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

Booming pots

ha

pots vmic

xp :D

my partner's (nyc charter) school has shut down the possibility of hybrid learning until end of January, which was a great relief for both of us but also means we're stuck together 24/7 for at least another four months.

― Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Sunday, October 4, 2020 12:25 AM (fourteen hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

I honestly thought the DOE would have shut down in-person schooling by now, but I'm going to have to move back to Brooklyn and quarantine my boyfriend for like 10 days bc his kids are coming to visit and they're both going to (private Catholic) hybrid schools and I'm not having it.

Neanderthal, how's your vaccine trial going?

Our son has to move back in with us for reasons. He's young, has a girlfriend and has been out with his mates over the last few weeks.
Kinda stuck in terms of keeping the rest of us safe and have to just hope he isn't infected.
I have stuff going on medically atm and if I end up infected it could prevent me getting scheduled tests and treatment (as well and potentially kill me...)

*as well as

damn onimo best wishes, that’s a tough situation

Yeah, seconded.

VMIC, but this anti-vaxxer/masker I went to high school with (they were ok then) was just boasting about going to church today with no masks and no social distancing, but lots of Bible-based theology.

I kind of hope they all die.

Boasting on Facebook, I mean. I have no further contact with them.

test came back negative

great!!

Good news!

awesome!

this is me
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/04/nyregion/nyc-covid-shutdown-zip-codes.html

http://static01.nyt.com/newsgraphics/2020/10/04/nyc-covid-lockdown/b4d62b770d757301b2a89abec7717eb0786748d4/nyc-covid-lockdown-720.png

red is closed schools and "inessential businesses" shut down, orange is no indoor dining and "let's see"?

I dodged this bullet, did take any earlier one although I see a nearby zip code and also my sister's.

i know at first it was just a few neighborhoods that were highly infected; have yet to see if they will spread it or if the Orthodox communities will remain insulated

similar stuff with measles up in Rockland last year sadly

bars & cafés shutting down in Paris again, & my daughter's university has to cut their classes in half so they're just having half of students attend one week, the other half the next week, which seems like a weird way to do it but whatever. I work in a different region now where the rona is not so bad but that means weekly train rides between there & Paris so I might be a super spreader. but I dunno, I tested negative again last week, will test again next week again if it's offered again on campus, etc

Sorry to hear that, just make you sure that you get your "Mats ballot in before the deadline!

I did!

Euler, are you still planning on moving to Nancy? I’ve no doubt you’d feel a lot safer there.

yeah next summer prolly, for now the kids are finishing important years of school here

Makes sense. In the meantime, stay safe.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/05/nyregion/cuomo-shutdown-coronavirus.html

we're all gonna die because diblasio and cuomo refuse to agree as to who has the bigger dick.

It makes no sense - restaurants stay open, schools get closed? Why not just open or close both?

someone, somewhere in my building is hacking up a storm :))))))))

I had a crazy squirrel shrieking outside my window for quite a while this morning.

might be useful

https://kottke.org/20/10/how-to-protect-yourself-from-the-aerosol-spread-of-covid-19

My droplets have gone ballistic

https://www.jmdjournal.org/article/S1525-1578(17)30234-9/fulltext

Developed sinusitis. Despite knowing exactly what the symptoms meant, cos I've had them before, i still wigged out a bit til i got diagnosed and it wasn't COVID. Yay, antibiotics!

I'm not sure how much of this I can specifically pin down to just COVID, but I'm sure it's a big part of things. I've just hit an absolute wall of hopelessness, anger, stress and frustration that is turning me into a spiteful, bitter person that I really don't want to be. It's mostly down to work stuff, where, because of the pandemic, my responsibilities and workload is probably double what it was before the pandemic, with fewer resources to lean on. Three major projects that would have all normally occurred throughout the year have all been launched at the exact same time, all on accelerated schedules with the added complication of trying to coordinate with fifteen departments, all working remotely. I keep being required to drop everything and attend in-person meetings for coordination which, fine, but it means I keep leaving my wife with the short shrift of trying to do her full time job AND keeping our son focused on remote learning. Naturally, she's frustrated with this since I can very rarely plan ahead for these requests, so we're shorter with each other. I've had to cancel four straight Friday afternoons I was going to take off because of these "emergencies" (which, of course, are hardly ever actual "emergencies", but rather requests from people high enough up the chain that they believe themselves to demand immediate attention).

I mean, I get it. We're all doing more with less and trying to balance so much, no one has it easy. And I know that I am incredibly fortunate to have a job and a healthy family, I'm very aware of that, but it makes it really hard to appreciate that when I'm working constantly and getting next to no time for self care. I've just hit this wall where I feel constantly angry, constantly bitter, constantly on edge and I hate the person I'm becoming.

it sounds like work is mistreating you & that it's time to look for another job, & to let your current work know that you're looking around. if they're leaning on you this much they must know that you're important to them & won't want to lose you.

Eh, I mean, in non pandemic times I really enjoy my job. I was just wholly unprepared for how difficult and demanding it would become as the pandemic drags on.

I'm just feeling completely hopeless watching the trajectory of all of the work difficulties increasing while still knowing that any of the enjoyable things in life are completely unavailable and will continue to be so for the next several years, at least. It's despairing.

Cases have risen a lot in Ontario over the last couple weeks and I suspect won't flatten properly again for a decent spell. The volunteer group I run with has paused operations and getting ready for this new wave; hopefully they'll be up and running again shortly. I'm looking into investing in some serious winter walking gear - my delivery routine has become a necessity for keeping my spirits up since I have ruled out seeing family for Thanksgiving and likely Christmas, especially with my mémère being as fragile as she is. It sucks ass but most people have it a lot worse, and I'm now living with other people, which, while less safe (one of my roommates works in a bike shop, an "essential service" that will likely not be closed in the event of another shutdown), is heaven compared to being in a germ circle of one.

That’s not a nice thing to say about your grandma, Simon!

I'm feeling the work stuff-- since I'm one of the few people at work who can do 100% of his work from home, my workload has increased threefold--it's reached the point where my job was moved to a department full of people who had almost nothing to do, so my work could be shared with them. Unfortunately most of the people are old and unwilling to learn new stuff. Plus, my wife has had to start going back into the office 3 days a week, leaving me alone with our kindergartner who is doing mostly asynchronous virtual learning--meaning that I have to help him with nearly everything. Plus not having the autonomy to like go for a walk at lunchtime. It feels like things cannot continue like this, but it also feels like they probably will.

It feels like things cannot continue like this, but it also feels like they probably will.

Man, this. So much of this. That really nails where I am right now.

I had one manager who told me her learner was going to miss the entire first day of a 3 day course and ask me if i would be teaching anything "important".

People don't know when they sound insulting but COME ON. i was pretty sarcastic in reply

xpost Asynchronous virtual learning is a terrible thing to do to kids imo. I mean, I get that it theoretically helps with scheduling, but in reality it means kids having to manage their own time and figure out when and how to access and complete a massive list of tasks, which is something even adults struggle with. I'm teaching middle school right now; half the class time is synchronous through Teams and the other half is asynchronous, and so I'm theoretically supposed to give them 100 minutes' worth of outside work a week. That's nuts and I can't bring myself to do it, but then I feel like I'm skimping on the teaching I owe them. No way to win.

Yeah, my 9 year old has noticeably been doing better this year with really rigid Zoom schedules and class group meetings, as opposed to the asynchronous from spring. He will say it feels more overwhelming and I'm not dismissing his stress of having to "perform" on Zoom calls all day, but he's been doing much better at keeping up with his assignments with way fewer breakdowns than we had in the spring.

xpost my teacher friends have reported almost exactly the same experience. miserable but want to hang on for their kids.

so many people I know (including family) are struggling financially. one of the few things that brings me joy is finally being in a place financially where I can give back to friends and help out much more significantly - because if I saw everybody struggling and had no ability to help, I'd feel powerless.

not saying this to horn-toot - but it's nice to be able to help some friends mitigate problems since apparently the government isn't going to help.

I'm starting to get anxious about winter, both from a POV of seasonal uptick in cases and also just how the New York weather will make us so much more cooped up than we are when it's nice outside. I wonder if outdoor dining will find a way to carry on with those carbon-guzzling heaters.

Winter is coming!

If we do not get this virus under control now, we are in for a perfect and terrible storm

We are not taking the expected seasonality of this SEASONAL virus seriously!

Instead, we've assumed our efforts are responsible for decreased cases this summer...

1/x pic.twitter.com/iiP4EAoMD8

— Michael Mina (@michaelmina_lab) October 7, 2020

It seems like having widely available rapid results saliva testing would make a big difference as we head into autumn and winter. It’s frustrating that we are still so far behind and there doesn’t seem to be enough emphasis on things that could make a difference.
I haven’t really gone out anywhere since March and even though I don’t really miss it, I feel kind of depressed that it seems like I’ve missed what was probably the optimal window for going out to do just a thing or two.

I don't know how I missed this but ALBA, wtf are you doing in NY???! Are you in the city?

Are you my neighbor?

just walking around my quartier during "rush hour" & I feel like we're doomed, the streets are packed, plenty of people wearing masks wrong or not wearing them all, lotsa coughing. & my kids have to ride the métro every day to go to school where they eat in the canteen where obviously no one wears a mask. fuck.