keroscenefire

I'm not sure why they decided to not report hospitalization data. Some local health departments in Florida have been but it has not been mandated statewide. Apparently, they are going to start mandating hospitalization data now that the outbreak has gotten severe in Florida.

The CNN article is synthesizing some information from studies that go as far back as March. This mutation has been the dominant mutation in both Europe and the US since the outbreak basically first started. It's different from the one that originally came out of China (and was responsible for the first infections in the Pacific Northwest but not most of the ones in NYC). Therefore, most of the vaccines in development in the US and Europe are dealing with this COVID mutation, so it probably won't have a big effect on vaccines. In fact, they say that convalescent plasma actually has a really strong effect of neutralizing this mutant version of virus, which is great news for vaccine development.

I also think doctors and nurses know how to better treat the disease now than they did at the beginning. We now have two medications that we know help COVID patients with one drug dexamethasone proven to actually help reduce death rates (Remesdivir has only been shown to reduce the number of days in the hospital). These drugs with new knowledge on using oxygen and ventilators (and having more ventilators available) will likely prevent many more people from dying. The thing I'm worried about is busting our hospital capacities. It appears to be happening in Arizona and Texas and probably Florida (they aren't actually releasing COVID hospitalization data so it's hard to say). If COVID patients can't get the care they need, the death rate may very well increase again.

I know nothing about him, but I do really hate his RM handle. Makes him sound like a religious fanatic.

Yes, he still does rugby here in Denver. He and his partner have become somewhat friends. We've hanged outside of hiring. He has invited me to his rugby parties and man there are so many hot guys. He does go back to Ohio somewhat often though I think that's slowed down a bit with COVID. You should give him a call if you see him return to the Columbus area.

One of them does: Ruggergingercub. His boyfriend used to but now has a full-time job so stopped advertising. He's a scientist so he is a bit careful about COVID. He only agreed to meet with me because I showed him by COVID antibody test. So I'm not sure if they'll both come out. They are great guys though and Rugger is great on his own too.

Yeah I hear you. I think I lucked out with my regulars. They actually have a lot of fantasies anyway of adding a third to their relationship. Only one of them escorts regularly, but the other one used to before he got his full-time job that keeps him pretty busy. We all get along pretty well and have good chemistry so it works out well.

I've had the best success hiring couples that escort together. I have two regulars who are a couple and they charge just $300 an hour for the both of them, close to what I'd pay for just one escort's time. My birthday is coming up and I'm considering hiring them for an overnight.

Yeah I was going to say I think it was done by a client on here.

I'm glad you had a good time with him. My experience was good, but for whatever reason we just didn't click. Where probably a lot of people would find him confident, to me he came off as more cocky. But really it's just a matter of perspective and I would gladly recommend him even if I would likely never hire him again.

No personal experience, but one of my regulars has done some group stuff with him and he said he was nice, professional and better looking in person.

I always found the "Don't give two shits" phrase hilarious. Although I am sure there are some coprophiliacs who would love to take your two shits from you.

Overall, I recommend him. Here is my Daddy Review of him. To me, he is just a bit on the higher-end side and I have regulars that I like more. But he likely will be great for you.

I haven't met him for a couple years, but what I said before is probably accurate unless other people have a more recent experience.

I was thinking of getting a massage this weekend, but decided against it. I did hire a couple weeks ago, but cases were on a strong decline. Now they are creeping back up, so I think better safe to abstain. I might consider in a few more weeks...wait and see approach is probably best.

I actually don't think getting a haircut is very high risk. There were two hairdressers in Missouri who worked while awaiting COVID tests and saw 140 clients between them. They ended up testing positive and did contact tracing on all their clients and not a single one ended up getting COVID. Both hairdresser and client wore masks while inside and did a lot of standard sanitation protocols, which apparently were enough to not spread the infection. Of course I understand if you have underlying health conditions and it's not worth the risk. I got a haircut myself a couple weeks ago when cases were trending downward in my area. You have to call ahead for an appointment here and the barber I went to has these garage door type windows that they opened up to allow a lot of ventilation. Since there was no waiting, it was only myself, my barber and a few other barbers/clients in a fairly large space with ample social distancing. I think getting a haircut is relatively safe, though maybe wait a bit until cases start coming down again (if that happens). I think certainly extra caution is good if you're in an area with rising cases.

Yeah, there was a newbie like that in Denver. Tried $300 with no reviews and he was attractive, but not super hot. I did actually meet with him because he promised a two-hour session with both massage and fun. It was ok, but he tried to do this like FinDom thing on me at then edn and get him to pay more money on Venmo for another round of fun. I was like, that's not really how this works or if it is, I'm not into it. I still gave him a positive RM review, and then for weeks he'd keep messaging me trying to get me to meet. I had to eventually tell him that I really wasn't interested in meeting him anymore at his price. He pulled his ad during the pandemic and I haven't seen it up since, so I'm thinking maybe he didn't have a lot of takers with his aggressive tactics

I've already done some travel in-state here in Colorado and am considering doing some more. I do think I will wait and see how Arizona, Utah and some of our neighboring states shake out with their recent upticks. There have also been a few upticks in some counties here (Damn college kids in Boulder), but I will likely spend some time hiking and traveling in this beautiful state. Outside of Colorado, not sure until things calm down some.

I have a college friend whose husband is a respiratory therapist outside of Phoenix. He is the guy who actually puts the ventilators in patients that need them. He's so busy and his job so risky that the family decided to have him stay at a hotel room for the time being. Fortunately they can afford it because he is getting massive overtime. But she is really worried about her husband because many respiratory therapists have gotten infected by COVID. So far it looks like they still have enough PPE and respirators. But the latter is close to running out I hear. Definitely a scary situation in Arizona.

Greek Pete is another good one. It's a documentary directed by Andrew Haigh (a great director who did Weekend among others). Follows an escort in London and his life including meetings with clients. Really gets into a pretty real view of what that's like. I believe Pete is still an active escort as well. [MEDIA=vimeo]9731786[/MEDIA]

That scene where Joseph Gordon Levitt gives a massage to the elderly AIDS patient is just so beautiful and humanistic. The one I like is My Own Private Idaho.

We do have to remember that deaths are a lagging indicator. The spike in cases have mostly been in the last couple weeks so it could very well be that deaths will catch up eventually. My friend who is a hospital administrator said they would have COVID hospitalized patients for weeks or even a month before they passed. Another reason why deaths may not be as high is that for the most part hospitals are better prepared for the influx and we have new treatments (Remesdivir and now dexamethasone) and a greater understanding of how/when to use respirators. It's unfortunate for the poor souls who were the first to get hospitalized with COVID. I think doctors just didn't know how to treat this new disease. Now we have a better understanding and better treatments to prevent many deaths. Now if hospital capacity gets crunched....

I'm curious if part of it is also how active the population is outside in the summer in some of these sun-belt states. When I lived in Texas, people actually seldom went outside in the summer because it is so hot and humid. I didn't have a car so had no choice but to bike or take transit everywhere and it sucked for months. But people who had cars would literally drive them to the convenience store on the corner rather than walk outside a block in the Texas heat. I hear Arizona is the same, but Florida may be is a little different just because of the popularity of beaches and the ocean breezes maybe make it a little more tolerable (although I've never been to the sunshine state myself). I'm almost thinking the rise in cases in these hot sunbelt states may be because it's summer. People really do stay inside more and enjoy the air conditioning rather than be outside in the hot, humid weather. It's actually the winter when people go outside more. July the parks are mostly empty but in January they are full. And these states are south enough, that probably there is enough sun for a good dose of vitamin D even in the winter.

Mine has 96 percent sensitivity and 99 percent specificity. It was a blood draw so much more accurate than the pinprick tests that some have been giving. They explained the 96 percent sensitivity (which could potentially give false negatives) as happening sometimes when people either don't develop a strong immune response or take the test too early after recovering from COVID. They are finding that you really should wait at least 2 or even 3 weeks after recovery for the body to develop enough antibodies to be detected by the test. However, the test itself actually has three categories: Not-detected, borderline and detected. They explained that many people who take the test too early (or develop a weak antibody response) come back as borderline. Basically, they have some antibodies but not enough to definitely say they had the disease and they recommend retaking the test in a couple more weeks. I got just straight-up detected, so it is very likely that I had COVID and developed significant, detectable antibodies to the disease. There is also a very small chance (less than 1 percent) that the test is detecting antibodies of another type of coronavirus. In my case, that is probably especially unlikely since the actual illness that I had was much more severe than the minor cold that you can sometimes get from other types of coronaviruses. My primary care physician believes that with the test results and my severe and long-lasting symptoms (high fever, cough and shortness of breath for two weeks), that it is almost certain that I had COVID-19.

So I have definitely hired again in Denver, but am thinking of pulling back because of a recent local uptick in cases (We had previously been on a steady downward trend for weeks). I'll reassess in a week or so to see how cases are trending. What about any of you living in Texas, Arizona, Florida or California? In many of those places, COVID-19 has been the worse it's ever been. Is that changing your hiring opinions or are you open for business just like restaurants, hair salons and everything else seems to be, despite the risks?