The Spreading (And Potentially Deadly) Coronavirus Epidemic....

[arch_8ngel | 1,597]

41 minutes ago, darkchylde28 said:

I feel you.  Fortunately, we've got balcony porches that allow for some "outside" time, plus the wife and I have gotten to the point where we'll let the kids chase each other through the house for a bit during certain hours, which has eased things somewhat.  My wife is going stir crazy (which is funny because she didn't much go anywhere before quarantine and mostly sat around inside the house reading during periods of free time), but the rest of us are handling it fairly well.  I think the only thing that really bugs me at this point is that it seems like nobody besides myself bothers to put anything away when they're done with it, so the living room tends to mostly remain a giant pile of kids' toys that nobody else seems to know how or when to put away and after work I'm generally too weary to dive into it since I know I'll be going it alone.

I've definitely let my two young kids become semi-feral with quite a bit of minimally supervised time in the back yard.

And at least in our state, parks and beaches are still open for "exercise", just close for swimming, gatherings, and the playgrounds being shut down.

 

But even with those benefits, a 3.5 year old and a 6.5 year old have an obscene amount of energy that couples badly with them both being sad about not being able to play with their friends.

Edited May 7, 2020 by arch_8ngel

[tbone3969 | 304]

If this happened back in my single days I would be in heaven.  I have always been a little anti-social anyways.  I would be laying around gaming all day and night.  Now with a demanding career, wife and two young kids.....   I'll pass.  Can't wait for this shit to be over.

[Boosted52405 | 178]

9 minutes ago, tbone3969 said:

I really enjoy the Joe Rogan podcast as well.

Your link took me to a "PowerfulJRE" channel on Youtube with 8.24mil subscribers, where I've been watching his "JRE Clips" channel for eternity with a measly 4.33mil subscribers. Ha - subscribed!

Listening to the one you linked while I work, this Michael Osterholm dude is legit.

Edited May 7, 2020 by Boosted52405

[Strange | 1,700]

34 minutes ago, tbone3969 said:

Now that I am thinking about it, as long as it isn't man made, doe sit really matter if it was leaked from a Wuhan Lab or came from a Wuhan wet market?  Either one shows China's reluctance to enforce any type of reasonable restrictions on either of them.  It's always been clear to me that this shit was caused by China.  Question is what can we, or anyone, do about it?  Not much other than economic measures.

I’m not defending the Chinese government here (assuming the Wuhan lab is a government lab, I’m not sure. Could be academia), but if lab safety is your concern I’ve got bad news about some US labs too.

I’m not making a political statement here, I’ve just been legitimately concerned with the safety procedures of some labs I’ve worked in, lol. Hopefully this pandemic changes things.

[tbone3969 | 304]

2 minutes ago, The Strangest said:

I’m not defending the Chinese government here (assuming the Wuhan lab is a government lab, I’m not sure. Could be academia), but if lab safety is your concern I’ve got bad news about some US labs too.

I’m not making a political statement here, I’ve just been legitimately concerned with the safety procedures of some labs I’ve worked in, lol. Hopefully this pandemic changes things.

Jesus....  Now you have got me worried.  If your saying there are lab safety concerns here in the US just imagine how much worse it probably is in China.  No wonder people have been warning us of a looming pandemic for years.

[Kguillemette | 1,544]

4 hours ago, tbone3969 said:

I'm losing it too.  Two young children in a two bedroom apartment and no where to go.  Trying to work 40-50 hours a week from home.  Days, weeks, months melt into each other.  Showers few and far between.  I'd give anything for a haircut right now.  My wife keeps begging for me to let her cut it.  No way.

Im with you. I have the (un)fortunate situation of being an essential employee managing a takeout sub shop in a gas station. Combine that with my wife being an lpn while finishing school to get her RN, and it has been double extra duty. Ive had to carry the load the whole year so she can focus on school, since nursing school is intense and no joke. And then homeschool for 3 kids fell on to my plate. Couple that with work has sucked lately, the staff has been getting burnt out, the owner went to GA to enjoy life since that state opened up(which is insane btw!) And while some customers have been extra awesome thanking and praising us for our hard work, others have been extra rude. Especially the ones who still don't think this virus is real or not a big deal. 

If you are an essential worker with a family, i can bet your plate is borderline over filled. Its disheartening that there is no realistic end in sight.

 

[Tulpa | 3,501]

https://news.yahoo.com/doing-doctors-fed-conspiracies-ravaging-214800418.html

[Strange | 1,700]

1 hour ago, Tulpa said:

https://news.yahoo.com/doing-doctors-fed-conspiracies-ravaging-214800418.html

I’ve said this before: imagine if conspiracy theorists used their wild imaginations to contribute to society through the arts - movies, novels, etc. - instead of trying to regress society?

[tbone3969 | 304]

5 hours ago, Kguillemette said:

Im with you. I have the (un)fortunate situation of being an essential employee managing a takeout sub shop in a gas station. Combine that with my wife being an lpn while finishing school to get her RN, and it has been double extra duty. Ive had to carry the load the whole year so she can focus on school, since nursing school is intense and no joke. And then homeschool for 3 kids fell on to my plate. Couple that with work has sucked lately, the staff has been getting burnt out, the owner went to GA to enjoy life since that state opened up(which is insane btw!) And while some customers have been extra awesome thanking and praising us for our hard work, others have been extra rude. Especially the ones who still don't think this virus is real or not a big deal. 

If you are an essential worker with a family, i can bet your plate is borderline over filled. Its disheartening that there is no realistic end in sight.

 

Dam dude.  You have it way worse than me.  Stay strong.  We are almost at the finish line.

[Link | 2,713]

11 minutes ago, tbone3969 said:

Stay strong. 

yes

12 minutes ago, tbone3969 said:

We are almost at the finish line.

I don’t think so, Tim

[Estil | 1,265]

4 minutes ago, Link said:

I don’t think so, Tim

We still got at least a few more months of this I'm afraid...  

[Kguillemette | 1,544]

5 minutes ago, tbone3969 said:

Dam dude.  You have it way worse than me.  Stay strong.  We are almost at the finish line.

So close! It's frustrating to see people out there not believe in this because they aren't struggling themselves. Granted its like only 5% of the population that believes that.  But I serve at least 150 sandwiches everyday. Meaning on average I have to confront that guy 7 times everyday, and it grinds on you. And even if they were right and the virus was fake, the extra regulations are not. My job being 15% more labor intensive than it used to be from required extra cleaning and glove use/glove changes is very real. To not get empathy for that is insulting. @Richardhead probably knows how I feel from working in a liquor store.

 

There is good tidings from all this though. The 3900 Trump check(deal with it, I'm calling it that) paid for a first months rent and a security deposit on a single family house. After dealing with 3 kids packed into a townhouse, we finally get a single family home that is easily afforded between my and my wife's new RN salary(and lordy does this world need more nurses. I am so proud).

Things are really looking up in spite of everything. Just Got to bear through this.

[Estil | 1,265]

 

6 minutes ago, Kguillemette said:

There is good tidings from all this though. The 3900 Trump check(deal with it, I'm calling it that) paid for a first months rent and a security deposit on a single family house. After dealing with 3 kids packed into a townhouse, we finally get a single family home that is easily afforded between my and my wife's new RN salary(and lordy does this world need more nurses. I am so proud).

Things are really looking up in spite of everything. Just Got to bear through this.

All right, good going!   Wow you got three kids?   My apartment won't even let me have two kitties    And look at how much fun having at least two kitties can be!    And yes when I'm eating my kitty does indeed like to sit down and drink some of my tea right out of my cup!  It's too bad he doesn't do that slowly reaching with his paw and licking from it because that would look so cute!  

What can I say?  I'm a wannabe crazy cat lady through and through!   And don't forget about the kind of Cats that play basketball!  

Edited May 8, 2020 by Estil

[Richardhead | 2,813]

35 minutes ago, Kguillemette said:

So close! It's frustrating to see people out there not believe in this because they aren't struggling themselves. Granted its like only 5% of the population that believes that.  But I serve at least 150 sandwiches everyday. Meaning on average I have to confront that guy 7 times everyday, and it grinds on you. And even if they were right and the virus was fake, the extra regulations are not. My job being 15% more labor intensive than it used to be from required extra cleaning and glove use/glove changes is very real. To not get empathy for that is insulting. @Richardhead probably knows how I feel from working in a liquor store.

 

There is good tidings from all this though. The 3900 Trump check(deal with it, I'm calling it that) paid for a first months rent and a security deposit on a single family house. After dealing with 3 kids packed into a townhouse, we finally get a single family home that is easily afforded between my and my wife's new RN salary(and lordy does this world need more nurses. I am so proud).

Things are really looking up in spite of everything. Just Got to bear through this.

The last 8 weeks have been difficult for sure. Mostly just shitty people being inconvenienced a bit. They are entitled and have recently become experts on infectious disease. I have got to the point where i just tell people to stop talking, that I really don’t care what their opinion is, and  It actually works better than anything else I’ve tried. 
Starting yesterday, the county I work in has issued a mandatory face cover mandate, so we have now had to start to enforce that....... Today, someone freaked out and spit at a coworker. So yeah, it’s not getting any better as much as I want to believe it is. 

[Kguillemette | 1,544]

29 minutes ago, Richardhead said:

The last 8 weeks have been difficult for sure. Mostly just shitty people being inconvenienced a bit. They are entitled and have recently become experts on infectious disease. I have got to the point where i just tell people to stop talking, that I really don’t care what their opinion is, and  It actually works better than anything else I’ve tried. 
Starting yesterday, the county I work in has issued a mandatory face cover mandate, so we have now had to start to enforce that....... Today, someone freaked out and spit at a coworker. So yeah, it’s not getting any better as much as I want to believe it is. 

This. Not to mention mandated face coverings are coming in NH. Work will suck even more soon.

[315retro | 8]

I've been essential since the start, but I got a 1 week paid break when they reduced staff, and then I had a 2 week break for being exposed. 

I work maintenance for local government. We look after a compound with 6 buildings. Generally several hundred workers plus waves of public daily. Despite many of the buildings having less than 10 people in them daily, we've brought back our entire part time staff for nightly cleanings... There's 4 people working daily to clean a building that's entirely empty during the day. 

I tried to fight for them but ended up close to burning myself on it and left it up to them. Unfortunately they're not union and our entire county has been extremely mismanaged. Just got featured as an example in NY because a nearby greenhouse had over 100 internal cases. They've done everything very poorly from the start but I think NY as a whole has done the best we could. 

[fcgamer | 4,724]

Still business as usual in Taiwan, here's the stats for today.

Hang in there guys, as much as I hate wearing a mask while at work or out and about, it's quite easy to lose sight of how lucky I am compared to my mates back home.

Stay safe everyone, hopefully things will get better as the warm weather arrives.

[spacepup | 2,404]

Putting aside the entire conversation about whether wearing masks should or should not be forced upon us, I ask this to all of you - as a fellow human, please consider wearing a mask while out in public or especially in enclosed spaces.  It can...and WILL...save lives.  This isn't a dramatic request, or an exaggerated one, or a political or partisan one.  I'm not telling you that you HAVE to, I am asking you to, because it's such a simple and easy thing to do, to help us all fight the deadly effects of the virus.

Don't wear it because you have to - wear it because you want to - because you care enough about other people you encounter, to deal with a little annoyance or frustration, temporarily.  Wearing a mask does not make someone weak or afraid.  It's not about weakness and fear - it's about common decency and respect for other people. 

I don't know about you all, but I'm trusting this recommendation from the countless experts, health professionals, government recommendations, and advice from my own friends and family who work in some of these fields, about the effectiveness of doing so.  I encourage you not to get your health advice from frustrated facebook posts or political arguments, or "gut feelings."   

TLDR:  Please consider wearing a mask around other people right now.

[arch_8ngel | 1,597]

28 minutes ago, spacepup said:

Don't wear it because you have to - wear it because you want to - because you care enough about other people you encounter, to deal with a little annoyance or frustration, temporarily.  Wearing a mask does not make someone weak or afraid.  It's not about weakness and fear - it's about common decency and respect for other people. 

 

And don't be one of those dipshits with your nose hanging out...

[Tabonga | 2,318]

This is more than somewhat troublesome.  Let's hope that is a fluke and isn't the start of something really problematic.

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/05/06/ny-gov-cuomo-says-its-shocking-most-new-coronavirus-hospitalizations-are-people-staying-home.html

[captmorgandrinker | 1,649]

12 minutes ago, Tabonga said:

This is more than somewhat troublesome.  Let's hope that is a fluke and isn't the start of something really problematic.

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/05/06/ny-gov-cuomo-says-its-shocking-most-new-coronavirus-hospitalizations-are-people-staying-home.html

People lie though.  

"Have you gone anywhere in the last 2 weeks?"   "No doctor, I swear!"  (pushes takeout container behind chair with foot)

[spacepup | 2,404]

I think it's important to add some context to that information, just so we don't extrapolate it out to mean that staying home is more dangerous than going out.  In that particular report, first - it is referring to hospitalizations, not new infections.  Second, the data showed that a shocking amount of the hospitalizations in that report were from minorities in low-income neighborhoods, most of them being over the age of 51.  There are several other important variables here that are actually more interesting and relevant, imo, than the fact that the cases in that batch came from people who supposedly were staying at home.

It doesn't negate the fact that it's definitely something to investigate and learn from, but I don't think it is to imply that 'staying home' in general is more dangerous, or not effective, in the general sense, of keeping the virus at bay.  It does highlight though, that there are many other issues going on here, and even for those staying at home, they still need to be very careful with precautionary measures.

There are lots of different situations --- for example, I am personally going into the office about half-time right now, but virtually no one is there when I'm there, we've sanitized often and thoroughly, no customers are allowed in at all, and any time I'm outside I have a mask on.  In my personal life, I'm getting all groceries delivered and not really going anywhere at all.

Contrast that to someone who maybe is staying home and not working, or even only going for groceries - but not wearing a mask at the grocery store, or not following good hygiene procedures / etc etc.  That person is probably more likely to get it than me, even though I'm working out of the home and they aren't.

At the end of the day, there is no one thing that is 100% effective - all of the various efforts and actions are potentially helpful --- not going out as much, good hygiene, hand-washing, wearing a mask, etc. etc.  Maybe people can't do 100% of these things, but the more they do, the better protected they'll be (and others will be!) all things considered.

 

 

[Tulpa | 3,501]

1 hour ago, captmorgandrinker said:

People lie though.  

"Have you gone anywhere in the last 2 weeks?"   "No doctor, I swear!"  (pushes takeout container behind chair with foot)

Yeah, it says "not venturing much outside."

Someone who goes out once a week with no regard to safety and social distancing will probably be more likely to catch it than someone who goes out every day but manages to follow the guidelines.

[Boosted52405 | 178]

Found this fresh JRE clip with Elon Musk extremely interesting, anyone have any thoughts on this?

 

[Tabonga | 2,318]

@Tulpa @captmorgandrinker @spacepup

Yeah - people do lie but people also tell the truth.  As I said it might be a fluke - but it may indicate something else is going on that needs to be taken into account in dealing with things.  It is really really silly (and dangerous IMHO) to dismiss something out of hand simply because  it may contradict a prevailing narrative - sometimes prevailing narratives are wrong.   If something is dismissed because it doesn't fit the current narrative it becomes a form of circular logic style reasoning. And in fact, twisting/ignoring data to fit a narrative  is the wrong approach - you need twist/change the narrative to account for the facts (if the facts continue to accumulate). 

Let's say 25% of the respondents lied - that drops the 66% to 49.5% - still a very troubling figure is it not?  (Assuming this continues.)  While you can make guesses about what percent lies - and how they lied - but what percentage is "acceptable" to fit the prevailing narrative?  

Edited May 8, 2020 by Tabonga