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

coincidentally, walking home from the grocery store I decided to count the number of people I passed on the sidewalk/saw while walking around who were wearing vs. not wearing masks.

the total: 48 unmasked, 45 masked. (and we don't even have many restaurants on my path, so this is probably tilted in favor of the masked.)

this is never going to end

(granted I am probably well on the more cautious side -- I'm in a relationship and in order to keep seeing each other, both of us have agreed to limit our in-person interactions with other people to an absolute minimum. if anything I'm the more lax one, he wears N95s everywhere and has groceries delivered)

Teacher friend near Houston had to start her kids back in daycare last week to finish prepping for in-person instruction, family is already down with high fevers but COVID negative thus far.

Ned, I'm not being creepy (I swear), but I truly want to know which neighborhood you live in so I can imagine you walking in the morning. I miss SF in the morning, it was always a magic time.

Precita Park area. It's good for it -- uninterrupted walking and elevation for some cardio; I regularly work up both a good sweat along with my heart rate.

N95s still have to be worn correctly and be the right size. I used to run a fit testing programme so I can spot when they aren’t. I went for a Covid test yesterday And one of the nurses definitely had an n95 mask that was too big for her, sitting too low because of too long earloops and noticeable gaps along the cheekbones. I’ve not seen any research that in terms of protecting others a poorly worn n95 is probably worse than a cloth mask, but I do know that in terms of protecting yourself, a poor face seal on an N95 is no protection at all. It’s why, if you work a job that requires an n95 (or other respiratory protection) you have to be trained and fit tested at least once a year.

my understanding is that certain kinds of N95 masks with front valves are not protective of other people at all, since the valves allow exhalation of particles/virus.

I've never seen an N95 mask and I don't know how many varieties of them there are

Ned, love that area. Good friends used to live on Folsom, right on the park there.

My partner has told many people about getting fitted properly for N95s and no one ever listens to him.

Yes, valves are bad news and provide no protection to others.

I took my son to a playground for the first time in ages. There are signs everywhere that say masks are mandatory. We were the only people there wearing masks. I want capital punishment for all the other parents.

i guess a friend of mine's wife got into a fight with another guy over masks today, and his reply was "I'm 55, I'm white, and I'm a man, I don't have to listen to your shit!"

lol he said that

wait, I got it wrong, according to his FB he said "I'm white, I'm a man, I'm 55. You can't tell me what to do".

which iirc was the title of the latest LA Guns album

At which point one points below his waist and guffaws loudly.

apparently he got in his car and sped off. like a REAL MAN.

What did LA Guns do to you?

mostly referring to this: https://www.metalsucks.net/2016/04/25/l-guns-vocalist-phil-lewis-pays-tribute-prince-racist-comments/

Ahhhhhj

This made me look up Tracii Guns Twitter and I am now extremely glad I did

Some of you might understand this. pic.twitter.com/NTlNV6UaGU

— Tracii Luk Guns ⨁ (@TraciiGuns) September 5, 2020

Tracii Guns is anti Trump looks like

Axl too time for a reunion

hahahha they've been looking for revenge since '92 and I think they got a type of it

yeah Sebastian Bach and Nikki Sixx too, glad to see they've had some personal growth

Balls to the wall woke rock

I'm not getting the Malkmus involvement, is that a tshirt he's done in a borrowed style or is he and the Jicks a folk devil for hair metalists?

https://consequenceofsound.net/2012/02/check-out-stephen-malkmus-and-the-jicks-covers-l-a-guns/

Hanging out here in Galena, Illinois. First time I've spent any amount of time around more than a few people nowhere near home. Also the first time I have seen any Trump signs (outside of town) in many many months, but I've also seen plenty of Biden signs, and everyone here seems to be wearing masks in the places and at the times they should be. Just went kayaking, which is a great social distance activity. And there are a couple of really nice Ulysses S Grant parks and monuments, including the home where he lived before he was brought out of retirement for the civil War.

Hope the monuments and all were appropriately spat upon.

I have to go to the big supermarket today, having lived of things from the local mini supermarkets exclusively for the last 6 months. I plan on going in the last hour of trading when it'll be least busy, I guess.

It's 20 minutes away rather than 10. And that'll also be the first time I've been outside whilst it's been dark since march.

Yesterday my younger son got to be the first person in our family to get a COVID test. I don't really think he's sick, but he woke up throwing up yesterday and ran a temperature right at 100 all day, so erring on side of caution I took him in. (Gastrointestinal issues can be COVID symptoms.) He feels better today, but I have to keep him out of school until we get the test result, which will hopefully be tomorrow. Both of our kids are going to school in-person, so I'm just sort of assuming one or the other will get infected or have to quarantine because of exposure at some point. Fun.

yikes, good luck tipsy.

Tipsy - we were in an almost identical situation about a month ago - we had been quarantining to go to a beach house with family and the morning we were scheduled to leave, my 6-year-old son woke up looking pale and threw up. Incredibly, we got a pediatrician appointment before noon and had a negative result in hand by the next morning(!), so we were able to go on the trip missing only one day. That was the only test anyone in my family has gotten. My wife and I have planned to get them a couple of times but both times the anticipated wait time for results rendered their usefulness to us moot. Our pediatrician seemed to have the inside track though, thankfully. Wishing you the best with your kids.

good luck, tipsy

Since we're utterly absent any other symptoms and it both came on for us at exactly the same time, we think it's just food related, but lordy if my husband and I have not had just awful awful GI problems the past few days. Normally this would be merely annoying and gross, but since I have an end colostomy, it also makes me utilize more rather expensive supplies than I normally would.

But we also are both really worried about Covid.

We have the grandmoms over right now (my mom had been staying with us), and watching them interact - leaning over one another, laughing loudly at each other, loudly conversing next to one another - makes me wonder if they actually think they *are* social distancing and this is how they do things in their daily lives, if they're just not worried, if they're just happy to have novel company/socialization, or if each is confident enough that they and the other are not sick (which is possible/likely). Maybe all of those things. Of course, each traveled here by plane, too, but were as careful as they could be, by all indications, in the air/airport. Still, makes me uneasy, but that could also just be because these are our only living parents and of course we also haven't really had guests in months either and it's a little weird, no matter who it is. And it's not really my place to hector them, given how smart and generally responsible they both are. I want them to be healthy, but I also want them to be happy, and who knows when we will see them next.

JIC, that's exactly how I felt when my parents visited as the first guests we'd had a couple of months ago. Had to stop myself inwardly wincing when they hauled my (school-attending) kid onto their knees and read books, heads together.

RIP my future condolences to all involved

As I expected, my son's test came back negative. So we're in the clear for now. Which means he gets to go back to school tomorrow ...

What a time.

Just got tested for the first time. They go deep! No symptoms, but my employer offered tests on campus today, one of these mobile testing units. Waited 20 minutes, now have to wait 24 to 48 hours for results.

In a shop yesterday queuing for the cashier. They have markings on the ground and I'm keeping distance from the person ahead. A woman starts edging into the space ahead of me before I catch her eye and she deigns to ask if I'm in the que. No I just like standing around in the middle of fuxking shops for no reason you stupid xunt. Anyway, that cleared up she proceeds to stand behind me, like up my arse behind me, and the next bloke does the same behind her. We are all wearing masks and these people seem to have no idea why. Jesus fucking Christ bring on the second wave man let's end it.

That happens to me every time I'm in a store or other public space.

When you have a GP appointment here you have to wait outside and they supposedly send someone out to tell you where to go. I was the only person waiting for ages, then this older lady walks up the path behind me and stands about 4 inches from me. I try and do the polite 'lean and amble' but she kept following me!

my cousin is having a small (~20 people) wedding today but I’m kind of pissed about it because people are still flying in from all over and she said she’s going to have a bigger one with more people in June anyway (wtf).

I just spent a night in hospital sharing a room and a toilet with a bunch of older folk who didn't seem so clued in on the old hygiene measures and were mad into coughing (and in one case streaking).

14 days ahead of holing up at home and hoping none of us had the virus.

hope you're ok, onimo!

yes, nobody is distancing here, and for some reason in this country hardly anyone bothered wearing masks outside to begin with, and half the people who are wearing masks have them under their noses if not their chins, and customers are supposed to wear them in shops but staff are exempt and most of them don't bother (at least in my local shops), and it drives me mad.

I went to the GP a while ago and it wasn't clear whether I was supposed to phone reception (which was repeatedly engaged) or press the doorbell. Whichever method I finally managed to get hold of them with, the receptionist seemed quite grumpy, like I'd done it wrong. I finally got let in about 30 seconds before my appointment time, after waiting for 15 minutes getting increasingly worried that the receptionist might not answer until after my given time and then tell me to go away because I was late.

My rona test was negative. I'll probably keep on getting them every time the mobile testing caravan is on campus, which isn't gonna be very often, but I'm teaching university students in person and taking trains to/fro work one day a week, so I want to keep up with this.

Anyone else been having recurring covid dreams? I keep having dreams where I am in a public space (record store, bus, train, etc.) and not wearing a mask or those near me are not wearing a mask. There is a rush of panic in trying to then find my mask/get away from the non-mask wearers/distance myself.

I had those back in March and April, not much since.

saw a viral tweet along the lines of "new yorkers are so great, they put their mask up whenever they see a stranger!" and the one person who pointed out that they should have their mask up all the time was swarmed in the replies like "but you can stay six feet away, you must not actually live in new york." which, no, you actually can't, I can't even walk up my block without coming within like 6 *inches* of people; and also this doesn't account for the MANY people who just don't wear masks at all

also the "but I just can't wear a mask in the heat/get fresh air/talk on the phone in a mask!" excuses are all bullshit. I don't have a particularly loud speaking voice and I have never had any problems talking on the phone in a mask; I also have the worst heat tolerance of anyone I know and not once have I ever thought "man, if only my mouth and chin weren't covered, then I wouldn't pass out."

so, no, I haven't had those dreams, I just live them instead

which, no, you actually can't, I can't even walk up my block without coming within like 6 *inches* of people

This sounds right to me. I walk around outside without a mask but that's because I live in an un-dense city where if somebody is coming towards me on the sidewalk I can just step off and walk in the street, not an option for Manhattanites.

I mean, I can walk in the street, just not if there are cars coming