Hope you’re all safe; hope you’re all washing your hands; hope you’re all hunkering down. Our federal government (here in the US at least) has failed in pretty much every way it’s possible to fail and to a large extent we have to rely on our state and local governments — and each other.
In some ways the most horrific thing I’ve learned in the last few days was this: Trump, who hits new lows as a president and as a human being on a daily basis, has been trying to basically buy a German firm working on a vaccine that he wants to be available exclusively in the US.
Here are some other articles I’ve found useful in making sense of all this. Some of them are disturbing, but we can’t successfully confront what we don’t understand.
The Quiet Terror of Coronavirus, by Talia Lavin, GQ
Cancel Everything, The Atlantic
Social Distancing: This is Not a Snow Day, Medium
These simulations show how to flatten the coronavirus growth curve, Washington Post
The Worst-Case Estimate for U.S. Coronavirus Deaths, NYT
Infected people without symptoms might be driving the spread of coronavirus more than we realized, CNN
Please post any other articles and resources you’ve found to be helpful.
–DF
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Well, looks like I’m transitioning to home dialysis just in time.
My place of employment has told us all to work from home until further notice. All schools in the area are closed, and all gatherings of over 50 people are banned. I’m trying to still get fresh air by walking my dog but avoiding people as much as possible while doing so.
Hi folks, first post.
Here’s a really nice piece from Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett in the Guardian on managing health anxiety – I certainly needed this:
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/mar/16/coronavirus-health-anxiety
My GP just told me to make sure I get out and get some fresh air. The GP I was having to have a phone consultation with because the surgery aren’t doing face-to-face consults because of the virus. I am.. confused.
Also mad, because my delicious vegan oat milk was sold out thanks to panic buying and I am down to my last four toilet rolls.
@Moggie, Naglfar: The one fun bit of trivia I know about Amalric is that he was killed by a stone from a catapult said to have been crewed by women (there were a lot more women in combat than most people think, particularly in siege situations when the inhabitants of a town were mounting a defense). Misandry!
We’re doing the “social distancing” thing at our office too. Problem is that the necessary information I need is IP-limited, so I have to be in the office to access it. Luckily, we’re a small business so it’s just me and a couple other guys. I’m in the office for the week.
And I have a cold. Fweee!
…d’yever get the feeling that you’re not one of the “cool kids” because you get the lame common illness and everyone else is getting the hot new superbug? Kinda feel that way with my yawn-worthy post-nasal drip.
Just completely off-topic, but something that I recalled as I was coming to the office. There’s a building near where I work that now has a “411.ca” marquee on it. But I always remembered that building for what used to be on its marquee.
Rothmans.
Sorta brought to mind that even in my lifetime, tobacco company logos and advertising used to be everywhere. I have a program from the 1992 World Series… big Marlboro ad on the back. Benson and Hedges used to sponsor the Toronto Symphony of Fire until 2000. Players sponsored tennis events in the city.
Then the government restricted ads and now… alllll gone. Haven’t seen a tobacco logo outside of a discarded pack on the ground. Amazing how effective that shit can be.
@Katamount
For me, it’s seasonal allergies which have decided to come early. My eyes are burning and my throat is a bit sore, which aren’t coronavirus symptoms (I don’t have the coronavirus as far as I know), but every minor thing makes me worry that I have it.
In America, I haven’t seen any marquee ads on buildings for cigarettes lately, but cigarette ads are still common in magazines (I used to have a subscription to Popular Science and it always had pages of ads at the back, which invariably included at least one full page cigarette or chewing tobacco ad) and at gas stations. However, when cannabis was legalized in my state in 2018 there was a huge increase in ads for weed dispensaries. I don’t smoke and never have, so I never paid much attention, but I do recall noticing that trend.
This is quite interesting about monitoring and planning for future outbreaks.
https://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/15/sunday-review/the-ecology-of-disease.html
I wonder how many other US businesses will defy shutdown orders?
https://twitter.com/SegravesNBC4/status/1239361536230961152
I understand needing to keep the money flowing. I’ve waitressed before, and one of my sisters put herself through college that way, but this restaurant chain’s defiance seems more about “owning the libs” than anything else. I’d be more sympathetic if the chain were talking about arranging for delivery service so that people could continue to eat (or “so the money keeps coming in”).
@Victorious Parasol
Even with delivery service I’d worry about spreading the virus. I’m trying to have as little interaction with other people IRL right now just to avoid getting it.
Allergies here, too. It was warm last week, so lots of stuff bloomed. I woke up yesterday with a mild sore throat and thought, “AIIIIEEEEEE!”
It went away, after I got up, the way that kind of sore throat does. Still, I stayed in and read, cooked, amused myself. Washed my hands before I took out the trash and again when I got back.
I did notice that the building manager has installed a hand sanitizer dispenser by the main doors, which is nice. Kind of makes me wonder why it hasn’t always been there, though. The 2009 flu wasn’t bad enough to warrant it? We keep learning, I guess.
@Naglfar
Yeah, same here. I’m diabetic and the news stories keep reminding me (as if I need it) that I’m immunosuppressed and therefore at risk.
I worry about my baby sister. She’s in her early 30s and generally healthy, but she’s a veterinarian, currently on a surgical rotation in her internship. She deals with the public a lot more than I do right now, and she’s routinely exposed to biohazards. Intellectually I know she’s smart and careful, but emotionally I keep flashing back to that time she had pneumonia as a toddler and how hard it was for her to breathe, even when I was holding her to make it easier on her lungs.
@VP:
Many, I suspect. Across a lot of business types, businesses won’t survive for long if they have to turn customers away, or if customers stay away. Some proprietors will opt for defiance rather than bankruptcy.
I’m mainly worrying about the whole not dying and not infecting anyone thing, but I also worry about the survival of businesses I like, for example my favourite indie cinema. The economic impact of isolation will be brutal.
I’ve noticed a bit of regional difference in responses.
I’ve had all my upcoming London things postponed; and meetings cancelled because clients weren’t allowed to fly.
But down in Cornwall it’s very much business as usual. The pubs seemed just as busy over the weekend.
I went to some art thing on Friday and it was the usual boho hugging and kissing. But there’s always been a bit of a fin de cycle vibe here anyway.
Personally I’m staying way from anyone who might be vulnerable but other than that just carrying on as normal.
I’m a bit torn as to offering my services for people self isolating. I’m not showing any symptoms but it now seems there may be lots of asymptomatic carriers. So should I wait to see if I definitely get it then just do errands from 7 days after that?
My anxiety has got worse. I wanted to go swimming this afternoon to work off some of the anxiety but my sisters don’t think it’s a good idea, since I still have a cold and I have a tendency to pick up anything going around. I feel sort of lost. I had a new routine set since I got referred to a scheme where I can get two swimming/gym sessions a week free for 12 weeks (24 vouchers) and now I feel like my new routine has been shunted out of the way and it’s as stressful as the anxiety about catching/passing on COVID19.
I also need antibacterial floor wipes and surface wipes because I’ve run out – it’s a normal cleaning supplies thing, I can manage better with wipes rather than sprays – but I can’t get any with my shopping delivery. That sort of thing has been sold out. I might actually have to visit actual shops.
I have a legit question. I see many folks advising people to stay indoors. Isn’t outdoors-but-uncrowded a good place to be? I assume many folks in urban areas can’t really get outdoors without being in a crowd, but many of us don’t have that issue. Or is there something about the spread of this disease that makes even alone outdoors unsafe?
@Alan Robertshaw : a good plan, but made somewhat mooter by the fact that most cases look just like bad case of flu. How to be sure you have some degree of immunity to the Corona ?
Also, remember there are still decent odds of it being nasty even to young-ish adults. There’s instances of ~25yo who get intubed for three weeks.
We are still open at work and I don’t think our owner has any plans to shut down since, as I overheard him telling another employee on Friday, this is no worse than the flu and it’s all a plot by China, the WHO, and Nancy Pelosi to keep Trump from getting re-elected. It’s hurts my brain to hear someone who operates a successful business say something so brain-bendingly stupid. However, it may not be up to him in the end, our governor has already shut schools and he could order non-essential business to close. I’m not sure where we’d fall on the essential/non-essential spectrum, since we make products that go into packaged and shelf-stable food. But a lot of our raw materials come from China, and if enough of the plant workers get sick, he may have no choice, between supply chain blockages and not enough of a workforce to operate.
Anyway, on Saturday I went to Michael’s and bought the floss for my next two cross stitch projects, and I’ve been compiling lists of movies and TV shows to stream. I’m Generation X, we got left at home by single working mothers all day and we didn’t even have the internet to amuse us. We got this.
I just went to my Tesco Metro. It was absolutely packed with elderly people. Like jammed full. Still no toilet paper, all the cheap ramen was gone but at least I got a carton of Oatly.
Our government has stated we should stay at least two meters away from old people at all times. I dunno how big they think our houses are but that would mean I’d have to yell at my mum from the bedroom when she comes to visit.
Whelp, it is reassuring that we have an incredibly competent president, that managed to put in the toughest emergency measures in the whole continent just as the infected toll got past 50. But the more I look at the US, the more I see the perfect storm brewing for the single, worst case of Coronavirus so far.
I was reading how Trump and Miller’s travel bans essentially created bottlenecks at every airport in the US, where everyone got crowded in halls filled with tourists coming back from Europe. Then my brother-in-law, who works in the healthcare industry (IT part) just told me that, at the request of employers and local governments, they have been removing the “work from home” or “self-isolate” part of the Coronavirus notices they’re supposed to send out.
Then there’s the fact that you got a large population of seniors that almost rivals Italy’s, in a country that doesn’t have universal healthcare. Top it off with an uncaring and incompetent administration that has to deal with local governments, who would probably defy restrictions cuz of “the economy”.
I cannot for the life of me envision any worse combination of factors. So stay safe guys and keep self-isolating or trying to negotiate with your employers to do so, because this shit right here is about to get hairy.
Right on schedule, my gig today cancelled just as I was heading out the door. My feelings are mixed. I am incredibly fortunate that my partner has a steady paycheque (for now at least), and I keep thinking about the many people who are not so lucky.
On the plus side, we went to the grocery store, and I am now confident that we have enough shelf-stable food held in reserve that if we get surprised by quarantine/isolation just before we were planning to go shopping we will be fine for the two weeks. Before we had the makings of many a pasta sauce, but only a little bit of pasta. I guess we could have gone at it with a spoon, but this is better.
@moregeekthan
I am not a doctor and could be wrong, but from what I know it’s fine to be outside in uncrowded locations. Where I live, I’ve been taking my dog on walks in the same places as usual, just being careful to avoid people on the way (walking on the opposite side of the road, for example).
@sarah_kay_gee
I’ve been hearing a lot of conspiracy theories floating around on that topic. The most brainless one was someone who badly photoshopped the word “COVID-19” onto the side of a railway car in a photo and it made the rounds on Facebook. It was very clearly a photoshop, the antialiasing was painful to look at.
@Diego Duarte
In the US, the only hope is for states to take matters into their own hands. Weird that I’m saying that, but since the federal government isn’t doing anything the states are going to have to pick up the slack. Where I live the state is taking emergency measures and planning drive by testing centers, but I’m not sure how long that will take to get set up.
Finland just declared martial law, prepares to close borders, prepares to remove most children from schools by Wednesday.
Some critics have wanted to close schools earlier. The PM just responded to this by saying on stage (my paraphrasing) that “We try to balance necessity and cost, and we’re being more proactive than Britain”
Tangent: If people are bulk buying toilet paper, at least there’s a reasonable chance they’re actually wiping.
#silver_lining
@Lukas Xavier
I didn’t even think of that. I guess the toxic masculine non-wiping dudes probably aren’t stocking up, but maybe people will adopt better hygiene as a result of this outbreak.