outbreak! (ebola, sars, coronavirus, etc)

xpost

i never graduated back to takeout/prepared food delivery even. it's still 100% instacart grocery order, set the non-perishables aside for a day before using, wash the perishables before putting 'em in fridge/freezer. I know at this point that fomites are heavily not indicated as a vector for transmission but i've gotten this far this way and I'm nervous to change it up at a moment when the numbers suck again and there's an ill-defined nasty variant at large

but i miss ordering chinese delivery so fucking much

there's a thought bubble over my head right now with a picture of a quart of pork fried rice with egg and it is steaming and ahhhhhh

I'm going to go out on a limb and say you will be fine ordering Chinese delivery.

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/daily-life-coping/food-and-COVID-19.html

it never seemed like take-out was ever considered a serious vector. especially as most of what you're ordering will also be cooked, theoretically

seems like good news, though idk if this will be used for a couple months

https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/2021/01/25/international-team-finds-new-more-effective-drug-treat-covid-19/6673529002/

The thing is, not even when I was in college would I have made that queue for the sake of a Bud Lite or gin and tonic.

I don't make that line at Disney World.

very glad that our numbers aren't too bad and eating out is still an option

says something of my character that it doesn't bother me at all to not be allowed to go to people's homes or have guests in but i would be sad if restos weren't open

The thing is, not even when I was in college would I have made that queue for the sake of a Bud Lite or gin and tonic.

Exactly. The only reason I spent much time in that particular bar when I was a student is that it was, at that time, decidedly unhip and a line such as the one shown would have been unimaginable.

My local bookstore has an outdoor cafe where I spent my Sunday afternoons reading and writing; it's not crowded, tables are distanced, and even fellow customers who aren't eating or drinking wear masks. It's one of the places I feel safe.

I think it's time for me to just accept this way of life now and buckle-down-get-productive-again-etc-etc, not because I think this pandemic will go on forever (who fuckin knows) but just because people out there are assholes.

Minnesota officials announced Monday they have identified a person infected with a highly transmissible variant of the coronavirus that has been spreading at alarming rates in recent weeks in Brazil. This is the first report in the United States of the so-called P.1 variant.

The Minnesota Department of Health said the case involved “a Minnesota resident with recent travel history to Brazil,” and the variant was detected through genomic sequencing of random blood samples. The person, a resident of the Twin Cities metro area, reported feeling sick the first week of January, and was tested Jan. 9.

“This isn’t surprising. It’s a very difficult development, but at the same time not unexpected,” Michael T. Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota and an adviser to President Biden’s coronavirus response team, said in an interview.

All viruses mutate, and there are countless variants in circulation. The Brazil variant is one of three that have drawn particular global attention. The other two were first identified in the United Kingdom and South Africa. There is some overlap in the mutations in the three variants, but they arose independently and, along with other variants under review, provide a vivid reminder that the coronavirus is not a static target for vaccines and the human immune system.

I'm just going to say: why the fuck are people travelling to foreign countries?

people are just vacationing like normal, it's annoying. more annoying and infuriating is when your government is doing nothing to stop people from doing so! australia et al seem to have the right idea - making visitors isolate in a hotel assigned by the government for 2 weeks on the traveller's dime

1 - tired of this shit
2 - need to have a medical procedure
3 - need to care for a relative
4 - a million other reasons, some defensible some not

i realise the united states is big and most people don't leave it very often if at all but much of the rest of the world is not like that, and people move between countries a lot

otm

My father is dying 800 miles away.

I'm staying put (partly because there's nothing I can do, and partly because I don't like him very much, but still).

I'm sorry to hear that, YMP, even if you don't like him very much.

This AstraZeneca vaccine story is a fucking mess.

Late yesterday evening, a story appeared in the German paper Handelsblatt, saying that the AZ/Oxford vaccine only has 8% efficacy for the over 65s. When the reporter was challenged to provide sources for this claim, he leaned on “members of the government coalition”, and did a long thread about the story essentially standing by it, ending with this:

7/I understand that some would like to see the story substantiated with actual data. However, this is not an academic preprint but a sourced piece of (political) reporting that tries to shed light on the decision making processes and the obstacles in the race for a Covid vaccine.

— Gregor Waschinski (@washingtonski) January 25, 2021

statement from the German health ministry:

"At first glance it seems that the [newspaper] reports have mixed up two things: about 8% of those tested in the AstraZeneca efficacy study were between 56 and 69, only 3-4 per cent over 70 (MHRA Approval Public Assessment Report)." https://t.co/rPW7RQimiH

— Jim Pickard (@PickardJE) January 26, 2021

lol

https://t.co/OXfXIzjhcx pic.twitter.com/TeCUmt0R04

— Daniel Howdon (@danielhowdon) January 26, 2021

Responses to Tracer's reasons:

1 - we're all sick of this shit, grow the fuck up
2 - if it's not a necessary procedure, then push it back
3 - okay, then stay in the country that you're travelling to with that relative?
4 - I can think of maybe a handful of defensible reasons why anyone should be traveling to a foreign country right now, and even those are questionably defensible

I'm just sick of what seem like excuses for shitty behavior.

Great:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jan/25/covid-linked-to-risk-of-mental-illness-and-brain-disorder-study-suggests

xps to table, thanks so much for the empathy towards those of us unlucky enough to be foreign and living in separate countries to our families, that is how I parsed TH’s post

It's almost as if there are people on ILX who don't live in North America? Could that be true?

Love u table but you need to chill. Sometimes life throws things at you and you have to make tough choices you wouldn't otherwise make. It's not like Tracer was advocating he was tired of lockdown and just wanted to throw down nachos and pitchers of margaritas at chilis.

I might lose my livelihood if I don't cross the Atlantic at some point this year because my employer has decided that it's necessary even though it absolutely isn't. To add insult to injury, this trip will cost me a small fortune if government-supervised hotel quarantines are implemented (spoiler: they're about to be). What should I do, quit? Until the Coming Libertarian Utopia™ is fulfilled, I'm afraid that's simply not an option. I suppose I'll be lumped in with all the snowbirds even though I'm not going South and I am perfectly aware that this trip is a dangerous waste of… just about everything, really.

wHy ThE fUcK aRe PeOpLe TrAvElLiNg To FoReIgN cOuNtRiEs

and yeah I’m fucking aggro about this, it’s been almost a year since I saw my parents and Leo fucking Varadkar is today telling me I can forget about this Christmas too?

But I guess it’s what I deserve for living in a different country to the one I’m from?

My coworker, who was Covid positive three months ago, just had a hellish New Year - had her elderly parents (late 70s) and sister for Christmas. every single person ended up infected - including her own children, while her husband was hospitalized and on oxygen for a week. Because of her own antibodies from the last time, she was the only one to pass safely through the outbreak.

Just say no to family, people

I mean, I understand there is a big spectrum of reasons for travel. But I think I'm justified in being disgusted with the photos from someone I went to HS with, first skiing in Michigan, arms around loads of people, unmasked (one of those people, also unmaked, runs multiple restaurants which are still open for takeaway and in person as of this weekend). Then she "really needs a break" so flies to Cabo, tons of photos of her and a big group of people on the beach, selfies with street vendors, etc, no masks. Not sorry, fuck her.

Nobody is justifying those fools itt, except, perhaps Dan S.

Seriously.

Pom I would be terrified of the consequences to me my wife and the dog if I quit my job rn but what your employer is imposing on you, to me that’s unconscionable and intolerable. However iirc your post is in academia so I expect it was very hard-won, and I’m just a middle manager at a housewares company.

^^^that sounds snarky it was not meant to be at all

Didn't scan as snarky in the least! And I completely agree – I was supposed to head back in October and managed to postpone my trip until this spring. Work-wise, my physical presence will not be necessary before January 2022, so insisting on having me there for no apparent reason this year is absurd and it's taking a toll on my mental health tbh. If anything, having this trip in the offing has had a negative impact on my productivity – it's lose-lose all around.

You don't have to be living in a separate country to not see your family for a year. Loads of people haven't.

(Also not meant to sound snarky! A reminder that lots of people have been locking down to this extent throughout particularly if family is old/vulnerable)

my stepmom has pretty much every preexisting condition you don't want in conjunction with Covid, so I've been able to see my Dad a few times, knowing they more than anybody have been keeping safe

my Mom on the other hand has been frustrating - she's been good (she worked as a contact tracer until the end of the year so she knows how serious this is) but her husband is still all over the place, seeing his grandkids and going sailing and all that, which means we effectively can't see her

You don't have to be living in a separate country to not see your family for a year. Loads of people haven't.

I had a colonoscopy last week, went fine. Had to get a COVID test two days prior, came up negative. everyone at the hospital was of course masked up the whole time. just saying, don't neglect your health because of COVID, all of the conditions and issues the human body may have to deal with didn't go away just because we're in a pandemic.

TMI but same here, evol. And I'm glad I had the procedure bc they found multiple (small, benign) polyps. Despite being in and out of waiting rooms full of ppl with mediocre mask etiquette I've been okay so far.

The hospital staff were getting their vax shots when I went in, so they're probably all done w the process already and it's just dodging other patients' exhalations from now on.

I've been in an out of hospital for months and will attend every weekday for the next month.

Mask wearing in hospital is a joke, with half the people there maskless or dicknosed. Many of them are coughing constantly.

Our Beloved NHS Heroes God Blessum don't do social distancing at all. One of them pushed in behind me in a revolving door today.

yeah i was in the hospital in august and the diversity of mask-wearing was surprising/alarming

gyac did you see my post saying that wasn't intended to be snarky? You blamed living in a different country for that situation. I was saying that - in addition to that situation - other people haven't seen family in a year. I didn't mean to imply anything about who does or doesn't deserve empathy.
I'm sorry but I'm genuinely not getting what point you're making about your in-laws. My reasons for not travelling abroad are also not frivolous...?

How silly of me, I forgot that if you’d been rude, immediately disclaiming it after meant that it didn’t count? By the way, the context of this is me replying to table being rude about people’s reasons for travelling abroad, so your point (which seems to be implying that I’m ignoring that people who’re from here in the same shit situation? Which I already knew because I’m married to one? Do we have to caveat every point we make in our posts so as to avoid this kind of thing now?) isn’t remotely relevant or necessary.

I wouldn't pay much attention to Leo gyac

no one has chatted more shite throughout this whole thing than him

and he changes his mind on a weekly basis

I can only apologise. No implication was intended that you were ignoring anything.
I'll leave this thread now as that's two people I've managed to upset without meaning to, for which I can only say sorry again.

He's a physician by trade, right? You'd think that would help.

xp