Hang Gliding and COVID-19

A discussion restricted to the topic of hang gliding.
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The Oz Report
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Hang Gliding and COVID-19

Post by The Oz Report »

<div id="1605619275"><i>The view from a pilot at Wallaby Ranch</i><br><p>Max <<a href="http://ozreport.com/emailer.php?toName= ... posifu></a>> writes:</p><p class="BN">As we all know, we are in very trying and difficult times with Covid-19 altering every day lives for everyone including us pilots. Every hang gliding business is doing the best they can to follow CDC guidelines and more to keep both pilots and instructors as safe as possible. However some flight parks are not informing their students or pilots if they had any of their staff or instructors test positive for Covid-19 and/or have been removed for quarantine.</p><p class="BN">I understand that may not be the most appropriate way to keep your business going, but at least have the nerve and courtesy to at least privately email new students/visitor pilots that anyone that had tested positive for Covid-19 has been removed for quarantine.</p><p class="BN">The better way to prevent this issue is to have your staff and instructors tested for Covid regularly. Most state and counties have free Covid testing so cost really is not an excuse to not to test your staff and instructors.</p><p class="BN">Also by watching some recent hang gliding and paragliding videos on social media I see that CDC guide lines are not being followed. Too many people at close quarters with no masks or social distancing, and not to sound too political here but if you have been lead to believe that there is no pandemic or you don't believe in masks or think the CDC guideline are "infringing on your rights" then you have no business being at any flying sites risking others and yourself to being exposed to Covid-19. No one is immune.</p><p class="BN">I personally had to cancel a trip to a foot launching location to train and do a foot launch, which has been a life time goal for me, due to my concerns that some instructors had tested positive for Covid-19 and there was no information if their remaining staff and instructors have been tested for Covid or not. But it was mostly due to finances and other reasons.</p><p class="BN">I'm sure I'm speaking for most pilots asking for flying businesses to test their staff and instructors regularly and keep our flying safe for everyone.</p></div>
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Col.r
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Post by Col.r »

Watching the train wreck in America, it must surely improve soon. Here is the current chilling stats on your Covid19, no wonder you are wary Max ..

https://covidusa.net/

The flu comparison at the end was sobering..

"The current epidemic of stupidity in America is arguably more dangerous than COVID."
We are all in the gutter,but some of us are looking at the stars. MT.

Youtube videos- Col Rushton
Jay Z
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Post by Jay Z »

"Also by watching some recent hang gliding and paragliding videos on social media I see that CDC guide lines are not being followed."

Boo hoo, you whiney little bitch. If you're afraid of contracting C-19 are totally free to stay the fuk home and tf away from me.
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Martin
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Post by Martin »

Jay Z wrote:"Also by watching some recent hang gliding and paragliding videos on social media I see that CDC guide lines are not being followed."

Boo hoo, you whiney little bitch. If you're afraid of contracting C-19 are totally free to stay the fuk home and tf away from me.
Seriously?

Martin
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Gary
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Post by Gary »

Thankyou Col.r. I think Jay's comment exactly matches your point.

I am not sure what the solution is, the problem is multifaceted. If you consume most mainstream media your impression of the world is completely different from that of someone informed by 'the loyal opposition' (in all of our times multimedia).

Why is this complicated? I have to say that the liberal side of the mainstream IS CLEARLY biased. Predicting the end of democracy on the 1st day of DJT's refusal to concede seems exaggerated. (Notwithstanding HRC's concession the day after the last election). The point being that their hands are not clean. There IS dirt on their side of the street.

HOWEVER, the opposing view is horrifically divorced from reality. We have and will kill (an opinion here, based on projections) about 400,000 more Americans than needed to die.
That's not the end of the world, but it's not nothing. As a parentage of our population, it is small (.1%-.2%) . It will only be the 2nd or 3rd leading cause of death this year. (Well, it would suck to be in that group) and, it is fighting for the chance to be #1 (woohoo)

But your point, the epidemic of stupidity, gets to the heart of it. There is a sizable universe of people who are living in a world of different facts. This is not about how many can be registered or dragged to the polls. The question is, how can we get to a more common definition of reality.

I think that issue is multifaceted. How do we promote truth's, and defend the right for people to express opinions about those truths. There IS some evil in inventing some of this alternative reality, but then, this alternative is so prevalent (not unlike the current community spread of Covid) that I don't see how to 'flatten the curve' on the fantasy.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Col.r
"The current epidemic of stupidity in America is arguably more dangerous than COVID."

Jay Z:
Boo hoo, you whiney little bitch. If you're afraid of contracting C-19 are totally free to stay the fuk home and tf away from me.
Seamusless
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Post by Seamusless »

Gary wrote:Thankyou Col.r. I think Jay's comment exactly matches your point.
Couldn't agree more Gary. It's a perfect example of the dichotomy of our current [US] society. At some point, reality catches up with these people in denial of the dangers of this disease, but not always. In many ways, reality often catches up with all denialists, but again, many escape it by the mere privilege of their station in life.


Attempting to guide people to the truth of the situation is a more arduous task than I believe it used to be. However, our society has managed to lurch forward in the past despite large swathes operating under innocuous and sometimes dangerous delusions. I believe this current generation will be no different than the previous. Hopefully my optimism isn't as equally delusional.
Entelin
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Post by Entelin »

Jay Z wrote:Boo hoo, you whiney little bitch.
100 year pandemic event, hundreds of thousands in this country alone dead, but poor you can't take minimal inconveniences to protect yourself and others. My 2yr old niece complained about putting on a coat to go outside and play in the snow the other day, my sister opened the door to let her feel the cold and she replied "Oh I see". Smart girl.

Let's put this in perspective for a second, so you can understand the magnitude of failure in many countries in the west, but the USA in particular. China locked down hard in Febuary and just one month later was down to double digit cases nationally and have stayed there by all accounts, since then they have been providing the majority of ppe and masks to our nation, they test incoming food imports for covid which has caused some consternation with their western trading partners. 4500 deaths mostly isolated to Hubei province where it originated. But hey they are a terrible evil communist nation right? Surely they are lying!

How about South Korea then? A successful democracy and ally. They prepared immediately, before it hit their country, their high point was in early march at only 1000 cases/day, and one month later were down to single digit daily cases on some days, today they are at 300/day, they never really had a spike. Similar situation in Japan, an up and down slow burn, 1900 deaths so far. Vietnam has had only 35 deaths, they had temporarily closed the border with china and now does border health checks, Iceland has lost just 25.

In another 2-3 weeks we will have lost more people to this virus than we lost in combat during WW2, by the end pretty easily 2x that amount or more. The focus on deaths is understandable, though I think I personally fear the known and unknown long term side effects more. Significant numbers of survivors have permanent lung damage, and long term symptoms such as chronic fatigue which in many cases is life altering. In other cases people have had organ damage, mental fog, and psychiatric issues, there are even cases of peoples hair falling out. The fact is, there is still a lot we don't know about how this virus effects the body.

Nonetheless we somehow still need to debate basic medical knowledge and prevention strategies that have been known for over a hundred years. And while we continue to wreck our economy and go into the holiday season isolating from each other, I'd like you to hold this image in your mind: Image
This is iceland on May 18th they reopened pools after an 8 week closure, after successfully turning what was a higher per capita case load than other many other European countries into all but eliminating the virus. Almost every day the number of new cases is zero. They, and other countries I've listed, have been able to work and go about their life quite normally. Their covid response, since the initial lockdown, has been able to focus simply on putting out fires that crop up.

This was preventable and instead of acting, many fanned denial, conspiracy, and anti science rhetoric. Those people have blood on their hands.
Entelin
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Post by Entelin »

Col.r wrote:it must surely improve soon.
Realistically, it will probably get substantially worse. The vast majority of people still have not been exposed, plenty of dry wood to burn. The 1918 pandemic killed the most people on the second surge during winter as well. Unfortunately there has not been nor will there be any national leadership for the next couple months. So in states that lack serious local leadership, there will in all likelihood be an explosion of cases.
LeadingEdge
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Post by LeadingEdge »

Great analogy with the dry wood because old, dead wood is mainly what this virus is working on.

Mask or no mask, let's let the green live wood get on about living!!
Flyingdawg
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Covid 19

Post by Flyingdawg »

The absolute stupidity of far too much of the US citizenry will be one of the great historical stories of our times. I have just developed ways to do self turn arounds for my flights with a truck, motorcycle and carrier and so I can perfectly isolate myself from contact with others who can't wear a mask because that is such a horrible deprivation of their human rights. I used to enjoy the social part of our sport but no longer because there are too many Jay Zs out there.
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