Mostly Apolitical Thread for Discussing/Venting our Rational/Irrational COVID-19 Fears and Experiences in 2020

already broke down sobbing twice today. the same friend from above is sick, with a sore throat and a dry cough, no fever, but she said she feels mild pressure in her chest. she's only 24, and isn't worried, but says they won't test her. and....she told her boss this and he said it was "statistically improbable" that it was COVID and that she was no longer welcome to talk about it anymore.

we're such an idiotic people. just four days of quarantining and I don't know how I'm going to make it. today it's just the one friend, tomorrow another, soon my parents, who I can't visit today because they're at risk. and I'm home alone with a roommate that isn't ever here.

I'm usually the calm one, and I'm just not right now.

feelin you, bro

Hugs, Neanderthal. Let me know if you need to talk.

thank you both <3

debating trying to find a friend that I know and ride quarantine out with him and his wife. i don't even care if I pay rent at a house I'm not living at for two months.

good luck nath, and hugs to neanderthal

my roommate's work is run by conservative shitheads who believe this is overhyped and they're refusing to close their office and i'm ready to go there myself tomorrow to kick all of their asses

Begging the boss of my part-time job to close (retail) for the sake of my coworker. I don't have to go in for a few days but I'm really worried about my coworker. bosses are "following the CDC guidelines." FUCK!

I really feel like we should form a task force to risk our own health and just kick the shit out of conservative bosses who won't close or let people work from home.

we need one treasurer to keep bail money. sorry, yours is a no-action job.

I feel like all the iTs nO wOrSe tHaN FlU* people should be quietly hoping everyone forgets they ever spoke but ime they have just taken it in stride and carry on having opinions

*I am a bit tired of doing this and think we should bring back tildes

For good or ill, one effect of this whole debacle is that we all know for certain who the selfish shitheads are.

Thanks for the contact-cleaning tip, in orbit. I'll give it a try in a couple of weeks when they start to really bug me.

I'm sorry, Neanderthal. I spent all of last year in a similar (though non-pandemic-related) situation, so you have all my sympathy. Finding a friend to ride out quarantine with doesn't sound like a bad idea at all.

Opinions are like flus, everyone catches one once in a while.

My heart goes out to you, Neanderthal. These are trying times. I'm grateful to have an awesome partner and two really close friends next door. I don't think I could ride this thing out on my own. You should definitely consider crashing with friends if it seems like a comfortable enough option.

A little sweet levity:

oh my god, the chicago aquarium closed due to coronavirus, so they let the penguins run around and check out the other exhibits. (staff was present.) pic.twitter.com/YGa8CugymE

— Evan McMurry (@evanmcmurry) March 16, 2020

FB friend 0wen M@ercks runs a famous reptile store in the Bay Area, some asshole called yesterday to ask if he could trade his hoarded TP and sanitizer for a snake

they told him to fuck off

Thinking of all of you, in your various situations and stresses. This feels more and more unreal.

I've worked from home for years now so this isn't as disorienting as it could be. But it's been weird to not go anywhere or see anyone - and this plague meant that I had to cancel a two week trip to the Austin area to visit my son. (Was supposed to leave last Saturday, cancelled last Wednesday as it became clear that shit was starting to get very real.) My son was irate when I told him I cancelled the trip, but the more he's read about what's happening worldwide and the more things have changed where he lives, the more he's come to understand. Still, it SUCKS. This is his spring break week and our tradition for the past half decade or so is for me to fly down there, take time off, and for us to spend a lot of quality time.

my brother in law lives with my mother in law and his own (adult) son at her apartment (which my wife and I pay part of the rent on ... long story and we're annoyed by that anyway). today he decides he and his son are flying to colorado to look after his younger kids who are with his ex-wife (who is a bitch, admittedly). but he's leaving his 71 year old mom here (bay area) with no groceries, didn't set up delivery, etc. Thanks, asshole.

explaining to him that getting on a plane was stupid he claims he's investigated everything on youtube, it's a 'strain of the flu' and people should calm down.

My non-freelancing day job of just over 5 years just suspended operations 'until further notice', and in continuing discussions in private employee FB groups, we're widely speculating that that 'further notice' isn't coming. (We do bar trivia/entertainment).

posted this on another thread but this is a list from the UK government of people that should be strict in taking social distancing measures...

We are advising those who are at increased risk of severe illness from coronavirus (COVID-19) to be particularly stringent in following social distancing measures.

This group includes those who are:

aged 70 or older (regardless of medical conditions)
under 70 with an underlying health condition listed below (ie anyone instructed to get a flu jab as an adult each year on medical grounds):
chronic (long-term) respiratory diseases, such as asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), emphysema or bronchitis
chronic heart disease, such as heart failure
chronic kidney disease
chronic liver disease, such as hepatitis
chronic neurological conditions, such as Parkinson’s disease, motor neurone disease, multiple sclerosis (MS), a learning disability or cerebral palsy
diabetes
problems with your spleen – for example, sickle cell disease or if you have had your spleen removed
a weakened immune system as the result of conditions such as HIV and AIDS, or medicines such as steroid tablets or chemotherapy
being seriously overweight (a BMI of 40 or above)
those who are pregnant

Note: there are some clinical conditions which put people at even higher risk of severe illness from COVID-19. If you are in this category, next week the NHS in England will directly contact you with advice the more stringent measures you should take in order to keep yourself and others safe. For now, you should rigorously follow the social distancing advice in full, outlined below.

People falling into this group are those who may be at particular risk due to complex health problems such as:

People who have received an organ transplant and remain on ongoing immunosuppression medication
People with cancer who are undergoing active chemotherapy or radiotherapy
People with cancers of the blood or bone marrow such as leukaemia who are at any stage of treatment
People with severe chest conditions such as cystic fibrosis or severe asthma (requiring hospital admissions or courses of steroid tablets)
People with severe diseases of body systems, such as severe kidney disease (dialysis)

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-guidance-on-social-distancing-and-for-vulnerable-people/guidance-on-social-distancing-for-everyone-in-the-uk-and-protecting-older-people-and-vulnerable-adults

my mum's eccentric thespian cousin who lives in a bothy in the middle of nowhere in the Scottish highlands with no running water or electricity looking p otm rn

You're going to go on holiday by mistake? :)

Dippin' Dots! We are now getting fucking COVID emails from Dippin' Dots!

Dear Dippin' Dots Corporation, you are not at the top of my list of concerns right now, thank you very much.

lol

maybe they found a cure

somebody hacked my Match profile. who the fuck you gonna hook up with now, dummy?

xps

i'm really sorry to hear that, C. Grisso/McCain. do you still have freelancing stuff to keep you afloat for a while?

i've got a teenage nephew with downs syndrome and i think he's going to be staying with my over-70s mum and dad so that should keep all of them occupied

(parents are actually taking this seriously now, thank god)

(they will still be very shit at it though)

Genuinely sorry you won't be able to see your son, Raymond. I hope you can at least do a healthy amount of Skyping.

i'm really sorry to hear that, C. Grisso/McCain

yes, gone back and read this. seems very inadequate to say this but good luck and best wishes to you

Strength to all of you going through tough times. This system is so fragile, care and tenderness is sometimes so hard to find.

A message from me and my dad, @Melbrooks. #coronavirus #DontBeASpreader pic.twitter.com/Hqhc4fFXbe

— Max Brooks (@maxbrooksauthor) March 16, 2020

It took this crisis for me to learn that the world war z guy is Mel Brooks’s son

i'm really sorry to hear that, C. Grisso/McCain. do you still have freelancing stuff to keep you afloat for a while?

Without getting too deep I think I'm okay for the time being. The big shock now has been all the behind the scenes stuff that came to light just now (corporate lay-offs going back to January, etc). This job was ultimately screwed anyway, as about an hour after our company's announcement, the county shut down bars and clubs until April, and I'm not sure if some of our venues here can survive that.

presuming we all make it through okay to june and life goes back to non-pandemic normal, it's hard to imagine what my economic life is going to look like.

I just got back from a run with my daughter, and we passed a grocery store. It's not that the shelves were empty, it's that this event has really underscored how much of the shelves are stocked with shit you really don't need or want in a crisis.

resto my gf works at has closed (temporarily, it is hoped). I start working from home tomorrow

https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/16/entertainment/kristofer-hivju-coronavirus/index.html

I dare anybody to use the "personal responsibility" line on anybody after this shit is done.

I can't robin hood much more but I'm not gonna let friends be ass out so I'll do what i can while trying to keep savings

brooklyn botanic garden is closing which breaks my heart

You fuckin rule!

xpost you too ulysses! Yeah that sucks partic at this time of year :/

Raymond, best to you and your son.

I've been working from home since May 2016, and just started my first 9-5 office job in four years...today. And I'm unlikely to get laid off, since I'm doing social media/web content work for a major NJ medical school. I'm only going to be in the office two more days, though - we're switching to work-from-home at the end of the day on Wednesday. At least I'll get some exercise out of it for half the week; it's a mile and a half walk, mostly uphill, from the train station to the office. Took me a half hour this morning, and only about 20 minutes to get back at the end of the day, coming downhill.

People with cancer who are undergoing active chemotherapy
People with cancers of the blood or bone marrow

Could the NHS contact Americans too?

j/k, i'll be going to the hematology clinic for my treatment on Friday. Will probably walk (an hour?) rather than take the subway.

got back from the grocery store and was yelled at on my way back for hoarding; I thought I was buying an ok amount of groceries but guess not

(it was a week's worth, maybe two weeks, for my roommate and I; it just looked like more since they were out of bags so I had a moving box)

Sorry you couldn't come down here and enjoy yourself, Raymond. Went down to Sixth Street to pick up dinner, and the vibe is... weird and upsetting. Feels like a dream, half the places are shuttered and the bars that are open are standing empty. Plenty of parking, no traffic.

Finally gave up the e-cig because even if it's better than smoking it doesn't seem to be good for my blood pressure and inhaling pretty much anything right now seems ill-advised.

I miss nicotine, but this is easier than cigarettes because I'm not about to go buy a new e-cig setup.