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

I can't use the self checkout at Target because those cameras make me look like a cadaver

No, under the circumstances that's very fair!

A bit of 'levity':

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcr83km7m5U

lol the joys of working from home... trying to set up a call with multiple colleagues, one said he'd call us using teams, the other said teams didn't work on his laptop so could we use skype, to which a third said the same about skype, so how about we do the call on whatsapp

I'm already dreading negotiating the VPN at home, especially as my internet connection fluctuates in speed a lot

done a big shop at the local cornerstore. if there's one thing I went a bit ham on it wasn't toilet paper, it was Oreos

Very glad I'm on fibre optic cable rather than some flaky DSL connection.

Also utterly blessed in having a back garden as spring arrives.

I think it's fair to predict that most cities will "shutdown," since that's what's happening. But shutdown does not mean everyone is locked in their houses. Restaurants are closed for eating in, but many or most are open for take-out, drive-through or delivery. Libraries and gyms and the like are (or should be) closed, but you can still go outside. In fact, I highly recommend, especially as the weather gets better, at the very least going for walks. You will see other people doing the same, kids playing in their front yards, people riding bikes, walking dogs, doing work. It's good for the brain to be reminded that you're not alone, and that life might be weird but goes on, at least in some form. And it feels good to get some sun on your face, too.

Things I would *not* do right now include traveling, especially to other countries, not because it is not safe, necessarily, but because I think the likelihood of getting stuck there is very high. And speaking of the gym, I know a couple of people that have continued going, but I have a feeling the right decision will be made for them imminently.

Heard Pennsylvania state liquor stores are closing, btw. That seems bad.

Talked to a friend yesterday, and she told me her sister, a nurse at the closest hospital, is already seeing an influx of infected patients. Oh, and had a great talk with my mom, who I have been speaking with daily. She's old enough to remember the "Asian flu" of 1957, which she (and a bazillion people) got, and which kept her home from school for a few days with what she remembers was the worse runny nose she's ever had. (I guess she was around ... 12 or so?). But she also told me about the flu pandemic of 1968, which she remembers inspiring more panic, because lines of communication were already much better by then. That late '60s outbreak she recalls is the one that eventually got everybody congregating in gyms for mandatory shots. Fwiw, it killed an estimated 1 million people worldwide, 100,000k in America. Sounds bad and is not good, but only bringing that up because despite that I don't think I've ever heard anyone say anything about the 1968 pandemic, ever. These things happen and these things eventually pass.

the other said teams didn't work on his laptop so could we use skype

been lots of problems with teams today:

https://venturebeat.com/2020/03/16/microsoft-teams-struggles-as-coronavirus-pushes-millions-to-work-from-home/

I've got a head temperature of 96.0 which according to google may be a sign of hypothermia! I've proven the thermometer by testing it on my son who is a very normal 98.4. Although an ear reading was up to 96.8 - maybe I'm not going to die just yet and just am an abnormally cold blooded mofo!

lol I think I did read something about average temperatures trending down, for some reason.

I've been taking my temperature daily (and read the same thing), which is probably a stupid thing to do--the very definition of looking for an excuse to panic.

I went to the large grocery store to see if they got back in stock one of our must items (they didn't) and it seems that people are finally hoarding here. It's Monday morning and I have never seen it that busy or the shelves so empty. I felt obligated to get a 4 pack of toilet paper.

the other said teams didn't work on his laptop so could we use skype

been lots of problems with teams today:

https://venturebeat.com/2020/03/16/microsoft-teams-struggles-as-coronavirus-pushes-millions-to-work-from-home/

― ymo sumac (NickB), Monday, March 16, 2020 9:18 AM (forty minutes ago)

Also:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_cImRzKXOs

the website that our kids are supposed today, by the Académie de Paris, is overloaded and not loading for anyone. it's fine, give everyone a week to figure things out, slow down, we're really not in a hurry w/ this whole online school thing.

my forehead temperature is apparently under 35 so the forehead strip thermometer I bought which starts at 36 is no use.

(is this bad? it's been the case for both me and the bf for 10 days and we feel fine, more or less. we are middle-aged and the internet does note that your forehead temperature decreases with age, though the articles are mainly about elderly people, which we would like to insist we are not!)

I've started using a general-purpose IR thermometer on forehead and back of throat every day or two, since I figure all I can do is check it's staying level, but if it does go up by a few degrees then I'll still only have a "normal" temperature, so hopefully I won't need to urgently convince any medical professionals that I have a fever at that point

I should add that my oldest daughter, in classe préparatoire, has had online classes since 8h this morning, but her teachers are using zoom rather than something proprietary.

fuck, that video is intense. i guess we're going in.

The management of my office building just closed the fitness center until further notice. My only issue is that I lugged my exercise clothes in on the bus today (and I won't be seeing Nick, but I tell myself I'm probably better off without him). Oh, well.

Considering treating myself to a restaurant meal (dine-in) on the assumption that any places that haven't yet pivoted to take-out only will do so in the near future. And near where I live there's a German place that gets so little visible traffic that I sometimes wonder how they survive. I wouldn't be surprised if it or other little neighborhood businesses don't survive the pandemic.

Also wondering what happens to bandwidth when kids start distance learning.

There were already reports of households being unable to access remote learning sites.

welp someone in my office officially tested positive. first of many, no doubt

trying to work from home while facilitating 2 kids doing "remote/distance learning" and 1 pre-K kid just cruising in boredom is god tier difficulty level

Well, I was overyjoyed that my job finally authorized working from home, but it looks like the VPN connection is overwhelmed, so I'll probably have to go in anyway (or use a sick day). At least I took my time and made cornbread this morning.

What's the obsession with VPNs, do you all work for spy agencies?

It's absolutely not necessary for this job/industry imho.

I mean in public WiFi of course. Maybe companies just like to think that they are important enough to be a target of sophisticated espionage.

no noel i work for a healthcare organization dealing with protected health information, how on earth would I be able to do my job over an insecure connection?

When I worked for a big publishing org we had to have VPN with a stupid passcode key dongle that changed every minute, just to access the company records and the purchase ordering system. Which I mean I guess that's sensitive stuff but also what's a hacker going to do, order an extra 5000 Joyce Meyer reprint?

interesting interview here from german virologist handling cases there, mentions diarrhoea being a common symptom which I've not heard elsewhere

https://www.faz.net/aktuell/gesellschaft/gesundheit/coronavirus/virologe-hendrik-streeck-ueber-corona-neue-symptome-entdeckt-16681450.html

I got a p intense, slightly mysterious flu w/ diarrhoea in early february after coming back from amsterdam, wonder if there's any chance I was an early case?

Hmm… I thought it wasn't, hence all the jokes about how stockpiling TP makes it seem like a cholera pandemic is unfolding as we speak.

There was a very good thing in the NYT (I think covid stuff is free to read, not linking it so I don't stress people out) about two chinese women doctors in their early 30s who had it and it described their different progressions. Diarrhea and vomiting were symptoms.

no noel i work for a healthcare organization dealing with protected health information, how on earth would I be able to do my job over an insecure connection?

Same

From what I read, diarrhea is a possible symptom, but not a common one.

he's saying 1/3 of the cases in germany have diarrhoea. diarrhoea and flu is an odd combo generally, no?

3.7% of cases involved diarrhoea according to Wikipedia.

Worldwide, that is. Data comes from the WHO.

Just looked, and if some 88% of people get a fever, supposedly only 4% get cloudy with a chance of diarrhea. Maybe data is changing?

At work this morning we were told, even if we close the building to the public, we'll still have to come into work while they think up stuff for us to do. Also, the entire organization has run out of hand sanitizer and some of us have to pass material back and forth to the public all day.

Yes, it's the UK, folks!

Not to worry, you'll have the last laugh as Britons are about to develop a super-herd immunity that will be the envy of foreign nations the world over.

Made in Scotland, from girders.

Too bad Sears Sears catalogs aren't still ubiquitous

Gonna be striding around empty Italian tourist destinations with my super-Brit immunity radiating off me like a glow.

Not like these dickheads in Spain nb:

Outrageous the behavior of #British tourists in #Benidorm, amid the #coronavirus pandemic. Is somebody going to do something? @BBCnews @BorisJohnson @interiorgob @sanchezcastejon pic.twitter.com/bcv9enh3wo

— Maria Lluïsa Vivó (@mllvivo) March 15, 2020

wtf I love martial law now

many xps here:

I think a lot of large corporations have a VPN because traditionally, having all your shit on the intranet was the way things went. And companies are slow to change.

fortunately I was able to figure out how to navigate the vpn I need for work without installing an app (a couple of people on the sysadmin subreddit said it was relatively non-intrusive, but still, the only google results being their oracle-esque corporate propaganda did not fill me with hope) but am not looking forward to being coerced into the general privacy catastrophe that is most remote apps; I don't know what I'll do if/when something asks me to use zoom

honestly, zoom's presumptive security holes last year were them trying to solve unintuitive UI issues (clicking a link in a browser and it either downloading a file or giving a weird prompt instead of just opening their app) with insanely bad hacks. afaict they've fixed that idiocy and it's a pretty good piece of software

we're trying to switch to telehealth in a week but i honestly have no idea how patients are going to access it -- phone appointments are permissible for pts that refuse to come to clinic, but discouraged because (wait for it) we can't bill

How many of those tourists in Spain are going to be dead in a month? jfc.

This has me a bit scared -

Coronavirus & Age:

•64% of those critically ill in Italy are under 70
•50%+ of those critically ill in France are under 60
•50%+ of those critically ill in Netherlands are under 50
•80% of those just infected in Portugal are under 60

— Tory Fibs (@ToryFibs) March 16, 2020

we're trying to switch to telehealth in a week but i honestly have no idea how patients are going to access it -- phone appointments are permissible for pts that refuse to come to clinic, but discouraged because (wait for it) we can't bill

― gbx

that is already changing fwiw

just got the email I've been expecting for a while: everyone not specifically asked to be in the office is required to WFH until further notice. this is gonna suuuck.