Good morning, all!
Saw an interesting comment on Twitter today:
The mostly Asian "countries that fought this pandemic to a standstill were previously 'vaccinated' by SARS and developed health systems and personal habits that mobilized early against SARS-CoV2.
"Countries that never faced SARS have to fight its far deadlier cousin without a primed immune response."
On another note, our regular commenter @JocelynsBellinis has been struggling with sudden-onset pain that appears to have been Corona Virus. You can read more (and send your get well wishes) on yesterday's blog post.
Saw an interesting comment on Twitter today:
The mostly Asian "countries that fought this pandemic to a standstill were previously 'vaccinated' by SARS and developed health systems and personal habits that mobilized early against SARS-CoV2.
"Countries that never faced SARS have to fight its far deadlier cousin without a primed immune response."
On another note, our regular commenter @JocelynsBellinis has been struggling with sudden-onset pain that appears to have been Corona Virus. You can read more (and send your get well wishes) on yesterday's blog post.
Comments
A man who had attended an event with an Indonesian ministry (of the government variety, not the church variety). The man was seen photographed with others in the official photos & the person standing right next to the late acquaintance also tested positive.
Immediately my Father started asking my brother (who's employer arranged for 1:1 drivers to send employees home to their family) what the seating arrangement was like on the journey home (the distance is 1 hour by plane, and he was in a car with the driver the whole time). My brother is a really cool/down-to-earth guy usually never sits at the back when chauffeured said he sat in the back for safe distance. He said it made him feel uncomfortable but he had to do what he had to do.
Now the delivery guys get freaked out when we offer tips. They appear visibly uncomfortable.
So we made a sign (MS Word + Printed) to stick at the gate, that reads:
"DEAR DELIVERY MAN/WOMAN:
Please feel free to leave the package on the porch chairs/table. No need to wait for us to personally come out.
Thank you, stay healthy, and be safe on the road.
-Residents of House #XYZ"
They seem to love it. I'd never dreamt of a day when courier/delivery guys would rather not be tipped. I mean I'm sure they're overflowing with work hours but it's still sad because now being a delivery guy seems like the most dangerous job in the world after healthcare workers.
My dad made me type that sign and tape it at the gate after one deliver guy he received looked shifty/scared when my dad approached him.
They used to be so comfortable around us, they'd help carry heavy purchases like kitty litter/10kg of cat food to the drawing room at least. The mineral water gallon guys/gas might even come in the kitchen. The mineral water didn't even deliver last Saturday. We might have to start drinking boiled tap water if they don't show up next Saturday.
And we're lucky Indonesians with nice tap water you can safely drink (if boiled).
I used to hate answering the door. The sound of the doorbell used to drive me up the wall & irritate me.
Now just the sound of a doorbell and then finding a package of coffee or clingwrap or onions just feels terribly lonely/hollow.
How unnerving to be the only one commenting on a blog about a deadly virus 💔
Sorry but I'm on the other part of the globe, so... my answer is late !
Here for the moment we are all on good health. My brother was scared that he had to continue to work while some people in his firm were ill with covid-19. So he had a video conference with his doctor, and he will be on the medical leave for 15 days.
His doctor thinks we could have a quarantine for another 6 - 8 weeks.
Hello JoecelyneBellini !
I hope you get well soon. I send you a big virtual hug.
I really enjoy learning about life in Indonesia from you - not something that crops up very often here. Your point about the water supply brings home how very fortunate we are in Britain, even though we complain about the high price of water in our region. It went up sharply when work had to be done to keep our beaches clean (the two counties down here are on a peninsula, a significant portion of the national coastline)- the cost so high that the Government finally got round to helping us by paying us a subsidy on our bills.
The local company did allow us to register as `vulnerable' for priority in water deliveries, if a leak in the street meant we were cut off.
What's else is happening in the UK? Hopefully, not a lot now:
As members of the `elderly' contingent, we were expecting to have to isolate ourselves for 12 weeks or so, as everyone else went about their business sensibly.
Not a hope! The sheer bone-headed selfish stupidity of so many people is breathtaking. The weekend weather was lovely, Mothering Sunday as well.
In the past, that was the day in Lent that servants were allowed to leave their employment to visit their families and `mother church'. Now it's a huge commercial thing where one takes more-expensive-than-usual florists' flowers to one's mother, perhaps takes her out for a nice lunch as well. As our parents are dead and we have no children, it passes us by, except for me getting grouchy about how childless women are treated as freaks.
So, despite all official exhortations, hordes of people crowded into parks and onto beaches. It's small wonder that hard-pressed NHS staff have been making TV appeals begging for more consideration.
Now we are all legally locked down, yet there are still non-essential businesses pushing their luck - Sports Direct being one offender that's had to be forced into shutting.
I like your notice for the gate. I'm going to do one as well but shall be adding that we're not taking in parcels for our next-door neighbour. We got very cross a couple of months ago when a deliveryman insisted he need a signature for one of their parcels but they were out - sob story about how he had to take back the depot etc etc, so I relented. He said he'd put a card thro' their door. That was on a Thursday.
Saturday, we hadn't received that week's copy of New Scientist - it usually arrives Friday or Saturday morning.
By Sunday evening, I'd had enough of his large box being in the way, so decided to phone him - he denied getting a card and arrived saying `Oh, I've brought your magazine', as if he was doing us a big favour. The latest it could have been delivered was 36hrs earlier by our v. careless postman.
That showed us we can't trust him to give us our mis-delivered mail, very naughty and un-neighbourly. In future, he can put himself out and collect his stuff from whichever depot it's at.
I'm not surprised neither he nor his wife have asked if they can do anything for us - very wrapped up in their young family.
I'm glad I've now got a good reason to refuse to take his goods in.
I do hope you stay safe and well - keep posting.
Always happy to see your posts. Hope you are well. It so comforting to hear from all over.
Are people still worshipping in the Mosques there?
Our cases here in NC are holding steady, however SC seems to be increasing. I worry for my parents and my brothers are still gading about town.
My morning task is explaining to my 17 year old son, why his "old" parents don't think he should be working at his part-time job at a truck stop right now - for the 4th time.
It's a new job, he isn't particularly fastidious, several immediate family members have breathing problems and his dad is mid-60s and almost died last year from significant medical issues that conspired to create a near-deadly storm, barely managed by antibiotics but not fixable through surgery yet...
He thinks he desperately needs the job to pay his phone bill (most expensive data plan), Xbox membership, netflix membership and some music plan - about $150. I could whack that whole thing down to about $30.
His twin sister is much more reasonable and has already told her pizza job that she won't be working for a few weeks at least...
>>>I'm glad I've now got a good reason to refuse to take his goods in.<<<
Good for you. I would do the same thing. Have a similar neighbor. Hopefully (but rather doubt it) your neighbor will 'get the drift' of why you won't sign for their packages. Besides why expose yourself to handling more packages (with potential germs) than you need to. I would do it for a kind neighbor but not for a jerk.
Thanks for the nice shout-out, Nutty, and thanks for the well-wishes @BlueSky! I'm just going to read along today and post more later tonight. Have a good and safe day.
I hope this link works. Some comic relief from comedian Darren Knight about the virus.
I had to copy and paste.
Since last night we are in a what our prime minister described as an 'intelligent lockdown'. In other words, it is not a lockdown such as was imposed in Italy or Spain, but a lockdown nonetheless. Some shops such as grocery stores and drug stores are still open. Public transportation is still running, although in a limited capacity.
To be honest I would rather have seen a complete lockdown. In the situation we have now I still have to go to work a few days a week by public transportation. As so many trains and buses have been cancelled, the ones that are still running are still quite busy and social distancing is hard.
My son heard today that his final high school exams have been cancelled. He is very disappointed as he worked so hard for his exams and is worried his 'Corona diploma' won't be worth the paper it's printed on later in life.
Also, he is still working in our local supermarket part-time. He cannot quit or take leave as he is part of a 'vital profession' so I am worried he will bring the virus into our home. I make him shower and launder all his clothes the moment he walks in the door lol.
Lockdown Britain and we still have people acting like selfish idiots and being outside with barbecue’s and in groups of more then 2 peeps! 😤
Stay healthy and safe peeps! 🤗
I had to shut my lab down last Friday. I collected our RNA extraction kits to donate to the overwhelmed state lab, and donated our gloves to the hospital, since we won't be using them. We're closed until May, but depending on how things go, it could be extended. My dogs are so confused because I am home all day. Our routine is out the window. I keep seeing people(graduate student-age) not doing social distancing. Their families meet up with other grad student families to play or go for a walk. I don't think people grasp just how serious this thing is.
Some notable changes: The percentage of children testing positive from 0 to 9 years old is now 9, 1% of the total. The number of those positive from 10 to 19 has jumped as well to 3% of the total, or 47. The highest risk segment of our population, those 70 and above, are about 20% of the total diagnosed cases. Many of those contracted the disease on cruise ships, European travel, or in assisted living. Male cases outnumber female cases 57% to 42%
The epicenter of the outbreak remains in two counties in south Florida, Dade County (Miami) and Broward County (Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood).
1,330 positive Floridians, 82 positive non-Floridians, total 1,412 cases, 18 deaths.
Gov. DeSantis issued his geezer shelter-in-place suggestion that those 65 and above and those with preexisting medical conditions stay yo' ass at home for two weeks. SwampMan will no longer be able to wander in and out of hardware stores. They may have to declare bankruptcy. Hope he has enough lumber/wire/etc.
Governor DeSantis is getting lots of grief from people that think he should be waaaay stricter in SHUTTING EVERYTHING DOWN! and more lenient because OMG, HE'S DESTROYING OUR ECONOMY!
But, about half the state doesn't need to be shut down, and the ones that do need to be shut down have their own mayors and county government shutting everything down. This would be ever so much simpler if everybody just sat down and read the emergency operations manual so they would know how this works.
@JocelynsBellinis I posted on the other post but I'll say it here again. Sending prayer out to you for a speedy recovery. And for everyone as well - just in case :)
I have many aunts, uncles, cousins and my immediate family in the healthcare industry so I'm doing triple duty on prayers here. My brother lives in California and he and his partners closed their dentist office for the month of March and April. His wife is a pediatrician who works for Kaiser Permanente and she's still working and I hope is staying healthy. So far their good as of yesterday. My sister lives in Chicago with her family and she got sent home last week with a laptop and instructions to work from home. My other brother lives in Canada and he and his wife are doing well and are staying home from work too. Sigh.
Just stay positive, keep in touch with loved ones, exercise and do fun things at home and pray that this crisis will end soon. Oh and for those that are wondering, Columbia, SC where I live are talking about keeping schools closed until the end of April now. We'll get a confirmation later this week but that's what they're saying on the news.
Please pray.
Except I can't really stay positive anymore after looking at the data.
I am increasingly convinced that this is a giant sh*t sandwich that we're all going to have to eat. The choices appear to be: (A) To save maximum lives, shelter in place for everybody for 8 weeks, few exceptions. We know that isn't going to happen and it will crash the economy even more than it is. Option number two appears to be shut as much down as possible for a couple of weeks to buy as much time as possible for curve flattening which will not be enough, advise people with health conditions or advanced age to stay home, put everybody else back to work, save the economy, and lots of people will die although not as many as option 3. Option number 3 is do nothing, a horrific amount of people including the healthcare people will die, and the economy will crash anyway.
*sigh* I really, really hope that this hydroxychloroquine plus azithromycin treatment works but I realistically know that I damn well better plan for sheltering in place for a prolonged period of time. If I have to leave and go into public, I better take extreme precautions because, looking at the rate of spread and hospital trends, I can't count on being treated. Those of us in rural counties, due to our natural distancing, are doing better than the cities BUT we don't have the health care available.
NYC, due to their population density and their crowded public transportation systems, are in for a world of hurt. Even if nobody in the other states were sick and they got ALL the ventilators, I don't think it would be enough.
CatEyes - I called my mechanic to ask about the car inspection which is not due until April but I was concerned if we were forced to stay inside and I ran out of time. That, they are not worried about in the same way the tax information is now due in July. It is a relief of something to take off the worry list.
Stay healthy. I was reading of havanta virus popping up in China. That's got a high death rate attached (doesn't transmit easily human to human though).
JocelynsB glad you are on the mend. (polio? that's interesting connective thought). MaLissa - I'm sad for your loss. A number of my family are in the healthcare profession.
I haven't been sleeping well so I'm going to try to get some rest. good night
1) https://stanfordmedicine.app.box.com/v/covid19-PPE-1-1 (How to decontaminate virus from your mask safely.) My way is to place it in a paper bag on the porch for 30 days to let all viral particles die, but if you need to do it more quickly, 30 minutes in an oven at 156F can be done. But who wants to possibly spread viral particles throughout their kitchen?
2) https://www.fiercebiotech.com/medtech/fda-authorizes-hand-held-covid-19-diagnostic-test
Thanks! I'm drinking a lot more water as I can get to the bathroom much easier now. I was too tired and sore to cook anything so had a friend drop off some Chinese food from the grocery store deli.Could handle only about 4 bites, but that's a start. Good news is that I finally got some much-needed sleep for about five hours, so things are looking up.
@Scandi, Thanks for the well-wishes. Much appreciated. Stay safe! I love to read your posts about your part of the world.
abbyh, Yeah, I was thinking polio. Strange, huh. I also worried that it was doing permanent damage, especially to my knees and hips. I was thinking about things like knee and hip replacements. It was just the scary thoughts you get when you're alone in the middle of the night and in extreme pain. Much improvement today.
@MaLissa, Thanks! I hope that you and all of your loved ones stay safe and healthy!
The beach is closed to the public here in Northern Oregon, finally, after half of Portland showed up to party here.The decision made town by town. The state actually owns the beach, but the towns own the access points to the beaches, so I guess if somebody parachuted in, they are legal. It's so quiet here! Even the fishing boats that dot the horizon at night with their lights are gone. I'm so thankful for good friends, email and my cell phone!
So pleased to hear you are on the mend.
It must have been very frightening being so sick
on your own, I can’t imagine.
Keep snuggled up, hopefully your appetite returns
soon & you make a swift recovery X
Me too, time difference here in Oz makes it difficult at times
re the blog, everyone is abed in UK, & the States & I’m raring to go!!
We could be the ”Nutty Orphans”
Waifs wandering alone in the twilight zone 😉
Keep safe & keep posting X
Military can be called up to help out statewide or nationwide.
My understanding is federally is somewhere outside of the family member's home state. I feel so bad for New York, but I hope it's not there.😢
I was horrified to read about the elderly people abandoned in aged
care facilities in Spain.
The Army went in & found so many dead & dying, heartbreaking.
I cried when read that. I hope that doesn't happen here.
Quite frankly, I'm frightened.
Here is the link about one person infecting 59k from the DM.
Haven’t seen any more reports apart from Spain asking for help from UN?
It is very frightening. I’m so worried that I can’t fly to UK for my mum if anything
happens to her. She has my sisters, but I’m torn between my husband & kids,
& my Mum. Just awful. International flights banned here, rightly so, but very scary.
I'm so sorry and share your worry. I'm only six hours away from my only child but it feels like a continent due to no travel and sheltering at home. Meanwhile, my elderly parents who are only two hours from me act like this is nothing😳
What can I say that's not trivial? It's dreadful news, even if we'd been half expecting it.
Camilla is, at the moment, negative - that's something to be thankful for.