Why?

[tzolkin]

My FIL is 89 and he was still going to the Y. Uncle in his 80s is routinely running errands - errands I have offered to do. Uncle (80s) and Aunt (70s) are taking dog to vet tomorrow for routine care. ALL live in a city with Community Spread.

I'm surprised the Y is even open. We don't have any confirmed cases yet in our county and places like the Y, the library, etc area all closed down.

How many younger people do you know that aren't taking it seriously?

I think this is a valid point. I don't necessarily think that it's just older people who aren't taking it seriously. I think it's more personality regardless of age. I know young people with small children as well as "older" people who are almost proud of their disregard for the whole situation.

From my observations there seem to be two reasons:
1. Some people just can't stand to be inconvenienced and/or told what to do
2. Some legitimately believe that this is just media/government hype like some type of conspiracy theory

My husband and I both work in healthcare. I run an anesthesia company and he is a manager over orthopedic surgery for the largest hospital system in our area, so our lives have been nuts with meetings and planning and strategy. Last night my teenagers overheard him talking to his mom on the phone trying to explain the validity of the situation to her. "No, mom, this is actually a REAL thing. It is not made up."

Another factor I believe, is that many Baby Boomers do not believe they are "elderly". They are "forever young". It seems people are behaving as if at risk groups are "the elderly WITH health conditions" instead of "the elderly AND those with health conditions".

Yes, maybe this is just me shifting as I get older as well, but I do think the age at which one is considered "old" has moved up quite a bit in recent years. I remember my grandparents being "old" at a much younger age-- my grandfather retired in his late 50s and they acted like "old people". My parents are now 58 and my MIL is 62 and I would still consider them to be fairly young.

The CDC is not even using the term "elderly". It says "Older adults 65+" Probably because most people in their mid-60s would never dream of themselves falling under the category of "elderly"

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Also making the news this morning is that younger adults are now comprising the a big portion of hospitalized cases in the US: Here's the article: Younger Adults Comprise Big Portion of Coronavirus Hospitalizations in U.S.

There's this thread for that above article:
https://www.disboards.com/threads/demographic-is-changing-covid-19.3797120/page-2

 

[design_mom]

The CDC is not even using the term "elderly". It says "Older adults 65+" Probably because most people in their mid-60s would never dream of themselves falling under the category of "elderly"

My mom is 78 and my dad is 80... and they both said recently that they find the term 'elderly' offensive. (I think they were somewhat joking about 'offensive,' but they do not consider themselves elderly and they do not like to be called so.) They are reasonably active for their ages but my dad, in particular, has chronic lung issues. I'm *begging* them to take this seriously, and they're more like "We'll do what we can, but we're not going to live in fear!" Argh!

 

[Mom2Stitch]

Age is just a number and sometimes just a state of mind.

My son is 25 and is taking this very seriously and he has issues with other young people who are not.

My DH is 64 and very healthy, he would laugh at anyone who called him elderly. Still he's not invincible, and our nightly conversations about that fact have not been going well. He is a contractor, he works in new home construction. While he's not often around many others, it still worries me.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

One of the police departments here started a live storytime reading of a children's book read by a cop yesterday. I don't know how long they will do it but they've got another one set up today. I think that's adorable

The libraries are closed and some of those programs that were cancelled early on included such activites of storytime reading.

 

[kiddo76]

Age is just a number and sometimes just a state of mind.

My son is 25 and is taking this very seriously and he has issues with other young people who are not.

My DH is 64 and very healthy, he would laugh at anyone who called him elderly. Still he's not invincible, and our nightly conversations about that fact have not been going well. He is a contractor, he works in new home construction. While he's not often around many others, it still worries me.

Except in this case, age is not just a number. Statistics continue to show this virus impacts those over 60 to a much greater degree than those in younger groups.

My ILs are 71 and were born only about 7 years after my parents. They started treating my parents as being "elderly" more than 10 years ago, but still don't see themselves as elderly now.

 

[Bianca and Bernard]

Translated:

BERGAMO - A war theater image: in the center of Bergamo. A long column of military vehicles stops in via Borgo Palazzo - a few hundred meters from the cemetery. They are the army vans used to transport the coffins from the Bergamo cemetery to the crematoria of other regions.
The reason, as is now known, is that the mortuary in Bergamo has not been able to accommodate the coffin of coronavirus victims for days. And the same goes for the crematorium (there is only one in town, it is active 24 hours a day). Ever since Covid-19 began to mow down the Italian Wuhan - Bergamo remains the most affected province in the country so far - cemetery services and funeral agencies have gone haywire.
To relieve the cemetery's mortuary - with no more space available - it had been necessary in recent days to line up the coffins of the deceased in the church of Ognissanti, inside the cemetery. Since yesterday, the solution identified to deal with the emergency has been the use of army vehicles. Coronavirus victims are transported to other regions: starting from Emilia Romagna. The first shipments of the coffins were in Modena.


https://www.repubblica.it/cronaca/2...o_le_salme_fuori_dalla_regione-251650969/1/#1

 

[godisney14]

In just 1 month, Italy went from 3 to >41,000 cases, now growing at more than 5,000 cases per day, and from 0 to > 3,400 deaths, now growing at almost 400 deaths per day.

The US is now at almost 12,000 cases and growing more than 2,000 cases per day.

NY is the worst and will be the next Italy.

Stay home if you don’t want any of your family, friend, or coworker to die.

 

[cobright]

I just finished the article by the Stanford medical economist posted earlier. And he's right in everything he has said so long as his own assumptions are taken. And ... he has the credentials.

But his predictions are based on the cruise ship data which he admits is a tiny sample size; nothing peer reviewed would accept using this of data this way. He seems to be placing some hard caps on just how bad things will get that without really showing his arithmetic. Like ... just why is it that things here can't get as bad as Italy?

In the end, I figure it will get worse, then better. China is down to about 100 new cases a day from 2k new cases a day and things are getting back to normal there. The US will get up to a few thousand cases a day for a month or two and then it will drop and we'll get back to normal.

Contrary to Dr. Ioannidis, I think we will have a greater than 1% total transmission. A city in Italy tested 100% of its residents and came up with 3.5% That's 1 month into this thing for them. Before this is over we will definitely have a number greater than the 10k case fatalities that author proposes.

It's a weird line, I've been bonking my head against, between the people who aren't taking it seriously enough and those who are probably taking it too serious. I honestly don't know which side I'm on most of the time. Usually, as I've said, I'm a nihilist and don't really see the point one way or the other. And yet ... sigh... I guess I'd rather my folks stop hugging strangers and make it to the other side of this thing vertical.

 

[Farro]

I would expect as large as our country is and the more testing we do that we will end being near the top with the most cases in the world. But how many are deadly remains to be seen. Could be mainly milder and even asymptomatic once we ramp up testing even more.

 

[mrodgers]

This age were the rebels of the 60's. This is a different generation than the elderly of the past. They may look old now but they were the original "question authority" generation. So it really doesn't surprise me. From this day on the elderly are not going to be a quiet bunch. Wait until we 70's and 80's kids get there. Blasting Twisted Sister in the nursing home.

Coworker told me of a vid he saw from France or Germany of people hanging out on their apartment balconies and someone was blasting Black Sabbath and everyone on the block was out singing along.

 

[mrodgers]

I wonder if it’s b/c that generation has seen they’re share of end of the world type scenarios that ended up not as bad as predicted so they’re more skeptical? Part of what made Hurricane Katrina so devastating for this area is that ppl had just evacuated for that big one (ivan) the year before & it went somewhere else. So ppl were skeptical to trust the experts the next time & stayed.

I would say this. I am also skeptical, I follow politics and I see what is going on and have my own thoughts on the mass panic the powers have created, but we can't talk about it. We can only talk about it if we are part of the mass panic.

I keep seeing people with "the experts" in their posts. Are these the same experts that tell me that climate change is a human issue and it will all stop if I pay more taxes? Or the same experts that tell me my entire lifetime of education is wrong and there are millions of genders out there? How am I suppose to take the experts of this seriously?

I think I'm immune anyways. I was sick over my 3 week Christmas break. I rarely get sick and when I do, I'm down and roughing it for a day and I recover. Over Christmas, I was laid up on the couch for 2 weeks sick. I have a difficult time thinking I was sick then from a cold or the regular flu. I have never been as sick as I was in December.

 

[mrodgers]

Those polls....don't believe them. They can be skewed and are not accurate in my own personal experience. I wish they would go away for now because we have way more pressing concerns at this time.

It doesn't come from polls for me. Polls are worthless. I have the same sentiments as the poster you quoted and it comes from being active in discussions on forums that one is allowed to talk about every side of an issue.

 

[kiddo76]

It doesn't come from polls for me. Polls are worthless. I have the same sentiments as the poster you quoted and it comes from being active in discussions on forums that one is allowed to talk about every side of an issue.

Yes, I agree. Before I saw the poll, I already had those sentiments. The poll just made me think "huh, I guess I'm not the only one who's observed that".

 

[RamblingMad]

When the hospitals are at capacity and people start dying from other medical issues, people will start to panic. This is just beginning here. We need to avoid being Italy while having less hospitable beds.

 

[jiminyC_fan]

Did you see on the news all the kids on the beach for Spring Break? Wow. Irresponsible! Invincible or so they think. The beaches should have been closed a very long time ago. I know a few have closed. Those kids should not be allowed on a plane. They should be rounded up and placed in a venue for a mandatory 14 day quarantine.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

So perhaps a not publicized part of this all with the health crisis and all is....blood donators

Our Community Blood Center said their supply is low but not critical..yet. This is mostly due to all the cancellations of their blood drives and of course people staying home.

They need donors but realize the incredibly difficult situation this puts everyone in.

For social distancing and safety measures they said this:

"Spacing out donors' beds and chairs. They are also disinfecting beds and tablets in between donors and taking the temperature of every person who walks through the door."

They've also extended their hours.

 

[kiddo76]

So perhaps a not publicized part of this all with the health crisis and all is....blood donators

Our Community Blood Center said their supply is low but not critical..yet. This is mostly due to all the cancellations of their blood drives and of course people staying home.

They need donors but realize the incredibly difficult situation this puts everyone in.

For social distancing and safety measures they said this:

"Spacing out donors' beds and chairs. They are also disinfecting beds and tablets in between donors and taking the temperature of every person who walks through the door."

They've also extended their hours.

Thank you for posting this. I have an appointment Tuesday!

 

[LSUmiss]

I would say this. I am also skeptical, I follow politics and I see what is going on and have my own thoughts on the mass panic the powers have created, but we can't talk about it. We can only talk about it if we are part of the mass panic.

I keep seeing people with "the experts" in their posts. Are these the same experts that tell me that climate change is a human issue and it will all stop if I pay more taxes? Or the same experts that tell me my entire lifetime of education is wrong and there are millions of genders out there? How am I suppose to take the experts of this seriously?

I think I'm immune anyways. I was sick over my 3 week Christmas break. I rarely get sick and when I do, I'm down and roughing it for a day and I recover. Over Christmas, I was laid up on the couch for 2 weeks sick. I have a difficult time thinking I was sick then from a cold or the regular flu. I have never been as sick as I was in December.

Well we have 400 cases here & we are 25th in the nation population wise. Our governor says if growth continues like this we’ll have a serious crisis with medical care on just a week. So at this point the experts are looking to be accurate at least here. It doesn’t just affect Covid positive cases. I have a kidney infection & couldn’t get seen today & was told it’ll be tomorrow before they can even get urinalysis results.

 

[MarkLT1]

The US is now at almost 12,000 cases and growing more than 2,000 cases per day.

Today we had more than 5k new cases. We are quickly moving towards surpassing Italy in terms of daily new cases. Go America, #1 (I guess?)