outbreak! (ebola, sars, coronavirus, etc)

Phew. Best to all of you going through situations like that.

lol not being able to go out for food is wildly untenable

here's hoping it doesn't come to that for me, an asthmatic

ok the health centre response is this: "There is a slightly increased risk of complications with pre-existing conditions. There are no special precautions to take other than those being advised of everyone"

(the pre-existing conditions i was asking about are mild asthma and atrial fibrillation)

The comms situation is so fucked, the 12 weeks thing is advice that will be given but not for a few days

He said there would be specific advice soon for people with the most serious health conditions. He said:
In a few days’ time – by this coming weekend – it will be necessary to go further and to ensure that those with the most serious health conditions are largely shielded from social contact for around 12 weeks.

And again the reason for doing this in the next few days, rather than earlier or later, is that this is going to be very disruptive for people who have such conditions, and difficult for them, but, I believe, it’s now necessary

Yeah, I was talking with someone yesterday whose daughter is asthmatic, and especially with allergy season about to kick in they are being more cautious than even usual, and especially making sure they have all medicine as needed.

This thread I thought was full of practical (if realistic, so be forewarned) recommendations:

I have a very close friend who’s a researcher studying public health at a major NGO, and he told me that this was THE week to practice as much social distancing as possible, even if you don’t have to go to work.

I asked him to explain why. Sharing his answers w/ permission (1/x)

— Tina Nguyen (@tina_nguyen) March 14, 2020

But within it was this exchange:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ETFju7dXYAEyiy9?format=jpg&name=medium

that tweet has been making the rounds; ran it by a nurse who said it seemed "probably somewhat right" but that there isn't any accurate info or testing in place anywhere for reference yet so there is no clear "here's what to do"
federal government is fucking this up royally.

Ok, spoke to the g/f, she's somewhat jumping to conclusions. She's not definitively been told to self-isolate for 12 weeks yet - no-one's certain to be told to, unless they're over 70, there's no quibbling about being over 70 - but she is very definitely in an at-risk group. I suppose we'll find out for sure in the next few days. She's much calmer about this than I am btw!

She's much calmer about this than I am btw!

lol same here!

Bay Area to shelter in place

https://www.sfchronicle.com/local-politics/article/Bay-Area-must-shelter-in-place-Only-15135014.php

Also there is no way I have enough food and essentials to last me 14 days. Out of my way, old folk, I'm here to panic buy.

you can still get food deliveries, just hope you don't need to book slots 15 days in advance

from the sf chronicle article:

"People who are homeless are exempt from the order but encouraged to find shelter."

uuuugh

The good news is I ordered a new dressing gown, picking it up tomorrow, think I'm going to be living in it for the next few months!

We literally do not have room to store two weeks of food. I have scheduled out deliveries of some staples in hope of having them arrive just in time. But I already know I have way too many pretzels and not nearly enough cat food.

ilx's answer to arthur dent - so that's what the d. in your name stands for xp

no-one's certain to be told to, unless they're over 70, there's no quibbling about being over 70

Talking of which, my good friend, who I do a pub quiz wiht and who is forever dragging me (willingly) to jazz gigs is over 70 and will be disappearing for 3 months - boo!

it seems very likely that the SF "shelter in place" will be coming to other major cities, soon. by the end of the week, i'd expect.

the bay area has 251 cases. right now, as of midnight last night, Chicago alone had 93 cases. the positives have been increasing about 30% a day, in chicago and also on macro levels around the world. at that rate, chicago will be above 200 positives by mid-week:

Sunday night (March 15): 93
Monday night: 121 (at 30% growth rate)
Tuesday: 157
Wednesday: 204
Thursday (March 19): 265 (more than SF bay area, right now)

The US president, Donald Trump, is announcing more radical White House recommendations; telling Americans to avoid any gatherings of more than 10 people over the next 15 days and advising all states with evidence of community transmission to close down bars, restaurants, gyms and other facilities.

and if SF is rolling this out on a monday afternoon and implementing 10 hours later, at midnight, i'm gonna guess they wish they would have put the order in place earlier.
xp

xxp and nowhere in the US is doing cross-population testing

so chances are all those st. patrick's day revelers in chicago, with kids in their early 20s, have a bunch of people who will remain asymptomatic and will never be tested

argh

Tom D - good news re: gf. Def live it up! :)

_The US president, Donald Trump, is announcing more radical White House recommendations; telling Americans to avoid any gatherings of more than 10 people over the next 15 days and advising all states with evidence of community transmission to close down bars, restaurants, gyms and other facilities._

We literally do not have room to store two weeks of food.

― love will keep us apart (Ye Mad Puffin), Monday, March 16, 2020 3:23 PM (thirty-five minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

same boat. I certainly didn't panic-buy but I bought roughly double what I usually do and now I'm desperately trying to eat whatever was previously in the fridge (just ate like 1/4 container of ricotta with a friggin' spoon) so I can make room for all this new stuff.

Pro-tip I just figured out: if you eat pre-cooked frozen microwave garbage like I do, get rid of the boxes and just store the meals in their plastic package thingies. Just don't forget to cut the heating instructions off the box before you toss it out (or live dangerously and guess! Make a fun game of it! What else are you gonna do for fun for the next 3months?!)

Just don't forget to cut the heating instructions off the box before you toss it out

take a photo!

also good!

well if I don't eat, I won't shit, then I won't need TP. and then I will lose this gut.

in a month I'll be back to my high school weight.

win all around!

Outbreak breakout!

Massive prison excape in Brazil...

Rebelião na penitenciária de Mongaguá, litoral de SP. Até o momento, 8 agentes estão sendo feitos de refém. Presos fugiram pela orla da praia sentido Praia Grande. PM em atuação no local. pic.twitter.com/26JVlAg2IJ

— Leonardo Martins (@___leomartins) March 16, 2020

Hundreds of prisoners have escaped from prisons in São Paulo state in the South East of Brazil on Monday. The G1 news site reported that the prison rebellions and escapes happened after temporary exits for Easter due to start on Tuesday were cancelled because of the risk of prisoners infecting other inmates with coronavirus when they returned to prison. Prisoners escaped in Tremembé and Mirandópolis and G1 reported a rebellion was reported at a prison in Porto Feliz.

And in a widely-shared video, hordes of prisoners could be seen running away from the semi-open Dr Rubens Aleixo Sendin at Mongaguá on the São Paulo coast while a man shouts: “Come back Monday, ok?”

lol did i really type "excape"? have been sat at this desk for way too long today, wfh sucks

I apologize for the typo.

I meant to type stupid rumors about marital law not marshall law

My bad https://t.co/vK5ED6M98r

— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) March 16, 2020

lol did i really type "excape"?

can we end the Kid Rock problem forever? there have to be four horses that are itching to run in opposing directions

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/coronavirus-kid-rock-nashville-bar-remain-open-215225753.html

Probably already said many times but its weird so many on the right spend their time talking about and preparing for various apocalypses and then covid-19 comes along and its all 'meh, its fake"

I guess you could shoot the virus or force it to carry to term

let me be clear - it isn't real until it's proven that it was developed in secret chinese labs

one thing missing from today's world - laser beams pew pewing in the distance

Not looking at many covid threads, but just had a squiz at today’s posts itt on zing (so it won’t show up dark on browser version & encourage me to click).

Sympathies to everyone with at-risk or immunocompromised loved ones. Ppl in countries or cities not on shutdown yet, don’t panic, but do prepare as much as you can so you also don’t panic when the shutdown comes. My flat stocked up on rice and dry beans and lentils and curry powder and pasta last week, but are still getting fresh veg and hot animal while groceries & markets & supermarkets are open. (Don’t touch yr face until you get home & wash yr hands, take a little thing of sanitiser with you, don’t lick any handles or strangers, etc)

Basically everything except food shops are shut down here now: museums, cinemas, music venues, bars, the YMCA. Restaurants are allowed to sell takeaway or delivery, breweries can sell sealed growlers & cans but can’t pour or fill anything, bookstores can do mail-order.

The library system was shut down on a day’s notice last week: I spent twenty minutes grabbing a backpacksworth of books just before they closed, but would have run through my “for later” tags to order in stuff from other branches with longer warning - worth a thought for folks, especially as you can make working through them a specific project for distraction or calmness during the isolation period.

(Same goes for your home to-be-read piles obv, but they’re suspending loan periods here, so that’s extra-attractive.)

Planning an outdoor routine or project is another idea to prepare now: say, making a list of local landmarks you can walk or bike a different round trip to on each fine day if achieving projects is good for your mental health, or figuring a specific route, that hits a step count, to do every day if routine is better for you. (Can also be paired with an album-a-day project, or an epic audiobook, or a podcast back-catalogue dive, if extra distraction helps.)

And as things stand (this week at least...) you can still socialise to some degree with people that you know or trust aren’t at-risk by behaviour or age / condition. If one night of the week is a regular pub or movie night, organise gathering at the home of someone (nearby, with room for a few visitors) to have some drinks or watch a DVD / stream. Take yr temperature twice a day to reassure yourself, wash yr hands a lot, and consider that four or five people spread around even a London front room aren’t as close to each other’s faces as six or ten around a pub table, so you’re less likely to even catch a cold than usual.

Also, if you’ve ever really wanted to get into ballot polls on ILX but not been able to commit the time, this is your big chance.

Also also, we should all plan to be posting our cats to the “my cat” thread more.

For people with pets - apparently hand sanitizer has overlapping ingredients with anti-freeze so don’t use this if you handle/pet animals. They will groom themselves and could be the victims of accidental poisoning. Soap and hot water is where it’s at!

xp I have a video but don’t know where to upload it!

There are far too many people on this train, going into work to get my stuff and then turning around immediately.

still quite a lot of people in town here but it’s thinning out. I had to come in because my SRAS failed on day 1 of wfh :/

On my way back out now, more people than I expected in town but I saw them shuttering the Burger King at Victoria and the staff leaving. Incredibly weird to say goodbye to people not knowing when I’ll see them again.

real weird "last helicopter out" vibe in the office last night. We had to say our goodbyes to someone who resigned last week (d'oh) even though he's still working with us for 10 more weeks.

a thing i discovered is that when i'm in a shop thinking "what do i actually need to stock up on?" my brain continues to reply RED LENTILS long after this is really no longer the case

btw in the cheery opinion of my pharmacist this is ALL A BIG FUSS ABOUT NOTHING (he let me have two big packets of paracetamol just in case)

All those elderly gotta die sometime

All those elderly gotta die sometime

Elderly only die twice.

Can't help thinking about how the English are going to react when the story shifts to "hospitals overwhelmed, cannot take more patients" because yeah it's not going to be good.