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

nothing about food is beautiful. it's fucking fuel. shit reminds me of music.

yes, I know, sweetie.

hey alfred no sneezing needed and be careful about the "th" sound...
https://www.statnews.com/2020/04/15/simply-speaking-could-transmit-coronavirus-new-study-suggests/

yeah I saw that a couple weeks ago

My thinking is basically that if someone exercises basically zero caution in their interaction with me that they're probably exercising basically zero caution in their interactions with who even knows how many people, which probably means there's a slight uptick of risk when getting < 6 feet of said person.

Again FTR, I acknowledge the varying degrees of seriousness with which people are taking this and rather than being a complete nazi about it I just exercise an excess of caution and always wear a mask and gloves whenever I might be encountering people outside of my apartment. And I've been effusive in my gratitude towards the people who are risking their health to make this stuff happen and tip like half of what I make in a day and haven't had an issue like this before my experience last night, which seemed egregious. At any rate, I've been avoiding posting itt and I feel like that was maybe a good position for me to take wrt this thread.

I haven't ordered delivery and only ordered takeout once (stopped at the bodega right when all this started) but it isn't an ethical thing, more that the last few times I ordered delivery it was inedible (to me)

sorry ol i wasn’t trying to drive you out of the thread

At any rate, I've been avoiding posting itt and I feel like that was maybe a good position for me to take wrt this thread.

hey, I apologize if I'm one of those people occasioning the second thoughts.

the post office thing, I don't know what to think, because in virtually every respect besides the mask element thing it was a permit patty-type situation

I've ordered more than plenty of food via Just Eat over the past two months. Each time I've said to leave the food on the doorstep and there will be a tip, in an envelope, under the doormat. When they call the buzzer to our block of flats, I stand behind my door as they walk up the stairs, and when they get to my flat I shout through the door a thank you and make sure they get the tip. I don't come out to the communal area until I can hear they are away, and that's as much for their peace of mind as mine. All of the people doing our drop-offs have been wearing masks and gloves - and given how few folk are doing it in shops in Glasgow I've been surprised by that - and at any rate, once the food is out the wrapper and on to a plate I can bin the bag and wash my hands.

When I got take-out at Tim Hortons the other day, the server got impatient with me because, when she held the door for me to come in and pay, I said "It's okay, I've got it." She had a mask on, I had my scarf on. My feeling was that it was better for me to come in on my own rather than pass by her closely. Her feeling was that we both had something over our mouths and noses, and that me touching the door was the bigger hazard.

I deferred--it's her call--and walked in right by her. I think I'm right from everything I've read, but I kind of sighed and let it pass. I didn't want to give her a hard time. (Not a comment on OL's situation, which is different.)

i'm not sure any of us are going to be able to slowly transition into something resembling normalcy until either vaccination or it just burns through the population.

It will happen eventually one way or another. Even without a vaccine some equilibrium will be found concerning how high an infection/death rate is tolerable and which new behaviors allow us to live within that band of toleration. Humans are very adaptable and there will be an inevitable process of normalization. We'll find a set of workarounds and clumsy heuristics, adjust our expectations. and continue on. It will feel normal, no matter how different it looks from what we thought used to be normal.

Applicable to the trump administration as well unfortunately

ha aimless i thought that was sanpaku as i read it. and ulysses, it's why trump's horrifyingly-slow-walk-through-every-atrocity seems to work politically, i think.

So I never thought I'd be praising Best Buy (of all businesses) but they have closed their stores to shopping. It's either curbside pickup or by appointment only (for e.g. repairs).

I needed a thingy, went bloop bloop with my phone, drove to the store, opened the trunk; they put the thingy in the trunk; I waved and drove away. Smooth.

Almost none of the advertised as contactless deliveries I've ordered have actually been that, I leave instructions for how to do it but they are never taken up. I'm fine with it.

Here in London most food delivery ppl are undocumented migrants, wouldn't really imagine they have the best access to info on what the rules are.

The cashier in the supermarket today had a minor sneezing fit just as she was about to scan my shopping. Did her best to get her elbow to it and then used sanitizer. This was after a supervisor had encouraged me to move to that lane. Never change lanes!

Before that I was in the post office and irrationally or not didn't want to stand in this enclosed scanning booth thing they have at one of the two open service points, so I stood to the side of it and the cashier refused to serve me. Seemed like the distance was the same but whatevs. On the way out I had to ask the security staff who were gabbing among themselves to stand somewhere that allowed to me leave the shop.

I mean, stay alert is actually good advice really.

We've been going on epic pokemon walks on the giant university campus with the kid lately to get him out of the house and change the scenery. But college students absolutely DNGAF about masks or social distancing or any sort of precautions based on the ones who are still around.

Most of them are gone so it isn't too hard to avoid them but last week it was super beautiful out and we got stuck on one side of a river because the bridge was packed full of students in gowns lined up to take graduation photos in a particularly scenic spot with the stadium behind them. It was unreal to me and I felt like I was in some sort of zombie movie trying to keep the kid away from the throng to get to the next bridge. There's no way I want to teach face-to-face this fall.

i was teaching an ethics class online when i got sick, and since all their other classes were suspended and revamped to go online, i did some minor tweaking of mine before we resumed. naturally i added some junk about the pandemic, mostly focused on the morality of social distancing and closures.

generally my students sounded like good eggs but there was a frustrating level of nonchalance or resentment in the atmosphere of some of their considered work on those topics. they want to get back to their lives and see their friends, they're not at risk, etc.

I love all the "we reopened and there's no spike" talk.

Add the incubation period to the amount of time it takes to get tests back and you might not see excess cases for two weeks past reopen. And that's just the people who went back out on Day 1

well, you live in Florida, surrounded by Floridians. this may be germane.

if we're out walking my 2yo already stops and moves to the side if he sees someone else coming (unless he's in a temper tantrum with me). It's kind of sad.

Neanderthal completely. it blows my mind that people think the infections stats - and death stats! - are somehow responding to policy and behaviour in real time.

I was thinking that having a bank holiday weekend 2 weeks before the easing up of the lockdown here might mean a spike coinciding with yesterday. Couldn't really tell from the streets
There's still few people around I think. A few places with doors open or at least hatches. Mainly chemists and food outlets.
Did have a bit of a queue appear while I waited for a Chinese takeaway yesterday which was a bit awkward. I was a bit surprised the place is back to handmaking noodles now behind a plastic screen. They had stopped that for a while. This place has stayed open throughout and been vilified by some idiots for being Asian.
Went down to Spanish arch area to eat at least part of it. There were a few others who had the same idea.
I was also looking around for elastic to see about making a mask. Can't find that anywhere these days. I wound up buying some cheap shoelaces to see if any of them might work as ties.
Had forgotten to grab a mask when I went out and the ones I have are probably not great anyway. So wound up buying another and being told that they get porous when wet so washing them not a great idea.
Thought some places might be back to normal times from yesterday . But found source of my greens; spinach, kale, chard etc had started closing at 4 since I was last in town.& supermarket in town was closed by 6 when it used to be 7. Just needed to get a couple items.
Had a covid test over the week which came out negative . but I think you can't really be prepared for the feeling of the nasal swab until you've felt it.guess at least it's fast. Still feeling a bit cold or fluey though.
& did get to see the reunion read through of a few episodes of Orphan Black.
Otherwise been working on a couple of jeans jackets and listening to hours of podcasts. Just getting into some medieval history stuff. A thing about coconuts yesterday which were somewhat around but called buts of India or whatever the latin would be.
Now wondering what time post coming since I was told it was back to prepandemic time last week but I just went down to unlock the street door and found items arrived before 8am. Same thing around 8.30 yesterday. Had to lock street door cos youth had been using bottom of stairs to congregate in. Plus neighbours now leaving a bike there and has left the box from it to get wet from the elements.

the local sainsburys i've complained about before have issued the staff with BIG badges telling you to keep 2m apart. the one i saw was on a bloke stood, doing nothing, in the middle of the T junction at the end of an aisle, making it impossible to not pass within 1m of him from any of 3 directions. 'do you want to go past?' he asked, waving me through without moving.

Just been down to my local (small) Tesco's and LOL 2 metres. Lockdown pretty much history round Seven Sisters Road, I saw all of three, three, people wearing face masks/coverings on my way there and back. Weather is gorgeous out there btw.

for some dumb reason I had to visit the house of someone who's been pretty cavalier about the whole thing. tried to avoid the dude but he still talked to me a bit from fairly close up and I'm just thinking, oh cool I could've inhaled some particles and now spread this to my whole family. even if the odds are super small living with this sort of anxiety after every small interaction sucks. can't imagine being someone who actually works at a hospital and what not.

we are hosting a kid during this time and went to meet his mother in a park, she did not wear a mask and maintained no distance at all, especially with her son, she was furious that the lockdown was not over, basically because she wanted to send her son back to boarding school and not have to pay us for hosting him. I didn't argue with her, what's the point?

I’ve been eating lunch in my truck or sitting on the tailgate when I have to drive through for a sandwich but now that we’re breaking 90 degrees I don’t see that lasting much longer. Gonna be a long time before I’m willing to sit inside somewhere to eat, though.

Restaurants open in MDC tomorrow at 50% capacity. All employees must wear masks and gloves. Outdoor seating prioritized. I've got a couple friends who want to risk eating at a table outside this Memorial Day weekend (what's a weekend?). I'll admit, I'm feeling frisky if tables are indeed six feet apart and everyone working there's wearing a mask.

OTOH no way in hell am I sitting at a bar or inside the restaurant.

Yea outdoor is a much lower risk. I'm tempted too cos i always mask.

Then again, i assumed the best when my friend invited me for a beer, told me he believed the bar was social distancing, and showed up to find no masks, no seating people apart, no outside seating ...zero controls.

Fortunately it was dead inside but assuming businesses are going to follow social distancing is futile. I won't visit anywhere that i haven't driven by first to make sure they're following.

Some friends are having a social distance gathering with masks outdoors on Sunday. We're all the type taking it seriously so I'm not worried there. Just happy to see friends again.

Went for a run with a teal (ymmv) face mask today and it was surprisingly fine, breathing-wise. I run on the grass or on the street as needed but it's nice to have the extra protection and get less dirty looks from passersby (a meagre minority, as most of them look and act like 'it's just a flu bro' types).

I've attended several small gatherings (three others at most) since late April. In every case we've sat in the yard at least six feet apart and have felt no anxiety.

fwiw here are MDC's guidelines: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/article242766186.html

so much about this virus is just impossibly frustrating, it's almost like it was designed in a lab (sorry) to wreak havoc on us. it's incredibly contagious and spreads from people who appear to be perfectly healthy. if you get it you may not know for weeks. the symptoms are all over the map. it's deadly, but not deadly enough for people to take it seriously.

the Ziggy Sobotka virus

like I wonder if something that got people deathly ill right away might have wound up killing less people

that was the case with ebola. and yep

sounds like the beginning of a county science fair victory

ebola not as contagious?

yeah, you're right, i'm not sure why i just threw that out there, heh

but in general, i think it's true that all else equal, there's a point where a virus becomes deadly enough that it winds up killing less people overall, just because it doesn't have as much time to spread and the infected people can be identified and quarantined earlier on in the process (unlike covid19, where many are asymptomatic or don't show symptoms for a few days)

So apparently one of my co-workers - though I haven't worked in the same department as him in a long time - has died. No indication of the cause yet, so maybe I shouldn't be jumping to conclusions, but he was fine before all this started, as far as I'm aware. He did suffer pretty badly from arthritis, that's all I know about any underlying health issues, he was probably late 50s? I expect I'll find out more over the next few days. Everyone is a bit shocked.

I don't miss working at all, but I do miss the people I work with.

xpost yeah whenever they talk about ebola and covid they bring up that ebola was so deadly and quick the person was unable to spread it before dying themselves.

Having played Plague Inc the best strategy for a virus is to focus on spreading far and wide then suddenly ramp up some horrible symptoms once it's endemic.

The slow motion virus is key to the particular form of psychic trauma we’ve all gotten to experience.

fwiw, here are Matt DC's guidelines

Sorry to hear that, Tom.

our daycare just announced their plan. they usually have a capacity of 66 kids. they're reopening in june with 24 kids. 3 kids per teacher. drop off is in the car park. parents may not leave the car. teachers will come to car with apron and mask and take kid's temperature, then bring them in. children over 3 must wear a mask. kids will not be allowed to play together. we said "that sounds like the scary adult bits in E.T., see you in ...august?"

also they've raised prices by 33%