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

My landlady send me this, and I don’t know how to respond. We’re in an owner-occupied two-unit, and she’s a hard right-winger. I can’t antagonize, but I feel like I should respond somehow.

If you have a mild case of the virus you are immuned to getting it again. Per tests on monkeys in Germany it worked almost 100% of the time so you are absolutely immuned once you have it. Another test in Germany proved that you are no longer contagious to anyone from 10 days of the onset of the first symptom.

-Dr. Segal, FOX news, Sun Mar 22.

immuned

how often do you come into physical contact with her? I'd probably just respond with something like "oh, that is good news!"

(i.e., while whatever it was I had did, ominously, start around the 18th or so, that's still early enough that it would have made me patient zero in new york, and if that were the case, you'd think my roommates at least would have gotten it, let alone everyone else I interact with)

I posted somewhere about that 44 yr old, too, because in many ways he reflected me: my general age, my general health, and so on. But fwiw he said in his original post that it had been years since he was a marathoner, because it killed his knees, and he also may have understated the extent of his asthma. Or at least, I'm not sure what exercise induced asthma is, exactly. Is that a permanent condition exacerbated by exercise?

Re: the importance of testing, we were just talking with my neighbor, and his wife had something a couple of weeks ago: a fever, extreme fatigue, lasted for just maybe three days. That's almost exactly what my daughter had around the same time. The only way to know if either of them had it is to test.

Here's a slightly non-trivial question: if our upstairs neighbours have this virus, as certainly sounds to be the case, will it simply find a way through the cracks to us, or is the only chance of transmission when we go up to check the post

Viruses do not have legs or wings. They are not very heavy. I'd say the chances of them finding their way through the cracks would depend on whether there was a flow of air traveling through the cracks in your direction.

I have exercise induced asthma and seasonal. I just usually puff on my inhaler 10 minutes before I do something super arduous because it's unclear if it will be a problem as I get older.

I had some weird mono-like thing (minus fever, swollen glands) for three weeks while I was in hawaii. But I figure since there was no sudden spike of hospitalizations/deaths, it likely wasn't it.

If this 44 yr old dude has any kind of asthma no matter the type I imagine he’s exactly the sort of person who would be more vulnerable to getting particularly hit hard by CV.

we’re moving almost exclusively to delivery boxes for the time being, though I might have to sneak out for a few things.

Los Angeles Public Library just moved the due dates on all materials we have checked out to June 30.

xp -- it's not a bad idea to disinfect things like handles to garbage chutes, doorknobs, etc. for everyone's sake. or at least our neighbors are

The last time I was really sick was a year ago--throwing up so bad they forced me to go home. (Found out it was something going through my school.) Nothing to do with present circumstances except on a personal level: I took solace early on during this thing that I had an exceptionally strong immune system (zero sick days off in 20 years of teaching--a few times I struggled through not having a voice and should have stayed home), but, at 58, maybe that was a signal that it's not as strong as it once was or I think it is.

If you take everything we know about this right now, what we don't know, and what is theorized or suspected but not confirmed, and then mix that with the range of outcomes, from no symptoms to mild cold to bad flu to death, I don't think you could come up with a virus more capable of seriously messing with mental health.

Idk man I've been thinking we're pretty lucky all things considered. If it was as nasty as, say, ebola but just as transmittable, the entire world would've lost its collective mind already.

I think Ebola is less transmissible in part because it quickly kills most people who contract it

In part, yes. The other part being it's via body fluid only.

Which is a big part of why I find this so unnerving--how much more transmittable it is. (Ignorance is bliss: being completely honest, I barely gave a second's thought to SARS, MERS, or Ebola.)

But if its mortality rate was higher… I'm just thankful it's not, is all I'm saying. We would prob already be in a mad maxian hellscape.

I'm not a worrier in general I guess. If I get it, I get it. If I have a nasty case of it due to being immuno-compromised, that would suck. Driving myself crazy with worry is not only pointless but can actually have negative consequences eg the resultant stress making me even more vulnerable its effects.

I've passed through about nine different phases the past week; stoicism was in there somewhere. As I posted on the worst-part-of-getting-old thread a few months ago, I've been generally panicky about things health-related the past year or two, so I'm vulnerable on that front.

been seeing comments that zoom is basically spyware -- is this t/f

Only on mac and they seem to have fixed it (is the results of a minute's googling)

If you take everything we know about this right now, what we don't know, and what is theorized or suspected but not confirmed, and then mix that with the range of outcomes, from no symptoms to mild cold to bad flu to death, I don't think you could come up with a virus more capable of seriously messing with mental health.

― clemenza

i think the high rate of infectiousness this virus possesses is pretty damaging, but speaking as someone who has serious mental health issues, who catastrophizes, who can very vividly envision all sorts of terrible things happening, i can definitely think of more terrifying viruses. i don't have kids and i _still_ thank god every day this doesn't affect kids, like, at all.

I'm less worried about getting the virus -- other than the lab thing I'm basically healthy -- and more worried about its plunging the world into the next great depression

I'm less worried about getiing the virus than becoming a conduit for it

but also yeah I'm kind of worried about getting the virus too

I don't care for being ill, personally, and am hoping to avoid it.

xp -- also worried about being a conduit for it but the worry is mitigated somewhat by the fact that there is zero way to know

they are going to need to establish a completely separate non-covid/non-pandemic healthcare system in order to still treat people's regular emergencies/illnesses.

I'm less worried about getting the virus -- other than the lab thing I'm basically healthy -- and more worried about its plunging the world into the next great depression

― like, I’m eating an elephant head (katherine), Sunday, March 22, 2020 6:44 PM (fifty-four minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

same here

I thought this was a good read about exercise during this time: https://elemental.medium.com/this-is-the-exercise-your-body-needs-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak-8b924c92e861

and it kind of touches on what I read earlier at the onset about doing intense exercise while feeling ill being very bad.

this was the top highlight
"When there’s a novel virus like Covid-19 and no vaccine or cure available, athletes—yes, athletes—tend to be in the vulnerable category as well, Nieman says. If you’ve been marathon training or preparing for a century bike tour or pushing yourself really hard, doing long training sessions of two or three hours, “you are in the group of immunocompromised individuals,” he says."

xpost also same here.

i'm less worried about the economy after this than i was in 2007 mainly bc there's a clear and explicable reason for the economic downturn right now one that will leave lasting effects but don't implicitly suggest critical failures within the system whereas in 2007 that seemed more obviously the product of a broken economic system; i have seen arguments that there are parts of our economy that are failing that shouldn't but (iow suggesting some of these more systemic and critical failures) but tbph i'm not convinced; this is a unique moment of unique circumstances.

don't implicitly suggest critical failures within the system

I HAVE NO WORDS.

Snowed today, and our Rabbi posted "Because, really, why not?"

I HAVE NO WORDS.

when you shut down your society to deal with a pandemic there is going to be economic loss it doesn't matter how you've structured your economy

"I stopped him and said, 'Look, this isn't a movie. You are not Will Smith in I Am Legend. Go home."
This is the updated compilation of Italian Mayors losing it at people violating #Covid19 quarantine. Yes, subtitles are accurate. pic.twitter.com/60V4Csuonb

— 🌈 (@protectheflames) March 22, 2020

pic.twitter.com/ojtnn2dr77

— David Crosby (@thedavidcrosby) March 22, 2020

https://www.esquire.com/uk/culture/a31776624/f-scott-fitzgerald-letter-quarantine-influenza/

Oh nevermind

https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/this-side-of-paradise-a-letter-from-f-scott-fitzgerald-quarantined-in-the-south-of-france

in more positive news, my buddy with the cafe is a huge Firefly fan, and mentioned to me today that Jewel Staite just lowered her price, but lamented that he couldn't afford it, and he'd wanted a personalized vid from her. whatever yr opinion of Cameo, me and his gang of best friends got him one today as a 'pick me up' talk, as he's trying to figure out how to get through the next few months, and he cried. we also donated the same amount roughly to his cafe.

really hoping some form of relief other than "small business loans" is coming to businesses like this so the tears don't become tears of a different kind later. but it was a good moment for a Sunday night.

sometimes McSweeneys is like the Borowitz Report for MFAs

New Zealand is going into full lockdown in the next 48 hrs which I’m happy about.

up until now, the people i was most concerned about were in my wife's immediate family, as well as immunocompromised and elderly people i know. i wasn't concerned about my own because we're a very small family, and my parents (both in their late 60s now) were actually taking it seriously.

but now, once again, the cumulative effect of fox news, rush limbaugh, alex jones, religious radio, and hanging out with their bullshit older friends (all #MAGA people) have warped their minds. earlier today i got a text from my sister with some news about my mom's evolving views:

https://i.imgur.com/7ZIpROp.png

as i frequently discuss in various 3 am blackout drunk texts on ilx, i have struggled to understand my parents and try to connect with them as an adult. but this is the first time i've been frightened for them. they are exactly the kind of people who would ignore everyone around them and just hang out with friends (particularly their bible study/#MAGA friends).

i read this morning that he tears up official documents when he’s finished with them, and he has a team of people whose job it is to sellotape them back together, and that he’s been told to stop tearing up the documents and he won’t stop

The big thing that bugs me is how many people hear part of what the experts say, but then draw their own conclusions that aren't supported by them. Bad received wisdom travels fast.

Like there's a friend now telling people not to touch any packages for 24 hours because the virus can live on cardboard for 24 hours. When experts are saying it's unnecessary as that's not believed to be a method of transmission. (I don't fault anybody who wants to be extra safe, mind).

Or people who defended the beachgoers by saying "well it's harder to spread outside" (dafuq?). Presumably due to the non-peer reviewed studies that show transmission is more difficult in heat and humidity but nobody in their right mind is saying it's safe to be outside in groups.

my 71 year old father is all-in on he's not susceptible to this thing bc of that dumb blood type study that has been going around, so i just gave him a call urging him to take all the precautions he would otherwise be taking as if the study never existed and he was basically like "lol sure bud, i definitely will". he lives in a retirement home where one person has already tested positive.

Can't handle this

Every day is Groundhog Day except it's 9/11

But instead of an acute event, it'll play out over a year

Not the aftermath, the EVENT

I CAN'T HANDLE THIS

I'm pretty sure you can. you just never had to before this. allow yourself to surprise you at your innate ability to handle a global shitstorm.

I was getting into a pretty bad headspace so I went out for a three-mile jog and I feel about a thousand times better now.

Living thru the aftermath of 9/11 was Hell on earth enough. I really don't know if I can handle it if things get really bad