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

wondering how well žižek is managing not to touch his face

xpost hadrian. I had posted this but I put in a procedure at home that when grocery shopping, all non-refrigerated things go in separate bags so I can leave them in my utility room for several days (hopefully if you won't need them right away). I left last saturday's groceries until yesterday. all veggies are either big pot blanched or washed thoroughly with soapy water (my nurse friend is doing very diluted water/bleach and then rinse). All handles, keys, credit cards, everything taken to the store are wiped down, face mask in a bag. Shower taken, clothes in washer.

my friend's parents were recently on a cruise that wasn't canceled and GUESS WHAT

our indian food last friday, we totally treated it like that doctor does in the video.

omg mh...
what?

Oh god

uhh yeah

her mom has tested positive, her dad's test isn't back yet

*slams head into desk*

cruise lines were left out of the stimulus bill right?

my mom has decided that it is all a hoax and is back to going out shopping. my sister has to tell her today that she can no longer visit her grandkids. my niece, especially, is immunocompromised.

xp - sure hope so -- they go to great lengths to avoid paying taxes in the US, they should not receive taxpayer money

this will be fun because my mom will interpret this as "the devil is trying to separate me from my grandkids and he has my children convinced of his lies too"

That really sucks, Karl

My parents periodically text me to say "Stay inside! Be safe!" I have not yet texted back "You know I'm the one who's always on the computer, right?"

cruise lines were left out of the stimulus bill right?

yes, because they aren't based in the US/don't pay taxes

Seems odd that a bottom-feeding huckster like trump has never gone into the cruise ship business, guess he's just never had enough money to do so.

There's always an excuse not to pay taxes when you're an American business, it's on the nose.

I know, but it was unclear if they were actually going to do the decent thing and leave them out.

xp

thanks, DJP

has anyone else here run into a situation like this, where one family member wants to see another, but they're not allowed to? any family social distancing drama related to someone thinking it's a hoax? as always, i'm flying blind here. jesus take the wheel!

got into a minor fight with my mother the other day about how, no, I can't fucking just stay with her, that it is not me being stubborn or ungrateful or refusing to consider options but that the city is under a literal shelter-in-place order, and also she is immunocompromised on about three counts so even if it were possible (which it isn't) I would be directly endangering her

(after the news broke that new york was the lombardy of the united states it subsided somewhat)

:(

is she a hoaxer too?

thank god my mom never had any doubts about the virus. One of her brothers lost the use of his lower legs because of polio.

that doesn't really add much of value to the conversations we're having on Zoom with our friends on the day-to-day

so not happening here

is she a hoaxer too?

if she was she isn't anymore

that's good

my mom is on a mission to be the very last person in the united states to think that it's real

do you think she is actually believes that or is this her way of protecting herself from stress/anxiety/need of action.

Re: cruise industry and relief bill https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/03/26/cruise-line-bailout/

yeah, it may have been silly to worry about something trump said but he kept bringing up cruises (such a vital industry!)

many xps thank you Yerac, I'm adopting this protocol today...have set up our porch for grocery triage

who is the hoaxer in their view?

is there some kind of thing out there where we could maintain an ongoing group video chat? Where people could just dip in and out and say 'hey' to whoever happens to be hanging around at that particular moment? Is that a thing? Just thinking that an ILX-centric place to see a friendly face wouldn't be the worst idea for those who might be having a rough go of it.

xpost to yerac

she believes it. she is in a state of extreme cognitive dissonance, pulled in at least 3 directions:

1) first and foremost, she believes the apocalypse is nigh, and that all of this is leading to imminent one world government. everything that is happening now is a conspiracy to get people to submit, use a single currency, lock down those that dissent, etc.
2) trump. she told me this week that trump's reaction to all of this is the "very first time" that she has doubted him. "he's acting strangely", she says. she said that in response to him, on occasion, treating coronavirus like a real thing. this is proof that 1) is taking place, to her. trump is being used by god to pave the way for the events of the apocalypse. i told her just to wait a week, and trump would call it a hoax again and put her at peace, but she didn't listen
3) some segments of the evangelical community (liberty university for example) are onboard with the "this is overblown/a hoax" argument. rush limbaugh, other radio hosts, hannity, etc etc. there's plenty of support she can find

there is this medium that I thought was practical. It comes down to "Wash your hands, clean the things you touch, avoid people (and the things people touch)."

https://medium.com/@amcarter/i-had-no-immune-system-for-months-after-my-bone-marrow-transplant-1b097f16040c

I know I wash my dishes in not-hot water, but I am a pretty systematic hand washer, towel/clothes washer, keeping things very clean and orderly and very rarely get sick. Everyone just needs to do the best they can but it's easier once you have a routine and things set up properly to do it.

oh we have an ilx slack...but no video. there are food (and random) pics though.

karl, so your mom is very religious? Yeah, I don't know how to deal with that.

this is the slack that Ed set up. https://join.slack.com/t/poxyfule/shared_invite/zt-csm19k0n-P_w0mauC3_sXUXus~TI0mw
you have to expand the channels to see everything.

she is actually the most religious. there will be a special set of people, within heaven, consisting of a very small group of elite christians. my parents aim to be among them

i am terrified to join that slack, btw

wash your hands before you join.

KM, please join

It's good! Lurking, that's where I'm a viking.

there is this medium that I thought was practical. It comes down to "Wash your hands, clean the things you touch, avoid people (and the things people touch)."

https://medium.com/@amcarter/i-had-no-immune-system-for-months-after-my-bone-marrow-transplant-1b097f16040c

― Yerac, Friday, March 27, 2020 8:21 PM (ten minutes ago)

thank you for this link! i found this article really helpful. had been feeling a bit overwhelmed by some of the advice i'd been hearing (sanitizing your mail before opening it, etc).

i'm afraid that if i join i'll never be able to get anything else done ever again

i have an ilx addiction :(

and i don't want to quit

My mom lives in a small town about an hour and forty-five minutes outside of Chicago. Thankfully she's taking this really seriously, but she calls me with constant updates about all the people around her that aren't. Their neighbors across the street have two college kids that are now home and have thrown at least two parties in the last week, at one point she counted thirteen cars in their driveway/parked in their yard.

Also, one of the teachers at a local school that lives in her neighborhood decided that the best way to deal with bored fifth and sixth graders stuck at home is to invite them all over to her house for trampoline gatherings every afternoon. It's this type of shit that infuriates me so much and makes me fearful that we'll even have this under any semblance of control.

funnily enough, I had a bone marrow transplant over 7 years ago, and followed just some of those protocols (ie the major ones)

it's just really difficult for some people to grasp this threat when it hasn't "hit home" yet

didn't have a utility room tho

I have a room, a half-kitchen, and a small bathroom

xp

sp I will grant them that it is a really bizarre thing! Something that you need a friggin electron microscope to see has basically shut down the entire planet.

I am so thankful that my parents and the people in their street/community/various activity groups are taking this pretty seriously, from the sound of it.

my bf thinks it's real but he's a lot more laid back about it than I am and still going to the shop for nice-to-have things instead of doing our best to make do. we may end up fighting about it but tbh I know I could work myself up over little things which in the end may or may not make much difference, so as long as we're isolating ourselves to a reasonable extent - not seeing anyone, staying in except for groceries & occasional careful walks, plus lots of hand-washing - then maybe it's better to just... go with it, and let it be a weight off my mind that someone else made the judgement call

(speaking of shops, I went for the first time in days today and felt kind of down at seeing them still so bare-shelved and now with tape markings everywhere to enforce distancing. one of our neighbourhood's two supermarkets now has bouncers in the doorway - who took up half the doorway so I had to walk right past, good job there, and the cashier coughed without covering his mouth while serving me, so that probably didn't help my nerves)

morbs I would be more concerned about groceries if there were other people around. but as long as only you are handling the groceries and you wash your hands each time you handle it, you should be fine.

Well there are the delivery people, and the friends who are ferrying them to me. I just soaped up 4 reusable bags and theyre hanging on a (cleaned) doorknob to dry.

Extra housework is the worst way to go.

Now I'm going to use the basement laundry. Gonna burn another pair of my dwindling disposable gloves supply I guess...