Schools close, Tom Hanks, trouble in the big banks, no vaccine, quarantine, no more toilet paper seen.Travel ban, Weinstein, panic COVID-19, NBA, gone away, what else do I have to sayyyyyy https://t.co/N86qx9wZxq— The Caffeinated Therapist (@bellabee13) March 12, 2020
― Bougy! Bougie! Bougé! (Eliza D.), Thursday, 12 March 2020 12:52 (four years ago) link
You're covered by the thread title tbf xp
― bold caucasian eroticism (Simon H.), Thursday, 12 March 2020 12:52 (four years ago) link
Got a weird email from my manager at 10pm about figuring out how to keep our operations going remotely. So I guess I might be working from home soon.
― Muswell Hillbilly Elegy (President Keyes), Thursday, 12 March 2020 12:55 (four years ago) link
Having said all that, in retrospect it does occur to me that "if you think you're sick stay home" probably wasn't terribly helpful advice. I'm not interested in assigning blame, but I am interested in knowing who on earth thought propagating that message was a good idea, and why they thought it was a good idea.
This is a new pathogen that none of us have experienced before. We don't know what its early symptoms are. We don't know in detail how it spreads. There's reason to suspect that there might be some period of time - we don't know how long - wherein an infected person is asymptomatic but can still infect others. Differentiating it from cold or flu or other common upper respiratory infections is extremely difficult. Under these conditions, what's the functional difference between "If you think you might be sick, stay home" and "Stay home if you feel like it"? And what logical thought process would lead one to conclude that either of these statements might possibly be an effective containment measure?
-
This is mostly apolitical but since it came up... I don't speak for the President, the President doesn't speak for me, listen to me, care what I have to say, acknowledge me as human. I don't know what I can do here but shrug. We have in office a professionally incompetent President whose ideological and political base is centered around the sorts of people who only a few years ago were spinning wild conspiracy theories about "FEMA death camps". Do I think this bodes well for the effectiveness of the federal response to the crisis? No. Is it likely that people who listen to the President are more likely to suffer adverse outcomes because of the President's words and actions here? Yes. Would I like to see the President held responsible for those words and actions? Yes. Do I, at this point, have any practical opportunity to make this happen? Not really. Is all this even a priority of mine right now? No, my priority is, like I said, surviving and learning as much as I can out of the experience.
Like I said, a lot of things are going to go down outside of anyone's control, and if I can say anything about the last four years, it's that I've gotten very used to that. I have a much better sense now, I feel, of what things I can practically affect, and how, than I did in 2016.
― Kate (rushomancy), Thursday, 12 March 2020 12:58 (four years ago) link
I think a lot of state and local governments recognize that they cannot rely on the stupid asshole for help, let alone competence.
Looking into our trip, it seems the only catch is airbnb, whose cancellation policy is linked (for now) to explicit outbreak destinations. Ergo, if we cancelled our trip to Maui we'd likely have to eat the cost, unless the owners themselves (did the right thing and) allowed us to cancel or at least reschedule.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 12 March 2020 13:07 (four years ago) link
Oh great, another US politics thread
― God gave toilets rolls to you, gave toilet rolls to you (Tom D.), Thursday, 12 March 2020 13:13 (four years ago) link
Babies and children have been ok so far haven’t they? They’re not getting it as much and I don’t think I’ve seen reports of fatalities.
― gramsci in your surplice (gyac), Thursday, 12 March 2020 11:58 (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink
i understand why ppl are being fuzzy out of sensitivity to those held to me most at risk, but imo this us why clarity about this stuff has to be prioritised.
ppl will be dicks with the info ir not, but the info has to be clear
― BSC Joan Baez (darraghmac), Thursday, 12 March 2020 13:14 (four years ago) link
I’d be nervous about meeting a baby in case it gave it to me
― nephs and nieces spread diseases (wins), Thursday, 12 March 2020 13:18 (four years ago) link
Try to avoid handshakes with babies.
― God gave toilets rolls to you, gave toilet rolls to you (Tom D.), Thursday, 12 March 2020 13:19 (four years ago) link
don't share a snorkel with a baby.
― Yerac, Thursday, 12 March 2020 13:20 (four years ago) link
If you're going to a business meeting make sure no babies have been invited.
― God gave toilets rolls to you, gave toilet rolls to you (Tom D.), Thursday, 12 March 2020 13:21 (four years ago) link
*must not make masturbating in front of babbies joke*
― Le Bateau Ivre, Thursday, 12 March 2020 13:22 (four years ago) link
2020 Babby Annual Meeting has been canceled.
― Yerac, Thursday, 12 March 2020 13:23 (four years ago) link
― God gave toilets rolls to you, gave toilet rolls to you (Tom D.), Thursday, 12 March 2020 13:21 (four minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink
would that twere so simple
― BSC Joan Baez (darraghmac), Thursday, 12 March 2020 13:26 (four years ago) link
id be nervous meeting a baby, only cause they’re so judgmental
― ooga booga-ing for the bourgeoisie (voodoo chili), Thursday, 12 March 2020 13:26 (four years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAG-Ec4b-zw
― nashwan, Thursday, 12 March 2020 13:28 (four years ago) link
lol
― God gave toilets rolls to you, gave toilet rolls to you (Tom D.), Thursday, 12 March 2020 13:28 (four years ago) link
if you look around the room and don't see a baby, you're baby
― bold caucasian eroticism (Simon H.), Thursday, 12 March 2020 13:29 (four years ago) link
Just received a company-wide 'remote-work capabilities' mandatory survey. FINGERS CROSSED. Although, having never been given the option of working before, my at-home set-up is woefully inadequate wrt doing my job at home. I'd expect a roughlyyyyyy (taps furiously at calculator keys) 80% reduction in productivity? I pretty much need two screens and my laptop only has one. Oh well!
― Unparalleled Elegance (Old Lunch), Thursday, 12 March 2020 13:35 (four years ago) link
yeah I usually have 2-3 huge screens at work and would only work on my little laptop in bed, but still worth it to work at home!
― Yerac, Thursday, 12 March 2020 13:39 (four years ago) link
For sure.
― Unparalleled Elegance (Old Lunch), Thursday, 12 March 2020 13:41 (four years ago) link
What if your boss is a babby, like in the hit motion picture Boss Babby? What then?
I finally traded in my desktop PC at work for a work-approved laptop with VPN access to our network, making it easier if I need to wfh for an extended period of time. Which, if I see one more case within a 5-mile radius of my living room, is exactly what I'm going to do, after I seal my house in one of those big E.T. quarantine tents.
― Bougy! Bougie! Bougé! (Eliza D.), Thursday, 12 March 2020 13:45 (four years ago) link
― God gave toilets rolls to you, gave toilet rolls to you (Tom D.)
look, i stay out of the dedicated politics threads, if people are going to bring this shit up in response to my posts i'm not going to pretend it doesn't matter
― Kate (rushomancy), Thursday, 12 March 2020 13:56 (four years ago) link
Still no working from home for me, the new thing is to come to work and set up online meetings I guess.
― change display name (Jordan), Thursday, 12 March 2020 14:17 (four years ago) link
The title does say mostly apolitical…
― romanesque architect (pomenitul), Thursday, 12 March 2020 14:18 (four years ago) link
So the university I work for is also now sending most students home and switching to online classes for the rest of the semester and having most people tele-commute. However, I'm apparently somehow considered "essential personnel", so I guess I just have to start assuming and planning as if it's a 100% certainty I'll get this in the next few weeks.
― soaring skrrrtpeggios (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Thursday, 12 March 2020 14:20 (four years ago) link
We share our floor in the building with Willis Towers Watson, and they have a large reception area & offices right out of the elevator lobby as well as several other spaces all controlled by security card access. As of this morning there are signs on every door stating that if you have traveled recently to China, Italy, Iran, South Korea or Japan, not to proceed beyond that point and to speak to your manager immediately.
― Bougy! Bougie! Bougé! (Eliza D.), Thursday, 12 March 2020 14:44 (four years ago) link
Kinda surreal at work as we go about cancelling all our events through April but everyone is talking about what shows they're still going to next week despite SXSW being cancelled.
― avellano medio inglés (f. hazel), Thursday, 12 March 2020 14:58 (four years ago) link
We’re still not working from home yet either. Someone sitting near me just fainted! Things are starting to feel surreal and I almost laughed at the absurdity of the situation.
― MrDasher, Thursday, 12 March 2020 15:03 (four years ago) link
just reading through this morning's posts.
sorry to be so blunt and judgmental, but josh if you're looking for clear messaging, here it is: do not go on your planned hawaii trip. ed (and many others) explained upthread:
It helps everyone. Very interaction is a chance you could pick it up or pass it on. So the fewer interactions the slower it spreads, the less chance someone vulnerable gets it and the more chance there is to find a vaccine before more vulnerable people get and the more able the healthcare system is able to cope with acute cases that do arise.
― American Fear of Pranksterism (Ed),
― Karl Malone, Thursday, 12 March 2020 15:17 (four years ago) link
you don't have to analyze this 4 million different ways. if you feel later that your life was ruined because you didn't go to hawaii in the middle of a global pandemic when everyone was being told* to distance themselves from others as much as possible, you can blame it on me.
*yes, i know that some people are sending a different message. let's try to pay more attention to the cautious people who know what they're talking about*
― Karl Malone, Thursday, 12 March 2020 15:19 (four years ago) link
Karl otmfm
― handsome boy modelling software (bernard snowy), Thursday, 12 March 2020 15:22 (four years ago) link
Okay, now the VP of our division emailed me and the rest of the hourly staff to see if we have the ability to work from home in the event that our office is shut down, so shit is most definitely getting real.
But, y'know, y'all wait to pull the trigger until I finally do get sick, I'm just gonna be home watching hours of MeTV on the couch and not doing shit for you for a while.
― Unparalleled Elegance (Old Lunch), Thursday, 12 March 2020 15:23 (four years ago) link
be kind, be kind, be kind, be kind.
also thank god TD Bank is here for me
I'm reaching out to you directly to say that TD Bank is here for you, especially when COVID-19 is affecting so much of daily life. We want to make sure banking is easy, convenient and available to you whenever and wherever you need it.
― Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Thursday, 12 March 2020 15:44 (four years ago) link
TD Bank used to be there for me, too. but then i switched to a different bank and we haven't been speaking, ever since.
i just got a coronavirus update from a hair salon i went to a couple years ago
― Karl Malone, Thursday, 12 March 2020 15:48 (four years ago) link
Fwiw, flying itself isn't the issue. Even one of the virologists who was screaming about how bad the US is handling this stated it's difficult to spread on a plane due to the HEPA filters and that flying wasn't a big risk. It's more the 'interacting with people once you land' that's the problem.
Traveling by bus, otoh, is just asking for it.
― sorry for butt rockin (Neanderthal), Thursday, 12 March 2020 15:52 (four years ago) link
I don't need to be preached at about what is right or wrong. I get it.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 12 March 2020 15:56 (four years ago) link
The same reason I wouldn't go anywhere is the same reason anybody shouldn't be going anywhere.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 12 March 2020 15:57 (four years ago) link
sorry to preach, but your posts don't indicate that you get it
― Karl Malone, Thursday, 12 March 2020 15:58 (four years ago) link
josh otm afaict
unless we're presuming everyone not flying is literally indoors religiously self-isolating, like?
― BSC Joan Baez (darraghmac), Thursday, 12 March 2020 15:59 (four years ago) link
xpost Whatever. Fine, replace Hawaii with Ohio. Or downtown Chicago. Or the store on the corner.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 12 March 2020 16:00 (four years ago) link
see what i mean
― Karl Malone, Thursday, 12 March 2020 16:00 (four years ago) link
Gentlemen, you can't fight in here! This is the pandemic thread!
― soaring skrrrtpeggios (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Thursday, 12 March 2020 16:23 (four years ago) link
I don’t necessarily think it’s unfair to want hard, unambiguous statements about what to do and not to do. yes, there’s “stay home if you’re sick,” but that does precisely nothing to clarify things for people who aren’t sick. (not to mention if “home” = around roommates or, more serious, inmunocompromised relatives, but that’s neither here nor there.)
like, for instance, I have canceled pretty much all travel until late may, and late may might also be canceled, but it’s not up to me in that case. (ironically one trip was to get some lab work done, but I guess I go without). one job is remote already, one is in person but likely to go remote.
but beyond that, what? do I go to restaurants? do I go to readings/events/parties/game nights/etc.? do I order stuff online, via usps or otherwise? do I see people in public at all? the guidelines on this are both maddeningly vague and heavily (and in this case understandably) morally charged. (and there’s also a lot of research suggesting that isolation is bad for your mental health as well as physical)
― like, I’m eating an elephant head (katherine), Thursday, 12 March 2020 16:28 (four years ago) link
Agree. I mean, the UK govt line is increasingly controversial but at least it's a line and they're sticking to it. My US colleagues instead have a giant shrug and a "the markets are fine" as official advice.
― stet, Thursday, 12 March 2020 16:30 (four years ago) link
my wife and I decided last night we should postpone the trip we had planned for Disneyland at the end of this month. there's gonna be tears.
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 12 March 2020 16:33 (four years ago) link
also, “buy food and supplies. but not too much food, you monster. but also you should buy food and supplies, and more than usual. if you don’t use hand sanitizer you are typhoid mary. if you buy hand sanitizer you are stealing it from everyone else who needs it more. if there’s no hand sanitizer don’t buy the resale stuff. but you need to use hand sanitizer. also, hand sanitizer is not helpful. oh also you shouldn’t be in crowds so stores are out. no, stores are ok. but not too much.” the whole thing is fucking nightmarish to try to optimize, but also it is a consensus that somehow one must
― like, I’m eating an elephant head (katherine), Thursday, 12 March 2020 16:33 (four years ago) link
stores are crowds? I don't shop anywhere where there's more than like 50 people in the store at a time.
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 12 March 2020 16:35 (four years ago) link
if you live in new york city that’s a fucking miracle, the average grocery store is as cramped and crowded as a rush hour subway train even on a good day.
― like, I’m eating an elephant head (katherine), Thursday, 12 March 2020 16:36 (four years ago) link
katherine otm. do yr best, don't be a dick, stay informed, but no sense in worrying yrself sick over it (do u see what I did there)
― bold caucasian eroticism (Simon H.), Thursday, 12 March 2020 16:38 (four years ago) link