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

I am also not that afraid of getting this per se, but am afraid of spreading it and of being an irresponsible person.
I also share the more trivial/selfish fear of missing stuff I want to do due to it being canceled/closed or to being quarantined .

Then there is my workplace, which with the foresight, preparedness, and sense of priority I have come to expect, first starting implementing work-from-home procedures just last week. We were told to "test" working from home, but I'm not sure they plan to use this unless the building is actually closed or something. They also told us to stay out of the office if we feel sick, but when I asked if we could then work from home rather than charge sick time, was told "probably not."

In the past few days I've developed a cough-not dry, no other symptoms, and feels pretty identical to coughs I've had many times before (I tend to be a bit of chronic coughed) but still feel uncertainty about going out...

I think there's a thin line between paranoia and denial here.

I also share the more trivial/selfish fear of missing stuff I want to do due to it being canceled/closed or to being quarantined.

Yep, there are several local film screenings in the next couple of months I want to see.

Then there's my mother. She lives alone; I'm not sure if she (or I, for that matter) have comorbidities; I could see her getting sick and being too independent to reach out to me and my sister before things take a turn for the worse.

Aaaaaand the DC Environmental Film Festival has already canceled a number of events: https://dceff.org/covid-19-and-dceff/.

I can't believe Chicago is, as of this moment, plowing ahead with their St. Patrick's Day parade. Seems wildly irresponsible as it's really starting to get a toehold here, but what do I know. Suspect there's a lot of "this is Amurica and no damn furren' disease is going to stop my day drinking and projectile vomiting" going around.

Holy shit really? That's awful.

Starting to freak out over here reading about Italy's healthcare system being overwhelmed.

You'd think they'd cancel out of an abundance of caution alone. But I dunno. I've somehow never been to the parade (and I've been here for almost 30 years!), but I imagine the parade isn't nearly as dangerous as all those slobbering drunk people congregating in tight-quarter bars afterwards. I wouldn't do either, regardless.

Re: Italy, I made light of it on the other thread, but I don't see how the situation can be so serious and pervasive, yet the quarantine situation be so seemingly lax.

I unfailingly self-quarantine the weekend of the St. Patrick's parade as a general thing. All the more reason to batten down the vomit-proof hatches, I guess.

I went for the first time ever last year, but only because we have family friends that walk in the parade with a group and they invited our son. He had a blast last year throwing candy to the crowd, but we won't be going this year.

The parade itself wouldn't be bad, but last year, just to get to the parade route, you had to literally shove your way through an unceasing wall of humanity to access Grant Park. That part gives me pause under the best of conditions, I can't imagine doing it right now.

What if you slathered yourself with Shamrock Shake first?

Then I could get a head start on the projectile vomiting!

For sure you'll look like someone already barfed on you.

Man, avoiding public spaces sucks. I was all, "OK, I'm fully stocked up and unemployed, I live with people I like, I'm near a park, I can go into semi-lockdown and be fine! I am DOING MY PART to slow the spread!" And now I just feel like a Jean Gabin character who's slowly going insane as he hides from the police.

Whereas I think I could literally hunker down in my home for a year with no psychological detriment that wasn't already present or imminent. P psyched for the prospect of a quarantine, tbrr.

Now ask my gf how she feels about being quarantined alongside me.

thats awesome

I would love to work from home tbh, but I'm pretty sure there's no way my company is going to sanction it. The closest they've gotten is allowing partial sick days when you're working from home (when actually sick).

And my wife is a physical therapist, so no option there, just have to go in and touch old people all day long.

i mean *boston* and *DUBLIN* canceled their parades, but carry on, nyc and chicago

ah well pic.twitter.com/QO6uSCcmBS

— #⃣1⃣ reanimated ♂feminst breakfast abolitionist (@damienredicamn1) March 10, 2020

Great opportunity to ban St Patrick's Day anywhere but Ireland forever.

I guess officials in Chicago are just impatient for this shit to start really spreading in earnest. Can't really think of a quicker or more efficient way to do it, myself.

I dunno, listening to the Gov. I felt a lot more confident than in anything I've heard from the Feds so far. But yeah, this can all change overnight. I have a good friend who was freaking out that SXSW was not being cancelled ... and then it was. Let's see where Chicago is on Friday.

Bagged the last packet of pasta in Morrisons, so I will live and the rest of you must eat toilet paper or die.

Petition to revise New Hampshire's slogan

Great opportunity to ban St Patrick's Day anywhere but Ireland forever.

Just one of these weird, meaningless things I tend to notice (like the knight from The Seventh Seal dying in the middle of a pandemic): first Dick Van Dyke campaigns for Sanders, now the National Guard is called out to New Rochelle.

can't wait to see how Alan Brady riffs on this during his monologue tonight...

I went to Hope Depot to get a dust mask for a painting project and then I realized ... oh right, everyone bought every kind of mask in the entire store

Home Depot. Hope Depot is a great typo tho

I don't see how the situation can be so serious and pervasive, yet the quarantine situation be so seemingly lax.

In the USA people are extremely resentful of and rebellious toward any interference in what they see as their personal prerogatives. Imposing widespread quarantines and travel restrictions here would not only require calling out the National Guard, but would inspire active rebellions, especially among the Republican base. Nothing would reveal the inability of the government to control the chaos like announcing strict quarantines. If they happen, I edict they will happen almost exclusively in states controlled by Democrats, and public cooperation will be poor... unless there are shoot-to-kill orders issued.

I predict

Been looking for a good guide to share with friends and family, this might be it: https://flattenthecurve.com

"I edict"

I momentarily felt reassured by the sudden realization that aimless was in charge.

When that happens I'll say "I decree".

I believe my workplace is now grounding any travel that is non-essential to the functioning of the business. Since I tacked a vacation onto this travel, it looks like I'll be eating about $800

I had our CFO tell me this morning that he thinks the entire coronavirus story is overblown and no one will be talking about it a month from now. Too early for I told you so?

― Biden my time/Drinking her wine (PBKR), Monday, March 9, 2020 4:58 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

Update: I verified the ability of most of our employees to work from home and asked our accounting dept. to verify their capabilities to do this (no answers). After a week or so of trying to get CEO/COO/various prepare for coronavirus, I basically gave up in the face of scoffing/mocking/it's not as bad as the flu. So this afternoon during a management meeting someone asked what we were doing to prepare for coronavirus and the very people who were scoffing say, "Oh, PBKR is writing a plan." NB: I am not writing a plan. Fuck them.

Once your business continuance plan is finalized, please cc ilx at your earliest convenience.

Apologies for the previous error. Once your business *continuity* plan is final, please also forward to HR and Records Management for archiving.

lol, I just found out that one of the three Ohio cases announced by Gov. Dewine yesterday is an AIPAC attendee who works the Jewish Education Center about a mile from my house. And I have other friends that work there.

https://www.cleveland19.com/2020/03/10/coronavirus-patient-works-jewish-education-center-cleveland-heights-offices-close-weeks/

PBKR Coronavirus Preparedness Plan

Intro

We are all going to die!!!

Conclusion

A bit of cognitive dissonance here watching other states cancel events, gatherings and parades left and right, but getting emails for local (Chicago area) events and conferences reading, essentially, "we see no reason to worry or not proceed as planned!". Conferences for out-of-town groups are being canceled, but it seems like locals are just doubling down.

Tell you what, I'd rather be embarrassed six months down the road by looking overly cautious than I would be embarrassed for furthering the spread to immunocompromised individuals but, hey, that's just me. Probably why I'm not in charge of making those decisions.

Tell you what, I'd rather be embarrassed six months down the road by looking overly cautious than I would be embarrassed for furthering the spread to immunocompromised individuals but, hey, that's just me. Probably why I'm not in charge of making those decisions.

OTM

Local "presumptive" cases have jumped 0-3 in 24 hours.

I got my thermometer at the local Walgreen's (cheap fluid type), most were out of stock. Older gentleman perusing cough remedies 4 ft away coughed, and I nearly left the ground.

im a wee bit phlegmy today and I've had a cough or two. hwfg!

Dry coughing at regular intervals here but have stocked up on meds and can work from home for a while. Just don't fever me!

I think phlegmy is generally good as in not likely to be covid19

https://www.flattenthecurve.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/covid19-symptoms.png

Fatigue is the least helpful symptom of every illness.

the governor made us cancel all meetings, trainings, etc. but not the work we do where we encounter 10x more members of the public than we would sitting in a meeting. this came out an hour after our office had a meeting with like 80 people crammed into a room. whoops.

Good to know the stuffy nose and sneezing is just the year round 'seasonal allergies' I developed after I quit smoking

i have constant stuffy nose and sneezing to the point that i take sudafed nearly every day. it's how i know i'm "normal."