The Steel Guitar Forum

Yes people in their 80's and people in poor health are very susceptible, However, don't think only people about 80 are at risk, four physicians in China have died and they were all in their 50's or less. Here is some of the demographics on Chinese deaths:

"The death toll skews old even more strongly. Overall, China CDC found, 2.3% of confirmed cases died. But the fatality rate was 14.8% in people 80 or older, likely reflecting the presence of other diseases, a weaker immune system, or simply worse overall health. By contrast, the fatality rate was 1.3% in 50-somethings, 0.4% in 40-somethings, and 0.2% in people 10 to 39.

The age-related death risk probably reflects the strength, or weakness, of the respiratory system. About half of the 109 Covid-19 patients (ages 22 to 94) treated at Central Hospital of Wuhan, researchers there reported, developed acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), in which fluid builds up in the small air sacs of the lungs. That restricts how much air the lungs can take in, reducing the oxygen supply to vital organs, sometimes fatally; half of the ARDS patients died, compared to 9% of patients who did not develop the syndrome.

The ARDS patients had an average age of 61, compared to an average age of 49 for those who did not develop ARDS. Elderly patients “were more likely to develop ARDS,” the researchers wrote, suggesting how age can make Covid-19 more severe and even fatal: age increases the risk that the respiratory system will basically shut down under viral assault."

This coronavirus is transmitted through airborne droplets from infected people that can live for days on surfaces.

The pedal steel guitar is inherently a rather large surface that many different people will be putting their hands on. Coupled with the fact that many of the audience (myself included) will be septuagenarians with chronic health issues, I can’t rationalize going to the Dallas convention this year.

I'll be 65 in a couple of weeks and I'm going if it kills me.

and others......

steelseats is not there but it has nothing to do with this flu like virus

I am simply way behind on orders and have only 2 stock seats and I am emailing people that want those.

I had planned to go and would have had I had seats to sell.

"You can not sell out of an empty wagon"

Just heard on the news that over 65,000 cases no longer test positive and I know no one that has a positive test.

Joe Naylor
steelseat.com

Dick Wood,,,,I was 65 about 16 great, productive, fun-filled years ago,,,I sure am glad I didn't die at 65,,,,,,,I hope you can say the same 16 years from now.

Life goes on... I won't be cancelling my digs or trip, see you there!

..And the Darwin award goes to......:

Out of an abundance of caution, I notified Albert a few days ago that I would not be attending TSGA after all this year. I have two family members in very high risk groups and they cannot afford the risk of me bringing back a virus from having traveled through 4 different international airports on 4 different airplanes and attending a large gathering of friends. I regret very much that I needed to make that decision but such is life and I have to take care of my family first.

To those of you in attendance, have a great time but keep a distance and cover your sneezes and coughs.

Good move, Jim. I'm even a little concerned about playing in clubs now. Anybody else worried about that? I'll be 70 in a couple of months and I have a lot of gigs on my calendar. Tomorrow night I'm playing in a small club that gets crowded and things are tight there. Fans like to chat with the band, shake hands and sometimes give hugs! How are we supposed to keep six feet away from everyone in a social environment like that?

Bill McCloskey wrote: But to hold the event at this point seems irresponsible.

Not sure I'd use that word, since nobody is compelled to attend.

It may be moot, as more and more restrictions are being announced at various places around the country. The state or city might ban such events, or the venue may announce it is cancelling its hosting. If not, I'd say it's the choice of the individuals whether to go or stay away. I support their right to do either one.

I'm in my sixties, diabetic and on immunosuppressants for neurological issues. Triple whammy on situations like this. I'm lucky in that I live in a very rural part of the blue ridge mountains, so I can go outside and enjoy nature fairly risk free, but when it comes to interacting with people, I'm staying pretty much sequestered. There's no way I could consider playing gigs right now. I think Sonny Jenkins nailed it earlier in this thread.

Dave

Don R Brown wrote:

Bill McCloskey wrote: But to hold the event at this point seems irresponsible.

Not sure I'd use that word, since nobody is compelled to attend.

It may be moot, as more and more restrictions are being announced at various places around the country. The state or city might ban such events, or the venue may announce it is cancelling its hosting. If not, I'd say it's the choice of the individuals whether to go or stay away. I support their right to do either one.

I agree, it is not irresponsible at all, it is a very, very difficult decision about which people can have different opinions.

Doug Beaumier wrote:Good move, Jim. I'm even a little concerned about playing in clubs now. Anybody else worried about that? I'll be 70 in a couple of months and I have a lot of gigs on my calendar. Tomorrow night I'm playing in a small club that gets crowded and things are tight there. Fans like to chat with the band, shake hands and sometimes give hugs! How are we supposed to keep six feet away from everyone in a social environment like that?

Roll out the chicken wire!

I totally get it that it can be bad, and those who may be vulnerable are showing good common sense by staying home. Nor would I want to spend several hours on a plane these days. On the other hand not everybody in the country will contract the illness, and some estimates say 80% or higher of those who DO will experience only slight to mild effects.

The parameters vary with an individual's circumstances, such as their personal health, the health of those they come in close contact with, and so on. It is no more rational to say we should all cower in fear than it is to say there is no problem at all. Despite being in good health, I'm not sure I'd want to be in the position Doug describes either.

What is irresponsible is putting people in a dangerous situation because they don’l want to lose the money.

Here is what is going on in Italy right now : “ The principle they settle upon is utilitarian. “Informed by the principle of maximizing benefits for the largest number,” they suggest that “the allocation criteria need to guarantee that those patients with the highest chance of therapeutic success will retain access to intensive care.”

The authors, who are medical doctors, then deduce a set of concrete recommendations for how to manage these impossible choices, including this: “It may become necessary to establish an age limit for access to intensive care.”

Those who are too old to have a high likelihood of recovery, or who have too low a number of “life-years” left even if they should survive, will be left to die. This sounds cruel, but the alternative, the document argues, is no better. “In case of a total saturation of resources, maintaining the criterion of ‘first come, first served’ would amount to a decision to exclude late-arriving patients from access to intensive care.”

Turn your TVs off.. and swagger on down to Dallas!!!

I think some of you don’t really grasp what is going on. In Italy systems are so over run that they are just letting older people die. That will be us in a few weeks if the virus is not contained. The virus doesn’t care how macho you are or how much swagger you have

Heck, even the big sports events, big entertainment events and Disneyland have closed up for the sake of the common good. It's not the time for swagger or macho. If you don't take this stuff seriously for your own health, you owe it to the rest of us to not act in such a manner that puts us at even more risk. This isn't political--it's just common sense.

It can all wait until next year.

Dave

Another reason to be glad I live here and not in Italy.

FWIW there are some preliminary reports starting to come in from China saying the disease has peaked in the area it started and new cases have begun dropping off. Naturally we are behind that curve and in the US it will get worse before it gets better. But if those reports are accurate, we will at some point start watching the effects retreat rather than advance.

Hoping for the best for all of us on here!

I wouldn’t believe anything the Chinese government says considering they lied about the virus since day one

Nobody will die from not attending TSGA. It's a very real possibility that several could die if they do attend.

Ken Pippus wrote:Nobody will die from not attending TSGA. It's a very real possibility that several could die if they do attend.

And that's a choice that a free citizen can make for himself.

(I'd say "but slight" should be in there after "real")

Don, I just read a pretty objective review of the epidemiology of this disease, worldwide to date.

If I thought the risk was slight, I would have said so. It’s not.

that's a choice that a free citizen can make for himself.

Yeah, but the problem is... that free citizen could get sick and then go home and infect other people in his community. So it's a problem for all of us. It's a public health issue. This is a highly contagious virus and there is no vaccine and there won't be any vaccine for many months. We don't even have enough test kits to measure the how, where, and who of the virus. We're flying blind.

I'm going to leave this one. I totally agree it's nothing to be taken lightly, especially by those with health issues. But at 40 deaths US out of 1663 cases, that's less than 3% of the people who contract it. And most of those deaths are people who are already dealing with health problems and many were in long-term care. I don't see how somebody in State A going to a convention in State B will endanger the player in State C who stays home anyway.

I'll let y'all continue if you wish, I've had my say and understand my view isn't shared by all. I'll repeat my sincere hope that NOBODY here even comes down with the stuff, much less has any long-term effects. We're like a family here, we may grump and disagree but in the long run we care about each other so let's all come through this however works best! Talk to you on some other thread.