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

Many hospitals have their own blood banking facilities on site. So if you have any hospitals near you, they might be worth checking out.

I wonder if they are having issues testing blood before they can use it too.

At the same time, it's probably safe to assume we're all going to get it some time in the next ... several months. Year? Which is why it's vital to ramp up testing (duh) of everyone, so that anyone that *has* had it and has recovered can get out in the world and help with much less fear for self or others.

― Josh in Chicago

except that we don't actually know if having it gives you immunity, or if like the flu this will come back in a new form to which nobody is immune next year :(

wondering idly if they're going to relax the restrictions on queer people giving blood anytime soon.

I had the flu earlier in the year, but it seems silly to me to speculate that this strain of coronavirus was already here then.

Thanks for the reassurance about kids, everyone, it is far too easy to fall into panic mode.

Related to posts above (probably already been posted, can't keep up):

http://www.cnn.com/2020/03/14/health/coronavirus-asymptomatic-spread/index.html

Gut tells me a) this is terrible in terms of containing it, and b) maybe encouraging in terms of its fatality, but c) I can't make sense of any of this anymore, so that's probably wrong. If nothing else, a) hastens the hospital crisis.

Katherine in the US, the MSM blood donation deferral was recently relaxed from “no donations if you’re a man who had sex with a man since 197x” or whatever to “no donations for a year after M/M sex”, which is still arbitrary, punitive, and pointless, but i guess gives hope that the restriction will be lifted entirely sometime

Oh sorry I can’t do brains. Posting @ Kate not Katherine

I will try to give blood soon, but lately my bloodstream is mostly weed, bourbon, and ice cream

my main concern is whether or not blood donation organizations are allowed to acknowledge me as my legal gender (which is in fact "x") as opposed to my AGAB

except that we don't actually know if having it gives you immunity, or if like the flu this will come back in a new form to which nobody is immune next year :(

from this CNN article:

Still, a common perception is that the continuous acquisition of mutations will cause our future coronavirus vaccines to be ineffective. While virus evolution may confer vaccine resistance, this process often takes many years for the right mutations to accumulate. Many vaccines to RNA viruses, such as yellow fever, measles, and mumps, were developed throughout the 1930s-70s and are all still highly effective. And those viruses mutate at rates as fast or faster than coronaviruses. In fact, the two proposed "S" and "L" coronavirus strains only differ by two mutations and are 99.993% identical. It's extremely likely that any vaccine designed for one coronavirus will be protective against the other. The reason we need an annual influenza vaccine has more to do with how that virus reshuffles its genome than how it mutates.

Even then, there are several strains of flu each year, and you can still possibly get more than one of them, vaccine or no.

xp that's very good info, thanks

thanks f. hazel, that's a really promising sign.

The reduction in daytime traffic (and traffic noise) in town is marked. What were they all usually doing, driving to meetings all day?

I mean public transport, deliveries, taxis etc. still running. Most people WFH would have been travelling at rush hours. But all day it's quieter than a Sunday. Suggests perhaps a degree of unnecessary car use IMO.

Just discovered 12oz of hand sanitizer on the kitchen sink. The advantage of clutter is the occasional serendipitous surprise.

nice!

Admittedly pretty far down the list of people to feel sorry for, maybe, but this thought did occur to me today: what if you had a wedding / honeymoon planned within the next 3-6 months? That would suuuuuuck

at least one ilxor has and seems to be taking it well

My (new) boss's birthday is next week; she had been planning some sort of trip (I didn't get/want details) but it got scuttled, and now she can't even go out to dinner/drinks with friends. She is...displeased.

What are the shops like you guys? We have people lining up outside the supermarket 6 ft apart and they're restricting entrance in a one in one out way. Cut down hours as well. Line was about 40-50 people just now, had to make a call so I'm going to try tomorrow morning instead

I have to venture out later today, not looking forward to it

My parents are receiving an Instacart order from Costco today, curious to hear how that goes (sad lol)

Same with my local grocery. I'm also trying to buy stuff in advance so it can sit in isolation for a few days before use, so I really need to plan.

xp

what if you had a wedding / honeymoon planned within the next 3-6 months? That would suuuuuuck

― Paul Ponzi, Wednesday, March 18, 2020 1:12 PM (eighteen minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

at least one ilxor has and seems to be taking it well

― brooklyn suicide cult (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, March 18, 2020 1:23 PM (seven minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

yeah, uh, about that...

not taking it so well anymore lol. have a call with the venue about possible reschedule this afternoon and it suuuuucks indeed.

ah I didn't know about you! … sorry

grocery shopping yesterday was weirdly assuring and good for me! multiple places doing normal, reasonable business, everything (including toilet paper) fully stocked, crowds and employees all very reasonable and friendly. calmed me down a lot.

on top of everything else we're dealing with aftershocks from a 5.7 earthquake today.. no damage where i am just my nerves.

in good news the small gym i go to hasn't shut down yet so i got in some deadlifts this morning. the place probably sees 50 people per day on average. don't @ me.

You're in SLC map?

dumb question sorry!

got back from an ill-timed vacation in San Francisco yesterday afternoon. All the travel and uncertainty had me feeling very unsettled and anxious, especially as I had seen lots of reports that the local groceries were all cleared out. My wife tracked down a subreddit where people report on the status of local groceries, which helped me pick a place to go today. It was only moderately busy, some items like bread, butter, frozen vegetables, onions, canned goods, and pasta were pretty cleared out, but at least still presented some reasonable options if you are willing to be flexible about brands, especially since unlike many people, we don't mind spinach, brussels sprouts, asparagus, etc. So I ended up getting a pretty good amount of groceries. At this point, we are well stocked for the next 2-3 weeks, and I am feeling much less worried.

xp yes, lol not a dumb question!

dear brooklynites: old news but this place is fucking awesome - https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/09/nyregion/at-carnival-fresh-market-in-brooklyn-a-united-nations-for-the-palate.html

Friend texted and said there is a "usps might suspend all non-essential delivery" rumor. I said I had my doubts and she replied "amazon did it and they're bigger than usgov." So now I'm definitely freaking out because that would be the final nail in my economic coffin (not that Discogs and eBay sales are exactly off the hook right now)

https://www.grubstreet.com/2020/03/nyc-food-delivery-workers-portraits.html

"amazon did it and they're bigger than usgov."

huh? amazon stopped their non-essential deliveries? that's news to me.

To warehouses. Still...

https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-amazon-suspends-all-non-essential-shipments-to-warehouses-2020-3

https://thehill.com/policy/technology/488037-amazon-suspending-shipments-of-non-essential-items-to-warehouses

i got a distinctly non-essential delivery from amazon yesterday and a note saying my next one is here tomorrow.

From Amazon website:

Amazon will continue taking orders and shipping items from across our store, customers ordering items they don’t need immediately have the opportunity to help others by choosing No-Rush Shipping when this ship option is available. Selecting the No-Rush option enables us to consolidate orders and make fewer stops in neighborhoods throughout the week, and most importantly, serve customers with the most critical needs first. March 17, 2020

I did, too. I ordered the Horse Lords LP a few days ago and it arrived today. I was surprised, tbh

we don't mind spinach, brussels sprouts, asparagus,

Fridge full of these! Plus kale, broccoli, raddishes, leeks. I can hardly decide what to cook first.

I will absolutely be choosing No Rush if I order anything at all (which is looking unlikely given my current predicament)

xxp yeah I got my Horse Lords LP yesterday! tbh I took it inside with gloves and am letting the package sit there for a few days before I open it..

In other news I just sliced and bagged twelve bell peppers for the freezer. It took over an hour

tryin to imagine the assholes ordering the Japanese import of Rush's 2112 and paying $20 to overnight it

Yeah but what if it was, like, Individual Thought Patterns?

xpost Clearly they didn't see the No Rush Shipping suggestion.

omg Josh, lol

Amazon have stopped selling viinyl in the UK so that they can free up the shelf space for more urgently required items. Obviously this is an economic decision for them, but it might also be a boost for smaller resellers and the artists themselves via bandcamp

here's a link with more info
https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/coronavirus-clobbers-music-retail-as-amazon-halts-trade-orders-of-cd-and-vinyl/

oh sorry i missed that was being referenced anyway, excuse my redundancy