he seemed so proud of himself for getting through that.
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It came back up in the Q&A for another good chuckle, but not long enough of a clip to be worth hunting out:
ACTING ADMINISTRATOR SLAVITT: I suppose I have to take that question, huh?
DR. MURTHY: (Laughs.) Well, all you, Andy.
ACTING ADMINISTRATOR SLAVITT: Thanks, everybody. (Laughter.)
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While itās a good idea in theory it is just another stat to lie about on your dating profile (age, height, body type)
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Iām just wondering how many times he practiced reading that list.
But itās interesting itās actually a data point being used as a filter at all.
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Early arrivals frazzle me when Iām frazzled already, especially when something goes unexpected wrong in the kitchen and I am still look like a hot mess.
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Thought this article was interesting:
āAcross the country, in fact, peopleās pandemic behavior appears to be disconnected from local policy, which complicates any effort to know which COVID-19 policies actually work.ā
My take away from this article is that everyone individually has created their own little Covid reality bubble with a pretty firmly entrenched position where they are positive their personal created beliefs are infallibleā¦including the author of the articleā¦
āIāll first answer for myself: Skeptical of some official narratives from the Trump administration to the CDC, Iāve become my own private investigator on all things COVID-related. (It helps that Iām paid to be one.) I track what public-health officials say about the pandemic, but I donāt wait with bated breath for their pronouncements. Months before the CDC acknowledged that surface transmission of the coronavirus is vanishingly rare, I wrote that surface transmission is vanishingly rare. Weeks before the CDC acknowledged that outdoor mask mandates make no sense, I wrote that outdoor mask mandates make no sense. Iām not bragging; Iām ā¦ well, all right, Iām bragging a little.ā
What I find most disturbing about all this is that it seems we will have learned next to nothing from this experience. I guess even more people could have died, but Iām finding it hard to give us a passing grade on 600k fatalities.
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I thought it was a good article. What Iāve witnessed the most, in agreement with the author, is that nobody I know is taking their queues from the CDC. Those who believe in masks wear them because they believe they are effective. Those who donāt believe theyāre helpful donāt wear them (unless forced by an employer).
One statement he made I disagreed with: āGovernors donāt reopen or close economies. The CDC doesnāt put masks on or take them off citizensā faces.ā Our Governor has shut down much of our economy. Many businesses have been lost, and people have been in jail and court for trying to not lose their business. The Governor has put masks on faces as far as employment is concerned.
I can say Iāve learned A LOT from this experience. I would have never known what I know now if not for this pandemic.
Great article! Thank you for sharing.
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Oh for sure! I actually meant more like the very beginning of the party. Because a lot of people tend to show up late and things donāt really get going at the start time specified.
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BamaJ, one note on the governor shutting down businesses: thereās a strong case to be made that itās actually pandemics themselves that are bad for economies, not necessarily a governmentās reaction to it. In the second quarter of 2020, when this was really busting out, Swedenās economy actually dropped MORE than its neighboring Scandanavian countriesā, despite the fact that Sweden didnāt lock down and Denmark, Finland, and Norway did; turns out that people getting sick, people dying, people having to take care of family members who are sick, and people worrying about it are all bad for the economy, too. Witness whatās going on in India: my husband has multiple employees who are taking leaves to go take care of of their sick families. One employee has, thus far, lost seven family members and counting.
Countries that locked down hard and got it under control quickly had economies that recovered faster. Taiwan, for instance has been almost completely open for business - their borders are completely closed, I mean within the country, like restaurants and shops - for at least nine months, maybe a year; the only restrictions have been masks in public transportation, which most people did anyway. They contract trace, hard, any breakouts that pop up, put all contacts in quarantine (and people follow the rules.) Iām so jealous of all our relatives there, living basically normal lives with minimal risk for much of this time. (Though they are doing a little tightening right now, because of an upward blip in cases.) They have had twelve deaths in the entire country this entire time, and they are five times bigger than Minnesota; weāve had like 7500. It helps to be an island and be able to close your borders, but still.
(My husband has a giant family - no kidding, his dad was one of 21, his mom one of 9 - and they are scattered all over the world, and they have a big WeChat so they are always talking to each other. Plus his job is in the Asia-Pacific region, and he talks to people in New Zealand, Australia, China, Thailand, Malaysia, India etc. all day - well, all night, really - long. Spent two weeks every month there until the pandemic; he is super attuned to the global economy. Our godson is in Germany, and I have a regular zoom call each Monday morning with a group of friends in Italy, Austria, Switzerland & France. So we tend to hear whatās working and failing in other places. American media is really not very good about giving us a global view, unless itās something sensationalistic - every place else knows far more about us than we do about them.)
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Reminds me off that time on a first date that I figured out a woman lied about her age on her profile ā¦ turns out she went to the same high school as me but didnāt know anyone I mentioned in what would have been her graduating class. Finally, she confessed ā¦ she had actually graduated 3 years earlier.
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I would love talking to people from all over the world regularly! Thatās exciting. Thatās an interesting perspective. More for me to study. 
Iām just going by what I see in our country, comparing how various states are managed. Thereās a lot of variables. For instance, I think we have 5 states where Governors forced Covid position patients in nursing homes which accounts for ~40% of Covid deaths in those states (donāt quote me on that, Iām going off of memory and itās been quite a while since I read that so the numbers may be off as we stand now).
BamaJ, I do admire the way you listen to other perspectives and ideas. 
It IS really fun; I have a ticket to Italy to meet up with my friends in October, and Iām so excited. Have every digit crossed that the EU will let me in then; things change so fast.
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I will be interested to read the books that are written someday by sociologists and epidemiologists about all of this. It reminds me of the parable where 5 people who have never seen/heard of an elephant are blindfolded, touch one part of the elephant and are then asked to describe the whole animal to others. Many people (even in the same geographic location) describe wildly different experiences during COVID depending on their immediate friends/family experiences. I agree with @amvanhoose_701479 600k dead means there were things we could have done better. That number stuns me every single time I am reminded of it. Itās been nice to be able to come here and get multiple perspectives.
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I want to go back to the guy who starts and moderates all these briefingsā¦āOK we got through that part.ā He is the one who commented about not approving of side-eyeing at the no mask for vaccinated briefing. I guess heās the comic relief 
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@missoverexcited and I have decided to put out a warning on these threads. We are locking one thread and we hope we will not have to lock any of the others regarding covid. Thank you
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Iāve been watching the NPR map of cases in the US all year and this is the first time Iāve ever looked at it with no red! That is awesome. 
Coronavirus update: View charts of U.S. cases and deaths : Shots - Health News : NPR
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Hey is anyone going to try this? Your Shot to Fly Sweepstakes (united.com)
unlimited flights to Disney doesnāt sound badā¦
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Random guy along the side of our main thoroughfare holding a hand printed sign;
COVID
vaccines
āāā>
(pharmacy)
Whatever it takes! 
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I always look at the Harvard map and itās looking very yellow today! Wonderful news!
https://globalepidemics.org/key-metrics-for-covid-suppression/
Also, my county (Pierce County, WA) has been having a peak in cases to rival the big December/January peak. Cases were not quite as high, but hospitalizations were the same for both peaks. I was so concerned because other places were doing so much better and mask usage was slipping yet we were not doing so good. Happy to report that our numbers have dropped significantly. We were about 28 cases per day per 100,000 and now down to about 10 cases per day. Still need to drop some more, but I am feeling better about local conditions. Also the numbers of vaccinated adults is rising here too. Our County executive made a stink with the state and they opened a vaccination site at the Tacoma Dome plus partnered with the school district to offer students 16+ (now 12+) and their adult family members vaccines onsite at two of the high schools with high numbers of minority and poor students. Things are looking up!
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I will admit to being incredibly nervous about each step towards normalcy. Today I sent my unvaccinated DD9 to school for an in person field day of about 4 hrs, outside, and I was a total wreck. Iām sure it was fine. Even though masks werenāt technically required outside she said that most of the kids had them on the whole time. It was the first time the entire school year that she did an activity with her fellow 3rd graders in person. And I see that our local Six Flags has waived the need for reservations and seems to not be doing any sort of capacity restriction. I expected this b/c Maryland governor waived all restrictions on businesses (as far as I could tell) but I was hoping theyād keep doing some sort of crowd control a little longerānow that I finally feel safe to go, with most of the family vaccinated. Oh well. We will still go on a week day etc. at first. And probably not for awhile. I have no idea how to approach the water park. I know water is supposed to be ok, but is it ok with a lot of other people walking through that big water slide contraption with the spilling buckets? I have no idea. I donāt want to go and then say to the kids āwell we came here but you canāt do X, Y or Z that you were really wanting to do.ā I donāt want to be a big Party Pooper when Iām almost certainly going to be the one who plans for us to go out in the first place.
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