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Covid19 Thread 1 (The Elephant in the Room)

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Speedwell said:
It used to be called belt and braces. Or carrying a spare parachute in case the main one doesn't open. No harm in being cautious.
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I know there is no harm in being cautious, but while they are all being OVER cautious, I’m putting not only my health at risk, but also my immunocompromised husband too. I can’t stay at home because Supermarket/Grocery Store workers are considered ‘essential’ and I have to work. I’m not complaining or anything because I’m lucky to still have a job, but why the over kill?

Eva x
 
Eva1942 said:
I know there is no harm in being cautious, but while they are all being OVER cautious, I’m putting not only my health at risk, but also my immunocompromised husband too. I can’t stay at home because Supermarket/Grocery Store workers are considered ‘essential’ and I have to work. I’m not complaining or anything because I’m lucky to still have a job, but why the over kill?

Eva x
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In a role where one is dealing with customers, things can be very difficult at the best of times Right now, the pressure is on everyone.

Perhaps it's important to bear in mind that, for the most part, other people are not deliberately setting out to insult or disrespect or devalue you personally or your work. Only a very small minority are deliberately unpleasant, I'd guess. The rest, just caught up in their own lives, their own hopes and dreams and worries. Each person is surrounded by their own bubble of their own concerns.

As I've got older I find myself making more and more allowances for other people. When someone is polite towards me, I appreciate it. If they are neglectful and ignore me, or are deliberately rude, I tend not to mind that nowadays, for the simple reason that I can see myself there, I have been neglectful or rude or even deliberately unpleasant at times. Fortunately I'm not in a customer-facing role, so am under much less pressure than someone who is working in such a situation.
 
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"First, we kill all the lawyers . . ." (a paraphrase from Shakespeare).

Well, sometimes it seems like a good idea. For all of our healthcare workers out there, lawyers are often seen as THE ENEMY. Here is a good article related to the coming wave of lawsuits and how to avoid them:

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/life-death-hospital-decisions-come-100000624.html

Note, the "bad lawyer" stereotype avoids dealing with what are often very complicated situations and decisions. In situations where items like ventilators are in short supply, people are going to ask questions about why someone else got it (e.g., that husky young football player) instead of, e.g., the spouse you love who is also the mainstay for your three children. There are two sides to this issue, and grieving people are going to want to be reassured that their loved one was not treated unfairly.

S&S
 
SeaAndSky said:
Thanks for a cheerful word! :) I tend to push doom and gloom myself more than I should sometimes. You're probably on the right track, and the treatment modalities being developed are really the biggest hope I have for most of us beating this thing. A vaccine will probably not be ready for use in time to stop the current epidemic, but if we can cut way down on infections with isolation, and simultaneously improve the survival rates for the seriously infected with some of the new therapies and drugs being used, we'll have done the best we can to beat this thing.
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Yep. If we can nail down a treatment, it will buy us time with this thing until a vaccine is developed. I am very encouraged by what I am reading with regard to treatments.
 
SeaAndSky said:
Interesting article about how the animals come back as soon as the humans leave (abandoning city streets due to Wuhan shut-downs):

https://www.yahoo.com/news/coronavirus-animals-reclaiming-cities-covid-19-pandemic-140503907.html

There is also a good animated graphic at the bottom showing how the number and location of cases has shifted through March 31st.

S&S
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How much lovelier the world seems, without humans! All these creatures, reclaiming their land, while our useless civilisation looks on helplessly.
 
Something worth noting.. On the news today it was revealed that nearly half of the coronavirus deaths in Australia have been people who disembarked from cruise ships ... Australia yesterday order all cruise ships in Australian waters to leave.. There is a ridiculous number in our waters something like ten or more... Maritime law experts here are saying we have every right to tell them to leave
 
Cyrus said:
Humans are a kind of a virus, too, some say....

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I enjoyed that scene more times than most people would like lol, it all comes down to not liking the psychology these days. I will say that the world isn't necessarily overpopulated as it is simply not meant to last being the last opportunity for some souls to experience this kind of life and the last chance for others to resolves karma in this manner.
 
For the love of Osiris, someone PLEASE give me a chalet in the Austrian Alps, enough food for 4-8 weeks so I don’t have to visit the local village as often and some peace!

I’m fed up with people and their stupidity :mad: a mask and gloves are NOT GOING TO HELP YOU!! GOOD HAND HYGIENE WILL!! :confused:

Eva x

Ps. Sorry for shouting... :oops:
 
Why Austrian?

French Alps won't do? What's wrong with the French Alps?

This virus is not at all afraid of cold, it even survives freezing.

There are special (military) masks/resprirators that do help. Though they might be rather expensive.

And the gloves are useful, if you have some micro-wounds on your handes (like those left after a nail-polishing or manicure).

Some spectacles might be handy, too.

And never, never touch you face, gloves or not.

 
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The masks that actually help are expensive, limited and usually go to where they are most needed first: hospitals, retirement centers and so on.
The main reason why they haven't introduced a legal obligation to wear masks in whole Germany yet (only in one or the other city).
They only advise to wear masks when you go shopping to reduce the chance to infect others (self-made masks or the cheaps ones don't do much, but they can hold spit droplets back a bit when you talk or even cough).
 
Hi John,

One of the problems that some countries have compared to others is international travelers coming in during a time like this. The U.S. had 3.4 million travelers pour in during the critical period for this virus. This included almost a million coming from China:

"Travel data of passengers arriving in the United States from China during the critical period in December, January and February, when the disease took hold in that country, shows a stunning 759,493 people entered the U.S."

***

"Added Wildes: "It is difficult to estimate the portion of travelers coming from China to the U.S. with COVID-19, but fair to speculate that a large number might have been infected at the time of travel.""

(https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/dis...elers-poured-us-coronavirus/story?id=69933625)

This may be one of the reasons that the U.S. is having such a high rate of infection at this point compared to, e.g., Australia (though I have no idea how many folks came to Australia from China during this same period).

Cordially,
S&S

PS--The two cruise ships held-up off the coast of Florida have, or are in the process of, being dealt with. I think they're taking everyone who needs hospitalization to the local hospitals, having sick but not serious stay aboard and receive treatment there, putting well foreign nationals (otherwise under quarantine) into chartered buses to board chartered jets for their home countries, etc.

PPS--I think we will be having a national "masking" order coming out pretty soon for people who have to be in public. The consensus seems to be growing that although masks may not protect the wearer all that well, they can help to prevent an infected wearer from spreading the disease. Given that criteria, medical type masks probably wouldn't be required.
 
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Hi S&S The visitors from China obviously had a big impact I will try and find some numbers for Australia. China plays a vital role in our tourism We are very close to China compared to the US and our dollar is valued at around 62 cents American So a business trip or vacation in Australia for the Chinese is cheap compared to going to the US The cruise ships are a different thing They all have home ports which are the ports they registered at The Zaandam who is unloading virus effected passengers and crew in Florida home port is Rotterdam so they should have gone to there home port not Florida Our government is doing its best to protect Australia As I said we have around ten cruise ships in our waters Our government as far as I can tell has told the cruise line owners we will refuel and restock the ships then they have properly told them then go back to your home ports If that is what they have told then then that would be the right thing to do and what the US should do maybe that's what your governor wanted to do because it was reported here your president told your governor to let them in ....anyway the whole thing is a mess everywhere

All The Best
 
Hi John,

I think the thing that irks is that they were turned away by a lot of other countries they were closer to, leaving it up to someone else to take the burden, and had to come a long way to get here. However, having groused a little, I'm not too disturbed for the moment. I think we can make this work here in Florida at the moment. And, this was a good and compassionate thing to do, while we still can. However, the time may come where there will simply not be enough facilities anywhere. When that happens, the decision may come to be one that is a great deal more difficult. . . . .

Here are some good articles:
https://time.com/5813775/cruise-ships-coast-guard-coronavirus/
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...et-cruise-ships-dock-us-florida-reached-hours

BTW--There were more than one hundred Australians aboard. One articles gives the following figures for U.S., Canada, UK, and Australian passengers: "305 Americans, 295 Canadians, 229 from the UK and 131 Australians. I'm not sure of the rest.

Cordially,
S&S
 
To All:

Here are some random shots, some with explanatory text, showing people doing the things they do and/or trying to make things better here in the U.S. during the pandemic (and subject hopefully to quarantine guidelines). When you come across things like this from your home country/area, please post. It is good to keep the positive images and ideas in mind at a time like this.

https://www.foxnews.com/us/america-together-uplifting-images

Cordially,
S&S
 
There is a music school in Germany where they choose a song every week and offer the score for download for free. The next Sunday, people from all over Germany play or sing that song at home. Some record themselves and send the video to said music school. They put a video together then and upload it on youtube.
Last Sunday's song was a children's song/folksong in Italian.
(Couldn't take part myself, didn't want to disturb the neighbors, but I just love the idea.)

Found a post somewhere with another wonderful idea.
Those who can afford it, might want to check the homepages of their favorite restaurants if they offer delivery service now. If so, by ordering food from them, you can support a restaurant you like and help them survive. And help the workers there to keep their jobs. So you do something for somebody else by treating yourself with yummy food.
(Only applies to people living in places where the restaurants are closed, but delivery service still is allowed, of course.)
 
SeekerOfKnowledge said:
There is a music school in Germany where they choose a song every week and offer the score for download for free. The next Sunday, people from all over Germany play or sing that song at home. Some record themselves and send the video to said music school. They put a video together then and upload it on youtube.
Last Sunday's song was a children's song/folksong in Italian.
(Couldn't take part myself, didn't want to disturb the neighbors, but I just love the idea.)

Found a post somewhere with another wonderful idea.
Those who can afford it, might want to check the homepages of their favorite restaurants if they offer delivery service now. If so, by ordering food from them, you can support a restaurant you like and help them survive. And help the workers there to keep their jobs. So you do something for somebody else by treating yourself with yummy food.
(Only applies to people living in places where the restaurants are closed, but delivery service still is allowed, of course.)
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That's great! There's a similar idea here (England) where they're putting a choir together, with individuals singing at home. Must be quite an achievement.
 
SeekerOfKnowledge said:
There is a music school in Germany where they choose a song every week and offer the score for download for free. The next Sunday, people from all over Germany play or sing that song at home. Some record themselves and send the video to said music school. They put a video together then and upload it on youtube.
Last Sunday's song was a children's song/folksong in Italian.
(Couldn't take part myself, didn't want to disturb the neighbors, but I just love the idea.)

Found a post somewhere with another wonderful idea.
Those who can afford it, might want to check the homepages of their favorite restaurants if they offer delivery service now. If so, by ordering food from them, you can support a restaurant you like and help them survive. And help the workers there to keep their jobs. So you do something for somebody else by treating yourself with yummy food.
(Only applies to people living in places where the restaurants are closed, but delivery service still is allowed, of course.)
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Seeker, A wonderful post!! It is especially significant to me as I was stationed in Crailsheim many years ago; it is a beautiful town! ~Tman
 
Just stumbled upon something else. Was mentioned in the German news from my email provider, but it's from the Getty museum. Had to search for an article in English.
For those who like art, but can't paint and get bored at home:
https://www.thedenverchannel.com/ne...c-to-recreate-famous-art-with-household-items

Looks like you need a facebook, twitter or instagram account to take part (couldn't find out if there is another way) and the loading times at the art page are horribly slow (don't have twitter, instagram or facebook, but wanted to have a look at the paintings in the museum).

Maybe someone here is interested. Looks like fun.
 
Cyrus said:
Why Austrian?

French Alps won't do? What's wrong with the French Alps?
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Because I like the Austrian Alps better ;)

I know the virus survives freezing temps but at least if I have a chalet in the Alps, I will have my peace and ability to think clearly about better ways to deal with stupid idiotic people.

And because I like Austria — period.

Eva x
 
HI S&S The figures in your referral are for total travelers to the US The figures that matter most are the number of Chinese visitors The only numbers out there that are easily found are total Chinese tourists for a year In 2019 the US had 3 million tourists arrive from China Australia in 2018 which are the only figures I could find had 1.4 million Chinese tourists With Australia's population at 25.5 million compared to the US population of 332.5 million its safe to say Australians were at far greater risk from infection from China than Americans when it all started
I think the US put a total travel ban on China on January 31st Australia did the same on February 2nd What we did do that the US did not do was from February 15 anyone who had recently traveled to or through China were also banned ... looking back a smart thing to do As I said all will come out when enquirers are held in most countries when its all over

All The Best
 
Eva1942 said:
Because I like the Austrian Alps better ;)

I know the virus survives freezing temps but at least if I have a chalet in the Alps, I will have my peace and ability to think clearly about better ways to deal with stupid idiotic people.

And because I like Austria — period.

Eva x
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Too serious, for me. No sense of humour. And it's all because of their food. IMHO.

I prefer the sea and not take life too seriously. "Enfotre's de tot", as they say in Barcelona (Catalonia, Spain).
(Catalonian is a language intermediate between Spanish and French).
 
So update on where I am: My little town has a Facebook group for local events. We had a whole community argument/discussion where people were demanding to know the names of who was infected, even though those people are quarantined. I think we're up to maybe 5-6 cases as of yesterday.

At this point it isn't even the virus that scares me, it's the people around me. It could go from zero to witch hunt real quick.
 
Klaud said:
So update on where I am: My little town has a Facebook group for local events. We had a whole community argument/discussion where people were demanding to know the names of who was infected, even though those people are quarantined. I think we're up to maybe 5-6 cases as of yesterday.

At this point it isn't even the virus that scares me, it's the people around me. It could go from zero to witch hunt real quick.
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My God that is terrible.

A hope in me is that this will bring the world closer together, not be isolated islands like spoiled kids taking what ever they can get their hands of, but think too of the third world and the countries that have trouble rising up from poverty. That we will use this grim experience to help each other, all of us, to rise up. Think before this it was too much of us and them in thinking terms, instead of just thinking us, the human specie. Maybe I dream too much...
 
Klaud said:
So update on where I am: My little town has a Facebook group for local events. We had a whole community argument/discussion where people were demanding to know the names of who was infected, even though those people are quarantined. I think we're up to maybe 5-6 cases as of yesterday.

At this point it isn't even the virus that scares me, it's the people around me. It could go from zero to witch hunt real quick.
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That's not a helpful attitude of those people, but people seem to do strange things when fear rears its ugly head. I hope nobody named those infected ones, who are clearly doing the responsible thing. They need compassion, not being hunted down. As I've said before, in situations like this you find out who your real friends are.
 
You know, I know people are scared, but that is still no reason to take it out on me. I was serving a woman yesterday and I knew from the moment she walked up to my register that she was going to be rude... it goes something like this...

Lady: “they’re the same price so you don’t need to take them (the capsicums) out of the bag..”

Me: “I know they’re the same price, but I need to weigh them individually for our ordering process...”

Lady (rudely): “ You just touched my food!! :mad:”

Me: “You’re more than welcome to go get another if you wish. I can assure you my hands are clean, I sanitised them just before you walked up to the register.”

Lady (rudely): “But you touched my food!!”

Me: “Like I said, you’re more than welcome to go get another one...”

Lady: (clearly quite pissed off) “No, don’t worry about it...”

Lady: (when I’ve finished and she is still packing) “Hope I don’t get some kind of disease from you..”

How many people does she think touched her food before she did and before I did? None? She’s freakin’ dreaming. At least probably over 50-100 people picked up that same very capsicum before either of us did. (Btw, a capsicum is what Americans would call a pepper)

Yes folks, this is the **** I have to put up with now :( I don’t get paid enough to deal with that. One day, I might wear a mask just to spite people and show them how ridiculous they look...

So pleased now that my store has implanted that only 110 customers allowed in the store at ANY one time now. No two cashiers are allowed to be back to back in the quiet times.

What’s worse is that my district LEADS the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in ALL of South Australia.. :confused:

Eva x
 
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