Coronavirus ~ COVID-19

[~ocean]

Coronavirus ~ I never thought we would be facing this pandemic , but we are.
I have pulmonary fibrosis since 2014 and I've been fighting lung cancer since 2015 and I won't let this virus take me. I just canceled all my cancer screenings I had scheduled for this month and I won't leave the house. I'm very scared knowing it could kill me. I don't want to be a statistic to this virus. I go back and forth on how this virus started, I listened to the medical facts , on the news . Part of me wants to believe them and another part of me thinks it could be an act of terrorism , which we end up being pawns in the games of some very evil corrupt leaders of country's. I am torn between wanting to be brave and face this virus by going out into the public or use my common sense and stay away from the public because I am at high risk.

What are your thoughts ? How are you handling this upset in our lives ?

I recently spent hundreds in supply's and food, for myself and family. My daughter is my caretaker, I don't want for her to have to be in the stores as frequent as she has had to be on a regular basis. The university's have been closing , students racing to get home . I live in a very busy area with the Boston Marathon next month which may be canceled. A conference at Bio-Gen in Cambridge , Ma. exposed the virus to hundreds several already testing positive. The way this virus has escalated makes me think if it wasn't an act of terrorism. We will never know for certain.
(((((((((((((( everyone ))))))))))))))

God bless us all ,

[JDeere]

Im not freaking out yet...

Only taking precautions for what needs to be done.. And no im not hoarding TP or wipes etc... That's wrong to do that on so many levels.

Wash wash wash hands is key.

Masks wont help nor will other stuff its just preventative measures for some folks.. Most masks are made in other countries anyways. If need be i will make my own.

[kittygrrl]

I understand it's been classified officially a "pandemic"

[C0LLETTE]

Im not freaking out yet...

Only taking precautions for what needs to be done.. And no im not hoarding TP or wipes etc... That's wrong to do that on so many levels.

Wash wash wash hands is key.

Masks wont help nor will other stuff its just preventative measures for some folks.. Most masks are made in other countries anyways. If need be i will make my own.

Maybe a mask wont prevent the virus from entering but the point is that a mask might prevent you from touching your face, on average, 20 times a day and that's where the real benefit is...and wtf is wrong with masks being made "in other countries"?

[randomnotes]

I’ve been washing and disinfecting my hands so much my skin is peeling. I feel like I’ve turned into a germ o phobe overnight.

[JDeere]

Maybe a mask wont prevent the virus from entering but the point is that a mask might prevent you from touching your face, on average, 20 times a day and that's where the real benefit is...and wtf is wrong with masks being made "in other countries"?

They are made in countries that have a huge impact on the industry. I dont think you wanna wear a mask that could have possibly been produced by someone with the virus...you dont know if they have it, if they do or dont wash their hands etc.

[GeorgiaMa'am]

I'm a bit of a germophobe anyway, so I've got a good supply of hand sanitizer. I never realized before how many times a day I touch my face, though. It's a lot. I've become self conscious about it in front of my coworkers.

As I wrote in the zombie thread, I'm going to stop eating in restaurants and ordering takeout for awhile. I stocked up on some cooking essentials. It will be better for me anyway.

I'm hoping our boss approves a work-from-home plan - but that's mainly just because I want to work from home. We have a small office of only five people, and each of us has our own office. One of my coworkers does have kids, though, and I don't like how they spread germs everywhere they go.

[Kelt]

I saw in another thread and on the news that Tom Hanks has it.

Sad to say, but if a popular American celebrity has it maybe that will get Americans to wake up and pay attention to this.

If we could get adequate testing in this country, I am sure the positive cases would be exponentially larger. So many people with their head in the sand…

Eat good, sleep good, wash your hands.

[Kätzchen]

Question and comment for my sister-femme-friend, Ocean:

Ocean, I wondered too if this covid-19 virus epidemic was a biological warfare type of thing, *But*, what if the covid-19 virus could be a by-product of global warming? That is what I have been wondering myself. Viruses mutate and find ways to survive, just like any species might evolve out of sense of survival. Do you think it's a possibility? Maybe?

I work in a high contact work place venue where people with privilege travel to all sorts of destinations, near and far (domestic or international). As a rule, our work campus places a high priority on health safety, due to any viral outbreak (etc). If one doesn't feel well, one does not go to work. In fact, since this particular outbreak of covid-19? Many employers have flexed schedules for staff/employees so they can work from home (for those who can).

We practice good hygiene, it's a must. Working in a high traffic work place venue requires good hygiene practices.

I also, in response to your post Ocean, keep my cupboards stocked and keep cleaning supplies and other sun-dry necessities well stocked too. More so, since the covid-19 virus became a run-away freight train issue.

I am hyper-aware of cleanliness and keeping our work place in as clean shape as possible. None of us want to contract this illness. It's super concerning. I know I can't miss work for extended periods of time due to any serious health crisis/illness. I don't have spare income to hurdle a financial issue which threatens to cost me everything I might have in emergency income for any unforeseen or unintended consequences of experiencing a health crisis.

I am sending wellness wishes for your own health safety, my friend, in the coming days and weeks ahead. :rrose: :tea:

[Stone-Butch]

I just found out that 3 days ago in BC our first death occurred from the virus. An elderly gentleman living in a nursing home. Our diagnosed total is 77 with the virus as of today.
We need to keep clean hands, masks and away from unnecessary crowds. I do hope that not too many more people will pass from this virus but I know it is a pandemic and we need to look out for ourselves and our loved ones.

[~ocean]

Question and comment for my sister-femme-friend, Ocean:

Ocean, I wondered too if this covid-19 virus epidemic was a biological warfare type of thing, *But*, what if the covid-19 virus could be a by-product of global warming? That is what I have been wondering myself. Viruses mutate and find ways to survive, just like any species might evolve out of sense of survival. Do you think it's a possibility? Maybe?

I work in a high contact work place venue where people with privilege travel to all sorts of destinations, near and far (domestic or international). As a rule, our work campus places a high priority on health safety, due to any viral outbreak (etc). If one doesn't feel well, one does not go to work. In fact, since this particular outbreak of covid-19? Many employers have flexed schedules for staff/employees so they can work from home (for those who can).

We practice good hygiene, it's a must. Working in a high traffic work place venue requires good hygiene practices.

I also, in response to your post Ocean, keep my cupboards stocked and keep cleaning supplies and other sun-dry necessities well stocked too. More so, since the covid-19 virus became a run-away freight train issue.

I am hyper-aware of cleanliness and keeping our work place in as clean shape as possible. None of us want to contract this illness. It's super concerning. I know I can't miss work for extended periods of time due to any serious health crisis/illness. I don't have spare income to hurdle a financial issue which threatens to cost me everything I might have in emergency income for any unforeseen or unintended consequences of experiencing a health crisis.

I am sending wellness wishes for your own health safety, my friend, in the coming days and weeks ahead. :rrose: :tea:



(((((((((katzchen)))))))) so many reasons have run threw my mind as well. They don't know for sure W.H.O> that is . I have so many emotions running across my mind, it's like a traffic jam lolol it's 2 a.m. and I can't sleep. playing a game relax's me ~ :)

[easygoingfemme]

My daughter's college is shutting down. The students are sent home this weekend and there is no return plan. It's her senior year. She is devastated. So many things she has worked for and planned for and now it's all an abrupt end with no senior showcase, probably no graduation ceremony, and it means she loses her job too.

I'm working closely with CDC and public health at work trying to keep our housing programs safe but there's only so much I can do. The women who live there are out going to work, riding buses. They have to. They still have to go to work and school and medical appointments. It's only a matter of time before our building will end up in quarantine. We're trying to set up emergency plans, especially for our domestic violence shelter, for if staff have to leave. Apparently national guard is helping in some situations so I need to find out more about that.

[Orema]

Health Officials Testify Before House Committee—Live

Coronavirus expert Dr. Fauci and CDC head Dr. Redfield testify before House

h34z6hS52YM

[~ocean]

My daughter's college is shutting down. The students are sent home this weekend and there is no return plan. It's her senior year. She is devastated. So many things she has worked for and planned for and now it's all an abrupt end with no senior showcase, probably no graduation ceremony, and it means she loses her job too.

I'm working closely with CDC and public health at work trying to keep our housing programs safe but there's only so much I can do. The women who live there are out going to work, riding buses. They have to. They still have to go to work and school and medical appointments. It's only a matter of time before our building will end up in quarantine. We're trying to set up emergency plans, especially for our domestic violence shelter, for if staff have to leave. Apparently national guard is helping in some situations so I need to find out more about that.


so many students and their friends & family's are affected, here as well the colleges and university's are closed, but most important (((((( easygoingfemme))))))) ty for your efforts and dedication for people in need. my daughter is a CNA and a Hospice caregiver , she is masked and gloved when taking care of her clients b4 the virus as well in some delicate situations ~ I am very proud of her. The family's of her clients have expressed their thanks and appreciation for her work. Ty again :) we need people like you.

[Kelt]

I got the state regulations for long-term care facilities in Washington today. It is where my mother lives, to say they are strict is an understatement. I understand it is necessary but it will be hard on her as well as me.

I live in California and the county put out an extensive set of general guidelines for everybody today. I watched the news conference on YouTube and almost immediately afterward the state emergency app on my phone lit up. It looks like many other states and cities had similar news conferences today.

Our orange leader managed to make such an ass of himself last night that he pissed off the entire European Union. Again. That just made the stock market that much worse, as if that were possible, and he has apparently exposed himself to the virus a couple of times.

Wait. Maybe that part is OK…

Nope. Pence. I wonder if we could hold elections early. :thinking:

[Femmewench]

Our orange leader managed to make such an ass of himself last night that he pissed off the entire European Union. Again. That just made the stock market that much worse, as if that were possible, and he has apparently exposed himself to the virus a couple of times.

Wait. Maybe that part is OK…

Nope. Pence. I wonder if we could hold elections early. :thinking:

Pence was with the orange on in Mar A Lago and shook the hands of the same infected people the orange one did. Nancy Pelosi's time may come.

[SaltyButch]

The Prime Minister's wife has been diagnosed with this virus, they had already decided to self isolate when she was feeling some symptoms. My workplace has 2 identified cases, my tower is not affected and the building has disinfected the floor in the other tower and those people on the floor are in self isolation.

I am fortunate that should they decide to close the office we can work from home, but honestly I feel like my workplace is the safest place to be. They are super diligent in cleaning and providing us with the supplies to take care of our desks.

Although this virus is scary, what I fear more is the economic havoc it will have on everyone. I personally am not panicking but am certainly being proactive in my care.

[RebelDyke]

My college has been shut down. Us instructors have been told to start modifying our courses to be online until further notice. All of our mid-term grades are due on the same time frame. However, out offices are still open. nothing like a twist to end the semester.

[ksrainbow]

https://www.thedailybeast.com/democratic-rep-katie-porter-pushes-cdc-director-to-commit-to-free-coronavirus-testing?ref=home

[Kätzchen]

The Covid-19 virus has unexpected testing impacts already. I read tonight, a NYT's article, how people cannot get the test help they need, even after ER doctors tell them they need to get tested because they simply don't 'meet the criteria' for the health threat when seen by medical professionals.

That's got to be super scary.

Today at work, we noticed impacts such as the work population not being as high as it normally is. I also heard from random people at work that when they didn't have supplies on hand, on their specific floor and that janitorial had limited supplies (which is unheard of, seriously, they always have overstock), they shopped at local stores for tissue, sanitizer, paper towels, etc and not one store had any to buy. That was as of today. I was like, "Wow".

Here's that link to the article I read, just minutes ago, published by the NYT's (LINK) (https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/sick-people-across-the-us-say-they-are-being-denied-the-coronavirus-test/ar-BB117d9s?ocid=spartanntp).

[~ocean]

The Covid-19 virus has unexpected testing impacts already. I read tonight, a NYT's article, how people cannot get the test help they need, even after ER doctors tell them they need to get tested because they simply don't 'meet the criteria' for the health threat when seen by medical professionals.

That's got to be super scary.

Today at work, we noticed impacts such as the work population not being as high as it normally is. I also heard from random people at work that when they didn't have supplies on hand, on their specific floor and that janitorial had limited supplies (which is unheard of, seriously, they always have overstock), they shopped at local stores for tissue, sanitizer, paper towels, etc and not one store had any to buy. That was as of today. I was like, "Wow".

Here's that link to the article I read, just minutes ago, published by the NYT's (LINK) (https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/sick-people-across-the-us-say-they-are-being-denied-the-coronavirus-test/ar-BB117d9s?ocid=spartanntp).


the store shelves here are empty as well. Trump knew in enough time to get us testing kits and products we will all need . He will go down as the president that didn't do what he should have done threw a pandemic. what a bio he has ~ impeachment, inadequacy , liar . add sentiments here lolol

[GeorgiaMa'am]

Our parking deck at work is looking pretty sparse.

* * *

I'm scared as heck to look at my 401K account.

* * *

I'm working from home now, and so will everyone else in my office within the next week.

* * *

I tried to warn my boss we should not sign any long-term (9 months out) contracts for hotels, as we are hearing public health officials say it will be 18 months before they have a vaccine ready for the public. We will just end up paying deposits for sleeping and meeting rooms that we can't get back. Her reply: no one is talking about stuff a year away right now, don't worry about it. Arrrrggghhhhh! She is so short-sighted.

[Martina]

The Dow is rallying a little.

I'm in isolation as of about an hour ago. Busy day getting everything in place. I didn't get cash, so hopefully society will not collapse, in which case I'm doomed anyway. I do have to go pick up a couple of scripts next week, but I can do it through Walgreens drive through window. No face to face contact.

Exhausting. Everybody is out doing the same thing. I voted early. The election workers weren't taking any precautions, so I swabbed my hands with an antiseptic wipe when I got back in the car. Starbucks workers had gloves and masks. They looked pretty scary, but I'm sure not criticizing.

I had to cancel an ultrasound appointment I had forgotten that I even had until I checked my calendar this morning. It's not urgent and just not worth it.

Well, knock on wood and fingers crossed that everyone stays healthy.

[JDeere]

People at work are wearing homemade masks.

Still no decision on whether to make it work from home or not.

[easygoingfemme]

Today was crazy here. Literally hour by hour schools shutting down and having really intense meetings about what policies to put into place reflecting that. As of now we have cancelled all community meetings that we hold in our building and no one is allowed visitors- residents or staff. Daily check ins and health screenings for all 95 residents. Come Tuesday it will likely be down to only essential staff in the building which would be myself, one person on maintenance, one on front desk, a director and our CEO. My daughter moves back home tomorrow, unsure when or if she'll get to go finish her senior year of college. It took three days to get someone from Public Health who had time to talk to me about what protocol we follow if someone in house tests positive. Turns out they don't have a plan. I know National Guard is helping in some places in lockdown so I'm trying to see if they will come to us to drop off food if the building is quarantined.

[GeorgiaMa'am]

. . . My daughter moves back home tomorrow, unsure when or if she'll get to go finish her senior year of college.

I work for a consortium of 16 colleges. (Basically we help them do some things as a group that saves them money, and we apply for and administer grants for them.) They are all going nuts trying to figure out what to do. There are so many questions to consider, like: what if students come back from spring break, one of them tests positive, do they have to quarantine that whole dormitory? The whole campus? All the students in that person's classes? Basically they just don't have the resources to do that. So pretty much across the board, they are telling students to go home, and to not come back from spring break. They are working desperately to find a way to let all the students finish up their courses online. There are a lot of questions with that, too: for instance, accrediting agencies (SACS in the Southeast) have not approved all of these courses for online instruction.

I do know, however, that all of our schools are trying very hard to find solutions for their students. Some will do a better job than others, I'm sure. But they are all taking it seriously, and seem to have the students' situations at the forefront of their concerns. I hope your daughter's school will, too - I feel sure that they are very likely to.

[easygoingfemme]

I work for a consortium of 16 colleges. (Basically we help them do some things as a group that saves them money, and we apply for and administer grants for them.) They are all going nuts trying to figure out what to do. There are so many questions to consider, like: what if students come back from spring break, one of them tests positive, do they have to quarantine that whole dormitory? The whole campus? All the students in that person's classes? Basically they just don't have the resources to do that. So pretty much across the board, they are telling students to go home, and to not come back from spring break. They are working desperately to find a way to let all the students finish up their courses online. There are a lot of questions with that, too: for instance, accrediting agencies (SACS in the Southeast) have not approved all of these courses for online instruction.

I do know, however, that all of our schools are trying very hard to find solutions for their students. Some will do a better job than others, I'm sure. But they are all taking it seriously, and seem to have the students' situations at the forefront of their concerns. I hope your daughter's school will, too - I feel sure that they are very likely to.


Yes, they are moving everything to online. It will be interesting. It's her last semester and she is way over on required credits so she has been taking classes like hip hop dance, ballet, glass blowing... I am not sure how that translates to an online class. We shall see.

I hope that if graduation is cancelled that they invite the students back later to have a proper graduation. My daughter homeschooled for middle and high school so she never had a real school graduation experience and as much as she never wanted to be in a real school school she wants that graduation experience at one point in her life.

[Kätzchen]

I am off work early tonight, due to attendance at our work campus being 70% down. People are opting to work from home (for those who can). On the drive home tonight, NPR featured local updates for our metro area and our Governor (Kate Brown) has signed off on closing schools for the next two weeks, which leaves thousands of kids without meals that they would ordinarily get at school. We have a stark divide between the people who are high income earners vs the people who barely get by (living pay check to pay check, in some cases it's more dire).

I also read, moments ago, that the first case of Co-vid 19 is bench marked to have appeared on November 17th of last fall (Patient Zero). So here it is, nearly six months later and it's almost like it's a "little too late" (…).

It's good that Nancy Pelosi has a bill ready to pass that will provide two weeks of paid time off, for those who have been affected by being exposed or who actually have been diagnosed (It's not clear to me, the parameters of help), but it's a start and I hope it helps spur a more vigilant effort on correcting the Medical Industry and other important aspects of what happens to people when you have a massive health crisis that FMLA just doesn't seem to help (etc).

I am being super vigilant with sanitation practices and being aware of risks that might not be so obvious to the careful eye.

All I can think of is that this epidemic is an epidemic that will topple not only anybody's life but across the entire spectrum of daily life activities (earning a living, one's health, etc).

Oh, and I got a call from my therapist's office and the CEO of the clinic personally called each participant receiving therapy at the clinic I go to and they've cancelled appointments for the next two weeks... so they can self quarantine, clean the entire building, etc. Social distancing - is what I think they are advocating. Putting as much distance between oneself and any risk or exposure.

I went by Trader Joes this morning to pick up a salad for my lunch and waited more than 30 minutes to check out my single item. People ahead of me and in lanes nearby? They were buying groceries to the tune of over $500 or more (I heard one cashier voice an amount of over $1K). It was a chaotic crisis scene at that store this morning. And everyone was quiet. Patiently waiting their turn to be checked out. I can't even imagine what it was like at a nearby Walmart or The Dollar Store. One store patron was retelling how there was an actual fight at the Dollar Store over antiseptic hand gel bottles, only four were left.

[~ocean]

did anyone catch the news on Chicago Airport ? People coming in from international flights and flights leaving shoulder to shoulder waiting to get their temperatures tested. what tests? they don't have enough .

[homoe]

did anyone catch the news on Chicago Airport ? People coming in from international flights and flights leaving shoulder to shoulder waiting to get their temperatures tested. what tests? they don't have enough .


Now that don't make a lick of sense.....having them stand shoulder to shoulder even IF they had enough tests would be utterly craziness!

[homoe]

https://www.thewrap.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Ben-Carson-Cough.jpg


Surgeon turned U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Ben Carson got throttled on Saturday for coughing directly into his hand during his opening remarks at a White House press conference addressing the coronavirus pandemic. Neurosurgeon Ben Carson coughed in his hand and then placed that same hand on the podium.

[Apocalipstic]

Anxiety over the economic impact. Then I watched a few chapters of Pandemic. Now I am an anxious mess.

[~ocean]

Anxiety over the economic impact. Then I watched a few chapters of Pandemic. Now I am an anxious mess.

((((( Apocalipstic )))))) stay strong !

[Apocalipstic]

((((( Apocalipstic )))))) stay strong !

Ocean! :rrose:

I am trying! Thank you!!!

[~ocean]

https://www.thewrap.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Ben-Carson-Cough.jpg


Surgeon turned U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Ben Carson got throttled on Saturday for coughing directly into his hand during his opening remarks at a White House press conference addressing the coronavirus pandemic. Neurosurgeon Ben Carson coughed in his hand and then placed that same hand on the podium.

Homoe I saw that my whole family commented as we were watching it. all at once we all said ewwwwwwwww I wonder if he just spread the virus. this is why its a pandemic ~

[A. Spectre]

We are ALL in this together, even decent people are falling for the hysterics of this situation. We need to be steady, calm and resilient. Help the weaker among us, the elderly at the store who may not be able to reach something. Pay forward (if you are able) to the woman with the 3 kids in line purchasing milk.

Take a breath and make decisions based on mental clarity, not emotion.

We will get through this and hopefully this country can be on the path to unity and overcome anus 45s incompetency.

[Jedi]

We are self quarantined as we both are at risk. There are so many mixed messages about this thing. I just wash my hands more and use hand sanitizer more. We stopped going out and will just do so when necessary. The funny thing is we went to the store and skipped the liquor store and now I'm kinda kicking myself. We will survive but it could have been a bit more fun. I worry a lot about my parents who are in their 70s but quite fit and in good health. They live 1600 miles away. I really am disgusted by the greed we as humans are showing. I'm kinda wishing we had a car so I could take supplies to older shut ins. I feel the need to help during this. Since my grandparents died, I have wanted to adopt new ones. I was lucky to have my grandparents alive into my 40s. I worry for our elderly. We have much to learn from them. I have seen every kind of post in my facebook lately. Anything from this is like the common cold to pray to Jesus for your health. I really hope that everyone takes this just a bit seriously and starts to social distance. It is for the greater good. The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few or the one as Spock wisely said. I hope everyone here stays safe and we as a planet can minimize the deaths that could occur. I would hate to be one of those Italian Doctors who has to decide who lives or dies. That's heavy on your shoulders. I sincerely hope that in this awful time we can all come together and support each other through it. And remember this stuff come election time.

[JDeere]

I refuse to live in fear...

I've already died twice... So this shit dont scare me.

I also refuse to give into the panic, etc due to media.

I will be going in to work and Friday i will be driving to Oklahoma.

Its tiring hearing different stories online and in media about this virus... We will never know the truth or have stories, facts aligned.

So of youre not compromised... Go live life... If you are... Do what u gotta do.

Im not gonna be controlled by anyone including the government

[Buckaroo]

This isn't about one person. This is about the whole country. I'm in good health and very unlikely ill get serious complications with this virus. My fear isn't for me...its for the vulnerable. Though I may remain healthy... I would hate to think my frivolousness would cause the illness of others. So when people are asked to not travel or go out in public..its, not for just one person.. it's for those that are at greater risk. Though I'm in healthcare i don't pretend for one second i know more than the experts. This is a new virus to humans..this isn't flu...this isn't SARS..this This isn't MERS...this is COVID19. To think anyone knows more than the experts is laughable and downright dangerous. If you don't care about your own health...then at least care about others.

[tantalizingfemme]

My best friend's parents were on the Grand Princess cruise ship that had 3500 passengers on board where 21 were tested positive. Her parents are now in Georgia. Her mother was exhibiting symptoms before they disembarked and was not tested. Her mother now has pneumonia and was just put on oxygen this morning; she is barely eating. They are still waiting for test results. THIS is why we need to be vigilant about what we do. This affects those who are vulnerable. Cavalier attitudes about this is what will make this pandemic bigger than it should be.

I work in an agency whose clients all have IDD. Most of the individuals are medically fragile. Our agency cannot close as we are essential. While I do not provide direct care, many individuals and those who work directly with them come to the main office for meetings and to see the nurses. We just closed down our day program and stopped all live trainings. I have to go in. So I know I can unintentionally expose these folks to the virus if I am not careful. Exposure to a lot of them would mean certain death. I am socially isolating myself so that I can limit potential exposure. It is the least I can do for them and others in the world.

[Jedi]

This isn't about one person. This is about the whole country. I'm in good health and very unlikely ill get serious complications with this virus. My fear isn't for me...its for the vulnerable. Though I may remain healthy... I would hate to think my frivolousness would cause the illness of others. So when people are asked to not travel or go out in public..its, not for just one person.. it's for those that are at greater risk. Though I'm in healthcare i don't pretend for one second i know more than the experts. This is a new virus to humans..this isn't flu...this isn't SARS..this This isn't MERS...this is COVID19. To think anyone knows more than the experts is laughable and downright dangerous. If you don't care about your own health...then at least care about others.

Too many just really don't care if they spread this to at risk people. Which is sad and so selfish. Humans really do make me weep. Who gave you the right to decide if someone who is immune compromised or at risk.......who gave you the right to decide if they get sick and possibly die? There is too much that is still not known about how this stays airborne. Not enough study of this virus. The thing is.....there are a limited number of ventilators in any given hospital and they won't be near enough if this spreads like it could and infects everyone at once. What do we do then? And then....will you still be out and about acting like nothing is wrong? I mean it's one thing if the government were suggesting total lockdown for no reason. I really would rather be classified as someone who overreacted and stayed safe by staying home, then find out everywhere I went just spread stuff to innocent people. This is so much more than just about you. I'm sorry that there are people who just don't give a fuck.

[~ocean]

We are ALL in this together, even decent people are falling for the hysterics of this situation. We need to be steady, calm and resilient. Help the weaker among us, the elderly at the store who may not be able to reach something. Pay forward (if you are able) to the woman with the 3 kids in line purchasing milk.

Take a breath and make decisions based on mental clarity, not emotion.

We will get through this and hopefully this country can be on the path to unity and overcome anus 45s incompetency.


Your one hell of a decent person :) ~ Just :rubberducky: lol I'm proud to know you in our silent world of friends !

[~ocean]

I refuse to live in fear...

I've already died twice... So this shit dont scare me.

I also refuse to give into the panic, etc due to media.

I will be going in to work and Friday i will be driving to Oklahoma.

Its tiring hearing different stories online and in media about this virus... We will never know the truth or have stories, facts aligned.

So of youre not compromised... Go live life... If you are... Do what u gotta do.

Im not gonna be controlled by anyone including the government

CORONAVIRUS is just NOT for the compromised ~ JD its for everyone and anyone ~ becarefull ~ oy :hamactor::hamactor::hamactor::hamactor::bunchflow ers:

[Martina]

Thank you!!!This isn't about one person. This is about the whole country. I'm in good health and very unlikely ill get serious complications with this virus. My fear isn't for me...its for the vulnerable. Though I may remain healthy... I would hate to think my frivolousness would cause the illness of others. So when people are asked to not travel or go out in public..its, not for just one person.. it's for those that are at greater risk. Though I'm in healthcare i don't pretend for one second i know more than the experts. This is a new virus to humans..this isn't flu...this isn't SARS..this This isn't MERS...this is COVID19. To think anyone knows more than the experts is laughable and downright dangerous. If you don't care about your own health...then at least care about others.

[JDeere]

CORONAVIRUS is just NOT for the compromised ~ JD its for everyone and anyone ~ becarefull ~ oy :hamactor::hamactor::hamactor::hamactor::bunchflow ers:

I know it's for everyone. I'm saying for myself.. Im not shutting my life down over fear... Etc...

[Jedi]

This was a really good read IMO.
https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2020/03/a-covid-19-coronavirus-update-from-concerned-physicians.html?fbclid=IwAR3lXWHGTN9R5SVWlT0E5kWDa 8V1TegHaqK9vAY-xwtZWmylv8kmerctHHA

[randomnotes]

For those of us trying ”social distancing, ” (hard for me because I'm super social) what are you doing to beat the boredom? My wife and I tried an at home date night where we did some tutorials for advanced western swing dancing, which helped a lot. You can only watch so much Netflix.

[Bèsame*]

I've been on the front lines of the most ridiculous hoarding, greediness and stupidity the last four days.

Oh the stories I have and the miles on my feet.

Sunday afternoon appears to slowly heading back to normal. I have been amazed at such awesome team work to pull it all out.


I only have one question..why the need for toilet paper?

[Orema]

From CNN: As the novel coronavirus outbreak continues to spread across the US and its territories, health departments have created landing pages where people can go to get the latest information about the virus in their specific location.

CNN’s list includes all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands and Guam:

https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/16/health/coronavirus-us-state-websites-trnd/index.html

[homoe]

From CNN: As the novel coronavirus outbreak continues to spread across the US and its territories, health departments have created landing pages where people can go to get the latest information about the virus in their specific location.

CNN’s list includes all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands and Guam:

https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/16/health/coronavirus-us-state-websites-trnd/index.html

Thanks for posting this Orema.

It confirms 3 cases for my area which we heard 2 were in Bainbridge and 1 in Port Orchard.

[GeorgiaMa'am]

We now have 2 confirmed cases at my university. The patients are being quarantined by the university in private housing.

[GeorgiaMa'am]

For those of us trying ”social distancing, ” (hard for me because I'm super social) what are you doing to beat the boredom? My wife and I tried an at home date night where we did some tutorials for advanced western swing dancing, which helped a lot. You can only watch so much Netflix.

So smart. So far we have cleaned out the pantry and the freezer. Going to do the spice cabinet next. I'm hoping to get some deep cleaning done during this self-imposed banishment from society. We have also been playing Yahtzee.

[Kelt]

What? Nobody’s watching Walking Dead reruns? :scarytv:

I am doing household projects, taxes, watching too much media coverage, avoiding watching the stock market. Not necessarily in that order…

[easygoingfemme]

From CNN: As the novel coronavirus outbreak continues to spread across the US and its territories, health departments have created landing pages where people can go to get the latest information about the virus in their specific location.

CNN’s list includes all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands and Guam:

https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/16/health/coronavirus-us-state-websites-trnd/index.html


Orema, that's super informative. Thank you.

Everything is so hour by hour. We keep making plans at work and then they change and change again.

We are preparing to close our child care center except for maybe keep one room open just for children of staff. We have 9 staff members who are single parents and don't have the support system to work their jobs full time if they don't have child care and we need them at work for as long as we can have them.

Since we don't have all of the children we usually have, we are re-purposing all of the food we had for them and the cook we have for the daycare centers to cook meals for our housing residents and children who don't have food at home and are used to getting breakfast and lunch with us. Our advocates who work in the courthouse and child protective, where buildings are closing, will come work to help pack up food for our people who need it.
My daughter got her job back working in my building while her school is closed. We put her on front desk where she usually works but she was more needed in my housing department so she's been hard at work making hygiene packs and tomorrow she will start packing food boxes for the quarantined so we are ready to deliver when that happens. Our mental health counselors will be delivering meals to our off campus clients during their more quiet hours.

I did find out today that the public health department has a system in place to bring food to those who are quarantined. It's a great relief. I don't know if they are prepared to serve as many as will need but at least there is a plan in place.

After a debriefing with CDC today I was told I am doing a great job. I really needed to hear that so that made me happy.

[Buckaroo]

I've got 2 weeks until I can head home. I'm in the safest place in healthcare in the OR. I wear masks and gowns all day and constantly scrubbing my hands...yet I'm absolutely terrified for my mom who is 83 years old. The fatality rate for people her age is 15%. So it absolutely drives me livid when I hear ignorant people say how they aren't following the recommendations set out for us at this time. Let me give you a reality check. In Italy, their healthcare system is so overwhelmed that they are having to make life and death choices for people. A 30-year-old mother of 2 will get the vent over a 69-year-old grandmother. THAT IS REALITY! Our country hasn't gotten there YET but don't kid yourself to think it can't/won't happen. Let me give you another reality check....Italy has a bed ratio of 3.8 beds per 1000 people...the USA?? We have 2.4 beds per1000 people. See the problem??? Italy has run out of beds and ventilators...We aren't talking about a 3rd world country...we are talking about a modern, revolutionized country. Stop being selfish and think about others.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
N95 masks fulfill the filtering efficiency criteria of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) and are approved for protection against droplet and airborne transmission of 95% of particles greater than 0.3 microns in size. N95 masks, which must be fit tested, are believed to offer protection against the contact and droplet spread of the coronavirus.

[RockOn]

I blocked the entrance to my cubicle and wrote in large letters on poster board "KEEP OUT - NO EXCEPTIONS! IF YOU HAVE A SOFTWARE ISSUE, I AM HAPPY TO HELP YOU ... IF YOU HAVE A HARD COPY YOU WISH TO SHOW ME, TAKE A PHOTO OF IT WITH YOUR CAMERA, SEND IT TO ME, WE CAN DISCUSS THEN. YOU MAY SPEAK TO ME WHERE YOU ARE STANDING OR EMAIL/PHONE ME.

Like others, I have washed my hands so much ... they feel dry and crunchy ... but it is a small price to pay. I had to have my friend at work, Dr. Laura, dig a splinter from my palm and that helped a lot to be rid of it. We both washed and disinfected well before contact with each other.

[randomnotes]

I'm a social worker and we've been told it’s ”business as usual” except for postponing some court hearings. I live in a rural area in east texas and there are no confirmed cases in my county (although it’s really hard to confirm when there are no tests to take or not nearly enough test). I'm feeling frustrated as we have the capacity to work from home but I was informed today as someone in management I have to be present in the office to help assure workers of the situation and help with morale (which makes no sense to me). but the most frustrating is how it seems hourly they are sending new emails with additional directions and directives. It's impossible to keep up.

[Kätzchen]

It definitely was not business as usual at my work campus today. Hardly anyone at work, out of nearly 3K, at our work site? I read in our local news coverage that our state recorded it's first death due to Co-vid 19. That seems super concerning since it seems that the time span (course of duration) seems relatively short? Super worrisome and it scares me.

Our employer cut our hours of operation down big time. My hours on duty will be less than 6.5 hours/day (5 days/wk, mon-fri), until this health crisis ends, if it ends at all.

I feel like we are living in the Time of Cholera, or The Time of Polio, or as it is: The Time of Co-vid 19. It's like some evil unseen organism that is equipped to take you down a very ugly path, with no way of knowing if you'll survive or if you won't be around any longer. It's so freaking sad and scary.

I wonder what people will do who can't live on less than what they earn and I wonder how long before the economy tanks and leaves everyone in a situation that out-classes the Depression era. As I see it, we're in for some super hard times. Survival of the fittest.

So far, I'm okay. But not for long, if this health scare continues down this very horrible path that everyone will endure.

Keeping my fingers crossed for the best outcome possible, for every one.

[GeorgiaMa'am]

I think I'll be okay - at least, I think I've got everything covered that I can (food, work from home, plenty of TP). But what concerns me most is that my boy works in a major chain grocery store. They have _increased_ his hours, although they are shutting the store early every night (8 pm) so they can clean and disinfect and restock shelves. He has a bunch of concerns I had not even thought about:

He says about 70% of people "get it" and are patient and polite. But the other 30% are just concerned about themselves, and just want to know why the store doesn't have their favorite whatever and when will they have it, and are impatient in the long lines and rude to the workers and other customers.
Apparently when restocking the store, they are unable to completely restock. If _all_ Publix grocery stores are sold out of a thing, say chicken, then they can't redistribute. They are _all_ out. And when the restocking trucks come, they don't have as much as they used to. So if they are used to getting 20 crates of chicken with every chicken truck delivery, they might only get 2 crates. (I think this is when people will really start to hoard - when they notice that not only is the store out of something, it never gets fully restocked. And that could lead to more panic.)
He says they are cleaning things that have never been cleaned before, and this is hard on his body. I mean, he's not a young kid any more.

The panic and bad moods really wear on him. I mean, he's in a customer service job, and he's used to it, but the volume of it is wearing on him. He's also working in a place where he could so easily catch COVID-19. He washes his hands and uses sanitizer, but he's around so many people. And he is immunocompromised - he has lung problems. And I have a pretty weak immune system too - but I can't just kick him out of the house and do "social distancing". He has places he could stay, but none of them are better than here.

I also hope we don't get on each other's nerves. We're not used to being around each other this much.

[JDeere]

I may be working from home...not sure yet.

Company has boxes of lap tops they are updating and loading programs on.

[Gráinne]

I think I'll be okay - at least, I think I've got everything covered that I can (food, work from home, plenty of TP). But what concerns me most is that my boy works in a major chain grocery store. They have _increased_ his hours, although they are shutting the store early every night (8 pm) so they can clean and disinfect and restock shelves. He has a bunch of concerns I had not even thought about:

He says about 70% of people "get it" and are patient and polite. But the other 30% are just concerned about themselves, and just want to know why the store doesn't have their favorite whatever and when will they have it, and are impatient in the long lines and rude to the workers and other customers.
Apparently when restocking the store, they are unable to completely restock. If _all_ Publix grocery stores are sold out of a thing, say chicken, then they can't redistribute. They are _all_ out. And when the restocking trucks come, they don't have as much as they used to. So if they are used to getting 20 crates of chicken with every chicken truck delivery, they might only get 2 crates. (I think this is when people will really start to hoard - when they notice that not only is the store out of something, it never gets fully restocked. And that could lead to more panic.)
He says they are cleaning things that have never been cleaned before, and this is hard on his body. I mean, he's not a young kid any more.

The panic and bad moods really wear on him. I mean, he's in a customer service job, and he's used to it, but the volume of it is wearing on him. He's also working in a place where he could so easily catch COVID-19. He washes his hands and uses sanitizer, but he's around so many people. And he is immunocompromised - he has lung problems. And I have a pretty weak immune system too - but I can't just kick him out of the house and do "social distancing". He has places he could stay, but none of them are better than here.

I also hope we don't get on each other's nerves. We're not used to being around each other this much.

Those are my concerns at my job, too. Crowds are getting panicky and harried. We had a fight in the parking lot the other day. There have been screaming matches in the aisles over God knows what. Scuttlebutt is that the police-not a rent a cop- I mean police-will be stationed there.

And I'm pooped, and paranoid every time I cough. My son with literally no immune system is behind quarantine. If not at work, I'm at home (true, with plenty to do besides fooling around online ;).

I found out today from my doctor that it's a matter of when, not if, I get exposed due to my job. Those crowds are doing the exact opposite of what is recommended; lots of people in a confined place. Thanksgiving for a virus.

I'm healthy, so I'm not as worried about myself at this point. What I fear are the elderly who shop with us. I've volunteered to do shopping for them in my condo complex, which was gratefully accepted.

[GeorgiaMa'am]

Those are my concerns at my job, too. Crowds are getting panicky and harried. We had a fight in the parking lot the other day. There have been screaming matches in the aisles over God knows what. Scuttlebutt is that the police-not a rent a cop- I mean police-will be stationed there.

And I'm pooped, and paranoid every time I cough. My son with literally no immune system is behind quarantine. If not at work, I'm at home (true, with plenty to do besides fooling around online ;).

I found out today from my doctor that it's a matter of when, not if, I get exposed due to my job. Those crowds are doing the exact opposite of what is recommended; lots of people in a confined place. Thanksgiving for a virus.

I'm healthy, so I'm not as worried about myself at this point. What I fear are the elderly who shop with us. I've volunteered to do shopping for them in my condo complex, which was gratefully accepted.

First of all, Gráinne, it is so good to see you here on BFP! It feels like it has been a long while.

I'm glad you're getting police at your store. Maybe it will make some people at least give a second thought before they act out. And maybe they can at least protect the employees.

I think the same kind of thing is happening with the news now that happened with 9/11. People hear about COVID-19 on the news and on TV over and over and over, and it just makes them more paranoid. I noticed when I was looking for something to watch on Netflix the other day that "Pandemic", the docuseries, was in the top 10 shows for that day. "Outbreak", the movie, was also in the top 10. It's like people just keep feeding it to themselves.

I admit, I'm guilty of that too. For awhile, I was listening to "NPR News Now" and the "BBC News" every hour on the hour. I am now limiting myself to one hour and five minutes of news a day: a half hour of "BBC News" and the half-hour show "Marketplace" the financial news, and one five-minute episode of "NPR News Now".

Stay healthy, Gráinne. It is really good of you to do some shopping for the elderly people you know. I wish I could convince my 80-year-old mother to stay out of the Kroger - my sister would do any shopping she needs - but she has her habits and the onset of dementia has begun, which keeps her from remembering what the fuss is all about.

[JDeere]

As of 3 pm central time...

I officially work from home!

Was given laptop, keyboard, paperwork and instructions to do my job.

12 of us were picked to work from home due to work performance, attendance, etc.

Idk about the others remaining at the office.

[Gráinne]

First of all, Gráinne, it is so good to see you here on BFP! It feels like it has been a long while.

I'm glad you're getting police at your store. Maybe it will make some people at least give a second thought before they act out. And maybe they can at least protect the employees.

I think the same kind of thing is happening with the news now that happened with 9/11. People hear about COVID-19 on the news and on TV over and over and over, and it just makes them more paranoid. I noticed when I was looking for something to watch on Netflix the other day that "Pandemic", the docuseries, was in the top 10 shows for that day. "Outbreak", the movie, was also in the top 10. It's like people just keep feeding it to themselves.

I admit, I'm guilty of that too. For awhile, I was listening to "NPR News Now" and the "BBC News" every hour on the hour. I am now limiting myself to one hour and five minutes of news a day: a half hour of "BBC News" and the half-hour show "Marketplace" the financial news, and one five-minute episode of "NPR News Now".

Stay healthy, Gráinne. It is really good of you to do some shopping for the elderly people you know. I wish I could convince my 80-year-old mother to stay out of the Kroger - my sister would do any shopping she needs - but she has her habits and the onset of dementia has begun, which keeps her from remembering what the fuss is all about.

I know I'm on sporadically but this is a favorite site :).

And I hear you about the news. Between the virus, the election, and impeachment earlier, I had to say "Enough". I want important information from reliable sources, but I limit myself for my own peace of mind.

Stay well :)

[theoddz]

As most of you know, I'm a retired Registered Respiratory Therapist who worked for the VA for 20 years before I retired (due to health reasons). I guess it's because I worked for the VA, which has a large population of patients who are homeless, that made me think about them.

What's going to happen to the homeless population during this crisis?? Aren't they really the most vulnerable?? I have yet to see one thing on the news about how they're going to keep these folks from being infected.....and alive.

Has anyone seen anything on the news, or other media, about the homeless population during this crisis??

I hope everyone here is doing their best to follow the guidelines for protecting themselves and others. I wish all of you the best!!!

~Theo~ :bouquet:

[easygoingfemme]

As most of you know, I'm a retired Registered Respiratory Therapist who worked for the VA for 20 years before I retired (due to health reasons). I guess it's because I worked for the VA, which has a large population of patients who are homeless, that made me think about them.

What's going to happen to the homeless population during this crisis?? Aren't they really the most vulnerable?? I have yet to see one thing on the news about how they're going to keep these folks from being infected.....and alive.

Has anyone seen anything on the news, or other media, about the homeless population during this crisis??

I hope everyone here is doing their best to follow the guidelines for protecting themselves and others. I wish all of you the best!!!

~Theo~ :bouquet:


In NY we are trying to put out fires as they come. In my housing program and in our emergency domestic violence shelter we are begging hospitals to not release people who live in our buildings until they have a proper diagnosis but we are out of test kits and they are sending people back. Public health has made some noise about trying to find alternative housing for the homeless if they are diagnosed, like a hotel room, but that is not in place at this time. They are staying in contact with everyone who is on quarantine and bringing meals to the homeless or single/elderly individuals who are on quarantine. Right now they are really looking at full shelter quarantines and food drop offs. But all of the shelters are full. We need a code blue system to go into effect so that those who are still completely homeless have a place to be when quarantined but all of the buildings that would normally be code blue are closed until further notice.

[Kätzchen]

Here's an update of sorts:

Property MGMT and building stakeholders in our work campus district meet today to decide if they close our entire work campus by Friday.

It's not looking good, for anybody.

I took some measures yesterday by making sure I had ample cash supply on hand (30 dys or more), so I minimize the risk of having to use an ATM or the added risk of going anywhere where ppl are congregating in bigger numbers.

I will know by the end of today if I have been laid off from work.

A business member leaving work yesterday, stopped to tell me that they wait hourly, each day, for notification to close business by the FTC (Fed.Trade.Comm.). That is the big hammer that might slam by Friday.

Also, I have a medical appt that was scheduled weeks ago and I got a call from that facility this morning that my medical appt (it's an over-nighter) has been moved to a facility that has greater safety for these types of tests. I will know by tomorrow if they keep my appt or they cancel it until further notice.


Not sure what will happen over the next 72 hours, but holding good thoughts for us all.

<<<<<<~~~ :vigil: :vigil: :vigil:

[~ocean]

Here's an update of sorts:

Property MGMT and building stakeholders in our work campus district meet today to decide if they close our entire work campus by Friday.

It's not looking good, for anybody.

I took some measures yesterday by making sure I had ample cash supply on hand (30 dys or more), so I minimize the risk of having to use an ATM or the added risk of going anywhere where ppl are congregating in bigger numbers.

I will know by the end of today if I have been laid off from work.

A business member leaving work yesterday, stopped to tell me that they wait hourly, each day, for notification to close business by the FTC (Fed.Trade.Comm.). That is the big hammer that might slam by Friday.

Also, I have a medical appt that was scheduled weeks ago and I got a call from that facility this morning that my medical appt (it's an over-nighter) has been moved to a facility that has greater safety for these types of tests. I will know by tomorrow if they keep my appt or they cancel it until further notice.


Not sure what will happen over the next 72 hours, but holding good thoughts for us all.

<<<<<<~~~ :vigil: :vigil: :vigil:

You have to keep reminding yourself that it's temporary ~ it's hard seeing people having to make these decisions .New York just put a ship off their coast. I think that was a good move on Cuomo's part (what an amazing family ) .NY is in good hands. hopefully he will continue progressing in his political career.

[GeorgiaMa'am]

. . . New York just put a ship off their coast. I think that was a good move on Cuomo's part (what an amazing family ) .NY is in good hands. hopefully he will continue progressing in his political career.

I heard that the U.S. Navy Hospital ship has 1000 beds. It will be stationed in New York Harbor.

[Orema]

I'm working in the office. A lot of my work involves copying large files from the server to my hard drive or to Dropbox, OneDrive, the internets, etc. and it takes forever when I work from home. So, it's been approved for me to come into the office. I live nearby. Most people are working from home. We probably have 5% workforce onsite, if that.

I'm a bit compulsive when it comes to washing my hands (old habits die hard) so I'm not too concerned in the regard, but I put on disposable rubber gloves and wipe down everything as soon as I come in the office.

We've had a lot of client cancellations, but they're also wanting virtual access and that's been keeping me busy.

I'm in Southern California and the streets and highways are always busy. This is the only place I've been where there are traffic jams on the weekend. Not now. The streets are almost bare at least compared to what I'm used to seeing.

This is the third time we've had hard times since I've been working here. Right after 9/11, in 2008, and now. No new hires or pay increases, and soon some of us will have to take a 5-10% pay cut. It beats being laid off, though it may come to that, too. I'm doing good for now, other than being in a funk.

Hoping everyone stays safe and protected.

[GeorgiaMa'am]

I'm working in the office. A lot of my work involves copying large files from the server to my hard drive or to Dropbox, OneDrive, the internets, etc. and it takes forever when I work from home. So, it's been approved for me to come into the office. I live nearby. Most people are working from home. We probably have 5% workforce onsite, if that.

I'm a bit compulsive when it comes to washing my hands (old habits die hard) so I'm not too concerned in the regard, but I put on disposable rubber gloves and wipe down everything as soon as I come in the office.

We've had a lot of client cancellations, but they're also wanting virtual access and that's been keeping me busy.

I'm in Southern California and the streets and highways are always busy. This is the only place I've been where there are traffic jams on the weekend. Not now. The streets are almost bare at least compared to what I'm used to seeing.

This is the third time we've had hard times since I've been working here. Right after 9/11, in 2008, and now. No new hires or pay increases, and soon some of us will have to take a 5-10% pay cut. It beats being laid off, though it may come to that, too. I'm doing good for now, other than being in a funk.

Hoping everyone stays safe and protected.

With so many people working from home, and the other precautions you have taken, I expect you're better off than a lot of other people right now.

Sorry to hear about the pay cuts and no pay increases. That really sucks. It seems kind of early in the game for the higher ups to be that specific with that kind of information though. Are you sure they're really in financial straits and not just taking advantage of the situation? (Of course, who can be sure of anything?)

[Martina]

Re the homeless, I heard that someplace, probably New York or Cali, was considering buying motels to house them. Maybe just renting rooms would be sufficient. But it might put people into closer contact. I don't know. If we had good testing we could isolate the sick, but we don't yet.

[Orema]

With so many people working from home, and the other precautions you have taken, I expect you're better off than a lot of other people right now.

Sorry to hear about the pay cuts and no pay increases. That really sucks. It seems kind of early in the game for the higher ups to be that specific with that kind of information though. Are you sure they're really in financial straits and not just taking advantage of the situation? (Of course, who can be sure of anything?)

Thank you, GeorgiaMa'am. I”m reading between the lines but am sure of what’s to come—it’s just a matter of when. Ours is a face-to-face business with some virtual offerings.

The info we all received so far is: there have been a high number of cancellations, there is a freeze on traveling and purchases unless it’s paid for by clients, all is being done to keep the company functioning, and we’re in this together. From that information, I’m presuming I know what’s coming.

If there are pay cuts, I think they’ll reinstated pay raises and promotions once the company is strong again as they did after 9/11 and the recession in 2008. They didn’t use those disasters as reasons to keep salaries low—as some other companies did.

I work for a good and relatively transparent company. They won’t institute any harsh measures until it’s necessary. We’re having a virtual all company meeting tomorrow and I’ll know more.

Edit: They didn’t even use those disasters to weed out people. Which they could have and were encouraged to get rid of people. They waited and cleaned house in 2014. They were upfront in doing it, too. They said, here’s some money, it’s been good knowing you, but you gotta go.

[Kätzchen]

I have a little bit of good news that came my way today.

I was told that I will be given an expanded full time schedule, when I was worried that I would be one of the few who would lose their job. I am on short duty status the rest of this week, but come Monday my new schedule goes into effect. So that is one less thing to worry about now, since it turns out I will have job security going forward.

I kind of got some worrying news though. I've been hurdling another process to be hired in a different role of work and my ability to be hired rests on passing two tests and a health test administered by an medical facility that partners with the contingent employer. I got news today that the CDC issued mandates to particular medical facilities and that my health related employer test for this Sunday night was canceled, until the CDC lifts restrictions they issued today.


I followed up with my medical clinic, where my primary doctor practices, and they too got the CDC memo and they are canceling all appts until the CDC lifts restrictions it issued today. So my end of the month doctor appts were cancelled today as well. It's looking like it will be mid-to-late summer before I can successfully transition into my new role with the new employer, but I am so grateful tonight that my current employer and property management voted to keep me on and expand my duties and hours of on-duty work, so I have job security.


Our building went into full crises mode and now visitors to our building can only be admitted if they have an appt and be screened via on-site security. Our building is taking as many steps as it can to limit risk of exposure and reduce the chance that anything could remotely happen. The entire building is operating with only the necessary skilled professionals it needs to maintain safety and security, so we have migrated into what we call "After Hours Protocol" to limit risks and improve safety for all.

I know the worst of the Covid-19 virus crisis is not over nor has it peaked a threshold, but at least tonight I feel somewhat more secure than I did last night. I feel so very fortunate when it could have been entirely different.


I want to say thanks to our Sister-Femme friend, Ocean, for creating this vital thread for members in our community. It's a life-line of information and I appreciate it so much. Thanks Ocean. :bunchflowers: :tea:

[~ocean]

(((( katzchen ))))) yvw :) Congrats ! they will probably start you on that new position pronto ! they are going to be taking seniors in med. school's nursing etc. to fill the needs of the people. They are not even prepared in employment as well as supply's. Yanno, first Trump said ~ don't worry it's a hoax ,then it will go away with the heat lollol that still cracks me up then he said it creeped up on us ~ he can't get his story straight. !

[GeorgiaMa'am]

"An estimated 10,000 LGBTQ people partied at the Winter Party in Miami, which was held as scheduled in Miami despite public health warnings to limit or cancel large gatherings of people to stop the spread of the disease. The coronavirus has been labeled a global pandemic by the World Health Organization.

"And one party-goer just tested positive for COVID-19."

https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2020/03/thousands-circuit-queens-cut-loose-winter-party-last-week-someone-coronavirus-now/

[charley]

"An estimated 10,000 LGBTQ people partied at the Winter Party in Miami, which was held as scheduled in Miami despite public health warnings to limit or cancel large gatherings of people to stop the spread of the disease. The coronavirus has been labeled a global pandemic by the World Health Organization.

"And one party-goer just tested positive for COVID-19."

https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2020/03/thousands-circuit-queens-cut-loose-winter-party-last-week-someone-coronavirus-now/

good grief !! Ya know, some peeps think, "well, I'm young, so if I get it, it will be mild, I'll get over it and that's that", but that's so stupid, 'cause it is the spread that may affect people who are auto-immune affected, have underlying medical problems or just older, and it is they who are the most vulnerable - one wonders what the f* is wrong with some people, who don't understand or care about what community spread means.

[charley]

btw, the LGBTQ people are not the only ones partying on at Florida beaches:

Spring breakers:

https://whatsnew2day.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/1584589623_58_Spring-Breakers-party-until-the-end-as-Florida-cities-finally.jpg

[nhplowboi]

Ok I am NOT a computer guru. :( I just tried to post the link to this article without success but it will make your blood boil. "Kushner Coronavirus Team Sparks Confusion, Plaudits Inside White House Response Efforts'' which was printed in the Washington Post. Trump should be removed from office and his whole family thrown in prison for the rest of their valueless and pathetic lives. What next.....after Jared gets his brother a giant government contract with all the billions of dollars being thrown around, Ivanka will be importing fashion face masks for our brave people on the front line?

[homoe]

Ok I am NOT a computer guru. :( I just tried to post the link to this article without success but it will make your blood boil. "Kushner Coronavirus Team Sparks Confusion, Plaudits Inside White House Response Efforts'' which was printed in the Washington Post. Trump should be removed from office and his whole family thrown in prison for the rest of their valueless and pathetic lives. What next.....after Jared gets his brother a giant government contract with all the billions of dollars being thrown around, Ivanka will be importing fashion face masks for our brave people on the front line?

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/kushner-coronavirus-team-sparks-confusion-plaudits-inside-white-house-response-efforts/ar-BB11nNpy

Hopefully this is it nh?

[A. Spectre]

Does YOUR Governor believe in science? Red states, led by MF45 bootlickers believe the news hand fed to them that Dems are politicizing the virus, the virus is rarely deadly and my personal favorite, you're crazy for staying home.

But what if a mutation of that virus occurred: one that caused serious illness AND MOST IMPORTANTLY, AND I MEAN CRITICALLY IMPORTANT, is that this entity is highly transmissible for a great length of time prior to the onset of symptoms, thus allowing it to spread like wildfire. (Wildfire is a very important word - Dr. Michael Crichton named the facility in THE Andromeda Strain "Project Wildfire" because epidemiologists KNOW how this works, even back in the Sixties. Yes, ancient history...and it also appears that up to five weeks following the cessation of symptoms, the disease may still be transmitted. And for good measure, the mechanisms of transmission are not entirely known yet: first it was assumed to be aerosol, but it may also be oral-fecal which opens up whole new possibilities for passing it along as well as for mutation-possibilities. Jesus: it just doesn't fucking END!


But because of the evil inherent in the system, the magnitude of which is incomprehensible to the average citizen of any country, they sat on this for "political" (read: greed, power-mad, uncaring, unfeeling, anti-civilization-enduring) reasons. These people genuinely lack the gene for altruism and do not care, and I mean, do not care for anyone or anything INCLUDING THEIR OWN FAMILIES AND FRIENDS. Do not for one moment think that these people are feeling individuals in any way, shape, or form. They are the embodiment of the HAL-9000 computer.

Pride goeth before the fall. I must admit, this virus has the potential to be far worse than wanting to admit.

[C0LLETTE]

What is MF45? When I googled it came up as band. Is that it?
Thank you.

[A. Spectre]

What is MF45? When I googled it came up as band. Is that it?
Thank you.

MF45 as in Mother Fucker trump 45th "president."

AKA: The orange shit gibbon

Donny doll hands

Cheeto Mussolini

Angry Creamsicle

Cadet Bone spurs

So many more, so little time.....

[C0LLETTE]

Thanks for that!

[~ocean]

MF45 as in Mother Fucker trump 45th "president."

AKA: The orange shit gibbon

Donny doll hands

Cheeto Mussolini

Angry Creamsicle

Cadet Bone spurs

So many more, so little time.....


ahahahahahah You forgot "The Orange Bafoon" Donny doll hands is just perfect !!!

[nhplowboi]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/kushner-coronavirus-team-sparks-confusion-plaudits-inside-white-house-response-efforts/ar-BB11nNpy

Hopefully this is it nh?

That is it homoe….thank you so much.

[~ocean]

I said it before and I really feel it's chemical warfare. It's airborn ~ touch anything u want just don't BREATH.....

[nhplowboi]

Mnuchin says "the checks" could be coming out as soon as three weeks from now. Hey Mnuchin, how about having Trump/Pence/Jared who ever the hell is in charge of this frigging debacle, speed up the release of all that medical equipment and gear we supposedly have back stocked some where in this country? Oh that's right, the longer you stall, the fewer checks you will have to send out. Oh and back to "the checks", make sure you send that second check out a few days before November third. ;)

[charley]

CBC News Network has just announced that the border will officially close sometime this Friday evening/Saturday morning, apart from exceptions involving trade, Canadians returning home by vehicle, and some other exceptions (e.g. Canadian nurses who work in Detroit and travel back and forth, etc.).

I am already going stir crazy and have started doing spring cleaning to offset that feeling (lol). I will go out in an hour or two, to buy more Windex and Fantastik! Also, I need more quarters for the laundry machine.

[easygoingfemme]

The walls are closing in here for sure, they are everywhere. We are down to 25% staff as ordered by the state. We still have our daycare chef who has transitioned to making meals for our housing residents. She's loading on the comfort food- pasta and meatballs, chicken and rice, meatloaf and mashed potatoes. It's helping a lot to keep people feeling more safe and calm.

We are firing my only case manager tomorrow. She hasn't been to work in a month so... shrug. But our two clinical social workers, new hires, are taking on case management for me and that is a HUGE help.

One of my co-workers found toilet paper at a local drug store this morning. I'm going to swing by another early tomorrow morning and see if I can find anything. I'm not super stressed about it but I stocked up on stuff before I knew my daughter would be moving home so I need to pad a little.

My daughter got an email from her college today that she can not return to her cabin to get her belongings. They are changing the locks on all dorms and cabins. None of the students can get their things. She is really upset but more upset for other students who have lost more than she has. Her cabin mate had gone to go be with his boyfriend for a few days and just packed a backpack. Everything he owns is in that cabin and he can't go back to it. I'm not going to "I told you so" my daughter- but when she first came home I told her I thought she should pack everything just in case. She didn't. Apparently they are telling the international students that they have to leave and are not making a plan for where they will go. They can't fly home because of travel restrictions. I find that hard to believe but that's the information I have now.

[homoe]

I said it before and I really feel it's chemical warfare. It's airborn ~ touch anything u want just don't BREATH.....

~ocean, I'm not sure but anything is possible in the world we live in today!

I do think more would be just dropping dead tho were it chemical warfare..

[Kätzchen]

It is an hour by hour, day by day thing, but i learned today that though our Governor Kate Brown does not want to exercise "shelter in place". But, our Mayor will exercise that plan IF numbers rise over the weekend.

We could be all going on fuoughed time off (read: laid off) by Tuesday of next week.

30 to 60 days off. I can see it now. The unemployment website and telephone lines go down, preventing ppl from applying for unemployment benefits.

Geeeez. I need a vacation anyhow. Why not, right? I need time to focus on two of my tests so i can ace them, when that agency reopens to the public. Maybe in May. By June, for sure.



Someone told me today that more people in the US died from the flu last fall then recorded casualties from Co-vid 19.

Not sure about their research and stuff, but it does give one reason to pause and reflect.

If the metro area goes into Shelter In Place next week, we will all be stay-cationing for quite a while.

Its worrisome for so many reasons. I surely do hope and wish the best for us all.

[Bèsame*]

California just went shelter in place, entire state.

[Kelt]

California just went shelter in place, entire state.

Wow, no kidding. My emergency services app on my phone for the state just pinged me, no advance notice, not happening tomorrow or the next day. Right now.

Frankly I’m glad.

[Kelt]

Coronavirus Will Change the World Permanently. Here’s How.

https://apple.news/A9-yIRjUIQeu5NbwfsOrElw

I hope this link works, if not it’s from Politico magazine.

Interesting that I was reading this article right when I was getting notified of lockdown. Everything is speculation now, but I think a number of the ideas put forth in this article will be prescient.

[Orema]

California just went shelter in place, entire state.

I’ll start working home tomorrow, but will need to go into the office at some point to get some equipment.

My cable company is suspending data overage charges till May 15, 2020 to all subscribers to help people and students working from home. That helps me a lot. I have limited data. Enough to watch high def movies on multiple devices but not enough to download a gazillion gigs. Was going to negotiate unlimited data at iHome into my next performance review (which is overdue) but that’s not happening till the company is on better ground.

Would love to go in the office and get some equipment. I’ll probably have to make due with the equipment I have at home till the restircitions are lifted.

[Bèsame*]

On the other side, 7 people have recovered the virus in my area. They tested negative twice now.

My cell phone company, T- Mobile is giving everyone unlimited data so that we can all stay connected.

I'll be one of those going to work to help provide essentials. I've been washing my hands and stepping back. I'm taking my temp every morning as well.

[Kätzchen]

Coronavirus Will Change the World Permanently. Here’s How.

https://apple.news/A9-yIRjUIQeu5NbwfsOrElw

I hope this link works, if not it’s from Politico magazine.

Interesting that I was reading this article right when I was getting notified of lockdown. Everything is speculation now, but I think a number of the ideas put forth in this article will be prescient.

Kelt? I'm still reading the article you posted and I simply find myself nodding in agreement with this person: Tom Nichols, Professor at the US Naval War College and author of The Death of Expertise.

And I quote, Mr. Nichols:

The COVID-19 crisis could change this in two ways. First, it has already forced people back to accepting that expertise matters. It was easy to sneer at experts until a pandemic arrived, and then people wanted to hear from medical professionals like Anthony Fauci. Second, it may—one might hope—return Americans to a new seriousness, or at least move them back toward the idea that government is a matter for serious people. The colossal failure of the Trump administration both to keep Americans healthy and to slow the pandemic-driven implosion of the economy might shock the public enough back to insisting on something from government other than emotional satisfaction.

That is a profound observation offered by Mr. Tom Nichols.

Here is what I agree with wholeheartedly, the passage offered by Eric Klinenberg:

Less individualism.

Eric Klinenberg is professor of sociology and director of the Institute for Public Knowledge at New York University. He is the author, most recently, of Palaces for the People: How Social Infrastructure Can Help Fight Inequality, Polarization, and the Decline of Civic Life.


The coronavirus pandemic marks the end of our romance with market society and hyper-individualism. We could turn toward authoritarianism. Imagine President Donald Trump trying to suspend the November election. Consider the prospect of a military crackdown. The dystopian scenario is real. But I believe we will go in the other direction. We’re now seeing the market-based models for social organization fail, catastrophically, as self-seeking behavior (from Trump down) makes this crisis so much more dangerous than it needed to be.


When this ends, we will reorient our politics and make substantial new investments in public goods—for health, especially—and public services. I don’t think we will become less communal. Instead, we will be better able to see how our fates are linked. The cheap burger I eat from a restaurant that denies paid sick leave to its cashiers and kitchen staff makes me more vulnerable to illness, as does the neighbor who refuses to stay home in a pandemic because our public school failed to teach him science or critical thinking skills. The economy—and the social order it helps support—will collapse if the government doesn’t guarantee income for the millions of workers who will lose their jobs in a major recession or depression. Young adults will fail to launch if government doesn’t help reduce or cancel their student debt. The coronavirus pandemic is going to cause immense pain and suffering. But it will force us to reconsider who we are and what we value, and, in the long run, it could help us rediscover the better version of ourselves.

Thanks for that article, it's a mighty good read.

[Kelt]

I do think that this will be an event like 9/11 or the 2008 recession.

Going forward we will speak of things as either “Before the virus“ or “After the virus“.

[Kätzchen]

I do think that this will be an event like 9/11 or the 2008 recession.

Going forward we will speak of things as either “Before the virus“ or “After the virus“.

I definitely agree with you, Kelt. Thank you for supplying that gem of an article. It is loaded with lots of perspective that enables a person to readily see exactly what has been on their minds, all along -- at least, that is how I feel about the article you posted. I'm still reading it, lol.

Here is another gem by film maker and author, Astra Taylor. And I quote:

The rules we’ve lived by won’t all apply.

Astra Taylor is a filmmaker and author of Democracy May Not Exist, but We’ll Miss It When It’s Gone.


America’s response to coronavirus pandemic has revealed a simple truth: So many policies that our elected officials have long told us were impossible and impractical were eminently possible and practical all along. In 2011, when Occupy Wall Street activists demanded debt cancellation for student loans and medical debt, they were laughed at by many in the mainstream media. In the intervening years, we have continued to push the issue and have consistently been told our demands were unrealistic. Now, we know that the “rules” we have lived under were unnecessary, and simply made society more brittle and unequal.


All along, evictions were avoidable; the homeless could’ve been housed and sheltered in government buildings; water and electricity didn’t need to be turned off for people behind on their bills; paid sick leave could‘ve been a right for all workers; paying your mortgage late didn’t need to lead to foreclosure; and debtors could’ve been granted relief. President Donald Trump has already put a freeze on interest for federal student loans, while New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has paused all medical and student debt owed to New York State. Democrats and Republicans are discussing suspending collection on—or outright canceling—student loans as part of a larger economic stimulus package.


It’s clear that in a crisis, the rules don’t apply—which makes you wonder why they are rules in the first place. This is an unprecedented opportunity to not just hit the pause button and temporarily ease the pain, but to permanently change the rules so that untold millions of people aren’t so vulnerable to begin with.

Ms. Taylor is spot on. I totally agree with her line of thought.

Thanks so much for providing a link to that article. So much to appreciate and the message is timely too.

[charley]

On a beautiful sunny day, I took a little walk and... on my way out of the nearby drugstore, I immediately stopped to put some hand sanitizer on when I saw one of the homeless sitting on a bench, perhaps in his 40s, looking like in his 50s. I was about 40' away, he was coughing badly and then started spitting out some awful phlegm. He took out his cigarettes to smoke and then started coughing again, and spitting, and put his cigarettes away - can you imagine being too sick to smoke... I spoke with someone who told me that there are now @ 3 confirmed cases of covid-19 in our immediate area, but the "authorities" won't say exactly where. I have tried online to see where exactly, but the info is mysteriously missing. I'm glad I have stocked up. I hope everyone else has as well. I am cleaning my doorknobs, etc. It will be at least a year before they get a vaccine going, I can't wait. The only one good thing is that all the medical researchers (like that Dr. Ho who I saw on Rachel Maddow) are all working at a mad pace to find a vaccine. My god go with them.

I miss take-out pizza! (My pizza place is now only open in the evenings...)

[Bèsame*]

Income Tax dead line to file has been moved to July 15, 2020.

Whew..I have way to many forms to file this year!

[GeorgiaMa'am]

Income Tax dead line to file has been moved to July 15, 2020.

Yes, but did they move the deadline to pay? Or is it like when you file for an extension - you get longer to send in the paperwork, but you still have to send them an approximate amount by April 15?

[C0LLETTE]

Glad to hear that USA and Canada are closing their mutual border. USA will be safe from our 600+ cases and Canada will be safe from USA's 15000 + cases.

"I suspect I understand why borders with Mexico and USA are being simultaneously closed. Mexico and countries south of USA would be mighty mighty pissed off if they were unilaterally being excluded but, frankly, I don't see a shit load of Canadians scrambling across the US border to get healthcare help ( well, maybe the MAYO Clinic if you've got huge bucks )."

Now think about that last paragraph:

It's easy to interpret posts like these as being anti-American. That's nonsense. Posts like this are meant to show how easy it is for "leaders" to turn us against each other.

[C0LLETTE]

ahahahahahah You forgot "The Orange Bafoon" !!!

It is quite possible that the word "buffoon"comes from the Italian/Latin root word "bufo".

Well:

"Bufo, or cane, toads are the largest toads in the world. Native to South America, they were introduced to Florida to limit the effect insects have on the sugar industry. Unfortunately, the toads also secret a toxin from their skin that is toxic to humans and lethal to pets.

The toxic toads have made their reappearance, and pet owners in southern, central and the Panhandle of Florida have been on the lookout for the lethal hazard. Cane toads can be found all over Florida, but come out in large numbers after rain showers.

Dogs may try to play with one of the poisonous toads and end up with the toxin on their nose or in their mouth.

All it takes is a quick lick or a sniff. Fifteen minutes later, your dog could be dead."

I understand that Trump has moved his official residency to Florida.

[easygoingfemme]

My state shut down today as far as no one who is not essential can go to work, just work from home if you can. We had to lay off about 10 people and that really hurts. We really are family at work.

I will still be reporting in. Myself and two others in the building. I have backup staff at our domestic violence shelter who can be to me in 15 minutes if I have an emergency.

It will be that way until:
The government lets everyone go back to work
or
We run out of money to pay bare bones staff
or
The building becomes quarantined- at which time I will work from home.

It was really stressful today absorbing the stress and hurt for those laid off along with the stress the residents are feeling. Thankfully we are still able to feed them well.

We picked up a huge delivery from our food bank and are making emergency food boxes and hygiene packs for everyone and will work over the weekend while I have staff available to deliver to those off of the main housing site.

My daughter has been working along side me all day all week and is starting to get really anxious. She is having a self care night tonight. I will too, I hope.

We have our first resident in quarantine for being exposed to a co-worker who tested positive. This could be a tipping point.

[Kelt]

Yes, but did they move the deadline to pay? Or is it like when you file for an extension - you get longer to send in the paperwork, but you still have to send them an approximate amount by April 15?


Looks like the whole enchilada. Very good for me as well.

[Kelt]

Glad to hear that USA and Canada are closing their mutual border. USA will be safe from our 600+ cases and Canada will be safe from USA's 15000 + cases.

"I suspect I understand why borders with Mexico and USA are being simultaneously closed. Mexico and countries south of USA would be mighty mighty pissed off if they were unilaterally being excluded but, frankly, I don't see a shit load of Canadians scrambling across the US border to get healthcare help ( well, maybe the MAYO Clinic if you've got huge bucks )."

Now think about that last paragraph:

It's easy to interpret posts like these as being anti-American. That's nonsense. Posts like this are meant to show how easy it is for "leaders" to turn us against each other.

I agree and don’t see your post as anti-American at all. Mexico was looking at the US sideways about a week ago for the same reason, it makes sense. Within the US we are also blocking off chunks right now by states and counties although I tend to think a consistent national plan might make more sense at least for sometime while we play catch-up.

The United States is completely void of leadership at this time unless you count Dr Fauci whom I understand is now being made less visible in the press conferences with the president because the president has realized that the Dr is becoming the bigger star in this crisis. When Trump declared himself to be a wartime president I had about a minute of hope that that would make him a little more serious and responsible. Of course that was immediately supplanted with visions of what kind of uniform he could dream up for himself, I see lots of gold braid and bars filled with metals, no hat, it would muss the hair, or maybe one just tucked under the arm with a riding crop in the other hand, a la Patton. Let the cosplay begin.

Toads? I can only hope the Trump decides to lick one as a further display of his immortality.

[Apocalipstic]

I already did my taxes, oh well..got big $37 back.

The State of Tennessee has done zero to help or acknowledge Covid19. There are several cases in the state, but most cases are in Nashville and 1 neighboring county, subburb or Nashville.

My county has shut down restaurants, bars, gyms etc. The numbers of infected seem to double each day.

But still.....

My weirdo across the hall neighbor stopped me this morning to rant about it (Covid) being a hoax blah chemtrails blah blah blah....I said "I think its melting permafrost releasing old diseases", he looked aghast...But hey, my answer seems more likely than his.

I stood in line at Trader Joe's to get more food and wipes. I have a couple of weeks worth of stuff (more than that of rice and beans), but who knows what will happen. Right?

We are working, so for that I am very grateful. All overtime and special projects on hold, so I will be making at least $1,000 less a month, but still enough to be ok. Trying to cut down all my bills for the long haul.

Rambling...sorry!

Bottom line, I am very anxious. I plan to meditate quite a bit this weekend....which, by the way will be my first full weekend off since the holidays. So yay!

(f)

[Kelt]

My state shut down today as far as no one who is not essential can go to work, just work from home if you can. We had to lay off about 10 people and that really hurts. We really are family at work.

I will still be reporting in. Myself and two others in the building. I have backup staff at our domestic violence shelter who can be to me in 15 minutes if I have an emergency.

It will be that way until:
The government lets everyone go back to work
or
We run out of money to pay bare bones staff
or
The building becomes quarantined- at which time I will work from home.

It was really stressful today absorbing the stress and hurt for those laid off along with the stress the residents are feeling. Thankfully we are still able to feed them well.

We picked up a huge delivery from our food bank and are making emergency food boxes and hygiene packs for everyone and will work over the weekend while I have staff available to deliver to those off of the main housing site.

My daughter has been working along side me all day all week and is starting to get really anxious. She is having a self care night tonight. I will too, I hope.

We have our first resident in quarantine for being exposed to a co-worker who tested positive. This could be a tipping point.

There is no way to thank you and others like you enough for the work that you are doing. My mother is in a small elder care home in Washington state which is undergoing very similar types of lockdown and quarantine like measures. New mandates are coming out of the state health department on a nearly daily basis, trying to make everything work is an enormous task. Thank you for what you do.

[Kätzchen]

I'm home rather early today. Property management is ready to follow directives by the Mayor of our largest city, which they suspect will go down late tonight or first thing Monday morning.

I cleaned and sanitized every surface in our office and extended outposts, then left work. We report back to work first thing Monday, in case we are shut down (the whole entire inner-city area of three counties).

My boss has stage 4 cancer. You'd never know it, by just looking at him. He is a real trooper. He's had to self quarantine twice, since suspected outbreaks in the nearby vicinity. His wife is upper mgmt with Kaiser (an RN, with loads of credentials besides nursing). Word is, according to my bosses' wife, that Kaiser is creating an nursing location lottery, where nurses *must* participate in the lottery drawing, in case an "All Hands On Deck" alert rises agency wide (multi-state effort). Nurses will have to report for duty in critical areas of nursing, and if they don't go? Word is, they can say goodbye to their jobs (no matter where you are on the organizational ladder of employment standing). Not sure if this has already been decided on, but that is what his wife was saying that the healthcare agency was tendering as a plan to help address critical areas of nursing, during this whole crisis.

I could be jobless by Monday afternoon, but I have to stay focused because, I got the official notice from the organization I was cross-training over into and they decided to halt all hiring processes until further notice. However, HR advised me to follow through with the medical test their doctor ordered, so I can have that part already done and my medical certificate signed off. And, the other agency where I take the other two tests? I was like "Wow, they're still open, *LOL*", so before April is over with, virus crisis or not, I plan to take the other two tests and be ready to go, when the hiring freeze is lifted. So a big burden of worries rolled off my life, once I heard back from that particular HR dept, today.

I'm gonna take my time off and keep my focus on the end goal and keep my fingers crossed that even though things are topsy-turvy right now? That things will regain some form of reasonable order, in timely ways. And I want to be ready to go and be hired in one fell swoop.

That's the "Good News & Bad News" report, from my world today.

We're all in this together and together we can come out on top and in better shape (is what I wholehearted believe).

Oh! And because I was released early today from work? I got two back to back phone calls from two different doctor offices and they squeezed me in for the two appointments I have been trying to get to, over the past month. And, I recertify my rental contract on my studio and the on-site manager is having me come by tomorrow morning. AND, lol, while stopping to sin at the Dairy Queen for an ice cream cone, I pulled in behind my secret santa from years ago. OMG, it was like all the stars and planets in the universe lined up in my favor today. It's not always this happens in my world, but I do know how fucking lucky I have been over the past few months.


<<<<<<<<~~~ still keeping my fingers crossed for the best of luck for us all. :balloon:

[GeorgiaMa'am]

I heard on the BBC World News that there is a Dutch pharmacist who has not marked up any of his prices, except in the case of hand sanitizer. He charges the regular price for one bottle, but if you want more than one, you have to pay about $150 US. He said no one has made that purchase yet. He did it because people were buying much more than they needed, and then some of the elderly people who came in his pharmacy couldn't get any at all. He feels using hand sanitizer is one of the most useful things we can do against this virus.

Apparently, it's working quite well.

[~ocean]

It is quite possible that the word "buffoon"comes from the Italian/Latin root word "bufo".

Well:

"Bufo, or cane, toads are the largest toads in the world. Native to South America, they were introduced to Florida to limit the effect insects have on the sugar industry. Unfortunately, the toads also secret a toxin from their skin that is toxic to humans and lethal to pets.

The toxic toads have made their reappearance, and pet owners in southern, central and the Panhandle of Florida have been on the lookout for the lethal hazard. Cane toads can be found all over Florida, but come out in large numbers after rain showers.

Dogs may try to play with one of the poisonous toads and end up with the toxin on their nose or in their mouth.

All it takes is a quick lick or a sniff. Fifteen minutes later, your dog could be dead."

I understand that Trump has moved his official residency to Florida.



imitating the Bafoon ~ " perfect , just perfect " lol Collette

[theoddz]

The following was sent to Dear Wife (retired paramedic/EMT) and myself, through our network of friends who are also in the healthcare professions. I thought I'd share it here, in hopes that it might drive home the seriousness of this situation and the crucial, CRUCIAL importance of EVERYONE to be following what we're being told/advised by our gov't and health advisers. Even if you are a healthy person, in your 20's and 30's, who has never been sick a day in your life, read the following and HEED it!!!


This is from Patrick Wiater head of ortho/trauma at Beaumont RO, largest hospital in Michigan. Please spread the word!

Hi everyone. Hope all is well.
I implore you to take this covid 19 seriously. It is real. Society is teeming with it. The numbers you see in media are the tip of the iceberg.
The ICU in the hospital is full of young adults on ventilators fighting for their lives. A medical assistant I work with is covid 19 positive on a vent. She is otherwise healthy person in her twenties. We are seeing mostly young people coming into the hospital with their lungs destroyed by this virus. The media made it sound like the biggest risk was elderly. Probably true but in Michigan it's hitting young adults hard.

Sequester you and your families away from everyone. Don't leave your house. Don't have any social interactions with anyone.
Keep your parents isolated. Incubation can be up to 14 days. Anyone who has not been isolated for 14 days is a risk to you.

It is estimated that 150 million in the U.S. will have it over next 10-14 days. I believe it. Southeast Michigan is festering with it now.

Hopefully this comes across as alarmist. This virus is horrible.

Stay safe. PJW

~Theo~ :bouquet:

[Kelt]

Theo-

Thank you for posting this, I think part of the problem a lot of people are having is that it has not impacted them personally yet. I am taking this very seriously as I am receiving the health department dispatches from Washington state on a nearly daily basis in regards to my 88-year-old mother. She is in complete lockdown and there are no visitors permitted to enter the house where she lives by state mandate. Even doctors and nurses are having to make their visits via iPad. I cannot go visit my mother. Unfortunately, I think this will be the case for most Americans, that once they know somebody who has gotten it or have been impacted in some other personal way that is medical and not financial only then will they take it seriously.

On a more personal note, given your background and specialty do you anticipate being called upon in this situation either in your former role or perhaps as someone who could teach your specialized skill set to others so that then they can operate ventilators properly? I know many doctors and nurses retired as well as not yet quite certified students are being asked to help.

I also believe the next two weeks will challenge a lot of people in many ways.

Be safe

[C0LLETTE]

I heard on the BBC World News that there is a Dutch pharmacist who has not marked up any of his prices, except in the case of hand sanitizer. He charges the regular price for one bottle, but if you want more than one, you have to pay about $150 US. He said no one has made that purchase yet. He did it because people were buying much more than they needed, and then some of the elderly people who came in his pharmacy couldn't get any at all. He feels using hand sanitizer is one of the most useful things we can do against this virus.

Apparently, it's working quite well.

Is it possible for a Dutch pharmacist to become CEO of Amazon, because, frankly, this fellow emphasizes with human needs over PROFITS.

Maybe we can all chip in and raise enough money to rip this company out of the hands of these money grubbing assholes.

They though of it first, but they don't need to control it forever.

[Kelt]

Is it possible for a Dutch pharmacist to become CEO of Amazon, because, frankly, this fellow emphasizes with human needs over PROFITS.

Maybe we can all chip in and raise enough money to rip this company out of the hands of these money grubbing assholes.

They though of it first, but they don't need to control it forever.

I think Amazon is starting to look a lot like the dog that actually caught the car :blink: and has no real idea what to do with it. :dog:

[C0LLETTE]

Here's what I've learned from organizing political party gatherings that may apply currently:

Rent a hall that's smaller than the group you expect:
A half empty big hall is a failure. An overflowing tiny hall is a huge success.

Never overpromise but do plan for success. Never promise complete and absolute victory until the last 30 seconds of battle; but also do not doom yourself when you start planning for failure hours ahead.

Not sure if Sun Tzu or Machiavelli ever dealt with a pandemic virus but it does seem pretty simple "common sense" huh? So why is this most basic piece of reasoning escaping the "Most Powerful Leader in the World" ? Maybe he's just a dumb guy...not malicious or evil, just fucking dumb.

[C0LLETTE]

I think Amazon is starting to look a lot like the dog that actually caught the car :blink: and has no real idea what to do with it. :dog:

YESSSSSSSSSS. Like so much of tech that is being developed way ahead of its test for real usefulness and with no idea of its safe expiry date and no way to just dissolve all that crap out of the environment that it's just crapping up.

Think space is getting crowded, wait till we start seeing the ether gasping for air.

[theoddz]

Theo-

Thank you for posting this, I think part of the problem a lot of people are having is that it has not impacted them personally yet. I am taking this very seriously as I am receiving the health department dispatches from Washington state on a nearly daily basis in regards to my 88-year-old mother. She is in complete lockdown and there are no visitors permitted to enter the house where she lives by state mandate. Even doctors and nurses are having to make their visits via iPad. I cannot go visit my mother. Unfortunately, I think this will be the case for most Americans, that once they know somebody who has gotten it or have been impacted in some other personal way that is medical and not financial only then will they take it seriously.

On a more personal note, given your background and specialty do you anticipate being called upon in this situation either in your former role or perhaps as someone who could teach your specialized skill set to others so that then they can operate ventilators properly? I know many doctors and nurses retired as well as not yet quite certified students are being asked to help.

I also believe the next two weeks will challenge a lot of people in many ways.

Be safe

Hey there Kelt!! Nice to see you around again, I must say!! There's still a few of us from "the old guard" and the old site and I'm sure glad to see another friendly screen name from "back when"!! :D

Well, yes, I am a retired Registered Respiratory Therapist and I worked in that profession for nearly 30 years. I'm 59 y/o now and kickin' the door of 60 later this year. I have had some progressively serious health issues ever since my time in the Marine Corps, when I was in my early 20's. Because of those, they gave me 100% permanent and total disability, but it was not the kind of disability that would keep me, or prevent me from working, if I wanted to and was able. I was able, thank Jeebuz, to go to college and become an RT while I was still relatively young, and I spent 20 years doing that in federal civilian service for nearly 20 years (DoD and VA). While I was working for the VA, my knees started to give out as a secondary problem to my military illness. I had to have total joint replacement in both knees in the 2000's, but it bought me about 8 years of career time, until I reached the 20 year mark. I had to take early retirement then, because of the knees, mostly, but I also have other health issues, due to or related to my military service, also. I didn't want to retire, but I was forced to, and now that I'm damned near 60, some of these health problems that I was able to overcome, due to sheer will, I can no longer function well with. I was told that I now need a 10th surgery (total for both, right now) on my right knee, once more. So, I'm not in really great shape, as of now, to do any heavy duty running around in a busy hospital environment, like I used to.

I was forced to take disability retirement from federal service at my 20 year mark, unfortunately. I also have other problems with my health, so no, I don't think that anyone will be trying to call me up and "reactivate" me again in this crisis. Believe me, I am "programmed" in my heart to respond to emergencies. I still can hear the sound of a pager ringing in my ears, the sound of ventilator alarms and the overhead call of a Code Blue. I wish I could help, but I would do so at my own very, very high risk, and even then, my physical limitations (and asthma) would preclude me from holding up under the physical stress of the job now. I'm afraid that I'm going to have to leave the baton where I passed it.....to the younger, healthy set, and trust that their dedication, professionalism and training will rise to the occasion, so to speak. We RT's are an "odd" bunch. We're temperamental, opinionated, highly independent (many of us work in intense environments with little to no supervision), and incredibly resourceful (we can put together just about anything to get a job done) but always manage to pitch in, lend a hand, and be there when we are needed.

I wish I could be there, but I'm afraid I'm going to have to sit this one out. I hope everyone who reads this heeds the medical advisors and gov't officials (excluding that "Anus Tangerinus") and stays safe. We will overcome this!!!

~Theo~ :bouquet:

[Kätzchen]

Today is Saturday, and I attended my studio rental recert, then went to do laundry, then went on a mission to find any cleaning supplies available at area stores.

There's no one out on the road today except a handful of people doing only necessary life stuff. On the freeway's, ODOT reader boards display signage instructing drivers to leave room and give space to other drivers and to obey the speed limit (our roads are rapidly giving way to surveillance technology) and to warn people to not be in groups.

I didn't have much luck finding any cleaning supplies or paper supplies. But I did happen to stop by a merchant discount retailer and found a few bottles of Clorox, so I bought them, since the store was nearly devoid of shoppers. I went by Target, and in my frantic state of mind, I had no idea that I left the sun roof open or a side window down, but I did lock the car with my key fob. When I came back to my car with what few supplies I could buy (razors, Listerene, anti-bacterial handsoap and regular hand soap), I discovered I had left my car with the windows down and the sun roof wide open. I cried. I cried because no one stole anything from my car. I had a bunch of valuable merchandise in the back seat and my big bag with all my irreplaceable insurance papers and relevant ID, was sitting untouched in my car. The nearest parker was a handicapped gentleman who was sitting in his car smoking, and he didn't even realize that my car was open to theft. He tooted his horn at me and waved and yelled out if I was alright. I was just so grateful that I wasn't the victim of theft. That is the *first* time I have ever forgotten to lock my car or make sure all the windows are up and that the sun roof was closed. It's absolutely spectacular weather we have today, so I am sure that the combination of fury to find what cleaning supplies I could buy and being forgetful can be attributed to the brilliant sunny weather we have today. Ordinarily, we have 'Pearly Skies', but as climate change affects each corner of the globe, we increasingly have less cloudy weather and terrific stretches of sunshine, which is drying up the trees and all green fauna to the point that, I worry about tinderbox conditions and all of us going up in smoke (if not co-equally the Co-vid 19 virus too).

I wore my beautiful pale blue leather gloves and took a handful of sanitizing wipes with me in a little plastic baggie, in case I needed to wipe of the surface of any terminal at any store or wipe off an entrance door handle. People smiled at me and thanked me for being considerate and kind, in the face of coming under stricter lock-down mandates, which will surely come by first thing Monday morning or by late afternoon that day.

It's like the proverbial End of The World scenario here.

And today I am guilty of eating like it's the end of the world. After the Target fiasco, I dropped by an small independently owned vendor stand to buy some Teriayki (sp?) chicken with stir fried veggies and extra sauce and a big order of Korean Bulgogi Fries. I'll find out Monday, when my primary doctor calls me if my A1-c blood labs were in safe range or if I am going on the 'sinners' list for the rest of my life. :bigcry:

I'm steadily frightened by the situation we all will be facing in short order, but I also try to cheer myself up by having lots of things that I can stay focused on and plan to build up my strength to ride my bicycle, because one day soon, we will be perilously close to a war on any resource that affects being able to get around. I need to be able to bicycle not only for health reasons but for reason of conserving gasoline I already have in the car and commit to being able to get where I need to go without being fully dependent on my car. So... today the car stays parked and it's walking or bicycling to get where I need to go (and time, gotta incorporate time to that picture).

It feels like that 1990s movie with Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio: The Titanic. We all know we're going to be going down, but we race to stay alive and be one of (Many, hopefully) the survivors of this apocalyptic scene in social history.

<<<<<~~ committed to Social Distancing, and all tenets of Safety First.


Oh, and I bought the last 4-pack of Aloe facial tissues at one store. I will use them sparingly. And share a box with a neighbor, if necessary.

[theoddz]

I just wanted to dash in here really quick and bring up one or two hints/ideas for sanitizing stuff.

1. You can soak paper towels with Isopropyl alcohol and put them in ziplock bags for sanitizing wipes. OTC Isopropyl alcohol comes in various strengths: 50% (don't use for sanitizing), only 70% and 91% are recommended for this. In order to sanitize something with this, you need to make sure you use the 70%-91% strengths (per the CDC). I found 91% isopropyl alcohol at Sams Club, recently, but before the pandemic hit.

2. You can also use white vinegar (acetic acid) to disinfect things. It may stink for a bit, but it sure as hell disinfects. We use white vinegar to disinfect respiratory equipment in the hospital (10% solution, or 1 part vinegar to 9 parts water). It kills most respiratory bugs like no one's business. I've been known to use full strenth on some stuff, in the past, but be super careful if you do this, because vinegar is acid and can destroy some surfaces. I suggest you dilute it, at least 10-20%.

One thing about these surface disinfectants, including isopropyl alcohol and white vinegar. Nearly every commercial disinfectant sold on the store shelf requires what we call "wet time" in order to disinfect/kill bacteria and viruses. From what I've read on these cleaners, Lysol included, is that whatever you are wiping down MUST be allowed to sit for AT LEAST 10 minutes before its wiped down. This is for non-porous surfaces.

***NOTE: Be especially mindful before mixing ANY other cleaner or chemical with Bleach, as it can create seriously toxic fumes, among other things. Don't do it!!! Water is safe enough, but anything else.....look it up and check before doing it!!!

I found a link to some guidance on how to disinfect/sanitize/clean your home, in this time of COVI-19. It may help. I hope the above information can help others in our community to have other options for sanitizing wipes and chemicals to keep your homes free from infection.

https://www.houselogic.com/improve/how-to-disinfect-your-home/

~Theo~ :bouquet:

[~ocean]

I'm sitting here watching my daughter making masks for her job ~ there aren't any at work so in order to work and take care of her patients she needs to make masks …. she would never not go into work under these circumstances I'm a proud and nervous mom w/ her out there lil man ( Jonathan ) is a very proud son. :) and I hate Donald Trump ~ me fickle naaaa just an American ~~

[Bèsame*]

I'm sitting here watching my daughter making masks for her job ~ there aren't any at work so in order to work and take care of her patients she needs to make masks …. she would never not go into work under these circumstances I'm a proud and nervous mom w/ her out there lil man ( Jonathan ) is a very proud son. :) and I hate Donald Trump ~ me fickle naaaa just an American ~~

Yay for your daughter to be creative! I've seen all kinds of make shift masks. Bandanas and scarves.

My brother told me a story yesterday. After finishing his shift at the firehouse, when the restaurants were at 50% captivity, he stopped in at IHOP. He says, half the tables were pushed to one side, stacked and covered with shipping shrink wrap. There was nothing on the tables. No salt. No pepper. If you wanted that, it was brought out in little dipping sauce bowls. He says eerie. I can just imagine.

Wash your hands!

[Bèsame*]

KNIZofPB8ZM

If you must go out ...practice social distancing.

[FireSignFemme]

My oldest son came over tonight and shared these links to help me stay informed. I found them useful so thought I'd share them.

https://www.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/bda7594740fd40299423467b48e9ecf6

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

[FireSignFemme]

https://www.businessinsider.com/types-of-masks-used-for-coronavirus-outbreak-n95-surgical-2020-3

[Kelt]

I just wanted to dash in here really quick and bring up one or two hints/ideas for sanitizing stuff.

1. You can soak paper towels with Isopropyl alcohol and put them in ziplock bags for sanitizing wipes. OTC Isopropyl alcohol comes in various strengths: 50% (don't use for sanitizing), only 70% and 91% are recommended for this. In order to sanitize something with this, you need to make sure you use the 70%-91% strengths (per the CDC). I found 91% isopropyl alcohol at Sams Club, recently, but before the pandemic hit.

2. You can also use white vinegar (acetic acid) to disinfect things. It may stink for a bit, but it sure as hell disinfects. We use white vinegar to disinfect respiratory equipment in the hospital (10% solution, or 1 part vinegar to 9 parts water). It kills most respiratory bugs like no one's business. I've been known to use full strenth on some stuff, in the past, but be super careful if you do this, because vinegar is acid and can destroy some surfaces. I suggest you dilute it, at least 10-20%.

One thing about these surface disinfectants, including isopropyl alcohol and white vinegar. Nearly every commercial disinfectant sold on the store shelf requires what we call "wet time" in order to disinfect/kill bacteria and viruses. From what I've read on these cleaners, Lysol included, is that whatever you are wiping down MUST be allowed to sit for AT LEAST 10 minutes before its wiped down. This is for non-porous surfaces.

***NOTE: Be especially mindful before mixing ANY other cleaner or chemical with Bleach, as it can create seriously toxic fumes, among other things. Don't do it!!! Water is safe enough, but anything else.....look it up and check before doing it!!!

I found a link to some guidance on how to disinfect/sanitize/clean your home, in this time of COVI-19. It may help. I hope the above information can help others in our community to have other options for sanitizing wipes and chemicals to keep your homes free from infection.

https://www.houselogic.com/improve/how-to-disinfect-your-home/

~Theo~ :bouquet:

I just wanted to chime in and agree with everything that Theo is saying, for myself and some others the only thing I’ve been able to find is bleach which can also act as a good disinfectant if used and diluted properly. To that end I found a good resource for all things bleach. (https://www.scripps.edu/newsandviews/e_20060213/bleach.html)

[C0LLETTE]

Do you think ethanol ( rubbing alcohol @ 95 % alcohol ) is as effective as isopropyl ?

[theoddz]

I shared this on my FB page today, but I felt like I needed to also share it here. Thanks to the Universe, I never had to work through and in a pandemic situation like we have now, but I remember, in years gone by, what it was to work in a busy medical center during some busy flu/pneumonia seasons. It wasn't easy and we had equipment and supply (and staffing) shortages to work through, but we did it by sheer determination and, even moreso, resourcefulness.

This is something completely different, though, and the following video is exactly what is really, truly happening (in northern Italy, at present) and is more than likely what it is going to look like in the U.S. in the coming weeks and maybe months. This video news story is really what is happening in the middle of this pandemic, for both physicians and caregivers, and what the patients actually experience and look like. Exactly. It really is horrifying.

Please....and I'm pleading again, stay home if you possibly can, practice social distancing, wash your hands and pay attention to the latest news and medical advice from the authorities for fighting this!!! I know I don't know many of you all, but a few of you have met me and have "known" me through the old dash site, and the forum threads since back in the day. You all are my community and it'd absolutely break my heart if anything happened to any one of you, due to this pandemic. Stay safe and G-d bless.

u9_Euc-kz6c

~Theo~ :bouquet:

[tantalizingfemme]

I work and do my field placement in Pennsylvania. Both of these places are life sustaining businesses so I have to go in. I am hoping we limit the staff coming into our admin building for my work to just a handful of us as there are too many people coming in and out. My field placement has a lot of kids doing groups and therapies via zoom but there are still a lot of kids being brought in for live partial hospitalized programming from 9 am to 7:30 pm. I am in a room for an hour at a time with these kids running group therapy and these rooms are small. I wish we could at least go fully online for my placement so I don't have so much exposure to people. Plus, we are getting new admits all the time.

I am stressed about work because as the Risk Manager my job is to try and mitigate risk to our staff and employees with the CEO and head of nursing. I think they are finally understanding what I have been telling them in that we cannot create a plan that will be all encompassing. Every possible exposure, possible positive or actual positive will have to be dealt with individually which means this will be a daily battle with different variables. No two will be the same. It's overwhelming when I think about it.

Add to that the lack of medical equipment that we need and staff who are not taking the physical distancing seriously. I am at a loss at the willful ignorance.

Please pay attention, please don't purchase items that you don't need, especially medical equipment and think of others. It really isn't that hard.

[Kätzchen]

I work and do my field placement in Pennsylvania. Both of these places are life sustaining businesses so I have to go in. I am hoping we limit the staff coming into our admin building for my work to just a handful of us as there are too many people coming in and out. My field placement has a lot of kids doing groups and therapies via zoom but there are still a lot of kids being brought in for live partial hospitalized programming from 9 am to 7:30 pm. I am in a room for an hour at a time with these kids running group therapy and these rooms are small. I wish we could at least go fully online for my placement so I don't have so much exposure to people. Plus, we are getting new admits all the time.

I am stressed about work because as the Risk Manager my job is to try and mitigate risk to our staff and employees with the CEO and head of nursing. I think they are finally understanding what I have been telling them in that we cannot create a plan that will be all encompassing. Every possible exposure, possible positive or actual positive will have to be dealt with individually which means this will be a daily battle with different variables. No two will be the same. It's overwhelming when I think about it.

Add to that the lack of medical equipment that we need and staff who are not taking the physical distancing seriously. I am at a loss at the willful ignorance.

Please pay attention, please don't purchase items that you don't need, especially medical equipment and think of others. It really isn't that hard.

That is so stressful and I hope it gets better over time, for you.

And... in addition, the reason I went on a search yesterday for cleaning supplies is that a good many of my neighbors, in my building, don't have jobs (they've been laid off and/or on disability) so I've been sharing my food supplies and cleaning supplies with people who have no money to buy essential things that can make all the difference in helping one's neighbors deal with not being able to afford the necessities during a critical time, such as now.

I'm not a money tree: But I am socially conscious of not only my needs, but needs of those who live around me. I know they appreciate the hand-up. Leaving no one behind is central, in my mind, in caring about ones self as well as the people who live closest to me.

Thanks for your timely message and I do hope your situation improves greatly, tantalizingfemme. :bunchflowers:

[charley]

I trust everyone has wiped down your cellphones (I saw a video on TV where someone did this with a soft soaped-up cloth very carefully, which removes most bacteria, germs - she then measured with a device how clean it was and it seemed to be quite effective, etc.). Also, for those who have cars, I saw a video on CBC News Network where a guy showed how to use sanitary wipes to wipe down everything you touch in your car - door handles, steering wheel, dashboard, etc.).

[theoddz]

I'm feeling kinda guilty for sounding so "down" with my posts in this thread. So, I think it's time for just a little levity in the situation. I give you all this and I hope you will laugh as much as I did when I saw it. Btw, these musicians are playing in a Santa Monica store, in an empty toilet paper aisle. :rofl:

0ZW-VDZjusA

~Theo~ :bouquet:

[theoddz]

Do you think ethanol ( rubbing alcohol @ 95 % alcohol ) is as effective as isopropyl ?

Collette, I would think it would be just as, if not more effective, especially compared to isopropyl at the 50 and 70% strengths. If you want to be absolutely sure, you can google that good question.

~Theo~ :bouquet:

[C0LLETTE]

OK...wipe down everything in your house, wipe down everything in your car, wipe down everything in your building ( stairwells, rails, elevator buttons etc)..and then stay home, cause the minute you go out into the world and touch anything ( the street, whatever you go out into) and return into your house/car you best start all over again...and frankly, it's hard to keep track of all the things you've touched even as you are removing those blue sterile gloves and your COVID N95 mask with sterilized forceps.

Do your best, but frankly "don't go nuts"...maybe the Grim Reaper just wants you.

[C0LLETTE]

BTW...don't eat bats.

[nhplowboi]

So I see Putin, good guy that he is, is sending 8 military brigades of "medical" personnel to Italy to help them out. For some reason I find that a little frightening.

[C0LLETTE]

So I see Putin, good guy that he is, is sending 8 military brigades of "medical" personnel to Italy to help them out. For some reason I find that a little frightening.

Well, do you think Russians would feel reassured if USA sent 8 military brigades of "medical " personnel to Italy?

At some point we have to take the paranoia and tribalism out of human co-existence. Work together, help each other or just whither and die together.

I'm sure there's another species all lined up and ready to take over once we finally keel over.
.

[nhplowboi]

Not sure how to respond to that Collette. Putin does nothing that will not benefit him. The US helping, hell our idiot leader is setting our country up for mass casualties. I am not paranoid, just a realist.

[C0LLETTE]

Not sure how to respond to that Collette. Putin does nothing that will not benefit him. The US helping, hell our idiot leader is setting our country up for mass casualties. I am not paranoid, just a realist.

ok, be a "realist"...see if i care but, frankly, projecting a paranoid negative outcome is not "realism", it's just projecting a paranoid negative outcome with a shot at being ultimately able to say "see, I told you so"...maybe a better course would be to not give in to that and work for a different more positive outcome...or at least believe there can be one even if it means dying disappointed.

[Bèsame*]

sPLgsV_Ms3Q

Sing along!

[charley]

Both Canada and Australia will not be sending athletes to Tokyo this summer because of the Coronavirus, unless the games are postponed...

In Canada, many Canadians are ignoring the warnings and are not practising social distancing (wilful ignorance... smh). I am not surprised, considering how wilful many people are. Provincial leaders and health officials are warning that this is unacceptable... and are saying that they may very well enact stricter measures (i.e. significant fines and even imprisonment! - btw, imprisonment would only come into force nationwide here if Trudeau declared a national emergency which he has not done yet, even though provincial leaders and mayors have done so).

[~ocean]

on 3/24/2020 at 12:00 pm ~ the state of Massachusetts where I live will be on shut down. The numbers of infected w/ COVID-19 are escalating . That makes Calif., Washington , New York, Massachusetts.

[easygoingfemme]

on 3/24/2020 at 12:00 pm ~ the state of Massachusetts where I live will be on shut down. The numbers of infected w/ COVID-19 are escalating . That makes Calif., Washington , New York, Massachusetts.

Are you going into a full lockdown?

[nhplowboi]

So I see Trump has not given his daily coronavirus briefing. He did it late yesterday which preempted all of the national news programs. If he does it again tonight I will assume this is going to be his latest tactic to try and keep the American people in the dark.

[~ocean]

Are you going into a full lockdown?

we can go to stores ~ grocery and pharmacy Walmart too cause it has a pharmacy and u can get gas and have your car fixed but other than that nothing ~ only essential personal. My daughter has a special form she has to keep w/ her being a CNA and Hospice Care. How r u doing and your daughter ?

[~ocean]

so many people that are positive DON'T know how they caught the virus ~ had to be airborn ~ the droplets they say can live on surfaces... I am so confused … they just don't know yet ~ my daughters co workers son caught the virus cause he was domestically traveling ~ he said he was masked and gloved both times ~ and yet he's ill. This seems beyond our understanding ~ or mine anyways.. ohhh btw Jonathan and I came up w/ a new dance called the "elbow floss / bump " lololol

[Kätzchen]

So, Governor Kate Brown signed an executive order today making it mandatory for social distancing and not going anywhere, unless you are part of the work force that supplies critical support to keep the state infrastructure from collapsing. We have a fragile economy in Oregon, especially outside the metro area. Coastal communities depend on tourism. Guess what people did this past weekend? They flocked to coastal communities, putting fragile communities at higher risk of catching the virus. Oh, the Governor was upset that people are not exercising personal responsibility in face of a deadly virus that is claiming lives, left and right. So people will comply with this order or there will be severe consequences. For everyone.

I can't stay long, but I did work 9 hours today. I return to work tomorrow. Our work campus is virtually down 80 percent in on-campus attendance, but we still won't know how much longer our campus will be open. Our situation is heavily monitored by fed/state governing agencies, so we're not sure how long too many of us will hang on to our jobs. If we do lose them, we will always be on-boarded once the moratorium is lifted. But how long the moratorium lasts, depends on people following instructions and not violating the moratorium set in place.

We now join the ranks of several other states in adhering to a strict moratorium that includes social distancing, and not going anywhere and staying home, unless you are required to be on the job.

I found a link the other night, if anyone is interested in looking at it. It gives you an idea on how covid 19 is possibly being spread. Like I was saying last night, after talking with my mom by phone yesterday, my mom is convinced that this virus is airborne. She's no expert, but she was born during the depression, she's been an RN for over 53 years, and it made me sit up straight when she shared her ideas on how this is being transmitted. She might not be correct, but on the other hand, the scientific medical community is leaning toward the possibility that covid-19 is an airborne disease. Check out the link and see what you think and if it helps you to better see how difficult it is for anybody in the medical community to narrow in on whether it is or is not an airborne disease.

Link ~~>>>> VIRTUS (https://virtusmedical.com/2019-nCoV-info/COVID-19-airborne)

On campus, we are sanitizing and sanitizing repeatedly, and maintaining social distance. We take this crisis very seriously. My heart goes out to all the communities in metropolitan areas as well as those affected in smaller rural communities and for those down on the coast in our state.

:vigil: :vigil: :vigil:

[Kelt]

Just got a PSA from the county:

“The County has issued an amended COVID-19 public health order giving it the discretion to close down beaches if social distancing rules aren’t enforced. County Public Health Officer Wilma Wooten made the announcement during a news conference Monday.

Gatherings larger than 10 people have been seen at beaches in recent days. Wooten said if local cities and municipalities cannot enforce social gathering orders, the public health order will allow the shutdown of city parks and beaches.

Social distancing requires staying six feet away from others who are not in your immediate family to reduce the risk of transmission and slow the spread of the disease.”

Great, asshole teenagers just have to screw it up for everybody else…

Guess I’m just a pissed off old fogey :badmood:

[FireSignFemme]

Just got a PSA from the county: Guess I’m just a pissed off old fogey :badmood:

Well you're in good company then.

[charley]

While on my walkabout yesterday, I sat down for a few minutes and saw a car pull up and two young people get out, and then they put on these "surgical type" gloves and walked into Timmy's. They came out 5 minutes later and went back into their car, still wearing the same gloves, opening up the car doors with their gloves on and they drove off. I could see the guy had put both hands on the steering wheel with their gloves still on. And, I thought, oh, how stupid, the same gloves that had touched god knows what (like opening doors, counters, etc.) now touching their steering wheel etc. and probably everything else that one normally touches while in a car, and they drove off. So, all the germs that they may have touched now transferred to their car. Apparently, as I have seen explained on TV by various doctors, the virus can last on hard surfaces up to several days.

I have seen on TV doctors explaining how even when talking with someone = since the virus lodges in the lungs - that the breath may carry microscopic particles, and of course, the breath will spread these particles, hence the necessity of social-distancing - 6 feet (2 metres). The doctor said that even a slight cough can push these particles in the air and they can hang several feet and float in the air for more than a few seconds.

So, I can understand easily that there are various ways that the virus can spread.

For several weeks, every time I have left any place to buy stuff to store up with I use hand sanitizers immediately - all the stores I have used all have automatic door sensors which open up automatically when you pass in front, so I don't have to touch public handles - also washing my hands when I enter my home. At one point, when picking up a basket in a store, I used hand sanitizer to wipe down the handles and edges of the basket (which I later explained to this really old couple who walked in the store and who stared at me and what I was doing - I wasn't the only who did this, btw - fortunately, this supermarket had these hand sanitizers in a container right by the baskets), I have been careful to keep my distance when talking with anyone.

I have become a germophobe - 'abundance of caution'.

[easygoingfemme]

we can go to stores ~ grocery and pharmacy Walmart too cause it has a pharmacy and u can get gas and have your car fixed but other than that nothing ~ only essential personal. My daughter has a special form she has to keep w/ her being a CNA and Hospice Care. How r u doing and your daughter ?

I think that is where we are headed in NY too unless Trump actually succeeds in making it all about money and lifting the shelter in place.

We are okay, thank you for asking. Just exhausted. I'm still working every day all day and on call most evenings. My daughter just did a few 7am-3pm shifts and now has to switch over to working overnights 11pm-7am. We lost a lot of people who could cover shifts because we had to remove our usual allowance for bringing our children to work when school/daycares are closed.. Last week was really lightened up by the laughter of children and some joint effort homeschooling. It was nice.

Stay safe, all.

[nhplowboi]

So this morning I put on the national propaganda news station to see what they were spinning. The anchor stated we are at the top of the coronavirus curve and cases will be going down. I am surprised she wasn't wildly waving around that mimeographed paper "15 days to slow the spread". Clearly Fox is in lockstep with the Trump administration's assertion that our country can "open" again in another week. Must be that miracle Trump talked about a few weeks back is going to happen. You know the one, where we are all going to wake up and it will just be gone.

[Bèsame*]

I am now going to have a letter and a placard on my dashboard. Emergency Response.

I always use handsanitzer when I get back in my car. Using more, especially smearing on my steering wheel and rub what's left on my phone. That's a practice I've done for years, due to the fact I have touched nasty dirty money.

Funny thing I read this morning...

Interviewer: I see a gap in your resume in 2020, what where you doing??

Applicant : I was looking for toilet paper!


Wash your hands!

[GeorgiaMa'am]

. . . ~ the droplets they say can live on surfaces... I am so confused … they just don't know yet ~. . .

I saw on CNBC that the CDC has said that COVID-19 survived on surfaces in the Princess Cruise ship cabins for up to 17 days after the passengers had left. I saw in another article (sorry, don't remember where) that COVID-19 survives better on some kinds of surfaces than others - like, metal as opposed to paper. It's going to take longer than Trump's 15 days for susceptibility to die down.

[homoe]

So this morning I put on the national propaganda news station to see what they were spinning. The anchor stated we are at the top of the coronavirus curve and cases will be going down. I am surprised she wasn't wildly waving around that mimeographed paper "15 days to slow the spread". Clearly Fox is in lockstep with the Trump administration's assertion that our country can "open" again in another week. Must be that miracle Trump talked about a few weeks back is going to happen. You know the one, where we are all going to wake up and it will just be gone.

I too switched over just to see what they were saying on the propaganda news station this morning! Of course they were bashing and blaming the Dems in regards to the lack of a passed stimulus bill!

[homoe]

There’s an unusual addition to the list of possible COVID-19 symptoms: A sudden loss of smell or taste may be a warning sign a person could be infected by the new coronavirus, European and U.S. experts said. The American Academy of Otolaryngology on Sunday announced “rapidly accumulating” anecdotal evidence showed anosmia — the loss of smell — and dysgeusia — an altered sense of taste — were “significant symptoms” associated with COVID-19 when a patient had no other respiratory disease. Many people, including Utah Jazz player Rudy Gobert who tested positive for COVID-19, are reporting these unsettling changes in their bodies.

The World Health Organization has seen "quite a few reports" of people losing their sense of smell and taste, and is looking into whether this is an early sign of the disease, said Dr. Maria Kerkhove during a WHO briefing Monday. “Our senses of smell and taste are closely linked together and changes in these senses may occur from inflammation in the upper airway,” Dr. Kris Jatana, associate professor of otolaryngology — head and neck surgery at Nationwide Children's Hospital and Wexner Medical Center at Ohio State University, told TODAY.





https://www.today.com/health/coronavirus-covid-19-symptoms-may-include-loss-smell-or-taste-t176597

[Bèsame*]

MiJhfyduyS0

[nhplowboi]

Really Donald? It is going to be a "wonderful thing" this Easter to see the churches packed. Oh, they are going to be packed alright but in the most horrendous of ways. Clearly you still believe in the Easter Bunny.

[homoe]

Really Donald? It is going to be a "wonderful thing" this Easter to see the churches packed. Oh, they are going to be packed alright but in the most horrendous of ways. Clearly you still believe in the Easter Bunny.

:goodpost:

That stupid idiot! And just in case you don't know what nhplowboi is refering to...

Trump says he wants the country 'opened up and just raring to go by Easter,' despite health experts' warnings.

[charley]

Japan has "decided" (because of all the pressure) to postpone the Olympics for one year.

[Vincent]

I've got 2 weeks until I can head home. I'm in the safest place in healthcare in the OR. I wear masks and gowns all day and constantly scrubbing my hands...yet I'm absolutely terrified for my mom who is 83 years old. The fatality rate for people her age is 15%. So it absolutely drives me livid when I hear ignorant people say how they aren't following the recommendations set out for us at this time. Let me give you a reality check. In Italy, their healthcare system is so overwhelmed that they are having to make life and death choices for people. A 30-year-old mother of 2 will get the vent over a 69-year-old grandmother. THAT IS REALITY! Our country hasn't gotten there YET but don't kid yourself to think it can't/won't happen. Let me give you another reality check....Italy has a bed ratio of 3.8 beds per 1000 people...the USA?? We have 2.4 beds per1000 people. See the problem??? Italy has run out of beds and ventilators...We aren't talking about a 3rd world country...we are talking about a modern, revolutionized country. Stop being selfish and think about others.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
N95 masks fulfill the filtering efficiency criteria of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) and are approved for protection against droplet and airborne transmission of 95% of particles greater than 0.3 microns in size. N95 masks, which must be fit tested, are believed to offer protection against the contact and droplet spread of the coronavirus.

Spain is euthanasing people over 65,so they don't suffer,in order to save the younger folk,if this is not a reality check I don't know what is.
Friends in Florence Italy in lockdown now around 30 days.

[C0LLETTE]

Spain is euthanasing people over 65,so they don't suffer,in order to save the younger folk,if this is not a reality check I don't know what is.
Friends in Florence Italy in lockdown now around 30 days.

Are you suggesting that this is some sort of official policy in Spain?

[GeorgiaMa'am]

Spain is euthanasing people over 65,so they don't suffer,in order to save the younger folk,if this is not a reality check I don't know what is.
Friends in Florence Italy in lockdown now around 30 days.

I believe Spain is trying to pass a euthanasia bill that will allow people who are suffering to _request_ euthanasia. I don't think they've passed it yet.

[C0LLETTE]

Government of Canada
Department of Justice

"On February 24, 2020, the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada introduced a bill, which proposes changes to the Criminal Code’s provisions on medical assistance in dying (MAID). .....

This Bill would amend the Criminal Code to allow MAID for eligible persons who wish to pursue a medically assisted death, whether their natural death is reasonably foreseeable or not. The proposed changes will reduce unnecessary suffering in Canada. They will also support greater autonomy and freedom of choice for eligible persons, and provide safeguards to protect those who may be vulnerable."

But that's a lot different than saying " Canada is euthanising people over 65 so they won't suffer ".

[~ocean]

"oy oy oy oy oyyyyyyy " crazy stuff to even have to consider ~ our lives should be in our hands. People can't nor should play GOD as to when our demise is due. It seems barbaric.

[charley]

I saw a neat YouTube video from Pluto:

=5bwLxHm9GB0

or

https://www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&v=5bwLxHm9GB0

enjoy :)

[nhplowboi]

"President Trump's job approval rating has jumped by 5 points in the latest Gallup survey, matching the high-point of his presidency, as a majority of voters say they have a positive view of how the president has handled the coronavirus pandemic."

The article went on to further state this jump in approval rating is attributable to his handling of the coronavirus pandemic and his daily briefings!? I didn't know they could survey internet bots.

[Orema]

Really Donald? It is going to be a "wonderful thing" this Easter to see the churches packed. Oh, they are going to be packed alright but in the most horrendous of ways. Clearly you still believe in the Easter Bunny.

:goodpost:

That stupid idiot! And just in case you don't know what nhplowboi is refering to...

Trump says he wants the country 'opened up and just raring to go by Easter,' despite health experts' warnings.

Sounds like the religious hustlers are pushing Trump to get the country back up and running because Easter is one of the biggest money making holidays for Christians. They can’t make money if the church doors aren’t open.

[charley]

"Iceland, which says it’s tested a higher proportion of inhabitants than any other country, found that about half those who tested positive have no symptoms of Covid-19, Thorolfur Gudnason, the nation’s chief epidemiologist, told BuzzFeed News. As many as a third of the people who test positive show delayed symptoms or none at all, the South China Morning Post reported Sunday, citing classified data from the Chinese government."

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-03-22/one-third-of-coronavirus-cases-may-show-no-symptom-scmp-reports

This is why there should be more testing, even of those who show no symptoms, and why there is so much more community spread. Please note that from what I have read online and seen on the news, the asymptomatic carrier is contagious .... to others. Hence, the need for social distancing.

My heart is full of sorrow for the millions who will be hurt by this virus, and when I think of them, my eyes tear up, as they are doing now.

[theoddz]

This video is very informative for a lot of folks. I thought I'd post it here.

The guy in the video is a health care professional, and he's showing some techniques we use in the hospital environment to maintain clean/sterile surfaces and items.

Stay safe, everyone!!!! :winky:

sjDuwc9KBps

~Theo~ :bouquet:

[nhplowboi]

Yesterday Donald said "the U.S. is beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel". Hate to tell you Donald but I think that may just be "the bullet train" Governor Coumo was talking about.

[Kätzchen]

Have any of you noticed how Covid-19 is kind of a game-changer, so to speak?

I never once thought about the stair railing in my building, but I got to thinking about surfaces I touch on a routine basis and awhile back, at the beginning of this epidemic, I had a huge container of Lysol wipes, which I have in my work bag, and I took a couple of them, one for each hand, and went up the rails on both sides and each cloth was horribly dirty. I nearly wretched, after I saw what came off the stair rails. So now, since a few weeks ago, when I go down the stairs as I leave for work, the rails get cleaned. When I get home, I do it again. Each time, the Lysol wipes look horrid. Omg, who knew, right?

So I was already in the habit of carrying nitrile gloves while on duty at work and now I carry a box of them in the car and when I can't keep them clean by washing them up between use, I toss them and start with a fresh pair.

I also wear scarves, pretty ones and they're useful because not only do they look pretty with my work clothes, but if I need to cover my face in a hurry, I've got a scarf to wrap quickly around my face to protect me from breathing anything that might make me sick. I'm going to be 61 in a couple of months and I still have health fragility, so I am super careful more than ever now, in light of how this virus can morph into a killing machine.

Also, has anybody else noticed a pattern for those who have been exposed to it and test positive? It's like they die from it with in a day or two. I read today that one person tested positive and the next day they were dead.

I'm glad my primary doctor's clinic closed until further notice. I'm glad my special health tests were cancelled until further notice. I probably have "underlying" health conditions that would hasten an early death for me, if I were exposed to anyone who unwittingly was exposed and exposing other human beings in their ordinary daily activities.

It's scary that policing agencies are adopting a new rule that if a person who is sick and test positive and makes others sick, you could be charged as a 'terrorist'??? That is super scarey, since most people don't even know they have it until it's too late. Yanno? Wow. So very concerning and super scarey. For everybody in the world.

I was just visiting with a neighbor outside and they asked if I had heard about some basketball star who tested positive and that they didn't even know they had been exposed to it. They could die, too. I was like, "whaaaattt???"

When it comes to going grocery shopping, I haven't been since a week ago or so. I only recently stopped buying fresh produce that is not pre-packaged and prewashed and dried. I won't buy produce that everybody else has touched now because of this virus epidemic. I've always washed my fruits and vegetables, but now? I'm too panicked to even buy fresh, unpackaged and unwashed, vegetables and fruits. It has to be certified clean and fresh and pre-packaged for me to even buy it and only if it's not too expensive, too.

Back when I used to take the bus or train in town, I signed up online for updates riders can get. Just today, our metro transit service provider emailed every subscriber to tell us the latest way they are sanitizing buses and trains. They're using UV technology wands. Apparently high dose UV light kills the virus? I don't know, but at least they are trying to do something about sanitizing the train cars and buses. How often they do it, I don't know, but even when or if I ride the train or bus, I always wear gloves because not everybody washes their hands or uses good hygiene practices.

Oh my goodness, I do think the covid-19 virus is changing life in very radical ways, or so it seems. I've always had good hygiene practices but this epidemic has really made me see how surfaces we never question as to whether they're clean or not or even the air we breathe is not as clean as we think it is and how airborne microbes can be agents of change and not in a good way at all.

Did I share already that I saw a person driving in their car the other day, and they were wearing an air mask, like they do in the military? It scared me to see them driving with that thing on. And yet they had their windows rolled down.


This is beyond worrisome and it's downright scarey and my heart goes out to us all as we go about our daily lives in the midst of this horrifying situation that is affecting us all: Covid-19.

Super serious hard times are coming faster than one might ordinarily expect. If you ask me, that stimulus package for everybody is probably not going to help at all. I agree with Governor Cuomo (D-NY).

When will that horrid person in the WH be booted to another galaxy?

I worry that our democracy will lie in tatters and be shredded beyond recognition. I worry that that lunatic and his thieving political party of conspirators will take over our country and ruin everyone's lives in ways being ruined has never been experienced before and steal the election process and turn our country into a full-fledged fascist state.

I'm so worried and scared. (w) (w) (w)

[Bèsame*]

https://i0.wp.com/www.rockcellarmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/beatles-abbey-road-social-distancing.jpg?resize=702%2C336&ssl=1

My how things will change!

[Stone-Butch]

You can bet your sweet bippy on that. There will be a lot more changes coming too. Crime will be committed not for money but for drugs and food. People are getting more scared every day but the majority should have kept aware of how nature is getting more angry at what we are doing to the earth. Losing the ozone a bit at a time didn't get much attention but C-19 is hitting home daily. We are not as much in control as we like to think.

[homoe]

wfGUpS5s7yA





Talk about something perfect, this is perfect!

Trump Campaign Threatens Legal Action Of this Coronavirus Ad

[homoe]

President Trump's re-election campaign sent cease-and-desist letters to local television stations on Wednesday, threatening them with legal action and potentially their broadcast licenses if they continue to air an ad from a Democratic group, Priorities USA. The ad plays audio of Trump downplaying the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic over a chart of the mounting number of cases in the U.S. — now at more than 69,000 — but the Trump campaign objected only to one clip, of Trump saying "this is their new hoax."
That quote comes from a Feb. 28 rally at which Trump repeatedly called his handling of the epidemic "one of the great jobs" and compared the Democrats "politicizing" of the coronavirus to the Russia investigation and Ukraine scandal. As The Washington Post noted in a fact-check cited by the Trump campaign, Trump said this:

They tried the impeachment hoax. That was on a perfect conversation. They tried anything ... And this is their new hoax. But you know we did something that’s been pretty amazing. We have 15 people in this massive country and because of the fact that we went early, we went early, we could have had a lot more than that. [Trump, Feb. 28 rally]

[charley]

Mandatory Isolation = rules to be enforced by Quarantine Act of Canada.

Must self-isolate, not to go to stores, there will be people they can contact (phone #) to get supplies.

(essential workers exempt)

“Maximum penalties include a fine of up to $750,000 and/or imprisonment for six months. Further, a person who causes a risk of imminent death or serious bodily harm to another person while wilfully or recklessly contravening this Act or the regulations could be liable for a fine of up to $1,000,000 or to imprisonment of up to three years, or to both.”

There have been people who are have been flown home and have symptoms and have lied about it. People are desperate.

There have been people who have come across the border in RVs who have parked in the parking areas of supermarkets and are leaving their RVs to buy stuff in stores, flouting rules to self-isolate.

Streets are fairly empty, it is becoming like a war zone. It is kinda scary. I really need to go out (antsy), just to the corner or so just to get fresh air.

[charley]

Went for a little much needed walkabout and some fresh air. Checked out the little supermarket and brought my buggy and bought some supplies (the prices there are 20-30% higher than where I usually shop at), but they had a nice selection of just about everything I wanted. At the cash, they had taped the floor with duct tape (6' apart - social distancing). I saw on the news that provinces and many cities have introduced mandatory legislation where people must stay (2 metres) 6' apart - at the risk of getting a $1,000 fine. The cashier was not allowed to put my supplies into the bag that I provided, I had to do that myself. Not many people around, less traffic on the streets.

I am avoiding public transport, and on my way home, I saw a bus stop, it had a sign on the front door and they only opened the back door. People just got on through the back door and, of course, didn't have to pay or have to show their pass. From what I understand, if someone has symptoms of covid-19, they are not allowed on public transport.

I feel much better and have a good smile on my face with that little walk. :)

The only thing I have to do now is take everything out of my buggy and wash everything, and throw out any wrapping paper, etc. :(

[JDeere]

Still working from home

Still doing what i have to do for the family

[C0LLETTE]

...and in Canada:

" The federal Department of Global Affairs is facing criticism after it shipped 16 tonnes of personal protective equipment to China to help Beijing fight the coronavirus last month. The government says the shipment was an effort to collaborate with China in the fight against COVID-19. "

[GeorgiaMa'am]

The U.S. is now the epicenter of the COVID-19 virus. It has overtaken China and Italy as the country with the most cases of COVID-19. This is per the Johns Hopkins COVID-19 web site.

I heard about this on the BBC World Service News.

[C0LLETTE]

Now I have to wonder why we didn't send all that stuff to the U.S.

[easygoingfemme]

I went on a grocery run for my parents yesterday. The store was scary. Lots of people silent shopping wearing face masks and lots of empty shelves. I could tell my parents haven't been to the store in a while because they list they wrote me still specified things like... this brand dish soap with this scent... those days are over.

I have to file some missing persons reports today for residents who have not checked in and are not answering their phones.

Work is like... an anxious calm now. We have a rainbow initiative in our area- everyone is encouraged to put rainbows in their windows to encourage positivity. I cut a thousand strips of construction paper yesterday to give to residents to make rainbow paper chains. Now we have rainbows hanging everywhere.

My mom is making face masks but now the world is out of the elastic for the ear cuffs on them. She is making one for every staff still working with me and every resident living with us so like... 150 face masks.

I mostly stay calm during the day. I'm busy at work and then stay busy at home but I wake up with my heart just pounding from all of the anxiety I absorb and produce during the day. It sneaks in during my sleep.

[Jedi]

We went out for groceries and meds yesterday. Not too many people shopping and everyone was polite and kept their distance. We even found some tp. Now the shelves were picked through pretty good. Pasta and mac & cheese were scarce but not non existent. Soaps and sanitizers are still empty. Cleaning wipes are empty. We are making do. I'm glad we have each other to be in lock down with as well. All I can really do in all this is hope for the best......but my gut is telling me that this is a while off.

[homoe]

Now I have to wonder why we didn't send all that stuff to the U.S.




Perhaps they tried but our delicate genius of a president declined!

[C0LLETTE]

Here's a good tip I've heard about:

Seems we touch our faces 20+ times a day without being aware and this contributes to risk of virus...

So: put a magic marker dot or X on the back of your hand ... you will prob see it every time your hands starts heading up to your face and then change course if you can.

[homoe]

During the White House's Thursday coronavirus task force briefing, President Trump boasted about a "terrific meeting" he had with state governors about coordinating a response to the outbreak. "We had a great meeting," Trump said. "It was no contention. I would say virtually none." But according to multiple reports, drama-free is not the apt summary of the conversation.It might have been more accurate to say the call at times veered into testy territory.

For instance, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee urged Trump to use his authority to mandate the production of medical supplies. The action is something the president can do under the Defense Production Act, a Korean War-era law that gives the president powers to force businesses to make goods when there is national demand. In response, Trump said the federal government serves as the "backup." That comment apparently set off Inslee."I don't want you to be the backup quarterback; we need you to be Tom Brady here," an angry Inslee shot back at Trump, referencing the football star and friend of the president, according to the Associated Press, which obtained a recording of the call.

Washington is among the states rushing to secure hospitals beds, masks, ventilators and other critical supplies as the number of those infected with the coronavirus starts to overwhelm hospitals.

During the White House briefing, Trump did obliquely reference his clash with Inslee, but downplayed it, saying: "Maybe one person was a little tiny bit of a raising of a voice, a little wise guy." On the Brady comparison, Trump said Inslee was not criticizing Trump's ability to quarterback a nation during a global pandemic. Instead, Trump heard the Brady comment as flattering. "Yeah, he meant that in a positive way. We need Tom Brady," Trump said. "We're gonna do great. He meant it very positively."

I have no doubts whatsoever he was criticizing not flattering!

[Buckaroo]

I would like to thank all the people who are keeping this country running. Obviously the healthcare workers but also all the food service people, grocery store workers, and the truckers who are driving down highways where rest areas are closed, restaurants are closed. Thanks to the people who are FOLLOWING the protocol to slow the spread of this virus. You are the ones saving lives!! This virus doesn't have legs, it can't walk, it only moves if you move it.

[~ocean]

I would like to thank all the people who are keeping this country running. Obviously the healthcare workers but also all the food service people, grocery store workers, and the truckers who are driving down highways where rest areas are closed, restaurants are closed. Thanks to the people who are FOLLOWING the protocol to slow the spread of this virus. You are the ones saving lives!! This virus doesn't have legs, it can't walk, it only moves if you move it.

(((((((((( bucky )))))))))) thank you for your courageous job in health care , at this very critical time ~ :)

[theoddz]

So, my sister calls me from the small town in Illinois where she lives, to tell me that the state of Illinois is willing to offer me 3-4 times my "usual" pay rate (about $150/hr) to come out of my retirement and work up there. :twitch:

If I were physically and medically able to, I would do it, but it'd be a literal death sentence for me, so.......no.

If I were possibly able, I'd do it for less money, and only because being a Respiratory Therapist is just a part of who I am, and I got into this profession out of a desire to help others and not profit from the misery/misfortune/suffering of others. To me, medicine and health care should be a right and not the providence of only those who are able to pay for it. I miss working in my profession and I miss the good people I worked with, over the 30 years I spent in it. I really enjoyed it. It wasn't always easy, by far, but I always felt that what I did mattered and that I was blessed with the opportunity to help others to live a better life.

Standing aside during this crisis has been harder for me than any of the "bad" days I ever had at work.

~Theo~ :bouquet:

[Kätzchen]

Just got home, and I filed my claim for unemployment (what a fiasco, the state phone number they tell you to call is out of order, it's blown to smithereens).

I guess it's just a matter of time now before I learn if they give me temporary unemployment or if I'm on my own financially. It worries me because technically I am furloughed, until we get news if we go back to work, which could be two months from now or maybe we won't go back to work until after summer, early fall. Not sure what will happen.

So far, I am safe.

While filing for unemployment online, I got a call from my dental office. Wow, they are sending someone by my house with a food box donation and other goodies I might need. I cried, because I didn't expect anything like that and I feel so fortunate to have an amazing dental office that cares about me. :bigcry:


I'm frazzled, tired, emotionally spent and weary. The past two weeks at work has been very trying, dealing with people as they try to figure out what they do next. Heck, I'm in that same proverbial boat. So much stress.

I'm just holding positive space in my life for good news for anybody and everybody and to include good news for me too.

That's all I got tonight. Sending safety wishes and recovery JuJu to all of us. :vigil: :vigil: :vigil: :bunchflowers: :bunchflowers: :bunchflowers:

[homoe]

President Donald Trump is considering an “enforceable quarantine” of New York and the surrounding areas as part of a short-term plan to combat the coronavirus. Trump told reporters at the White House on Saturday that he was considering implementing the measure in New York because of the extreme number of cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, in the state. He said surrounding states could be quarantined too.

“We’d like to see New York quarantined because it’s a hotspot — New York, New Jersey, maybe one or two other places, certain parts of Connecticut,” Trump told reporters outside the White House. “We might not have to do it but there’s a possibility that sometime today we’ll do a quarantine — short-term, two weeks for New York, probably New Jersey and parts of Connecticut,” he added.

The plan would restrict people in New York and other federally quarantined states from traveling to other parts of the country. “They’re having problems down in Florida. A lot of New Yorkers are going down. We don’t want that. Heavily infected,” Trump told reporters.

Trump clarified that the potential measures wouldn’t impact truckers or trade. “This does not apply to people such as truckers from outside the New York area who are making deliveries or simply transiting through,” he said. “It won’t affect trade in any way.” Shortly after he announced plans for the quarantine, Trump tweeted that a decision about whether to quarantine the region would be made shortly.

Why is Trump so worried about Florida when the Governor didn't seem to be all that concerned when allowing the "spring breakers" free access to roam around?

Oh right that's where Mar-a-Lago is!

[Kätzchen]

Today I went to do my weekly laundry and thank heavens, the owner has posted notices on all doors and is supervising and enforcing a 6 person limit in the washeteria (you can load up your laundry, but ya gotta leave and wait for it to finish, same with drying, no folding up laundry, you gotta take it home).

As I was leaving, the owner came by like she does frequently and I asked how my favorite butch worker was doing. Apparently she's not doing well. I have no idea if she was exposed to the virus, but the owner demonstrated genuine care and concern over her long-time worker's health.

I went shopping for groceries while my laundry was washing and when I got ready to go through the check out, I had to ask the person who wouldn't wait their turn to back up and give me room, per state law mandate (6 ft). I was gloved and masked, for my own safety, but that person was so effin inconsiderate. Everyone turned to give them the evil eye but it didn't faze them in the least. I repeated my request to back away from me, but they were still unfazed and kept encroaching upon my space. Luckily, I bought enough groceries to last a couple of months, so I won't have to go grocery shopping for a good long while.

I actually found a FedEx store open near me, and I got lots of 'proof' type documents printed off for a variety of reasons, anticipating that I'd need proof of being furloughed for unemployment purposes and other things like if I have to miss a rental payment if this economic crisis doesn't lead to being back on the job by early May. It was kind of spendy to get all that printed off, but it's better to be prepared than to not be able to go get things like this printed off in case of the ultimate social lockdown where you can't even go anywhere, period. So I'm prepared with documents and prepared with a new round of buying a supply of postage stamps.

I even stopped by my internet provider's office and made a last minute payment to bide time until the end of summer. So at least if we are forced into staying home at all costs, then I will have internet access.

I'm sad for my butch friend who works at the washeteria. So sad. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for her that she'll pull toward the safe side of health soon.

[FireSignFemme]

The number of confirmed cases in our area doubled overnight and I woke to news of another death. The health department has an alert notice letting visitors to the site know their updates won't be as timely, and might not even happen at all over the weekend.

Our mission had to cut the number of beds by just over half due to social distancing restrictions. Food hoarding is making it difficult to provide meals because much of the food the shelter receives is from grocery stores donating what they aren't able to sell, and there are problems finding to go containers to serve the meals because restaurants are purchasing more due to the increase in food sales.

Residents at the shelter are only being allowed to leave for work or doctor appointments. The mission has stopped using volunteers. Staff have been serving meals to people outside the building and having fewer people sit at each table during meals. Residents have stepped up to help with cooking and cleaning but food donations are dramatically down.

It pisses me off to hear Trump is saying states need to do more to help themselves. Easy for him to say when his net worth is around three billion dollars and still he felt a need to dabble in charity fraud. But hey cheer up everybody - The Trump children had to undergo compulsory training to ensure this type of illegal activity never takes place again!

Yeah that ought to teach them.

[~ocean]

Today I went to do my weekly laundry and thank heavens, the owner has posted notices on all doors and is supervising and enforcing a 6 person limit in the washeteria (you can load up your laundry, but ya gotta leave and wait for it to finish, same with drying, no folding up laundry, you gotta take it home).

As I was leaving, the owner came by like she does frequently and I asked how my favorite butch worker was doing. Apparently she's not doing well. I have no idea if she was exposed to the virus, but the owner demonstrated genuine care and concern over her long-time worker's health.

I went shopping for groceries while my laundry was washing and when I got ready to go through the check out, I had to ask the person who wouldn't wait their turn to back up and give me room, per state law mandate (6 ft). I was gloved and masked, for my own safety, but that person was so effin inconsiderate. Everyone turned to give them the evil eye but it didn't faze them in the least. I repeated my request to back away from me, but they were still unfazed and kept encroaching upon my space. Luckily, I bought enough groceries to last a couple of months, so I won't have to go grocery shopping for a good long while.

I actually found a FedEx store open near me, and I got lots of 'proof' type documents printed off for a variety of reasons, anticipating that I'd need proof of being furloughed for unemployment purposes and other things like if I have to miss a rental payment if this economic crisis doesn't lead to being back on the job by early May. It was kind of spendy to get all that printed off, but it's better to be prepared than to not be able to go get things like this printed off in case of the ultimate social lockdown where you can't even go anywhere, period. So I'm prepared with documents and prepared with a new round of buying a supply of postage stamps.

I even stopped by my internet provider's office and made a last minute payment to bide time until the end of summer. So at least if we are forced into staying home at all costs, then I will have internet access.

I'm sad for my butch friend who works at the washeteria. So sad. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for her that she'll pull toward the safe side of health soon.

awww Ketzchen (((((( your friend )))))) God Bless her ~ so many people are being arrogant about the virus.

[~ocean]

I had a Corona break down today ~ I hid in my room and cried my eyes out over a baby infant that had recently died ~ I had heard it on the news passing threw the kitchen ~ the feeling of helplessness and despair overwhelmed me. Normally I'm a pretty strong and hopefully logical person ~ but today logic turned into anger at the Lord ( that I am ashamed to admit ) what test of faith constitutes death ? this virus is ruining doctors forever ~ having to make a decision of someone else's time of demise ~ their soul is exposed ~ so vulnerable I just want to hold them. ((((((( the whole dam world )))))))

[A. Spectre]

My bride and I just returned from The Virgin Islands on a belated honeymoon late last night, I would like to share my experiences concerning the virus with you.

First, I really did not believe AA would actually fly there, kept checking my messages from Expedia or AA prior to departure. So, we get to O'hare the per usual 3 hours in advance to be poked, prodded by the surly TSA (who did NOT want to be there, who could blame them?) Kept checking the flight departure board to see if it was cancelled, but no, we were a go.

The plane holds over 150 passengers, there were 8 of us on board (including the crew!) It was wonderful and ghostly all at the same time.

The Virgin Islands only had 2 confirmed cases of this virus and all of us were doing normal things like dining out, boat rides with others for the first 2 days. THEN, the stay in place order came about. Since the tourist trade is 90% of the islands GDP, naturally ALL the shop keepers were alarmed. NO more dining in, NO more shopping anywhere except 1 grocery store (only 3 allowed at a time.)

One shop keeper told us on Thursday, the Governor has ordered a 30 day no visitors to the island. People were scrambling to go back home, a mad house of sorts. Our return flight was cancelled, rescheduled 3 times. We were redirected to Miami which was a bummer because Florida is turning into such a hot spot. I noticed over 95%of all of AA's flights were cancelled. It was eerie being at an international airport with only a handful of people. Nothing was open, the flight attendants were pissed off (who could blame them?)

The flight was 45 minutes early due to no waiting to taxi, no waiting for other planes to land or take off. Anyone remember the airport scene in The Langoliers? I would not have been too disappointed to wait out the curve of the virus in St. Thomas, but we are happy to be at home with our pooches.

[FireSignFemme]

Wow I got a letter from management letting us know the front office is now closed and how to handle rent payments for those who usually pay in person. At the end it says -

We understand this pandemic has potentially impacted you financially and as our valued resident we wanted to alleviate some of the financial burdens you may be experiencing. As a way of showing our gratitude and appreciation, we are offering the following incentive: During the months of April and May, we will deduct $50 from your rent if you pay your rent in full on or before 9am on the 4th of each month. We understand your home is critically important to you during this time of uncertainty and hope this incentive allows you to feel a little more comfortable in that home. We are in this together and together we will get through this! Sincerely the team at …

It's good news but at the same time it isn't. Anytime there's a bit of financial reprieve that's a happy thing, but knowing the economy is getting bad enough they're fearing they might lose tenants so are are throwing money our way, as an incentive to get us to stay and cough up the rent in a timely fashion, well that isn't very comforting, any kind of reassuring at all.

[Stone-Butch]

ocean, you are one of the most thoughtful, loving and caring women I know. No matter what you might be going through personally I am sure you always find time for others. I think the whole world if they knew you would like to ((((hug)))))))))) you too. This world is a better place because of people like you in it. Bless you Ms ocean and know you are thought about with respect and admiration.

[C0LLETTE]

ocean, you are one of the most thoughtful, loving and caring women I know. No matter what you might be going through personally I am sure you always find time for others. I think the whole world if they knew you would like to ((((hug)))))))))) you too. This world is a better place because of people like you in it. Bless you Ms ocean and know you are thought about with respect and admiration.

DITTO.......

[homoe]

President Donald Trump is considering an “enforceable quarantine” of New York and the surrounding areas as part of a short-term plan to combat the coronavirus. Trump told reporters at the White House on Saturday that he was considering implementing the measure in New York because of the extreme number of cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, in the state. He said surrounding states could be quarantined too.

“We’d like to see New York quarantined because it’s a hotspot — New York, New Jersey, maybe one or two other places, certain parts of Connecticut,” Trump told reporters outside the White House. “We might not have to do it but there’s a possibility that sometime today we’ll do a quarantine — short-term, two weeks for New York, probably New Jersey and parts of Connecticut,” he added.

The plan would restrict people in New York and other federally quarantined states from traveling to other parts of the country. “They’re having problems down in Florida. A lot of New Yorkers are going down. We don’t want that. Heavily infected,” Trump told reporters.

Trump clarified that the potential measures wouldn’t impact truckers or trade. “This does not apply to people such as truckers from outside the New York area who are making deliveries or simply transiting through,” he said. “It won’t affect trade in any way.” Shortly after he announced plans for the quarantine, Trump tweeted that a decision about whether to quarantine the region would be made shortly.

Why is Trump so worried about Florida when the Governor didn't seem to be all that concerned when allowing the "spring breakers" free access to roam around?

Oh right that's where Mar-a-Lago is!

UPDATE:

Donald Trump announced today (March 28) that he was “giving consideration” to quarantining New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut—or perhaps just parts of those states—in response to the continuing spread of the coronavirus. Tonight he backed off the threat, saying instead he would issue a strong travel advisory that the governors of the three states should implement.

[Buckaroo]

Now I have to wonder why we didn't send all that stuff to the U.S.

trump probably in his divine wisdom turned it down.

[homoe]

wfGUpS5s7yA





Talk about something perfect, this is perfect!

Trump Campaign Threatens Legal Action Of this Coronavirus Ad

No update if he's taken any legal action but how he thinks he could win any lawsuit over this is beyond me!

[~ocean]

ocean, you are one of the most thoughtful, loving and caring women I know. No matter what you might be going through personally I am sure you always find time for others. I think the whole world if they knew you would like to ((((hug)))))))))) you too. This world is a better place because of people like you in it. Bless you Ms ocean and know you are thought about with respect and admiration.

I feel your hug ~ ahh stone you always seem to know what I am going threw :) thank you ~

[~ocean]

((((((( everyone )))))))) here on the planet :) I received a lot of feedback on the post from 3/29 ~ it's refreshing to know how many of us are cut from the same cloth of love and faith ~ we will get threw this and when our lives are back in our hands ~ and not in the lost world of despair ~ we have "each other " to thank ~ we are the source of strength and unity ~ I'm not ignoring my faith ~ but the scientist's and doctors , nurses, healthcare , are our savior's :) many of the people in our community's that are volunteer's , mayor's and governor's ~ and friends whether silent or local. Thank you again for the heartfelt responses we all feel :) ~

[JDeere]

I no longer have faith nor do I believe anyone anymore.

Noone is trustworthy and this virus has brought out the truth on how people and things really are.

Politics and religion are a farce, things you were taught to believe because it's what you were told.

Wake up people, we aren't gonna be alive much longer, so stop believing in fake things and fake people.

[C0LLETTE]

I no longer have faith nor do I believe anyone anymore.

Noone is trustworthy and this virus has brought out the truth on how people and things really are.

Politics and religion are a farce, things you were taught to believe because it's what you were told.

Wake up people, we aren't gonna be alive much longer, so stop believing in fake things and fake people.

WAKE UP AND DO WHAT?

[~ocean]

North Korea is sending up short ranged missiels a lot since the virus outbreak ~ yet claims he has no cases ~ then u read he's secretly asking for supply's ~ I smell a RAT ~ and it's not Ratatouille :)

[~ocean]

I no longer have faith nor do I believe anyone anymore.

Noone is trustworthy and this virus has brought out the truth on how people and things really are.

Politics and religion are a farce, things you were taught to believe because it's what you were told.

Wake up people, we aren't gonna be alive much longer, so stop believing in fake things and fake people.

(((( JD ))))) just cause

[Stone-Butch]

It was just on the news that Drs doing research don't think there is going to be any kind of drop from the Virus before the end of April. Well if cabin fever has got you, best you get some antidepressants.

[GeorgiaMa'am]

Well if cabin fever has got you, best you get some antidepressants.

I'm on antidepressants and I don't think they're working as well as they used to.

[C0LLETTE]

Ventilators...

Arthur McDonald, a Queen’s University professor who shared the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physics, is leading an effort by Canadian scientists at two national laboratories to produce a stripped-down, easy-to-manufacture hospital ventilator in time to meet an urgent demand for the machines because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Researchers at the TRIUMF particle accelerator in Vancouver and the Canadian Nuclear Laboratories at Chalk River, Ont., are now aiming to complete two working prototypes of their ventilator, one at each location, over the coming week.

“We feel that every country is going to have to have its own made-in-country solution for ventilators," said Dr. McDonald, who is best known for his experimental work involving neutrinos, elusive particles produced in the core of the sun. “The idea is that the capability is here in the particle physics community. We’re just trying to exploit it.”

How well Canada comes through the COVID-19 pandemic will depend crucially on its supply of ventilators, the complex medical devices that are used to keep patients’ lungs supplied with oxygen when they are unable to breathe on their own.

Dr. McDonald said he became aware of a potential solution when approached by colleagues working with DarkSide, an international physics project based in Italy whose goal is to snare particles of dark matter. The experiment uses argon as its detection medium and its design requires electronic controllers that can precisely regulate gas flow – a capability that is also required of hospital ventilators.

Prompted by the escalating state of the pandemic in Italy, where it has already claimed more than 10,000 lives, Italian researchers on the experiment designed a ventilator last week that is optimized for mass production with inexpensive off-the-shelf parts. The device requires a source of compressed oxygen and electrical power to operate but little else. Unlike conventional ventilators, it has few mechanical parts. Controls and monitoring are contained within an electronics unit that can be accessed via WiFi.

“We need something simple that can be produced at the rate of thousands of units per day," said Cristiano Galbiati, a Princeton University professor who is currently in Milan leading the Italian design.

A prototype is now undergoing a battery of tests in Italy to assess how well it can maintain a patient’s breathing. Dr. Galbiati added that plans for the device will be available to anyone in the world who wants to build one.

“The only thing that is important, if the machine works, is to have it replicated as fast as possible,” he said.

Support Scientific Research not Churches. Your odds of a healthy outcome are way better.

[GeorgiaMa'am]

I was listening to the BBC World News this weekend, and they had on a show where they interviewed people from around the world about what it was like with COVID-19 in their part of the world. Amazingly, they had a woman on from my hometown in rural Georgia! And what she described reminded me exactly what that town is like and why I left.

No one is following the restrictions. There is a general attitude of "this is a free country and you can't tell me what to do." They think the whole thing is a hoax made up by the media. They don't understand how it spreads and they don't trust science or education. They all went to church on Sunday (except the Unitarian Universalists, of which this interviewee was one.) They all go wherever they want.

The BBC interviewer sounded shocked. She asked, "Have you tried explaining it to anyone?" The woman replied that it was very, very hard, and she was just trying to do the best she could.

Even our governor, when asked why he didn't order a shelter-in-place for the whole state, and not just the metro Atlanta area, said he "looked around" and saw that nobody else was following the recommendations. (Well, idiot, that's your job to make something stronger than a "recommendation".) (We all know that's got to do with re-election, don't we? Tell the people what they want to hear.)

[theoddz]

Ventilators...

Arthur McDonald, a Queen’s University professor who shared the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physics, is leading an effort by Canadian scientists at two national laboratories to produce a stripped-down, easy-to-manufacture hospital ventilator in time to meet an urgent demand for the machines because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Researchers at the TRIUMF particle accelerator in Vancouver and the Canadian Nuclear Laboratories at Chalk River, Ont., are now aiming to complete two working prototypes of their ventilator, one at each location, over the coming week.

“We feel that every country is going to have to have its own made-in-country solution for ventilators," said Dr. McDonald, who is best known for his experimental work involving neutrinos, elusive particles produced in the core of the sun. “The idea is that the capability is here in the particle physics community. We’re just trying to exploit it.”

How well Canada comes through the COVID-19 pandemic will depend crucially on its supply of ventilators, the complex medical devices that are used to keep patients’ lungs supplied with oxygen when they are unable to breathe on their own.

Dr. McDonald said he became aware of a potential solution when approached by colleagues working with DarkSide, an international physics project based in Italy whose goal is to snare particles of dark matter. The experiment uses argon as its detection medium and its design requires electronic controllers that can precisely regulate gas flow – a capability that is also required of hospital ventilators.

Prompted by the escalating state of the pandemic in Italy, where it has already claimed more than 10,000 lives, Italian researchers on the experiment designed a ventilator last week that is optimized for mass production with inexpensive off-the-shelf parts. The device requires a source of compressed oxygen and electrical power to operate but little else. Unlike conventional ventilators, it has few mechanical parts. Controls and monitoring are contained within an electronics unit that can be accessed via WiFi.

“We need something simple that can be produced at the rate of thousands of units per day," said Cristiano Galbiati, a Princeton University professor who is currently in Milan leading the Italian design.

A prototype is now undergoing a battery of tests in Italy to assess how well it can maintain a patient’s breathing. Dr. Galbiati added that plans for the device will be available to anyone in the world who wants to build one.

“The only thing that is important, if the machine works, is to have it replicated as fast as possible,” he said.

Support Scientific Research not Churches. Your odds of a healthy outcome are way better.

https://museum.aarc.org/galleries/early-icu-ventilators/ (http://museum.aarc.org/galleries/early-icu-ventilators/)

I have to post this link here, for those who are interested in ventilators, what they are and some history into how they have evolved. You see, this is what gives me a lot of hope. The principles of mechanical ventilation are the same today as they were back in the 1950's, as my profession was evolving. These days, modern vents are driven by computer modules and OS's (Operating Systems/Interfaces), but it wasn't always so. A return to these essential basics is what we can turn back to, in a pinch. We can always put something together that will accomplish the goal.....moving a gas/air mixture in and out of the lungs. This can be done in a very basic sense, with some very simple off-the-shelf materials. It doesn't really need to be all that complex. It just needs to work.

Back when I was in college, a medical center I worked at (Maine Medical Center, in Portland, ME) was still using the old Emerson mechanical ventilators from the 1950's in post-op cardio-thoracic patients. Those vents had no software programming to assist in making calculations for patient settings. We RT's did it with pens, paper and pocket calculators. :nerd:

I used to always tell my RT students, in the clinic, to NOT become "knob turners and button pushers". They needed to learn to: 1. Know what they were doing, 2. Why they were doing it, 2. How to do it, and 3. What to do to fix it when things went wrong. Expect the unexpected and know how to fix it. This crisis, right now, is why I taught them what I did. One must always be prepared to return to the basics. :winky:

~Theo~ :bouquet:

[C0LLETTE]

Thank you for this, theoddz. Truly, thank you.

I found it so very interesting to read and so strangely "current". So many of those images from 100 years ago could have been taken yesterday in our hospitals.

One thing that struck me was the ad for quinine...and that sent me down a most interesting rabbit hole.

Hill's Cascara Quinine
This January 1919 newspaper ad stated that "Spanish influenza can be prevented easier than cured." The ad promoted Hill's Cascara Quinine Compound which apparently treated "the common cold and headaches due to constipation."

Quinine water...tonic water...gin and tonic for Brits in malaria infested colonies:

"chloroquine was developed from quinine, an alkaloid found in the bark of the cinchona tree, which grows in the tropical highlands of South America. The Incas passed the bark cure to Jesuit priests, who transported it to Europe in the mid-sixteen-hundreds. The National Institutes of Health calls quinine “the most serendipitous medical discovery of the 17th century,” but its side effects—diarrhea, vomiting, partial deafness and blindness—could be devastating. A less toxic derivative of chloroquine, hydroxychloroquine, was developed in the nineteen-forties. Doctors and pharmacists call it HCQ."

One link to another, it all makes very interesting reading if you're so inclined.

[~ocean]

ODZZ you always know stuff ~ I love your posts !!

[C0LLETTE]

Would someone please explain to me who are all those strange new nics that appear on the list as being present but whose profiles I am not permitted to see...and all those nics whose info etc consists of nothing but a string of meaningless consonants.

Is there something here that everyone but me knows?

[homoe]

JxG241bExqY

[Orema]

FOR THOSE WHO SEW ...

Just downloaded a PDF pattern from here (https://static01.nyt.com/newsgraphics/2020/03/30/opinion-manjoo-mask/f3c16df99a3975b88b918dc766792f4388e63ba6/facemask.pdf) and will make a few face masks with some remnants and scraps of material I have. More patterns are found at the FreeSewing.org (https://freesewing.org) website.

VcQ69_ANsRA


FOR THOSE WHO DO NOT SEW ...

___________________
Make a mask with paper towels
ilplwuvpIGw
___________________
Make a mask with an old T-Shirt
pJaVBt8q6g8&t

[Kätzchen]

I'm listening to the live broadcast of this morning's covid-19 update from NY-Gov Cuomo. Apparently he can't even get ventilator's due to the circus-effect created by the current WH occupants. So incredibly alarming and sad. And I guess his brother Chris Cuomo (CNN) has been exposed and possibly their mother. Very concerning and increasingly alarming, as each day goes by.

I think Gov Cuomo is shouldering this crisis like a decorated Field Marshall.

It's an understatement to say this is heartbreaking, but it that and more.

Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall once said, and I quote:

"The measure of a country's greatness is its ability to retain compassion during a time of crisis," ~ Thurgood Marshall.

I believe that NY-State's Governor Andrew Cuomo is the example Thurgood Marshall is referencing.

Conversely, it's definitely not the person sitting in the WH.

Governor Cuomo is the exemplary example of the leadership people need during times of crisis. It gives me reason to believe that under his exemplary leadership that other state-wide leaders will model his leadership and help steer our country to safety.

Sending positive thoughts and good JuJu to every reader and member in our community. :rrose:

[PlatinumPearl]

FOR THOSE WHO SEW ...

Just downloaded a PDF pattern from here (https://static01.nyt.com/newsgraphics/2020/03/30/opinion-manjoo-mask/f3c16df99a3975b88b918dc766792f4388e63ba6/facemask.pdf) and will make a few face masks with some remnants and scraps of material I have. More patterns are found at the FreeSewing.org (https://freesewing.org) website.

VcQ69_ANsRA


FOR THOSE WHO DO NOT SEW ...

___________________
Make a mask with paper towels
ilplwuvpIGw
___________________
Make a mask with an old T-Shirt
pJaVBt8q6g8&t



Thank you for sharing this with us!!

I like the t-shirt idea I'm going to create a few for my next grocery shopping outing.

[Orema]

Thank you for sharing this with us!!

I like the t-shirt idea I'm going to create a few for my next grocery shopping outing.

My pleasure, PlatinumPearl.

WHO and CDC are reexamining their guidelines on wearing masks. Also, Dr. Scott Gottlieb, the former commissioner of the FDA, said in an interview on Sunday that the C.D.C. should put out designs for cloth masks for the public. “The value of the mask isn’t necessarily to protect you from getting sick, although it may offer some protection,” he told CBS News. “It’s to protect you from other people. So when someone who’s infected is wearing a mask, they’re much less likely to transmit infection.” (https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/31/health/cdc-masks-coronavirus.html)

Whatever is decided, I don't think it's harmful for the average person (i.e., not a healthcare provider) wearing a mask. And the more masks we make at home, the less we take from the people working on the frontlines.

[homoe]

~~
Not surprising, that those with power & money get to skirt the rules even during a pandemic!

[homoe]

I no longer have faith nor do I believe anyone anymore.

Noone is trustworthy and this virus has brought out the truth on how people and things really are.

Politics and religion are a farce, things you were taught to believe because it's what you were told.

Wake up people, we aren't gonna be alive much longer, so stop believing in fake things and fake people.

I must admit when I first read this, I thought it was pretty pessimistic! After reading several articles lately about price gouging, ministers defying social distancing, etc etc I believe I'm in the same space as JD, well except for the "not gonna be alive much longer"! I don't plan on going anytime soon!

[theoddz]

Dear Wife and I live in central Texas, in an area that is about an hour an and half from any of the sizeable metropolitan cities in Texas. We're not really what you'd call "rural", but we have decent shopping, meaning no Costco nearby, but a couple of Sam's Clubs and the usual chain and Texas grocery stores, like HEB, Aldi's and such. I'm not sure what the population is in this area, but I'm certain that it's much smaller than anywhere else, except Maine and Iowa, that I have ever lived in my life. It's okay. I'm getting used to it!!! LOL

So yesterday, Dear Wife and I had to get out to Jackson Hewitt to sign and file our federal income tax return. The branch where we were going is located right inside the door of a local WalMart supercenter. Now, I have to say that I have not gotten out of the house in the last 2 weeks, except to get the mail at the mailbox cluster in our neighborhood. Dear Wife has made one or two trips to the grocery store to do curbside pickups for our groceries. What I saw on our local roads and in the parking lot of that WalMart supercenter literally floored me!!! It's like frippin' CHRISTMAS at WalMart and on the roads!!!! I mean CROWDS!!! We circled the parking lot and front door area of that WalMart and there were people flooding in and out with their shopping buggies, families, including small children and BABIES!! One guy had a McDonald's fast food bag in his hand, eating hand to mouth!!! No one was wearing a mask, or gloves or practicing social distancing!!! Here we were, she and I, with our industrial sized bottle of hand sanitizer, our boxes of nitrile gloves and our Lysol spray, being so careful to watch everything we touched, and then clean it right away, and these fools were just out there like it was Christmas!! Dear Wife nearly went into a full fledged panic attack and I had to calm her down and assure her that we were NOT NOT NOT going "in there" or anywhere near those dumbass people. I didn't care if our tax returns took until perdition to be signed and filed.

All I could think was........we're fucked. This is exactly how this disease is going to spread and, eventually, consume this nation, I'm sure. Why and how people can possibly be this stupid is just beyond the beyonds to me.

When our nation entered the War on Terrorism, back in the early 2000's (2003), my Pop, who was part of the Greatest Generation, and who lived through both the Great Depression and the bombing of Pearl Harbor, made a very profound observation. He said that he couldn't believe the way that this country, the USA, was acting, and that to a casual observer, it was impossible to tell that we were a "nation at war". He said that there was absolutely no evidence that the average American citizen was "sacrificing" anything.....except the military communities. We are, apparently, now a nation of people who, by and large, refuse to make any kind of sacrifice for our common good, even when it involves our very lives. We won't be inconvenienced, go out of our way or think of anyone but ourselves and our own wants, desires and goals. If it's not in our direct "bubble", it doesn't affect us and does not warrant any direct regard or action on our part. So much for "pulling together", which I'm not so sure that this country remembers how to do.

This is dangerous, folks. I think we're fucked, if this keeps up.

I hope I'm wrong, but I don't think so.

~Theo~ :bouquet:

[GeorgiaMa'am]

Dear Wife and I live in central Texas, in an area that is about an hour an and half from any of the sizeable metropolitan cities in Texas. We're not really what you'd call "rural", but we have decent shopping, meaning no Costco nearby, but a couple of Sam's Clubs and the usual chain and Texas grocery stores, like HEB, Aldi's and such. I'm not sure what the population is in this area, but I'm certain that it's much smaller than anywhere else, except Maine and Iowa, that I have ever lived in my life. It's okay. I'm getting used to it!!! LOL

So yesterday, Dear Wife and I had to get out to Jackson Hewitt to sign and file our federal income tax return. The branch where we were going is located right inside the door of a local WalMart supercenter. Now, I have to say that I have not gotten out of the house in the last 2 weeks, except to get the mail at the mailbox cluster in our neighborhood. Dear Wife has made one or two trips to the grocery store to do curbside pickups for our groceries. What I saw on our local roads and in the parking lot of that WalMart supercenter literally floored me!!! It's like frippin' CHRISTMAS at WalMart and on the roads!!!! I mean CROWDS!!! We circled the parking lot and front door area of that WalMart and there were people flooding in and out with their shopping buggies, families, including small children and BABIES!! One guy had a McDonald's fast food bag in his hand, eating hand to mouth!!! No one was wearing a mask, or gloves or practicing social distancing!!! Here we were, she and I, with our industrial sized bottle of hand sanitizer, our boxes of nitrile gloves and our Lysol spray, being so careful to watch everything we touched, and then clean it right away, and these fools were just out there like it was Christmas!! Dear Wife nearly went into a full fledged panic attack and I had to calm her down and assure her that we were NOT NOT NOT going "in there" or anywhere near those dumbass people. I didn't care if our tax returns took until perdition to be signed and filed.

All I could think was........we're fucked. This is exactly how this disease is going to spread and, eventually, consume this nation, I'm sure. Why and how people can possibly be this stupid is just beyond the beyonds to me.

When our nation entered the War on Terrorism, back in the early 2000's (2003), my Pop, who was part of the Greatest Generation, and who lived through both the Great Depression and the bombing of Pearl Harbor, made a very profound observation. He said that he couldn't believe the way that this country, the USA, was acting, and that to a casual observer, it was impossible to tell that we were a "nation at war". He said that there was absolutely no evidence that the average American citizen was "sacrificing" anything.....except the military communities. We are, apparently, now a nation of people who, by and large, refuse to make any kind of sacrifice for our common good, even when it involves our very lives. We won't be inconvenienced, go out of our way or think of anyone but ourselves and our own wants, desires and goals. If it's not in our direct "bubble", it doesn't affect us and does not warrant any direct regard or action on our part. So much for "pulling together", which I'm not so sure that this country remembers how to do.

This is dangerous, folks. I think we're fucked, if this keeps up.

I hope I'm wrong, but I don't think so.

~Theo~ :bouquet:

I think you're right, we're fucked. This is how 100,000-200,000 Americans are going to die. Many others will show symptoms and be sick. And many others, who are a big part of the problem, will be asymptomatic carriers.

I live in a fairly urban area where people are _mostly_ sticking to the guidelines - not all, for sure. But in the rural area where my sister and mom live, there's such an entitled attitude of "America's a free country, you can't tell me what to do!" When did we stop teaching kids that with great freedom comes great responsibility?

I don't know what to do about it except try not to panic too much, and keep washing my hands and using sanitizer.

[charley]

Dear Wife and I live in central Texas, in an area that is about an hour an and half from any of the sizeable metropolitan cities in Texas. We're not really what you'd call "rural", but we have decent shopping, meaning no Costco nearby, but a couple of Sam's Clubs and the usual chain and Texas grocery stores, like HEB, Aldi's and such. I'm not sure what the population is in this area, but I'm certain that it's much smaller than anywhere else, except Maine and Iowa, that I have ever lived in my life. It's okay. I'm getting used to it!!! LOL

So yesterday, Dear Wife and I had to get out to Jackson Hewitt to sign and file our federal income tax return. The branch where we were going is located right inside the door of a local WalMart supercenter. Now, I have to say that I have not gotten out of the house in the last 2 weeks, except to get the mail at the mailbox cluster in our neighborhood. Dear Wife has made one or two trips to the grocery store to do curbside pickups for our groceries. What I saw on our local roads and in the parking lot of that WalMart supercenter literally floored me!!! It's like frippin' CHRISTMAS at WalMart and on the roads!!!! I mean CROWDS!!! We circled the parking lot and front door area of that WalMart and there were people flooding in and out with their shopping buggies, families, including small children and BABIES!! One guy had a McDonald's fast food bag in his hand, eating hand to mouth!!! No one was wearing a mask, or gloves or practicing social distancing!!! Here we were, she and I, with our industrial sized bottle of hand sanitizer, our boxes of nitrile gloves and our Lysol spray, being so careful to watch everything we touched, and then clean it right away, and these fools were just out there like it was Christmas!! Dear Wife nearly went into a full fledged panic attack and I had to calm her down and assure her that we were NOT NOT NOT going "in there" or anywhere near those dumbass people. I didn't care if our tax returns took until perdition to be signed and filed.

All I could think was........we're fucked. This is exactly how this disease is going to spread and, eventually, consume this nation, I'm sure. Why and how people can possibly be this stupid is just beyond the beyonds to me.

When our nation entered the War on Terrorism, back in the early 2000's (2003), my Pop, who was part of the Greatest Generation, and who lived through both the Great Depression and the bombing of Pearl Harbor, made a very profound observation. He said that he couldn't believe the way that this country, the USA, was acting, and that to a casual observer, it was impossible to tell that we were a "nation at war". He said that there was absolutely no evidence that the average American citizen was "sacrificing" anything.....except the military communities. We are, apparently, now a nation of people who, by and large, refuse to make any kind of sacrifice for our common good, even when it involves our very lives. We won't be inconvenienced, go out of our way or think of anyone but ourselves and our own wants, desires and goals. If it's not in our direct "bubble", it doesn't affect us and does not warrant any direct regard or action on our part. So much for "pulling together", which I'm not so sure that this country remembers how to do.

This is dangerous, folks. I think we're fucked, if this keeps up.

I hope I'm wrong, but I don't think so.

~Theo~ :bouquet:

How true - this = on a smaller level (we have less population) = has happened here in Canada as well. Premiers here have gotten angry with their citizens in their news TV briefs about how people are ignoring stay-at-home (at the time) requests), but now have had to institute orders (backed up by criminal fines/penalties).

For example, even though people knew about the pandemic, 99 of the 135 people who had been diagnosed with COVID-19 in St. John's, Newfoundland contracted COVID-19 out of attending wakes at Caul’s Funeral Home, March 15-17.

Unfortunately, this has all turned quite ugly, because:

"The fallout for family and friends who attended the wakes and funerals, including the more than 150 who reportedly packed into a chapel at Caul’s to say goodbye to Ms. Fleming, has been swift and, at times, ugly. They say they’re getting death threats, online harassment and have become scapegoats in a province where little more than two weeks ago there were no cases of COVID-19."

[easygoingfemme]

Dear Wife and I live in central Texas, in an area that is about an hour an and half from any of the sizeable metropolitan cities in Texas. We're not really what you'd call "rural", but we have decent shopping, meaning no Costco nearby, but a couple of Sam's Clubs and the usual chain and Texas grocery stores, like HEB, Aldi's and such. I'm not sure what the population is in this area, but I'm certain that it's much smaller than anywhere else, except Maine and Iowa, that I have ever lived in my life. It's okay. I'm getting used to it!!! LOL

So yesterday, Dear Wife and I had to get out to Jackson Hewitt to sign and file our federal income tax return. The branch where we were going is located right inside the door of a local WalMart supercenter. Now, I have to say that I have not gotten out of the house in the last 2 weeks, except to get the mail at the mailbox cluster in our neighborhood. Dear Wife has made one or two trips to the grocery store to do curbside pickups for our groceries. What I saw on our local roads and in the parking lot of that WalMart supercenter literally floored me!!! It's like frippin' CHRISTMAS at WalMart and on the roads!!!! I mean CROWDS!!! We circled the parking lot and front door area of that WalMart and there were people flooding in and out with their shopping buggies, families, including small children and BABIES!! One guy had a McDonald's fast food bag in his hand, eating hand to mouth!!! No one was wearing a mask, or gloves or practicing social distancing!!! Here we were, she and I, with our industrial sized bottle of hand sanitizer, our boxes of nitrile gloves and our Lysol spray, being so careful to watch everything we touched, and then clean it right away, and these fools were just out there like it was Christmas!! Dear Wife nearly went into a full fledged panic attack and I had to calm her down and assure her that we were NOT NOT NOT going "in there" or anywhere near those dumbass people. I didn't care if our tax returns took until perdition to be signed and filed.

All I could think was........we're fucked. This is exactly how this disease is going to spread and, eventually, consume this nation, I'm sure. Why and how people can possibly be this stupid is just beyond the beyonds to me.

When our nation entered the War on Terrorism, back in the early 2000's (2003), my Pop, who was part of the Greatest Generation, and who lived through both the Great Depression and the bombing of Pearl Harbor, made a very profound observation. He said that he couldn't believe the way that this country, the USA, was acting, and that to a casual observer, it was impossible to tell that we were a "nation at war". He said that there was absolutely no evidence that the average American citizen was "sacrificing" anything.....except the military communities. We are, apparently, now a nation of people who, by and large, refuse to make any kind of sacrifice for our common good, even when it involves our very lives. We won't be inconvenienced, go out of our way or think of anyone but ourselves and our own wants, desires and goals. If it's not in our direct "bubble", it doesn't affect us and does not warrant any direct regard or action on our part. So much for "pulling together", which I'm not so sure that this country remembers how to do.

This is dangerous, folks. I think we're fucked, if this keeps up.

I hope I'm wrong, but I don't think so.

~Theo~ :bouquet:


That is unbelievable. I mean, obviously I believe you, but how can so many people be so stupid.

I've noticed here the past few days that there has been more traffic on the roads than there was last week. I do still need to go to work 5-6 days/week so I'm out for that/grocery shopping for us and my parents. But at least in the market now people seem to be respecting the 6' rule.

My mom is making hundreds of masks. She made them for every staff still reporting to work and every woman who lives in our housing program and when she's done with that she's going to start making them for the homeless shelter a couple miles away.

I finally got someone to stand in for me today so I could work from home for a day. It's such a relief to check out a bit. The stress is pulsing in the air the longer this goes on. Residents are cooped up. They live in little tiny rooms with just a bed and a closet. They are bickering and staff is getting more and more stressed and some are getting stabby with their words. I had to halt a co-worker who was mean girl talking to me on Monday. Absolutely no tolerance for that.

Hope everyone is staying healthy~

[GeorgiaMa'am]

Premiers here have gotten angry with their citizens in their news TV briefs about how people are ignoring stay-at-home (at the time) requests), but now have had to institute orders (backed up by criminal fines/penalties).

. . .

They say they’re getting death threats, online harassment and have become scapegoats in a province where little more than two weeks ago there were no cases of COVID-19."

And they're surprised now that they've got COVID-19. I really think the general public is not getting the message that they can carry the disease even if they don't show symptoms of being sick. My sister's family is supposedly sheltering in place and doing all the right things, _except_ my niece and her fiancé went to visit his grandmother the other day. I don't think he would risk his grandmother's life on purpose, I think he just doesn't get it.

I also think a large proportion of the population is purposely ignoring the directives, because (1) an attitude of entitlement ('you can't tell me what to do!') (2) they don't believe there's really a crisis and that the whole thing is a hoax made up by the media.

More information needs to get out to the public from _doctors_ and _health professionals_, not just from politicians, and not just "wash your hands and stay home." It won't solve the problem, but it might make it better.

[Kätzchen]

I think the Asymptomatic piece is critical to absorb and fully wrap ones proverbial arms around, and here's how I took action for myself, over the past two years before the Covid-19 crisis erupted across the globe.

Three years ago, after nearly dying in a work related accident which left me in critical health status, which I'm still climbing out from, I needed something to keep me busy at home, while being home bound. So I joined, for a few rounds, in our community arts & crafting group, and one of the really good ideas nursing professionals gave to me (including my mother, who sat in our nursing consults) was that to protect my health and the health of others, was to painstakingly use gloves and find a way to seal all my crafting projects that I would send to the Craft Round Wrangler.

I got a lot of feedback about why I taped up and sealed all my projects, but that is the measure of safety I had to take and still take, to not only protect my own health but the health of others.

There are critical transmission contact points we rarely even think about, in our day to day activities. Surfaces we touch. The air we breath. And if by chance we've been sneezing or coughing into the air directly in proximity to us, no matter where that is, then air borne viruses can often survive in the air and on contact surfaces we (the general we) sometimes take for granted that might not be infected by viral-droplets which caused us to sneeze or cough or even in simpler terms, when we talk.

I seriously hope that one of the outcomes to this particular viral crisis is that people become much more aware of not only hygiene practices but taking into account that the surfaces in our immediate proximity or wherever we might be conducting our lives in day-to-day affairs, will realize how important it is to consider not only our own health but the health of others we are in proximity too.

My mom is sending me something by special delivery via FedEX and it's due to arrive tomorrow, but our area FedEx driver had something to deliver to a resident in our building and it literally made me feel so much better to see them wearing PPE and gloves.

Thanks for letting me share a bit about how I've been dealing with safeguarding my own health, since I was hurt on the job three years ago and how I have been incorporating health conscious practices to not only safeguard my own health, but to limit transmission contact points of interest in my day to day life.

:bunchflowers: :vigil: :candle: :candle: :candle:

[easygoingfemme]

I was on an all staff Zoom meeting today. First most of us were muted and cameras off. But then one staff asked a question and she came on camera- in her bed, sleep cap on, got unmuted, and we heard her coughing up a lung.

I just worked with her last night.

I called her supervisor to see what's up.

She was tested this morning and we are waiting for results. She has fever, chills, cough, etc. At least because she is essential staff serving a vulnerable population she was able to get tested quickly.

We mostly keep a six foot rule at work but there are things like... we share bathrooms, we share a kitchen, not thinking- we pass each other forms. I don't know if she wore gloves while sorting mail. The list goes on.

I still have to report to work as usual tomorrow and until we get any test results that tell us otherwise.

[Medusa]

Kemp finally issued a shelter in place for Georgia today. A full 2 weeks after the bulk of the infections started.

We are at 4748 cases so far.

[Kätzchen]

I'm actually watching a documentary, over on YouTube, which was filmed by Lisa Laden, narrated by S. Epatha Merkerson, and features Dr. Anthony Fauci.

It originally aired on PBS, back in 2010. Dr. Fauci looks the same as he did in press conferences aired today. It is a documentary about the Influenza pandemic of 1918, shortly after WW1, which claimed over 50 million lives.

Lisa Laden interviews survivors of that era in time, as well as scientists. It's quite informative. Check out the masks worn back then (they look like the cotton homemade masks people are making right now).

Here's the link, for anyone interested in watching it (it's about an hour long):

We Heard The Bells: The Influenza of 1918. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkGi9FKZzDI)

[GeorgiaMa'am]

The Georgia Governor, Brian Kemp, just admitted that he has only just now learned that the COVID-19 virus can be transmitted asymptomatically.

[Kätzchen]

The Georgia Governor, Brian Kemp, just admitted that he has only just now learned that the COVID-19 virus can be transmitted asymptomatically.

I find that hard to believe. I actually think that when this type of claim is made, especially when it's made by someone seated with some sort of executive authority, it's basically (to me) a ploy to distract from the truth of factually communicated evidence by those on the front lines of this devastating crisis. Same for that person of executive authority in Florida.

It's not hard to find out who has your best interest at heart. It is upsetting to watch this go down publicly. Thank heavens for Governor Cuomo. Kemp is not even in the same league as Gov. Cuomo.

I actually worry now that the crisis our nation faces with Covid-19 will leap the proverbial train tracks and be used as a tool to upend the Presidential Election, come November.


<<<<<<~~ super concerned and worried for everyone.

[charley]

Provinces have instituted checkpoints between their borders. So, anyone wanting to do some traveling for any personal reason will most likely be turned back.

"The COVID-19 pandemic brings the unusual presence of police and government checkpoints to several of Canada’s inter-provincial borders, adding to restrictions on movement in a bid to slow the spread of the deadly novel coronavirus.

"The Quebec government placed new restrictions to limit movement into the province Wednesday, including police controlling travel between Ottawa and Gatineau, separating the two sides of Canada’s unified National Capital Region.

"Manitoba has had checkpoints running on all of its highways linking with Ontario and Saskatchewan since Friday, and Nova Scotia was an early adopter of travel checkpoints into the province.

"In Quebec, new police checkpoints were put in place for traffic between the province and Ontario, between Quebec and New Brunswick, and between Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador."

https://nationalpost.com/news/covid-19-emergency-measures-strain-long-standing-free-movement-between-provinces

[theoddz]

I give you all this:

https://www.punchdonald.com/index.html?fbclid=IwAR1HP4D6coeDh7cpvO-zp-JmHtQwOiFxFAdARvM0pexiXTWafo62psSbWfQ

You're welcome. :winky:

~Theo~ :bouquet:

[Bèsame*]

Helpful information...stay safe

https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/how-to-boost-immune-health

[homoe]

The Georgia Governor, Brian Kemp, just admitted that he has only just now learned that the COVID-19 virus can be transmitted asymptomatically.

I don't know if he's just trying to cover his arse, has been living in a cave, or if he's really telling the truth BUT if he is telling the truth is this really something he would want to admit to?

I mean it makes him appear like a complete idiot and dumbass!

[~ocean]

The Georgia Governor, Brian Kemp, just admitted that he has only just now learned that the COVID-19 virus can be transmitted asymptomatically.

I saw that ~ I don't believe him .

[~ocean]

I personally think Trump doesn't give a hoot about any of us. He knew since Dec. 2019, he let the virus grow.. as the stocks plummet they can be bought at very low prices ~ he's been socializing w/ the enemies of the world. Maybe their shopping ? and the hackers that have taken over our SS numbers to get the "stimulus" checks ~ they give and then take it back. ops steal it back ~ I will never believe that it was from a bat !! I said it b4 my OWN belief is that it's chemical war ~ Trump knows this ~ btw mental picture of all Trump's cronnies wearing cheerleader costumes... when he is guilty ~ he brings it up ~ having idiots say he's been on top of everything and and and..... he controls everyone he knows if not your bullied ~ friggen physcopath ~

[Kätzchen]

How about that beautiful Yellow tie that Governor Cuomo wore this morning during his latest press conference on covid 19?

"Tie a Yellow Ribbon 'round an old Oak tree" is what came to mind, while he was teaching the public with down-to-earth language and useful comparisons on the desperate need for hospital's and medical professional needs (ventilators, PPE, the need for volunteers) and his compelling case for everyone to come together and share resources (unity through crisis). His compelling delivery was richly laced with metaphor, to help people grasp the gravity of the situation unfolding in NYC and the entire state of New York.

It appears that Covid-19 will eclipse 9/11 and other social crises previously recorded and experienced in history.

:vigil: :praying: :vigil: :praying: :vigil:

[charley]

The premier, Ford, of Ontario had announced yesterday that he would produce "hard" modelling facts. So, today, I am watching CBC News Network.

Dr. Peter Donnelly, President & CEO of Public Health in Ontario, has finally been able to make some models, which are horrific, absolutely scary, as follows:

Ontario has a population of 14.47 million.
(Donnelly said "every year in Ontario, about 1,350 people die from normal, seasonal flu. In a bad year, 1,500 people die.")

Over course of pandemic (Ontario):

No measures: Full course of pandemic: 100,000 deaths
No measures: 300,000 cases by end of April
No measures: 6,000 deaths by end of April

Current measures: 80,000 cases by end of April
Current measures: 1,600 deaths by end of April

Stricter measures: 12,500 cases by end of April
Stricter measures: 200 deaths end of April

Full course with measures: 3,000 to 15,000 deaths
Full pandemic could last 18 months to 2 years.

I hope I got all the figures right.

Many variables involved (returning snowbirds, etc.)

Am thinking that B.C. has a pop. of @5 million.

Oh my, may god help all those good essential workers.

I am choking up.

Please stay-at-home and do social distancing (in the States, I believe it is called shelter-in-place), please wash your hands, please.

[PlatinumPearl]

Since this video is now being shared all over social media I thought I would share it here as well.

Take it for what you will. If it resonates great if not then just ignore it.

8JyX5b97cqM&feature=share&fbclid=IwAR1viMqiHaRNWfiQ0c7wSylWz3HelAtgHe2BQiW5p cJfkUezJbjKvtsdFzQ

[homoe]

'It is everywhere already': Fox News hosts amp up the pressure on Trump to give up on coronavirus lockdowns and reopen the economy

A slew of Fox News opinion hosts and anchors are pushing back on public health experts, including the White House coronavirus task force, and urging President Donald Trump to abandon its social distancing policies and reopen the economy. On "Fox and Friends," one of the president's favorite Fox New programs, co-host Brian Kilmeade called the economic damage from the virus "a self-inflicted wound."

IDIOTS!

[~ocean]

Donald Trump hates AMERICA ~ he hates all of us. He is destroying this country ~ his so called coronavirus briefing just convinced me yet one more time how much he don't want to help this country ~ someday we will find out how much he had to do with this virus ~ telling ppl over and over again I'm not gonna wear a mask ~ that ignorant bastard ~ putting this country in stay at home across the board is what we need ~ today if there is no virus tomorrow in those states could be overwhelmed. yes this is AMERICA and we do have freedom ~ freedom to think and act intelligently << lord help me ~ I can't stand him.

[easygoingfemme]

I'm still isolating except for reporting to work. Daughter is doing the same. They are starting to transport patients from NYC up to our hospitals and that's making some people upset. Maybe it will be enough to get them to think harder about staying home?


Domestic violence is really kicking up with this shelter in place. Folks can still buy guns and booze. It's not a good combination. My phone is ringing off the hook all day long and there is just no place left that has bed space.


What do we think about doing something like going for a bike ride alone? I want to ride my bike but don't know how socially responsible that is? It's not like I'd be interacting with anyone...

[nhplowboi]

I have to agree with you ocean when you say that we will someday find out all his dealings in this. For a man who is a known germaphobe, he seems to have no problem appearing in public during this time of germ virus/crisis.

Russia cases
Updated Apr 4 at 8:25 AM local
Confirmed
4,731
+582
Deaths
43
+9
Recovered
333
+52
It's currently the 9th most populous country on earth, despite being the largest by area.

Donnie has had a lot of meetings with Putie that have not been recorded and I do not believe for a minute they have not set up a backchannel. Yes, the world was ripe for a pandemic but years from now we may learn what happened in 2020 was much more sinister. Not sure how the 9th most populace country in the world has no more confirmed cases than some of our states. Maybe it is lack of testing, maybe it's the vodka or maybe it's just the lack of honest reporting.