COVID-19 Check-in Thread

[Shader]

I really should get better at noting when a week is up. Still ticking along. Just *busy*.

Transitioned to working from home before this thing hit so apart from having to ask everyone "Do you have cold or flu like symptoms? Have you been overseas in the last 14 days? Been in contact with anyone who would say yes to the above?"... work hasn't really missed a beat.

What's gotten annoying is washing hands and sanitizing constantly and treating everything like its toxic.

[Labster]

Woke up this morning to the sound of a cop yelling, "GET OUT OF THE VEHICLE WITH YOUR HANDS UP.  GET OUT OF THE VEHICLE OR I WILL FUCKING SHOOT YOU!"  Five police cars.  Couldn't have been too bad because the guy drove away afterwards.  Checked in with work, did a couple Zoom meetings with people developing "quarantine mullets".  Then I headed out to Costco, strapped on my N95 mask, and got in the line to enter the store on the opposite side of the building.  Spent $500 on food to squirrel away, and hey, they actually had toilet paper in stock!  Celebration time.  Then went home and watched the drone riots in Michigan.

So, just another day in post-Apocalyptic America.

My mother's hairstylist was supposed to be on a vacation in Japan about now.  Instead, she got stuck here, got sick, and now she's dead.  I have another friend who has the virus and is now recovering after three weeks of being sick.  She thinks the world is overreacting to the Coronavirus and this is all a plot by the vaccine-industrial complex.  Some people I keep as friends just because they make good material for writing characterization, you know?

[Matrix Dragon]

I have another friend who has the virus and is now recovering after three weeks of being sick.  She thinks the world is overreacting to the Coronavirus and this is all a plot by the vaccine-industrial complex.

... Fucks sake...

[robkelk]

...  I have another friend who has the virus and is now recovering after three weeks of being sick.  She thinks the world is overreacting to the Coronavirus and this is all a plot by the vaccine-industrial complex.  ...

You have told her that there's no vaccine, right?

[Black Aeronaut]

Nah, that's why the conspiracy theory. So the companies that make vaccines can supposedly profit off of this. Which is idiotic to think, because developing a vaccine for something like this takes a lot of investment - so much that the companies will be fortunate if they just break even.

[LynnInDenver]

I have another friend who has the virus and is now recovering after three weeks of being sick.  She thinks the world is overreacting to the Coronavirus and this is all a plot by the vaccine-industrial complex.  Some people I keep as friends just because they make good material for writing characterization, you know?

There's a couple of things with that... if you're not listening to health people, who's whole job is to think about these sorts of things... plus, I'm sure when the fallout is over some of the places are going to seriously tighten up what's allowed for exemptions from vaccination mandates at schools (because there is some minor side effects of "don't get sick as bad from other stuff that's not covered"), how's she going to handle that?

And on the flip side, given the circumstances? I'd be seriously reconsidering those sorts of friendships myself, writing characterizations be damned, because I have too many friends that have to rely on herd immunity versus being able to acquire personal immunity that it's pretty much a "so you're basically saying these people must die so that you can have your little 'I don't need to sacrifice on this one because I think it's all a money and power sham'?"

Yeah, my patience for that crap's getting a lot lower lately, partly because while I'm willing to do the right thing and stay the hell home right now to protect others, and it's annoying that everyone else going, "it's not that bad" and "I'm gonna go out and socialize in spite of all the demands to keep my distance" is making this take a lot longer to play out than it should be doing, keeping us from seeing our friends for many more weeks than it would have if they'd listen, and do what's being asked.

[hazard]

Please, pharma companies loath vaccines. Vaccines are expensive to develop and difficult to sell for large amounts of money. While the initiation of a vaccination program requires a large amount of vaccine to be produced, afterwards it only requires minimal upkeep, which makes return on investment hard.

No, you want to make money in as a pharmacological company? Don't sell a vaccine, don't sell a cure either. Customers who buy vaccines and cures don't come back. Sell a treatment that has to be maintained until the day the customer dies, and you'll have a loyal customer who keeps paying.

[Bob Schroeck]

Guys? Move this to the thread in Politics. This thread is strictly for "I'm still alive!" messages.

[Dartz]

The only exercise I'm getting is to the sitzfleisch. Working from home is a killer. Bad enough in the office - but now it's almost impossible to focus.

Jeans are getting tighter. It's not the virus that's weighing down my breathing.

[Bob Schroeck]

Jeans are getting tighter.

Just the opposite for me, weirdly enough. This week I was finally able to fit again into some jeans I bought a few years ago in a fit of enthusiasm after some weight loss and promptly outgrew again.

I haven't figured out what's different enough about my diet that that happened.

[LynnInDenver]

Jeans are getting tighter.

Just the opposite for me, weirdly enough.  This week I was finally able to fit again into some jeans I bought a few years ago in a fit of enthusiasm after some weight loss and promptly outgrew again.

I haven't figured out what's different enough about my diet that that happened.

Less of whatever they add to make the food in a restaurant taste better. Things like extra butter. That, and you might be eating slightly less.

[Dartz]

Yeah.

I fry shit in butter.

But it's more the grazing and shit. And the drinking. And that's not a joke. I'm spending more on sterile alcoholic beverages than I am on food.

But so is everyone.

The bottle banks are overflowing.

[ECSNorway]

I'm with Bob -- my pants are starting to fall off my hips. Getting frankly annoying since I have to have the legs of any new pants I buy taken up. Which naturally I can't do right now.

Just got my final paycheck from the Former Employer.

Went to Walmart myself for groceries -- couldn't get a pickup or delivery slot at Wegmans for love or money, but Walmart had a few open up. They had lines carved out around the front door with ribbons, but nobody was lined up, I saw only a few people coming or going. I pulled around to the pickup lot and all I had to do was pop the trunk, they came out and loaded up the car without issues.

Could not get yeast, pancake syrup, or - no idea why - cabbage. Got lettuce, green onions, yellow onions, celery, and everything else on my list.

[Dragonflight]

I'd love it if I lost weight in all this. But no. I so much as look at food sideways, I gain weight. <sigh>

[Terrenceknight]

Terr here. I'm alive and kicking just went out with my dad and his girlfriend for McDonalds drive thru for breakfast and stopped by the grocery store to pick up my weekly food and blood pressure pills. My biggest complaint was I couldn't get my usual fiber 1 cereal so had to find an alternative. Beyond that I've yet to hardly be affected by the whole social distancing Jazz. My life as a hermit has paid off lemme tell you!

Seriously though I consider myself fortunate that I've hardly been affected by current conditions.

[aku]

Yeah. Right. Still present. ... Weight ... Lost a few pounds in previous weeks. This week, don't think so.

[Labster]

Sorry if I accidentally brought politics into the thread.  To me it's all about observing people and the environment, and how we have all changed.  It's a writers' forum, kinda, and how ordinary people react to a crisis is interesting.

One thing I noticed is the surge in public art projects.  By which I mean that kids are making chalk art on sidewalks, a lot.  I've seen huge mosaic-like drawings, clouds and sunshine, and the occasional Bible blessing etched on the concrete.

The other thing I noticed while walking the dog is that people are friendlier.  They're spending time in their front yards, and wave to you from the porch -- or they're out there gardening.  With a constant sea breeze there's nothing much to worry about at a distance, so you can chat for a moment.  If you can stay at home in suburbia, things aren't really that bad, just a little boring.  A five-year-old boy stopped me today as I walked by his house to tell me how awesome it was that a butterfly made a cocoon on his window.

Everyone seems friendlier except the people working at stores and supermarkets.  They seem tired, irritated, and bossy.  Probably tired of explaining new social rules, as if everyone was a child trying to figure out how to behave at a store for the first time.  Not happy about being first responders, wearing gloves and a mask all day.  They kinda remind me of nurses in normal times.

[Inquisitive Raven]

Jeans are getting tighter. It's not the virus that's weighing down my breathing.

I know this feeling. I've been out of the house three times this past week, the most I've been out since the mayor first issued his shelter-in-place order. Thursday, I went to pick up a couple of orders, one at Staples, and one at Home Depot. The Home Depot is next to Walmart, so I considered doing some shopping there, and then I saw the line. I decided to go home instead.

Friday, I tried to go to the post office:

Having already left the house, I decided that rather than waste the effort, I'd go to a nearby supermarket to get some necessary shopping done. Besides, they have an ATM for my bank and I needed to make a deposit.

Yesterday, I made a point of getting out early enough actually get my package mailed. I  thought about going to Walmart but decided that if the line was anything like it was Thursday, it wouldn't be worth the effort.

I should note here that part of my calculus re: Walmart is based on the fact that the local transit authority has cancelled (I estimate) around 75% percent of its bus routes for the duration of the lockdown and where I used to be able to catch a bus to Walmart less than a block from my home, I now have to walk several blocks. Also, before the transit authority pruned the routes, the buses were carrying few enough passengers for social distancing to work. Now, not so much.

[NifT]

Another week, another check-in.

[Dragonflight]

The Ontario government announced that they feel we've hit the peak. What we don't know yet is how long we have to ride the peak before it starts to decrease. But it doesn't seem to be getting any higher. For anyone who wants a bit of official documentation, I'm attaching today's briefing slides. Because it's just not official enough without slides!

http://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/68...VID-19.pdf

[robkelk]

But it doesn't seem to be getting any higher. For anyone who wants a bit of official documentation, I'm attaching today's briefing slides. Because it's just not official enough without slides!

That is a completely founded and accurate statement, sir.

Oh, yes: I'm still alive.

[Dartz]

I'm not.

Still working. Still breathing. But all signs of life left long ago.

[Star Ranger4]

I'm not.

Still working. Still breathing. But all signs of life left long ago.

Done an Akio Ohtahori on us?

Okay... Everyone be on the lookout for a young child with pink hair.  We need to find her and love her and give her sword lessons.

[LynnInDenver]

Still managing here.

[DHBirr]

No change in status.