NON_POLITICAL China Coronavirus THREAD

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Captante

Lifer
Oct 20, 2003
30,246
10,748
136
It's kind of working out that way on its own. People ain't flying unless they have to.


I picked my daughter up @ JFK yesterday and it was a relative ghost-town ... cell-phone lot (where livery/app drivers wait to hear from scheduled pass) is normally packed with cars was 90% empty.
 
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CZroe

Lifer
Jun 24, 2001
24,195
856
126
Well, my sore sinuses are now a sore throat but I recall someone here saying that throat discomfort could be a side effect of these zinc lozenges I'm having so I really don't know how concerned I should be. Regardless, I don't think I should be going in to the office with any kind of respiratory symptoms. I've never been one to call out for a sore throat but someone was scheduled to relieve me at 3PM and I don't want her working in a contaminated office. I likely already did it to her yesterday when she came in an hour after I left but the symptoms literally developed after I got there.

My boss did reorganize the office and stir up a lot of dust yesterday so there's a chance it's from that. Doubt it though. It wasn't nearly as much dust as when I cleaned a few weeks ago and I felt this in my sinuses much faster. Since my sinuses are worse today and I have a sore throat to boot, I'm almost positive it's a respiratory infection. Though I did go to CVS yesterday I'm self-isolating now.

Well, tomorrow is my b day.....bitches. Imma gonna party like it's 9pm.

Yeah.
HBD!

You are not looking at the bigger picture. The alternative is walking into the restaurant like normal, shoulder-to-shoulder with other people, touching multiple doorknobs and other surfaces. Plus the bathroom. That one point of contact is much, much less of a risk than all the crap you would get walking into the restaurant like normal.

Switching over to the takeout window is actually a big improvement. It is not perfect.
Actually, the alternative is avoiding restaurants entirely, since the question is whether or not it's safe. Again: I take no comfort in the assurances I'm seeing that it is safe just because this isn't a food-borne illness.

Still, I do believe the change to drive thru-only can make it worse. I wouldn't walk in to a crowded restaurant where I couldn't keep my distance. I would avoid touching door handles with my hands much like I normally do and I would sanitize my hands again before eating. I'd expect/hope to be the only person to touch my straw and drink lid at the self-serve fountain. Same with napkins. No one would touch my card or phone at the register. There are many ways that it would be safer to pop in and out than to go through the drive through.
 

shortylickens

No Lifer
Jul 15, 2003
82,854
17,365
136
Fast food workers clean their hands much more frequently than customers, so I see how keeping customers out of the building might help a lot. Just hand the food over to them and thats it.
 

CZroe

Lifer
Jun 24, 2001
24,195
856
126
Fast food workers clean their hands much more frequently than customers, so I see how keeping customers out of the building might help a lot. Just hand the food over to them and thats it.
Except that's not it, as I detailed in an earlier post. They even handled my brother's phone this past weekend... and customer phones are disgustingly contaminated. Even when you aren't ordering with the app or using a coupon, they still have to handle payment. So many cards getting handed back and forth where if you went inside you would typically insert or swipe yourself.
 
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Nov 8, 2012
20,828
4,777
146

Just as much as I hate dumb assholes who buy excessive TP - I also fucking seriously hope anyone who calls 911 to report being out of TP is fined hundreds - even $1,000+ for doing something so fucking asinine. You think your inability to wipe your ass is a fucking emergency? Hang up and fine the fucking idiots.

This isn't an emergency. Go buy a bidet, hose yourself off, take a shower, or whatever. But people seriously think they should send a firetruck to your house to wipe your ass?
 

DrMrLordX

Lifer
Apr 27, 2000
21,582
10,785
136
Actually, the alternative is avoiding restaurants entirely, since the question is whether or not it's safe.

It's safer than it was. And if you are looking at empty store shelves or the local fast food restaurant, where are you going to get food? Some of those restaurants have deep supply chains and can provide you with food when the grocery store gets wiped out by another wave of hoarders.

If you want to imagine some scenario where you're dealing with a drive-through cashier versus a bunch of customers at a "safe" distance (do you know the correct distance?) in a building with closed ventilation in addition to a counter cashier and can conclude that the drive-through is worse, go ahead.
 
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Annisman*

Golden Member
Aug 20, 2010
1,918
89
91
My pregnant wife and two kids live in Canada, she is due in July. We are two weeks away from her green card from an 18 month wait and thousands of dollars in lawyer fees. Today is our three year anniversary. It looks like today the USA Canada border will be shutting down all non essential travel and we will be separated indefinitely. :(
 

CZroe

Lifer
Jun 24, 2001
24,195
856
126
It's safer than it was. And if you are looking at empty store shelves or the local fast food restaurant, where are you going to get food? Some of those restaurants have deep supply chains and can provide you with food when the grocery store gets wiped out by another wave of hoarders.

If you want to imagine some scenario where you're dealing with a drive-through cashier versus a bunch of customers at a "safe" distance (do you know the correct distance?) in a building with closed ventilation in addition to a counter cashier and can conclude that the drive-through is worse, go ahead.
Well, the question of whether or not it's safe is obviously a question for people who have a choice. You know: "Should I continue eating at restaurants or should I stop now and switch to the supplies I bought a couple weeks ago?"

Obviously people need to eat. I just don't think it's right to tell people that it's somehow safer than any other way you might compromise on social distancing just because it isn't a food borne illness. Clearly, restaurant food comes with risks and those risks are likely greater than going out for toilet paper during the peak when we should be isolating. If avoiding the store later was the whole reason to buy food, TP, etc a couple weeks ago, then it's reason to avoid restaurants too.

Sucks for restaurants.
 

brainhulk

Diamond Member
Sep 14, 2007
9,418
454
126
I am reading reports of schools shutting down for good this academic year. I can see working parents manage 2 weeks or so. The rest of the year, no way. One person is going to have to stay home or find work from home. Or employers are going to have to provide child care.

I also read an article this pandemic my last 18 months and will come in waves.

This combined with the cut hours and layoffs already happening is a disaster.
 

CZroe

Lifer
Jun 24, 2001
24,195
856
126
I am reading reports of schools shutting down for good this academic year. I can see working parents manage 2 weeks or so. The rest of the year, no way. One person is going to have to stay home or find work from home. Or employers are going to have to provide child care.

I also read an article this pandemic my last 18 months and will come in waves.

This combined with the cut hours and layoffs already happening is a disaster.
In a way, smaller waves might be better than all at once. "Flatten the curve."
 
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Mai72

Lifer
Sep 12, 2012
11,578
1,741
126
Supossedly, a significant number of young adults (25-30) are seriously ill in Italy and in ICU. This is still anedoctal, and not published. If true, this wouldn't make sense because most people over the age of 80 are being severly affected with this virus?

 

Mai72

Lifer
Sep 12, 2012
11,578
1,741
126
I've got 5lb of coffee, I grind 2lb at a time in my blender (split the 2lb into 3 portions in the process of grinding).

I ate some oatmeal this AM. I have some chicken in the freezer, I hardly ever eat chicken these days. I have a couple packages of canned tuna. I have about 25lb of rice. Around 4lb peanut butter, a little fresh broccoli, cauliflower, celery, some apples and bananas that will go bad in 1/2 a week if I don't eat them.

Picked some purple tree collards from my yard today and made a stir fry with them. I have a gawdawful lot of that in the yard! Fabulous perennial, look it up.

I'm on lockdown since yesterday, mandated here except for important outdoor stuff. I'm getting aerobic by running up a flight of stairs 20x in a row, 3x/day. My heart rate monitor topped at 153 this morning. That's 9 beats/minute over my max, I should be dead.

Awesome. Keep care of yourself. :)
 
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IndyColtsFan

Lifer
Sep 22, 2007
33,656
687
126
Supossedly, a significant number of young adults (25-30) are seriously ill in Italy and in ICU. This is still anedoctal, and not published. If true, this wouldn't make sense because most people over the age of 80 are being severly affected with this virus?


Are they smokers? That's a risk factor for more serious illness when contracting a respiratory illness.
 
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Mai72

Lifer
Sep 12, 2012
11,578
1,741
126
Are they smokers? That's a risk factor for more serious illness when contracting a respiratory illness.

You know I was thinking the same thing. I know a lot of young Europeans smoke. But, here is the thing. I lived in South Korea for 2 years and I noticed a lot of young people smoke there as well. COVID-19 isn't as wide spread there as it is in Italy. This is just my observation though.
 

K1052

Elite Member
Aug 21, 2003
45,896
32,696
136
Does anyone know the origin of the toilet paper stupidity?

I think it grew out of the situation in HK. There was concern that shipments from the mainland would be cut off so people started hoarding it.
 

nakedfrog

No Lifer
Apr 3, 2001
58,055
12,245
136
Just as much as I hate dumb assholes who buy excessive TP - I also fucking seriously hope anyone who calls 911 to report being out of TP is fined hundreds - even $1,000+ for doing something so fucking asinine. You think your inability to wipe your ass is a fucking emergency? Hang up and fine the fucking idiots.

This isn't an emergency. Go buy a bidet, hose yourself off, take a shower, or whatever. But people seriously think they should send a firetruck to your house to wipe your ass?
Actually, sending a firetruck to power-bidet their bunghole with a hose might be an adequate punishment...
 

ponyo

Lifer
Feb 14, 2002
19,689
2,811
126
I am reading reports of schools shutting down for good this academic year. I can see working parents manage 2 weeks or so. The rest of the year, no way. One person is going to have to stay home or find work from home. Or employers are going to have to provide child care.

I also read an article this pandemic my last 18 months and will come in waves.

This combined with the cut hours and layoffs already happening is a disaster.
In many families, one or both parents will be out of work soon if this continues. So it'll be fine. No need for child care. No one is going to send their kids to child care right now. Child care places will go under too.