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

Hope your kids are okay.

We had some grim modelling in Ontario released today, and when I went out for a walk after that, I was definitely a little more paranoid. The independent grocer I go to, which usually has four or five people in there, looked to be moderately busy, so I passed. There was a delivery notice in my P.O. box (a CD, I believe), but there were three people in line, so I left.

My guess is, with many more people being careful now, the paranoia is misplaced. Three weeks ago would have been the ideal time to be paranoid.

The shape of my life under the current conditions of social distancing and isolation is becoming clear enough that I feel like I understand the risks and remedies available to me. I can't eliminate all risk of infection without taking other risks with my mental balance. I intend to shop for fresh food every two weeks, unless it becomes obvious that this is no longer a sensible risk. I intend to take daily walks, timed to coincide with the fewest other people also out walking. Beyond that, I am fully isolated from further public contacts. That's about as far as I can take it without feeling totally imprisoned. It's going to be a long haul.

nb: our daughter's low fevers have abated and she slept ok last night, so my level of concern has also dropped back down to tolerable levels.

Sending good thoughts to all the ilxors suffering right now.

My work situation isn't 100% clear yet, but I did get my immediate supervisor on-board with me to insist on remote meetings so that's a good start. This contractor is still trying to push back even on that, but someone having my back helps.

Also just happy to even be employed, given that the layoffs and consulting gigs evaporating are really starting to hit those close to me. Thankfully no loved ones have been sick up to now, but the struggle is still very much present in our lives.

I was talking to a friend last night and explaining that, being on my own, two-or-three-times-a-week grocery shopping seemed like the best strategy. I only pick up 3-5 things at a time, I know exactly where they are, and I do so at off-hours; I'm in and out of the store in under two minutes, and take all other necessary precautions. Once a week would probably mean being in the store for 10 minutes, and a longer checkout time. My friend has a wife and three kids, so his situation is different.

Glad to hear it, Aimless!

Sorry to hear about the job loss, Thermo. :(

if i have to be stuck with one person in a tiny flat for the next six months, i’m super glad it’s ‘er indoors, my best friend, my sanity and my everything <3

Most cities are putting inspiring messages in their windows during the lockdown.#Glasgow is being honest pic.twitter.com/ad29Zmv1EV

— James Doleman (@jamesdoleman) April 4, 2020

much better than them infantile rainbows I keep seeing in windows with Everything Is Going To Be Fine

Correct me if I’m wrong but aren’t the rainbows drawn by literal children?

so fucking what?

An adult has painted one on his bay window around the corner from me. Nothing says Everything Is Going To be Fine more than blacking out your living room of daylight!

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ETtcNefXgAAcotv?format=jpg&name=large

twee denialism will get us through this and definitely wasn't a child who put these fucking lame laminates to every wall in my area!

Oh, well all the ones round me are definitely by kids, who I give a bit more of a pass for being infantile don’t @ me

Also when I see them I just think “all the children are gay now, good”

It doesn't help me at all. And as the bodies start piling up there is something deeply problematic about Everything Will be OK type slogans on every fucking 2nd window.

there should be posters reminding people of social distancing everywhere.. bloody anything but twee slogans at a time like this.

so the thing where you smile at someone to defuse potential social woe (not necessarily distance-related) is muffled when yr wearing a mask and a (tbf clue in name) muffler

cornershop stocked and heroic as ever (except for flour which i don't yet need)

the local corner shop/newsagent heroically had tissues and loo cleaner and beer when everywhere else was out but is now also shut, boo. so is the post office, and everything except the supermarket (maybe the butcher but he shuts early so I haven't been out at the right time of day for weeks)

there is another corner shop, further into the depths of the housing estates, but it never seemed to have anything stocked tbh, always seemed to have almost bare shelves and the proprietor glaring at me bleakly as I tried to find anything to spend a couple of quid on just to look like I wasn't wasting his time

now I've gone further back...

glad your bosses have yr back at least somewhat, jon - hope it stays that way
hope your kids are ok and thanks for fighting the good fight trying to keep your mom indoors, Cow_Art
and I'm glad your daughter's fever has gone down, Aimless, and hope she stays well

and all the best to all other ilxors too

Hospitals overwhelmed with patients has been the top news story for weeks now. While I have not actively sought out images I have not actively avoided images, either. And yet I've really not come across many images of the chaos, just pictures of worried doctors or recovering single patients or prep for makeshift spillover wards. Now, I know the news is real, and the horror is real, but at the same time am starting to see conspiracy theorists claiming there's either nothing or something nefarious going on in hospitals. From guys like that train conductor to, I don't know, lunatic actor James Woods, to just random crackpots and commentators. So is there footage being shown out there, on TV or someplace I'm not looking, or is are privacy laws preventing that stuff from being aired? Or does there just appear to be little chaos because they can only show one patient at a time, because there are of course cordoned off in their own rooms/areas? I guess it's a pretty difficult thing to capture in pictures.

Btw, I feel like there should be a, for lack of a better word, sillier covid thread. There's a lot of serious stuff on here, and there should be, but I feel terrible when I hear what everyone is going through and think people would enjoy videos of penguins let loose in the local aquarium but don't want to post them for fear of coming off inconsiderate.

Josh, I've thought about that too. I'm assuming that film crews are banned from hospitals and the doctors are too busy to worry about it.

Kids are better. Had to keep insisting to my mother that it doesn't mean they don't/didn't have it and she still needs to take things seriously. "Oh, it was just a stomach bug." No, no, no. Maybe, but no.

Weed definitely helps with restless legs. Slept right for the first time last night and it felt so good.

It doesn't help me at all. And as the bodies start piling up there is something deeply problematic about Everything Will be OK type slogans on every fucking 2nd window.

― calzino

well does it hurt you? what harm, exactly, do facile slogans like this _do_ to you?

I'm grumpy and seeing this type of twee drivel everywhere and compounded with the stupid fucking clapping every week (mostly from the Tory voting posher side of Town) it gets on my nerves. FP me if you feel I'm off topic or you don't like my opinions!

i mean that one seems particularly egregious. i can think of a few people for whom everything will *not* be ok after this.

well precisely, it's a horrible time and people are losing loved ones every day.

what Chuck D said about Don't worry, Be Happy!

Baseless optimism would seem a likely co-factor with less-than-optimal preventative behavior.

yes, don't be happy, worry

I can understand and sometimes appreciate the sentiment, but those sorts of signs do irk me, because, yeah, no, everything will not be OK. I'd rather just see pictures of flowers and rainbows rather than slogans and platitudes if I want to be cheered up. Exception: if people started putting "hang in there!" kitten posters everywhere.

My bf thinks he can go to the grocery store because we ran out of sliced ham. Little does he know the last two major shopping trips were specifically for the purpose of not going out again for 2-3 weeks. He can eat things out of cans, he'll be fine.

We both forgot he had an extra fridge in the garage that came with the house so now we have an upstairs fridge and a downstairs fridge, which is both deeply satisfying and also admittedly way, way too much. Because I seem to be financially stable for now, I've been making regular donations to food pantries, mutual aid projects, & decarceration efforts. It is, literally, the least I can do.

I am relying on ppl who go to the store weekly, at least (specifically the Pk Slope Food Co-op), because you're damn right I need some roast turkey slices. #CarnivorousPrivilege

I'm grumpy and seeing this type of twee drivel everywhere and compounded with the stupid fucking clapping every week (mostly from the Tory voting posher side of Town) it gets on my nerves. FP me if you feel I'm off topic or you don't like my opinions!

― calzino

not even close to fp'ing you, that's an honest and legitimate response and honestly i 100% agree with it. i'm a strong advocate of people feeling however they feel. anybody who feels it's important to guilt or shame people in this time, for whatever reason, is not helping.

everybody just be good to each other! (that includes being good not just verbally but by STAYING HOME!)

I’ve been going to my queue-free little Waitrose and M&S food in Holborn at around 5pm most days to replenish things like milk/butter/tea and swinging by the quite copious reductions section for small victories in the ready-meals and baked goods departments. Lots of £1 packets of prawns too, and a Colin Caterpillar cake for my neighbour’s little girl.

Left my house for maybe the second time in 7 days today - went to the post office (30-40 minutes in line), the dollar store to pick up sodas, and the Colombian bakery to pick up lunch (empanadas and chorizo). The guy in front of me in line at the dollar store was wearing a surgical mask, blue latex gloves...and flip-flops.

i have had to go to the store weekly, simply bc it's impossible to bring more than a week's worth of groceries home with me in my tote bags

We simply do not have the storage space for a month of food for four people and two cats.

i need sardines dammit

I haven't been out of the apartment in 3.5 weeks. My wife goes to the grocery store for the five of us every 3 days. We'd be able to go less often if necessary, but this seems to us a reasonable way to keep eating not so differently than before, while also putting minimal risk on others.

Encouraging people to do what they can to mitigate for the best possible outcomes, great.

But "Everything will be fine" reminds me of the book that Barbara Ehrenreich wrote about the sunny cheerleading (largely corporate) culture around breast cancer. She's had bc, so she's not a fan.

There is a covid noise thread btw COVID-77

i can't begrudge the rainbows. they're mainly up for the kids to spot on their walks and round here they just say "stay safe". kids need signs of other kid life imo.

I don't often shop at Whole Foods, but if I was gonna stock up for the week I wanted a couple of indulgences (cheeses and better wine). Their obsession with hygiene impressed me. I waited in line 20 minutes but no one was upset. I get now those stories from Cuban friends who waited hours in bread and meat lines in the '90s ("What else did we have to do?").

i can only stock up a week at a time because I share the house with another person who isn't home at the same time as me, and it's his house so I can't take over his own fridge.

we could coordinate food buying but I tend to eat everything in the fridge so......

i have a mask for my trips now tho

i have a mask for my trips now tho

I wear a black bandanna, antifa supersoldier style.

There was a guy waiting in line outside the grocery store I was at wearing paintball gear.

Can't find yeast easily. Seems everybody's home baking.

Can't walk around a supermarket and expect any level of social distancing.

Had a manager nearly walk in to me today.

& I wish they'd stop leaving restack trolleys standing in the middle of aisles cos it becomes even more impossible to try to keep social distancing. Especially since everybody seems to be pushing or pulling a wheeled basket or shopping trolley and frequently leaving them while they go to get things from shelves.

pretty sure my dad Has It, and i've been sick for the last three days. no fever, though (running quite low, weirdly), and no cough or SOB

my attempt at bread has been abysmal, might just go back to pasta

I got a lidl bread machine which about works. Not used it in a while.

I'm sorry, gbx. How's your dad doing?

gbx, my temp has been weirdly low too - i don’t know what to make of it

Best wishes for your dad