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

Don't know of anyone who's tested positive, but it's the UK so I don't know anyone other than members of the Royal Family who have been tested.

What’s the most succinct article rebuking that WSJ article saying corona isn’t that bad and mortality rate is way over inflated? Need to send it to an old friend who is being a dick.

I'd send them any of the personal stories of healthy, not-old people who might not have died but have been absolutely tortured by it, may need lifelong oxygen, etc..

Remind your friend that this lethal virus has spread from complete obscurity to 180 countries in less than five months, including almost all of the small island nations, and in almost every one of those 180 nations, the infection is only just now getting started. This is a global event that will affect everyone now alive in some personal way. A 'mere 2%' death rate could kill more people than WWII and in a much shorter time. Then tell your friend to shut the fuck up.

i'm not sure I know anyone who's BEEN TESTED

i only know two people (girlfriend of my best friend + her mom). she's in las vegas, and posted a really long epic story about all the ways she tried and failed to get a test before finally breaking through. sounded like a fucking nightmare (this was a few days ago, maybe it's better now)

Have a friend who works the front desk at a hotel. Guy just came up to the desk to tell her he's checking out and that he tested positive. Now she's trying to figure out what the fuck she can do.

one of my dad's coworkers was tested, ended up negative

friend responded, she's alive but badly beaten up. this thing hangs on for a long time apparently.

two of my mother's coworkers were tested after making the excellent and defensible decision to go on a cruise amid all this; supposedly they get the results today

I had a friend who just tested negative

hoping that doesn't mean what it sounds like. sorry either way, gbx. :(

What’s the most succinct article rebuking that WSJ article saying corona isn’t that bad and mortality rate is way over inflated?

The best rebuke is that there's a lot we don't know and we can't rule out that the virus is less lethal than it appears. If that turns out to be true, great -- we will be very, very fortunate. But do you really want to bet your society on it?

it isn't even the mortality rate, it's the overcrowding of hospital beds that will lead pepole that wouldn't have died otherwise to die.

how are people (WSJ etc) not getting this? states are ALREADY REPORTING OVERCROWDING. my ex is a nurse in NOLA and pleaded with everybody to stay home on social media because their hospital is getting short of beds.

btw I hate my fucking company. the leader of customer service is a piece of human garbage who doesn't actually give a shit about any of his employees and never has and has inexplicably held the job longer than any of his previous five predecessors.

obviously in a call center, service levels will suffer when an entire office closes and not everybody has wfh capability. so this dumb motherfucker rushes through a 90 person training class, which I've previously mentioned. with a partner site that we don't have a previous relationship with - y'know, to ensure that the employees would be possibly cared for.

On day 1 of training, we were assured social distancing/isolation was being practiced, with people six feet apart. I mean...there's still a lot wrong with that scenario. I know this is a company where these CC people can work from home. but at least they're keeping distance, quarantining people, etc.

well come to find out NO, they actually weren't following WHO/CDC guidelines, they were separated a little but not six feet. they were crammed in a bit. and people were coughing in the room apparently.

the motherfucking CDC showed up, stopped training, and made the leaders separate the learners, which meant putting some of them into different classrooms, some of which weren't equipped with machines. a lot of the learners are dejected now, because a) the training was interrupted, but b) some are on edge that they might get infected.

and there's talk about having some or most of them work from home starting tomorrow, which begs the question WHY DIDN'T WE DO THIS TO BEGIN WITH?

why? cos my asshole leader woulda had his precious training delayed a day or two and that just wasn't acceptable.

I am hoping I wake up tomorrow to see these learners have been given the day off, paid. tempted to say I am going to ask if distancing is being practiced tomrorow before we begin but if the CDC is already there, I guess I trust them to do that.

"I know better than all the experts in this field" type thinking makes me wanna scream

xp

And yet...these are the same motherfuckers who if you disagree with them on basketball immediately ask YO BRO U EVER PLAY BASKETBALL AT HIGH SCHOOL LEVEL OR ABOVE IF NOT YR OPINION IS INVALID BIIITCH.

hoping that doesn't mean what it sounds like. sorry either way, gbx. :(

― Karl Malone, Wednesday, March 25, 2020 1:49 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

no, it's good, i think, he's just sick with something i guess

oh, good! i think i misread your reference to him in the past tense in the darkest way, sorry

we live in dark times, man

sorry for xps, just want to reply to josh:

AA, if it's any consolation every time I see your screen name I think of the Kinks song and am reminded of the thread where we determined it may have more chords in it than any other rock song and it makes me very happy.

brilliant! iirc i picked it because i was listening to it when i made the account, but it really is a gorgeous song.

Speaking of Australia, was just talking with my SIL in Sydney, and it sounds like they're finally starting to take it seriously there. Though my BIL (in construction) is still working, and they only just now closed the (big) beaches. Most amusing is my niece still has to wear her school uniform when she's attending online classes.

the problem we have in australia is that the murdoch press fetishises the economy above everything else (specifically the national economy and debt/surplus, not things like people having jobs or whether people can afford to eat), so the government’s impulse has been to protect the economy. that’s led them to put the dumbest measures in place to balance infection rates with their fanatical love affair with ~the economy~, which has led to:

• no public gatherings, but 30 kids in one tiny classroom is fine
• only five people at weddings, but 10 people can attend a fitness class, and it’s completely fine to go and get your hair styled (as long as you stand 1.5 metres apart at all times)
• only go to work if you’re essential, but everyone who has a job is classified as essential, so... go to work? or don’t go to work? no one’s quite sure
• shopping centres get to stay open, but DO NOT go shopping
• booze shops will stay open for you to develop a crippling alcohol dependence in your isolated torpor

sorry about all the unnecessarily stressful shit you’re all going through. granny dainger is otm about people not listening to experts — if ever there were a time we should be listening to experts, it’s now. and on global warming. but especially now.

Apparently i am unfurloughed? HR is such a shitshow right now

I just wanna know if its time to do some crimes or not
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_5M5tqy594

I realise I'm fucking lucky but the board of the company I do most of my work for met yesterday, I was a little bit worried. They endorsed a plan that contains no reductions, no cutbacks, and even some hiring if we can work out how to on board people remotely.

I live in one of the top 3 US cities for COVID-19 incidence. My fresh produce was exhausted and I've deliberated about a grocery trip for days. Today I ventured out, and for the first time, donned a mask (I have 3, I gave others to relatives). I tend to the elderly, and I would be devastated if I were the vector.

I was worried that I'd be the only one, but to my relief there were two other masked shoppers, the first of whom was eager to talk about her coughing fit earlier this week. I feel very sorry about the woman on the aisle who pressed her her scarf to her face during this moment of humanity.

making my first delivery tomorrow, transporting a care package from chinatown to queen west. fun! I gotta find some gloves.

they installed a plexiglass panel at the end of the checkout conveyors at the local grocery store chain to stand behind, separating you from the cashier

My vet had done that when I went to get cat food. Understandable but surreal

Husband’s pay officially cut by 60%. The worst part is that it wasn’t necessary.

They seem to be doing that plastic/perspex sheet thing in all the supermarkets. Though they are only on one side so in Lidl I would normally stand in the indentation at the end of the unit and there's nothing between you and the cashier there.
So that's not bright not sure how you get a logistic there that works and allows th to walk out of the unit when they need to cos the half door is in there somewhere. Unless they create a full booth with a top half of a door or something. But would seem impractical.

I was thinking that the principle is similar to the sneezeguard you used to get in shops decades ago. Used to protect freestanding goods to be displayed. I realised they were probably made defunct by the rise of individual plastic wrappings, bubble packs and things. The creation of all the plastic waste we're now trying to get rid of.
& have been wondering how much of a backwards step this pandemic is to getting rid of excess packaging.

Having to change plastic gloves several times between different shops you go into.though lidl is just down to hand sanitiser station at the door now no glove packets.

So sorry for everyone's troubles and uncertainties. I hope we all get out the other side with our friends and families and we can go back to moaning about how quiet ilx is these days.

sorry j

shit just1n3, that’s terrible

I went for a distanced amble with a friend of mine who is currently living with her bf, who she now calls her "germ buddy", and she was arguing that everyone should be allowed one germ buddy if they aren't cohabitating. maybe we can get the government to assign them, like the kids who never get picked for group assignments in school

i call them pandemic cousins -- temporary "family" that "counts" as "family" because apparently if someone is related to you they get special access privileges?

i have one pandemic cousin so far, have space for maybe 2 more. people who live alone esp deserve at least a couple people who they are "allowed" to socialize with. denying people companionship based on their lack of technical familial status seems SUUUUUPER fucked up to me.

It does kinda suck that the couple who owns the house i live in have each other and their kid but have asked me not to invite anyone over. It's technically a reasonable request of course but it doesn't feel awesome

yeah, the lack of in-person conversation is hard for me to take. during the week, I'm so busy with work I don't notice it, but I just keep missing everyone on weekends.

I hate the phone otherwise I'd call everybody. it's so awkward for me, the overtalking.

meanwhile apparently my Dad fell (again), I guess somehow mom got him up (or he got himself up). he has a cane, he doesn't use it properly, doesn't even put it on the ground have the time, kind of shuffles his right leg.

he has a bad knee and needs a damn walker and he's resisted so Mom is finally trying to force him tomorrow because the medical supply store is essential and open and going to demand he use one. esp since I'm trying not to visit them just in case I'm a symptomless carrier, so I don't wanna have to go over there and pick him up the ground and unintentionally infect him or something.

on the plus side, I stress less because I don't have time to fixate on one problem anymore with all the shit going on lol

I was talking with my friend about something similar, she takes meds for anxiety but if anything seems to feel more at ease now that crisis is just the state of things

I feel like some of us anxiety folk tend to wig out more when everything is perfect for one little tiny detail. it's the whole inconsistency piece.

i have a small group of friends that shacked up together (despite having their own places) to be germ buddies, and i'd really like to join them, but i can't -- they're working from home and i gotta round this weekend (just the inpatient psych ward, but a hospital's a hospital right now yknow). sucks

My asshole downstairs neighbors, who we've been at cold war with for a couple of years already, keep having people over. Not parties, but one or two people stopping in for a chat. I feel like perching in the stairwell and spraying Lysol in their faces when they come in or out of their apartment.

a perfectly reasonable response imho but you need to wear a full hazmat suit while doing so

sorry justine, that's rough. hope you can get by and that once all this is over (not too long, I hope) something much better will come along for you both

watched a sweet story unfold on the local mutual aid whatsapp i'm on: last night someone posted to ask what to do, they live around xx in yy street, needed a bunch of medication and related picked up but had just become symptomatic. someone who didn't knbow them replied saying "i live right across the road from there! i can do it", they connected via DMs, got it sorted, and the first person posted a pic of the pick-up* this morning with a million thanks. obviously this is tiny in itself (one story) but also heartwarmingly east end london in its way, plus an indication of how local internet social networks can and should be working. in this relentless time of arseholes-be-bein-arseholes type stories etc

*the pic included olbas oil which i used to have to put on a bit of tissue paper for my niece when she was small bcz it "helped her sleep" (in fact she sleeps quickly and deeply, it "helped delay bed time" lol). but it made me tear up a bit all the same…

Yeah, there was a guy on my local mutual aid group who was experiencing symptoms but didn't speak much english, in like 10min someone popped up to translate from Italian and sort the situation out. :)

Last week my wife had a night of shivers and coughing, felt bad for a couple of days. She's still coughing but otherwise fine now. A few days ago I had a similar experience - shivers, aching limbs, but no cough. Feel perfectly fine now. Dunno if had the covids or what, but if we did, we got off very lightly indeed.

Had something similar to your wife. Really hope that was it.