Novel Coronavirus COVID-19 (nCoV-2019)

[Northern Light]

Someone gave me an anti-mask pamphlet today. I took it out of interest.

Now I know I'll get some flack for this. But I do see where people are coming from regarding breathing issues with it on. I have had zero respiratory issues like asthma and am generally fit as a fiddle. But when I wear a mask I have trouble catching my breath. Sanding drywall or something I don't like it. Also in the grocery store today seemed like it was 50/50 masks-no masks - and that includes the employees.

There's no flack to be had for medically being unable to wear a mask in an indoor, public setting.

But to be clear, that's a small minority of the population.

Particularly for short-term use, in passive activities like grocery shopping or riding the bus.

Certain forms of physical employment may be more challenging, I grant.

But there are already exceptions for medical reasons, whether one suffers asthma or COPD.

Likewise for mental health if you have a condition that would make this challenging.

 

[44 North]

There's no flack to be had for medically being unable to wear a mask in an indoor, public setting.

But to be clear, that's a small minority of the population.

Particularly for short-term use, in a passive activities like grocery shopping or riding the bus.

Certain forms of physical employment may be more challenging, I grant.

But there are already exceptions for medical reasons, whether one suffers asthma or COPD.

Likewise for mental health if you have a condition that would make this challenging.

Re: your last point. Perhaps part of the dislike of the mask is psychosomatic. Having something over your nose and mouth makes one (like myself) feel like they can't breathe properly. Certainly feel for women forced to wear burkas and niquabs. Masked for life.

 

[Admiral Beez]

Someone gave me an anti-mask pamphlet today. I took it out of interest.

Now I know I'll get some flack for this. But I do see where people are coming from regarding breathing issues with it on. I have had zero respiratory issues like asthma and am generally fit as a fiddle. But when I wear a mask I have trouble catching my breath. Sanding drywall or something I don't like it. Also in the grocery store today seemed like it was 50/50 masks-no masks - and that includes the employees.

I’m fine with the mask bylaw, but I have to wonder why now, Instead of two months ago when Torontomains were dying by the hundreds?

 

[Bayer]

My business partner has asthma and COPD, and he has no trouble wearing a mask. It probably depends on your level of physical activity while wearing it. Yesterday, my diabetic husband challenged another resident at Manulife for not wearing a mask. She said she wasn't wearing one because it wasn't mandatory... We'll see if she changes her tune today. Too many exceptions, no enforcement... I'm not too optimistic.

 

[TrickyRicky]

In a way I think outbreaks in the US are helping compliance here as our media and (virtual) water cooler talk fixates on it keeping the issue more relevant in people’s minds. The compliance would be even worst if the pandemic was contained to the developing world.

If you’ve ever been in a management role or organized an event or designed a space you will recognize how desperately people need to be told what to do or guided in their choice. There is essentially no such thing as dumbing something down too much. Problems almost always arise from the opposite, management or designers assuming too much of people and not recognizing they are doing so.

 

[Admiral Beez]

In a way I think outbreaks in the US are helping compliance here as our media and (virtual) water cooler talk fixates on it keeping the issue more relevant in people’s minds. The compliance would be even worst if the pandemic was contained to the developing world.

If you’ve ever been in a management role or organized an event or designed a space you will recognize how desperately people need to be told what to do or guided in their choice. There is essentially no such thing as dumbing something down too much. Problems almost always arise from the opposite, management or designers assuming too much of people and not recognizing they are doing so.

Yes, like those idiots who refuse to follow the directional arrows on the floor in supermarkets.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

Yes, like those idiots who refuse to follow the directional arrows on the floor in supermarkets.

I'd say most of those who doesn't follow them out of conscious choice for self-convenience, not because they don't get it. Same entitled behaviour as curbside dropoff where you're not supposed to - low opportunity cost, high personal benefit.

AoD

 

[Admiral Beez]

I'd say most of those who doesn't follow them out of conscious choice for self-convenience, not because they don't get it. Same entitled behaviour as curbside dropoff where you're not supposed to - low opportunity cost, high personal benefit.

Like all criminal or unsocial behaviour, just requires: opportunity, motivation and justification.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

Like all criminal or unsocial behaviour, just requires: opportunity, motivation and justification.

Those are given, what I am more interested in is how to deter these base human instincts.

AoD

 

[tiffer24]

UPDATE: "Hugs over masks!!" Small group of angry protesters slamming mandatory mask order enter subway without masks.

https://www.cp24.com/news/masks-become-mandatory-in-toronto-today-1.5013589

 

[Northern Light]

UPDATE: Small group of angry protesters slamming mandatory mask order enter subway without masks.

https://www.cp24.com/news/masks-become-mandatory-in-toronto-today-1.5013589

Same woman from the St. Joe's nonsense the other day!

Letitia Montana

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

UPDATE: "Hugs not masks!!" Small group of angry protesters slamming mandatory mask order enter subway without masks.

https://www.cp24.com/news/masks-become-mandatory-in-toronto-today-1.5013589

See thread:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1280501451568173056

This guy was also at the Queen's Park protests the last few months.

AoD

 

[Admiral Beez]

Decent money is part of it, but many of the farmers that require seasonal help complain that local folk simply don't want to do it. It's hard, long work.

Maybe necessity will put Canadians to farm work, like this story on the UK.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/07/business/British-farms-labor.html?referringSource=articleShare

 

[TrickyRicky]

Alvin, I think the role of active non-compliance is overstated because it’s vocal. I suspect generally non-compliance is unintentional and has to do with the different ways people prioritize things in their mind.

I’m probably within the 10% who care the most about compliance and I’ve found myself going 1/3 the wrong way down the grocery isle even with those big arrows in Admiral’s example.

Competency is highly over expected and over-exaggerate. I think this is fundamental human behaviour because as with other forms of status play like conspicuous consumption, people play games of conspicuous competency.

 

[W. K. Lis]

Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro tests positive for coronavirus

From link.

Bolsonaro, 65, said he began to feel poorly on Sunday

Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro says he has tested positive for the coronavirus after months of downplaying the virus's severity.

Bolsonaro confirmed the test results while wearing a mask and speaking to reporters in the capital Brasilia.

"I'm well, normal. I even want to take a walk around here, but I can't due to medical recommendations," Bolsonaro said. "I thought I had it before, given my very dynamic activity. I'm president and on the combat lines. I like to be in the middle of the people."

Bolsonaro, 65, said he is taking hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin as a result of the positive test.

On Monday, Bolsonaro told supporters in Brasilia that he underwent an X-ray of his lungs that showed they were clean, and that he would be tested for coronavirus. On Tuesday, he told CNN Brasil that his fever had subsided.

Bolsonaro's response to the coronavirus has been highly criticized. His government has seen two health ministers depart since the beginning of the pandemic, which has hit Brazil with a vengeance since May.

Bolsonaro has also extensively promoted the use of the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine in response to COVID-19, despite skepticism among health experts over its efficacy.

Brazil, the world's sixth most populous nation, with more than 210 million people, is one of the global hot spots of the pandemic. More than 65,000 have died there so far from COVID-19, and more than 1,500,000 have been infected. Both numbers are the world's second-highest totals, and are considered to be undercounts due to the lack of widespread testing.

Staff members have previously tested positive

The president has often appeared in public to shake hands with supporters and mingle with crowds, at times without a mask. He has said that his history as an athlete would protect him from the virus, and that it would be nothing more than a "little flu" were he to contract it.

He has also repeatedly said that there is no way to prevent 70 per cent of the population falling ill with COVID-19, and that local authorities' measures to shut down economic activity would ultimately cause more hardship than allowing the virus to run its course.

Bolsonaro on Tuesday repeated those sentiments, comparing the virus to a rain that will fall on most people, and that some, like the elderly, must take greater care.

"You can't just talk about the consequences of the virus that you have to worry about. Life goes on. Brazil needs to produce. You need to get the economy in gear," he said.

Bolsonaro said he has cancelled a trip to the northeast region that was planned for this week. He will continue working via video conference and receive rare visitors when he needs to sign a document, he said.

Over the weekend, the Brazilian leader celebrated the U.S. Independence Day with the nation's ambassador to Brazil, then shared pictures on social media showing him with his arm around the ambassador alongside several ministers and aides. None wore masks, despite being in close quarters.

The U.S. Embassy said on Twitter on Monday that Ambassador Todd Chapman is not showing any COVID-19 symptoms but would be tested.

Bolsonaro tested negative three times in March after meeting with President Donald Trump in Florida. Multiple members of his delegation to the U.S., including his communications director Fabio Wajngarten, were later reported to be infected with the virus.