Pandemicpalooza

[BentonGrey]

So, the world is going insane, and the U.S. is practically shutting down.  That's new.  I think at this point all of the universities in Arkansas are closed and are moving to online classes for the foreseeable future.  Nothing like this has ever really happened before in higher education, at least in living memory, and it is quite bizarre.  This is rather surreal for us, as we suddenly find ourselves rushing to figure out how to teach classes that were never meant to be online, online.  Of course, all the stores have empty shelves after panicked buying and hoarding, which is also nuts.  On the plus side, I think I'm going to have a bit more time to work on stuff here pretty soon. 

How is everyone doing out there?  Stay safe and healthy, guys! 

[daglob]

Well, still here, anyway.

[Randomdays]

We're in Orlando. I'm with a military contractor and we'll probably stay open unless it gets in the building. My wife was supposed to go to work tonight at a retail mall. They called her yesterday and said the mall's hours have now been changed to noon to 6:00 PM till further notice.. Both Disney World and Universal Studios are shut down for at least two weeks. The shelves in the stores are bare. Schools are shutdown.

And we have only one confirmed case in the area.

I think panic buying and 'mob mentality' might be a big problem coming up.

It's reminding me more and more of things like 'The Last Ship', 'WWZ' and other end of the world shows that have come out.

[BentonGrey]

Yeah, the virus is serious enough that we certainly need to take precautions, but the panic and hysteria is definitely the more immediate threat to the well-being of a lot of folks at the moment.  People are losing their freaking minds.  I'm not exactly sure why they think they need a year's supply of toilet paper for the month or so that this is going to take to run its course...

[SickAlice]

Rough, tis why I haven't checked in for a spell. But I lived through worse in worse places so I'm beating it. Same stuff as anyone. The virus, people falling apart when they should be packing it in and being kind to one another, sickness. Mostly though massive storms devastated my home. Been rebuilding, landscaping all day today. Power company came to check the meter and broke my fence, fixing that. Neighbor has dementia and thinks he owns my house, dealt with the police today though we ended up having a lot of fun laughs together. Asked someone out I was into and go the old "I like you but like you like that" thing. So tasked. That's the right word for how I been. Mostly focused on my stepdads issue. I haven't really come to terms with all that. And the world...yeah. It may sound cold but avoid it, do what you need to do and for the people in your heart. You can't help people who can't get it together, only they can. And I have 27 rolls. I'm always stocked anyways. Oh and everything's shut down here as well though the kids seem to be loving that. Bonus vacay to ride around on their bikes and such, I would've felt the same at their age. So to me it's not any kind of a pandemic, just another month and I'm thankful to not be living where I used to. And I still comic books, video games and egg rolls so all is as it should be.

[deanjo2000]

I'm here in the Uk. Lots of talk but not much action yet, where I live nothing has closed but a lot of might be's. We're covered though if it goes down 

[daglob]

Reminds me of hurricane season.

[BentonGrey]

Daglob, I've had the same thought!

Dean, makes me wish I was back in Wales!

SA, man, lots of stuff!  That thing with your neighbor sounds nuts.  That kind of stuff can be so hard to deal with.  Good luck with everything, man.

[Randomdays]

Very similar to Hurricane Prep, but world wide. I don't understand the water though - unlike a hurricane, we're not likely to lose water or power or run out of gas.

SA, I've got the books, comics,videos and games, but I'll go with old reliable Peanut Butter instead.

Good luck to all.

At least we don't have to worry about the Apes stepping in and taking over if we collapse.

[cranlox]

In Argentina we are quite far-sighted as to what the numbers are, although one of the affected places is Chaco, which is a really poor area and without resources, so intuitively it is assumed that it may be worse than the official numbers.
In the cities in Buenos Aires where I am from, there are many special norms and laws dictated directly by the president, such as encouraging work at home and minimizing public transit and transportation, closing borders and raising controls. The health system seems to be working momentarily, but here we hope that the cold season will begin, so that makes the virus hit later more complex.
Schools closed for two weeks at all levels and excepted from working everyone over 60 years.
Hopefully the pandemic will die soon with the arrival of a vaccine.
Strength and a warm hug to all affected and concerned. Especially Benton who always shares so much

[SickAlice]

I'm in a pretty good spot mind you and don't want to imagine being in a big city. As it is ironically the floods landlocked us thus causing the virus path to Vegas to detour this place. Silver linings come as they may I guess.

That said I know a few of you aren't going to be able to go out tonight due to all this and that this turn of a phrase is a little out of season but right now I think fitting, a happy St.Pats to you all and waes hael to yours. Cheers!

[BentonGrey]

Glad to hear that y'all are okay for the moment, Cranlox!  I hope that y'all stay ahead of it and can wait it out.  Indeed, let's hope for a vaccine.  That would be tremendous.

SA, haha, yeah, I'm very grateful for living in small town Arkansas.  There's no cases reported near us yet, and with the controls in place, I'm hoping the spread will be pretty slow here.  We're pretty sparsely populated anyway.  The city of Dallas alone has a bigger population than the entirety of Arkansas. 

Hear hear!  Waes hael! ("Be whole/healthy" for those of y'all not familiar with the British tradition.)

Far gesund: "fare well", everyone!

[SickAlice]

Could be worse. I could be in Wisconsin. The bars are officially closed in that state. For those who don't know drinking is the pretty much "the thing" there so...yeah, cue apocalyptic musical interlude...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGbCWDZvcy0

[GhostMachine]

Simon shut down all the malls they run until the 29th. AMC shut down their theaters for the time being. Don't know if they gave a re-open date or not.

A lot of restaurants are going to drive thru or take out (if they don't have a drive thru) only. My stepson and his best friend both work at different restaurants (Red Lobster and Texas Roadhouse), and that is what they're doing starting next week. Staff that normally live off tips may be getting minimum wage instead, for the time being. That is actually a pay cut for my stepson, because he is a server and sometimes makes in a week what a minimum wage worker gets paid in a month. Plus he has a car payment, car insurance payment, and a phone payment he may not be able to afford without help if this goes on long. Fortunately, he doesn't have to worry about rent.

[BentonGrey]

The good news is that it looks like there will be some form of direct relief to workers soon.  That's something.

[SickAlice]

My step-sister owns a bar is how that came up. Well she asked me for money in more dramatic way than needed but as much as usual way. I do feel for people losing income, that's cut and dry. And with the stock market and such, well it's going to be a harder and more stressful year as it goes sorry to say. Be kind or at least have fun where you can. Sounds silly maybe but I think it's good medicine. Though I really am shaking my head at the people who rebelled because they can't go to the bar and get shots, and how they did. That's really not helping anyone including themselves. It's weird for me I guess. I live with a health condition that comes with a lot of restrictions. Also the things everyone is being told to practice I've had to for a long time anyways, bad immune system you see. And I can say at first it is a jolt but really, it's just a change and your life still goes on. And you find other things to make you happy. And you regret the times you lost your head because you know it just dragged you down further. I've survived some stuff, it sucks. I won't deny anyone that. But you're stronger than you might be aware as well. The world overall is pretty crude most of the time but most times when it actually had to prove itself most people will come together.

[BentonGrey]

Yeah.  It's a little funny to me that people are already freaking out about not being able to go out.  I'm an introvert, and this whole 'no social contact' thing, well, it feels pertty normal to me.  Ha, I suppose it's a lot harder if you're really a people person.  One of my good friends is SUPER social.  I wonder how he's going to handle this.

[cranlox]

Hello! It is hard for many to be at home but luckily for me it is not so much. Here in Argentina the state of total national quarantine has been declared, the idea is to reduce the contagion curve, we are at 128, but surely these cases have already impacted given the delay in the appearance of symptoms.
Until the 31 of this current month there will be no cultural, religious, entertainment, sports or bars or restaurants events. Only food warehouses, the police force, firefighters, health and hygiene personnel, officials of public offices, hardware stores and authorized journalism work. For the rest of the people it works as a partial curfew where you can only go out identifying yourself to go buy food or hardware goods (to repair or reinforce the houses based on future events of insecurity).

I don't think we have much more to do, the measures were already taken and it only remains to wait as everything evolves. It scares a little though.

[SickAlice]

School is closed here but that's it, no quarantine. Yet. The CDC signs did just get put up over town about maintaining a six foot distance from people. Another thing I can't say bothers me, I hate it when strangers get in my personal space and especially if they touch me. Now I don't have to yell at anyone, I can just point at a CDC sign.

[Panther_Gunn]

[vent]
Well, our state went into "stay-at-home" mode Monday night, and non-essential business will be doing so after COB today (but the list of "essential" is kinda big).  Since this is hitting the $$ in a bad way for the company, a bunch of people got a 10% pay cut, a bunch more (like me) got shifted over to part-time (25 hrs/wk), and a few others were just let go, all under the proviso that this is all "temporary".

And being an IT monkey, I get the icky job of turning off access for those let go in our various systems.  But, on the upside, I still have a job (sort of).  yay.
[/vent]

[SickAlice]

We got it today. Imo a lot of the methods are unfounded. I think what I'm seeing is they're applying protocol that already exists yet is centered around a previous and varied illness. Then again it's good to see anything being done and in particular solitary among communities. At the worst people are at their best, I follow this logic. We were supposed to be shut down earlier but the people here didn't believe the virus existed, sigh. They cracked down today. People are furious. I'm finding myself being the voice of reason which is new to me. But we will get through this. This is quarantine number three for me, hoax anthrax and a chemical spill. The latter you could not go outside literally lest your lungs start burning. But we got through it all the same. I think mostly it's sudden for people is all. Affliction is always the worst when you first find about it then it just becomes a hurdle. The jobs as you spelled out is my biggest worry for others. The big paycheck as it were may do some the favor of balancing their books but others, well I think there are a many places that were already running on fumes as it was and couldn't afford to close for a week much less do this, in the red so to speak. Add the market crash and I don't see much hope for recovery there. I suppose knock on wood as long as one has the people they love in this world there really isn't another treasure to seek. But damn it is a weird time to be alive. Who knew?

[cranlox]

Hello! It is hard to read so many hard things for so long, I have known people in Italy and they are really suffering and losing many. I think it is really a great test these times. We will pass it somehow I hope! For my part in Argentina the situation worsened slightly but it has to do with scarce resources. The economy has been broken for a while, so the healthy thing would be not to blame the virus for that, but it literally didn't help at all. good luck to everyone surviving the global health crisis

[SickAlice]

Honestly at least from what I'm reading your nation is pretty much a model for the right way to handle the situation for everyone else especially the competency of your medical field. As far as resource is concerned really everyone is in the boat. While the US for example may have a lot not everyone in the US does. In this situation it becomes a matter of everyone being treated else everyone is still in danger. My motto here is much the same as my model for life, watch yourself and your family and you'll be alright. Like most other situations it's the ones that engage in risky behavior that end up in a bad way. Just my humble advice and it's worked for me so far and again not to diminish the seriousness of all this it's worked through worse.

[cranlox]

In Argentina, the southern parts of the country suffered enough problems with the Hantavirus from 2013 to the present day, a "small epidemic of Hemorrhagic Pulmonary Syndrome (SPH) known as the outbreak of SPH-Epuyen. A little experience.
Your words are more than accurate, let's wait soon for all this.

[SickAlice]

Hey I'm rooting for all of you I'll say that much. I get a certain joy when I see anyone check in, helps me with my overall hope. I look forward to chatting still with everyone when this is all over and Micheal Bay is directing a film about being quarantined.

[cranlox]

The most amusingly ridiculous thing about our Health Minister is that in January he said that what the Chinese government was doing as containment was exaggerated, that the virus would not reach Argentina due to distance, and that it was just like the flu with minor respiratory disorders.
And then he doesn't know how to withdraw his own words. Fortunately, the medical teams and hospital management have much more idea than the incompetent heads that rotate for politics.
I suppose the same thing happens in several countries.
I didn't know that Michael Bay is making a movie so I read that most industries including film are delayed or stagnant.

[SickAlice]

Pardon me, the Bay thing is a phrase that refers to people that capitalize on large scale tragedies something he become known for later in his career. And yeah same thing here in the United States. Politicians talking backwards or at least they were, hard to say something isn't an issue when everyone can see it is. I agree as well that politicians should not be taking control of public health issues, likewise neither the insurance companies. That should be in the hands of the doctors and scientists who know their stuff, too important not to be. Though if anything this situation is likely to shift power back in the doctors hands if for no other reason that out of need for it.

Hopefully I don't come off as making light of any of this though, quite the opposite. I have a prior condition, my immune system is garbage. As a result I'm a germaphobe, always carrying hand wash and gloves and stuff. Partly due to having a pathogens class as well. It's a bad situation to be sure and it's going to get much worse before it gets better. However more the reason to try and stay strong and knowing it will end at some point. That's my angle and on a personal note when I say "could be worse" I mean I'm in a better position then some other people, even some I care deeply for. I'm in a remote isolated part of the desert, I have money and a lot of stuff stocked up already from before all this. I think about homeless shelters and the like you know? They got it worse than me. I would be scared stiff if I was in that position right now. That's all I'm saying really. Like I can stress about it but then I can either stress myself more than I need to be or try and enjoy life for whatever it is when I can. So I'm trying to choose the positive course. Not really my specialty mind you so it's tricky though in my case I have people that I love that do have it worse so I have to try for them.

[cranlox]

I understand all your points and I truly wish you the best during all this madness. Really people with immunodeficiency have a much more limited outlook than the rest and in turn those who are more limited in memory. It is sad to live such a movie situation.

[GhostMachine]

Except for my stepson and dog, my household is screwed (imagine I used a stronger word...) if any of us get it. My wife has a low immune system due to contracting meningitis when she was 30. My parents both have heart issues (both have medical implants) AND diabetes. On top of that, my father is also recovering from cancer. And I have diabetes, too. My mom and I are type 2. My father is type 1.

My stepdaughter is in the Army and stationed in Washington state. Her and several other members of her unit have been quarantined for almost two weeks, because the wife of another soldier that was around them tested positive.

[SickAlice]

Honestly I have an immunodeficiency, a rare type where my immune system is always malfunctioning and this event has increased my resolve rather than bringing it down. It's odd I know but basically I'm so used to doing all this anyways I know that if people do practice caution they can come out of it okay. If that makes any sense.

And totally sorry for GM. My mother was hit with a trifecta of cancer, diabetes and lymphoma recently. My stepfather on his third bout with cancer and the diagnosis is terminal which he is spending in quarantine. Meanwhile I was getting the winter house in the desert ready for them to arrive, they are in the North were he was getting checked at Mayo, and now due to the quarantine cannot go there to help them nor they to me. My own condition is trying but these days much better than it has been so I'll take the grace of that bit. Regardless I understand fully where you are coming from and look forward to you checking in. You can do this, if you've been coping with all that in the least you already know the ropes and have the patience developed.