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

i have the same allergy post-nasal drip thing at all times. if you guys aren't taking claritin d (or the walgreens "walitin d" lol) already i recommend it. when i remember to take it i feel more sure i don't have covid-19!

see also waking up with a sore throat because when my nose is stuffed i sleep with my mouth open, panicking

I keep reading articles about symptoms and OF COURSE hours later I'm still thinking about them and imagining I have them.

Was that a tickle in my throat?
Did I just draw a more difficult breath there?
I coughed!

I always feel fine later and the next day, but I hate how much this worms into my head and anxieties.

Would've thought rain would wash it out of the air and make it harder for droplets from coughing etc to stay airbourne outside. And it would also probably encourage people to stay home xp

― ymo sumac (NickB), Monday, March 23, 2020 5:59 AM (six hours ago)

This is the kind of thing that nags at me once I've read it. For the last two weeks I've operated under the assumption (gleaned from various sources) that it only lives in the air if you're in close proximity to someone and they sneeze or speak or even breathe--it can be transmitted that way, and if not, the virus falls to the ground. I also know it can stay airborne longer if aerosols are present.

But if it's out there, hanging around from someone who ten minutes earlier walked by where you are now, how can it possibly be combated? And wouldn't infection rate be close to 100% by now?

(xpost) Same here. Every time I clear my throat, I wonder if that's the beginning of a dry cough.

But if it's out there, hanging around from someone who ten minutes earlier walked by where you are now, how can it possibly be combated? And wouldn't infection rate be close to 100% by now?

While it's hanging around in the air, it is being dispersed, even on a still day. I presume the more virus you inhale, the greater the chance you have of actually catching C19 the disease, so as it disperses it becomes less dangerous. That's why enclosed badly ventilated areas are worse - you really wouldn't want to get into an elevator that someone with C19 had been coughing away in ten minutes beforehand

I'm thinking of daily fresh-air walks. I didn't come within 20 feet of anybody today. (Well, okay, one person, on a bridge--I stepped onto the road for about a five-foot buffer.) Can I same the same of the virus?

I think there are differing schools of thoughts on how it spreads, but I am pretty sure you're ok to take walks

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prepare/transmission.html

you really wouldn't want to get into an elevator that someone with C19 had been coughing away in ten minutes beforehand

― ymo sumac (NickB), Monday, 23 March 2020 17:07 (five minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

well we havent used our apt elevator since that aul fella got in and proceeded to cough his boots up all over us last week, so yknow

I guess there's a chance you inhaled a single virion or two, but that one virion has to make it through your body's various defences before it can do any damage - it could get trapped in nasal mucus or destroyed by saliva or swallowed and destroyed by stomach acid or simply just exhaled again. So you'd need to inhale a few of the things to make you ill and the further away you are from someone, the more the concentration of virus decreases xps

well we havent used our apt elevator since that aul fella got in and proceeded to cough his boots up all over us last week, so yknow

yep, it's a whole new era of taking the stairs

This was a terrible week to have a condo go on the market.

My asthmatic friend made arrangements to go view apartments last week (buying) and I had to curse him out by text for him to cancel.

pretty sure that house next door some people bought and somewhat cheaply remodeled to flip is going to sit empty quite a bit longer

huh, I may be wrong? pending offer, supposedly

i was scheduled to put my apt up for sale for the end of April! ( I was dying to do it last year and I finally gave my friends living there a super long notice - 8 months). I really know how to nail the market.

THat there's another sibling disease waiting in the wings to understudy this mess when it ends.
Lovely.
How messed up would we be then.

Like how long an interval before the next major disease do you think we would need to recover and how likely is that interval going to be.

need to stop fucking with animals and their natural habitat.

Leave those bats alone.

we'll be better prepared next time - look at how SARS affected countries have responded to this disaster for an example

We know a couple of realtors, and they say business is booming, so it might be better than you think, xpost. Interest rates are so low right now that people want to buy. The friends we know that are in a tougher position are those selling bigger or more expensive homes, because people who might have been in the market for them have seen their wealth decrease precipitously.

yeah, except my apt is in nyc and if my friends can't move and I can't even get into the country...logistics!

although they are trying to move because they are worried about loss of ft employment and not having that to be able to sign a new lease.

Leave those bats alone.

All in all you're just a

a very slight silver lining is that I already had problems falling asleep so anxiety isn't doing anything that didn't already happen nightly

One of the pubs where I DJ is selling bottles of ale from a table in their doorway at knock-down prices (two quid for 500ml, get in). I mentioned that we're nearly out of bog roll, and the landlord promptly fetched me two jumbo pub-sized rolls from the stock room. This is the best thing that has happened to me in DAYS. I feel ridiculously elated.

You’re not gonna catch it by walking through space occupied by someone who does:

https://thespinoff.co.nz/science/21-03-2020/siouxsie-wiles-a-reminder-that-covid-19-still-isnt-airborne/

Personal update: WFH preparations at work have been very slow, mainly because the supply chain that provides the necessary hardware is very obviously stymied by the health emergency, but at least as far as the data side goes we're all set and all the necessary tests have been successfully done. Since we're considered an "essential service" this doesn't mean all of us will have to abide by WFH restrictions if we don't have the space at home to set up home offices, but I've cleaned up my own little home office and cleared enough space for the monitor, laptop, etc., that will be required for work. In the meantime, it's been exceptionally awkward keeping to the social distancing requirements at work and we've all kinda gone a little overboard with using antibacterial wipes on our work surfaces. On a plus note at least these surfaces have never looked more gleaming and there's a faint astringent note to the air.

Local update: We've just had our first local casualty. At least 45 locals have tested positive, with 10 being confirmed community transmissions. This is just 0.003% of the population affected so we're still relatively safe, but it'd be better to stay that way than to risk having the disease spread the way it has in Washington state. And I, like Katherine, already had massive anxiety issues so while this isn't helping my mental health any at least it's not introducing new horrors into my life.

to be fair I was thinking more garden-variety insomnia for insomnia's sake

We’ve just been issued a stay at home order in our county. Christ, the only thing that’s been keeping me sane is taking a daily walk around empty office parks

Ditto. Up till now, "shelter at home" has allowed for that...has that changed?

Yeah, as far as I've understood most "shelter at home" orders have allowed for walks for exercise, as long as social distancing is followed.

yeah. i don't know how they're ever going to enforce "stay literally in your home", if only because the smell of dog shit in the living room is going to put people in a bad mood

I’ve seen a sum total of one other person (begging his dog to pee) on my nightly sanity walks, I feel safe from a public health perspective.

thanks just1ne

the advice we're following here

Around 80% of cases of Covid-19 will be a mild to moderate illness, close to 14% have severe disease and around 6% are critical.

Generally, you need to be 15 minutes or more in the vicinity of an infected person, within 1-2 metres, to be considered at-risk or a close contact.

twitter and other social media has been way over the top criticising anyone outdoors.

stay sensible. you wont get it walking past someone.

ok irrational fear then

plenty of opportunity to have caught it just by existing, tbf, and not having a go at anyone feeling vulnerable.

Yeah, as far as I've understood most "shelter at home" orders have allowed for walks for exercise, as long as social distancing is followed.

This is my understanding in NJ too, and I'm still walking around - I went to my local Portuguese chicken place for dinner last night. The owner was trying to keep it to no more than 3 customers inside at once, but there were 4-5 old idiots gathered at the counter shoulder to shoulder, jabbering at each other. He came out and waved his arms at them, to get them to separate. I stood as far away as I could, basically right inside the door, until my order was ready for pickup.

Our neighbors 2 floors below us, friends of ours, have the symptoms as of today. Both of them. They have a 2 year old kid. I love my dog but I wish I didn’t have him right now so that we could just stay inside. My wife and I both have underlyings.

Just went for a long walk. It was such a ghost town out there I didn't have to be worried about being close to anyone. But the sun is out and snow is gone and it makes me happy.

So glad I don't live in an urban area now. No nature to escape to temporarily + literally millions of possibly infected ppl all around= no thank you. Friend who had to move back to the east coast from here is itchin to get back to "the middle of nowhere".

We want to flee out of the city but we have nowhere to go (no relatives or friends with big houses in the NE US)

I was fantasizing about renting a van and driving us to MN yesterday but what if one of us got sick en route etc

cp arsh on artfordshire

xp

I would not want to be in the middle of nowhere during this experience!

The 15 minute figure seems to be from here

https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/sites/default/files/documents/covid-19-public-health-management-contact-novel-coronavirus-cases-EU.pdf

which seems pretty clear that it's an arbitrary figure for the purposes of triaging contact tracing?

yup

any epidemiological work is going to attempt to cast a less-broad net to begin with, because "everyone who was at this grocery store during a 30 minute window" is a lot harder than starting with people you talked to, the cashier who scanned your purchases, etc.

We want to flee out of the city but we have nowhere to go (no relatives or friends with big houses in the NE US)

I was fantasizing about renting a van and driving us to MN yesterday but what if one of us got sick en route etc

Or you stopped for gas or got fast food

Or...

OR

You already have some asymptomatic exposure and you inadvertently give it to people en route and introduce it into the area you are fleeing to.

My in-laws were like "the city isn't safe, come down and stay with us" and I'm like "exactly when traveling is what we SHOULDN'T do?"

xp i spose in context of "you cant go outside" it is nonetheless useful to illustrate tho?

not xp to ymp while taking measures at every step- gloves at gas, washing hands everywhere after, etc

Rich pricks in the UK have been fleeing to their holiday homes all week, putting rural healthcare and severe risk of collapse. And less-rich pricks have been trying to drive their camper vans into rural wales or the highlands to flee.

I’m sure grey nomads were considered a vector down here hence the shutting of state borders.