PASabreFan

Any signs of fall there? Goldenrod is coming out here, and the hillsides are subtly starting to show color change.

Big picture: It looks like the U.S. is going to get a do-over. Daily new cases have been dropping, using a seven day average, for about two weeks. And unlike the first drop-off, this one is looking to be very steep. Daily new deaths are just starting to taper off. We have a chance as a country to push this thing way down and this time keep it down with more, faster testing, contact tracing and, most of all, common sense.

Wouldn't the person coming in for the psych consult be offered a virtual visit? How many people would have died from Covid if you could have had your way? How many of these non-Covid deaths you're referring to would have been avoided? And here's your chance to report on the fallout you've seen.

My doctor referred me to a specialist. I get 2-3 calls every day with messages left telling me to call the specialist back to schedule. I've about had it. I suspect they are desperate for business, and when I go in, I'm getting the Deluxe Bone Marrow Biopsy (drill into one femur, get the second femur half off!).

YES! (To the second point.) And I love it for that reason, although I know it's slowly killing me.

I've found they're not really user-dependent (as long as you can aim and hold the thermometer relatively still). The issues that crop up involve your target (hair in the way, person won't stand still) and the ambient atmosphere (hot rooms are said to be a problem). I don't understand your point. They're accurate if used properly, but they're not accurate? Also, I'm pretty sure you're not seriously arguing for replacing mass temperature checks with on the spot exams or relying on subjective observations like sweating and skin color. I wouldn't rule out fever in an elderly person who wasn't sweating. Those folks are cagey.

Sort of. They are dependent on being a certain distance (most of them have a range, albeit a narrow range). But it's not like if you're outside that range, you get an inaccurate reading. At least the ones I've used, you just get no reading. Not until you move the thermometer into that sweet spot. They're pretty idiot proof. And thanks for the shot at the people who are doing this thankless job. Nothing like being way too close to dozens/hundreds of people on a daily basis during a pandemic.

New forecast? Partly sunny, 20% chance of showers. It begins. But Sunday's still a solid "Sunny"!

To the first paragraph, you lost me a little. These are temps taken on different people. Maybe I'm being neurotic, but I'd expect to see 97.5, 96.5, 96.8, 98.1 etc. You're right. The infrared is reading the temperature of your forehead surface. I'm always over 100 when I take my temp first going in for work, then it drops down to near normal, sometimes within a minute.

That's how the choir people got Covid!

Hoping there are some nurses, CNAs etc. who can chime in here. Not sure it's something the docs can comment on. Temperature checks at businesses, airports and the like are being touted as ways of keeping sick people out. However, I observed something on TV just now, the same thing I've noticed at work when I take people's temps: when you take temps using the infrared thermometer without waiting long enough between readings, you tend to get a very similar run of results. The CEO of Frontier Airlines was on MSNBC. As he spoke about what the airline is doing to protect people, the video behind him showed a worker taking temps. You could see the readings. It started with 97.6 as the worker took a new reading, which was 97.7. There was a cut, and the new reading displayed 97.5 as the worker took two new temps in a row — 97.6 and 97.4. A third shot showed the thermometer starting at 97.6. I get a similar lack of spread when I go room to room in quick succession. Now, it's kind of old thinking that the average human temp is 98.6. It might be up to degree lower, so the readings at the airport could very well be valid. Maybe our stat man Shrader could opine on the chances of getting six readings so similar. I tracked down the manual for the thermometer I use, and you're supposed to wait one minute between readings. I have no scientific explanation for why not waiting would result in the next temp being so close to the last. But there must be a reason for the one minute rule. To add to the intrigue, when I did temps spaced out by several minutes or longer, the spread was more pronounced, although it wasn't unusual to get 96.9 and 96.7 in a row, but not for six to eight results. There's a couple in the same room whose temps I take together, and we have a running joke about who's going to "win." She's 96.6 and he's 96.7. Then the next day he's 96.8 and she's 96.9. I haven't mentioned it to the boss. I'd rather get skewed results than have to do it the old fashioned way.

Are you saying there are few Wawrows left covering the Sabres? Or few writers of Wawrow's quality left in journalism? Because I'm pretty sure AP employs many Wawrows to cover sports.

It's been unsettled (the weather). It's hump day in a pandemic, so there's no way the good ole National Weather Service would be trying to pump up the masses with a glorious weekend forecast. Nah, that never happens. My Saturday forecast: Sunny. Let's see what happens.

Hoo boy, a little dated there.

Maybe I'm growing soft, but it's hard not to feel a little sorry for them. You won the lottery, now you're back in your Camry vigorously scratching off tickets outside the mini mart.

The articles themselves address the issue directly. There are only theories as to why Sweden bent the curve so dramatically after their spike. Trust in their health experts, higher level of societal responsibility (flying in the face of the theory that Sweden bent the curve by telling everyone to go crazy, folks, go crazy), measures the government took, their health care system etc. But it doesn't appear to be that enough people got infected to close down the virus.

Enjoy it while it lasts. nfreeman threw some change on the lawn and told me to stay outside for awhile.

Here are some snippets I found interesting. Honestly I don't care that much about Sweden. I don't want to move there and frolick in an untied bathrobe not worrying about infecting others or getting infected. I was just pointing out Sweden didn't achieve herd immunity and it wasn't really their goal in the first place, as is suggested below. https://www.healtheuropa.eu/swedens-response-to-covid-19-life-is-not-carrying-on-as-normal/101515/ https://www.medpagetoday.com/infectiousdisease/covid19/87812 And why we can't be Sweden: https://www.healthline.com/health-news/heres-what-happened-in-sweden-and-you-cant-compare-it-to-u-s (Sorry that my url's don't turn into links. Sometimes they do and sometimes they don't. It ain't me.)

They have penicillin now, too. It's been in all the placards posted down by the canal. Does anyone care what the FDA says about hydroxyorangequine?

Sweden hasn't gotten close to herd immunity levels. Antibody testing shows about 10% of the population got infected. I'd still like to know how we get to herd immunity when the immune response doesn't seem to be a lasting one. They're talking about a vaccine that will be similar to the flu shot. Effective in as little as half the people who get it with the idea those who get sick anyway won't get as sick as they would have.

You're kidding.

I can get a bag of frozen brussels sprouts for .79 at Aldi. FWIW there have been studies that vegetables frozen soon after picking are more nutritious than vegetables that make their way to your produce section, destined to be misted every 20 minutes to make them look fresh.

I just ate an Impossible Whopper. The one I had when they first came out was meh. This one, maybe because I heated it up when I got home — I wouldn't have known it wasn't beef. That's probably as much of a statement about BK's beef as the Impossible burger.

So now the Sabres are using DATA and VIDEO?! What's next, the hockey department getting their own email addresses?