We’ve mostly been staying in, though we went to a nature preserve today that was very lightly trafficked. WE are avoiding public spaces in the city like the plague though – drove by Dolores Park and social distancing was clearly not happening.
Happy 4th to everyone.
Those sneaky SOBs; NYC was only sharing that the fireworks display would only be shot off from the Empire State Building this year. However, I just learned that they are in fact doing them all around the boroughs in as-of-the-moment undisclosed locations so that people would not congregate as per the health department.
This is what I am doing… Social distancing and grilling.
Be safe everyone.
Well, did anyone else’s 4th of July consist of 5 hours of continuous fireworks, until at least 2 am???
I’m a fan of sparkly displays but this was a little extra even for me.
Also, not pleased that amateur fireworks displays set fire to two acres of my favorite place to take the kids biking.
Yes, we’re out in a rural area, so no limitations on fireworks. Luckily our dog hasn’t shown any signs of being afraid of the noise. The horses are bothered though, and we always try to put them in a big pasture around July 4th so they don’t run through a fence. Worst part is the people making the fireworks “displays” shoot them out over our fields, like it was public property, and then we have a ton of debris to pick up before the horses or cattle eat something they shouldn’t.
Yes, it was a lot more than we’ve ever heard here before. I actually wondered as I went to bed around midnight if I was going to be awoken by a fire at some point - It sounded/looked like bigger fireworks than we’ve heard/seen around here before, too, and houses are pretty close together (we’re in a big city). Thankfully we made it through last night, but I imagine it’ll be close to the same tonight as well.
Ugh I was hoping that last nights excess means people had burned through their stash of contraband fireworks and that would be the end of it. We shall see.
We’ve heard fireworks somewhere nearby for 8 nights in a row now. 
YES !!! Much more local neighborhood activity, didn’t have to leave home! Non-stop over an hour.
Pshaw, that’s nothing. We live next to a beach that’s a great viewing point for the city’s Canada Day Fireworks, and every year after the show is over, kids fire off their own until the crack of dawn. Not only that, but there are warmups starting a couple of nights before, and of course the fun continues for the following several nights, until they run out or until a cop finally shows up.
This year the fireworks were cancelled. There were a few local-kid noises, but all the neighbours are talking about how nice it was to get some sleep this year!
That’s fine to say when you’re looking at the forest. Once you starting looking at the trees, though, the picture changes. For instance, Rhode Island (pop. just over 1 million) currently has about the same number of deaths as Japan (pop. 127 million). It’s hard to look at numbers like that and still say “we aren’t doing too bad.”
Like everything about this virus, the cases lag behind the activities that cause them, and the deaths lag behind the cases. The USA has only been dealing with these huge spikes in cases for the past two weeks. The current death rate may be more reflective of how things were three or four weeks ago and may also skyrocket in the coming weeks, sadly.
It’s true that we’ll all be dealing with localized outbreaks until there is a vaccine. And many countries, including Canada, the UK, Australia, South Korea, and so on have had to deal with containing new outbreaks. But, so far, all these countries have contained those outbreaks without it impacting their overall numbers nationally, except those with extremely low numbers.
I, too, have received some comments from family and friends. I believe if you can be safe, do it. I’m younger but have had T1D for 37 and have some new developments. I figure if they don’t understand, ah well. Things are ugly right now, there is some data regarding COVID and T1D and it seems to be a crap shoot. Better safe than sorry I think. I come from a family that has suffered from RA and I can’t imagine that on top of diabetes. You do you, next year will hopefully be better.
Jan; I am also a T1D. I have been a diabetic for 46 years an have no complications. Of course a person must take all of the precautions during this period of time. In our location most people do wear a mask when social distancing is not possible. Those that don’t either don’t understand or don’t care. In either case I personally discount them as a ‘factor’. Being a T1D an over 65 I have studied the causes of being subject to the Covid-19 virus. Most people over 65 have a Body Mass Index, overweight. My BMI is only 23.1 as measured with my Omron machine. The diabetic susceptibly is having a high BG level. With the help of a CGM I am keeping my A1C below 5.5. Also the blood type is also another factor. My blood type is type ‘O’ which has both A and B antibodies. The type ‘A’ blood type only has one antibody. Research is still undergoing as to why the type ‘O’ is less susceptible and have fewer complications if contracting the virus. Of course this is no excuse to be reckless during this time. I must consider all of my family members to protect them. My wife does have some susceptibilities.
Dennis
Thanks for outlining these risk factors. Very interesting. My BMI is 19.5 and most recent A1C is 6.4, down from 8.6 due to a CGM, and still working on improving it. I’m ashamed to say I’m not sure of my blood type. I’m taking this very seriously and my husband is too, to protect me.
I’m so grateful to live in a rural area, so we can physically isolate but still our daily schedule is nearly normal. Grocery shopping is the major contact we have with the public, and we use the early morning senior hours and wear masks, etc. Our grocery store is taking it very seriously, all staff wear masks, carts are wiped down before and after use, and cleaning is taking place even while shopping. They have now instituted an online shopping and pick up option, which we will probably try out. Thanks for your support.
All of those risk factors are for death from covid, which is important, but many people who have been infected are experiencing significant longterm effects, even when they are not dying or even sick enough to be hospitalized, and evidence is mounting that it may cause damage to lungs as well as other problems. It’s still anecdotal, but support groups are arising full of people exhibiting a chronic-seeming post-infectious syndrome that looks eerily like the chronic post-infectious syndrome seen in chronic Lyme (lots of fatigue, joint pain, autonomic nervous system dysfunction, and GI sx), which is awful and not something you want to have (my guess is that different pathogens can trigger similar inflammation-based syndromes). We just don’t know yet. So yes, if you are healthy and young you probably won’t die, but I would still try as much as possible to avoid infection.
What many don’t understand is that whether you’re healthy and young or not isn’t really the issue. The issue is that those young and healthy people have loved ones in their families who are NOT healthy OR young and by being reckless themselves, they are exposing their more suseptible family members who may or may not die due to their own personal (the young and healthy individuals) reckless behaviors.
I’ve decided to only control what I can control and let the world crumble around me as it may…at this point, I’m really only worried about my own immediate “bubble” because that’s really the only place my wife and I have any control. The world outside our home is insane right now.
This has been the attitude I’ve been trying to adopt, because it seems quite reasonable in coping with all of this,.but it only goes so far, unless you’re in a position where you can truly seal yourself off from the outside world. I’m in an apartment building, and people have basically stopped trying to stay distanced in the halls and elevators. It is so frustrating because, in my case at least, and probably many others, other people’s actions definitely do affect safety.
I’m preparing for this to be the new normal for the next couple of years. And during that time I will definitely have to have some interactions with the outside world, such as necessary chores (laundry, garbage, recycling) in my apartment building and medical appointments I have no choice but to do in person (ultrasound, blood work, dentist, ophthalmologist) and possibly having to use public transit, taxis, or a ride (none of which allow for physical distancing) if I have to do something that’s not within walking distance of my building.
We are not nearly as bad as the USA is right now. But I really worry that it would not take much of people getting too lax to end up there. Not much at all. Just look at Australia dealing with their worst outbreak yet after literally months of extremely low numbers. People really cannot let their guard down even if it looks like everything is going well.
They can, and are, here in the US. And they will live by the reprucussions and consequences of those actions and decisions. We are able to completely isolate ourselves from the world (except for shopping) and that’s what we’re doing and will continue doing until we’re comfortable with where we are as a nation.
Well, I guess I was talking in an ideal world, people shouldn’t/cannot let their guard down if they want things to remain under control. And, from what I have seen over the past couple of weeks, people are starting to let their guard down. Even countries that have had very low numbers and don’t have people outright refusing to follow rules have had outbreaks and new lockdowns. There are very few people here who are outright refusing to follow the rules, but there are lots of people getting a bit too comfortable with our low numbers. If they slack off too much, those numbers can very easily spiral out of control again.