Tag: lockdowns

Los Angeles bans Halloween trick-or-treating due to COVID-19 risk

Traditional Halloween activities like trick-or-treating, parties, festivals and haunted houses won’t be permitted throughout Los Angeles this fall due to the risk of contracting or spreading COVID-19, health officials announced.

“Door to door trick or treating is not allowed because it can be very difficult to maintain proper social distancing on porches and at front doors especially in neighborhoods that are popular with trick or treaters,” the new guidance reads.

Also banned this year is so-called “trunk or treating,” where children get candy and other treats from cars instead of doorsteps, as well as gatherings or parties with non-household members and live entertainment like haunted house attractions, county officials said.

“Since some of the traditional ways in which this holiday is celebrated does not allow you to minimize contact with non-household members, it is important to plan early and identify safer alternatives,” county health officials said in a statement.

To that end, those who wish to celebrate Halloween amid the pandemic with safer alternatives can host or attend online get-togethers, costume contests or pumpkin carving parties.

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It’s now looking like the lockdowns may have been a huge mistake

Were lockdowns a mistake? To that nagging question, the answer increasingly seems to be yes.

Certainly, they were a novelty. As novelist Lionel Shriver writes, “We’ve never before responded to a contagion by closing down whole countries.” As I’ve noted, the 1957-58 Asian flu killed between 70,000 and 116,000 Americans, between 0.04 percent and 0.07 percent of the nation’s population. The 1968-70 Hong Kong flu killed about 100,000, 0.05 percent of the population.

The US coronavirus death toll of 186,000 is 0.055 percent of the current population. It will go higher, but it’s about the same magnitude as those two flus, and it has been less deadly to those under 65 than the flus were. Yet there were no statewide lockdowns; no massive school closings; no closings of office buildings and factories, restaurants and museums. No one considered shutting down Woodstock.

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San Francisco gym owners livid after discovering gyms in government buildings have been opened for months

Gyms within government buildings in San Francisco have been open for months, despite privately owned establishments being ordered to close due to the coronavirus.

“It’s shocking, it’s infuriating,” Daniele Rabkin, of Crossfit Golden Gate, told a local NBC station. “Even though they’re getting exposed, there are no repercussions, no ramifications? It’s shocking.”

The gyms that have been open for government employees include those for police officers, judges, lawyers, bailiffs, and paralegals, according to the report. One such gym, the Hall of Justice gym, has been open since July 1.

“It just demonstrates that there seems to be some kind of a double standard between what city employees are allowed to do and what the residents of San Francisco are allowed to do,” Dave Karraker, owner of MX3 Fitness in the Castro, said.

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Coronavirus: Pregnant Victorian woman filmed arrest

A pregnant anti-lockdown protester has live-streamed her arrest on social media and been charged for allegedly inciting a protest against COVID-19 restrictions in Ballarat’s CBD.

The video on the woman’s Facebook page had already been viewed more than 1.4 million times in the space of four hours by Wednesday night, with comments describing the scenes as “absolutely disgusting”.

“What the actual f***!” one person wrote, echoing many others.

Detectives descended on the woman’s Miners Rest home today, armed with a search warrant, after they became aware of a “prohibited gathering” scheduled to take place in the regional Victorian city this Saturday.

Officers raided the 28-year-old’s home and seized her mobile phone and computer equipment, after she greeted them at the door in pink pyjamas.

Upon being told she was going to be arrested, the woman began to cry and told officers she would “happily” delete her social media posts, with her Facebook page reportedly containing links to a “peaceful, freedom day” protest scheduled for the weekend.

“The government has gone to extreme measures and are using scare tactics through the media to prevent the Melbourne protest,” the event’s description said.

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A Closer Look at the States that Stayed Open

To assess Fauci’s claims that stay at home orders, in particular, are a model policy that every state should have adopted, we can look to Utah, South Dakota, North Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, Wyoming, and Arkansas. These are the only seven states to never issue stay at home orders and the results are telling, but not necessarily in Dr. Fauci’s favor.

Here is an excellent and comprehensive source on US restrictions and the timeline. 

Death rates from coronavirus (COVID-19) in the United States as of August 19, 2020, by state (per 100,000 people) Source: Statista

death-rates-coronavirus-per-capita-8-19-2020

One of the first things that jump out is that all seven of these states are amongst the top performers in terms of minimizing deaths per capita. In fact, the most draconian states such as New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and Michigan, where the governor even banned the selling of seeds, are the worst performing states. Whereas states like Wyoming, Utah, South Dakota, and North Dakota, which did not lock down are amongst the best overall in terms of deaths per capita

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New Zealand man, 33, who hugged a quarantining friend is JAILED for six weeks for breaking strict coronavirus rules

A painter has been jailed in New Zealand after he broke lockdown rules by entering a coronavirus quarantine facility and hugging a friend who was isolating.

Jesse Courtney Welsh, 33, from Morningside, Auckland, received a six week prison sentence after hugging a friend who was isolating after returning home from Australia, according to the New Zealand Herald.

Welsh appeared at Whangārei District Court yesterday after previously pleading guilty to being unlawfully in an enclosed yard.

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