this advice will be ignored

Abbot is coming across as fear mongering and will be ignored. If he wants to be taken serious, he needs to provide meaningful breakdown of this data. He still hasn't figured out what Digital Marketing is.

ICU beds were all the rage, now its just hospitalizations?

The new normal, people are sick and tired of govt BS.

Seems like there are two choices for our society. A) Open up but be responsible doing it and not have to revert to the policies we went through in the beginning or B) Blow off anything the government says and almost take it as a challenge to do what we want because "there's NO way they will close things again".

I really don't get it. It almost seems like a large number of people who want to return to normal have made it a point to just ignore any preventative measures suggested by the Government simply because they aren't going to be told what to do.

I'm absolutely sure that the absolute LAST thing Abbott wants to do is take any steps backwards. I'm also pretty sure that he will if he feels it is necessary.

cone said:

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this advice will be ignored

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It will be ignored by his base, most everyone I know is still predominantly staying home except for a handful

" I'm also pretty sure that he will if he feels it is necessary."

Like shutting down school districts that had zero cases. That was really necessary.

OlSarge92 said:

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" I'm also pretty sure that he will if he feels it is necessary."

Like shutting down school districts that had zero cases. That was really necessary.

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I didn't say that's what he'd do specifically. But to pretend like it just isn't a possibility, so we can just do whatever the hell we want, as we want, and when we want, it likely inaccurate.

"no one" is not true, people are talking about it everywhere.

Plenty of people are mentioning it. Abbott is talking about the situation in Texas, where we did not have the initial wave of cases and deaths that other states did but are beginning to experience it now.

SoupNazi2001 said:

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Why is no one mentioning that fatalities have declined dramatically. Over 2,500 per day in April down to just over 250 yesterday.

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I just looked at Texas fatality data over time as well. There's really no increase in deaths in Texas, even with the supposed spike in cases/increase in hospitalizations.

So what's going on? We can't make good policy without good data.

1. Are hospitals admitting people that aren't as sick as before? Are hospitals classifying admits for something else that test positive as covid hospitalizations? (There's anecdotal evidence of this, but no idea what percentage of new admits this is).
2. Is the virus less deadly now?
3. Do we just know how to treat it better so it doesn't progress?
4. Do young people lead the way in new infections? What is the age distribution of new admits?

If we had a responsible media, we'd already have these answers. All they have to do is pick up the phone and ask people.

i know it is completely pointless to even engage here, but...

you are correct. sick people SHOULD stay home. The second part of your comment is problematic since someone who is healthy and still carry the virus AND infect others who then can become sick.

Its unbelievable the lack of effort the media puts in, Harris County had almost 1800 cases reported yesterday and they said it was from backlog, yet all the media points out is the record number of cases.

Serious question, what is political about questioning the media's effort in this specific situation?

[Ags, Keep the political comments off this forum. If this thread goes South, it will be moved to the Politics Forum. - Staff]

Govt should have thought about this before they lied to the public in the beginning. Additionally, its seems there is equal data that Mask don't do anything tohelp, general public doesn't wear them correctly etc.

DFWTLR,

It's more than a reporting backlog. there's an exponential growth trend developing.


Cases, positive test rate, COVID hospitalizations, COVID ICU occupancy, COVID deaths are all up in Houston. Deaths being reported in Houston are up to a MONTH old. The ages and date of deaths are reported every single day by the Houston Health Dept (@HoustonHealth). If you wait for deaths to spike, you are way behind the problem.

https://www.tmc.edu/coronavirus-updates/daily-new-covid-19-cases/

agforlife97,

Those questions are being answered, some by the doctors on this board. I know the doctor/poster "Not a Dr Ag" or something like that has answered all these questions in one thread or another in the last 2 days from his experiences in San Antonio.

People spend too much time attacking the source of the information rather than looking into this stuff themselves and making informed decisions.

OlSarge92 said:

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Govt should have thought about this before they lied to the public in the beginning. Additionally, its seems there is equal data that Mask don't do anything tohelp, general public doesn't wear them correctly etc.

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There is not equal data. There is question over whether a mask helps you to prevent getting the virus, but there is little question over whether wearing a mask helps you to spread the virus.

Additionally, it is an infinitesimally small inconvenience to wear a mask to try to help slow the spread of the virus and get consumer confidence high and get the economy back up and running. If it turns out the mask was useless, who cares? If it turns out the mask worked, then we all win.

HotardAg07 said:

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DFWTLR,

It's more than a reporting backlog. there's an exponential growth trend developing.


Cases, positive test rate, COVID hospitalizations, COVID ICU occupancy, COVID deaths are all up in Houston. Deaths being reported in Houston are up to a MONTH old. The ages and date of deaths are reported every single day by the Houston Health Dept (@HoustonHealth). If you wait for deaths to spike, you are way behind the problem.

https://www.tmc.edu/coronavirus-updates/daily-new-covid-19-cases/

agforlife97,

Those questions are being answered, some by the doctors on this board. I know the doctor/poster "Not a Dr Ag" or something like that has answered all these questions in one thread or another in the last 2 days from his experiences in San Antonio.

People spend too much time attacking the source of the information rather than looking into this stuff themselves and making informed decisions.

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There's a difference between hospitalized because of covid and hospitalized with covid. The overall state statistics don't differentiate and the Houston stats just list hospitalized with covid. You can also see that the number of people admitted in Houston and the number of people discharged are almost equal on a daily basis. Houston has also not decided to ban elective procedures again, which is interesting. The entire state of Texas only reported 10 covid deaths from 6/21-6/22. So what does all that mean?

I definitely appreciate the perspectives of Not a Dr Ag and other docs on the board. Actual journalists should be talking to those guys.

I'm on here to gather data. I'm on the covid committee for my company and we're trying to devise a rational work policy. It's very difficult because of the hysteria and lack of good data.

HotardAg07 said:

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OlSarge92 said:

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Govt should have thought about this before they lied to the public in the beginning. Additionally, its seems there is equal data that Mask don't do anything tohelp, general public doesn't wear them correctly etc.

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There is not equal data. There is question over whether a mask helps you to prevent getting the virus, but there is little question over whether wearing a mask helps you to spread the virus.

Additionally, it is an infinitesimally small inconvenience to wear a mask to try to help slow the spread of the virus and get consumer confidence high and get the economy back up and running. If it turns out the mask was useless, who cares? If it turns out the mask worked, then we all win.

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Look, I'm all on board understanding that masks can help and we should use them in certain situations. But I can't agree with those that claim it's a "small inconvenience", or "minor inconvenience". I've seen that by so many and it's such a pet peeve of mine. Please do us a favor and spare us that. I'd rather you just say this really sucks, I never want to have to wear a mask again, but I'll do it for now when it's necessary that try to convince the rest of us it's a minor inconvenience.

It's a complete lifestyle and cultural change. A constant reminder of what we are going through. Leaving each day of work with a headache and/or feeling dehydrated because of how damn inconvenient it is to go outside to take a sip of damn water(yes, my company is taking it to the extreme really souring me on these pieces of s***) and breathing in my own breath all day long. And yes, for many of us, it does make it harder to breath. I absolutely notice it on something as simple as walking up and down the stairs when I have one on. Maybe it just affects us all differently.

Not going to debate the efficacy of it, but for someone who has worn it 45+ hours a week for 10-11 weeks straight now, that's bulls***. This freaking sucks. No other way to put it.

HotardAg07 said:

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OlSarge92 said:

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Govt should have thought about this before they lied to the public in the beginning. Additionally, its seems there is equal data that Mask don't do anything tohelp, general public doesn't wear them correctly etc.

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There is not equal data. There is question over whether a mask helps you to prevent getting the virus, but there is little question over whether wearing a mask helps you to spread the virus.

Additionally, it is an infinitesimally small inconvenience to wear a mask to try to help slow the spread of the virus and get consumer confidence high and get the economy back up and running. If it turns out the mask was useless, who cares? If it turns out the mask worked, then we all win.

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Why is it so hard for people to get this? The mask is not to protect you but to protect those around you. Cough, sneeze, yell, spit on a piece of paper without a mask. Put on a $2 mask you can get from a gas station and do the same thing and you will see a large difference. Its the same reason we were taught as kids to cough and sneeze into our elbow so we don't blow crap all over everything.

If the general public cannot figure out how to properly put on a simple mask then we are hopeless and none of this matters.

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A constant reminder of what we are going through

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You should be constantly reminded that things arent normal because they arent normal.

Did you feel the same way about yellow ribbons during the gulf wars?

No, we shouldn't. Proper hygiene and regard for personal space should be a given.

I don't need people like you telling me to be constantly reminded. I can be smart about it without having to live that way. Have a good day.

beerad12man said:

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No, we shouldn't. Proper hygiene and regard for personal space should be a given.

I don't need people like you telling me to be constantly reminded. I can be smart about it without having to live that way. Have a good day.

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You are probably smarter than most.

Paraphrasing what K said, a person is smart. People are dumb.

I guess from a hospital perspective, people don't stop having heart attacks and other things so a large surge in a population that did not exist before could be complicated.

I should clarify, I think the issue is not so much where we are today, but that the trend is upwards and growing daily. If that trend does not reverse, then we will surely have an issue.

The concern is that we may need a change in behavior to reverse the trend, a change that our population may not have the appetite for.

I wish they hadn't opened the bars back up. Everything I'm seeing here in Austin seems to point back to the protests,then the bars. Not mutually exclusive.

The good news is that the city has shut down several bars in the last few days, it looks like New Year's Eve in there, the video that I seen at some of these places. Packed! Of course since they're drinking, nobody has a mask on. And I can hardly remember ever going into any bars were there wasn't loud talking and loud music . And naturally you try to talk over it, almost at a screaming level, spittle going everywhere.

The numbers aren't spiking because too many people at HEB without mask.

The projection of Houston area ICU beds at capacity in 2 weeks is disturbing. I get the need to not go backwards with restrictions.But, not sure what the right answer is.

lock your ass down for the next two months if you're older than 60 or got diabetes or high blood pressure

It should be concerning that 90% of ICU beds at TMC are full considering TMC is the largest medical center in the world. I heard yesterday that 5 of the Memorial Hermann hospitals have full ICU's, and I remember reading a few weeks ago that LBJ and Ben Taub (the two major county hospitals in Houston) already had ICUs at capacity.

flnk06 said:

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It should be concerning that 90% of ICU beds at TMC are full considering TMC is the largest medical center in the world. I heard yesterday that 5 of the Memorial Hermann hospitals have full ICU's, and I remember reading a few weeks ago that LBJ and Ben Taub (the two major county hospitals in Houston) already had ICUs at capacity.

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Any idea what percentage are COVID cases?