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

My mum was asking me the other day if she should go on her planeflight with dad to Sydney in a few weeks, dad is 75 and has a bad hip and possible parkinsons and I'm like wtf of course you shouldnt. Even more so cos mum's father who will be 101 next week is in hospital with a broken hip, I'm quite worried for him. I dont even know if mums allowed to visit him anymore, I should ask her.

There are now 2 confirmed cases in my home province (pop. 120k), and my parents are still just like... ignoring everything I’m telling them. I’m trying to figure out somewhere else for my sister to self quarantine bc I don’t trust them not to infect her. I feel like this situation epitomizes who they are as parents and people pretty well.

one of my co-workers shared this on Monday, and it took every bit of restraint for me not to break workplace decorum and go "lol what?"

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/craigsilverman/coronavirus-drink-water-advice-debunk

I left the house for the first time in 2 days to get some booze and cat food. Felt amazing to get out the apartment. Will probably go into my office on friday to do some stuff that I cant do from home but there'll be only one or two other people around and I will be walking there so I feel fine about it

we went for a walk this evening & then got some to-go coffee nearby, mr veg was starting to get cabin fever

My (Hong Kong Born) Medical microbiologist friend called me up to ask about meat delivery services and we had a good chat. He's been on me about prepping for lockdown since Wuhan locked down and he had a few things to say (much of which has been echoed elsewhere)

If you have windows opening onto a poorly ventilated space (like a light well) keep them shut, especially if bathroom vents or windows open onto the space. Fecal transmission was a factor in similar conditions in Hong Kong during SARS and he's worried about this. Also close the lid on your toilet when flushing.

He was busy converting his lab to do Covid-19 tests, the best is straightforward for them butt the biosecurity to be able to it safely is no joke and they are getting through this. Some testing capacity issues are abut having enough labs with appropriate controls.

Separately had a long chaat with a Swiss friend who lives in Hiroshima. She's freaking out by how Japan is dealing (not dealing with this). She has a friend who was staying with one of the few people to get tested and yes positive. Friend had to travel back 300km on public transport to her home prefecture to get tested. Lot's of people in Japan still at thee 'it's just the flu' stage of things. (I promised to buy us front row tickets to the 100m finals at the Olympics, when they absolutely, definitely happen and we had a doleful laugh about that).

XPs but if you are acting like you 'assume you've got it' you and your household should be staying put and not going out even for food or meds or solo walks. everyone can't behave like that, especially not indefinitely.
People are already confused about the difference between social distancing and isolation - I'd rather not add to the confusion.

i still havent seen the advice that says nobody can leave their house tbh

minimise contact, wash yr hands, maintain distance

its a big outdoors out there!

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/

If you have symptoms you stay in

ok fair

i think that the "assume youve got it" advice isnt meant to be treated maybe exactly the same as "you have symptoms"!

I'm more than happy to keep 2 meters or whatever it is away from any member of the public even in normal life tbf

they keep coming up to me though, need to practise my scowl/ fake cough

Keeping 2 metres away from anyone else, that's really going to work in the most densely populated borough in the United Kingdom.

it will work tho

it just might be difficult to manage

Finally a use for stiltwalkers.

Assume you’ve got it means maintain distance from other people, avoid crowded areas, try to not put your hands in contact with too many things (though I have been shouldering doors and hopping things with the back of my hand forever), wear a mask if you have a cough. It means you can go out but you have to do everything you can to minimise spread.

Right, yeah, London, the population is the most dense in both senses the word ime.

Yeah, I’ve lived in London, Tom? And worked there for a while. I was responding to add to what deems said.

So was I.

The population density of Islington is 13,871/km2. The population density of my arrondissement of Paris is 32,000/km2. Yet the streets are empty here. This’ll happen in London soon enough.

Yes but you're not factoring in that London is the moron capital of Europe.

can one spread the virus by just throwing one's hands up into the air or shrugging i wonder

The French have problems if it can be spread by shrugging tbf.

bof is my toddler's word for cough
LE CONSPIRACIE

:D I love that word, I use it all the time

To all of you who have stubborn parents / friends going out and ignoring the warnings: where the hell are they going?. Serious question! I'm doing OK so far (I'm a hermit, anyway) but one of the things that makes this social distancing much easier is the fact that almost all of the places I'd normally go on an average day--work, restaurants, bars, record stores, library, dispensary, book stores, plant shop, gym--are closed. Isn't it the same almost everywhere? At this point imo anyone going out and acting like everything is normal is doing so to make a statement about freedom or some dumb shit. The only places I'm going are the drug store for meds (good till next month), the grocery store when I'm out of food (probably a week or two), and the post office to mail the Discogs orders that, thankfully, keep coming in. And I'm opening doors with my sleeve and avoiding human contact wherever possible.

5 Days on Lock Down in your own house..... And MFs claim they can Do Time... yeah right.

— ICE T (@FINALLEVEL) March 18, 2020

You aren't going to catch it or spread it by just walking within two feet of someone on the way to buy food, surely?

The only other place I can see myself wanting to go in the next few weeks is the park and that seems low risk as long as you avoid metal gates etc.

Irrational but I would prefer it if people didn't run / jog on narrow pavements, especially when there's a park and actual running track very nearby with a lot more space. But generally I wish some people would have more than no consideration for personal space.

I haven't been to the shops in days, will need milk tomorrow. I've got some disposable paper face-masks but am thinking of putting my old work-ppe double filter respirator on just for the lols, although it might be asking for a happy slapping with all these little scamps off school now!

#BeKind etc.

https://www.brightonandhovenews.org/2020/03/17/tesco-removes-food-bank-trolley-after-its-raided-by-panic-buyers

The only masks we’ve got are the respirator I bought for my wife during the bushfires or a Keffiyah, the later being the best I can probably do and recommended by my GP as better than nothing when I did a phone consult about my sore throat the other day.

My order for masks got cancelled in favour of sending them to someone who actually needed them which is fair enough.

I went to the Heath on a wild garlic mission very early this morning. All people out keeping a respectable distance, including not fussing other people’s dogs. Then a quick stop at Camden Sainsbury’s which was carnage (but with good stocks of veg, bread and milk). From what I gather, eggs are particularly hard to find atm so if you are affected by the concerns raised in this episode, I recommend shopping at local farmer’s markets - they are staying open as an essential service. Locations and traders here:

https://www.lfm.org.uk/what-can-i-buy/

Local farm shop has lots of eggs luckily. Also lots of loaves of bread, in no packaging, sitting open on the shelf next to where people queue, cough, sneeze etc. Avoided those...

If anyone is bored, on the ILX Sewing thread lily dale was working on a homemade face mask pattern she found. I haven't tried to make one yet (spent the day looking for a sports mask with activated charcoal filters that I suddenly remembered I had, and also found another 3m mask!). There was the nyt column she posted about how even homemade masks are better than nothing.

im going with I don't need a mask if im not sick

i guess it's the you won't know if you are sick and keeps you from touching your face and is a visual reminder to people to keep a distance.

I was trying to ride this out in a (basically desolate) beach town, but circumstances have worked out in such a way that I am staying in an apartment in Manhattan with my partner. Really hate being here

It’s a creepy seeing New York City all shuttered, with people trying to avoid close contact. I’ll try to stay inside as much as I can.

Feel like The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch might offer us some helpful tips on dealing with extended lockdown. Just need some Can-D and a Perky Pat layout and I'm set for the duration.

Hey, bring that over to this (so far unloved) thread: TS The Caves of Steel vs. A Pail of Air

Maybe ketamine and an occulus rift in a oinch.

*pinch (an oinch is not some Dickian doohickey).

xxxp morbs you don't know if you're carrying the virus or not and neither does any one else

I mean I'm not wearing a mask yet either, but not because I'm not sick...and anyway yr health is already compromised!

I don't know, the cw on masks from even just a week ago is making less and less sense by the hour. Seems like if you have or can make your own mask...why not wear it?

because it's not spread in the air!

that's not the only reason to wear a mask, it prevents us from coughing onto surfaces, closes the mouth to our own hands, etc.

oh, i just something something where a GA hospital is sewing their own masks out of surgical sheeting because they are running out.

they are putting it over the n95s so they can reuse them https://us.cnn.com/videos/us/2020/03/18/georgia-hospital-sewing-masks-together-vpx.cnn

Apparently people touch and fiddle with their masks so often they run the risk of becoming vectors themselves.

All these weeks later and the initial recommendations remain sound: wash your hands really well, keep your distance, please stay in if you have symptoms, get help if they're serious.

personally, I am not letting my partner out of the house (if he has to go) without a mask and he has to wear his glasses or sunglasses the entire time he is out. He said he would wear goggles if I wanted him to but I think as long as he stays 6 ft away from people that is unnecessary. I set up the downstairs bathroom as a decontamination zone. Might as well get into the habit.

it seems the initial advice about not *buying* masks should stand to the extent that it depletes the supply for health care workers, etc.

but if wearing a mask you already have or making your own reduces the odds of catching this thing by even .1% and/or eases your anxiety abt going out for groceries etc. I'm not clear on the downside