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

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%

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.

i think that was a statham movie

also you basically had to pee on someone for them to get it

Hey don't kink-shame

^ gets it

It isn't especially difficult to imagine why, even in a pandemic, a food delivery guy might be forbidden from just leaving food in the lobby of a shared building.

not for nothing, but most food delivery services like Doordash, UberEats, Postmates, etc are actively advertising contact-less delivery. Delivery from the restaurant itself might follow different policies, but it isn't like it's not possible. most of my meals have been contactless and they've taken a picture of where they left it on my doorstep so I knew where to find it.

(in the US, that is)

there was one instance where the person wouldn't leave it despite me putting contactless delivery on the form, requiring me to get it out of his hands. It seemed more like it was just his own discomfort of not wanting to leave it though I didn't ask why, I didn't get angry, but I also don't think OL's post deserved the dogpile.

esp given the invectives flung towards other people in public who haven't worn masks or followed social distancing in this same thread. people are stressed out and they're venting much more than usual. not that I'm saying there aren't still lines that can be crossed or that people shouldn't be held accountable for being abusive, but I don't think his posts remotely fell in that category.

it seems like yesterday when a noticeable enough number of ilxors didn't feel like wearing a facecovering in public.

― Yerac, Monday, May 18, 2020 11:02 AM bookmarkflaglink

even actively arguing against the efficacy

― Yanni Xenakis (Hadrian VIII), Monday, May 18, 2020 11:06 AM bookmarkflaglink

Yes, that was back in late February and early March, when our own Surgeon General, the CDC, and other medical professionals were all in lockstep telling us not to bother wearing masks, that they provided little to no protection, and that they were taking supplies away from medical providers. Of course people would react that way afterwards.

However, it's been more than a month and a half (late March/first week of April) since that conventional wisdom was changed, that studies confirmed that you didn't need surgical masks or N-95s, that wearing even cloth masks helped reduce transmission, and the CDC themselves recommended people wear cloth masks in public. and it was clarified that you don't need surgical masks or N-95s, and clarified how you could easily make them at home.

and right now, the primary most people aren't wearing them in public isn't "confusion" or "other people stopping them", it's "defiance", it's "you can't make me". that doesn't mean I think OL's delivery person was one of those "you can't make me wear a mask" assholes, but all of us are angry at that sect of conspiracy-mongering garbage people who "refuse to wear masks", so sometimes anger at those people manifests itself whenever we see anybody not wearing a mask. One of my best friends for the last 15 years, who I consider family, and I got in an argument over this and didn't speak for two days just a week ago, and we both realized we were being stupid and were just stressed out about life.

san dimas high school football rules.
so idk....I don't think venting

*primary reason

what sucks is how the whole "masks don't help" -> "you need a mask to be in public" shift casts doubt upon the whole thing, further confirming to right wing idiots that the CDC doesn't know what they're doing and this is just the flu but hey hydrochloroquine could help

we should be angry at how poorly the CDC, the surgeon general, et al managed the communication on masks, because there's a wide gulf between "we don't know if masks will help, but we're looking into studies" and "DON'T WEAR MASKS!". they could have easily just said "we recommend wearing masks - we're still looking into the effectiveness of wearing them, so you should not stop social distancing, you shouldn't shake hands, you shouldn't hug people, and continue to avoid large gatherings and stay at home when possible", but instead had to make the stupid "masks are pointless" statement, which is impossible to effectively walk back.

in other news, they're imposing mandatory one-week furloughs on all employees who make more than 75k, and will begin offering voluntary furloughs and hours reductions soon at my job. I'm not impacted yet, but I fear layoffs will come shortly after.

fortunately I've just paid off my car sooooo....if it happens, it happens! meanwhile furloughs would still qualify for unemployment presumably.

Bars have been cleared to reopen here with restrictions on Friday. A lot are holding out, particularly places that host music/comedy/theatre, because they're not sure how the rules affect them. However, one performance venue here has bypassed the vagaries and announced that they too will be starting up again with shows on Friday. They seem to have a good plan--masks required (if you don't have one, you can buy one for $1), temperature checks at the door, socially distanced seating at Comedy shows--but they're also hosting...dance parties.

Now I can understand DJ nights looking attractive from a booking standpoint, but...you know? Social contact and everything...

wondering how the strip clubs are going to re-open here

Hazmat suit lap dances

"I think I have a boner right now but it might just be clumping"

https://thenypost.files.wordpress.com/2020/04/little-darlings-las-vegas.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=1234

oh did you not already hear about the

https://www.thecut.com/2020/05/dancers-drive-through-strip-club-coronavirus.html

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?"

ours is doing this too though I don't think we're going to send them until July or August if we can. I feel like if one of the parents got it we'd all wind up getting it within a week.

do we know yet why this virus is so relatively harmless for children? I still feel it's smart to hold off on exposing them for as long as we can but idk if my "at least the kids will definitely be fine" confidence is misplaced

July is our deadline. Camps for our kids in Houston open and I’ll be close to running out of time off. I had surgery on my leg mid- february, I can’t WAIT TO GET THE FUCK OUT OF THIS HOUSE. I’m scared that it’s going to shut down again right then. Fuck you Greg Abbott.

I work at a museum that is opening next week and it boggles my mind that we are doing this. Glad I have an excuse to stay home.

I knocked a pint glass that I'd rescued from the street flying yesterday as I picked other things around it up, so had both hands full. It shattered on hitting the floor.
& I realised that it wouldn't be easy to replace it for a while. Not sure how safe either. Used to just pick them up so they didn't leave broken glass all over the street and cos they were useful.