The more I am beginning to feel as if myself and my countrymen are just the subjects of a giant Social Conditioning experiment.

Look: this is a deadly disease. I got that. Truly, it is.

But the “normal” flu kills 30-50 THOUSAND every year. Yet we don’t shut down our country for that.

Swine Flu (H1N1) killed over a quarter million (yes, 250,000) people in 2009. over a HUNDRED THOUSAND in the first 6 months. Yet we, as a country, essentially did nothing differently then. Nothing. If no one reminded you about that time, you would not even remember. 

The Media is hyping the deaths (Almost 14 THOUSAND!!!!) as of this evening….Yet it is reported that anyone who dies is coded as Corona, tested or not, whether that virus is the actual cause of death or not….

And while I DO think the “Social Distancing”  is a Good Thing, and having folks be more aware of handwashing and hygeine is a great idea, I also am beginning to wonder….

Why the hype this time, and not other times? Why, if we should distance ourselves, and if places like New York are supposedly in Dire straights, have we not cut off the mass transit system that is making it so easy for folks to press together in a small place? Or at least greatly reduced the number of people allowed to ride in one subway car at one time?

Why is the Media pushing so hard that this virus had to somehow spring to life in a “Wet Market” in Wuhan, when the nearest bat with similar virii is over 200 miles away from Wuhan?  Why do they discount so readily the very close proximity of laboratories to the outbreak source that were STUDYING and CULTURING similar virii…less than a mile away?

And why the hype over the death rate when, while it is greater than a “normal” flu, is not significantly greater than other outbreaks?

Don’t believe me, use Google or another search engine to check my statements….and then ask yourself…

WHY?

Went to the range today.

No one there.  I had all 8,2 acres to myself.  Was kinda glad that no one was there to see….

Spent two hundred .22 at the 50 yard range. Good, but not great. I need to shoot more. My holds weren’t as stable as before the winter, and …well, to be honest, I suck right now.

Ten shot, quarter-sized groups at 50 yards from a bench? Really? WTF? I can shoot WAY better that that! Not much better prone, nor sitting (and kneeling looked like I was patterning a .410 with buckshot). We won’t talk about offhand, ok?

This with a rifle/scope combination that I can normally cover 10 shots with a DIME at 100 yards.

The wind was calm, or nearly so, and the temp was low 60’s. So no excuse there.

I could hit with the 1911 at 50 feet, however. At least those groups were better. But I can practice my draw and firing inside all winter long. Not so with the range outdoors. It tends to get “squishy”…if you can get the gate open at all.

More practice.
I mean, I got time, right?

What with the shortages at the Grocery stores, being stuck in their houses with nowhere to go (and nothing to do if they did go anywhere) and the total tanking of the Stock Market and all…

Bernie Sanders has quit the game. Urges voters to vote for Biden.

Pretty much a given that he was gonna lose anyway, what with the DNC shenanigans when it comes time to be chosen….

So Donald Trump fucked up by the numbers in his response to the Coronavirus mess.
(perhaps, perhaps not)

BUT…

The World Health Organization could “Only go with the information it had at the time to make decisions”.

Funny, innit?

CBS and their current expert Dr. Deborah Birx.

Now that masks started working for those of us not in health care (hint: they always did, if worn right) I am seeing lots more people wearing masks in public.

Sadly, while they are wearing masks, few of them are fitting those masks correctly. Some so incorrectly so as to provide pretty much ZERO protection.

I see folks with the masks gaping at the sides…which will help keep them from infecting ME with their coronavirus when they cough (somewhat, anyway) but not keep them from getting it when all that air leaks in unfiltered from the sides.

I also see folks wearing the mask over their mouths BUT NOT THE NOSE. Kinda foolish and meaningless there.

Also with only one of the straps.  Both the top and bottom straps are necessary.   Again, missing the point.

Not fitted at the bridge of the nose. Leaking all that air makes the mask effectively useless as a protection for the wearer.

Having a mask on but hanging over one ear doesn’t do much for protection either. Hint: It has to COVER your mouth and nose.

Handmade masks: While I am not too certain that a layer or two of cotton cloth is that great of protection for the wearer, it is much better than nothing…..and it likely protects the rest of us from them rather than the other way around.

But, hey, at least they are trying, if very imperfectly. Or it could be simply a case of “monkey see, monkey do” …or just plain fashion.

ETA: I am not a medical professional but was trained to fit particulate masks for dust and asbestos. So yeah, I can spot a bad fit pretty easily. 

Check out this report on the subway crowding there.

“Social Distancing” my ass.

Busses and the El trains in Chicago are nearly as bad.

Until they shut down or greatly modify the way people use the public transportation, this won’t go away in cities. Might be somewhat mitigated if everyone started wearing masks.

So it seems that in the greater Chicago metro area, the South Side…largely black (or African American, if you are being PC) has a large number of Coronavirus-19 cases.

The numbers keep changing, but something like 52 of the 98 cases in the greater Chicago Metro area are black, even though they are less than 30% of the population.

And, in typical fashion, it is somehow a conspiracy of White People against Black people (keepin’ the black man down) or some variation of that meme.

It couldn’t be because the Black community, or at least a large part of it, REFUSES to stop gathering in groups, refuses to follow the social distancing  guidelines, that police keep having to break up groups on streets, that women keep chatting in groups in the grocery stores. That men keep congregating in barbershops and in alleyways.

Nope, like all good liberals, it MUST be the fault of someone else. Gotta find someone to blame, but (again) it can’t be black people to blame for the ills of their community. Nossir.

Idiots. 

So, apparently, the hospitals in NYC (and other places) are “converting” normal patient rooms to “Negative Pressure Rooms” to isolate, handle, and care for the large numbers of Coronavirus patients.

Now, negative pressure rooms are just that, they have slightly lower pressure than the adjacent room so that air leakage is one way…into the NP room, preventing whatever cooties the patient inside the room has from getting out into the hallway or through the door.

This, of course, requires a bit of fine balancing of air out vs air on, and some pretty powerful fans and/or other air handlers. Generally, the NP rooms also get the air changed more frequently, like 10-12 times an hour.

Modifying the airflow in a set of rooms from “normal” to Negative Pressure is not a trivial task.
One has to find some way to handle the additional airflow, to heat (or cool) the increased incoming air to environmental standards (likely 65-70 degrees F) to balance that airflow  correctly and some way to handle the infectious materials that may be in that air you are exhausting from those rooms.

Since the hospitals are doing this “quickly” I don’t think I would want to spend much time breathing the air around the outside of the hospital. You are talking at least 5 times the air quantity of a “normal” room and that air has to be somehow filtered for the diseases that the patients have. The filtering/germicidal devices that are in place to filter for the rooms that already exist won’t work well if they are expected to handle 2 or three times as much air volume. And you can’t just easily add to such devices on a moment’s notice….they need to be ordered and custom built and tested and adjusted before they can be used.

Lots of air, handled quickly, and now at a greater load for that filter or germicidal device to make the air safe for the rest of us. All done in a “hurry”…I’m glad I don’t live downwind of a hospital that has covid cases.

Yeah, I feel safe about it.  You should too….

Went to help a friend yesterday, (yes, we “social distanced” outside) and stopped in to the grocery store on the way home to pick up a few things.

Lots of fresh veggies
Lots of milk
Lots of eggs.
Lots of cheese
Lots of lunchmeat.

Fresh fish counter had lots of stuff and all of it was on sale.

Meat at ~70%
Bread shelves at ~ 30%
Chips at~50%
Cookies at ~50%
Canned goods at~70%
Pasta at ~30%
Rice nonexistant
Wheat flour shelves completely empty
TP, some, not much

Sugar maybe 10%
Pop/soda at ~70%

Half the folks wore masks, everyone was pleasant but staying apart.

North West Indiana 4/5/20.

How are things in your area?

Had to make a trip today.

25 or so miles each way.

I saw a fair number of people wearing masks…..INSIDE THEIR CAR….alone.

I think they are missing the concept.