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

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/12/nyregion/coronavirus-new-york-update.html

New York will ban most gatherings of more than 500 people, including Broadway shows, and restrict smaller gatherings in an extraordinary step to fight the growing outbreak of the coronavirus in the state, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced on Thursday.

The restrictions represent New York’s most forceful move yet to try to mitigate the spread of the virus. They are expected to have a profound impact on the city’s cultural institutions, including Broadway, a multibillion dollar industry at the heart of New York’s tourist trade.

The ban will take effect at 5 p.m. Thursday for Broadway theaters and will go into effect for other venues on Friday at 5 p.m., Mr. Cuomo said.

Welp, so much for my NY trip in April.

and restrict smaller gatherings

Welp, so much for my NY trip in April

Already spiked mine.

travelling before like July (at best) seems inadvisable now

yup :(

well i stopped (I actually never began) studying for an exam I was supposed to take in May.

Heard through the grapevine a moment ago that someone in another of our company's buildings (not in our company's office, but still) just tested positive. And we just keep on a-whistling past that ol' graveyard.

company president just sent out the email, fucking finally. a couple of days late IMO but good faith somewhat restored

Of course the fucking Republican woman who works across from my wife decided it was fine to travel and come back into work this week. Today she called out sick and says she's trying to get tested for the virus.

You can all rest assured, we canceled our trip. Phew, outbreak averted!

Seriously though, we managed to get full refunds or credits on everything but the airbnb rental, which is mostly up to the owner, who did the best they could and got us 50%. The economic impact of this down the road is going to be huge, even when the virus is gone and the markets settle (assuming either of those things happen any time soon). Cancelling our trip to Maui alone means a couple thousand dollars not spent in a small, insular island tourist community. Losing SXSW lost Austin an estimated $350 million. I imagine there are hundreds of examples between those two extremes.

I'm in NYC at the moment. I've never seen LGA so quiet at noon. My plane had 17 passengers at my count. I do feel some trepidation and I've considered returning early but I figured the trip was in motion and there were a couple people I really needed to see.

Now I feel some guilt.

My university ended face-to-face classes yesterday thru April 4 at least.

The governor just ordered all schools in my county closed. Said to avoid theaters, gyms and stores.

What about bouncy houses?

using them as makeshift hospitals

If I had to choose between a hospital and a bouncy hospital ...

bouncy hospital = less prolonged contact with surfaces

But potentially more contact with a variety of surfaces/other wildly-bouncing patients and medical staff.

i get what katherine is saying in the sense that, just like with lots of other stuff in this shitty performative age, there's a group of people (not necessarily anyone itt) who are going to stake out the most extreme position and then act like even the slightest nudge against it makes you some kind of moral monster. i think people have an especially difficult time resisting this impulse when you have a group of people on the other side of the spectrum politically who are being aggressively ignorant and reckless about the danger. but yeah, there are a lot of slippery slopes here: I shouldn't go to a concert, but can I go to the grocery store? should I go to work? to church? i caught some of Scott Van Pelt on Sportscenter last night having this discussion with some other guy and SVP was trying very gently and with a million qualifiers to try and navigate what is and isn't acceptable right now and the other dude was basically just shutting him down and sort of implying that anything short of cancelling everything sports-related right now is monstrous. I mean, the easiest thing to do rhetorically is just say you shouldn't leave your house at all and you're killing people if you do.

― Evans on Hammond (evol j), Thursday, 12 March 2020 17:42 (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

booming post

I definitely don't want to shame anyone for their choices with this, and I apologize if I came off that way in any of my earlier posts. Obviously no one really knows how to handle it on a personal level. I'm bristling because I'm scared. It is definitely frustrating not feeling like there's a clear program to follow, especially when it comes to "social distancing" etc.

TBF I usually do wind up killing people whenever I leave my house.

I didn’t accuse anyone specifically; it should be clear to anyone paying attention the massive amount of sometimes contradictory but equally weighted mandates (with real stakes) coming from all directions

Hope your family will be ok LJ.

anything short of cancelling everything sports-related right now is monstrous

No, this is true. Only greedy fucks would actually go forward at this point. And I say this as a Flyers fan who hasn't had a team this good in ten years, but I will be shocked if there are any NHL or NBA playoffs this year.

That's literally the only thing I've heard the wanks behind me getting worked up about in the midst of this shit. Naw, man! You can't take our sports!!!!!

my nephew has a fucking hockey tournament this weekend and my mother has decided not to go, i guess the mn youth hockey association sent out a email saying old or compromised ppl shouldn't attend...but they aren't cancelling?

and it's not even greed! they probably lose money putting this shit on

but MN and hockey is fucking nutso, who knows

xxxp is this new username part of your social distancing

not sure how I feel abt it

Very best wishes, LJ.

I help coach my son's indoor flag football team, which is still on for the time being. Two weeks ago we shifted the kids from post-game "good game" lineup from slapping hands to elbow bumps, but maybe this time we'll just have them shout "good game" at each other from a respectable distance.

I'm mostly afraid of how many people will be financially devastated by this. I don't trust our government to take care of us. I have too many loved ones who might be severely fucked.

These were the right moves by the country. But we have an ass backwards government that will probably let its populace suffer.

I am sooooo thankful that I can work from home and I have decent savings, but there are way too many who don't.

I had a customer today who was complaining that people were making way too big of a deal about this. 10 minutes later I see my county has its first case. Cool!

Making a big thing out of it would have been a good idea

A MONTH AGO

many xps it's just my feelings about Star Wars

All Ontario schools are being closed for two weeks after March break.

http://toronto.ctvnews.ca/all-public-schools-in-ontario-will-be-closed-for-two-weeks-after-march-break-due-to-covid-19-1.4850653

On the FB chat group I'm on for my old school, the immediate reaction was twofold: good, and will we get paid? Which I totally understand (doesn't apply to me, being retired). They're currently in extremely acrimonious labour talks/work-to-rule with our Trump-like premier, and if anyone would try to withhold payment, he would.

xp sorry I thought for a moment you were KM returning to a variation on his bygone identity

lollll I live in SF and someone just posted to FB "poly peeps: how should we handle multiple relationships in the current context? what's the math on this?"

best wishes to your family, imago

just saw imago's post, so sorry to hear about that and best wishes for your family!

^^^

finally, someone has posted an answer to my questions upthread

https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2020/03/coronavirus-what-does-social-distancing-mean/607927/

(not sarcasm, this does answer a fair amount of those questions)

hey PBKR

Wash your hands for 45 seconds, 1 second for every consecutive year the Flyers have gone without a Stanley Cup

— SinceFlyersLastCup (@SinceFlyersCup) March 12, 2020

(throws battery)

My partner gets medical hand sanitiser on prescription, usually more than he needs, so we are awash with the stuff. We’ve stuck a bottle just inside the front door. I might even eventually start remembering to use it.

I start rehearsals next week for a Eurovision-themed comedy musical, that we are putting on in Rotterdam in Eurovision week. So I am very aware of the deafening silence coming from the Netherlands. I’ll be amazed if we actually get to perform it.

Disneyland closed

Pornhub open

Goofy getting tested

14 local cases. Finally saw masks on all staff and most of the patrons of the local Chinese grocer. I felt embarassed that I didn't bring one (still sealed in a 5 pk at home). I tried not to breath on anybody...

I'm actually impressed by how quickly things seem to be cancelling or reducing. I think everyone knows the (federal) government is absolutely no help here, but the state governments seem to be appropriately aggressive (however belatedly!).