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

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.

best luck to both of you daniel, you too chairman -- also everyone else on ilx and their friends and circle and etc :(

Did I see news of a possible/imminent home test to see if you've had it?

In UK yes

nightly phone calls with my mother are mushrooming out to 40 minutes a night as she goes stir crazy. about halfway through its clear she has nothing to say and starts either regaling me with tales of useless ephemera (plots of television shows or the exploits of her cats around the house) or starts ginning up conflict. last night she rigorously questioned my vitamin c intake. I am gonna need to be patient.

i'll call your mother if you call mine.

going to the grocery store this morning sucked ass even though it was emptier than usual. in non-pandemic times i go into a total shopping fugue and this has only intensified it plus makes me feel like i'm in an obstacle course made of people

however, while walking home i heard a skateboard humming behind me, and when the narrow sidewalk expanded i walked to the right just to see this teen skater drifting by with a mask on, perfectly practicing social distancing. my heart swelled lol

I have irrationally had a fear of something like this happening the past week or so (more that someone would randomly run up to me and do something similar)...and can know move that over to the rational category.

http://www.cnn.com/2020/03/26/us/woman-coughed-on-produce-trnd/index.html

"now"

Called my mom yesterday just to chat and check in, and she said "I love you" three times before we hung up. She's definitely a longtime "I-love-you-as-perfunctory-sign-off" kinda person but three times made me take notice. I think she's scared.

best luck to both of you daniel, you too chairman -- also everyone else on ilx and their friends and circle and etc :(

― mark s, Thursday, 26 March 2020 bookmarkflaglink

Thanks Mark I am fine now. Hope you and family are keeping well.

My mom (71) volunteers for all kinds of stuff - she was supposed to be preparing people's tax returns via the United Way this month, but that ain't happening, so now she's driving for Meals On Wheels starting tomorrow. She emails me every few days now (as opposed to once every 3-4 months pre-COVID), but no phone calls yet.

20% paycut just implemented across the business (I know this is a lot better than some people are facing) - hours also to be cut by 20%, so at least it's somewhat fair

Found out yesterday via the news that an officer in my local police department has tested positive. The Chief of Police was quoted as saying, "We believe the officer may have contracted the virus last week while off-duty at a social gathering."

We don't have a huge force, and I know that at least three CHPD officers live within two blocks of my house, so it makes me really twitchy.

I am really sad and frustrated to hear about folks here getting salary cuts and furloughs. I feel fortunate to be employed as a computer-toucher in a central administrative unit of a large public university right now. I hope ilxors in immediate need of financial support will be forthcoming about it.

I'm currently assuming I won't be furloughed, but that's also on the cards, they just haven't told us who it's gonna be yet

it plus makes me feel like i'm in an obstacle course made of people

So otm

My mom called me freaked that the Stimulus would fail yesterday
I realized she's reading my frenetic COVID infodumps on FB as her soul source of news.

She just got a temp job delivering food to people during the crisis. Not an Uber Eats, i think people who aren't able to afford groceries due to being out of work

Went to the laundromat this morning, as I do every week. They open at 6, I get there at 6:45-7, and usually it's dead empty until close to 8. Today there were already four or five people there when I got there, and I was lucky to find enough machines. People kept coming in with massive amounts of stuff, like they had decided to launder the virus out of every piece of fabric in their house. I did what I could to stand as far away from people as possible (and people would move out of each other's way, and some were wearing masks and/or gloves) but it was surprisingly anxiety-producing.