BillsFan4

The NHL is giving me hope that the NFL can complete their season, even if they have to transition to some type of bubble (like the NHL) at some point. Im feeling pretty good about how the Bills are handling covid so far. McDermott and Beane are very detailed and both seem to be taking this very serious. I don’t know that that’s the case with every NFL team (I doubt it is, with some of the coaches and GMs employed around the NFL...lol). I feel like we could have an advantage this season. Im just trying hard not to think about the “what if’s” and enjoy the bits of info we get about training camp.

I totally agree about reopening safely, and I agree you can’t avoid all diseases. But I have no intentions of ever getting this virus. I have multiple things that put me at higher risk (like many Americans do) and I am a caretaker for 2 people who probably wouldn’t survive if they got this virus. My plan is not to get it. ? I don’t ever remember talking like this for any other pandemic. SARS, MERS (2 other coronaviruses), Ebola, etc. This country NEVER just accepted that everyone would get the virus. AFAIK, We are nowhere close to everyone having had this virus. What have most antibody studies shown? Maybe 10% at best in most places? https://hartfordhealthcare.org/about-us/news-press/news-detail If only 7% in NY had it and it was that devastating, I can’t imagine what 100% would look like. Especially nation wide. 170,000+ deaths already. We’d easily be looking at something like 3 million deaths. link to ongoing CDC study: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/cases-updates/commercial-lab-surveys.html

I didn’t say Florida spiked in April. I said they had a covid outbreak. I don’t see how anyone could say that 30,000 cases in Florida isn’t an outbreak. Again, I guess it comes down to our definitions of an outbreak. 30,000+ cases certainly qualifies in my book (and most experts). Florida and Texas has more cases in March and April than numerous places in the northeast that were said to have outbreaks. So why are Florida and Texas having a bigger outbreak now than the places in the north that dealt with lower case numbers before their lockdowns? Why don’t you think a place can have a 2nd outbreaks? What do you think is stopping a 2nd outbreak besides our mitigation measures? Herd immunity? Because we have not reached herd immunity anywhere in the world that I am aware of. Definitely not anywhere in the US. Not even close. What else would prevent a 2nd outbreak from being possible? Herd immunity is the only thing that I am aware of. Otherwise the virus can easily spread to the millions of people that haven’t yet been infected. We can mitigate the spread with safety measures, but that doesn’t mean an outbreak isn’t possible. Why are we still seeing 500-1500 people dying from covid every day? Is it still all just old people in nursing homes and people with pre-existing conditions (it’s not...)? Why aren’t we protecting them yet 5 months into the pandemic? Everyone makes it sound so easy. What do we do, completely isolate them? And that would somehow be ok? Everyone else can live their life like normal, unless you’re one of the 10’s of millions who fall into the higher risk categories? Then you don’t get that same right to live your life like normal? You have to stay isolated while everyone else gets to live their life? Why can’t we just suppress the spread of this virus like most other countries (and some US states) are trying to do? Also, if we flattened the hospital curve (which we clearly didn’t, as hapless showed), then why were hospitals in Arizona sending patients out of state? Why did Gov. DeSantis call in 1500 additional nurses to help with the covid fight? Why did a couple Texas hospitals announce that they were almost completely out of space? Hopsitals may not have been completely overrun but they’ve come damn close to capacity or reached capacity. It’s happened again and again in the places that disregard the guidelines. And Again, I don’t think this should be our bar to clear. It’s a really freaking low bar. We should be trying to suppress the spread of this virus. Not just barely keep hospitals from being overwhelmed. What about all our doctors and nurses on the front lines? And the terrible stories of what they’ve went through? We don’t owe it to them to try to limit the spread? Just reopen? Also, In many places, people haven’t gone back to their normal habits even though restrictions have been lifted. So how does opening up without suppressing this virus first fix that? People still aren’t going to go back to living life like normal if they don’t feel safe. The economy still isn’t going to fully rebound until we suppress the spread of this virus. What places in the country do you think are closed? Seems like most places are open. Maybe not fully everywhere, but we see the consequences of that. They may be following the CDC reopening guidelines, which is a good thing! Here in NY everything is reopening. Just slowly and as safely as possible. Nursing homes can have visitors. They’re just restricting the numbers (smart!). Look at Texas, AZ, Florida, etc. Places that opened with no regard for the guidelines. They’re getting slammed by the virus. Thankfully it seems to be trending in the right direction now, but they still got slammed again compared to places in the north that followed the CDC reopening guidelines. So is that what you think every state should do? Disregard the guidelines and reopen everything immediately? Now, If you’re saying that we need to just keep following the reopening guidelines and continue to reopen safely (like some states have been doing), then I agree. What we really need is a nation wide coordinated plan with the federal govt. truly joining the fight but I’ve lost all hope for that. Btw, we haven’t even seen what this virus can do during flu season yet...

There are a couple products (and TVs) that allow you to DVR programs broadcast over-air/antenna for free (no monthly fees). Like this, for ex: https://www.amazon.com/Fire-TV-Recast-over-the-air-DVR-500GB-75-hours/dp/B01J6A6H74/ref=asc_df_B01J6A6H74/ or a TV with “live pause” capability, but again it’s only for over-air channels, not cable. https://support.tclusa.com/rokutv-faqs/209528-what-is-live-tv-pause But otherwise any DVR service is going to have a monthly fee, unless maybe you get it included in your Tv package as part of a promotion for new customers (where are the promotions for existing customers?! Pet peeve of mine). IIRC I want to say I pay something like $20 or $25 a month for my DVR service, plus another $12.99 for the digital box.

Florida covid timeline: https://www.clickorlando.com/news/local/2020/03/20/timeline-the-spread-of-coronavirus-in-florida/ march 26th: 2500 cases April 1st: state wide stay at home order issued April 3rd: 10,000 cases. April 7th: 14,000+ cases April 13th: 21,000+ cases April 27th: 27,000+ confirmed cases Then they started to reopen the beginning of June iirc and cases continued to climb. Texas covid timeline: https://www.texastribune.org/2020/07/31/coronavirus-timeline-texas/ March 19th: Texas dept. of public health services declares a public health disaster declared for the first time since 1901. March 26th: stay at home order goes into effect April 9th: 10,200 confirmed cases April 17th: 17,000+ confirmed cases April 23rd: 21,000+ cases May 1st: 29,000+ cases May 18th: 48,000+ cases May 29th: 61,000+ cases How many cases does a state have to deal with before they’re considered to have had an outbreak? - At the time NY shut down they had 21,000 cases. Everyone agreed they had a big outbreak. - Massachusetts was said to have dealt with an early outbreak. They had less than 1000 cases at the time they issued stay at home orders. - MI had 1,791 cases when they issued their stay at home orders. - NJ had 1,327 at the time of the stay at home order. Those are all places in the north that people said had early outbreaks. I think we agree on why places like Texas and Florida are seeing their outbreaks continue - lax restrictions. They all dealt with covid cases early, just like states in the north. They just reopen much differently (or never really shut down at all in some cases). But IMO they never had to have this current outbreak happen if they had better followed the CDC reopening guidelines like some other states have. We did a “national pause” for a reason - to get covid outbreaks under control. Some covid cases after reopening is unavoidable, I agree. But these big outbreaks we are seeing now were avoidable IMO. What was the point of the lockdowns if not to get these cases under control? They’re not dealing with covid now for the first time. States in the north don’t have herd immunity that is protecting them from 2nd outbreaks. They’re just following the CDC reopening guidelines strictly, and so far it’s working. Now, that’ll only last as long as people continue to follow the guidelines. Edit- as far as other countries, I think the issue is what they consider an new outbreak vs. what we consider a new outbreak. Our definition seems to be much different than theirs. Most countries seem to have a lower threshold for what is considered an outbreak by their government.

(click on tweet to see all the stories. Here’s one video:

DVR is a separate service. I am unaware of any free DVR services. You either pay the monthly fee to get it from your cable provider or you pay the monthly fee for something like TiVo. Not sure if there’s an additional fee for it from satellite tv?

I was just coming to edit that last line and say I wasn’t talking about you. Sorry about that. Yes, our medical system has been able to hang on so far, but many hospitals have been overwhelmed. My ex works at a hospital that was overrun with covid. She said it was like a war zone. Like nothing she’s ever seen in her life. She’s still dealing with the PTSD, as are many of her fellow nurses and doctors. There are similar stories around the country. Is that truly the bar we want to set? Just keeping our hospitals from being overwhelmed to the point where they have to decide who lives and dies (like what happened in Italy in March)? I don’t think Europe is seeing herd immunity either. They’ve been more unified with their lockdowns. They didn’t use a piecemeal approach like we did, where they let every place decide how they’d approach covid. If we’ve suppressed this virus, Why do you think much of the rest of the world has their borders closed to the US but open to other countries (that have actually suppressed the spread of this virus)?

we flattened the curve? When did this happen? I mean, we definitely should have by now. Some states have, but we are currently still seeing 500-1500 deaths per day, every day. We are seeing 20-40,000 new cases a day (New Zealand shut down for 4 new cases. 4! Other countries that are said to be dealing with “outbreaks” have new cases in the hundreds, not 10’s of thousands...). I also disagree on the hospital thing. Just last month we saw more hospitals being overwhelmed. California, Texas, Florida, Arizona, all had to call in extra nurses. Arizona hospitals had to start sending patients out of state because they were so full. Florida has to call in 1500 extra nurses from FEMA and also needed a huge extra shipment of Remdesivir. Texas hospitals also ran very low on space. Same in California iirc. Barely Keeping hospitals from being completely overwhelmed is a super low bar IMO. We should be trying to suppress the spread of this virus completely, like basically every other 1st world country. I don’t think it’s fear to be smart during the worst pandemic our country has seen in 100+ years. People don’t want to get this virus, or spread it to their loved ones. I also think it’s a good example of why we can’t just disregard the virus and reopen to fix the economy. Many people aren’t going to go back to their normal habits until they feel safe. Outside of the 1918 Spanish flu, How have we had worse pandemics? This is an enormous tragedy IMO. Over 170,000 deaths in just 5 months. That’s more than most years long wars this country has fought. It’s more than multiple wars combined. Ill truly never understand how so many people just dismiss this pandemic as no big deal (edit - not talking about you, sorry. But there definitely are a lot of “just an average flu” people out there that I’ve run into or talked with).

Oh no! Brady, er, I mean Darnold’s going to turn him into a super star.

It’s funny that Gregg Williams seems to think his defense is in the same league as the Seahawks (he probably thinks it’s better knowing greggo). lol

Do your friends also drink every day? Could it have something to do with you having a higher tolerance from drinking every day? (and maybe from size/weight if you’re a bigger dude). similar to a daily pot smoker. He/she can smoke a whole joint without getting wrecked, where as a more casual smoker would take a few hits and be stuck on the couch for an hour...lol. I have no tolerance for alcohol anymore (and I’m Irish. Shameful, I know. lol). I get a buzz from 1 beer. I used to be able to drink a 6 pack without catching a buzz. You may also be getting more buzzed than you realize. I think Gary gave some great advise. Ask your family (or whoever is around you most) for their opinions on how you control your drinking. Like for ex, I have a buddy who doesn’t think his drinking is an issue. Says he doesn’t even get buzzed, but I can easily tell when he’s been drinking. He’s totally different but just doesn’t realize it. Then I have other friends who frequently drink and it’s not an issue.

I read about that too. I also read that covid survived something like 2-3 months frozen (or something like that). I read that it can’t grow and multiply on food though, like salmonella (etc), making it quite unlikely that you will get infected from frozen goods. Just wash your hands before eating or touching your face. They’re speculating that the new outbreak in New Zealand (17 cases total. 4 new cases caused them to lock down all of Auckland - quite the difference from our outbreaks, eh? Some states have 20,000 new cases A DAY and just shrug their shoulders at it ?‍♂️ But anyway...) may have possibly been caused by imported frozen goods because the guy who caused the outbreak works at a frozen food plant (but it hasn’t been proven yet afaik and could have been caused by something/someone else) https://www.sciencealert.com/can-imported-frozen-foods-really-spread-covid-19-here-s-what-experts-say They still say the risk is low. And they also mention this: sounds like they still think the risk is very minimal: (Wash your hands before you touch your face or eat) as far as why bacteria and viruses can survive so long being frozen, that’s not something I’ve ever really looked into. I think it’s just the nature of viruses. It’s why flu season is in the winter, not the summer (covid obviously isn’t a typical flu). I believe that Colder temps and low humidity allow the virus to survive longer outside of its host. Heat and humidity kill it much faster (see link below). Someone else may be able to give a more detailed answer. https://aem.asm.org/content/76/9/2712.full “Effects of Air Temperature and Relative Humidity on Coronavirus Survival on Surfaces” (from a 2010 study). I know that there are even claims of viruses living 700+ years frozen in ice (some experts speculate that as the ice caps melt we could see new (old) diseases). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4250107/

Great news! Hopefully it’s accurate. sounds interesting. Hopefully this holds true. A faster, cheaper test with the accuracy of PCR tests would be awesome news. But if it’s closer to the accuracy of the current antigen tests, well....

https://www.wsj.com/video/series/wsj-films/covid-chasers-the-nurses-fighting-coronavirus-from-hot-spot-to-hot-spot/E05FF3C1-0873-4AF9-ADA1-9F1CECE24065 Please take 10 minutes and watch this whole video. They’re heroes in my book.

https://nhl.nbcsports.com/2020/08/15/boston-bruins-goalie-tuukka-rask-opt-out-2020-stanley-cup-playoffs/ Tuukka Rask opts out.

https://covid19risk.biosci.gatech.edu COVID-19 Event Risk Assessment Planning Tool This is a pretty cool tool.

Matt Ellis also hired by the Sabres as director of player development but I guess it won’t be officially announced until next month. https://buffalonews.com/sports/sabres/sources-matt-ellis-joining-sabres-as-director-of-player-development/article_2326ddfc-de48-11ea-acdd-5711c15065a1.html

He had a bad season for sure, but I have to believe he has some value even if it’s not a ton. I don’t think he’s just a throw away player you don’t qualify and lose for nothing.

https://www.wgrz.com/article/news/health/coronavirus/38-new-covid-10-cases-in-eden-traced-to-a-single-source/71-8a921631-c162-4f28-af90-0e18f532170c 38 new COVID-19 cases in Eden traced to a single source The Erie County Health Department at this time the risk of community transmission from these cases is considered to be very low.

This would be such incredibly poor asset management. At least quality him and then trade him. He has to have some value. I sure hope Kevyn Adams doesn’t start his tenure with a decision like that.

Who’s the last Bills head coach to get a contract extension?

Nice! Congrats Dion!

Great news!! Now get Beane’s contract extension done!

Yes, I realize that. My comment wasn’t really about comparing the exact number of cases. It was directed at our response to our outbreaks vs. theirs.