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OT - surviving pandemic from personal experience (no trolling, PLEASE)

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Because we love, and not only our family and friends, we have agreed to a self-imposed quarantine for the next few weeks. Which is what governments around the world are proposing, of course, and what @thelonelycoder has already reported for us in his thread.

Schools closed for the school year and ramping up as fast as possible to provide instruction via online methods, where and when they can. Here, this is only for the higher learning classes. Elementary and Jr High school students have been effectively 'forgotten', for the time being. With the crush of support needed to get the higher classes set up subsiding, I hope those resources are focused on the lower groups very soon.

Many businesses' affected and doing their best to balance making some income while mostly keeping their employees and customers safe and with some form of income too.

I myself have gone from being an onsite person to doing much more over-the-phone support (where I can). Last Monday I was expecting 4 calls (onsite) from the appointments from last week. There were actually none that transpired. This is down from up to a dozen (onsite) calls in an 18 hour day for me.

Some will make more money from this world-wide situation, some will make less. Some will have bigger worries than either of those scenarios.

Wishing all my online friends here well wishes and keep yourself and your family/friends safe!

There is no need to wait for a government response to act appropriately today; do all you can now. The information needed is easily accessible for all.
 
OzarkEdge said:
70 year old outside the hardware store said he was too old to let some virus control him... a blissfully er... simple view.
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Unaware that this is a very selfish view. Suppose this person needs medical help when infected. as supplies and Hospital beds are limited, would he/she elect to not be treated and be sent to a collective prison like place to die or live trough it? I don't think so.
 
Here is a great story and good humor too.

https://www.tomshardware.com/news/razer-converts-factories-surgical-masks-donate-one-million



The gaming peripheral maker intends to manufacture at least one million surgical masks, which it will donate to frontline healthcare staff around the world.

Tan explained that some of Razer's engineers have been working up to 24 hour shifts to find ways of converting existing manufacturing lines as quickly as possible so that the company can promptly respond to the sudden surge in demand for surgical masks.

It is not known at this time whether Razer's masks will come in black with the Razer logo on them, or whether they will have RGB stitching.
Click to expand...
 
thelonelycoder said:
Unaware that this is a very selfish view. Suppose this person needs medical help when infected. as supplies and Hospital beds are limited, would he/she elect to not be treated and be sent to a collective prison like place to die or live trough it? I don't think so.
Click to expand...

I don't think one can be unaware and selfish, both. Being selfish requires intent, at least from poor habit. I think his view is more unaware, intellectually light... simple. Like everyone, he is a product of his community and life experience. He is not being selfish... he doesn't realize enough to be selfish, or he may simply be resigned and not anticipating the consequences he may present to others around him. We don't all think and act alike and this doesn't necessarily mean that those who think differently have ulterior motives or bad intent. Pretty normal, actually.

Let's not forget... I was outside that hardware store, too. Perhaps I had a different or 'better' justification for being there... but I was still there no less than he was. And his expressed view could have been more tongue and cheek in the moment than how he really felt about the crisis descending on us. His is likely not the first c'est la vie attitude to surface in a time of great gloom and doom. We all must cope as best we can.

OE
 
When SARS hit, things got really bad, really fast. It was a terrifying time and I remember thinking how as scary as it was, at the very least we would learn some lessons and be better prepared the next time another epidemic hit. Which, as history shows, was bound to happen.

Guess not everyone bothers with history thou.:(
 
This is therapeutic, airing our concerns and grievances like this. We can see in doing so that it’s not just us.
One of my takeaways is that people aren’t so blind to or blasé about how little our voices matter in some cases to “the powers that be,” or our elected officials, and we may have been too permissive with or lackadaisical about the steps they’ve taken to secure themselves rather than the whole of the planet. This may be a tipping point; we may be on the cusp of changing how things work. The question is, though: how do we nudge things in that direction, if we’re inclined to bring about changes?
Me, I bought bitcoin as a hedge against the system collapsing or being made unfriendly to people. Some horde toilet paper, some have bug-out plans, some continue blissfully along in the hope that things will work out for them.
Things could get really bad, or we could all just start being kind and caring and exercise grace rather succumbing to mob mentality and the more base aspects of human nature. It’s early days still, so wait and watch to see how things start to evolve.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
heysoundude said:
This is therapeutic, airing our concerns and grievances like this. We can see in doing so that it’s not just us.
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Amen, bruthuh! :D

I was thinking I killed the thread, then I came over here to check. Thanks everyone, it is wonderful getting others personal perspective, since we are a friendly supportive bunch of enthusiasts here and this is "event" is truly worldwide, as it this forum.
 
I think that folks will get more caring and more effort would be put into changing how things work. For awhile at least. Before long, it’ll go back to “business as usual”.

Sorry for being such a downer.
 
@heysoundude the question 'how do we nudge things in that direction' is always the same. Be the change. Do as you would like done. Don't wait for the 'right thing' to be popular. Vote with your actions which are much faster and effective than any political system is capable to be.

While I don't understand how bitcoin could be a hedge against the system collapsing in any applicable way, to each their own. We all must do what we feel is in our best interests. And then proceed accordingly.

I also don't believe it will be any, one (single) solution to these types of problems either. Flexibility is the key to survival. Not being rigid and unwieldy.

I like to think that I am always currently operating and acting on 'best practices' based on the information we know 'now'. This allows me to focus on correcting inaccurate thinking rather than simply being 'wrong' again. But as said above, history has a habit of slipping away from front-of-mind thinking and sooner or later, eventually, the same mistakes are made. Hopefully, for less time than before, I hope. :)
 
My wife and I were in Hawaii for a long planned vacation with her family. We were supposed to go on a 7-day cruise, stopping at several ports of the islands, but NCL canceled the morning after we landed in HNL (good decision on their part!). We booked Airbnb house in remote area of Maui for nights and villa on North Shore of Oahu for another two nights to replace cruise, but we wound up bailing and flying home directly from Maui (rather than returning to Oahu) after three nights in Maui -- too much "rumint" about potential issues including restrictions on domestic flights over three hours. Things appeared degrade by the hour as we heard news bits while partially off the grid. We are now safely home in self-quarantine after 22 hours of traveling from the time we left house in Maui until we reached home.
 
I feel fortunate to live here in Quebec. Our government started taking measures fairly early on, and so far our infection rate is still under control. There's been an increase this week, but in large part due to the increased testing capacity we are getting implemented (they are shooting at 5000 tests a day by tomorrow if I recall).

Mind you, they say that the isolation measures they are currently implementing here can take about 12 days before the (positive?) impact can be truly felt. We started getting them gradually implemented last Thursday, with new ones being added on an almost daily basis. Local population has generally been great at answering the call. When our PM asked during a press conference for any volunteer with a medical background (retired nurses and the likes) to come forward and help, within 24 hours they received over 7000 resumes of candidates willing to help (this is out of a population of about 30M 8M in Quebec). Such things are heart warming in what is otherwise a fairly dark period.

https://www.lapresse.ca/covid-19/20...d-19-au-quebec-et-au-canada-en-graphiques.php

Our Canadian government has been a bit more sluggish in general, but that might be in part because a lot of related things (like the healthcare system) is the responsibility of the provincial government, not the federal one. But they've come forward in providing financial support for those who will need it, and finally partially closing down our borders (could have come a bit earlier tho).


Personally on the professional side, things have been fairly busy for me this past week, with many customers requiring my help to get set up for remote work for their employees. Things will probably become very quiet starting next week, but financially I'm in a good position to weather the storm, having no major recurring expenses (as I already work out from home, so no office or employees to support).

Not always easy to keep our spirit up during this crisis, but so far I'm thankful that I'm too busy to really be able to stop and start worrying about what may come next.

And while I didn't stockpile any toilet paper, I got enough to get me through a few weeks, by which time I'm pretty sure stores will already be restocked. :)
 
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I was very torn about our trip before leaving home. If it had not been for my 82 year old father-in-law and 79 year old mother-in-law, who insisted that they were still going, I would have opted to stay home. This was pretty much their "last hurrah" as he in particular has failed significantly over the past year -- they wanted one last memorable vacation with the entire family -- three generations. Well, it will certainly won't be forgotten for years, maybe decades! Definitely a few unforgettable moments among all of the chaos!
 
@visortgw, I have almost never regretted doing certain things at least 'once'.

But, I have regretted not doing some things. Late last year, my best friend passed away very suddenly. The last words we said to each other was him telling me to 'come for a coffee', whenever I wanted. I didn't, because I didn't want his family to catch whatever I had back then (the flu). He was gone less than a week later and truthfully, I am still in shock today whenever I think of him (and I often do).

How I wish I had gone for that 'coffee today! But the many memories of our friendship are sweet and fresh, even now. Even if the same ones make me smile or tear up, depending on the time of day.

Cherish those memories made with all of the three generations together. Tell the young ones the stories over and over again and they will do the same with their kids, and their grandchildren too. It seems like such a simple thing, but it is a simple and powerful way to keep all the ones that 'were', still 'here' with us.
 
Reporting from Seattle here. Very surreal being in an “epicenter" and seeing the photo of the nursing home in Kirkland that I have driven past many times. It is less that 20 minutes from here. My 89 yo mother-in-law is in a different nursing home about halfway between my location and Kirkland. Her nursing home went from only allowing one visitor per patient per day 4 days ago to no visitors at all now. This is extremely hard on my wife as her mom is on the second floor and there is no option of looking through the window as some news sites have shown. There is no more opportunity to know her condition at all. Strange times. I have hope though and as Red said in The Shawshank Redemption, "Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things and no good thing ever dies."
 
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Butterfly Bones said:
This is almost exactly what is happening in California now. Only essential services open, limited grocery and essential retail stores, Walmart. Costco, Target. All bars, restaurants closed - those with full kitchen service can offer pick up or delivery. Retail shops all closed.

Tonight begins a "shelter at home" guideline, outdoor use, hiking, biking, is OK, just maintain "social distancing". Liquor stores and cannabis stored seeing brisk business, with "social distancing" tactics, like limiting a few customers at a time or delivery / or a pickup window.
Click to expand...
"Shelter at home" is a Northern California thing so far. Orange County so far has only closed movie theaters, bars, gyms & health clubs, and closed all on-site dining areas - places that didn't do takeout are now figuring out how to do that. Most retail stores are open. Pretty mostly all businesses that are not open to the public (like where I work) are open and running full tilt.

Just for reference for those unfamiliar with California, I live a bit south of LAX, so I'm ~200 miles south of @Butterfly Bones. California is 770 miles (1,240 km) from north to south, or roughly the distance from London to Madrid. We have a saying - the difference between an American and a Brit is the American thinks 200 years is a long time, and the Brit thinks 200 miles is a long distance!
 
Reality check... California just ordered state-wide lockdown (40 million); half the population (22 million) could be infected in 8 weeks.

Carry on.

OE
 
cmkelley said:
"Shelter at home" is a Northern California thing so far.
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Those of us in central California, and I use coastal here to distinguish from the Central Valley, were there is much agriculture but in the summer it get to be 100-120 (F) and sticky humid, whereas I am only 15 miles from the Pacific and almost exactly halfway between SF and LA downtown's.

We are in "shelter at home", only restaurants for take out and delivery, no on site eating. For downtown with minimal parking they set aside 3-4 parking spaces, bag the meter and only allow short term parking when an employee brings food out of the restaurant for delivery, theaters, gyms, all closed, all retail without food closed. Auto sales closed. Grocery, drug. liquor stores open, Costco, Target, open. Yes, all business that do not deal directly with public are open. Park are open, hiking, biking, walking, walking the dog, are OK, just maintain "social distance". Buses still run but limited times and "social distance" watched, hand sanitizer at all entrances.
 
Similar situation to most areas described. In Ontario Canada. Decided to essentially lock ourselves in for as long as possible. Should be able to go at least 3 weeks. Unfortunately live in a high-rise apartment so reasonably likely someone here will be infected.

Very fortunate to be retired so no need to go out except for food restocking.

I think the Canadian government has done a pretty good job so far all things considered. We will see how things here and around the world hold together the next few weeks / months.

At least the worst seems to have passed in the places that were hit hard initially.

Take care all of you and please remember to be socially responsible! It isn't just *your* safety, you don't want to put others at risk.
 
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