Talk About Tennis 2.0

Suliso wrote: ↑Thu Dec 30, 2021 2:36 pm Masks are very useful, but they're not going to protect you forever if you regularly take public transport in ultra high spread environment. That's just how it is...

If everyone's masked, it doesn't eliminate but does dramatically reduce the chances of transmission. The problem is that the people who are in general taking fewer precautions and are more likely to be infected are likely to be unmasked.

mmmm8 wrote: ↑Fri Dec 31, 2021 5:42 pm

Suliso wrote: ↑Thu Dec 30, 2021 2:36 pm Masks are very useful, but they're not going to protect you forever if you regularly take public transport in ultra high spread environment. That's just how it is...

If everyone's masked, it doesn't eliminate but does dramatically reduce the chances of transmission. The problem is that the people who are in general taking fewer precautions and are more likely to be infected are likely to be unmasked.

Certainly, but if you're taking say 0.1% risk of being infected every time you take a subway eventually statistics will catch up with you. Unless of course general infection levels reduce by at least an order of magnitude soon.

Suliso wrote: ↑Fri Dec 31, 2021 7:17 pm

mmmm8 wrote: ↑Fri Dec 31, 2021 5:42 pm

Suliso wrote: ↑Thu Dec 30, 2021 2:36 pm Masks are very useful, but they're not going to protect you forever if you regularly take public transport in ultra high spread environment. That's just how it is...

If everyone's masked, it doesn't eliminate but does dramatically reduce the chances of transmission. The problem is that the people who are in general taking fewer precautions and are more likely to be infected are likely to be unmasked.

Certainly, but if you're taking say 0.1% risk of being infected every time you take a subway eventually statistics will catch up with you. Unless of course general infection levels reduce by at least an order of magnitude soon.

Quality of the mask is also relevant to the degree of risk. If others (and/or yourself) are wearing a flimsy 1 or 2 layer cloth mask, or an old surgical mask, or an ill-fitting mask, the risk of transmission in indoor, crowded, public places, where you are basically in one place for more than 5 minutes (such as a bus or subway) obviously increases over wearing a well fitting KN95 mask, for example.
But the risk is never zero.

Open the windows on the bus whenever the weather permits (and if the bus windows actually can be opened - some of the newer city buses have sealed windows, which was idiotic before the pandemic, and is now downright dangerous).

Indeed it's never zero. I guessed that 0.1%, I'd not be shocked if it's actually 0.01% or 1% instead. Nobody really knows...

It's zero only if you go absolutely nowhere (not even grocery store), meet no one ever and live in a single building with no close neighbors. That's an impossible life though, even for a month let alone a year. Actually not only impossible practically, but also not worth living.

mmmm8 wrote: ↑Fri Dec 31, 2021 5:39 pm

Owendonovan wrote: ↑Thu Dec 30, 2021 3:00 am

Deuce wrote: ↑Thu Dec 30, 2021 2:12 am
Are all subway passengers supposed to be masked there?

Yes, there's a $50 fine for not wearing a mask, but when the police are wandering around the subways maskless.....

I've finally started seeing the police consistently in masks on the subway! Just the last couple of weeks.

I've noticed different subway lines have different rates of mask wearing (L being best). It's a struggle to keep from popping off on the unmasked in the subway, but a 55 yo 5'7" 125lb man isn't all that intimidating.....

Owendonovan wrote: ↑Sat Jan 01, 2022 2:35 am

mmmm8 wrote: ↑Fri Dec 31, 2021 5:39 pm

Owendonovan wrote: ↑Thu Dec 30, 2021 3:00 am

Yes, there's a $50 fine for not wearing a mask, but when the police are wandering around the subways maskless.....

I've finally started seeing the police consistently in masks on the subway! Just the last couple of weeks.

I've noticed different subway lines have different rates of mask wearing (L being best). It's a struggle to keep from popping off on the unmasked in the subway, but a 55 yo 5'7" 125lb man isn't all that intimidating.....

Just summon your inner Mick Belker. It worked for him in NYC...

I don't understand this common "I refuse to ask for help" thing that happens in this part of the country.

Elmer, the neighbor who lost his wife to COVID, and has COVID himself, showed up today. Because he was hungry and had no food. His stepdaughter was supposed to bring food to him this morning. He looked awful (skinny and pale).

I offered to make him sausage and eggs.

While I was cooking, his stepdaughter and her husband showed up, with food, and berated him in my driveway for bothering us (according to dolphins). They drove him home.

Then I delivered the sausage and eggs to his house.

Shirley's funeral is on Wednesday. Obviously, we're not going.

Everything about this SUCKS big donkey *****.

Thanks for listening.

That rugged individualism now known as toxic masculinity was force fed to generations of men (and women). They in turn passed it on with devastating results.

He came to your house although he is positive. Make sure you test yourselves.

ti-amie wrote: ↑Mon Jan 03, 2022 1:42 am That rugged individualism now known as toxic masculinity was force fed to generations of men (and women). They in turn passed it on with devastating results.

He came to your house although he is positive. Make sure you test yourselves.

Sorry, disagree. Not everything boils down to "toxic masculinity". When you are a person that has been able to support himself/herself all your life, being unable to do so is a belittling experience. When you are a productive person and then, one day, for reasons not related to your capacities or skills, you can no longer support yourself, it is a sobering blow to your self esteem.
I have friends that are going down that road at a rapid pace, because our industry is disappearing. And they are not only men.
(And I am surely on that road, even if I am at the toll booth).

ponchi101 wrote: ↑Mon Jan 03, 2022 1:59 am

ti-amie wrote: ↑Mon Jan 03, 2022 1:42 am That rugged individualism now known as toxic masculinity was force fed to generations of men (and women). They in turn passed it on with devastating results.

He came to your house although he is positive. Make sure you test yourselves.

Sorry, disagree. Not everything boils down to "toxic masculinity". When you are a person that has been able to support himself/herself all your life, being unable to do so is a belittling experience. When you are a productive person and then, one day, for reasons not related to your capacities or skills, you can no longer support yourself, it is a sobering blow to your self esteem.
I have friends that are going down that road at a rapid pace, because our industry is disappearing. And they are not only men.
(And I am surely on that road, even if I am at the toll booth).

I think I used the wrong words. It's very hard for older people to ask for help. It is a very difficult adjustment from being a contributing member of society to someone who has a lot of time on their hands. I know that. But at the base of it is that idea of not needing anyone else, that we exist in a universe made up of ourselves. My internist told me one day that men are the worst as they age. I found that out the hard way.

I hope your friend isn't sliding into dementia.

Oh, no. I did not mean that they were losing they capacities. That is the sad thing. My friend P, in Buenos Aires, is still one of the sharpest minds I can think of. My friend R, in Colorado, is also still a man that could be as productive as anybody else. All my friends that are spread around the world, and most of them are from S. America, are simply waiting for a job offer, for them to be able to work again. This for a group of people with 20 + years of experience in an industry, almost all of them bilingual, most with considerable academic credentials.
And, personally, it is not about not needing anyone else. It is not being a burden to others. It is not the same thing.

ponchi101 wrote: ↑Mon Jan 03, 2022 3:00 am Oh, no. I did not mean that they were losing they capacities. That is the sad thing. My friend P, in Buenos Aires, is still one of the sharpest minds I can think of. My friend R, in Colorado, is also still a man that could be as productive as anybody else. All my friends that are spread around the world, and most of them are from S. America, are simply waiting for a job offer, for them to be able to work again. This for a group of people with 20 + years of experience in an industry, almost all of them bilingual, most with considerable academic credentials.
And, personally, it is not about not needing anyone else. It is not being a burden to others. It is not the same thing.

Agree

My boss at work has cought omicron. The first one among co-workers on our site I know off, but undoubtedly not the last.

Will you have to quarantine? If you have been in contact with him?