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

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.

dmac it's not just "who didn't breathe on you" but "who did you not breathe on."

im not trying to be dense when i say that im not seeing where that isnt covered tbh

there's a baseline level of caution that needs to be better in most places, and there's a minimal level of social contact that's necessary to keep society running, and the negotiation of the two interests is a community matter

I don't agree with people who started with "well, I'm going to live my life exactly like normal unless the government specifically says I can't do particular things" but I understand where they're coming from because making crucial decisions about what's acceptable social behavior in an outbreak is a difficult thing to parse.

On the other hand, the people making these kinds of arguments have a fair overlap with those who hate government dictating what they can do in their lives, which makes me wonder if their entire world view is some sort of petulant child/stern parent thing

given the isolation situation, i was curious what was going on at outloud.fm and it is not what I expected http://outloud.fm/

their entire world view is some sort of petulant child/stern parent thing
stop wondering -- it is!

the more mom tells me not to spit on the floor in the house, the more petulant I will become

"you're not my mom!", they say to their stepmom. "YOU'RE my mom", they say to the government, "and i fucking HATE YOU!"

golly we were nearly not having this level of conversation but look

lakoff in the time of coronavirus

xp to deems

i use bookmarks so sometimes i'm just responding to the last thing i saw (mh's post)

i'm hard at work (can't you tell?) and just checking in on ilx inbetween tasks, so i didn't read the earlier posts that led up to that! i am very bad ilx, still

u are very good ilx but if i get the odd rap of a wooden spoon on the nose for my tics im confident in youse all good people to likewise survive the same

last i checked this is a running thread and people blorp in with whatever they feel like sharing, no?
don't tell me what to do, stern parent!

ok but no spitting on the floor

darraghmac you're not my dad!!

but...i hope that you will consider it

...i hate my dad

i have never spit on a floor in my life unless vomiting counts and i have indeed vomited on some floors

my mom is being very stubborn about only going out to the store when it's "essential" because she frequently goes out to escape being around my dad 24/7 (can't blame her) and now they are both trapped inside. i am not worried about them exactly but i am concerned that my mom will start to take unnecessary risks because she is bored out of her skull/stir crazy. again, i wouldn't blame her for wanting to, just hope she doesn't.

if it helps you keep healthy and you're able to mostly avoid close contact with people by taking a walk outdoors, and you're not likely to pass germs on to someone particularly old or immunocompromised, my opinion is to have at it

but that's my own assessment of the risks and rewards not just for myself, but for my community

fwiw I did spit on the floor as a child, no idea why, and was sent to the corner. my parents weren't really the "explain why it's bad, come to an understanding" type so it was the corner until I apologized. I think I sat in the corner crying for a half hour

sometimes people are petulant because they don't feel capable of that risk/reward calculation, or they've never had to really do it

LL, I am wondering if my mom will kill my dad. He really has to be able to go wander around and interact with other people or he'll drive her nuts.

hope for the best, maybe hook him up with a zoom buddy?!