Impact of the new Coronavirus where you are?

[Kitchen]

On 4/2/2020 at 8:02 PM, bpm32 said:

I don’t know, but that wouldn’t surprise me. Everyone always assumes the US has people imbedded everywhere, but I think most of us would be shocked by the truth—that in a lot of critical areas we’re one subject matter expert deep, or zero SMEs deep. You are always fighting the last war and for the last 19 years the US has been hyperfocused on terrorism. After this, we’ll probably be focused on viruses and it’ll be some other damn thing that gets us. You’d think we’d be able to do more than one thing at once....

There's a political commentator I listen to occasionally, Ben Shapiro, that is fond of saying people who work in government are the same kind of idiots you work with at your job, they just happen to work in government.  There are some great people, some horrible people, but for the most part, the majority are the same people you work with at the average job.  

The older I get, the more I realize this is correct and the smaller I prefer government to be.  

[scap99]

1 hour ago, LordAnubis said:

I’m just here to post that I’m going out to the shops so wearing my PPE. Finally being Muslim isn’t the scariest thing out there in the world ? Stay safe folks! 

I've got one too, and also plan to wear it when I go out.  I usually wear it while mowing, but there's nothing else as simple to wear that works with facial hair for keeping your lungs clear of dust and pollen.

  

[bpm32]

1 hour ago, Kitchen said:

There's a political commentator I listen to occasionally, Ben Shapiro, that is fond of saying people who work in government are the same kind of idiots you work with at your job, they just happen to work in government.  There are some great people, some horrible people, but for the most part, the majority are the same people you work with at the average job.  

The older I get, the more I realize this is correct and the smaller I prefer government to be.  

That’s true, but with the added caveat that there are a lot of fields that are critical, but will not yield short or even medium term profits, so government has to step in. That’s most science, even in the US. What that means then is that if a particular field or agency is underfunded for a period of time and doesn’t attract the best and brightest, 25 years later you got a bunch of meatheads running everything, which is less of a problem in (most of) the private sector. 

[Ken Gargett]

3 hours ago, LordAnubis said:

I’m just here to post that I’m going out to the shops so wearing my PPE. Finally being Muslim isn’t the scariest thing out there in the world ? Stay safe folks! 

mus, you've never looked better. 

[Ken Gargett]

1 hour ago, Kitchen said:

There's a political commentator I listen to occasionally, Ben Shapiro, that is fond of saying people who work in government are the same kind of idiots you work with at your job, they just happen to work in government.  There are some great people, some horrible people, but for the most part, the majority are the same people you work with at the average job.  

The older I get, the more I realize this is correct and the smaller I prefer government to be.  

in general, i am in agreement with this, although i would suggest govt has more than its fair share. it does seem to attract idiots at every level.

and as a rule, for me, the smaller the govt the better. but this, to me, is showing that there are times when a larger govt, more resources, more govt focus (and this is in general and not aimed at any country) can be crucial. and necessary. 

if we here had more focus in our depts earlier, we could have acted quicker. look at italy and spain et al. they seem to have been utterly unprepared. had their govts devoted more to what might happen, who knows. in the states, to have shut down certain areas of govt which dealt with this type of thing has undoubtedly cost a great many lives and caused untold tragedy. 

in saying all that, i honestly have no better idea of the ideal balance than anyone else. but it has made me realise that smaller and smaller govt is not always the answer. of course, more people probably means more idiots. 

[Zigatoh]

4 hours ago, Kitchen said:

There's a political commentator I listen to occasionally, Ben Shapiro, that is fond of saying people who work in government are the same kind of idiots you work with at your job, they just happen to work in government.  There are some great people, some horrible people, but for the most part, the majority are the same people you work with at the average job.  

The older I get, the more I realize this is correct and the smaller I prefer government to be.  

I'm assuming government probably works a bit like the local councils I've worked with, there are a lot of managers and higher ups who are simply in those jobs because they've worked there the longest as opposed to having the required skills, and plenty of older types simply clinging onto that job, which they don't want and do badly, to get the final salary based pension at the end. 

[Yellot00tr]

It's wild in NYC.  Streets are empty most of the time.  You see ambulances, NYPD, and homeless.  My offices are in midtown-1 block away from Madison Sq Garden, and it's unlike anything I've ever seen before.  I was around during Hurricane Sandy, 9/11, all the winter storms, etc, but it's never been like this.  Such a feeling of sadness, desperation, and gloom in manhattan.  Morgues are over run, hospitals are over flowing, it's crazy here.  To see the Javitz center and Central Park turn into field hospitals while FEMA trucks are moving bodies with a forklift is a sobering reality.  Our friends who are nurses and doctors are overwhelmed.  They're all being sent to the ER, regardless of specialty.  

 

[SigmundChurchill]

2 hours ago, Yellot00tr said:

It's wild in NYC.  Streets are empty most of the time.  You see ambulances, NYPD, and homeless.  My offices are in midtown-1 block away from Madison Sq Garden, and it's unlike anything I've ever seen before.  I was around during Hurricane Sandy, 9/11, all the winter storms, etc, but it's never been like this.  Such a feeling of sadness, desperation, and gloom in manhattan.  Morgues are over run, hospitals are over flowing, it's crazy here.  To see the Javitz center and Central Park turn into field hospitals while FEMA trucks are moving bodies with a forklift is a sobering reality.  Our friends who are nurses and doctors are overwhelmed.  They're all being sent to the ER, regardless of specialty.  

 

We have a giant refrigerated 18 wheeler hidden behind our hospital in the doctor’s parking lot.  The whole thing is very surreal.

[OZCUBAN]

On 3/30/2020 at 8:59 AM, Ken Gargett said:

moving away from blame, let's hear it for belgium!!

 

 

She wouldn’t have to worry about being invited to one ?

[OZCUBAN]

On 3/28/2020 at 10:40 AM, BellevilleMXZ said:

A very good watch...

 

Saw an interview with bill gates last week ,and he said governments were warned about this 5 years ago saying to them that the biggest threat to mankind was not wars but viruses .when asked about the measures he and others had suggested were acted on he said next to NONE

Sounds so familiar 

cheers all and stay inside and safe 

[toto]

Sharing a video from a COVID-19 group.  A bit of colorful language warning.

[Fosgate]

My cousin lost a close friend a week ago. She quickly went from a case of heartburn to dead within 24 hours. https://www.argusleader.com/story/news/crime/2020/04/01/mari-hofer-covid-19-coronavirus-huron-south-dakota/5107195002/

Some healthcare worker was pure genious and did not cancel her beach trip. Came back not feeling well and submitted to a test. In the meantime she works in a cancer care facility and came in contact with 100 patients, 8 other nurses and 2 physicians. 

I'm lucky that both my wife and I are maintaining our jobs. supposidly recession proof. We'll see. 

I'm somewhat glad I minored in Public Health for my business school just a few years back. Studiied Ebola, epidemiology and worked in steril processing of the surgical dept of a hospital while I was going to school. While everyone else was watching the impeachment and Colby Bryant crash, I was taking note of Chinas actions and made the move to top off the pantries, freezer, refridgerator, amm, booze. I grabbed PPE masks, gloves, hand sanitizer and other medical supplies and sanitation items. 

One of my Ex.GF's worked as a public relations rep for a large hospital and she was tasked with developing the lip service for the public in the event of a pandemic. I woulld often listen to her rehearse and her rants and discussed responses. I'll be damned if I didn't repeatidly hear the lip service from officials as they are trying to maintain order and prepare to try and handle whats coming. I remember her saying once, "People really won't take a pandemic seriously until they start seeing friends and family stacked like corkwood outside of hospitals because they can't keep up." In other words, our governments cannot stop and outbreak, they can only try to slow it down so it's manageable. We really won't know what the death rate is until this thing is over. 

Far as I can tell looking at the actions politicaly just watching the news from various outlets it's looking like China is going to be in hot water by the end of this. Looking like China not only Influenced the WHO, but they also nationalized the 3m factories in China, purchased much of the PPE on the open market and are now selling PPE back on the open market at elevated pricing ever since. 

I'm hoping for the best be prepared for the worst. I really hope everything works out well but I have a feeling the world we lived in before is going to be much different and we would be fortunate if we make it out of this without igniting a hot war or a cold war. Of course I hope I am wrong and things quickly return to normal. 

[dangolf18]

22 hours ago, toto said:

Sharing a video from a COVID-19 group.  A bit of colorful language warning.

 

I thought this was David Letterman. Was 90% sure before playing the video lol.

[ayepatz]

On 4/4/2020 at 2:35 AM, LordAnubis said:

I’m just here to post that I’m going out to the shops so wearing my PPE. Finally being Muslim isn’t the scariest thing out there in the world ? Stay safe folks! 

You need dark glasses. I can still tell it’s you, unfortunately. ?

[El Presidente]

2 hours ago, ayepatz said:

You need dark glasses. I can still tell it’s you, unfortunately. ?

Rookie   

[Pharmacovigilant]

First I’ve heard of this...  Trying to wrap my head around the implications.

https://www.aphis.usda.gov/aphis/newsroom/news/sa_by_date/sa-2020/ny-zoo-covid-19

[sho671]

17 minutes ago, Pharmacovigilant said:

First I’ve heard of this...  Trying to wrap my head around the implications.

https://www.aphis.usda.gov/aphis/newsroom/news/sa_by_date/sa-2020/ny-zoo-covid-19

Apparently both dogs and cats can be carriers of the virus.

[SokaKiel]

I have to admit, I didn’t take it serious in the beginning. We travelled from Japan to Europe and back in March because we didn’t expect it to be this bad!

Been in quarantine with the family for three weeks now! First a week back home in Germany at my parents as we’ve all travelled to Barcelona in early March to prepare our move for later this year. But after three days we had to leave due to the upcoming lock down (The move back to Europe is called off until end of the year for sure).

We decided to quarantine even though it wasn’t mandatory at that time. Then the wife started nagging about going back to Japan so our son can be ready for school. I told her from the beginning school ain’t happening in April!

We flew back to Japan anyways, happy wife happy life! Tomorrow we’re finally done with two weeks mandatory quarantine here at home in Japan. So far all of us are healthy. Our seven year old is going nuts because all other kids are playing outside and he and his little brother had to stay inside. With the upcoming declaration of state of emergency by the Abe and his useless bunch of cronies school won’t be happening for another few weeks! I’ve been congratulating myself every day that I pushed for a bigger rental house a few years ago, at least we have enough space for us and the kids and don’t have to stay boxed up in a tiny apartment in central Tokyo!

We’ve stocked up on long life produce online over the last two weeks. Once Abe steps in front of the microphone tomorrow the panic here will set in and more than 30 million people in greater Tokyo will raid the supermarkets! This will be mayhem! Last year one of the Taifuns cut all road and train connections to Narita airport, about 60km out of town, more than 10.000 tourists where stuck there for days because the government wasn’t capable of helping them. No idea how they plan to supply 30 million people here with the essentials for daily life!

Everybody is completely oblivious to the things unfolding in the rest of the world. Especially New York should be a big warning to all Tokioties but nobody seems to care! It’s always ‘the dirty foreigners’, they don’t wear masks and don’t wash their hands often enough... Well, good luck, if I look at the packed trains here you can’t tell me that there aren’t 10’s of thousands of infected people in Tokyo already, masks or no masks! Restaurants, shops, most businesses still open. Sitting on the balcony for a smoke and can hear the local kids baseball team training further down the road, ridiculous! They closed all schools but parents went on to work and spread the virus around happily. Now all shops and parks closed for the last two weekends but it’s normal business during the week, morons! We will lock ourselves in for a few more weeks happily until this is hopefully over. Got more than 400 cigars and lots of booze to keep me happy!

As I work in the Maritime industry as a crew member on a vessel I’m lucky, the company put all crew that are on holidays on sick leave! This means I’m not using up holidays while I still get paid. Very sorry for my crew mates on board though. They went through two weeks of quarantine on board in Antigua but then had to depart for Europe as the situation with food supplies and fuel got dire over there. Now they’re crossing the Atlantic, another two weeks boxed up. They’ll fuel in Gibraltar next week but can’t stay there as no dock space available. After that they don’t know where to go, most countries in Europe are locked down and only allow commercial vessels in. But my workplace is nothing more than a giant floating private gin palace so they won’t be allowed in! Captain is trying everything he can, in the end they might end up in Edinburgh, one of his friends works at the local port and got him a berth. But our crew can’t rotate out, no flights and boarders closed. Sorry for them! Will be an interesting summer season for us, I don’t think we’ll be able to have the owner and his family back on board before July the earliest.

Thanks a lot to all you guys in the health services, I hope this whole crisis will help to improve future work environments and bring better pay for all of you!

Good luck and best of health to all of us!

Leif

[Fuzz]

Update: To say that last Wed night to Fri night were some of the more anxious times for me in the last few years is an understatement. Came down with a fever on Wed night which progressed through Thur. Didn't finally break until sometime after midnight Thur or Fri morning. No real cough, but a wheezy tight chest had me concerned. Didn't help that I have suffered from panic attacks and general anxiety in the past. Been getting better since Fri, temp is almost back to what I would consider normal, but that wheezyness is still there. Keeping away from people just on the off chance or just so I don't give others what I have. I suspect it was the flu, but not having had it in more than a decade, I have forgotten what it is like.

Normally, going through something like this would not have me too concerned. But with Covid-19 flying around, it was the worse time to pick it up, and then exacerbated the whole thing by my anxiety.

 

[Ken Gargett]

16 minutes ago, Fuzz said:

Update: To say that last Wed night to Fri night were some of the more anxious times for me in the last few years is an understatement. Came down with a fever on Wed night which progressed through Thur. Didn't finally break until sometime after midnight Thur or Fri morning. No real cough, but a wheezy tight chest had me concerned. Didn't help that I have suffered from panic attacks and general anxiety in the past. Been getting better since Fri, temp is almost back to what I would consider normal, but that wheezyness is still there. Keeping away from people just on the off chance or just so I don't give others what I have. I suspect it was the flu, but not having had it in more than a decade, I have forgotten what it is like.

Normally, going through something like this would not have me too concerned. But with Covid-19 flying around, it was the worse time to pick it up, and then exacerbated the whole thing by my anxiety.

 

get yourself tested. asap!!

[El Presidente]

17 minutes ago, Ken Gargett said:

get yourself tested. asap!!

Bingo. Don't hesitate. 

You are the best/only trip photographer we have 

 

[99call]

43 minutes ago, Fuzz said:

but that wheezyness is still there

I agree with all above.  It's never nice when you feel as if you don't want to be a strain on the system,  but as they are suggesting Covid 19 can cause lasting respiratory damage, it defo makes best sense to ring up the CV hotline whereever you are, and just take their advice

[Duxnutz]

1 hour ago, Fuzz said:

Update: To say that last Wed night to Fri night were some of the more anxious times for me in the last few years is an understatement. Came down with a fever on Wed night which progressed through Thur. Didn't finally break until sometime after midnight Thur or Fri morning. No real cough, but a wheezy tight chest had me concerned. Didn't help that I have suffered from panic attacks and general anxiety in the past. Been getting better since Fri, temp is almost back to what I would consider normal, but that wheezyness is still there. Keeping away from people just on the off chance or just so I don't give others what I have. I suspect it was the flu, but not having had it in more than a decade, I have forgotten what it is like.

Normally, going through something like this would not have me too concerned. But with Covid-19 flying around, it was the worse time to pick it up, and then exacerbated the whole thing by my anxiety.

 

C’mon man. Err on the side of reasonableness and get tested. Now is not the time to f#%k around.
 

 

[Fuzz]

2 hours ago, Ken Gargett said:

get yourself tested. asap!!

2 hours ago, El Presidente said:

Bingo. Don't hesitate. 

You are the best/only trip photographer we have 

2 hours ago, 99call said:

I agree with all above.  It's never nice when you feel as if you don't want to be a strain on the system,  but as they are suggesting Covid 19 can cause lasting respiratory damage, it defo makes best sense to ring up the CV hotline whereever you are, and just take their advice

1 hour ago, Duxnutz said:

C’mon man. Err on the side of reasonableness and get tested. Now is not the time to f#%k around.
 

I called our Govt hotline last week, spoke to Westmead Hospital emergency and was denied testing. They will not test anyone unless they meet the criteria, and I don't meet it. Even if I managed to convince my GP to do a referral, the 2 labs that are doing testing will not accept it, as I do not fit the criteria.

I actually really would like to be tested, but they won't let me. Believe me, I want to know whether I do or do not have it.

 

 

[Chibearsv]

17 minutes ago, Fuzz said:

I called our Govt hotline last week, spoke to Westmead Hospital emergency and was denied testing. They will not test anyone unless they meet the criteria, and I don't meet it. Even if I managed to convince my GP to do a referral, the 2 labs that are doing testing will not accept it, as I do not fit the criteria.

I actually really would like to be tested, but they won't let me. Believe me, I want to know whether I do or do not have it.

 

 

Maybe this is obvious or maybe this isn't.  Please make sure you know what the "criteria" is.  If you cross into that threshold, go in for testing right away.  Hopefully, whatever you have subsides and it's not necessary.  Hang in there.