Coronavirus

[jingle.boy]

I work out of the house to begin with; oddly my boss asked me to go in to the office.  I think he's confused. 

(I'm kidding; not only does nothing change for me, but I've actually been more busy the last two days than I've been in a while.  I think that tells me that people have been traveling TOO much.)

I've been working from home the past 10 years, so self-isolating is not a burden to the jingle.family at all.  We live in a small town, so we don't go out much to begin with.  jingle.kids are both home from school now - son's classes at college cancelled since they are more hands-on that you can't e-learn; daughter is online to finish the semester - including exams.

Bill... I too have been oddly busy with a bunch of little things the past two days.  It's very peculiar.

[Lethean]

Great. It's in my town now. I'm not going to vote tonight.

I voted absentee.  I think in Illinois you can apply for an absentee ballot pretty easily.  It won't help today, but something to keep in mind for the general election.  Hopefully this won't still be going on then, but it can't hurt to have the option.

I don't like dealing with that, I like voting in person because it's literally a 5 minute walk from my place.

I also still write physical checks for half my bills. 

Which you can still do in normal situations.  If you have an absentee ballot, it doesn't mean you have to use it.  But if this is going on, or you're sick with a cold, or you were invited to spend the day with Fabio Lione and can't make it to the polls, you can still vote.

[The Walrus]

Great. It's in my town now. I'm not going to vote tonight.

I voted absentee.  I think in Illinois you can apply for an absentee ballot pretty easily.  It won't help today, but something to keep in mind for the general election.  Hopefully this won't still be going on then, but it can't hurt to have the option.

I don't like dealing with that, I like voting in person because it's literally a 5 minute walk from my place.

I also still write physical checks for half my bills. 

Which you can still do in normal situations.  If you have an absentee ballot, it doesn't mean you have to use it.  But if this is going on, or you're sick with a cold, or you were invited to spend the day with Fabio Lione and can't make it to the polls, you can still vote.

Yeah but I probably won't 'cause I just don't want to 

But yeah, I'm staying home. Even though I never have lines to wait in and there's never many people when I go in, I'm avoiding the place entirely. I'm gonna brave Walgreen's for some dish soap and beard oil and hopefully I don't have to break anyone's legs in the process

[Max Kuehnau]

9k+ infected in Germany as of now.

[ErHaO]

I am pretty much always a guy that will worry when experts/scientists worry, so I was taking this seriously. But fuck me, this glimpse so far has not been pretty at all.

Our government has been very clear and chose for a semi lockdown scenario where the aim is for many Dutch people to get ill over a longer period of time, so that we will develop immunity and can form a shield of sorts for those vulnerable. Honestly, it seems like the only legitimate option. At least in the setting of our country. Just letting matters proceed as normal will get you into a very dire situation very quickly due to overloaded hospitals and complete lockdown will likely mean you can look forward to another one, because this virus is not out of this world and will not be for a long time to come.

I appreciate our government presenting all the options and explaining why they picked their current strategy. Not a voter for the current leading (right wing) party in the slightest, but I appreciate how professional and concise they are handling this crisis thus far. I was watching other leaders and man, some of them have had.... interesting ways to try and tackle this (Trump and Boris Johnson for example).

[Cool Chris]

Not sure if this is accurate or up to date, but there are 109 deaths in the US, and 50 here in WA state(!?)

Starting Thursday, my kid's high school changes over to online learning.

How do schools handle this when not every student has access to the Internet? Are those students penalized, do they just move on with classes with some people left behind? Does the school pass out laptops? How many schools can afford to do that? etc. I have so many questions.

Having a wife who works at a school so having a little inside info, they are totally making this up as they go, and the results will vary by district. Ours is having teachers communicate with parents to provide them with online learning resources. But there is no guided education, testing, or any expectations set up for families to do anything. I believe the immediate goal is just getting something out to parents for their kids to do something so they have some structure and aren't bored during the day.

One local district isn't doing anything, because not all families have internet access, that whole equity thing...

[Stadler]

...they are totally making this up as they go, and the results will vary by district.

Not just the schools, but I have some intel that is telling me the same thing. 

[Northern Lion]

Not sure if this is accurate or up to date, but there are 109 deaths in the US, and 50 here in WA state(!?)

Starting Thursday, my kid's high school changes over to online learning.

How do schools handle this when not every student has access to the Internet? Are those students penalized, do they just move on with classes with some people left behind? Does the school pass out laptops? How many schools can afford to do that? etc. I have so many questions.

Having a wife who works at a school so having a little inside info, they are totally making this up as they go, and the results will vary by district. Ours is having teachers communicate with parents to provide them with online learning resources. But there is no guided education, testing, or any expectations set up for families to do anything. I believe the immediate goal is just getting something out to parents for their kids to do something so they have some structure and aren't bored during the day.

One local district isn't doing anything, because not all families have internet access, that whole equity thing...

Yeah, and it's been really tough on a lot of parents who don't know what to do.  This has put a wrench in the lives of a lot of people.  Fortunately for my family we have been homeschooling our children since kindergarten, so it's kind of business as usual for us.  But there's a single Mom in our neighborhood who works full time and can't school her children, so we offered to help her out and her kids come to our place right now.

Also, I work from home most days so that didn't really change for me either, except that now I don't go into the office at all.

[CrimsonSunrise]

But yeah, I'm staying home. Even though I never have lines to wait in and there's never many people when I go in, I'm avoiding the place entirely. I'm gonna brave Walgreen's for some dish soap and beard oil and hopefully I don't have to break anyone's legs in the process

I was able to pop into my Walgreens after my nightshift yesterday, 6am and no one was there.  Scored a couple dozen eggs.

[TAC]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/kansas-school-buildings-ordered-closed-statewide-for-remainder-of-academic-year/ar-BB11kwGs?li=BBnbfcL


Damn..the rest of the school year??

[Adami]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/kansas-school-buildings-ordered-closed-statewide-for-remainder-of-academic-year/ar-BB11kwGs?li=BBnbfcL


Damn..the rest of the school year??

It's Kansas. Not a big loss.

[Cool Chris]

Our state superintendent was on the radio today and said they are working on plans in case school closures extend into the fall. While I appreciate that the districts are planning for such a contingency, in addition to the short term work they are doing to make sure students have access to learning now, I wouldn't have gone on the radio and said that on March 17.

Also want to give credit to all the grocery store employees out there who are working through this. Every time I've been to my local store, the shelves have been for the most part stocked outside of the usual items that people are hoarding, the staff has been friendly, and it seems like everything is being done to make sure grocery shopping is disrupted as little as possible and customers are able to get the goods they need.

Also saw some stores are going to set up special hours for the elderly/impaired/individuals with ailments so they can shop in a less compromised environment.

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

Our Governor (Nevada), just ordered the closure of all non essential businesses statewide. Essential meaning fire, police, transit, and health care services, and places that provide food, shelter, or social services for disadvantaged populations, pharmacies, grocery stores, drug and convenience stores, banks and financial institutions, hardware stores, and gas stations. About half of my work would fall under the non essential category. Restaurants can stay open if they can provide delivery or takeout service, no dine-in.

Fortunately (or unfortunately) the company my wife works for falls under health care and the owner of the company just announced that all essential employees (which my wife falls under) will be getting a 5 dollar an hour raise or equivalent for salaried employees.

[MirrorMask]

Anyway, if a couple of years ago someone would have told us "In the first half of 2020 something will happen that will require everyone to be careful with their movements and to limit their personal freedoms, while major sporting events will be suspended, the economy will take a hit in all categories, and hospitals will be full", I'm sure everyone's reaction would have been "d'uh, of course Trump provoked World War III".

[jingle.boy]

I just watched Bill Gates’ 2015 TED talk on “the next outbreak”. Boy, he nailed it. Sure wish people of power and influence had heeded that warning and advice.

[ErHaO]

I just watched Bill Gates’ 2015 TED talk on “the next outbreak”. Boy, he nailed it. Sure wish people of power and influence had heeded that warning and advice.

Yeah, Bill Gates is actually a very well informed person in general. Recently he met up with a professor from our institute to talk about certain scientific subjects. I am inclined to say that when he presents something, he bases it on well founded information from experts that are held in high regard.

[The Walrus]

Thankfully, starting today we're only allowing one customer at a time into the office. Fortunately the load has been very light this week anyway but this will be nice since there's 2 of us in here and it's not that big in the first place (and we have about a month of work still ready to go).

[gmillerdrake]

I just watched Bill Gates’ 2015 TED talk on “the next outbreak”. Boy, he nailed it. Sure wish people of power and influence had heeded that warning and advice.

You know, not to direct this right at you Chad but it's a general statement about this TED talk thing that he did. I get he's a smart guy and all but c'mon.....it doesn't or didn't take Nostradamus to know or figure out a large scale pandemic is/was the greatest threat to humanity. Or, that....given the global population that it's an ever increasing probability.

I get that he's Bill Gate's and all but I've seen this thing being spread around the internet like he's some sort of prophet. I'd wager to say that 90% of the DTF forumer's knew this.

[cramx3]

https://m.jpost.com/HEALTH-SCIENCE/World-Health-Organization-backs-call-to-avoid-ibuprofen-for-coronavirus-621408/amp

also, two towns over starting wednesday will have drive through testing open.

[Elite]

Our government has been very clear and chose for a semi lockdown scenario where the aim is for many Dutch people to get ill over a longer period of time, so that we will develop immunity and can form a shield of sorts for those vulnerable. Honestly, it seems like the only legitimate option. At least in the setting of our country. Just letting matters proceed as normal will get you into a very dire situation very quickly due to overloaded hospitals and complete lockdown will likely mean you can look forward to another one, because this virus is not out of this world and will not be for a long time to come.

Fellow Dutchie here. Adding to your post a little, as I do not think 'herd immunity' is the goal in itself, but it might just be the result of what's happening. A permanent lock-down as some other countries are doing kind-of does the exact same thing, but spread out over an even longer period of time. This illness is definitely going to kill people, but it's not so bad that *everybody* will die from it. The bottle-neck is hospital capacity, but this doesn't mean we need to lock everybody up in their own homes as a precaution, that would merely postpone the majority of infections to whenever you stop the lockdown (case in point: China is afraid to stop their lockdown at this moment, because that would allow a second wave of illnesses). Our government chose for 'maximum control', as our Prime Minister said, meaning people will get sick - that's inevitable - but spread out over time. The 'immunity' will be a result of this, but is not a 'goal' in itself. In an ideal situation, people stay away from each other enough so that as little people as possible get sick - that's the whole point of working from home, closing schools/restuarants etc.

[jingle.boy]

I just watched Bill Gates’ 2015 TED talk on “the next outbreak”. Boy, he nailed it. Sure wish people of power and influence had heeded that warning and advice.

You know, not to direct this right at you Chad but it's a general statement about this TED talk thing that he did. I get he's a smart guy and all but c'mon.....it doesn't or didn't take Nostradamus to know or figure out a large scale pandemic is/was the greatest threat to humanity. Or, that....given the global population that it's an ever increasing probability.

I get that he's Bill Gate's and all but I've seen this thing being spread around the internet like he's some sort of prophet. I'd wager to say that 90% of the DTF forumer's knew this.

Fair enough .... but what did the world do about it?  Seems as though we sat back and waited for this tsunami to come ashore.

[MirrorMask]

Just like we're waiting for a major city to be flooded by rising sea levels or for a bacteria imprisoned in the ice to be released once again. And then we'll go find videos of scientists talking about the dangers of global warming saying that they "predicted it".

[gmillerdrake]

Fair enough .... but what did the world do about it?  Seems as though we sat back and waited for this tsunami to come ashore.

Well....now you've opened up a great topic probably best suited for P/R. 'We'.....mankind.....ignore a lot of things that should be blatantly obvious (one example being still using fossil fuels when true clean energy is more abundant and practical) until "all of a sudden" it's an issue. 

[cramx3]

The company that hosts our data center (where I report to work) sent out a notice that only critical work should be a reason why someone should be on site.  They seperated the two securirt guards to not work in the same room and they cut back half the staff to rotate.  Meanwhile, another company rents out office space for business continuity and they are all here packed in their office space.  That seems to make no sense, go work from home people!

[ReaperKK]

The didn't close our building down, they are just strongly suggesting that we work from home now.

[Stadler]

I just watched Bill Gates’ 2015 TED talk on “the next outbreak”. Boy, he nailed it. Sure wish people of power and influence had heeded that warning and advice.

You know, not to direct this right at you Chad but it's a general statement about this TED talk thing that he did. I get he's a smart guy and all but c'mon.....it doesn't or didn't take Nostradamus to know or figure out a large scale pandemic is/was the greatest threat to humanity. Or, that....given the global population that it's an ever increasing probability.

I get that he's Bill Gate's and all but I've seen this thing being spread around the internet like he's some sort of prophet. I'd wager to say that 90% of the DTF forumer's knew this.

Fair enough .... but what did the world do about it?  Seems as though we sat back and waited for this tsunami to come ashore.

At the risk of devolving this conversation, the spread of this disease has information that we can use in non-pandemic areas.  China's response to this was about CHINA, the country, and not about it's people, any other country, or the people of those countries.  This has happened to them before (at least three times that I can count) over the past several decades, and they have consistently not given a rat's ass about any individual Chinese citizen, nor their role in policing their own back yard for the good of the world.  What makes ANY of us watching that think they will do the right thing for:
- labor working conditions;
- climate change;
- patent/intellectual property rights;
- general human rights;
- currency regulation and international trade

I'm one of the few, unfortunately, but I've been pointing at China for almost a decade as our greatest threat across the board, and yet, every election "Putin this, Russia that, nanny-nanny-NAH-na."  Not that Russia are to be ignored, but they, at least, have shown some credibility and some pragmatic willingness to work with us for the greater good.

[Evermind]

Apparently people finally started hoarding stuff here in Moscow too. No toilet paper and no rice/buckwheat/that kind of shit either, both grocery stores I frequent had empty shelves. Not too worried about it yet, more worried about the disease itself, but it's kinda fascinating to see it all happen, to be honest.

[MirrorMask]

Not too worried about it yet, more worried about the disease itself, but it's kinda fascinating to see it all happen, to be honest.

Yeah, uh, how can I say it without sounding like an asshole....

First of all, there's no sugarcouting this tragedy, if you think "just elder people die from it" try to imagine how horrific and brutal it is to die alone in isolation, in ICUs, and for the survivors to not be even able to hold their relatives' hand one last time.... this is beyond horrible.

Having stated the obvious, I remember years ago stumbling on a "dark thoughts about 9/11" page, where people were venting what was on their mind, especially the non-PC things. I remember a couple of comments that were "I'm sorry for the victims but come on, there must surely have been many assholes among them, it was the WTC" and "I'm a journalist, I never had so much fun in reporting the crazy news of that day".

Now, none of this pandemic is anything even remotely close to "fun". But as you said, it's still fascinating to live such a huge curveball in the normality of our lives. The sympathy for people suffering for it IS there, but at the same time, while I would never, ever call any of this fun, it's still something to live through. I never thought one day I would be packing my computer from work hoping to get home as soon as possible and never leave it for at least two weeks. It does not excite me or maked me happy, but.... a kind of fascination, as you put it, is there.

[TheOutlawXanadu]

Apparently people finally started hoarding stuff here in Moscow too. No toilet paper and no rice/buckwheat/that kind of shit either, both grocery stores I frequent had empty shelves. Not too worried about it yet, more worried about the disease itself, but it's kinda fascinating to see it all happen, to be honest.

While the hoarding mentality doesn't surprise me, it does bum me out quite a bit. There are some pretty depressing stories out there of desperate people driving around to find stuff and not being able to because the shelves are now empty. And of course people have hoarded things they didn't even need to (I read that toilet paper shortages weren't even expected). Sigh.

[Evermind]

Not too worried about it yet, more worried about the disease itself, but it's kinda fascinating to see it all happen, to be honest.

Yeah, uh, how can I say it without sounding like an asshole....

First of all, there's no sugarcouting this tragedy, if you think "just elder people die from it" try to imagine how horrific and brutal it is to die alone in isolation, in ICUs, and for the survivors to not be even able to hold their relatives' hand one last time.... this is beyond horrible.

Having stated the obvious, I remember years ago stumbling on a "dark thoughts about 9/11" page, where people were venting what was on their mind, especially the non-PC things. I remember a couple of comments that were "I'm sorry for the victims but come on, there must surely have been many assholes among them, it was the WTC" and "I'm a journalist, I never had so much fun in reporting the crazy news of that day".

Now, none of this pandemic is anything even remotely close to "fun". But as you said, it's still fascinating to live such a huge curveball in the normality of our lives. The sympathy for people suffering for it IS there, but at the same time, while I would never, ever call any of this fun, it's still something to live through. I never thought one day I would be packing my computer from work hoping to get home as soon as possible and never leave it for at least two weeks. It does not excite me or maked me happy, but.... a kind of fascination, as you put it, is there.

No no, I think you misunderstood me or I wasn't clear enough. I'm quite worried about the pandemic itself. If I could stop going to work, I would self-isolate in an instant. I stopped going anywhere except to work and to the grocery stores when needed. I'm not worried about the hoarding though, because there's nothing I can do about it, and also because I have enough frozen meats and other stuff at home to probably last a month even if everything closes for good. To clarify, I'm also not hoarding, my two freezers are just always full for some reason.

And I never said it was fun, but yes, I do find it highly fascinating to see how the world reacts to this.

[Elite]

^ I get the idea that MirrorMask misread your first post as 'nor worried about the disease', but maybe that's just me.

[Evermind]

^ I get the idea that MirrorMask misread your first post as 'nor worried about the disease', but maybe that's just me.

Yeah, I thought that too. That absolutely not what I was saying.

[cramx3]

TBH, while I am only one dude so my hoarding isn't much and I haven't overdone it at all, I can kind of understand those with large families doing it.  People's supplies will dry out real quick if you can't leave the house for a bit and have 6 bodies to feed.  I don't support the people going nuts and treating others poorly, but at this point, getting your fully supply on seems appropriate.

[MirrorMask]

Don't worry Evermind, maybe I wasn't clear, but I never thought you were taking this lightly. I emphatised the dangers of the disease to make sure *I* wasn't the one taking it lightly when I was saying that there was a certain - and not funny - fascination in seeing such a life-disrupting event come to pass, don't worry 

[TAC]

Did Trump just call this The Chinese Virus??