At dinner parties and game nights, casual American life is fueling the coronavirus surge

[octoberlib]

A record-breaking surge in U.S. coronavirus cases is being driven to a significant degree by casual occasions that may feel deceptively safe, officials and scientists warn — dinner parties, game nights, sleepovers and carpools.

Many earlier coronavirus clusters were linked to nursing homes and crowded nightclubs. But public health officials nationwide say case investigations are increasingly leading them to small, private social gatherings. This behind-doors transmission trend reflects pandemic fatigue and widening social bubbles, experts say — and is particularly insidious because it is so difficult to police and likely to increase as temperatures drop and holidays approach.

The White House coronavirus task force has been urging states that are virus hot spots to curtail maskless get-togethers of family and friends, saying in reports that asymptomatic attendees “cause ongoing transmission, frequently infecting multiple people in a single gathering.”


As new daily cases in the United States surpassed 145,000 on Wednesday, New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo (D) announced a 10-person limit on gatherings in private homes, calling them a “great spreader.” Similar restrictions have been imposed in states including Ohio; Utah; Connecticut; Colorado, where one recent cluster involved seven people infected while playing the dice game bunco; and Rhode Island, whose governor has pledged to fine violators. Oregon last week announced a “pause” in hard-hit counties on most groups larger than six people. “Earlier in the outbreak, much of the growth in new daily cases was being driven by focal outbreaks — long-term care facilities, things of that nature,” said Nirav Shah, director of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention in Maine, where cases have soared in the past two weeks. “Now, the kitchen table is a place of risk.”


https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/11/12/covid-social-gatherings/

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[Ferrets are Cool]

1. I see it every day on FB. People flaunting the "small" get togethers

They just don't get it, until they GET it. Then they want prayer soldiers to pull their asses out of the fire. Instead, it's the front line health care workers that get bludgeoned.
I expect there to be even more massive outbreaks after Thanksgiving and Christmas.

[octoberlib]

2. Me, too. Thanksgiving is the most traveled holiday of the year and

families will still be celebrating together because it's family. And there will be plenty of liberal families , not just MAGAs ,that get together for the holidays.

[634-5789]

3. Also:

1. Churches that don't socially distance
2. Nursing Homes
3. Schools
5. Clubs, Restaurants, bars.

Lots of blame to go around, I'm staying home.

[gollygee]

4. We have so many friends frustrated that we aren't hanging out with them

Now one couple just found out their son and grandkids have it, and we hope they don't have it but we're glad we haven't been around them.

People don't understand that you aren't just hanging out with a few friends - you're hanging out with them and everyone they've hung out with, and everyone that group has hung out with.

[Newest Reality]

8. Heheh.

I see what you did there

[soothsayer]

5. Not me, man. I do meet friends for socially distanced outdoor brunch once a week

Masks unless eating/drinking and I wear a face shield while doing that.

The other day it was cold out and my friends opted for inside near a window.

I stayed home.

That’s what you do: avoid risky situations.

[Solly Mack]

6. I don't play in traffic for the same reason I won't break Covid-19 protocols.

That shit can kill you.

[genxlib]

7. And that was before Holiday Season

Thanksgiving and Christmas are going to be much, much worse.

Assuming of course that the death toll between now and then doesn't shock some sense into some people. But we should not expect that anytime soon.