Continuing coronavirus happenings (Part 2)

It is, but if people insist on getting together, the article and graphic have good advice. I was glad to see all the focus on ventilation. We have been saying this for months in the building performance community. Even longer if you count general indoor air quality issues pre COVID.

And contrary to what some skeptics always claim, you can crack some windows and increase ventilation without freezing the pipes. Yes, you end up conditioning more air as the volume exchanges, but it’s totally worth it, if you insist on getting together IRL. (Which, for the record, I am not. Like you.)

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Nah, he’s just in a high risk group, and they’ve probably picked some famous faces from those to publicize the vaccine.

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Wonder if our generation will keep wearing masks every winter even after we don’t “have to” anymore

I was listening to a podcast that touched on this. North Americans tend to focus on the mouth for emotions, East Asian cultures more on the eyes. So while I’m going to be masking up on airplanes for the rest of my life, I’d say don’t hold your breath for a change in NA/European cultures… or do hold your breath… :face_with_hand_over_mouth:

And, personally, I do love staring into my wife’s beautiful eyes…

…we speak with Jeanne L. Tsai, professor of psychology at Stanford and director of the Culture and Emotion Lab. Tsai’s research focuses on cultural influences on psychological and social processes related to emotion. Tsai discusses why wearing a mask is more accepted for some cultures, and seen as prohibiting communication in others.

These face coverings make it harder for people to see others’ emotions, including their smiles, which facilitate social connection. This is particularly true for North Americans, who tend to focus on people’s mouths when reading their emotions. Since researchers have shown that in many East Asian cultures, people tend to focus more on the eyes, covering the mouth may interfere less with their feelings of social connection.

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I only noticed a few days ago, but life behind masks seems to be having a helpful effect on what I have long believed to be a small amount of face blindness. Definitely not something I had expected, and had I given it any thought, I would have expected the opposite effect.

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True, though if course plenty of major media operations (e.g. NBC) are always there to report on 10 person conservative protests with the same interest as literal million-person liberal events.

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Yeah, we don’t watch our local TV news, so my opinions on what gets covered are definitely skewed.
For example, if I relied only on my local paper, I would know nothing of the PB marches in DC last weekend. :woman_shrugging:t2:

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I think he was the vaccine poster old man.

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And I hope that soon you can also get a vaccine!

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Thanks! Looks like probably by June, given my “ranking” and the State plan. I’m pretty low risk, and can work from home, so hunkering down for more months of isolation.
I might just wear the scarf to celebrate when I do get the vaccine, no matter what the weather :slight_smile:

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Totally anecdotal but I’ve noticed my girl, 4 years old, can now tell when I am smiling at her when masked. She couldn’t do that at the beginning. I wonder if all the really young kids might end up better at using eyes for emotional cues because so many people were masked for a year during a critical development phase.

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A Brazilian politician was compared to the children´s book character Grinch by his enemies, who accused him of wanting to spoil Christmas. I don’t think any politician can take drastic and unpopular measures like banning family reunions. Whoever does this will bury their political career.

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We just got the updated priority list from UVA high muckety-mucks. Pediatrics does not make the list. At all. There are 4 fricking tiers of priorities, but we are not at sufficient risk to make any of them. We have kids too young to effectively mask (as well, of course, as parents who are offended that we even ask them to mask their kids) and many documented positive cases, including among our HCW’s, but that is not enough to make their list. I feel the love.

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What the ever loving fuck?! I thought we’d established that kids are serious vectors, often contagious without symptoms. I’m so sorry for you and your co-wokers!
Did they look at infection rates among staff in each department? Because from what you’ve said, pediatric staff has been hit hard.

Edited typos.

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In that case it may be more a reflection of reality than a matter of culture.

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I wonder what happens when you match the order with salary…

But in truth I expect ICU is tier 1, geriatrics tier 2…probably the standard, unavoidable death panel stuff conservative un-governance has left us with.

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Maybe it’s to decrease the burden on contact tracers? The 2000 fans in Arsenal’s stadium can be spread much more thinly than the 2000 fans of Harrowgate,.