It is absolutely on topic. It is cooking and eating related.

If you got covid-19, cooking becomes difficult. If you die, eating becomes a problem.

covid-19 is a crazy virus. This pandemic may be with us for years. Even with a 100% effective vaccine, survey shows 1/3 of the population will not take the vaccine. Think contingency food plan.

BTW, get your flu vaccine soon. I got mine.

dcarch

What a mess. Just read an article about this via NPR. An indoor wedding reception. So irresponsible. Clearly they did not follow the guidelines.

We have our share of deniers and non-believers too. A Facebook "friend" who I don't know in real life is a psycho-therapist and a huge non-believer. It's a conspiracy, doesn't exist, etc. I shudder to think what goes in in his practice, what is said.

We haven't had any large outbreaks for a while now, and our deaths were mainly in long-term care homes. But 1 child has tested positive this weekend who was at summer camp.

Contact tracing is so important. Our issue here is some gatherings are not giving information that is needed to prevent an outbreak 'hot spot'.

Once a death occurred, maybe the newlyweds were forced to give the guest list.

NYState has 20million people and two deaths yesterday. 2 too many. But masks work.

Our governor and local CDC head Dr Shah seem to me to be doing a good job. The briefings seem clear and informative while still respecting the privacy of patients. I think they have been doing a fair amount of contact tracing anyway. Again this is a rural low population state. Dr Shah was very clear in yesterday’s briefing they had traced this out three layers from the wedding. That doesn’t include the outbreak in the jail because that data was just clearly linked.

D’arch - I hadn’t even thought about food preparation while sick. I think it is a moment to make and freeze some chicken stock.

Schools are another confusing area. Monday my niece’s school started. She goes to a magnet school way way up north. They are doing a hybrid model. So she is remote learning until October while the first years are up there now. Then they switch off. And my step-sisters two boys started school today. She had them going to the smaller school in the small town where her mom lives rather than where she lives. She says it was a hard choice but she feels like the school has worked out a good plan.

Messaging needs to be synced across states - across the whole country, IMO. Mixed, muddled - and sometimes downright misleading messaging is leaving too many people confused. We need effective leadership, so everybody gets the right information - and is encouraged to do the right thing.

I'm so frustrated & disheartened by the ad hoc, piecemeal approach that we have right now. Coordination is essential, if we expect to beat this.

10 days, two weeks, 90% masks is all it takes to shut down the viral spread. It has been proven in NY. 99% better but jerks are not on game. Oy.

So simple to slow this down.

If you die, eating becomes a problem.

That’s kind of a pessimistic outlook. Let’s make that half empty glass half full: If you die, you’ll never again be wanting for food. Free all you can eat buffet!

Complacency is a risk; guilty as charged. Of course I wear a mask everywhere public, but I’ve been in more hospitals, doctors offices, hospice, etc over the past few months than in my entire life so I no longer give it a thought. Being stationary indoors among people does give me the heebie jeebies so I avoid sit down restaurants, but that’s about it. NY’s daily rate is down about 99.9% from peak so I feel pretty safe. That said, I’m not very comfortable that my kids will be going to school (hybrid) in a couple weeks. I have a hard time trusting we’ll get through that unscathed.

My wife’s been working on her company’s back to office plan for their NYC office. Voluntary, and only something like 20 of 700 people expressed a desire so they’re scrapping it for now. But that’s 700 people who aren’t going to be buying lunch, going out for drinks, etc. and they’re just a drop in the bucket. I fear for the future of the city.

But now I’ve taken the off topic discussion further off topic.

"-----NY’s daily rate is down about 99.9% from peak so I feel pretty safe.-----"

That 0.01% were the ones that infected the entire world in a short few months. If you don't wipe out this covid-19 100% it will come back again and again and again.

"----My wife’s been working on her company’s back to office plan for their NYC office.---"

It doesn't matter how well the plan is designed. It has been documented that current HVAC system in office buildings can transmit virus from floor to floor and from one tenant to another. Building owners and ASHRAE are trying hard now to figure out how to deal with this.

dcarch

There must be some level of immunity going on. We’ve been relaxing in NY and the trajectory is completely opposite of what it was when we were at similar levels during the upswing. I have no scientific explanation, just stating clear observations.

Just wait...

Remember in NY during the upswing we had maybe 20% wearing masks. Most thought a mask meant you were sick.

It took a while for that to sink in. And the aerosols/airborne viral load. Most are still clueless what that means unfortunately.

In Europe, it's the younger population who are infected, largely because they've been more relaxed over the summer......and they are less seriously affected so fewer cases on ventilators. Sadly, they are the vectors. I'm dreading going back to work and being surrounded by this group.

SD - That’s true of course, and I definitely credit masks, shutdowns, social distancing, etc. with the decline. But even at the height of our paranoia and shutdowns the daily infection rate was many times higher than what it is now that we’ve eased up substantially. To me there must be more than just behaviors at play.

Just wait...

Carol I dread this Fall for so many reasons!

I see a huge upswing this fall. People are covid weary. Tired of staying home and not socializing, people are out and about and going on with life as usual.. businesses and restaurants opening etc. Schools and universities are open and spreading the disease also.

If I were young I would be out, but cautiously. Since I'm not, I don't mix with people at all. I just want us to outlast this.

"FOAS ---------To me there must be more than just behaviors at play.---- "

Interesting observation.

Scientists have noticed that most Asian countries have no problems controlling the spread of covid-19. Yet they have not been able to explain why, not culture, not political systems and not genetics. We even accused China of faking their numbers. Yet Taiwan, who trades with China $ billions and with a population of 24 million, they have only 487 positive cases and 7 deaths. Korea with a population of 50 million, has 18706 cases and only 313 deaths.

Of course, it's me who discovered the reason why (LOL). One common denominator, they all eat Asian food!

You know how we all look for excuses to try different cooking styles? So I have been doing a lot of Asian cooking lately.

Hey, they eat a lot of fermented foods (soy sauce, kimchi, thousand-year eggs, etc,). Penicillin is from fermentation, right?

Unlike us, Asians never cook with butter and cream. Corona virus outer shell is made with fat, right?

I should get the Nobel Price in medicine. :-)

dcarch

Eeeeer, I think you'll find that millions of asians cook with fat...ghee? Lol

Or, could it be that the bodies of people from that part of the world have been dealing with corona-type viruses for forever and have a sort of natural immunity. ????

"Islay Corbel

Eeeeer, I think you'll find that millions of asians cook with fat...ghee? Lol"

Actually, "Asians" find it really funny that they like to be called "Orientals" until the Westerners think that "Oriental" is racist, and Asians don't consider Indians Asians. India is in very serious covid-19 trouble. Asians do not use ghee.

"CA Kate z9

Or, could it be that the bodies of people from that part of the world have been dealing with corona-type viruses for forever and have a sort of natural immunity. ????"

That is also considered to be not true.

Go get soy sauce! LOL! Oh My, soy sauce on pancakes Yummm! :-)

dcarch

Asymptomatic spread is why AIDS affected to many. Delayed toxicity is why cigarette smoking and obesity are two of our biggest contributors to death. Personally I would prefer to stick with the smart, tried and true methods of staying alive over the long haul. Having said that, it's darn hard to eat healthy and exercise with so many temptations to do the wrong thing all around me . . .

I thought this was determined a while ago and very straight forward. They were prepared and we were/and still not. They masked-up immediately, had testing, masks in every household and sold everywhere. Every citizen was given 2 N95's per week. Contact tracing. A place to stay if infected away from family to quarantine.

We had nothing. Making our own masks. Not even enough for front line health care workers. Still not enough PPE. Disaster. Making it political, disaster.

NYState is holding on for now. I get daily e-maIls from the state.

A state of close to 20 million...

The total number of COVID hospitalizations remains low. Yesterday, there were 492 total hospitalizations. Of the 71,189 tests reported yesterday, 566, or 0.79%, were positive. Sadly, we lost 3 New Yorkers to the virus.

The notion of a wedding spreading the virus fills me with angst. My business will be catering 2 large group weddings this fall. One, 80 guests, will be an indoor/outdoor barn wedding.--not so bad. The second with about 20% more guests will be primarily indoors.

My staff will wear masks but I still have concerns. Most weddings have postponed or become very small which makes the most sense even if bad for business.

I wish I could recall the program I heard this on, but I listened awhile ago to a discussion of why people in the larger Asian countries were not averse to wearing masks and following public health safety measures, and they spoke about the fact that these countries had already dealt with SARS years ago, so were primed to accept mask wearing and other strict public health measures. More people complying makes for a better outcome.

And of course having government coordinated effectively makes a big difference.

Darch, I don't know an Indian who doesn't call themselves Asian! We have a lot in our family.

https://www.countries-ofthe-world.com/countries-of-asia.html

Islay, that link defines Asians as a geographic term, not a racial cultural term.

If you Google "Asian stores" or "Asian restaurants", you will get Chinese, Korean, Japanese, never Indian or Saudi Arabian stores and restaurants.

dcarch

Ha - I was just recalling a discussion/disagreement about that subject from a few years back.

https://www.gardenweb.com/discussions/2405247/daab-chingri-macher-malaikari

In England and other countries with English influences like former colonies, "Asian" is the common term for people of South Asian heritage. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Asian

I / We take super precautions, ‘except’ I don’t always bake, steam mail, magazines or a package from Amaz. But, as I posted on the “Recipe for Disaster” thread, I seem to have something going on.

repeating post content:

<< Yes, I want to finish reading your good mask thread. Why would anyone need to mess with it. So what if we in the cooking community expand the scope occasionally.

I had some questions and contribution, and, for 3-4 days have had a low grade temp 99.7 to 100.4 F, and aches. Non juicy cough (maybe dust, pollen). I wear a mask (N95 from Auto store or HD) if I go out. I rarely go out. DH does a few errands, wears an N95 fitted. We distance, hand wash, wipe some pkg down.

I don’t see that any “flu” is going around. I cannot imagine how I could have contracted any bug or virus. I guess I’ll see what doc say. Okay. He thinks I should stroll over to a test center. >>

PS oh, also headache, nagging, non productive cough that my chest muscles are growing tire of.

agmss— where in Maine were those Covid outbreaks?

How fortunate that you do have testing available so you can find out what might be happening!! I had a similar rough respiratory bout this spring, but not classic covid symptoms. I had no way of knowing, and had to quarantine myself due to just having one day of fever. In the end, I think it was a combo of sinus and allergies, but I will never know for sure. It wasn't covid though, but frustrating none the less to try and figure out how to get better.

I’m feeling okay. My doc instructed me to get a test, so I will call. There are a few “urgent care” centers. The main reason I want to get checked out is so that If it’s any virus or flu, I don’t infect DH. There was a sudden opening for a dental cleaning a few days ago. I declined.

PS: I probably just need a well-stuffed lobster roll. Growing up, we were forced to eat lobster, rock crab, clams, quahogs, mackerel. The only kids that would hang with me were the harbor seals.

@petalique

The wedding and reception took place in Millinocket. The outbreaks are also in Madison and at the York county jail. Millinocket is a couple hour drive from me. Madison is maybe 20 minutes. York is like 200 miles away from Millinocket. The numbers have continued to go up.

Are you from Maine?

And I would like a Lobster Roll as well.

I spent the better part of my childhood in Maine, with high tides and nor’easters at the window. I learned the names of the local (marine) residents and was in heaven when we had super low tides. I dug clams, quahogs and razor clams, fished for lobsters, rock crabs (dubbed by Martha and marketers as “picky toes” or some such cutesy term). Caught tinker mackerel, flounder, pollack (tossed pollock back). Our boats were in our front yard/s. I did a lot of scraping, painting and caulking. Spent summer upon summer in skiffs and my Keds rarely got dry. Millions of mussels, Mytilus edulis, but non of the locals ate them. Silly.

I knew the tide schedule like my handwriting. We’d swim in the cove until our lips were blueberry hued, then lie on the hot rocks or go into a cottage attic (sauna) until we thawed out then repeated the swim - blue lips - hot rocks routine until some parent called us to help work (scraping boats, picking crabmeat, washing dishes or cooking. Or, babysitting. Fifty cents an hour plus I cleaned their house. Clam chowder (real clam chowder) was thin, like a stew. No pasty flour thickener. Spoons did not stand up in it. No Massachusetts, RI, or Connecticut tourist plap. It looked a lot like this.

Agmss - whenever I see your name, I think “agricultural student.” Belgrade Lakes area, Waterville, probably not Bangor.

Here’s one of my lobster open faced sandwiches. I usually devour before I think to photograph. I got too free with the mayo, but the lobster meat was moist. If it looks greenish, it is. I have won awards for picking the last edible (good edible) morsel of lobster from the creature. I added some of the tomalley. This salad mix also used the meat from the body. Knuckle, claw and tail meat is the best, but that day, I already had eaten most of the easy parts (day before).

ETA —

Some thoughts on cooking lobsters

please, never cook lobsters with those claw (rubber) bands on. Horrid! And never ever by them already cooked by the grocery store. Rubber band flavored water. Blech. And you don’t “boil” them as much as steam-boil them. The lobsters 🦞 might like you to kill them prior to subjecting them to a boiling 2 qts of salted water.

My sibling swears that the best lobster salad is from cooked lobsters that have remained in their shell overnight in a cold fridge.

I’ve eaten more lobster than a poor Mainer in the 1780s. Lobster this, lobster that. Baked stuffed, Cantonese, ... the best most delicious lobster is “boiled” with the very best drawn butter. French butter, or country “sweet” butter is my recommendation. Inhale that hot broth from the removed claws — why let it go down the drain.

Tear, don’t cut, the shelled lobster meat for lobster salad. The tomalley is yummy spread on good crackers. And, you know the trick of getting the large piece of leg meat out intact, right?

It really seems like 'rona has evolved/mutated. Although more people are contracting it - at least here - fewer people are being hospitalized. I know three people who have tested positive, and they are all at home, isolating. Their symptoms are not as onerous as the first people who contracted the virus. All of the friends with the 'rona are 65+ and have light symptoms. One has a scratchy throat, fatigue and occasional deep cough, two, meanwhile - husband and wife - have mild headaches and fatigue ... they discovered it when their daughter, a nurse at a hospital who works in a covid ward, tested positive. She has been working in the ward since March ...

Petalique - I fully agree with you about rubber band flavored water. We always clip off the rubber bands before steaming lobsters.

The average age of newly infected Covid patients now (well, as of July) is 15 years younger than in March-April. So the death/total cases rate is lower now.

However, we’re learning more about Covid’s longer term effects on cardiac, respiratory and other systems after the infection is “over”. There were always reports of healthy athletic young people who were left impaired after Covid. Now 30% of college football players who had Covid have been subsequently found to have heart inflammation (myocarditis). https://www.foxnews.com/sports/penn-state-football-team-doctor-third-covid-athletes-heart-inflammation Other residual organ impacts are being discovered.

I’m afraid that their very low death rate is leading younger people to think Covid can’t hurt them, and that is not be true at all.

College football is starting to get cancelled (Big Ten, etc). Some players are suing, claiming harm to their future careers. For a would-be professional athlete, losing 1% of cardiovascular function can turn them into an also-ran and end their careers. They should be refusing to play, not clamouring to play.

My son is at college now. His classes are almost all online. I’m concerned anyway.

So the wedding outbreak is ongoing. Three deaths - two in my county. 147 cases. York county in southern Maine now has general community spread. Our local CDC dr basically said this weekend could be the start of a more out of control spread.

Also concerning is the Covid-denying pastor who officiated at the wedding recently moved to Maine from the south. He has a mega-church and school in southern Maine AND a pilots license. So had taken it upon himself to have satellite churches in multiple northern towns. Many of these towns are struggling economically. While I am not religious generally I would support someone bringing energy and possibilities to these towns. Not in this case though.

Despite an outbreak at the main church plans to open the school went forward.

I am genuinely confused by which bits of science people choose to believe. Cholesterol meds, aeronautics and dentistry yes but epidemiology no...

On a more positive notes we are dealing with the somewhat labyrinthine process of setting up our work on the online Common Ground Fair. And it is apple season - so today’s projects include a batch of apple sauce, dried apples and pesto making. My peppers are finally changing color - almost enough to make a batch of garlicky chiu chow sauce - one of my favorite condiments.

Have a safe happy Labor Day everyone!