Coronavirus pandemic

[Max Rockatansky]

Yeah, I don't do this in the USA, but no problem in Mexico!


[photo from 2009]

The same thing on the Moped is a hoot to watch sometimes, especially when it is three or more people. 

[SEWIGuy]

If they aren't masking in their personal workspace, they most certainly do not.  You seemingly work with selfish people. I guess you fit in well.

Give me a break. Masks are not really needed in workplaces that aren't open to the public. There's a limited number of known people going in and out, and, where I work, we do temperature checks on the way in and you can't enter with a fever.

Temperature checks are worthless.  You can spread it without a fever.  You should wear a mask indoors unless you are in your personal workspace.

If they aren't masking in their personal workspace, they most certainly do not.  You seemingly work with selfish people. I guess you fit in well.   

No, I work with people who make their own informed decisions about how to conduct their lives.  Their decision doesn't align with yours, but such doesn't make them bad people.

Right.  They want to be selfish.  Just like you.

And I have a problem with people like you who assume to have all the answers, when the people who actually do this for a living don't.  For all you know, everyone in his office has already had it and has immunity already.  Not only that, a significant portion of the disposable masks that are actually out the available for purchase slough off some of their fibers, which does who knows what to your respiratory system long term.  Some people actually wear glasses at their job, which means if they can't see through fogged up lenses, they can't work.  I just read an article yesterday about "superspreaders" being responsible for over 80% of the infection growth.  There's information all over the place right now, so NO ONE knows for sure anything at the moment.  Quite frankly, all this mask outrage is pretty much how I view the TSA in general: security theatre.

I truly don't care if you have a problem with me. The opinions of the selfish don't mean much.

[kalvado]

Temperature checks are worthless.  You can spread it without a fever. 

My problem with temperature checks is that, as has already been pointed out by ... hmmm, I think it was Max Rockatansky ... people's temperature can be elevated for all sorts of reasons that have nothing to do with the coronavirus.

There's almost going to be nothing that is 100% perfect in detection.  But people try their dammest to discount everything.

The likelihood of someone not being sick yet have a temperature over 100 degrees is close to nill.  There may be a small percentage of the population that has a condition that causes this, and they probably already know who they are.  If not, maybe this would be a good time for them to see a doc to find out!

There's a more likelihood that someone registers a close-to-normal temp but has the virus and doesn't know it.  That's where the masks and other protections come in.

We have half a dozen workers show up every day with a temperatures at 100F or higher.  We typically sit them in a cool area for 5 minutes and rescan.  In the two months we have been scanning we have only had one person rescan at over 100F.  The summer sun does play a huge factor in environments like where I live when it gets above 100F daily.  When we first got the scanners I had myself tested eight times through the day.  I even scanned over 100F myself after going for a 5 minute walk outside.  To that end the temperature scan IMO is the least effective measure we do and something that I think we could cease doing given how ineffective it has been.

May end up as a regional or lifestyle thing. I suspect things may be interesting in Phoenix; but over here weather is more moderate, and at my workplace most people would show up at the gate in a car with AC running (subject to weather, of course) and don't really have a  chance to overheat.
I will ask screening  folks if they do see false positives way to often.
Separate recommendation is to self-screen at home.

[jmacswimmer]

May end up as a regional or lifestyle thing. I suspect things may be interesting in Phoenix; but over here weather is more moderate, and at my workplace most people would show up at the gate in a car with AC running (subject to weather, of course) and don't really have a  chance to overheat.
I will ask screening  folks if they do see false positives way to often.
Separate recommendation is to self-screen at home.

That is exactly what my company will be doing once we return (which I agree with) - they figured it made more sense that way versus showing up, having to congregate waiting to use the same thermometer, and possibly getting false positives should it be an especially hot day.

[kphoger]

For my friends, who had their temperatures taken at a roadside checkpoint several weeks ago, I wonder what would have happened if their A/C hadn't been working and they'd had elevated temperatures for that reason.  Would they have been turned back?

For anyone interested in what it's like to travel within Mexico right now...

Within the 275-mile drive south from customs to their house, which did not cross any state lines, here's what our friends encountered:

– questioned four times
– temperatures taken twice with IR thermomenters
– tires sprayed with bleach twice (wtf?), once at a tollbooth and once at a roadside checkpoint

This is what I meant.  Imagine being sent to another city for work and booking a flight on Frontier Airlines.  You walk across the hot parking lot, hauling luggage with you, huff it into the airport, hurry through the building, and then register a fever.  Sorry, can't board the plane!

[Roadgeekteen]

Do you think that the NBA's plan for resumming will work?

[webny99]

Do you think that the NBA's plan for resumming will work?

Wrong thread?

[GaryV]

Do you think that the NBA's plan for resumming will work?

Shouldn't that be discussed in the sports thread, not here?

[kphoger]

Do you think that the NBA's plan for resumming will work?

I'm surprised to hear that any school sports have resumed already, but I can see a professional outfit having the ability to make it work safely.  Are these games planned to have fans in attendance?

[Max Rockatansky]

Temperature checks are worthless.  You can spread it without a fever. 

My problem with temperature checks is that, as has already been pointed out by ... hmmm, I think it was Max Rockatansky ... people's temperature can be elevated for all sorts of reasons that have nothing to do with the coronavirus.

There's almost going to be nothing that is 100% perfect in detection.  But people try their dammest to discount everything.

The likelihood of someone not being sick yet have a temperature over 100 degrees is close to nill.  There may be a small percentage of the population that has a condition that causes this, and they probably already know who they are.  If not, maybe this would be a good time for them to see a doc to find out!

There's a more likelihood that someone registers a close-to-normal temp but has the virus and doesn't know it.  That's where the masks and other protections come in.

We have half a dozen workers show up every day with a temperatures at 100F or higher.  We typically sit them in a cool area for 5 minutes and rescan.  In the two months we have been scanning we have only had one person rescan at over 100F.  The summer sun does play a huge factor in environments like where I live when it gets above 100F daily.  When we first got the scanners I had myself tested eight times through the day.  I even scanned over 100F myself after going for a 5 minute walk outside.  To that end the temperature scan IMO is the least effective measure we do and something that I think we could cease doing given how ineffective it has been.

May end up as a regional or lifestyle thing. I suspect things may be interesting in Phoenix; but over here weather is more moderate, and at my workplace most people would show up at the gate in a car with AC running (subject to weather, of course) and don't really have a  chance to overheat.
I will ask screening  folks if they do see false positives way to often.
Separate recommendation is to self-screen at home.

One of my buildings is capable of doing the car drive by scan which seems to be going fairly efficiently.  But then again they haven't turned away a single person despite there being numerous people going home sick in the middle of the day.  Really the true test I think comes back if you don't feel good then stay home.  We dump so much payroll into this screening thing when it's easier just to keep assuring people it's okay to call out sick or outright asking people if they okay if they look unwell.  With all these hundreds of people who get scanned every week it's hard to not see the temperature scan as much more than a placebo measure. 

[formulanone]

Yeah, I don't do this in the USA, but no problem in Mexico!


[photo from 2009]

Either the laws of physics don't exist in Mexico, or you aren't allowed go above 10 mph?

Speaking as a parent, I sincerely hope you don't plan on carrying children in your lap in a moving vehicle anymore. That's just reckless contempt for life.

[Max Rockatansky]

Yeah, I don't do this in the USA, but no problem in Mexico!


[photo from 2009]

Either the laws of physics don't exist in Mexico, or you aren't allowed go above 10 mph?

Speaking as a parent, I sincerely hope you don't plan on carrying children in your lap in a moving vehicle anymore. That's just reckless contempt for life.

But it is a common part of life down there in Mexico.  I'm not trying to justify it or say the practice is bad, but that's a pretty tame example of what is normal down there.  It kind of reminds me of how driving used to be during the 1980s when things like seat belt use wasn't universally accepted as a truism.  Back in that era even in the United States most would look twice if kids were in the back seat with no belt on or sitting on a parents lap. 

[formulanone]

Yeah, I don't do this in the USA, but no problem in Mexico!


[photo from 2009]

Either the laws of physics don't exist in Mexico, or you aren't allowed go above 10 mph?

Speaking as a parent, I sincerely hope you don't plan on carrying children in your lap in a moving vehicle anymore. That's just reckless contempt for life.

But it is a common part of life down there in Mexico.  I'm not trying to justify it or say the practice is bad, but that's a pretty tame example of what is normal down there.  It kind of reminds me of how driving used to be during the 1980s when things like seat belt use wasn't universally accepted as a truism.  Back in that era even in the United States most would look twice if kids were in the back seat with no belt on or sitting on a parents lap. 

It was the norm for decades, but not since most of us here received our drivers' licenses.

[1995hoo]

^^^^^

Heh. Remember when it was normal for a group, like a Cub Scout group or similar, to be all in one station wagon with one kid in the front seat, two or three in the back seat, and four or five kids in what my friends and I called the "back-back" (that is, the "trunk" or cargo area where there were no seats, let alone seat belts)? Certainly it wasn't unusual in the 1970s and 1980s.

[Max Rockatansky]

^^^^^

Heh. Remember when it was normal for a group, like a Cub Scout group or similar, to be all in one station wagon with one kid in the front seat, two or three in the back seat, and four or five kids in what my friends and I called the "back-back" (that is, the "trunk" or cargo area where there were no seats, let alone seat belts)? Certainly it wasn't unusual in the 1970s and 1980s.

Hell my siblings and I fought over who got to sit atop the rear wheel in my Dad's truck bed because it was extra "fun"  with all the bouncing.  Nobody batted an eye at it back in those days and still don't in a lot of other countries.  I don't think a lot of people really get exposed to the fact that other parts of the world often have totally different sensibilities and taboos than the United States. 

[Roadgeekteen]

Do you think that the NBA's plan for resumming will work?

I'm surprised to hear that any school sports have resumed already, but I can see a professional outfit having the ability to make it work safely.  Are these games planned to have fans in attendance?

No

[webny99]

As this thread approaches 5 months old, it has now more than doubled the length of any other Off-Topic thread.

Speaking as a parent, I sincerely hope you don't plan on carrying children in your lap in a moving vehicle anymore. That's just reckless contempt for life.

... that's a pretty tame example ...

Yeah, that's what I was thinking as well. There is good reason he shouldn't have his kids on his lap anymore: after all, this was 11 years ago; he probably shouldn't be holding teenagers on his lap. But "reckless contempt" is an overstatement, at least with regards to babies and younger kids like the one in the photo.

[hbelkins]

Fayetteville, Arkansas passed an ordinance requiring anyone outside in public should be wearing a mask. Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson has declared that cities can't have stricter rules than the state (which recommends masks, but does not require them.)

How does one person's declaration supersede a legislatively-approved ordinance?

[US71]

Fayetteville, Arkansas passed an ordinance requiring anyone outside in public should be wearing a mask. Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson has declared that cities can't have stricter rules than the state (which recommends masks, but does not require them.)

How does one person's declaration supersede a legislatively-approved ordinance?

Rank?  The governor is above (or thinks he's above) local ordinances ?

[J N Winkler]

Fayetteville, Arkansas passed an ordinance requiring anyone outside in public should be wearing a mask. Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson has declared that cities can't have stricter rules than the state (which recommends masks, but does not require them).

How does one person's declaration supersede a legislatively-approved ordinance?

It can if the Arkansas emergency management statute gives the governor power to make orders that override ordinances that local agencies pass under their home-rule powers.  In Kansas, any order the governor makes within the context of a declared emergency can be designed to override orders made by counties under their public-health powers.

[Roadgeekteen]

As this thread approaches 5 months old, it has now more than doubled the length of any other Off-Topic thread.

Given that the coronavirus isn't going away any time soon, I wonder if this thread will become the most posted on thread on this forum first or get locked first.

[kalvado]

^^^^^

Heh. Remember when it was normal for a group, like a Cub Scout group or similar, to be all in one station wagon with one kid in the front seat, two or three in the back seat, and four or five kids in what my friends and I called the "back-back" (that is, the "trunk" or cargo area where there were no seats, let alone seat belts)? Certainly it wasn't unusual in the 1970s and 1980s.

My old Chevy Celebrity was officially an 8-seat car: 3 on undivided front seat, 3 on the back, and 2 in the trunk - a lid opened on the floor to put legs down; and I believe back of the rear seat was double-sided. Possibly there were even some belts there. Never had a chance to load more than 3 people total in that car, though...

[US71]

As this thread approaches 5 months old, it has now more than doubled the length of any other Off-Topic thread.

Given that the coronavirus isn't going away any time soon, I wonder if this thread will become the most posted on thread on this forum first or get locked first.

I've only been checking it every 3-4 days.

[Roadgeekteen]

As this thread approaches 5 months old, it has now more than doubled the length of any other Off-Topic thread.

Given that the coronavirus isn't going away any time soon, I wonder if this thread will become the most posted on thread on this forum first or get locked first.

I've only been checking it every 3-4 days.

I check it frequently but I don't read every post closely, as there are just so many posts.

[webny99]

As this thread approaches 5 months old, it has now more than doubled the length of any other Off-Topic thread.

Given that the coronavirus isn't going away any time soon, I wonder if this thread will become the most posted on thread on this forum first or get locked first.

This thread is already longer than anything in General Highway Talk. "Crash Prone Modern Roundabouts" is the only one that even comes close.

Sadly, we no longer have the quick reference to view the longest threads, but I believe there are only 10 longer than this one: 8 in Traffic Control, plus the general New York and Virginia threads. The longest of those has 5618 posts at this moment, so my bet is this will easily surpass that.

(General New York thread is also currently longer than this one, edited to reflect.)