This diary was inspired by the story about the Kingston, NY barber who defied business closure orders and opened instead, and was recently tested positive for Covid-19 (Story) and a tweet exchange between a college professor and a self-described Montana child of God and an off-gridder.
The Ulster County Department of Health on Wednesday urged people who recently received a haircut from a barbershop on Broadway in Kingston, around 100 miles north of New York City, to seek testing for the contagion. Officials did not name the barber or the business.
The illicit operation is “extraordinarily disheartening,” county Health Commissioner Dr. Carol Smith said in a statement.
From The Washington Post:
The mid-Hudson region, where Ulster County and the offending barbershop are located, has not yet met the seven metrics required to start easing out of lockdown, Cuomo said Thursday at his daily briefing.
Ulster County, which has a population of roughly 177,500, recorded 1,542 confirmed cases and 64 reported deaths, according to most recent figures kept by the county. In total, New York state has at least 343,000 confirmed cases and more than 27,200 reported deaths.
“This is all based on the metrics and the numbers,” Cuomo said. “The big responsibilities for local governments to manage reopening businesses are daily monitoring of numbers, watching for business compliance and individual compliance.”
Above: The tweet that led to the discussion I thought was worth sharing.
Though his name wasn’t released I have no doubt that before long most everybody in the lovely town of Kingston, NY (pop. 23,000), located 60 miles south of Albany on the Hudson River, will know which barber it is.
According to Wikipedia the town is 75% white and has a median income is $31,500.
In Ulster County, where Kingston is located, In Ulster County, In 2016 Clinton received 40,010 votes, 51 percent of the vote. Trump garnered 32,962 votes. Stein got 2.5 percent of the total: 1,986 votes. The Libertarian and Independence parties picked up 746 and 1,430 votes.
The health department tweet, which was retweeted 317 times and liked 389 times, prompted a number of Twitter debates. I don’t know if this is a lot for a country health department tweet, even one which was linked to in a HuffPost story.
One thread started with someone saying “Sounds like once the barber recovers, he should be in jail.” This prompted a reply supporting the barber: “Yeah he should be in jail because he is trying to feed his kids. We are talking about a virus with serology tests that show a true case mortality rate of 0.2 percent, but yet you morons think we should lockdown indefinitely with no actual solution,” which led to this from someone else: “Fact is he can't feed his kids if he's dead, it's a distinct possibility he has passed this on to someone, maybe even his own family. Seems you would like lock down with no solution except death. Only you are touting the lie that there is an indefinite lock down.”
Here’s an interesting thread which is a discussion between Kate Dobson and Jason. Dobson describes herself as follows: Rhetoric & creative nonfiction professor @McDanielCollege LGBTQ. Comics fan. Rape survivor. Recovered addict. Gimme poems, Love&Rockets, Maus, Kenneth Burke.” She is an associate professor of English at McDaniel College. McDaniel is a private liberal arts college in Westminster, Maryland which was established in 1867. Jason describes himself as “American, Montanan, Child of God, off-gridder, DIY 24/7.”
The debate began with tweets from three others before Jason and Dobson had their
Sounds like once the barber recovers, he should be in jail.
Yeah he should be in jail because he is trying to feed his kids. We are talking about a virus with serology tests that show a true case mortality rate of 0.2 percent, but yet you morons think we should lockdown indefinitely with no actual solution
Fact is he can't feed his kids if he's dead, it's a distinct possibility he has passed this on to someone, maybe even his own family. Seems you would like lock down with no solution except death. Only you are touting the lie that there is an indefinite lock down.
And that was his right to get infected. Now he has to deal with it. #FreedomOverFear
Super. Tell that to the person who one of his customers infects. See, that's the problem. This f&cking guy who opens his shop?He made his own bed. To the customers: Really?Still, I wouldn't care what risks they the, provided they don't spread disease. But they will. Not ok
Listen this is going to have to infect way more people. Otherwise people are going to be stuck in their houses forever. Once it gets spread around it will weaken while it mutates. Some will die but more will die by keeping things locked down. We've had a few suicides locally.
Kate Dobson @K_Dobz10h
There are economic issues, for sure; but no, there aren't going to be anywhere near as many pandemic-inspired suicides as there will be COVID deaths among ppl who actually are trying to stay alive.
I'm not taking about just suicides. Millions of Americans are not getting "elected surgery" many on not getting health screenings they would normally get. The ripple effect will last for years.
I had to make decisions about follow-up on my cancer monitoring. So I'm well aware how serious an issue it is.But1. You referenced suicides and2. I was talking about some jerk who probably spread virus that will hurt a patient trying to get through another illness.
Sorry twitter limited me and I didnt want to start a thread. I understand the possibility of spreading this thing but are you honestly okay with sitting at home the rest of your life? Sure this could be over in 18-24 months then there will be another (sars, mers ect)
No; not okay with that. But this was a barber in NY, mid-pandemic, ignoring lockdown rules, amplifying a risk that others are sacrificing much to stop.Someone said, "That's his risk to bear." No. If he could just risk himself? Fine. But he can't. Because contagion.
These are a few but you can see all of them here without being a member of Twitter.
Friday, May 15, 2020 · 3:24:58 PM +00:00 · HalBrown
A commenter noted that the ad I used might have been for a community theater production of Sweeney Todd. I couldn’t find the source but I think there’s a good chance this is where it came from. If anybody dies because this barber infected them the comparison of him to the Demon Barber of Fleet Street becomes atrociously apt.