COVID FAFO Roll Call

[Brisketexan 107063]

5 minutes ago, Pato del Muerto said:

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-60050996
 

add Czech folk singer to the list 

On Sunday morning, the day she died, Ms Horka said she was feeling better and dressed to go for a walk. But then her back started hurting, so she went to lie down in her bedroom. 

"In about 10 minutes it was all over," her son said. "She choked to death".

Guess she couldn't horka up that last chunk of COVID phlegm....

[MissingInAction 25619]

On 1/16/2022 at 10:13 AM, DDD Dad said:

That it was an Olive Garden is the chef’s kiss. “Today Olive Garden. Tomorrow we conquer Applebees!”

If those cunts interrupt 99 cent margarita Tuesdays, there will be blood.

[Beau Vine 55901]

1 hour ago, Pato del Muerto said:

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-60050996
 

add Czech folk singer to the list 

On Sunday morning, the day she died, Ms Horka said she was feeling better and dressed to go for a walk. But then her back started hurting, so she went to lie down in her bedroom. 

"In about 10 minutes it was all over," her son said. "She choked to death".

Quote

Her son, Jan Rek, said she got infected on purpose when he and his father had the virus, so she could get a recovery pass to access certain venues.

[jimmyjazz 47370]

2 hours ago, Beau Vine said:

 

Czech . . . mate.

[aggie08 21854]

6 hours ago, Lobo said:

Uhhhhhh...............looks like you were working through some shit at about 2:00am.  Good luck with all that...

Lobo becoming uncomfortable with someone else's overtly sexual, explicitly detailed post...now I know the world is ending.

[C-Man 27846]

12 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

 

Czech . . . mate.

[Sbbruin 22147]

16 hours ago, Lobo said:

Isn't there some other metric where you "gain" like an inch for every 30 pounds you lose?  I mean, your dick doesn't actually grow but the lower pelvic fat around it shrinks away, revealing a previously dormant portion of your dick.  I dunno if that's late-night extenze bullshit, but does seem somewhat valid.  Maybe that counteract the inch you lose to Covid?  

Asking for a friend.  

 

[Guest Lobo]

10 minutes ago, aggie08 said:

Lobo becoming uncomfortable with someone else's overtly sexual, explicitly detailed post...now I know the world is ending.

Whuh?  I talk about that shit, but not my own stuff.  Sickie...

[Homesickhorn 2221]

This water is cold.  And deep.

I believe one of them fellers was from Arkansas.

[HenryJames 67517]

[Brisketexan 107063]

3 minutes ago, HenryJames said:

Dude.  The universe has ceded all "karma" functions during this pandemic.  You know that.

[Beau Vine 55901]

38 minutes ago, HenryJames said:

 

I don't know about y'all, but I'm definitely praying about Paxton's Covid situation.

[JimmyJames 12271]

7 hours ago, Pato del Muerto said:

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-60050996
 

add Czech folk singer to the list 

On Sunday morning, the day she died, Ms Horka said she was feeling better and dressed to go for a walk. But then her back started hurting, so she went to lie down in her bedroom. 

"In about 10 minutes it was all over," her son said. "She choked to death".

Oh well. At least she died proving some sort of point she was trying to make. That takes courage in a dim witted sense. 

[jimmyjazz 47370]

58 minutes ago, Beau Vine said:

I don't know about y'all, but I'm definitely praying about Paxton's Covid situation.

I have suddenly reacquired my faith.

[JimmyJames 12271]

1 hour ago, Beau Vine said:

I don't know about y'all, but I'm definitely praying about Paxton's Covid situation.

If Paxton were to be awarded a Herman Cain award it might almost make the whole thing worth it.

[MC Fresh Breath 4075]

1 hour ago, Brisketexan said:

Dude.  The universe has ceded all "karma" functions during this pandemic.  You know that.

[MC Fresh Breath 4075]

I would be pretty surprised if he wasn't vaccinated. 

[atomheartbevo 90700]

2 hours ago, MC Fresh Breath said:

I would be pretty surprised if he wasn't vaccinated. 

His office wouldn’t answer if he was or not.  

So he’s vaccinated.  

[Deej 77931]

4 hours ago, HenryJames said:

 

Edited January 20, 2022 by Deej

[Nivek 17443]

General Paxton? Fucking lawyers….

[PenelopeWitherspoon 19362]

If he was really that sick, he wouldn't be doing Zoom meetings and media.  Just saying.

[Fudge Nuggets 19489]

26 minutes ago, atomheartbevo said:

His office wouldn’t answer if he was or not.  

So he’s vaccinated.  

I don't get why the Repubs are hiding behind not answering on this particular issue.  Why don't they just lie like they always do?

[atomheartbevo 90700]

2 minutes ago, Fudge Nuggets said:

I don't get why the Repubs are hiding behind not answering on this particular issue.  Why don't they just lie like they always do?

HIPPO VIOLATION! I MEAN HIPPA OR HIPPY OR WHATEVER VIOLATION YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO ASK THAT BECAUSE I’M A SNOWFLAKE REPUBLICAN!

Plenty do lie, but most are probably concerned that they’ll be caught in the lie, and lying about getting The Jab is a big no no for the GQPers.  

[Fudge Nuggets 19489]

1 minute ago, atomheartbevo said:

most are probably concerned that they’ll be caught in the lie,

Bwahahahahahahahaha

[atomheartbevo 90700]

51 minutes ago, Fudge Nuggets said:

Bwahahahahahahahaha

You laugh, but if they had no problem with getting caught in the lie, then tell us why they won’t lie and say they aren’t vaccinated.

There’s a reason why Trump was bitching last week about Republican politicians refusing to identify their vaccine status. It pisses him off they won’t come out and admit they were vaccinated.  

[MC Fresh Breath 4075]

Hey, I wonder if America's collective BMI has been reduced at all in the last two years?

[MoJames 8258]

2 minutes ago, MC Fresh Breath said:

Hey, I wonder if America's collective BMI has been reduced at all in the last two years?

Nah I'm pretty sure the vast majority of America has added 10-20% over the past 2 years of "quarantine."

[Judge Roybeanbag 11863]

1 minute ago, MoJames said:

Nah I'm pretty sure the vast majority of America has added 10-20% over the past 2 years of "quarantine."

Yeah but our collective IQ may have increased.

[MoJames 8258]

15 minutes ago, Judge Roybeanbag said:

Yeah but our collective IQ may have increased.

[Post Oak 20595]

49 minutes ago, MoJames said:

Nah I'm pretty sure the vast majority of America has added 10-20% over the past 2 years of "quarantine."

[RDCanecutter 26968]

19 hours ago, Nivek said:

General Paxton? Fucking lawyers….

Next they'll call the Sergeant Major a "Major," and Ursa Minor "kiddo."

[MC Fresh Breath 4075]

Quote

 

Life, death and ‘hugs and prayers’: A story of covid in rural Michigan

Janice Burtch, left, tells Lanny and Bill Hathaway how she is doing since covid-19 claimed her husband, Danny. They gathered at the 50 Plus Club in Lewiston, Mich. (Nick King for The Washington Post

By Kayla Ruble
January 18, 2022 at 4:45 p.m. EST

LEWISTON, Mich. — The conversation at the card table inside the Lewiston 50 Plus Club turned one recent afternoon to the coronavirus pandemic, as it had so many times the past two years.

Just days earlier, the club’s president — and one of its most devoted euchre players, Danny Burtch — died of covid-19 after a weeks-long bout with the virus.

Burtch was the 40th person claimed by covid-19 in sparsely populated Montmorency County, in the backwoods of northern Michigan. The grief has hit particularly hard at the 50 Plus Club, knocked down in so many ways during the pandemic. Members falling ill. Shutdowns causing the club to shutter. Staff run ragged keeping the center safe for the vulnerable people who congregate inside its walls.

“It seems unfathomable,” said Randy Long, 67, the club’s vice president and a local radio host, clad in a Santa hat, his cards face down in front of him. “I’ve spent almost eight years with this guy … and for him to just be gone, taken away in less than four weeks by a virus, getting your head wrapped around that.”

As health-care leaders pleaded with Michigan residents to take the virus seriously and to get vaccinated, Burtch was among several thousand mostly unvaccinated patients who flooded the state’s hospital wards during the fall and early winter. For weeks, Michigan led the country in covid-19 deaths, and the 71-year-old retired electrician, with no major health complications before contracting the virus, was among them.

Two years into the pandemic, the story of Danny Burtch is the story of incalculable loss and of hard choices: whether to be vaccinated, whether to leave the isolation of home for fellowship, whether to partake in a beloved game of cards.

“It’s just as scary a thing as you ever lived through,” said Betty Gogo, 83, who figures she is “just about the oldest person in town” but maintained a bustling social life before the pandemic, filled with lunches and bowling.

TOP: From left, Patty Garrett, Kent Balogh, Randy Long and Betty Gogo play euchre at the club on Dec. 28. BOTTOM: Euchre is the game of choice — and a time for fellowship — at the club. (Nick King for The Washington Post)

Anger and heartbreak
On a recent Saturday morning outside Munson Medical Center in Traverse City, Mich., Janice Burtch sat in a car holding a can of Diet Coke in one hand, a pack of Marlboros in the other. Snow was falling, the blacktop was wet, and she had just watched her husband of 29 years take his last breath.

“I literally watched that man die in front of my eyes,” Janice, 60, said, recalling the moment, just as the sun was rising, when she held the hand of her husband inside a hospital room surrounded by health-care workers.

Unlike Janice, who was fully vaccinated and boosted, Danny had refused to get the shot, something his wife attributes to a long-standing distrust in government and a heavy diet of Fox News.

A week before Thanksgiving, Danny, Janice and two of their closest friends — both unvaccinated — gathered for an evening of cards in Lewiston, a one stoplight town surrounded by state forests and inland lakes more than 200 miles north of Detroit. The friends got sick first. Danny tested positive a few days later.

Within days, his oxygen plunged dangerously, and he was rushed to a small rural hospital where he waited nearly two days in the emergency room before a bed in an intensive care unit opened up an hour and a half away in Traverse City.

During the next two weeks, his condition worsened day by day. He experienced a dramatic loss in lung function, his kidneys were failing and then he had a heart attack followed by a stroke that left him blind.

“I’m angry with him. Of course, I’m angry with him. This didn’t have to happen,” Janice said. “And I feel bad that I’m mad at him, because he’s gone. And I’m mad at myself for not making him go” get vaccinated.

TOP: This is Janice Burtch's favorite photo of her husband, Danny Burtch. BOTTOM: Janice Burtch prays before dinner at the Lewiston, Mich., club. (Nick King for The Washington Post)

Before his death, Danny, as president of the Lewiston 50 Plus Club, led a community center with several hundred members that hosts regular activities: euchre, bingo, exercise classes.

Janice, the self-proclaimed first lady, volunteers regularly at the club and works for the local commission on aging, preparing Meals on Wheels deliveries and food served at the facility. She got vaccinated to protect herself — and to shield the older, vulnerable residents she encounters.

“If I get sick and one of our people dies because of me … I can’t live with that,” she said.

She regarded the vaccine as just another layer of protection at the club, where they implemented a mask policy, temperature checks, regular sanitizing and a contact-tracing operation, creating one of the few spaces in the deeply red county where seniors could visit knowing their health was a priority.

For the most part, it worked. There have not been any outbreaks at the club since it reopened. Even this fall when the virus spread through their circle of friends, Janice never contracted it. But in the end, in an area where the severity of the virus has been downplayed, her efforts to protect Lewiston’s most vulnerable residents stopped short at being able to protect the most important person in her life.

People “think God is going to create a miracle for everybody, and he’s not. God helps those who help themselves. The vaccine was provided for us to help ourselves,” Janice said. Her husband “chose not to get that vaccine. It is what it is.

“Nothing I can do about it now.”

TOP: Danny Burtch, who was president of the Lewiston 50 Plus Club, lowered the flag to half-staff at the start of the coronavirus pandemic. BOTTOM: Janice Burtch volunteers regularly at the club, works for the local commission on aging and prepares Meals on Wheels deliveries. (Nick King for The Washington Post)

Tired of crying’
It was a snowy afternoon before Christmas, and just inside the entrance of the club, a small kitchen crew prepared dinner. Staff and guests wore face masks as they entered the building. In a backroom with dark wood paneling and an electronic bingo board on the wall, two men and two women sat around a table, each holding five cards as they played euchre.

While that table was full, more than a half-dozen tables around them sat empty. Along with bingo night, the twice-a-week afternoon euchre sessions are typically among the most well-attended activities at the Lewiston 50 Plus Club.

Members say attendance started to dwindle as a brutal and deadly fall wave of the coronavirus burned its way through Michigan, killing people in rural places such as Lewiston and surrounding Montmorency County at twice the rate of residents in more populous corners of the state.

“People get cautious really quick. It’s a senior group,” Long, the club’s vice president, said. “It’s socially changed the way we think to do anything, especially once we were shut down for the year … and you are afraid to go out to the gas station or the grocery store.”

Things got worse once Danny Burtch got sick. They briefly put activities on hold to prevent further spread. In-person meals resumed with just a few tables filling up every day. But with Janice staying in Traverse City while Danny was hospitalized, bingo was canceled.

In the days after Danny’s death, news about the omicron variant’s rapid spread sparked an added sense of fear at the club.

As they played euchre and ate Christmas cookies, Gogo expressed concern about the new variant and news reports chronicling the rush for testing.

“I can’t believe all these lines that they’re showing,” said Gogo, who has been terrified of crowds throughout the pandemic and continues to avoid large gatherings. Like others, she worries the growing spread of covid-19 could result in renewed restrictions that would shutter the club.

Gogo and many other club members remained cloistered in their homes most of the pandemic’s first year. They masked up when they left the house and kept away from loved ones. It upended their social lives: The club closed because of state and local restrictions, making an already isolated part of the state feel even more forlorn.

“When it went up to as much as 250,000 [cases] I thought that was the worst thing, that was the scariest thing. And when it went up to a million, I mean, there was no help anymore, you just [took] care of yourself and you [knew] a lot of people are going to die,” she recalled. “It was a scary time.”

They thought the vaccines would bring the pandemic, and their constant worry, to an end. More than 75 percent of Montmorency residents older than 50 are vaccinated, compared with just 33 percent under 50. But the way anti-vaccine rhetoric has taken hold, especially in places such as Lewiston, has meant the virus continues to ravage the community and keep them on edge, fearing for their health, fearing they could lose the ability to socialize.

“Now that we play cards twice a week, I don’t know what I’m going to do if we [don’t] play cards,” Gogo said.

“Too many people are resisting,” she said. “I’d think they’d be afraid of dying.”

TOP: It is mealtime one December day at the club, where Janice Burtch prepares a plate of food 10 days after the death of her husband. BOTTOM: Janice Burtch hugs Nick Martinez after he presented her with a cup bearing her husband's photo. (Nick King for The Washington Post)

As winter deepens, death continues to be a constant companion for the older residents in Lewiston. And for Janice, it continues to bring a sense of purpose after her husband’s death, whether it is encouraging holdouts to get vaccinated or offering succor to others who are grieving.

Just after the holidays, a man walked into the club for the first time with four friends to pick up the menu for the month. He looked about Janice’s age and as she got to talking with him, he told her his wife had died of covid-19 a month before Danny. She offered condolences and assured him the club would be there for anything he needed.

“I do have my moments, days, etcetera, that I just want to curl up and cry my heart out. I’m tired of crying, and I don’t want to anymore, but I can’t seem to stop it,” Janice said. “But when I help others, my heart doesn’t hurt for those few minutes.”

Since Danny got sick, Janice has been checking the county health department’s covid-19 data at least once a day. One Sunday, when she opened up the page, she saw the death toll had risen to 42.

After seeing the update, she took a screenshot and shared it on Facebook alongside a photo of her husband. She added a note: “If anyone knows this persons family let them know I am so sorry for their loss. Sending them hugs and prayers.”

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2022/01/18/covid-deaths-michigan/?pwapi_token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWJpZCI6IjIxMzg5NjgwIiwicmVhc29uIjoiZ2lmdCIsIm5iZiI6MTY0MjU1ODY3MywiaXNzIjoic3Vic2NyaXB0aW9ucyIsImV4cCI6MTY0Mzc2ODI3MywiaWF0IjoxNjQyNTU4NjczLCJqdGkiOiJjOTY4NGJjMS00MDYxLTQ0OTQtOTFkMC05OTU5MWI5ODU1NmUiLCJ1cmwiOiJodHRwczovL3d3dy53YXNoaW5ndG9ucG9zdC5jb20vaGVhbHRoLzIwMjIvMDEvMTgvY292aWQtZGVhdGhzLW1pY2hpZ2FuLyJ9.-f-KyQWjqQUKIMrbBu76XZk81UzvYB5DWNDNAuE7YCk

[MC Fresh Breath 4075]

Quote

Unlike Janice, who was fully vaccinated and boosted, Danny had refused to get the shot, something his wife attributes to a long-standing distrust in government and a heavy diet of Fox News.

 

And nobody at Fox will shed a tear, much less be punished.

[tx 3 putt 78841]

18 minutes ago, MC Fresh Breath said:

 

And nobody at Fox will shed a tear, much less be punished.

 

zero fucks given 

[Brisketexan 107063]

Sure, he suffered a miserable death. And left his wife a widow, broken hearted.

BUT…he owned the libs, so it was all worth it. Suck on that sweet smell of victory, libtards!

[fattyflattie 4640]

On 1/19/2022 at 2:18 PM, Sbbruin said:

 

You don’t ever measure from up top.  Nothing but hurt feelings up there  

 

[Bodhi 1135]

The last few years have really worn down my sympathy.  I didn't want to enjoy anything posted in this thread just 12 months ago because it made me feel mean and cruel.  Now I read it daily and my current feelings are:

And I'm at peace with that.

Edited January 21, 2022 by Bodhi

[Aqua Buddha 14816]

I like these people who profess to distrust the government and media but will believe anything Trump or Fox News tells them.  They trust the government and media plenty.  

[DefinitelyNotHollywoodColt 12301]

On 1/4/2022 at 3:24 PM, DefinitelyNotHollywoodColt said:

Update: Aunt, Uncle and my 93 YO Grandmother now all in the hospital. with covid-induced pneumonia. makes me both very sad and very angry.

Update:

Good: Aunt is out of hospital and seems to be doing well, she is still on oxygen but doing some walking.

Bad: Grandmother is out of the hospital and in a rehab center. Her Covid symptoms have subsided but it has flared up a pre-existing condition she had which is making her very weak and unable to keep down food.

Ugly: Uncle is not doing well. Pneumonia ended up putting holes in lungs which I believe have collapsed. He was just rushed to ICU and put on a ventilator.

It ain’t over until it’s over, but I can’t even fathom the amount of survivor’s guilt I would have if I watched my wife die from something easily preventable had I not been a stubborn idiot.

[bolverk 30390]

17 minutes ago, DefinitelyNotHollywoodColt said:

Update:

Good: Aunt is out of hospital and seems to be doing well, she is still on oxygen but doing some walking.

Bad: Grandmother is out of the hospital and in a rehab center. Her Covid symptoms have subsided but it has flared up a pre-existing condition she had which is making her very weak and unable to keep down food.

Ugly: Uncle is not doing well. Pneumonia ended up putting holes in lungs which I believe have collapsed. He was just rushed to ICU and put on a ventilator.

It ain’t over until it’s over, but I can’t even fathom the amount of survivor’s guilt I would have if I watched my wife die from something easily preventable had I not been a stubborn idiot.

Really sorry to hear about your family's condition. The holes in lungs and their subsequent collapse is what happened to my dad when he eventually succumbed to Covid during last year's winter surge. Unfortunately, my dad was in a small town hospital out in West Texas. I'll keep my hopes up for your uncle that he's in a place that can better deal with that sort of thing.

[DefinitelyNotHollywoodColt 12301]

1 minute ago, bolverk said:

Really sorry to hear about your family's condition. The holes in lungs and their subsequent collapse is what happened to my dad when he eventually succumbed to Covid during last year's winter surge. Unfortunately, my dad was in a small town hospital out in West Texas. I'll keep my hopes up for your uncle that he's in a place that can better deal with that sort of thing.

oof. had no idea you lost your dad to covid, very sorry to hear that. what a mess all this is.

[bolverk 30390]

Just now, DefinitelyNotHollywoodColt said:

oof. had no idea you lost your dad to covid, very sorry to hear that. what a mess all this is.

It was a FAFO situation. My dad went to game night with some of his buddies just before Thanksgiving. None were masked. One showed up, coughed all over everyone at the table for a couple hours, and gave it to everyone. This was just before the vaccine became widely available. I think there were five there but know that three didn't make it, including the original vector. The one survivor I'm certain about who did survive was probably the youngest and is in his early 50s.

My mom caught it from my dad. Sister, who is a PA up in Denver and had by that time lots of experience with Covid, drove down to take care of my mom at her home where she eventually recovered.

[HoustonHorn 1066]

24 minutes ago, bolverk said:

Really sorry to hear about your family's condition. The holes in lungs and their subsequent collapse is what happened to my dad when he eventually succumbed to Covid during last year's winter surge. Unfortunately, my dad was in a small town hospital out in West Texas. I'll keep my hopes up for your uncle that he's in a place that can better deal with that sort of thing.

Very sorry to hear about your Dad.

[JimmyJames 12271]

9 minutes ago, bolverk said:

It was a FAFO situation. My dad went to game night with some of his buddies just before Thanksgiving. None were masked. One showed up, coughed all over everyone at the table for a couple hours, and gave it to everyone. This was just before the vaccine became widely available. I think there were five there but know that three didn't make it, including the original vector. The one survivor I'm certain about who did survive was probably the youngest and is in his early 50s.

My mom caught it from my dad. Sister, who is a PA up in Denver and had by that time lots of experience with Covid, drove down to take care of my mom at her home where she eventually recovered.

Damn that sucks. Sorry for your loss. Glad your mom is ok. 

[Sbbruin 22147]

14 hours ago, fattyflattie said:

You don’t ever measure from up top.  Nothing but hurt feelings up there  

 

[brakeman 28772]

Meatloaf placeholder.

 

Anti-vax mandate.

Friend of TFG.

 

[Brisketexan 107063]

So, apparently the thing he wouldn't do for love was.....get vaccinated?

[Pato del Muerto 53628]

Maybe he was advised not to due to his advanced cancer?

edit: I think I misappropriated Louie anderson’s cod to mr loaf. 

Edited January 21, 2022 by Pato del Muerto

[brakeman 28772]

11 minutes ago, brakeman said:

Meatloaf placeholder.

 

Anti-vax mandate.

Friend of TFG.

 

[JimmyJames 12271]

I liked meatloaf but he never struck me as particularly bright. Kinda like Ted nugent or kid rock. 
 

Oh well. RIP.