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

xxp yep, totally agree. Case by case, like public health needs some micromanagement nitpicking if the job couldn’t be perfectly done as well from home.

really glad my wedding is not until July.

mine is june, and i'm sweating a lil bit.

My workplace is still open and apparently senior management is split between the WFH/shut-it-down advocates and a group demanding we stay open and insisting this isn't a big deal. If anyone at work gets the 'vid I hope it's them.

rooting for jim and voodoo’s weddings

I’ve clearly gone full Australian because I just burst out laughing at that.

So I had to refresh all goddamn day to find a non-paywalled news source to confirm but, joy, someone who works in a building two blocks from my own workplace has tested positive. And now the fun begins!

Am I correct in my feeling that preparation for a situation like this can be broadly reduced to a lot of people in positions of authority saying 'psssh, nothing like this could ever happen to US'?

^^^ I think so. Although it's been interesting watching the cancellation of the Chicago St. Patrick's Day parade unfold. Publicly a handful of alderpeople were saying, "the parade must go on!" while behind the scenes they were essentially begging the mayor to come back from her vacation and cancel it for them.

Current irrational thinking: everyone is going to be exposed so I need to get it now before the hospitals are full and battlefield triage kicks in because I won't make the cut

good friend buried both parents this last three months and the other lads in the group of four island lads are kinda going full tabloid about their own aul wans after being faced with this sudden burst of mortality, im veering btwn sympathy and impatience with their freakouts

xps the parade thing is mystifying to me, considering the single example of how to mishandle a pandemic that i keep seeing is philadelphia's decision to hold a flu parade (maybe the parade wasn't 'for' the flu, but the flu certainly thought it was) in 1918

Just come to my doctors office, I broke a toe at the weekend and have been exhausted for a couple of days, but no fever or other symptoms. My doctor is great and fabulously unflappable. Diagnosed a gastro type virus and told me to take it easy but still took me though the whole corona drill, symptoms, list of known contact spots, advice on what to do to protect myself (wash hands, hand washing more effective than sanitiser, use a tissue to open doors). Said I could get tested at the royal Melbourne if I was worried but also said there was no reason to be worried and the wait was long.

However, my doctors office is in a building with a language school, medical offices, diagnostic clinics etc. and everyone who walked in with me walk straight past the hand sanitiser dispenser and into the lift. Very glad my button was pressed on the way up and elbow presses on the way down.

When you're sliding into first
And you feel something burst
Who cares, nobody around to see it
And nothing to wipe it with

I just checked the stocks & shares ISA I opened with 100 quid a couple of years ago and it was worth 97 quid, I was like fuck it just send me the cheque lol

I wonder if the IRS will allow 401ks who follow Safe Harbor to add special Hardship withdrawals for people financially impacted by it. They did in the past for hurricanes. This would be unusual but y'know...

I mean, it's all sorts of fucked up that someone would have to raid their retirement for this reason, but given the Senate rn.....

Also my doc was furious about the Grand Prix going ahead.

My doc is a good bloke.

I DON'T NEED AN EMAIL FROM MY FUCKING DENTIST ABOUT CORONAVIRUS

some bored PR ppl out there drafting emails about coronavirus today

probably soliciting clients. "iyo, do u need a coronavirus email? I'm drafting them for $5 and I'll give you my exclusive watermark to use in the background of ur email"

I got one from my kid’s field jockey league, thank god

quitting my job right before a pandemic-triggered recession was an interesting choice. wish I'd known I was making it at the time.

I've been getting a flurry of e-emails and social media posts from businesses and cultural institutions about their "measures" wrt the virus, most of which don't involve closing or cancelling anything. Are they just delaying the inevitable? And if there were a coordinated effort to close things now, might it in theory not have to be for as long? Obviously it would be a big financial loss, but isn't that inevitable as well?
I posted a little upthread about my selfish/trivial fear of missing out on things if they're closed/cancelled or I'm quarantined, but I'm getting the sinking sense that the responsible thing to do would be to avoid those things anyway?

GRRR.

OK so a few weeks ago we canceled our planned trip to Italy (for the kids' spring break, next week). Our alternative was a trip to New Orleans, where we were going to see the St. Patrick's Day Parade and the Mardi Gras Indians on Super Sunday. Well so of course New Orleans canceled ALL its public events, and we have now scrapped that trip as well (especially since New Orleans has just declared a state of emergency, which among other things means my wife would have to self-quarantine for two weeks when we got back, because of restrictions put in by the university where she works). So now we're telling the kids, like, maybe we can go to a movie one day?

But a lost spring break is a small thing, I know, compared to what a lot of people are dealing with.

Also the Big Ears Festival got canceled, which is the best weekend of the year every year here in town.

What a world.

Oh and also a conference my wife was going to in San Jose next month that I was going to totally tag along on is also of course canceled. We had reservations at NOBU! (I know, 1st world problems and all.)

Close to cancelling our Hawaii trip, which at this rate might be out of our control by next week anyway. We have friends going to Canada, Bahamas and Disney, and I believe all three have cancelled, or are trying to cancel.

canceled a trip home (both of my parents are in the high-risk age bracket and one has had a really bad health issue this year), almost certainly not going to pop conference even if there is a pop conference

still not sure at what point i'm supposed to stop doing things altogether, i have dinner reservations and tickets to see berio's sinfonia this weekend, should we still do that?

I had a slight cough/headaches/fatigue the last few days so I’ve been staying home. Kaiser told me not to bother getting tested. Symptoms are p mild so I’m kinda like eh whatever I’ll just wait this out.

More bummed that our trip to Disneyland in a few weeks is lookin less and less likely.

xp -- same, honestly

I am going to Va to visit a best friend next week.

Risk of getting it on flights is still relatively low, per the experts, and we're planning on staying in for most of it anyway.

I'm selling my tix to the Orlando City game Sat tho. Doesn't feel like a good idea to crowd in with 25k people.

buy low, sell high

I have the same question about if I am supposed to stop doing things and not leave my apartment for anything that's not essential. And for how long will that go on? A few months? A year?

If yr not sick do whatever you want

hm emoji

that's the whole problem, though, is that there is no way for anybody to know for certain that they're not sick

staythefuckhome.com imo

(actual guidance at that link)

lemme try that again https://staythefuckhome.com

pretty much staying in unless i need food

i'm not eating food until this is all over

cool a local person who attended the AIPAC conference has tested positive

i have also chosen to stay home. other than walking my dog i've been home since sunday. i'm lucky that i CAN choose to do that.

I was kinda joking, nobody listen to me i’m not a doctor

maybe we should all sign a quick nda

maybe this is all a trick to 1) get us all into our homes, 2) cut off internet, 3) break us all from our internet addiction

and we've been addicted for so long that this is what it looks and feels like to try come out of it

*slo-mo shot of me crying out in anger while reading a book on day 11 of no internet*

The doc appointment I was at yesterday, the receptionist loudly greeted and HUGGED a lady I guess she knew personally. Then when the lady said "actually Im here cos Im sick" and said she had a fever they made her put on a mask.

AFTER THE RECEPTIONIST HAD JUST FULL BODY HUGGED HER.

Tbh I'm in major need of saving money so i am down with laying low anyway.

Other than the one excursion.

It would be nice if state and natl govt could agree on whether we have community spread, but since fuckin' Desantnis is the one denying it, I'm sure he's lying

I think my work's about to make us all work from home and I am totally down with it. We can all do our jerbs from home anyway.