Reacher

How come you didn't get a little closer? I see the vans with the tourists do it all the time. 😁

I was thinking it might still be a little early but then the trees at higher elevations are probably ahead. Smokies have been on my bucket list for years. Want to hike a few miles of the AP trail while down there as well. Walking a few minutes counts as hiking in my book, lol

I like these better-

Nice! How are the fall colors there? Wife and I are going to the Morton Arboretum Sat .

Not exactly surprising, but China apparently was aware of the virus months earlier than previous reports- https://www.theepochtimes.com/china-saw-covid-19-like-patients-months-before-official-timeline-internal-documents_3537965.html

Some optimism from the NYT- https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/12/health/coronavirus-pandemic-vaccine-optimism.html

From the CDC- https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/wr/pdfs/mm6936a5-H.pdf Granted the sample size is small, so we'll have to see if further studies come out. Point to restaurants as worst places to go. "The study offers insight into the reality that tens of thousands of Americans are acquiring COVID-19 on a daily basis despite overwhelming adherence to mask wearing. Masks simply aren’t working to “slow the spread” or “stop the spread.” Americans are following the CDC guidance. It’s just not working." https://jordanschachtel.substack.com/p/cdc-85-of-covid-19-patients-report?r=6a3x3&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&utm_source=twitter

Couldn't agree more. Typical to try and make things look worse elsewhere. I now know of one person that has died. Was a distant relative. In his 80s. No idea what other health issues he may have had.

Looking good! Nice color.

Interesting look at the future milestones relating to Covid- https://www.statnews.com/feature/coronavirus/the-road-ahead-the-next-12-months-and-beyond/

David Nabarro, the World Health Organization’s special envoy on COVID-19, has urged world leaders to stop using lockdowns as the primary control method against the spread of the novel coronavirus. “We in the World Health Organization do not advocate lockdowns as the primary means of control of this virus,” “The only time we believe a lockdown is justified is to buy you time to reorganize, regroup, rebalance your resources, protect your health workers who are exhausted, but by and large, we’d rather not do it.” Nabarro pointed to the collateral damage that lockdowns are having worldwide, especially among poorer populations. “Just look at what’s happened to the tourism industry, for example in the Caribbean or in the Pacific, because people aren’t taking their holidays. Look what’s happened to smallholder farmers all over the world because their markets have got dented. Look what’s happening to poverty levels. It seems that we may well have a doubling of world poverty by next year. Seems that we may well have at least a doubling of child malnutrition because children are not getting meals at school and their parents, in poor families, are not able to afford it,” Nabarro said. “This is a terrible, ghastly global catastrophe actually,” he added. “And so we really do appeal to all world leaders: Stop using lockdown as your primary control method, develop better systems for doing it, work together and learn from each other, but remember - lockdowns just have one consequence that you must never ever belittle, and that is making poor people an awful lot poorer."

Agree with the exercise. My understanding is that weight training will increase your T. There are many workouts you can do for 15 minutes 3x / week. Have also heard that if you use a supplement your body will get used to it and produce even less. For that reason, I'd rather exercise than use a supplement.

When looking for new ovens, the sales guy said that we can get a basket and put it in the oven to air fry since it is a convection oven. Looking forward to trying that out - as well as your buffalo wing recipe!

I'd say your area is more open than others. Chicago public schools and many suburban districts are still remote only. HS sports shut down for the entire state (https://chicago.cbslocal.com/2020/10/04/high-school-athletes-march-to-gov-pritzkers-house-as-they-call-for-school-sports-to-resume/). While cases may be up in some areas, hospitals have long ago got back to normal. I know nothing more about that declaration than you do. Just passing some news along. I'd say there is a happy medium between no fans at sporting events and full indoor stadiums. To me, allowing every third aisle at outdoor events would be prudent, actually safer than 30% capacity at indoor restaurants and churches. Thanks for all of your constructive, reasoned responses. I'm sorry I don't always have the time to more properly respond to them.

Good points. Ultimately, at risk people should be taking their own precautions- as many are. Others may refuse to do so and endanger themselves. Just like an 80 yr old refusing a flu shot. I know there are others unable to make these decisions on their own and that is where policies, like controlling access to nursing homes come into play. There are hundreds of people in the WH daily so I'd say the level of exposure there is much higher than what most grandmas are exposed to.

I heard that somewhere (possibly Uof IL?) academic buildings have controlled access and students need to show recent neg. test results on their phone before entering. Everybody knows this virus largely spares the young and healthy so let them go to school and participate in sports (still not happening in many parts of the country) and allow students who may have vulnerabilities the option to go online and protect the older and at risk people. 80 yr old asthmatic diabetics in college towns should be the ones taking precautions.

Amazon announces their Covid cases. Remarkably, a lower percentage than the general population - despite not being locked down. https://www.realclearmarkets.com/articles/2020/10/06/amazon_thoroughly_wrecks_narrative_about_lockdowns_being_necessary_579797.html And 70,000 tests of college kids resulting in 3 hospitalizations and 0 deaths-

Focused Prevention--the new method for handling Covid? https://gbdeclaration.org/

Been doing a lot of yard work these last couple weekends. Here is a new bed we made. Hydrangeas in the back. A walking stick tree in the center. Some bulbs planted in front.

NY locking down 9 zip codes

Chris Christie is saying he has it and he helped Trump w debate prep so he could be a possible source. Trump also being treated w Regeneron. They call it an antibody cocktail.

I'm all for mask wearing and social distancing. It bothers me that some of our leaders (both parties) don't think it's necessary. Ultimately, we need to get past this. We need schools and businesses to fully reopen. This can be done safely. We need a vaccine and or herd immunity. People's (and companies) behaviors and lifestyles have changed drastically over these last 6 months. Some of it will be permanent. The sooner we return to normalcy, the sooner people will return to work and the illnesses / deaths from other mental and physical ailments can start trending back down. The states that choose not to will be sacrificing their future as people and businesses (and their tax $) will move to where they will be treated more fairly- which we have already been seeing.

Interesting take on how states reopening effect their unemployment rate and economic growth- "Economic recovery is going to require states to push ahead with reopening in a responsible manner. Take New York and California. Daily new cases are down roughly 92% and 66%, respectively, from the peak in these states. Deaths are down, 99% and 40%, respectively as well. Yet both still have some of the nation’s strictest pandemic-related restrictions in place. This, in turn, has held back their economic recoveries. According to August data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, New York and California had unemployment rates of 12.5% and 11.4%, respectively, while the unemployment rate for the US excluding these two states was only 7.7%. If New York and California mirrored the nation’s unemployment rate, the result would be an additional 1.2 million Americans employed. New York and California combined have 18% of the US population, but 32% of all people receiving continuing unemployment benefits. Just this past week, Florida (7.4% unemployment) and Indiana (6.4%) have fully opened their economies. These states, among many others, had lower unemployment than the national average, mainly because their shutdowns were less draconian."

This site shows Midwest cases increasing (makes sense since they never were hit hard like the NE and South) but Indiana's 2 week avg is flat. https://www.covidexitstrategy.org/ 10%Increasing 9361k 24% 24% 81%Constrained 210 210 UnlikelyPositivity high 12.7%Decreasing Alaska 21%Increasing 84102 69% 69% 49%Normal 139 139 DifficultPositivity makes it challenging 4.4%Increasing Arizona 3%Flat 452466 58% 58% 55%Normal 64 64 Extremely DifficultResource intensive 5.2%Decreasing Arkansas 😷 24%Increasing 657812 57% 57% 70%Normal 269 269 Extremely DifficultResource intensive 5.4%Flat California 😷 7%Increasing 3.2k3.4k 104% 104% 67%Normal 85 85 PossiblePositivity low 2.9%Decreasing Colorado 91%Increasing 316603 75% 75% 58%Normal 105 105 DifficultPositivity makes it challenging 4.0%Increasing Connecticut 😷 -10%Decreasing 178160 275% 275% 50%Normal 45 45 PossiblePositivity low 1.1%Decreasing Delaware 😷 -13%Decreasing 118103 45% 45% 80%Elevated 106 106 Extremely DifficultResource intensive 6.8%Decreasing District of Columbia 😷 -12%Decreasing 4641 268% 268% 76%Elevated 58 58 PossiblePositivity low 1.1%Decreasing Florida -15%Decreasing 2.7k2.3k 28% 28% 76%Elevated 106 106 UnlikelyPositivity high 10.7%Decreasing Georgia -31%Decreasing 1.6k1.1k 49% 49% 78%Elevated 107 107 Extremely DifficultResource intensive 6.2%Decreasing Hawaii -13%Decreasing 117102 52% 52% 74%Elevated 72 72 Extremely DifficultResource intensive 5.9%Increasing Idaho 68%Increasing 256430 14% 14% 46%Normal 241 241 UnlikelyPositivity high 21.4%Increasing Illinois 😷 18%Increasing 1.7k2k 81% 81% 55%Normal 160 160 DifficultPositivity makes it challenging 3.8%Flat Indiana 😷 -2%Flat 921899 28% 28% 62%Normal 134 134 UnlikelyPositivity high 10.9%Increasing Iowa 37%Increasing 591809 18% 18% 68%Normal 256 256 UnlikelyPositivity high 16.8%Increasing Kansas 😷 56%Increasing 426667 19% 19% 62%Normal 229 229 UnlikelyPositivity high 16.0%Increasing Kentucky 😷 7%Increasing 669717 142% 142% 80%Constrained 161 161 PossiblePositivity low 2.1%Decreasing Louisiana 😷 -23%Decreasing 703545 82% 82% 67%Normal 117 117 DifficultPositivity makes it challenging 3.7%Decreasing Maine 😷 -5%Decreasing 2928 339% 339% 70%Normal 21 21 PossiblePositivity low 0.4%Decreasing Maryland 😷 -17%Decreasing 572473 60% 60% 70%Elevated 78 78 Extremely DifficultResource intensive 5.1%Decreasing Massachusetts 😷 35%Increasing 347468 458% 458% 55%Normal 67 67 PossiblePositivity low 0.7%Decreasing Michigan 😷 0%Flat 867863 112% 112% 73%Elevated 86 86 PossiblePositivity low 2.7%Decreasing Minnesota 79%Increasing 535957 67% 67% 73%Elevated 170 170 DifficultPositivity makes it challenging 4.5%Increasing Mississippi 😷 11%Increasing 449499 25% 25% 71%Elevated 168 168 UnlikelyPositivity high 12.1%Decreasing Missouri 1%Flat 1.5k1.5k 24% 24% 66%Normal 242 242 UnlikelyPositivity high 12.4%Increasing Montana 130%Increasing 123283 40% 40% 60%Normal 265 265 Extremely DifficultResource intensive 7.7%Increasing Nebraska 12%Increasing 381426 23% 23% 62%Normal 220 220 UnlikelyPositivity high 13.2%Increasing Nevada 😷 63%Increasing 277451 25% 25% 71%Elevated 146 146 UnlikelyPositivity high 12.2%Increasing New Hampshire 1%Flat 3637 175% 175% 50%Normal 27 27 PossiblePositivity low 1.0%Flat New Jersey 😷 44%Increasing 391565 163% 163% 53%Normal 64 64 PossiblePositivity low 1.9%Flat New Mexico 😷 81%Increasing 100181 102% 102% 59%Normal 86 86 PossiblePositivity low 3.0%Increasing New York 😷 17%Increasing 734855 283% 283% 62%Normal 44 44 PossiblePositivity low 1.0%Increasing North Carolina 68%Increasing 1.2k2k 41% 41% 71%Elevated 189 189 Extremely DifficultResource intensive 7.4%Increasing North Dakota 25%Increasing 313391 42% 42% 47%Normal 513 513 Extremely DifficultResource intensive 7.2%Increasing Ohio 😷 -11%Decreasing 1.1k948 114% 114% 68%Normal 81 81 PossiblePositivity low 2.7%Decreasing Oklahoma 16%Increasing 8941k 36% 36% 69%Normal 263 263 Extremely DifficultResource intensive 8.4%Increasing Oregon 😷 53%Increasing 187286 55% 55% 62%Normal 68 68 Extremely DifficultResource intensive 5.5%Increasing Pennsylvania 😷 3%Flat 836859 48% 48% 76%Elevated 67 67 Extremely DifficultResource intensive 6.4%Decreasing Puerto Rico 85%Increasing 381707 3% 3% 60%Normal 221 221 UnlikelyPositivity high 100.0%Flat Rhode Island 😷 -25%Decreasing 9470 387% 387% 88%Severely constrained 66 66 PossiblePositivity low 0.8%Decreasing South Carolina 10%Increasing 1.1k1.2k 47% 47% 73%Elevated 231 231 Extremely DifficultResource intensive 6.4%Decreasing South Dakota 80%Increasing 227410 12% 12% 57%Normal 463 463 UnlikelyPositivity high 25.3%Increasing Tennessee -2%Flat 1.4k1.3k 55% 55% 73%Elevated 195 195 Extremely DifficultResource intensive 5.6%Flat Texas 😷 53%Increasing 3.9k5.9k 40% 40% 81%Constrained 204 204 Extremely DifficultResource intensive 7.5%Decreasing Utah 94%Increasing 5201k 24% 24% 62%Normal 314 314 UnlikelyPositivity high 12.7%Increasing Vermont 😷 Low case count 74 80% 80% 67%Normal 6 6 PossiblePositivity low 0.5%Decreasing Virginia -23%Decreasing 1k779 71% 71% 70%Normal 91 91 DifficultPositivity makes it challenging 4.2%Decreasing Washington 😷 15%Increasing 461532 82% 82% 71%Elevated 70 70 DifficultPositivity makes it challenging 3.7%Increasing West Virginia 2%Flat 188192 76% 76% 73%Elevated 107 107 DifficultPositivity makes it challenging 4.0%Decreasing Wisconsin 69%Increasing 1.3k2.2k 16% 16% 55%Normal 383 383 UnlikelyPositivity high 18.7%Increasing Wyoming 142%Increasing 48116 22% 22% 27%Normal 200 200 UnlikelyPositivity high 13.5%Increasing Notes: If a 😷 is next to a state it indicates a state-wide mandated mask policy for indoor AND outdoor settings. For detailed definitions see: https://www.covidexitstrategy.org/definitions-and-criteria Table: covidexitstrategy.org Source: Multiple Sources (NYT, COVID Tracking Project, rt.live, ILI, CDC)

Interesting take. I was a little skeptical but the article makes a convincing case with lots of references. Something @mrflynn03was saying from early on. https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/china-covid-lockdown-propaganda