Coronavirus

[lady_*nix]

As far as the protests, check this shit out:

https://twitter.com/jpegjoshua/status/1 ... 4257015816

White supremacist gangsters permitted by police, organizing with police, helping the police out. Just vile.

[Rommie]

@Rommie

I'm not, can someone add me?

Looks like you need to be an admin to do that. Anyone around here still an admin? If not maybe we should remedy that.

[geonuc]

Looks like you need to be an admin to do that. Anyone around here still an admin? If not maybe we should remedy that.

I mentioned that a while back. Didn't get any results. We don't even have any day-to-day moderators. Two moderators are no longer active at all on the forum.

[lady_*nix]

Time to move house to Facebook again?

(J/K I hope not, I left Facebook completely a while ago for mental health reasons. Still have Messenger but that's all.)

[SciFiFisher]

Time to move house to Facebook again?

(J/K I hope not, I left Facebook completely a while ago for mental health reasons. Still have Messenger but that's all.)

Well, there is always MySpace.

[pumpkinpi]

We're edging back into some of the real world. Wednesday I had a dentist's appointment. It ended up not really being to weird or overwhelming to be around people. (MrPi has been shopping so I've barely seen anyone.) Saturday we're going to the country club for outdoor dining. Buster is really looking forward to a burger. Sunday Buster has a very socially distanced soccer practice. And next week MrPi and Buster are getting haircuts.

I just fond out the U of MN, my employer, is recommending to the board of regents that we have in person instruction in the fall. That's pretty significant for my work, it gives me hope that our museum will be open no later than then, also. They are doing a condensed schedule and sending students home at Thanksgiving, which I've heard a lot of places are considering. That actually makes it tough for us. We rely on dozens of students to run visitor services and do planetarium and exhibit programming. So if so many are not around over the holidays, it will be a significant change in our staffing model. The permanent staff will have to do a lot more than usual, and it will make it hard for us to take time off as well as do accomplish our behind-the-scenes work. However, if we are all still employed by then, we should just be grateful! I'm actually not so worried about layoffs at our museum. I could be wrong, but I think we'll be ok. What I do know is that our museum will not be going back to normal when we open again, nothing in this world is. But we're only two years old, and we had to make some significant changes in operations and staffing after we first opened because we didn't correctly anticipate what our visitorship would be. So we're familiar with needing to adapt. Other places that have been around for much longer might have a harder time.

[SciFiFisher]

The best advice I have heard about adapting to change is that it's best if you do it to yourself before someone does it to you.

[code monkey]

@Rommie

I'm not, can someone add me?

Looks like you need to be an admin to do that. Anyone around here still an admin? If not maybe we should remedy that.

I have passed this up the chain of command as I was unable to make the change. with luck all will be well by this evening.

[lady_*nix]

I have access now, thank you. <3

[Loresinger]

sorry it took me a while playing with permissions to figure out how to do this. I am not IT lol.

trust you are well.

[lady_*nix]

Hey it's totally okay! I know you have a lot on your place right now. <3

[Rommie]

We went to the drive-in on Saturday! They were playing Jaws (our choice), with the other screens playing The Goonies and Animal House. It definitely was funny to think of how so many things are retro in pandemic world- to be fair though, it's not like there are any new movies, and TBH I think their current selection is more fun than most movies you get in a random summer.

But yeah, I'm sure we'll be doing that a few more times this summer. They have three screens, a few dozen cars per screen parked every other space, and definitely the majority were teenagers. We're pretty lucky to be a half hour drive from a drive-in, let alone this one- a developer tried to buy it a year or two back, but the deal fell through, so hey we get to go to the movies this year.

Also, this is going to be a random thing to say, but can I say how happy I am none of you are in Arizona because for some reason this plot terrifies me more than most others.

[pumpkinpi]

We went to the drive-in on Saturday! They were playing Jaws (our choice), with the other screens playing The Goonies and Animal House. It definitely was funny to think of how so many things are retro in pandemic world- to be fair though, it's not like there are any new movies, and TBH I think their current selection is more fun than most movies you get in a random summer.

But yeah, I'm sure we'll be doing that a few more times this summer. They have three screens, a few dozen cars per screen parked every other space, and definitely the majority were teenagers. We're pretty lucky to be a half hour drive from a drive-in, let alone this one- a developer tried to buy it a year or two back, but the deal fell through, so hey we get to go to the movies this year.

Also, this is going to be a random thing to say, but can I say how happy I am none of you are in Arizona because for some reason this plot terrifies me more than most others.

Blocked behind a paywall....although (a) I am sure I can find the AZ data and (b) I should subscribe to the NYT anyway.

The drive in sounds like fun. We did have one I went to as a kid, and I went as recently ast 14 years ago for my send-off part when I left Maryland. One of the peopel I worked with owned one. TBH I have no idea what film it was. Chicken Run maybe? But they had a tribute to me on the analogue marquee, and we celebrated with "Mini-sodas."

We've been out an about quite a bit lately. All properly masked and social distanced, of course. Two of our favorite restaurants, outside. The dentist, the barber (the boys last week, I'm going to the hair salon tomorrow.) I shopped for the first time since March. It was so nice going up and down the aisles and being able to decide what to buy, instead of having to give MrPi exact details and appropriate replacements if unavailable. (Shampoo and other personal care products, you know.) The MN State Fair is cancelled this year, but the food carts are setting up all around the state. You can find them on facebook's Minnesota State Fair Food Finder. So we went and got mini donuts and other goodies.

Today's a milestone. The kids are at their summer care right now. They are excited and only a bit nervous. I've actually gotten less and less nervous as the date approached. I realized that we are all going to be at a higher risk for catching the virus. But, as another parent put it, "the chaos must end or we will both be out of jobs." We struggled through homeschooling. The kids had enough assignments to keep them busy for about 3-4 hours, but I could never go more than about 1.5 hours without interruption or needing to check up on them. And without school structure there is no way we'd be able to focus. But I've already gotten so much done this morning!
We'll still have to deal with them 2/5ths time, though. They are only going Monday-Wednesday. I'm actually excited to hear how it goes for them. They haven't been around any kids, or any adults in authority, since March! I hope they have a good time. We don't know which, if any, of their school friends will be there.

Another milestone--within the next couple weeks we may know when we can open the museum again! Likely later this summer. Wow....I really wasn't expecting it until September.

So it's actually going to get a bit tougher....preparing to reopen a museum and figuring out how to run it when it's open is going to be a lot of tough work. I'll still be doing quite a bit of work from home, even after we open, but my schedule's going to be more erratic than usual.

I can't believe it's been 3 months!

[Rommie]

Ah, hmm about the link- the NY Times coronavirus stuff is supposed to be free. (I actually unsubscribed a week or two back because I got so pissed off about the Tom Cotton editorial BS.) Well if you look up the coverage anywhere, basically Arizona is a serious exponential curve going upward that looks awful, and all my friends out that way say no one is distancing or wearing masks.

We've been out and about too, mainly hitting up a restaurant that has a good outdoor section once a week, and hiking. Honestly, I really appreciate how much the local businesses around here are clearly taking everything seriously, and many have built/modified their areas to fit coronavirus needs. (Like, the ice cream place has a dedicated door opener slash surface wiper kid on staff this year.) One or two are not, but not so many that I can't just stop going there- for example, last week I had a huge craving for a bagel with lox and cream cheese, and lucky us there's a bagel place nearby so I could call in and order one for takeout... but went in, and none of the teenage staff had masks, despite that being a requirement to operate in NH. So, sucks, but probably not eating a bagel with lox any time soon.

[code monkey]

sorry it took me a while playing with permissions to figure out how to do this. I am not IT lol.

trust you are well.

a while? a while??!! holy cow; you got it done in less than an hour! darned straight, you're not it. they'd still be asking for screen prints and descriptions of the problem.

[Rommie]

So, we've screwed the pooch on this one huh? My summer student down in Florida just asked if he could delay our meeting this morning because he is going to get tested.

I mean, here in the Northeast we are doing ok still, and we still feel safe- we went for an ice cream yesterday at a Ben and Jerry's takeout window outside, and everyone we saw while eating it either had their mask on or was far from anyone else and had it in hand to put on if that changed. But I can't imagine our numbers will last forever now that people are traveling around more. And with other countries banning Americans from entering I'm all "yeah, fair enough, I wouldn't want us right now either."

Interesting note- F got an antibody test on Friday, which you now get for free if you donate blood. (They finally updated the rules at the beginning of June, but it will take a few months until my account updates and I can donate again.) We reckon if he's had it, I've had it, but would probably just pay for another test for both of us if it was positive to be sure.

[lady_*nix]

@Rommie

Re antibody tests, worth remembering that they're only like 90-95% accurate, and in most places less than 2% of the population has ever been infected. Which means that any individual is more likely to get a false positive than a true positive. So for now antibody tests are useful for survey purposes, but not so much for people trying to figure out if they're resistant.

[Rommie]

That's why I said we'd go get another test if this one is positive. Statistically if you get two positives, you can probably assume you had it.

I'm not saying we're gonna go clubbing in Texas, or change our lifestyle much (and we'd still wear masks), but it'd be a relief to not worry as much about giving it to my parents (or anyone else).

[lady_*nix]

@Rommie

Oohhh sorry, reading comprehension fail.

[pumpkinpi]

MrPi had a horrible "cold" in January that lasted for 2 or more weeks, the worst part of it was a cough. At the time it definitely seemed completely different than any other cold he'd had. But, we don't recall he ever had a fever. And, even though we usually play "musical colds" in our house any time one of us gets one, none of the rest of us got sick.
He was pretty sure he got it at work because two of his colleagues also had it, and they had recently traveled to India and China.

So, in my ideal world---MrPi already had a very mild case of it. The rest of us had it but were asymptomatic. (Because really, how could we not have gotten infected with such close contact?) And if you get it and have antibodies, then you are forever immune.......Although I am hopeful, I am doubtful any or all of those are the case. But still, as soon as we can find antibody testing we're going to send MrPi to get it done!

But like you, that wouldn't change much of what we do. Even if we did find out within a couple months whether we have antibodies, I'm sure it will be much longer before we know for sure whether we can get infected again. So we'll still be diligent, minimize contact, and wear our masks. But I'd sleep just so much easier at night....

[SciFiFisher]

Rommie and Pie.

It would definitely be interesting to know the results of those tests. Pi, you may be closer to right than you know. According to the CDC, they suspect that the actual number of cases in the U.S. is around 25 million vs the 2.5 million that has been reported.

[lady_*nix]

@Fisher

I have wondered about that myself TBH. My partner and I both got a really weird and terrible "flu" right after our last date back in February, and like... it was bad. She was coughing her lungs out for 10 days; I didn't get much lung stuff, but had all kinds of dizziness/aches/chills/flu like crap for a week, worse than anything I'd had since childhood, and since then I get recurring episodes of debilitating muscle pain and suchlike every once in a while. I'm mostly assuming that last is stress related, but it could definitely also be post-COVID weirdness - the virus is known to mess with peripheral nerves, often even the CNS.

We'd both gotten the flu vaccine, for whatever that was worth. Also she has no chronic health issues while I have autoimmune crap, so like... if we both got COVID and one of us got lingering problems, it would probably be me.

So... yeah. It wouldn't surprise me. Not going to bet my life on it though (especially as antibody based resistance doesn't seem to last that long).

[lady_*nix]

Oh re "asymptomatic". My friend who got hospitalized for it, her wife and partner also both got it. Partner basically got the "extraordinarily bad flu" version, wife never developed symptoms despite high and constant exposure.

My friend was the only person in that household with serious chronic health problems (mainly diabetes and asthma AFAIK). The thing damn near killed her, and I'm grateful and still kind of stunned that she made it through - even though she's recovered really well, is basically back to her old self.

So anyway... yeah. Huge spread of symptoms and severity, especially for younger and healthier people. Including with the asymptomatic or minimally symptomatic version. Some people weather that fine, others drop dead from surprise strokes/heart attacks/pulmonary embolisms.

[Rommie]

Weirdest Reddit convo ever. I posted something to my Reddit profile the effect of "science is a process, so if you say you like space facts but don't wear a mask you don't love science, you love trivia." And wow did someone get mad at me- conversation is roughly as follows.

Weirdo: you're a sheep! You only need to wear a mask if you have the virus!

Me: yes, that's the point. You can be asymptomatic and not know it, and I would be devastated if I got someone ill with a deadly virus.

Weirdo: Idiot, are we then supposed to assume all 8 billion people have the virus?!

Me: um, pretty much? If you can't know who has it, you have to assume everyone does, and if cases are rising in your area you should wear a mask. And the more you wear a mask the sooner life can go back to normal.

I'm still shaking my head. Both statements were so close to being self-aware, but missed the mark completely! We are so screwed.

[Rommie]

F is negative for antibodies. I look forward to us no longer having to speculate about whether that cold he had in February was something more.