No Time to Die... from COVID-19

[robkelk]

And they just ordered the pubs shut

Likewise in Quebec.

Ottawa saw the number of confirmed cases double over the weekend. The city's Medical Officer of Health is recommending everybody remain home.

[LynnInDenver]

And now they're asking people who have been to specific high country areas here in Colorado to self-isolate as a precaution, and the general recommendations have added, "don't go out anywhere you might have to be close to people unless you have to." https://denver.cbslocal.com/2020/03/15/c...l-contact/

[Bob Schroeck]

So as of Friday afternoon, my job has taken steps to minimize virus transfer in the workplace. There are 14 of us in the development group, and it's been split into Team A and Team B, who will alternate working from home and working in the office. The decision of who would be on which team was based on physical location in the office -- no one on a given team sits within six feet of anyone else. I'm in the office for the first week of this, which starts tomorrow.

Meanwhile, more and more of NJ is getting locked down. We also talked my 80+-year-old mother-in-law out of dining out to celebrate my brother-in-law Ed's birthday on Saturday, and instead did takeout from a favorite restaurant.

[Labster]

Out here in California, all people older than 65 are expected to self-isolate, by gubernatorial decree.  (The virus seems to mostly impact grups, leading to a potential Miri Scenario.)  Bars, pubs, and wineries were all asked to close as well.  This is all voluntary right now, but caution is so abundant right now that they probably won't have to order it.

It sounds like my work is taking it a bit more seriously than Bob's.  All employees have to work in an office, alone, with the door closed, or are otherwise have to work from home.  People working from home are allowed to take any computer equipment they need from the office.  If you work at offices located in a coworking space, you're now working from home.  All in-person meetings and travel are cancelled.

The silver lining: My mother has jury duty this week ... and the court is closed.

[hazard]

Not much of a silver lining Lab. She's still going to have to go do jury duty when the courts open again, and whoever she was going to sit for is going to get their trial delayed.

There's a reason that a speedy trial is one of the things you have a constitutional right to.

[Labster]

I don't think that her doctor will let her sit on a jury, anytime at all, in the next year. She has a weak immune system and tends to get into acute respiratory problems when she does get sick, and is over age 65. That's kind of why I'm so freaked out. I live in the same place as my parents, and if I get sick from it, the chance of one of my parents dying probably about 2%. Anything in the whole number percentages is worth freaking out about. Thanks for the civics lesson but I'm going to live like a hermit for a while now.

[Bob Schroeck]

It sounds like my work is taking it a bit more seriously than Bob's.  

Well, I didn't cover everything that's been handed down.  No more than three people can be in close proximity at any time.  Scrums and meetings are now all via dial-in from our desks.

The main problem for my company is that we handle a lot of mail for some very big insurance companies, both inbound and outbound.  We have an entire group who are all about that mail and have to be in the office because the mail processing and document-scanning equipment is here.  (And there are contractual obligations regarding turnaround time that make trying to have even part of that group working from home impractical/impossible.)  Meanwhile the development group directly supports them.  While the dev group could theoretically work at home in our entirety, we've got to have someone on site to handle problems that crop up, whether they're bugs that need smashing, or unexplained behavior in the mail queue, or documents not getting imported and processed properly.

[hazard]

I'm afraid I'm going to be even less helpful Labster. The doctor has no say in it.

Now, IIRC she could ask the judge to let her pass for medical reasons, and with her poor immune system and the aftermath of a pandemic sweeping through the nation I can see that working. But she might also be told to do her duty as citizen and sit as a member of the jury.

[classicdrogn]

Labster, what "Miri Scenario" are you talking about? All I find searching for it is references to something put out by the Machine Intelligence Research Institute about the possibility of a hostile AI developing, which doesn't connect well to the current situation unless China is doing an implausibly phenomenal job at covering up work in that direction that's a decade or more beyond everyone else, instead of having been crowing about it (or various cherry-picked aspects of it) to make political hay.

[nocarename]

Labster, what "Miri Scenario" are you talking about? All I find searching for it is references to something put out by the Machine Intelligence Research Institute about the possibility of a hostile AI developing, which doesn't connect well to the current situation unless China is doing an implausibly phenomenal job at covering up work in that direction that's a decade or more beyond everyone else, instead of having been crowing about it (or various cherry-picked aspects of it) to make political hay.

Pretty sure this is the situation in the question.
https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Miri_(episode)

[robkelk]

Canada just closed the borders, to anybody who isn't a citizen or permanent resident.

EDIT: "If you're abroad, it's time to come home." While you still can.

[LynnInDenver]

Denver has ordered that all dine-in restaurants and bars be closed starting tomorrow, and banned public events and gatherings of more than 50 people. Take out and delivery options only for restaurants, through May 11 barring any specific developments.

Boulder saw and raised, their ban is more than 20 people.

We have 131 confirmed cases in Colorado as of this morning.

Update: We've cancelled the really small Saturday gathering we were going to have for my birthday. Out of five, we'd already had two saying, "yeah, not this time" because of the circumstances, admittedly both of those are not in the best of health and one of the two is definitely in the immunocompromised category, so I won't hold it against them.

[Dartz]

Working as normal.

[classicdrogn]

Pretty sure this is the situation in the question.
https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Miri_(episode)

Ah, that makes more sense. I'd forgotten the name of the episode, even as "Grups" referenced it directly - I remembered that part and didn't have to look it up. More fo the same as has been reported above around here, though it's worth noting that there was a clip of a small restaurant owner mentioning that take-out boxes are apparently in short supply as places try to quickly adjust to the "no dining in" rules. She also said that they'd be offering to have staff carry orders out to the trunk of customers' cars so they don't have to come into contact range. (Presumably after paying via credit card or phone app etc. remotely.)

[Labster]

I'm afraid I'm going to be even less helpful Labster. The doctor has no say in it.

Now, IIRC she could ask the judge to let her pass for medical reasons, and with her poor immune system and the aftermath of a pandemic sweeping through the nation I can see that working. But she might also be told to do her duty as citizen and sit as a member of the jury.

I'm afraid you simply have no knowledge of California law with regards to juries.

Labster, what "Miri Scenario" are you talking about? All I find searching for it is references to something put out by the Machine Intelligence Research Institute about the possibility of a hostile AI developing, which doesn't connect well to the current situation unless China is doing an implausibly phenomenal job at covering up work in that direction that's a decade or more beyond everyone else, instead of having been crowing about it (or various cherry-picked aspects of it) to make political hay.

Pretty sure this is the situation in the question.
https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Miri_(episode)

Exactly right.  It's only one step better than a Helvetica Scenario.

[robkelk]

Canada just closed the borders, to anybody who isn't a citizen or permanent resident.

EDIT: "If you're abroad, it's time to come home." While you still can.

No, wait - Americans are still allowed in. For now.

[Bob Schroeck]

First case in my town reported today.

And New York City is starting to look like J. Random Apocalypse Film.

[robkelk]

Bars in Ontario to be closed as of 12:01 am tomorrow. (St. Patrick's day - traditionally the busiest day of the year for bars in Ontario.)

---

Idris Elba tests positive for coronavirus

[robkelk]

Here's hoping this doesn't fall through - because $6 is incredibly inexpensive for a Ashley MacIsaac concert.

Okay, it's planned to be a ceilidh, not a formal show, but that just makes it a more authentic Maritime experience. The only thing that won't be authentic is that it'll be online, not in your kitchen.

Cape Breton's Ashley MacIsaac plans online music festival during COVID-19 pandemic

[SilverFang01]

Bars in Ontario to be closed as of 12:01 am tomorrow. (St. Patrick's day - traditionally the busiest day of the year for bars in Ontario.)

---

Idris Elba tests positive for coronavirus

So, who will cancel the apocalypse?

[Black Aeronaut]

Labster, what "Miri Scenario" are you talking about? All I find searching for it is references to something put out by the Machine Intelligence Research Institute about the possibility of a hostile AI developing, which doesn't connect well to the current situation unless China is doing an implausibly phenomenal job at covering up work in that direction that's a decade or more beyond everyone else, instead of having been crowing about it (or various cherry-picked aspects of it) to make political hay.

Pretty sure this is the situation in the question.
https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Miri_(episode)

Exactly right.  It's only one step better than a Helvetica Scenario.

Pffffffft!  God I still remember how ridiculous that thing was.

In case some of you don't get the joke, search the web for "Look Around You" and fucking brace yourself.

[Star Ranger4]

Well, apparently while I was on the plane home Los Angeles enacted just what Gov Newsom asked for. Don't think its volentary anymore. According to my newphew, people are not being allowed to fly out of the greater bay area (San francsico, Oakland, Marin) and the national guard has been called in to help enforce order.

[robkelk]

This week's radio World Health Organization recipe is for Hand Sanitizer.

[Bob Schroeck]

Good to have but useless in our area -- anything at all vaguely antiseptic in nature has been completely sold out everywhere I've gone in the last couple days.

EDIT: I haven't been to a liquor store in a while, but I wouldn't be surprised if vodka and Everclear have been completely sold out as well.

[robkelk]

Check your medicine cabinet - you might have the ingredients already.