Official Thread: Coronavirus "COVID-19"

[xCLAVEx]

HOUSTON – A recent surge in coronavirus cases in Texas isn’t stopping some people from heading out.

A Snapchat video tagged at Bisou Restaurant in Houston shows a crowd inside with few people wearing masks.

Nearby at Flava Restaurant and Bar, the parking lot was packed with vehicles at night. Video also shows people close together on the patio with several not wearing masks.

When KPRC 2 stopped by Flava on Thursday, a man who said he was the owner asked us to get off the property. However, he said the business is in compliance. An employee at Bisou said the general manager was not there.

With the coronavirus pandemic, the state has limited capacity inside restaurants and requires employees and customers to wear masks where they cannot socially distance. The exception is when they are seated to eat or drink.

Houston's fire marshal, Alfredo Martinez, said most businesses are following the rules.

“It is very few cases where they choose not to,” he said. “Those cases we’ll refer to (Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission) for further action.”

He said the city has received more than 9,000 complaints in total since March. His teams try to educate people first, but Martinez said there are limits on what he can do.

"Barring any actual fire code violation, at this point, we're not shutting anyone down," Martinez said.

The latest the inspection teams generally work is midnight, and that’s just a few nights a week, he said. The city adjusted to the later hours on weekends because some businesses don’t open until 10 p.m.

Martinez said the number of businesses referred to TABC is a “very low,” but he didn’t provide an exact number.

https://www.click2houston.com/news/l...ng-guidelines/

This is why we can't have nice things. Check the video on the page and you can see all the social distancing and mask wearing going on.../s

These idiots just don't get it...

[Jay20016]

This is why we can't have nice things. Check the video on the page and you can see all the social distancing and mask wearing going on.../s

These idiots just don't get it...

But, I was told that Americans were just going to get numb to the virus and the casualties, isn't this what we want?

[Pr3tty F1y]

But, I was told that Americans were just going to get numb to the virus and the casualties, isn't this what we want?

Folks will be numb - until it hits someone they know. It's the selfish-ass American way. No different than the last 244 years of the country.

The United States is hardly united and hardly a country. We're just a marketplace for buying and selling goods and services.

There's no shared sense of duty or purpose. There's no caring for your neighbor (unless your religious prerogative is to try to make your neighbor do what you want them to do). There have been hiccups of those things where the country has temporarily come together, but over the course of 20th century we went from a capitalist system to a corporatist system and praise must go to the almighty economy. Let no man, woman, or child - their well being or health - stand in the way of the great economy!

[bob saget]

The United States is hardly united and hardly a country...

There's no shared sense of duty or purpose....

This has to start with strong, respectable, trustworthy leadership that unites the people.

What is mindblowing to a lot of my friends here is how you may have different states and other leaders within states almost working against each other, sending out conflicting information and messages...

I guess you get that here too, with for instance, British Columbia and Alberta not agreeing on some things, but it seems SO extreme in America.

[Cyko]

https://www.latimes.com/california/s...unty?_amp=true

Read the article. People in my county are legit fking idiots. It made me so mad reading that. I can’t believe we allow these people to breed freely

[SD-[Inc]]

https://www.latimes.com/california/s...unty?_amp=true

Read the article. People in my county are legit fking idiots. It made me so mad reading that. I can’t believe we allow these people to breed freely

This is the big difference between us and the countries that have already beat the virus. It takes 95% or more of the populate to be engaged in solving a problem of this magnitude. Here we do everything 60/40. The 40% are self-indulgent pricks that think the world revolves around them. And, nothing exists that they haven't personally experienced. It's a defect in our culture. I'd 100% blame our leadership. But, their incompetence is only highlighting a different problem we had all along.

[Pr3tty F1y]

This is the big difference between us and the countries that have already beat the virus. It takes 95% or more of the populate to be engaged in solving a problem of this magnitude. Here we do everything 60/40. The 40% are self-indulgent pricks that think the world revolves around them. And, nothing exists that they haven't personally experienced. It's a defect in our culture. I'd 100% blame our leadership. But, their incompetence is only highlighting a different problem we had all along.

Totally this. The United States has achieved a lofty enough standard of living that harsh reality escapes folks and they live in their own little world of personal opinions that make them feel good/empowered in their lives and there is little in the way of consequences for these people to change their minds (and if there are consequences, they have to be someone else's fault because how dare you imply they may be in the wrong).

Maybe this is the great filter and why we haven't bumped into any other technologically advanced civilizations from other solar systems. They all end up becoming idiocracies

[Lazy8s]

https://www.latimes.com/california/s...unty?_amp=true

Read the article. People in my county are legit fking idiots. It made me so mad reading that. I can’t believe we allow these people to breed freely

"Bad seafood and contaminated water" wth man...I still.....nevermind, was p&r stuff. Stay safe buddy...

[Jay20016]

https://www.latimes.com/california/s...unty?_amp=true

Read the article. People in my county are legit fking idiots. It made me so mad reading that. I can’t believe we allow these people to breed freely

Just be glad you have a governor who isn't trying to blame his abysmal response on the media not asking him about corona virus in the month of May. Their inaction has led to complacency he says.........

I understand how people create their own realities and rationality, but holy ****...

[Nagorak]

Just be glad you have a governor who isn't trying to blame his abysmal response on the media not asking him about corona virus in the month of May. Their inaction has led to complacency he says.........

I understand how people create their own realities and rationality, but holy ****...

I read in an article that Desantis aims to run for president in 2024. Personally, I think his chances have gone up in smoke. At the very least they've been set ablaze and are burning right now. Same article noted that Desantis is known as someone who is "smart". I've read that same statement elsewhere too. I'm starting to think that is just some sort of surrogate propaganda campaign on his part, because I see no evidence of it in action.

Also "smart politician" in many cases is just one that's been lucky enough not to have totally stepped in it yet. Some of the dumbest people alive are politicians.

[Jay20016]

I read in an article that Desantis aims to run for president in 2024. Personally, I think his chances have gone up in smoke. At the very least they've been set ablaze and are burning right now. Same article noted that Desantis is known as someone who is "smart". I've read that same statement elsewhere too. I'm starting to think that is just some sort of surrogate propaganda campaign on his part, because I see no evidence of it in action.

Also "smart politician" in many cases is just one that's been lucky enough not to have totally stepped in it yet. Some of the dumbest people alive are politicians.

He has fashioned himself as some Trump mini me and hopefully that will sink all of his chances at doing any further harm to this state or this nation. May all of them who sought to ride coat trails, instead wear a T of shame as they sink into oblivion or jail cells.

The smartest thing he could do right now is actually take it seriously and stop trying to have a foot in both the "it's a hoax" and "science" communities. We were slow to shut and quick to open without so much as really doing anything to combat the virus outside of shutting down, acting like that was enough. Now, we have people getting sick at an alarming rate. Despite our new protocols and practices at work we've had 5 go out sick in the few weeks since reopening with some still not returning. I have a 25 year old who is still in the ICU from June 15th. And this is all with us at low capacity. Despite the surge we're supposedly on course to get back to close to full occupancy in a week? Give me a break....

Couple this with the fact that for some of the grocery stores by me, which have huge timeshare and vacation home customer levels, it is getting increasingly harder to find some of the usuals. As we reopen in Florida and have all of these vacationers, it seems the limited stock items are even harder to find. More and more of the shelves were empty as I did some shopping yesterday, looking like they did in March with the first bit of panic hoarding. Either people are doing that again for their essentials, or the added strain of out of towners is compounding it.

[Koenig]

I'm here in Wakulla County south of Tallahassee, Florida. Our county still won't make masks mandatory even though we are starting to explode in cases. On July 2nd, we had only 68 cumulative cases and today we now have 258. The idiots on the FB community page still believe it isnt that bad, a hoax, or that there's nothing we can do about it... so "mah rights". Walmart is requiring all stores to mask up so naturally this un-American to the idiots around here.

Also, it looks like the area around Tallahassee is quickly becoming a hotspot according to some reports.

[Cyko]

I'm here in Wakulla County south of Tallahassee, Florida. Our county still won't make masks mandatory even though we are starting to explode in cases. On July 2nd, we had only 68 cumulative cases and today we now have 258. The idiots on the FB community page still believe it isnt that bad, a hoax, or that there's nothing we can do about it... so "mah rights". Walmart is requiring all stores to mask up so naturally this un-American to the idiots around here.

When people say “my rights” I like to remind them your rights stop the moment they affect other people. Your “right” to not wear a mask doesn’t enable you to infringe upon my right not to die because some fking moron doesn’t want to suffer a TINY inconvenience in order to lessen the risk others get sick.

[Koenig]

When people say “my rights” I like to remind them your rights stop the moment they affect other people. Your “right” to not wear a mask doesn’t enable you to infringe upon my right not to die because some fking moron doesn’t want to suffer a TINY inconvenience in order to lessen the risk others get sick.

I don't know what to do with these people anymore. Many are friends and acquaintances I went to school or church with. My mother has cancer so she is at risk and my oldest child is intellectually disabled and also high risk. Just going to keep doing my part I guess and try to educate as many as I hopefully can.

[xCLAVEx]

I mean, it sucks wearing a mask, but I'm doing it to protect others and especially people with a weakened immune system. As a bonus, it will provide some protection for me as well.

[Elysian]

Texas had nearly 15k new cases yesterday.

[bill dennison]

Number of new COVID-19 cases starts to flatten in Arizona and Pima County

https://tucson.com/news/local/number-of-new-covid-19-cases-starts-to-flatten-in-arizona-and-pima-county/article_9f780c92-90b5-51ec-b02a-125c2d4b1e92.html

[Nascar24]

https://tucson.com/news/local/number...c2d4b1e92.html

Flatten? We were a hot spot with 1000 to 1500 a day when this started. You are way over that.

[Crawdaddy79]

When people say “my rights” I like to remind them your rights stop the moment they affect other people. Your “right” to not wear a mask doesn’t enable you to infringe upon my right not to die because some fking moron doesn’t want to suffer a TINY inconvenience in order to lessen the risk others get sick.

My problem with your argument is that this logic will apply to any contagious disease. It's not sustainable.

The moment the government starts fining people for not wearing them is the moment that they've emboldened a huge percentage of the population into not wearing them.

Education is the biggest way to make people wear masks. This administration, every one of our dozens of federal agencies, the media have all failed miserably at this. The politicization of everything in this country is also causing casualties.

[bill dennison]

Flatten? We were a hot spot with 1000 to 1500 a day when this started. You are way over that.

but it is not as high as it was before

reclosing the bars the 30th of last month seems to helped

[demo]

New law in Melbourne metro area - compulsory to wear mask or $200 fine. What a strange year.

[Lazy8s]

New law in Melbourne metro area - compulsory to wear mask or $200 fine. What a strange year.

Some nearby towns here are fining people $300 for not masking up. It's a bit eerie...

[bill dennison]

Some nearby towns here are fining people $300 for not masking up. It's a bit eerie...

it won't be long before that is in court

if they want laws for this they need to pass them that will withstand the court
and not just decrees from on high

[Lazy8s]

it won't be long before that is in court

if they want laws for this they need to pass them that will withstand the court
and not just decrees from on high

Here's the initial article from when they started in Holbrook back in May.

https://www.masslive.com/coronavirus/2020/05/coronavirus-safety-holbrook-board-of-health-issues-3300-in-fines-to-people-who-violated-massachusetts-mask-mandate.html

It's a board of health action - I know lots of folks locally are condemning the police about this, but cops are only handing out masks, not fines.

In a separate statement published Friday, Police Chief William J. Smith said police officers have not issued any fines for non-compliance. He said officers are carrying extra face coverings in their cruisers and give one to anyone they see not wearing a mask. Those officers will also advise people of the importance of wearing a mask to limit the spread of COVID-19.

Residents who continue violate the executive order may face a civil fine of up to $300 per violation, Smith wrote. It was not immediately clear whether everyone who was fined by the board had initially encountered police and received a warning.

Several other towns have been following suit...odd thing is that we haven't heard much, if anything about anyone suing the towns or board of health over this. That's kind of a shocker because there's more than a few law suit minded people around here.

[bill dennison]

Here's the initial article from when they started in Holbrook back in May.

https://www.masslive.com/coronavirus/2020/05/coronavirus-safety-holbrook-board-of-health-issues-3300-in-fines-to-people-who-violated-massachusetts-mask-mandate.html

It's a board of health action - I know lots of folks locally are condemning the police about this, but cops are only handing out masks, not fines.



Several other towns have been following suit...odd thing is that we haven't heard much, if anything about anyone suing the towns or board of health over this. That's kind of a shocker because there's more than a few law suit minded people around here.

someone will sooner or latter

i'm all for wearing masks in stores and in crowds

i don't at work on the roofs but do if i have to go into a house or building or parts store
and i don't riding my bike

but 300 buck fines

they had to pass seatbelt laws to get fines like that
and how many wear seatbelts

but i do think they would get less pushback if they pass mask laws in states

[SirBaron]

Some nearby towns here are fining people $300 for not masking up. It's a bit eerie...

Good, if people are too stupid to wear masks, then fine them.

[Nagorak]

it won't be long before that is in court

if they want laws for this they need to pass them that will withstand the court
and not just decrees from on high

Why won't it stand up in court? We already don't have the right to NOT wear whatever we want. I don't see a lot of naked people walking around outside.

[Lazy8s]

someone will sooner or latter

i'm all for wearing masks in stores and in crowds

i don't at work on the roofs but do if i have to go into a house or building or parts store
and i don't riding my bike

but 300 buck fines

they had to pass seatbelt laws to get fines like that
and how many wear seatbelts

but i do think they would get less pushback if they pass mask laws in states

I agree with mask laws if necessary, and it's looking like it might be. This virus is a death sentence for some people like my mother...and I actually have family members that try to walk up to me to talk without wearing one. It wouldn't bother me so much if they were taking precautions elsewhere, but they never mask up, anywhere.

Good, if people are too stupid to wear masks, then fine them.

That's my thought. Stupid/stubborn whatever. The risk to another's life is empirically proven as surely it's going to be by now. People need to get with the program.

[Lazy8s]

Why won't it stand up in court? We already don't have the right to NOT wear whatever we want. I don't see a lot of naked people walking around outside.

And it's not like we don't have thousands of records to prove the reality of this virus and how lethal it can be as evidence.

[Nunz]

We had a couple guys come in contact with an aircrew that popped positive .. of course these idiots are told to come to work the next day, but "keep your mask on" ... Dude just put them in quarantine it isn't that big of a deal.

I'm supposed to come home in the next month or so and if I end up with corona and leaving late, someone is getting their ass beat

[Munkus]

The local PD and Sheriff's departments issued statements that they "highly recommend everyone follows the governor's mandate to wear a mask when in public, but we will not be enforcing it with any fines". Which makes sense, because the way the mandate is written, it's not legally enforceable.

Went to Lowe's yesterday and probably 80% of the customers wore masks (though a few only had their mouths covered. ) Guess it's better than nothing...?

Meanwhile, a local pizza/bar hotspot shut down because an employee tested positive.

[koralis]

Why won't it stand up in court? We already don't have the right to NOT wear whatever we want. I don't see a lot of naked people walking around outside.

But there are laws on the books about public indecency. If a government official can just issue any regulation it wants to, there's no limit to the tyranny. Sure, there's a good reason for this, and in the short term issuing the guidance is good, but there's really no excuse for the state legislatures not explicitly granting the authority with a law if/when it is deemed necessary.

[NWR_Midnight]

It is legal to jail the offenders, and fining them is just one step before jail. So if this goes to court, I suspect that you will find that it is legal, as those are the only methods available to enforce the mandate of wearing masks. There has to be consequences for not following the legal mandate.

In a pandemic, governments have the authority to do a lot of things that would otherwise be questionable. Most of it falls under the emergency action clauses.


The Police who say they won't enforce the mandate with the fines and jail time are part of the problem. It's human nature to rebel when they know there are no consequences.

However, if we where not in a pandemic, then it would be a different set of circumstances, and would be illegal.

[SD-[Inc]]

Could be worse. In Georgia the governor is suing the mayor of Atlanta for mandating mask wearing in her city.

[bill dennison]

I agree with mask laws if necessary, and it's looking like it might be. This virus is a death sentence for some people like my mother...and I actually have family members that try to walk up to me to talk without wearing one. It wouldn't bother me so much if they were taking precautions elsewhere, but they never mask up, anywhere.




That's my thought. Stupid/stubborn whatever. The risk to another's life is empirically proven as surely it's going to be by now. People need to get with the program.

i wear them for me and my family so i don't bring something home

what is not proven is if most of these cloth masks they sell do much if anything other than a placebo

my n95's are about gone 2 are still good the 3rd i have to fix the lower strap and i lost one

ordered two more rubber 3m Respirators and P100 filters they are good for 99.9% of particles .3 microns or larger
if people don't like the Fallout 2020 look they can blow me

[SD-[Inc]]

i wear them for me and my family so i don't bring something home

what is not proven is if most of these cloth masks they sell do much if anything other than a placebo

my n95's are about gone 2 are still good the 3rd i have to fix the lower strap and i lost one

ordered two more rubber 3m Respirators and P100 filters they are good for 99.9% of particles .3 microns or larger
if people don't like the Fallout 2020 look they can blow me

Cloth masks just slow down the amount you can exhale as it takes a good amount of the virus before you actually infect someone else. Social distance + cloth mask has been shown to help slow down the spread significantly. Obviously if some infected nimrod without a mask is bloviating into your face for 10 -15 minutes straight, a cloth mask probably won’t help you. If you are around known infected people all day you absolutely need a quality mask with enough protection. If these were readily available to everyone that would be great. Last I checked, they aren’t. And many medical professionals have a hard time obtaining them.

[bill dennison]

Cloth masks just slow down the amount you can exhale as it takes a good amount of the virus before you actually infect someone else. Social distance + cloth mask has been shown to help slow down the spread significantly. Obviously if some infected nimrod without a mask is bloviating into your face for 10 -15 minutes straight, a cloth mask probably won’t help you. If you are around known infected people all day you absolutely need a quality mask with enough protection. If these were readily available to everyone that would be great. Last I checked, they aren’t. And many medical professionals have a hard time obtaining them.

well they need to test and regulate these cloth masks so people know they are not buying a screen door

[cbsboyer]

Regular masks are intended to help keep you from infecting someone else by catching the droplets of moisture carrying viral particles before the moisture evapourates and leaves behind much smaller bare viral particles. It also greatly slows the velocity of exhaled air, reducing the potential spread of escaping particles.

They aren't meant to protect you, they are meant to protect other people from you.

[nutcrackr]

Regular masks are intended to help keep you from infecting someone else by catching the droplets of moisture carrying viral particles before the moisture evapourates and leaves behind much smaller bare viral particles. It also greatly slows the velocity of exhaled air, reducing the potential spread of escaping particles.

They aren't meant to protect you, they are meant to protect other people from you.

While I agree that masks protect others more than they protect you, there is absolutely compelling evidence that wearing masks protects the wearer too.

Here's a recent example from Switzerland where people with visors got infected and people with masks did not.

https://www.thelocal.ch/20200715/only-those-with-plastic-visors-were-infected-swiss-government-warns-against-face-shields/

“It has been shown that only those employees who had plastic visors were infected. There was not a single infection among employees with a mask.”

So wear a mask to protect others and yourself.

[bill dennison]

Regular masks are intended to help keep you from infecting someone else by catching the droplets of moisture carrying viral particles before the moisture evapourates and leaves behind much smaller bare viral particles. It also greatly slows the velocity of exhaled air, reducing the potential spread of escaping particles.

They aren't meant to protect you, they are meant to protect other people from you.

then i will stay with the 3m Respirators and N95's that do protect me first other second