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

he is referred to as jokey smurf in this house because I refuse to say his name.

My mom hates him and the nickname in her house is Jock Itch.

My partner hates him too just because he hates his terrible attitude. Didn't realize he was 1) anti-vax and 2) widely reviled!
ha

i feel like it was a controversial sentiment on the wimbledon or us open thread. I don't care. I cannot stand to watch him play.

finally snapped last night and gave myself a haircut, and considering the last time I did this resulted in my having to get a buzz cut for a year, I think it turned out pretty well

Not necessarily COVID-19 directly related, but a bit of an etiquette question that I'm curious about. I ordered something back in late February and it was shipped out mid-March, just as everything was breaking open and shutting down. I got sent a USPS tracking number for it and it shows as "in transit to the next destination" since March 20th now. Totally fine with being patient given the state of the world and esp shipping, that said, no status update in over a month makes me think it might be lost or something. Would it be an asshole move to kindly reach out to the tiny shop that shipped it to see if they could check in with USPS on it from their end?

idk how they are going to have an easier time reaching the USPS than you are, i would just try to reach out to USPS myself if i had the tracking #

three nearest laundromats are closed

i mean, i don't blame them, but ತ ಎತ

xpost - yeah, I contacted USPS myself, still waiting for a response, but last time I had an issue with a package that seemed to get lost they made me have the sender contact them. We'll see. Thanks.

Not necessarily COVID-19 directly related, but a bit of an etiquette question that I'm curious about. I ordered something back in late February and it was shipped out mid-March, just as everything was breaking open and shutting down. I got sent a USPS tracking number for it and it shows as "in transit to the next destination" since March 20th now. Totally fine with being patient given the state of the world and esp shipping, that said, no status update in over a month makes me think it might be lost or something. Would it be an asshole move to kindly reach out to the tiny shop that shipped it to see if they could check in with USPS on it from their end?

― soaring skrrrtpeggios (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Wednesday, April 22, 2020 1:47 PM (thirty-seven minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

I've been ordering shit from all over and it's getting here pretty in a reasonable time frame and with few tracking irregularities. Definitely sounds like the package is lost or something.

Me too - everything I've ordered has arrived, except for one CD from Japan.

I bought a CD on Discogs on March 20. Eight days later the tracking said USPS didn't have it yet, so I asked the seller about it. They said they'd sent a number of packages that day and the tracking showed the same thing for all of them. When none of these packages had been been delivered by April 9, they sent a refund. The CD wasn't expensive (about nine bucks shipped), but I felt a bit bad about it since it didn't seem to be the seller's fault. Regardless, I think a polite inquiry is reasonable.

Starting Monday, Houston-area will be have mandatory wear a mask in public order in place for 30 days.

Jeez, took them long enough. It's weird that they are so behind the other major cities here.

Still pretty convinced the main positive (and not necessarily inconsequential) of wearing non-medical-grade masks out and about is psychological, with the actual impact on prevention of disease a distant second, so orders with the force of law to wear them don't make me happy

i sorta agree in my perception of actual effectiveness, maybe slightly less distant. both aspects are actually important for many persons, so idgaf so much.

i disagree. if you're wearing a mask and COVID-19 carrier is wearing a mask, even if neither are non-medical grade, there should still be a substantial reduction in transmission

i mean, i don't think the psych effect causes people to be more reckless about other distancing practices. at least i've not seen that way out here in the sticks.

The stores here are 100% mask wearing and social distancing, and I'm convinced it's a good thing that should continue well after other restrictions are relaxed.

i feel like i have a ton of near factoids in my head about transmissibility and filtration and droplet size and possible actual aerosol transmissibility, but the only takeaway i feel safe with is between “epidemiologists don’t really know for sure on covid” and “masks at least help a bit and maybe more.”

Halloween is going to suck, that's for sure

Aw man. That thought had not occurred to me yet and we're a big Halloween family.

Halloween...everyone wears double masks!

oh man, if we're in motion by then i will forgive every asshole wearing a coronavirus costume
i think that falls under the header of a "dumb shit you're actually looking forward to seeing when this is over" thread but maybe enough with the COVID threads just now

Xps if you have tracking then you probably have insurance. Except that USPS makes it almost impossible to collect on that insurance. I’d suggest politely letting the seller know the situation - they honestly can’t do more than you at this point, but they may offer to replace the item.*

*i manage the webstore for my employer and USPS has fucked me over a number of times. When customers send me irate emails about it, demanding this and that, I’m inclined to remind them of our policies, clearly stated on our website. But if they’re nice and not presumptuous I’ll immediately offer to replace missing items.

“i disagree. if you're wearing a mask and COVID-19 carrier is wearing a mask, even if neither are non-medical grade, there should still be a substantial reduction in transmission“

I don’t understand why ppl think this isn’t the case? I saw an animation of mask vs no mask and it clearly restricts the radius of your breath transmission.

Duct tape would be even better

when I'm wearing the mask I have access to can feel my breath go up out of the top of mask past my glasses, maybe it's not going as far in space from there but I have a physical sensation of uselessness. I am not convinced that my exhalation is passing through the fabric of the mask with less moisture in it.

It's not an answer I actually want, but I keep wondering how vulnerable eyes are. Should I be wearing glasses to keep droplets out of my eyes?

silby, there is presumably no one standing above your head. If your breath is going up rather than out, how can that not be helpful?

I think we can also all agree that there's a range of quality for masks, some provide a better seal than others

why do we still need any animations or really any conversation at all about how this works?

here's a crazy experiment: 1) exhale into your palm, then 2) do it again with ANY FUCKING OBJECT between your palm and your mouth

otm

I sent a nice phono cartridge in for retipping. Paid for insurance and postal service lost it. They totally screwed me over, I was furious for a week. Never send anything precious through USPS.

the only mask I have at my disposal is a n95 (was given it at work because I still attend the office once in a while) and I will feel like a real dick if I walk around with one of them on while not immunocompromised or sick during this pandemic with the shortages situation

I think there's an element of public health speak that clouds this issue because officials are reluctant to put things in terms of expected risk level or probability. Everything is either effective or not. So if they are unable to say that wearing a mask will absolutely save you or someone else from COVID-19, then they are not effective.

The only mask I had was an N95, that's what I wear because that's what I have.

xxp Jim — Why? It's not selfish to wear a mask. If anything it's generous. You don't know if you are a carrier.

I'll look like a privileged panic-buying dickhead? if I take to covering my mouth I may just go out with a scarf on.

yes—I mean better an N95 than no mask at all

Or you could save the N95 for the more dire times to come, and wear a bandanna in the meantime?

yeah Hadrian otm

here's a crazy experiment: 1) exhale into your palm, then 2) do it again with ANY FUCKING OBJECT between your palm and your mouth

or yeah you could obsess about whether the seal is correctly fitted to your facial shape, then say fuck it and say the whole effort is futile

i mean, you do you, silby

sheesh

I don't think it's futile, I just am cranky about it and inevitably doing all the things people will scold you for doing, like constantly touching the mask.

it's not a burden I think it's not something that needs to be added to the list of things the cops are empowered to hassle people about by ordering it.

we are wearing a surgical mask on the rare occasions when we're going to situations where we know we're gonna be in an enclosed area with other people.... basically grocery stores.

Otherwise, we're doing a bandana anytime we're on the streets.

i'm wearing it around my neck while jogging and trying to stay WAY the fuck away from people as best i can. the jogging is new and it's saving me from going completely crazy. i better go now actually.

like I'm doing the mask thing despite not being at all convinced that it has a marginal impact on anything, don't worry about me

I'm worried that the precipitate reopening thing in the USA is going to be like Hoover doubling down on private enterprise except the result will be even worse and more difficult to come back from

I went out in the car and to a store for the first time since March 14th and it was weird. A major factor in this was that we are getting low on beer and wine and can't seem to get those delivered to us via anyone.

I was going to go to the local independent beer and wine shop but called them to see what they had going on and they were alarmingly lax - like "just come in, wear a mask, or don't, whatever, it's cool". I ended up going to whole foods because I'd heard that they were at least trying. Only two people there weren't wearing masks, people seemed to stay far away from each other, they had sanitizer and wipes at the entry way and barriers in front of workers and such but it still felt harrowing and stressful and I spent as much time cleaning and wiping shit at home as I did shopping.

we spent way less money these last six weeks because we haven't been going out and buying beer and cheese and salads and such and of course I ended up spending six weeks worth of beer and cheese and salad money in one shot this morning.

Yeah I've been... overcompensating a little with the purchasing lately.

One thing is that the kids need new summer clothes. We never really needed them so urgently before because they always wore their uniforms.

I went out in the car earlier too, for the fourth time in about a month. It was a sunny clear afternoon; the countryside here is absolutely stunning. Driving alone through it, it felt like it was there just for me. Then I felt bad because I never come out and see it any more.

Surreal going over the M5 on a sunny day and seeing it nearly empty. God I was tempted to make a detour via the seafront.

We have a local booze shop with a terrible name, but it delivers and also will bring groceries, apparently. I have a bit of gin left and only loads of tiny cans of this cucumber tonic water which I ordered by mistake. It's ok. And a fridge full of cider, obviously. Plus a couple of Budweiser bottles the local Indian restaurant gives away free with every order, for some reason, if things get really bad.