Coronavirus has disrupted daily life in unprecedented ways, with everything from national borders to restaurants to gyms closing down temporarily.
And on the other end of the response spectrum, there’s 357 Sydney City Steam, the Australian gay sauna staying open but advertising that entry will be denied to anyone who’s “too hot.”
The club jokes on Facebook that it’s “the first sauna in Australia to not allow you entry if your [sic] too hot,” which would almost be funny if it wasn’t so irresponsible.
The business’ answer to safety is to take the temperatures of all prospective patrons and screen out those with fevers.
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
So far, the owner reports, everyone has been glad to comply.
Related: LGBTQ people at heightened risk from coronavirus, warn advocacy groups
“At 357 we want you to feel safe,” a post from the sauna reads. “So every client will have a non-touch ‘gun thermometer’ test to make sure you have no fever before entering our venue.
“It takes one second on entry. So play safe and with confidence. We care about you at your venue 357. We have done all we can do to ensure your safety and cruise with confidence so we look after each other.”
The sauna adds that it has upped its cleanliness regime, placing hand sanitizers around the venue and disinfecting surfaces more often. They’ve also put up posters to remind people to wash their hands often and keep coughs and sneezes covered.
Not mentioned in the bathhouse’s statements is the fact that medical experts warn people can be infected and highly contagious while exhibiting no symptoms, so please think twice about your own risks and the risks of community members around you.
Australia has seen nearly 300 cases of COVID-19 and five deaths as of Monday.
sanfranca1
QUEERTY: Why are you not screening out these ads for GrinderPro.com and others in the comments of virtually every post? Why!!!?
PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS
They are most certainly paid content. It would be nice to have them identified as such……
ShiningSex
bath houses are disgusting anyways.
diseases left and right i’m sure.
get a life.
get d*ck a better way.
barkomatic
The sauna sounds like its being responsible by checking the temperature of people entering and as long as what they are doing is in line with their local health authorities guidelines than a little joke is fine and lightens the mood.
Creamsicle
Um, responsible unless you remember reality for a second and realize that having sex with strangers is the complete opposite of social distancing.
Maybe guys could just erotically shower together with lots of soap and warm water!
Cato
In the early years of the AIDS crisis cities that kept bathhouses open and used them to educate men about risk reduction had low transmission rates than ones that closed them down. I’m not sure if that’s applicable model now, but at least they are taking proactive steps to reduce risk, even if they can’t eliminate it.
Gadfeal
We do not know enough to make any rational decision about Covid-19 except that, in an abundance of caution, keeping away from others would slow down the rate of propagation of this new virus in a “virgin” population. The goal is to avoid overwhelming the medical infrastructure as it is probably too late to stop it from causing worldwide infection of much – all of humanity.
The fact that someone has a fever or not is no indication that he is or is not transmitting Covid-19. The statistics in most countries are incomplete for lack of testing in the population at random. The best statistics are probably from S. Korea: It has universal, accessible medical care and a very good healthcare infrastructure; it’s people have a strong sense of solidarity and generally would comply with public health directives. Lastly, they have the highest rate of testing period with about 1-2% of the population already tested and 20-50 thousand more per day. People can drive through testing stations; while the results take a day or so turnaround, the medical system keeps track of the cell phones of those tested should it be positive.
So, it seems that the mortality rate in S. Korea is about 0.8-1% of those who are infected; that about 8-10 times the mortality rate of seasonal flu. In an average year, there are 33000 flu-related deaths in the US per annum but the range is generally 20-45 thousand. That means that one can expect at least 200-450 thousand deaths in the US in 2020. The CDC has estimates of a low of 200 thousand and over 1.1 million, depending upon the response of authorities and the nature of the virus.
We also know that the mortality rate for those under 50 is in the single digits, rising afterwards so that by age 80, it is approaching 15%. If you have heart, circulatory, respiratory or other chronic debilitating condition, the CDC expect you, at any age, to be in a group at risk from high mortality.
It may be that most of those infected have mild or spontaneous recovery but we don’t even know: a) the incubation period (5-30 days? That would mean that isolation should be at least one month, not 2 weeks), b) the period of infectivity, c) the immunity conferred after a primo infection, d) the number of strains, e) the mutagenicity of the virus and f) the effect upon other animals.
However, if the Public Health policy recommendation is to keep away from people and workplaces for 2 weeks to a month, that would be impractical for many Americans who lack to social net available in Canada, Europe, Australia, NZ and other countries. Mr. Romney’s $1000 aid per American is better than nothing but it won’t cover much more than a week of expenses for most families.
The hospitality and passenger transport industries are grinding to a halt, mandated or due to public behavior, with most airlines running out of cash in about a month at best.
Who’s going to benefit?
Online entertainment (streaming, games)
Virtual marketplaces (freelancer.com, teleworkers, conference callers)
Virtual services (education, polling, interviewing, shopping)
Online retailers
Home delivery services
Cleaning and sterilising products and services
Surgical mask manufacturers
Medical equipment and supplies makers
Pharmaceutical manufacturers
Shipping and distribution (cheaper fuel, less congested roads, increase or sustained demand for essential goods)
Societies will survive as it would leave the active age population largely intact, and apart from possible permanent change in discretionary travel behavior (even business travel for conferences or meetings could tend to move to a virtual model) that would lead to a structural resetting of the hospitality industry, life would continue.
However, I fear for less wealthy nations where they not only lack medical infrastructure but also because they often live in close quarters and may already be under respiratory attack from pollution and malnutrition.
Covid-19 has “entry keys” to membrane doorways on lung tissue and others, explaining why it can cause a catastrophic inflammation of the lungs. A vaccine is likely not feasible on a large scale until 2021, by which time Covid-19 may have already become uncontained.
In any case, I would not be surprised if, in a demographic-adjusted manner, that up to 0.04% of the world’s population be ended by the end of 2022 or
15% of US is > 65 (50 million) with an estimated minimum 200k deaths from Covid-19
17% of the EU is > 65 (87 million) with an estimated 350k deaths from Covid 19.
9% of non-OECD World is > 65 (575 million); so, a minimum extrapolation would mean over 2.3 million dead in developing nations.
That amounts to a minimum, best case scenario, of just under 3 million (or 0.04%) victims of Covid 19 in two years; the worst case would be 6 times or more (i.e. 18 million worldwide or 0.25%! As alarming as those numbers are, they are only a small fraction of the world population and disproportionately affect those not economically active.
In perspective,
The Black Plague killed 29% of Europeans from 1350-1400; it took 200 years to recover population levels
Then the 2nd big Plague killed 11% of Europeans from 1625-1650 but it took only 25 years to recover.
In comparison, Covid 19, unless it mutates or there are multiple strains, will kill in a bad scenario 0.25% of the world population; it won’t make a dent in population growth as the susceptible groups are post-reproductive age in general. Any future derivatives would, like the flu and the Plague, face a certain herd immunity in the population allowing for quicker resolution and smaller percentage of victims.
Gandalf The Grey
These places need to close down period. If they had any concerns past their profits they would.