Coronavirus

[Swift]

Meanwhile, even more leaders are taking it upon themselves to take steps. Mayors, county executives, and governors are placing moratoriums on various activities. The latest action is to ban dining in at restaurants.

Ohio is basically shutdown: schools, universities, libraries, museums, all the programs and indoor facilities of all the park systems, sports events, concerts. Even some stores. Bars and restaurants can only do drive-thru, delivery, or take-out.

[geonuc]

Meanwhile, even more leaders are taking it upon themselves to take steps. Mayors, county executives, and governors are placing moratoriums on various activities. The latest action is to ban dining in at restaurants.

Ohio is basically shutdown: schools, universities, libraries, museums, all the programs and indoor facilities of all the park systems, sports events, concerts. Even some stores. Bars and restaurants can only do drive-thru, delivery, or take-out.

Oregon too.

[geonuc]

It's interesting to see how social media is responding to the crisis and especially the mandatory isolation measures. Two aspects are apparent on Facebook: one, increased participation in local interest groups and two, formation of local support groups.

My local foodie group is bustling with not only conversation but ideas to help keep people interested. Food challenges, special food days where folks make stuff and post photos (e.g., this weekend was soup and pie), that sort of thing.

Two groups have formed that I've noticed so far. One a support group for those who need help, particularly with shopping or missing essentials (e.g., a medical thermometer). Parents suddenly burdened with increased childcare duties (schools closed) and elderly or immune-compromised who fear the grocery stores are being helped. Another is dedicated specifically to posting what supplies are available at what stores.

People coming together to help each other.

[SciFiFisher]

The 7 counties that intersect with San Francisco have all gone into a "shelter in place" stance. All non-essential travel is banned. All non-essential employees are ordered to stay home. MGM has closed all of its casinos in Nevada until at least April 2nd.

Brite went out to buy a roasting chicken yesterday and went to 4 stores before she gave up. People are standing in lines for up to 2 hours to buy groceries.

I too have noticed that people are offering to help each other. I am on a digital neighborhood social platform called NextDoor. Lots of helpful posts going up and people offering to help each other.

[geonuc]

The 7 counties that intersect with San Francisco have all gone into a "shelter in place" stance. All non-essential travel is banned. All non-essential employees are ordered to stay home. MGM has closed all of its casinos in Nevada until at least April 2nd.

Brite went out to buy a roasting chicken yesterday and went to 4 stores before she gave up. People are standing in lines for up to 2 hours to buy groceries.

I too have noticed that people are offering to help each other. I am on a digital neighborhood social platform called NextDoor. Lots of helpful posts going up and people offering to help each other.

I'm on NextDoor as well.

The problem I see with the Facebook groups (and NextDoor) is that FB sucks at searching and organizing information. It's a stream of consciousness thing coupled with FB's super-annoying algorithms for showing you what it thinks you need to see at the top. These local support groups would be better off on a platform like this one, a phpBB forum. But that ain't happening.

[lady_*nix]

https://twitter.com/aslavitt/status/1239664955172978697

According to Andy Slavitt - head of Medicare, Medicaid, and the ACA for the Obama Administration - the US is looking at a serious scarcity of medical resources needed to fight this disease. Several other countries have hired or forced companies to fill those those needs, or simply nationalized big chunks of their industry to force the issue. The Trump Administration is unlikely to do a good job of the former, and the US as a rule has always been chickenshit to do the latter.

If you don't find this absolutely terrifying, I don't know what to tell you. Last I checked the number of cases were still doubling every 3 days or so, and the US numbers were badly underestimated due to lack of testing. What happens when there are no filter masks left and new ones are not being manufactured? What happens when the hospitals are literally out of cotton swabs? What happens when there are 1000x fewer ICU beds than needed just for COVID-19 patients, let alone those with other medical problems?

Millions upon millions of people die, that is what happens. If the federal government does not start doing its fucking job, a significant percentage of the US population will die, not only from this pathogen but from its resource starvation fallout.

I really have no idea where we go from here.

[lady_*nix]

Related to that problem, check this out:

https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20200 ... ents.shtml

We have a patent troll suing to block COVID-19 testing. In the middle of a COVID-19 pandemic. That could, in a worst case scenario, kill tens of millions of people if not hundreds of millions. This right here is the bare face of US style capitalism.

[Rommie]

Hi all,

Update, I did go to Florida for the weekend, and frankly glad we did because I didn't think parents were taking this seriously. They're still not taking it as seriously, but I think we got both of their attentions enough that I feel better about it. But damn guys... Florida is screwed. ALL the old people, and everything was still completely packed for spring break. At least they closed the bars, but seriously, it's gonna be bad and at least I drove it into my dad's head that he needs to stay home.

Then Monday we packed up and drove up to New Hampshire. No neighbors around (well, I texted the nearest ones at least), we brought up most of our pantry contents, so might brave the supermarket tomorrow or day after for eggs and stuff but otherwise we are staying put with books and cross stitch and some remote work in the day. After seeing the order in SF to stay in place, I figured it was time to head up if we were going to.

My boss btw was told to plan for his group to do 6-8 weeks of remote work. My pregnant friend in the UK said she was told to plan to be at home for up to 12 weeks! I guess no one really knows.

[geonuc]

Governor Kate Brown yesterday ordered all the restaurants and bars in Oregon to stop serving for on-site consumption, starting today. Take-out only. She issued this directive a mere few hours after saying she didn't think it was time to put in place mandatory restrictions. That's how fast the situation changes. I moseyed on down to my favorite pub for a last couple of pints and to commiserate with the staff.

[geonuc]

I listened to Trump on the radio this morning discussing what the federal government was doing about all this. I have to say, he sounded downright presidential. Very unlike the Trump we know. I think whichever sane members of his administration still exist finally got it into his head that he has to start acting like he gives a shit or he's not gonna get re-elected. He even had kind words for NY Governor Cuomo.

[lady_*nix]

geonuc: I'm glad he's shaping up at least somewhat, but at this point the only way that man could gain my trust would be dying of a heart attack (and staying dead).

How many times has he "sounded presidential" before, only to waffle back the minute he saw a chance to profit at the expense of the country?

[Rommie]

That's interesting about Cuomo because I legit woke up this morning and saw a Tweet from him dissing Cuomo. I guess that same person who told him to man up also told him to tone down the personal attacks, so this is a person capable of overseeing many firsts!

Btw, I started a coronavirus journal. I heard the idea somewhere on one of my social media feeds and thought it was a great idea, so spent all of Sunday on the flight back catching up to our current time and clocking 7 pages so far. As a friend asked to see what I have so far, I can share the link here too if anyone's interested.

[pumpkinpi]

My mom started chemotherapy one week ago. Today she was supposed to go in for a checkup, but they told her they wanted to test her for the virus because of her cough and shortness of breath. Well, she has lung cancer, and has had those symptoms for a year.....why now? Why did they not have any concern before she started chemotherapy, one short week ago?

Anyway, she's still waiting (at home) to find out where and when they can test her. So, they can't prioritize getting a test for a chemotherapy patient with lung cancer, but Celine Dion can get one because she feels like she has a cold? (I just read a buzzfeed article about celebrities getting preferential treatment.)

[Sigma_Orionis]

Quarantine here started on Monday. Told at the office to work from home. Which was all well and good until Internet access went to hell. For a whole day. Just got it back. Had to use my company assigned phone as a wireless hotspot through that. Cell Phone Internet access was flaky most of the day.

Travel is restricted between states. The rumor mill is working overtime of course. According to the Government (yeah, I know) there are 33 cases. Full National Emergency declared. Apparently, they're demanding compulsory use of mask in public places. Don't have one. So I'm at home.

[geonuc]

geonuc: I'm glad he's shaping up at least somewhat, but at this point the only way that man could gain my trust would be dying of a heart attack (and staying dead).

How many times has he "sounded presidential" before, only to waffle back the minute he saw a chance to profit at the expense of the country?

I don't think I've ever heard him sound presidential before, which is why it surprised me. And there's no way I'd suggest anyone trust that fuckweasel.

[geonuc]

That's interesting about Cuomo because I legit woke up this morning and saw a Tweet from him dissing Cuomo. I guess that same person who told him to man up also told him to tone down the personal attacks, so this is a person capable of overseeing many firsts!

I saw the tweets too. I don't think the buffoon has any self-control on twitter.

[lady_*nix]

https://www.technologyreview.com/s/6153 ... 18-months/

https://mobile.twitter.com/jeremycyoung ... 2643357696

It's going to be bad. Like, incredibly unbelievably bad. At best, 18 months of on and off extreme social distancing; at worst, over 45 million deaths worldwide in a matter of months.

[SciFiFisher]

In addition to the San Francisco area going on "Shelter In Place" and banning all non-essential movement, we are seeing theatres, gyms, and personal care businesses close. The California Dental Association is recommending that dentists cancel all routine exams, cleanings, and anything except emergency dental procedures. Hospitals have started to cancel elective surgeries and even looking twice at non-life threatening conditions that might need surgery. Governor Newsom is talking about school closures for the rest of the year. State government offices are closing F2F offices and doing work on the phone, online, or from home.

[SciFiFisher]

The worst-case scenario is extremely frightening. I can't imagine the global catastrophe that will occur if the maximum number of deaths occur that they predict *could happen*. The good news is that the worst-case scenarios don't factor in the effects or effectiveness of actions such as social distancing, quarantining people, and etc.

But, even a "best case" scenario is starting to look like a serious freaking catastrophe. I am sincerely hopeful that the best case scenario turns out to be the one that happens and that it is much better than predicted.

[geonuc]

A disturbing article I read mentioned that we might need several 'peaks' before enough herd immunity is built up. In other words, the virus peaks while we're all doing this isolation thing, the restrictions are eased, and then we get another peak. Also in that article (I forgot where I read it but it was from a reputable source - I don't read anything but), an expert on diseases stated that the reason the seasonal flu dies out during the summer is that enough people contract it or are immunized in the winter that herd immunity is achieved. Not so much that the virus doesn't like warm temperatures. So, if he's right, that diminishes hope that COVID-19 will die out on its own this summer. Understanding that coronavirus is different than influenza.

Yikes.

The good news so far here is that the grocery stores are still well stocked and there's not a lot of difficulty getting what you need. I imagine that may change once folks in the food production and transportation industry start getting sick in large numbers. Anyone have a class A CDL (commercial drivers license)?

[Rommie]

I think I read that or a similar piece- it was a NY Times op-ed. To be fair they said by definition if we had to self-isolate multiple times, the first would be the longest and hardest. So, let's aim for that.

I think it's also very fair to say that while some people are qualified to make better guesses than others, no one really knows how everything will play out in the next few months- hell, even a week is a long time now. So I am trying to focus for now on the part I can control, which is staying at home.

Well, ok, today we needed to go grocery shopping. I thought it was a perfect day to wear my NASA shirt that says "I need my space" on it. Coronavirus humor!

[Rommie]

So here's another one guys. The Red Cross has put out an urgent call for blood because they have about 100,000 units less blood than usual because of coronavirus. There is actually a donation drive near us, on Friday, and I haven't donated since Canada. So while social distancing is in, I feel like as someone in my 30s maybe I should go and help out.

Is that really dumb?

[lady_*nix]

@Rommie: do you want to? Or do you feel like you are [i]obligated/[i] to, but are worried about the risks?

If the latter, I'd gently suggest finding another way to help. Ultimately you're a free individual and it's your choice! But: this is a thing I run into a lot myself, where I feel obligated to put my body and brain on the firing line for others in ways that wind up being dangerous in the long term (and helping people less than quieter types of work). And from knowing you a while I think you have a bit of that streak too. So yeah that's my 2c.

TL;DR it's your choice, but ask yourself if you feel like you want to or just like you can't say no.

[Rommie]

Oh, I do want to. I donated regularly in Canada and was just too busy lately with the new job to find where to donate in Cambridge, because it's the best kind of volunteering to me (aka, don't really have to do anything but is a really valuable thing to do). I think it's just after weeks of hearing that you shouldn't leave the house it leaves me with trepidation to break that expectation.

[lady_*nix]

Mmm. In that case you might also want to ask yourself how healthy you are at the moment, how much stress you're under, and whether you feel safe risking the exposure and/or temporarily weakening your body in the face of a highly virulent pandemic.

But yeah. At the end of the day, I can't stop you.