seems to be doing something right. I'm not saying either that the U.S. should act like a Communist country, but that it's ironic a Communist country with so many more people than the U.S has a lower rate of confirmed cases along with deaths.

I missed shopping in clothing stores in NY state by the Great Lakes. I have been shopping in Erie PA. It's not far from our weekend property. Many western PA counties have been reopened weeks ago. there aren't many coronavirus cases in Western PA. Wearing a face mask in high 80s temp is so hot, but it's safer to do so. Hope the new norm becoming the past soon.

I still have to work a normal schedule so things are semi normal for me. I now buy my groceries on line and have them delivered. It's okay sometimes but I tried to get half a loaf of bread today and avocados. No bread and the avocados were overripe. All three of them, so I have to try and eat them quickly, which is hard to do for a single person. I don't miss going grocery shopping though. The last few times I've tried to stock up on canned goods I've attempted to by Hormel tamales. They never have them in stock. I normally buy them once or twice a year because they are garbage food. Why are people hoarding garbage food?

My car battery died this afternoon, went into an auto parts store. They had the plastic spit shield up on the counter but not one worker was wearing a mask. Not that I expected them too. Everyone here is acting like nothing is wrong. We had the 3rd death in our state and am wondering how many more were never tested. We have a very low case rate here too and I think it's just because there are a lot of pro Trump people in this town and they just aren't getting tested. There are too many cases in nearby counties for our numbers to be accurate.

Ghostlyvision. A magic mask looks like a mask, but like magic it is an illusion.

I've always been a happy homebody after I retired so my life has not changed a great deal.

https://www.conservativereview.com/news/horowitz-cdc-confirms-remarkably-low-coronavirus-death-rate-media/

Functionthenlook - it's too bad CoV2 and the 100,000 US deaths to date it's caused aren't an illusion also.

"This is normal for a communist country, not the home of the free and the BRAVE. Our founding fathers warned that freedom that is taken little by little will not be returned."

I agree, this is something we need to be aware of and put a stop to it with some governors. some places are able to keep their customers separated much more than what happens in W or my local grocery. I think power has gone to the heads of many governors. It seems to be mostly dem states from what I hear on the news. and the church business is ridiculous. they were citing people sitting in their cars in the church parking lot!

I've also saw on the news in some places people are gathering elbow to elbow and no masks. that's ridiculous, what are people thinking? I normally don't go out much and haven't for the past 20 yrs but if I want to go out or need to I should be able to do that without being arrested or even cited. I haven't noticed or heard anything on our local news of problems in AZ. I think our governor has been doing a good job of balancing it. but in some other states I think the people do need to protest. I was behind the salon owner in TX who opened and bravo to the officials who supported her.

The virus is a disease. It's not interested in politics. The ONLY way to protect people is to wear masks, distance and when cases start to rise again, shelter at home. We're simply fortunate that as bad as the present virus is, it's not as bad as the 1928 flu that killed millions. And could have been prevented from killing so many by serious sheltering at home, masks and distancing.

Ghostlyvision, even the CDC admits the all the numbers are inaccurate. The recording system is a mess. There is counting of the same person twice, recovered people counted as infected, people with antibodies testing positive counted as infected and people who died with covid but not because of covid being counted and people who died with possible (not positive) covid counted.

Then you got the governors of NY, PA and I believe NJ that committed senior genocide by seeding covid patients into our most vulnerable population in nursing homes.

Per the CDC 0.4 % death rate for people with symptoms. That is less than 1/2 of a percent and will be even lower when everyone asymptomatic is included.

We do well during the shutdown but, once in a while, it's the little things that get me. For instance, next week is my sister's 50 wedding anniversary. We had a party planned but that's off and I can't even get a beautiful card and gift as I'm high risk. Normally I'd ask my daughter but she's having surgery tomorrow and then home to bed. I tried buying on Amazon but all the delivery times are too late. Soooo I'll send her a small painting and a nice poem I wrote, it will have to suffice.

Yayagal, I think your present for your sister's anniversary sounds more special than anything you could buy. My husband made me a birthday card this year, and it was more precious to me than anything from the store.

I have wondered why people think that people with antibodies should not be counted as having been infected since to have the antibodies they have to have had the virus in their bodies at one time or another. Perhaps someone of the antibodies don't count persuasion can explain.

Antibodies = have been infected in the past. Not currently infected. They are tacking them on the currently infected.

Maifleur - it's double dipping, one person counting both as a positive antigen test and counting again as a positive antibody test.

A much more useful accounting would report the currently infected count and separate infected with symptoms from infected without symptoms. My county has had less than one case per day, it would be much more useful to know if there are any active cases now to estimate the true risk level.

Dr. Atul Gawande was on tv last night and said that while each part by itself is not sufficient, by putting all 4 together, we can minimize/stop virus transmission:

• PPE and masking
• physical distancing
• good hygiene
• testing

Summersrhythm

i too am returning from Florida to the Erie PA / Ohio area of Lake Erie.

How has the shipping been at Wegmans in Erie? Are they well stocked.?We are in a small town in Ohio and I cross in to PA for shopping Target etc.

Hi Cmm1964, welcome back!! :-) I haven’t been to Wegmans in Erie PA, but we have a few Wegmans around our suburb home in NY state. They are well stocked , no shortage of TP. The meat price went up some. They also sell face masks here, 50 per box, $38.99 Is the price tag. A lot of items have limits per family.

Thanks summer. We are looking forward to getting back to our cottage on Lake Erie. I love shopping at Wegmans so that will be my first run when we arrive. Lake Erie is high this year and there has been much beach erosion.

as far as new normal Florida doesn’t look too different right now. Some of our beaches are limited to county residents only as there has been over crowding. Restaurants are open and doing a brisk business where I live but I am in a tourist destination.

That sounds wonderful to have a cottage on Lake Erie. So you are snowbirds! :-) Hope one day we could own a lakefront cottage too. There is an old beautiful mansion for auction in a suburb of Erie. I like the home very much, but it’s far from work.

Raye Smith I do hope that you understand that many people are asymptomatic and the only way that it is known that a person has had the virus is through the antibody test. Would you rather they not be counted at all?

I do agree that there may be some double dipping but as recent 3 weeks??? as a test for antibodies has become available I think the numbers before that should not have any problems with double dipping other than people do not want to admit how many people have had the virus.

Maifleur, my post says to have the total count separated out by symptomatic vs. non-symptomatic, I said nothing about not testing them. Positive antigen and positive antibody results should not be added together but reported separately since most people that have the antibody test because they had a positive antigen test.

Actually the more asymptomatic cases better, then the mortality rate would be more accurate and more people would be immune.

What on earth would be the *motivation* for trying to fool people about Covid-19? Who would benefit from such 'brainwashing'? Does anyone think that immunologists and doctors are 'making this up' -- or that masks, distancing and washing/disinfecting are not effective against the spread -- as well as the ONLY tools we have against a miserable, deadly disease (the lingering effects of which we do not even know) ?

Today I read that hospitals are seeing some placenta problems in mothers who are Covid-19 positive.

Cmm1964, this is the place I was talking about in Erie PA.

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/8340-Ridge-Rd-Girard-PA-16417/9480389_zpid/

Chisue, can you tell me where you saw the article about placenta problems? Tia.

Yinz decide for yourselves if this is political. Also if homemade masks work.

Data as of May 27th.

Top ten states in the continental US that has the highest per 100,000 covid infections in descending order . New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Rhode island, DC, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Louisiana, and Maryland.

All have democratic governors except Massachusetts and Maryland

All require/mandate face masks

Top ten states in the continental US that has the highest per 100,000 covid deaths in descending order. New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, DC, Rhode Island, Louisiana, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Illinois.

All have democratic governors except for Massachusetts.

All require/mandate face masks.

Top ten states in the continental US that has the lowest per 100,000 covid infections in descending order. Montana, Oregon, West Virginia, Wyoming, Idaho, Vermont, Oklahoma, Maine, Texas, and South Carolina.

All have republican governors except for Montana, Oregon and Maine

All do not require/mandate face masks for customers except Maine. * Maine is not enforcing the face mask order.

Top ten states in the continental US that has the lowest per 100,000 covid deaths in descending order. Montaina, Wyoming, Utah, Oregon, Arkansas, West Virginia, Idaho, Tennessee, Texas, and Maine.

All have republican governors except for Montana, Oregon and Maine.

All do not require/mandate face masks for customers except Maine. * Maine is not enforcing the face mask order.

functionthenlook, could you please cite your source of information? The data I just downloaded from the CDC doesn't jive with your data.

https://www.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/index.html

Sorry chisue to hijack.

"type of injury seen in the placentas shows abnormal blood flow between the mothers and their babies in utero, pointing to a new complication of COVID-19"

@ sjerin, Pregnancy & COVID

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-pregnancy-idUSKBN22Y2U8

https://news.northwestern.edu/stories/2020/05/placentas-from-covid-19-positive-pregnant-women-show-injury/

https://academic.oup.com/ajcp/advance-article/doi/10.1093/ajcp/aqaa089/5842018

sephia_wa Well they are two different comparisons. The CDC is total cases and deaths, not cases per 100,000. Total cases really doesn't mean much per state without considering the population of the state.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/coronavirus-us-cases.html

Very interesting Functionthenlook, yes the per capita counts are much more useful and give a clearer picture of the actual risk.

Aside from the fact that there are very few cases in mine and the surrounding counties one of the reasons I am more concerned about those economically harmed is that worrying and being scared to go out won't change anything. Worry won't protect you, it could actually make you more susceptible because stress damages the immune system. Sometime in the past couple of weeks I was reading about some European officials that said we will just have to learn to live with this infection in the public just as we do other infections.

We take risks everyday and chose that the end result is worth the risk. For example,, you decided you want to visit your relatives and that requires driving on a 75 mph highway where most of the traffic is traveling 80 mph. Is driving 80 mph a little more risky than driving 55 mph, yes, but you chose that seeing your relatives is much more than worth that risk.

Raye, I fall in the worrying camp. I take all the suggested precautions, within reason, no sanitizing groceries for me, but endless hand washing and mask wearing when in public. My husband has started interacting with some people face to face for work this week. He could choose not to, but he feels at the stage of the project they are working on, he needs to be more hands on. At he end of the day, I suspect you are right and we will have to accept more of these risks. I am pretty sure none of my college aged kiddos will be back at school in the dorms this fall.

functionthenlook, don't reverse cause and effect...because the cases were so high in those states, the requirement to wear masks was put in place. The cases came first, the masks were the response.

Moreover, there are other factors that these states have in common, such as urban vs rural where how concentrated the people are lends to more rapid spread of the disease once it enters.

Regional spreads of the disease are apparent as people travel from the hotspots to other locations. So for example, of the top 10, 8 belong in the megalopolis called Boswash...the I-95 corridor from Boston to Washington DC. Not surprising it would spread along those areas.

Thanks for the citations, mdln. I'd read about this on BBC America online.

function -- You see some politial plot by Democratic governors to respond to the threat with masks and physical isolation. I see politics in the reverse: GOP governors supporting their president and their party. They can't win in November without an improved economy -- to heck with following the science about protecting lives.

What I'm having the hardest time with is people's attitude. As if this isn't hard enough, being called sheep for trying to be safe and keep our loved ones and others safe. The defiance and selfish attitudes that this has brought out is so disheartening... Never thought I would be so disappointed in humanity.

nycefarm, don't let the minority sway your opinion of the majority just because they are louder. The majority of Americans care and have a sense of community and are working to keep everyone as healthy as possible.

With the experiment last weekend this country will soon be finding out which group was right. Even back in January when the first cases started being reported in Europe my reading about other diseases told me that there were at least two strains infecting people. Probably the people who are developing blood clots and destruction of the lungs is a third type that I read about in Lancet and followed the trail to the original paper.

Just as the polio epidemic affected some worse than others this disease is doing the same thing which is not surprising because that is what normally happens. The lack of information that most people have about disease tends to cause dismissal until it happens to a person or someone close.

Before The New, the Histories tell us people lived very differently.....

During "The Old" everything was provided by machines. Animals were farmed indoors with machines controlling feeding, movement and hygiene. Food plants were likewise propagated..... No disease was permitted in the clinically sterile conditions and genetically modified produce provided the optimal nutritional value.

Worldwide people lived crammed on top of each other ........in tall building that made up vast cities. No one was permitted to live outside the cities, since their safety could then not be guaranteed. "Safety and Comfort" was the promise to the people from the governments.

Transport vehicle ran on rails up to each and every building and were controlled by machines , since accidents could happen were humans to drive themselves.

Exercise of any form was not permitted outdoors as safety to one's person could not be guaranteed. Children played in organised, indoor play venues. Adults could only exercise at machine, in the home or a communal policed gymnasium.

Eye and hair scans took place at the entrance to every building and vehicle, so the position of every citizen could be monitored in the interest of safety.

Records were kept of all families and food was rationed so no obesity or ill heath could occur due to bad eating habits. Families lived their lives around work or school, exercising and socialising with "appropriate associates".

The Histories show that the more measures that were taken to ensure health and safety, the more people tended to look for reasons to feel frightened and unsafe.

Certain individuals began to recognize the source of the growing anxiety and paranoia and started ti step apart from it.

From the book: The Horses Know by Lynn Mann.

A book about how a civilization escaped government tyranny based on fear and mistrust and formed new communities based on individuality, freedom from fear and self-reliance. Finding the road to trust, acceptance and peace.

"The Histories" will become the new normal for many if we allow fear to overtake our independence.

I will never accept this new normal.

Thank you, mdln, for the links. One more thing to worry about...

It's easier for healthy and/or young people to accept risks, but most irresponsible for them not to protect those with whom they come in contact. Why do sooooo many not see this?

Wow Wildchild, we're certainly on the slippery path that leads to that horrifying fictionalization of the future.

Zalco - it is possible to overcome a tendency to worry, many years ago, I learned that worrying about anything that I can't change wasn't a way I wanted to spend my life. It has freed me to enjoy lots of different experiences that some family members wouldn't have done. I hope that you find a way to relieve those worries.

My life really hasn't changed. I work retail in a stand alone drugstore, so I'm still working 40 hours a week. On my days off, we "sometimes" went to the mall, but just ran in to get what I need then left. We rarely ate out and only went to the movies 2 or maybe 3 times a year. We're home bodies. I've always preferred to go for drives in the country over anything and we still do that. Other than keeping people out of my six foot bubble, my "new normal" hasn't changed from my old normal.