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

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.

xxposts to onimo: my dad has the same condition.
hope you get through this whole thing ok <3

Thanks VG. I was only diagnosed in 2018 so I'm still learning how to manage it. I (deliberately) lost a whole bunch of weight which seems to be helping with symptoms,

mh take 800mg of ibuprofen 2x daily for 3 days and that should clear your head out. Passing this advice on from an old pro with small sinuses

Most of the prominent local record stores around here went to curb service and online sales today, except one that's giving out gloves to in store browsers and throwing out anyone who 'exibits cold-like symptoms', which seems a bit much given the could just close the inside of the store like everybody else.

Well that would be good advice but there seems to be a v heated debate about whether ibuprofen exacerbates the vid xp

In fact some of the language has gotten very... inflammatory 😎

xp srsly

record stores closed now in Eugene OR

awful time for u to get fpd wins but

No better time imo

given I have a job that pays well already and can work from home, shouldn't moan too much, but email just went round the company saying there will be no annual payrise for anyone this year because the company is losing money from the shutdown and also no more hiring, any empty positions will remain vacant. considering that we are already understaffed, that is a bit of a bastard

so now they're telling us not to use ibuprofen

yup, for the time being, although some other counter-opinion came out from Ireland yesterday iirc

thanks, El Tomboto! I'll give it a try, although will possibly stop early if I start showing covid symptoms, lol

My state social work job has now informed us that all in-person assessments should be done by phone if possible. I tend to get sent to buildings full of immunocompromised people so that’s a relief, though many of my clients don’t have functioning phones.

given I have a job that pays well already and can work from home, shouldn't moan too much, but email just went round the company saying there will be no annual payrise for anyone this year because the company is losing money from the shutdown and also no more hiring, any empty positions will remain vacant. considering that we are already understaffed, that is a bit of a bastard

similar situation here. i stayed at my current job (which i hate) for the last couple months because i was supposed to get a bonus after my 1-year anniversary. now everything is tanking, and i know i'm not going to get the bonus. i know, boo hoo, but unfortunately my job seems to pay me exactly as much as my expenses, so this bonus was going to be a chance to save a bit so that i can deal with my car's imminent kicking of the dust. oh well

xp JoeStork you're in Seattle area yeah?

xpost Does pressing and holding that pressure point between your eyes to clear sinuses work? I read about it awhile ago.

I still want to know the basis of the ibuprofen hypothesis. It seems to go back to that one tweet from a French doctor who based her theory on ... not much. I mean, it may all be accurate, but is there any more to it than the French doctor's one tweet?

Sinus thing my physio taught me which sometimes works:

- breathe out through your nose steadily until your lungs are completely empty
- hold your nose and nod your head up and down without breathing in for as long as possible
- when you really need to breathe in take a long deep breath through your nose
- repeat

Also may cure hiccups idk

xxxp yeah!

extremely ominous title change there

What is wrong with people

Y’all participating in the new Corona Challenge? This is on a plane btw... pic.twitter.com/w1XwVRZd87

— Cash ✌🏾HYPE (@CashNastyGaming) March 15, 2020