D&D and the rising pandemic

[R_J_K75]

I concur, and while I am not a Floridian, I do play one on TV.

Sometime around September 2008 there was a hurricane in Florida. We were watching the news here in NY and the reporter was clearly in front of a green screen while crewmen had a fan on him and another "doused" him with a watering can. It made Geraldo look like a war hero.

 

[Celebrim]

I can confirm, as a Floridian.

I can also confirm.

The really hard part is trying to convince someone that has had a party and got drunk for the last 12 hurricanes, that a category V is something different than anything he's ever experienced.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I can confirm, as a Floridian.

People had them in Louisiana, too.

 

[Fenris-77]

I can also confirm.

The really hard part is trying to convince someone that has had a party and got drunk for the last 12 hurricanes, that a category V is something different than anything he's ever experienced.

Category V ... huh ... is that the one where you drink tequila out of a boot and then dunk your whole face in salted lime water?

Oh wait, you meant the Hurricane....

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

The really hard part is trying to convince someone that has had a party and got drunk for the last 12 hurricanes, that a category V is something different than anything he's ever experienced.

Most of my family is from and lived in NOLA...until 2005. We’ve lived in D/FW since 1982. Many times, we hosted family members who evacuated for one of the minor hurricanes. A fun little vacation, and few days later, they’d head home.

They knew Katrina was different, and evacuated en mass. We had @30 in our house, and 2 other family members (who had moved to D/FW after a hurricane a few years prior) had another couple dozen between them.

They didn’t realize HOW different until they turned on the TV just before noon and saw places they knew under 10+ feet of water. The house was dead quiet.

 

[FrogReaver]

What exactly do you think is a rational reaction to a disease with apparently an R0 of higher than 2.5 and a mortality rate of higher than 3.4%?

I'm not denying that there is a certain amount of hype, but those two numbers I think pretty much tell the whole story. You either believe those numbers are real, or you don't - in which case your distrust extends to far more than just 'the media'.

So, as for myself, I don't think we'll meet for two reasons.

First, and most importantly, for the sake of people outside our group who would be at high risk in the event of a general epidemic. For the sake of the elderly, it just doesn't make any sense to put our enjoyment ahead of their lives.

And secondly, several members of my group have the single most important co-morbidity factor - high blood pressure. So, even though mortality in our age group is quite low, with the high blood pressure present in it's in the 1% range. And that's to not even get into the relatively high risk that they'd need to be on oxygen for 2 to 4 weeks.

I don't believe there is a way at this time to accurately measure those values. Props to the people trying to get the best handle on this that they can. That said - it's still best to take as few risks as possible.

Keep in mind that it can be weeks before symptoms are shown. You may already have caught it and not even be aware.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Ten years ago we had H1N1, I think my government was more prepared back then than now. And they were actually caught completely unprepared. At the time it seemed we all learned a valuable lesson, but people forgot and quickly.

Back in 2009, US pandemic preparedness was slated to be boosted by @$800m. That boost was stymied by bipartisan efforts, Some of that was because some of that funding was tacked on to unrelated bills, but not all of it.

I’m thinking that some of those legislators are rethinking those votes. I know some of their constituents are. Hopefully, we’ll get it right this time.

 

[FrogReaver]

Ten years ago we had H1N1, I think my government was more prepared back then than now. And they were actually caught completely unprepared. At the time it seemed we all learned a valuable lesson, but people forgot and quickly.

I feel like H1N1 was more like part 1 of the story about the boy who cried wolf

 

[FrogReaver]

I live in Buffalo, NY. I woke up this morning about 5AM. Within the last 12 hrs basically every public event has been cancelled for the foreseeable future. Pretty sure colleges have gone online too. There's been no confirmed cases here, the closest is about an hour away outside of Rochester. Seems theyre doing the right thing by being proactive but Im pretty confident that it'll be here sooner than later.

Yep, only a matter of time.

 

[R_J_K75]

Most of my family is from and lived in NOLA...until 2005. We’ve lived in D/FW since 1982. Many times, we hosted family members who evacuated for one of the minor hurricanes. A fun little vacation, and few days later, they’d head home.

They knew Katrina was different, and evacuated en mass. We had @30 in our house, and 2 other family members (who had moved to D/FW after a hurricane a few years prior) had another couple dozen between them.

They didn’t realize HOW different until they turned on the TV just before noon and saw places they knew under 10+ feet of water. The house was dead quiet.

We got 8+ feet of snow in November of 2014, I think the majority of it came within 48 hrs, but it snowed for almost a week straight. I live by myself and was snowed in for over a week. Even if I wanted to go anywhere it was pretty futile. There were driving bans and abandoned cars all over WNY, and people were trapped in their cars on the thruway for days. My neighbor got to a store around the 3rd or 4th day and brought back a backpack full of liquor and we ended up partying at my house for the next 2 days. During it slowly but surely when people found out we were there drinking quite a few brave souls ventured out and made their way over. Ended up quite a bash. So I'll take snow over anything like a tornado, hurricane or wild fires any day.