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Post by Rune Lai on Mar 13, 2020 12:37:25 GMT -5
Hope everyone's staying safe. I just got the notification from work that they're sending home all staff who are able to work remotely (of which I am one). I'm in L.A. County, which has reported a number of cases. As you may have heard, even Disneyland closed down. No one I know is infected. Work is just being cautious, which fair enough.
People are panic buying stuff, but at least around my neighborhood people are still in good spirits. I was already well stocked up on non-perishable food and supplies, but I realized I was out of fresh chicken yesterday and decided to a "quick" run so I could freeze some for later. I was stuck in line for about 20 min just to use the self-checkout, but everyone there was talking and generally being nice to each other. And now I've got 4 pounds of chicken which I'll eat some of and then freeze before it expires. I should be able to last a month off current supplies. (I live in earthquake country, so keeping a small hoard of emergency supplies is considered good practice, which is why I didn't really need to panic buy anything. If it came to it, I could've skipped the chicken. But having running utilities is not something you expect following a massive earthquake so having fresh/frozen chicken is not something I expected I would want.)
My family's pretty well prepared stocked on food and supplies too. My brother and I are mostly worried about our dad since he's in his 70s so he's in the danger zone if he gets infected. We managed to convince him to stop going to the gym and to church, and he's an introvert so he should be fine puttering around at home most of the day. (And walks are still fine as long as he keeps distance and cleans hands when he comes home.) It'll be rougher on our stepmom since she's an extrovert and she'll probably go stir crazy.
I don't know how long this will go on, but hopefully things get better soon. I have a writing conference scheduled for May and the organizers aren't sure whether it can go on or not. It's still two and a half months out, and they can't cancel right now without losing all their money, which is rough since it's a non-profit.
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Post by skylark on Mar 13, 2020 14:36:36 GMT -5
Damn. I live in Lakewood, which is about 20-40 miles away from Seattle. A little farther from 'ground zero', but close enough to be worried. Luckily, me and my mom are introverts, so hopefully this will pass us like a bad fart.
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Post by Solana on Mar 13, 2020 15:29:45 GMT -5
The university I work for extended spring break and is trying to do virtual classes. The researchers are asking lots of questions. We who care for the animals are considered essential staff, and are probably in the safest part of campus. (We work two levels underground.)
The hardest part has been getting the PPE, personal protective equipment. All of our face masks are reserved for those who work with NHP's (non-human primates) and some special guinea pigs since guinea pigs can catch human respiratory illnesses. It was unnerving to walk into my biohazard animal room with a bare face the first time. Luckily, we do have PAPRs, respirators, which we can use in other areas. They're also looking at buying dishwashing gloves for areas like assembling cages or handling clean parts. They've also told us to use gloves "wisely", which makes me a bit nervous.
I also have a trip planned to my beloved Atlantis the first week in May to celebrate getting my certification and surviving another holiday season. But I haven't heard anything about it hitting the Caribbean yet, so... (shrugs).
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Post by Ambrienne on Mar 13, 2020 16:41:47 GMT -5
I've got, pretty much, a month's worth of food myself, though the reason I got it wasn't panic buying. I just started on Nutrisystem (today, actually, since it arrived here midday yesterday). I only had to do some shopping today myself to make sure I had enough 'power fuels' and veggies to supplement. I don't understand why anyone ever starts these diets and doesn't follow through. Do they like wasting their money? I know I don't.
My own grocery trip wasn't all that quick myself (the shopping part was). Sure, there was a little bit of a wait, but the funny part was my checker got distracted and bagged all but three of my items without scanning them. I had to tell her there was no way that total was right. ^^; But yeah, people in my area are staying pretty pleasant, too. I saw one guy in another line letting other people with fewer items go ahead of him.
According to my pastor's definition of the 'most introverted person', I'd have to go out and meet 50 plus people to qualify for that. So... Yeah, I'm not stopping with church (it's very small, and we're doing elbow bumps now instead of hugs/hand holding). I'm only going out when I have to, which is not that much. And given that eating out is just not a thing for me right now with the diet, I'm not even coming within sight of that many people when I do leave the house.
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Post by Roas on Mar 13, 2020 19:16:37 GMT -5
Please please please do not give into the panic the media has hyped up. Take this seriously, but please do not go over board. If there are cases in your area, then be safe, but remember that most of those who have died here in the states were quite elderly and already had under lying conditions. And since I have first hand knowledge that senior care facilities are pest holes staffed by 3rd worlders who do not adhere to the same levels of hygene that the West does, it is not a surprise that is where people died. Trust me...I could tell you horror stories.
The world is not ending. Millions are not going to die. If people just stop being careless and follow the instructions that are being given out, this will burn itself out soon enough and next year we all get coronovirus vaccines along with our flu shots.
Now, since I lived in NYC for a time, I already considered the world a giant peetree dish over flowing with contamination. So congratulations, world, you now look at door knobs, shopping carts, gas pumps, touch pads and general surfaces the way I have for half my life, now. I've been the king of hand washing for 20 years, and I don't believe in hand sanitizers...scam, imho. Just wash your fucking hands a few times. I'm not going to wear a face mask...that's going into the overboard territory for me. Though, I am wearing gloves, because some dick hole in Reston who knew he was near infected didn't care and went to a country club up there, so that's close enough to me to at least take that precaution.
Still, I have not changed anything in my habits. I go shopping. I do my usual shop. I go home. Frankly, I was pissed because I usually buy 3 water packages at Costco every other week, and they limited me to two. I got my regular package of TP, regular package of paper towels, and I already had tissues.
Again, I beg everyone to lean on the side of sanity and logic and not panic and chaos. Be cautious and respectful of the situation, but don't lose your mind and go crazy like the rest of the sheeple out there.
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Post by Solana on Mar 14, 2020 10:43:05 GMT -5
remember that most of those who have died here in the states were quite elderly and already had under lying conditions. (Raises hand as one who has underlying conditions. A few of them.) I've seen it repeatedly stated that face masks won't help if you're healthy. I think my favorite handwashing meme is doing it long enough to recite Team Rocket's speech. Honestly, the thing I'm worried most about for myself is my health insurance. A friend of mine lost his part-time job at the hotel, and we're just not sure what the university is going to do. I'm also single and it's difficult getting health insurance with my diagnoses and meds. Also, my mom worked in a nursing home for many years who highly respected and enjoyed working with her Kenyan coworkers, and I have a number of coworkers from 3rd world countries. Our mice are specific pathogen free and we have to keep them that way with strict hygiene practices. Two of them have the highest seniority of all of us (managers included), Firew is pretty high up, and Run just retired after being the king of the cage washing area. (He had just turned seventy and had never wanted to retire, just worked to interact with us and keep his mind sharp and working.)
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Post by northlander on Mar 14, 2020 12:25:53 GMT -5
You're supposed to use face masks when you're actually sick, mostly to stop spreads of viruses or something when you sneeze, cough... or well, just breathe in general. If you're wearing one when you aren't, it's not going to do crap if someone who IS sick sneeze on you.
As for over here, we have had our first Covid-related death, maybe even more than one. At work, there has been some precautions taken, like all inside doors being open (except the ones to the toilets), and the work cantina is now closed for anyone not working there. (You could usually bring family, or you could come there if you HAVE worked there, but are now retired.)
But yeah, stay safe, but don't go overboard.
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Post by Rune Lai on Mar 14, 2020 13:41:59 GMT -5
Yeah, there's practicality and people going crazy. I still don't understand the buying out shelves of toilet paper (because that helps how?), or the masks since those are to prevent other people from getting what you got. But the stuff we're buying in stores today was manufactured weeks ago, so there's more already on the way, because that's just part of the normal distribution process. The panic buying shortages are momentary. Not everyone in the county is being quarantined and it's not mandatory. It's just being cautious until the virus is better understood.
I feel sorry for restaurant and entertainment venues though, since being cautious is putting a lot of those places under duress while people are staying away from crowds. There's a mom and pop bakery I like that's a bit of a drive from me so I rarely go, but I'm thinking of making a special trip to see how they're doing.
All the measures now are to make sure the hospitals are not flooded with vulnerable patients all at the same time. (The less fragile ones can ride out the virus at home under self-isolation.) The virus will spread around like viruses do, but if we slow the transmission, then hospitals will be able to handle the patient load and people will have adequate number of staff to care for them. And the longer this goes on, the more details we'll have on transmission and treatment. Once we know more, then a lot of these cautionary measures will lift, people will go back to work, and schools will go back in session.
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Post by Roas on Mar 17, 2020 13:10:10 GMT -5
You know what I realized last night?
I basically had this shit 4 years ago when I was in China.
It was clearly not COVID-19, since it was born in a lab, but I had something in this virus family 4 years go. A natural strain, I'd say. I had all the symptoms people are describing and how it progressed. Damn thing did nearly kill me one night when I went into the equivalent of anaphylactic shock and couldn't breath along side a full upper body muscle spasm that was some of the worst pain in my life. And it knocked me on my ass for 2 weeks, then it was basically a year before I was fully recovered. Course, I also had severe foot injury at the time, but still, it was vicious.
So yeah, continue to take it seriously, but also continue not to freak out. A good thing to do is check your local health agencies for updates of patients and what risk your area is in.
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Post by skylark on Mar 17, 2020 17:42:58 GMT -5
You know what I realized last night? I basically had this shit 4 years ago when I was in China. It was clearly not COVID-19, since it was born in a lab, but I had something in this virus family 4 years go. A natural strain, I'd say. I had all the symptoms people are describing and how it progressed. Damn thing did nearly kill me one night when I went into the equivalent of anaphylactic shock and couldn't breath along side a full upper body muscle spasm that was some of the worst pain in my life. And it knocked me on my ass for 2 weeks, then it was basically a year before I was fully recovered. Course, I also had severe foot injury at the time, but still, it was vicious. So yeah, continue to take it seriously, but also continue not to freak out. A good thing to do is check your local health agencies for updates of patients and what risk your area is in. *opens mouth, reads post, then closes it* Thank you, Roas. I now have one rant saved for later.
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Post by Rune Lai on Mar 17, 2020 21:24:15 GMT -5
Day two of working remotely wrapped up today. I'm surprisingly busy. My coworker thought he'd have more dead time working at home, but no. Still got a job to do, and while some things are moving a bit slower since it's not possible to run over to another person's desk, there's still work.
It's not just my office, but our developers, our external contractors. We work with people internationally and it seems like no matter where they live, people are working from home. At least software development allows it. Of course other aspects of the business are tanking, because they're not software development, and some people are being sent home just to stay home (thankfully paid), but the company as a whole is expected to ride it out.
I made a big chicken casserole with the chicken I'd bought (and froze the rest), and that should be dinner for most of the week. Thinking of making scrambled egg muffins a day or two for a series of brunches. That should use up most of my perishables, barring a little milk and cheese.
Restaurants are closed around here barring take-out, and grocery stores are open for reduced hours to allow more time for staff to restock. I'm still good for a while though and I plan to stay away so people who are running out sooner can start buying things as the panic trickles off.
It's not as strict in LA as it is around San Francisco though. My friend there says they have to "shelter in place" now, so they are not supposed to leave home unless it's absolutely essential (like they work in a critical service job, or they need to buy food, seek medical care, etc). I can still wander around if I want to. I'm just not. Mostly because I've been working just like it's a normal day and I'm tired after a full day of it.
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Post by Roas on Mar 17, 2020 21:47:46 GMT -5
I pulled a total Alpha move today in Costco while waiting in line to check out. Two dudes were starting to argue about line cutting, and when there was a pause I just said "Let's all calm down. We're all going to get there eventually. No need to freak out." One dude turns to look back at me with a half smile and goes, "Yeah, you're right." No one complained about line cutting after that Fascinating how easily people let the smallest shit escalate because of the overall stress of the situation. Wish I could stay home right now, but I gotta play shuttle and take my mom to work across town because A) she doesn't do well normally when it comes to going someplace new. Total panic mode with unknown directions as opposed to my partial photographic memory, B) side effect of her eye surgery a few years ago has her left eye going nuts in direct sunlight and types of glare, so until she can get it fixed in May, the safest thing is for me to drive her if it's a middle of the day client. On the bright side, maybe Apple will end up buying Disney and fire everybody. Bunch of no talent hacks.
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Post by Rune Lai on Mar 20, 2020 15:04:52 GMT -5
Dude, I know Disney's not perfect, but that's the company I work for, the one that's paying everyone they're sending home who can't work during the current crisis. All those thousands of theme park employees? They're being paid just as if they were working, even though the parks are completely shut down. Disney's pockets are deep enough that no one's being let go, not even the part-timers. As far as employers go during this situation, Disney's being good about looking after its people. I know you probably weren't thinking about me when you said you hoped Apple would buy Disney and fire everyone (you may have even forgotten I work there), but there are a lot of people at Disney who have nothing to do with your particular grievances. If you want to name names at Disney feel free, I might privately have opinions of my own, but 99% of us have nothing to do with movies or various property acquisitions.
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Post by Roas on Mar 20, 2020 16:56:56 GMT -5
Dude, I know Disney's not perfect, but that's the company I work for, the one that's paying everyone they're sending home who can't work during the current crisis. All those thousands of theme park employees? They're being paid just as if they were working, even though the parks are completely shut down. Disney's pockets are deep enough that no one's being let go, not even the part-timers. As far as employers go during this situation, Disney's being good about looking after its people. I know you probably weren't thinking about me when you said you hoped Apple would buy Disney and fire everyone (you may have even forgotten I work there), but there are a lot of people at Disney who have nothing to do with your particular grievances. If you want to name names at Disney feel free, I might privately have opinions of my own, but 99% of us have nothing to do with movies or various property acquisitions. Well, consider me sorry for saying that in that fashion. I honestly didn't know you worked there. I must have missed that along the way. I admit I don't read everything that everyone posts. I don't think any of us do. But in my defense when I say fire everyone, logic must dictate that I didn't mean every single employee that exists in the organization. Come on. I can be a grumpy asshole, but I'm not a malignant one. That kinda of general antagonism I have is for the swash of executives across the board who have run entertainment into the the ground. Of course I don't want you or normal people to lose their jobs, but all those execs can go to hell for the damage they have done and are doing to entertainment as a whole. Doing the right thing to take care of employees in this time of crisis does not excuse executives for being bad at their jobs. So, again, I apologize for obviously offending you since you are a Disney employee, which means you have a right to fire back at me. But I will hold to my belief that Disney has become a blight on entertainment. They own too much. Control too much. Try to force us to like it all because they want to appease the Twitter Blue Check Mark brigade. If there is one thing I've become aware of in the past few weeks, even before this pandemic started, which sorta steers this back on topic, is that I'm tired of pretending to agree or hide my opinions on things. I still believe that politics has no place in entertainment discussions or general discussions to begin with. Politics should be kept out of everything, because in the end political opinions should have nothing to do with how we talk to each other. But as far as everything else goes I believe in being honest and not holding back just to be nice about a topic. Once upon a time the world was tougher and could have conversations where we didn't all agree on things, could bitch at each other, but in the end put it all to bed despite that and move on to the next topic still all friends. To keep this on COVID-19 related, that is one thing I've seen as a fall out to all of this. The phony nature of how some people are talking to the public about all this is terrible. How fucking ridiculous is it for a bunch of so called celebrities, at least half of whom I cannot even name, to go out and sing Imagine to everyone over Twitter like it's an uplifting thing? How stupid was that? That's besides the fact that I think John Lennon sucked as did his music, but come on! Morons! Gal Gadot! You're hot, and Wonder Woman was an okay movie...but you are a fucking idiot! Like it or not, the COVID-19 pandemic is about to change the stupid and over the top so called norms that were created and have been forced upon all of us for the past decade. When we all come out of this, we're all going to be tougher and smarter for it. Tough enough and smart enough to be able to be honest about things and not pretend for the sake of not making waves. I believe things are going to shift, and the world will realize it has to go back to being normal and not insane. The world will come out of this being more honest with itself and realizing that acting phony does a disservice to everyone. One thing to come out of all of this: I'm done being phony, if I ever really was.
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Post by Solana on Mar 21, 2020 13:10:47 GMT -5
Hey, Rune, I didn't realize you work for Disney. That's pretty cool. I see that they're doing more publishing things, and as a contributor to getting one of my favorite series (The Waterfire Saga) to me, I thank you most heartily for that. Research goes on at my university, though with it being officially 'closed', they're bumping up our pay for essential staff. We've had a few coronavirus breakthroughs with medications already approved for other diseases (HIV, high blood pressure, and E. bola, if memory serves) which also speeds up the process considerably. However, non-related and non-essential research is slowing down, which has meant a LOT of euthanizing. The workload lightened up, but it's still difficult. I also hate doing it, especially the more than a few cages that one of the labs has me do in biohazard, but I knew that was going to be a thing going into my field. We were all admiring some of the orange colored mice, and maybe a cage of them got saved for training. Maybe. I didn't see anything.
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