Coronavirus prep

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  • DecadeDuchess
    DecadeDuchess Posts: 315 Member
    edited March 2020
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    This ordeal's going to be months longer, than just a couple of weeks:

    https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-usa-lockdown/us-coronavirus-lockdown-to-last-10-12-weeks-top-trump-official-says-idUSKBN2190MQ
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,056 Member
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    I posted a few days back about the local county/township authorities closing the parks/trails here, then un-closing them again. Some who replied thought the closures were important/desirable. Personally, I think this is a very local kind of decision. Closure may be necessary here eventually, but for now, I think we're pretty safe.

    It's still chilly, this is not a super densely populated area, and there are lots of big, spread-out parks and trails. Safe interpersonal distancing is possible. This is not like a large, dense big-city park or much-used trail around a such a city park's lake, generally. For the first time today in well over a week, I went out to meet a friend at a park, to walk together (with safe distance between us; we could still talk). It was a nice day, temp right around freezing, sunny, fairly mild wind-wise.

    The photo below is a fair photo of the car density in the parking lot today, though it's only a subsection of the lot (half or a little more), and this is at a good-sized park and feeds into a multi-county integrated trail system. We walked a little over 2 miles (at my friend's choice), the overwhelming majority of it on a paved trail that's - I dunno - 8-10 feet wide, in most places? I didn't count, but I'd say we encountered maybe 25-30 people on the path, with most maintaining extra social distancing (people are virtually never closer than arms length on these trails, except within their own group, even in the most-used seasons). I think we're OK, at least for now. FWIW, the parking lot at Kroger (drove past on my way home) was completely packed.

    s9nmfq841ykx.jpg

  • Nony_Mouse
    Nony_Mouse Posts: 5,646 Member
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    kimny72 wrote: »
    I've heard some experts suggest that rather than one long period of borderline quarantine, what might be possible is a cyclical pattern of loosening and tightening restrictions. I'd bet this requires local public health officials who are monitoring the systems capacity correctly and acting quickly at signs of stress, but if possible it might make adherence easier. I also think this would be more realistic in areas with lower population, where it's not quite as difficult to live your life without falling over people at every turn. Just the optimist in me thinking out loud I guess.

    This is New Zealand's plan. Our alert levels and when they take effect are already laid out (we're currently on level 2), with the plan being to move between them as needed, and presumably avoiding level 4 if we can. There is a lot of call from public health experts and doctors to just clamp down now though. Short period of everyone stays home, essential services only, which should eliminate any community transmission we don't know about (currently we potentially have two known cases of community transmission - ie they haven't been able to trace back to international travel - but given the level of testing, there is a reasonable chance there are more cases out there).
  • Nony_Mouse
    Nony_Mouse Posts: 5,646 Member
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    I think I posted this already, but this is NZ's system - https://covid19.govt.nz/government-actions/covid-19-alert-system/
  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,885 Member
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    T1DCarnivoreRunner wrote: »
    lemurcat2 wrote: »
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    This looks to be a reasonably well-researched article about food safety (with reference to recent coronavirus research, handling takeout for consumers and providers, groceries, etc. ). Caveat: I'm not an authority, so I'm not even remotely in a position to critique his thinking, but feel like there are reasonable signs he's done his homework.

    https://www.seriouseats.com/2020/03/food-safety-and-coronavirus-a-comprehensive-guide.html

    Agreed that it seems like a good piece, and I think he's a responsible writer in general from past experience with him.

    One benefit of the stay at home thing here is that there's really no reason for many people to be out in their cars, and so I could easily run in the streets around my neighborhood should there be more people on the sidewalks than I've noticed, and we can all easily avoid each other.

    The ghost town feel continues to be really weird, though. Although my neighborhood streets are pretty quiet in general, the one I'm on is ordinarily used as a feeder to some other streets, so usually has some amount of car traffic, and has almost none at all today. More striking, I'm quiet close to a busy north/south street (it's between me and an area I like to run in) that currently seems to have almost nothing other than its bus route (public transit is continuing for those reliant on it).

    WF/amazon prime delivery did seem to be up and running here today.

    As to cars, I believe it is bad for my hybrid battery to sit too long. I should take it out for a drive at least every 2 weeks, maybe every week.

    I know that's the case for mine. My mechanic actually lectured me last time I was in about how some intermittent issues I'm having are because I normally drive it only on the weekend and told me to drive it mid week (which is difficult for me to do). Mine is old, though -- 2008. It didn't develop these issues before last year, and they are mainly when it's cold. But I am going to have to drive at least once a week too, I think.
  • earlnabby
    earlnabby Posts: 8,171 Member
    edited March 2020
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    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    I posted a few days back about the local county/township authorities closing the parks/trails here, then un-closing them again. Some who replied thought the closures were important/desirable. Personally, I think this is a very local kind of decision. Closure may be necessary here eventually, but for now, I think we're pretty safe.

    It's still chilly, this is not a super densely populated area, and there are lots of big, spread-out parks and trails. Safe interpersonal distancing is possible. This is not like a large, dense big-city park or much-used trail around a such a city park's lake, generally. For the first time today in well over a week, I went out to meet a friend at a park, to walk together (with safe distance between us; we could still talk). It was a nice day, temp right around freezing, sunny, fairly mild wind-wise.

    The photo below is a fair photo of the car density in the parking lot today, though it's only a subsection of the lot (half or a little more), and this is at a good-sized park and feeds into a multi-county integrated trail system. We walked a little over 2 miles (at my friend's choice), the overwhelming majority of it on a paved trail that's - I dunno - 8-10 feet wide, in most places? I didn't count, but I'd say we encountered maybe 25-30 people on the path, with most maintaining extra social distancing (people are virtually never closer than arms length on these trails, except within their own group, even in the most-used seasons). I think we're OK, at least for now. FWIW, the parking lot at Kroger (drove past on my way home) was completely packed.



    Most of the nature centers/hiking trails/recreation areas here have closed their visitor centers, picnic areas, and offices but are leaving the trails open. Granted, it is too cold for picnics so that part of it is a non-issue.
  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,885 Member
    edited March 2020
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    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    I posted a few days back about the local county/township authorities closing the parks/trails here, then un-closing them again. Some who replied thought the closures were important/desirable. Personally, I think this is a very local kind of decision. Closure may be necessary here eventually, but for now, I think we're pretty safe.

    It's still chilly, this is not a super densely populated area, and there are lots of big, spread-out parks and trails. Safe interpersonal distancing is possible. This is not like a large, dense big-city park or much-used trail around a such a city park's lake, generally. For the first time today in well over a week, I went out to meet a friend at a park, to walk together (with safe distance between us; we could still talk). It was a nice day, temp right around freezing, sunny, fairly mild wind-wise.

    Our parks are different from yours, but here park amenities like fieldhouses are closed and public playgrounds are closed, but otherwise parks are open for use. I ran on a trail by the river today that is technically part of the park system.

    It's not hard to avoid people -- about the same as walking on the sidewalk in my area. Of course, if you wanted to really be solo going out earlier in the morning (as I often do, but did not do today) could help.
  • T1DCarnivoreRunner
    T1DCarnivoreRunner Posts: 11,502 Member
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    lemurcat2 wrote: »
    T1DCarnivoreRunner wrote: »
    lemurcat2 wrote: »
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    This looks to be a reasonably well-researched article about food safety (with reference to recent coronavirus research, handling takeout for consumers and providers, groceries, etc. ). Caveat: I'm not an authority, so I'm not even remotely in a position to critique his thinking, but feel like there are reasonable signs he's done his homework.

    https://www.seriouseats.com/2020/03/food-safety-and-coronavirus-a-comprehensive-guide.html

    Agreed that it seems like a good piece, and I think he's a responsible writer in general from past experience with him.

    One benefit of the stay at home thing here is that there's really no reason for many people to be out in their cars, and so I could easily run in the streets around my neighborhood should there be more people on the sidewalks than I've noticed, and we can all easily avoid each other.

    The ghost town feel continues to be really weird, though. Although my neighborhood streets are pretty quiet in general, the one I'm on is ordinarily used as a feeder to some other streets, so usually has some amount of car traffic, and has almost none at all today. More striking, I'm quiet close to a busy north/south street (it's between me and an area I like to run in) that currently seems to have almost nothing other than its bus route (public transit is continuing for those reliant on it).

    WF/amazon prime delivery did seem to be up and running here today.

    As to cars, I believe it is bad for my hybrid battery to sit too long. I should take it out for a drive at least every 2 weeks, maybe every week.

    I know that's the case for mine. My mechanic actually lectured me last time I was in about how some intermittent issues I'm having are because I normally drive it only on the weekend and told me to drive it mid week (which is difficult for me to do). Mine is old, though -- 2008. It didn't develop these issues before last year, and they are mainly when it's cold. But I am going to have to drive at least once a week too, I think.

    I've only let mine sit for several days to a week on rare occasions when I was on long work trips or when I was temporarily unable to drive for medical reasons (such as after my PRK surgery). It's a 2016 Prius, so I'm not sure if the Gen4 is better with that, but I believe it is supposed to get used periodically still. Last week, I didn't drive after getting home on Mon. until Sat. Maybe I should even take it out ever 3-4 days just to be sure. I don't have to stop anywhere or get out and interact with people, but maybe a good idea to at least go for a drive.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,056 Member
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    earlnabby wrote: »
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    I posted a few days back about the local county/township authorities closing the parks/trails here, then un-closing them again. Some who replied thought the closures were important/desirable. Personally, I think this is a very local kind of decision. Closure may be necessary here eventually, but for now, I think we're pretty safe.

    It's still chilly, this is not a super densely populated area, and there are lots of big, spread-out parks and trails. Safe interpersonal distancing is possible. This is not like a large, dense big-city park or much-used trail around a such a city park's lake, generally. For the first time today in well over a week, I went out to meet a friend at a park, to walk together (with safe distance between us; we could still talk). It was a nice day, temp right around freezing, sunny, fairly mild wind-wise.

    The photo below is a fair photo of the car density in the parking lot today, though it's only a subsection of the lot (half or a little more), and this is at a good-sized park and feeds into a multi-county integrated trail system. We walked a little over 2 miles (at my friend's choice), the overwhelming majority of it on a paved trail that's - I dunno - 8-10 feet wide, in most places? I didn't count, but I'd say we encountered maybe 25-30 people on the path, with most maintaining extra social distancing (people are virtually never closer than arms length on these trails, except within their own group, even in the most-used seasons). I think we're OK, at least for now. FWIW, the parking lot at Kroger (drove past on my way home) was completely packed.



    Most of the nature centers/hiking trails/recreation areas here have closed their visitor centers, picnic areas, and offices but are leaving the trails open. Granted, it is too cold for picnics so that part of it is a non-issue.

    That's pretty much what's happening here, now, too: Bathrooms & buildings closed, gates to parking areas are open. They'd proposed locking the gates, and telling people to stay off the trails, and were talked out of it, at least for now.

    There are a few parks that normally require paying to get into the parking lot, in peak season. I don't know whether those gates will close, once it warms up, or have open gates. They do tend to be parks with lots of amenities that concentrate the people in smaller areas, some of which amenities can be closed (water shower play areas, for example) and some not (swimming beach, for example), so closing parking there might be a good thing, I don't know. The amenities aren't in operation or use at freezing temps we have now, regardless.
  • mph323
    mph323 Posts: 3,565 Member
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    The CA bay area is a hot spot right now, but the beaches were still crowded yesterday. I honestly wonder if people think they can't get infected if they're outdoors?

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