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I mentioned to my wife that I feel that it's demographics. What I mean is that whenever I go in early in the day, I noticed that about 80-90% are wearing masks. If I go in during the mid to late afternoon, the percentages drop by a lot. I have also noticed that during late afternoon, many more shoppers are younger. I fell like there is a correlation of age determining the percentage of wearers.

I ran into the local Wal Mart this afternoon. Was there for less than 10 minutes and lost count at 53 the number of people without masks. I am estimating that 50% were maskless, and that's not counting the people wearing them improperly. No wonder Indiana numbers are skyrocketing.

He is doing better now, but is a "long hauler." He says that he will be back irritating the board soon. Also, Josh, please forgive me for not mentioning you too. So anyone who posts in our subforum knows at least two people who have been infected.

Strange, I have two friends who died, two more that almost didn't make it, and six more who had varying amounts of symptoms from mild coughs and shortness of breath to being hospitalized for an extended period of time. Oh, and let's not forget our own Jackstraw, who is suffering from a serious case.

In reference to the mask talk a few posts ago, this is pretty crude, but spells out nicely the effectiveness of masks.

This graph from the New York Times shows that our subforum sucks.

Ironically, the first person (of several) that I am friends with to contract Covid, and in fact died from it, was a mortician.

Micro climate. It's early here.

Those statistics are telling. The case keeps being made that the many of the deaths are occurring to those with preexisting conditions/immuno-compromised individuals, and those with histories of substances abuse. The jury is still out on an increase in suicides. I propose that almost all of the increase in the number of deaths over average from March through July were caused by COVID, even if indirectly. Statistically, they wouldn't have died when they did if it weren't for the virus. Just because they didn't directly die of the virus, they are still a victim of it. I've lost patience with those who continue to poo-poo the idea that if they didn't die from it directly that they don't count. Everybody counts.

I disagree with you on many meteorology topics, but agree with this.

The whole mask argument just won't quit. Anti-maskers keep flaunting "studies" that show that masks don't work, while ignoring the fact that the medical profession has worn them for many years due to their effectiveness. I feel like the problem is that the public thinks they are safe if they have their mask on when around people who aren't wearing them and therefore do not worry about social distancing. That, combined will improper mask usage, leads to virus spread. I see dozens of people every day wearing a mask and not having their nose covered. Why even bother wearing one if you're going to do that? I'm positive that some of these same people are the ones who claim that they contacted COVID even though they wear a mask.

You had to start trolling Ohio already, huh? Although the rest of October has a chilly look to it, I would not be surprised to see a 2017-like November with a weak la Nina.

LOL, we posted almost the same thought simultaneously.

NEOH, you've hit the nail on the head about the State Governors making the COVID-related decisions. However, that is also my main bone of contention. The No. 1 job of the President is to be a leader, not day-to-day governing (legislature and courts). It is the President's job to guide the national conversation, be a leader in times of crisis, to work to unify the country through civil discourse. When Covid hit, the executive branch did not show leadership, it handed this political hot potato off to State Governors to handle. Therefore, there have been myriad courses of action instead of a solid, united effort to control this pandemic. Instead, this administration has taken no responsibility other than to criticize individual states' responses and create even more divisiveness than before this nightmare began. So my opinion is yes, it is the President's responsibility to promote the safety and well-being of the citizens by taking what the medical community recommends seriously, which our President has not done.

Jack, I'm glad to see that you are recovering. I was really concerned when you quit posting, I just knew something was terribly wrong. What a horrible nightmare for you. Your story should be told to every anti-masker. As you said, you really don't deserve what happened to you. Prayers for a full recovery.

I know that this is not a political thread, but alarms should be raised with the White House's order that the Corona data sent by hospitals go to them rather than the CDC. Months before an election and a political entity is trying direct the conversation. Just wow. How transparent is this ploy? How are Americans supposed to be honestly informed if the narrative is controlled by a politician.? https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/14/us/politics/trump-cdc-coronavirus.html?campaign_id=9&emc=edit_nn_20200715&instance_id=20323&nl=the-morning&regi_id=132190987&segment_id=33439&te=1&user_id=6c0c6198ea2aad1257a6d55b6ad8e814 Sorry for the political rant. Now back to your regularly scheduled program.

All of this talk about politics and economy. Here is the real bottom line: People Wear your mask I'll just leave these right here. Source: Johns Hopkins University

Yes, although it is only at the Optum testing sites and it is free even though they are a private company. There are 83 Optum sites throughout the state. However, the other 116 hospital-run sites still have stipulations such as health-care worker, symptomatic, etc. From the ISDH website, "Anyone who lives or works in Indiana can be tested at an Optum site."

Testing being open for anyone who wants it beginning last week is probably the reason for the high number of tests. My wife got one Wednesday and got the results back on Friday (negative).

I finally got the answer for Allen Co. Indiana's spike. There is a large Burmese presence and it it is spreading rapidly among that population.

I can't answer that. Having many friends there and living only 20 miles away, I try to keep up on what's happening, but can offer no explanation, although I'll do some research. BTW, I have another friend who has contracted it that is (was) a healthy female in her 40's, although she manages a busy doctor's office in Fort Wayne. She is hospitalized and very ill.

I know four people who have/had it. One friend died (underlying health issues). Two others had extensive stays in icu. Both families were prepared for the worst, and both nearly didn’t make it. One is a female in her 50’s and healthy, although is/was a smoker. Covid cured her. The other is a male in his early 40’s and had no health issues. The fourth is an otherwise healthy male in his late 40’s. He simply isolated at home, and is just now back to 100% after several weeks.

The Mayor's office just sent this out. A pretty good representation of what's happened and what will happen, IF people behave.

I'm not sure how they picked the areas from which they randomly picked the test subjects, but they did take some demographics into account: " In the first phase, more than 3,600 people were randomly selected and an additional 900 volunteers were recruited through outreach to the African American and Hispanic communities to more accurately represent state demographics."

I was going to post the results of that Fairbanks study this morning, but have been busy dealing with it at work today. The study involved picking over 4,500 people around the state at random for testing. Of the 2.8%, 1.7% tested positive and 1.1% were positive for antibodies. Based on the study results of 45% being asymptomatic, there could have been up to 83,700 people in Indiana shedding at any one point. That doesn't sound too bad until you factor in people who refuse to wear masks, say it's not their problem, etc. As you said though, the major goal is getting the high risk people protected.