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

I read a piece earlier that said that a small number of recovered patients in Hong Kong have been left with weakened lung capacity (something like 20% -30%) but seemed to imply that cardiovascular exercises should see them improve over time xps

Sorry, that's 20-30% reduction in lung capacity, not 20-30% of recovered patients

last night weight watchers zumba club still going on at local social club, local rugby club's kiddie team training as normal in the park, pubs full of boozers no doubt sharing airborne droplets of pissed up saliva. Yet panic buying has started in local Co-op and Onestop so it isn't like they aren't aware there is some silent and imperceptible fire raging right now that is going to kill high numbers of people. The complacency and ignorance is pretty shocking.

xp I saw something that suggested the lung scarring was like that in bronchitis but would pass with time

calz, every single shop I’ve been to Maltesers are sold out alongside toilet roll and hand wash! Clear mob mentality or people think “fuck it, if I’m going to die/be locked down for months I want my Maltesers dammit”

the missus just got 3 bottles of Dettol quite expensive hand gel that arrived from India via E-bay and they are absolutely tiny - I swear they won't last long - only 30 ml per bottle, she's been skanked!

Just listened to an interview with an American in Italy (professor, age 73) who is under the nationwide home lockdown... which, I hope, the US will be doing in a month or less. Groceries wrapped in plastic left at the door. Sobering.

The 'limited' activity I engaged in yesterday -- small grocery store visit, ATM, buying new kitchen lights, post office -- offered a dozen opportunities for exposure. At least.

I'm going for chemo Friday, at a clinic where nearly all the patients are older than I am. I foresee most of them getting the virus and many of them dying. I'm afraid to be THERE. I think I'll have to make a decision after that. Because I am alone here, moving in with my sister's family in Connecticut, where I can be INSIDE ALL THE TIME, is starting to feel inevitable.

based on my extensive studies of my own heart rate the only over-the-counter chocolate with more caffeine packed into it than maltesers is lindor balls

(sorry morbs that was a bit of a callously shallow xpost on my part)

Oh lindorpaws

good luck morbs, hope you can get everything in place so you can move in with your sister

ive not seen much to suggest "total home lockdown" being recommended, OL.

heading to the park or beach or wherever now to get out, will be avoiding anything obviously likely to involve risk

paracetamol gives me nosebleeds so i usually just ride out headaches and colds. just started 2 week holiday from work ( i never go anywhere so no change on that front) played some golf (keeping my distance from the numerous dog walkers). not sure if gatwick is even going to be open by the time i'm due back to work and tbh the last few days at work were nice and peaceful. god know how many people in crawley and the towns and villages surrounding it are dependent on the airport for work but gotta be a fuck ton. p much practice social isolation anyway so not much change there.

My wife works in an urgent care clinic. They are not supposed to take patients who have Covid-19 symptoms or who may have for instance traveled to areas with known community transmissions of the virus. They have signage everywhere around the reception area explaining this as well as a computer-based questionnaire that will tell you to seek treatment elsewhere if the criteria apply to you. So of course they've had a few cases of patients lying about this on the form and only coming clean about their symptoms/travel history after they've been triaged and are back in a room talking to a doctor.

The mayor of Austin called a moratorium on all public performances, including concerts, "until at least" May 1. Since I have a ticket to see Adam Ant in Austin on May 1 itself that leaves THAT up in the air, though I keep on checking on the venue's website and it appears his concert is still on. I also have a ticket to see another artist at a local venue the day prior, but seeing as though I'm connected with that artist on social media I'm sure I'll hear it from him as to the status of his local performance. I do know the local mayor has basically put in a ban throughout the week of any public or private gatherings of 50 or more people but to the point where he'll extend it is still very much up in the air.

My anxiety is not working well with me with regards to this, but it's nice that my employer has sent all of us an e-mail detailing what we can do if we do have anxiety over this. It's a lot of solid mindfulness advice I think I'll follow. Also, I know we're working furiously to see if we can offer telecommuting options for our employees but since some of what we do involves handling sensitive data it'll be kinda tricky to say the least. At least if people work from home their private internet access provides at least a modicum of security.

BTW, I take OTC acetaminophen (paracetamol) and ibuprofen for chronic pain issues so I'm SOL if either of them were to be frowned upon. Thankfully that appears not to be the case.

My wife works in an urgent care clinic. They are not supposed to take patients who have Covid-19 symptoms or who may have for instance traveled to areas with known community transmissions of the virus. They have signage everywhere around the reception area explaining this as well as a computer-based questionnaire that will tell you to seek treatment elsewhere if the criteria apply to you. So of course they've had a few cases of patients lying about this on the form and only coming clean about their symptoms/travel history after they've been triaged and are back in a room talking to a doctor.

Oh lawd these people are the WORST. Do they not know how much they're endangering the general population by doing something so heinous?

they don't care

they're also terrified of dying

xpost (sufjan, I couldn't find tofu either).

true ulysses, that trumps others dying

not even claiming im an exception to that

they're also terrified of dying

But others are also terrified of dying. And those precautions were put in place for a good reason.

Though honestly I'm not sure if there's been adequate public awareness of where people can take themselves if they feel they might be infected. I mean, my city has a hotline people can use to call in if they don't know, but other communities might not have similar resources. IDK, I'm just frightened of the prospect of this thing getting out of control in our country.

Has anyone had any food takeout experience? We haven't yet, but someone told us about a local pizza place that seemed to have a good system. You order, you pay, then they have curbside pickup where you stay in your car, they cart it out to you (literally, on a cart, so they don't touch it). And they're wearing gloves, etc. We were wondering last night about the safety of really hands-on stuff, like sushi, but we have no idea. Or the relative safety of any takeout, for that matter.

We seem to be doing OK here, but it's early. Movement/getting outside has been key. We've all been sleeping in a bit in the morning, so on the plus side we're all pretty well rested, which seems key as well. Mandatory long screen breaks a couple times a day, too, seem like a good idea. We're all very, very thankful for power, water, heat and so on - heck, particularly the internet, for myriad reasons - because if this was the kind of disaster that turned those things off, let alone was significantly more deadly, this would pretty much be the end times. But it's not.

Here's a long Snopes thing on ibuprofen:

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/covid-19-nsaids-ibuprofen/

Takeaway I got was that it's just generally not good for immune stuff, in the same way it's generally not good for your kidneys, but as I understand it as yet there's no proof it's particularly bad with covid. In fact, I'm curious why any doctor at this stage would leap to that conclusion. Here's a long CNN bit on it, too, for anyone bored or curious: https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/16/health/coronavirus-ibuprofen-french-health-minister-scn-intl-scli/index.html

Yeah people who go to clinics they shouldn’t don’t care, neither do people stealing hand sanitisers from hospitals

My nurse friend has taken to washing her fruits and greens in a very very very dilute solution of water and bleach and rinsing very well after. I don't think I can go that route but I have been big pot blanching vegetables or taking extra care to wash things in soapy water and then rinsing. Oddly enough my mom who is still leaving the house (ugh) was very adamant about washing the vegetables very well or cooking them completely.

ive not seen much to suggest "total home lockdown" being recommended, OL.

FWIW, a) I'm already pretty much a hermit so whatever, b) we're well-stocked with everything we need, c) I have no commitments/engagements and no real reason to go anywhere, d) the weather has been pretty consistently shit since the pando hit, and e) I'm still not ruling out the possibility that my dirty train-commutin' self or my gf's preschool-teachin' self aren't possible vectors (although she has been slightly more liberal than I about the 'lockdown'). I do look forward to a long stroll along the lake once the sun decides to show its face again.

Oh, because I often forget to say these things aloud: I'm thinking of/occasionally fretting for everyone here and their loved ones. If and when I think of any particular utility that I'm personally able to provide in these times of trouble, I will happily do so.

Just got an email from my employer saying that my office will shift to teleworking "upon approval from the Contracting Officer"! (Apparently the language of the contract ordinarily restricts who may telework.)

https://www.gofundme.com/f/feed-the-heroes This went up by 6k between me looking at this an hour ago and now

wfh would be better if it wasn't interrupted by a 'webinar' from the boss telling us that wfh will be ok. he plans to hold these regularly, he says.

Just got an email from work that someone in our building tested positive. Cool. Cool cool cool. I mean it's a big building in downtown Chicago, but they don't specify where in the building the person in question was, so. Y'know. Cool.

getting remote work connections = TOTAL SHITSHOW

Download free Acrobat? sure, TAKES ME TO THE CREDIT CARD INFO PAGE

xpost are they going to shut down? we had one in San Juan and just re-opened today after a two day closure.

xpost On the plus side, Chicago is so big, just think how easy it will be to avoid that one single person. Odds are, you'll never even meet them!

Good luck, morbs.

Had what was probably a minor fever last night. Getting through the shivering with paracetamol. Hopefully it will be over soon, etc. But I will stay home for the next week unless shit gets serious

There's a case reported in a vacation town where my parents were 5 days ago, but they've been isolated since and have no symptoms, so are *probably* clear for now.

I'm packing up large parts of my life incl important personal documents etc in case it's a long time before I come back home.

USians, are we pretty much banking on SOME kind of financial relief to everyone being part of the response to this? And it seems likely that public pressure will force a resolution w/r/t medical expenses too--do we get M4A out of this in the end? I don't mean to be too optimistic but the medical bills that are going to come out of this will collapse society.

According to my boss, our own office was hush-hush surreptitiously shut down effective yesterday (nothing official but everyone was being told individually to work from home effective immediately). This morning, our vp sent out an email that our office was officially closed. The email I just received indicated that the covid-affected office (whichever one it happens to be) is getting a sensual disinfectant rubdown but it doesn't sound like the building is being closed.

Increasingly clear that the UK's broadband infrastructure isn't going to cope easily with everyone working from home, teleconferencing, etc.

download your boxsets overnight everybody

My hospital appointment was cancelled and I’m to have a phone consultation instead, which is a relief (tho it obv means I won’t get a scan). I think I would have cancelled it myself if they hadn’t called because as I was out and about today I felt a cough and tightness of chest coming on very suddenly. I feel a bit better having taken my inhaler and am trying to figure out if I have a fever which probably means I don’t? But it’s enough that I don’t think I’ll be going out again for a while except to take out the rubbish

sensual disinfectant rubdown

"typos you wish you had made"

that reminds me -- idk if there has been a run on trash bags but that is one thing i didn't have a spare of already (thought i did) and there weren't any at the store yesterday.

so buy an extra thing of trash bags if you see them -- we are going to keep needing trash bags and if you don't have any, where u gonna put yr trash?! i guess soon we will be eating it, and then after that fighting over who gets to eat it :(

hang in there wins, and savour those moments of dumping your trash :(

I'm waiting on a phone consultation to confirm I'm in the old granny and vulnerable adult bracket and am effectively coccooned for 12 weeks.

I have bronchiectasis - which is a chronic lung condition. Any type of virus/infection can further damage my lungs so I should generally avoid sick people anyway so I'm expecting to be in the vulnerable category despite having a relatively mild version of the disease so far.

I've inadvertently passed my tension and stress onto my children and they're all worried they're going to kill me:(

someone who was in my building and the neighboring one at work last thursday has tested positive

great?

I haven't had a real sinus infection in a few years, and one side of my face is notoriously bad at clearing congestion so I'm currently blasting it with saline, etc. because I don't want to have to end up needing antibiotics. So I've had a minor sore throat for a couple weeks. Rationally, I know it's the sinus issue. but...

We're being shut to the public but we still don't know if we're expected to come into work anyway. The email announcing the closure from the Chief Executive was a masterpiece in obfuscation, colleagues have been wondering around asking what it means and could someone explain it to them!

does steaming your face help with that? xpost

oh, there are a dozen things that help and I'm doing most

I'm also probably anxiously clenching my jaw, which seems to be one of the main things that makes it worse, along with allergy season :/

mh, if you can, get to a CVS or other drugstore and get a night guard! Jaw-clenching is not a big problem ordinarily, but chronic grinding will wear away teeth, and you will probably want to have teeth later in life.

I am a pretty severe grinder (or so I'm told) and it's exacerbated by stress and anxiety. (Hey, anybody having any extra stress or anxiety lately?)

oh, I don't do it at night and don't really grind. just tensing the muscles

oh, also, if you rely on any kind of over-the-counter sleep aids to fall asleep, you might want to buy those now; the duane reade near me wasn't out, but alarmingly short

^^ otm

we're in lockdown here since noon, and the streets are weeeeeeirdly quiet now.