Coronavirus (homes, school, live)

[1AngryTaxPayer]

Originally Posted by Carpenter858

Happens all the time up here while I'm running in the neighborhood streets where people driving in masks have no clue how to drive. I've yelled take your mask off so you can see. Idiots everywhere in this area. Keep up the fight for all these clowns. Thank goodness there are other states to visit and even SD where people are not bat crap crazy.

Over the last year I have traveled all over the US. The only two places that went bonkers with this were San Fran and LA. Even NYC wasn't as bad which I totally expected. We went to a wedding there and it was mask free. It was the same dumb game though for the flight. No masks if you were eating or drinking in the lobby before the flight. Put it on till you get on the plane, take it off again while eating or drinking. It was the biggest virtue signaling parade I have ever witnessed.

I literally traveled to every corner of the country by air and didn't have to deal with the mask stupidity except for three cities. Vegas, Phoenix, Dallas, Atlanta, all of Jersey, SLC, Charlotte none of these cities whipped up the hysteria we had in the golden state.

But the flights? Same ridiculous game each time. Eat a bag of corn nuts very slowly and you can go through TSA no problem. Mask for 40 feet into the plane, take it off again to eat said corn nuts. What a bizarre game.

The best meme ever, mask up between sips and bites. Fear media had everyone by the throat.

[Racer46]

Originally Posted by sav858

So they caught COVID on the plane and developed symptoms shortly after arriving? Like the same day?

Not sure if the same day, but very shortly after they arrived, as they were over it when they were ready to come back. Flew to Europe.

[njbiodude]

Originally Posted by goodheathen

If you want to harass me with bad-faith points, leave. I do like eating in restaurants. The stats indicate it's not safe. Gyms have a better track record than restaurants and can't do the harm to communities that infections per travel can.

Why is travel such a big deal? This virus is endemic and exists in every country on Earth. Not surprising for a highly contagious respiratory illness. Even if we cutoff leisure travel, travel for goods, business and military will spread any variants around the globe eventually.

Do you think covid doesn't exist here? Variants can start with any sick person anywhere. It's not like people in Russia are any more likely to produce dangerous variants than people in Bakersfield, CA. And with vaccines not stopping the spread even highly vaccinated people in Europe may produce as many variants as people in unvaccinated countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.

[goodheathen]

Can you make a post without including something blatantly dishonest? From what I've heard, all the variants of concern have originated outside the USA (no, I don't know why), and even if a few did develop internally, the country (with only two land borders) is in much better position than most countries to keep out variants. That is one of many reasons to focus on catching COVID-positive people before they get on planes.

Why are you still here? We saw what you said about breaking rules and infectious travel, and any normal person who has an issue with that doesn't value your opinion.

[JGC97]

He has as much a right to be here as you, goodheathen. Hate to break it to you but this thread doesn't belong to you exclusively. But please, don't do away. Your gloom and doom posts are entertaining.

[njbiodude]

Originally Posted by goodheathen

Can you make a post without including something blatantly dishonest? From what I've heard, all the variants of concern have originated outside the USA (no, I don't know why), and even if a few did develop internally, the country (with only two land borders) is in much better position than most countries to keep out variants. That is one of many reasons to focus on catching COVID-positive people before they get on planes.

Why are you still here? We saw what you said about breaking rules and infectious travel, and any normal person who has an issue with that doesn't value your opinion.

Several "variants of concern" including some of the new Omicron subvariants did arise internally in the US. Ultimately, only 3 "variants" were significantly more contagious than the original alpha strain (I'll leave out BA.2 because Omicron immunity at least applies there too) Those are Beta (Europe), Delta (India) and Omicron (southern Africa).

Simple math could tell you why this might be the case: the US only makes up about 4% of the global population.

If you recall Biden totally closed airtravel to southern Africa and India during the original Omicron and Delta surges and they became the dominant variants within less than 3 months anyway mostly due to trade.

For the record more people complied with the testing before leaving when at least it was 3 days before travel. Once the 1 day window was started people either started using antigen tests (lots of false negatives) or straight up fakes and overwhelmed airlines that didnt care to begin with stopped bothering to check validity of results.

[ThinkingOutsideTheBox]

Originally Posted by goodheathen

If you want to harass me with bad-faith points, leave. I do like eating in restaurants. The stats indicate it's not safe. Gyms have a better track record than restaurants and can't do the harm to communities that infections per travel can.

If you consider people using their keyboards to refute your desire for extreme government control in the very same state where they couldn't even stop people from looting and rioting "harassment" you must live in a true isolated ivory tower with almost no interaction with the real world.

[goodheathen]

Originally Posted by njbiodude

Several "variants of concern" including some of the new Omicron subvariants did arise internally in the US. Ultimately, only 3 "variants" were significantly more contagious than the original alpha strain (I'll leave out BA.2 because Omicron immunity at least applies there too) Those are Beta (Europe), Delta (India) and Omicron (southern Africa).

Simple math could tell you why this might be the case: the US only makes up about 4% of the global population.

If you recall Biden totally closed airtravel to southern Africa and India during the original Omicron and Delta surges and they became the dominant variants within less than 3 months anyway mostly due to trade.

Couldn't resist, could you? BA.2 does to an extent evade immunity via a previous version of Omicron, and I don't think you have any evidence international trade is why variants spread despite some travel bans.

For the record more people complied with the testing before leaving when at least it was 3 days before travel. Once the 1 day window was started people either started using antigen tests (lots of false negatives) or straight up fakes and overwhelmed airlines that didnt care to begin with stopped bothering to check validity of results.

False negatives won't really hurt those people (except for not getting Paxlovid soon enough if it's an option). None of that excuses fraudulent tests. Nobody with a conscience would behave that way. That said, part of my argument for on-site testing is to make testing more convenient for travelers. Anyway, testing with minimal fraud reduces transmission, and that is a good thing, period.

[CA4Now]

Originally Posted by njbiodude

Im going surfing in Latin America next month. I won't wear a mask of the plane and will be taking approved covid instant rapid tests that I bring with me. If I ding positive (and am not sick), there's a 100% chance I will use Adobe to make my result look the way I want. I've done international flying and these results are frankly checked by half asleep gate attendants in about 5 seconds. Most other people flying also know this and are doing the same thing.

Let's hope not.

[goodheathen]

That should be grounds for passport cancellation on top of no-fly and fines and/or arrest. A few high-profile instances of that would scare most people away from committing fraud.