Mostly Apolitical Thread for Discussing/Venting our Rational/Irrational COVID-19 Fears and Experiences in 2020

nice, hope you are safe Simon, sounds like you are

went to the safeway for the first time in quite a while today. they made me put my cloth bags in a basket outside the door (told me I could take the basket outside and bag them myself outside the store), and made me use hand sanitizer before I went in. the aisles were wide and there were not many people there, which was nice. I got a lot of what I have been needing, but I was disappointed at how low the stock was in produce, and I couldn’t find any of the staples I wanted - flour, rice, beans, pasta

REALLY puts the challenges of 2 metre #PhysicalDistancing into perspective in cities, and shows why we need to create more space. Well done @theurbangeog. #COVID19 pic.twitter.com/oS2CWw0Tx2

— Brent Toderian (@BrentToderian) April 13, 2020

i love how the guy has somehow morphed the challenge of staying 6 feet away from people to a challenge to stay 6 feet away from any object in any direction

of course he's in fuckin toronto

Oh Eamonnpaws...

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2020/apr/13/eamonn-holmes-says-5g-coronavirus-claims-may-not-be-false

He added: “That’s all I would say, as someone with an inquiring mind.”

TEACH THE CONTROVERSY

Fuck me that makes me angry. Instant firing is the only acceptable next step. Our very existence is threatened by people’s without a single braincell, much less any actual knowledge or evidence saying ‘makes you think’ without any evidence of thinking.

Perhaps we can reserve the ventilators for people who deserve it and a course of leeches for these fuckwits.

Firing Eamonn immediately after coming out with that bollocks would feed straight into the conspiracy imo. best hope is related public ridicule

It's fair to say that public ridicule has had no effect on Eamonn Holmes so far in his career.

I ordered a couple of CDs on Amazon - cheap stuff, only like £8 for the pair - which have never arrived and which Amazon have offered to refund me for, however I'd really prefer to have the CDs. Anyway, the original seller suggested I contact Royal Mail because the CDs had definitely been posted on 30th March. Now, whatever you may do in life, do not try to go on the Royal Mail website and make any sort of attempt to find what happened to any lost mail - you will get trapped in a loop which is specially designed to stop you making any attempt to find out what happened to lost mail. I'm currently on my 24th minute of trying to get through to their call centre and about to chuck it.

Can we at least give him a course of leaches on live TV?

We haven't had more than a smattering of mail in 2 weeks (in London N4 so quite near you I think). We did need a letter urgently a week or two ago so actually went to the sorting office and managed to get it (bumped into our friendly postie there which helped, who told us there were mega backlogs/staff shortages). So you could try that, it's probably sitting in a nook along with a load more mail that can't be delivered.
Royal Mail website is appalling yes, better to track down any pages you might need on it via Google ime.

xpost

I notice our local delivery office is closed for the duration. Anyway, I'll just take the money, I've got enough music to listen to! I just hate these corporate websites designed to drive you more insane than you already are.

Yeah, I think it's time to stop, or at least radically reduce, online orders right now. As a physical media fiend it pains me to say this, but yeah, I've also got enough to listen to/watch/read.

I did make the order, let me see... nearly 3 weeks ago! tbf to yrs truly.

xp same feeling... lots of stuff I want to order (Warner Archive brought back their 4 for $44 deal again this weekend) but feeling guilty about postal workers who have to risk their lives so I could get some blu-rays or CDs or headphones or video games or whatever

I haven't heard anything about contagiousness of corpse after death though it did occur to me when I was hearing my dad's body was being transported across the country. He didn't have the virus, just died at a time when I thought doing things like transporting bodies might be problematic.
May be truer at the time of cholera or typhoid or something when the corpse does remain contagious.
So unsure about how much danger an undertaker would be in.
Assume taht a dead body is neither coughing nor sneezing so unable to transfer virus taht way but not sure if there are any elements of transfer I wouldn't be thinking of. Just know that just because a body is dead doesn't mean it's in a vacuum so may be able to spread some stuff.
& if you're having to do up a dead body so that it can have an open casket viewing not sure what you would be coming i contact with through that process.

But of course it wouldn't necessarily be the body itself that had the virus or at least not the only thing that had. If it died of it it must have had a point of contact that it caught from and that might well be shared with others who would be involved in teh funerary process.
& it's a trying job anyway.

Also as we move into hotter weather , has anything been said about mosquitoes or anything as a possible vector. Hate to find being bitten by something that had recently bit a carrier might lead to some complications.

I tell you what, Tracer Hand and stet's description of losing sense of taste or of stuff just tasting unpleasant has left me very wary of, for instance, this bowl of soup I'm eating right now.

Following up a long post from three or four days ago, the non-stop tinnitus I had for two weeks subsided a couple of days ago. The throat scratchiness too, although that was so mild, I'm not sure I trust my judgement there. Anyway, even though I figure the chance was very small, and that pretty much everyone has probably spent time constructing the same kind of scenario for themselves, I think there's a credible case I was an asymptomatic carrier for a couple of weeks. The timeline, too, would work, if I go back two weeks for carrying it and then another two weeks for incubation (the limit, and supposedly not common--usually it's only a few days). That'd take me back to March 14th or so, the last weekend I was still pretty casual about stopping in a restaurant or for coffee. I certainly won't change any of the things I'm doing and not doing now, though, on such a remote possibility.

A round of amoxycillin did a good job mediating my sore throat and shortness of breath so I'm taking that as a win.

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand now dad's in the hospital. he's had balance issues and his knee is shit, and can't afford the physical therapy, and he fell in the fuckin' shower and hit his head. we can't visit cos of COVID.

now thinking of staying with the folks for a while. none of us leave the house, we all have masks, but also my mother cannot physically lift him if this happens again and she can't deal with it alone. and lord knows I have nowhere to go for a while.

i'm ok but i can already feel the stress and fear brewing.

sorry man. that sucks.
even if it's unclear when the moment of clearance is coming, we are closer to being done with COVID everyday. this is gonna pass.

best wishes to your dad, Neanderthal, and to you and your mum too

Thank you both

that is very very hard stuff, i’m so sorry for that trial, neanderthal. take all the care you can.

best wishes, Neanderthal. That's a lot to take on.

Regarding the slowing down of physical media mentioned upthread, I'm of two minds. On the one hand, yes, obviously these are far from essential items that should be pushed back in favor of essential items delivery. That said, I am bombarded daily with requests from bookstores, record stores and indie labels telling me that the best way to support them is to order direct from them to keep them going. So I have done some physical media ordering.

I bought a couple books from both a local and a Michigan bookstore I want to support, then ordered a couple CDs from Reckless Records (my usual weekly stop) to keep helping them out. I've also ordered some stuff from Trouble In Mind and Riding Easy labels. Everything has come a little slower than usual (except the Trouble In Mind package came in two day!). So I'm torn between not wanting to add to the system right now, but also wanting to support shops and labels.

Interestingly enough, the only shipping delay I've encountered was for an album I pre-ordered back in February. The label (Astral Spirits) shipped it to me on March 20th, but since March 25th it's been sitting in the USPS system as "in transit to the next destination". It's clearly not the label's fault so I'm not gonna bug them, but I'm not sure I feel good about inquiring with the USPS right now either. Guess I'll just wait and hope it shows up someday.

Sending good vibes Neanderthal!

Regarding the slowing down of physical media mentioned upthread, I'm of two minds. On the one hand, yes, obviously these are far from essential items that should be pushed back in favor of essential items delivery. That said, I am bombarded daily with requests from bookstores, record stores and indie labels telling me that the best way to support them is to order direct from them to keep them going. So I have done some physical media ordering.

Last time this came up someone answered "go digital". In purely moral terms I think that's correct, much as it pains me aesthetically.

I've done some of that as well, especially labels. But digital doesn't do anything to help local bookstores and record stores that I'd also like to help support. I've bought a couple of gift certificates to use (very hopefully) in the future, but it's tough to delay that gratification, esp when I have more open time to spend.

I was dumb/unlucky enough to order a CD from fucking Japan right before the world shut down. It was supposed to have hit my PO box sometime between March 20 and last Monday, but I haven't seen it yet.

This is obvious to say really, but there's a difference between directly ordering from stores & labels and ordering through a place like Amazon that is clearly abusing its workforce.

Of course, it's more from the perspective of not overwhelming the delivery system with non-essential goods - that's where I was coming from.

I would further say that there's an ethical difference between delivery via USPS and via other delivery providers.

Where I live, the USPS mail carrier has to go to every house no matter what.

Most days it's just junk, but it's comparatively little extra burden for him or her to bring me something that I've actually ordered and actually want.

If I don't have a UPS or FedEx package coming on a particular day, the FedEx or UPS delivery person doesn't have to come to my house.

From this I guess the ethical thing to do is encourage vendors to use USPS instead? It still sucks for all these workers, but at least with USPS you're incurring no additional viral exposure than they would already be getting. Maybe? I dunno.

go digital! buy ebooks! i've made some of them

They're talking possible sepsis/gallstones with dad and suggesting home health/rehab.

Sigh..... I'm sure it's mild but he is a fucking sliver of the man he was even 4 years ago. I'm still in denial about it.

After my mental health has declined at a troubling rate throughout my late 30s (esp since 2015), the thought that I'm now in two situations that are alien territory to me which might push it further in the wrong direction isn't making me feel very rosy.

Send booze folks

Ok actually I don't know if that's the issue... that's just what online test results say

xps but: This is a very new ethical calculus: Should you get stuff delivered because you like delivery people and want them to have jobs? Or should you not get stuff delivered because you like delivery people and want them to not die?

And if you like an independent bookstore (say) is it better to patronize them so that they have an income stream? Or not patronize them so as to not endanger their employees and the delivery services they use?

If you switch exclusively to ebooks and other digitally delivered media, are you a good person (because you're not making a worker come to your house)? Or are you a bad person (because you're helping starve out the few remaining bricks-and-mortar businesses that deal in physical media)?

If you try to buy nonessential stuff from small local businesses, are you a good person (because you're helping them weather the storm and stay economically viable) or are you a bad person (because you oughtn't be buying ANYTHING so frivolous as a book or a record or a pastry or a hand-knitted tea cozy or whatever)?

brb, I'm texting Peter Singer. I'll let you know what I find out.

don't really like buying eBooks b/c I can't stare at their covers while gazing around the living room

love and booze to you neanderthal <3

Sorry to hear that, Neanderthal. <3

But digital doesn't do anything to help local bookstores and record stores that I'd also like to help support.

Nothing will, though - they're fucked.

With book/record stores it seems like there could be a system with ordering and paying online, then you go there. The salesperson can set your order on a table at the door, which you pick up and leave. The salesperson doesn't interact with you besides getting your name, you pick up the package but can wash your hands when you get home.

tl;dr: just like at restaurants doing take-out.

my fav bookstore is currently fulfilling online orders both by mail and curbside pickup

There were a few shops doing curbside pickup near me, but it only lasted a week or so before it got clamped down on. My local comic shop has a delivery van with non-touch transactions for local customers.

I don't really know anything about this site, but it was recently recommended to me: https://bookshop.org/

absent any compelling evidence to suggest that anyone anywhere has contracted coronavirus from a 30sec interaction with a delivery person (or their blighted freight), i'd say you're ethically in the clear to receive deliveries.

rn it really seems like the vast majority of community transmission is happening in the context of shared indoor airspace over several minutes

absent any compelling evidence to suggest that anyone anywhere has contracted coronavirus from a 30sec interaction with a delivery person (or their blighted freight), i'd say you're ethically in the clear to receive deliveries.

GBX, I think the ethics relate not to the recipient, but the deliverer (who is moving about all over the place and potentially coming close to hundreds of people a day).

They don't have the luxury to stay home for weeks at a time. It's probably preferable for them to have jobs instead of not, but at what cost in terms of their health risk, etc.?

And a further layer of complexity hinted at upthread: should the supply chain and delivery mechanisms be reserved only for essentials? Or should we be using these preexisting systems to get things that are not, strictly speaking, essential?

And if we limit our purchases to only those things that are deemed essential, what are we doing to people whose livelihoods depend on making and/or selling things like records, books, tea cozies, trinkets, bibelots, bijoux, frippery, and gewgaws?

Also knickknacks. Don't forget the knickknacks.