outbreak! (ebola, sars, coronavirus, etc)

stephen miller is apparently co-writing the president's coronavirus speech so I am sure it will be a fount of useful information

"only whites will be tested"

Made a rolling ILM thread to track event / festival cancellations. I'm thinking there are going to be lots.

So the thing that’s pissing me off (and I’m sorry if this has been covered I skimmed a ton of posts) with my worn right now is they haven’t yet told the people who can work from home to do so. It’s like they’re waiting for it to get Italy level bad before doing so but isn’t the point to take these steps earlier so we don’t get to that point?! I’m so glad co-workers husband was - but I’m still scared shitless. Italy had no closed all stores except supermarkets and pharmacies. It’s really fucking bad and there’s no reason to think that won’t happen in the UK and yet there was a major horse racing event today which was attended by like 60k ppl. This is not a regular flu for many people and not only the old/immunocompromised. I will admit that my anxiety is really bad over all this but at this point the inaction of the govt here just seems wrong and reckless. There is another meeting tomorrow and they better take some action. Think I’m going to request to WFH next week regardless.

i have been home sick all week, dry cough, fever that broke on tues
have self quarantined & am working from home for rest of the week

i didnt go to the doc bc i could manage the symptoms on my own, it seemed stupid to leave & risk make other ppl sick, & there doesnt seem to be testing mechanism in place here anyway

they named first coronavirus death in Sac County today, at a nursing home in elk grove :(

Stephen Miller's going to bring back the Chinese Exclusion Act

The crisis in front of us isn’t just one of practical inconveniences; it has a moral dimension we can no longer look away from. Yes, it’s really inconvenient. Yes, it’s not yet mandated by law — and if all goes well, we might improve things before it has to be. And yes, it may get a bit embarrassing and socially awkward to take such precautions if the people around you haven’t realized yet that it’s necessary.

https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2020/3/11/21171903/coronavirus-social-distancing-pandemic-covid19

Oh shit, hope you feel better soon vg!

ugh I'm sorry VG. glad the worst is over, sounds like.

ENBB that is drastically irresponsible of them, yeah. rage on.

Q: My bathroom tap takes 90-120 seconds to get hot. should I be witing for it to get hot to wash my hands? Can't seem to find an answer elsewhere.

when i was reading about the hot water and dishwashing thing (because I usually/mostly washes dishes with cold water) I did see that temperature of water has nothing to do with hand washing. Like you would never be able to get it hot enough to make a difference. I would doublecheck though. I've been using cold water and just being thorough.

idk i am oldschool & worked in fast food: wash my hands and wash + rinse my dishes in hottest water i can handle

yeah it's all about the soap, not water temperature. the grease/oil particles that have the virus on them bond to one end of the soap molecule aiui

It’s like they’re waiting for it to get Italy level bad before doing so but isn’t the point to take these steps earlier so we don’t get to that point?!

I veer wildly between this and my "they might be right to wait" tetchiness on the UK Pols thread. Because this thing is going to be here for months (and a vaccine is 18 months away) so they figured that if they start too soon people will just go "fuck this" and start spreading it again at the worst possible time. I think the truth is somewhere between the two. And bosses who refuse WFH when it's an option can fuck off.

A friend has just texted me to say that a friend who is isolation texted another friend who is also in isolation and they decide to go hang out together. And then a third friend decided she "wasn't scared" and joined them, and now they're having a party. She's also having a houseparty for 80 people this weekend.

We're so not going to do well at this unless something gives these type of people a proper fright.

I feel like the heat thing is right but not for the reason many think

http://www.getreadyforflu.org/handwashingFAQ.htm

I read recently water temp doesn’t matter but it just doesn’t *feel* as effective w cold

i am totally of the mind that everyone, if they have access, work from home. Not a single decent place would force you or make you feel bad about staying. But I also never waited for memos giving me approval for that.

xpost, yeah I would sanitize things properly in bars/restaurants but at home we usually just use water however it comes out of the tap for dishes (from the other thread, things just learned?).

Feel better!

xp thanks, that makes sense, warm not hot:

Warm water also trumps cold water, which is less effective at removing oils and germs.

mine gets hot too fast, I'm pulling them away from the heat before i've given them a proper soaping and thorough rinsing. I'm more disturbed by how the fuck i've still got dirt under some of my fingernails even though I have developed a ritualistic obsession with washing my fucking hands at least 27 times a day!

they make fingernail brushes if you are really worried.

only $79.99 on Amazon!

I'll take 3 then!

Virtual work is bliss btw

i don't think people should *panic *panic* but just be prepared and have a plan so you don't have to panic later. Or at least that's me. I may be missing a gene about panic.

Thanks all, None the wiser but will save the gas and water by not waiting for 90 seconds. Maybe 45.

omg WFH is the dream. people who are given the responsibility of determining if your team should whf...what are you doing???? Are you people high?

I've done it for eight years. And for some companies, they're already capable and probably should an implemented a virtual workforce years ago to save on real estate. Even call centers can work virtually.

Suddenly going to the doctor becomes easier and you can work in comfort.

(because I usually/mostly washes dishes with cold water)

...although this is crazy. The heat dislodges the grease.

Rudy Gobert: a play in three acts pic.twitter.com/bKWLufKH8K

— Mike Beauvais (@MikeBeauvais) March 12, 2020

i know i know. It was a whole thing on the other thread. TBF we don't cook meat or bake things often so it's never really an issue. xpost

:)

i dunno, i may just be lucky. I go out in the winter with wet hair and sleep with wet hair too and I am 41 and have never been to the ER or had a serious illness or missed a day of school and missed like one day of work from being sick. maybe my insides are already dead.

dead inside.

We worked from home on a trial today and though it has since upsides it's emphatically not the dream for me. My work is fiddly on a small laptop screen and I don't have a decent office chair or ergonomic set up, let alone a standing desk. And comms with people at work via Slack and Hangouts is not the same as a live office at all.

Maybe try a long-running Zoom that people can drop into and out of, with sidebar channels if required. It's definitely not the same, but it makes you feel like you are "somewhere"

My largest client just went work from home today. Makes no difference to me as I’m the only one in Melbourne anyway. For me it least it levels the playing field as now everyone has to deal with slack and hangouts interactions only.

Also fuck trump for calling it a ‘foreign virus’

did he only call it a foreign virus? That's pretty subtle for him.

Stephen Miller says only targeted xenophobia can stop this foreign virus. Europe, go die. UK, you cool, come on over and let's party.

Virus appears to be spread by payroll taxes.

wait....tom hanks has coronavirus?

https://deadline.com/2020/03/tom-hanks-rita-wilson-test-positive-coronavirus-elvis-presley-movie-1202880431/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

sorry, sic

i was so excited i forgot to strip it out (which i normally do!)

...but tom hanks has coronavirus?

Not Tom Hanks

It's funny how much more seriously Americans took Coronavirus when they were using it as an excuse to rip on the Chinese via some really impressive concern trolling.

A slew of far right rags like the Moonies, Daily Caller, et al ran an article suggesting the Coronavirus came from bat soup, and while it was zoonotic and *possibly* did originate in the street food market, nobody knows definitively where it came from, it was just an unfounded rumor. so naturally readers were calling Chinese nationals backwards assholes who spread the virus due to their savagery.

I’m sure there’s still plenty of anti-Chinese racism in the offing.

you guys might want to know that actually the coronavirus was a biological weapon invented in a collaboration between the chinese military and french intelligence, and it accidentally got out. any reporter who tries to write about this gets fired. according to my father in law.

oh there is still totally anti anyone who looks east asian racism about it.

I.... don't entirely disagree with the Trump travel ban?

Like it's not much more than a bandaid given his bungling in the states but.... probably not a good idea to fly to countries of higher infection if it's a round trip?

Idk...

The real problem is more likely the huge amount of untested CV circulating in the US already, but eh. And excluding the UK is weird. He knows we have an open border with the rest of Europe, right? Maybe they really, really believe in Brexit.